I'm ashamed of my generation.

http://www.mrconservative.com/2012/01/565-letters-from-21-female/
^ The above link will lead you to one of the most offensive things I've read in a long time.
For those of you who would rather not waste your lives to read such ignorant trash, a 21 year old girl describes how she would change the welfare system.
Change 1: No longer allow anything but rice, beans, cheese, and milk to be bought with food stamps.
Change 2: Any women who are in "the system" should have their tubes tied or be forced birth control. Especially if they have so much as a trace of alcohol in their system at the time of a random drug test. (This girl obviously doesn't understand the meaning of moderation?)
Change 3: Public housing would turn into military barracks, and anything but the bare essentials would be repossessed by the government.

There is no way this girl has ever lived through the slightest bit of a financial struggle. I hate to wish badly on people, but I hope someday she  finds her "happily ever after," and then her husband leaves her to support herself and her children on her own. I hope her parents refuse to help. Let's see how easy it is to just "suck it up and get a job."
Many Americans living in poverty already have a job, but it's not enough. The economy sucks, and it's nearly impossible to support yourself on minimum wage. Obviously, there are people who could work and choose not to, but there are just as many, if not more, who would jump at the chance to work, but things like a criminal record, lack of transportation, or lack of experience are preventing them from doing so.

Now, I have a personal confession to make. I have been on food stamps. First, when I moved out of my mom's house. I didn't accept the EBT card so I could blow it all on candy and pop. When my parents divorced, my mom couldn't afford to support me. She had troubles feeding herself, let alone feeding me. The extra $80 a month made it possible for me to live independently after spending the past 5 months nearly homeless.
Second, when I lived in Moorhead. I was going to school full time, but I looked for work. My record forced every business I interviewed at to throw out my application. My mom had just passed away, and money from sympathy cards only lasted so long. Plus, city life is expensive. I only got $50 a month there, but that's an extra week's worth of food for my ex and I.
I have other friends who are still on food stamps. They don't get enough to spend extravagantly. Those who spend it all on junk are going to regret it at the end of the month when their real food runs out. If you're in "the system," you have to learn how to spend money wisely. It has to stretch, which means the average diet will consist of pasta and other grain products...very little meat or fresh produce. "Nutrition" only comes in boxes and cans.

Secondly, public housing isn't bad enough? The writer acts like low-income apartments are expensively decorated with freshly painted walls and granite countertops. No. I have yet to see any apartments that accept welfare recipients in good shape. The best of them could only be called average. Most of the buildings I've lived in or visited have nasty smells, stains, or even holes in the walls. They're in sketchy parts of town where you hear more sirens than any other noise.
My landlord in Kentucky specialized in renting to people who couldn't afford anything better. When the knob on my bathtub broke, he gave me a pair of pliers to turn the hot water on, rather than fixing it. When the handle on my toilet broke off, he told me to fix it on my own. You get what you pay for. Once again, people who abuse the system exist, but if an apartment isn't pristine, it's probably because the renters can't afford cleaning supplies...or laundry money to wash the piled up clothes.

If this girl got her way, people who are down on their luck would be even more ostracized from society. What's next? Any quality clothes (even if they were bought at thrift stores) would be taken away, and replaced with bright orange shirts marked "poor?" Because they don't deserve the same things as normal people... It's already hard enough to struggle to provide basic necessities...I've seen some nasty things...and with people like this sadly sheltered girl in the world, it will never get any easier.

This link almost made me cry. She needs to walk a mile in someone else's shoes...

Thought Questions #4 / Freewriting / Another nice thing.

TQ#4 (posted on the Facebook group this morning): What do you need most right now?

