Female Friendships

reliable friend to get the notes from if you have to miss class.

4. Get involved. Extracurriculars and organizations will be your best friend in college. This is how you dive deeper into your interests and find people who have interests similar to you. It may be scary at first because of the large setting, but learning to branch out and get out of your comfort zone can help you grow as a person and find what you really love.

5. Don’t spend more money than you bring, especially if it’s coming from your parents. This is self-explanatory.

6. Have fun, but not too much fun. As expected, this can affect your grades, and according to my father: “Your parents will become displeased with your choices.”

7. Honor thy mother and father. They’re still your parents even from afar, and they love you and want what’s best for you.

Breaking down the flaw within girl friendships

Elley Atchison, Junior Editor

Female friendships can be some of the most gratifying experiences of a girl or woman’s life; however, they can also leave you confused and devastated. Over the past two years, I have observed a harshness to female friendships. Having discussed with my friends the difficulties they have experienced within girl friendships, I began to ponder why female friend dynamics change so often and what we can do to combat it. While there are many nuances to the faults within female friendships, what has become evident, in my view, is how the absence of confrontation in girls is devastating deep, enduring relationships.

Unquestionably, many girls failing to convey situations they are upset about is harming their friendships. For instance, I can recall multiple times when I have been the friend that girls come to when they need to voice their feelings about a situation in which one of their other friends hurt them. Many times, I hear both sides of the story from both girls. Most of the time, the emotions they describe are valid- usually, one girl feels as if the other has wronged her greatly; what that girl does not know is that the other girl feels the same way. The lack of communication after a conflict arises in female friendships causes hurt feelings and, eventually, a significant amount of gossip. Because the girls feel they cannot go to their friends about their issues, they will go to another friend and talk to them about it. That other friend will then tell another girl about the situation, and so on. What ends up happening is the original story gets mistold and gets back to the other friend, leaving her feeling perplexed and hurt. Numerous girls do not communicate what has hurt them to their friends, leading to a failed friendship.

Moreover, it is absolutely necessary that girls adopt the habit of healthy confrontation in order to sustain a persisting friendship. As mentioned before, if girls would address their issue head-on with the friend they are having a conflict with, it would allow for less hurtful gossip and useless drama. While it can be painful to communicate to your friend what has hurt your feelings, I would argue it is even more challenging to hear a dear friend have said something unkind about you behind your back as a result of lost translation. If female friendships are to last, non-accusatory confrontation must be present. A great deal of confusion would cease if girls talked to each other face-to-face about their issues with friendship.

8. Be patient with your roommate. Also, try to be a good roommate. Pick up after yourself and be respectful of the people you’re living with. College is going to be stressful at times, and it doesn’t help if you are dealing with conflict with roommates.

9. Don’t sleep all day. My parents say that there’s no reason to stay up past midnight or sleep past 8 am, but they’re old, so of course they’re in bed by 9 every night. Even so, life is just better when you get a good night’s sleep.

You can choose to listen to the advice of others or not, but college is something that is better enjoyed when you are prepared. I wish all seniors good luck, and I hope that as we venture into the great beyond of the future, every one of us is able to become successful and happy.

Ultimately, female friendships are a beneficial aspect of life that can be exceedingly fulfilling and vital. I know from experience how wonderful girl friendships can be: girls have excellent empathy, compassion, and understanding for each other. Please do not take my ideas about female friendships as me bashing them as a whole; that is not my intention in the slightest bit. I do not believe in the idea that “I should be a girl who is only friends with guys because girls are too much drama.” That ideology bears significant flaws and is a conversation for another day. What I believe to be true is that healthy female friendships provide an essential aspect of processing emotions and creating a foundation of trust. All in all, the friendships that girls have with one another hold so much value, and we should all work on sustaining those friendships.

A lamitos’ chicken enchiladas

C ullman County Museum

E levate Barre

Flavors’ bakery blueberry muffin

Ingle park’s pickleball courts ohnny’s Bar-B-Q J K armas’ trivia nights

L edgers’ crab dip

Busy Bee’s fried green tomatoes (best during the summer months)

Duchess’ Bakery classic doughnuts

A-Z

Grumpys’ cheesy bread

Hurricane Creek Park

Ninja’s “Ninja roll”

P restigious Pets

Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Urban

Rumor’s Deli sandwich

“The Tattletale”

Terri Pines Golf Course

Visiting Angels

W gas station Xhale

What’s More Common: Divorce or Marriage? Is the joining of two people or the dividing more widespread?

Reilly Johnson, Staff Writer

In the United States, around 50% of marriages end in divorce according to the CDC. They end due to any number of things, but the top reason is lack of communication. 73% of divorces are caused by this with the other 27% being due to reasons such as infidelity or unrealistic expectations.

Currently, the US sits at number four in countries with the most divorces. Since 2000, the marriage rate has dropped drastically by more than 5.0 while the divorce rate has only dropped 0.8. Although the marriage rate has dropped, almost 42 million American adults have been married more than once. The occupations with the highest divorce rates are dancers at 43 and bartenders at 38.

The occupation with the lowest divorce rate is agricultural engineers at 1.78. The average marriage that ends in divorce lasts eight years. Most people also get divorced in January which is why it is known as “divorce month.” People start looking for information before the New Year starts, but they can’t do much until the attorneys are back in the office. January 12-16 seems to be the magic week for filings.

Large factors in a marriage as well as a divorce include your age, your political affiliation, and your education. A study conducted by a team of lawyers found that 48 percent of those who marry before the age of 18 are likely to divorce within 10 years, compared to 25 percent of those who marry after the age of 25. Other than your age, your political beliefs can also contribute. It was studied that conservatives are the least likely to get divorced; although, if you live in a red (Republican) state, you are 27 percent more likely to get divorced than if you live in a blue (Democrat) state. Education is one of the other discovered statistics. High school dropouts are 13 percent more likely to get divorced and individuals who have attended college have a 13 percent lower risk of divorce.

Even though divorce happens frequently in the United States, it is still not more common than marriage.