Where is the outcry?

The College of Santa Fe is facing having to close their doors. After a deal to have the university’s debts assumed by Laureate fell through, the school thought it had found a solution in being purchased by Highland University. The only problem is that before Highland, a New Mexico state school, can purchase the College of Santa Fe, a private school, the New Mexico State Legislature has to pass a bill allowing the state school to acquire both the school and the land it sits on. The Governor specifically asked Highland to not purchase the land that CSF sits on until the government has passed the bill. CSF was counting on the purchase of the land to help them hold over financially until the purchase of the school could go through. Now, they are having to let faculty and staff go and they’re incouraging their students to look into other options for education afer this semester.

Why isn’t this all over the news? Where is the outcry over this?

Our news is filled with news about trashy celebrity relations; about unwed, unemployed mothers having octuplets; about car companies asking for more money. And here is a university that is facing it’s downfall, students facing the loss of their school and stability and it doesn’t even earn a spot on CNN?

CSF could be saved by something as simple as the New Mexico Governor allowing Highland to purchase the land before they pass the law regarding state schools acquiring private schools. His website, http://www.governor.state.nm.us/index2.php has a link where he can be reached by email and his phone number and physical mailing address. I am asking that you respectfully write to him and ask him to reconsider the plight of the College of Santa Fe. It shouldn’t be hard to pass a bill saving a university. A bill saving the students that call CSF home.

If you are wondering, no I am not a CSF alum. My brother is currently a student there. And he, like many CSF students, finally found a place where he belonged there at CSF. I  hate to think that the community he has found there will disappear due to governmental red tape.  The following video was made by students and professors at CSF. And I believe that it beautifully portrays the atmosphere and community of the College of Santa Fe.

If you want to help check out CSF’s official website. And if you think it doesn’t affect you than I ask you to consider this: What if this was your university? Your alma mater? Your family member who found a community hey belong in?

~The Countess~

Duty

Duty is a beautiful, if hard thing. Today, voting is our duty. It is our right. But it is also our duty. We owe it to ourselves and to one another to vote according to our conscience. It doesn’t matter if you plan on voting Republican, Democrat, Independent, Green, or whatever, just vote. You have a voice and you should make it be heard.

From the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Now, I’m not saying we should have a revolution. Though sometimes I wonder. But, we have an opportunity every four years to change the course of our politics. Today is that day. I really don’t care if you vote for Obama, McCain, Ron Paul, Kinky Friedman, or the abominable snowman. Just go vote. It is your right. It is your duty.

~The Countess~

A Conglomeration

I don’t want to talk about politics. I can’t wait until the election is over. That takes care of that notification.

I think I’m only applying to NYU. I’m too tired to apply to a bunch of schools that I really don’t want to go to. I know very specifically what I want to do. So, either I get in there and go to school there or I don’t get in and I stay here and teach. If I don’t get in then I’ll think about reapplying next fall.

If I don’t go to PhD school I have lots of options. I can stay here in Houston and work and teach at a variety of things. I can teach privately, at public schools, or at a community college. Or I can go back and write grants again. That was kind of fun. I also might look in to moving to San Antonio. As, I have friends there and it’s closer to family. The same teaching options are open, although they now include UTSA as well.

Let’s see, let me get this out of the way too. Yes, I am stressed out. I have a lot on my plate right now. Class, papers, grad applications (now down to just one), as well as trying to manage everything else in my life. So, I’m a little stressed. Please, don’t tell me not to be stressed. Or that I shouldn’t be stressed. It doesn’t help. Actually, it kind of pisses me off. I’ve worked very hard to be at this place and have the right to be stressed out right now.

And the final thing: I really wish people wouldn’t do two things: talk politics with a mixed group and bash other denominations. About the politics: you never have any way of knowing that everyone with you agrees with you. Your friends could be voting completely differently than you. Respect that and don’t resort to the common techniques by both sides of insisting that the other is going to ruin the country. It doesn’t make you look smart and informed. Just prejudiced and maybe a little bit radical. About the church thing: I’ve never gotten this. I was raised to believe that all Christian church denominations have good eggs and bad ones. That in every denomination you have Christians and you have non-Christians. You have God-fearing people and you have people just searching. None of them are perfect. And that’s okay, because Christ didn’t come to call the perfect. But, when we, as Christians, bash other Christians and their denominations, we just cause hard feelings. There are good reasons that both subjects are traditionally considered taboo.

~The Countess~

Tell me a story, spell it out, make it clear

I love a good story. I’ve been reading books for most of my life. I love fiction. A good story. Generally, most people seem to love a good story. We like stories that are juicy, detailed, and hopefully just a bit controversial. We want a story that we can gush over with our girlfriends, debate the outcome with the guys, and just generally get involved with. The sad thing is that we typically aren’t satisfied with made-up stories. Celebrity news is as big as it is because people want to hear all the juicy details of their lives. While I generally deplore this, I can’t help but feel that celebrities ask for it by throwing themselves into the spotlight.

What I really hate is when people who haven’t thrown themselves into the spotlight get turned into the next story. Bristol Palin is one such person. Yes, her mother holds a public office, but that doesn’t mean that we should get to be privy to every detail of Bristol’s life. It doesn’t mean that she deserves to be gossiped about because of her choices. She shouldn’t be the big story right now. And I applaud Senator Obama for stating that she is off limits. There is enough going on in this election, there are enough issues that Bristol should not be one of them.

As all honest parent’s will tell you, there is only so much that you can do in raising your child before you have to let them make their own choices. I hope that both parties will stay focused on the real issues and won’t delineate into dragging this young woman into the spotlight. I hope that voters will quit trying to use this seventeen year old to either bolster her mother’s position or to tear her down from it. Because Bristol Palin is not a story, she is a person. And she has a right to the privacy of her life. And there’s enough else going on in this election that she really should barely be a blip on the map.

As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.” Let’s rise above our natural tendencies and discuss the ideas that will shape our country over the next four years.

~The Countess~