(FEAR OF) WORMS

Worms. This may be a common fear. Yet, maybe not. I can't tell if it's the lack of legs, or maybe it's the way they scrunch up and down to move, or it could possibly be the texture of their skin. I honestly cannot pick out the worst part about them, but whatever it is...it's BAD!

Okay, I might have lied...just a bit. I do like some worms, but only the gummy kind.

My nightmares consist of worms, constantly. Being anywhere that is infested with them. It reminds me of that old T.V. show, Fear Factor. You could not pay me enough money to lay down or stand up in a tank of worms. Never would I ever.

It is way more common for people to have a fear of parastic worms, but I have a fear of all of them. Maggots included. Actually, I don't know what the phobia name would be, but I have a fear of all animals that have less than two legs or more than four. (I only say this because I have seen a three-legged chinchilla at Timberlee...and I LOVE chinchillas!) So, I guess you could include spiders, snakes, and ticks in this category as well. Along with many other insects...oh, like millipedes. YUCK!

Out of all of the insects though worms are my least favorite. There is only one experience that I can recall back to that confirms my fear of worms. Every summer my friends and I would spend it at my friends campground. At of course they sold worms there, like every bait shop would at a campground. We were talking about fears, mine being worms. Immediately my friends grabbed one out of a container, tossing it back and forth, thus causing me to go into a panic attack. They chased me around and some how I unhooked my friends bra with my elbows. I can't tell you how or why. But I did.

WORST. EXPERIENCE. EVER.

I hate worms.

What's your biggest fear?

WIKILEAK RIGHTS!

Here in the United States we are privlaged enough to have freedom of almost everything. When Julian Assange created Wikileaks, he was thinking that the citizens of the United States should have the right to know what their government is doing, right or wrong, in other countries and even here in the United States. Along with Assange comes the other outragious acts that were committed by Chealsea Manning and Edward Snowden.

I completely understand the reasoning behind letting the public know of all crimes and morally wrong doings done by the government, but when releasing this information to the citizens they also released the information all over. Everyone, even our enemies, can read this information. So what does that do for us?

With all of this Wikileaks information getting out, we as a country are able to speak our mind. With this classified information we are able to know what is happening behind closed doors. We can protest and speak our minds and we may be able to persuade the government to change their ways. We are also fortuante enough to have the consitutional right to publsih whatever we wish, including secrets, no matter how terrible and sensitive.

On the other hand, other countries are able to access this information and it could be putting the U.S. in danger. Other countries could use this information to fight against us. That is one scary thought.

Overall, the actions that these folks have taken were wrong, but the ideas behind them are fabulous. We as a country deserve to know what is happening around us and who we are being presented as in other areas of the world. We also deserve the chance to take the giant target away from our backs, and that won't happen if other countires hear what terrible things we have done.

EXCERPTS FROM FULLER, WOLLSTONECRAFT, AND STEINEM: ARE WE EQUAL?

Are we equal? When reading each of these excerpts I kept thinking to myself about those stupid, unfortunately common phrases often said by immature high school boys, "Why aren't you in the kitchen?" or "Go make me a sandwich." I find it quite sad that this is what I first thought of when reading these articles.

Equality is something we strive for and have been striving for, forever. Whether it is gay rights, African American's rights, or women's rights - they are all generally the same. To be completely honest the first two articles I read were extremely difficult to understand. Maybe it's the time period or my lack of a rich vocabulary...or both. Either way I only understood bits and pieces from each excerpt.

The one excerpt that I completely understood and actually laughed at (SURPRISE, SURPRISE!) was If Men Could Menstruate by Gloria Steinem. In this altered universe that she created through her writing everything made sense. She started off by saying something along the lines that if men could menstruate it would become a masculine event. Sadly, this is probably true. I can definatly see a group of guys sitting around bragging about how much Midol they didn't take, because they could stand the pain. I also couldn't help but chuckle about all of these feminine, oops i mean masculine products that would be sold at every Walgreen's across America. The other thing that I found to be completely true, and not so much funny, is the religion portion of this blessed event. When Jesus died on the cross, men would use the "He gave this blood for our sins," speech.

So why isn't this true when women have their monthly gift? Is it because we are lesser? No. Is it because we aren't men? Maybe. I loved the way Steinem ended her essay, so I am going to do the same as she did. Just let this sink in.

"The truth is that, if men could menstruate, the power justifications would go on and on."