Figure Me Out by The Summer Set

This song means the absolute world to me because it basically describes my life. For a really long time I struggled with a lot of personal problems. I never quite fit in anywhere. I was always that person who was different. As the song says, "Im too pop for the punk kids, but im too punk for the pop kids, I don't know just where I fit in cause when I open my mouth I know nobody's listening." I was so caught up in everything that I wasn't and everything that I didn't have that I lost sight of what I did have.

I'm a very determined individual who has big dreams for the future, and my parents are always there encouraging me to keep going when I want to stop. My dad always tells me, "Pursue your dreams, and keep fighting for what you want. You're a determined and stubborn individual Mikaela. You never quit. Don't quit now. Get you're head out of the clouds, pick up the pieces and keep going. Everything is what you make of it." Over time I learned to believe that, and I realized that my struggles don't define me.

Coming to college I had nine hundred stones thrown at my window. I could've said, "You know what, college isn't for me. I can't do this." I was in the hospital four times, I'm on roommate number 3, I can no longer join the military until I figure out what's wrong with me, and I don't have many friends here, but am I going to let that stop me? No, because there's more to life then all my problems. Theres more to college then what has been presented to me thus far.

Everything in life is about how you perceive it. If you want to have a negative experience then you are going to make it negative, but if you want a positive experience, then make it positive. If you fall down a million times, then you have to find that strength to keep standing up. Every week I literally fall down. Not a week goes by, where I don't pass out, but I keep standing up and pushing forward. Keep a positive attitude, and good things will come. Everything takes time.

"But I believe there's more to life than all my problems. Maybe there's still hope for me to start again. Get my feet back on the ground. Pull my head out of the clouds. I think it's time for me to figure me out."

Klansville USA

This documentary was very eyeopening to the impact that the Brown v. Board case had on North Carolina. The KKK had laid dormant for years, but once this case had been ruled on, it struck a whole new nerve in this state. Members of the Klan were not happy that their children would be attending schools with children of the opposite race. They wanted their discontent to be known, not only at night, but during the day. They had attracted thousands of members, striking terror for everyone they crossed. They had such a strong presence that they got a whole town named after them. Being a part of the Klan was a badge of honor for these members. This whole era was a struggle between the NAACP, and the Klan. It was a fight to see who would win in the end.

Class Parallels and How it Relates to American Attitudes

Coming to college I was very used to the high school educational structure where none of my classes related to one another. I thought that was how it was always going to be, but this semester I realized that isn't the case. There's more to college then the history, mathematics, and science. There's a correlation between the courses we take. In America, and life in general, theres always a bigger picture. People don't always see that bigger picture though. Everyone thinks that everything is unrelated, and that if we pass one bill it won't effect us, or pertain to the 900 other bills that are already in effect. We're ignorant to the causes and effects that our actions have on one another. It's like college. If I hadn't come to college I would have always thought that none of my classes would ever relate. There's more to life then what we see. Let's open our eyes and look at the bigger picture, and think outside of the box.

Swann v. The Board

Last Friday, my litigation team debated our last court case, Swann v. the Board. My team was on the side of the board, and upon first glance of the case, we noticed that it wasn't going to be an easy case to debate. This case was going to challenge us not only intellectually, but mentally. We were going to have to think outside of the box to try and come up with ways as to why the Finger Plan was not going to be an effective method to achieve integration. From reading about the outcomes of the case, we knew that Swann won, but we didn't understand exactly what he won. We also realized that there were several expansions on this case, which included the Finger Plan, and several later court cases that came about years after the Swann case.

All confused, we went back to our sources of busing, and redistricting, and asked ourselves why? Why is this a bad idea to achieve integration? Well, there's time, money, distances, district zones, traffic flows, etc. Students would be on the bus for up to two hours sometimes, depending on traffic, and how far their house was from the school. Not only that, buses require gas, and gas requires money. Money that we don't have. Due to this, we decided that there has to be better options to acheive integration. All that was left was for the courts to agree with us.