i'm a feminist peacenik liberal democrat with a southern accent, who hates country music and nascar

[Ava]

i wasn't supposed to be born in alabama :banghead:

i have to keep telling myself.. only a few more months

[jobycom]

1. Funny thing is...

Once you move away, you'll start missing country music and NASCAR.

Well, I did, anyway. :)

[Ava]

3. no way man

i especially hate nascar.. i don't understand how watching cars go in circles is fun.. and country music(with some older country music exceptions), don't get me started on it.

[jobycom]

9. Ah, just wait!

Then again, you're from more of the hinterland of Bama, ain't you? See, I'm from the Coast, so there's more to miss. Maybe you won't look back. :rofl:

[Ava]

13. from the coast huh?

lucky

i'm from the boonies :P

[jobycom]

15. Well

After Katrina, much of the Coast probably got washed to the boonies! But yeah, there's something nice about going back home to redneckville and being able to escape to a casino overlooking the gulf, rather than to an empty lot where you can hear the choir from Wednesday evening services a mile away.

[Ava]

16. nah, we just got tornadoes from the storm

which sucks in our wooded area. my town isn't that bad.. it just isn't a fit for me on an every day basis. it's certainly somewhere that i would probably enjoy escaping to from a busy lifestyle. i look forward to being able to do that. ;)

[JTG of the PRB]

2. All of those things cannot posibly exist in the same place at the same time...

...without tearing a significant hole in the fabric of the space-time continuum. Therefore, I am forced to assume that you do not, in fact, exist.

:P

[Ava]

6. i'm not here

or am i :P

[JTG of the PRB]

11. Well...

...seeing as everything that surrounds me is merely a psychological construct to keep my brain from becoming overwhelmed with loneliness and despair at being utterly alone throughout all of my known existence, you're here in the sense that you're not here, and that makes it an assured fact that you are, indeed, here.

Cogito, ergo sum. :P

[Ava]

14. woah, that's deep man

tell me deep dude..
what is truth? perception or reality.. and are perception and reality the same thing, as in does our perception cloud our view of reality, or does our perception merely shape our own personal realities?

deep stuff man.. deep stuff

[JTG of the PRB]

17. Truth is how we perceive reality.

In that sense, the way we perceive our reality leads us to our own sense of what "truth" is. But, as we each have our own perception of existence, that causes us to have our own, unique versions of reality. So to answer your question, truth is perception AND reality. Our reality is influenced by our perception, and our perception is influenced by how we see our reality. They are one in the same, and there are no two alike in any one of us.

Or something. My head hurts now.

[Ava]

19. that is basically exactly how i see it

i got into a discussion with someone about it earlier today after we started talking about the allegory of the cave :hi:

[JTG of the PRB]

35. Ah, a classic! That one confused me the first time I heard it in my Lit Theory class.

Then I thought it over and thought it was brilliant. Those Greeks were pretty out there... :hi:

[Ava]

38. the original matrix huh?

:hi:

[Writer]

4. That sounds like a great opening line for a college essay.

:P

[Ava]

7. ha!

:rofl:

[flvegan]

5. Go vegan. Grab that trifecta golden ring, girl!

:rofl:

[Ava]

10. i've been a pescetarian for about two years now

i would call myself a vegetarian, but every now and then i eat fish.. so that makes me a pescetarian. of course, in 'bama i'm just a freak that doesn't eat meat :rofl:

[flvegan]

18. Ava, your intent makes you a vegetarian to me.

It's just a label, but at least you've got some idiot Level 18 vegan ALF'r saying it.

But, you're still a 'bama freak. Can't do anything about that.

[Ava]

20. lol

well my major problem is the treatment of animals before they are turned into food products.. that is more inhumane than killing for food, which is a natural thing. that being said, i could never bring myself to kill for food unless i absolutely had no other choice, so i feel hypocritical eating meat that i wouldn't be able to kill myself... which is why i decided to quit eating meat.

and yes, i'll always be a 'bama freak ;)

[flvegan]

21. Ava, you give folks like me so much hope.

You are a brilliant woman. I hope to the gods that if I ever have a daughter she's just like you.

Well, except she should be a USF Bulls fan and not a 'bama freak, eh?

[LeftyMom]

22. Like hell she will. Baby Lefty-Vegan is going to Cal.

[Ava]

24. well thanks

and roll tide! :P

no matter where i end up, i'll always have love for the tide ;)

[rockymountaindem]

8. I'm a liberal, internationally-minded Jew who was not supposed to be born in Colorado Springs

When I left town for college after high school, I thought for sure I'd completely leave that place behind and never really look back because I thought it was irredeemably stupid and full of idiots. I thought it would make my life completely different and better.

Now that I'm out of college and in my second year of grad school (both schools having been in large, liberal cosmopolitan cities) I can say that my assessment was totally wrong. I'm not totally different, although I would say I have improved as a person in some ways. I'd wager that's mostly due to the general process of getting older and (hopefully) wiser. Getting to meet people from all over the world has been great, and my opportunity for that would have been a lot less in Colorado Springs. But, more generally, moving away gave me a greater appreciation for what I had back home. I still look forward to going back there when I can. I've spent every summer and winter break back at home save for half of one summer when I went to Europe. I can say now that while Colorado Springs still isn't "the place for me", it is home and it is connected with all the good things home means: family, friends, good memories. The bad memories have largely faded. After I left, I have always looked forward to spending holidays there with the same people I went to high school with. I can now see some of the good things about my hometown that I never wanted to see before. I can see that the big liberal city is not 100% great.

