Leaping Off the Boundary

"...We are challenged to Realize our participation in Be-ing in the Widest, Wildest Sense. This happens when we confront and transform the specific circumstances in which we find ourSelves" - Mary Daly

First of all let me start by saying this is not another April Fool's joke. I promise I'm not crying wolf; that will have to wait for another 11 months. ;-)

Our story starts back on the morning of February 8, 2008. I woke up that morning horribly dissatisfied with where I was and the direction things were heading. Partially in a desperate attempt to save a quickly sinking long distance relationship and partially to try and find a graduate program where I could focus on the things I wanted to focus on, I called up the graduate director at Missouri State University in Springfield.

One week later, I found myself (sans the relationship) in Springfield in the office of Dr. Mark Given. I left my meeting with him absolutely elated about the prospect of joining the program. The classes they offer and the faculty's area of expertise were right up my alley, not to mention how surprised I was when the director of the whole Religious Studies program actually knew my name and that I was currently at KU!

I found out over the next few weeks that not only was I accepted to the Religious Studies program, but I had also won a competitive, full-ride graduate assistantship. I sat on all this for a few weeks, revealing a little bit of my secret here and there before finally telling my parents in March.

My lease here in Lawrence is up at the end of May, so June will find me moving to Springfield to share an apartment with my old/new roomie Veronica! And just in case you were worried that the Pier 1 pirate adventures on my blog might be coming to an end, you can relax...I'll be transferring to the one in Springfield.

August will find me beginning my job as a GA at MSU, working with Martha Finch and her two Religion in America sections. Words can't even describe how excited I am to start!

I don't regret my time here at KU, as I've made some great friends, met some interesting characters and learned plenty of lessons. Moving back to Springfield will be an interesting experience in and of itself, but I look forward to reconnecting with old friends and making plenty of new ones. I feel really good about everything going on in my life right now, and I'm very excited to see where this new adventure takes me.

Since "Lindsey in Lawrence" won't really be applicable any more, I'm switching to a new blog. If you'd like to follow along with my new journey you can join me shortly at-

http://letitbelindsey.blogspot.com

Thank you to everyone who has supported me in this endeavor, especially all my girlfriends...I am so grateful and thankful for you all!

"So if you care to find me, look to the western sky!
As someone told me lately: "Ev'ryone deserves the chance to fly!"
And if I'm flying solo, at least I'm flying free.
To those who'd ground me, take a message back from me:
Tell them how I am defying gravity! " -Wicked

Fourth of July

When in the course of scholastic events it becomes necessary for one person to dissolve the academic bands which have connected them with an educational institution and to assume among the powers of the earth, the enrollment in a separate and equal program to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation…

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all students are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of a full ride. Whenever any Form of Educational Institution becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to leave or to transfer from it, and to attend new a Educational Institution.

The history of the present Religious Studies Department of The University of Kansas is a history of repeated ignorance and with-holdance of funds, all having in direct object the establishment of absolute academic misery over this student. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

They have refused to learn the name of this particular student, forcing Lindsey to introduce herself to her advisor on at least three separate occasions.

They have refused to offer any substantial financial aid, failing to acknowledge the ability of Lindsey to be a successful GTA.

They have neglected to offer the sorts of classes that will allow Lindsey to receive the education she feels will fully prepare her for her desired career.

They have attracted and retained a group of graduate students lacking in diversity of belief, worldview and opinions.

They have established their Educational Institution in a town full of dread-locked hippies that reek of patchouli. Ew..just kidding! I love hippies!

In every stage of these Oppressions Lindsey has Petitioned for acknowledgment and applied for GTA positions in the most humble terms: Her repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. An Educational Institution, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define it as not worth Lindsey’s time, is unfit to be the school she attends.

I, Lindsey, therefore solemnly publish and declare, that I will no longer be attending the University of Kansas. Instead, next semester will find me holding a full-ride Graduate Assistant position at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, I pledge to do my best to better my Life, Fortune and sacred Honor.

Best of Lindsey in Lawrence

Can you believe it? It's been almost a full year since I started this blog!
(It totally seems like it's been a whole lot longer!)

