Ask Marvel Comics to Join the It Gets Better Campaign

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            As a student at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX, as a student of LGBT Studies, and as a supporter of the It Gets Better and Trevor Projects, I recently stumbled upon several positive LGBT characters in the Marvel Universe during my research in attempt to present the first LGBT Studies class at Texas State—characters like Northstar (the first mainstream comic book character to come out of the closet,) and Wiccan and his boyfriend Hulkling—two super-powered teens who become the first mainstream teenage superheroes to form a gay relationship. But older, more established characters who were unable to come out due to certain more heteronormative elements at Marvel and in the comic book industries also inspire: characters like Mystique and Destiny—two characters who would form a relationship, and even though denied by the editor, the head writer (Chris Carter) wished for them to have a biological daughter (he changed the story to make it an adopted daughter) in the character of Rouge.

            Flipping through newer comics during my research, I was reminded of my own childhood and how much Marvel comics and their titles, specifically the X-Men, meant to me. Although during much of my childhood, the heteronormative resistance made it impossible for any superheroes to come out as LGBT, and yet I found so much inspiration in titles like the “X-Men.” I learned through their characters and storylines that difference was a cause for celebration with characters like Storm (an African princess,) and Professor Xavier (an MLK-analog who formed a school and taught others to embrace themselves and diversity.) I learned of the power of faith in people and the basic goodness inherent in the human condition, with my teachers being Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde.  But most of all, I learned that being different isn’t a bad thing; just because I was different didn’t mean that I was bad or evil, just misunderstood—I could be a good person, a good friend, and even a superhero! The point is that Marvel always tackled real-world problems and ended-up giving us tales that were not only entertaining, but also hopeful and educational.

            Now, we have a new generation of superheroes and Marvel has again led the charge in producing LGBT characters with dignity and integrity, characters that are not only in the background, but also in superheroes unafraid to help others. I applaud Marvel for their strong, positive stance in this regard. This is why I want to ask Marvel to join the “It Gets Better” campaign. Think of the positive affect hearing from their LGBT heroes in an animated video that it’s okay to be LGBT would have on a questioning young person. Even better, Marvel could created a one-off, limited edition “It Gets Better” comic for the fans for LGBT youth centers to give out—I know I’d buy several and would proudly give them out to LGBT youth centers. Heck, I’d like to have one just for myself. They’d sell like hotcakes, but they’d also be for a very good cause. I know, and thank Marvel, for their free "Captain America: I Am an Avenger" issue, "A Little Help," but I think they should actually join the campaign full-steam ahead.

            Please consider signing my petition and ask Marvel to get involved in the It Gets Better Project! For more about LGBT comic characters, check-out this link to a comprehensive list (http://queersupe.com/a-z-lbgt-comic-book-character-superlist/)

Sarah Palin, Please Run For President in 2012—The Country Needs You!

Now that the United States is facing the worst recession seen in decades, depressing jobless rates, and increased competition from the looming threat of the Red Dragon, we need a presidential candidate like Sarah “Mama Grizzly” Palin. We need a candidate with unquestionable potential… to make the nation fall over clutching our sides at said candidate’s vacuous, inane attempts at understanding grade school American history. We need a candidate who will compose speeches like she’s playing Mad Libs, randomly inserting words and phrases like “shore up,” and “take our arms,” and “maverick.” We need a candidate who can cheer on the nation while completely destroying any credibility she or her Alaskan version of the Beverly Hillbillies family ever had by claiming to be right even when she’s clearly wrong… on everything… at all times.

           

Michele Bachmann is not enough! Imagine the buddy sketches with Tina Fey as presidential candidate Palin along side Amy Poehler as presidential candidate Bachmann, portraying together this Bachmann-Palin Overdrive ticket. Imagine Fey contracting word diarrhea and trailing off until she give the camera a simple wink to signify that she’s finished embarrassing herself while awaiting the next question and Poehler staring vacantly into the camera like a deer in headlights, looking as if her forehead, minus the absent brain, my collapse at any moment under the weight of her bangs. Picture every American with over three working brain cells praying for telekinetic powers à la Carrie to strangle Bachmann with her own pearls, and then proceed to beat Palin to death with Trig, the child Palin uses more as a prop than a child and as a human shield to fend off any legitimate criticism leveled against her by her social and intellectual betters.

