RAW Showcase: You KNOW That's My Sister!

To See Paty's Profile, Click here!

My sister Paty is an exceptionally talented artist. There's all kinds of creativity out there - I'm creative with some graphic arts and in the area of writing. Ever since I can remember, Paty's been really good at working with her hands and creating things. She can paint and draw and all that artistic jazz (so can my older brother, Brad), which is something I wouldn't say is my necessarily my creative strong point. But what Paty absolutely excels at is juxtaposing her talents with art into her love and gift for hair.

Paty is a hair stylist and does all sorts of cutting-edge, out-there hair styles. She does "normal" cuts too,  but she is one of the best stylists I know of when it comes to listening to the customer and actually helping them find a style that they both love and is also flattering on them. 

Anyway, I am proud, proud, PROUD to announce that she is being featured in the RAW Showcase in Omaha, NE this coming May!

To Purchase Tickets to the Show and Support Paty, CLICK HERE and Buy a Ticket for This Artist!

What is RAW?

- RAW: Natural Born Artists is an independent arts organization, for artists, by artists

- A community made up of creative individuals across the nation

- Mission is to provide independent artists within the first 10 years of their career with tools, resources and exposure needed to inspire and cultivate creativity

- Welcoming of all genres of art including independent film, fashion, music, visual art, performing art, hairstylists, makeup artists and more

- Encourages the creative success of the many visionaries and storytellers of our generation

- RAW currently operates in 54 cities across the US and Australia and counting...

To read more about RAW click here!

To go to the RAW website, click here!

**A Taste of Paty**

It's Called 'Dead Week' Because You Have to Do So Much It Will Literally Kill You

Meghan + Hannah = *Best Friends!

**The term 'Friendship' is dependent on a clause that says said relationship is conditional on the assumption that said 'best friend' supplies a constant stream of coffee to other said 'best friend'

It's dead week, here at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, everyone! Anyone who knows me and tries to hang out with me even before this week knows how busy I always seem to be so I never actually get to see them (including my boyfriend, which makes me sad :( and excluding my best friend, Meghan, but that's only because she buys my friendship with coffee).

Dead and finals week are crazy. I've got a huge research project and paper due on Thursday that I'm still researching (oops). I have a lot of work to do in the next week for my classes but it's weird because of how calm I feel (granted, as deadlines close in a little more that could change).

There's a couple reasons for this calm:
1. God has been showing me that my worth really isn't based on grades and performance.
2. He has also shown me that I am a smart and capable woman. Sometimes I get the inclination that I'm not actually smart and haven't learned anything in college which is not at all true. God has given me a unique set of intelligence and thoughts and also the voice to speak up about them, which is pretty cool when you get to tie in your passions with things like schoolwork!
3. I have an excellent title for my research project:

 "Where Have All the Sugar Hookers Gone?: An Analysis of sugarhooker.com and the Failure of Cyberutopian Feminism"

4.  Meghan. We have a studying system down this week where we get up early, study all day, drink a lot of coffee, and play Mario when we need a break. It's working pretty well - for some reason, mutual suffering = peace during dead week. :)

Good luck with the next two weeks, every student every where!!

Don't forget that your value is not based on your grades and your performance. You happen to be worth so much more than any of that. :)

The Batman of Lincoln

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been in the market for a house for my final school year. Well, I'm excited to announce - WE HAVE A HOUSE! But better than that, we have the best house-hunting story ever.

My good friend (and soon to be ROOMMATE :D) Sasha and I did pretty much all of our house-hunting via Craigslist. After several dead ends and lot of un-answered emails, we finally found one that sounded pretty great. I mean, a nice house and only $250/each per month, counting utilities (I know, we were pretty excited, too) sounded almost too good to be true. According to the owner, he had recently moved to Hawaii and just wanted someone to be living in his house. We could handle that. The first sketchiness occurred when this guy - Mr. H** - wanted us to wire him the security deposit ($500) and then give us the keys to check-out the house.

