Hunger

1. On any given night, 760 people in the Fargo-Moorhead area are homeless.
2. Of these, about 17% are under age 18
3. And of everyone total, 41% are employed, 15% full time.
 (numbers are from the 2009 Wilder Study)

Hey everyone! This is Malyn, and I hope you've had a fabulous week.

Lately I've been having the appetite of a 12 year old boy - pizza cravings at midnight, all that. And when these happen, I have the tendency to tell my roommates that I'm STARVINGGGGGG. But am I, am I really? Nope. Not even close. I typically have had a full three meals, and even then on some nights I can afford to indulge my cravings by ordering breadsticks.

It's just made me think. I am so privileged - we all are. I've never known true hunger, and while I know that's not true for everyone that I know or even everyone at Concordia, it's likely that most of you reading this haven't either.

According to HungerFreeMinnesota.org, "One in every ten Minnesotans doesn’t know where his or her next meal is coming from. Of those ten, four are children." That's a lot of people right there. And if you're perhaps 
thinking, as many Americans do, that they must just be lazy, let me tell you: There are working poor, who have full time jobs and still can't make ends meet due to lack of a living wage, there are people with disabilities, there are people who've been left bankrupt by medical bills. Hunger and homelessness have myriad faces.

So let's cease judging, see how crazy ridiculously privileged we are, and work to help others :)

Have a marvelous and awesome week!

-Malyn

Give A Little

Today, the strangest thing happened to me. I was out shopping and was waiting in line to purchase a few things and the cashier asked the lady in front of me if she would like to donate one dollar to St. Jude's Children's Hospital; the lady said no. At first, I just thought maybe she couldn't afford a dollar... But then I noticed her designer purse, and clothes an caught myself judging her.

The holidays have officially begun and honestly it is the time of giving. Sure, I disagree with this lady's actions. But, I also think every one should give what they can.

Giving also includes thanks. Be thankful for what you have. There are so many people in this world that don't have the luxuries we have. The fact that I am in college whilst knowing that kids in parts of the world can't even go to elementary school.

This holiday season I have only one simple request: Love with the gifts God gave you. Love everyone. Give everything you can. Be love.

Be love.
xx
Katie.

Peace Be With You

I have been feeling stressed lately, more than I have felt in a while. The stressors I'm experiencing aren't ones that quickly pass through - they build and require some stamina. My body has been showing signs of it - some weight loss, breaking out, sore throat, sore legs, and emotional exhaustion. I can't help but wish to disengage and hope everything will pass (which of course, will not be helpful). I have been trying to figure out what I need to get through it all. Support, rest, and most of all, peace.

When I started this blog, I ended my first post with "Peace!" because I had no idea how to end a post. But as time has passed, I'm glad I finished that first post with such a word. It has come to represent so much in my life. Peace is what I have discovered is most helpful in stressful situations. In my class on Buddhism, it was one of the main focuses - to center myself and find peace within me. I have discovered peace is best when found in myself. It is true and honest to me and I know it stems from something I believe in, although I may never find what that is. I guess one could call it my "true self" but to me, I am always changing. The one thing that stays constant is peace found within myself.

Life has been loud lately. The political ads, the campaign calls, and the debates between everyone. Being on a campus where politics is pretty central, it gets extremely loud. I loved participating in the politics and developing my own voice, but right now, I'm glad to have some silence and most of all, peace. Maybe that is what will connect us all in the end - peace. The idea of peace everyone agrees about. Conflict may be necessary, but what is the point of conflict if there is no goal of peace?

Today, I am going to find peace in me. I am going to see peace in others and find some common ground. I believe we all have it - we just need to see it once again.

Peace.

-Nicole

Love Thy Neighbor

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." -Jimi Hendrix

Megan here.

I cannot get this election off my mind. I just want it to be over, but my stomach is in knots over the possible outcomes. I will probably cry at some point tomorrow, either tears of joy or immense pain and sorrow.

I wish everyone would always think about how their actions affect those around them, including those already marginalized by society. Voting has real life consequences, and I wish members of my own family realized how important these issues are to me, because it will change our relationship.  There's no way it can't  be affected, and while we'll always be family, that alone does not compel or require me to compromise my values and beliefs in their presence.

"Love thy neighbor."  It seems simple to me.  Love is something that builds someone up. It eases pain, gives comfort, provides a light in the darkness, and makes someone feel safe. Love doesn't shame, invoke fear, or cause pain. Love thy neighbor means showing respect, providing for needs, ending stigmatization and discrimination, and overall just being a decent person.

Please, please, please, please go vote.  From the bottom of my heart, I urge you to step into that voting booth and think about how those marks will affect your neighbors.  Show some respect and show some love.  I think if we need more of anything these days, it's precisely that. Love.

