Moving Out Well 15 Miles Out

               My apartment/house search is finally over and I cannot believe that I am settling to live in my home town. I live in the country now so at least I am moving away from my parents, but I am only moving fifteen miles from my parent’s house. My boyfriend and I are moving into a house in Henry this weekend. Henry was the last place I wanted to live, but I guess making decisions like this is part of being an adult. I just got accepted into the radiology program that starts in the fall. I am very excited that I was accepted, but it has changed our plans for moving to Peoria or Chillicothe. Since I will not be able to work as much as I do now when I am in the program I need to have a job that will work with a crazy schedule. Where I work now is great and so is my boss. When I told my boss my news of getting in the program he told me not to worry about my job because he will work with me and make sure I have enough hours. How can I turn that down? I cannot take the chance of moving to a new town and have a job that will not work with me because I need a pay check every week to have money for gas and other expenses. Also moving closer to Peoria increases what we will have to pay in rent and if I cannot work we could not pay the rent. After debating all the details we decided on a cute three bedroom house in Henry. Life is full of surprises, but this is one I definitely did not see coming.    

Left Behind, Way Behind

I read the article “Left Behind, Way Behind” by Bob Herbert, a columnist for the New York Times.  His article was about the United States education crisis. He states that many children do not graduate high school, when a diploma and a college education are almost mandatory for a middle class lifestyle today. He gave statistics for the amount of children who do not have the adequate reading or math skills that college requires. He also explained a survey that was taken by fifteen year olds in the United States on reading and math skills and over the world the United States ranked twenty-fourth out of twenty-nine nations. The solution to this crisis that  he gathered was to lengthen the school day and even year, provide better teachers for rural and inner city schools, and higher curriculum standards. He believes that this is a crisis that is not getting near enough attention. I agree with this statement. I am from a small town and the school I went to had only two hundred people including staff. I thought the education I was getting was no different than other students from other schools, but compared to a larger school I did not have the options they did. At a larger school I could have taken more than one foreign language, more math, and higher sciences. I was prepared for college, but I can see where larger schools have an advantage. I also believe that many inner city schools do not have the adequate teaching staff. Many students from small schools or poor schools are not prepared for college but a longer school year or higher standards might be the boost schools need to better prepare their students.   

Struggling but not struggling enough

My apartment search keeps getting more and more ridiculous. I found a one bedroom apartment in Peoria that was perfect for me. It was in a good area and affordable. It had its own entry way instead of a gloomy and dark hallway that smells funny. It had a washer and dryer hook-up so I would not have to take multiple trips to a Laundromat. The kitchen and carpet was new and it had the biggest bathroom I have ever seen in an apartment. I was ready to sign a lease that day, but there was one little problem with this place. It was not that the rent was too high or I did not have enough credit. It was that my boyfriend and I make too much money to live there. How ridiculous is that? The apartment complex is based on your income and we have to be under a certain amount in order to pay only 579 a month; anything over the cut off then you have to pay 679 a month for the same apartment. The complex asked for our gross income and when you add both of ours it was too much. What makes me so mad is why they would ask for our gross income when that is not what we bring home each month. They told me I could go unemployed for a year and we could have the apartment, but how could I pay for the rent? We do not make enough to pay the higher rent. I do not understand why a complex would turn people away that have jobs, good credit, and would pay the rent every month because they make too much money. Ridiculous!