Submission, Self-Sufficiency and Independence. . . Where to start?!

I've recently found myself with extra time for reading, and feeling drawn to works by Elisabeth Elliot. Most specifically I am reading Let Me Be A Woman which is a collection of 49 letters that Elliot wrote to her daughter when she was engaged and preparing to marry. I had no idea that's what it was about when I purchased the book. I just saw it on Amazon.com and said that's the one! I haven't been able to put it down since I started reading it, and it really has me thinking.

The concept of submission within scripture is one that I have openly had issues with. As a woman I just cannot wrap my mind around it. I am sure that has something to do with the lack of relationships where I have had to practice it, but I can't even imagine how that begins to take shape, or what it means.

In my mind I think of Mary Winkler in Tennessee. She was arrested my senior year of college for murdering her husband. She didn't contest that she murdered him, but stated that she snapped from years of being "submissive" to her husband and sacrificing who she was to please him. The details of the case are up for debate, but I can see the defeat and the lack of self-confidence in her eyes. (maybe that's just my empathy strength getting the best of me)

If that is what submission to my husband is supposed to look like, I think I'll keep my single life. I can manage my own finances, take care of my car, fix the basics around my house. Until recently I never even thought twice about going to Wal-Mart or the grocery story by myself in the middle of the night.

I'm self-sufficient and independent. I kinda like it that way.

But then I picture my parents and am sure that they are an excellent example of what Biblical marriage is supposed to look like. My mother (who may still read this, I'm not sure) did not marry my dad until she was 30 years old and had been a single mother for five years at that point. Much to my grandmother's chagrin, my mom stepped back and let my dad provide for her and their family. She certainly was capable of taking care of things by herself. But yet, my mom trusts completely in my dad. While he is not the sole decision maker, everything goes through him. My father adores my mother (the only time I've seen him truly angry is when someone has hurt my mom). My mom's submission to my dad is not her saying he's better than her, but rather, her accepting that he has a role, and she has a role. It works so well. I believe that's the way it's supposed to be.

My question is, where does the woman that is self-sufficient, and independent fit in that picture? The picture of womanhood that is painted by our society is extremely confusing and contradictory. Elliot and others paint a picture of a woman who is only truly fulfilled in a marriage where she is submissive to her husband. I have yet to find a definition of submission and what that means. Reading her writing though, it seems to be indescribable and appealing. My faith tells me this is the way to go.

However, I am a child of my generation. Myself and the rest of my peers were raised by parents who saw, lived and experienced the 60s and the feminist revolution. While my parents are in no way feminists, they did raise me to take care of myself. I am independent because they made me that way, for the most part and also partially because, as my mom told me this weekend, I've been 30 since I was 3.

My colleagues here at seem to be of two types of women. The first are those who do not ever want to get married or have a family. They only want companionship because they do not want to die and no one notice. The second type are those who seem to think they can truly have it all. They are the ones who want to be the most recognized in our field, and be outstanding soccer moms at the same time. I'm not sure I fit in either place.

I long to some day be married and have a family. I know I have not yet been called to that, but believe that some day I will be (and pray that it will come). While I also feel called to my profession, in the scope of life I care more about being a good wife and mother than I care about being an outstanding professional. My calling to this field is for this season, and I cannot promise how long that season will last. Many of my colleagues would tell me that I am foolish, and cannot understand that perhaps being a wife and mother is a calling. But then, the concept of calling is often beyond them as well.

My answer is that there must be a middle road. More so, I long to learn what this idea of submission looks like in reality. I heard a sermon this summer about submission (there seems to be a trend), and it was one of the best that I've heard. He talked about the single woman's call to be submissive to Christ. That it is preparation ground for marriage, but not that the husband becomes Christ. Rather, that each man and woman, when truly living their God given roles, draw each other closer to Christ through that relationship.

I really believe that in this season of my life, God is teaching me about what it means to be submissive to Him. I do not believe that lesson is one that is left solely to women to learn. It's just the one that is meant for me right now. I think it's a fitting lesson for me to be learning as I begin taking steps towards the next season of life (a real job!). Submitting to God's will and call in my life, and trusting that it all works for good is a timely lesson to learn and depend on.

