What do strap-on dildos, urinating on others for sexual pleasure, and fisting have to do with Apparel, Merchandising, and Design?

Picture this: you're 18, 19, or 20, just stepping into adulthood, excited about pursuing your passion in fashion design. Then, out of nowhere, your professor assigns a video to watch as part of the curriculum. Seems pretty routine, right? But the moment it starts playing, something feels off. You're not prepared for what's on the screen. Suddenly, you're witnessing explicit, shocking sexual content that makes your stomach churn. You wonder: Should I really be watching this? It's an assignment—so you feel like you have to. But deep down, it feels completely wrong. Likely, it's the first time you've ever encountered such graphic material.

Do you tell your professor you're refusing to do the assignment? Would you risk losing points or even failing the class over something that feels so deeply uncomfortable? Would you call a parent to get their guidance, or would you be too embarrassed? What about your classmate; what will they think? Do you dare ask them if they watched the video, and if they did were they just as shocked as you? What if they think you’re overreacting, or worse, that you’re inexperienced? The pressure to conform is real, and the fear of being labeled “uncool” gnaws at you. But how far should you go just to fit in, and where do you draw the line between academic expectations and personal boundaries?

If you have grown children, once they leave the nest; it smacks you straight in the face that they went from their first day of kindergarten to their first day of college overnight. All of the things in between: dance recitals, little league baseball games, family road trips and holidays... all run through my mind like one of those old fashion flip books where each page moves so fast through time and before you know it the story is over. It’s a state of confusion; not sure if reflecting on these memories makes me feel happy or sad. In reality, it’s probably a combination of both and then some.

The Southeast Polk School District will be turning out over two hundred young adults who are “not proficient” according to the State of Iowa’s 2023 Spring Student Assessments.

If I had to read between the lines, I would say that Southeast Polk is sitting in some hot water with the Iowa Department of Education regarding academics. Making the shift to Standardized Referenced Grading and Reassessments is a way to make the school district look better on paper. Students are not being held to a higher standard. We are lowering the standards making it easier for students to pass classes. Meanwhile we are not making it easier on these same students as they venture out into trade school, a college career or even directly into the workforce. The result in this lower standard of grading will likely mean that faculty, administration and the school board have fewer eyes on them for poor academic performance in one of the largest school districts in the state. The long-lasting result will also be that we are also producing less educated & responsible adults.

Christmas is not about expensive cards, trendy gifts, or the number of presents under the tree. If you took all those things away, how would you spend the holiday season? Who would it be with? Would it be better? Could it be more meaningful? Christmastime is about the people in your life (the ones who truly matter) and letting them know that you appreciate them through a deeper connection. It is about experiences not things. It is also about the birth of our Savior. We must remember that.

“Young people these days cannot pass the physical fitness test to get into the U.S. Military. You can’t sit around drinking Mountain Dew and eating Doritos and expect to be fit enough to serve our country when you turn 18. That’s a big part of it. But it is also about being mentally sharp. When you have a button at your fingertips that can blow up a city, you better have the intellect to make split-second decisions…quite honestly the health of our youth is presenting a serious security threat to our country.”

Since when is a 59.5% a passing grade? And why is a 1 on a scale of 1 to 4 acceptable? Standard Referenced Grading has changed the standards that our youth live up to. This fall our school district has gone to 100% standard grading. We have a senior in high school and after parent teacher conferences, it left me certain that standardized grading has truly lowered the academic standards for our children. It is not just about education & learning; it is about holding our youth accountable and creating good work habits that will transfer into college or the trades and eventually the workplace for these young adults.

Loneliness is different than being alone. Being alone is something I can enjoy, but the feeling of being the outcast and not wanted is a horrible feeling. The thought that the people you once cared deeply for no longer care for you is an emotional hurt that is hard to explain…

…I hate to cry; absolutely hate it. I do not want to draw attention to myself for being sad (or depressed) and invite a pity party. I hate feeling vulnerable, but moments like this are hard to cope with. I try hard to shove those bad feelings down deep and hide how I feel from everyone around me.

If you sample the various TV stations in your market, have you ever noticed that they all follow pretty much the same playbook? There is a male and female anchor, the weather person and a few reporters who are “on the scene” and “live” in front of what was a shooting or fire the day before. But “they are live on the scene” even if it is just standing in front of boring caution tape that symbolizes what happened hours before. The playbook is the same, the headlines are the same, the stories are the same, the formats are the same. And every fifteen minutes (unless there is breaking news or severe weather) it all repeats itself pounding the doom & gloom into our brains over and over and over again.

Life is better when you know you are making a positive impact in the world, even if it is only one person at a time, one simple act of kindness, or even one tiny moment that initiates a constructive adjustment that makes a difference.

Social media makes it very easy to discover when we have not been invited; not included. I call it “unconscious exclusion”. Facebook, Instagram & Snap Chat allow us insight as to who has been invited to dinners & celebrations, who all has traveled together part of group vacations, and who has participated together in social activities over a fun weekend.

Being alone does not mean I am lonely. There is a BIG difference. I have family and friends who I spend adequate amounts of time with. After all, relationships are a healthy part of life and very necessary for a person’s social wellbeing. But learning to be alone has provided me with the confidence to go against the grain sometimes. It has given me permission to not follow the crowd because it is the popular thing to do. And it has given me the power to stand up for what I believe in and be who I genuinely am as a human being.

“Don’t refold the towels”, is a saying I came up with for myself after a few years of marriage. After complaining about how much work I did around the house and how much help I was not getting with the household chores, my hubby took it upon himself to fold the laundry one day to help me out. As I looked at the piles of neatly folded clothes on the floor, I noticed that he totally folded the towels the “wrong way”.

Just the other day, I was talking to a lovely married couple about how their two daughters (both between the ages of six and ten) refuse to touch any sort of vegetable. The mother went on to tell me that when their family of four goes out to eat at a restaurant, their girls order butter noodles (plain noodles with melted butter) because that is all they will eat. They refuse to try anything on the menu; ever. She went on about how one time while they were at a local restaurant the server brought two plates of butter noodles (by special request) to the two young girls. The butter sauce in this case included bits of parsley to which one of the girls had a tantrum because there was “green” in her butter noodles. So, they sent the bland pasta dishes back requesting plain noodles with butter, nothing else, and absolutely no parsley. ..