Wake Up Young Americans

I believe with hard work, all ambition Americans have the opportunity to succeed. Does that mean I want to help the poor? Of course I do! Programs like WIC keep food on the table for many needy families, and there is no shame in seeking help if you need it. However, what happens when the needy families aren’t needy at all- they are college educated young people just drowning in student debt with no way to repay it? I was blessed enough to be graduating college with no debt thanks to the sacrifices my parents made. My fellow young Americans? Not so lucky. Google tells me that the class of 2012’s average student debt was $29,400, which is almost six grand MORE than the class of 2008’s average debt which is $23,450, and nearly DOUBLE the class of 2004’s average debt at a mere $18,750.

 What’s going on guys? Is our generation really just lazy bums too busy poppin molly and twerkin to be adults like the media says?

I’ll tell you what I think… it doesn’t sound too pretty, but numbers don’t lie: The old are quite literally eating the young. America used to be a place where with a high school degree and some hard work, a person could provide for their family, put a little money away for retirement, and have a pretty comfortable life. They wouldn’t be rich, but they would be okay.

Today? LOL at saving money. Millennial are called the “boomerang generation” because entirely too many young people either cant find a job, or the only job available is waiting tables or bartending. In fact, of college educated 18-34 year olds, a full SIXTY ONE PERCENT MORE were living with their parents in 2011 than in 2001 according to The Atlantic. It’s disgusting. We are literally negative value.....

Lazy, entitled narcissists who live with their parents...

Did you know that our congressional representatives are getting older? The 111^th congress (we’re in the 113^th right now) was the oldest in history. How can our lawmakers be advocating for the interest of young Americans when they themselves are 20 years older than the people they represent? They can’t. Our leaders are more concerned about helping the old die comfortably than the young get established and be productive members of society.

While eating lunch with Tommy, we were talking about his paycheck….a full QUARTER of it was taken out for taxes….. will he or I ever see a cent of social security benefits? No. How can young people ever ever ever get ahead and do things like buy houses, start families, or IDK pay off $30,000 worth of student debt when all we’re getting as jobs is unpaid internships or being stuck at lowly entry level jobs for the first 10 years of employment? Even the grocery stores are switching to automated check-outs rather than have cashiers....

Did you know that 92% of Congress is over age 40? The average age of the Senate is 62, and the average age of the House is 57…..Do you think middle-aged white rich guys have the same interests as 20 year old middle class people just getting started? Absolutely not. In the 1970's there was a movement to age restrict congress members to 65 or 70... not a bad idea considering you have to be 25 to run for the house. So while the 113^th congress was busy writing 10 different bills to rename post offices, I decided I want to run for office; You have to be at least 21 to run for Texas Representative and wuddyaknow Im 22. Sadly, I missed the deadline to get on the ballot by a few months, but I promise you I will do my damnedest to fix this country when I have the opportunity. How can 80 year old congress members even be awake to hear the arguments? Ive seen senate hearings on CSPAN it looks so so boring!!! You know there must be some serious napping going on in Washington by our esteemed older representatives....

Fun fact- student loans must be paid back with interest. Who sets the interest? Congress. The 62 year old senators, for example, who grew up in the 1950's in the days of  Leave it to Beaver. Right now, you can quite literally finance a house, a car, almost anything with less interest than the student loan interest rates:

Loan Type	First Disbursed between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014
Direct Subsidized Loans (Undergraduate Students)	Fixed at 3.86%
Direct Unsubsidized Loans (Undergraduate Students)	Fixed at 3.86%
Direct Unsubsidized Loans (Graduate or Professional Students)	Fixed at 5.41%
Direct PLUS Loans (Parents and Graduate or Professional Students)	Fixed at 6.41%
Perkins Loans (Undergraduate and Graduate or Professional Students)	Fixed at 5%

 

More fun news coming off the studentaid.ed.gov website? 

“Most federal student loans have loan fees that are deducted proportionately from each loan disbursement you receive. This means the money you receive will be less than the amount you actually borrow. You're responsible for repaying the entire amount you borrowed and not just the amount you received.

Here are the loan fees for federal student loans first disbursed on or after Dec. 1, 2013:

•   1.072% for Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Unsubsidized Loans
4.288% for Direct PLUS Loans for parents and graduate and professional students”

Raise Your Voice- Vote!!!!