I'm finally taking my car into the shop tomorrow to get the cigarette lighter fixed (it's only been broken since January). I'm also getting an estimate of how much it would cost to install a tow hitch to it for moving. . .

Yikes. . . anyone?!

This picture is of my friends Sarah and Tiff (L-R) and myself at the Baylor v. Texas State Game this past weekend. I drove up to Waco Saturday afternoon to go to the game and visit with some of my dear Baylor friends. I attended the game with the Baylor student services grad students (Baylor's equivalent to my grad program). After Baylor defeated Texas State (not by much, they are going to have to step it up if they want to beat A&M on the 29th), a few of us headed to Chili's for an after game celebration. Sunday I went to church with two of my BaylorBound leaders and then met the rest at my favorite Waco restaurant- The Clay Pot. Lunch and fellowship was GLORIOUS. It was so good to see them all!

I also surprisingly ran into my friend Becky at the Baylor game Saturday. Becky is an Alumna of Baylor, but just graduated (May 07) from my grad program here at A&M. She also did her summer internship at Belmont with our mutual friend Matt. So, needless to say, Becky kept me sane last year and it was such a blessing to run into her. She and I got together for coffee on Sunday afternoon and it was so nice to catch up and hear about her life. Plus get her take on my current one. She's such a great friend.

Saturday before heading up to Waco, I had a "lunch date" with one of my old RAs. It was really nice to see her and hear how her summer went and talk about mine. I should be seeing more of this year, as she's involved with the SisterSHINE program that I'm going to be a spiritual mom for.

Since coming back I've been in a funk. I did not get as much school or work related things finished before I left as I had hoped and now I'm feeling pretty far behind. In reality, I'm not behind at all. I'm still ahead of where I would have been last year, but I've gotten used to doing school work in advance. So tonight I spent a while at a coffee shop catching up on things. Tomorrow I will be doing the same thing. I will probably be there from after class on. I want to get everything for this week finished, and get started on next week so I don't have to worry about it.

Friday morning I fly home for the weekend. I can't wait! I get to spend my weekend with this lovely girl:(that photo is us in Gulfport, MS on the beach. Ignore how awful we both look, we had been driving ALL DAY and neither one of us had slept much the night before). I can't wait. :)

Well friends, that's all for now. I'm off to bed. I need to not get back in the habit of staying out at coffee shops until 1 a.m. this semester. But, we'll make tonight an exception!

.peace and love.

"I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip-- he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord watches over you-- the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all harm-- he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore"
Psalm 121

Things I'm looking forward to:

* Shopping this afternoon
* A roadtrip to Waco this weekend
* My first football game of the season on Saturday
* Going to KY in 7 days
* Spending a great weekend with Grace before she moves to Italy forever
* Becoming a BASICS/Motivational Intervention Practitioner and Trainer
* UK beating UofL this weekend
* Going to SACSA and seeing my favorite Belmont People including Holly and Amy.
* Spending 8 days in Boston this March job searching, attending conferences, eating lots of good seafood and spending my spring break stressed out.
* Presenting programs at several conferences, including NASPA (keep your fingers crossed!)
* Maintaining deep friendship
* Finding a job that I LOVE!
* Graduating in 239 days
* Seeing what crazy roads God takes me down in the next 239 days. . . it's going to be a wild ride!

My women's fraternity, Alpha Gamma Delta, sends me an e-mail newsletter monthly called "Transitions". This e-mail has information about some issue that the women (and men) mid-late twenties/early thirty crowd are facing. I got this one the other day, and thought it quiet poinent. I'd like to share!

"I recently finished a great book called Refrigerator Rights, and highly suggest you read it. No, it isn’t the newest diet fad, or a guide to buying kitchen appliances. I know most of us have an ever-increasing list of books that we’re going to read, someday, so I’ll just give you the jist: Written by a stand-up comedian turned minister turned therapist, Dr. Will Miller says that humans thrive on intimate relationships - the kind of friendships where you can grab a soda out of each others refrigerator without asking or feeling weird about it.

