Nowadays there are health kicks and alleged shortcuts everywhere. Through all these claims one thing I've found consistently is the importance of good food. When I look for the college version they say, do the best you can , like eat the right thing 90% of the time. If you live off the meal plan, this can get complicated (unless you're granted access to our newest cafeteria on campus). If our dining continues to improve across campus, this will soon no longer be an issue.
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Getting acquainted with the school routine can be quite a hassle especially after a summer filled with all the time is the world to go on adventures, make friends and SLEEP. Now, I’m dealing with all the bills in the world to pay, a significant decrease in social life, and delayed blogs for wonderfully dedicated readers. Increasing responsibilities means increasing stress, but I’ve got a couple things figured and hopefully my advice will help you manage and prioritize what you put our valuable time towards – as we all know in Auburn EVERY SECOND COUNTS.
LGBT supporters who don’t know me well may ask “What do you preferred to be called?” By which they mean: do I like to be referred to as a female or male?
Do I mind this question? No. I LOVE THIS QUESTION. It lets me know there are people out there who actually care about your preference beyond the social binary. The American woman is seen as a wife, and a mother. In reality not every woman wants to be married and bare children. I know women who aspire different goals and different dreams. Similar to the LGBT spectrum not being all black and white, neither is the lifestyle choices for women in America.
Around the world, women may not have choice to dream their own dreams, whether it’s legally, religiously or for other reasons. No matter where you go women are more or less considered “domesticated”. I use this word as a joke. For example, my fiancé wants to make me breakfast I’d laugh and say “you’re so domestic today”. A few weeks ago, I had a strong urge to make cupcakes and called myself domestic. Everyday people see women sexualized and misrepresented through various screens (TVs, Computers, movies). Luckily, there are a handful of well-known women who combat these ideals with their lives. The underrepresented group today is the LGBTQQ(etc) community. Without getting too deep into each sector of the spectrum, here’s a preview of the deceptive light media has shed on our community.
When somebody betrays you or lies to you it’s hard to trust them again (deceitful people are one my pet peeves). I haven’t lived as long as many of the people I aspire to be, but I have learned that holding a grudge hurts both parties.
Would you hit that? Well … As a lesbian, I’ve been asked that by both men and women. I’m not blind (yet), but I don’t automatically rate women and judge how they measure up to my dream female. Yes, I do have a dream female and she has my heart.
College is full, of exciting new places, sights and people. Maybe a few of these faces have caught your eye. Maybe you’re dating some new (or thinking about it). Whether or not you’re thinking about starting a family, determining how long this romantic relationship will last is very important. Thankfully, social media can tell a lot about a person and their values. For example, they may post a lot of pictures with friends, suggesting they’re sociable.
In America there are words to describe underrepresented groups and some are politically correct while others are highly controversial. The problem may be that it is derogatory in nature, misused in certain seeing if the word may misconstrue its true meaning. If you are part of America’s underrepresented groups, you may deal with this “confusion” <if we give all who say these words the benefit of the doubt> more than needed.
As women, the world expects us to support the household (if needed), care for the family and remain flawless. Unless you’ve got a lifetime supply of Red Bull, I don’t see how this a feasible on the 24/7/365 period. Luckily, I’m not out of college yet so life is a tad but less stressful than the average working woman. Many women on campus have organization meeting, sorority formals, birthdays, sporting events, tests, finals, internship, extracurricular practice and part-time jobs to keep track of. No doubt that resume will be attracted to any employer once may go to. Hillary Clinton. Oprah Winfrey. Maya Angelou. These phenomenal women will and have continued to change the world in big ways. Could you be the next force in the world?
INTIMIDATING. I know. I feel intimidated by professors, tall people and even some of my own peers. How could a person like this possibly change my college - much less the world? I know I’ll probably offend a few people out there with this topic: on and off relationships
You can call mean “old head”, “old soul”, or whatever, but my parents always told me the purpose of dating is finding your future spouse. At a young age, I was not thinking about marriage so I disregarded it for a while. Now I’m in college and want to start a family the second I land a job. I’m sure I’m not the only woman on campus who feels this way. Being part of a LGBT friendly campus allows students to express and discover themselves in more ways with less hindrance and judgment. Yes, there will be a few haters out there and professors may comply begrudgingly, but over all the students are safe – a priority of most campuses.
