A Conversation with a Book

This week Utah State has been having an event called the Human Library. 

Yep. Humans. In a library. 

And they give us permission to check them out....

Not like that! Stay focused.

The Human Library is collection of individuals who have unusual life experiences. When you walk into the Human Library (which is inside the actual library) and they have a collection of "titles" and "book descriptions". They had everything from secret society members to "Mormon turned Pagan". 

Yep.

Welcome to Utah. (There's also a Post-Mormonism club on campus, I didn't even know that was a thing!)

Anyway, I checked out the "Lifelong Learner" and took my "book" to a table to talk. 

They gave me a sticker. :) 

My book has earned multiple degrees (both undergraduate and graduate; she has her PhD!) and has worked as an academic advisor. I was expecting to have a nice conversation about college and learning and yada yada...

I. Was. Wrong.

It was honestly one of the coolest conversations of my life. My book has gone through so many things and experienced so much!

She got a bachelors in one thing.

Got a graduate degree in something else. 

And hated her career.

So she decided to do what she loves (and took a significant pay cut) and now advises students.

And is getting another undergrad.

And did I mention that the reason she kept going to school was to get a little freedom from her then husband.

And she had cancer. And kept working while she had cancer.

This book was fantastic. 

She told me to always keep learning, that it had kept her sane and had kept her sharp. She told me that it never hurts to have a career that pays for your learning habit (engineering anyone??).

And she gave me some advice:

That when people are dying they regret two things: not spending enough time with the people they love and not taking enough risks.

And she said that at the end of your life you will regret the books you didn't read, but don't let it be because you didn't read, let it be because you just ran out of time.

Isn't that just the coolest thing you've ever heard?! 

I loved the Human Library.

On a related side note, here's my Education Mission Statement that I had to write for a class: 

I will learn

From teachers and students

I will have an open mind

And I will change it often

I will be prepared to learn outside of the classroom

Especially from those who I think have nothing to teach

I will think critically with my mind

But never forget to involve my heart

And at the end of my life

I will regret the books I didn’t read

But not for a lack of reading

Keep a weather eye on the horizon,

-McKenna 

Mother of Pearl: Dorm Edition

Now, don't get me wrong, I love living on campus (mostly because I only have to wake up 15 minutes before class) but there are definitely some drawbacks. Here is a list of MoP Moments I've had so far:

1. NO AC! 

You see that fan in my window? Yeah, that's the only reason I was able to sleep at all for the majority of my first month up here. My dorm has no air conditioning, I'm on the third floor, and it averaged around 90 degrees for the first little bit. It. Was. Terrible. Luckily, it's starting to cool off so it's not that bad anymore (give it about a month and a half and I'm sure I'll be complaining about it being too cold).

2. Fire alarms.
Why is this a MoP Moment you ask? Well, we had three of these the first three days I was here. (The first time it went off it was the RA's room; talk about irony.) The smoke detectors are horribly sensitive, you HAVE to shut the kitchen door when you're cooking or you will most likely set them off. And when that happens the whole building is evacuated, and campus police shows up, and it's really quite a pain. It's so bad that there is a poster about 'How NOT to set off the fire alarm' on the first floor of my building. 

 3. Bunkbeds.
This is not the first time I've had a bunkbed. However, the last time was when I was 13 and it was a good foot wider than the one I have now. The width is not really the problem (I don't move too much in my sleep; I sleep like the dead. My roommate is sometimes concerned by my lack of signs of life while sleeping.). Here are the problems: the sheet never stays on since the mattress is made out of some kind of plastic (which is a problem in and of itself!), it's kind of difficult to get up and down (yes, I've slipped; and yes, it bruised my ankle), and sometimes I just want to sit on my bed without putting in the effort required to get up there. I miss my old bed.

4. Flooding Toilet

Oh yes. This happened. One evening I was walking down the hall when I noticed that my socks were wet. From the water that had flooded out of the bathroom and into the hallway. Our toilet was leaking and the floor was just perfectly sloped to send all that water into our hall. Fortunately, it was just a loose attachment and the water was clean, but still. No one likes to see their hallway flooding, especially when that someone is at the dorm alone because the rest of her roommates have actual lives. So I set up a bowl to catch the water until campus maintenance could come fix it (which they did very quickly).

This my friends is life on campus. It is crazy, distressing, sleep-deprived, and often hilarious. And always Mother of Pearl inducing. I'll keep you posted. 