Who’s allowed in your fridge?

I ask because it seems like my group of fridge friends has lessened somewhat since college. Time and distance have changed things, and that’s unfortunate. I want friends who I don’t have to try so hard with, ones who can plop on my couch and be happy watching a rerun of Back to the Future on TBS. We don’t even have to talk. Just knowing they’re there and that they care is good enough.

Dr. Miller proposes that today’s Americans are increasingly lonely and depressed due to a lack of refrigerator rights relationships. He asserts that we miss out on these types of relationships for two reasons. First, he charges the growing trend of mobility. Nearly one-third of Americans in our age bracket move every year. That’s a lot! Because of our propensity to move around, we often limit our chances of becoming part of a true community. I’ve experienced this first-hand. I’ve avoided joining clubs because I knew I’d soon be moving and would likely be forced to cut my membership short. Likewise, I’ve neglected to nurture certain relationships. The thought of building them up only to watch them disappear seemed too upsetting. Why bother?

Our infatuation with media is the other culprit holding our refrigerator relationships in check, according to Dr. Miller. Instead of growing our social circles, we opt instead for a pseudo-social life – achieved through the radio, TV, and the Internet. During our morning drive we laugh along with our DJ comrades. We think we’re part of their gang. When we get home from work we sit staring blankly at the tube. Our lives our enmeshed with TV personalities. We feel a connection with contestants on American Idol and vote for them compulsively. I have a friend who became so involved with the LOST series, he regularly logged into a forum to share episode insights, speculations and reactions with other viewers. The show became an all-encompassing part of his life. You may say this is pathetic. But I’ll bet you’re thinking, “So? I do that, too.” Face it. Our culture is collectively moving toward isolation.

Whether or not you agree with Dr. Miller’s arguments, his theory is interesting to think about. Are you missing the deep friendships that came so easily in college? Is the e-mail correspondence you keep with your fraternity brothers or sorority sisters enough to sustain you? Make the decision now to build and maintain a network of meaningful friendships that honor refrigerator rights. Get involved. Open the door to opportunity. A heapin’ helping of friends awaits!"

I'm currently talking to my old roomie, Lauren, on-line. I also just added her blog to my friends list on this page. In adding her blog, I realized that I have quite the jet-setting group of former roommates. We all graduate and move somewhere. Lauren moves to Moldova to work with orphans and teach them about business and Jesus. Grace moves to Italy to learn to speak Italian fluently and no-doubt fall in love with a BEAUTIFUL Italian man. I, my friends, move to College Station, TX. . . not sure how I missed the cool boat. I guess someone has to be the one they keep around to make themselves feel cooler. That's what I'm here for, boosting the self-confidence of others! Just kidding. . . kind of!

I wish that I could post the faces I make when writing this stuff. . . it would make the reading more enjoyable for all.

To my higher ed grad student friends. I'm reading this book, titled Job One by Peter Magolda and Jill Ellen Carnaghi, for my Practicum Class. I highly recommend it for those who are job searching, will be soon, or anyone related to higher education. It contains a serious of essays by various new professionals that are often very poignant and dead on. It makes you think, "I'm glad I'm not the only one!"

Do read!

"The word humble comes from the root word humus, earth clay. Let me remember that when I question God's dealings. I don't understand Him, but then I"m not asked to understand, only to trust. Bitterness dissolves when I remember the kind of love with which He has loved me- He gave Himself for me. What He is doing now, therefore, is not cause for bitterness. It has to be designed for good, because He Loved me and gave Himself for me." -Elisabeth Elliot, Keep a Quiet Heart



When I question why things don't work out the way I want them to, I need to remember that.

"For great is your love toward me;
you have delivered me from the depths of the grave."
-Psalm 86:13

246 more days. . .

I just almost had a panic attack. I just left a planning meeting for our Association of Future Student Affairs Professionals Exec Board (I'm the VP). While the Professional Development Chair was sharing her agenda for the year she shared information about time-lines for the job search process for 2nd years. Literally, my heart began to race and the room started getting fuzzy.

I am a 2nd year.