Don't think I'm saying we should all go kill our grandparents- not at all! I just want you all to realize the situation we are facing as a generation.... and we aren't exactly being helped out by our lovely baby boomer congress. 

In 2020, the youngest of the millennials will be reaching voting age; at that time, we will have a full 40% of the voting block. Get involved, do your research, and together we really can turn this around.

Wake up Young America…. Before its too late.

Brooke

Jane Eyre & Zombies

The nerdy kid that lives inside of me actually loves finding old essays from class ;)

This was written for my Literature and Film Class in the Fall of 2013.

Its kinda long, but also kinda interesting- the movie was fantastic if you would want to check it out! Nothing quite like old horror films....Enjoy!

Not yo mama's Jane

Jane Eyre Revisited
Charlotte Bronte’s classic Victorian novel Jane Eyre uses a first person narrative to illustrate the life of the title character as she moves from her wretched childhood dependent on relatives, to her time spent at Lowood getting an education and then also teaching at the charity school for the poor. The majority of the novel, however, focuses on her adult life as a governess, school teacher, and finally wife to her former employer all while provocatively exploring alternatives to long-held beliefs about the role of women, marriage, and the benevolent sexism that ran rampant in 19^th century English society. Jacques Tourney’s 1943 film, I Walked With a Zombie, is thematically very similar to Jane Eyre, with specific parallels between then two immediately evident. The film originally places our protagonist as the narrator and focus of the story, but she is later shuffled to the background as our attention is shifted from her job and later love story to the circumstances surrounding the mysterious illness of her employer’s wife. Betsy, our heroine, is not even an active player in the final scene, but functions only as a bystander as the wife she is brought to St. Sebastian to treat is lifelessly carried past. By minimizing the impact of heterosexual love on the direction of the plot, being set in an exotic location, and the presence of a supernatural voodoo culture coexisting with normal society, I Walked With a Zombie reimagines Jane Eyre not simply as another adaptation of the novel, but as a modernized reworking of the classic tale that borrows specific elements from the Jane Eyre template while simultaneously introducing an independent storyline.

Jane Eyre has been adapted time and again as a tale of a morally upstanding young heroine, determined to rely on her own devices as she navigates her way through the world. The heroine grapples through out each retelling with her demand for autonomy and the masculine pressures she encounters along her journey. Zombie, however, does not strike one as fitting so neatly into this categorical grouping of ideas. In Zombie, Betsy is not shown as coming from a long life of misfortune and heartache like our young Jane, nor is she shown as a woman striving to prove to herself or to others that she is capable of self-sufficiency. In fact, Zombie minimizes the question of gender ideals, however misogynist or female suppressing they may be, in exchange for the eeriness of the sugarcane fields at night and the spook factor of voodoo rituals. Although the heroine indeed does fall in love with her employer, reminiscent of Mr. Rochester and Thornhill, the meat of Zombie is focused more so on the illness and treatment of Mrs. Holland than the love affair of Betsy and Paul.

Both mediums explore the darker side of marriage. Film and novel both work to challenge the notion that someday a handsome prince will come to provide the happily ever after that women are culturally trained to expect, if not demand. Being married is not equivalent to being happy, as the wives unfortunately both find out.   Jane Eyre places Bertha Mason locked in an attic because of her “insanity” which is taken at face value from Mr. Rochester and his account of their marriage. It is left to the reader to question her sanity before her rejection of her marriage vows: is she being punished for her promiscuity and for not conforming to the feminine ideal? In I Walked with a Zombie, Jessica Holland is infected by an island fever that “burned parts of her spinal column,” as we’re told by her doctor. The fever leaves her in a zombie-like state of consciousness, her trance never lifting to hint at her past self. She interestingly falls ill the very day after she lets her husband know she is leaving him for his brother, Wesley, and he forbids her to go. Both film and novel use mental illness to punish the ill-behaving wives, while the husbands are both left to romantically do as he pleases, despite playing leading roles in the unhappy marriages.

