IVF

I do not believe that there are any cons related to IVF. Yes the church may see it as "playing God", but isn't that what doctors do every time they give someone medicine? If the church sees helping those who cannot conceive as bad and immoral, then the church should see every bit of technology and science as evil. God created people to be able to make advances and build new technology. It is up to each person to decide if they will use his or her skills for good or bad. IVF IS NOT BAD. Many medical procedures are expensive because the technology is so relatively new. This does not mean that the wealthy should not be allowed to purchase these procedures. If God intended for people to not use technology like birth control, life support, IVF, and other developments that help with the treatment of things like cancer and diabetes, he would not have created someone with the aptitude to manufacture these advances.

He's Just Not That Into You

In the movie, Beth and her boyfriend, Neil, have been dating for 7 years but Neil refuses to marry her. It is not because Neil doesn't love her, but rather he does not believe in marriage. Beth gives him a choice, he can either marry her or they can break up. The couple breaks up, but Beth realizes that Neil is more of a husband to her than any of her sister's actual husbands. Beth tells Neil that they don't have to get married, she just wants to be with him. In the end, he finally proposes to her!! This relates to how and why people choose to get married.

The character Gigi is on a constant search for love that drives her a little nuts. She is so desperate that she lets people walk all over her and she comes off very needy. Gigi over thinks everything and reads too much into tiny things; she makes herself believe there is more going on than there actually is going on. She can be related to what we have learned in class through the amount of focus she places on dating and finding the right guy, allowing this focus to take over her life.

The Changing Face of Marriage

I feel that I have benefited from the "domestic church". My dad isn't very religious, but he supported my mother's wish to raise my sisters and I in the Catholic faith and to send us to Catholic schools. When my sisters and I each received the sacraments of Baptism, Eucharist, Reconciliation, and Confirmation, we usually had some type of celebration that brought my family together. Catholicism has provided me with what I perceive to be a strong moral compass. There are many grey areas, especially with the Church and changing cultural beliefs, but what it means to be a good Christian has stayed relatively standard. Because of my positive experiences, I hope to raise my own children in the Catholic Church. 

Not everyone shares my beliefs in the domestic church. The rate of divorce is at an all time high and young couples are wary of marriage and all of the troubles it seems to bring. Two people in love do not need to be married, they can break up and not have to go through messy divorce proceedings. However, as soon as two people have a child, I believe the parents should be married. The child is dependent on his or her parents for support in all aspects of life. Parents who are not married and do not establish themselves as an entity, are not often able to provide the strong foundation for the child to flourish. The parents can easily separate and move apart while the child is left hanging in the middle.

Dating and "Hooking Up"

The world would not exist without dating. Yes, the sun would keep shining, plants would keep growing, babies would be made but not out of love for one's partner. Dating allows us to practice for a long term relationship. It enables us to learn the amount of work needed to keep a relationship strong and loving. It teaches us what we like and dislike in a potential mate and lets us know what to do in a future relationship to prevent repeating mistakes. Without practice, how can we improve? If we never dated, how could we find the one we love and then keep them? We need dating otherwise the relationships with the people we love would crumble and marriages would break apart. I believe that many people feel the way that I do as I know people who date and have no intention of marrying their boyfriend/girlfriend. In my opinion, hooking up does not accomplish the same things as dating. Hook ups are often a once or twice thing and very rarely result in a relationship. Hooking up may teach us a little about ourselves, but it doesn't necessarily teach us what we look for in an ideal spouse.

Love Story Response

This relationship has shown me that every relationship should be filled with reciprocity, love, trust, and honesty. I have learned that even if something does not work the first time around does not mean that it could never work. I love "chick flicks" and "chick lits"and love stories but my parent's is definitely my favorite. I often get secondhand embarrassment from movies and books but there is no embarrassment from my parent's story. On screen, many relationships need some dramatic event to bring the couple together. Many celebrity couples get divorced- look at Kim Kardashian. Even celebrity couples who have been together for years are not immune to the divorce bug.

The love song I chose that connects with the love story I have shared is True Companion by Mark Cohn. This is the song my parents danced to at their wedding. The lines "don't you dare and try to walk away I've got my heart set on our wedding day. I've got this vision of a girl in white, made my decision that its you, alright" make me laugh because it took my dad three tries to finally get my mom. I believe that the song is more than finding a romantic/sexual relationship, it is about finding a friend that you can spend forever with.

Love Songs

Some of my favorite songs are about love even though the genre tends to vary greatly.

1. Arabella by the Arctic Monkeys- this song is one of my all time favorites. I just love the lyrics
 "My days end best when the sunset gets itself behind that little lady sitting on the passenger side. It's much less picturesque without her catching the light. The horizon tries but it's just not as kind on the eyes as Arabella". I can't really explain why I love it so much. It's relatable and Alex Turner (the lead singer) is an amazing singer.

