Joplin

Sunday night, May 22, while I was at work, a giant tornado ripped through my city and destroyed businesses and homes, leaving thousands without shelter. My co-workers and I huddled in the walk-in cooler and stood helplessly, waiting for the storm to pass and hoping that our loved ones were safe. Many tried to text their family and friends, but lack of cell phone signal prevented it. Some were crying, others were silent, but everyone listened and hoped that it was all a dream. Thankfully, I am fortunate: my apartment is still standing, my belongings are not damaged, and all the people I deeply care for are accounted for ... though a few of them are not as lucky as I was.

When the storm passed, I left work to drive home. My boyfriend was there and I knew he was worried about me. There was one other person I still hadn't heard from and I figured I should drive by her place just to make sure she was alright. I was in a part of town that was untouched by the storm when it come through, so I had no idea anything was wrong. I kept thinking, "It can't possibly be that bad." I took the long way home and slowly noticed a difference in the town I knew so well. As I drove along, things became less recognizable. At first it was just leaves all over the road and tree limbs. A few downed power lines. Nothing too terribly serious. Eventually, I noticed branches from trees that were thrust through roofs of homes and traffic was moving at a snail's pace. I kept trying to avoid the traffic, annoyed at the fact that it was taking me so long to get home and check on my friend. I got to Connecticut, oblivious to the fact that I would be driving through the worst part of the wreckage. All I could think while I drove through the utter devastation was, "I hope Steve is safe." I watched as people held hands walking down the street without shoes, crying and clinging to each other, looking at the rubble that once was their home. I tried desperately to understand what I was seeing ... I recognized nothing. I didn't even know where I was. Homes and businesses were literally leveled. I continued to drive on Connecticut from 15th to 20th. My friend and I had moved from our apartment on 20th and Connecticut about a year earlier, and it no longer stood there. I looked down 20th west of Connecticut and saw only the cars of those trying to escape the nothingness. A street once busy and full of life was now nothing except debris and stripped trees. I didn't even know where I was. People stood with their dogs, asking passers-by for a ride. I heard a man driving a van ask a woman on the side of the road, "Where are you headed? I can take you." Her face was full of despair as she realized, "I don't know. I'm sorry to trouble you. Get to safety." A man carrying his young son whose face was bloodied rushed to an ambulance on the west side of the street near a place apartments once stood. It was the most humbling and shocking experience of my life.
This is just another account of the tornado, I realize. But I hope it provides a new perspective and helps readers understand the sense of hopelessness of many people living in Joplin. The tornado was almost three months ago, and I started this blog two days after it happened ... and the pictures I took and memories of that night are still humbling and shocking. I am moving to California to finish my education, but Joplin will always have my heart and so will the people living there.

Sunday

I've been kind of a loner the past few years. People haven't necessarily been kind to me. Friends have thrown me under the proverbial bus and boys have been cruel. But it seems like lately, it's impossible for me to keep my walls up. I am just straight up lucky to have great people in my life who care about me and have made cheering me up and making me smile their hobby.

Which leads me to the title of this blog ... Sunday.

I had a really great weekend at work. Made some really decent money and had some great shifts. Saturday night, though, was SO frustrating because I had, like, $720 dollars' worth of sales and only made about $70. I worked so hard and just consistently got really horrible tips. At one point in the night, I almost started crying. I know I'm not bad at my job. I try to take care of my guests the best I can. Business is just bad lately. But bad tips start taking their toll on your morale sooner rather than later. I was working with Camille and Keith, and was texting Jeremy all night, talking about how horrible my night was. Jeremy and I were supposed to go out after work, but when I got home I literally felt sick to my stomach because I was borderline depressed about how bad my night was.

I went to work on Sunday in a pretty good mood, actually, for no particular reason ... just optimism. Then, Keith came to visit me and sat in my section with his wife. So I had a good lunch.
Sunday night, Camille came to visit with her boyfriend. About an hour later, Jeremy and Quinten came to visit me. All four of these people, knowing I'd had a horrible Saturday night, came to visit me at work to make my Sunday better. I just couldn't believe how loved I felt. It's impossible to be in a bad mood under such circumstances.
Then, after work on Sunday, Camille, Keith and wife, and me and boyfriend Steve went to go see Red ... which was FANTASTIC. Afterward, Steve and I decided we needed to take a trip to IHOP. A cop got behind me on our way there and I was POSITIVE I was going to get pulled over, so I started freaking out. I had everything I needed, I just didn't want to get pulled over. I hate it. I knew I wasn't speeding, so I figured the cop would concoct some stupid reason to pull me over. He got right behind me, then ran my plates and turned around. I kept yelling, "Today is my day! No one can stop me!"

