Month: May 2017

When we think of the civil rights movement, we usually think of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela. Rarely do we think of the ones who may have been overlooked or died in the process of fighting for basic human rights. The Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery is dedicated to telling the stories of the several hundred activists who died fighting for human rights. The center highlights 40 martyrs (including children) who died due to racially-motivated hate crimes in the civil rights movement. I went to the Memorial for the first time with 17 other AUM students and faculty with SPLC on Campus. The first thing I noticed were the black walls covered with black and white photos of confederate flags, police dogs attacking black men and women, signs calling for i...

When I started college in 2004, I was 18 years old and ready for the world. I just knew I would graduate in four years and find a good paying job, get married and start a family. Well, it’s 2017, I’m 30 and just now about to graduate. I’m not married and I have a four month old son, Robert, by my boyfriend, Mike, who now has ten kids. The 18 year old Lindsay would’ve told you this situation is one that she would never be in. She was too smart for that. She was too ambitious for that. She was too mature for that. She was so sure of herself in every way. I miss that girl. Where has she gone? She was so determined and knew what she wanted out of life. Now, I have no idea what I want or who I want to be. How did I get here? What do I do now? I don’t have any definite answers to these...

Five years ago, I embarked on a journey that I wasn’t sure I would be able to finish. The night before I was scheduled to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language, I almost talked myself out of it. I struggled with the idea of committing half a decade to an institution 6,000 miles away from my home in Moldova. But somehow, I found the nerve to go into this unexplored territory. Today, reflecting back on the hundreds of times I have wanted to quit, the dozens of homework assignments that made no sense, the exams that felt impossible to pass and the longest days spent missing home and family, I would still not trade this life experience for anything else. It is by far one of the most important decision I have made in my life. On May 6, this life-changing experience will come to ...