The angle that Zombie takes through minimizing heterosexual relationships and focusing on the supernatural can be interpreted as simply a more exciting version of the overplayed, stereotypical love story; zombies being, of course, the minor, but entertaining, twist. Jane Eyre uses romance with Mr. Rochester as a major influence on the life trajectory of the protagonist, to the point that we find Jane basing her work and place of residence on him and his actions.  The film, however, seems to glaze over the attractive between Betsy and Paul, although when viewing, the scene that Betsy decides she loves Paul and declares she must make Jessica better for him came as a little too much of a surprise; the two seemed to interact only on a professional level until this point. Instead of an influential piece of the plot like in the novel, the romantic side-story is a minor detail in relation to the importance of the circumstances regarding Jessica. The film is seemingly divided into two separate pieces: the first aimed to cater to Betsy, her narration, and her viewpoint; a secondary shifting happens when a broader view of the servants, the local culture, and the bigger picture regarding Jessica’s character. Once Betsy and Jessica go to the houmfort, where the servants gather to practice their magic, the sound of drums permeate the island air and are glaringly present until the film’s end, clearing marking the separation point and reminding the viewer where attention should be directed.

Although there are prevailing similarities in themes in both the novel and the movie adaptation, the basic stories are separated very distinctly by the setting: Zombie’s tropical island setting of St. Sebastian with its mysterious Voodoo culture, versus Jane Eyre’s strikingly contrasted upper-class British countryside (main) setting of Thornhill. The society driven novel dictates that Jane frame herself to Rochester’s expectations: she is to be in his company when he demands, despite her paid job is only that of Adele’s governess; she is to marry him in secret and to move far away because that is his wish; and finally to run away from her job, from her home, and from his misery because he puts her in a position where she feels she cannot stay. Also, when Jane comes back to him, she is put in a different kind of oppression as she is now both nurse and servant to Rochester. Next, the primal, native driven film begins as a straight-forward narrative, until diverging markedly from expectations after Nurse Betsy brings Jessica to the houmfort. The film’s awareness noticeable shifts here from Betsy, to something greater in importance than simply herself. It is while Betsy talks to Mrs. Rand-who is posing as a voodoo doctor-that one of the natives wielding a sword cuts Jessica; that she did not bleed and that Mrs. Rand frequents the houmfort both work to add tension to the story and continue the climbing motion toward the film’s climax. The sugarcane fields, the drumbeats and chanting, and finally the bones and relics the women pass on their journey to the houmfort all function to continue to add mystery to the film.

Jane Eyre has certain supernatural elements, but not nearly to the degree of Zombie. References to Jane as being of “elf-like,” the scene in the red-room where Mr. Reed died, the voice of Rochester that Jane hears on the wind during her marriage talk with St. John, and finally the allusions to Bertha being “devilishly similar to a vampire” all put the novel in the realm of the supernatural, as well as work to stay true to a Gothic heritage. I Walked with a Zombie showcases a religion left over from the days of the trans-Atlantic Slave trade. The film takes the mental illness of Jessica, supposedly left from a fever, and has Mrs. Rand confess she used Voodoo magic (only when possessed, mind you) to curse Jessica and punish her for shattering the matriarchal family’s peace. Although far fetched in the logical world, the film is believable in its treatment of Voodoo as a legitimate practice or belief system: the servants make a Voodoo Doll of Jessica that controls her movements and bring her to them. Ironically, the slave past of the servants and their unconventional beliefs intersect here with the Holland family that brought their African ancestors to St. Sebastian in the first place: Wesley takes an arrow out of the old slave ship figure-head which he uses to stab Jessica to death with; whether the Jessica Voodoo Doll which bears her likeness being simultaneously stabbed with a needle in the haomfort ceremony is related to Jessica’s actual death is open to interpretation.

Where Jane Eyre is an autobiographical novel that explores romance and the sacrifices women make to conform to the expectations of a patriarchal society, I Walked with a Zombie is a horror flick meant to thrill the viewer and expose he/she to an alternative culture filled with mysticism and magic. Perhaps for the sake of time, the film did not attempt to delve into the complicated themes of class and gender equality; when judged simply as a means of entertainment, rather than a work striving for literary merit, I Walked With a Zombie was thoroughly enjoyable.

