Equality

     Men and Women are equal. They are different obviously but that doesn't mean one gender is more important than the other. Both men and women  have noses, eyes, legs... well most of them. That seems pretty trivial, but so does the thought of men and women even being treated differently. WHY are women still getting paid less than men working at the same job? (Link). I wish I had an answer, however my opinion is that of most other women in the world, and most men. Women and men should have equal rights, one gender is not better than the other. Different but equal.

Graduation

     My sister, Brooke graduated from UVU with a bachelors degree in photography 3 days ago. I couldn't be more proud. I was literally the person crying in the audience. She is a big role model in my life. She transferred to 4 different colleges, changed her major like 10 times, and she did it. She never gave up hope. She is eight and a half years older than me, I know we look like twins. Love you, Brooke! 

Future Plans

     As a college student, others plan out our futures for us. It sounds a little like a check list:

1. Date
2. Do service for an organization (or religious missions)
3. Get married
4. Get a degree
5. Get a job
6. Start a family


This whole concept scares me to death. I just want to do my own thing and stay young like Peter Pan forever. Honestly what is wrong with that? Nothing. I've accepted that it is perfectly fine to go at my own pace, and disappointing my aunts at family reunions is fine. So what if I change my major 5 times? So what if I have to retake a class? If I mess up so many times, at least I will know without a doubt which way is the best way for me. Choosing the road less traveled by makes all the difference (Robert Frost).

Nick, Justin, Paisley, Eric, Karen

Suicide is sad and real and I just learned last weekend of another friend taking their own life. It is such a taboo topic but when it happens it leaves a monstrous cavity in everyone's lives. I've had too many friends taken by it! Please please PLEASE if you need help, reach out to someone! I know it seems dark and like the end, but if you just wait a while longer I PROMISE the sun will shine again.

You are loved

You are needed

You matter

You and your future are worth the fight.

Where you are now is not where you will be forever. Just remember that.

Sorority Girl

     

     I feel like I am the person you would least expect to join a sorority. However I did, and I LOVE it! It was the best decision I have made so far at Utah State University. I have made lots of life long friends, and gained a significant amount of confidence in myself. I know at any given time there are always 120 girls that have my back. If I am having a problem, I can pick which one will help me the best. Kappa Delta is my home away from home. I will forever be proud of the emerald and pearl pin I wear with my business attire.

     Some common misconceptions people have about sororities are:

1. We buy our friends. Honestly all of our money we pay is meticulously routed to events, fundraisers, philanthropies, socials, electricity, and t-shirts. Just like any other club. So to you that think I'm buying my friends, that's the best money I have ever spent.

2. We pay a TON of money, and everyone has to be rich. NOPE. Not true. We pay as much as you would think a high functioning club would pay. Which surprisingly isn't that much. I have a part time job during the school year, full time summer, and I pay for my own tuition, clothes, food, fun, housing, and yes. Sorority expenses.

3. We party. Okay this one can be true, but I am here to tell you that I am not a party animal and have never touched alcohol in my life. My idea of partying is hanging out with a group of friends and maybe having a dance party. Or making crepes, or singing karaoke... My sorority does NOT condone under age drinking, and does not allow girls to post pictures on social media of them under the influence. When there are problems that arise with girls and drinking, it is a standards issue and it is taken extremely seriously.

4. Girls who don't care about school. Actually the girls in my sorority have one of the highest GPA averages of any organization on campus. Academia comes first, after all isn't that why we are in college in the first place?


     Sororities and fraternities aren't for everyone, and each one is different. However in my opinion they are extremely underestimated. I have grown so much just in the year and a half I have been in one. I know I wouldn't be anywhere close to where I am now, if it weren't for Kappa Delta.

1 Year

     It is my one year anniversary for working at the Utah State Research Foundation Space Dynamics Lab in 3 days. Yes on May the 4th, I'm a nerd I know. It seams like I started just a couple months ago. I love it there, I mean there are occasions where I get sick of the engineers saying math terms that go way over my head, but I really do like it. I feel so lucky to work in an actual industry while still in my undergrad. I'm pretty sure the only reasons I got my particular position was because I was the most passionate candidate, and a couple good references.

     A lot of people get a degree and go to work in their chosen industry, and realize they don't like it. I get to realize now what I do and don't like about the space industry, or if I even want to be in it. It's hard work, but very rewarding. I also get to network a lot. I have met NASA and SpaceX representatives who gave me the best tips I have ever received on getting into the industry. One CEO of a satellite company even took me to fly his plane (first time flying, so cool). I just hope I can use all of this knowledge and networking for later, to get a good job.

