Stupid Walls

Dead Week has arrived at good ol' L.S. of U. And for the first time in the history of ever, I actually have a dead "Dead Week"—No tests, no projects due, nothing stressful on my calendar for the next 7 days.  It's wonderful!  So today, I went to my 8:30 class, came home immediately after because the rest of my classes were canceled, and gave my body one last day of rest before I go into full-fledged psycho-studying-for-finals mode.  I took a nap, I watched some Gilmore Girls and vegged. It was glorious.  And I arose ready to face the world and a project that I have due next Tuesday.

Then that lovely wall that always somehow rears its ugly head made its ugly entrance.

You want to know what a huge pet peeve of mine is? (Warning: Tangent Ahead!)  Teachers that require fancy software for classes.  Take this semester, for example:  I had a teacher that required fancy software that you absolutely needed if you wanted to complete your midterm or final project.  Sure, we meet in a lab that has the software once a week, but that lab time needs to be used to actually learn the things you will need to apply to these projects.  So really, you need this (Windows Only) software to succeed in this class, which, if you were a Mac person like me, meant either tainting your Mac with Windows and opening it up to viruses or buying a freaking PC.  I ended up buying a PC, which has worked out just fine because some of my other class's textbooks included supplemental CDs that were only PC compatible.   BUT this software is a student edition of a full-fledged transcription software, meaning you can't actually install it onto your PC.  So when the information you need for this project is posted in the format of the software, you can't actually open the information because your computer doesn't recognize the program as one that can open files because you can't install the software onto the computer because it is a student edition.  And the free lab to work on this final project was cancelled for one reason or another leaving me (and I'm sure a ton of other students) stuck. *Insert explicative here*

Stupid Wall.

So what does this mean for you?  Nothing much other than the fact that I am now blogging out my frustrations because I can't work on my project.

It also means that it's time for 30 Day Photo Challenge Day 21: Pretty Pattern!


I absolutely adore scarves.  They're adorable,  they're versatile and they're warm!  My scarf obsession started my junior year of high school when I went to Spain with my choir  and there were street vendors selling scarves all over the place for 4 or 5 euros apiece.  I've been hooked ever since.

This is about 1/3 or my scarf collection.  See the one in the middle?  I got that one at a Rest Stop in Spain and it's one of my favorites!  It doesn't keep me as warm as some of the others do but it's so pretty!

Well, I guess it's time for me to put on my big girl pants and start studying for exams.  I've been given the gift of a real "Dead Week."  I should probably take advantage of it

Hide Your Heads!

Apparently, within the next couple of weeks, a ginger hunt will begin at LSU.

I'm kind of freaked out.

My roommate warned me tonight after she saw a redhead in a movie. Apparently, people will start creeping on me and taking pictures of me. I'm not okay with this. I'm not some one who particularly likes spontaneous pictures being taken of me (because, frankly, I'm not that photogenic). So the idea that I might become a target for cameras does not settle well with me. All google searches for "ginger hunt" are coming up empty (except for people actually named Ginger Hunt. What mean parents), so I really have no idea what to expect.

Perhaps I'm overreacting, but I'm getting to a point where ginger discrimination (that's not quite the right word, but you know what I mean) stops being funny and starts being seriously aggravating for those of us who are the target or comments, jokes, and "movements." The term ginger didn't really become popular until South Park's 137th episode, Ginger Kids. At first, the episode didn't seem that bad. The only people who got offended were redheads who were looking to be offended. I thought it was funny and started using the term my self. I didn't think anyone would take it seriously. But then it seemed to spark an "anti-ginger" movement. Gingers became thought of as unhuman and subpar to "normal" hair colors. Red hair was a deficiency. "Kick a Ginger Day" started to show up on school playgrounds and in facebook events. Here's a link to one ginger student's account and opinion of "Kick a GInger Day":http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2009/11/59759/kick-a-ginger-day/. If such a practice were to emerge singling out another race, culture, or group, people would flip their shit. What is it about my strawberry-blonde hair that makes singling me out ok?



I don't mind the use of the term "ginger." Like I said before, I use the term and I have friends who use it as a term of endearment to refer to me or other redheads. But events like "Kick a Ginger Day" or "Ginger Hunts" that single me and other redheads out, I do have problem with. Just because I have red hair doesn't give people the right to take pictures of me without my knowledge or consent because it's part of some sort of game. It doesn't it mean I'm any less intelligent or talented than non-redheads. It doesn't mean I don't have feelings or that I don't get frustrated and angry when redheads are treated like objects instead of people.

Yes, I have red hair. And I love my hair. It's one of the many wonderful traits that's I've inherited from my wonderful grandmother. Every hairstylist I've ever been to has told me to never dye my hair. And people rarely give me problems over my hair color or even notice it. But every now and then, some movement like "Kick a GInger Day" or a "Ginger Hunt" will pop up and suddenly I'm regarded as human anymore. I am simply an object for ignorant entertainment. And it's frustrating and angering and saddening.


At least ask for my permission before you take my picture.

What do you think? Am I overreacting? Is it all just in good fun and I need to accept it? Should I just invest in a bottle of hair dye or a baseball hat and ride this out? Is anyone even reading this?


Here's another interesting more scientific viewpoint from fellow blogger and ginger Andy Einstein. I found it looking through pictures on Google to post here (just create a new tab and copy/paste the link into your search bar):

http://andyeinstein.blogspot.com/2008/09/face-it-people-with-red-hair-are-better.html

Red hair was thought to indicate beastly sexual desire. What, like that's a bad thing?