Purell

Take a look around SMU's campus, those darn Purell dispensers are EVERYWHERE! In the gym? Understandable. In the cafeteria or anywhere food is served? Understandable. But have you ever noticed how many are in the library? I understand a few here and there, but they are everywhere! Nowadays everyone is concerned about their health, but the amount in Fondren is ridiculous. Do we really need that many? This was my thought process until these past few weeks. With my endless nights in here and more and more people showing up to do their last minute cramming I am noticing a rise in colds. I feel like everyone is getting sick. Between the changing weather, the stress, the sleepless nights, everyone is coming down with some sort of sickness. I kind of even wish they had more dispensers. Which brings me to another point. Isn't it ironic that we overstress ourselves to the point where we become ill in times where we need our full focus and undivided attention? I find it so fascinating how our body works. Under stress we can study better,or at least cram more information than we ever thought possible, but physically make ourselves sick. How does our body work like this? Fondren should post some health tips and over emphasize the use of the Purell dispensers during finals.

Dragons

Mystical character? Who ever thought of a dragon? Was it once real? Often told to us in stories as a kid, many of us grow up believing in some mystical object. We relate ourselves to this animal and believe them to be our saviors if we were ever in danger. After all in a lot of Disney movies, isn't that what they do? They are protector of the good guy. Or they do the opposite and the hero slays the dragon so it can't cause any harm. Does this portray a different message to children. Sometime they slay the dragon because they know something that they don't want the rest of the town knowing. Are we teaching children at a young age, "keep your friends close. keep your enemies closer?" From early on, mystified characters such as this teach us lessons we don't recognize until we are older. We either wish we had one, or we wish we could slay one. So when do you know to slay the dragon or make it your savior? Is the dragon inherently either evil or bad, or is the way you perceive it and then make your judgements about it. In life, are certain situations inherently bad, or is the way we make judgements about it. Is i the way we perceive them? I believe these movies teach us from a young age, its half what happens to us and its half how we react. We all can perceive a dragon as a good guy or a bad guy. The choice is up to you.

Owl

Wise or creepy? If you showed an owl to someone right now, how would they react? Many would agree owls are sort of creepy creatures. So why do they symbolize wisdom. Ask any elder and they will say owls were often used as references to reflect wisdom. Owls are creepy yet right now they are just a fashion statement. Go to any urban outfitters and you will see owl necklaces, earings, rings, you know name anything owl, they have it. The definition in which you define something comes out of your cultural time. Elders think they are wise, the young think they are creepy, and the middle think its a fashion statement. One simple animal can represent 3 different generations. The era you grow up in really does depict your thoughts.

Glass

Window, case, cup, clear, breakable, colorful, art, etc. Glass, one of the most used things in the world. You look around in anywhere I almost guarantee you see glass somewhere. So if we use it so much, why is it so breakable? You drop a piece of glass, it is very unforgiving, it will shatter into a million pieces before you know it. It is funny how the things we value/use the most are the things that are broken/leave the fastest. It's like a rule of life or something. You love it more you lose it faster. Just like glass the things you don't every want to break end up breaking the fastest. And to boot, they don't only break they shatter. And they don't only shatter, they cut you trying to clean it up. So why buy glass? In hopes this glass won't ever break.

Pink!

Girl! Yep, take a look around my room, everything is pink! Why am I so obsessed with a color? Everything I own is either pink or rhinestoned. Why? The rhinestone aspect I believe is my true dancer inside of me. But how can one person become so obsessed with a color? It's like an addiction, I don't care what other shades it comes in, I am getting whatever it is in pink damn-it. And if it doesn't come in pink I'll get it in neon or anything animal print. This is my thought process. Typical girl response. So how did I get so girlified. I fit the stereotype of a female dancer. 16 years of dance I guess will do that to you. But will that forever be ingrained in me? Can you change an obsession? People become so obsessed with certain things its scary. Is it a sense of security that pink will never let me down? Or is it because I truly like pink. When you are a kid in elementary school you favorite color is a huge part of who you are. God forbid you say a funny color and other kids judge you. But now as adults, we still have our favorites. Is this due to comfortableness or do we truly get drawn to this color every-time. I believe as we get older we feel comfortable with this set of standards we set for ourselves. If its worked in the past. why change it? Why change what hasn't been broken? Our favorite color is just the same, why change it if it hasn't let us down yet.

