Winter Wonderland

With Christmas approaching comes the wonderful winter break! This involves three weeks straight of hanging out with family and friends, sleeping and shopping. With me being a college student and all, my family doesn't expect much from me this Christmas. Unlike their expectations, I would like to get a job over break to make a little cash to buy everyone nice gifts. The problem is, I've never had a "real" job before and I want one that pays at least $10/hour. Minimum wage is far under that and I don't want to settle for low pay. I then run into the dilemma of having no where to work. I refuse to work at a clothing store at the mall and there's really nothing else to do. Best Buy would start me out at $8.25/hour but I can't stand being on my feet all day and dealing with annoying customers. The only other place I can think of is going back to babysitting but it's not a steady work schedule. I want to work 5 days a week while being at home and babysitting would only satisfy my needs on Friday and Saturday nights. Sure, anyone could take money from their parents but I would feel better If I got a job and paid for presents myself. Well, please don't hesitate to offer your suggestions on where pays good and a place for me to work for a few weeks. Thanks!

Photo Cred: http://www.shelbyandmike.com/chicago.html

-Britt

Taste of Russia

At a very young age I became best friends with my neighbor who lived 2 doors down from me. She was born right around Chicago, but her parents and grandma were from Russia. In the summers, I was at my friends house a lot. I usually ate either lunch or dinner at her house and got fed pretty well. On occasion, her grandma would make this carrot juice which I hated. Her grandma insisted that it was good for her granddaughters health and always made her drink it. Whenever I was there, I tried to slip into the bathroom when it was being served. I hated it, along with the orange mustache that came along with it. The thing was, I felt really close to my neighbors and treated them like family. I felt bad that I didn't like the carrot juice and also felt like the family disliked me at times when I didn't eat their food. Out of respect, I would sometimes take a few sips of the drink, but it still tasted gross for my 6 year old picky-ness. In addition, I don't like caviar and dreaded when it would be served by my friends mother on a slice of bread. I really felt like my friend Michelle's mother would get mad at me even when I politely said, "no thanks" to an offering from her. Since the 90s, I've managed to eat numerous meals with my neighbors. They have accepted that I don't like some of their traditional food and usually even make something on the side for me. It's interesting how food shapes who we are and how we are accepted into different cultures and groups of people.

I found that picture through Google's search engine at http://www.photographersdirect.com/buyers/stockphoto.asp?imageid=622482

-Britt

Can't Trust Anyone

As the true Purdue football fan I am, I went down to IU this past weekend to celebrate the rivalry. Although I didn't have a ticket to the game, I knew it was going to be a good day; I was totally wrong. Despite praying the night before for a safe and happy Saturday, I felt completely insecure and angry. The day started out bad by leaving Purdue nearly 2 hours after our planned time of departure. By the time we got to Bloomington, we waited in this one lane on the highway for nearly 45 minutes and moved about 1 mile. After getting news from a friend on how to bypass the traffic, me and my friends proceeded to campus the quick way, but then were stuck with the issue of where to park. This was my first time at IU and who knew a campus could be so huge and run out of parking within a reasonable walk to the stadium. After stuffing my face and watching the game from a decked out Purdue bus, me and my group of friends went to an apartment to hangout for the rest of the night; what a bad idea. It was all nice and dandy with only about 15 kids in this apartment when all hell broke loose. To my astonishment, my purse which was sitting next to a couch the whole night suddenly disappeared. All together my Dooney and Bourke purse, along with my digital camera, keys, debit card, cash and license plus other valuables were in there. The rest of the time from then until this afternoon was one big mess. I was all over the place trying to get money out from my debit card when I had no ID, but I couldn't get an ID without cash and I couldn't get my locks changed without my ID to use Boiler Express on it. Sorry for ranting, but I really need to get out my anger. Whoever stole my purse deserves to get all of their stuff stolen. I just don't understand how someone can be so inconsiderate and harsh. Lesson learned: never put your stuff down no matter how few of people are at the place you are at or how well you know the people there.

