Open Salon Times Two

Well, it's been an exciting week for me over at Open Salon. Last week, I wrote a post about White Privilege and the way that TV continues to perpetuate that privilege. Immediately, my post was an Editor's Pick, then put up on the cover of Open Salon, and from there a lively and somewhat heated debate followed.

Today's post is a little less controversial, but hopefully just as interesting. I've written about our "starter-friends," the collection of people we meet when we first go to college or high school or work. These friends ease us into the water of community and send us on our way, but don't usually end up becoming our best-friends, or even long-term friends.

You can check it all out here.

Thanks for your support and for reading!

Weeds

"Hey Christina... I remember u mentioning u could get some weed...im going to a cubs game 2morrow and could use some. Do u have any? Thanks."

I got that text at 7:12 last night.

Contrary to what you might think, I don't in fact know how to get my hands on weed. I know, I know, shocking.

At first I thought it was just a random "wrong number" text, akin to the text I had gotten last week from "Tony" who met me at the club.

But then it was strange that "Christina," the weed supplier, had a name so dangerously close to mine.

"I mean it would be one thing if she had written, 'Ashley, I remember u mentioning u could get some weed.'" I said to Dwayne. "But it's a little unnerving that her name is 'Christina.'"

For a split second, and I mean a very SPLIT second, I thought I was living some sort of movie nightmare when you suddenly realize you have multiple personalities and that "Christina" hasn't aged in the last ten years and that she is in fact, YOU. Was I dealing drugs in a clandestine, double life?

But no, when do I have time for a double life? Truly? Right after Noelle goes to bed? On laundry day? Or do I squeeze it in between my teaching schedule?

Later on, as Dwayne and I were lying in bed chatting, it hit me. Like the pieces of a CSI case slipping together, I suddenly realized -- the sender's name had shown up on my phone.

"Wait, wait, wait!" I said jolting up in bed. "C---'s name wouldn't have shown up on my phone if she wasn't in my phone book?" And as soon as the words left my mouth I knew who it was.

It was a C-----, from church.

How does that saying go? "Beware your sins will find you out." :-)

Dwayne and I laughed and laughed until we fell asleep.

Of course, she meant to send the text to Christina, but had accidentally hit "send to Christin" instead. How horrified would she be if she knew what she had done?

I imagined C---- waiting to hear back from Christina, cursing the air, then getting anxious and worried. Why wasn't she texting back? Was Christina mad? Was she snubbing? Where else could she find some weed at such short notice?

Today, I decided to put C---- out of her misery.

I texted back, "How was the Cubs game?"

Our College Sound Track

I'll be posting here on Words on the Side very soon. For now, if you'd like to read more you can pop on over to Open Salon and read my post about the music we listen to in college and the way it impacts our "growing up,"

Click here to read.

Thanks for checking in!

Christin

Autumn on a College Campus

I love the onset of Fall on a college campus. While nature is closing out the signs of life, we are just beginning!

Check out my post about autumnal campuses at Open Salon!

Thanks for reading!

The Fires

In the summer, the foothills are shrouded in smog, literally hidden by a curtain of murky air. In the winter they are crystal clear. The lines of the green crests and valleys cuts a gorgeous horizon across blue skies.

In the Fall, the foothills are stalked by smoke. One burning plume after another crouches over their shoulders.