This End Down

If you’re interested, first watch the video, and then read Tereva’s response she e-mailed them.

Whoopi, Sherri, and Hasselback on The N Word

As an African American woman, I would like to thank Elisabeth Hasselbeck for her empathy and concern for not only the Black community, but for the unification of humanity. As Whoopi stated in the controversial episode discussing the ‘N’ word, we do not live in the same worlds. There are prejudices that I will undoubtedly undergo because of my race, but, are we not called to correct the past wrongs of our history? I believe that Elisabeth’s yearning is for us to mend the bridges that our past has attempted to destroy, and the ‘N’ word has caused nothing but emotional strife and suffering.

I hope that the View’s audience did not walk away thinking that Whoopi and Sherri’s perspectives are accurate representations of African American thoughts and attachments to the word. How can we embrace something that has such negative connotations? By continuing to embrace the ‘N’ word, we are furthering the wedge of segregation and racism, by stating that it is ‘ok’ to make allowances for some people’s use of the word and not for others. We are also stating that is ‘ok’ for us to perpetuate self hatred, but it is not ok for others to hate us because of our skin. Can we get any more hypocritical and ignorant?

Is this the kind of world that we want our children to inherit?  A world where they are to continue living lives separate from their peers, mates, co-workers, friends, family, because they follow an unspoken rule of conduct? It’s absurd. You can NOT strip shame away from a word that has been used for hundreds of years. It is inextricable at this point. Whoopi, Sherri, listen to your female counterparts. The color of their skin does not strip them of their credibility, nor their wisdom, and desire to rectify situations that hurt our communities and world.

About a month ago I was stressing out about where I would be living next year and what would happen with the Monastery. Well, a month has passed, and nothing’s changed. It’s too late for me to get a house loan, and I still don’t have the paperwork I need for that; it’s certainly too late for the church to be livable by August 1st. So, next week I go rental house searching.

Last month when I was freaking out about it, Jane reminded me of this. I just hunted it down in my journal, because I needed it again.

“Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? [...] Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? [...] But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (chunks from Matthew 6:25-34)

Apparently, the $1750 that I expected from the financial aid department isn’t coming.  Which puts my tab for two classes this semester as $3425.22.

Yah, I hate talking and complaining about finances. But this isn’t just talking and complaining. This is ridiculous. Two classes. Thirty-five hundred fricking dollars.

7:45: Page 0 of Wuthering Heights
7:45-10:09: Fall asleep several times at CC while trying to read Wuthering Heights
10:09: Page 132 of Wuthering Heights
10:58: Home. Page 132 of Wuthering Heights. Still.
12:07: Page 185.
12:30: Page 201. (break: My roommate needs some serious prayer for family stuff. I know most people don’t know him, but if you’re sitting at home thinking, “Who should I pray for?” — or even, “For whom shall I pray?” — the answer is Brendan and his family. Seriously.)
12:50: Page 201
2:40: Page 287 of Wuthering Heights. The end.
4:00: Sleep after reading other crap.
11:00: Class. No test. No quiz. He decided to instead verify that we’ve read by just making this class more discussion-oriented, and if he thinks that someone’s BS-ing and didn’t really read, then he might reconsider. I’m almost frustrated, but, not really.

9 days left of undergraduate education (well, in a few hours it’ll be 9.)

Never has 11 days seemed so long.

10:25pm: Home from practice & dinner
2:15am: Finished paper

4:25am: Halfway done with Frankenstein

5:15am: Three-quarters. The birds just started chirping.

6:02am: Boo-frickin-ya.

Not a good day.

My FTP program freaked out and deleted an entire program–the only copy I have of it. It was almost finished, and I was going to post it up here within the next few days. Now, it’s entirely gone, and I really don’t think I have the willpower to reprogram the entire thing.

I got a C- on an exam, the first time in my life I’ve gotten less than a B on a test, because my professor tested us on material that he hadn’t taught in the class. When I asked him how he could justify testing us on material that he hadn’t taught (this is the professor who, at the beginning of the class says, “You will not be tested on anything except for my lectures. All you have to do is take notes. 99% of the exams are on lecture notes.”), he said, “Well, you remember that 99%? This was that 1%.” I then asked him why my lack of knowledge of that 1% took away so much more than 1% of my grade on the test. He just laughed a little.

Quick update:

I love my life. I have so many good things in my life. There’s something about my God, my friends, and my life that makes it impossible for me to stay unhappy for long.