Money, money makes the world go 'round

Money never mattered to me in the sense that I would sacrifice my personal happiness in pursuit of it. I thought I made this obvious when I abruptly quit my last job and decided I wanted to move 6 hours away from all my security and stability to pursue a graduate degree in poetry.

I understand that a lot of my friends are concerned; they don't want to see me struggle, or at the very least they don't want to hear about it. But I'm disappointed that I'm asked, "what about the money?", "don't you need money?", "what are you going to do for money?" more than I'm asked, "how are we going to spend your last summer here?" or "what's going to make you happy?".

What's not making me happy is spending almost 40 hours a week standing in a 10' x 3' area for $8.36/hr, knowing the money I make won't even make a dent in terms of savings, knowing that for $62.70 before taxes I'm missing out on family and friends--you know, priceless things. Sure, I could work the rest of the summer, maybe save $200 and get my bills paid on time. Or I could do what doesn't crush my soul and make me miserable. I don't know, it seems obvious to me, but I'm finding my values aren't exactly in line with everyone else's.


And now, an open letter to Elizabeth Hasselbeck of The View:

Dear Elizabeth Hasselbeck,

I do admire that you're so vocal about your opinions, and that you passionately defend what you believe in. I feel these are very important traits for a woman to have. That being said, you're a fucking moron. One of your hot topics was about how Janeane Garofalo said that Obama's call for prayer (for the Gulf situation) is anti-intellectual and essentially non-productive. (And don't get me started on the site I found that video on.) You took it as a personal hit against people who pray, saying anti-intellectual means "dumb". Means you're dumb. I'll explain how you're dumb and how it's not because you pray.

Intellect isn't necessarily the same as intelligence. I understand your confusion. Semantics. But intellect, as defined by dictionary.com means "the mind by which one knows or understands, as distinguished from that by which one feels and that by which one wills; the faculty of thinking and acquiring knowledge." Just to further clarify, prayer--the thing by which one feels and one wills--is not faculty of the mind, but of the heart. It's vague. It's blind-faith. Nothing against prayer, but it's surely a desperate situation when our president asks us to pray because we really have no other hope. Literally. No hope whatsoever.

Lastly, you said Janeane's comment was bigoted, and you called Joy a bigot when she tried to explain the difference between intellect (thought) and intelligence (smarts) and prayer (faith), and how this is the separation of church and state (something you seem to not support). It's great that you know the first amendment protects your right to pray to whatever god you choose, but it also protects our right to not be blanketed by American Brand religion, and you're a bigot for thinking Janeane (and myself) is an asshole for thinking prayer is not really a viable solution. For thinking we're assholes for not wanting to pray at all. To clarify once more, bigot means "intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion". She wasn't being intolerant. She was being intellectual. (See what I did there?)

In the future, argue more with your intellect and less with your prayer.


Sincerely,

Shannon Wagner