How many times have I said I'd get better at this whole blogging thing? Who knows, I've started writing this post at least 10 times. I can never get the words to sound right or get the motivation to shape them to sound how I want them to.
Things have been interesting around here, to say the least. Some days are good, others are worse but over all things just keep moving forward if I like it or not. I need to start blogging again, writing down what is going on and my opinion about everything.
For instance that Wall Street Journal Op-Ed by Suzy Lee Weiss. Y'all know which one I am talking about, people have been raging about it for the past few weeks. I've read the article a few times and watched a few interview and in all honesty I agree with her. I don't agree with everything she says mind you and I feel like it would be very easy to get offended by that article but she raises some great points.
Like Suzy I don't offer much diversity. I'm a middle class white girl from New Orleans. My parents both went to college, both have masters degrees, and I have never been left wanting. Like Suzy I am lucky, luckier than either of us realize probably. I have plenty to be proud of and have done some pretty cool things in my sixteen years on earth but as far as diversity, I am lacking. Maybe not as much as Suzy is, after all I am Jewish, from New Orleans, and have more volunteer hours than I know what to do with. Hell I'd have a lot more if I tracked my Soldiers Angels work in a more dedicated fashion.
Just like Suzy I am trying to figure out what do to with the rest of my life. After almost twelve years of schooling making a change is a loaded choice that I will spend many sleepless nights thinking about. SATs, ACTs, APs, and personal essays fill my nightmares as well as many of Americas teens. They do tell us to just be ourselves. But being ourselves isn't good enough anymore. Everyone pads their resumes or at least makes things sound more professional and advanced then they really are. Babysitter becomes Child Care Executive, dog walker becomes Canine Care Specialist. I could easily go on.
Even when applying to part time jobs people want to know your experience. Get three professional references and talk about a time where you improvised and it worked. Let me tell you something. I don't have three professional references. Technically I do, but they are from the same job. A job that has nothing to do with the one I am applying for. I just want to stock shelves and save up for college, not cure cancer. Not that any college will want me, I have no work experience! They want us to be ourselves but generally being yourself just isn't good enough anymore.
I'm not saying I deserve to get into an Ivy League school because honestly I don't want to go to one. But to apply to the schools that are right for me, the ones that I have worked hard to find, I feel like I have to be something more than myself. Being me should be good enough to get a college degree. I have pushed myself to succeed and over come a lot of things. So have many other teenagers all across America who are finding out that just being yourself is no longer good enough. It use to be that having great grades and scores were enough. That is just the starting point these days. Now you need that, plus a great job, volunteer experience, a killer essay, amazing recommendations, and a sob story. Almost no one has all of that so we all lie about it. And it slowly starts to snowball, getting to the point where people aren't being accepted for who they are but who they pretend to be. And the kids that do have everything that schools are looking for? The ones that don't pad their resumes and worked hard at things they loved. They get lost in the shuffle.
I don't want this to get misinterpreted as another whiney white girl feeling like she deserves more than she has gotten. I am blessed to not have to work just yet, rather to be getting a job because I want to. I don't have to worry about how to pay for college which I know is rare. I truly have the opportunities to do what ever I want to with my life, and I am blessed in more ways than I know. But I also see the flaw in the system like Suzy. And like her I don't want to sit around and pad my resume. I am working hard to be the change I wish to see in this world and to do that I need my voice to be heard. Not because I deserve it, but because I will earn that right. I may be young, and have a lot to learn, but I will make a difference. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday. A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, and this is mine. No more would have, could have, should have. This is my first step.
I'd also love to hear your experience with the college application process. Did you pad your resume? Do you still? I'd love to hear about it!