In honor of Lindsey in Lawrence's one year anniversary on Wednesday, I thought I'd do a "Best of" post. If there's something I neglect to put on the list but you, faithful reader, think should be on here, let me know.

Let's start at the very beginning...

It began with my "Spiritual Autobiography" project for my senior sem- my spiritual life set to Beatles music. From there we went mindfully to the dentist, and had some adventures in vegetarian cooking.

After a Holly-Go-Lightly moment on Mass. Street, I got materialistic at Pier 1 and survived my first sweltering day of graduate school.

We discussed Furries and Durkheim, I ventured into Second Life and got a little furry of my very own.

February proved a busy month- Hate mail to PETA, a public announcement of my distrust of robots and a fishy Fat Tuesday celebration. Then I got dumped and learned my lesson the hard way...but in the end I think it was all worth it.

A rash of photo-blogs ensued- Leia and I got our model on, I broke my Lenten sushi fast, got a good laugh out of past hairstyles and Kat and I had the type of day you journal about.

The mysterious entrance of the character known simply as "Shawn" brought with it plenty of fun "Operations" including, but not limited to- me pretending I know how to shave heads, late night puppetstravaganzas and a Saturday that came damn near close to perfect.

I finished out the year with a brilliant April Fool's joke, an experiment in live-blogging, some crazy dreams, and an even crazier trip to Springfield...

All in all it's been a pretty good year. Not everything went the way I planned, but that's life and I'm learning to love it. Thank you to all of you who stood by me, who laughed and cried with me, those of you who made guest appearances (and consequently became regulars) and all you who read those crazy long entries. You all are so wonderful!

This next year will bring some big changes and I'm very excited so please stay tuned!

What A Man, What A Man, What A Mighty Good Man...

I wore high heels and pearls to my Theories and Methods class Thursday night.
I was going out to see Shawn's improv show afterwards (which, by the way, was really fun!), so it only made sense.

But oh the irony- I wore high heels and pearls to class on the night that the subject was religion and gender roles. How perfect.

That night we were discussing a section from Howard Eilberg-Schwartz's book "God's Phallus and Other Problems for Men and Monotheism". Now I've spent a fair amount of time in Women's Studies classes, but I'd never really been exposed to the area of "Men's Studies", so this was fascinating for me.

Eilberg-Schwartz talks about the idea of a masculine monotheistic God as problematic for men in Judeo-Christian culture, because God becomes this sort of "ideal beauty image" that men must live up to, but can never quite achieve. Freud would see it as a "projection of the ideal" upwards, whereas feminists would call it "a reflection of the problematic real".

There is also the problem of homo-eroticism that comes from the marriage analogy used by the scriptures. If men are to be married to God they must become homosexual (which is not acceptable in a patriarchal context where being masculine means procreating) or they must become feminized to avoid the homo-eroticism. He also talks about how God must be veiled in order to solve this problem; unlike other religions (Hinduism, Greek and Roman gods) we never see God's genitalia.

Also, we see Jesus portraying more feminine traits- loving, nurturing, healing, but (to paraphrase Eilberg-Schwartz) in the end he's still a man, a dragon slayer who must go it alone.

Hmm...It's really just too hard for many to conceptualize a completely spiritualized God with no physical or at the very least anthropopathic/anthropomorphic existence. Did God create man in God's own image, or did man create God in his?

I'm currently and slowly gliding into a research paper on the radical feminist philosopher Mary Daly so it was interesting to discuss the other gender's side of the story. So often I think we ignore the fact that men are victims of the patriarchal society in some ways too. That's not to say they don't profit from it more than women, but that profiting comes at a price.

It's too late to really dig in to this stuff and you, my faithful reader, probably don't care all that much...but I'd love to hear any thoughts you do have.

I'm going to blame it on the full moon...

Dear Everyone,

I know you're having a rough week, we all are.

I got a parking ticket and dropped a shelf on my head yesterday. The weather was icky, stormy, and humid. Relationships are complicated. Neither of us slept well. (Insert your own complaint here) Whine whine whine whine.

Are you done? Good, because I'm tired of it.

Life is good, you're still breathing. Do something nice for yourself. Take a bath, take a walk, take some Valium. Hell, eat a tube of orange rolls like I did.

