Babbling Bubbles

And because my face is totally uncontrollable, as is my hatred of Rush Limbaugh, I started making a really contorted expression of disgust as soon as she said his name, and one of the assistants noticed and pointed it out to the other TA. I’m pretty sure they appreciated my feelings.

I may not have much done (one paragraph out of ten pages but shhh) but hot damn, I am eloquent as fuck sometimes.

Someone in my class just complained about his family not being able to build a 45 ft. pool (I swear to god) because zoning laws.

Silly reasons to dislike my roommate:
1. She’s too nice
2. She’s too happy
Legitimate reasons to dislike my roommate:
1. She’s never seen Toy Story, and
2. She has no desire to change that, because
3. She doesn’t feel she could relate to a movie about a cowboy and an astronaut, and
4. She doesn’t like Pixar movies

I have this weird fascination with Greek Life on my campus. I don’t know what it is about frats and sororities, but they intrigue me endlessly. I think it might have to do with the fact that they’re like formalized cliques, which I was always deeply interested me, but I really couldn’t tell you for sure.

Anyway, I think I might join one. I picked it out already, based on the girls I’ve observed wearing their letters, because I think they’re normal people. There are five major sororities on my camps (I’ll refer to them as A-E because I don’t want to get too specific). A is made up of the kinds of girls I used to think of when I heard the word “sorority” - they evoke images of twinsets and pearls and I wouldn’t get along with them at all. B is the sorority my roommate from last spring pledged, and they’re sort of wild, and while I like them, I don’t think I would really fit in with them at all. I don’t know that much about sorority C, except that they’re like a toned down version of B, from what I can tell. D was only founded recently so I know basically nothing about them. And then there’s E, which is the one that I want to get into - they’re a mix of a lot of different personality types, and the people I’ve seen who are a part of the organization are people who I could see myself being friends with, anyway.

I realize that sororities don’t exactly coexist very well with feminism, but another reason that I think I would be fine in the one I’m considering is that one of my coworkers belongs to it, and while she receives some gentle ribbing about her beliefs on occasion, she loves both and neither one conflicts with the other.

I just. I want friends. I feel like I fell into a narrow niche already, and it’s only first semester of my sophomore year. It’s what I dealt with in high school as well - I wound up in a rut I couldn’t branch out of. College was supposed to be different, and damn it if I’m not going to make sure it is.

But is it possible to be a part of feminism and sororities? Am I being insane? Or could I pull this off without sacrificing either activity?

This pervasive image of the poor as capable people who are too lazy or unwilling to get off their asses and be productive members of society has been around for a very, very long time.
We were learning about how poverty was dealt with in 17th century England and America. If a poor person had family, they were considered the “deserving” poor, and their family was responsible for them. But if they did not have family, they were the “undeserving” poor - and they were either exiled or publicly shamed into getting a job.
Today, we continue to (attempt to) shame the poor into submission, chastising them for not working, calling them lazy and accusing them of mooching off society. The difference is that when it was happening in Colonial times, there was a surplus of work and a deficit of laborers. Today, obviously, that dynamic has reversed, yet we continue this practice of shaming those unable to find work.
I just found the whole thing really interesting and a bit disturbing.

On the one hand, I want to ask her why because if it’s my fault I’ll fix whatever the issue is - there’s no good reason for her to sleep on the fuckin couch every night. On the other hand though, there’s absolutely no reason for her not to approach me about whatever the issue is and of she chooses to solve it by sleeping on the couch without talking about it, then that’s her problem. If she’s trying to be passive aggressive or make me feel guilty or something, she’s going to learn pretty quickly that those tactics only serve to piss me off.

Ignoring how exhausted I am, this has actually been a good week. My courses seem interesting, there are some semi-attractive boys in my classes, and I’ve had quite a few confidence boosts. Definitely a nice start to the new semester.

Um. I might be a teeny bit addicted to feminism.