Here we GO!!!!

People have been suggesting I start a blog because I am apparently a very interesting person. While I'm not sure how accurate that is, I do have things I'd like to share, and I also hope to learn something about myself through blogging. I have tried [numerous times] to write in a journal or diary, and I think the most I have lasted is two days, therefore if I manage to keep this up at all I will consider it a success regardless of whether anyone else gets something from my words. What kept me from starting a blog was I could not think of what my overarching subject would be, but I decided today that I have the most to say about my feminist and gender studies views, and my current quest for spirituality. That's where I'm coming from, and hopefully this entry will serve as an introduction.

Today I took the level II Reiki class and spent 8 hours in the lovely Mayo Meditation Room enjoying stained glass windows and positive thoughts. For those of you who do not want to take the time to Wiki/Google that crazy word, Reiki is a form of hands-on energy healing (on second thought maybe you should Google it...) wherein, if nothing else, the receiver feels relaxed. After taking the first level last March, I have done Reiki on myself (and Neko, my lovely cat) nearly every day. I use it to get rid of headaches, stomach pain, anxiety, and before I go to sleep to get more relaxed. The second level allows for distance healing so now I can send these good feelings to my dear roommate and sister in France, or my friends a few blocks away; I feel limitless!

Learning about Reiki has made me realize something is lacking in my spiritual life. To find something to fill this void I am looking into meditation, studying the chakra system, and trying out different churches when I can find the time to do so. Unfortunately being a full-time student leaves little time for self-reflection, and clearly my body is starved for me-time. As I commence on the 21-day cleanse that accompanies the Reiki attunement process, I plan to be more aware of myself on all four levels of healing: physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional. While my body flushes out the toxins that have been building up since last spring, I will adjust my life to find a greater balance.

Now as for the feminist introduction. I began thinking critically about gender several years go as a college freshmen after taking the course, Politics of Sex which looked at the intersections of race, class, power, and gender. Since then I have studied the inequalities between men and women and the social construction of gender becoming enraged and frustrated. However I feel the first step towards change is education, and I realize not everybody has been exposed to queer and feminist theory, and the majority of the population has never thought about gender. Hopefully I can pose some of my questions and views here and they raise questions for everyone else. Whether you agree with me or not does not make much of a difference, but as long as you think about what I say (because I certainly do not want anyone to take my word as truth) to form your own opinion, I will be content. Either way, right now I am taking 3 women's classes, Gender Labor and Politics, the Deviance of Femininity, and Women in Modern America, and it gives me a lot to think about.

While this may be construed as a side-note, it is an important part of my passion for women’s studies: my greatest pet peeve is opinions without reason. By this I mean someone believing something simply because that is what their parents taught them or they heard it from a friend or a teacher or whatever. Don’t be lazy and do a little research to make an informed opinion that is your own. If you do not believe in evolution or are pro-life, I want a reason besides the Bible; the Enlightenment happened centuries ago and opinions demand some reason and rationale. I have no problem with your opinions opposing mine as long as you have reasons. I require thoughtfulness! --- BTW I do not believe evolution and creationism are mutually exclusive because the Bible is not meant to be taken literally, and I am pro-choice because while I would never get an abortion myself, I support a woman’s reproductive rights.

It’s time for bed because I have class tomorrow (yes, on a Saturday) at 9am. I know this entry is kind of rough, but give me a little while to get into it and establish myself, all that jazz… Thank you all for putting up with my rambling, I feel like I wrote for a while but didn't really say anything, but perhaps that is what happens at the beginning. What do I know, I don't blog.