United front

To the Editor of the Texas A&M Battalion:

I would like to respond to the current situation at Virginia Tech. First off I would like to commend all of my fellow Aggies who have united with the Longhorns in the selling of t-shirts to support Virginia Tech. The Virginia Tech colors being maroon and orange, it just seemed to right for us to come together and help. It is such a comfort to know that while playful rivals, we can count on eachother to overcome tragedy and create something wonderful. My heart goes out to all those that lost loved ones that terrible day. I pray that this will be the end of tragedy for all universitys around the country.

Spring is here!!

From bad to Great!

It's pouring outside and theres nothing to do in this little town when your cramped up indoors all the time. My boyfriend (Levi) and I are going crazy, tossing and turning, unable to find a way to occupy ourselves during the terrible weather.

Me: cranky and at a loss of ideas, "Find something to do."

Levi: "What do you want to do?"

Me: "I dont care just find something, I'm bored!"

Repeat this phrase at least 5 times, each time add more intensity and hostility towards one another.

Levi: "There's nothing to do so stop asking me!"

Me: shocked by his harsh attitude begin to sulk and feel sorry for myself, "Well, will you just pay attention to me?"

Levi: he laughs and with a cute little smile he jokingly says, "You are such a rotten little princess!"

Me: flash a huge smile and bat my eyelashes, "And whose princess am I?"

Levi: holding me tightly in his muscular arms, "Mine baby, mine!"

And we spent the rest of the day contently, cuddled up watching movies.

The World's Largest Supermodel Vacations in Maui

Amanda gracefully walks off her personal jet onto the smooth, sun-kissed sand of Maui. With her husband and two beautiful children shortly behind her they easily resemble the the "perfect" all American family. Amanda is simply glowing, it having been just a short six weeks since the birth of her youngest Naomi, she is in absolute perfect shape once again. When asked about her upcoming shoot in Moscow, she simply smiled and said that she was looking forward to go back to that gorgeous country. It is amazing to me that the largest supermodel in the world still maintains her kindergarten classroom. It seems all is well for this mom, teacher, and supermodel.

The so-called Quirkyalone

I would just like to start off by saying, I absolutely hate sterotypes and everything that comes with them. While I realize that they are inevitable because we live in a world full of shallow cliques and judgemental groups, it would be nice to think that someday that would all change. As far as this group of people who refer to themselves as the Quirkyalone, it seems nothing more than an excuse to be unhappy and to constantly compare their friends relationships to those in movies and on tv. They have idea what real love is and everything they do know comes from some off-the-wall hopelessly romantic movie like Beauty and the Beast.

The the Quirkyalone website she goes on to say, "For the quirkyalone, there is no patience for dating just for the sake of not being alone. On a fine but by no means transcendent date we dream of going home to watch television. We would prefer to be alone with our own thoughts than with a less than perfect fit. We are almost constitutionally incapable of casual relationships." I myself find this to be completly ridiculous. To fall in love you must first go through several immature, casual, even terrible relationships. Then when you finally find your soulmate, you have no doubt that your love is pure. You appreciate the person completely for who they are and who they make you when your with them. But without first having those "less than perfect dates" you wouldn't have the appreciation for a perfect date when it actually happened.

Whose in your network?

"..."You are who your network is." You are who you know."

Unfortuantely, I believe this is all to true. People judge others on the people they surround themselves with. It's just like in high school, if you hangout with the gothic kids- people assume that you to are a gothic kid. Whatever they stand for, automatically becomes what you stand for, whether its true or not. This isn't all necessarily bad, I mean you choose your friends therefore you choose the imagine you want to protray to the world. Also, I think that these online social networks have become way to public. People should not be able to see your every move or everything you send. There comes to a point where you have to have some kind of privacy for nothing other than your own safety, much less sanity. In other words, choose your friends or network carefully because you will be judged because of your decisions and be careful with how much information you leave on the net, not everything is public right.

checking out

Theres nothing worse than being starving and going to the grocery store. First of all, it takes forever to find what you need because they're always moving items to new aisles. Then, when you finally are ready to go, you get in line. Thinking that the self-checkout is the way to go, you get in line behind an older woman. After ten minutes you see she's only checked out 5 items out of her 3,545 items (well over the limit). But by now all the regular lines are packed and theres a line of 5 people behind you. The Speedy self-checkout is virtually nonexsistant. At least if the person infront of you is over 45.

Ana Mia

"Anorexia has become a religion in which all who follow shall become thin and achieve perfection, while browsing the content of a ‘pro-ana’ site Pro Ana Mia we can find the ‘ana creed’ which further breaks down the self esteem of these mouldable girls." Zilla Gordon the author of this blog is talking about the very serious health issue of Pro Ana Mia websites and the lifestyle they are continuing to promote. Gordon is addressing an audience of people who may know individuals with these disorders but don't quite understand them and of course Ana Mia users. She talks about how it feels not to eat like shes been in those shoes before, and wants to help stop the trend before people start dying. This article really struck me because this is where I am. I have, at different low points in my life been both Anorexic and Bulemic. It is something I will always struggle with and with the media so surrounded on issues of weight it hard to get away from those thoughts of "if I could just lose 10 pounds I'd be happier". I'm glad to see there are people out there fighting these sites, there is no doubt in my mind they will succeed.

Lucy Grealy

In my English class we just read a story about a young girl named Lucy grealy who is diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma in just fourth grade. Even more painful than her battle with a lethal form of cancer was Lucy's battle with her self confindence. Due to the severity of her cancer she lost almost half of her jaw, had to complete many rounds of chemotherapy and multiple surgeries to try and reconstruct her face. Throughout the story she gives examples of other children picking on her, calling her "ugly" and comparing her face to someone's asshole. This kind of teasing can be torture for such a young child, especially for someone who had already gone through such a tragedy. She even goes on to say that the fact that she had cancer seemed minor in comparison to the pain that her "ugliness" caused her.

My dad was diagnosed with Leukimia when I was in the fifth grade. He was a very vain man, my mom used to joke about how he took three times as long as she did to get ready. When he started to lose his hair, he became very parinoid and self couscious. I can't imagine how this little girl must have felt. The end of Elementary school, beginning of Middle school is the hardest time for anyone, especially girls to be sure of themselves. To be constantly told how ugly you are would make it nearly impossible to bear. She was definitly a strong little girl to have survived both cancer and the harsh world of the public school system.