It's the last Sunday of the semester, and I'm holed up in the library writing a blog post. You know what that means -- it's Finals week, and I'm once again using this blog as an excuse to procrastinate on whatever it is I am actually supposed to be doing. Finals Week posts tend to be, in some ways, reflective, as I get a chance to look back on a semester of life lessons and stories and stupid generalizations (like my post about judging you based on where you study).
This one's a little different, because most of the time, Finals Week comes with a sense of finality. Instead, I find myself already thinking ahead to three weeks from now when I'll be moving all of my stuff back into the dorms at U of R for my summer job. It feels like nothing's really ending, which I think is compounded by my fundamental inability to grasp the fact that I'm going to be a senior in about two weeks. None of it seems real -- nothing's ending, nothing's starting, it's just kind of fading into itself. Is this what the real world is like? Who knows?
For those of you who have finished your finals already -- well, I hate you. For those of you still struggling through, best of luck!
'Twas the night before finals
And all through UR...
I'll come up with a way to finish that rhyme someday.
Good luck,
Rachel Leigh
This is a blog about things, about thinking about things, about talking about things, and about being as snarky and poignant as I can manage. I hope you enjoy it.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Saturday, April 13, 2013
On Take Back the Night
As I take a break from taking notes on why Paul Feyerabend thinks we should throw method in science out with the bathwater, I want to talk about Tuesday night.
Tuesday, April 9th at UR was Take Back the Night. For those of you who don't know what Take Back the Night is, it began in Philadelphia in the 1970s in response to the problems that women face walking alone at night. Women are taught to fear the dark and the things that go bump within it, and Take Back the Night is intended to empower women and reclaim what has repeatedly been taken away. It is primarily a sexual assault/rape awareness campaign, and at UR involves an open-mic style speaking event and a candlelight vigil.
It is a really moving event, but I think more than anything what I love about Take Back the Night is the extent to which it 1) puts a face to the idea of a survivor of sexual assault and 2) forces you to look at people as whole, complex individuals who have faced things and have proven themselves to be extraordinarily strong in the face of something that breaks a lot of people. I know that I, personally, have this overwhelmingly powerful reaction whenever I see someone now who I have seen speak at TBtN in the past. It is a combination of sympathy, empathy, and respect, sadness for what they have gone through, and pride for the strong and wonderful people they continue to be in spite of it.
I was heartbroken to see the sheer number of women who are a part of my daily campus community who went up to speak about something that no one should have to face and extraordinarily impressed and inspired by the number of strong, brave, beautiful women who refuse to let their rapists, stalkers, abusers, or scars define them.
I am proud to know you. I am proud to fight with you.
Yours,
Rachel Leigh
Tuesday, April 9th at UR was Take Back the Night. For those of you who don't know what Take Back the Night is, it began in Philadelphia in the 1970s in response to the problems that women face walking alone at night. Women are taught to fear the dark and the things that go bump within it, and Take Back the Night is intended to empower women and reclaim what has repeatedly been taken away. It is primarily a sexual assault/rape awareness campaign, and at UR involves an open-mic style speaking event and a candlelight vigil.
It is a really moving event, but I think more than anything what I love about Take Back the Night is the extent to which it 1) puts a face to the idea of a survivor of sexual assault and 2) forces you to look at people as whole, complex individuals who have faced things and have proven themselves to be extraordinarily strong in the face of something that breaks a lot of people. I know that I, personally, have this overwhelmingly powerful reaction whenever I see someone now who I have seen speak at TBtN in the past. It is a combination of sympathy, empathy, and respect, sadness for what they have gone through, and pride for the strong and wonderful people they continue to be in spite of it.
I was heartbroken to see the sheer number of women who are a part of my daily campus community who went up to speak about something that no one should have to face and extraordinarily impressed and inspired by the number of strong, brave, beautiful women who refuse to let their rapists, stalkers, abusers, or scars define them.
I am proud to know you. I am proud to fight with you.