We're going to make it through this, just please stop taking it out on me.

Hugs and kisses,
Lindsey

Reaction Time

I used to feel a lot of anxiety about situations that seemed beyond my control. It was overwhelming. Recently, however, through the process of growing up and learning to relax, I've learned just how in control I really am.

Maybe I can't control what is going to happen to me when I step outside my door (especially when it involves other people) but there is one thing I can control- my reaction. It's been this strange liberating revelation for me- realizing that it's not what happens to me that matters, but how I react to it.

I can relax because I know I react well, with grace and class, to most situations. In the event of one where I won't react so well, I make sure that I communicate with the people around me if the situation can't be avoided.

This blog is a reaction to my life.
It's my choice to publicly react to the experiences of my life, both positive and negative.
Because it is so public, I'm also allowing you (my faithful reader/person who googled "Durkheim" or "strippers in Lawrence") to react to my experiences as well.

I value your reactions. I respect your reactions.
All I ask from you is that you do the same.
Thanks. =)

Photo Blog: Operation: The 9th Saturday

Do you remember the thrill of the field trip? A chance to get out of school for half a day (or a whole day if you were really lucky) and go do something "educational". Today Kat, Drew, Shawn and myself re-imagined the field trip.

The best field trips we took in middle school were through SEEK (the gifted program). More specifically, some of the best field trips were to the Coterie theater at Crown Center in Kansas City. We'd have lunch at the food court, waste some money at the candy shop and drool over the fudge. Then we'd see the play and once it was all said and done, hop back on the big yellow bus and head back to Westridge.

I have fond/strange memories of the Coterie. "The Lord of the Flies" clearly sticks out in my memory, as well as one sort of Native American style story about Coyote. But does anyone else remember the play about the three characters who want to kill themselves? It was some sort of strange fairy tale type thing. All I can remember is "No shoes! No shoes! I refuse to wear shoes!" Oh who knows...I might have made it up.

Anyway, back to today... After Shawn and I marveled over the changes at the CC food court (What no Maggie Moo's?) and reminded ourselves why we're glad we're not teenagers any more, we met up with Kat and Drew and grabbed lunch at D'Bronx.

Mmmm...pizza.

Hey you two...break it up!

After lunch, we headed to the main attraction- "Sideways Stories from Wayside School" at the Coterie! I loved these books back in the day, so needless to say, I was very excited!

Free book with every ticket purchase! Yay!

Two very excited theater go-ers. I think we were the oldest people there who weren't escorting children. Shawn had the brilliant idea to try and steal a child, but we talked him out of it.

The show was fun- a cute set, a crazy cast of characters and (minus the little girl next to us who screamed her head off as soon as Mrs. Gorp entered) a good time was had by all. All and all a very successful twenty-something field trip.

After we left Kat and Drew, Shawn and I adventured into the city, hitting up Westport to do a little vintage shopping. That quickly evolved into a basement full of scary fish, me petting a huge rat and compliments on our sunglasses at Starbucks.

The Saturday only got better as Shawn and I went our separate ways only to re-convene later over poppyseed chicken/tofu casserole and Rock of Love 2. Shawn worked on something I'm very excited to share with you all...in due time.

A very good 9th Saturday. Thanks to everyone involved!
Oh and Shawn, I'll take one for the universe any time. :-)

To sleep: perchance to dream...

Ay, there's the rub.

We studied Carl Jung last night in my Theories and Method's seminar. Interesting stuff really...the archetypes, collective unconscious and the idea that we create the Deity archetype and religion as a way to keep us from actually having religious experiences... Anyway.

Maybe it was Jung, maybe it was that yummy brown sugar cinnamon tortilla thing I made right before bed, but I had crazy dreams last night.

The craziest of them all was the one that I had to wake myself up from, because I didn't feel like dying in my dream.

I dreamed I had traveled to L.A. to try and get back together with my ex who lives out there. I spent the first half of the dream flirting with him and things seemed to be going along well, until his female roommates got home. (Ryan you're going to love this) Turns out he was in a relationship with his three female roommates, and they hated me. I started screaming and crying as the girls knocked me around and threw my stuff out of the apartment. I yelled to Ryan that I was leaving L.A. on the next flight out and never coming back, but he calmly reminded me we had tickets to a dinner theater, and I should stick around.

