"I have a dream"

That classes are cancelled and I can sleep longer.

Bad joke. Time to get down to business.

Over ther weekend, my class was assigned to read "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" written by Martin Luther King, Jr. Though I'm familiar with some of the letter from previous schooling, I had never actually read the entire letter. And it stirred up some intense emotions.  His use of repetition in paragraph 13 really got to me. He builds up to this repetion by saying "Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, 'Wait" -- Wow. That still rings true today. It's so easy for people to have an opinion about topics in our society, but just easy to do absolutely nothing about those opinions or to fight for a cause. I'm guilty of it too. Thats the major message I got from this letter. Of course, King's writing is as flawless as ever. I have always loved the way he wrote. He uses such powerful language, which can be heard to convey over written text. There are many other passages that I found powerful and the entire letter is perfectly written. However paragraph 13 made me want to do something. It made me want to do more to help make civil rights equal for everyone, no matter race, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc.

'Tis all for now.

Financially independent student seeking financial aid.

As someone who has lived on their own since the ripe old age of 18, I consider myself financially independent from my parents. I pay all of my own bills, work a full time job, and live seperately from my parents, all of which has occured for the past four years. Yet, if I were to apply for financial aid, I would not be accepted. Luckily for me, I was fortunate enough to have a college fund set aside to pay for the majority of my schooling. However so many good friends of mine have not been that lucky. My best friend is having to pay for all of her schooling on her own, due to her parents having 6 kids and grandparents living with them. The cost of school would be too much of a burden. Since her father makes upwards of $180,000 a year, my best friend doesn't qualify even though she's been on her own since 18 as well. What kind of standard is this? That a student can be completely independent from their parents, yet decisions on their school is still based off their parents? Something has to change.

This blog has really reminded me how much of a procrastinator I really am. Maybe I'll change the blog to "Don't talk to me because I probably have some homework to do". The joys of being a full time student.

Trouble in paradise

Do communities butt heads?

Of course. As previously mentioned, I'm a full time student and work full time at a restaurant. Both of these communities take up a lot of my time and allow little time for school work and time with friends. There is also conflict within these communities whether its drama at work, drama with friends, school work piling up, or even my general safety at school. I live off campus, but close enough to campus where I can walk to school. However I have a night class and though it's usually still light out when we're dismissed, it's still a bit nerve racking to walk home. Needless to say there is conflict within communities.

Communities

Being a full time student and full time
server, I belong to a variety of communities. There's of course my workplace, my four different courses, my different groups of friends, and my family. The discourse in all of these communities couldn't be any more different. At work, we use different terms such as 86 when the restaurant runs out of something or "dead" if the restaurant is extremely slow. We also discuss different things than my other communities. I work at a sports bar so a lot of our time is spent talking about sports in some way or another. Or we simply talk about the current dramasy work. To contrast, my discourse within my classes is very different. There's a more proper tone required in a school setting. My friends and family have a very casual discourse. We discuss all sorts of topics and tend to use slang. It's a more personal setting.

(Good) Morning

Good Morning. Or maybe not so good morning.

I'm Kim and this is my first ever blog entry. I'm not quite sure the focus of the blog, but in time I suppose I will.

I'll get back to introducing myself. I'm currently a freshman, however I took a few years off between high school and now to decide what I wanted to do and to finally be ready to put forth the effort thats needed for school. I'm originally from Chicago, IL and will forever love the city. I'm currently working on recieving a degree is special education and hope to someday be a bahavioral therapist to pre-school aged children. I live a very exciting life between school and my job at a restaurant. That was sarcasm for those who weren't sure. Also, as previously warned, I'm very sarcastic. I'll do my best to let that translate clearly in my blog.

I suppose thats all I'll divulge for now.

Until next time!