photo WarriorQueenHeader_zpsa2d93a61.png

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Things have been a little crazy...

okay but when aren't they? Since I haven't been procrastinating homework this week I haven't been looking up things online and being inspired for blogs. SO I will just post some images I found on Tumblr :)














Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Rachel's Words of Wisdom

You probably haven't met Rachel yet. She's outspoken and amazing and the designer of the logo / tattoo that currently resides on my wrist. She's also one of my biggest sources of strength. I don't know why she doesn't just post on here on her own (hint hint nudge nudge Rach) buuuuut she did post this on tumblr and give me permission to share with you.

Every day, look in the mirror and tell yourself that you’re beautiful. You must learn to love yourself before you can love someone else. You are forced to live with yourself, so you might as well learn to love YOU. No one knows you better than you do. And only you know what you’re truly thinking. Take a moment to think about what you’re good at, what your strong points are, what makes you different from anyone else. Smile, for you have gotten to live another day.. And be happy for all that you have.. And not sad for all that you don’t. To be loved by yourself is far more powerful than to be loved by others. Never tell yourself you can’t do something.. Giving up isn’t an option. LOVE is POWER. :)

Have a great afternoon -- I've got another blog about domestic abuse, 7 billion people orrr something completely different to follow :)

Monday, October 24, 2011

Op-Ed piece for class

This is totally NOT WQ related but I think that everyone should know about this. Obviously this is an opinion piece I wrote for class. There are facts but it's meant to persuade. Go research the topic if it strikes a chord with you.


Mexico is right there. What separates the US and Mexico at some points seems to be nothing more than the sense of entitlement that Americans seem to have. At that borderline there are no language barriers; people who live that close speak more Spanish than English anyway. And is the US public aware that across this border – less than 50 miles from some cities in Texas a war for drugs exists.
That’s right, a war for drugs. This is not a war on drugs like the US and Mexican governments want us to believe. In these dinghy towns – particularly Juarez – everything exists to provide America with cocaine.
It’s time to stop being naive and think that the US has nothing to do with this. It’s time to stop thinking that these murders, disappearances, rapes and abundance of drug trafficking has nothing to do with American citizens and cannot affect them.
Who’s to say that an American vacationer won’t accidentally end up disappeared, raped, or murdered for being in the wrong place at the wrong time? It happens. Visitors to Mexico are warned not to leave their resorts because the safety ends there.
America, it’s time to stop ignoring this problem threatening to overspill into the US; it’s time to take the blindfold off of our eyes and see that existing in Mexico is dangerous.
To fix this problem would be to fix the US immigration problem. According to an article in the El Paso Times, the city closest to Juarez which houses many Juarez officials who are too fearful to live in the city they represent, “25,223 political asylum applications from Mexican citizens were filed between 2006 and 2010, but only 822 were granted, which amounts to 3.3 percent.” But these are only the numbers of those who applied for political asylum, and do not include the countless Mexicans fleeing to America illegally.
These people are not applying for asylum because the economy is bad in Mexico and want to take US jobs. They literally fear for their lives. They flee a government and a system that the US government supports outright. Yet, US border patrol works daily to strengthen our borders.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Unless of course, you’re fleeing a government that the US supports.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

50 Dating Rules for Smart Girls Who Don’t Need Dating Rules

TO MY WQs:

50 Dating Rules for Smart Girls Who Don’t Need Dating Rules

I got a laugh. Enjoy <3

Get Help :)

This is something that is obviously something very close to my heart since I struggle with anxiety caused by my OCD and the need to always be in control. If you feel like you have anxiety or depression or any other mental health issue go to the doctors. Even if you are having temporary anxiety due to stress, therapists and doctors are THE biggest help when you find the right one. Here's an article for that:

http://www.girlshealth.gov/feelings/therapy/index.cfm

Have a great day <3

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

UN Women Fund for Gender Equality

Do you follow our twitter? @beawarriorqueen?

If you do you've seen some of the RTs from UN Women in the past day or so because they've been doing a lot. I wanted to expand upon it and open up a forum for conversation on women globally and just to get an input on what you girls think should be important in our lives. Do you agree with what UN Women do? Do you disagree? Are you indifferent? What do you think girls should focus on? Are you content with the way you live your life or do you feel trapped some of the times because you are female?