What would you do if you were a lamppost?

What would a lamppost think if they could think? Think about how many things lampposts see. Whether its the beautiful sunny day and they are in their "sleep" mode, resting, taking in the rays or a rainy, muggy day when no one is out. Whatever they do during the day, what would they think when the light turns on... literally. Would they have ethics and morals? Could they judge the robber that just ran past them or sigh in awe and flicker their light when a future fiance proposes to his soon to be wife. Would they shine brighter if someone was in distress? What would a lamppost think. Give any object feelings. No we are not in a literacy class we do not need to go into literature terms. I think a lamppost would be an excellent source of information if it could communicate. It's like your perfect friend. You would always know where it is, it never tries to hide, always reliable at night, could help the lights turn on in a difficult situation. A lamppost would be the perfect friend.

Males vs Females

Take a walk down the boulevard or actually anywhere. Spring is approaching and animals are coming out. If you take a look around, the males are typically substantially more pretty and filled with more colorful feathers and appealing features. Why is this? Typically, when we think of beauty in the human race we think of women as the beauty icons. The only conclusion I have come up with is that in nature males need to attract their mating partner to continue their lineage. Women are the ones who need to be selective in picking their mate. They have control over who they want to mate with when they are in heat. Does that translate to us humans that since women are typically looked upon as the more beautiful that men have more power. Is this why in society men typically are the "powerful" ones. But in nature ducks to exploit the women and flaunt them. So why do we exploit our women in society? Is it to give them the lacking power? Women in our society feel the need to make up for lacking power through their beauty and bodies. It is a fact of our human nature. When did this need start? When did plastic surgery become a socially acceptable thing? Humans will always strive to be the best and when you can't be the best, exploit ourselves. Maybe we should reverse roles in society. Maybe women should have power for day and men should exploit themselves like in nature. With role reversal, even for a day, radical changes can occur. Gender roles are societal based and are created in which cultural context they are placed. It is not nature for women to the the prettier ones and men to be the ones seeking female. It is society's perception of gender roles.

Taxi's

What is there job? Technically they are paid to drive you to where you need to go.

At 2 AM when bars close and they are driving people home, where does their job end? Do they have to drive them wherever they want or stop or drive them through Taco Bell? Do they have to take credit cards? Do they have to drive you to an ATM to get cash to pay them? These fine lines of what they have to do/ what they ought to do is usually up to the driver. Taxi's to college students is usually an essential that they rely on for safety. They walk out of a bar and into a cab hoping to get home safely. After two years of being here, you begin to form relationships with cab drivers. I now have 2 taxi driver's that I now consider my second parents. Is it in their job description to keep us safe and look out of us? Absolutely not. So when does someone just doing their job go above and beyond and turn their job description into something much bigger. They don't have to look out for us or protect us, but these certain two do. They truly care about the safety of the kids at SMU and would be anywhere in Dallas to pick them up at anytime, no questions asked. Why is it so shocking that when a cab driver takes the initiative to really get to know their clients and go above and beyond? Shouldn't everyone do this? Shouldn't it be the opposite? Everyone should try to go above and beyond but many just settle with the bare minimum and just perform their job. No matter what industry or profession you are in, one should always try to go above and beyond. It makes it not only a more enjoyable to the client, but also for you. They could easily be like any other cab driver and drive and get paid, but they really take the time to get to know you, ask how your day is, wait for you if you need to pick something up. One can go through life living the bare minimum or one can go through enjoying every little thing they do. As society we should all care for each other and look out for everyones best interest. It makes life a lot more enjoyable for everyone.

