Tradition

Isn't the basic meaning of tradition, things that reoccur at the same times, places, with the same people, etc.? I never though of myself as a big traditionalist, but as soon as things started to change I found myself getting upset. I liked always having every Holiday meal and celebration at my grandma's every year of my childhood. Things have changed since my dad has gotten remarried.

Now, we have Thanksgiving at my house every year, which is okay with me now but wasn't okay at first. My step-mom completely took over, I felt. She made all different kinds of food that WAS NOT my grandmother's recipe. I resented her for it. I realize now I was immature, that was almost 10 years ago. I have grown completely accustomed to having Thanksgiving at my house. My step-mom even asks my grandma to make the things of hers that she knows I love the most.

While Thanksgiving is now under control and is a great new tradition, Christmas is now getting a makeover too. I am completely against my parents new idea of the tradition they want for Christmas and its causing a lot of fighting in the family. We have a house in Taos, New Mexico and my parents want to go there for Christmas every year. The only problem is...my grandparents will not be there! What is Christmas without my grandparents? I realize people get married and new traditions begin but couldn't they wait to change their Christmas traditions until I'm older and have my own family? I feel that my dad, my step-mom, and my two little brothers are starting all of these traditions and I am left out. They are including my, of course, but I do not want to participate. No one has ever once asked me how I feel about all of these changed. Sometimes I think maybe I am being selfish, but no, they are being selfish. I want the entire family together and they want to run away to New Mexico for the Holidays. Not fair.

Juicy Campus.com

I know we probably have all been to juicycampus.com. And if you haven't, avoid it! I had never actually heard of it until my friend from Oklahoma University was written about on the site. My friends from home immediately called me and asked me if I had seen it. I ventured on to the site, only to be completely disgusted. The entire site is dedicated to saying horrible things about people. "Who is the biggest slut on campus", "What do you think of this guy...", none of it is ever good, except for maybe the occasional "Who is hot" post. I will admit that I am addicted now, some of the less demeaning posts are sometimes pretty humorous. The fact that NONE of it is true is what makes it so humorous. Don't people at this school have better things to do than post awful things about people on a website...like homework?

SMU not all you thought it would be?

I have met so many freshman here who want to transfer. A part of me wants to transfer too but I thought maybe it was just because I am still in the transition phase of moving away from home and what not. I think I may be wrong and this may not get better because upper upperclassmen have also told me they wish they could transfer and that they are merely just sticking it out until graduation.
I really wish I could pinpoint the reasons why I don't absolutely love SMU but I can't. I love the school aspect of it, all of my classes and teachers are great. I have a good group of friends, especially for coming here not knowing a single person. But if it isn't just me that is unhappy and even people who have been here for two or three years are still unhappy also is it something SMU is doing wrong? Maybe this just isn't really the place for me like I thought it would be. What is so frustrating, though, is I can't figure out why! There has to be a reason, but everyone I talk to, even the older students don't have any better of a reason than "SMU sucks". I don't feel that is sucks, I almost constantly feel like I don't fit in, almost? Most of the people I have met here don't have the same interests and passions as I do. Things that are important to most of the students here, or so it seems, are not at all important to me. Unfortunately, I have no idea where I would transfer to if I decided to do that because SMU is a great school academically and I feel like I am learning a lot.
Is our generation just too spoiled to handle change? I have all of these feelings of dislike towards being here, as do so many other student, but no one knows why. Can we just not handle being away from mommy and daddy and our friends we grew up with? I never thought I would be this way. I have always been very independent and never follow the crowd. I'm disappointed that I feel this way about college but since so many other people feel the same way I am trying to convince myself it is something wrong with the school and I am not just being a baby. But what is so wrong with SMU?

