Too young to be drinking?

While looking on many of my fellow bloggers sites, I saw that many are discussing the drinking age in the United States. So I googled stories on underage drinking and found a story that was published February 29. While it may not go with the current thread, I found it rather disturbing and decided to share it with you. You can read the full story here .

Basically, an abused 3-year old girl was found drunk. Not just a little intoxicated but with the blood alcohol content twice the legal amount for an adult. Her injuries were signs of being severely shaken. And her lips showed clearly that she was force fed the alcohol. Also, the girls 4 year-old sister may have been witness to all the abuse.

This all took place in Cincinnati, Ohio just hours from my own hometown. I don't understand how someone can be so cruel? Obviously a child of only 3 cannot consume even the legal limit for an adult, let alone twice that. What were they thinking? where are there morals?

I don't have children of my own but I can't imagine doing that to my own child or someone else's for the matter. Yet, the mother is indeed a suspect. As she should be. How can someone be so senseless? Did someone think this would better the child's life at all? Or maybe they just weren't thinking.

Everything is bigger in Texas

First and foremost, I would like to apologize for my lack of blogging. My computer crashed and the computer lab in my dorm is actually nonexistent. I will now have to blog twice tonight and twice tomorrow to make up for it so get ready for a blast of blogging from yours truly. Moving on...

Everything is bigger in Texas. We've all heard it. From big hair to big hats, Texas prides itself on its size. And why shouldn't it? According to Newsweek, if Texas were its own country, it would be ranked 40th in size. That's pretty big when you consider how many countries there are on the Earth. Something else Texas does in a big way is apparently its CO2 emissions. If Texas were indeed its own country it would have the 8th highest CO2 emissions level. Yikes.

However, it's not just Texas's CO2 emissions that have environmentalists concerned. Newsweek says that Texas's 23.5 million residents use nearly 3,000 more kilowatt-hours of electricity every year than the average American. Also, 1 in 4 Texans drive a gas- guzzling pick-up truck. Not that that should come as any surprise to anyone.

I feel like Texas is somewhat of a big brother to the rest of the nation. It should be a role model for other states because of it's history, its culture, and simply because of the influence it seems to have on the rest of country. Shouldn't they be doing more to fix this environmental crisis going on in their state? Especially when global warming is such a hot issue right now. Texans should take a stand to protect the environment but instead they seem to take pride in the the fact that everything is bigger in Texas. Including their pollution levels.

The College "Relationship"

Alright, this post is personal. Real story.

The college relationship. How do we define such a thing? I don't even know. I thought dating was when two people like each other and one asks the other one out. However, recently I found myself in quite a pickle. A boy that I had been talking to decided we were dating. Or at least thats what I heard from my friends. Talk about an awkward conversation! I had to talk to him and tell him that we didn't really mesh! I was breaking up with someone that I didn't even know I was dating!

So I started thinking, how exactly do you define the college relationship? My friend John informed me that there are 3 stages to college dating according to him: hook-up, dating, and then the actual relationship. So is this true? I personally skip the "hook-up" stage. But dating before you start an actual relationship, I can definitely see how this is beneficial. You get to see the person one-on-one before you commit yourself to a relationship, which can be awkward to get out of. Most college students hang out in large groups so the date is nice to get away and really get to know the person. You get to know their likes and dislikes, interests, hobbies, and all other random facts in a location where you really are forced to talk. You can leave a dorm room when the conversation stops or turns forced, in a restaurant you're forced to sit there and find something new you have in common.

But my question still remains: how do we really define a relationship in college? Shouldn't we all be on the same playing field when it comes to this knowledge? How do people end up in a relationship and find out through their friends?

Oh college, will I ever figure you out?

Drunk Driving

I know this topic is a little over done but recently there was a crash in my home town that made me really angry. The whole situation, the events leading up to it, everything about this story makes me so upset! You can read the story here. That is more of a follow up story. the original is here. I'll give you a little bit of a background for those of you who don't have the time to read the stories right now, though they should be read when you get a chance.

A man got drunk to the point where his blood alcohol level is 3 times the legal limit. He then decides to drive. Christmas time and a family from Maryland who just finished celebrating with relatives are heading home. The drunk man gets on a major highway going the wrong way. He hits the family's mini van head on killing 5 members of the family including an 8 week old child. The mother and the 4 children are dead and the man who was driving the mini van and 2 other children were hospitalized but since have been released.

