On Listening

I'm highly auditory.

I still have yet to learn how to really incorporate images into my posts here because, well, they don't really click with me. I can stare at walls of text and, as long as I can hear the writer's voice, they don't bother me. A lot of times, I actually skip over images, which I know is a dangerous thing to start doing, because it eliminates a lot of important context for the things being discussed.

Why am I talking about this? Well, one of the blogs I follow for my English 383 class (I linked to MY class blog a couple posts ago, go check it out) did a post on learning styles. I feel like auditory learners get passed over in these discussions. Maybe it's because the traditional lecture-style teaching techniques actually work on us. I LIKE lectures. I like the way things sound.

God, if I could incorporate sound into my blog posts without violating copyright, I would. For now, I have to settle for the poetic way the words roll around in my head.

So how do you learn?

Listening,
Rachel Leigh

On "So go on, if this will make you happier..."

Dear Readers:

It is 4 am, and I can't sleep.

I haven't had insomnia this badly in quite some time, and, to be honest, it is kind of throwing me.

Luckily, I have the room to myself this weekend (so I don't feel bad for keeping my roommate up). You want to know the weird part? I can't sleep because I'm happy. Happier than I've been in a while. I would explain the details, but I would probably bore you and/or embarrass myself on the internet, so I'll spare you. The fact of the matter is that I laid in bed for an hour and smiled giddily and couldn't sleep. Then I took a shower and talked to myself and smiled some more and still couldn't sleep. And now I'm blogging because I still can't sleep. I always thought I couldn't write when I was happy because I had nothing to complain about.

I found out that I also can't write when I'm sad (especially not when I'm sad and trying to mask it by keeping myself busy). Things haven't really changed in the situation that made me sad in the first place, except that I found out why it happened. And knowing that has made me happy.

Speaking in broad generalities for the sake of protecting people and keeping personal information off the internet is fun.

I'm really tired. Class tomorrow should be fun.

Happier,
Rachel Leigh

P.S., Watch this video of silly college boys singing the song I'm quoting in the title of this post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V60d4EF3v6g

Oh dear. My lovely, lovely readers.

It's been months. If you're interested in what I've been doing with my blogging mind in the last few months, you should check out my writing center blog at http://richmondrachel.blogspot.com. Hopefully I'll think of more snarky things to talk about. Please don't give up on me.

Love you all,
Rachel Leigh

On Safety

Forgive me for ranting.

One of Richmond's major safety selling points, at least for my parents, was the Safety Shuttle. Affectionately called "The Raper" by U of R students, the Safety Shuttle was funded by a gift from a Westhampton College alumni to protect girls who were walking home alone at night. It only took girls and ran, by phone call, during nighttime hours and anywhere on campus. It say this in the past tense because Richmond has made some "improvements" to this shuttle.

The first of these was the gender desegregation of the shuttle. Which I can kind of understand when it's understood that the majority of assaults on campus first semester were on guys. I never really had an issue with that, but several of my female friends have admitted to feeling unsafe having guys on the same shuttle that used to guarantee them a safe way home. A friend of mine commented that "someone could get on and follow her off and back to her dorm," which is exactly what the shuttle is supposed to prevent.

The most recent "improvement" is the one I have an issue with. Instead of operating on a call-in basis, the Safety Shuttle now runs on a continuous loop around campus from 7 to 3 every night. At first glance, this sounds phenomenal. However, the Raper now only stops at 15 pre-designated stops on campus. You have to walk from your current location to the nearest stop and wait. For a long time. Then you can get on, but must get off at another pre-assigned stop, whereas you used to be able to get dropped off right at your dorm. This leaves a lot of waiting and a lot of lone walking that the old system prevented.

Then, there's the issue of where these stops are. First of all, good luck knowing. I had no idea until I looked it up online and when I tried to call the old Safety Shuttle hotline number, they did nothing to tell me except to refer me online. Second of all, there are a lot of places on campus that the Shuttle used to hit (like the off-campus but still school-owned houses at Bostwick) that are not a part of the new continuous loop.

