Eether, eyether, neether, nyther- let's call the whole thing off.

With November 6 just around the corner and candidates panicking about their place in the polls, I can't help but notice that political "slam" commercials have taken over television. While it's true that I tend to have a flare for the dramatics, this is not an over exaggeration. Every time I turn the TV on I'm being told that so-and-so said this, what's-his-name did that and who-does-she-think-she-is lied about that thing that happened fourteen years ago. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like this election season has taken insulting other candidates to a whole new level. In the interest of protecting my own sanity I'm not going to go into detail about every single commercial that's grinding my gears. Instead, I'd like to focus on the two politicians whose advertisements frustrate me the most: Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren.

In a Scott Brown ad entitled "Let America Be America Again," he slammed President Obama and Elizabeth Warren for saying that no one gets rich on their own. In a different commercial referred to as "At It Again," Scott Brown slams Elizabeth Warren for not telling the truth about her career. He said that she said that she worked for people who had been injured by Asbestus when in reality, she worked for insurance companies to help ensure that victims didn't receive the compensation they deserved. He said that she got paid 40 times what the victims received. His commercials (and the people in them) said an awful lot of things about her. Elizabeth Warren, on the other hand... is no better. In one of her ads called "Fighter," Scott Brown is slammed for supporting tax cuts for millionaires and being on the side of corporations. He's slammed for the same thing in another one of her ads called "Clear Choice."

When Warren aired a commercial about how Scott Brown isn't "for women," he aired a rebuttal featuring women who insist that he is in fact on the side of women everywhere. When he slammed her for writing that she's Native American on applications to get ahead, she responded by making a commercial insisting that he can keep attacking her family, but she'll keep fighting for yours. She also responded to his saying that she hurt Asbestos victims instead of helping them by featuring people who have been affected by Mesothelioma. Scott Brown even aired commercials that focused solely on slamming her for slamming him!

My sister and I always managed to cause a ton of trouble when we were younger, and we got caught every time. Once we realized our TV privileges were being threatened, all solidarity went out the window and it turned into one giant blame game. "She made me do it!" "It was her idea!" "She's older so she should know better!" "You let her get away with everything!" Every time I see a slam commercial, I can't help but picture the candidates as tiny children arguing over who's responsible for breaking mom's fancy crystal vase.

I've seen countless slam commercials this year, and I haven't learned a single thing about the candidates from any of them. After years and years of slam commercials that accomplish absolutely nothing, I can't help but wonder why people still make them. Wouldn't it be much more effective to focus on what you're all about and what you believe in instead of what your opponent's about? Am I the only one who's had enough of the shenanigans?

The election is a little over a week away, and at this point those commercials are doing more harm than anything else, so why not call it a day?

The Journalist That Could

"Dream job? It changes every day. I would say that my dream job would be secret agent, but seeing as I have clown red hair, I don't think I would make a very good sneaky spy. So as of today my dream job would be doing something that matters in the world and changes lives for the better, while being a published author of course. Running my own non-profit, being an ambassador for a disadvantaged country, reporting on crimes against humanity- especially injustices occurring against women. Dream, dream, dream job would be to find a way to stop human sex trafficking world wide. It might be with a gun or it might be with making the issue more visible and people more aware." -Rebecca Copeland

I met Becca the day I was born; we've been best friends ever since. Our dads met in the navy, and then our moms became best friends. We've lived in the same neighborhood for most of our lives. When it came time for her to go to college (she's a year older than me), she decided to attend Suffolk University in the heart of Boston. This past May, Becca graduated with a major in print journalism and a double minor in english and government.

This incredible girl's first internship was at Mom Central Consulting. During her time there, she did editing for their online content, wrote press releases, and interviewed various people (including Steve Carell) relating to content on the website. Her next (and most recent) internship was at a print based PR firm that sets out to get socially responsible organizations and companies in the press called Teak Media Communications. She did a lot more at Teak than she did at Mom Central. This time around, her job included interviews, writing and personalizing press releases, taking to reporters, finding interesting stories within the organizations that Teak represented to pitch to reporters, and pitching directly to reporters.

