Do you have a few minutes to talk about your future?

By Marriah Kornowa
Admissions Representative
Southwestern College


What are you doing here?
Why are you in school at this point in your life?
Think about it for a second. What is this process worth to you? Are you thinking about it? Or are you still reading? What does your future look like? How are you going to make your vision a reality? Do you think it is going to be easy? Would it really be worth it if it was easy? What is it worth to you? Are you willing to work for it? Distractions are all around us. Obstacles are going to be inevitable. So ask yourself, what is your determination? What are the steps that you are willing to take to reach your goals? How do you get here every day? What happens if that plan breaks down, do you have another idea in place or back up plan to get here? What about time set aside to study? What time are you willing to give up to get the work done? What is the attitude that you take toward the knowledge in which you are about to receive? Are you open to learning new concepts, or do you think you know it all already? What will define who you are when you look back at this time in your life in the years to come? Do you consider yourself open minded or a closed book? Think about the true efforts you are putting forth towards your future right now with your education. What are you willing to sacrifice to reach your goals? New mindsets? Are you willing you give up preconceived notions, your weekend plans?
Look who you started with in school and who remains. What separates you from another? We are all alike, yet all different. How do some of us rise above adversity and why do some of us fall? I don’t know. But it’s your path, your plan. Handle your business. Stop making excuses and get it done. There will always be something that stands in your way. Get over it, that’s life. That’s not to belittle life’s difficulties. Life is hard. However, that is not a newsflash. But you are not alone here. That is the glory of our school. Build a community here. Utilize the resources and Judge ye not people. Work together. Word to the wise, none of us are really any better than another. We have no idea what goes on after hours in someone else’s home. So stop playing games, you don’t need to prove here just how hard you are, that’s not what you are here for. We are here to grow together, learn together, to develop opportunities for our future together. That’s what I’m here for…a j-o-b. Right? Go back to your questions at the beginning and step your game up. Start representing the school as you want it to be remembered by.

Now is your time to stand up and come together as Southwestern College Students and Southwestern Staff and Faculty. Pull together, work together, and let’s make our futures a reality. It is our time to define and create our ever evolving culture here. Every six weeks we bring in new students and every quarter existing students graduate. Continue to set an example for one another. Raise the bar for what we can expect out of one another and what we should expect out of ourselves. You, your families, and as a community; we all depend on our success here. Let’s make it happen!

‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ by Jean Rhys

It is hard for me to imagine how Wide Sargasso Sea would be read by a person who isn’t familiar with Jane Eyre. (It’s actually just hard for me to imagine the lives of people who haven’t read Jane Eyre, but that’s another story.) For the most part, I think Wide Sargasso Sea is very accessible to all readers, which is refreshing and unusual for a spin-off book. The book tells the story of Mr. Rochester’s first wife, the crazy woman in the attic. Jane Eyre sympathizes with Mr. Rochester; Wide Sargasso Sea is unforgiving of his treatment of his wife. For the most part I think Wide Sargasso Sea is very accessible to all readers, which is refreshing and unusual for a spin-off book. However, despite the fact that Wide Sargasso Sea stands well on its own, it is even better when the reader is able to make comparisons.

The first thing that strikes me about Wide Sargasso Sea is that the girl, Antoinette Cosway seems to be likened to Jane Eyre. They are both lonely and poor as children with very little care or attention from their parental figures. Both latch on to a kind maid for companionship. Later, both leave home to go to school where they greatly admire the women who work as teachers. This is drastically different than Mr. Rochester’s comparison of Jane and his first wife in Jane Eyre: “This young girl [Jane] who stands so grave and quiet at the mouth of hell, looking collectedly at the gambols of a demon [Antoinette]. I wanted her just as a change after that fierce ragout. Wood and Briggs, look at the difference! Compare these clear eyes with the red balls yonder- this face with that mask-this form with that bulk”. My impression after reading Jane Eyre is that the two women are very different; my impression after reading Wide Sargasso Sea is that they are very much alike.

The other thing that strikes me about the relationships between these books is the difference between the sexuality of the two women. Jane Eyre is the very essence of self-denial while Antoinette is not. Granted, there were 100 years between the two novels, but I think the contrast is significant. Are affectionate, sexual women to be feared and ostracized? Would Mr. Rochester have accepted Antoinette if she had been repulsed by sexuality? These are all interesting questions, and hopefully we’ll all be a little less sympathetic towards Rochester after reading Wide Sargasso Sea.

Newspaper Naming Contest !

HI everyone !

I am taking over the student newspaper!

You may have seen the signs around the school !

We are having a NEWSPAPER NAMING CONTESt
I think with a revamp we should have a new name !

Stop by the library and fill out a sheet of paper with your ideas and your suggestions and place it in the box. The final name will be choosen on the 20th of August and the winner will receive a Southwestern College Goodie bag filled with cool stuff as well as a feature story on the FRONT PAGE.

So for your chance at being front page news stop by the library and see Me ( Heidi) and submitt your Ideas !

Thanks Everyone Have a great weekend !!!!!

-Heidi

Nickel and Dimed -Barbara Ehrenreich

Nickel and Dimed "On (Not) Getting By in America"

-Barbara Ehrenreich

In this book, a fairly well off author and writer, Barbara decides to take on the plight of the working poor. Those workers all over the country working several jobs at minimum wage and more than 40 hours a week to put food on the table and barely getting by. She moves around the country to many different states doing many different jobs and finds just how hard it is to make it on a minimum wage salary.
Ehrenreich's book is writing like a novel but with startling facts interspersed. Ehrenreich gives an honest insight into the sacrifices and the trade-offs of the working class poor.