At the theater I started getting that creepy "you shouldn't be here" intuition feeling. And sure enough, not 5 minutes into the meal...here come the mutants. Everyone panics and starts running for the doors (which of course are locked) as these crazy lizard things start slaughtering people left and right. I was running along the balcony of the theater, avoiding the mutants when I noticed there were people with video cameras.

As it turns out, they were filming a horror movie but it was real life horror, and people were really dying. I thought to myself "I've got to get out of here, this is just not right!" as the back of the theater burst into flames. Out of the flames flew this skeleton creature with a pumpkin on his head, on fire himself and laughing maniacally.

That's when I realized- "I'm dreaming, and there is no way in hell I'm letting Jack from the Nightmare Before Christmas be the reason I die."
----

Ugh. A night full of dreams always leaves me more exhausted than when I laid down.
Maybe I'll interpret this later...

This video changed my afternoon. I was in an absolutely horrible, isolated mood (thank you nasty weather and school stress) until I listened to this woman's experience of having a stroke and finding nirvana.


If you have time, you should check it out. It's just under 20 minutes, but so much more enlightening than that re-run of Rock of Love 2.

I hope you're having a great day.

Back to the Future

So we're going to time travel a little bit here at Lindsey in Lawrence, because I just now got the pictures from this weekend uploaded. (No worries because we were all pre-determined to go back in time and we won't mess up the future!) Anyway...

This weekend found me in Springfield, Missouri to take care of a few things with Momma Arnold and see some old friends. I left early Saturday morning, and I love driving at that time of day...watching the sun rise, listening to NPR, no one really on the road...it's soothing.

Veronica, Momma A and myself spent the afternoon being fairly productive and hopefully soon we'll see that our efforts paid off. :-) After a quick nap at the Hampton Inn and dinner at my favorite restaurant in Springfield (Mmm Nonna's!) we walked around the corner to the Springfield Little Theater to see the Springfield Ballet perform.

I'd never been there before, but the theater was gorgeous. We ran into the Walter family there, and it was really great to see them. Unfortunately they don't allow dogs in the theater so I didn't get to see Jack, Truman or Rodrigo. The ballet itself was an interesting experience- 3 contemporary pieces and Swan Lake Act II. One of the contemporary pieces, Anti-Congruence, was my favorite. I would describe it but I don't think words can really do ballet justice.

I'd also never seen anything from Swan Lake before, and I was blown away by the pas de deux of Sigfried (the prince) and Odette (the swan). Who knew there was such talent in Springfield? Okay I'll admit it, watching Act II really just made me want a cute prince with long hair and tights to fall madly in love with me and spin me around like a ballerina in a music box.

After the ballet, Momma A and I grabbed Kassie and headed to Ernie Bigg's piano bar. Dueling pianos and a cute drummer had the place rockin'. There's nothing quite like singing 70s music at the top of your lungs with your mom. Observe-

There's also nothing quite like watching your mom finish her beer before you or Kassie...
On Sunday we headed back to Kansas to party with the church family at the Smith's as Kristie was going in for major surgery the next morning. The surgery went well and her cancer didn't spread to the lymph nodes, so everyone is very relieved. The get-together on Sunday made me really appreciate the good energy friends and family and laughter bring.

All in all a really good weekend.

But before I let you go, a "Blind Item"! The online tabloids post these all the time, a piece of juicy gossip that involves a mystery celeb. While my blind item doesn't involve juicy gossip or a celebrity, it does have a picture!

Blind Item: Which blogger on my blog roll recently played the supporting role of the evil wizard Von Rothbart in Springfield Ballet's production of Swan Lake Act II? Feel free to comment with your guesses. ;-)

An Experiment in Live-Blogging: Women and Violence Class

Inspired by one of my favorite snarky pop-culture/politics/feministy blogs, Jezebel, I've decided to try my hand at live-blogging. While they usually live blog TV events like the finale of "Rock of Love" (thank goodness he picked Ambre!), I've decided to live-blog my Women and Violence Class. I usually sit here and surf the blogs anyway, so by doing this I'm almost taking notes!