I have had in my mind that the job search was a process that was more than an arms link away. What I have found however, is that the job search process started a year ago. The hard parts are starting to pick up now. The process is well within my grasp.

The fall semester of my senior year of college was a very stressful time for me between balancing class, work, extracurriculars and grad applications. While I still have to balance many of the same things, there seems to be something distinctly different this time. That semester was simply about continuing college.

This is not a continuation of college.

I have to do an actual job search. Nuts. So, right now I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed about the whole process. It's so hard to believe that in 249 days I'll have a Masters degree, be finished with school forever (keep your fingers crossed), and have a job (again with the fingers and lots of prayers). Nuts.

There are some things about my job that I just don't think I will ever get used to. I have learned to handle and tolerate being the "mean person" in conduct situations. I feel that am able to handle those situations well because I see the educational value of those situations for the students involved.

I have also enjoyed thus far working with my students parents. Up until this point, I have been able to really help them trust me and believe that I too want what is best for their student. I enjoy when my students' parents learn to have confidence in my job and the educational process that surrounds it.

Today however, I had a very simple and common roommate problem that blew up. The situation itself didn't blow up, but rather the student and mother simply refused to trust myself and my staff to handle the situation as we are accustomed to do. I had spoken earlier this week to the mother and thought I had convinced her to encourage her daughter to trust me and my staff and go with our suggestions of how to handle it. I was, and still am, 99.9% confident that if she allowed us to do a roommate contract any awkwardness between the two students would be resolved.

Today the student's mother proceeded to tear into me accusing me of being biased and purposefully punishing her daughter because of her religious beliefs and values.

Seriously.

She said that.

I was blown away, outraged, frustrated and discouraged all at the same time. Clearly this women doesn't know me. We've never met, and I've never been rude to her. But, she feels the need to judge my character based on my refusal to simply cave to her request to allow her daughter to run away from the roommate situation. While I know that parents are required to be advocates for their children, where does accusing roommates and hall directors unfairly relate to that? Some of the things the mother would say about her daughters roommate were so unfair and judgmental and I refuse to allow any of my students to be treated unfairly by anyone.

While I've had classmates and professors question my character multiple times in the last year, I have yet to have someone make such a snap judgment like this. I really don't think there will ever be a time where conspicuous or inconspicuous attempts at questioning my character will not truly bother me.

Chickering and Reisser's Establishing Identity vector talks about learning to accept feedback from valued and respected others rather than any Joe Shmo. While I think it's easier for me to only accept valued and respected feedback in some areas, I am rocked to the core when people I don't even know question my character.

I'm not sure it's a bad thing to be bothered by that. Being a women of noble character is something that is foundational to who I am, and what I do, so anytime that's questioned I should be bothered. Right?

I am sure that this is not the last time that someone will unfairly make assumptions about my character. I wonder, as I grow in professionalism and in personal ways, if that ever gets any easier.

Within the last year, such situations seem to be happening to me a lot. I'm learning how best to respond to them. I can't help but remember a conversation with a good friend this summer about being back at A&M and the things I was fearful about. Having that conversation in the back of my mind I am encouraged to respond to this situation differently than I did the ones last year. Last year I allowed myself to really question my character and the person I have been shaped into. While I accept that this sort of thing will always bother me, I know that there is a purpose behind this time. There is a purpose for me to be attacked, and somewhere down the line I may be made privy to why that occurred. Perhaps it is as simple as preparation for future helicopter parents. Who knows.

Sorry about the cathartic nature of this entry. May you and it remind me, and yourself of the promise of purpose behind every experience. Even the crappy unfair ones.

I'm sitting in my favorite College Station coffee shop trying to catch up on life. I am not being overly dramatic about the catching up on life. I have lived a full and happy summer, and as soon as it was over, I was thrown back into life at A&M.

I spent this summer at Baylor University working in their Department of New Student Programs. I visited there in November to "interview" with the staff there, and felt as though it was where I needed to be. I am so grateful that I spent my summer there, and could not imagine a better place to work!

