MO House Act 1075 would require schools to promote monogamous, heterosexual relationships as part of the general sexual education curriculum.

This act will censor Missouri youth against contraceptives and sexual eccentricities and may lead to increased bigotry against same-sex couples.

We will see how the MO congress votes.

It is the end of the semester and the work is piling up. The workload for most college students is unbearable. Three fifteen-page papers, three finals and two in-class presentations are on the agenda for this week alone. Not to mention finishing up that other essay due from two weeks ago that you needed an extension on. You are scheduled for twelve hours to work in the dining hall this week. The holiday season is upon us and you haven't finished your Christmas cards. Not to mention gathering all the presents you are expected to give. There is a month-long break coming up and your room needs to be ready for it. There are dust bunnies the size of Godzilla that are about to eat your month's worth of dirty laundry that still need to be done. You haven't packed a single sock and your mother is calling about trip arrangements. If it hasn't happened already, the dreaded all-nighter is coming for you!

The annual Weblog Awards are now open. Maybe you would like to vote for the Best Parenting Blog?

We have all heard of the tremendous wealth and generosity of Bill Gates (founder, owner, and CEO of Microsoft). He has donated millions upon millions upon millions of dollars to multiple charities. However, not many people have heard of the marvelous gift given by Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay. He and his wife, Pam Omidyar, donated $100 million to Tufts University (their alma mater).

"Actress Wendie Jo Sperber, who starred opposite Tom Hanks on TV's "Bosom Buddies" and who in his words became "a walking inspiration" after she contracted cancer, died on Nov. 29. She was in her 40s. Sperber, who appeared in dozens of television shows and movies, including all three "Back to the Future" films, died at home after an eight-year battle with breast cancer." -Los Angeles Times

My mom called me last night to tell me this news. I am sure none of you remember my first blog post for WOI in which I talked about the communities I belong to. One of the few I listed as very important to me was weSPARK. Wendie Jo was the founder of this incredible organization.

I was just watching the news and thought that I would share this article that was on. It hits kind of close to home. Apparently yesterday a car was jacked on 41st and Lancaster, for me this is a street I know well I always take Lancaster to get into the city mainly because it quicker and I don't have to deal with highway traffic. Yesterday however, three students were held up at gunpoint while waiting at a red light at that very intersection.

A little while ago, I wrote a blog about whether or not you would confess to a crime, even if you knew that you would get into trouble. Apparently, some people do.

Heaven won't have children if it’s up to Dan McCauley. Chicago restaurant owner has recently posted a sign on the front door of his restaurant

Does anyone think that Veterans' Day has sadly turned into a forgotten holiday?

It's a shame to say, but I think that only older generations reminisce about the significance of this special day. Older individuals who were either involved in the armed services or had family in such positions celebrate the holiday with parades and dinners (American flags, military uniforms, and all).

As for younger generations, I feel that we have "skipped" over Veterans' Day like it is nothing special. It is very commercialized as almost all stores have awesome Veterans' Day sales. I know that it is customary for past veterans to visit the graves of victims/friends that had died in battle, but no one else really does anything or expresses their appreciation for the courage and endurance that past generations of soldiers have had. We overlook their strife as they fought to keep our country democratic and free of invaders.

Many people throughout Philadelphia, PA felt the effects of SEPTA's strike. Many of the SEPTA buses were not running and the commuter trains were rarely on-time. I experienced this first-hand several times over the weekend when I commuted back and forth between Bryn Mawr and Center City for a Model United Nations conference. The first night I ended up running to catch the train, thinking it would be on-time, but when I got there, I found out it would be 25 minutes late arriving to the station.

I am starting a Snowboarding Club! There are three types of people who may want to join the club:

1.) You are already fairly good at snowboarding and you want to go this ski season. You would like to meet other snowboarders and may want to help others learn to snowboard. You want to increase your skill level though peer support and practice.

