77 Zealous Inches

(LNF: Sweetness and goodness. Now I get to say that I had Veronica Love featured on my blog before she became the Great American Voice For Sports In The 21st Century and I’ll sell this interview to Time magazine for a pretty penny.

Oh, and Ruthie. I picked this pic because it looks the most like you, in my opinion — good-lookin’, brainy, and a twinge of cheesy. A lot of other pics didn’t cover all those bases to my satisfaction but if you’d rather another one up there, just let me know.)

Hooray, my favorite type of post to make. I started this a week ago but it’s been a crazy week so here it is now.

I don’t know whether its Ruthie or Veronica Love now, but I like Ruthie because well, you just look more like a Ruthie. Ruthie used to live in what is now my Home and about a year and a half ago (wasn’t it?) took a big hop, leap and a jump over to Memphis to study journalism. Not the easiest of steps for someone from The Family to take and I give her very large (Venti size) kuddos for going through with it.

I interview people that I want to learn from, and I have a lot to learn from Ruthie. So here’s hoping that she’ll stumble across el blog and teach me something and have some fun doing it. Interview guidelines found here.

Also, I feel that I may have gotten some terminology wrong or presented some of the questions in a way that doesn’t quite make sense. For instance, do you do “homework” in college or do you call it something else? Stupid question, I know, but I’m too tired to Google the answer and Kenji’s not on chat to ask. If I did, I welcome any of my readers to chuckle knowingly and gently guide me to the right terminology. Thank you for understanding.

What made you decide your particular school? How hard or easy was it to get in?

(Ruthie) Upon moving to Memphis I decided to apply to schools around Memphis and the mid south to stay near my relatives. Just in case I got scared and wanted to run home I could within a relatively short time frame. The school I’m in, Christian Brothers University, was actually not on my list of possibilities. Originally I had my heart set on Mississippi State and my mind prepared to settle with the University of Memphis, and the backup plan of community college if both of those failed, but God had other plans.

My aunt suggested CBU to me a few times, but I had ignored her suggestions because I thought of it as a rich snooty private college that would be really hard to get into. However, over the Christmas holidays I got a job offer to work at their bookstore, which I took because I needed a job. While I was working one day I met the food service manager of the school and we started talking. He asked me about myself and I told him how I had recently moved to Memphis and was looking into schools. He told me to look no further because I was coming to Christan Brothers. I then told him about my money situation and he said no problem. The next day one of the admissions officers came over to the bookstore with an application and a welcoming gift, as well as an admissions fee waiver.

A month after handing in my application I got my acceptance letter, as well as my letters from Mississippi State and Memphis. Then the Financial Aid packages came in the mail and Mississippi State became and no go as well as Memphis, both weren’t giving me the money I needed. CBU came through with almost a free ride so my decision was basically made for me on a money aspect, and after working there for a bit at the bookstore and going on a campus tour it became appearant that it was the school for me. It wasn’t snobby like I had first thought, or all that rich, and because it was a private school, the school was less populated and the classes were smaller and more personal, which made the home school to college transition easier.

Why journalism?

Well I’m actually majoring in English with a concentration in Literature and a Minor in History because CBU doesn’t offer a Journalism major. Reason being, I am really really bad at math, and every other major requires way more math classes than just my 1 measly required class, and I’m barely passing it as it is right now. As well as I’ve always liked writing as well as History. At first I was going back and forth between switching my major and minor around but you can do more and look better if you have a degree in English than History even though you do about the same amount of work in each.

What’s your long term plan and how many years ahead is it? Where do you want to be in 10 years?

Well I have 3 more years as an undergrad student, and if things go as planned I hope to land a job for a newspaper or print related company after graduation, most desirably a job in sports media. If that doesn’t happen I’m considering joining the Peace Corps for a year or two and then going to Grad School to get my Masters in Journalism, then give the reporter thing another try. But you never know, getting married could pop up somewhere in between and throw off the plan a little. However, in 10 years I hope to be working for ESPN. heh.

How was the transition from the Family lifestyle into secular society? Easier or harder than you thought? Any major surprises or things you weren’t expecting?