A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down.

-McKenna 

Hey Look I Can Cook!

I've been up here at college for about a month and I'm finally cooking things other than ramen noodles (although I actually do love ramen noodles and ate them all the time at home!). 

So yesterday I made ceviche (or rather my own simplified version), and I guess it technically doesn't count as cooking since I didn't actually use any heat. 

So I guess the title of this should be 'Hey Look I Can Chop!'

...and stir? Add salt? Make edibles?? 

That's it. 'Hey Look I Make Edibles!'. 

Anywho, I took lots of pictures so I can explain this really simple process.

First I chopped jalepenos, onions, and tomatoes (it's basically pico de gallo at this point). I don't have a food processor or it would have been a much quicker process. As it was, my adorable purple knife got a lot of use (1000-bonus-points-and-the-points-don't-matter if you can spot it!). 

Then I chopped and added avocados (because who doesn't love avocados?!)

Then I juiced a lime (and another half a lime because I love limes, but do whatever makes you happy) and added some finely chopped garlic (garlic makes EVERYTHING better, except perhaps cake).

Now for the fun part. I bought some frozen shrimp that were deveined and cooked already, and thawed them out.

And chopped them up too (hence the revised title) and added them to the bowl.

Then I stirred...it's a complicated step so if you struggle here don't feel bad. It takes practice. 

And an innate, inborn, unteachable talent. And great hair. 

So no worries. If you don't get it you probably never will. 

Add chopped cilantro and salt to taste and you're done!

It's better than noodles anyhow. And pretty great in tacos. And straight out of the bowl...

No judging.

Jealous? You should be.

Whistle while you work.

-McKenna

P.S. That's kind of impossible for me because I can't whistle...

A Plethora of Pinterest-Inspired Projects

I, McKenna Wilson am addicted to Pinterest. 

There. I said it. I'm addicted.

(That's the first step, right?)

I really am. I pin everything.

But I feel like it's a justifiable addiction. It actually accomplishes something! I mean, I have my whole wedding planned already... Okay maybe it doesn't "accomplish" anything, but it does give me a lot of ideas. 

Which I have been putting to use in the dorm.

A lot.

It's just so sad and plain here. It needed help. 

So:

All my roommates and I "painted" our living room.

(Sorry Logan Home Depots. It was for a good cause!)

And I put up curtains around my bed.

It is harder to get out of bed now, though. It's just so cozy!!!

And I made "candle" holders. (We can't have actual candles in the dorm, so I put little electric tea lights in them.)

And I decorated a bunch of my books! 

They make me happy. 

I got all the supplies at Hobby Lobby. I love Hobby Lobby. It's a place of wonders...I'm not allowed to go there very often though. Like, maybe once every six months.

It's that bad...

...

No, seriously.

But all these projects made it soo much more livable in here. I'll keep you posted on what comes next. Any ideas?? 

Paint with all the colors of the wind, 

-McKenna

P.S. Look at the flowers I got today!!

Pretty adorable, huh? :) 

Thoughts of a Teenage Girl

So, I don't know if you've come across either of these blog posts in your social media wanderings. I came across and read both after my Facebook friends posted them. If you haven't read them, here are the links if you’d like to.

FYI (if you're a teenage girl)

Dear Mrs. Hall, Regarding Your "FYI (if you're a teenage girl)"...

I started with the one addressed to me. I am a teenage girl, so Mrs. Hall's letter struck a chord with me. I thought she brought up some excellent points, and most importantly I thought she expressed her love for her children AND the teenage girls in her boys' lives. I wasn't bothered by any of it.

And then I read the second one. The blogger, Beth, was sincerely bothered by Mrs. Hall's post. Like Mrs. Hall, I thought she brought up some good points, and her love for her children was extremely evident. 

But I thought she missed the point. 

I know I don't have children, and I'm not a mother, and maybe I don't understand. But I am a teenage girl with best friends who are teenage girls and teenage boys. Plus, I have grown up in the social media age. So I'd like to share some thoughts I had after reading these posts and others about this topic:

1. Second Chances on Social Media

Something that came up in both Mrs. Hall's and Beth's posts were second chances. Mrs. Hall stated, "And so, in our house, there are no second chances with pics like that, ladies. We have a zero tolerance policy." Which was a point Beth strongly disagreed with, her letter to her daughter stated "And you, baby girl, have infinite chances for grace and redemption and relationship and community and wholeness and LOVE." Now, I don't delete my friends who post things that could be deemed inappropriate, but I would also say there will be no second chances with social media. NONE. If you post an inappropriate or compromising picture- even once, even if you take it down- it will never go away. That is the nature of the internet, once its there it will always be there; when you apply for a job, when you're running for office, and when you wish people to think of you as anything but that. So, in reply to both Mrs. Hall and Beth, I say, we have infinite chances through the Atonement to repent and change our lives, but we only have one chance on the Internet. One. Because even if we change, the pictures will not.

