I am still in crisis over the whole "REAL WORLD" idea. The caps indicate the serious foreboding that comes when people say the phrase. What is not real about my life right now? I guess my debt is only marginally real, since student loans are deferred until you graduate, but since I'm not officially graduating until December and have to start paying back loans in a few weeks, it's becoming more and more and more real. But gee, it's only $400 a month (which is more than $50 more than I pay in rent a month! Talk about screwing up a budget!). Yikes. Employment looks more and more enticing.

Let's see. It's been awhile. Since we both got on with things, the blog has suffered. I wish it wouldn't, but I'm guilty.

Visited Minneapolis for a wedding. Very interesting, since it was a religious affair of the variety I used to be a part of, but have rejected. Unlike S, I was raised in a religious household and am no longer open to Christianity's many flavors -- I have made my own informed decision. I support the major tenets of the religion: 1. Recognize that there is a power and force higher than us, and respect that; and 2. Treat other people the way that you would like to be treated. I cannot mesh that with the ceremony that surrounds it, seeming to enmesh it in hypocrisy. I have to live according to the laws of nature as I see them, not the law as interpreted by others. But that decision is based on a thorough knowledge of the religion of which I was part (not naming names, but they have been much in the negative news lately...). WIthout that experience, I agree that being open to the experience is good. I just wouldn't be able to "do" religion for someone else -- I could try it for them, but not continue if it didn't work for me.

I'm having a hard time recognizing all the hypocrisy in the world right now. I see it in my own life -- I see corporate America killing the American Dream it is an example of, and yet I shop at Target because I can't afford to buy Kleenex (another corporate brand) at the little grocery. I'm trying to figure out balance. One cannot really fight the system (and the "Man") at all levels of life without going slowly insane. But I cannot in good conscience embrace things I don't agree with -- even though I sometimes have to. It's this give and take that I am worried about -- once I get out into that "real world" everyone keeps talking about, will I be beat down and become one of the "suits" I see and pity in the airport? Were they filled with ideas and dreams once too? Are they still and I just cannot see it? I just don't want to stop fighting, and I'm not sure how to ensure that I don't get beaten down.

On a side note, the fight against corporate America is moving forward. A lawsuit filed by a female employee of WalMart, wherein she attacks their unfair prescription coverage (it covers Viagra and other sexual aids, but not birth control) has been declared an appropriate class action suit (the wording of that is awkward, but I'm not the one with the law degree). As WalMart is a huge employer nationwide, and more than 50% of their employees are women, if the employees win, this will set a beatifully clear legal precedent -- that birth control should be covered by company health insurance plans. Pray that we can chalk one up for women's reproductive rights! Just think: If everyone knew about and had reasonable access to good birth control options, we might be able to stop the ongoing and never productive debates about abortion. If there were many fewer unplanned pregnancies, there would be many fewer abortions. No woman wants to go through an abortion -- she just doesn't want to go through the pregnancy either.