Color

A debate that has gone on for many years, do we all see the same colors, or do we see different ones and perceive them as the same color? Is my purple your orange? Is that why we all have different favorite colors but in reality we may all be attracted to the same spectrum of light? Questions that will never be answered. Do dogs truly not see any color? How much do dogs understand? How do we answer these questions. Sure science has brought us far and we understand much more about life with scientific advances, but will we ever know everything? These questions are questions people ask themselves everyday. How do we cope with these questions? Can one be content with not knowing everything? This is when one must just accept theories. One must use their own judgement to believe what they want. It hard to accept that there are some things you will never understand. I truly believe everything happens for a reason. But on the other hand, when one accepts this notion, they have to accept that their speeding ticket happened for a reason, that anything that may have hindered their daily lives happened for a reason. They have to believe that bad is not a word in their vocabulary because if it was bad then it shouldn't have happened which would contradict their motto "everything happens for a reason." Our mind is a map that will forever question the unknown. Which brings me to this point of does our mind control us, or do we control our mind and control what we believe? One simple question about color makes us wonder a million other things. Taken many psychology classes, it is difficult to study when there is no certainty to half the things you learn . Sure many things are proven with case studies, but is that sufficient? Our mind can ask questions for hours on end. So how do we stop? Do we ever stop? Our mind never stops running. Find time in your day to stop and truly think about things. Everyone needs a time in the day to just take a deep breath. No matter how many things you have to do, how many questions you have, everyone needs time to chill for a second. This is what empowers us to do our best. No matter what you believe or however you answer any of these questions, one truth remains, you know yourself better than anyone else. So as I see everyone stressing over things they cannot change, I encourage them to take a break and breathe. So often we get tangled up in frivolous questions that will not further nor hinder our lives that we forget what is important. Only you know these answers, and whatever you believe, believe with all your heart.

Campus Gossip Sites

Websites I will never go on. Of course last year we had the wonderful juicycampus.com and now apparently there is a new one, I believe collegeacb.com. Someone please tell me the point in these websites. Why are these websites even created? The only people that go on them and say things are the ones who actually care and have time to dedicate to the BS. Are young adults that insecure in today's society that they feel the need to go online and bash others? Our society needs a reform. A website that shows good deeds people do. But would this be a hit? Would others post wonderful things about others. And by wonderful things, I do not mean "they are hot," but things like "Congrats to ____ on their new internship!" Would someone really take time out of their day to do this? Most people would probably say no. So why in society do we only concentrate on the negatives. These negative feedbacks and feelings of having to hurt others to try to sound cool only hurt us in the long run. Young adults are programmed to try to succeed socially and in other ways by stepping on others to get there. So why should we expect our elders to act any differently? Why do we think others are going to act more ethically? And why do people who in their own profession, even as a student, expect the advertising industry to be any better? Of course many strive to strengthen the morals, but is it completely shocking that an industry plays on certain stereotypes and expectations of society to further their clients sales? If we want reform all around the world, we must start with the youth. We must shut down such bashful, unnecessary sites and teach morality.

Jimmy Johns

Everyone's go-to late night food! Jimmy Johns: "freaky fast." If you asked the one on hillcrest how many late night runs they make to SMU student, I think it would be safe to say at least 90 percent of their sales. So what makes them so good? Is it the quality of the sandwich? Or is it the quickness of the delivery? or is it simply the convenience of the late time? I would say a combination of all. Who wants to go get food at 3 am and stop what they are doing. I, embarassingly admit, Jimmy Johns is even in my favorites. I call them at least once a week. My question is, if Jimmy Johns is doing so well, why don't they have any competitors around here? Of course it may be inconvenient for employees to stay up until 3 am, but lets be honest, I am sure there are tons of college students who wouldn't mind and they would work for them. So where are the competitors? Betty's Best Chinese delivers, but with spring break, who is ordering chinese? or Greenville Pizza, they are delicious, but same thing. There needs to be a healthier option to deliver. Which brings me to my next question, why doesn't any healthy food deliver? I am sure girls all around college campus' would love to be lazy and healthy. Oxymoron? Yes. Smart? Yes. So please, lets get some healthy food delivery pronto!

