ABC has an article on How Young Is Too Young for Birth Control; the article highlights a proposal to give birth control to sexually active kids at a middle school in Maine. The school is already giving out condoms to these teens.

Apparently, Maine has a law that says you cannot have sex under age 14. I would wager a guess that Maine also has laws that say you cannot drive over the speed limit (at any age) but I would imagine that many people break that law. I do not think that I should have to point out that people don’t always follow the rules - especially hormonal teenagers.

But that is the real crux - this is a middle school - not all of these kids are even teenagers, they are pre-teens. However, if these kids are choosing to have sex then it is crucial that they are given access to birth control. They should definitely be choosing condoms over birth control to prevent disease and pregnancy. At least someone is there to educate these kids on proper birth control and disease prevention methods.

The students will need to have their parents permission to access any of the services offered by the health center. Many of the parents seem to be up in arms about this because they view the school as enablers of sexual activity. These kids would probably engage in sexual activity without protection just like many adults and not think of the consequences until later.

I think the real questions are: Would you want your child to die of AIDS? Would you want your child’s education to be over at age 11?

If you say yes, you should have your children taken away from you. If you say no, then you should support access to birth control.

They should probably start thinking about why their kids want to have sex at age 11. I think it would be wise to offer some kind of counseling to understand why these kids want to have sex at age 11.

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Brian graduated yesterday, yay! He was already Dr. Brian before graduation though… We move in just 16 hours and we are so thrilled and excited. I will post more later when we arrive in Hawai’i!

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Since Brian is notoriously bad about withholding information from his parents that he does not deem to be important (although he mentions to them that I have my period - weirdo) I know that Pa relies on me and my blog to relay information!

Here is the story: On dissertation orals day, Brian was waiting in the meeting room for the committee to come in. They came in one by one and basically told him to leave the room while they discussed some things. They shut the door and he sat outside. The room is supposed to be soundproof and has no windows. This was a remodeled room in Lazenby. In case Brian did not tell you, Lazenby had a fire earlier in the year that caused some pretty severe smoke and fire damage. I think Brian said that one of Marilynn’s labs was ruined. So, these rooms had to be remodeled. Back to the story… So, Brian thought he heard the doorknob move but not turn so he stood by the door. It never budged. He didn’t know what was going on until Marilynn told him the door would not budge and they couldn’t get out. She told him to get the facilities people to come open the door. He tried to find a facilities person, they called the campus police, and other campus people to come get them out. He asks a graduate student in the office next to the meeting room if he could help. He says sure and tries his key…It gets caught in the lock. Now they are *really* stuck. He finally finds a facilities person who is leaving in 15 minutes to have surgery. He tries to get them out but says he has to leave because he is having surgery. Brian hears the graduate school representative say, “What effect will this have on Brian” and hears Marilynn say “Oh Brian will be fine, he is tough!” The facilities guy gives Brian a phone number to call if they are still stuck later. Brian has tried to find the guy in the building that he knows that could potentially help get them out but he is not in his office and no one has seen him. Brian finally finds him after his dissertation committee has been stuck in the room for 30 minutes and he comes up to the meeting room. He opens the door but tells Brian not to let them out until the outcome is a good one. The dissertation committee then calls him in and closes the door, this time using a pencil eraser so the door would not close all the way. After being questioned for an hour and a half or so they tell him to leave the room again while they decide whether or not he is going to be Dr. Brian. They tell him to come back and tell him congratulations and that this dissertation orals was very memorable and oh yeah, so was your actual dissertation. But he only has little tiny spelling errors and grammar errors to correct which is really unheard of…

Also, we have been having issues with the cigarette smoke next door. I got my first migraine in over a year yesterday from the smoke wafting into our apartment. Brian sent a letter to management today and he called yesterday. He basically said we would move out of the apartment for the next 26 days into a new apartment. We have taped up electrical outlets, all moulding along the floor on the adjoining walls, taped up his old closet, the front door, and any place on the floor we could smell smoke coming through. We both have been getting rather ill from the smoke. Brian woke up coughing up phlegm and I have been doing the same today. My head is still aching from the migraine and neither one of us can sleep very well with the apartment being so cold. The radiator is under the window so we never really are able to get any heat into the apartment because it just gets sucked right back out. Since we haven’t sent our books to JoAnns yet, we still have 2000 lbs of books that we would have to move in addition to all of our furniture that we’re trying to get rid of… Also, today the high here is in the 20’s and it is windy and snowing right now. Now you know the whole story, Pa!

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You have gone from “Hey You” to “Dr. U” - Yay for you!

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I am moving to Ohio! I am also going to change my current degree program from horticulture to philosophy and women’s studies. This should all be very interesting…

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I am utterly exhausted. I have been keeping busy going to flower show school, “regular” school, and the multiple societies and clubs I am involved with lately. Since I seem to have a little extra time this week, I believe I will revamp the website a bit and also answer some emails. If anyone has any suggestions about content or added features, I am willing to listen. I will make it a goal to get my writings edited and posted back up on the website. I will also update some of the older content and trash sections that are pretty useless. More later…

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I am utterly exhausted. I have been keeping busy going to flower show school, “regular” school, and the multiple societies and clubs I am involved with lately. Since I seem to have a little extra time this week, I believe I will revamp the website a bit and also answer some emails. If anyone has any suggestions about content or added features, I am willing to listen. I will make it a goal to get my writings edited and posted back up on the website. I will also update some of the older content and trash sections that are pretty useless. More later…

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I am really back this time. Things have been incredibly hectic. I have gone back to college, this time to get a degree in Horticulture. I am going to symposiums and flower shows constantly and have been incredibly busy. However, I have resolved to make the website a priority. Some things have changed in my life. I actually sleep now. Sleep is a wondrous thing, everyone should try it. So, I am back and I am indeed alive, contrary to popular belief.

Popularity: 7% [?]

I am really back this time. Things have been incredibly hectic. I have gone back to college, this time to get a degree in Horticulture. I am going to symposiums and flower shows constantly and have been incredibly busy. However, I have resolved to make the website a priority. Some things have changed in my life. I actually sleep now. Sleep is a wondrous thing, everyone should try it. So, I am back and I am indeed alive, contrary to popular belief.

Popularity: 6% [?]