**name semi-disguised to protect the man who isn't actually innocent, but mostly because I don't know how he spelled it.

Sasha, bless her heart, called him and the two got in a fight after she said we weren't comfortable, nor were her parents, with sending $500 just to look at a house. Sketchiness number two happened when Mr. H told Sasha - "Just don't tell your parents." Well, he backtracked and agreed to have someone meet us and show the house. Thinking the best of people, we agreed and made an appointment for Sasha, myself and our potential third roommate to view the house. On the way, the potential roomie discovered - "Oh, hey guys, the police records say there was an assault in that house in March." Well, that seemed also a little bit sketchy to us. Being sneaky, we were getting to the house an hour early to interrogate the neighbors (no, that isn't creepy, it's smart, everyone) slash meet my boyfriend (who is awesome and THANK YOU for being wonderful and meeting us there :) ).

The first neighbor we visit informs us he thinks we are being scammed (which at this point, we were beginning to expect), that the house had been rented for two weeks, the owner was a woman, and that two other girls had come by the night before with the same story. Well, never let it be said that Sasha and I let anyone try and pull that nonsense with us - so we had and hour and were like - "Let's call the cops!"

We call the police and a cop shows up to help us out (at this point we are having a lot of fun being sneaky and stuff). Fifteen minutes before we are supposed to meet our house-shower we call Mr. H and ask for a phone number/contact name because we are 'just leaving the house and will be there soon!' Unfortunately for us and conveniently for Mr. H, 'Mr. Mark's' cell-phone was recently broken down but he was already waiting for us at the house for us. Clearly, Mr. H, because we are SITTING IN YOUR DRIVEWAY AND NO ONE IS HERE.

We wait 15 minutes more while the police officer gets information from the neighbors and finds the real landowner and other police business stuff. Not surprisingly  no one has shown up. We call Mr. H back - at this point, Sasha has him on speaker and all of us including the officer are crowded around while Sasha plays dumb. "Mr. H, Mr. Mark isn't here! So, I think we are just going to look elsewhere."

Mr. H: "Well, uh, what are you doing tomorrow morning at 10:30?"

Sasha: "But, Mr. H, aren't you in Hawaii??"

Mr. H: "Well, yes, but, I'll fly down and show you."

Sasha (making direct eye contact with the police officer): "Mr. H, are you saying you're going to fly from Hawaii to Lincoln just to show us this house at 10:30 tomorrow morning?"

At this point, probably the coolest thing ever happens. The officer takes the phone and says-

"Hello Mr. H or whoever you are, this is Officer Dolberg from the Lincoln police department. I just want you to know that we have your information and are hunting you down and you will be arrested for fraud."

Mr. H tries to argue a little bit, but Officer Dolberg keeps talking.

"Sir, you need to stop bringing your scams to my town. This is my town and my people and we don't want of your scams here."

Ohhhhh my gosh, all three of us ladies developed little super-hero complexes I'm pretty sure. Like when you're a little kid you want to grow up and be a fireman or police officer or whatever- THIS IS WHY.

Anyway, I may or may not have referred to him as the 'Batman of Lincoln.' Needless to say,  I don't remember saying that while he could hear me.

Can I just say that our faith in humanity was completely restored and we raved about the officer all the way home. What with the Boston bombings this past week there is a lot of really sad, awful stuff in the news. I want to recognize that there are still good people doing great things all the time, even when it seems like there is only evil and tragedy happening.

This is an email Sasha received from THE coolest police officer ever.

Sasha,

 I'm glad to hear that you two have found a great new place with an actual

property owner!  I again cannot express how thankful I am for the kind words,

and now the awesome thank you card that I just received in my mailbox today.

Its amazing people like you that reassure me that I chose the right career

path.  It doesn't come too often, but when it does, it really makes me proud

to serve this community.  You definitely made it easy for me, and seem like

an amazing person yourself.  I'm sure the students that will be lucky to have

you teaching them in the years to come will be thankful as well!  Please

don't hesitate to get a hold of me for anything you may need.  I'm not sure

which part of town you two are moving to, but I'd be glad to help you out

with any issues that may arise in the future.

