I have been described as a rabble rouser, agitator, troublemaker (?) and activist. Although, all of these words aptly apply they do not clearly define why I have chosen the path of resistance. My reason--I want to enjoy all that the world and another has to offer.  I am compelled to seek intellectual and spiritual “truths.” I must commit my mind and soul (beliefs in action) to the eradication of those things within (me) and outside that hinder me from being able to fully appreciate YOU! Resistance against sexism, racism, homophobia, ethnocentrism, elitism provides me a space to dream of a world free from discrimination and full of positive connections.

Agitation 1 (true story)

A woman has been invited to sit on a high level governing board dealing with empowering young people through education. However, the meetings are held at 7:30 in the morning—the meeting schedule is not conducive to insuring that she can get her children up and ready for school.  Hmmmm…what should she do? What should the board do?  Well, I’ll tell you what they did do. She resigned and the board kept their 7:30 am meeting time.

Think About It: Women (sometimes men) are penalized for assuring that their children are cared for. If a woman chooses to put her children first it could potentially derail her community involvement and or her career aspirations. Yet, in this country we tout that our children are the assets of the future and that patriarchy is dead. I don’t know whether or not the board understood how they supported a structure that marginalizes women, that put children at risk and negates the contributions of 50% of the population but somebody ought to tell them.

All responders please feel free to check my biases and lack of understanding of the issues that I bring forward—I want to grow.

Monday, January 21, 2008 4:15:22 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1] | 

On January 16, Lourdes College celebrated the dedication of the Ebeid Student Center in Delp Hall. The ceremony, which began at 4:30 p.m., honored Russell J. Ebeid, President of Guardian Industries Glass Group and major donor of the Student Center.

During the Ebeid Student Center dedication, the Lourdes College Gray Wolf mascot was unveiled for the first time. The mascot design was selected through a submissions process. Submissions were received from students, faculty and staff of Lourdes College. The winning submission was from Luke Ellison, Lourdes student in the Department of Art.

Russell Ebeid greets crowd

Luke Ellison stand with rendering of Lourdes College Gray Wolf Mascot

Friday, January 18, 2008 3:49:54 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] | 

I miss school!  Only a month out of it, and I want to come back.  I'm homesick for school.  What is a girl to do?  I keep getting all the welcome back emails and stuff, and I feel lost.  I'm sure that will all change when I start the new job next week.  And my taste for classwork is being whetted by this Kaplan review I've been taking. 

It's nice to not have to shell out oodles of money for books or wonder what my instructors will be like this year or figure out how to manage the load of full time school work and the rest of my life.  But I would still do it all over, I really would. 

I'm almost 29 years old and I guess I have to grow up some time, and function in the real world.  After all, this is what I've worked for, right?  However, if I could get paid to be a professional student, I would do that in a heartbeat.  I'm a bookworm. I'm a dork.  I can't help it.  I love school. After all the moaning and groaning I did last semester, I would still keep coming back to the familiarty and comfort of Lourdes College.  It was my home away from home for six years, and I've been through a lot there.  I have finally left the nest.

Maybe I'm just getting anxious about not having the safety net of school.  Without school, I am now forced to grow up, live in the real world, move out of my parents' house, get married to my fiance, and just live life. 

I've always wanted all of that, and now it's staring me in the face and I don't know what to do.  It is time to face the music. I'm anxious, scared, and excited all at the same time. 

So, good luck this semester.  I have had the cord cut and I must now venture out on my own.  Later!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 6:26:28 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] | 

On Friday, January 25, Lourdes College will host Fort Pastor in concert. Known for their social activism and acoustic jam-band sound, Fort Pastor will perform at 8 p.m. in the Franciscan Center Theatre.

With influences from Dave Matthews Band and the Jon Butler Trio, Fort Pastor has performed with music greats Jars of Clay and Mercy Me and will be featured on the main-stage at the 2008 SoulFest in New Hampshire.