With all of my LOVE,

Megan

Live For Today

"All I can say about life is, Oh God, enjoy it!" -Bob Newhart

Megan here, I'm back!

I was talking to a friend the other day and she gently reminded me of something that I guess I needed to be reminded of.  She said, "No one is obligated to be unhappy." I think I need to perhaps just take a few more moments to reevaluate what makes me happy and pursue that a little bit more.  I'm not going to live forever, and my goal in life should not be to compromise my happiness for other people.

Delay of gratification is simply putting off gratification now in order to reap greater rewards in the future.  It develops in early childhood and coincides with greater emotional control.  My idea is what if sometimes we push the delay of gratification too far?  I am so guilty of living in the future, it's not even funny.  Here's how my life plan has looked so far:

Get good grades > Go to good college + get good grades > Go to good grad school + get good grades > Work a lot to pay off loans and save up for retirement > Retire

Now, that's a pretty good, goal oriented plan.  I think I've done ok so far... but there needs to be space and time in there for me to sit back and be happy.  I know I don't deal with stress well, I just don't.  It's something I am working on, but I am constantly stressing about how well I can set myself up for my next life phase.

So something new for me to work on: live for today and enjoy where I'm at.

Peace and love,
Megan

In the words of Drake...

Hello all,

First, I would like to apologize for my disappearance from the world wide web & for not being here to brighten your Thursdays. But I'm back. :) Yay!

The past weeks have brought a very important lesson to my attention.

I've noticed that my clubbies are closer with everyone else, and I never get invited to hang out with them. I've noticed the girls on my floor have stopped inviting me to dinner & to go shopping. I've noticed my classmates don't ask me to study with them anymore. I've noticed that people that used to rely on my, can't anymore. And why? Because I work so dang much!

I am 18 years old and a full time student in my freshmen year of college. I also work 40+ hours a week. No wonder no one tries to hangout anymore; I'm NEVER available.

So, here's my advice to you: Live for the now.

Yes, its important to work; responsibility, money, time management & all the junk. But the most most important thing is to live for the present. You only live once, right?


(: Katie

PS. The real meaning (& Drakes original plan) of YOLO is living for the now because you can't do life over. You only live once, do it right.

Preschool

It has been said many times before, but I am coming to a new understanding of what it means when someone says college students are preschoolers. Of course, I get excited when I learn something new and I think it is the coolest thing ever and sometimes I need my mom to pick me up and kiss me on the head. But let me add something to this extended metaphor: preschoolers develop a thing called "false beliefs", which is the understanding that what someone thinks can be wrong, including their own thoughts.

In the past few weeks, I have been struggling with how to deal with differing opinions. When growing up, views on things that other people held were different, but not drastically. And if they were, it always seemed I could prove them wrong. It seemed I was always right. I have come to the difficult realization that my views on things may be wrong and there can be multiple truths on something. Just as preschoolers develop the ability to control their emotions, I am learning how to control my feelings when someone has a dissenting opinion, especially when someone is close to me.

There is something unique to college-age students though that differs from preschoolers - the development of being able to appreciate differing thoughts and see them as valuable. My college emphasizes the importance of interfaith and inter-anything conversation. The valuing of opinion is what makes something change for the better. And I'm slowly getting to that understanding of that value.

And although preschoolers and adults are different, I think I am still entitled to a few naps and for my mom to pick me up off the sidewalk and kiss my scrape and tell me it's all going to be ok.

Peace!

-Nicole

The Study of Women

"Well behaved women rarely make history." -Laurel Thatcher Ulrich


Hellooo, sorry it's another late night post.  hope you are well.

I LOVE my Women's Studies class.  It is one of the best I've ever taken at Concordia and am so glad it's a minor for me.  Honestly, if Concordia offered a major in it , it might be my second major.  It has introduced so many concepts, caused so many "Aha!" moments, and has caused me to reconsider specializing in Gender Psychology.


It's a lot of learning though.  And that's definitely a great thing, but learning can also be uncomfortable sometimes.  It's hard to take a class where we read a lot of writers who have a keen awareness of inequalities still present today.  I mean, it is a great class.  Great professor, great classmates, great subject matter.  Still, when you learn about things that maybe ought to be fixed in your society, it can be a bit disheartening to realize that there's still a lot of things that need improvement. Even worse is the realization that you yourself are a part of some of those systems responsible for inequality.  To realize that your own thoughts contribute to a social construct that marginalizes and condemns people is sobering.  You begin to see things everywhere, and it's happening to me not only in the context of Women's Studies, but in the context of my Developmental Psych class as well.  I can't look at a child without having stage theories of development and certain milestones pop into my head.

