Road Trip Check-In #5

While I have already settled in, I wanted to put in a few more check-in posts so you follow my little journey. I stopped in Des Moines just to sight see after I found out about an amazing sculpture garden and that Des Moines was one of those up-and-coming places for young professionals to live. It was a really cute downtown area with a river and the capital building not too far in the distance.

One Point for MTV

I completely think that MTV's programming has drastically gone downhill in the last decade and has contributed to the lack of awareness that many teens these days have. I mean they have shows like "Jersey Shore," "My Sweet 16," and "The Hills" (Yes, I watch The Hills but feel dirty). I grew up in the age of "Daria" and "Beavis and Butthead" and although those weren't stellar, they also didn't give me unrealistic goals of what I should look like or buy. I will never be a fake tanner like the Jersey girls or feel the need to spend $10,000 on a Prada handbag.

It's not just MTV though. I feel like our society is just focusing much more on obtaining perfection: how to do it, why you have to do it, what you should look like, and that you are deserving to have what everyone else has. That is crazy.

But the reason for my blog post is that I happen to be in a hotel in the middle of Omaha with cable. I was watching "Teen Mom" and afterwards this show called "If You Really Knew Me" came on. I had heard a little bit about it but never sat down to watch. It is truly an amazing and emotional show.

High school seems even harder these days. The pressures are bigger, the expectations are higher and the gossip is not spread just through word of mouth any more but on the internet where everyone can see it. There are those who are pushed to their limits and cannot take anymore and go to extremes to find some relief to the pain. This show conducts a "Challenge" day where issues are brought up, barriers are brought down and the students realize that every single person has their own issues. No one is perfect and no one is what they seem. It was such an unexpected thing to watch on MTV and I cried buckets. These students struggle with so much and no one should have to go through some of the things they have in their young lives.

Here is the link:

http://www.mtv.com/shows/if_you_really_knew_me/series.jhtml

I highly recommend you take some time to watch. Very interesting.

Road Trip Check-In #4

My experience so far in Nebraska isn't bad because of the people or the state itself; it is just that the weather is trying to beat the holy living life out of me! It was around 93 when I arrived this afternoon but with the humidity it felt like 110. I am not even sure how those numbers work but I completely believe it. I can safely say that I have not sweat this much in one week ever. I just feel hot and damp and I turn into a petulant 3-year-old that is inconsolable.

I met some lovely people at a truck stop, been in awe of the rolling green hills and have become used to the cow smell that is even stronger than Corvallis.