Chelsea Handler is bringing grammar back.

I can't ever get enough of this yellow-haired Jew. I feel like she is an extension of myself. I like grammar and dancing Latino nuggets, too.

First College Test = Success

So, as most of you read previously on facebook, I had my first college-level test today in my American Government class, and I got an A! I'm sorry to be bragging, but you know what? I deserve to brag a little. I worked hard for that grade, and I'm pretty proud of myself.

It's special to me. Getting this A really showed me what I'm capable of. I'm a smart girl, and I'm capable of succeeding at college. It's just more proof that I don't need to worry. I GOT THIS. I can and will do well. Watch me!

Now, if you see me saying these things after Friday when I have my second test, that's fabulous. If you see me saying it after next Thursday when I have the third one in philosophy, then we'll really talk about major success.

In other news: I want to go to Calgary. The pictures on my wall are all crooked. And the elevators in this building suck.


Considering the idea of adding features to my blog - ex. a featured video of the week; What the Hell Wednesdays with weird news; etc. DISCUSS.

Day 30 - A Letter To Myself

Day 30 → A letter to yourself, tell yourself EVERYTHING you love about yourself

As you can see, for the final day of my blogging program, I have to write a letter to myself. Considering that it's late and tomorrow I have to get up really early, I'm just going to focus on the letter for today's blog.


Dear Paula,

I love that you are opinionated and never hesitate to tell everyone what you think. I love your spirit and your sweet but feisty personality. You're much smarter than you usually like to think, and I love that you can hold your own in a conversation, a debate, or an argument. I love your straight-forwardness and how you try to be as open with people as you can be to show them who you are. I love your sense of humor. I love your lack of fear when it comes to doing things that other people would be too scared to do and your excess of fear when it comes to the simple things. I love that you care so deeply about people, things, places, and what you are doing. I love that you're a perfectionist, even if it annoys the hell out of me sometimes. I love your creativity and your wild ideas. I love your dreams and your courage. I love your ability to make friends anywhere and everywhere you go. I love how overly humble you can be sometimes, while all the time knowing deep-down that you are completely fabulous. I love your hobbies, your favorites, likes, and dislikes. I love your great observational skills and your ability to read people. I love that you are in college trying to make something out of yourself and follow your dreams. I love you, and I think you're pretty great.


Love,
Paula?

Day 29 = A New Experience

Common Ground started tonight! It was so fabulous!

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, Common Ground is a dialogue-to-action program that holds very diverse small group discussions about race. The goal is to discuss race from many different points of view and ultimately do something to improve race relations in the city.

I'm excited for next week's session, and I'm even more excited to see what happens at the end of it.

You'd never guess how liberating it actually is to sit and listen to a stranger say something you think is pretty ridiculous, only to find yourself listening attentively and then POSSIBLY explaining your experiences and feelings about the topic at hand. Well, it's liberating for me anyway. That was my surprise of the evening - being liberated in a situation that would seem to do the exact opposite.

Oh, and Otis Sanford was the guest speaker in my journalism class today! I showcased my huge, nothing-but-teeth, somebody-just-slapped-Herenton smile. I guess you could say I was a little excited about that, too. :)



Day 29 → Something you hope to change about yourself. And why.

I'm a worrier. I try to avoid situations where I feel like there's a high possibility of failing or of getting hurt. Subconsciously, I am attempting to protect myself. In actuality, I am only hurting myself. I don't set high enough goals and standards for myself because I'm afraid I won't be good enough or do well enough (or whatever) and will end up getting hurt.

I've been working on that, and it's coming along nicely. It's a process. It won't happen overnight. The point is that it IS happening. I'm getting there.

Day 28 = The Day I Fell In Love With Dr. Thomas... Um, Not In THAT Way

Today was really good. :)

I had to read this chapter for my American Government class that didn't make sense to me (or most of the other people in my class) and take a quiz on it. When we told Dr. Thomas we were confused, he acted like he didn't really care. It lasts 10 minutes. After five, he says, "I know most of you read the chapter and are a little confused, and that's okay. I'm about to step out of the room for a drink of water, and while I'm gone if you use your books, talk to each other, or review your notes, that is something I will just never know about. Happy testing."