Sincerely,

OFC Tim Dolberg 

AKA Batman ;)

So in the middle of this dark week, I hope this story brought a little smile and some sunshine to your week and reminds you that there is always going to be good despite the bad.

P.S. He signs his emails (embarrassing, I didn't know he heard that) -

A.K.A The Batman of Lincoln :)

55 mph Will Eventually Get You Somewhere

Ah, yes. The friendship zone. That tragic occurence that happens when one person is interested in being "more-than-friends" with someone and the interest puts them in the "just friends" category.

Typical interpretations of what being put in the "friend zone" signifies:

1. The person obviously has no romantic interest in you
2. The person probably doesn't even want to be friends with you
3. If #2 is incorrect, it's probably only because they are trying to be nice to you because they feel bad about #1
4. Friend zone = rejection

Sometimes I like to humor myself by telling my ego that I have "original thoughts and ideas," sometimes I get fancy and use big kid words like "concepts" instead of "ideas" and have "orginal thoughts and concepts." Anyway, my "original thought" on this matter was this:

I propose that the "friend zone" is similar to a "construction zone."

The likelihood of everyone who has ever driven at all and running into construction at some point is pretty high. Assuming everyone is like me, we all hate construction. I already have some serious road rage and when you throw in a reduced speed limit (55, are you kidding me?!), lots of orange cones and flashing lights, and then tell me on top of that:

I get so angry. And impatient. Before long I'm just spitting rage - "Why is this construction taking so long? I JUST WANT TO GET WHERE I'M GOING NOW."

If you can't see the analogy coming at this point, I don't know how to help you. Through my "original thinking" I started thinking that a "friend zone" is just a place between two points:

At this point, it's time to get a little more abstract with the thougthts. Literally any type of zone can go in the middle place, and literally anything could be the point before the zone and the point following it. It doesn't have to be a relationship it could be the transition from high school to college, from college to a job, or a move across the country, whatever. The facts are you are going to start somewhere and eventually change (I prefer the word 'transition' because it sounds less painful) is going to happen for awhile, then you will adapt and grow out of that transition/zone/whatever you prefer to call it and you will be at the next point. Whether it's in a relationship where you start out liking someone, get "friend zoned" and then your final point is eventually it works out between you or the two of you eventually move on with your lives.

HOW I FEEL ABOUT CHANGE

In order for something better to happen (let's be honest, even though we hate construction, we hate crappy roads MORE.) and for personal growth and change in general to happen, there will always be these "construction zones." Who says that "construction zones" are a bad thing? I personally think that growth is a good thing and the facts are that every time you go through some "zone" in your life, you are growing. True growth takes times - plants don't grow overnight, wounds don't heal in five minutes, relationships are created in the span of one conversation, etc.

This stuff has been on my mind more and more as the days towards the end of the semester a.k.a. I get kicked out of the dorm draw ever closer. I'm good at a lot of things but I wouldn't really say that "change" is one of them. I've decided this is because I like to have control and a plan for everything. I don't consider myself a huge fan of most surprises because it means I don't have control over something that affects me.

At this point you might be asking - "What are you doing after you get kicked out of the dorm?

That is an excellent question! At this point I have literally no plans at all. This is me right now:

Did I mention I bought an IPhone yesterday? So that's new.

I currently have no house or alternate place of residence, no job plans, no life in general plans from the point of my exit into Summer. And yes it is driving me crazy having the rest of my life (Over-dramatic? Yes.) being one giant un-known. BUT. I'm in a "transition zone." I'm trusting that God is continuing to work on the "road" of my life and isn't going to leave me stranded in the middle of nowhere forever. Working through this transition of having to relinquish control and trust God to be my only roadside assistance is a period of growing for me.

For those of you who read this and went - "Oh my gosh, I'm totally in one of those "zones" right now!" Congratulations!  That means you aren't living a static life and change is on it's way. Embrace the feelings of terror, excitement, or the combination of the two - nervous energy - and hang in there because all zones come to an end sometime.

Some just take a little longer than others.