At this point in time, recent graduates don't have many options once they receive their Bachelor's Degree. Getting a job in one's field is virtually unheard of these days for those who are fresh out of college. Most of the graduates I know end up going right back to a life of academia at graduate school. Others end up moving back in with their parents. Becca is one of those rare people who get everything they desire. A few things were handed to her on a silver platter, but not many. She works incredibly hard, but so do tons of other people who never get what they want. She's memorable, extremely intelligent, personable, hard working, charismatic, and lucky. Don't get me wrong, she's had a couple of pretty serious bumps in the road, but she is still truly lucky. Things just happen to work out for her, so she felt confident in graduating from Suffolk, staying in her apartment in the north end of Boston, and pursuing a career in journalism.

Imagine her surprise when she couldn't find a job... When I decided to write about her, I asked her what jobs she applied for in one of our weekly emails. This is what she said:

"WHAT JOBS HAVEN'T I APPLIED FOR? That would be a much shorter list. For example, I haven't applied for restaurant jobs or jobs involving adding and subtracting sums. That's about it. I have applied for every other job. I literally cannot remember them all. A lot of jobs with universities involving their admissions offices and writing centers, a lot of copy editing positions, and a lot of marketing positions with a heavy focus on writing."

It was looking like Becca might be forced to move back home for a while, but just as I had expected, she recently got some very good news. In the last week of November, Rebecca will begin her training for AmeriCorps. During her year of service with them she'll be working with WriteBoston: the only organization working with Boston Public Schools (BPS) that improves student writing through in-depth  teacher training across content areas such as English, math, science and history. It was founded in 2002 in response to students' poor performance on the writing section of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. When I asked her what her job entailed, she sent me quite the list:

"Serve as a member of the WriteBoston team and attend weekly meetings; maintain WriteBoston and Teens in Print's websites and other social media accounts to increase visibility in the community; produce bi-monthly newsletter and one-time email campaigns to reach partners, volunteers, and other readers; collaborate with Development Associate on various grants and writing projects; assist in the development and implementation of WriteBoston's new marketing strategy, which will result from new evaluation reports and documentation; develop new press packets and marketing materials for new logo presentations; create contact management protocol to better refine and target particular groups and audiences; assist in event planning and create display materials and Power Point presentations for various fundraisers."

Becca was a little hesitant to take the job at first because she feared that it didn't have enough to do with journalism, but now she's feeling really good about it. Even when everyone else thought that she might have to move home, I knew that it wouldn't happen. It's Rebecca Flipping Copeland! Things always end up working in her favor. I've probably made it all too obvious that I am in fact jealous of her. I'm not the type to cry woe is me, but let the record show that luck is not a friend of mine. Things don't happen for me the way they happen for her, so it's only natural for me to be jealous. But more important than my jealousy is that I'm so proud of her. She's living her life the way she said she would, and she's doing it without any help.

I hope that I can find a way to follow in her footsteps once I graduate.

"Let's never ever eat a meal together."

BBC posted an article on Thursday, August 9 with the rather interesting headline "10 Things Americans Say... And What They Really Mean." The article, written by Ruth Margolis, yielded some seriously negative reactions from the correspondents at the Johnson blog by The Economist. I, however, didn't respond quite as harshly and even thought some of the points were funny:

1. When an American shop assistant says, "Have a nice day!"
Translation: "Honestly, I don't care what kind of day you have. But please tell my manager I was friendly so I get extra commission."
Definitely doesn't mean: "I will sob myself to sleep if I subsequently learn that you had a less than adequate day."

2. When an American you've just met says, "Let's have lunch sometime."
Translation: "Let's never ever eat a meal together."
Definitely doesn't mean: "I urgently need to see you put food in your mouth."

The blog on The Economist points out that Margolis had recently moved to Brooklyn, and it's definitely safe to say that she hasn't encountered the friendliest people in her move. If you have any doubts about that, just read the other eight points on the list of what she calls America's most irritating idioms. Margolis's points about Americans are overdramatic generalizations, but I probably find them to be amusing because I don't think she intended them to be taken 100% seriously. Take my post on the stupid things Mittens says and does, for example. I know that Mitt Romney is not an entirely stupid man. That post was intended to be more of a political rant than a description of his exact persona.

Margolis probably encountered some offensive people in her first few days/weeks in Brooklyn and decided to run with the global generalization that all Americans are rude, just like I got frustrated with all of Romney's shenanigans and decided to take advantage of the unfortunate mistakes he makes.

If you disagree, think about it this way: do you think any shop assistant anywhere in the world does home and sobs him/herself to sleep if you say you're having a bad day? Do you think anyone ever means "I urgently need to see you put food in your mouth" when they ask you to lunch? Of course not.