Victory!

Victory was once celebrated in Fraternities and Sororities as a celebration. So how did it turn into this huge event that incorporates a formal dance and buses and the whole enchilada? In my opinion formals have become way overblown. For a dance that starts at 10:30, girl start getting ready by 5 to be at a pre-party by 6:30 for dinner at 8 which you still end up being late to the buses which you maybe, if you are lucky, get there by 11. Formals , in my opinion, have become ridiculous. Who made what shoes you wear a huge ordeal? And then after the dance, you continue until 3 in the morning. So how did this celebration turn into a 11 hour ordeal? Society has. I believe that it sad how society has the impact to turn a little celebration into a huge 11 hour event. Society, today has become a huge influence in how we celebrate every little event.

Facebook

one word: ADDICTION! At the moment, my is deactivated. Yeah I said it, deactivated. Say that to any college student, they will think you are crazy. So what is even the big deal? So you can essentially stalk people? So you can show the world your life and everything you do? You want to say no its for networking, but yeah that is precisely it. Even if I promise myself not to go on it, I get emails on my iPhone saying I have new notifications, and well if you have new notifications you have to check it right? Yeah, that is an addiction. Solution: DEACTIVATION! Facebook has become such an imperative part of a young adults life that they cannot go more than 24 hours without checking it. Do I have tagged photos, oh please tell me someone wrote on my wall. What did we do before this? Myspace. Duh. Remember that? And what did we do before that? AIM! Well what about in our parents time? Oh God, lets not even think about that. They must have been antisocial right? Facebook of our time is essential to know when parties are happening, what people are doing, how your friends are doing from back home. You can literally do almost anything, leave videos, chat, message, and even make events. It is a life saviour when you lose your cellphone like me. Facebook is life. That is the conclusion. But I wonder if there is a correlation with test grades going down? I can tell you half the people in the library right now, have facebook up in some tab of their computer, and are checking it regularly which is essentially distracting them. Solution again: DEACTIVATION!

Midterms

Stressful. Anxiety. Late nights. All words that come to mind. Spring break right around the corner, everyone is anxious to get out. However, before we can leave, midterms must take place. Being tested on everything we have learned from the first day of class? Scary. It is funny to watch girl dieting and getting their spring break bodies in shape and then binge eat in the library at 3 am stressed out of their minds.... I believe midterms and finals are stressful times where collaboratively the entire library is thinking oh shit what is going to be on this exam. What I find even more interesting are the midterms the week after spring break and the teachers who believe students will spend the entire spring BREAK studying. Yes, I understand you must study at some points, but isn't it a break for a reason? I thought it was. I find it very stressful to worry about exams the week after. Midterms are a funny thing that must be done but are very stressful and unhealthy. Between the unhealthy eating and the late nights which makes everyone sick which turns into misery between just the thought of freedom and break into studying for my midterms when we get back? It is a funny phenomenon that amuses me to think about.

Red Bull

My late night/cramming addiction. Some people take Aderall to stay up and study hard, some people chug coffee, but all I need is my Red Bull. It gets me through the night. Before coming to Fondren Library at night I always go to 7/11 to stack up on snacks and Red Bull. The caffeine gives me an adrenaline that is irreplaceable. Then as I was sitting here thinking, I must be immuned to it. Or even if I am not it can't give me this huge rush of energy that I make it hyped up to be. I think its the mentality that one night I took it and got a 98 percent on my final. I think Red Bull is half the energy and half the mentality I have towards it. I had one great experience with it and now I am addicted to it. Red Bull, it gives you wings!