I know I've always felt a little bit restricted and try to work toward making it a little better for us girls out there....making us realize that we have such amazing potential. Here's your chance to be a little more aware:


Women make up more than half the world’s population, but the majority of them live in poverty. For their lives to change, they need access to and control of economic resources and political power: to speak out, run for office, and support themselves and their families.Make a donation to the Fund for Gender EqualityUN Women’s Fund for Gender Equality helps change the lives of women all over the world. The Fund’s goal is to advance women’s economic and political empowerment through high-impact, multi-year grants of up to USD 5 million.
The money is awarded directly to women’s organizations and partnerships between governmental and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Spain’s donation of USD 65 million started the Fund in 2009, followed by Norway’s USD 3 million, and Mexico’s USD 800,000. The Fund totals USD 69.5 million and is one of the largest and most recent grantmaking funds dedicated to women’s rights and empowerment globally.
Since its launch in 2009, the Fund has invested USD 37.5 million in multi-year grants to 40 programmes in 35 countries. To be approved, grants must meet the highest standards and are continually monitored for effectiveness.
GRANTEES ARE HAVING AN IMPACT
In El Salvador in March 2011, advocates helped pass a national gender equity law. In China, women of three rural provinces are demanding a place at the table and training female candidates to take a greater role in government decision-making.  In Sri Lanka, a broad-based multimedia effort is training women of ethnic and religious minorities to run for office. These projects meet the Fund’s aim of political empowerment that strengthens women’s leadership — particularly of young women, indigenous women, refugee women and HIV-positive women — increasing their participation and influence in decision-making in all areas of life.
In Rwanda, 15,000 women are being helped to register to inherit and own land and property — rights only recently granted by law. In India, an effort to equip Dalit women to lobby and take advantage of new government programmes resulted in 7,200 women’s obtaining work. In Morocco, women living in 13 oasis communities are gaining both independence and income through vibrant cooperatives. These projects meet the Fund’s goal of increasing women’s economic empowerment, increasing women’s access to and control over goods, income, and land.
The Fund works on local, national and international levels. It supports the gender equality laws and policies of individual nations. It also helps the world make progress in attaining gender equality goals enshrined in international agreements, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), among others.
For instructions on how to apply, please consult the Application Guidelines. If you have questions, please review the Frequently Asked Questions or contact the Fund for Gender Equality Secretariat.
http://www.unwomen.org/how-we-work/fund-for-gender-equality/

Friday, October 14, 2011

Following my passions

This week has been about change. I'm not quite sure how it worked out this way but it is. I find this very interesting.

Let me give you a little background. Things have been a little bit spinny since school started. There was that period of time where I was too busy to post and dealing with too much crazy stuff in my life. Then I had a lull week last week where I should have been working on the stuff that is due in the next week (it's midterm week, I have so much due). But I knew that I needed to take a vacation from this all for my sanity. So I did.

This week, I have been absolutely slammed but not panicking and just working on things and rolling with the punches. I've also been extremely passionate.

My blog posts have reflected this passion and every day it seems I've had a new topic. I thought today I was going to have a nice little break to get my homework done, which for the most part I have been working on it. But, then it popped up in front of my eyes...today's passionate cause.

Invisible Children is something that I became passionate about my senior year of high school and while I have not stayed up to date on it, it's still something that I feel passionate about.

Please check out this article on what Obama is doing and educate yourself on this subject!!

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/14/world/africa/africa-obama-troops/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
http://www.discoverthejourney.org/blog/?p=502
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrva2aKW1lU

My top 13 ways of living at peace (with yourself, others and the world)

1. Be passionate. Be involved. But be loving.
2. Plant a peace pole (i'm going to do this at my mom's!)
3. Random Acts of Kindness (RAK)
4. When you're driving and you think about that person making you angry...take a deep breath and smile because you are in control of you're safety.
5. Volunteer as much as possible
6. Laugh at everything
7. Love those that have opposite opinions from you
8. Compromise
9. Be self-aware
10. Think of the words you say and take into account their affect on people (racist, sexist, ageist, ableist, etc words)
11. Play with a child and teach him/her something as often as you can.
12. surround yourself with positive and loving people.
13. Be strong in your faith, whatever it may be.


~Ubuntu~

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Love your Political Opposite

In light of all of the politics my heart has been feeling, I wanted to post a blog about love. In politics it's easy to get into a dichotomy and negative feelings between people with differing beliefs. This could be particularly upsetting when the person with differing beliefs is someone close to you. A lot of people choose not to  discuss politics but I'm too passionate to remain silent and it is too much a part of people to deny. People may claim apathy but there will always be some subject that will rile them up.

The important part to remember while we're having these discussions, is that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and we should love each other anyway. You can't change how people feel, but you can give them the resources to enlighten them through facts. Do as much research as you can and try not to let your emotions get involved with politics.

