Tenae The Blogger

Last week, I celebrated by my second AKAversary. November 20th, 2018, marked the date that I joined the best sorority there is, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Two years ago, I officially gained 10 lifelong sisters. Most of the women on my line were either friends, someone I had oddly crossed paths with before, or someone else I knew. Regardless of our standing before, they truly became my sisters. Greek life was something I was familiar with before college. There were signs all around me, but I lacked the understanding. My old high school Vice Principal is a brother of Omega Psi Phi. I remember being in his office and seeing purple and gold, but not understanding the meaning. I had a business teacher during my freshman year of high school that I would later discover was one of my Sorors. As time would go on I would learn that I had several family members that were also my Sorors. Just before I got to campus I was introduced to the world of Greek life and once I stepped foot on

This post was due weeks ago. It was due at the height of the Kavanaugh situation....or so I thought. I started this post and then stopped for a bit. During that break there was a number of people who expressed their clear disagreement with the government and the decision made to confirm Kavanaugh. When I learned about the results on Kavanaugh, I was disappointed. This was some of the most disappointed political news I had read in a while. News worse than when Trump had won the election. As a woman, I felt as though I had been failed. As a constituent, I felt as though, despite many calls to Thom Tillis, I had been failed. This was the opportunity for American leaders to show us the integrity we think they often lack but they just proved us to be right. I want it to be clear that all people, both men and women, were/are upset, angry, confused over the ordeal. In the fight of politics, the people that are supposed to serve and protect all of us have failed us. The immoral system built b

Sometimes I look around and realize the lack of depth that some people hold is truly beyond my belief. I don't fully understand how people can believe that life and society is just black and white. People, life, society are complex, they're intricate. we can’t simply run one analyzation on the world around us because its forever changing and altering. I came to this thought in a Campaigning and Elections class that I share with a young Colombian, homosexual republican is who more outspoken than I. In this particular class the discussion was based around the electoral college. I voiced my opinion on how I saw it to be a bit sketchy, how it could lack representation, and how could turn into an elitist decision. He then goes on a short rant about how anyone could be an electorate and all you had to do was apply... as if things were just that simple. As if one could gain a position of such importance and influence while disregarding the elites, if there any. One couldn't poss

During this time two years ago, I was faced with the aftermath of an encounter that would leave an everlasting impact on me. The College Republicans at WCU brought Milo Yiannopoulos to campus. This event was limited to a few and the College Republicans made sure to keep it a secret. Milo Yiannopoulos is also known as the Dangerous Faggot. He's a British, gay, conservative "public speaker" who gets brought to college campuses to spark tensions. I heard about the event and was the last to gain entry. His talking points for this session consisted of saying wealth gaps were a myth, offensive remarks towards Feminism, Islam, and the Black Lives Matter movement. He showed why the integrity of America is poor and gave poor solutions to problems he's never been faced with. I sat around this room watching this man spew information filled with biased opinions. I see "my peers" engulfed in his words. For them, this man, the Dangerous Faggot, was someone they looked up

The hashtag "#Proverbs31Training" has been taking over twitter today. The video displays a young mother and her daughter washing dishes with the caption "I ain't raising no lazy a** child. I'm raising someone future wife, mother. #Proverbs31Training". It should be noted that the mother is a full time stay at home mother and the daughter has a twin brother. She received backlash from various followers saying she was limiting her daughter's future and if the post was really about not being lazy then why wasn't the son in the kitchen helping with the housework too.  So there's a few questions here: Is it limiting to train your child to be a mother and wife? Could it be a double standard to not have the son in the kitchen washing dishes as well? and finally, Does religion play a role in the narrative that women should serve men and how does that dynamic affect present day relationships between men and women? While it's easy to

A while back someone sent me a video of a woman speaking to a crowd of church women during some sort of seminar. The woman grazes over various topics and came to one that resonates in my memories today, hence this post. She talks about women, more specifically black women, crying in the shower or in their car. We retreat. We hide from the public, our loved ones, and our significant others to cry alone without any consolation. Most of the time its one of those ugly cries, one built up from stress or from unhappiness. We retreat to a place like the shower or our car and we completely let it all out. After we finish our cry, we gather ourselves. We check the mirror to fix our make up. We clear our throats a few times and take a deep breath. We then get out of the car or shower and join with our fellow people and act as if we weren't just crying like we felt the weight of the world on our shoulders. We brush it off and ignore our feelings until its time for our next ugly cry session.

By far Junior Year of College has been the most memorable and eventful. Often time I wondered what exactly does it take to rally the people that occupy the small, quiet place of Cullowhee, NC. What does it take for those around you, effected by the same issues that effect you, to care? What does it take for people to speak out and say something? To say that enough is enough? For administration to say that "I see you, I feel you"? Years pass and we see the same microaggressions, the same tired prejudice, the same blatant acts of disrespect, disregard, and racism. It's enough to send shots of heat to the soon to be fire yet not enough to light it. On the fateful afternoon of January 15th, 2018 (also MLK Day), things in the small college town of Cullowhee changed forever when a student yelled "Go home" and "N*gger" out of the window of the Walker Residence during the campus' Alpha Phi Alpha chapter's annual march, some say that it had been yelled

 I've noticed that the life here in Cullowhee takes a tole on the typical black student. There's more stress and adjustment that takes place because of the small population of minority students. We aren't in a place where we can easily find our groups and in some way we have to search for them and that's something that the white students don't really have to do because they are the majority. I never really took a moment to think about how racism, discrimination, or prejudice can affect black students at a Predominately White Institute (PWI). After certain issues that took place on campus last year, it opened my eyes. I began to noticed the mental break that black graduates have to take after leaving Cullowhee. I often hear something along the lines of "There's just something about Cullowhee" or "I felt relief after leaving". Something that displays a certain cloud of darkness for black students that surrounds the small college town. We never

I began this blog four years ago as a freshman in college just beginning my journey to purpose and adulthood. I discovered the things that I enjoy and dabbled in the things I wanted to take on. I created a blog with a lack of purpose. I took on the name "TheSavvyBlogger" because I slightly understood that my thoughts and words could be limited by no one. Now I've matured through my college years and now I know that nothing can limit me. My thoughts, words, and experiences aren't ones to be limited by any one human being. I understand the power held in words so now I can fully embrace my blog and use it as a tool to share my experiences to those that may face these same encounters one day.  Cheers to not conforming, liberation, and the push of voices being heard!