I actually felt safer walking home by myself than waiting for the shuttle the other night, and that's precisely the opposite of what the Safety Shuttle is supposed to accomplish.

Hoping someone's listening,
Rachel Leigh

On Why Tumblr Has Ruined My Blogging

I love Tumblr and Facebook. That's not even a question. I am an addict of blogging sites, social networks, and internet phenomena. I don't know how to exist on the internet without deeply entangling myself in a web of internet interactions: message boards, Twitter, etc.

The problem with this addiction, though, is that it hinders my ability to produce original content. On tumblr, the ratio of my original posts to endless reblogs of other people's content is probably 1 in 50. On Facebook and Tumblr alike, when I go to vent, as I often do on here, the thoughts are often reduced to one to two sentence snippets of thoughts, rather than developed, lively writing as I hope people have come to associate with this blog.

And yet, those snippets and snapshots of my life and the small chances to reblog the things I've seen and post a thought I had seem to be enough to lead to a sort of catharsis that leaves me without the urge to write a several paragraph blog post.

I hope, my darling readers, that you haven't forgotten about me. Know that I haven't forgotten about you. I stopped multiple times to post on here, and found that I had forgotten how hard it is to share my perceptions of the world without that handy little "reblog" button.

Luckily, since I'm in college and have to turn out papers (and, oh, hey a blog for one of my classes) on a regular basis, I think I'm getting back into the swing of really fleshing out my thoughts and expanding on them. Even if it is just a large amount of pondering and pontification sometimes.

It's good to be back.

Still Tumbling, Facebook Stalking, and blogging,
Rachel Leigh

Good evening and welcome back to another moderately snarky, slightly pretentious, and pseudo-intellectual post.

I've missed you, my darling readers. I've missed sharing my thoughts on life, the universe, and everything.

College was taking over my life, and my internship over Winter Break didn't really want to share me either. But I'm back! With a vengeance! And...a keyboard!

Lovingly yours,
Rachel Leigh

On Exam Week

It's a Sunday afternoon around 12:30 and you're beginning to wonder where everyone is. Campus is completely deserted except for the occasional resident of the city of Richmond who has wandered over to campus to find a place to walk their dog and, for some reason, pay $8.50 to eat lunch in an overpriced cafeteria. You wander in circles aimlessly, stopping to get some food in said overpriced cafeteria (because meal swipes are cheaper than real money) until it gets to be 1 and you decide to get coffee in the library. It is at that moment, as you close in on a line of 30 people that has somehow formed in the 2 minutes since the coffee shop opened, that you realize where everyone is. The library. And then you remember that it's the day before finals begin and you should probably have spent your weekend doing something more productive that screwing around on tumblr, hopelessly refreshing webcomics, TFMs, and Texts from Last Night, or skypeing. Like maybe studying. Maybe.

...Just finished my last major (non-exam) assignment of the semester, which is due tomorrow at noon! Congratulations to ME!

And, to those of my readers who are:
a) Still reading
b) In college...

Happy Finals Week and Good Luck on Your Exams!

Random Thoughts

It's been a while, anonymous readers! Since then, I've found myself wasting a lot of time on sites like CollegeACB.

Why is it that people get so cruel when they're anonymous? I mean, seriously, the UR CACB page is just a bunch of trash-talking (particularly different sororities and fraternities bashing each other) and people talking smack about each other. I guess another major question is why I read it.


On another note: I REALLY love Blaine on Glee. I mean really. Darren Criss is adorable. And so talented. Have you heard his cover of "Baby It's Cold Outside" with Chris Colfer? It's amazing. Plus, I mean, I fell in love with "Teenage Dream." All. Male. Acapella. It's THE quickest way to my heart, I'm pretty sure.

Sorry. I'm just...guh. In. Love.

Lovingly,
Rachel Leigh

On ELECTION DAY

You might remember my previous Election Day post, made back when I was still blogging over at freedomofknowledge.org, a site which is now down for the count. You'll really only remember that if you've been reading my stuff for years. Which means you might remember it if you're Mike or if you're me, but it is otherwise largely unlikely that you will.

