It’s not often that a teacher or professor invites their students to sit down with them and have an honest conversation. But when the opportunity is given, I say you grab the bull by the horns and take them up on the offer. Today, I was given the opportunity to have my real time chat with Professor Nichols and I am very grateful for the chance. This conversation brought up many interesting topics, such as my family, feminism, and room for personal, and social growth.

Today is my 18th birthday making me, officially, an adult. This is my first birthday that I have been away from my family, but to me, that isn’t that big of a deal. As I explained to Professor Nichols birthdays aren’t a big deal in my family. For most birthdays we end up spending time with one another and go out to a nice restaurant. For big birthdays, such as 16, 21, and 50 we might throw a party. But besides that, the big fanfare is not needed in my family. Plus, my older sisters no longer live at home. This makes it more difficult for to get together for every birthday and holiday. My oldest sister, Steph, lives in New Jersey and is married, so she splits the holidays between our family and her husband’s. Also, both of my sisters are my half sisters, meaning for certain holidays they try to spend it with their father. This might make me technically an only child, but I don’t like to think of myself as one because my sisters have always been a big part of my life. My family has had a major impact on who I am as a person and made me into the mature women that you know today.

Besides my family, Professor Nichols and I discussed my position as a feminist. Now before you start inwardly cringing, let me explain. I am a feminist, and that means I believe that women should not be treated poorly because they are women. A woman should be given equal opportunities as a man, and respected. A woman should be able to wear whatever clothing she wants and not be harassed for it. If I want to wear tight shorts that make my butt look good with a crop top that is my own decision. No one has the right to judge me and this does not give people permission to harass me because I might be dress somewhat “scandalously.” However, I do not think that men are completely guilty for the sexist views that society has. For instance, women in rap videos are choosing to be featured in these videos and paid for it, even though it is reaffirming the sexist views many people have. There is still an aspect of choice involved; thereby, I cannot completely blame men for all the problems currently facing women. While this might make me in some people’s opinions a bad feminist, I still consider myself to be one.

Finally, the conversation concluded on a topic of the future, specifically my future at Penn State. I have always wanted to get involved with more activities at Penn State and join different clubs. I really want to get involved in clubs that help people or solve some problem. Professor Nichols brought up an interesting point about our society that the generation today does not realize the amount of power that we have. With the rise of social media, problems can be easily addressed and gain global attention, as see with the ALS Ice bucket channel. However, there are many simple problems at Penn State that have not been addressed, such as 12-month contracts for 9 months of residents, and no air conditioning in the dorm rooms! While, these problems might seem small many people do complain about them but do nothing to address them. So, I plan to use this power I have been given for some goal. It might not be changing the contracts of housing, or getting air conditioning but hopefully, I do something good for Penn State and public relations related.

Overall, the conversation with Professor Nichols was very rewarding and I’m glad I got the chance to have this conversation.