The Fortune says "Look Ahead for a New Beginning"

The Natural World has developed a wonderful way of continuing itself through the act of reproduction, combining some chromosomes with some DNA, and bam! you've got yourself a new generation. Humans added another component to the mess and developed these emotional relationships where we all go through this intense ritual of dating, having emotional sex, getting involved in in each others lives, and then maybe spending life together or maybe one day it bluntly ends. We also have a psychology behind all these intense romantic relationships that more or less guide us to finding what we want in a romantic relationship, including what needs to be compromised and what cannot.

Now relationships are not easy, that is a fact. They take work, they take time, they take lots and lots of patience. Sometimes we get in fights and we wonder if we will will work it out, or if the whole shebang is lost. There is no doubt that it is extremely hard to suddenly not think only about yourself 100% of the time and acknowledge that there is someone else there, someone who cares about you and the relationship. Its hard when you've always toughed it out on your own to adjust to opening up to your significant other, to spill your problems and your insecurities. So if relationships are so hard, why do we even bother? If break-ups are so nasty, so disgusting, so brutal, why do we still give love another chance?

Now I'm no pro when it comes to true love and all that blah blah, but I do know what is it like when someone cares about you and listens with open ears and an open heart to your problems and issues. There is something magical about this kind of deep respect that someone has for you, and it makes you want to return the favor. Loving someone is beyond just doing things with them, its about being there through the tough times and the fun times. Its about being interested in their lives as much as they are interested in yours. Its about being honest and opening up, not keeping them in the dark. Its about feeling comfortable with them, feeling like someone is rooting for you, always having a cheerleader.

I know this is not sociological but for some reason I feel it necessary to share to whoever is reading this how I feel about love. Love is an awesome feeling that no one should deny themselves. Not loving or denying yourself the ability to love is sad and I feel very sorry for you. Life without love must be a very dark, cold, and lonely life.

All you need is love!

Ah Public Radio

So I'm starting to get annoyed with The Rivers constant repative music... always Blue Oyster Cult or Eric Clapton or Heart... can't even play The Beatles all that much anymore. So I switched the dial to WABE (public Radio 90.1 FM) yesterday and discovered Gringo Star! A play on my favorite drummer, Ringo Starr, they have a little garage band sound that I'm actually really digging.

Perhaps my lack of television has also made me rediscover public radio a little more, but radio is a dying art that is more and more being headed up by mass radio companies, so for once this station has no commercials and great programs, like BBS News and A Prairie Home Companion... one of the best (and perhaps only) radio shows with Garrison Keillor. A must for the nostalgic and the nostalgic at heart!

Anyways, Gringo Star! They are awesome may I suggest you check them out... even though they've been around for a while. Their debut album, All Y'all, is for sale on iTunes too. Enjoy!

http://www.myspace.com/thegringostars

My Raging Functionalist...

I'm currently enrolled in this Sociology course called Race & Ethnic Relations. The basis of the course is to talk about issues and complications in racial and ethnic discriminations and prejudice. This class was right up my alley until I realized that if you bring up the "wrong opinion" you will chastized. Now I'm all for opinions and sharing ideas, I like to hear all about people's opinions and whatnot, but there are some people that are getting on my nerves.

Here is my philosophy on race & ethnicity: The basic concept is that we seperate ourselves based on skin color, but we also attach historical and political significance to it. People totally play the game of race & ethnicity when it suits them (St. Patricks Day, Black History Month, Cinco de Mayo...) and when it sets them apart in a positive light. But the moment that one is faced with negative consequences of these seperations, then its racism. But its all racism, its all seperation, and its all going to keep going on unless the idea of visual discrimination and prejudice had never existed in the first place.

I also believe that we like to place ourselves in groups, we like to belong to groups that set us apart from the vast billions of people in this world. The tighter and smaller our group we belong to, the more we find individualism: for example, I am a white female who goes to college, is a Sociology major, and has a religious obsession for The Beatles... now how many people are in my same boat, based on just those three things? Probably only a handful, which makes us all a tight group and we are able to set ourselves apart. This is how race and ethnicity works. It is a social construction that allows us to set ourselves apart that much more, thus we are seperating ourselves.

Also there is historical context in this, as we like to constantly teach in classes.
The enslavement of African people in the USA took a greater toll on our society than most of us even realize. It was dirty, it was power-driven, it was humiliating, it was wrong, it was pretty much the most horrible, disgusting slave-business ever run in the history of humanity, and it happened only about 150 years ago. And now the problem is that now we are still fighting it. We can fight it by learning about different races and ethnicities and by understanding that all this idea that one group is less superior is complete bogus, but to completely understand and solve a problem you have to understand it first... Oh my god look Functionalist Theory! If you want to solve the problem, you have to understand first HOW it functions in society! You have to look at the reality, the historical context... theorizing about ideal solutions and fantasty worlds where "everyone is equal" isn't going to get anyone anywhere. To eliminate racism, you have to completely stop seperating people and you have to stop making such a big deal about racism. I know it sounds ignorant and very blunt, but if you're not thinking about something, its not an issue. Period.

I needed to vent, those girls just made me mad. Seriously, I'm not ignorant, I'm trying to understand all perspectives of the problem. I'm a Functionalist, get used to it!

ASSHOLE! Did I get your attention? Ok good...

One of my close friends has come up with possibly the greatest website ever... and I encourage you to check it out! Not only is it an excellent place to vent, but you can read about other people's misfortunes and such, PLUS you will learn what not to do to piss people off!

Check it out: http://www.dearasshole.net/

It will change your life!