            

Sarah, you owe it to the fans of your babbling, bungling blather to continue to point out the lamestream media’s—by the way, you seem to have a problem with people using the word retarded, but you seem to have no problem referencing the lame in a similar derogatory manner—“gotcha” questions, like: “What do you read?” and “Where are you going?”  We need your folksy stupidity and laughably vague “ideas.” We need your twisted, childishly simple logic—I mean, I can see the moon from my house, but that doesn’t make me an astronaut.

In short, Ms. Palin, we need you to make a fool of yourself in the most public manner possible—we need you to aim for the impossible, knowing that you can and will fail. In failing, you will bring joy to millions of Americans that actually can do something to help this nation by using the brain God saw fit to revoke from you. Sarah Palin, please run (and lose the race) for president in 2012.

Summer Grant for Summer School in Texas

Although the state and the federal government may soon be slashing student financial aid--something not at all advisable, given the importance of an educated workforce to keep the economy going--there is still some sources of aid available, if only for a limited time.

The state of Texas and U.S. Board of Higher Education have teamed up to offer a one-time grant for college juniors and seniors to complete their degree requirements on time with a summer grant.

The Final Stretch Grant requirements are as follows:

• At the time of application, be a U.S. citizen or permanent U.S. resident.
• At the time of application, be a “bona fide” Texas resident. Nonresident students who are eligible to pay resident tuition rates are not eligible.
• Be eligible to receive a federal Pell Grant for the 2010-2011 academic year. To be considered for an award, an applicant must have applied for financial assistance by completing the Free Application for Financial Student Aid (FAFSA) and show an EFC of $5273, or less. FAFSA information and instructions can be found at: www.fafsa.gov.
• Be classified as a Junior or Senior (completed at least 60 college credit hours) and enroll full-time (at least 6 hours) for a summer 2011 semester in an approved two- or four-year college or university, or accredited proprietary school in the United States.

NOTE: Students who enroll in an institution other than their home institution for the summer term are eligible only if they are considered regular transfer students at the summer institution. Transient students are not eligible.

For more information and to apply for the grant, you'll need to visit College for all Texans.

Opportunity For College Blogger(s)!

S.B. Bryan and 30-Year-Old Freshman are looking for a blogging partner for two sites I started a while ago and I have little time to work on.

Of course, this blog is my first and my baby, so it has (and will) come first, so I've had little time to maintain and work with two other blogs that I have designed and created domains for... They are www.allcollegeapps.com (a site to review, talk about, and post links to applications for iPhone, iPad, and Android mobile devices with a slat to apps useful for college students) and www.collegeofblog.com (a blog about starting a college-centered blog).

I am looking for partners with blogging experience for both. You should have an extensive blog (personal or other subject matter is fine, as long as you prove you can write persuasively and coherently about a non-personal topic.) We can work-out the particulars of the partnership at a later time, but you will be responsible for all content, the quality of said content, and the sales side of bringing new ad business to the blog. I will be responsible for the management on the business side. That is, I will create the sales contracts (though you will negotiate the commissions for placing ads, etc.--I can guide you on what is appropriate,) I will make sure the site is up-and-running on a daily basis, I will also work to get us listed on blog networking sites and I will use my influence as a popular college blogger to build the blog reputation. I will split all commissions from the blog with the partner 30%/70%; I will take the 30% for management and you will take 70% of all proceeds.

We will work out the details after you contact me. E-mail me at bailey@30yofreshman.com for more information.

Happy Blogging!

One Word To Help Your Life (Love, Or Otherwise) This Valentine's Day: Risk

If you want to avoid rejection, never do anything and never be anything. Failure is scary, certainly, but you're sure to fail if you never try at all.