Your experience will be your own, and I can't speak to what your life is like now. But just don't ever plan on turning your back completely on the place you come from. I did, but none of my expectations have been fulfilled. Keep an open mind is all, I guess.

P.S.
Colorado Springs is alright with me, but just for the record the rest of Colorado is stonking great these days.

[Ava]

12. i will always love my home and alabama

there are some great things about the area i'm in.. and i'll enjoy coming home to visit the things and people i love, but i don't think that my very small, very conservative, very closeminded, and very limited in opportunities town is the right fit for me.

however, i'll never completely turn my back on alabama.. after all, the people i love most in this world are from alabama and live here.

[WildEyedLiberal]

23. Let me echo every word of this post

:thumbsup:

I'm from the rural Midwest and had nothing good to say about my hometown when I was in high school. I couldn't wait to get out, etc - I didn't end up going very far away for college, but I did end up living in Boston and London briefly, and while I imagine I'll probably end up in an urban area someday, being in cities has really made me appreciate what Illinois has to offer. I may not end up living here, but I have grown to really love it - and of course, most of the people I love are in Illinois, so it will always be home to me.

[ThomCat]

25. We will welcome you up north.

:hug:

Have you decided on a school? :)

[Ava]

26. i'm waiting for schools to decide on me

:rofl:

depends on where i get accepted.. schools that i know for sure i'm applying to or have already applied to are

NYU, UCLA, Berkeley, UT Austin, Harvard, and Alabama. I've been looking at Ithaca college after being suggested by a family friend to check out their communications department(i want to major in film), so I may be applying there as well.

[ThomCat]

27. Ithaca is a beautiful backwater.

You would be bored to tears there. And Ithaca college is nice, but small. You would probably transfer to Cornell pretty quickly just for something to do. :(

I have no doubt you'll get accepted into Harvard. But I'm hoping you'll end up in NYC. :)

[Ava]

28. cornell is much harder to get into! lol

oh, i have doubt about harvard.. i guess we'll just see. my math score on the SAT was just above average, but nothing more. i'm hoping it won't hurt my chances too much since my verbal scores were really high.. but so many perfect scoring student apply to harvard each year. it's such a crazily competitive school!!

thanks.. NYU is one of my top choices at this point. i really hope i get in there since it is an amazing film school. :hi:

[suninvited]

31. The film department at FSU in Tallahassee is awesome

have you checked it out?

[Ava]

39. i have checked it out

i considered applying for awhile :hi:

[Jamastiene]

29. Wow, you sound like me...

except I'm in NC.

[Ava]

30. i bet alabama is worse

:P :hi:

[Jamastiene]

32. I won't argue with you there, except

the fact that y'all do have the Southern Poverty Law Center there. For that much, I am a little jealous, because I love their work. For the rest, I won't argue against you on that. :hi:

[Ava]

40. that's true

:hi:

[Shell Beau]

33. Aw, there are some really nice places in Alabama.

[Ava]

41. there are

there's lots of things i love about alabama, but i'm not fit for the small conservative town i live in

[NewJeffCT]

34. I'm a liberal elitist with a yankee accent & I also hate country music and nascar

I think I was born in the right place - Connecticut.

[Ava]

42. ha!

:rofl:

[leeroysphitz]

36. You'll be back... n/t

[Ava]

43. to visit, yes

;) :P

[RetroLounge]

37. First line of a penthouse letter?

"...and I never thought it would happen to me."

:9

RL

[Ava]

44. yeah right

:rofl:

[graywarrior]

45. You transcend Alabama

[Ava]

46. tell that to the fundies i live around

x(

[graywarrior]

57. They don't matter.

Your's is a higher calling. Fuck them.

[otherlander]

47. I'm a queer left-libertarian atheist with Asperger's who goes to Quaker meetings.

I wasn't supposed to be born in the 90's. :hippie: :smoke:

[Ava]

48. but at least it isn't alabama

i was born in 90 and am from alabama :rofl: ;)

[LeftyMom]

51. STOP MAKING ME FEEL OLD!!!!

1990. Jesus.

[Ava]

52. stop making me feel young!

:hide:

i keed.. i keed.. please don't hit me :rofl:

[LeftyMom]

54. Careful, now that you're not a minor it's only a misdemeanor.

:P

[Ava]

56. yikes

:hide:


dammit.. you mean i can't hide behind my youth anymore? :rofl:

[Danger Mouse]

49. it's like the hotel california. you can check out anytime you like...

but you can never leave.
never.
never.
never...

[Ava]

50. damn you

now i have that song stuck in my head x(

bastard! :rofl:

[Duppers]

53. Ava, I was born and grew up in Tennessee

and have lived in purple Virginia for 30 yrs now. (Well, 27 yrs. since we live in England for almost 3 yrs.)

I'll never move back to Tenn., even though it would be much less expensive for my family to live (retire) there. We absolutely love the Smokies and hiking there, but we cannot tolerate the conservative, ignorant sonofabitches that live there....can't really tolerate it here in the military capitol of the US (Tidewater, VA) either, but Tennessee now seems so much more ignorant than it did 30 yrs ago. Hell, they did not even support their native son back in 2000. So, fuck 'em.

I know know why people on this thread keep telling you that you'll move back. I'm betting you won't.

my 2 cents.

[Ava]

55. i probably won't move back

but i'll visit. there things about 'bama that i love.. things about it i really dislike. i don't think it's the place for me to be.. at least not long term. like i said up-thread.. the people i love most are here in 'bama, and i'll always come back to visit them as much as possible.. but i don't see myself living in alabama again once i leave. ;)