It's really refreshing to have days like that and to be reminded that one is loved because the past few months had been kind of a bust.




I am incredibly thankful to have wonderful people in my life who have destroyed my loner tendencies with their constant giving. I am so happy right now, so if I'm smiling like a goober when you see me ... now you know why.

One Last "Hoorah!" For Summer

Buckle up, friends. This might be a long entry. To make it up to you, I'll break it up with amusing pictures.




All my friends started school Monday. Oh, well.
"Constitutional Law is like a party at your house minus you." Sad, sad day.






So I spent the weekend in St. Louis. Thursday night I saw the Something Corporate reunion tour, which was a highlight of my summer. FOR SURE. God, I love Andrew McMahon. I requested the weekend off a LONG time ago because I was supposed to go with someone I was quasi-dating. But we all see how that turned out, right?





Oh, well. Those of you who know me know that said nuclear explosion was not only inevitable but also long overdue. So I'm okay with it.
In any case, I decided, "Hmmm. What should I do with my weekend off? I know! I'll go to St. Louis and spend the weekend hanging out with friends I haven't seen in a while."
In short ... really good decision.







The long version of the story is much more amusing.


So I got to St. Louis an hour late because I had a very stressful morning Friday. I hadn't slept much the few days prior (and I still haven't; in fact, I can't even believe I'm still awake right now) and got up early to hit the road early. I decided to test out my old LG Shine to see if it worked because ol' flippy (my REALLY horrible Samsung phone that just straight up didn't work) wasn't going to cut it in a new city. It only worked, like, 77% of the time. But LG Shine magically worked when I put my sim card in it ... it was just COMPLETELY DEAD. So I went to Wal-Mart to buy a car charger for it. When I got to check out, I discovered that my driver's license and my debit card were not in my wallet (probably still in the pants I wore out Wednesday night). I muttered a few swear words under my breath



and went home to find my shit. I tore my room apart looking for my debit card and my driver's license, only to discover that they were in the pocket of the shorts I was wearing the whole time. Refer to the above picture to image how I was feeling.

Anyway, I got to the St. L around 3:30. I was meeting an old friend I used to go to church camp with at the art museum in Forest Park. We then went to the Loop and chilled at this bar/restaurant called Blueberry Hill. We went to this played called Vintage Vinyl, which I am still convinced should actually be called "Championship Vinyl."




See what I mean? Totally High Fidelity.

Anyway, first amazing and stupid experience: lost my car in downtown St. Louis.
Nathan and I decided to buy a few beers before we went to chill with Jon, my amazing friend who was hospitable enough to let me stay with him. Love him. He's wonderful, just for the record.
I borrowed my dad's GPS, so I thought I was INVINCIBLE and IMMUNE to getting lost. Trust technology. Always. This was my thought. GPS said "go to this downtown grocery store to buy beer." So I believed it. The whole time, Nathan is like, "Dude. This is the worst idea in the world. Seriously." But I'm a very proud woman, so I said, "No way. We will totally be fine." Parked my car on the side of some building, got a 12-pack of Honey Moon ... and then walked around with this 12-pack of Honey Moon for a good hour and half, during which I was whining and feeling like a dumbass.


I HAD NO IDEA WHERE MY CAR WAS.

So we called Jon and drove around for about 10 minutes, but we did eventually find my car and it was totally fine.

Went to a party Friday night with a bunch of law/grad students. Made me feel a little worthless, but then I realized, "Hey. How many of THEM are taking a road trip right now and enjoying their youth?"
Whitney: 1; Law Students: 0

Saturday was a fairly uneventful day, at least until dark. I went to lunch with Jeff and we walked around The Loop again for a bit. Then I went to dinner with Jon. Saturday night, I met Nathan to get a tour of his hometown ... which was 45 minutes west of St. Louis. We went to a little dive bar on the night of its closing. About an hour into our chilling out, some cowboy grabbed the ass of another cowboy's girlfriend and then they started beating the crap out of each other. The cops (EVERY COP IN WASHINGTON, MISSOURI) showed up and someone got tased.