So obviously, we shared with each other, looked up terms in the indexes of our textbooks, etc. He came back three times, and each time we would still be sharing information so he would walk back out for more water. Finally, he said, "Okay, I'm starting to feel a little water-logged, so I'm going to excuse myself for one last drink, and when I come back I'll be taking up your lovely quizzes."

I so, so, so, SO love that man! He is just simply wonderful. :)




Day 28 → What if you were pregnant or got someone pregnant, what would you do?

Um, well whenever I finally finished crying, I would attempt to start figuring out my life.

Incredible Day - # 27

Today was just amazing. I woke up feeling like a free woman, and the feeling only got stronger as the day continued. It's going to take me about a week [estimated] to get caught back up on everything, but at least I'm starting to get caught up, rather than getting further and further behind! And just so y'all know - none of my assignments have been late or anything. I'm a little behind on readings, etc. So far that hasn't affected my grades at all, and hopefully it never will.

That's pretty much all I've got to say about today... just that it was fabulous.

I'm still catching up on sleep, too, so I'm about to crash. :)




Day 27 → What’s the best thing going for you right now?

School. Most definitely.

The Light at the End of My Tunnel Day 26

I've posted recently about how exhausted I've been. I'm so happy (and a little saddened) to say that I will soon be able to keep up with everything MUCH better!

The sad part is that I won't be seeing my nephews every day because I'm no longer picking them up from school. It was seriously killing me - they are AMAZING boys, but they are such a handful at times! I love them to pieces, but I can't handle them on a daily basis. It totally drained me emotionally.

The smile-inducing part of this is that I will now have a LOT more time for my homework, and I will be available in the hours that almost every campus activity takes place during (the afternoons). I'll actually get to do something fun while I'm in college! And yes, I totally say this with enthusiasm. Y'all have NO idea what is has been like to literally kill myself working on stuff for school and trying to get those boys to cooperate and do things all day, only to come back to my dorm room and work on my homework alone. It's been SO lonely!

I went ahead and sent in my application for the Fall sessions at Common Ground (where you talk openly about race relations and find solutions to common problems) and got an email confirmation that I had been accepted. I'm so excited! It starts on Monday and lasts for 7 or 8 weeks. They have two hour meetings on Monday nights, so it won't be taking up too much of my time for me to study. I've been wanting to do this for SO long, and I haven't had the time. A friend of mine started Common Ground out of her desperation to literally find some common ground among groups of people from different ethnic backgrounds. I can't wait to start the sessions so that we can begin discussing race and how we can create change.

I'm also taking my application for the school paper in tomorrow. I can actually do that now, too! :)

I feel like a free woman!





Day 26 → Have you ever thought about giving up on life? If so, when and why?

Just about everyone has. I think most people have that moment or day, or week, or period of time in their life where it honestly seems like things could NOT get any worse, and the only thing they can do is wonder if it's all really worth it.

Day 25

I'm so drained right now. I cannot wait to crawl into my bed and pass out - if I even make it to my bed! Totally not kidding when I say that passing out on my laptop is a possibility tonight. But since I didn't blog last night, I wanted to make sure I did tonight.

This weekend has been an extremely busy one for me. It's been wonderful - I just wish I could have made it a little longer so that it wasn't so exhausting. I'm always saying how I need more hours in a day, and this weekend has been no exception!

It involved going to a mosque, writing an assignment for my English composition class, hanging out with friends I promised to hang out with, editing pictures, reading portions of textbooks, studying, shopping for MORE stuff for school, and the tiniest little bit of sleep in the middle of all of it.

I told someone today that recognizing how exhausted I am at the beginning of the third week has led me to be completely terrified of finals week. Part of my problem is that I've been off my iron supplements for about seven months now, while still having problems with anemia. I couldn't get in to see my doctor at any point that I was free during the summer and kept forgetting to try and get an appointment with someone else, and now I seriously don't have time to go. It sucks, and I hate myself just a little for being a total dork in the summer and not remembering to make a doctor's appointment.

I mentioned the mosque earlier - all I'm going to say about that is just WOW! It was a wonderful experience that I am so thankful I was given the opportunity to have.

I've also decided that I really want to pledge next year. I'll have to figure the financial thing out, because I have no idea how I'm going to foot the bill, but if I want it bad enough, I'll find a way, right? Anyway, I was leaning toward Alpha Delta Pi when I realized the list of sororities and women's fraternities I had been looking at on the U of M's website was ONLY a list of the ones who had housing on campus. WE HAVE AN AKA CHAPTER (Alpha Kappa Alpha, for those of you who have problems recognizing pink and green in its abbreviated format)!!!

