MOSAIC 2007 and other weekend events

So, MOSAIC is the anual "gender conference" that CMU holds.

It happened this past weekend and I actually went this year. The keynote speaker was Sheryl Swoopes. She was fun and was interesting to listen to. Of course, her being the speaker caused my girlfriend to go insane. A got to pick her up from the hotel, show her to her room, and even get her water. Let's just say that at no point in the day did anyone around A forget about Sheryl Swoopes.

First session I went to was the student reading. Four readers, including A. Everyone did really well, which was no surprise. I know I heard at least three of the stories before. The fourth was very familiar, so I think I must have heard excerpts from it.

Second session was lunch. I do not understand how the school can put out such an excellent lunch but have terrible food the rest of the time. Lunch was excellent and it was a lot of fun to hang out with everyone. Lunch during the week is usually a hurried event if it happens at all, so sitting and talking with people was a great thing.

Third session was the first half of a two part discussion on the way gender and sexuality is presented on our campus. We examined things such as he posters that people put up accross campus, facebook groups, and other such commentary. It was interesting. I can't form too much of an opinion on it, since I didn't stay for the second half. The first half alone left a lot unanswered, and had I not wanted to go to the final session I had chosen, I would have stayed and seen if anything was better addressed. I didn't like the way everything was handled, but I'll hold off judgement and say that I probably missed important parts of the discussion.

Final session was "I'm gay an I pray," which is a pretty self-explanatory title. The panel consisted of a UU minister, a Lutheran pastor, a gay Jewish student involved in a synagogue for GLBT people and with some kind of training in religion, and a gay Catholic man. I thought the discussion was interesting, and also heard of a group that I want to check out. The Lutheran upset a few people because he was the only one not saying that religion and sexuality could be mixed. Basically, his view point was that homosexuality was a sin just like any other sin and had to be handled accordingly. While I didn't agree with him, I think I was in the minority by not being offended by him. I guess I felt that he had the right to whatever opinion he believed in (and that it was good to have an incosistent view point), and that he was at least respectful in the way he discussed things.

After the final session was more hanging around with friends and having dessert and coffee and such. All in all, a good conference.


Friday night, some friends and I took J out on a date to the Cheesecake factory. Good food, good people, good times. None of us know why J is single. Men of Pittsburgh, open your eyes. That being said, I am getting better at not being as quiet and awkward, though I definitley did play the role of quiet, awkward, white girl. Random observations: I was the only one at the table who was under 21, who was white, who didn't like guys. I still had fun talking with people. I'm told people like me but think I'm shy, but I'm getting better, I swear. I mean, I actually talked despite the size of the group of people and me not knowing several of them very well (it was A, J, and a lot of A's friends who I'm getting to know, but I wouldn't actually claim that I know them at this point). Anyway, the main point of this is that I'm getting better about being shy and that Cheesecake factory has really good food.

Financial aid issues. Of course, financial aid issues are just a symptom of family problems. Except I don't really have the right to get mad at my brother for dropping out of school and therefore jeopardizing my financial aid packet. It's his life and also, I don't blame him for the events that led to his dropping out of school. But geesh, why can't my family actually be functional for a little while?