Let me give you a scenario from today:

As you may or may not be aware of, today the House of Representative passed a bill that would deny an emergency abortion in life threatening situations. Regardless of my passionate views on this subject, I found myself faced with an upsetting situation. One of my dear friends is completely opposite of me and posted some things on Facebook that upset me because of her passionate opinion and (what I see, at least)  as a lack of common sense or facts. Needless to say, I've taken a break from speaking to her until I cool my jets because I would hate to ruin our friendship over something like this.

What I'm trying to say is, while her opinion may have upset me, it doesn't change the way I feel about her. It's her opinion and I have my opinion but we have many other things in common and she is a wonderful person as a whole. Her beliefs and opinions stem from a very important part of her and, like my opinions and beliefs mean a lot to me, they mean the world to her.

So when you and a friend or someone comes into a disagreement with you, don't be angry with them or fight with them, merely love them for who they are and for having their conviction. :)

With this, perhaps we can find a middle ground and be a country united once again.

My personal Tumblr

Hey guys! I seem to be on FIRE with the blogs lately. I've got a ton to d o but I'm just feeling so involved and passionate right now. Looks like all of that stress and stuff I was dealing with took a back burner (and is not trying to control my life right now!)  There's another post tonight but in the mean-time I wanted to show you my tumblr. I post short little things on there more often and it's personal although there are stuff that i "feature" and "sticky note" that are WQ worthy!!

http://raetothewyn.tumblr.com/

Tell me what you think :)

Occupy Wall Street

I jotted this down on Tumblr earlier in a combination of reblogs and my thoughts but, of course, I wanted them to be more organized here. I think there is a lesson to be learned from this on all sides. Let's say the WQ message is to fight for what you believe in, to work your hardest despite everything trying to bring you down and to always do it peacefully.

I haven’t really been following Occupy Wall Street because of the endless amounts of more personal and closer to home issues that overtook my life for a bit but now that I’m really researching on it, I’m starting to get MAD.

This picture was my instigator. When I saw it this morning I just felt all crazy-like inside. This person may not be part of the 99% but much of the 99% does not HAVE the opportunity or the choice to be anything but part of that 99%. Also, where is this person if they aren’t part of the 99% of people who are not rich?
I’m not saying that this photograph is a lie, though I do not believe that it is the whole story. What I am saying though, is that this person’s situation is rare. Take how hard I’ve worked, my above decent GPA and the amount of things I do in my life (work, intern, freelance, school, homework, volunteer, breathe, blog, start a movement, etc) as an example. I may have received scholarships but that did not save me from debt. Life happens. This person might live in a rock if it hasn’t happened to them.
Nevertheless, people across America are frustrated with the economy and the way our politics are run. Hell, they’re probably fed up with our judicial system too. The US needs to recognize these issues and address them or there will be a coup in some way. We like our freedoms too much. Also, I want to applaud the occupiers on their nonviolent act and going through the proper channels (permits, etc).

This is a reblog:

 
While participants in Occupy Boston have done nothing more than sit around for the past week in attempt to promote open discourse about a set of reasonable ideas, two dozen New England Patriots helped build a playground in Providence today.
This is a reminder that talk is cheap, but action speaks. And sitting is a passive verb. If you love your country, go out and DO things to make it better - don’t spend your time sitting around in what’s grown into an unorganized mess that has lost sight of its original ideas.
Imagine if all those protesters had channeled all that time and energy into productivity - cleaning up our city, volunteering at local soup kitchens, helping educate children. Anybody can hold up a sign and pout. It takes a real commitment to make a statement.
- Stache 

And lastly, for more information on Occupy Wall Street read up on it via the news sources. There's plenty of information just make sure it's unbiased when you're getting your facts so you can form your own opinion. Here's a photo slide show from the NYT. :)

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

SAVE THE VAGINAS!

October is breast cancer awareness month and everywhere people are declaring SAVE THE TATAS and I <3 Boobies! How fantastic! Breast cancer awareness has become so mainstreamed that we pronounce our love of boobies daily (especially boys...those dirty dirty men).

I applaud everyone for this. HUZZAH HUZZAH! Ladies, mammograms and self-breast exams are SO important. The founders of the I <3 Boobies movement did something amazing and took this taboo subject and made it conversation safe - better yet they made it IMPORTANT for conversations.

And now, I feel like, in addition, we should move to the next taboo, yet cancer inflicted subject. That's right ladies, your cervix.

Now we can mainstream this with "I <3 Vajayjay" bracelets but that's probably going to stay a little too taboo. Can you imagine Meg Whitman or Sarah Palin with one of those bracelets on? But maybe we can come up with an approach that's less "vulgar" by their standards. Because, they have cervixes, too. This is not a problem that we should just sweep under the rugs because it means we (gasp) have to talk about sexual safety and health.

