The "Last Resort Girls" and Higher Education.

I am very excited to announce that we have new features coming to PLM within the next week. We will be introducing three new contributors that will be writing and keeping track of their individual journeys through higher education. Chronicling where they are in their life, they range in age from mid twenties to mid thirties, to why they went back, some are incredibly high powered and successful others are entirely switching careers, to what it is really like day to day to handle the stress that many of us know about: balancing a very busy life, schedule, while still trying to fulfill what it is that we want to do and be in this world.

That last statement very much sums up exactly the reason this place exists. When I was younger, where I grew up, the time I grew up in, intelligence, intellectuals, and education was highly valued. It was rewarded strongly and proudly. It was lauded. It was what you strived to be because being the girl in the tight skirt, high shoes, with the big hair and tons of fake eyelashes was strongly looked down upon. It was considered and they were often referred to as "the last resort" or "last resort girls". Those whom have nothing to rely on inside so they have to use what's outside to live life. They don't think any thing inside is worth any value so why not just use their body to get attention, to get what the people who use their intellects have, to get that life. That they can't possibly shine from the inside out so let's flip it and reverse it.

That way of thinking, making the outside shiny while the inside is still dark and empty, has become the norm in our society. It's something I don't believe in, and in fact strongly disagree with. It's also incredibly terrifying because not only is this the norm of our society it's overwhelmingly, 87%, the focus of the country in one way or another and influencing our future generations.

I find twelve year olds wearing VS PINK thongs, push up bras, mini skirts and fake eye lashes while hanging out at a coffee shop to giggle over college boys sad. Go shower, find kids your own age, read a book, play outside and be a kid while you still are one. Where are your parents?! I find the fact that children graduating high school that don't get a joke about Darwinism simply because they don't know "who or what is that Darwin thing you mentioned?" truly heartbreaking, devastating, and horrifying.

Instead of studying authors such as Vidal, Mailer, Tolstoy, Dickens, London, Fitzgerald, Capote, Poe, Faulkner, Morrison, Hawthorne, Hemingway, Twain, McCarthy, Updike, Salinger or Vonnegut in their Literature or English classes they are instead reading books such as the Twilight Series. Most don't even know any thing of the Bronte sisters, why they're so important, what is Wuthering Heights and why it historically matters. Why does Norman Mailer loathe Gore Vidal or most importantly, why did he get drunk then headbutt him before going on national television to debate an op-ed piece? (yes that last chunk is sarcasm and joking even though I would love to get into that conversation one day). Great authors are not just meant to have their work read, they are meant to be studied themselves because as important as their work may be, their influences and the culture around them at the time is just so.

You can make that argument for musicians, artists, any and every form of intellectual expression you choose and you would be right. The problem is, if our children, this countries future, are not being taught this unless their parents push or influence them to go and find it out on their own, to discover the wonder of it all in an incredibly journey themselves, allowing them to realize what makes their own selves shine organically, will we have a future that believes eyeliner analyzing is more important than equal pay for equal work? And how can we stop this self destructive wheel we have created from spinning?

I am hoping that by our contributors sharing their stories through out the course of their experience we may shed light on what turns so many people away from higher education. And possibly shine the light on what could be changed, maybe even help to start the ball rolling to get it changed, so that more people will turn towards higher education. In turn ensuring that every one has that pivotal moment when they realize the multiple ways in which they shine, from the inside out.

Fair Wages, Fair Payment, Fair Employment Environments...And the right to fight back and stand up.

It has recently come to my attention through a personal experience of my own, which I battled with devulging on here or not, that I truly believe a work environment that is safe and free of mental and emotional abuse is becoming more and more predominantly needed. Not only that, but so is the payment of employees for work being done. It seems quite simple. You work the hours. Your time card is submitted. You get paid. No problem right? But did you know that the person who is in charge of signing off on those time cards can say no simply because they want to? And yes, it is illegal. There is even a penalty for every day they choose to do so, for every day they create an environment that is uncomfortable or that you feel you cannot return to the workplace because of this said incident, and they have a specific number of days they MUST by law pay you otherwise they are in fact not just engaging in illegal activity, it's a misdemeanor crime that can cost them their precious little business and all those titles they've worked their whole lives for. *check your state for the individual laws, they can be found at your states labor commission website

You would think most employers wouldn't risk it over some thing petty right? Especially when it's some thing along the lines of, well I want to discuss this and this issue with you. Okay well, can't we do that after you sign my paycheck for the past two weeks when I worked 18 hour days because you forced me to and conveniently don't remember (luckily though I have proof that you did in fact okay and order it). You would think this all wouldn't be worth the trouble. Rectify the problems afterward instead of creating a hostile work environment where you aren't just making one employee feel uncomfortable, chances are, more and more will be rallying behind them every single day and the employer just isn't aware of how bad it really is. They may just think they are the King/Queen of their own world and may do whatever it is they please. Their own Mailer if the headbutt fits. But more and more employers are taking these chances thinking that the employees will simply not do a thing about it.

And in my personal experience? They didn't even acknowledge my response and have yet to direct me personally. And yes, it will most likely go legal in a very ugly way because I am going for not just my full paycheck but for damages caused and money lost for the weeks+ I was unable to work due to their tyrant like qualities. I am giving them, as a company, one last chance to do the right thing before I pull the plug and snap the legal whip, unleashing every possible asset and power play I have including having my Governor, ADA, Labor Commission, BBB, and a massive team of lawyers with documents going back over ten years to back up my claim.

Am I doing this for my money? I want my paycheck. But I also want the employee of this same employer whom was suicidal two days in a row and I had to talk down from literally killing herself, the other employee who had four panic attacks, not anxiety attacks (there is a difference), in less than four hours, that these employers are just simply high school bullies grown up with big titles, bigger pay checks, and even bigger egos and they can not just keep going like this. That you can beat this, you will. That if we all stop taking their bullying and stop just going with it because they sign the check, there will be change. It is almost 2015 and we will not stand for it. I will not stand for it. I refuse to let them think that an emotional and mental nightmare like this, that requires so much medication and doctor attention, without the ability to change jobs because of the market in our location, is how it really is or how it should be. I refuse to let tyrants believe they can or will continue to win. And I refuse to let them think they are some type of powerhouse 'teaching the way of business'. Maybe you were great, twenty years ago. Now you're just mean. And abusive. And I can't find a single redeeming quality about you.

Signed,
The girl that has known you since she was eleven.