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!         

On Facebook, Biggest Threat to Your Private Data May Be You

               The article I read for this week is called “On Facebook, Biggest Threat to Your Private Data May Be You” by Jacquielynn Floyd. In this article she is talking about how we provide so much information on Facebook that we are threatening the privacy of our personal data. She talks about the recent change in the terms of service on Facebook and how many people think that Facebook owns them. She points out that by posting what you are doing, where you are going, and every aspect of your life you are jeopardizing your personal information not the terms of service. I completely agree with the author. I have a Facebook, but I rarely post anything. I have friends that post something at least three times a day. Some of them post how they are feeling, where they are going later that night, and pictures. Most people have at least 200 friends and they usually do not know most of them. A complete stranger that you say is your “friend “or has complete access to your life through your Facebook. Someone could rob you blind because they know you will be at your grandmother’s for the weekend or they could stalk you because they know everywhere you are going. You decide what to post and what not to post not your terms of service so if you become more discrete about what you are posting you may not have to worry about going home to a man with a mask and a knife hiding in your closet waiting for you to come home.     

I am going to live with my parents forever!

               Is there such thing as living on your own by the age of nineteen? This is a question I am facing right now. I live almost an hour away from ICC and soon I will need to be in Peoria every day during the week for the radiology program. I have been looking at apartments for months now and the prices are outrageous! For a one bedroom apartment in a good part of Peoria or Dunlap is over five hundred dollars a month in rent and that does not include utilities. I am a full time student and work part time, but there is no way I make enough money to pay rent, cable, utilities, a car payment, and food. My boyfriend is moving with me, but it is still hard to make ends meet. With the way our economy is today it is so hard for young adults to get their lives started. It is hard to establish credit when you are this young, pay bills, and go to school. I do not want to live with my parents until I am thirty, but I might have to if I do not find something cheaper. In ten months of living in an apartment I could spend five thousand dollars alone in just rent. I might as well start paying a mortgage on a house.

Out of the Woods: Today's Kids Can't See the Forest for the MTV

I recently read the article “Out of the Woods: Today’s Kids Can’t See the Forest for the MTV” by Joel Achenbach. This article was published in the Washington Post. In this article the author provides his opinion on why children today stay indoors more than children years ago. He describes how when he tells his kids to go outside they moan and groan, and are bored outside. He also talks about how back when he was a child there was no such thing as Nintendo or MTV; so he played outside most of the time digging in the dirt, climbing trees, and messing with ants. Kids today on the other hand would pick playing videogames over playing outside nine times out of ten. He says this is true mainly because of parents. He says that parents today over protect children and make them think that the outdoors are dangerous; as a result children are soft and would rather be indoors.

I have lived in the country my whole life and loved being outdoors. I would ride horses, go swimming, ride my bike, and go for walks in the timber. I was not like most kids my age because I hated videogames and I still do. I believe that kids spend way too much time inside. I think that many kids are lazy when it comes to physical work and their attention spans are practically nonexistent due to the fact that everything they do (videogames and watching TV) is so interactive that children get bored with tasks that involve work or learning. Also childhood obesity is on the rise and lying on the couch all day playing Xbox is not helping this issue. Playing outdoors in my opinion is much more beneficial to children. They get exercise, learn patience from animals or playing with other kids, and they are away from many of the negative issues videogames and TV provide.    

Pregnacy Pact?

I was on Facebook the other day and I came across a post that really bothered me. It was a picture of a girl’s pregnant stomach that I went to school with and under the picture were comments. The comments were what really bothered me. There was three other girls who commented on it, one who is also pregnant and is her best friend from my class, one was her sister who is a sophomore in high school that just has a miscarriage, and the last one was a girl who is in eighth grade and pregnant. They commented on how cute their tummies are, how they are so excited to have their baby, and what they hope to have, girl or boy. I realize that teen pregnancies are not uncommon and many are accidents. I am not saying that these girls should be ashamed or had an abortion. My sister had twins at nineteen so I understand how hard it is and that if she could have changed it she would. The difference in this case is that these girls planned their pregnancies. The two girls from my class said, “I am ready to start my family.” The problem with this is they both dropped out of high school as sophomores, have no jobs, have boyfriends that are not very reliable, and have sisters that had children as teens. The girl in eighth grade is fourteen years old; how is she going to finish school? How will she pay for all the expenses of a baby? Will her young boyfriend stay around? And does she really know how to take care of another human being? I am from a small town and these girls also live where I do. I do not understand how they think they are ready to be mothers at such a young age. If all of these were accidents I would understand more, but these were planned. All of these girls know how to use birth control, condoms, and other contraceptives so they are not in this position from lack of knowledge. They could have stayed in school, went to college, had a career, and then had a family. Instead this is what they chose. Is this a pregnancy pact? If it is, I hope that these girls are prepared for how hard their lives are going to become. When they decided to get pregnant they thought about the positives; the beautiful baby, having a family, cute stuffed animals and blankets. What about the negatives at this age; sleepless nights, money troubles, fathers running off, and no longer having a life that was just for you. I wish the best for these girls; I just do not understand why now, and why so young?