Psychologists suggest something they call re-framing. They suggest putting a new frame, the best possible construction, on any situation. So that hottie in math class isn't interested? Maybe he/she is seeing someone. Maybe they are attracted to your exact opposite. Could be that they're looking for a sugardaddy/mama. Who knows? You can't know for sure, so why do you automatically assume it's because you're not attractive?

Despite what the media has tried to make you believe, there are many different kinds of attractive, not just the kind that lives in Hollywood. There's the sexy brainiac, the sweet charmer, the romantic hero/heroine, the boy/girl nextdoor... There is an endless supply of attractive personalities out there, and you can have one of them if you let the real you shine through and stop avoiding rejection.

Valentine's Day is also Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Now think, if you will, what might have happened to our country if Abe was so afraid of rejection that he just let the South leave the Union without a fight, never freed the slaves, and never ran for president at all! Abe took risks, and he was rejected, but he kept taking more risks and some people (no matter how few) accepted him.

From Dear Blank, Please Blank

"Dear student,

I have your life. If you ever want to see it again, you will bring me $40,000. You must additionally work as my unpaid servant for four years.

Sincerely, college"

From Dear Blank, Please Blank

50 Mistakes College Students Make

It’s alright to make some mistakes, as long as you learn from them. College is a time to adapt to your world and adapt your worldview to best serve you. However, there are mistakes that can be irreparable if you don’t watch your step. With that in mind, here is a list of 50 mistakes that are common among college students.

1. Spend dollars to save pennies
2. Rack-up huge credit card debts
3. Fail to network
4. Fail to get involved in campus organizations (also, see #3)
5. Don’t parlay short-term failure into long-term success
6. Drop a project at the first roadblock
7. Spend more time socializing than studying
8. Turn down learning experiences to party, or worse, to do repetitive school work—you're in college to learn, even if you don’t make a good grade
9. Let one mistake ruin an entire experience
10. Trust people you shouldn’t
11. Judge a book by it’s cover
12. Shun someone over nothing
13. Don’t start a savings account
14. Treat financial aid as income or inheritance
15. Don’t accept internships
16. Believe that good enough, is good enough
17. Get all A’s in all classes—this smacks to some potential employers as a dangerous perfectionist who might fall apart at the first sign of failure (see #s 6 and 9)
18. Make too many enemies
19. Don’t make any enemies—this means you’re probably not doing anything significant
20. Buy stocks or gamble on credit
21. Take a non-relevant paying job over a relevant non-paying internship
22. Fail to see college as an investment
23. Pass on opportunities to gain exposure and resume-building experience
24. Fail to write and build a resume
25. Fail to learn how to write well and persuasively
26. Don’t step outside the box of their racial, ethnic, or social class
27. Fail to differentiate their views from that of their parents or guardians
28. Disagree with someone based upon superficial reasons
29. Agree with someone based on superficial reasons
30. Confuse alcohol with therapy
31. Fail to take advantage of all the tools available for your academic, cognitive, personal, and professional development
32. Don’t talk to someone of a different background than themselves
33. Become too fanatical about a cause or idea—you’re in college to explore new possibilities
34. Let stress break you
35. Become a perfectionist
36. Become a slacker
37. Do only what is expected of you an no more
38. Fail to cultivate an interest or passion
39. Choose a degree or career based totally on the money you believe you can make in that career
40. Don’t enjoy your college experience
41. Believe themselves above improvement in any respect
42. Buy gold—it’s an awful investment… If gold were so valuable, why would gold sellers so willingly part with their precious, precious gold for your worthless money?
43. Do anything based on fear—it doesn’t pay off in the long run
44. Fail to start building a career while still in college
45. Avail themselves of opportunities to travel while educating themselves—Cancun doesn’t count!
46. Don’t give someone the benefit of the doubt
47. Move in with someone without giving the relationship (whether friendship or a romantic entanglement) significant time to develop
48. Fail to see potential in themselves and others
49. Don’t take care of their physical and psychological health
50. Go at it all alone—this blog and many, many others are hear to help you make the most of your college career.