Their newest album, Beautiful Imperfection, has already received rave reviews since its release last fall. Christian Music Today gave it four and a half out of five stars, claiming “socially conscious lyrics, impressive musicianship, and dynamic arrangements make Beautiful Imperfection almost perfect.” The Indie Music Stop suggests that people add the album to their “must buy” music list. Fort Pastor’s cover of Seal’s “Crazy” is one of the album’s standout tracks, having evolved from its original R&B groove, into the band’s non-R&B, yet still soulful vibe.

In addition to attracting attention for their music, Fort Pastor is also gaining recognition for their message of community action and social reform. Having created a foundation known as the Social Justice Army (SJA), fans of the band can join and commit to serving their community one hour a month. Since its inception, the SJA has been donating an average of 20,000 community service hours each year.

Lourdes College students, faculty, staff and alumni can receive two FREE tickets with a valid Lourdes College ID card. Tickets for the general public are only $10 each. To purchase tickets to the concert, contact the Franciscan Center Box Office at 419-824-3999.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 3:27:05 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] | 

Dale Lanigan was telling me about how he took a quiz online to tell him who he matches up with best in terms of current issues that Presidential candidates differ on.  He was surprised because he was matched you with a candidate that was different from his current leading choice for President.

I started to wonder what a quiz like that would say about me, so the search began.

Google is such a wonderful thing. :)  After weeding through all of the junk sites, I found one that I like really well.  Some of the questions are a little lengthy.  However, I liked this one because not only can you state where you stand on issues, but you can rate how important the issue is to you.  Then, the site ranks whose viewpoints on issues are closest to yours. 

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ongoing/select_a_candidate/

Check it out.  See who you match up with.  It is not intended to tell you who you should vote for, but to help you understand the different candidates' positions in relation to you own viewpoint. I was really surprised....

I thought my top three were going to appear in this order:

Barack Obama

John Edwards

Hilary Clinton

	Barack Obama 22.0	Iraq  Iran  Immigration  Taxes  The mortgage crisis  Education  Social Security  Stem cell research  Health care  SCHIP  Abortion  Line-item veto  Energy  Marriage  Death penalty
	Hillary Clinton 20.0	Iraq  Iran  Immigration  Taxes  The mortgage crisis  Education  Social Security  Stem cell research  Health care  SCHIP  Abortion  Line-item veto  Energy  Marriage  Death penalty
	Mike Gravel 20.0	Iraq  Iran  Immigration  Taxes  The mortgage crisis  Education  Social Security  Stem cell research  Health care  SCHIP  Abortion  Line-item veto  Energy  Marriage  Death penalty
	Dennis Kucinich 19.0	Iraq  Iran  Immigration  Taxes  The mortgage crisis  Education  Social Security  Stem cell research  Health care  SCHIP  Abortion  Line-item veto  Energy  Marriage  Death penalty
	John Edwards 16.0	Iraq  Iran  Immigration  Taxes  The mortgage crisis  Education  Social Security  Stem cell research  Health care  SCHIP  Abortion  Line-item veto  Energy  Marriage  Death penalty
	Rudy Giuliani 12.0	Iraq  Iran  Immigration  Taxes  The mortgage crisis  Education  Social Security  Stem cell research  Health care  SCHIP  Abortion  Line-item veto  Energy  Marriage  Death penalty
	Ron Paul 10.0	Iraq  Iran  Immigration  Taxes  The mortgage crisis  Education  Social Security  Stem cell research  Health care  SCHIP  Abortion  Line-item veto  Energy  Marriage  Death penalty
	John McCain 8.0	Iraq  Iran  Immigration  Taxes  The mortgage crisis  Education  Social Security  Stem cell research  Health care  SCHIP  Abortion  Line-item veto  Energy  Marriage  Death penalty
	Mike Huckabee 5.0	Iraq  Iran  Immigration  Taxes  The mortgage crisis  Education  Social Security  Stem cell research  Health care  SCHIP  Abortion  Line-item veto  Energy  Marriage  Death penalty
	Duncan Hunter 5.0	Iraq  Iran  Immigration  Taxes  The mortgage crisis  Education  Social Security  Stem cell research  Health care  SCHIP  Abortion  Line-item veto  Energy  Marriage  Death penalty
	Mitt Romney 5.0	Iraq  Iran  Immigration  Taxes  The mortgage crisis  Education  Social Security  Stem cell research  Health care  SCHIP  Abortion  Line-item veto  Energy  Marriage  Death penalty
	Fred Thompson 5.0	Iraq  Iran  Immigration  Taxes  The mortgage crisis  Education  Social Security  Stem cell research  Health care  SCHIP  Abortion  Line-item veto  Energy  Marriage  Death penalty