2.) You sort of know how to snowboard but would like to increase your skill level through peer support and practice. You want to meet others who like snowboarding.

It was a cold dark day before Rugby playoffs everything was going well when all of a sudden the entire Bryn Mawr Haverford team turned and ran screaming hysterically at one of their players. No they had not gone crazy, nor did they decide to rebel against one of their own, instead they were helping a teammate conquer one of the teammate's worst and most reasonable fears: 30 angry rugby players running at her at once.

How far will we go to conquer our fears?

As many of you know (or at least you should know!) elections were held yesterday all across the country. Among the governors and resolutions voted on, several local and city elections were held to vote on new mayors and city council members, even in the small town of Hillsdale, Michigan. And today, after all the ballots were counted, the people in Hillsdale have a new mayor younger than most of us here at Bryn Mawr.

Is it just me or did many stores in the mall (really anywhere for that matter) start their "Holiday Cheer" expressions WAY too early this year?!

A week before Halloween, I went to Bryn Mawr's "favorite" mall, King of Prussia, to look for a Halloween costume. To my surprise, I found one Halloween store and found the rest of the stores pretty much decked out in Christmas decorations. I thought I had lost my mind upon hearing the song "Santa Baby" in the Gap! Halloween had not even come yet!

After lantern night (which rocked my socks! It was so amazing!!) my customs group went back to drink hot cocoa and fatten up on cupcakes, sweets and whatnot. We stayed with our lanterns till they snuffed themselves out one by one. (We named it the lantern snuff out contest). Traditionally, the first lantern to snuff out is the first to get married. The last lantern to snuff out is going to get their PhD first.

Tonight (Oct. 30) was Lantern Night as all Mawters, professors, and staff know. I'm glad to have my pretty, red lantern now, but I think the "ceremony" of receiving the lanterns was a little spooky(how timely for my word choice, I know!).

Before the ceremony, I pictured hundreds of women in black robes being led into the darkness of the Cloisters. After I had told my friends about this tradition, describing it in much detail, they joked about the night being a time of Freshmen sacrifice. I realized that my description was similiar to that of a cult. The black robes, the silence... and mystical, Greek chants. It is what you see in cult movies (except our BAT robes don't have hoods). I was well aware that we were supposed to be mature women about this tradition, but I couldn't help but flap my wings like a bat while falling single-file into our positions. HAH... the opportunity was there!

Hey I found this amazing thing you just got to buy!! I'm not talkin about anything you see on TV, I'm your friend, you gotta look at this!! CLICK TO READ MORE!!!!!

So for the past two sessions in our WOI section we have ended up talking about race relations in the US. I had promised my classmates to post this link to Harvard University's Implicit Association tests. These are great for understanding your own biases with regards to religion, age, gender, as well as race. These tell you the honest truth about you and what you really think, whether you like the results or not.

Has anyone else ever noticed that sometimes, if you smile at the people on campus they don't smile back? I grew up in a community where you could smile at anyone and recieve at least a smile, head nod, or hello back. So coming to Bryn Mawr with my best friendly smile, I've been somewhat disappointed. My dorm (Pem West) got together last night for a "Diversi-tea" in the spirit of Diversity Week and sharing. We discussed how other people felt the same way, that one smile is all you need to brighten your day. Yet, when I smile at someone I don't know, I get this look of "who ARE you?!" It's a look of horror, and I know I'm not that scary. So we as a dorm decided that everyone should just start smiling at people.

This is a tangent that I was thinking about, and am therefore branching off of Judge Hatchet's blog. With regards to children and dressing older than their age, there's another issue entirely when dealing with clothing.

What do you wear to getting a job? We've all been told that first impressions last a lifetime, but what do people do when they can't get those interview worthy clothes? There are hundreds of websites give a set of rules and guidelines for how to dress when searching for a job. But if you already don't have the income to afford to follow those guidelines, where do you go?

