Locked Out

Unfortunately several times this semester a friend of mine has had uncontrollable asthma attacks and we have had to take her to the health center on campus. These asthma attacks have all occurred at night. Why is it that we have to buzz in to the health center, explain why we are there, stand at the door for a nurse to mossy on over, explain again what we are doing there, and then be let in? I am very disappointed with this system. On a college campus, where the night is the most likely time to need health care services, the students can not get that help very easily. My friend Diana can not take the trips to the health center alone because she would not be able to stand on her own, buzz in to the nurses, and explain why she is there over and over again. It just isn't possible, she would pass out. Luckily I have been available to go with her each time. I think that the Health Center should reconsider this "after hours" system.

Attendance policy

The writing department and I'm sure others on this and many other campuses have an attendance policy. I understand the appeal of making students go to class. That is what we are here for. However, I think that is should be a professors policy, not a departments policy. I have mono and I have been to every writing class because I don't want to use up my three absences. Because this is a department policy I don't have leeway on my attendance. If it were my professors policy then I could have a discussion with them and most likely get excused absences like I have in most of my other classes. I feel like in college we are in charge of how we learn and if a student can go to class for the exams and to turn in the homework and they can still get an acceptable grade then attendance shouldn't be mandatory. And if attendance is mandatory it should be the professors call, not the departments.

Shingles

One of my friends is really stressed out at her college. She has a very tough work load, she lives in a triple that should only be a double, and she doesn't get along with one of her roommates. Just before she left for spring break she noticed that her shoulders were really starting to hurt and she was getting a little bit of an unexplained rash. It went away a little bit over break but as it got closer to her going back to school, the rash started to creep up again. She went to the doctor the day she got back and found out that she has Shingles. My friends roommate that she doesn't get along with hasn't had Chickenpox yet, and Shingles is a form of Chickenpox, so my friend has to take all of these cautionary measures to ensure that her roommate is feeling alright and she doesn't get Chickenpox. This is causing my friend a great deal of stress. More then she had before. I do not agree that her roommate can make her do some of the things that she is asking her to do, like change only in the bathroom, and try to stay away from her. These are ridiculous measures that don't seem like they are going to make any difference. If the roommate has a real problem or she feels like she could get something from my friend then she needs to do something to make herself feel more comfortable and not demand all of these crazy things from my friend.

Re:Probation affecting Studying Abroad

This blog is in response to Chris's blog about study abroad. I am planning on study abroad in Ireland spring semester next year. I would be really angry if I were put on probation and couldn't go. I understand putting people on probation, but it isn't always a just thing. A few of my friends have been put on probation because they walked into a room where there was drinking, and one of them has never had anything to drink in her life. There is no way to know who is really doing something wrong in these situations. Being on probation sucks enough, but to take away the right to go abroad because of something that you might have been involved in is really harsh. I agree with Chris, I don't think that probation should have anything to do with the study abroad opportunity.

Re:Abstinence

This blog is in response to Jordan's Abstinence blog. I agree that teaching abstinence does not work. Although sex ed doesn't always work. My high school had a terrible sex ed course. It was one quarter long, the teacher wasn't very good or respected, and no one payed attention to what was being taught. Schools need to work harder to teach students about protection. The number of pregnancies in my high school was very high. I graduated with 24 kids and three of them were pregnant and one is again. I honestly believe that this wouldn't happen if our sex ed class had been better. This is a subject that really needs to be addressed very soon.

Re: Project 1

This blog is in response to Sean’s Project 1 blog. I agree with Sean. Having to write this paper made me read some things I wouldn’t have read if I hadn’t needed to write it, Mitt Romney’s withdrawal speech for example. I learned a lot about my own beliefs and the differences between the Democratic and Republican parties. I knew about the differences between the two but reading speeches from the two parties is so much better then reading a text book that says this is what this party usually believes and this is what this other party usually believes. I was very happy with my ideals and myself after reading these speeches and writing this paper.

There is nothing wrong with being gay.

I was watching the Ellen DeGeneres show a few days ago and she told a very disturbing, very sad story. A 15-year-old boy named Larry was killed by his classmate Brandon for being gay. Larry had asked Brandon to be his valentine a few days earlier and he killed him for it. Where do the signals get crossed that make a kid like Brandon think it is ok to kill a kid like Larry? Being gay is not wrong. If you don’t already, start paying attention to how often being gay is the punch line in everyday language. All the time I hear people calling things gay when it doesn’t make any sense. Just today I heard someone say that having an exam on the Friday before break is gay. Does that make sense to anyone? I don’t understand. Is your professor a homosexual? Is the test somehow a homosexual? Or are you saying that it makes you very happy to have a test on the Friday before break? I think not. It is not ok to make gay jokes. It is not ok to kill someone because they are gay. It is however ok to be gay.