HPV is NOT funny. Nor is cervical cancer. 

So how, you may ask, can we save ourselves from it?

Yes, it is very important to get the HPV vaccine - I got mine in 2007. But HPV is not the only thing that causes cervical cancer and, like all vaccines, it is not 100% effective.

LADIES WE NEED TO PROTECT OURSELVES AGAINST STDs! (i prefer d over i, it just sounds better. an STi is a car to me...)

We all need to work on this; myself included. Condoms. Get them. They're cheap but if you don;t want to buy them make the boys buy them. Go to Planned Parenthood and get some. Ask a friend. Ask me. There is nothing more important than protecting ourselves.

Let me tell you about a little scare I had two years ago, without any fault of my own.

From 20-21 I was sure I had cervical cancer. Never mind the fact that I had gotten the HPV vaccine over 2 years before and took precautions to protect myself. My gyno scared me.  
Let me background with the fact that your immune system does not fully develop until you are 21. On women, this affects cervical health.

So in summer 2009 I went to the gyno for my annual check up. And was devastated to find out a few weeks later that my cells were abnormal and pre-cancerous. From that point on I was told I would have to return to the doctors every 3 months for a painful procedure called a colposcopy. Gyno's do this to catch cervical cancer early so you can fight it by removing the cancerous cells. This enables women to be pregnant and carry a fetus full term.
As fate would have it, shortly after my 21st I found out my abnormal cells disappeared with my updated immune system. And that I was fine. I did not have HPV. I did not have cervical cancer. The thing is, I'm not alone. I know several other women like me who went through this scary process. 

So because of this I promote health and safety for my cervix. I go to Planned Parenthood often.

I LOVE MY VAJAYJAY!! 

Do you love yours?
 
 
 

Monday, October 10, 2011

Your Voice

Have you used your voice lately?
No, I don't mean have you spoken to anyone and literally heard your voice. I mean have you used your VOICE? Have you spoken from the depths of your soul? Have you done something that you believe in?  Have you done something to promote positive CHANGE?

Because let's face it, there's always something that needs to be changed. We were not designed to be content in our lives - we're curious, we're learning every day, and we should constantly be working to make this planet - this gift that we've been given of life - to make it the best it can be.

Change does not have to be something big. As my favorite movie character says: "You can't change the world but you can make a dent." - Sheldon Mopes (Death to Smoochy). 


When's the last time you smiled at a stranger? Do it. Hug someone. Do something positive for yourself - because when you do something positive for yourself -- your positive energy is contagious. 


LOVE with every ounce of your being. SCREAM it at the top of your lungs. 




Use your voice to make a difference.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Rain drops wash it away

Hello my little WQs,

I am so sorry I've been away for so long. Let me just tell ya...the last few weeks have been anything but calm. They've been exciting, anxious, busy, drama, pricey, hot, sticky and we could even throw in scary. In short, I've been wanting to write but I've never had the time or the emotional energy to do so.

Today, however, I'm feeling feisty on my lunch break at my internship. (Did I tell you I have an internship now? That's the busy part of the equation - work, school, intern, homework, repeat).

It's raining outside and I feel like that's just a breath of relief washing away the bad of the past  few weeks. I'm usually a sunshiney girl but after all of that drama under the sun, I could use a little weather change. So here we are. Rainy days for new chances.

But before I get into the new chances bit, I'd like to post a few things that I've thought about writing about for the past few weeks.

1.  I don't know if I've ever told you how important it is to get checked for STDs and pregnancy often. It's VERY important.
2. Always have money in your savings and a way of borrowing more in case your truck jumps off a cliff
3. A good support system of friends is THE BEST
4. Check out the website Emotional Baggage it's wayyy cool
5. You don't have to tell me what's wrong, we can sit in silence together.
6. New Girl is an AWESOME new TV show. She's also me.
7. Cleaning your room cleans your head
8. StumbleUpon is SO bad when you're in school
9. Public Safety apps are on the rise -- google some like Advanced 911
10. Did you know that kids as young as 1 are using iPads?
11. Volunteering is good for your soul
12. When it rains, it pours but, as Andy Grammar says, only rainbows after rain, the sun will always come again
13.  Sometimes you're just on two different pages, but everyone reads at different speeds so you'll get there eventually. :)

Alright, now what is this business about washing things away?
I think rainy days are the perfect days for self-reflection and to make positive changes in your life!

Sit down, do it. Listen to some good music while you're thinking it out and relax :)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...