If you're reading live, refresh every few minutes or so...or just check back later! Let's see how this goes!

----
2:06- I'm calling this good and doing the obnoxious pack up early thing. Thanks for reading! :-)

2:02- I picked a boring class to live-blog. The next live-blogging experiment will be better. I promise.

1:59- I still haven't exactly figured out which girl it is in this class that is on your committee, Shawn. It makes me a little nervous...lest you think I'm more of a man-hating feminist than I actually am. ;-)

1:54- Ohh no, I'm about to step back from my feminist soap box and reinforce gender stereotypes. Is it not feminist to admit that yes, women are for the most part physically weaker than men?

1:49- Men are more likely than women to be physically assaulted in any situation. Hmm. Sucks to be you.

1:48- I want this book. Pllleeeeeeeeaaaaaassseee?

1:42- Oh the allure of facebook...This just in: 5 of my friends are attending the Inauguration Street Fair at Drury, 6 of my friends changed their profile pictures and Rachel added "The Nines" to her favorite movies.

1:39- Other than in Lawrence and Topeka it is perfectly legal in the state of Kansas to fire someone from their job or kick them out of housing because of their sexual orientation. Also, us Kansans didn't evolve from apes. Noooo sirreee!

1:36- Moving on to violence and homosexual relationships...

1:33- I can't stop it...here it comes...feminist word vomit. "We have to make violence against men funny because it reinforces the patriarchal ideal. This society is going to try and sustain itself because we don't know anything different. In order for it to work, men have to be the strong ones and we have to ridicule and ostracize the men who just aren't manly enough."

1:29- Oh no. Michael Buble has taken over my brain. Chances of me coming back from this are slim... Well, its a marvelous night for a moondance...

1:27- There are 5 laptops in class right now. The Cosmo hating girls up front and to my left are IMing each other, the girl with the dirty hair in front of me is playing an online game, the future lawyer next to me is researching and I'm liveblogging. Usually there's a girl up front playing chess on hers but she's not here today (she usually loses). Memo to me- When I'm a GTA, watch out for laptops.

1:24- *Sigh* The girl who is attacking Cosmo just won't stop. I want to say something, but the last time I responded to something she said, she basically yelled at me and almost cried. People in this class aren't accustomed to the technique of ripping people apart that I learned at Drury.

1:21- Does the fact that Cosmo is full of articles like "Make Him Beg for it, TONIGHT!" mean that they can't have serious articles? Discuss...

1:19- I can't believe I just stood up for Cosmo and called it fair and balanced. Fair and balanced like Fox News...

1:16- Oh! Here we go! Girl up front just admitted to beating her boyfriend.

1:14- One of the articles we read for class today was from Cosmopolitan magazine- "My girlfriend beat me up". The prof. just opened up the floor for discussion and the ad hominems against Cosmo begin.

1:10- We're discussing a judge using a penis pump during multiple trials. Wait? I missed something...Oh okay post-traumatic stress disorder. That sort of makes sense?

1:08- I am already horribly distracted by the lack of showering in this class. The girl down the way from me smells like stale cigarettes. The girls in front of me haven't washed their collective hair in...well...forever. Gross.

1:05- Class today is dealing with domestic violence in homosexual couples as well as domestic violence against men by women. This should be interesting. I can't help but wonder how long it will be before someone confesses to beating up their own boyfriend, because there's usually someone who has had the experience we're talking about. Heck, I guess it could be me who confesses as I wasn't exactly the paragon of non-violence that weekend that Mark dumped me...

12:18 AM, Springfield Missouri

As I wandered down the halls of the Hampton Inn, clutching my room key, a bottle of Downy Wrinkle Releaser and a hairbrush, tasting of cookies and smelling like I'd chain smoked in a small room for 2 hours, I couldn't help but think to myself-

How the hell did I get here?

But a phone call and the promise of tomorrow brought me back down to earth and distracted me from my moment of weakness.

The key card slipped into the slot, I slipped into my pajamas and then slipped into bed, still giggling at the absurdity of it all. Someday maybe you can laugh with me...or not. Your choice.

D-Day

There comes a time in every girl's life when she must (after convincing her mom to come with her) throw any and all expectations out the window, pack her Voluptuous Violet lipstick (again), and hit the road.

