lcmurphy's blog

    People do not always realize when they make comments on people’s spelling, that perhaps they cannot see the mistakes.  I am a dyslexic; spelling has always been a difficulty of mine.  Sometimes the most obvious typos are unclear to me until pointed out.  It’s my brain playing with the letters, and sometimes I see things differently than all of you.  I could not read until the seventh grade as a result of a school system that ignored my problem, until my mother fought enough to get me the help I needed.  Perhaps if I got the help sooner, like early intervention, it would not be a problem today.  Unfortunately I came from a town that if you did not come from a wealthy home, you got nothing.  I smile though, because I still won.  My reading level is one of the highest around, no one can stop me.      
    It is something for the most part I have learned to cope with after years of classes and tutors, but it still comes up.  I have learned what usually triggers it, and how to get around the big problems.  I do use spell checks, but as we all know, they do not always catch everything.  I do my best honestly, and all of you reading this will just have to accept that. 
    Ironically enough I am an English major and I do put a lot of time and effort to make sure my papers do not have on mistake in them, having an abundance of people read them.  But this is my blog, it is something that I should have to have people proof read for me.  This is a place for me to share my ideas and thoughts as they come, and I’m sorry if my spelling mistakes may hinder you.  I am not using my disability as an excuse, I'm just merely making it known. 
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    From about the age of six, I knew that I wanted to go to college.  For a long time I did not know exactly what I wanted to do when I go there, all I knew was that I wanted to get there.  I worked hard for years, put high standards on myself, and got myself there.  It was a great achievement honestly, especially coming from a house where I was the first child to do so. 
    But while I say this, I have to admit that college is not for everyone.  I sit here right now with my roommate, who is merely here because she thinks people can not succeed without a college degree.  She coasts through her college career happy with average grades, never challenging herself, and by my standards, is wasting her degree.  I absolutely disagree that a college degree is necessary to succeed in society.  It depends on what kind of person you are if you need a college degree.  If you want a degree, and will value it, then by all means go for it.  If you are a hard worker, go for it, or don’t, if you’re hard working enough you can make it to where you want to go with lots of work.  If you have a specific profession in mind that you feel requires a degree, then do it. 
    I came from a suburban town, with a population of people with noses in the air, who basically told us all that we had to go to college.  The result?  Each year about half the people drop out.  Not everyone is meant to go to college, and they can lead just as successful lives.  Also, sometimes it’s better for people to wait before going to college, and then if they decide it’s what they need to do, it’s a better decision.  I had friends who did not go to college make their own businesses and are very successful, because they work hard.  College degrees only make success if people use them to do so.  If you’re not, honestly, coming from a home where a college education is a great gift, it’s a waist of money.          
    I’m an English major, and every advisor and employer tells me that I can do anything I want with it, as long as I build my resume.  If a person works enough, and builds their experience, it says just as much as a degree.  I know a professor at Harvard who never went to college, but has a strong background in her field.  Degrees are great, but what matters is what you can do.    
    Plus, we have to consider that everyone has different levels of what they consider success.  Helen Hays once said, “My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that 'achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others, and that's nice, too, but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about success.'”   
   
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I was just skimming some articles on websites, and just read one about teens arrested for bragging on MySpace.com.  Apparently they set fires in suburban Washington and then posted about it.  How anyone could be so stupid is far beyond my grasp.  This does highlight the use of things like MySpace, Facebook, and Livejournal.  When you put personal information out on the internet, you can not be surprised if someone finds it.  My boss at work was even telling me about how employers are going onto Facebook and seeing how students portray themselves on them.  She admitted that she did the same after hiring many of us.  Should employers and others be able to do this?  If it is out there, what should stop them?  We are in a society of reality television shows and public journals, and it’s not all perks and sunshine.  I have Facebook and Livejournal, but I’m constantly careful of how I present myself publicly and what information I let out.  I do not want to not get a job, because I’m some stupid person who puts drunken photos of myself online.  What needs to be remembered with websites like these is, you can share as much as you want, but there will be consequences.  But, in the case of this article, I am thankful for their stupidity, so that they will be reprimanded.        Read More »

    In my own life, I’m finding I’m considering world relations as I prepare to study abroad next year.  Granted I’m planning on studying in the UK or Europe, but how my country is seen in the world will probably have an effect upon how I’m treated in this country and my safety.  Many of my friends who have traveled abroad have had to deal with people’s misconceptions of all Americans, because of the actions of our government.  More of a concern of my families than my own is how safe I will be in another country.  With the aggressions from my country to the Middle East, terrorism, and other world events, safety in and away from the United States is a main concern of people.  Even with everything happening I still plan on going abroad, but I will keep in mind the relations between my home country, the one I’m studying in, and others while away.    
    The United States power directly effects the relations of the world.  With our power, we have large corporations using weak third world countries to produce our consumer products, and in many ways control them.  By using these countries, we affect the lives of their citizens, by allowing the companies to exploit them, and ourselves, by giving us cheaper products to the consumers.  As a college student I shop at places like Wall mart, and other stores benefiting from exploiting people’s labor, because I can’t afford to make those moral choices on the salary of a college student.  Many other people, who are unemployed or on welfare, can not make those choices to not support these imperialistic actions either.  On the same note, people in the third world countries cannot make the choice to work anywhere else but these cooperation’s that support the exploitation.  Being a large, powerful, country, the United States can take advantage of small third world ones.  These relations between states affect all those involved, from the politicians creating them, to the individual people living under them.
    In respects to military and social, they affect people’s daily lives as well.  Boys over eighteen have to think about if they’ll be drafted if the country is at war and in need of troops, and families have to think about if they’ll be torn apart because of someone leaving.  Some of my friends who have joined ROTC may have to go to war directly after to college, and others who had to join the military for financial reasons are already over there.  Socially, what happens in the world affects what is taught in schools, how children are raised to look at the world, and the biases people form.  I’m a history student, and know that the relations of the world affect the focus of my classes, depending on if the teacher is liberal, or conservative.  Also, the information in newspapers my have a certain viewpoint that will effect how I see politics and other countries.   Read More »