As I'm sure everyone knows, TheFacebook is a web community designed to connect students with other students from around the world. TheFacebook is a helpful tool, providing an outlet for students to search for friends from high school and meet new friends at their current college.

However, there is a draw back to this "technological advancement." Everyohe has heard their parents say "well when I was your age, we didn't have the internet, much less cell phones." This article from Newsweek explains how college freshman, now more than ever, are so technologically advanced.

Prom has been cancelled at Kellenberg Memorial High School this year, and 489 seniors are outraged. The administration feels that this is a necessary measure due to the fact that the money being spent on gowns, tuxedos, limos, and after-parties is becoming excessively excessive, to say the least. Whether it is being viewed as a right of passage or an outlet to flaunt the most expensive designer labels, school officials feel that it is unnecessary for thousands of dollars to be spent on this one evening. Requests by the schools to parents to not go overboard have gone unheeded, and $500 gowns and tuxes keep strolling in the door on Prom night.

The topic of thrown out food may have been beaten to death by now, but a recent article in a philadelphia newspaper regarding the hunger of the people of Philly brought a few interesting ideas to mind. The article entitled, “The Food Maze, Why Can’t Philly’s Poor Eat?” relate the problems of both the hungry and those providing food in Philly.

Today is the day that I catch up on everything that I've been putting off this past week. My catch phase for this week was "I'll do it tomorrow." Research for a paper? I'll do it tomorrow. Studying for a mid-term? Oh, I'll just do it tomorrow. It's a vicious cycle, isn't it?

Procrastination catches up with us all, whether you be the student who waits to study until the night before (or until 1 am before) your big test, or waits until the day before a paper is due to write that twenty page research paper.

It's the end of the world as we know it...and I don't feel fine. :( (Corny, I know.)

I hope everyone is enjoying these days off (I know I am). But have you ever noticed that people from your past just pop up in situations you wouldn't expect? I came home this week for relaxation and time with friends, but everywhere I go I seem to bump into someone else that hasn't changed at all. It was refreshing to come home and be welcomed back, but it's just strange. At school, though we may not realize it, we're changing and growing into educated women. But at least for me, when I came home, everything stayed the same. I went back to my high school and it was the same. The people haven't changed, they're still "little high schoolers." It's strange to see that the juniors are now seniors, sophomores now juniors, etc. It's like you can't get away from what you were because you come home and nothing has changed.

As a parent how will you discipline your children? I've been thinking about this question and have yet to figure out my answer. When I was a child living in the south spankings were a normal way of life. I definitely had my share and I don't feel as though I'm any worse for the ware. It was only when I moved to the east coast that I realized that there were other ways to discipline a child. Since then I've been pondering the question of whether or not spankings should be considered child abuse or not. When you think about it to physically hit a child in any other sense would be considered child abuse so why are spankings not considered to be part of the intolerable treatment of children.

Think about your family background and origin. Let's say you are the only one who does not "fit" in the family because of your skin color or hair. All the family members do "fit" but not you. When you are born with that, according to your mother and the doctors, it was because of a skin disease called melanism. You are the only balck person in the white family.

I was reading the newspaper article about a lie that had shattered one person's identity over twenty-six years. Dave Myers's story was rather captivating. The secret of a mother almost ruined and damaged her son's life. However, Dave made it thorugh and now he is very enthusiastic about sharing his story and discussing about the race.

Last night, Dale Jarret ended his two year slump at the wheel and won at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. The story covered in USA Today ourlined how even other top racers are proud of Jarret's effort throughout the past two years and sticking with it.

I appologize if it bugs you for bringing this up again, but I just thought this was interesting, that they're getting a step closer to putting a number on the blogs out there. Check this out.
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While it is probably virtually impossible to put a cap on just how massive the blogosphere is, it certainly is mind boggling to wonder. Hundreds of blogs might be published by the second. Weblogs.com is certainly proof of that. For every minute or so that you refresh the page, a number of blogs appear on the screen. It's kind of amazing to watch.