Spring Break, in numbers

2: Cream cheese pretzels consumed

3: Groups of under-18 tourists in the Disney Parks I wanted to punch in the face, or at least keep from reproducing

Approx. 40: animals I saw in Animal Kingdom.
(approx. 10: animals I saw of the 40 that I had never heard of before.)
(3: animals of the 40 that were monkeys.)

10%: amount of my body that returned to Spokane sunburned. So worth it.

4: dolphins I saw while on a wave runner in the Gulf of Mexico

1: garbage can that Katie's grandma took out with her electric sccoter/wheelchair

5: Disney characters I had my picture taken with: Rafiki, Jiminy Cricket, Mulan, Sleeping Beauty, Terk.

2: shows seen that were immediately regretted: The Little Mermaid, It's Tough to be a Bug
(1: actress performing in a show that was a full note off key for the majority of the songs. Woof.)

20: corn dog nuggets consumed.

6: days I was grateful for sunshine and warm weather
(6: days I was on spring break in Florida.)

would-be models: a study of group think

This is slightly old news, but I find this video of a recent New York audition for "America's Next Top Model" to be a fascinating study of the spread of chaos. It resembles almost an ant colony to me. Just think about how many pairs of Jimmy Choos broke that day. Check it out, courtesy of the New York Daily News:

UPDATED: You can't get AIDS from sex ed class

In response to the announcement of the HIV/AIDS rate, city officials have announced a new awareness campaign. Check out the story here.

In recent days, there has been somewhat of a rumble about HIV/AIDS rates rising, specifically in the Washington D.C. area. The Washington Post reported yesterday that the metro area has the highest infection rate in the nation, with 3 percent of the city's population carrying the disease.

I know Alyssa will back me up when I say that AIDS is not something we should consider a "foreign" issue, in the sense that it's only a problem in sub-Saharan Africa, or underdeveloped nation. According to the article, the D.C. rate is higher than parts of West Africa, and is "on par with Uganda and some parts of Kenya."

It's stories like these that make me terrified for abstinence-based sex education. A reactionary blog post (also from The Washington Post, what can I say it's my favorite news site) used the article as motivation to "re-educate" readers about how to prevent the spread of AIDS. Yes, abstinence was included on the list. However, I believe that a choice for abstinence should be motivated by positive attributes, rather than fear of consequences (pregnancy, disease, religious stigma, etc).

And AIDS education is something women need to take a stronger role in. I hope that most of my generation is beyond the myth of HIV/AIDS being a "gay" disease. According to the CDC, AIDS is the No. 1 cause of death in African-American females ages 25-34, and in 2005, Women accounted for 26% of the estimated 37,163 diagnoses of the disease for adults and adolescents. Also interesting is the site's study was that women were slightly less likely than men to receive prescriptions for the most effective treatments for HIV infection. There's even a separate AIDS awareness day for women and girls (March 10, as opposed to the international awareness day on December 1).

These numbers are too high. I'm saddened at the idea that in a country with every educational opportunity at our fingertips, we would allow our friends, colleagues, family, or even strangers to walk around in ignorance. Educate yourself, and those around you, so that this preventable disease can be eradicated.

Here are some resources for more information:

AIDS.gov: the government website on the disease
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: statistics on the disease in the United States, as well as materials on education and prevention
Face AIDS: a student organization that works to fight AIDS in Africa (shout out to the Seattle U. chapter)
United Nations: a special General Assembly session on HIV/AIDS

so delicious

Until tonight, I had forgotten the simple pleasure of eating raw chocolate chip cookie dough off a spoon, in the company of a friend.

The baked versions weren't too shabby, either.

happy birthday, barbie

50 years ago today, Ruth Handler's creation hit markets and, in my opinion, changed the future of feminism and gender roles forever. In my Contemporary American Poetry class last spring, one of my classmates did a fascinating presentation about the history of Barbie. The doll actually held careers in her play life before many women in the real world (astronaut, president of the United States.)

Check out this advertisement from her earliest days:



Compare that to a 2007 ad for the "America's Next Top Model" barbie:



I've never really decided what side of the barbie "debate" I fall on. When I was little, every single birthday when I blew out the candles on my cake, I would wish for a barbie. My parents to this day have never bought me one; the 4 or 5 dolls my sister and I had were all gifts from relatives or not-so-close family friends, who figured they were a safe default gift. But why did I want one so badly? Was it because I saw her as the ideal woman, with her disproportionate breasts and perfect hourglass shape? Or did I see her as a role model, the woman who could successfully take on any career she wanted, regardless of societal norms?

Today, we use Barbie's name synonymously with a whole host of terms, most of which, I might add, are negative. But whether you feel like barbie was a liberating toy for girls, or she ruined the expectations placed on women for the last 50 years, we can all agree on one thing: she ages beautifully.

