Spring Break
Unfathomable changes occur
Ashley Slocki
Issue date: 3/10/08 Section: Forum
I am one of those people who tries to live their life without any regrets. Of course, sometimes it cannot be avoided, but other times it can be rectified.
I left home promising myself and others I would not lose touch with the people I felt were important to me, but - as stated in previous columns - I didn't keep up my end of the bargain, which really upset me when I realized this.
This is my third column about things I have realized since coming to OSU - chronicling my attempts to reconnect with friends from back home. While people may be getting tired of them, I feel this column will show students who have doubts about OSU what a fantastic job their school is doing in some areas.
I was talking with a friend (not Andy, this time) who has stayed very close with many of our teachers, and I asked her how our high school was doing. I had figured it was not going too well, but when I found out how bad things had gotten I was more than upset - devastated probably wouldn't even explain it accurately.
She told me a group of students had approached my principal about forming a Gay-Straight Alliance Network.
The official mission statement of the Gay-Straight Alliance is, "a youth leadership organization that connects school-based Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) to each other and community resources." GSAs aim to "1. Create safe environments in schools for students to support each other and learn about homophobia and other oppressions, 2. Educate the school community about homophobia, gender identity, and sexual orientation issues, and 3. Fight discrimination, harassment, and violence in schools."
The GSA was founded in 1998 and has reached many high schools nationwide.
The saga of attempts to create a GSA at my former high school was frustrating enough, but another story my friend told was worse.
My senior year we had a teacher come in who everyone just considered a metrosexual. He had come into our country town from the "big city," and if I remember correctly it really wasn't that big of a city - but to most of us, it was.
I left home promising myself and others I would not lose touch with the people I felt were important to me, but - as stated in previous columns - I didn't keep up my end of the bargain, which really upset me when I realized this.
This is my third column about things I have realized since coming to OSU - chronicling my attempts to reconnect with friends from back home. While people may be getting tired of them, I feel this column will show students who have doubts about OSU what a fantastic job their school is doing in some areas.
I was talking with a friend (not Andy, this time) who has stayed very close with many of our teachers, and I asked her how our high school was doing. I had figured it was not going too well, but when I found out how bad things had gotten I was more than upset - devastated probably wouldn't even explain it accurately.
She told me a group of students had approached my principal about forming a Gay-Straight Alliance Network.
The official mission statement of the Gay-Straight Alliance is, "a youth leadership organization that connects school-based Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) to each other and community resources." GSAs aim to "1. Create safe environments in schools for students to support each other and learn about homophobia and other oppressions, 2. Educate the school community about homophobia, gender identity, and sexual orientation issues, and 3. Fight discrimination, harassment, and violence in schools."
The GSA was founded in 1998 and has reached many high schools nationwide.
The saga of attempts to create a GSA at my former high school was frustrating enough, but another story my friend told was worse.
My senior year we had a teacher come in who everyone just considered a metrosexual. He had come into our country town from the "big city," and if I remember correctly it really wasn't that big of a city - but to most of us, it was.
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