Born Into Brothels

This is Zana Briski accepting her Academy Award for her documentary from the India Tribune.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050301/wd3.jpg



Zana Briski explores every single aspect of these children's lives that makes them stand out, in a sense, comparing them to poor people in the United States. She shows her audience how there's a difference between not having enough money to being in extreme poverty. It's quite fair that the lives of these children are "on display." In no way does this public display of their lives hurt them. If anything, it helps them because every single person who has seen this movie will be effected by it. Whether one will simply donate a dollar to Briski's organization, buy one of the kid's photos or even start their own movement, there is a difference being made. Even people like me who saw this movie made a difference. I told at least 2 people about this movie when I got done watching it and they were deeply engaged in what it was all about. Obviously, there was a privacy issue and I'm sure the children and their parents gave consent to have their lives taped and be in a documentary seen throughout the world. The ends for sure justify the means. Just by making this documentary, Briski is successful by getting her story out. A child can give consent, even though they do not know how Briski is going to portray them. Their parents should know that obviously Zana is out to prove something and they are "risking" their identity to be shown to the public. I think her documentary is successful and we see this in the clip that goes back to Calcutta 3 years later. They were all better educated, had a stronger sense of self and knew about their world around them. Although some may still live in the brothels, they are better educated and have more options on what to do with their lives.

-Britt

Triple XXX

I finally took my first trip to the famous Triple XXX diner on Friday night. When I stepped into the family restaurant, I felt like it was 1942. There were cute orange and black stools lining 2 rows of old school tables, complimented by black and white photos on the walls. According to their menu, they are Indiana's first drive in restaurant. I thought it was pretty cool that I was at a place that makes history, as well as air time on the Food Network. It was quite small inside, but I figure you could still fit about 40 people in there sitting on the stools. My waitress wasn't very nice, but I don't blame her. Having to work on a Friday night serving college kids must suck. I got chicken fingers and spicy curly fries, which I probably shouldn't have because neither are really "homemade" or fresh. I was going to go for a shake after dinner, but I simply felt like my tummy was going to burst after all of the food I ate. The prices are pretty much standard and I would recommend going there for a quick bite on a Friday night! It seems like a really popular place and they even cut their meat up fresh, never frozen, every morning for all of you burger eaters!


I had a picture but it won't upload so here's the website...
http://www.triplexxxfamilyrestaurant.com/index.html

-Britt

New Mindset

That's a picture that was taken at a Farmer's Market near my house.

http://arlingtoncardinal.blogharbor.com/blog/Photos/FarmersMarket/_archives/2007/8/18/3166436.html

Although I learned a lot in the past few weeks on how much corn is in my diet, where most of my food comes and how most of it is made, my views haven't changed that much on what I will eat. I was always pretty aware that there's corn in everything from the pop I drink to the steak that I don't eat. It grossed me out quite a bit knowing how cows are raised, but I've never eaten steak in my life, so it doesn't effect me learning that these animals are basically force-fed cornflakes which are bad for them in the long run. One thing I will try to change from now on is my view grown food, even if locally means from California. Hey, California is closer than China. If anyone watches John and Kate Plus 8 on TLC, they went to an organic farm and bought all of this organic meat. It was really interesting to see how such a on where my food comes from. Since I am at college and it's hard to find these things out, I don't feel bad for myself that I am eating food that was shipped tens or hundreds of thousands of miles to get to me. On the other hand, when I am at home for thanksgiving and winter break, I will try to purchase and eat more locally big family can manage to eat as much organic food as they possibly can!

-Britt

Little Ones

Ever since I can remember, I've loved little kids. From a set of twins in my extended family, to my neighbors grandson, they always bring a smile to my face. At my high school, three teachers and students ran a preschool twice a day. For two years, I took classes that allowed me to help out in the preschool and those were some of the funnest times in school. We took the little ones on field trips to places like the Brookfield Zoo and the Kohl Children's Museum. Through being in this class, you get to meet the kids' parents and talk with them when they drop and pick their child or children up. Through a particular child's mom, I got a babysitting job for a set of three year old twins, whom the mother knew from selling a house to this family. I was so excited when I found out I would be getting to babysit a set of twins! Better yet, one was a girl and one was a boy. I didn't mind getting paid ten dollars an hour to play a few games and watch TV after putting them to bed. Usually I would actually babysit them for two hours and watch TV for the other four. Nonetheless, I cherished the time I had with them. Not only did I have a good job, but it was a job I actually liked. The family lives only three minutes away, driving, so I would always be there whether it was pouring rain or snowing for hours. Saying bye to them at the end of this summer was really hard. I can't wait to see them over winter break. I just wish there was a job where I could mix pharmacy and being with children all day.

-Britt