2. Do girls control boys’ thoughts?

This was another point brought up by both bloggers. Mrs. Hall warned, “Did you know that once a male sees you in a state of undress, he can’t quickly un-see it?  You don’t want our boys to only think of you in this sexual way, do you?” Beth argued, “Although men certainly retain memories of seeing exciting things – “like I’ll never forget seeing my first Ferarri!” he said – it’s demeaning to men of any age to presume they can only see a woman as a sexual object once they’ve seen her in a state of undress, and 2) This shifts an unreasonable burden of responsibility to young women for ensuring men don’t view them sexually.” I agree. With both of them. As women, we are not responsible for the thoughts of the men and boys in our lives. That is their responsibility. However, the way we dress advertises something, even if it is unconsciously done, and we are responsible for what we advertise. You can’t be offended when people assume that you are selling the same thing you are advertising. And so you can’t blame men for thinking of women in a sexual way when women are dressed sexily. That’s what the adjective means! Continuing on, once a man has seen a woman in “a state of undress” he can think of her as something other than that, but it will take time. And it will be difficult. And there will always be those boys who don’t care to make the effort.

3. "Slut-shaming"

Please understand that I hate the s-word written above. It is NOT used in my vocabulary and won't be used again in this post. But, I also hate the fact that this term is thrown out as soon as someone mentions that a girl's actions might be inappropriate. I first came across this term shortly after Miley Cyrus's performance at the VMAs. (Which I haven't seen.) I agree that we shouldn't judge or condemn others for their actions, but I think we can judge the action itself. This is an important distinction. We can love the person, but hate the choice/action. I think too many people overlook this difference, and by so doing perpetuate a society in which overt sexuality is the norm; and that's not okay!

To whoever may be reading this:

Women & Girls, please be classy and modest. That doesn’t mean frumpy or unfashionable or even covered up, necessarily. It means dress/post/act in a way you would be proud to have your parents/friends/employer/husband/entire world see. Realize that you are more than a sexual object, and you are of more worth than a couple “likes” that come from a picture of you in a towel. Act like it. Don’t cave to the overt sexuality in our society. Be different. Be great.

Men & Boys, please remember that women are of infinite and eternal worth no matter how they act, what they wear, or what they say or post. Please treat them this way, and encourage those around you to do so. When your buddies start talking about a girl in a degrading way, imagine they’re talking about your sister/cousin/niece/mother/best girl friend. Would you still be okay with it? As a girl, I hope that boys don’t talk about me that way, and I think you’d be surprised by how many girls agree with me.

Parents, raise daughters and sons who value themselves and the opposite sex as more than objects. Raise them to be respectful. And always remind them of how much you love them. That alone can make a world of difference.

Well, if you made it this far, thanks for reading my rant. Maybe you got something out of it, maybe you didn’t. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading!

Faith, trust, and pixie dust

-McKenna

A tale of a long weekend...

Done with class. 10:30am. Friday.

Yawn. Read. Read in bed. Nap...

Wake up... Hulu!

Dinner. 

Football game...

Stay up late...sleep in late. Sleep. 

Bus system. Weird place. Shopping. Sweaters. :) 

Walmart. Groceries. Sigh. 

Bus again. I do not like this thing. Back to apartment. 

Finally.

Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.

Sunday. One o'clock church.

Not fun. 

Walking to church.

Less fun.

Church.

Fun. 

Dinner! Happy belly.

Get ambitious. Mission prep challenge. Day 1.

Stay up too late. Again. Sleep. Wake up. 

Hulu...running out of shows!!! 

Laundry. Sigh. 

Homework. Read. 

And read. 

Read some more.

Done.

Reward! (Or is it therapy...?)

Pinterest. 

I have a problem. Must. Cut. Back. 

Bored. Mother of Pearl.

Ah-ha! 

Blog. Ahhh...


Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning!

-McKenna