loud bus-talkers

so.  8 or 9 in the morning.  on the early morning bus ride (okay it's not THAT early... but it's full of sleepy undergrad students...) from the saint paul campus into the east bank minneapolis campus.  and notta-one person on the bus is talking.  until we get to the last saint paul stop and pick up another group of students.  enter loud phone talker.

at first it was startling because i thought he was talking to himself.  then i realized his old-school headphones were actually some sort of blue tooth.  then, seeing as he was making the ONLY NOISE on the whole entire bus and speaking VERY loudly, i decided i might-as-well listen in.

at first he talked about different interviews he'd had around the country and how well he'd done at them.  then he talked about his son and how, since they'd probably stay in minnesota until he is 18, it might be interesting for him (the dad) to go to school (i'm guessing med school..?) in a very different place.

then things got really annoying.  he referenced a possible move to Starkville, Mississippi.  first he started off with a monologue about how in Starkville, they have this old-school mindset and put all their jails in the middle of the town so everyone can see who's in jail.  and you can just drive by and see who is in it!! (the horror!)  and can you believe there are places that still have that old southern mindset?! 

then he continued that they'd be able to find a nice home on 5-acres for $500 a month.  because that's what everyone in starkville, ms lives on because of the feral dogs. you can't go outside at night to walk your dog because feral dogs will attack.  so you have a nice fenced-in 5 acre lot that you can walk your dog on. 

okay, so i'm not from starkville... and i haven't lived there.  so maybe every person lives in a cheap, 5 acre lot to avoid feral dogs and drives by the open-air jail every morning to see who is in it.  but i seriously doubt that. 

there are old-school ideas alive and well in the south, yes.  but please, sir.  do not pretend like you know what it's like until you've lived there. or assume that giving inmates fresh air (usually on secluded highways) is to expose and embarrass them.  it's easy to pretend to know what other cultures and people are like.  these things take time. and patience.  and a willingness and receive and learn and adapt instead of assume.

broken

# 1. i'm obsessed with pinterest.  it's so terrible.

#2. so one of the places i'm volunteering at is a free neighborhood clinic in minneapolis run by students.  it's one of the first places like it in the country... we have preceptors and it's very interdisciplinary--meaning we have huddles and the med students  and pharmacists and nutrition students and nursing students and social work students collaborate about the patients that come in and we work together (with our preceptors) about how best to treat the patient.  so this is awesome, right?
welll the not-so-awesome part is that it's in a really sketchy neighborhood. you know?  the kind that needs free clinics.  so someone in said neighborhood figured out that twice a week a ton of cars of rich-grad-school students would be parked on the street.  cars with iphones and computers and gps's and other valuables.  so cars were getting broken into increasingly. 
it got so bad that they had to shut the clinic down for a while while they figured out what to do.
the solution?  a cop that would stay in the church parking lot (where the clinic is) and would circle around and keep a watch over the block and the cars.  this is great, huh?!  problem solved!  neighborhood safe!!

you'd think. 

they started hearing complaints from people in the neighborhood.  the cop made the kids nervous because many of them are undocumented.  they are more afraid of a cop than of bad people who break into cars and rob people.  and possible assault or hurt people. 

i'm not making a statement on immigration policy... i'm just stating something that breaks my heart.  how could a child be more afraid of someone who is meant to keep them safe than of the people they are keeping them safe from?  ugh!!  my heart hurts for them!  and what do you do?  the solution was for the cop to show up after dark when kids are "safe" in their homes.  how is this a solution?  IS there a solution?

i'm sorry. i love him.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Tim-Tebow-why-the-heck-do-we-hate-him-110211

hey pointe coupee

Hey Pointe Coupee, It's been a while.  Here are a few things I miss about you.

I miss taking our dogs to the pond or the swamps and letting them swim and run around.

I know, right?  Friskey?!  But she was my first and only cat.  And now there is no one to boss Punkin around.

We're juuuuust a little over 3 hours from Grand Isle now.

And it's not quite flower season here, either.

And let's face it.  Our puppies are lonesome.  They just have us and each other. But I'm glad to know MooMoo is living the high life now :)

There is something so beautiful about a swamp

And watching your man work doing what he loves to do best (Or looking for gators :))

Yep.  We don't have those either.

Birds.  Who knew I loved swamp birds so much?

I think this picture speaks for itself

And last but not least... these ladies.  (This picture is no inclusive of every person I miss!!)

picture update

I just think they're so cute and snuggly

For some reason, Charlie and I were extremely amused by this...? I think we imagine it as a dog-carrier

SO sad I won't play with him

So sweet

A lovely afternoon at the park

My favorite

The whole family.

Aaaaaand LSU... you have to look closely, but it's there!

Oh, JBU

How I miss you...

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/College-basketball-8217-s-best-technical-foul-r?urn=ncaab-wp5820

72

I don't make a regular habit of blogging about pop culture... but this topic has kind of been knawing at me all day.

72 days. 
1) I don't know her situation. Sometimes people marry someone who isn't who they thought they married.  That happens, and I acknowledge that.  In certain cases I think it may be better to just walk away than suffer with it forever.
2) Why should she uphold any sort of standard?  I actually think I believe that marriage should strictly be a religious institution, and all others should just have civil unions... contracts that aren't made between two people and God... just with each other. 

But ugh! This really bothers me!  I think Kim got "wedding-ed" instead of married.  On the one hand, I am offended that she would take marriage so lightly... and put on a huge production and call it quits after 72 days.  What does that say about her?  And what does that say about (and to) the culture we live in.  Marriage is NOT easy.  It takes a lot of work and determination and it something that has boundaries and needs to be taken seriously.  What IS marriage?  What is a wife?  What is a husband?

I keep hearing over and over again that "the Kardashians are sticking together through this as a family"... but shouldn't her husband be included in "family" now?  At the very least at the same level as her sisters or mother?  Charlie told me they figured up that she made $10,000 a hour for this "weddiage". I don't know if it's true... but it makes me sick.  What a  mockery of such a sacred thing.