She Gets It: Sadie Robertson

What first comes to mind when you see this?

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The emotions associated with Duck Dynasty range from adoration to abhorrence. In our society, you would be hard pressed to find any American without an opinion falling somewhere on that spectrum. Very few people have remained untouched by this show and family, for better or for worse.

In case you aren’t familiar with the Robertson family and the Duck Dynasty franchise, here is a guide to catch you up:

– Duck Dynasty began its first season in March 2012 on A&E; it’s 7th season kicks off tonight.

– The show chronicles the daily lives of the Robertson family from Monroe, Louisiana. They own a family business, Duck Commander, where they create products for duck hunters, namely duck calls.

– The Robertson’s are devoutly and openly Christian and place a high value on family.

– Following is a family tree:

There has been plenty of controversy raised from the show stemming from the Robertson’s Christian values. The controversy that took the world by storm came last December in 2013. When questioned in an interview with GQ Magazine on his opinion about homosexuality, the patriarch of the family, Phil Robertson, using the Bible, specifically 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, stated the debauchery of homosexuality.

To be honest, I was never a huge fan of the show; I had only seen a handful of episodes, I’m not a country girl, and I’ve never been hunting. However, as a devout Christian myself, I took notice once the comments were released and the backlash began. In an effort to not revive this issue, I’ll just say this: Was he right? Yes. Was he Biblical? Yes. Was he graceful in his answer? Not so much.

However, what I really want to talk about is the granddaughter of Phil Robertson, Sadie Robertson. The dimple faced 17 year-old is on this season of Dancing with the Stars and let me just say, she is killing it. The girl can dance. But what has really grabbed my eye and blown my mind is who she is as a person. She is as sweet and down-to-Earth as they come. She has used her fame as a platform for Jesus. And it’s infectious.

Sadie Robertson

There are plenty of stars that claim, and are, Christians. But there is no one quite like Sadie Robertson. She gives the glory to God in every situation; she stands by her values in her dance moves and costumes choices. Her social media pages show her dressed in modest, but adorable outfits. She shares verses of scripture, prayers, and encouragements with her fans and followers. She recently released a book that has teenaged girls across the U.S. dedicating their lives to a faith and a God so much greater than themselves or any one person, even Sadie Robertson herself. How many people would write a book that brought them zero glory or fame? Not too many is my guess.

On Tuesday, the rising dancer took to her Instagram account, legitsadierob, to share the following thoughts:

After seeing this, it’s hard to believe she is only 17. If we’re being completely honest, there aren’t too many 17 year olds with this kind of spiritual maturity, I definitely wasn’t one of them. There is something incredible about her hearing the comment, knowing the scripture, and sharing that. She gets it. She really gets it.

And even though I’m just a few years removed from 17 myself, I see in her such greatness and such a potential to change the world just by being who she is. She believes the same things her family does and supports what her grandfather, Phil, said in GQ. What’s different is she does it with a little more grace and finesse and people love that. People love her. And Sadie really loves Jesus. You don’t need me to spell out what that means and neither does she.

She gets it and because of that. the world is getting Jesus. And for that, I am incredibly thankful.

Louisville Living

Somehow or another I have experienced all sorts of roommate drama and nightmares in my college career. I had to be secretly moved out of my first dorm room freshmen year in order to get away from my roommate. Like I said, nightmares. We all have a few stories to bring to the table when it comes to bad roommates. But most people they don’t end up moving around as much as I did because of roommates; I lived in four different dorms in my first two years at UofL. I am now a self-proclaimed expert about the on campus living options for UofL students. Here is a breakdown of these four residence halls.

1.) Threlkeld Hall

2/5 stars

Threlkeld is the honors dorm, which mainly houses first year students. You would think for being the place that houses the more academically elite students that it would be one of the nicest dorms, but it is in fact the worst dorm of all. The rooms are incredibly small. We are talking a walkway to get in and out; you can literally touch your roommate’s bed from your bed. Prison cell small. The facilities are old, worn down, unclean, and often broken. The only nice, updated area is the lobby. The students who live here are your quintessential nerds. I’m not just talking like students who care a lot about school and study a lot. Think more of kids who make their own videogames and them stream them to the lobby TV to play them.

Threlkeld Hall

2.) Unitas Hall

3/5 stars

Unitas is an all freshmen, tower style dorm. The rooms are exceptionally larger than in Threlkeld. There are fewer showers per resident; however, the showers are much larger in comparison. The facilities are also old and worn, but there is some compensation in that there are additional nice areas that do not exist in Threlkeld. For example, Unitas has a small lobby/common area on all residence floors (2-11) and the main lobby, which is kept very well, has essentially three areas to it so more students can be doing different things simultaneously. The worst part of the facility is the elevator situation. There are two elevators, one for the male floors (2-6) and one for the female floors (7-11). It was inconvenient to have to wait on the elevator, but the real issue was when one or both broke down. It only happened a few times per semester and usually they are back up and running fairly quickly, but it was still very frustrating. The students who live here would be almost impossible to categorize; this is by far the most diverse dorm you will come across, which means anyone and everyone is accepted. It’s a much different environment to say the least.