...Stability.
I'm starting to realize I'm at the point in my life where I don't want to be making new friends/aquaintances every few months and moving once a year (or more). Every little thing that's here now...I want it to stay where it is. No more moving.
I'm beginning to enjoy the routine I've set in place for myself.
There's something comforting in knowing that 2 days a week, I will wake up sleep deprived, but still find the energy to stay on campus for 12 hours a day. There's just too much going on to find time to go home.
I like knowing that I have somewhere to stay (multiple places, actually), if my electricity gets turned off again. Relying on the kindness of friends isn't something to shoot for, but it can be good.
I fall asleep after getting the same text message every night. I don't see that as boring. It makes me happy. Though my dreams are usually not happy, no matter who says they should be. My brain shows me weird things when I'm sleeping.
Even food is predictable. On Tuesdays, I get a free meal. On Thursdays, I eat for a dollar and get both lunch and dinner. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I usually eat with the same people (Or watch them eat. No meal plan, remember?) No more high-school intimidation -- walking into a crowded room, knowing no one.
I know that on Sundays I'll probably want to sleep in, but I'll get up early-ish to go to church...because that's routine, and predictability makes me feel safe.
And thinking about Christmas, when nothing will be predictable, kinda worries me. I'm not sure how to feel about going home -- that lonely, silent place in the middle of a crowded city...or maybe I was the lonely, silent one. Everyone else was alive and full of purpose, just like the streets around them...but not me. If I don't find myself surprised & having fun, at least I know sedatives are my friend, and I can leave after 2 weeks are over.
It may not be as bad as I've been dreaming, though. Because I'm bringing someone with me.
My friend, who will be called "A" here...
(YES, FRIEND. I have been asked by at least 3 different people if I was dating him, and no, I'm not. We're neighbors. And friends. So yes, we will spend a lot of time together. We are both single, but I'm not dating -anyone.- I've been interested in the same person for quite some time now (though recently it's become painfully obvious how badly he wants to be rid of me), and if I could make that go away, I would, but hearts and brains are funny like that...)
...is coming home with me because of family drama that keeps him from spending time with his parents & siblings. There is no way I would let him stay in Cookeville by himself. That was me on fall break. That will probably be me on Thanksgiving. That will not be him on Christmas.
I didn't know how I would pay for his bus ticket (even though companion tickets are half price)...I assumed I would hope & pray for enough birthday money to cover his cost (and I thought he would help, but he has to pay to feed himself too & he's more broke than I am), and instead of buying myself winter clothes or Christmas presents...I would pay for him to have a holiday.
I casually mentioned on my BCM small group's facebook page that we were having troubles...in less than 12 hours, 5 people offered to help. I was once again shocked because I didn't think any of those people really cared about me...(I have some very nice BCM friends that care for sure, but I didn't know my group even noticed me, really...)
So, A gets a Yankee Christmas, and I may still have enough money to buy myself some warm clothes and start on my Christmas shopping. I may be stressing out bad in a couple months, but right now, I feel pretty lucky. I don't know how A feels, but he is pretty lucky too. :)

Wow, you're far from home!

EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. that I meet someone new, I wish I was wearing a nametag that addressed the 4 most common questions.
What's your name?
What's your class?
What's your major?
Where are you from?
When I get to that last question and tell this new person/group of people where I'm from, their eyebrows raise and they stare at me and wonder, "WHY?" So then I have to explain in depth why I chose to attend TTU. "Because I wanted to." isn't what they want to hear.
I FOUND TTU because Brianna recommended it, but I wasn't originally planning on living in a town as small as Cookeville. If only apartments in Nashville didn't cost so much. :( There was nothing about Tech that impressed or inspired me, but I applied anyway. It's just another school, really. I had literally no reason to go here except it was close to a city I fell in love with, and I already knew one person who'd be in my class.
I suppose I knew more people who attended MSUM, but I also knew more people there who I'd rather avoid. It's great living in a town where no one knows where I went to high school. Half these people probably couldn't even point out Minnesota on a map. It's freeing. I know no one here will say, "OH, do you know (insert name of high school bully)? He's my roommate/boyfriend/best friend/drinking buddy."
I am free to make friends by being myself. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. But who I was in high school doesn't matter here. And unlike UC/Williamsburg, my religion (or lack of) and brand of clothes/purse/car doesn't define me either. But it's still a small town.
Sometimes I get bored.
Sometimes I get lonely.
But I don't have to walk down the street afraid of people throwing things out their window at me.
THAT is why I moved to Cookeville. :)