Kayla's Corner

A tribe known as the "Nacirema" take part in truly unbelievable rituals that have recently been studied by myself and my colleagues. However, I will only be sharing one of these wonders today. It was early this past year when we first witnessed the remarkable practice taking place. This ritual mainly taken part in by the women of the tribe and ever so rarely by the men is truly a sight to see. It begins when the women of the tribe enter their teens years (for the men, I am not aware of the age). It was made known to me that the ritual is not quit a daily occurence, but changes depending on the person. It starts with the women entering the shrine which is made of solid stone and filled with holy water that rids the tribal women of their impurities. The women first take out the sharp blade and magical potion that will be used during the process. These sacred materials can be found at any of the many Tramlaws or Regorks, as it is necessary for all women to take part in this ritu...

This past week in class we read an essay describing the duties expected of a wife. It listed all the ridiculous things society expects "wives" to possess. But what if it was switched. What if it was "I want a husband"? I want a Husband. A tall, muscular, wealthy man who carries me across the threshold of our new home that he bought for us on our wedding day. He will have to be athletic so he can be the little league coach for our children's soccer, baseball, and any other sport  I desire teams. He will have to have a good job that makes at least six figures so we can go on regular vacations and live a comfortable life. He will be a handy man. He will be able to fix anything broken, the car, toilet, furnace, you name it. He will always ask about my day with out getting asked first. He will be a big family man, always taking time to play with our kids. He will do all the yard work, mowing, weeding the garden, raking leaves, and shoveling the drive way so I  don...

When we think of ourselves in the future, and i'm not talking 10 or 20 years from now I mean like 40 or 50 years, we can hope we had a successful job, loving family, and now are living out our retirement somewhere warm with our spouse and 2 golden retrievers. With only our plans for the day and our many grandchildren on our mind. In reality, although some of this may be true we tend to forget a very important aspect, at that ripe old age, we won't have the agility and sharpness we had some decades ago. Instead, unless you age like fine wine, you will probably be reading the sunday morning paper behind thick glasses that make your eyes appear 3 times larger, the volume of the tv will be kept at the maximum setting, and it might take a few tries to get up off the couch where you will then use a cane, walker, or wheelchair to get around. The truth is although we hope we will maintain the spunkiness of teenagers into old age, it doesn't work like that. Author Nancy Mairs provid...