I was actually a little surprised at how easy the transition from the Family into secular life was. I was warned about the dangers and told how hard life would be outside if I left, but I haven’t found it to be that way. Perhaps I was lucky or had God on my side, because I was able to find a decent job, get accepted into the school I wanted, and “get a life” pretty fast and without many problems. However, I did have some problems adjusting to the life style differences, finding my personal stance on faith and religion, which I am proud to say I still believe in God…lol, and fighting homesickness. Overall the transition wasn’t as bad or scary as I was led to believe.

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of growing up in The Family as it relates to your life now?

One advantage is that having had lived in so many different situations and countries I’ve been able to adapt to many cultures and personalities, which is great because now I have a wide range of friends. Also having had been known as the quiet shy one most of my life, it’s funny to now be known as outgoing and sociable. The flip side to the coin is that because of all the moving I don’t really have a hometown or a place to say where I’m from. My accent is quiet messed up and I just say I’m from Baltimore, most people are familiar enough to know it’s a place but not enough to know exactly what it’s like. I’m also half black and am called whitey a lot because of that side that isn’t really seen much in The Family. lol. Another disadvantage is having to refrain from my Pop Family references, such as TYJ and peanut and raisins. They don’t really float to well and leave many people highly confused. But I have found a friend who knows Veggie Tales…it’s close enough.

What’s the best and worst thing about college life for you?

I would say the best thing about college life is probably that there’s so many people to befriend and always different things to do. Something is always going on around campus and there’s never really a dull moment. I haven’t had a Ground Hog day/week yet. The worse thing is definitely the cafeteria food. It’s pretty bad for a university.

What’s the homework aspect like? How much time is spent doing homework? Are you methodical or do you cram? How often do you have to write papers, say, in a given month? Do you enjoy it?

Homework, yes it’s called homework, is the majority of the college experience. Heh. Classes are only 50 minutes long 3 times a week, or 2 times a week and an hour 15 minutes long. So the teacher ends up assigning a lot of reading to do. There’s this supposed saying that for every hour in the class there’s 3 hours of homework to follow up with. I’m sure it’s supposed to be like that but I’m not that faithful. I usually give an hour or two to each class. Right now I have 3 classes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and two Tuesday and Thursday, so I alternate the homework. Like Sunday night I’ll do Monday’s, Monday night Tuesday’s, etc. I’m a cross between methodical and a crammer. If it’s a big project or paper I’ll do it a few days before it’s due, but not exactly when it’s assigned. Though recently I’ve had a few longer papers, around 5 pages, assigned Tuesday and due Thursday lately.

It’s hard to say how many papers I write a month, because some papers are written as in class essays, or part of tests, and others are assigned for homework. But I would estimate around 8-10, though some are shorter like a page or two.

I like writing, so it’s not hard to do, though it’s hard to please some teachers. Each teacher grades differently and I happened to pick one of the hardest graders in the English Department for one of my classes. I’ve learned my lesson and will try my hardest not to take her again.

Favorite and least favorite subjects?

Least favorite is definitely math. A friend me told that numbers form pictures which then tells the story, but I don’t see it. I only see numbers on a page. For me words tell stories and colors form pictures. I could never be an engineer.

I don’t have a favorite subject right now, but my favorite class was a Humanities course I took last semester. It was a small discussion based class on moral issues. It was loads of fun.

Has the financial crises been felt much on campus?

Yes, and no. Most of us are broke college students anyways, so if you walked around you wouldn’t notice much difference. But a letter was sent to our parents informing them that tuition is going up a couple hundred dollars next year because of the economic situation and more donation letters have been sent to my home lately.

And this final question from Chuck: “Ruthie, why do you eat cafeteria food when you KNOW it’s so bad for you?” Her words, not mine.

I eat cafeteria food because I have to. To live in the dorms we have to have a meal plan of at least 10 meals a week and if I’m paying for food no matter how bad it is I should eat it. Yes, I know it’s bad for me and I’ve been having stomach problems lately and I’m pretty sure it’s because of the food they cook, but again money is the issue. Waste not want not? lol. But I’ll try to do better. Next year I hope to get an apartment where I’ll have a fridge and stove to cook my own meals. Then I’ll be happy and healthy, instead of losing weight and having my insides deteriorate.

Tags: change, Chuck, college, financial crunch, friends, health, IOTM, The Family International, world events, writing

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 at 1:02 am and is filed under Interview of the Month. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.