Flying Pigs and Eating Crows

Its pretty difficult for most people to admit that they were misinformed, misguided, or just plain wrong.... myself included! Consider this me eating crow about how I was completely wrong about feminism, and that the world is-right now- just as it should be. And yes... that was a pig flying by your apartment window ;)

WOW! How could I be so wrong about a gender balance that favors men? Women can be anything they want to be. With the right motivation and education can't we all?

Facts:

• Since 1964, male voters outnumbered female voters in every presidential election.
• BJ Gallagher (author of "The World's Best Advice from the World's Wisest Man) says men make great bosses because they are 
• better coachers 
• better mentors
• better problem solvers
• Men hold 98 of 535 (18%) seats in the 113th Congress
• 79 House Representative are male 
• 20 Senators (plus 3 delegates) are men 
• Of the 100 largest American Cities, 12 have male mayors.
• Men have better aim throwing a baseball at all ages.
• 2012 elections saw 5 male state governors elected.
• multitasking test had 50 men and 50 women do four tasks in 8 minutes: results show men better able to reflect on problems while also doing others tasks 
• men are better at multitasking
• James Flynn is a researcher that found the IQs of men in the US, Europe, Canada are higher than women's
• men are smarter
• Bureau of Labor Statistics says that since the Recession hit in 2007, 80% of the workers who lost their jobs were women.
• men are recession proof
• Harvard Business Review recently published a study on male to female leadership ability. The study says that leadership is quantified by 16 central personality traits
•  men are judged to be better than women on 12 of the traits (10 showed a statistical significance). 
• men better leaders
• Men are judged in employee evaluations to be more positively perceived at:
• Executive Management (Men 57, Women 52) 
• Senior Managers (Men 56, Women 50) 
• Middle Managers (55 Men, 51 Women).
• US Census Burea says 17 million men and 12 million women live in poverty in the United States, which is the highest level since 1993.
• Rothstein Kass finance shows that male hedge fund managers outperform female competition.
• 48% of all men experience psychological aggression in their lifetime
• 37% of families led by single fathers nationwide live in poverty.
• only 6.8% of married parent families do (2009 Heritage Foundation Study)

Clearly, men make better leaders, are smarter, and are generally more valuable and have more to offer than women in the workplace. Most of you shouldn't be surprised... Americans just "know" these facts to be true: males as a group are supreme to the weaker, more fragile feminine sex.

April Foolsssss :)

All the above "truths?" Just replace every man/male/masculine word from the above quotes with woman/female/feminine to switch the statement. Every single fact originally was written to be the exact opposite...for example "37% of families led by single mothers nationwide live in poverty" is the true information.

They are exactly opposite of what the data from many studies are finding when comparing the average man to the average woman.

As in- studies are showing that women in general have more leadership skills, higher IQs, vote more,  are rated higher in employee evaluations, and are more educated as a group than male peers.

Surprised yet?

How can a congress of 82% rich white men know anything about making laws that govern the contraceptive and maternity rights of 51% of the population? It can't.

Although feminism is geared to helping girls and women reach the equality that males are privileged with from birth, feminism at its core promotes equality of all people regardless of gender, sex, race, or class. The movement is about not about being better than men, its about women being valued by the world as more than a "slam-piece;" more valuable than the sum of her curves. Women are human, too.

I hate to have tricked you reader, but with all the "Men's Rights Movement" propaganda floating around, I wanted to make sure you realize that we all still need feminism. I am so about helping men-central issues like the high suicide rate of teen boys, the male problem of homelessness, and the constant societal pressure to be an alpha male. Such a shame that legitimate concerns like the above (and many more) are being ignored to solely bring down the feminist movement.

Make tomorrow better,
Brooke

Sounding STOOpiD: A Clarification

You know what's funny about blogs? They are the opinions of the author. This blog is mine. The opinions in this blog are mine. If you don't agree with anything I have to say, then please leave a comment or call me/text me if you would prefer, and I would be THRILLED to discuss with you, debate with you, or clarify what I meant. Maybe my writing wasn't very clear and you took it another way than I had intended for the piece to be read. Its possible.

But do not call my mother complaining. 

I am twenty two years old, and I may not have all of the answers, but I certainly know a little something something about the world. Well, at least enough to be able to form opinions for myself on MY blog.