Well, it's that time again. Seriously, get out and vote if you haven't already today. I went through the somewhat grueling process of getting an absentee ballot. You can go stand in line for a little bit and vote. It's important. Richmond's having an election-results-viewing-party in the Westhampton Center tonight, so clearly people are taking this seriously. As well they should.

You have a patriotic duty to vote. You have a civic responsibility to vote. And, well, you have a personal interest in voting. You have no right to complain about the behavior of the government if you don't take the time and initiative to go vote. You could have changed things.

So please, go out today. Vote. Starbucks will give you free coffee, I think. And it's pretty cool. And Christine O'Donnell is not a witch, she's just like you.

Also, to our Californian readers, if you're out there: Vote "Yes" to Prop 19! ;)

Hope you had a wonderful Halloween. Happy Election Day!

Politically yours,
Rachel Leigh

New Rule

Gingers are not allowed to say "baller." Ever. Under any circumstances.

A Late-Night Post with No Real Thematic Content

Today, something interesting happened. I was sitting in my room with my roommate at about 4:45 when sirens started going off. Really loud sirens that really confused my poor, innocent brain because I was worried that campus was breaking. After the third or fourth siren went off, I decided to stick my head out into the hallway to see what was going on.

My RA was walking up the hallway, advising people to come into the hallway, close their windows, and not leave the building. Apparently the campus had gone into tornado lockdown. We have TORNADO SIRENS. WTF? Anyway, after promptly texting/facebook IMing several of my friends to get their endangered asses inside to safety, we went out into the hall to join the rest of our building in the first floor hallway.

Apparently lightning hit X-lot. Which is kind of dangerously close to our dorm. My friend told me he hoped it jump-started his dead car battery. I hope so, too. One of the girls on my hall was on her laptop (well, we all were, pretty much), and asked if she would be electrocuted if she left her laptop plugged in. I suggested she unplug it, though my reason was not that she would be electrocuted and shocked to death and die on the spot, but rather because if lightning hit the building and hit her laptop, her computer could very well be fried. But whatever.

After about a half hour in the hallway, the sirens stopped and we were allowed back outside. Just in time for my American Government class, ohjoy.

So that was my exciting day.

Near-deathlyly yours,
Rachel Leigh

40!

This is my fourtieth post on this here blog. I feel like that's actually a pretty decent milestone, though I find it kind of sad that it took this long to reach this milestone.

So right now, my psyche is in a state of conflict, because the solemnity I felt this afternoon after my trip to the Gay Community Center of Richmond for an exhibit on Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals has been contrasted by the music I have recently been rocking out to, courtesy of:
http://www.onlythefinest.org/
http://www.camelbackmusic.com/
http://www.dirtymexicanlemonade.com/

On the one hand, the trip to the GCCR for the Holocaust exhibit was amazing and sobering. Homosexuals were persecuted under Paragraph 175, a law put in place under Kaiser Wilhelm, which made "indecency" between two men a crime punishable by imprisonment (a repeated theme throughout the exhibit was the fact that lesbianism was virtually ignored by this statute). One of the things that I found the most disturbing about the entire exhibit was the focus on rigid, old-fashioned gender roles under the Nazi regime. They felt the need to reinforce the strength and masculinity of the German man, and blamed homosexuality and feminism for the declining birthrate and declining status of Germany in the world post-war. In the Weimar Republic, both the feminist movement and the gay community in Germany made huge strides, and the actions of the SA party in the Holocaust set both movements back decades. According to both the exhibit and the head of the Student Alliance for Sexual Diversity here at Richmond, the burning of the library of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, a prominent sexologist in Germany before WWII, set the gay rights movement back almost a century.

...Paragraph 175 remained on the books in Germany until 1969. Similar laws are still on the books, though deemed unconstitutional, in states like Virginia and Texas today.

On the other hand, the bubbly, upbeat, dance-y music I've been listening to for the last few days (weeks) is making it really hard to maintain the sense of solemn respect I had leaving the exhibition.

