Last year I gave a speech in Communications class. The audience gave feedback on little slips of paper to give to each speaker. As I walked to the from of the room to give my speech I felt confident and thought I looked nice. This all changed when I looked at one slip of paper...it said that I should dress more appropriately because they could see my blue underwear. I forgot that my pants were low-riders. (Overall I was dressed pretty modest) It was really embarrassing. I'm curious if my underwear were that obvious from the from or if the person was staring in strange areas. I apologize for revealing such things, however, the color of my underwear was not blue; they were teal. If you are going to criticize me please get the color of my underwear correct.

If I cant make it back to Fox this fall because of money issues, I'm gonna be pissed at my parents for encouraging me to come here and then not being able to pay for it... I mean, i know it's not their fault really, but if I can't come for all four years Id rather have come for zero. You're not missing out if you don't know, right? Right?

*feels depressed for rest of evening*

People say that you should always be yourself, but I know for a fact that when I act like me, truly being myself, people tend to think I'm really weird or annoying, and just sort of ignore me. I'm honestly surprised that I made more than three or four friends my first year at Fox.

I'm sorry...but people who take selfies on Instagram and Snapchat WHILE THEY'RE TALKING TO ME or WHILE I'M TALKING TO THEM really piss me off. Like, come on! I'm/We're talking here!

I hate how Fox keeps raising tuition...my parents aren't gonna pay for my schooling if it keeps going up. #firstworldprobs

I confess that I can't stand all this talk about race and gender and entitlement and privilege. Mainly because they judge me without ever bothering to know me.

I grew up poor. Like, "a supermarket was getting rid of bread because it expired, so we have bread today" kind of poor.

When I was growing up, I would walk with my mom to the local church food bank everyday to get eggs. It's how we survived.

A few years later, when she had the money, she bought some chickens.
Then we started walking back to the food bank to give them eggs.

That's life. Sometimes you're entitled. Sometimes you're oppressed.

I am entitled. I recognize this. But it's not because of my race or gender. It's certainly not my finances. It's not even my intelligence or my good fortune that accounts for me going from where I was to where I am. It's because God saw fit to bless me with an awesome life. That's where my entitlement comes from.

And if you want to claim that you're oppressed but you "made it," remember that it was God that make your skin the color it is. He made your gender. But it was also God that gave you the wit, or the drive, or the opportunity to "make it."

The systems make be in your favor, or against it. But you're in college, and whatever got you here was not your doing. You didn't will yourself to be black or white, or male or female, or to have an IQ in the 80s, 120s, or 140s.

Acknowledge the areas in your life where you have been blessed, and do it with humility and grace. Then acknowledge the areas where you have been held back or oppressed, and do that with humility and grace as well. Bragging about your successes is poor form and it reeks of self-centered egoism. However, complaining about your hardships, while being in a position to attend an institution life George Fox, is also poor form and likewise reeks of self-centered self-pity. So many people with actual hardships could not enjoy this opportunity.

Because, in the end, we all are up against something, to some degree. It may be racial constructs. It may be gender stereotypes. It may be a learning disability. It may be a crippling sin. It may have been having to grow up without a parent.

So, these sweeping generalizations don't work. At least not for me.

I have class withdrawals, I wake up thinking I'm late for class.

I believe God has a plan for all of us. Including the permits of creating dragons from leprechaun gold, rainbows and children's love for sugar.