Which was AWESOME.

Sunday, Jon took me to the most AMAZING barbeque place in the United States. Called Pappy's. There was a line out the door when they opened. It's just a tiny little hole-in-the-wall. That's how legit this place is. It's pretty much amazing. Highly recommend.
Then Jon and I watched Rock N' Rolla and Inside Man (both are fantastic movies). Then I started the four-hour drive home.

In short, amazing weekend. So much fun. I will visit the St. L again soon.

Reflections of a Debater

I recently had an interesting conversation with Steve from Pacific in which he told me that he thought debaters should actually adapt to IE judges.
Now, this, of course, threw me through a loop. I mean, after all, it is the debaters' activity. Jargon exists within the activity for a reason. Debaters should be able to run the arguments that they think will win them the round ... and, in a perfect world, winning the round means winning the ballot, as well. Hell, I wrote about why speed is good for debate! Of course I loathed adaptation.
I was never the type of debater who adapted very well to the judge. It's not that I was bad at explaining things to judges who were unfamiliar with debate; it's that I didn't feel it was my responsibility and that they were the ones bastardizing my activity.
NFA this year was a perfect embodiment of this sentiment for almost the entire debate community. During round six, which was many debaters' break round (every single member of my team included because all of them were 3-2 going into round six), five seemingly legitimate judges were on stand-by, without ballot ... while many IE/hired judges had ballots. IN BREAK ROUNDS. There was a huge upset in the community surrounding many of the decisions made in out-rounds.

I guess the reason I'm writing this is that I've never really thought about how I feel about adapting to the judge. On the one hand, I understand that part of being a good debater is not just being able to run the positions that you know you can win, but being able to persuade someone that you should, in fact, win. If debate was about running your favorite positions all the time, it would be reduced down to generic disadvantages, topicality, counterplans or critiques every round and there would be little in-depth case debate. On the other hand, though, debate is not suited to the lay man and debaters should be able to have control over their own activity.

Perhaps the most interesting spin on the argument that one should adapt to the judge came from people from Pacific. Their coach was talking about how the judge is never wrong. It is their ballot and if you did not do everything you could to capture that ballot, then you did not do your job as a debater. He was very straight-forward about it, and the ironic thing is that people from Pacific are generally thought of as faster debaters. The other thing is that Steve said that debaters disrespecting IE judges is indicative of a greater amount of disrespect that debaters have for IEs, in general. He said that neither event is more important than the other and we should, as a result, have mutual respect for one another and one another's events. I liked thinking of it this way.

I don't know if I've reached a conclusion, but I intend to reach a conclusion on this very subject one day. Today is not that day, but I do anticipate many more debate blogs to come.

A list of things I dislike

peanut butter, seafood, people trying to get me to eat sushi even though I don't like seafood, boogers, split ends, Yaz commercials, being poked in the belly button, creases in my eyeshadow, Spanish homework, finding a parking space at Southern, College Republicans meetings, having no plans for my future, arrogance, Bump-Its, the way my clothes smell after I work at Carino's, managers who play favorites, being cold, the fact that my phone is always dead, dry winter skin, people who over-accessorize, Nickelback ... I really hate Nickelback, tequila, people who have opinions on subjects they know nothing about, working on Tuesdays, talking on the phone, driving long distances, most shows on Bravo, zits, crowded bars, bad tippers, airplanes, urinary tract infections







fin.

End of the Semester

Some pictures.





















I'm done with school in May, and senioritis is kicking in like none other.

I've also decided that I'm taking a year off from my life as a student to travel and learn about whitneyhart for a while. I think it's one of the better decisions I've made and those whose wisdom I value seem to support my decision. I don't really know where life will take me, but I hope it takes me to exotic locations and learning experiences.







Not a whole lot going on. Just a lot of procrastination on homework and figuring out how to win at college right now.
Lots of coffee, late nights, and setting up a pretend Christmas tree with the roommate.

















Also realized there are a lot of quality people in my life. I am blessed.

Blog.

I'm watching Stephen Colbert play tennis instead of doing homework.