Conflictually yours,
Rachel Leigh

On the LGBT Suicides and On Harrassment

I'm sure you've heard about it. Recently, the LGBT community and its allies have been up in arms about the group of 7 recent suicides that were the result of bullying and harrassment that they faced because of their sexuality. As well it should be. When people like Billy Lucas and Tyler Clementi are pushed to suicide by the harrassment they face at the hands of their peers, the community SHOULD be riled up.

I love the fact that people have been so responsive about this problem. Richmond held a candlelight vigil last Wednesday night. There have been huge surges in public service annoucements (including a beautiful project on YouTube called It Gets Better, which features prominent gay figures from both on and off of YouTube letting kids who are facing harrassment and confusion now know that it does get easier). Thousands of people plan to wear purple in honor of the lives that have been lost and in solidarity with those facing similar problems still. I am proud to know that my friends and family have been public about their concern for the problem.

But here's my issue, and the reason I'm posting. This is not, first and foremost, a gay rights issue. Yes, the LGBT community has jumped on this problem because it's clearly a crisis. But when a large number of kids are killed or driven to suicide because of bullying and harrassment they face, for any reason, the crisis is bigger than any one community. This is an issue that comes down to a very basic fact: for all the anti-bullying programs in schools, all the information about cyberbullying, all the discussions of fairness, tolerance, and respect, people are still capable of being so horrible to one another that death seems like a better option than continuing to deal with it.

This should not be a gay rights cause. This should be the cause of every parent, friend, sibling, teacher, and colleague of someone who ever faced harrassment that made their life hard to deal with. Yes, Billy Lucas committed suicide because he was harrassed for being gay. The fact of the matter is that bullying-related suicides are unfortunately common and, if anything, the focus on the gay suicides recently has dwarfed the importance and the tragedy of a lot of other suicides which stemmed from harrassment. My heart goes out to the families and friends of the boys who took their own lives because they were harrassed for their sexuality...and to those of every other harrassment-related suicide. Your loss is something I cannot even fathom, and I hope it never has to happen to anyone again.

--Rachel

Just a Random Update / On When You Shouldn't Be Surprised

Wow. It's been almost two weeks since my last post. Sorry, my darling readers! I have been trying to do better, but clearly I've been failing a little. The last five days have been part of a much-needed chance to relax known as Fall Break. Prior to said relaxation, there were about two consecutive Hell Weeks of a rather absurd amount of work and a mid-term that I felt certain I was going to fail, so the break was definitely appreciated.

What can I say about life recently?

Well, first of all, I've been shown the best possible site to check the weather, which I now use religiously. Seriously, check out http://www.thefuckingweather.com/. It makes my day.

I feel like all of my recent posts have been really UR-centric, which I guess makes sense because it's really my whole life now, but I also feel like it makes my blog insanely boring to read. I really hope I'll find other things to talk about.

A friend and I were having a conversation in the dining hall the other day, because we were watching CNN and a story about a lion in a circus mauling a man. We both seemed to agree that there really isn't a reason this should be news. Lions are fierce, ferocious, wild animals. You really shouldn't be surprised that one (even one raised in captivity) would attack someone. COME ON. They're predators. That's what they do. They attack things. Maybe you should be surprised if someone got mauled by a sloth. I mean, that would be unexpected. They're lazy and they're herbivores, so if one went insane and mauled somebody, THAT would be news. But don't be surprised when bloodthirsty predators decide to be bloodthirsty and predatory. That's dumb.

Carnivorously yours,
Rachel Leigh

On Metablogging (Again)/On Elitists

People who complain about facebook on facebook irritate me. If it really annoys you that people post about their lives on facebook, then what possibly justifies your posting to complain about it? I recognize that you might find the constant status updates annoying. You might be annoyed that I posted a facebook event to try and convince people to come play in the rain with me. You might find it all a bit trite and obnoxious. I respect that.

But if you are annoyed that people post their every thought on the internet and on facebook for you to read, then do not complain about it by posting on the internet for every person you know to read. That makes you look like an elitist, a hypocrite, and just straight up like a bitch. We give as little of a crap about your not giving a crap as you do about the things you're complaining about. I get it. You don't care about my life. So delete your facebook or remove me as a friend so you don't have to read about it. That is of no concern to me. But do not bitch to the world at large about the fact that you don't like to read the bitchings of everyone around you. We are as entitled to post on the internet as you are.