Strange how life moves so quickly and so cyclically. Strange how actually in control of things I am right now. Free will is only really possible after you recognize all the opportunities available.

Have a great weekend, I know one way or another I will.
Expect a photo-blog to come...

I'll Probably Delete This Tomorrow

You know you should probably just go to bed when you find yourself composing a cleverly disguised message in the form of haiku.

So many revelations today, all of them I wish I could share with you...
I could change your life, help you be happier.
The question is though, can I walk the walk?

First revelation- French toast sticks to not make strangeness go away, they make your tummy hurt.

Second revelation- Facebook will only serve to frustrate. I wish there was a "send metta" button instead of a "send message" button...because that's what I'm doing whether you know it or not. All of you.

Third and final revelation of the evening- My subconscious is a brat. A month and a half after deleting your number out of my phone and thinking I didn't remember it, I dreamed it. Yeah.

Sometimes a girl just has to go to bed and hope that Wednesday will bring better things (like potential adventures and/or future photoblogs! Yay! :-)

It's A Great Day To Be A Jayhawk!

Dear University of Kansas men's basketball team and fans,

You are welcome. You see, I'm pretty sure Shawn and I are the reason you won.

When I was listening to you on the radio at Pier 1 and on the drive home, you were winning. But when I started watching you on TV at Shawn's house, you all started losing; losing so badly that Shawn suggested we go get a movie.

So while we were out and about and not watching you all on television, you all came from behind to win in overtime The precedent has been set- I am no longer allowed to watch the games on TV. :-)

Damn. I'm so disappointed.

So um, congrats to the men's basketball team...and here's hoping that some day we will live in a society that doesn't deify athletes.

Photo Blog- The Type of Day You Journal About

Yesterday was pretty much the perfect day...the type of day you journal about.

After a busy morning at Pier 1, I headed to KC to spend the afternoon with Kat. We decided a few weeks ago over sushi that we both wanted to get a little body modification done, and this was going to be the day to do it. It was an absolutely beautiful day to get lost on foot in Westport (Think anyone's going to notice we've walked past three times?) before finally arriving at Freaks on 39th.

Freaks on 39th is an old house with orange paint and blue trim and stairs that creak. Unlike some tattoo and piercing places it isn't scary hospital sterile with nasty fluorescent lighting, but it still felt very very clean. The staff there was awesome, and even though Kat and I don't exactly look like we belong in a place called "Freaks" we felt very welcome.

Kat decided to get a tattoo of The Uffington White Horse (click the link to learn more) and after the tattoo artist cleaned up her sketch a bit and made the stencil, she was ready to go-

Kat looks surprisingly calm. The tattoo guys were nice enough to let her listen to the comedian Demetri Martin while she got inked which was awesome.

"My eyes didn't even water!"

She sent me these pictures this morning so you can see the finished results.

I think it looks gorgeous!

I'm not quite sure there's anything I want permanently inked on my body just yet, but I do enjoy the "wake-up" I get from piercing, so I decided to get another hole put in my body. After running through the gamut of possible piercings in my mind, I realized there wasn't much I could/want to get pierced. Pier 1 doesn't allow facial piercings (I wear a discreet one in my nose when I work) and I'm not completely keen on getting something pierced that I couldn't show on here. ;-)

I'm still gauging the first hole in my ears, so I decided to go ahead and get a second hole in one of my ear lobes so I could gauge that too. Most ear piercings use a 20 or 18 gauge needle, but I decided to go ahead and get it pierced with a 12 gauge. Click the picture below to see what size the different gauges are-

Jeremy at Freaks is an awesome piercer. If I ever get anything done again, I'll have him do it. I felt so comfortable and everything was clean. We shared our life stories and discussed how 19 year olds are bad news, and best of all, I barely even felt the needle go in. Check it out-

Now that it's all said and done I wish I would have had him use a 10 gauge, because I barely even felt this one.

I bought some "organic" hand made spirals for my first holes as well. Goofy picture of me, but I love the new ear jewelry!

The new piercing and my 6 gauge tapers.