I can't pass this up

Check out this blog post from the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin about a port-a-pottie marked for neither men nor women:

Stuck Between the Sexes

a cause we all can care about

For the second time, I am participating in a Relay for Life event this year. Even though these events have been taking place at my high school or college every year that I can remember, I was always reluctant to participate for two reasons: one, I always had a conflict during the event. but second and more important, I feel really strongly that these kinds of fundraisers and awareness events shouldn't just be another "let's go hang out with friends all night" gig. I feel like we get inundated with good causes to support all the time, and I didn't want to just go and not have the heart behind it.

Then two years ago, one of my friend's moms died of cancer right before the school year started. He's one of the first people I met at Whitworth, and I couldn't imagine the loss he was experiencing. That year was my first experience with Relay, and our team was in honor of his mother. And then about a month ago, another of my friends lost his mother to cancer. Our team this year is in honor of both of these brave and loved women. Even though I never met either of them, I've seen the products of their lifetimes of work as women and mothers in the values and integrity of their sons.

Cancer has also knocked at the door of my family. My aunt died of breast cancer when I was in second grade, after fighting the disease for more than 10 years. My cousin (her daughter) has had a double mastectomy, and last fall had to again undergo treatment for a return case. My would-be uncle died at the age of 14 from leukemia.

I feel like for my generation, cancer is something that's just considered part of life. We here so and so is in chemo, or in surgery, or some form of treatment. I've had teachers go on leave for a school year, known friends who've lost parents or uncles or cousins or siblings. But it's a disease we can fight, a disease we can work to cure. So this year, I will walk around a gym for 8 hours, in hopes of contributing even a little to this fight. My fundraising goal is $50.

For more information about my team, or to donate, click here

a day of successes

- I can now do a 1/2 waltz jump on ice skates. In other words, I can jump from forwards to backwards and land on the opposite foot.

-I can use photoshop without crying. This is a big step for me.

-I can call my parents and have a brief conversation without getting sucked into a half-hour discussion about my life and future.

-I can eat a bag of cheetos and not get orange powder all over my white sweater. Next step to work on: eat a bag of cheetos and not miss my mouth when trying to do so.

condoms, cartoons, and responsible journalism

Recently, I was reading a copy of The Sentinel, the newspaper from North Idaho College. We run into the students and adviser from this paper fairly often, especially around the time of the national ACP conference each fall. The paper has a pretty solid national reputation as one of the leading newspapers among 2-year schools. Which is why their presentation of a story about National Condom Week threw me for a loop.

From the front page, you would think this story was a large spread or at least in-depth feature. At the top of the page next to the flag (newspaper lingo for the name of the newspaper at the top of the front page), a row of neon-colored condoms sat on the left side of the page, teasing the story. (I can't find the page at the moment, otherwise I would have included a picture). However, the teaser in no way matched the news value or really the tone of the fairly mundane event. In fact, the story uses an almost intentionally shocking lead in order to make the story seem like more of a big deal, in my opinion.

Now as a disclaimer, a lot of my journalism experience comes from public high school and a private Christian liberal arts university. However, this doesn't mean I can't recognize irresponsible journalism when I see it. Yes, the paper should have run the story. Yes, the story was about condoms. Yes, putting colored condoms as the dominant graphic on the front page will grab reader's attention. However, this doesn't mean you should present the story or information in an overly sensational or misleading manner.

It's decisions like these that make it that much harder for journalists to get sources to trust us, or even cooperate during an interview. Journalism balances on the crux of public cooperation, and if we abuse this responsibility, we will find ourselves losing not only our reputations, but our vital role as a trusted source of information within a community. And while I have great respect for The Sentinel and the work they do, I would urge us all in the journalism world, especially in college newspapers, to strive for a higher level of professionalism.

On another somewhat related note, here are two other opinions columns from that week's issue that might help emphasize my point about a need for responsible journalism:

Lose the wheels, lose the weight: rolling your backback only facilitates laziness, unhealthy behavior (also of related interest to the condom article is the graphical representation, in this case a cartoon, for the purpose of shock value.)

Purge the wicked: abort sex offenders (This one is a good example of a headline used for shock value that doesn't really relate to the content of the story.)

this is worth two posts in one day

For everyone who believes that the New York Times will be bankrupt in the next 5 years, I have found hope. Because if every newspaper could run stories with this perfect blend of information and prose, there would be no problems with subscription sales. Also, who knew that Snuggies have not only been selling 4 million strong, but are now considered worthy of the NYT Fashion and Style section:

Snuggie on the Street: Watch your back

(Also don't miss the photo gallery that accompanies the story).

there's no place like home

I went home for the weekend, and my dad claimed he invented Amazon's Kindle in his Master's thesis. His exact words were something like this:

"I had this vision for a screen that you could download things to, and then read them."

Since he wrote his master's thesis sometime around the year 1983, I told him he was probably just thinking of a computer.