I guess that's ultimately what are education is about though.  No one ever said it would always be comfortable, plus the very point of education is to fight against our natural ignorance of some things.  Sometimes we just aren't naturally exposed to information and that's why it's important to actively seek out knowledge.  

In my religion class we just covered Genesis, and of course the concept of Original Sin.  My professor is a firm believer that sin took place not because of willful disobedience, but of ignorance and immaturity.  After all, isn't it all based in the desire for knowledge.  The God of most faith traditions is an omniscient being and we desire to be more like God. 

I am being exposed to many, many things here at college.  Being exposed to my own ignorance as well as other viewpoints may be uncomfortable at times, and it comes at a pretty steep price, but if anything is worth paying for, it's knowledge and awareness.

Have a wonderful week and please enjoy the remainder of Autumn.
-Megan 

Roots

1. There is no age limit to Sea-doo jet boats
2. Always remember where you came from
3. Good food brings people together

Hello! It's Malyn again.

Last weekend, I journeyed home (a four-hour bus trip from Concordia) to see my great aunt and my mother's cousins. And it was beautiful. I get to see them only once about every 3 years, and my great aunt is 87. She's in good health, but I don't always know how many more times I'll get to see her.

Anyway, my mom's side of the family hails from Indiana (Terre Haute, to be specific), and they all have really great Southern-ish accents and are very down to earth. You spend a few hours with them and you start belly-laughing at their stories, and when you leave you say, "Baeh!" instead of bye.  There's always loads of great home-cooked food- my aunt loves cooking and then everyone else brings things to share.

We sit around a large table and eat and talk. Most of the stories are from about the 60s, when many of them were children - that side is notorious for pranks and mischief. I also get the chance to hear about the days when my late granddad and my great-aunt were children. There's a famous story where my granddad was trying to learn to drive but couldn't stop the car, and so was swerving everywhere trying not to hit things - he finally ran it into a tree at low speed in order to stop!

This sense of spontaneity and fun usually leads to pretty enjoyable things. My aunt Ann lives on a lake, and so usually we go out for boat rides. Last year they bought a Sea-Doo jet boat, one of these:

We decided to try and give my great-aunt a ride on it. Her hips aren't great anymore, but she was up for it and we managed to get her on (in doing so my mother almost fell into the water - it was all a very hilarious situation). She and my aunt cruised around and had the time of their lives.

Always remember who you are and keep in touch with family. I'm blessed to have so many great relatives - I know many people aren't so lucky. It was a wonderful weekend and I'm glad to have such a lovely family!

peace and have a fabulous week!

-Malyn

Getting Political

"I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians." -Charles De Gaulle

First, happy Monday.  Second, I'm so sorry for getting this out so late.  It's National Coming Out Week which means we're super incredibly busy.  It's SAGA's biggest week of the year and we've got events going on every day.  When you couple that with work and tons and tons of homework--it gets busy.

One of the things I hear most often from my friends these days is that they can't wait until the election is over.  I know many many people who have worked with the campaigns either interning or doing other types of organizing or volunteer work, and from what I gather they're just so exhausted.  Here's the thing though...as much as we wish it wasn't so, politics are important.

I'm always incredibly bothered when people in my generation (or anyone really) dismisses politics or elections.  I know I'm so biased as far as all of this goes, but dang it, these decisions are going to affect our future!  People are always complaining about the state of our government, yet those same people don't go out and exercise their right to vote.  I think most of you know that I'm a MN resident, and so the Vote No campaigns for both amendments are hugely important to me.  In fact, I'm lending my face to a video on Thursday through SAGA and Campus Democrats.

I get sick of politics too.  Believe me, I do--but at the same time I get even sicker when I think about what will happen in our future if people refuse to become educated and consider these issues before election day.  Many college students feel underrepresented by their government, something they have every right to feel, but if we made our voices heard through democratic processes, maybe our elected officials would acknowledge our demographic. Why should they think of the college age population if the college age population doesn't bother to vote?

For me, as for many of my friends, this election season rests on some very tender nerves.  I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I wasn't doing something to try to help out some of these campaigns.  Some of them won't even affect me personally but I know SO MANY people who would be affected.  I'm not going to stand back and do nothing.  It's just not my style.

If you need to register to vote, you can go to https://www.gottaregister.com/ and if you're a first time voter in MN, we are lucky enough to have same day registration, so lucky you!  If you need to vote absentee in MN, you can go to http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=211 Also, if you need to vote absentee in any state, you can just google "Vote absentee (insert state name here)"

With that, I hope all you folks age 18 and older will hit the polls on November 6th!

With love and hugs,
Megan