Defend This

Okay, so here's the deal, I passed my dissertation but I still have to present it all over again on Friday April 24, just for the hell of it based on some stupid ass technicality: I wasn't professionally dressed (shoot me why don't you). I am a firm believer that it doesn't matter what you wear but rather what you know. You could be up there presenting in a damn paper bag and if you know your shit inside and out like I did, then you're still better than someone wearing their Easter Sunday best who doesn't know quantitative methods from qualitative. My school (and especially my thesis instructor) takes itself way to seriously. I guess it's that black mentality: we don't care what you do or say as long as you look good doing it. That's the kinda stuff that helps perpetuate many of those negative stereotypes about African-Americans. Yeah, I am extremely honest with everyone around me, even my own race! That's the same type of mentality that makes people look their noses down at HBCU's (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and not want their child to go there or they don't want to donate money to it. Everything has to be so showy for some reason. I am a simple chick (even though I do have some diva tendencies lol) who just likes to kick back in jeans and t-shirts and a pair of flip-flops and I see nothing wrong with that! I think it shows I have more character than those drones in three piece suits.

Anyways, most workplaces don't even have 'professional attire' anymore; it is way more laxed. Like dressy casual (what I was wearing when I presented). I had on a pair of black slacks, a pink collared button up shirt (that should have been a big enough sacrifice for them right there!), and a pair of NICE black wedge sandals. Anyways, she let me present and then waited until I did that all that talking and answered the panel's questions to pull me aside and tell me I will have to present on Friday even though I had already passed because my attire didn't meet defense standards. Bull crap!

All my other classmates came up to me and said that they think it is bogus and pointless for me to have to defend again just because of what I was wearing. I did amazing and they all told me so. I was able to answer every damn question I was asked. Do you know how hard that it? EVERY DAMN QUESTION THE PANEL THREW AT ME I WAS ABLE TO ANSWER ACCURATELY! OK, if you wanna dock a few points from me do that, but don't make me go through that whole damn 40 minute process again! It seems that for my whole life people have always felt the need to single me out and try to tear me down for one thing or another. Okay, so I am a little unorthodox, alright, so I complete tasks a little differently, okay so I am a little different than you and most, okay, so my brain works differently and I perceive things different that you. You know what?! THAT'S OK! THAT'S WHAT MAKES ME AMAZING AND YOU JUST ANOTHER PIECE OF NOTHING, LIKE ALL TOO MANY PEOPLE ON THIS BLASTED PLANET.

Let me take time to remind you that most great minds were different and considered 'weird'. To be successful you gotta go against the grain and stand out a bit (or as in my case, I guess a lot). Most bizarre people turn out to be geniuses in disguise. Examples given: Albert Einstein and Mark Twain. But even though people thought they were strange and crazy those same people who picked on them knew that they could never even hope to be as smart as them. It's just like Eleanor Roosevelt (yes Eleanor, not Marilyn Monroe as much as I love her) said, "Well-behaved women rarely make history." So not only am I gonna make history but I am going to start my own damn movement! That's okay, because at least I'm the only one out of the class of 2009 graduating political science majors who will be on the defense DVD twice lol! More exposure. People can keep hating all they want because that's how I got famous! xoxoxo.