2. Girls by The 1975- This song speaks directly to the stereotypical teenage relationship where someone is looking for another person to save him or her from the boring life he or she is living. The lyrics "I know you're looking for salvation in the secular age but girl I'm not your savior" speaks to the inability of a teenager to be an entire support system for another teenager- it is difficult to do on one's own.

3. Wherever You Are by 5 Seconds of Summer- (I get to see this band in concert next April!!!) This song is about having to leave someone you love but it does not have to be taken romantically. The song can be related to any separation between people who love each other- friends who live far away, family members at home while you are away at college. The lyrics "Torn in two and I know I shouldn't tell you but I just can't stop thinking of you, wherever you are" relates to the pain felt from a large separation between two people.

4. Wild Horses by The Rolling Stones- this song is about loving someone no matter what. "Wild horses couldn't drag me away" is saying that no matter what, this person will always love you.

5. Laughter Lines by Bastille- This song speaks about growing apart and coming back together in a few years time. To me, it seemed especially relevant as many of us will be going to college next year and meeting new people. Despite this separation, "I'll see you in the future when we're older and we are full of stories to be told. Cross my heart and hope to die, I'll see you with your laughter lines."

In my own dating life, I seek trust, honesty, respect, laughter, and commitment. In music, I see all these aspects in the emotions evoked and the meaning behind the lyrics. I believe that the quest for a soul mate isn't so much a quest as it is serendipitously found. I have this belief because of the books I have read, the movies I've seen, and the relationships I have witnessed all around me.

Gender

1. Growing up, girls are taught to be gentle and ladylike; we are taught to wear all pink everything, twirl around in frilly dresses, and put bows in our hair. If you like to do this, it is alright (I personally love pink and dresses and bows). Nothing about wearing these types of things is wrong, until you look down on another girl for wearing something different. Girls can love pink but they can also love blue or black or red or green or any other color. No one, male or female, should be put into a box of what they can or cannot do. Growing up the media constantly drowns us in social norms and expectations. Women should be submissive and men should be domineering- even in gay relationships someone is supposed to be the "woman" and the "man", when really this just enforces the idea that one member of a relationship needs to be submissive.

Here's me on Halloween in pink, sparkles, and makeup. This ballerina costume is one of my all time favorites (I called myself the HalloQUEEN)

2. Growing up with two little sisters, I was not really influenced by the idea that men are better than women. I did not see gender stereotypes (or at least realize them) until after I had started kindergarten. My parents put me in dresses because that is what I liked. I climbed trees and ran around outside, I read books and played with the dress up. I was never told I could not do something because I was a girl. Even growing up, my family did not discriminate me for my age. One of my favorite things to do was (and still is) to sit with the adults and listen to what they had to say. I talked business and politics with my aunts and uncles and my opinion was always listened to.

Here's me busting stereotypes by climbing in a dress

3. Going to an all-girls school has allowed me to grow in my belief in women. It has broadened my ideas about what women can do and be. The Mount has allowed me to see beyond gender stereotypes and accept women with all different styles and ideas of what it means to be a woman. To me, identifying oneself as a woman means being strong and independent while looking fierce and fabulous, no matter what your style is.

4. Despite my firm belief in strong women, I admit that I anticipate a man who can take care of me. I do not want him to take care of me all the time, but when I truly need someone else, I want my future husband to be that person. I love gentlemanlike qualities such as holding open a door or pulling out a chair (mostly because I'm a romantic who has read too many books) but I do not want a man to pay for me on every date. I would like a man to help me reach things I am too short to reach but I also want to be able to use a nail and hammer by myself. I love hosting dinner parties (a trait passed on by my mom) but I have no cooking abilities (I can bake though!), I would like my future husband to be a great cook (like Harry Styles) so that I do not have to worry about eating pasta and cereal every night. My expectations for a romantic relationship come from the books I read growing up.

Here's me at my first "official" dinner party last December. I am wearing boots because a hostess needs to be able to move around easily. I called my event "Winter Woodrowland" :)

Miss Representation

I may get annoyed at times but nothing makes me as furious as male privilege and the unfair treatment of women. I hate the double standards that exist and the stigma that comes with declaring oneself a "feminist". After watching Miss Representation, my feelings toward the over sexualization of women have not changed. Women constantly see photos and advertisements that tell them they have to be skinnier and prettier. Women are told that they are objects and simply exist for men's pleasure. Girls have to constantly worry about being branded a prude or a slut, depending on what they wear and what they do.

