Arg.

Let me preface this blog entry with this statement. I am not gay, none of my immediate family members are gay, and none of my close friends are gay.

I wish that people could stop yelling about gay marriage. This isn't a question of politics, morals or people who want to yell a lot. I do not understand why any American would disapprove of this. For those that do I have some questions for you. Why does this matter to you? What is this to you? How does this change what 'marriage' is?

I keep on hearing right winged people talk about how allowing this "redefines" marriage opens the door to some sort of slippery slope with respect to marriage. I do not understand why people would make such arguments. If America did not redefine marriage it would still be illegal in sixteen states for interracial marriages to take place. It was like that until 1967... It would still be illegal in some states for black people to marry other black people because they would be still considered property. Property... Furthermore with respect to a "slippery slope" argument what people fail to understand is that the legislature is the gate keeper. It is as absurd to believe for a second that polygamy or some form of sexual abuse would ever come into play with respect to the legalization of marriage.

I do not understand why this occurs. America has defined itself as the vanguard of Democracy. The Constitution was written in such a matter to be interpreted and to change when needed. The founding fathers' based their writings on the works of Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke. Where "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness" is paramount.

I do not understand why an uncountable section of the population of this country are not given the same rights as others simply because of who they choose to love. They are not trying to take anything from you, they are not asking you to like what they choose to embrace. All these people want is the chance to have this semantical title of 'husband' or 'wife'

Forget the politics behind this. Forget about the religious connotations that you may have about marriage. Forget about being forced to support something that you may not believe in. Why not give them the opportunity to have that chance? Why not on a base level just embrace them as human beings who want and need love?

But for the last time
You're everything that I want and ask for
You're all that I'd dreamed
Who wouldn't be the one you love
Who wouldn't stand inside your love

Life goes on.

This is a story that starts off on a whim. It's been three years since I have done any volunteer work of substance. Although I helped train a member of the Special Olympics last year, it really wasn't anything of any great substance. So when John asked who wanted to go to Flint, MI to meet do a service project I jumped at the chance. We left Minnesota at 4:30 in the morning. We drove straight through to Flint arriving at 7 pm. We had to wait two hours for the guys from VT to arrive. It was good to meet six other men from across the country who share our desire to help the less fortunate. We told Tim the guy from VT who was coordinating the entire project that we wanted to be outside. He assigned a team of five of us to go to the shelter. Upon arriving we met Gary. The shelter was the size of a small house and he informed us that sixty five people call sleep there every night. Our project for the day was to expand their garden and move the grass to an area where they wanted to create a playground for the children. We spent the next six hours moving the lawn for them by hand.

It's hard to describe the poverty level in Flint, Mi to other college kids in Central Minnesota. Most of them have no idea what it's like to go without, or to have to live in a condemned structure. Even after spending three months in the lower 9th ward in New Orleans it was a shock to come back to a place where I didn't have to sleep in a room with fifty other people. The concept of privacy had become foreign to me and I was used to dealing with a crisis everyday. It never occurred to me though that people would live in those kinds of conditions without some disaster. In Flint we saw homes that should have been condemned. Houses boarded up and other properties that used a tarp as s roof... Previously I hadn't thought of people living int hose kinds of conditions outside of some form of disaster area. I didn't believe that the standard of living had that much disparity in America. Let alone from Minnesota to MI. I know that now, and that's pretty special to me.

On another note that's special men from three different states came together to work on various projects. The only thing that tied us together at the start of the day was three letters and the guiding principals behind the fraternity that each of us are a part of.

I wish that I cold do more, in the future I will.


J

bittersweet.

Because I am pressed for time this blog will be in list form.

Thing that irk me:

Women that are less than intelligent
People who has no sense of propriety
women in general
That it is the end of March and it is snowing



Fin

want to see a real shit show?

Members of the opposite sex perplex me. I met a woman last semester. She seemed to be interesting enough as far as her having a similar sense of human and somewhat of an understanding as to the type of person that I am. We started talking one day and for a two week stretch we talked everyday at length. At the end of which the subject of drinking came up and I told her that I intended to go to the bar on Thursday night. By the time I arrived at the bar she was already drunk. We had one drink together and then she wandered off, we exchanged more texts and met up an hour later at another bar. She said that she needed to tell me that her life was a mess, and that she wasn't looking for a boyfriend. She also added that I was too smart to be her boyfriend. I proceeded to tell her in the nicest way possible and by that I mean not tell her the complete truth that I don't do the relationship thing. (It's not that I don't do it, it's that unless you meet my standards I'm not going to waste my time.) She acknowledged this and then proceeded to tell me that she thinks that I'm super cool and that she wants to be friends because she likes me and that I'm funny. So confused by her logic I tell her no worries, we have another drink together and then she says that she's leaving. I tell her to call me/text me when she gets home so that I know she arrived safely. When she does text me she says that she's mad at me because I didn't feel up on her... To which I reply that I don't do that sort of thing with people that I'm not interested in. The rest of the night was a mixed bag of consuming copious amounts of alcohol and getting my kind of drunk. The kind of drunk when you pass out in your bed naked and you put off going to the bathroom until the last moment possible because moving is awkward. The kind of drunk where you wake up drink water and sleep for several hours more. The day after a hard night of drinking like that always leaves me feeling less than human the next day. I don't enjoy the feeling but I do enjoy telling people that I feel almost human again in the evening. Anyway crazy drunk girl sends me a message apologizing for the way that she acted the previous night. Saying that she was sorry that she was that girl. She reiterated the fact that she thought that I was a cool person and wanted to be my friend, and apologized for her being upset that I wouldn't touch her.

Granted I understand when people are drunk they say and do some stupid things, but really? The triumvirate of stupidity in her case in my mind was first telling me that she thought that I was too smart for her. Followed by her assertions that she wasn't looking for a boyfriend, and finally that she wanted me to get all over her? What is that? Look I can understand being drunk and wanting to be touched and or hook up, but the person that you're trying to seduce will feel a lot less repugnant about the entire experience if you don't tell them that you aren't looking for anything serious.

Shakespeare was right....

There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and miseries.

I took the LSAT this past Saturday. It was a bit surreal to be forced into such an arbitrary position with respect to my future. This test represents three years of work in undergrad, the first step in seeing the fruition of my dream of becoming an attorney, a year spent reviewing arguments and taking practice tests. It seems so wonderful and horrible at the same time to reach this kind of impasse. I don't know if at any other point in your life you will ever have as much potential that has yet to be actualized with respect to your future hinged upon a single test.

In other news people irk me. I'm so sick of this collective collegiate experience where people claim ignorance as an excuse for acting like petulant children. I don't know why they feel justified acting in such a manor, or what measure of camaraderie they hope to retain from these years if they continue to act this way. It makes me sad to see individuals fall from grace. It makes me wonder if people are just petty and ridiculously stupid or if at some point in the stages of human development they learn to be what we commonly refer to as a 'decent' person?

I can't wait to finish up my undergraduate degree and get out of here.