baby mama

Chose your state, enter your $$$ info and see how much you would owe in child support!

I chose my current sad state of Indiana and just for fun, entered "$1,000" in the non-custodial monthly income & "$10,000" for custodial parent monthly income. In this case, the parent with the child is making ten times more than the parent who will be paying child support. Ceteris paribus, the minimum wage parent still coughs up $114 a month to the parent making six figures.

After overhearing a guy on the bus this morning mumbling on about child support, I got to thinking about it myself. Is it "fair"? I don't know. I don't even know how much it really costs to raise a kid, but according to last year's USDA report, it's approximately $221,000...before college. Of course, like cuts of beef, some of us are more expensive than others.

Anyway, this guy on the bus was more or less arguing in support of "making men pay their share", as he sexist-ly put it. What DOESN'T bother me is the idea of a parent who has divorced their spouse being legally responsible (within reason) for paying child support, given that the children were born in wedlock. In a sense, I feel like the two parties obviously made enough of a plan at some point to combine their assets anyway. But what about those teen mom situations? Should Billy quit school and start stocking shelves at Kroger because Britney wants to keep the baby?

In any state where abortion is legal, a pregnant woman essentially has a choice. She can keep the baby or abort it. While the guy might have an opinion on her decision, it is ultimately hers. Why not have abortion for men, too? If a man wants to "keep" the baby, he can. If he wants to give up responsibility, he can opt for that too. If a woman has the legal right and option to choose, so should a man.

If you think politics and issues like this are dry, get off of my blog and out of my life. I'm interested to know what all of you think about this kind of stuff.


The guy on the bus also spoke in support of socialized health care while clutching a box of Dunkin' Donuts. Great...

rants & raves

I'm back from my three month hiatus. I've been stuck inside of what I call my Bloomington business school bubble. For the next 700 words or so, I will stick my head out (carefully, as not to burst the bubble), and talk about the "world"* around me.
This entry will be the closest thing to a personal rant ever posted on this blog. We all had Livejournals back in 2004 and I'm sorry if this drags you back there.

Today in a lecture hall of about 200 students, a guest speaker from the "athletic committee" asked if anyone had never been to an Indiana University basketball game. Literally two students raised their hands, including myself. The same guest speaker then said, "Don't be embarrassed, raise those hands higher!" Why the hell would I be embarrassed about this? Is it embarrassing to have better things to do on the weekends than go to a school-sponsored game? To be completely honest, I'm proud of the fact that I've never been to an IU basketball game, let alone any IU game at all. It shows that my interests & hobbies extend more than five blocks up Indiana Ave. I never even went to a single game of anything in high school!** If you're into that stuff, that's great. Honestly, people have different interests and I completely respect that. I'd also like to clarify that I'm not a sports-hater. Just like the separation of church and state, I would appreciate a separation of sports from academics.

I came to IU to learn about business so I could trod off into the real world and have a hot, exciting life. Now I find myself with a required assignment (proposed by the athletic committee guest speaker) to write about "how to get more students to attend the IU games". I'm really not interested in solving IU's apparently huge problem with low student attendance at games, but I do have a thought about it. If nobody is coming to IU's games, why do they even have games? If their teams suck, if nobody is interested, why force people to show up and watch? From what I've learned, if there's no demand for your supply, you might be out of business. People don't respond well to having things forced down their throats. "But Katrina, you just don't have school spirit! That's what it's all about." What is "school spirit" anyway? I love my classes, and I am proud to be in one of the best undergraduate business programs in the nation. I brag about my incredible professors whose credentials & experience would make some attorneys look like losers. I have attended every single one of my classes since May of last year--but I've been told I have no "school spirit" because I happen to not like basketball or football.


Now about some of the students around me. How did you get into college without knowing 4th grade grammar? In the past few years I've come into contact with people who use apostrophes in simple plural forms of words while leaving them out when showing possession. (ex. I hate spider's. Sarahs keys are on the table.) I know I take advantage of a more informal, conversational style of writing, but I'm well aware of the difference between THERE, THEY'RE and THEIR. Good luck communicating in the real world, because people are going to laugh in your face for these mistakes. At least they should. I hope you're really good at accounting.

I can bitch and moan all day, but I'll admit there is some good coming from all of this negativity. I've noticed that I work best in a really fast-paced environment. I'd also hope that these environments would weed out slow typists and teammates who find it impossible to bring their work to the table. (Two things I hate more than "spider's".) I've also realized that I require a creative atmosphere in order to survive. I need to be around weirdos and have friends with an assortment of values. I'm beyond excited for the huge plans and possibilities I see for my future, but I'm finally starting to appreciate the present. Woooo! Thanks for reading!

*I am thoroughly aware of the fact that college towns don't reflect the "real" world in any demographic measure, at all.

**In fact, the last time I can remember being at a "school game" was in 7th grade. I was there to see my friend play volleyball.