Unitas Hall

3.) University Tower Apartments

2/5 stars

University Tower Apartments (UTA) is almost exclusively non-freshmen. As the name implies, these are apartments and not just rooms. While the space is larger, it is in much worse condition than anywhere else on campus. The beds were falling apart, there was rust and stains everywhere, and it took weeks to get a maintenance request answered. One bonus: every apartment has a balcony. There are only two elevators, but since the floors are not separated by sex, anyone can either one. The elevators were definitely in better working condition than those in Unitas. The students who live here are very diverse, but you would not be able to easily discern that because there is zero community or resident interaction in UTA. There is a fairly nice, although awkwardly planned, lobby that no one uses. Everyone pretty much keeps to themselves.

University Tower Apartments

4.) Community Park

4/5 stars

Community Park (CP) is a suite style dorm option available to any student regardless of year.  CP is one of the newest dorms on campus and therefore, one of the nicest. Everything is in really good shape and rarely will you come across something that is broken and when you do, the staff is very quick to fix it. CP has excellent bonus facilities also. There is a huge laundary room, a computer lab, study rooms, movie room, a full kitchen, and work out rooms. The students here are usually freshmen and sophomores. Again, there is not much community interaction, with the exception of suitemates, who you share a bathroom with. CP always seems empty because no one is out and about, everyone pretty much stays in their rooms when they are in the building. This is arguably the nicest dorm of the four discussed here.

Community Park

A $15,000 Dream

Everyone has a dream. Seemingly large or small, realistic or unrealistic, every single person with breath in his or her lungs has a dream.

To go to space, to run a 5k, to write a novel, to fly a plane, to own a home, to be a CEO, to make above minimum wage, to get married, to have kids, to be happy.

Everyone has a dream.

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Sagar Patagundi’s dream is to walk at his college graduation.

Sagar is an Indian immigrant, brought to the U.S. by his family when he was only eleven years old. By 2006, Sagar’s father was barred from returning to the U.S. after his work permit was rejected three times. Six years later, in 2011, Sagar and his brothers watched as their mother returned to India to care for their father.

Pictured: Sagar Patagundi

Sagar graduated high school with an impressive 3.8 GPA, but was ineligible for any college scholarships or financial aid because he is not a citizen. After raising $12,000 he began his college career at Eastern Kentucky University, where he continued to work night shifts to pay the bills. When the Dream ACT failed to pass Congress in 2010, Sagar relocated to Louisville, Kentucky in hopes of better opportunities in a bigger city. The Dream ACT would have “granted a reprieve from deportation to unauthorized immigrants who are under the age of 31; entered the United States before age 16; have lived continuously in the country for at least five years; have not been convicted of a felony, a “significant” misdemeanor, or three other misdemeanors; and are currently in school, graduated from high school, earned a GED, or served in the military.” (http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/issues/DREAM-Act)

In 2011, he enrolled at the University of Louisville and co-founded F.I.R.E. (Fighting for Immigrant Rights & Equality). Things started looking up for Sagar the next year, 2012, when undocumented youths received temporary aid through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This allowed for Sagar to begin work at UPS. UPS is a popular employment option for many University of Louisville students as they pay for full time student tuition plus hourly pay. Employed students work night shifts Monday through Friday for approximately 20-25 hours a week. It’s not an easy job to say the least, but it pays for school.

After two semesters of work, Sagar was informed that UPS would not be paying his tuition. Why? If you’ll remember, Sagar is not eligible for financial aid (FAFSA) because he is not a citizen. Without qualifying for FAFSA, UPS will not pay tuition for student employees. Unfortunately, no one told Sagar that until he was one semester shy of graduation.

Now, Sagar is 9 weeks away from graduation. 9 weeks away from making his dream come true. But with each passing day that dream is slipping further and further away. With UPS withholding student worker tuition payments, Sagar owes the University of Louisville $15,000. If he cannot find a way to pay this money, his account with UofL will be frozen and his degree withheld.

Please help.

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Sagar has created a fundraising page, which you can visit here: http://www.gofundme.com/e6jqy8. As a college student myself, I am completely broke. I live month to month on my minimum wage paycheck. But, I pledge to make a $5 donation to Sagar’s dream. As author Max Lucado said, “No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.”

I urge you to do something.

This isn’t about your personal stance on legal or illegal immigrants in the United States, it’s about doing something to make one young man’s dream come true. After all, we are all citizens of the world. And we all have a dream.

Celebrating Halloween in College

Halloween is when kids dress up in costumes and beg for candy. In Girl World, Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it.

-Mean Girls

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College kids and Halloween is like matches and gasoline. You’re not exactly surprised by the reaction that takes place when these two mix, but it’s still quite an explosion. This Halloween is certain to be the biggest one in my time at UofL, as October 31st falls on a Friday; prime time partying hours. Even if you aren’t a college student or of college age, you can probably picture what goes on… not a lot of clothing (throw the word sexy in front of anything and it’s a costume; sexy nurse, sexy cat, sexy doctor) and a whole lot of alcohol. The entire Halloween weekend is a huge barf-scented mess (believe me, I lived behind Greek Row last year; the smell hangs around). If you need some help conjuring up an image, think of the popular movie ‘Mean Girls.’

