Who's University? Our University!

I hate talking about money. Money is an awkward topic. Nothing good ever comes out of a conversation about money.

But the 32% increase in undergraduate tuition fees is just plain ridiculous.

I know my parents aren't going to happy about it, especially since they have two kids going to universities in the UC system. Financial aid only goes so far, especially when you are "middle class."

But that's not really what bugs me. I know we'd have to be a lot more frugal, but we'll probably pull through okay.

What bugs me is how it would affect the student population.
The students I respect the most aren't the people who are getting straight A's, in a bunch of student orgs, doing a bunch of research, and/or interning at a different company every summer.
The students I have the most respect for are those who went to shitty high school, who are working to put themselves through school, who were never expected to go to college but ended up in the same place as well, me, who was expected to go to a university like UC Berkeley since I was in the womb.
And I think these students deserve to go to a place like UC Berkeley or UCLA the most. I mean, I worked my ass off in high school to get here, but I was expected to. I was nurtured into it. I have friends whose families didn't even want them to go to college. They were the ones who took the initiative to pursue higher education. They applied, they got in, and they feel/are responsible for paying for it because their family can't or don't want to. I mean, fuck, my parents are happy to pay for my education. Well, not happy per say, but it's like an intrinsic fact of life to them. Raise healthy kids, infuse them with ideas of being a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or business person, make sure they are doing well in school, put them through college, and drop subtle hints that they should buy them a yacht.

You could argue that the fee increases isn't going to affect the student population because this just means more financial aid for those who need it. But think of it this way: If an admissions officer is trying to decide between a well off high school senior who can afford to pay all of the tuition sans financial aid and a student who is of a lower socioeconomic status who needs the aid, all other qualifications (grades, SAT scores, etc.) being about equal, who's it going to be? Oh and take into consideration that the economy is in a shitty state and we are undergoing budget cuts and financial crises as it is. It's really not rocket science which one will get the pretty big envelope.

Fuck. We are suppose to be a public university. This means that we are suppose to be financially accessible to those who worked to be here, who wants to be here, who deserves to be here.

Ugh. Just thinking about it makes my blood boil.

I hate talking about money.

EDIT:
There was a sit-in in the Wheeler building.
Some students ran around pulling fire alarms so the students who attended class had to file out and stand in the rain.

I am not sure where the line was exactly, but pulling the fire alarms definitely crossed it. In fact, I'm pretty sure pulling a fire alarm when there isn't an actual fire is illegal. Yeah. Il-le-gal.

I know you're angry. So am I. But the 32% increase in tuition fees already passed. Keeping students from going to class isn't going to change that. Breaking laws isn't going to change that. If it was for the media coverage, then congratulations you got it. And you look like fuckin' juvenile delinquents on TVs across America.

Jesus.

November

Wow. November sucks.
And I don't even mean just for me. I'm pretty sure it sucks for everyone. This November is just plain sucky.
I don't want to go outside in fear of happening upon more misfortunes. I just want to hide under my covers until November ends.
Well, that and it got really cold.

One of the kids at a clinic I volunteer at was writing in her journal. She's seven and a half. She would ask me to spell out every other word she wanted to write. She wrote, "A person called me a," then paused and asked me if I knew what the "b word" was. I half-smiled, faked innocence, and asked her what the b-word was. She proceeded to spell it out in a whisper. Each letter in the right place. B-I-T-C-H.

She wrote it down, then crossed it out because she knew it was a bad word. She turned it into a star. I suggested that now it says, "A person called me a star." The rest of what she wrote went off of that.

At age seven, I was calling my enemies "sunny bozos." And that is hardly even an insult.

Music Therapy

I love it when I have something on my mind, then this song comes on my ipod that addresses the situation perfectly. It's like the ipod is saying, "I'm feelin' you gurlfriiiend."

Thanks ipod. For all the grief you've caused me due to technical difficulties, at least you know how to make me feel better.

Homesickness

Goddammit.
I wanna go home.