Fast forward to January 18, 2008 where Michael Gagnon, the drunk driver, enters a plea of NOT GUILTY for all 5 deaths. He is now being held in jail under a bond of $1.75 million. He could get up 50 years if he is found guilty.

Now that you have the background, I'll move on to more important things like, how does he think he is not guilty? Drunk drivers make their own choices. They choose to drink that much, they choose to get behind the wheel. Where does he think his responsibility ends in this series of events? He needs to be held responsible for his actions.

I know that drunk driving accidents happen all the time, but that doesn't make them any less important. I know that there are other drunk driving incidents, in fact there were 3 in a 3 week time period in my area, and I shouldn't be focusing on just this one but this one happened to just be so horrific and happen in MY city! Toledo, Ohio and the surrounding area is kind of like the show Cheers. Where everybody knows your name. It's small and you can't go anywhere without knowing someone. So to have someone like this happen here, it just blows my mind.

I suppose my main point is just the question of why does he think he's not guilty? And to pay my respects to a family who lost everything due to the poor life choices made by someone they didn't even know.

If you're interested, friends of the family set up a Myspace as a tribute to the family here

blogging for the better

As I prepare to continue my blog from last semester, I can't help but hope to gain more from this project this semester over last. Last semester I was a little lazy and not too energetic. This semester I hope to keep up my blog with interesting posts that spark interest and hopefully some comments. Oh goodness, comments. Thats another thing I have to work on. Commenting on other people's blogs with regularity. How will I learn to have an opinion (because lets face it I don't really have one on anything) and think critically?

According to an article from News in Science at abc.net.au/science/news, blogging should help me do both those things. Anne Bartlett-Bragg, who is a lecturer at the University of Technology in Sydney makes many wonderful points about blogging in the article. She says, among other things, that blogging makes students think critically. It also causes students who are normally shy and withdrawn to really engage themselves and make their opinion heard. Students also have to learn to take responsibility for what they post. Anyone can read the blog so it had better be correct. Receiving comments also helps students. It lets them know that someone is listening to what they have to say and has an opinion of their own on it. I know that whenever I get alot of comments, it really helps me keep blogging because I'm interested to see what others have to say.

All in all, I'm pretty optimistic about this semesters blog. I really hope to make this one a good one and maybe even keep it up after the year ends.

5-4-3-2 Give a Cheer for SMU

In response to MAM's post on school spirit (you can read her post at I commented the following-
"Our school definitely needs to work on our school spirit. It's not that our team is bad. There are teams from where I'm from that are really bad. They haven't won a game in years and still everyone goes to the games. People here go to the games but leave at halftime! If our fans and student body were more supportive maybe it would motivate our team to win. Then more people would go to our games. It's a never ending cycle i guess. The 'Stangs just need that first push."

Alot of people have commented on our school spirit or lack there of. The problem as I see it though is that the SMU Mustangs have nothing to win for. Our fans leave a lot to be desired in the stands. We boulevard like it's out second job, I'll give us that. But when it's time for the game, where do all those people go? Not into the stadium. The students that DO go to the game leave at halftime. How discouraging for our players.

I really do believe that if the SMU fans would just bite the bullet and stay for the whole game to cheer on the team, the 'Stangs might start to win a few. Then even more people will come to the games! We just need the student section to stay and give the SMU team something to win for.

Homesick at the Holidays

Nothing thrilled me more today then when I waltzed outside and felt the FABULOUS 70-something degree weather. However, as the day went on I realized that I miss the snow of the midwest. My friends have pictures on Facebook of them playing in the snow. As much as I said I wanted to get away from the cold Ohio weather, I just can't shake that homesick feeling. I miss the snow and ice, the hot cider and hot chocolate, fireplaces and big blankets.

I haven't been homesick really until today. I have had a little feeling of homesickness here and there but nothing too bad. I can't believe I actually miss the frigid temperatures and ice storms but I do. I look at the pictures of the cars covered in snow and I miss scraping off my car to go to school.

When I went home for Thanksgiving, I actually called SMU home. Where did that feeling of home go? Maybe it's that with finals, my "family" has disappeared. With finals looming, all my friends have gone into hiding in the library.

It's funny really. I left the midwest to get away from the cold weather and now I actually miss it. Maybe absence DOES make the heart grow fonder. I know that since I've been here, I have definitely grown fonder of the snow.

Only 2 weeks until Christmas break