just alyssa

Every 2 minutes another American is sexually assaulted. That means in the time it takes to brush my teeth and wash my face, at least 2 people have been victimized… All new students at SIU have to complete an online course on consent and respect, in regards to sexual assault. I narrowly escaped this seminar last semester, but not this semester. I was frustrated and annoyed as the reminders kept popping up, letting me know I was not in compliance with the University and that the deadline was October 31 st . So to prevent further issue, today I dedicated an hour of my day to complete the training. As I’m sitting here, thinking about how pointless it is for me to do this training, reading about sexual assault and what true consent really means, I realized that while I, personally, don’t need this training, some people really do. I’m reading about the statistics of on campus rapes and reporting incidents and what that means, and I’m thinking about all the people I know personal...

Someday in my future I may have children and I can’t help but look at this world and worry about what kind of parent I’ll be or how I won’t be able to save my child from the hurt and pain of being human. Even in all my worry, I know I don’t have to have a “perfect plan”, because life has its own way of working out in the end…but just in case… If I should have a daughter,  I’d want her to know that the world is imperfect. I’ll want her to look up with those big blue eyes that she’ll get from me and pray she sees something else in the world. I’ll teach her to carry rainboots, even on the driest days so that she never fears the rain.   I wouldn’t let her try to be everyone else’s anchor or the captain of the ship. Instead, I’ll show her how to be a shipmate, helping others politely without ever being power hungry or sacrificing herself for the sake of the ship. I’ll teach her to be her own ship. I’ll show her that words can be a cage if guarded too much. I...