I worked with Orientation, Line Camp and the BaylorBound leaders and their training. I really enjoyed the work that I did, as well as the people I worked with. The staff in the office were AMAZING not to mention a hysterical group of people to work with. My students were a great group of people- so genuine and also pretty funny. I learned a lot about myself personally and professionally this summer. It was the break and experience that I needed heading into my last year in grad school.

I arrived back in BCS on August 1st and we started training on August 3rd. It's been full steam ahead ever since. I did manage to slip sleeping almost an entire Saturday in there. After a week of hall director training, my RAs came back and they had a week of training. My staff this year is amazing! They work together really well and I can tell that they are in this job for the right reasons. I can't tell you how happy that makes me!

We just opened the halls this past Sunday and 70% of my building moved in that day.
It was a very busy day. It went smoothly over all, minus a few issues. Our building is continuing to have issues with hot water working consistently. Also, I continually did rounds on the floors climbing stairs, grabbing boxes, and taking them out to recycling. It was a long day!

Saturday, I drove up to Baylor for The Big Even for Welcome Week. It was such a blast! There was a great 80s cover band playing and almost everyone dressed up in accurate outfits. It was really nice to be able to see the last stage of summer programming, and to see my students and coworkers again. I only wish that I had been able to talk to them more and see them for a longer period of time!

Currently my parents are in town visiting. It's been a really nice laid back visit. I believe that they are planning to make a few road trips this week to various places in Texas. Plus, my dad hung up my curtains and fixed my license plate. He's pretty handy!

Classes start at A&M next Monday. I'm taking Higher Ed. Law and Assessment. Additionally I have a Practicum (or internship) class that I am registered for, but completed the hours this summer. I am doing a third practicum in our Student Conflict Resolution Services/Alcohol and Drug Education program office. I'll be adjudicating a few cases, and developing a training session for student leaders teaching them to recognize signs of drug abuse in their student organizations. My hope is that it can be used for the RAs in the fall. I'm also co-teaching an RA class this semester with a full-time staff member. I'm not sure what that is going to look like yet, but I should be learning more about it soon.

I will also be a Spiritual Mom for the Aggie Sisters for Christ SisterShine program. The women in SisterShine volunteer as mentors to high school aged women in Bryan/College Station. They each are in smaller groups with a Spiritual Mother (aka me) who meets with them, and mentors them. I'm really very excited about this opportunity. The thing I missed most last year was being able to be freely intentional about faith with my students and this should provide me with an outlet to do that. I cannot wait to find out what students I'm going to be working with and see what this experience will be like!

I am very hopeful that this year will be great. There seem to be a lot of great things up ahead and if all else fails, I'll be finished with school (hopefully for good) in 263 days. Wow!

Well, my first year of graduate school is finally over. While in the moment, the year seemed to drag by, but in retrospect everything went by very quickly. Less than a year from now I'll have a Masters of Education and be on my way (hopefully) to a new job. This past semester was a very difficult one, but from what I understand, the next two semesters are much easier to handle.

I'm spending my summer interning at Baylor University. I'm working in the New Student Programs office with the Baylor Bound orientation program. I started here on Monday the 21st, and while I've only been here two days but I'm really enjoying my time here. The individuals that I work with are a funny and makes it fun to go to work. Monday we begin training for the Baylor Bound Leaders (orientation leaders) and will do that for two weeks. Throughout the month of June we have orientation sessions everyday, which will make for a minimum of 12 hour days. Should be fun!

I'm going to try to keep updates up here. But, feel free to e-mail me (sgmudd@gmail.com). My address here is: 300 Cottonwood #1301, Waco, TX 76706.

This weekend I'm heading back to College Station to celebrate my birthday with some of my friends there. I am sure that we will have a great time. I will be working on my actual birthday, so this weekend is about relaxing before the craziness of summer begins!

For now, I'm going to get back to reading. We have a common reading book that all freshman students are asked to read. During Baylor Bound Leader training we will be leading discussions on each chapter. I will be facilitating one of them, and need to refresh on the book. We are reading Parker Palmer's "Let Your Life Speak", which I read in one of my classes at Belmont. I strongly suggest that everyone read this book at some point in life. It's so good!