Here we see Gretchen, dressed as a sexy cat, Regina dressed as a sexy rabbit, and Karen dressed as a sexy mouse.

To be fair, of course not everyone throws all inhibition to the wind on all hallows eve.  Some plan tamer evenings with a small group of friends, others pass out candy for the little ones trick-or-treating and a few will allow the last days of October to pass with no celebration at all. But, these are not the images that most quickly come to mind when our society thinks of Halloween and college students. To shed some light on these lesser recognized forms of celebration, I am going to tell you about my non-traditional plans to celebrate Halloween.

My church, as many churches do, has what they call a Fall Festival. It’s a time for kids and families in the community to come together at church for trunk-or-treat and to play fun games for kids of all ages. Trunk-or-treating is where dozens of cars, especially trucks, will park in the church parking lot and use their trunk or truck bed to pass out candy to kids who walk around to all the cars. The pull here is that it’s safe. It’s completely safe. Parents don’t have to worry about their kids getting hit by cars while crossing streets in the dark or about who their kids get their candy from and if it’s safe for them to eat or not.  The games are what you remember for your elementary school days, plus the timeless art of face painting and giant inflatables for running, jumping, and sliding out all that sugar induced energy.

But what’s in it for the college student? Well, you get to dress up. And not like sexy superwoman or sexy school girl, but like you did when you were a kid. You can be Cinderella, Barbie, Spongebob, or even Superwoman (minus the sexy). And ya know what? Those kids think you are super cool for it! AND you get to see one of the most special, rare, beautiful things in the entire world, kids having the best nights of their lives. Yes, this night eventually will be replaced by a birthday party, a trip to Disney, or presents on Christmas day, but for this night and this moment, nothing could ever compare.

I know his probably sounds super lame and gushy to the 18-24 crowd and that’s okay because it kind of is. But don’t you remember how much fun you had at stuff like this when you were just a little thing? Some of our best holiday memories are only made possible because other people chose to make them happen. It’s not heroic or impressive to volunteer to make a little kid’s Halloween, or any holiday for that matter, special. It’s just a good thing. Just like it was a good thing for someone to do it for you way back when.

So however you choose to celebrate, stay safe, have fun, and Happy Halloween!

A Nightmare for Louisville Students

At 4:07am an anonymous post went up on 4chan, a social media site, stating that the poster was going to “shoot up” Miller Hall at the University of Louisville in a mere 6 hours, at 10am today, Wednesday October 22, 2014. The scariest part of this threat is that the university student population was not made aware of the danger until 11:54am; hours after local news stations had already posted, shared, and reported stories.

Here you can see the post made to 4chan

The University of Louisville seriously dropped the ball on this one. But is it really a big deal? After all, nobody was hurt and the anonymous poster was arrested. Never the less, it is a huge deal. The decision by university officials not to inform students of the impending threat to their lives is not only unbelievable, but a gross injustice of power. Those who most needed to know this information, the students, were left completely in the dark. Many students unknowingly walked around, near, and through Miller Hall during the hours between the post and 10am. Further, Miller Hall is located adjacent to the Student Activities Center, one of the most highly trafficked areas on campus. In fact, many Louisville students were only made aware of the shooting threat via twitter. Most alarming still is that the poster specified the exact type of weapon he would use, a Mossberg firearm.

The tweet from Tim Elliot, made at 9:03am was the first notice many received.

The University’s email attempt at notifying the students of this threat was received by many as a joke. By the time the email was sent, at 11:54am, numerous news stations, facebook statuses, and tweets had told the general population everything they already needed to know. For many, the final straw in this whole mess came from University of Louisville Spokesperson Mark Hebert’s statement to the press, “I think the message to everybody — including our students — is, your words have consequences.” Lives were at risk. My life, my peers lives, my professors lives. We, as people, are not a message about the consequences of your words. This statement demonstrates the utter disregard for the human life and is an embarrassment to the university.

This screenshot of the email displays the 11:54am timestamp.

“This is completely unacceptable. We should have been warned. We should have gotten an email not to come to campus or we should have been on lockdown. But to wait three hours before they told us anything is disgusting.” -Louisville Senior, Bri Hyman

The anonymous poster was arrested and taken into custody for terroristic threatening before 10am. He has since been identified as Charles Edward Robb, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Louisville. Robb is a resident of Miller Hall, the all freshmen dorm he made the threats against, and a recent graduate of Eastern High School here in Louisville, Kentucky.

LMPD Mugshot of Charles Robb

Here are the facts:

4:07am: the post was made to 4chan

shortly before 8am: university officials received tip of the post

approximately 8am: police arrived at the Belknap campus

8:30am: Charles Robb is arrested and taken into custody for questioning

9:03am: tweet from WLKY’s Tim Elliott is made, the first notice for UofL students

9:10am: the first story of the threat made it’s way online via WDRB, you can find the whole story at   www.wdrb.com/story/26855927/student-arrested-after-threat-allegedly-made-against-u-of-ls-miller-hall  

11:54am: email sent to all students from Provost Willihnganz, the first university   sanctioned notice to students