Greetings from Iowa

Well. It appears that I haven't posted since there was snow on the ground! I can attribute that to two things: teaching myself to actually attempt completing all my homework (and no, that doesn't mean in the bathroom five minutes before the class starts) and being in a relationship. My first, actually. The fact that thinking about K, talking about K, texting K, or finding any way to physically be near K took up quite a lot of my time is probably one of the reasons he drifted, and that was why we broke up earlier today. Oh well. He was a jerk about it too, so that doesn't make it any harder to get over him! At least we were still together when prom came around. My dress was cuter than he ever was...

Anyways. Enough narcissism. Here's what's been on my mind lately:

• The Steubenville Rape Case. My favorite vlogger Laci Green tells it like it is in this genius video right here. To sum it up: no matter how bright the future of the rapist, no matter how popular or smart or anything, you NEVER NEVER N.E.V.E.R. blame the victim for being raped, you blame the rapist for raping. How hard can that be to understand?! They ruined their own lives (and the victim's!) for raping this girl. The victim didn't do a single thing to them. 
• Up-and-coming New Zealand musician Lorde. As a classically trained singer, I tend to be hypercritical of pop artists, but I cannot get these songs out of my head. In a good way though, not like when you get something hellish in your head like Macarena or nursery rhymes. Listen to her new EP on her SoundCloud for free. Recommended tracks: hit single Royals and Million Dollar Bills. 
• Although I'm currently boggled down with assigned reading for school, I can't wait to start Maya's Notebook, author Isabel Allende's latest. It seems to teem with all my literary guilty pleasures: magical realism, coming-of-age, gangs, drugs, family drama, and friendship. 
• A mother found her seven-year-old daughter's "diet list" and posted a picture of it to her parenting blog. Haunting, isn't it? You know you're too young to even consider a "diyet" if you can't even spell the word. I can't even remember what I was doing at seven, but it sure wasn't "pooshups"or tracking my "froot" intake. Now, it's certainly good to encourage exercise, especially to young kids, but not for the sake of getting skinnier! You know the media's truly screwed up when their propaganda of making us want to change our bodies so they can make money has even affected girls who are in THIRD GRADE. Girls are not humanly meant to be sexualized at that age. That's called stealing a childhood. 

• Focusing on an upcoming community service project I'll be taking on involving Kvennaathvarf, the sole women's shelter in all of Iceland. Stay tuned.
• What else? K was going to teach me how to play the guitar, but we're no longer a couple, so I don't know what to do with it now. Oh well.