My university recently made the top 20 LGBT unfriendly campuses of America. Sad face. You can’t change tradition right? I mean it’s been around since 1812. Women and minority student barely get their fair share, how on earth can the LGBT community begin to be treated equally? I was raised in a pretty traditional household; the women take care of the house and family while the man goes out to bring home the bacon. I went into college thinking this is the “right way” to do things, but my eyes have been opened in the past few years. Aside from the different cultures on campus and religions I’d never heard of, there are women who don’t want to have to take care of their family day in and day out. I’ve heard two reasons for not wanting to have children: 1) the pain of childbirth 2) pursuit of their career.
I recently found out about this great concept called the Gender bread Person. It helps folks understand other areas of the spectrum without too much detail. The creator Sam Killermann continues to make the point:
They (gender identity, gender expression, biological gender, and sexual orientation) are all independent of one another. … Or is it?
I stumbled upon an uberfact: heels were originally made for men. I tried to picture this in my head, but all I could see were beautiful drag queens. Later I saw a baby picture of one of our presidents (Roosevelt) with long hair and a dress, giving him the appearance of a girl. Cute. Marriage… Something most of us aren’t even thinking about. College is a time of exploration and finding your place on this enormous rock floating in space called Earth.
So my girlfriend’s mother
HATES me. She found out that we were a couple 3 months after the fact and it was all downhill from there. It was funny to see the attitude difference because before she knew she was really nice to me and we had a few friendly conversations here and there but the second she found out it was the complete opposite. A common query for myself is:
What do I wear to this interview? As a college student, I usually go to interviews for fast food joints, hotels, and retail stores. My resume and many who know me say I’m “over qualified” for the job. Initially, many managers are content with my history, but when I go into the interview room all discrimination kicks in: Race Gender Gender Expression DISCLAIMER: I am not /do not claim to be sexually fluid. This is simply m take from several resources and my life experience.
A person who experiences fluid sexuality will experience changes in their sexual orientation, whether over a lifetime, years, months or sometimes weeks or days at a time. People who identify as having fluid sexuality often see it as a distinct sexual orientation. A person with fluid sexuality may be attracted only to men for much of their life but gradually experience a growing attraction to women. A person may only be attracted to men for a number of months, then experience equal attraction to both genders for a period of time, then experience attraction to neither gender for a time and so on. This would be fluid sexuality. - Urban Dictionary So, I’ve always been the girl who preferred jeans over a dress. I remember spending my childhood wearing ruffled dresses and being “so cute” in church but as I got older, I finally told my mom that I can’t wear them anymore. Little did she know, that really meant more than just not wearing them…I grew up in the (Southern) Baptist family, you wore dresses, sandals and did not complain.
When I was a freshman, I lived in Aubie Hall. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Auburn’s campus, Aubie Hall is a co-ed dorm building in the Village for honors college students. There are eight dorms that make up the Village community; three are coed, three are sorority halls, one is female only, and one is male only. Now, what sold me on these dorms was the amazing layout. It’s an apartment-style dorm with four private bedrooms, two private bathrooms, a kitchenette, and a small living room. Amazing, right?! But wait, there’s more! Apparently, the people that live in Auburn’s dorms are also the morally superior part of Auburn’s student body. You know, the kinds of kids that would never drink or smoke or fornicate without a marriage certificate that means their orgasms are no longer sinful.
Or so I thought. Minorities around the world seem to struggle when coming together and making a change. Whether it comes to women’s rights, LGBT rights, eliminating racism or improving life in general, it is a struggle for all individuals in a group. Between Women was created to make it less of a struggle and more a journey. We strive to discover new people and ideas, while respecting new cultures even though they may go against everything we know.
As a woman who is black, masculine and lesbian, attending a traditional Southern college has its ups and downs. I’ve learned a lot about how “real” Southern people live and work through meeting different people in the community. There are many conservative views holding the community back from progressing, outnumbering the few who wish to see our town improve. Personally, I haven’t been attacked directly for my demographic status, but there are barriers and much tension when one goes against the grain. Luckily, I found a beacon of hope in the midst of this culturally deprived campus: a gay straight alliance group and a women’s resource center. In these organizations I found support and inspiration from variety of people, who decided to thrive in a world that wanted to keep them silent and in the background. |