Kat and I completed our perfect day with dinner at the Bluebird Bistro- mmm organic food and vegan orange cake! It was such a gorgeous day outside, and it's so great to spend time with a great girl friend. I'm so lucky to have a friend like Kat! Thanks again for having an adventure with me!

Photo Blog/This I Believe: HAIR!

So a few weeks ago (when I posted the photo blog of Operation: Bald Eagle) Eli left me this comment-

"...I'm growing my hair out. I realize that it will be a change, but I guess I count it as being too inconsequential to be a satisfactory change in my lifestyle. A few of my friends seem to change their hair whenever they get restless or stressed out, and I don't really have a problem with it, I just don't understand it. Maybe you could shed some light on that in a future 'This I believe'? : )"

Well here at Lindsey in Lawrence we like to grant requests... so Eli, this is for you!

-----

Of all the things I know and believe, of everything I have seen and experienced, there is one thing that remains constant- my hair is going to change. (Like what I did there? Yeah, me too.)

As I told Eli, hair is one of those things we can control. Women (and some men) tend to change their hair when they go through changes in their lives. In the Old Testament shaving your head was a sign of mourning, and I have friends who have shaved their head as a sign of repentance or a sort of shedding of an old skin. Not too long ago, knowing that my relationship was over and there was nothing I could do about it, I splurged on a hair cut. If he was going to dump me, then at least I was going to know I looked good while he did it. Control, control, control.

On the other hand, some people are really attached to their hair. Quite honestly, I don't understand it and any insights provided would be greatly appreciated.

My hair, for me, represents different times in my life. As my life changes, so does my hair. Short hair with blond streaks? Freshman/sophomore year of high school. The incident with the black hair dye? William Woods- when our sorority bathroom constantly smelled like ammonia. Etc, etc, etc....

"Ah, that's interesting but where are the photos?" you ask. "This is supposed to be a photo blog!" Glad you asked...Observe the constant change in my life!

Aww, little Lindsey! So cute!

Little Bridget, even cuter!

Ack! Who thought the perm was a good idea?

Yes, Leia and I won a look-alike contest

What's worse, the hair or the jeans?

I dyed my hair black for a show where I wound up wearing a headdress and a wig.
Go figure...

The things we do for theatre eh?

Wait. Who let me get a perm again?

This one was taken roughly a year ago...

June 2007 before....

And after!

I'm not sure we could still win that look-alike contest...

So there you go...my constant change. I'm not sure how much light I shed on the issue, but at the very least it's good for a laugh ;-)

My Favorite Day of the Year

First things first, WHITE RABBIT! Having said that...

Those of you who happen to be friends with me on Facebook possibly saw my relationship status change to "Married to Duncan Northern" (see picture) and this note I posted earlier today-

"Life's been a little crazy lately and things move so fast, so I thought this would be the best way to let everyone know what's going on.

First of all, I'm leaving the University of Kansas. I find this place stifles my creativity and just sucks the life out of me. I can't stand to be here one more minute. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Having said that, I'm leaving the country next week. I've sublet my apartment, withdrawn from KU, sold the majority of my stuff and bought a huge backpack. I'm starting in London and plan to just wander my way across Europe until I find some place to settle down. I'm not sure I'll be back in the US for awhile.

Also, allegations you hear about me selling illegal drugs or being pregnant are mostly false. I'm not fleeing the country or hiding anything from anyone, I'm leaving because I need to, because I can't take it here any more. I'm sure you understand.

Thanks for your support.

PS: And just in case you were worried for my safety, Duncan will be coming with me. We've been apart and secret for so long (for various reasons) and now we can finally be together!
I love you sweetie and can't wait for our adventure!"

Oh how I love April Fool's Day! We always forget it's coming and I can always catch quite a few people off guard!

Surprisingly and much to my entertainment, many of my friends were duped (if only for a moment). I only got one phone call this time (and wound up "marrying" said caller) as opposed to last year when I managed several more phone calls thanks to a fake engagement ring. You think you people would have learned by now! Seriously!

Did anyone else get pranked today? I'd love to hear stories...

In other news, my new favorite thing- Wall posts on Facebook that make me laugh really hard because I think they can't be serious and it has to be an April Fools joke...but then I laugh so hard I almost throw up when I realize no, no it's not. Oh man...