I posted a comment on theblogger2's post about cell phones and technology.  I agree with him/her that technology plays a huge role in our daily lives and that is just not phones, but computers and other forms of technology as well.  

Teen Pregnancy

Recently, it seems that a lot of the news spotlight has been on the topic of teen pregnancy.  This is largely due to both the pregnancy of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter and the birth of 17 year old Jamie Lynn Spears's baby girl.  However, when one looks at these two specific situations, teen pregnancy seems almost glamorous.  For example, in a recent issue of people magazine, there are pictures of Jamie Lynn and her fiance with their new baby.  These pictures portray a very happy 17 year old mother with her beautiful little girl in an almost perfect life.  The harsh truth about teen pregnancy is that thousands of teenage girl a year have to life with taking care of a baby while, at the same time, trying to live as "normal" of a life as they possibly can.

The United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the world, and although dropping in the past years, is still too high(www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_ATSRH.html).  Teenage pregnancy results in less teenagers going to college and more people having to be on welfare.  Through this post, I am in no way trying to say anything against those who have had children as teenagers, but rather try and think about what works in helping to prevent these pregnancies.  I believe that as a nation, there has been a lot of action towards preventing teen pregnancy such as online resources, national programs, and even ads on television and billboards.  In fact, while writing this blog, I was watching a TV program on the CW and there was an addition at the end of the show warning teenagers against teen pregnancy.  

This leads me to another point.  There is consistently a condescending tone when this subject is brought up.  Some people act as if a teen pregnancy could be the most humiliating thing that could happen to a person.  This, to me, makes matter even worse.  This attitude has to scare young teenage mothers into either not telling their family about their pregnancy or not searching for the help that is out there for them because they feel embarrassed or ashamed.  How is that supposed to help any situation? 

I'm sure there are people out there who are dead set on being against Palin simply because her 17 year daughter is pregnant and unwed.  First of all, that is no one's business but the families and secondly, teenage pregnancy is not by any means a legitimate basis to judge anyone. I am not saying that teenage pregnancy should be supported, but I feel that if there was more support from our communities where young women find themselves in this situation, then they would feel more comfortable getting help and creating a better future for both them and their child. 

I commented on GETSOMEYEAH's blog about managing school work and going out.

College Roommates

Technically, I'm not an only child, but i am the youngest of three sisters; one of whom is six years older than I am and the other twelve years older.  In a way this has made me the only child for the past six years of my life.  Both of my older siblings live in different cities far from my hometown. I was the only teenager living in the house and it's no exaggeration to say that all of my parents attention was on me for those six years; not necessarily  in a good way.  In any case, my specific situation made me extremely nervous about coming to college and having to share a rather small room with one other girl for an entire school year.  To make it worse, I was doing a potluck roommate.

It turns out I could not have chosen a better girl to live with myself.  She and I are very similar and easy going, but that does not change the fact that I am not used to having to share such a small and tight space.  Overall, we haven't had any problems so far, knock on wood, but there are the small things that take some getting used to that I never even thought of when living "alone".  For example, I'm the type of person who loves to just have times where your room is quit and you can concentrate on what you need to without any distractions.  I'm not saying my roommate is by any means distracting, but of course she has to go through her daily routine as well.  So if I'm trying to take a nap or trying to do some reading that requires a lot of attention, she might be getting ready for something and opening and closing things around the room. This, of course, is not by any means her fault, it's just something I'm not used to.  

I'm sure the same goes for her.  In fact, the other day I burst into our room after a class.  I turn on the lights, start blaring the music, and typing away on my computer.  Little did i think to check and see if she was in there.  I mean you would think it wouldn't be hard to find your roommate in these small rooms, but she happened to be hidden and wrapped in her covers and pillows taking a nap.  It wasn't until three minutes later when I heard a noise that I realized she was there and I had completely woken her up from her nap with my really obnoxious noises.  

Having a roommate is good in so many ways and certainly teaches me lessons as a person and about sharing space for the first time, but it certainly takes some time to learn how to adjust.  How have your roommate experiences turned out so far?