If you haven't read it yet, check out http://playniceladies.blogspot.com/2014/02/sounding-stoopid-rant.html before you read the rest.

I'll wait.....

Apparently that post caused just quite the uproar in Buffalo, so I feel like I should say what I really  meant.

1. I spent the first 18 years of my life in that town. Small towns are definitely charming in a "know your neighbors" kind of way. If I had grown up in a bigger place there is no WAY I could have cheered, played so many sports, done 4H, competed in theatre and UIL academics, then finish top 10%. Not possible. There just would be kids way smarter or way more athletic, so I am very grateful to have the opportunity. Would I move back to a small town as an adult? Not a chance. But that doesn't mean that small town living isn't perfect for someone else.

Front porches and sweet tea.... Southern comfort at its best :)

2. In no way did I mean that by growing up in a small town (or choosing to live there as an adult) you are automatically less intelligent than anyone else in the world, including myself. Do I think that learning comes from being exposed to new ideas and different cultures? Absolutely. Do I think that people in small towns are usually more closed minded or stuck in their ways than their urban neighbors? For sure. But there are exceptions to every rule.

3. I do NOT think that you have to have a formal education to be "smart." You do not need to go to A&M, UT, LSU, or any other in order to not be like the people I meant in my last post. If you went to public school beyond about 6th grade, then the only excuses you have for portraying yourself like that are either you are lazy or you are stupid. So which is it?

THIS.

4. I do not think I am "better" than anyone else on this Earth. I think I am blessed with certain talents, and I am lacking in other areas, just like you reading this. But I will not discount the time and effort I just sank into my education for the last four years. My dad busts his tail every day to be financially able to support both me and my sister, and I am blessed beyond belief to have had to not take out loans. That doesn't mean I should feel bad about it. It doesn't mean I should apologize for my time here in College Station, either.

5. If you are really offended enough to need to call my mother to discuss MY thoughts, then maybe you should take a long look at yourself.  Why are you so offended by a post about people using grammar incorrectly? Why are you upset about people coming across as ignorant? Maybe you're mad because you KNOW you are guilty of this. Well, as they say folks, if the shoe fits....

To wrap up, I'm really very happy that people like to read this blog. I love to hear your feedback! I'm so sorry if that last post came across as offensive or judgmental, because its not what I meant at all. I'm not looking down my nose at anyone. I simply want you to be better than you already are, and to never stop learning and growing. If I can facilitate that through a silly internet post, then I'm absolutely thrilled to have had the opportunity to add a little something
to your life.

Until Next Time,
Brooke

The Pen is Mightier Than The Sword

I am too opinionated for my own good.

Well that's what my "friends" on FaceBook like to let me know, at least. "Friends" because I certainly do NOT know 2000 people.

That I am not always politically correct or "lady-like"...whatever that is.... with my thoughts. 

That I should post kittens and rainbows and statuses like:

"What a blessed day! I cannot believe how amazingly perfect life is!!!! Love you all!!!!!!!"

Probably me very shortly...
Definitely me eventually.

That I should just stop.

Well, Internet that leads me to my next point.... here I am starting my first blog so that my poor, poor FB friends can get a break from all of this sass ;) Bear with me cause I hear its a learning experience!

Wheeler's quote "The pen is mightier than the sword" is perfection because it. is. truth! Did you know that China actually PAID workers to find blogs with negative comments about communism and switch up the conversation? 

After WWII and especially after the Cold War, America was THE world power, but now we really have become just a country of complacency...

We're too worried about poppin' molly and learning how to twerk. 

About raising minimum wage when we should be lowering the price of an education.

About what's trending instead of what matters.

As a millennial, I've always had information right at my finger-tips, so why would I waste my brain power on publicity-stunting celebrities and their gossip? These people earn MILLIONS to speak words that are not their own and to almost physically become someone they are not. I really just don't get the hype.

I'm new here to the blogosphere (that's a thing....right?.....) but I want to hear and be heard! 

I want to have lively debates here about the things my friends are sick of hearing me talk about.

Like I said, new here! I just want to express my thoughts and hear what each of you have to say!  Any blogging tips you'd like the share? They would be accepted VERY graciously. Any topic ideas? I'd give it a stab. 

Until next time beautiful people,

Brooke