Blog Post #6: What does the Hixson award mean to me?

     "Life is not easy for any of us. But what of it? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained." - Marie Curie
I think this quote greatly exemplifies what we as Hixson scholars have gone through in life, and where we are now. We have all struggled, yet persevered, and accomplished a great feat. 
    It's difficult for me to come up with a solid answer to the question, "What does the Hixson award mean to you?" because words really cannot explain the gratitude I have for this award. All my life, I have worked so hard in everything I've done, whether it be school, sports, theatre, my job, etc. in hopes that it would all one day pay off. After everything started falling apart in my life, I cannot tell begin to say how many times I just considered giving up. I always had a small voice in the back of my head telling me to keep going, and that everything will be okay and worth it in the end. I kept going on, persevering through it all, and thriving. 
    My senior year, I was working so hard to prepare for college, and really focusing on my academics. Once I knew I was accepted to Iowa State, I started looking into scholarships, and found this one. I finally realized that this could be an opportunity for all my hard work to pay off (literally!). When I got my letter in the mail telling me I was awarded the scholarship, I felt so relieved, and so incredibly proud of myself and all my work. 
   For me, this award is a symbol for all the hard work I've done in my life, and my strength to move forward past all the hardships I faced. It was tangible evidence of my perseverance and dedication to my academics. Winning this award was the proudest moment of my life, and I will be forever grateful. I have met so many great people through this program and have already created so many memories in just my first year! I can honestly say my life has forever changed thanks to Christina Hixson and her support for my higher education. 

Diversity Event: Is the War on Drugs Helping or Harming?

    For my diversity event, I attended Is the War on Drugs Helping or Harming? Before this lecture, I was somewhat oblivious to the world of drugs and the huge debate surrounding it. I came from a high school where a lot of people did use drugs, and coming to college I realized that many people use here as well.
    The first speaker for the lecture was a professor I believe (I didn't catch his name!). He talked about marijuana, or cannabis. He said that the compounds in cannabis, known as cannabinoids, have different effects on people. Some of the medical benefits he talked about were relieving pain for cancer or AIDS patients, suppressing cancer cells, lowering pain and pressure for glaucoma, working as an antiemetic (stops vomiting) and promotes hunger for sick patients who have stopped eating to prevent them from getting weaker. The speaker also addressed the behavioral and cognitive effects cannabis has. It affects our perception, such as how we decode things and our senses. It especially affects our time perception, as the feeling of time passes more slowly using cannabis, and reduces our reaction time much like alcohol. Our memory is also disorganized, and people will forget what they are talking about. It affects our performance, even doing everyday tasks like driving a car, which could be dangerous for society.
    The next speaker was Brian Leininger, an attorney who is a member of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition). He opposes the war on drugs and wants all drugs to be legalized and regulated. He explained that billions of dollars and thousands of police are used to to arrest people with drugs. He believes that be legalizing drugs, that money and police could go towards other things, such as crimes with actual victims. He also said that with drug legalization, the black market selling drugs would be eliminated, drug related murders and rapes would be decreased and people addicted to drugs would have to rob and sell stolen items to pay for such high drug prices. He said that many lives have been ruined because of the amount of drug convicts in prison, and although people would still abuse drugs, it would eliminate a lot of the problems. Some interesting facts he said were that the last few presidents have used marijuana, and in a nationwide poll, 58% of the US were for legalizing marijuana. He also believes that Missouri will soon legalize marijuana, and other Midwestern states will follow suit. 
    I found this lecture to be very informative and interesting. I couldn't believe that an attorney was actually FOR making all drugs legal! I do think he made some very good points, and he was very convincing. However, I still don't believe all drugs should be legal. People will still use drugs no matter what, but once you legalize dangerous drugs, what else will be next? Who knows what trouble that could lead to, and what potential harm to our country and citizens it could create. I do think however, after hearing this lecture, that legalizing marijuana would not be terrible. They said that alcohol is far more dangerous than marijuana, yet it is legal and marijuana is not. I think that as long as people are smart about it, it would be okay. I'm mostly for it because Colorado's and Washington's economy has vastly profited since they decided to legalize, so I think that it could benefit Iowa's economy as well. 

Blog Post #5: Cultural Diversity

   To quote Ron Burgundy, "Diversity is an old, old wooden ship that was used during the Civil War era." Though this is a convincing definition, Sylvester's presentation really helped me get a better grasp on what diversity actually is. Having acceptance for diversity will definitely help in the professional world, and just in the general social world as well.
   In the class activity, I chose sister, low middle class, daughter, white, student, friend, Hixson scholar, female, actor and vegetarian as the dimensions of my identity. I'm sure people make judgments based on these dimensions. I get judged for being a Hixson scholar, because people don't understand what we have been through to get this award. I'm also judged for being female, because of the sexism that still exists today, and also for being a vegetarian, because everyone just assumes I'm a weirdo :).
   I'd assume that I share a lot of these dimensions with people from our group, such as sister, daughter, white, student, friend, low middle class and of course Hixson scholar! I don't think any one else is an actor or vegetarian from Teal Team Six, so I'm unique there!
   Although it wasn't a stereotype, I loved Eva's story about how she didn't know she was black! It just proves that color and other differences are just taught, and that we are born without judgment towards those types of differences. Sylvester's story about how he doesn't have to take precautions at night walking by himself really made me think. Because of my gender, I have to be careful and think twice because I don't have all the privileges that men do.
   One thing that I will do to support what I've learned in class is to try and attend a diversity event this week, and hopefully more in the future. I think it is very important to learn more about others and their culture and ways because this is a very diverse school!

Have a wonderful week everyone!