You don't understand why the internet has become a vehicle for everyone to talk about their lives and get attention for it? Aren't you inherently using the internet as a vehicle to get attention for YOUR life and for your elitist viewpoint? Screw you and everyone like you. You are the reason people hate hipsters.

Fuming,
Rachel Leigh

On Playing in the Rain

Virginia has been in a drought. Apparently a terribly bad one recently. In the last two days, however, we've been hit rather epically with rain. This is, most likely, thanks to Tropical Storm Nicole, which I think made landfall in Florida sometime today. I love hurricane weather. I really want to play in this rain. I did a little bit of rain-playing today but it's only so fun by yourself.

Great Weather-Controlling Cthulu (or...whoever is in charge of this stuff): I want a natural Slip 'N' Slide, damnit. I feel like this is not so much to ask. I just want a good quality place to play in the rain.

And I want people to play in the rain with me. Join me, people. It's fun.

This is not really a post.

Loving the rain,
Rachel Leigh

Even MorOn College

So the last couple weeks have been pretty hectic. I've had papers due left and right (thank you, professor, for making us turn in a two page written assignment analyzing every reading we do for the next 3 weeks. I appreciate that, especially when I have three other classes to do work for), and it seems like I have club meetings or lectures or chances to hang out every time I turn my head. So, needless to say, my blogging (and many other things) haven't gotten the attention they quite deserve.

So today, in between my 10:30 class, which ended early, and my 1:30 class, which I don't need to leave for for another hour, I have gotten in touch with my roots. Namely, I've spent the last hour on RollingStone.com catching up on all things musical. I just finished reading every album review they have posted since July. The fact that I had to go that far back should tell you how badly I've been slacking. The results were about what I expected: mixed reviews on Lady Gaga's Remix album, praise for Brandon Flowers' solo work (while mocking his hair...understandably), and a commentary on Of Montreal's new album that left me incredibly confused about what I might be getting myself into.

I then proceeded to walk myself to D-Hall (the UR dining hall) in the pouring rain (Thank god for new rain boots!), where I have set up shop with my laptop, a bowl of some kind of crab soup that smells delicious but I don't particularly want to eat, and a glass of delicious BLUE DRANK. I had intended to just sit by myself and blog, but a friend of mine and her big walked up and are now eating with me. We've been discussing...poverty! It's really interesting to be discussing this at a school where very, very few people have any conception of going without.

So...needless to say, college has been intertesting thus far.

I'm going to actually interact with the people I'm eating lunch with now.

Don't Stop Believing,
Rachel Leigh

On Things About College I Still Don't Understand

So I've been here for a month now. I had hoped I wouldn't still be really confused by things, but there are some that still persist.

-If lanyards are the mark of a freshman, what do upperclassmen do with their keys? Do they not HAVE keys? Is this possible? ...Actually, given the number of people who don't lock their apartments (HELLO TICKLER), that's actually a pretty reasonable assumption.

-Was the person who numbered the apartments on crack? So 1300 and 1400 are over here...but 1500 is on the other side of the apartment blocks? And 100 is somewhere in between? Knowing WHERE the apartment blocks are does not keep me from being deeply concerned about the logic behind numbering them.

-In a similar vein, why is the Health Center over by the apartments? Upperclassmen are far more likely than underclassmen to have cars. So let's put it close to the people who CAN drive, and force the people who can't to walk their sick/injured selves to the Health Center from across campus? Does this make sense?

-Why is the bathroom in the Quiet Study Section of the library? Doors slamming, toilets flushing, and god forbid if someone is sick... Let's put one of the most disruptive activities in the entire library right where people are trying to work quietly! That's a great idea, right?

-A question which I believe still confounds seniors: Why are 8:15 (the on-campus coffee shop) and Tyler's (on-campus fast food stuff) closed on weekends, when they could be making a lot of money from hungry/caffeine-craving people?