Do What Scares You

     Everyone is scared of something. Heights, the dark, needles (I am terrified of needles), roller coasters, public speaking, spiders...etc. What are you scared of? I want to share a story of when I overcame a huge fear of mine. This honestly isn't an easy story for me to share, but at this point in my life I don't care. I could care less if you think this story is dumb, I'm writing this because maybe there is one person who needs to hear this. Someone who is going through what I went through.

     It was the first day of my freshman year of high school when I walked through the heavy red Logan High School doors. I wanted to turn around and get back into my mom's warm car. Unfortunately (I know we all felt like this) I knew that wasn't a reasonable option. I hardly knew anybody, I had gone to a charter school my 8th grade year and knew public school would be a lot different. The Student Body Officers helped me find my classes. I smiled at everyone hoping I would spark up at least one friendship.

     On a scale from 1 to super confident, my confidence level was a flat 2. I hated school and faked sick all the time. My grades reflected my attitude toward school. Looking back at this time in my life, I wish I could say "Hey! You're great! Nobody cares as much as you think they do!" I hardly had any friends my freshman year and when a teacher asked me something I would get extremely nervous. Once a classmate even laughed at me because I turned red. I wished I could be like everyone else, pretty, smart, well liked. I didn't know that my toughest judge was myself. My fear? Was what everyone thought of me. I was on the volleyball team but quit after my freshman year, despite my major improvements, because I honestly couldn't handle the pressure of people watching me play.

     Something happened the summer before my Sophomore year. Like a slap in the face, I realized that I was an okay person and nobody really even noticed when I said the wrong thing. They were too concerned about what everyone thought of them. My goal sophomore year was to notice the good in people instead of trying to be noticed by kids who were "cool". I made so many friends my sophomore year, I stopped caring about what people thought. I started building myself up instead of tearing myself down.

"Those who mind, don't matter.

Those who matter, don't mind."
-Dr. Seuss

     I love singing. I have ALWAYS loved singing. Even when someone told me I was off key at a karaoke night and I thought I would never sing in public again, I kept practicing it alone in my room accompanying myself with my nylon string acoustic. Once I was singing with my friends in a car on our way to get 7/11 slushees (remember how the person who could drive first in high school was always the cool one). One of them told me that they didn't know I could sing. I can only imagine I said something self defeating. I didn't think I could sing, I just knew I liked doing it. They told me I should try out for the choir. I listened to that friend, and goodness I am extremely glad I did! 

     Auditions were only in front of 4 people, but to me that was 400% more people than I was used to singing in front of. I remember I even spelled choir wrong I was so nervous. I spelled it "quoir". I made it, and singing became my life. I sang ALL THE TIME (I still do). Suddenly pushing myself to sing in front of people became a way to kick that insecure demon inside of me out to the gutter. "Sayonara biotch!" My choir took first overall at Nationals, I went to a state competition with an aria (aria pretty much just means opera), and I started singing in front of hundreds of people at least once a month. Eventually thousands of people, and I got talent scouted to go sing in Nashville for a music company that started Jason Mraz's career (which I chose to turn down because it was either that or college, every time finals come around I wish I hadn't.)

     Singing in front of people STILL terrifies me. I still become insecure all the time. However I found that there is a power in doing those things that scare me. A power that transforms me from a small town girl to the next Beyonce (okay maybe that's a bit extreme but you get it). I know that if I mess up, I will always be proud of myself for trying. Nobody will remember my mess up in a few years time unless I remind them. My senior year I was Senior Vice President, on the golf team, CX team, in a million clubs, and close to a 4.0 student. I'm not saying this to show off, I don't even know if anyone is going to actually read this. To put an end to this long story (if you read this whole thing, you are amazing and I will personally take you out to lunch), I hope you do something that scares you every day. You'll eventually realize nothing is impossible.

XOXO Lauren

When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer

Walt Whitman, 1819 - 1892

When I heard the learn’d astronomer,

When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,

When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide,

   and measure them,

When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with

   much applause in the lecture-room,

How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,

Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,

In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,

Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

     I haven't decided yet if I'm posting this to depict a beautiful poem by Walt Whitman, or to simply express how much I am done with school at this particular moment. While it is most likely the latter that is inspiring this post, I would like to point out that we focus too much on authority. 

     We listen to the first person to tell us how to live life, then we listen to the next person who seems to know more than the first. We do whatever it takes so that when we speak to someone someday they will listen to us when we tell them how to live life. However did we ever think twice that maybe there is no right way to live? That maybe doing what we innately believe is the right thing to do is better than any advice any "learn'd" person can give us. 

     What Walt Whitman was saying in his poem was that no chart, or diagram, or proof, or figure, or some PhD professor can tell you exactly what the real world is like. The best way to figure that out is actually being in the real world. I'm not saying school's a joke. In fact stay in school, kids! What I am trying to say is in the midst of trying to cram numbers and figures in your brain, go out and live your life and see for yourself how the world is. Instead of only seeing it through clouded lenses. 

