Bad Grammar February 25, 2005

A story:

My roommate recieves an email in lieu of a formal invitation to a Who’s Who recognition ceremony. The email states that the dress for this event is “dressy causal.” Causal? As opposed to “dressy purposeful?”

The next email my roommate (who’s name is Candace) received was addressed to “Candance.” What if she couldn’t dance? Then where would we be? Obviously the person sending the emails failed to overlook a fundamental element of any piece of writing: grammar.

It frightens me to think that a senior (or older) in college cannot double check an email or correctly spell “casual.” Does an invitation not set the tone for an event? Apparently one should have shown up to this event disheveled and in extremely bad taste.

Maybe I’m being a bit of a grammar nazi, but if that’s what it takes, so be it.

Out of the Political Closet February 21, 2005

I’ve been outed. My mother is apalled. The subject of my not-so-Republican political views was sure to come up sooner or later, although I didn’t expect it to happen on the way to the movie theatre. Let me explain.

I was talking to my mom (as I do most days) and somehow our topic of conversation turned to politics. The words “Democrats are misled” came out of my mother’s mouth and I was taken aback. It’s common knowledge that my mom thinks John Kerry was a traitor, George W. Bush is “the man,” and only watches FOX news; however, I was still shocked to hear such a thing come out of her mouth.

I disagreed with her, and asked if she had ever heard the concept of God not being a Democrat or a Republican (thank goodness). This was the beginning of my political outing. My mother couldn’t believe I said such a thing. Surely I was misled too. In fact, she went so far as to say that I’d been hanging around too many Truett people for too long. My favorite people in the world went/go to Truett (i.e. Coleman, Chris, Myles, Scott, Lisa, Celina, Meg, et al) and I was slightly offended.

The subject of the Presidental library came up next, and I told her I wasn’t sure it belonged on Baylor’s campus. She still doesn’t understand my reasoning of separation of church and state. I think the radio waves from FOX news may have affected her brain.

I like to call the last part of my experience with my mother “Shock and Awe.” When I asked what she would think if I told her I didn’t vote for Dubya, she basically said she would be apalled. Then I dropped the figurative bomb. I did not, in fact, vote for George W. Bush. Ralph Badnarik, the Libertarian candidate, recieved my vote. I only wish I could have seen the look on her face. I probably should not have enjoyed telling her that as much as I did.

So there you have it. I’m not a Republican. I’m not a Democrat – although my dad thinks I’m a raving liberal for reading Time every week. I’m just me trying to figure out what I believe and who I support. Let’s hope 2008 brings a better choice of candidates.

p.s. I’m going to write a book titled, “Liberal Kids of Fundie Parents.” I’ll bet a few of you out there could contribute.

Have Mercy on Us, Oh Lord February 9, 2005

At this time last year I was thought to be suicidal. By whom? My father. Why? Because I attended an Ash Wednesday service at Calvary Baptist Church and emailed my thoughts and reflections to those I knew did not attend an Ash Wednesday service. I never knew observing the liturgical calendar makes you suicidal.

What hurt the most, and still hurts, was the ignorance and selfishness aimed toward me by my own father. Did he not know that at that time of my junior year I was the happiest I had been at Baylor so far? Did he not think to ask how I was doing before making a judgement on my mental state of being? Did he not realize that leaving me a message telling me not to kill myself – because it would hurt *him* too badly – cut me deeper than any knife ever could? I still don’t know the answers to these questions.

Yesterday I attended the Ash Wednesday service at Calvary Baptist Church yet again. I left convicted, broken, and in awe of the mercy shown to me everyday by a God I just don’t understand most of the time. Does this make a person suicidal? If it does, Calvary’s congregation will be significantly reduced by next Sunday.

Letter to the Editor February 2, 2005

Today I submitted a letter to the Baylor school newspaper, the Lariat, in partial response to an ad announcing upcoming engagements. Turns out my letter ended up being more than just an angry-girl rant. Here it is:

As a fourth generation Baylor student I have always held this university in high regard; however, I am disappointed in Baylor’s continual conformity to societal standards. We claim to be a Christian university, yet we do not uphold Christian ideals.

While Christ calls us to love and serve the least of these, we promote elitism through sororities and fraternities and seclude ourselves in the “Baylor Bubble” from the poverty of Waco. While we teach the life and theology of Paul, an unmarried man, we live by the “ring by spring” creed and cater to those with a significant other through continual couples seminars and engagement/Valentine’s Day ads in our school newspaper. While we call for a higher moral standard, we succumb to a secular measure of success through higher tuition and massive building projects.

Baylor must stop perpetuating the cycle of exclusion and begin to follow Christ’s example of inclusion. Only then can we claim to be a Tier-1 Christian university.

A Conforming Non-Conformist February 1, 2005

In the spirit of the technological age we live in and the excessive blogging of those whom I associate myself with, I hereby announce my entrance (or return, depending on how you look at it) into the blog-tastic world. I cannot promise incredibly witty posts, or even interesting ones, but I can promise some insight into my world and how I view it.

In the spirit of conforming – nay, copying – I’m going to start this process with JoRo’s last post as my inspiration. In other words, here are some completely random and possibly incriminating facts about myself (some of which will probably reveal my true OCD nature):

- Like JoRo, I (along with the rest of my HRBC Youth Choir compadres) was unwittingly part of the first live nationally-televised homosexual kiss. Al Roker and Matt Laur probably hold a not-so-special place in their hearts for us now.

- When eating small colored candies (i.e. M&M’s, skittles, etc.) I dump out the entire bag and separate the pieces by color and then put them in rows according to which color I like the best. It’s true. Ask Coleman or Suzanne.

- I grew up thinking everyone had seen “Pillow Talk” and “White Christmas,” as they were both integral parts of my childhood. It was a sad day when I realized not everyone knew the fabulousness of Rock Hudson and Danny Kay.

- Standing 5′9” I am the shortest person in my immediate family. In fact, my brother is a whopping 6′8”.

- My folders and notebooks for classes are coordinating colors. Doesn’t everybody do that?

- I truly believe Diet Coke w/ Lime is without a doubt the most ingenious invention of this millenium.

- Lindsay is my mother’s maiden name. And you do not pronounce my name LindSAY unless you want a broken leg.

- I am the only person in my family with blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin with freckles. I always used to tease my brother and sister about being adopted, but now I think I may have gotten that backwards.

- I can sing the entire theme song to both “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and “Saved by the Bell.” It would be a neat party trick if I went to parties.

- My car is named Vern the Volkswagen and Bob the Hula Girl lives on his dash. They love eachother.

- Ebonics does not bother me because of the race of people it is associated with; it bothers me because of the mass amount of grammatical errors that are involved.

- I have a “Yes” list which includes Johnathan Rice and Howie Day. Apparently it’s shocking to some people that I have a “Yes” list. If you don’t know what this is, let me know.

- I have been the following: Drill Team Squad Leader (yes, I could do the jump splits in a short sequined skirt) and Homecoming Queen Nominee. If you know me at all, you know what an anomaly both of these are.

And finally, “women’s liber” is the term most often used to describe me when I go home.

If these few random facts haven’t scared you off or bored you to tears, come back sometime and see if I have anything of importance to say. Maybe my next post will even be relevant to real life. Who knows?