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I just left a comment on Kee's blog post Skinny Campus. I thought this post was really interesting because spring break is just around the corner and the SMU gym is crowded with girls trying to shed the last few pounds. I think this post is really interesting and relevant to life at SMU right now. Check it out!

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I commented on Almost Famous's blog, Forgive and Forget. I thought this post was well-written and extremely interesting. It talks about the Michael Phelps Marijuana scandal. I would definitely check out this blog, it's great.

Life in the Fast Lane

This past weekend I almost had a near death experience. I was driving from Houston to Dallas, going about 90 mph. This number isn’t even close to the speed limit, and I wasn’t in a hurry I was just being impatient. A cop pulled me over and in doing so saved my life. If I had continued at my speed, I would have been part of the major collision that occurred right up ahead of me. Twenty cars were pilled up in what looked one of the most catastrophic events I’d ever seen. I didn’t get a ticket but I sure learned my lesson, speed kills.

Fox News just put out an article called “Top Ten Deadliest Stretches of Road in America” and guess what? I45 is on the top of the list. Maxim Lott, a news reporter, titled part of the story “153 Deaths: I45 Harris, County, TX.” I had been spared from becoming just another number. Lott talks about an incident that happened just a month ago in which a man speeding through the county missed a turn and rolled his car over twice. Getting pulled over by the police was enough to scare me and I set my cruise control to 65 and just settled in for the long drive. What the cop said, had really made an impact on me, “speed kills.” When you are driving that fast, you are operating a piece of machinery that can easily become a death trap. When you travel faster, the adjustments you make steering have a huge impact on the movement of the car and thus vehicles can easily lose control. Even worse, when you go that fast, the sudden stop ahead can end disasterously. There is a reason the police set speed limits; it's for everyone's safety. Speed kills, and even though I wasn’t involved in the accident, the thought of losing my own life or worse taking the life of another is enough to make me set the cruise the control to 65 and become a more patient person.

A Cruel Initiation

Last weekend I was eating at Campisi’s and my very chatty waiter began to spill his life story to us. He was a twenty-something Hispanic man from lower Greenville. His story started with how he had been shot 7 times and stabbed 15 times. He had been part of a Hispanic gang in Dallas. This young man had come to the conclusion after seeing friends and family die, that being in a gang isn’t worth it. He told us that there are only two outcomes, you either die or you go to jail. I mean you really don’t see that many forty-year old gang members running around the streets.

This anecdote brings me to my point today. Since it is the beginning of March, it is the beginning of gang initiations. I am from Houston, and I remember this time last year there was a bunch of hype about the MS 13 gang. They are an El Salvadorian group who seems to be the most merciless of all gangs. In order to be initiated into the gang you must kill someone. One of the ways they do gang initiations is by having a potential new member bump your car from behind and when you get out of the car to exchange information, they will shoot you.

Am I the only one shocked by this danger that goes on outside the confines of SMU? We are surrounded by this lush beautiful campus, and today could be the day I leave these sheltered conditions and find myself facing life or death out in the real world, where people die for no reason. When I got a text from my friend reminding me to be careful over these next few weeks when I’m driving, I realized how isolated I am as an SMU student from the real world. It’s crazy to think that just over off Greenville, some of the deadliest men alive are plotting ways to initiate their new members. It’s good thing I always carry mace me with then, even though I don’t think it’s enough to keep off these violent attackers.