When I mentioned my childhood dream of being an AKA to my friend, Monterica, she told me that it was crazy for Memphis not to have a chapter and suggested I scope out Memphis' Greek webpage again and try to find it. When I saw it listed, I was like - OMG, There it is. THERE it is! THERE IT IS!! IT'S HERE!!! AT MEMPHIS!

Seriously, y'all have no idea how excited I was. I decided I wanted to be an AKA when I was 10. I idolized a teacher at my elementary school (who became my sixth grade teacher the following year), and she was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha! Actually, many of my former teachers were. After I began talking about it, I found out that I knew a LOT of AKA members... and I still do. In the last week alone, I have either discovered or been informed that three more of my friends are AKAs.

I went to after-school care when I was at Snowden. The director, Mrs. Greene, was (still is!) a member of Delta Sigma Theta (don't mix them in with AKAs for safety reasons, y'all!). When she noticed how often I wore pink and green socks/accessories/etc. she mentioned something about AKA colors, and I informed her that I wanted to become a member. She chased me around the cafeteria for 25 minutes with another after-care teacher's AKA umbrella. HAHA! I love her to death.

For those of you who think I'm a little confused - yes, I do realize that AKA is a mostly African-American sorority. But see, that's why I'd fit in so well! :)




Day 25 → The reason you believe you’re still alive today.

Obviously because I have added some incredible people to my life.

Just Another Ordinary, Amazing Day - Day 24

Today seemed liked it dragged on and on at the same time that it was flying by.

I had my journalism class this morning, and, after picking up an application for The Daily Helmsman (the school newspaper - I want to write for it), I came back to Towers and did laundry. I saw a couple of the same people I did laundry with last week, and I ended up hanging out with one of them for a while at lunch. (What is it with me making most of my friends in the laundry room? I think my fabulous Bounce dryer sheets give me a confidence boost. lol!)

Anyway, after that I picked up the bears. We had a most interesting day. Little boys are always interesting.

I came back to school and hung out with Amy. While she was at her floor's meeting, I finished up working on Lorie & Michael's engagement pictures. I was SO excited to let them see their photographs! It was really special for me to be able to shoot their engagement session because they're both very special people to me. I'm so glad they loved them!

Amy and I had movie night later on - hello, Reese Witherspoon chick-flick! It was great. :)

I found out earlier that on my first assignment in my journalism class I got 10/10. So far all my grades have been 10(or above)/10 - I'm so happy! I'm really not trying to brag. I've just been trying really hard in school because I WANT these grades so badly, so getting them is really important to me. I'm proud of myself, and that's something that hasn't happened to me very many times in my life. Eventually things will get tougher and I won't be getting perfect scores (obviously!), but I'm hoping my grades don't drop too much.

Sometimes I forget that I'm in college. What used to seem so far away is here, right now, and it's weird. Like, some days it's absolutely no big deal - it's just completely normal. Other days... not so much. I guess it's crazy for me to think about it in the present tense, rather than the future tense. But I have to tell you - so far I am enjoying myself very much!

I've got a TON of homework to get done this weekend, so I'm closing out this blog and going to bed. I mean, I DO have to get up and get started on it at some point tomorrow. :)




Day 24 → Make a playlist to someone, and explain why you chose all the songs. (Just post the titles and artists and letter)


Dear Monterica,

I decided to make you an imaginary playlist because 1) my blog program has commanded it, and 2) you are wonderful & I miss you.


1. Your Love by Nicki Minaj - umm, this is our song. lol
2. Don't Be Jealous of My Boogie by RuPaul - who could have a playlist without including Blake-not-Boo?
3. Wetter by Twista - this is an inside-only thing... sorry y'all.
4. Brown Skin by India Arie - 'cause you once told me you were chocolate-y.
5. Flying Without Wings by Reuben Studdard - girl, do you know how many times I almost crashed the car because I nearly fell asleep driving late at night when you wanted to listen to this slooow song? lol!
6. Be Without You by Mary J. Blige - you up and left me for UT 'ChattaNOGA'... RUDE!
7. Seasons of Love by RENT - because I looove you! :)

Day 23 - SIGH @ Values

Values In The Modern World - such an interesting and complex name for a class. And yet, it is quite simple to understand, especially after you read the course description (these are listed on the website where you register for the classes you want to take right next to whichever class they go with). Somehow, most of the students in my 'Values' class still don't understand what it means to be in a philosophy class. Either that, or they just have no concept of what the subject of philosophy really is.

