Thankful Days 12-14

11/12 - I guess I'll have to admit on this day that I'm thankful to be going back to school (and having tuition covered, no less!). At the end of the day, I was driving back to the College of Business from a meeting at the Foundation, and the song, "Some Nights" by fun. came on the radio. As I was singing, "What do I stand for?" I started thinking - what am I doing with my life? What do I stand for? What is my passion? Feminism. Equality for women. Ending violence against women. So what am I doing right now to help that? I had already decided to forgo being in the cast of Vagina Monologues this year, as my spring semester will be pretty tough with my Statistics class. But if I am focusing on my education, I need to tie that into my passion. I need to do my thesis.



From this train of thought, and after talking with my professor, I have started to formulate an idea for my thesis: How does the level of representation of women in the governments of industrialized nations correlate to the legislative success of laws or bills that benefit or advance women's issues or causes?

In layman's terms - Does an increase in female legislators equal an increase in laws or bills that help women? I would also have to look at variables that might impact women's issues, such as the type of society, women's political participation rates, participation of women in the workforce, pay equality, existence of current bills on women's issues, etc. I would also focus on how we can increase women's representation until it is closer to being descriptive of the population (50/50), and the benefits society would gain from that.

So really, I'm thankful to start moving in the direction of applying my education towards something I'm passionate about. And maybe this can help me move towards an idea of what I want to do for a career...

11/13 - I am thankful for my husband. He is so fun and makes me laugh a lot, and he stays by me and helps me through the hard stuff, too... he encourages me find my own way and do what I'm passionate about, but when he knows I'm struggling, he's always there to help me through. Like the times he's come back after finishing a race to run with me to the end, he's always a sight for sore eyes and always makes me thankful he's in my life.

Plus, he's adorable.

11/14 - I am also thankful for my mom. We are very alike, but she is great for getting another opinion, and giving advice, and making me consider all sides of a situation. She is also an amazing role model and encourages me to go after whatever I want in life. I sent her this article today, saying that I hope that she can see herself the way her children do, as beautiful: http://offbeatmama.com/2012/11/telling-daughters-im-beautiful.