All posts filed under: G.U.M Community

Leaving Goggles

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I’m leaving my job. That’s right folks; after over a year and a half of working full time in my kooky little call center, I am leaving to travel and follow my dreams of being paid to write. It’s exciting, it’s terrifying and there is a very real chance I will end up extremely poor and never be able to move out of my parents flat. It’s even more of a daunting prospect because this is the only thing I have done since graduating. I literally left university on the last day of June two years ago and started working here on the first day of July. I didn’t take a break or a summer off, this is literally all I know of the adult world. I always planned to leave; in fact I had no idea I would be here this long. The plan was to save enough money to go traveling before settling down into ‘adult’ life. Initially I naively thought that would take about six months. I kept postponing leaving partly because I didn’t have enough money to …

Why Connect?

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Originally posted on PRinspires:
One of Project Reverso, Inc.’s tenets is Connecting Communities, and sometimes we’re reminded of the importance of making a concerted effort to do so. But at times it can be difficult to find real-life ways to connect with others from other communities. Over the last few years I’ve personally made a commitment to be as uncomfortable as possible by stepping outside of the comforts of my own cultural status quo. By going on multiple service trips abroad to intentionally reaching out to persons in the LGBTQ community to become friends I’ve gained perspectives that I would have otherwise never had. This summer and fall semester I took the opportunity to host two English learning foreign exchange students; one this summer from Colombia and this fall from Japan.  Under what other circumstances would I have the opportunity to live with individuals from cultures and communities that are polar opposites from that in which I grew up in? One student even admitted to being afraid once he realized that I wasn’t a white male…

Childhood Ponderings: Barbie

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I’ve recently encountered quite a few little ladies that have expressed their dislike or their parent’s dislike of Barbie. The reason being, “Barbie sets an unrealistic and poor standard of beauty for young women.” It’s clear that the implication is that by playing with a barbie doll young girls will develop beauty standards that are impossible to live up to and therefore spiral into an adolescence of low self esteem. I don’t know about other women (and men), but I loved barbie. I was able to play with my dolls without analyzing their beauty and applying it to what I was supposed to grow into. Perhaps it’s because I was innocent and sheltered. Or it may have been that I understood the difference between fake and real. Playing with a plastic doll wasn’t something I would compare my human body to. I feel safe saying that I knew it was silly to compare my flesh and blood human body to a doll that was the reflection of someone’s imagination. These two factors (the opinion of young …

Millennial Myths: Entitlement

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Many members of older generations love to call millennials entitled. The reality is it’s not just millennials. We live in a country of entitlement. Obviously this doesn’t apply to everyone.  Entitlement extends beyond the work force. It is a syndrome that can be found amongst various issues (i.e. race, human rights, education, and even privacy). Privacy seems to be one of the highest problem areas. The issue ranges from high school students creating Instagram accounts to leak nude photos of their peers (a separate issue itself) to paparazzi legally stalking public figures. This epidemic has contributed to ignorance spreading across the country faster than the common cold in January. We have created a society that focuses more on information that doesn’t directly affect audiences (i.e. celebrity lives) instead of information that ultimately will (i.e. deals regarding oil). It seems as though this sense of entitlement to know about the personal lives of public figures has turned into a cultural obsession. For example, informing audiences that Tiger Woods’ car accident was due to the fact that his …

The Flea by John Donne

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This has always been one of my favorite poems. I hope you enjoy it. Mark but this flea, and mark in this, How little that which thou deny’st me is; It sucked me first, and now sucks thee, And in this flea, our two bloods mingled be; Thou knowest that this cannot be said A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead. Yet this enjoys before it woo, And pampered, swells with one blood made of two, And this, alas, is more than we would do. Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare, Where we almost, yea, more than married are. This flea is you and I, and this Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is; Though parents grudge, and you, we are met And cloistered in these living walls of jet. Though use make you apt to kill me, Let not to that self murder added be, And sacrilege, three sins in killing three. Cruel and sudden, hast thou since Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence? Wherein could this flea guilty be …

Funny Finds: Mightyduck Vines

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I actually don’t use vine. I recently deleted my account. However, I do see quite a few on YouTube and throughout my Facebook timeline. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that’s how I see most of them. Then again, you should know by now that I’m 80 on the inside. I recently came across Mightyduck compilations. He has a few with his sisters (the youngest one especially). They’re all hilarious. Some of them remind me of how I used to interact with my big brother. Anyway, here’s one to enjoy if you need a good laugh: Pizza, Netflix, and Happiness. Mei.

Be Kind and Rewind

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For those of you who never enjoyed the experience of a movie rental store (i.e. blockbuster) or, more importantly, a VHS, this used to be a phrase used at most stores. If you didn’t rewind the VHS then the next renter would have to do it before watching the movie. Or some poor pimple popping teen trying to make a quick buck would have to sit in a back room and rewind them. Long explanation short: You’d be a dick. I’ll make this quick. Being kind takes a lot of strength and effort. It requires you to actually take a moment, think, and then act. In cases like the VHS you may even have to exert extra energy (i.e. the act of rewinding). Why be kind? It’s sad that you have to ask this question, but since you did…I’m sure you would appreciate if someone did it for you. If not, carry on your dick-ish ways, but be sure to own up to it. Or stop being lazy. As for the rest, just be kind. Pizza, Netflix, …