Yours,
Rachel Leigh
Monday, April 8, 2013
On Margaret Thatcher
As I'm sure you've heard, Margaret Thatcher passed away. (So did Lilly Pulitzer. Sorry, I go to a southern school, I am required to know these things.) If you haven't heard that Margaret Thatcher passed away, then, well, I'm sorry you're getting your news from me. I am far from a reliable news source. If you don't know who Margaret Thatcher is, well, then... I'm concerned. Go to Wikipedia.
Anyway, may the Iron Lady of Britain's conservative age rest in peace. We may not have agreed on all our politics (though, hey, she started one of the world's first free needle-exchange programs to prevent the spread of blood-communicable diseases among drug users, so we're not in complete opposititon!), but the fact remains that a political giant has passed.
In a lot of ways, I admire Margaret Thatcher in spite of her politics, because she was a woman in politics, who was widely-respected as a force to be reckoned with on the global stage. She may have been a lot of things, including more conservative than I even pretend to be, but she was a truly strong and powerful woman.
Rest in Peace, Iron Lady. I'm Sure the Doctor misses you fondly.
Politically,
Rachel Leigh
Anyway, may the Iron Lady of Britain's conservative age rest in peace. We may not have agreed on all our politics (though, hey, she started one of the world's first free needle-exchange programs to prevent the spread of blood-communicable diseases among drug users, so we're not in complete opposititon!), but the fact remains that a political giant has passed.
In a lot of ways, I admire Margaret Thatcher in spite of her politics, because she was a woman in politics, who was widely-respected as a force to be reckoned with on the global stage. She may have been a lot of things, including more conservative than I even pretend to be, but she was a truly strong and powerful woman.
Rest in Peace, Iron Lady. I'm Sure the Doctor misses you fondly.
Politically,
Rachel Leigh
Sunday, April 7, 2013
On North Korea (and an update!)
Greetings, darling readers! It is now April, and after making many an obnoxious comment about March's terrible weather (in like a lion, out like a lamb, my ass -- more like out like a yeti), a weekend of glorious weather has befallen our humble university community.
Just in time to find me holed up in the library working on about 40 pages worth of papers. Yay college?
This weekend was the glorious occasion of Pig Roast, which gave me a chance to escape from fears about North Korea losing their minds and deciding to fire missiles at all of us. Has anybody seen Ze End of Ze World? Because apparently North Korea has decided that "those ___ sons of a b*tches are going down." Now we just need some French guy complaining he's too Le Tired to fire back.
Forgive me for making light of such a serious situation, but realistically, if there is some power hungry little man in North Korea who thinks that launching a nuclear bomb in the direction of any U.S. military station, be in South Korea, Japan, or Guam, is going to end with anything short of his country getting wiped off the map in retaliation, I sadly have no other response but to laugh. Mostly because there are very few forces in this world more powerful than a desperate man with nothing to lose. Those people do some pretty crazy things.
That being said, I hope we somehow avoid a nuclear holocaust long enough for me to continue updating you all on the thoughts that go through my head. Keep on the lookout for posts on mental health, summer, and exams, all coming soon!
Building my panic room as we speak,
Rachel Leigh
Just in time to find me holed up in the library working on about 40 pages worth of papers. Yay college?
This weekend was the glorious occasion of Pig Roast, which gave me a chance to escape from fears about North Korea losing their minds and deciding to fire missiles at all of us. Has anybody seen Ze End of Ze World? Because apparently North Korea has decided that "those ___ sons of a b*tches are going down." Now we just need some French guy complaining he's too Le Tired to fire back.
Forgive me for making light of such a serious situation, but realistically, if there is some power hungry little man in North Korea who thinks that launching a nuclear bomb in the direction of any U.S. military station, be in South Korea, Japan, or Guam, is going to end with anything short of his country getting wiped off the map in retaliation, I sadly have no other response but to laugh. Mostly because there are very few forces in this world more powerful than a desperate man with nothing to lose. Those people do some pretty crazy things.
That being said, I hope we somehow avoid a nuclear holocaust long enough for me to continue updating you all on the thoughts that go through my head. Keep on the lookout for posts on mental health, summer, and exams, all coming soon!
Building my panic room as we speak,
Rachel Leigh
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