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Paying for College: Then and Now
So baby boomers were born between 1946 and 1964
This means that they entered college between 1964 and 1982
The total average cost to go to Public College including tuition room and board ranged from $950 in 1964 to $2945 in 1982
While they were on college they could count on making at least $1.25 an hour in 1964 to $3.35 an hour in 1982
This means that spending the 18 weeks during summer working full time at minimum wage they would make $900 dollar in 1964 and $2412 in 1982
That means someone going to school 1964 would only have to work 40 hours during the school year to completely pay for all of their expenses.
Someone going to school in 1982 had it a little worse, they had to work for less than 160 hours during the school year to completely cover their expenses.
To put this in perspective in 2006 (the most recent year that the Dept of Edu reports) a public college education cost $11,034
The minimum wage was $5.15 in 2006
That means to pay for school in 2006 at minimum wage you would have to work just over 2142 1/2 hours to pay for school.
Working full time year around, without any time off, is only 2080 hours
I Thought I Was Mad When I Saw How Many Abortion Clinics They Have. Then I Saw The Gun Dealers. (via Upworthy)
In Septemeber 2014, Missouri lawmakers decided women must wait 72 hours to “reflect on their decision” before they can get an abortion. ‘Cause, ya know, an abortion is one of those spur-of-the-moment decisions like ordering pay-per-view or having another glass of wine. And what about cases of rape, incest, or medical complications? Well, they have to wait 72 hours too.
On its own, this is pretty upsetting. But when you consider how easy it is to get one of those shiny metal things used to take people’s lives? That’s when the blinding rage sets in.
things life is too short for: - hating yourself - pretending to laugh at “jokes” that are actually just bigoted statements - not singing along to your favorite songs - waiting hours to text someone back just to look cool - bad coffee - bad books - mean people - body shaming - letting other people dictate your life
It was a movie about American bombers in World War II and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this: American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation. The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers , and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans though and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new. When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again. The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby.
Kurt Vonnegut -- Slaughterhouse Five
But then, the truth was never really the point. Thin women don’t tell their fat friends ‘You’re not fat’ because they’re confused about the dictionary definition of the word, or their eyes are broken, or they were raised on planets where size 24 is the average for women. They don’t say it because it’s the truth. They say it because fat does not mean just fat in this culture. It can also mean any or all of the following: Ugly Unhealthy Smelly Lazy Ignorant Undisciplined Unlovable Burdensome Embarrassing Unfashionable Mean Angry Socially inept Just plain icky So when they say ‘You’re not fat,’ what they really mean is ‘You’re not a dozen nasty things I associate with the word fat.’ The size of your body is not what’s in question; a tape measure or a mirror could solve that dispute. What’s in question is your goodness, your lovability, your intelligence, your kindness, your attractiveness. And your friends, not surprisingly, are inclined to believe you get high marks in all those categories. Ergo, you couldn’t possibly be fat.
Kate Harding (via shakethecobwebs)
November 23