I'm not pretending to be the most logical person in the world, but this complete lack of logic in these areas completely confounds me. If anyone can explain, I'd love it.

Confusedly yours,
Rachel Leigh

On The Freshman 15

Maybe it's because I go to one of the fittest colleges in the country [ranked #10 in 2006...I have yet to find a more recent list (http://www.mensfitness.com/college_rankings/79 )] or because of personal behaviors, but to be honest, I'm not especially worried about the Freshman 15.

The food in the dining hall is relatively healthy and (kilo)calorie counts are pretty easy to access. I live RIGHT next to the on-campus fitness center, which is open (and, weirdly enough, in use) until midnight every night. Seriously, I've seen people in there at 11 at night. I regret to admit that I haven't yet used it, but to be honest, I really don't feel like I need to.

I walk everywhere on campus, and with the exception of a small portion of the population, so does everyone. Except when the GreenUR bikes are around. Then you see lots of kids on bikes. Because they're faster. (Drunk kids on bikes are funny. Really funny.) It also helps that the farthest walk I usually have to make in a day is actually to the Dining Hall. It keeps me from walking there to bored-eat, which has always been a problem, AND it helps burn off the calories I consume while I'm there.

To be honest, most college campuses are at least as big as this one, and it surprises me that there are so many people who gain a lot of weight their freshman year. I...don't see that happening to a lot of the people here.

We are fitness (Hannah!),
Rachel Leigh

More On (but not Moron) College

So, as a proud college student, I feel the need to talk about some things about being a proud college student in my blog.

In my previous post, I referenced being a Westhampton College student. Which, to some people, produces a "lolwut" response because, well, I'm a freshman at the University of Richmond. When originally founded (like most colleges), Richmond was an all-men's college. In 1914, they decided to incorporate a women's college into the University: Westhampton College. To this day, though classes, housing, and most activities are now not separated by gender, the women entering UR enter Westhampton College and the men enter Richmond College. The things that stayed separate? The deaneries, the student government, and a lot of the traditions. For example, the girls have a tradition known as Proclamation Night which is apparently a pretty big deal, but I don't quite understand it yet. Maybe I'll elabor (credit: Max) after Proclamation Night once I understand it more.

Other things about college:

Well, I just left the URMUN (University of Richmond Model United Nations) interest meeting. There are SO many interest meetings. Last week there was a Student Organization Fair and I, like most freshmen, signed up for about 10 different clubs. I do not fool myself into believing I will be able to participate in every single one. I will feel accomplished if I manage to participate in like...3. But it's just insane the number of things there are to do: activist groups (UR Body, UR Choice; Dems; Global Health), fun things (like Ballroom Dancing, which I wish didn't conflict with my Wednesday night class), general nerdliness (URMUN, Quidditch, etc), and...about a million other things. Like Meditation Club. Which sends out really funny emails. There is literally just more stuff to do than I previously imagined possible. Which is funny, because there are other things that have to have time, too.

...Like class. I have it pretty easy most days. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday I only have one class. Friday I have two. But Wednesday? The same day that they have Ballroom Dancing, which I really wish I could participate in? Well, I have three classes on Wednesday. One of which runs from 6:30-9:30 every Wednesday night. Head, meet desk. Desk, meet head. The rest of the time, I love my schedule, but Wednesdays, I want to kick small children.

What I find with college stuff is just that I have so much I want to talk about, and so little of it that fits with what I'm trying to say. There is no overarching, deeper theme to this post. It's just college.

Future posts (honestly, this list is as much for my reference as yours, because I don't want to forget what I wanted to talk about):
-When really awesome/important people come to UR and what I think about it
-Why I'm not worried about the Freshman 15
-Probably some reflections on things I've learned in class

...Speaking of, my classes:
-Introduction to Public Policy
-Introduction to American Government
-Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies: Sexual Violence and War
-First Year Seminar: Shakespeare and the Politics of Leadership

...yeah, it's awesome.

Cheese and rice (the topic of the last Meditation Club email),
Rachel Leigh