Life is the best professor.

Spring Break 2016

Spring Break

For Spring Break I borrowed the extra seat in my brother's car and went to Portland, Oregon with his wife and 1 year old. I had never been to Oregon before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I had no idea how much I would love it. Even though it rained most of the time we were there, it was beautiful! Everything is green, even the dead trees are covered in green moss and vines. I have to say the best part though was the culture. Everyone is friendly, dresses nice --except for the bums which there are PLENTY of, great food on every corner, and the seaside... oh the seaside <3

We went to Cannon Beach, the one off of the Goonies with One Eye'd Willey. It was freezing and there was a lot of wind due to the time of year. However even that didn't change how gorgeous the beach was. Haystack rock (shown in the picture above) was quite the sight. You can tell from the picture above that my coat seems a bit tight on me because of all of the layers I had underneath. The wind was so strong we could lay against it.

 Here are a couple of my favorite restaurants in Portland:

                                                
           Pibs Doughnuts (better than Voodoo)                                             Salt & Straw Ice Cream is AMAZING

I hope you get the chance to find yourself in Portland, Oregon one day, if you haven't been already. 

-Lauren

Harper Lee

In memory of Harper Lee passing away this last week, this blog post is for her. She was a literary genius of her time. Her most well known book, To Kill a Mockingbird, addresses racial stereotypes. It makes the reader cheer for the blacks, which at the time was a disturbing thought to some. Harper Lee understood how to make the reader question their own way of thinking. Here is my favorite quote from her:

            

   -Lauren

ELECTIONS

Elections are coming up in the United States next year, and at USU this month. What are elections? That is a ridiculous question, of course we all know what elections are. However I want to highlight every aspect of elections that maybe you haven't thought of yet.

1st perspective: Voters. Most of us are more accustomed to this perspective. We look at the candidate and usually vote for the one that aligns with our beliefs, or the one we have heard about the most from our friends and family. On a more local scale, we vote for the candidate that we have more connections with. e.g." That kid was in my biology class! He seems really nice, I guess I will vote for him." However there is a great percentage of students and Americans who don't vote. Voting is either inconvenient for them, or they don't think they have much say in the matter. Are you someone who takes it upon yourself to know your candidates and votes? Or someone who doesn't vote, but complains when they don't like how things are being run?

2nd: Candidates. The key players, the brave ones. Most have lots of experience with what they are running for, some (even though they won't admit it) are in it for the title. All of them put up with A LOT! They may seem like they have a huge support group, however the bigger support group they have the bigger anti-support group they probably have. Especially presidential candidates, they hear on a daily basis why they are awful human beings. For example senator Marco Rubio was scrutinized for getting 4 parking tickets in 17 years, as if that is the worst thing a presidential candidate has ever done. Each of them have their own opinions, and they usually don't waver. Not only do candidates invest their time and life into running, think about the MONEY. According to the New York Times, Obama spent $750 million on his 2008 campaign! What about the candidates that don't make it? How would you deal with losing all of that money and effort? Would you think it was all for nothing or would you take something away from it? (that last question is a good determining question for if you should run for something or not).

3rd: Facilitators. Everyone forgets about these people. They are the glue, and absolutely essential to campaigns. They aren't allowed to show preference for a certain candidate because it is a good chance they are working with more than one. Maybe I'm biased (I am a facilitator for the USUSA elections coming up this month), Facilitators have the best job. They get to see all three perspectives of the voting process up close, they usually know exactly who they will vote for, and they get to see what works for candidates and what doesn't in case they ever want to run.

Who are you going to vote for? If you don't know, I recommend taking this quiz to see which presidential candidate represents your point of view the best. And when it comes time to vote for USUSA elections go to this site. I believe that gaining knowledge about issues helps you have your own opinion, which helps you become a better arguer.

English 2010 first post

Hi English 2010 class! This is my first blog post in a long time, if you scroll down you will see proof. However this was my blog from high school so you probably don't want to scroll down, be my guest if you do (just promise not to judge too harshly).

     I would like to bring up chapter one from our textbook. I am quite fond of the idea of having an argument that, instead of causing a rift between the two arguers, creates a bond. This world would be a much more pleasant place if everyone learned this skill early on.

     Something about me is I love history. I am not a history major (and will probably never be one), but I believe that you can gain important knowledge by looking at history. Look at the founding fathers of this nation, Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Adams, Madison, Hamilton, Monroe... They did not by any means entirely agree with each other. All of them had slightly different ideals as to how this country should be established. They, being brilliant arguers, took all of the different opinions and made a settlement. The settlement is what we now call the home we love. THAT is what arguing is.

-Lauren Morrill