Yesterday was the first day in a 6 day appeal process for American native Eric Volz. Eric Volz, the son of one of the deans who I worked for at Belmont, was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend. However, evidence, witnesses, phone records, etc indicate that he was in another city, 2 hours away the entire day.

Please make your friends, family, neighbors, media outlets aware of this situation. You can find all the details and facts of the whole ordeal on the following pages:
www.friendsofericvolz.com
www.myspace.com/freeericvolz and this week's People Magazine.

Most of all, please pray for Eric and his family.

Yesterday one of the most horrible massacres in the history of our country happened on a university campus. I have been enthralled with the news reports from the small town surrounding the VT campus. Virginia Tech is a very comparable institution to Texas A&M. The two are entrenched in tradition that can often be linked to being a campus that a city was built around, and the presence of a Corps of Cadets. My heart is just broken over this whole thing.


As a hall director I have found myself wondering how I would have responded had the first shooting happened in my residence hall. How would I have handled things, and what it must be like to feel completely powerless to protect your students. This could have happened at any university, and honestly, there isn't much that you can do to prevent this type of thing. That's a terrifying thought.

My heart of course goes out to the students, friends and families of the community. But my heart is broken for the things that the administrators will have to do over the next several days, weeks, months and for the way that they will constantly be questioning themselves and the decisions that they have made. In retrospect- maybe they should have closed the campus after the first shooting. But based on the information they had at the time- that would have been a drastic measure for what appeared to simply be an angry boyfriend. Regardless of the facts at the time- they will no doubt be under fire for their actions, and possible even be sued by a grieving family. (Texas A&M is still in court over the bonfire collapse which happened in 1999.)

It scares me to think about how this type of incident happens, and how easily it could have been anywhere else. I know that I will have to deal with some sort of crisis management and I have no idea what that will be like, and hope that when those decisions are made, right or wrong, I will have the necessary support to deal with the aftermath. Just as I hope the administrators at VT will have.

So today, as I try to finish my last two 20 page papers (which are supposed to help me be prepared to be a student affairs administrator), I will listen to CNN, and through my tears remind myself that life goes on. I will pray for all of those affected by this horrible act of violence. And try to remember that everything is ok in the end, if it's not ok, it's not the end.

This week has been crazy. I experienced for the first time what Texans call winter. We had the lighter end of the large winter front that moved through the country this week. It was very cold, and there was some ice on cars, trees, etc. It wasn't much compared to what I am used to when an "ice storm" occurs. To many people here, however, this was a major winter storm that constituted the university being closed for two days. I am still amazed that my second and third snow days ever happened in Texas!

Our classes were supposed to start on Tuesday, however they are starting today. Having class cancelled was a bittersweet thing. I was excited at the thought of a snow day, but also sad for a couple of reasons. The first is that not having school gets relatively boring pretty quickly. I have learned that there are only so many hours you can spend in front of the t.v., or napping. I am in desperate need for a consistent routine! Secondly, having the entire state of Texas virtually shut down, made check in for Hobby a pain. Even though the hall reopened a week ago, I still have quite a few students who have not yet checked, for various reasons. I guess a sign that you are becoming an adult is when you would prefer staying open in winter weather over the headache that being closed causes.

Another crazy thing happened this past weekend. My friend, Ana, and I went to Houston for the morning on Saturday. We were going to order a bridesmaid dress for one of her friend’s wedding and to have lunch at some local joint. On the way home, a small rock or piece of gravel hit my windshield and broke it! There is a small star shaped place where the rock hit and then on either side of that star, the window cracked. It's probably on about 6 inches in length, but is still cause to have the windshield replaced. I could not believe that a tiny rock that wasn't even visible could do that much damage to my poor Rav4.

If the rest of this semester is anything like the rest of it, it should certainly be filled with many interesting stories and experiences. I love and miss you all!

Happy 2007! I can't believe that it's already time to start up a new semester. It literally seems as thought it was just yesterday that I left for Christmas break. Now I'm back in College Station starting my second semester. Classes start in about a week and a half, but right now work is taking up a lot of time. The halls open for the spring semester next week and RAs return this weekend. Therefore, myself and other hall directors are busy preparing for these students’ arrivals. I've been back less than 24 hours and I already have a lot of work to do.