Living with Other People

For most of us, this is the first time we've had to share a room with another person. It is HARD. I love my roommate so much but we are so different. We get along really well until its crunch time and we're both stressed and our little quirks get on each others nerves. Now, I will admit that I get annoyed fairly easily. My roommate is much more forgiving, which is good for me because she doesn't usually seem annoyed with me. I am not one of those mean roommates who gets angry about a shirt being on the floor, TRUST ME. Our room is a complete mess. We are both very messy, so it works out well. One thing I cannot stand, however, is food. I never let people eat in my room when I was living at home, its gross. But now, we have to eat in our rooms. My roommate leaves her food out always and if she does put it in a trash bag, she still leaves the large black trash bag filled with rotten food just sitting in the middle of our floor instead of taking it to the trash room which is ten feet from our door.

Now, all of that is fine and I can deal, i just take the trash bag out myself if she never does it. What am I supposed to do about the singing, though? My roommate has a beautiful, trained singing voice. The bad part is, she sings constantly and we have completely different taste in music. Sorry to all of you girls who looooove the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana and all of that, but its annoying. My roommate is so obsessed and belts their songs quite frequently. There have been times when we've joked around and I've said thats annoying shut up you know I hate those songs, but there has never been a serious talk about it. To tell her honestly that her singing annoyed me would only make her upset and is her singing really worth causing a fight? No.

She also has a lot more stuff than I do. She never throws anything away, I swear. And, she is the biggest impulse buyer I have ever met. She bought an XL men's zip up fleece jacket from a very nice store simply because it was marked down from $90 to $8.50...."It is an awesome deal!"....well yea, of course it is an awesome deal but, you're a 5'2 petit little girl and that is a men's extra large sweatshirt. Her stuff just accumulates everywhere and there is no place to put all of it. She even put some of her stuff in one of my dresser drawers that wasn't filled completely up with my stuff!

I want to remind you, I love my roommate. We are the best of friends but living with people is hard. It is all about compromise and communication. I see why it is so hard for people who get married or even move in together before they get married. Having such differences with another girl, I can only imagine what differences a man and a women have with their living habits.

Youth and Politics

Do we consider ourselves conservative because our parents are conservative? And for those who do consider themselves liberal, is it because your parents are? I will not claim to be extremely in tune to the politics of today but I feel I know the gist of each candidate, well enough to know who I want to vote for. But, how many of today's youth really pay attention? I pride myself in going to a school where, hopefully, many people honestly do pay attention. I feel though, that there are a lot of kids out there who want to do the "cool" thing. I had many students in my high school claim to be so left winged, or so right winged on the other hand, without really knowing what that meant. I should hope our generation is more educated to not merely follow in their parents views without some personal thinking, and not to choose views opposite from their elders simply to defy them.

I know the 2008 is a really intense election. Our country could potentially become very different. And, whether you think that is a good thing or a bad thing, you should voice your opinion. I highly encourage every youth to vote. I also think people should become educated about what each candidate plans to do for our country before casting a vote.Unfortunately, like a youth who is obviously not completely in tune to politics, I did not register to vote in time for this election. I am counting on my fellow youth to make up for my lack of responsibility when it comes to this election. Here are videos of presidential speeches, in case you haven't seen any!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDDixe_N5sE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ato7BtisXzE

Second Semester Greek Life "Rush", good thing or bad thing?

For all freshman interested in Greek life, "rush" is a highly anticipated process that can be nerve wracking. This is especially true for girls. Is it better to have this process before school actually starts like most big state schools do, or is it better to do it second semester like we do here at SMU?
Having the process after Christmas break instead of in August gives people the chance to truly get to know one another. Many of my friends who go to state schools went through first semester rush. Their feelings were that the results were based on not just first impressions only, since they didn't have time to really get to know each other, but also on rumors heard through the grapevine. This could be perfectly fine for some, but potentially bad for others. Second semester rush gives people the chance to establish their identity in college before people start, in a sense, judging them. It also helps not only the sorority (and fraternity, not trying to leave you out guys) members get a real feel for its potential pledges, it also gives the potential pledges time to feel where they really fit in.
I wholly agree with second semester rush. However, I know some people don't agree with it. I would like to ask for the opinion of others. Maybe I will change my mind!