RE: UNL Crushes

Image courtesy of Kaylee Kristen Mercedes Reimers

For those regulars out there who don't attend UNL, you probably have no clue what UNL Crushes is. In a nutshell, it is a facebook group that popped up on 3/28/13 and is run by an anonymous administrator. Anyone is invited to send the admin a message on facebook detailing a person they have a "crush" on and it is then posted onto the page for the world to view.

Now, when I discovered the page I thought it was pretty amusing and predicted the pages demise from popularity within the week. However, the page has become wildly popular overnight - with constant updates every couple minutes, it caters to our young cultures thirst for the constant and instant gratification of knowing intimate details about lots of people. Especially when those details are about people that they personally know.

The posts range from cute little confessions of interest to far more sexually graphic ones and are all deemed "acceptable" by the administrator to post these "crushes" from anonymous facebook users.

There are some questions that come up:

1. What qualifies as "acceptable" for the admin. to post? Censorship has been discussed as sexually graphic posts (considered by some to be objectifying) and the admin. has stated that:

While I agree that a good amount of the posts are fairly graphic and sexual in nature, there are no rules (as of yet) as to what is acceptable and what isn't for posting.

2. This leads to another question of intention and interpretation. What one person submits that may seem flattering to them (intention) may come across to the "crush" in an entirely different way (interpretation). What one may consider harmless, cute and flirty could come across very offensive, degrading and objectifying to the receiving party.

Disclaimer: I do think that viewers have the power to a) not submit crushes at all as well as b) not looking at the page to avoid the possibility of discomfort. However, most people who have wound up on UNL Crushes are informed about it whether they see the actual post or not.

3. The admin. is anonymous. While students are curious as to the gender of the administrator, I think there are some areas of concern that should be addressed. The person running UNL Crushes is receiving some pretty personal details and all the messages they receive DO have names, even though to everyone else viewing the page they are anonymous people. There was one woman in specific who gave very descriptive details of herself (exact time/location she would be, as well as what she was wearing) in the name of looking for someone she wanted to meet via UNL Crushes. Does anyone else see a potential safety hazard with one person receiving that kind of specific information? While I think the admin. is probably a student just having some fun, because they have anonymity they do hold some kind of power and information that could be used in a harmful way. Being anonymous also gives the admin. the ability to facilitate what is and is not deemed appropriate for the content available for viewing.


At this point, you might be asking a question of your own: WHY are you blogging about this? 

The answer is: I was on UNL Crushes. I was "Crushed," if you will. I'm currently taking a class about sexuality and the internet and one of the days we had a discussion similar to this - who has power, who gets to decide what's right/wrong, appropriate/not appropriate, and who should address these concerns when they come up. 

What I said was - if you feel something is right or wrong, it isn't so much up to the administrator to  "fix it." I think that if I have a problem with something going on in the world or on a facebook page, it isn't so much the responsibility of facebook to be an all-monitoring moderator. After all, facebook is run by humans and who says they get to be the determinant factor for "right/wrong" anyway?  So here is what I am doing: I am raising awareness. I can't tell people what is okay and not okay to post - for a lot of people, we have different perceptions and life experiences that shape those views for us. What I can do is give people ideas to take into consideration (see 1,2, and 3) in relation to their own lives and how they are affected and can affect others.

So - in RE: UNL Crushes

Dear Mr. Funny:

I thank you for your flattery, although I would have much appreciated you simply telling me that without facebook. The compliments I've received that are the most meaningful are ones that are genuine. How do I know they were genuine? They were important and meaningful enough for people to look me in the eye and tell me face-to-face. I think facebook and a lot of the internet has made it too easy to use words and because of that, a lot of words have lost their meaning. My guess is you are a great and wonderful guy, and because of that, I hope that when the next amazing girl who tugs at your heartstrings comes along, you remember this (if you see it) and tell her straight up - "You have a wonderful smile, you make me laugh, I think you are beautiful, I admire _________ about you" - whatever it is. Regardless of whether you have a shot with her or not - being genuine never goes out of style.

Sincerely,

Miss Hannah Crabtree