Christmas break was a much-needed time to relax, however by the end of it I was anxious to return. It seems that I have grown more attached to this place and the people here than I had originally thought was possible. Although I had always expected that I would grow to love my classmates (cohort members) that respect and admiration came much sooner than I would have thought. We are single handedly the most rambunctious and funny cohort. I have so much fun with those folks, so I'm ready to get back to rousing Dr. Mario Tournaments when we should be writing papers, as well as what other distractions may develop along the way.

I am also excited about the classes I'll be taking this semester. One of them is a practicum class, which is essentially an internship. This consists of me working 10 hours a week in another office on campus and going to class for 2 hours during the week. I will be working in the Adult, Graduate, and Off-Campus Student Services office. My duties will entail putting together a childcare guide, planning a block party for graduate students, and shadowing the planning of Graduate Student Research week. It will be a great experience to learn how to program for such a large, diverse group of non-traditional students. It will also be very beneficial to have practice in publishing a brochure such as the childcare guide.

A couple of my classmates and myself will be taking one of our electives this spring as well; therefore I'll have a total of 15 hours. The elective class that we're taking is about social justice in a global society. I am looking forward to learning more about social justice issues and theory, which is a developing interest for me.

I hope to be more diligent about posting updates in the future. I can't promise anything, however. My job, class work and cohort are often unpredictable and there is no telling what the rest of the semester holds. Keep your fingers crossed!!

This week the office of Graduate Student Services hosted a wine tasting event. It was free of charge to grad students here, needless to say myself and several of my classmates took part in that.

A professional wine taster came and gave us a lesson on tasting wine. We also learned what types of wines pair well with what types of foods. We were able to taste four different kinds of wine with different types of food.

It was a nice way to ease some of the stress of school. This past week we had a midterm in my Student Affairs functions class. This week we have a paper due and several "reading cards" in another class. It is getting to be that point in the semester where we have a lot of work to do, both academically but also with our assistantships. I don't mind the busyness so much, since it means that the end of the semester is quickly approaching. I need Christmas break!!! With that said it's back to school work for me.

This weekend was the first huge home game of the football season. A&M played in-state rival Texas Tech and from what I read on ESPN it was a pretty decent game. Myself and my fellow cohort members had ambitious plans to tailgate and attend the game. Those of us who participated in at least part of it had a really interesting time.

Tailgating in Texas is different than in KY/TN (or really anywhere else in the country). Here most folks tailgate after the game, but those of us who were from places where you wear sweatshirts and coats to football games wanted a taste of home- therefore, we tailgated before the game. Bad idea. Well, maybe the part where we parked on the top level of a parking garage was the bad idea. Either way, I've got one heck of a bad sunburn on one arm to show for it.

I am not totally sure why people seem to tailgate after the game here. I do think, however, it has to do with one of two things- first, it's so freaking hot that you have to do it after the game otherwise you'll be too exhausted to make it through the entire game; secondly, you get drunk after the game to forget how bad your team is. I'm not sure which it is. My dad tells me it must be the heat, because at KY games they don't tailgate aftewards and the Wildcats are worse than the Aggies. He makes a good point.

The game was ok. My friend Kate and I left with like 10 minutes left in the first half. Here folks who are like us are considered 2%ers, however, I don't think we qualify for 2%. I feel like 2%ers at least watch the band before they leave the game. Maybe we are like 1.5%ers. After watching about 7 girls being carried up from the stands to the EMS units because they had passed out from the heat, we opted to leave before we became a statistic. It was hot! And, standing for three hours is not the most pleasant thing in the world. So, we left, went home and took a nap. That's the best way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

That evening my friend and fellow grad student, Katie, took me country dancing with some of her friends from Dallas. That's right folks, I learned how to two-step. It was rather fun, but I can't say that I'm any good at it. I had thought that country dancing was the similar to line dancing, but I quickly learned that it is not the same. Although I am not a very good dancer, I really enjoyed myself and had a great time. Hopefully we'll be going again soon.