Philosophy is derived from two Greek words meaning "love" and "wisdom". So roughly translated, philosophy = the love of wisdom. Wisdom is rational. With wisdom comes the ability to listen to another person's ideas and suggestions, while not necessarily agreeing with them, but at least acknowledging that they could have some valid points. This is where my issue with these people comes in.

Today in class we were discussing the Divine Command Theory. To my understanding, it is, in a nutshell, a moral theory stating that God decides what is right and wrong because God decides what is right and wrong. (I know I just lost some of you, and that's okay - my point here is not to educate you in philosophy, but to give you the main topic our discussion was based on.) Mrs. Botts was saying how this is a circular pattern (God decides because God decides), and we were talking about the arguments against it.

Let me make this crystal clear before I get jumped by some Christian soldier or something - she was in no way trying to convert our class to Atheism or anything of the sort. She was challenging the theory and trying to get someone (just ONE person) to give her a rational (not religious) argument in favor of it.

Could they do it? Nope. Did they, instead, waste up our class time arguing about God and their individual religious beliefs? Yep.

Why is it that people don't understand that philosophy is meant to be RATIONAL? It is not faith-based. It is a way of thinking on a deeper level, and it's all about logic.

I hate it when people can't even quit rambling on about how they're so good because they go to church on Sunday (in their slutty clothes after they had pre-marital sex the night before, I'm sure) and shut up long enough to entertain the idea that someone else might have a different opinion about God or moral reasoning.

I'm probably going to screw up my terms or just screw up with general philosophical knowledge when I say this, but I feel like creating a new theory that says: being hypocritical and getting on everyone's last damn nerve is morally wrong.

It's a deontological theory, y'all. Learn to love it.





Day 23 → Something you wish you had done in your life.

The way y'all talk, my life is over and I'm looking back on it. Honey, from where I'm standing, my life is just beginning! There are a lot of things I want to do, and I still have plenty of time left to do them. :)

A Routine Has Been Established. Well, OK, Sorta...

Things have settled down here at school, and there's now some degree of normalcy (as much as one can expect to find on a college campus anyway). Don't get me wrong - it's still hectic, and we're certainly nowhere close to resembling a communal rut. But at least everything doesn't feel so new, and neither do we.

I've been enjoying myself a great deal on campus. There is always something slightly insane going on or being done, whether it be a religious extremist condemning us all to Hell, a random and unplanned dance-off next to the UC late at night, someone wearing a full-body gorilla suit on the elevator (totally not kidding!), or Dr. Thomas doing something in class that no one else in the WORLD would ever think about doing (especially in public).

I love those moments. They add a much-needed flair to my day. Maybe it makes me really happy, or maybe being around them just makes me feel extremely normal. At any rate, I like it. :D





Day 22 → Something you wish you hadn’t done in your life.

There have been several instances in my life where I trusted the wrong people. I certainly wish I hadn't.

It's Day 21, Y'all...

Yesterday, as you may know, I didn't blog. It was Labor Day, and, as much as I love blogging, it gets on my nerves sometimes. So I took a little holiday off. It was a good day. I had movie night with my friend Amy, and then I hung out with my roommate, Brooke.

Today was pretty nice, too. It was also a little hectic - I think all my Tuesdays and Thursdays are going to be, and that's cool. I can take it.

Brooke, Amy, and I had dinner at The Fresh Food Company here on campus. I ended up going to Spin Street (I ran into Brooke and one of her friends while I was there, haha!) and buying a large, framed canvas print of Audrey Hepburn. I love it! It's so awesome, and it looks fabulous by my bed. It ended up finishing off my side of our walls beautifully.

Now, I just need that Lil Wayne poster (they were sold out) to put on the ceiling above my bed. ;)




Day 21 → (scenario) Your best friend is in a car accident and you two got into a fight an hour before. What do you do?

Well, my best friend died over two years ago. But I'll go along with it and pretend like this has happened. Umm, I guess I'd cry and apologize after immediately realizing that life is too short to waste it being angry? What? You didn't say he/she died in the scenario. :)

Today Was Just Pure Insanity - Day 20

Wow! So today was random and crazy!