    I'm currently taking a class called "Performance Studies," which although is in our English Department, is a subject that covers anything from psychology, sociology, to actual theater.  I find this class very interesting and am constantly thinking about it.  Our class basically discusses performance in society, political theatre, society and theatre, performance art, ect.  It focus's more on avongard performance than main stage theater.   A few classes ago we were talking about understanding messages portrayed by an artist, and how interpretation can differ between people.  We have this one student who feels that there should be a standard for interpreting art, and that people should not be able to create their own interpretations.  Also that art can only truly be appreciated by the educated, and therefore the rich.  These statements honestly got to me when I started thinking about them.
    What I love about art, literature, music, theater, ect, is that I can connect to something in it, and make a personal relationship to it.  I love it when I read stories, or see paintings that I can relate to.  Creating a standard for art, and what art is, is exactly what art is not.  If someone can take a personal message for themselves from a piece, then that art is effective.  Wanting to make standards on art is exactly what Hitler attempted to do when he outlawed "degenerate" art.  Some may argue that we cannot have people going around making any interpretation up, but honestly who ever said art had to be defined?  Yes, the artist may have had a certain message in mind, but that was what they felt when they saw the painting.  If someone agrees with that interpretation, great, if they do not, is it not better that they have felt something for it?    
    Thinking that only the art can be appreciated by the educated is ridiculous.  Children can appreciate art.  Over the years I have worked with children in theater, and art workshops, and find that what they draw from works are just as valid as what I take form them.  Sometimes they even see things that I would have never considered before.  Not to mention that some of the best artists and writers in history were uneducated.  I may not be trained in technique of visual art, but I still enjoy going to museums, and find that my views on a piece are no less important than ones done by educated critiques.  Thinking that only the educated can interpret and appreciate art cuts off a great amount of our society.   

            I wake up each morning and have the right to choose what I wear, do throughout the day, study, and believe.  Each day, I make choices concerning what is in the best interest of myself, and my body, seeking out resources as I deem fit.  All these choices are based upon how I was raised and see the world around me, and these ideals differ from person to person.  These choices are made upon what is right for myself, and no one else.  The debate over the legal right to an abortion is based upon choices, and these choices need to remain available, despite what single individuals may think of them.  Without the right to abortion, I see the future of the United States change for myself and every woman in the country. 
    Illegalizing abortion will not stop women from having them.  It would be in the best interest of the United States to legalize and regulate the practice, instead of prohibiting it and making it dangerous.  The elimination would also not stop those who have the finances and resources that are not available to everyone’s economic status, creating more class divides in our country.  Without it available, it is not unfounded to think that maternal mortality rates will rise, as women are forced to choose other means for an unwanted pregnancy.  Worldwide, about 200,000 women die from illegal abortions annually, therefore it is impossible for me to believe that women are better off without this option that is so obviously desired.  I am not stating that an abortion is the only alternative to an unwanted pregnancy, but rather that it is a decision that some women feel is in there best interest.  Personally, it may not be the option I would choose for myself, but who am I to tell a women, whatever her reason, that because I do not agree with her morals, that she should not be aloud to have an abortion?  Reasons ranging from finances, to putting a career over everything else are valid arguments as long as they are what the women has firmly decided for herself.     
    If the legal right to abortion was eliminated, it makes me wonder what else the government could restrict.  This debate is mostly centered on religious and moral ideas, in which every citizen of the United States has the right to differ on.  If the government could illegalize it because some claim that it’s a sin, it disregards those who do not have those beliefs.  Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaids Tale, speaks about a future society where women do not have any rights over their bodies.  Reproduction and bodies as a whole are controlled by the government, giving women little power to decide what is right for them in all aspects of their lives.  Though the vision portrayed in this novel seems extreme, it calls into question how much women may lose if they do not have the rights available today.  Currently our Supreme Court has eight men, and one woman, and our government is predominantly run by white males.  It is unfair that a system controlled by elite men can decide what is right for my body, and other women’s, when it is an issue that does not directly affect them.  If men could decide what I do to my body, what would stop them from deciding where I work and the education I pursue?  I want to live in a society that women are empowered to make the right choices for themselves, and have all the resources to help them in this decision.  As a society we should be moving forward towards equality for all, and illegalizing abortion is a step back.
     Instead of focusing on outlawing abortion, the government should be creating methods to teach this generation, as well as future ones, safe birth control methods, and the alternatives to abortion.  Currently our government is pushing an abstinence only program, which is unrealistic in today’s generation of MTV and other mass media.  It’s ridiculous that we will avoid teaching people safe sex, and then think of prohibiting them from aborting an unwanted pregnancy.  Perhaps if people were educated on how to avoid unwanted pregnancy, it would not be such a widely used alternative.  Choices are important in America’s diverse society, and these choices would allow all women to make there own personal decision on if abortion is right for them.