Student Loan Interest Rate Debacle: Huff Post Live - 845 EST (July 10th)

Tune in to Huff Post Live at 915 PM EST to hear me talk about the recent fall out with student loan interest rates. http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/congress-conflicts/51daf8bf78c90a06670000cb

Personal Note for the Collective

On any given day, at any given moment, you might believe that freedom and the opportunity to change your path is impossible. You might have yourself convinced, especially with those who seek to hurt you, that you are incapable of overcoming huge obstacles that not only hold you back but are destroying the well-being of your identity and mental health. These beliefs should be disregarded at the personal and collective level. Your freedom is within reach - but you must take the initiative to seize it. This year has been a long, arduous journey. But on a personal note, I have lost close to 100 pounds, sold a book, moved across country (plus zigzagged back again), and also found clarity of mind. These are all elements of a new found sense of freedom, and all of these things have enabled me to become a stronger advocate for the indentured educated class. Onward!!!

 

Read my latest piece: "Homesickness and the War on Terror" at Spare Change News

Moral Education

This is my fiction writing, and not related to student loans. However, the sentiment, my deep care for my fellow human being most certainly influences my work as an advocate for the indentured educated class. In any event, here is a snippet from my latest piece at Spare Change News.

Every Sunday when she was a little girl, she would go to a big Gothic church with her parents and her older, increasingly rebellious brother. With her hair covered in bows and her body clothed in neat little dresses – white ones in the summertime and purple ones in the wintertime – she’d always tap her patent leather shoes against the pew. Her parents always sat in the balcony of the church, high above the old organ and preaching minister. It was there where she would drape herself across the red velvet pew cushions and drift off to sleep in her father’s firm grip.

Later, when she was inches away from being a broken adult, she would recall falling asleep either in her father’s arms or while holding on to one of his big hands. By that point in her adult life, when she remembered those weekly naps with her father at church, she had stopped speaking to him. In fact, it had been so long since they had communicated that she had great difficulty remembering his previous words of encouragement, his sweet notes of support which he sent to her three or more times a week, and even his smile. A gray fuzziness hung over the memories of her father, and those blurred images of him would make her weep just as she had when he went away on long business trips when she was young. By the time the separation from him had become part of her everyday life, a hollow emptiness had set in, filling the space where her father had been. Emptiness that fills the space where a father’s love belongs is dangerous for a girl’s health. In fact, her heart had become dangerously weak at this point. Even worse, she was also becoming dangerously ill.

 The rest of the piece can be read in its entirety here.
 

Help Out A Reporter [HARO] ASAP!

Help Out A Reporter ASAP! - I am seeking indebted young women who are finding alternative ways to pay off their loans. Please spread the word. All stories can remain confidential and respondents can maintain their anonymity. If you can share this with your Facebook connections, I would be most grateful. Young women with debt should email me @ cryn.johannsen [AT] yahoo [DOT] com. Thanks everyone!!!

What is the most outrageous thing a student loan debt collector has said to you?

When I first began speaking to members of the indentured educated class, I was outraged by the things that debt collectors said to them on the phone. So many awful, awful things were said, just to try and squeeze money out of people who made it clear to these loan sharks that they were struggling and simply unable to pay them the amount they were demanding. As many of us are aware, these are the precariat pitted against the precariat, making them a very ruthless bunch.

One woman told me that a debt collector said to her, "Wow, looking at how high your student loans are, you'd be better off finding a rich husband."

On that note, what is the most outrageous thing a debt collector has said to you? What sort of threats have you received?

"Sure, sweetie! I'll just marry a MAN to pay off my loans. That's a SWELL idea!"