I was thrilled because my article was in the paper, obviously. Outside of that, I shot an engagement session with my friends, Lorie and Michael. We had a LOT of fun, and I can't wait to let them see their pictures!

On the way to the park where I met up with L & M, I passed a car accident and saw EMTs putting someone into a body bag.

After the shoot, I stopped to get gas at a gas station right by campus. While I was inside paying for my gas, a lady robbed the place and got away with a bunch of beer.

Crazy, right?

In the midst of all this, I was dealing with the one major setback of putting yourself out there - horrible, rude, ugly criticism. Not surprisingly, the only person who said anything bad about my article that I am personally aware of is someone from my biological family.

To be honest with y'all, I'm just a little bit glad that she decided to make a total ass out of herself. I've been wanting to write her off completely for a little while now, but I was trying to be nice and give her another chance, even after she has said terrible things to me, about me, and about other innocent people both in person and on facebook many times. [I think I really need to stop giving SO many chances after the second and definitely the third because this is getting ridiculous.] Anyway, she doesn't know me at all - I MIGHT see her once a year for a couple of hours - so losing her is not a problem for me. It's ESPECIALLY fine when you consider that she's a rude/close-minded/bigoted/racist JERK of a human being. And I would have said that even before today. Like I said, this event has been a long time coming.

I'm happy with the way things are going. Every single time I eliminate another hateful person from my life, it gets so much better!

Also, I'm planning on taking some much-needed advice I received from one of my favorite people - my girl, Wendi. She told me I needed to chill and stop stressing out over everything, and she's totally right, y'all. I'm ALWAYS worried about something or afraid something won't go well or whatever. I need to take a breath and just let whatever happens happen.

Did I mention that, every single time I add someone like her to my life, it gets even better than when I subtract the crazies? Shout out to you, Wendi - you're a wonderful friend and person in general. Girl, I hope you know I love you. Thanks for always helping a sister out!




Day 20 → Your views on drugs and alcohol.

I am pro-lowering the drinking age back down to 18. To be honest, I'm not sure where I stand completely on drugs. I'm pro-medicinal use, and undecided otherwise. If I ever decide to make up my mind, it'll be a while from now.

Day 19 Brings Yet Another Blog Post... Shocking, I Know!

Let's get the blog program out of the way, shall we?

Day 19 → What do you think of religion? Or what do you think of politics?

I believe in God and in all paths to God. I'm not really religious. I was raised a Christian, and every once in a while I enjoy going to visit a random church. I think my facebook section for religious views is a great description in the form of a quote: "I'm not religious, but I like God and he likes me." [Tony Kushner]

Politically, you can call me Liberal.



I feel like people expect more from me than other people my age - always have and always will. I know I'm different. Honestly, how could I not? People have been shoving it in my face for 18 years. I couldn't for the life of me tell you HOW I'm different - all I know is that people seem to think I am, and they end up expecting more of me and from me because of it.

Sometimes it's nice to know that people see me as competent, smart... whatever, but other times, it just sucks. I get pointed out in situations where I am [according to rules put in place FOR THIS VERY REASON] supposed to simply fit in and be one of the youth.

Even though it upsets me on occasion, I know good and well that I better get used to it. For the rest of my life, people will expect more from me. I want to become a columnist for the newspaper. I'm sacrificing every single one of my I-don't-feel-goods and my just-treat-me-like-everyone-elses for something I care about so much more than that - educating people about what's going on in the world around them.



In other news, I am SO excited to finally announce this piece of news on my blog: I'm the guest columnist in The Commercial Appeal tomorrow!!! Dream = coming true, y'all... really! I cannot wait to see it. :) GO BUY A FREAKIN' PAPER!!

Day 18 = My Favorite Blog Program Day So Far

Day 18 → Your views on gay marriage.

HAHA. I'm pretty sure anyone who really knows me could tell you my answer on this one! I am incredibly pro-gay marriage - to the point where I don't even understand why this is on the list. Everyone should be in favor of it. Seriously. The degrading of the minorities ish is EXTREMELY old. I could very easily make any type of argument in favor of it (moral, religious, philosophical, secular-based, etc). Test my mad skills sometime.