Apple

My family has always been PC all the way. However, while searching for laptops for college, I knew I had to have an apple. So what is the big deal about them anyways? I got it just to go with the flow and all my friends were getting them, so why shouldn't I? Now, I don't know how I survived without one. Between syncing my iPhone and using iPhoto and iChat, how did I go without one my entire life. It's funny how you can go without something your whole life and within a week you become addicted and don't even know how to function with your previous one. Apple has slowly started dominating my world. I don't know if it is a good thing or a bad thing? Is it good to become addicted to one company? What if something ever happened to Apple? What would I do? What if I work at a company with only PC such as my past summer job? I forgot even how to do some simple things on a PC. Apple is great for personal use but what about the broader picture? This is when I thought about how I cannot solely become reliant on one company. This may just end up being self destruction. I need to stay open minded and stay educated on all different types of computers.

Lent

Lent: the start of Easter: a Catholic observance. Tradition goes that you give up something for 40 days to parallel Jesus' long journey in the desert where He did not have food or drink for 40 days and 40 nights. Me, being a very religious catholic, saw a whole different side when I came to college. I saw girls giving up every food except vegetables and fruits. Taking lent into an extreme. Turning a religious holiday into an eating disorder. How does one go from religious observance to essentially starving yourself? I still do not understand it. However, I learned that anyone can take a simple thing into a complex self-interested, unhealthy obsession. The fact that spring break is during lent, only makes these matter worse. I have noticed that people take things differently and justify their instabilities with religion.

Olympics

The rise of nationalism. It is funny how one day we are walking around the street, traveling abroad, going about our day normally, then all of a sudden we are super Americans. We are decked out in Red, White and Blue and anyone from another country is a loser for the next 2 weeks. The olympics cause a huge deal of excitement. All of a sudden everyone is a pro on snowboarding, or skiing, or figure skating and everyone knows better than the referees bad call. A competition meant to test for the best turns into every average American being pros at every sport. People who never even have seen a game of hockey start chucking things at the TV screen because they "know" better than the referee. Everyone has huge American flags flying and are decked out in Red, White, and Blue. The olympics change a nation for an entire 2 weeks. I beleive that it is funny but good for a nation. Every 2 years, whether it be summer or winter olympics, for a nation to come together and rejoice in pride. Especially coming from a country who is clearly athletic and does well, it is a great feeling in even hearing our national anthem on the podium. I believe the olympics do a nation well.

Happiest Place on Earth

I was with my friends, at Mardi Gras, having the time of my life, and thought to myself, I couldn't be happier. I am right now in the happiest place on earth. The saints just won, Mardi Gras is being celebrated and I am with all my best friends, how can life get any better? When I quoted that I was in the happiest place on earth, I instantly thought of how when I was a kid, being from CA, of course Disneyland is the happiest place on earth. Mardi Gras to me was disneyland was to a child. It it is a bustling place filled with happy people... and some creepers... and celebrating the holiday. Saint spirit was everywhere and the rides... well they were the restaurants and the adventures of Bourbon street. It was easy to get lost, just like disneyland, and they had food everywhere, just like disneyland, and you wandered, just like disneyland looking for the best ride out there. It was honestly, the happiest place on earth... at that moment. 3 short days later, I had had my fun and was ready to go back home... just like disneyland.

Multiple Intelligences Test

For the multiple intelligence test, I was not surprised at all with my results. I scored pretty evenly across the board. However, I scored highly in kinesthetic and inter and intrapersonal. I have danced my entire life and when I was little I played a lot of sports. I am very independent and know myself very well. I also have mentored a lot of kids for community service in high school. I scored lower on the spacial/visual aspect which also does not surprise me for I have never been known for my artsy/visual work. I believe that this test was quite accurate and gave me insight in knowing my strengths and weaknesses. I am very interested in taking this test again in a few years and see if anything changes or if it remains the same.