When I grow up, I know I definitely want to do something in business. Typically, there are not very many women in the business world. I attended an information session for the business school at a college I was visiting over the summer and of the dozen or so students present, there was not one other girl. Maybe it was just an off day, but it seemed too big of a difference to not be significant. Rather than feeling discouraged, I was only motivated even more to pursue a career in business. The boys had lots of questions for the speaker (who was a woman :) ), but I'm not sure if they were asking to show off or if they honestly did not know the answer because the answers to every question that was asked were available on the school's website with little effort needed. As a woman in the business world, I plan to be a excellent resource to my colleagues and do my research before I attend a meeting. I will not let my gender hold me back. Instead, I will use my gender to my advantage and be thirty times as good as anyone I am competing against.

I would not say attending the Mount has made me a feminist because I feel I have been one since before I can remember (even if I did not know what it was called). I would say that the Mount has helped me to grow in my passion for equal rights for women and has allowed an environment in which I can communicate with others who share my ideals.

...

This is kinda related but not really: the other day I was scrolling through tumblr and I came across a post that that had the well-known phrase "A key that opens many locks is a master key but a lock that is opened by many keys is a bad lock" the person who posted this commented with a different phrase that I really liked: "a sharpener that sharpens many pencils is a good sharpener but a pencil that is sharpened by many sharpeners is a bad pencil." Another person commented that neither analogies should be accepted, if someone chooses to be promiscuous it is his or her business and his or her decision should not matter, let alone matter more if the person is male or female.

Mission Statement

As a woman, I plan to strive to ensure I get the same opportunities as men. I will live my life with class, grace, and compassion. I will take care of others but also care for myself through healthy eating and exercise. I realize that my potential is limitless and I will work to surpass all goals I set for myself. I will invest myself completely in every endeavor I pursue. I will not only be independent and strong but also kind and gentle. I will read as much as I can and share what I learn with others. I will aim to live my life to its fullest, most fabulous capacity.

My life will be even more fabulous than One Direction at their Fabulous magazine photo shoot:

Identity

All of my life experiences have affected me in some way, shape, or form. The most influential aspects have been the books I read as a child, joining the Mount crew team, and traveling to Alaska.

I have loved to read since before I can remember. My parents helped to feed my addiction by allowing me to read whatever I pleased. The only time I can remember being told I could not read something was when I asked to read The Other Boleyn Girl at age 10 after seeing the commercial for the soon-to-be-released movie. I was heartbroken and regretted asking for permission, but soon got over my disappointment when my dad gave me To Kill A Mockingbird. Harper Lee's novel showed me the power of an education; before I had read the book, college was just another thing I was supposed to do. Lee and her character, Atticus, showed me the good that can be done when you achieve a degree. Atticus also made me want to stand up for what is right, even when it is hard to do. To Kill A Mockingbird inspired me to work harder in school to ensure I attained my goals of earning a place in a top university, but also inspired me to do the right thing and try to change the world a little at a time, with my degree. The Harry Potter series also had a heavy influence on my life; I first read The Sorcerer's Stone when I was five and spent the next six years dreaming of my Hogwart's letter. It unfortunately never came and I realized it was never going to come, but I never lost the lessons I had learned from reading the series. The books made me strive to have the bravery of a Gryffindor, the acceptance of a Hufflepuff, the drive for knowledge of a Ravenclaw, and the leadership qualities of a Slytherin. The books I read growing up affected the person I wanted to become and the values I hoped to embrace.

Joining the Mount crew team had a major affect on the person I am today. My time management skills and ability to work with a team increased drastically, I became more well-rounded and a better leader, and I was forced out of my comfort zone almost every day. I joined the team as a coxswain my freshman year and I was constantly in control. As a coxswain, I was responsible for the safety of the girls in my boat, who sometimes were years older than me. As a coxswain, I learned the skills needed to be a respected leader who was fun to be with, but was in complete control when the situation called for it. As I got older (and taller), the team needed me to switch from coxswain to rower and I can honestly say it was the most difficult transition of my life. I went from the "brains" of the boat to the brawn. I lost control and was left feeling powerless. For weeks I regretted my decision, I was so far behind the rest of the team, physically and mentally. After about two months of feeling lost and not knowing where I belonged, I finally hit my groove. I still was not at the same level of strength as the other girls, but I was not hopelessly behind. I was able to be competitive and had learned how to push my body harder than I had before. I could handle the pain of a hard workout and was getting better each day. Crew taught me not only physical strength, but also mental strength and skills I need for the rest of my life.

The summer between sixth and seventh grade I traveled to Alaska with my sister, my dad, my uncle, and two of my cousins. We flew from Newark airport to Seattle to Anchorage and spent a week driving from town to town, eating ice cream every day, and having an amazing adventure. The trip kickstarted my want to travel and tour the world. My cousins, sister, and I grew closer with trips to grizzly bear preserves, morning sunrises, hours in the car, afternoon ice cream, and practicing our moose calls. Traveling to Alaska had a strong influence on my future plans.