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 12:19:38 AM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [8] | 

... you hear someone speak Spanish or think you may hear Spanish, doesn't mean the person is Mexican. Latin America is huge which includes all of Central America and South America. A great deal of Europeans (Spain) understand and speak Spanish along with a huge chunk of sub-Sahara Africa.

Just because you hear someone speak or think you may hear Chinese, doesn't mean the person is Chinese. Again, Asia is huge and full of several languages like Thai, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Oriya, Japanese, Korean, etc etc ETCETERA.

You speak English - you must be South African!

You speak French - you must be from Martinique!

The more I learn about languages, their origins, and how culture ties into the development of them, the more I realize how many Americans are truly stuck in their bubble. "We're America!" "We protect the World!" "We're the best!" "Everyone must speak English or get out!"

Just a little less than 20% of Americans carry a valid US Passport. Only 75% of those that have one will ever travel outside of the USA.

I'm going to rant as humbly as possible now...

Instead of insisting that people speak English or leave, how about YOU LEAVE, come back, and really learn how to appreciate what you have, don't have, or want to have. Instead of whining and complaining that "those Mexicans come over and take away our jobs", how about you actually do their job... wait, that's right. You don't want to do that job which is exactly why they do it.

Wait, just wait... if this attitude doesn't fade, then my grandchildren will be expected to know Chinese when it become a world standardization just like English is now, today. And the Chinese will be crying that all these Americans are ocean-jumping and taking away their jobs that they don't want to do in 50 years. What a coincidence! Why? Because by then they'll have enough IOUs banked up to collapse the US and EU economy once they get fed up with Americans' mentality of being holier, and more superior than thou.

I'm just glad they don't follow our "so-called" values. They'd've done screwed us up a LONG time ago. Look how crazy this country has become in just 8 years of the crap.

And uh.... that's it. I have to go to class. Thanks for reading. I really needed to vent about some of this stuff.

This has been reposted with permission from the author, my friend Todd.  Todd and I were best friends in high school.  We think so much alike, it is REALLY scary sometimes.  It's like he's a male version of me - scary thought! :)  He moved out to San Fransisco after high school, and left me to fend for myself in Ohio...thanks Todd!

These are the types of conversations we have together.  I couldn't have said it better myself, hence, why I'm reposting it. 

Anyone care to agree or disagree with us?

Tuesday, January 15, 2008 5:27:59 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [9] | 

SGA would like to welcome back everyone to this Spring semster!  It's going to be a great semester!

We invite you to join us for our first open forum meeting, January 28 at 4:00.  Come hear what we have planned for this semster and let yor voices be heard!!!

For more information on SGA check out http://www.lourdes.edu/current_students/?s=63

To contact us, please email SGA@lourdes .edu

Tuesday, January 15, 2008 4:49:53 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] | 

Lourdes College celebrated its 50^th anniversary in January. To celebrate the College’s 50 years of learning, reverence and service, a special day of events was planned to commemorate the milestone. 

On Sunday January 13, a liturgy and brunch were be held to honor Lourdes’ anniversary. The liturgy begans at 10 a.m. in the Queen of Peace Chapel, during which the Lourdes Choir performed a special anniversary commissioned piece “A Golden Celebration,” composed by Ryan Nowlin, a Bowling Green State University graduate. The musical piece included several hymns and debuted during the Academic Processional at the liturgy.  Following the liturgy a brunch was held in the Franciscan Center of Lourdes College. During the brunch a special preview of the Lourdes’ 50^th anniversary documentary was shown.

As part of the anniversary, The Toledo Blade reserved a special pull-out section that highlighted the Lourdes community. This section was published in the Sunday, January 13^th edition.

Monday, January 14, 2008 3:17:12 PM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] |