Letter to My Future Self from a High School Senior

Dear my Future Successful Self,

Did you forget about me?  Don't forget that I was the one who got you to where you are.

I'm fairly normal as far as high school seniors go.  I'm taller than some people but shorter than most everyone else, I don't get an A+ in all my classes but I refuse to get a C, I try to fit in by being like my friends, I have a part-time job that I say I'm going to quit after every shift, and I don't like homework even though I do it anyways.

I thought about you a lot in high school these past four years.  Both times I moved, when I didn't feel accepted, when I couldn't get a date to prom.  I thought about how you wouldn't even be phased by these things so why should I, so I brushed them off.  But most of the times I thought about you actually got me very excited and happy.  The first time I wrote a short story in freshman English, when I got my license, when I committed to my college.  All these milestones got me closer to you.

I think the reason I looked to you during those times was because you were so many things.  You were a scientist, a pharmacist, an author, an elementary school teacher, a high school teacher, a special education teacher, a reporter, a journalist; all while all I was was a high school student.  I was stuck reading books about history I didn't care about, learning equations for math I was never going to use and you were doing exactly what you wanted to do.  You were so passionate and focused that you were able to do anything you set your mind to.  When you wanted to discover a drug to cure your heart disease you did that, when you wanted to change the lives of young children you did that, when you wanted to be an editor of a popular newspaper you did that.

But, even though you inspired me to do my best, I sometimes felt like I couldn't live up to you.  I felt shadowed by your achievements and what would happen if I couldn't be as good as you?  Not to mention that regardless of your successful life I want to be better than you.  But not even being able to measure up as an equal?  Would I be a failure in my eyes?  In your eyes?

This fear, and it really was, is what pushed me to be the best that I could be in high school.  Always aspiring to be more than the average high school student.  This happened, I think, without my noticing for a while.  Freshman year I was just a meek band kid who couldn't speak to people without getting nervous.  Now?

Now I'm a highly-opinionated, motivated, won't-let-anything-get-in-the-way avid reader with over 60 books on my shelf, writer of anything from novels to breaking news stories, singing dancer of mostly the Just Dance video game, actor, improv-genius, caring motherly figure to my friends and family who isn't afraid to speak in front of people about global issues and my favorite TV show at the time with an obsession for Disney, girl whose proud of who she has become with a future like yours ahead of me.

This girl that am I and you were is the one who set up your future for you.  I got you into college and chose your career path that you have hopefully stuck with.  But it's okay if you didn't.  It can just be another thing to add to the list of things that you were in my 17-year-old head.

In two weeks, when I walk across the stage and get my diploma, I will no longer be a high schooler.  I'll be an almost-college student and then soon after that a college student.  There is no going back but, I promise that I will leave you with great memories, potential, and hopefully someone as inspiring to you as you have been to me.

Sincerely Yours,
     Your High School Self

What Will Move Faster: Zika Virus or the Government?

Zika virus funds are currently being debated by the House of Representatives and the Senate.  Where the money should come from, how much should be used, and if there should be spending cuts in other areas of the budget to appropriate the fund are the main questions at hand.

After asking the House for $1.9 billion for this emergency fund in February, President Obama and his administration were asked to use $622 million of the leftover Ebola epidemic funds for the Zika fund.  Adversely the Senate voted to compromise with the Obama administration with a $1.1 billion Zika fund budget.  If history is any indication this might not get decided on very quickly.

Even though concerns for the virus reaching America grows, especially in the wake of mosquito season, the House of GOP leaders don't want to back any compromise unless the cost is offset by some sort of budget cut somewhere else.

The Republican politicians are stuck between showing that they won't bend the budget spending and fighting this dangerous virus that continues to spread into the United States.  The administration confirmed 1,200 Zika virus cases in the contiguous United States and territories, 110 of them being pregnant women.  This is particularly concerning due to the birth defects that occur because of this virus.

According to the Washington Post, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said, "When you've got an emergency situation, you really need to get funding as quickly as you possibly can.  We're running out of time."

Americans can't wait for the government to agree upon funding when the speed of this virus is dangerously faster.

The North Carolina "Bathroom Bill" Depends on Two Opposing Sides

Hours apart, two opposing complaints were filed over North Carolina's "bathroom bill" that bans transgender people from using the bathroom of the gender they identify with last Monday.  The law states that people must use the bathroom that matches the sex on their birth certificate.

The state of North Carolina states that their law "does not discriminate against transgender people or treat transgender employees differently from non-transgender employees," according to the Washington Post.  But the civil rights office of the Justice Department believes the law to violate civil rights and be about "a great deal more than just bathrooms," said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch when the lawsuit was filed.

Those who back North Carolina's "bathroom bill" say that it is to protect women from rape and sexual assault.  The Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center of the University of Michigan  identifies the myth that transgender people are more likely to rape, when in reality "there are no statistics that support the idea that lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered individuals are more likely to commit sexual assault or be sex offenders than heterosexuals."

According to Rape Response Services Online, more than 50% of those who identify as transgender have been raped or sexually assaulted at some point in their life.  They are more likely to be victims of rape by heterosexual males who account for 98% of all rapists according to the Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine.

Last Monday, the legislature and governor of North Carolina sued to protect this "bathroom bill" that the U.S. Department of Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union says violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Lynch said "It was not so very long ago that states, including North Carolina, had signs above restrooms, water fountains and on public accommodations keeping people out based upon a distinction without a difference."

The Education Department said they are considering cutting North Carolina's funding of more than $4 billion because of this law.  This wouldn't be the first time the government has withheld funds due to civil rights issues.  They stopped funding many Southern states during the 1960s that refused to desegregate.

The University of North Carolina's President Margaret Spellings knows that the school cannot function without federal funding and says the University "will obey the state law without changing any policies or enforcing the bathroom requirements," according to USA Today College.

At this point two courts could take up this case.  CNN says The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina's Western Division where North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory filed the lawsuit against the Justice Department or the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina where the Justice Department filed its case against the state of North Carolina.

Gay Cyclist Puts Anti-LGBT Preacher in His Place

Gay cyclist quiets a street preacher.  Pink News.

As a Christian street preacher advocated against homosexuals outside a comic book store in Glasgow, England on Saturday a passing gay cyclist silenced him. The anti-LGBT street preacher shouted about the immortality of sexual sins and eventually got to the point where he said that gay people were going to hell.

This last remark stopped the cyclist. 

According to Pink News, the mystery cyclist said, “I’m gay! I’m gay, so say it to me."  The preacher then told the man that he "needs to repent and find God's love" to which to cyclist responded, “I love me, I don’t need a god to do it," according to Pink News. 

The nearby shoppers who had been trying to ignore the street preacher applauded the cyclist as he sped off down the street, not having to hear the homophobic sermons on his way out of the city center. 

According to Pink News the street preacher was convicted of a public order offense and tried in court. But, the judge ruled that he was not guilty on the account that he has a right to free speech.