Today was decent. Not a TON of information to report.

I did laundry for the first time in the basement of the building. It's not a creepy as it sounds... promise! I made some new friends while I was there - go figure.

I hung out with one of my previously mentioned new friends tonight. Amy's really fun! We're thinking of having movie night on Fridays from now on. :)

This is going to be an exciting weekend! Stay tuned!

Lord, Give Me Strength: The Experience of Dating on Campus

There is not going to be a section in this blog post designated for my blogging program today. My mind is turning over and over like nobody's business. People say I don't talk about my dating life all that much, and really, it's true - I keep it private. But this just made too good of a story to keep to myself.

I recently started emailing back and forth with this guy who lives on campus in the building next door to mine. He seemed really nice and like he had it together, and I agreed to meet up with him - tomorrow night.

Earlier I got back to my room and checked my email only to find a reply from him asking if we could hang out around campus tonight instead because his anticipation was killing him and he really wanted to see me. I'm like - okay, some people might see this as being desperate, but I'll give dude a chance, maybe he's just anxious or whatever.

So we meet up at the newly agreed-upon time, and things get off to a great start. We walk around campus [the long way] talking and finally reach the UC. We go inside and sit down in the lounge area. At this point, he starts telling me all about his financial and family-related issues. Oh, and all of his ex-girlfriends.

I could deal with a little bit of it - college life is full of freedom that leads some people to rebel against their families, and, of course, it's a time when being completely broke is completely normal.

I think telling me about the intimate details of his brother's two divorces and his sister's relationship problems crosses that line. It gets to the point where it is repetitive and predictable. Apparently, his mother has also had back surgery recently that didn't go so well for her - the doctors didn't close up the incision properly, and in his mind, it is important that I know exactly how and why.

At some point during the middle of all of this, he says something that strikes me as being a little off in the numbers when it comes to his age (I'm a future journalist - I pick up on these things). He told me he was 23 - he confesses to being older, but he never gives me a specific number. He tells me - oh, it's no big deal, I'm around 31, 32, 33... something like that. I'm like - WTF, are you serious? why would you lie to me when you don't even know me?

I start to feel quite uncomfortable, but again, I'm being nice and trying to give him a break. Maybe he thought I wouldn't give him a chance if he told me how old he was - I don't know. But a lie is a lie, and I can't shake the thought of it being a pretty ridiculous one. Alas, we carry on.

He continues to talk about previous girlfriends incessantly, until the point at which he says - and I kid you not - that there is nothing to do where we are, and he wishes his roommate wasn't in their room so that he could take me up there and I could visit with him EXTRA cozily.

I suppose he sees the expression on my face, because he quickly laughs it off as a joke. Unfortunately, after a couple of minutes, he makes the same suggestion to me again. I ignore it and end up listening to him chatter on about his family drama, his low self-esteem, and how he wished he hadn't wasted his 20s rocking back and forth on his mother's spare bedroom floor like an amoeba.

By now, I'm pretty much done with the freaky ish, but I'm thirsty and he wants to buy me a drink - fine; it's not like I was getting anything productive done now tonight anyway.

We take our drinks outside where a giant beetle crawls on me. He laughs. I do not laugh. I do not like beetles - or most other bug-like things, especially when they are CRAWLING ON ME.

Somewhere in the midst of this beetle incident, his student ID falls out of his pocket, and I see that he has also lied about his name. um... NEXT!

Everything Seemed So Quiet Today [Day 17]

The hypocritical extremists did not return to campus today, and there wasn't a whole lot of noise around here - except for several thousand exasperated sighs of relief.

Classes are settling in, and I have learned something about myself: I take good notes. The problem is, my notes are a little ADHD, and they jump around here and there and here again. I'm going to spend some time this weekend getting a little more organized.

I'm still freezing in my room, and I've decided that I should set a few temperature-related goals: 1) Live through the bitter cold during the school year. 2) Sleep naked outside in the snow on a mountain in another hemisphere over summer break. In case y'all were wondering, goal 1 is a prerequisite for goal 2. But I'm pretty sure it could work the other way around, too.



Day 17 → A book you’ve read that changed your views on something.

I always knew our government was heavily-flawed, but after reading Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird in middle school, I guess I came to understand that lack of support for minority groups from elected officials has always been a problem and most likely always will be. The only difference is, it's a different minority group each time.