Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Introduction to an Aspiring Criminologist

Nice to meet you! I'm Ryeli and it's pronounced like "Riley." I know that my name will post on here as Ryeli Beth, which technically my first name too? I was named after Beth in Little Women. You know, the one that got scarlet fever. It's fine. I'm also named after my cousin, but I think this story is funnier. Oh, the Greta Gerwig adaptation was really good! 

I'm a senior and my major is criminology. I love it. I feel like sociology/criminology are so important for social issues today. When you can understand the circumstances behind someone's life and how little issues really tend to shape an individual, you tend to foster a lot more empathy, which I think is important for any person to have, but especially in the work I'd like to do. Ideally, I would like to do work with the wrongfully convicted, but I also might like teaching! I'm not sure, but I do feel compelled to help others in some capacity. 

If I were not doing something criminology related, I would like to move to a little field in Colorado or someplace similar, have a large dog, and maybe write short stories about animals doing people things. I think that sounds fun and relatively stress free! 

I really like Dolly Parton. That's a big thing for me. We have the same birthday. It's all very exciting. I would talk about her more, but I will stop now. Besides Miss Dolly, I listen to a lot of dramatic, avant-garde pop-ish music. Think Kate Bush, MUNA, Caroline Polachek, Britney, etc. 

I'm running out of things to say. I don't know what things I actually do when faced with the question. Please someone relate to this. 

I have two dogs, Shay and Faith. They're gremlins and I adore them. 

If given the option between glitter or no glitter, I will always choose glitter (as long as it's biodegradable and safe to be worn on the eyes!) I am no stranger to makeup and fashion. One might say that it consumes my life, but in a fun way!

I love all shades of pink. It's my favorite color. I don't think this will surprise anyone. 

This is my last semester, so I'm sort of just having fun and finding adventures where I can! I hope all of your semesters go well and are super blessed! xoxo 

I couldn't find a picture of both of them together, but here's Shay doing Evil Things (opening Christmas presents early) 








11 comments:

  1. Hi Ryeli!

    What a great spelling of that name! I have an interestingly spelled name too, with a capital L just stuck right in the middle (Thanks mom) so I'm sure you can relate to name misspellings and mispronunciations.

    I thought it was funny that I got your blog in the randomization of this blog commenting assignment because we have some pretty big similarities!

    I too have a strong desire for helping people or giving back in some way. Especially in relation to wrongful convictions. I am headed to law school in the fall (so yes we are both in our last semesters as well) and my dream career path right now is to work with the Innocence Project.

    I have always been interested in criminology and human behavior, so when I took my Psych and Law class last semester, I was even more confident that going to law school with the goal of protecting and representing marginalized or vulnerable groups was "my calling" so they say.

    I am also a dog person, I have 4 at home and they are the best.. and can be the worst... things about my day. Your Shay is very cute, looks like a cuddle bug!

    Best of luck in your last semester!

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  2. Hi Ryeli!

    It's nice to meet you! I'm also a senior, but I'm majoring in mechanical engineering. I love that you are fascinated by all of intricacies behind criminology and how that affects the people that you interact with! I think it's especially important to develop empathy for other people by learning more about their situation before making premature judgements. I also love dogs! My family has eight rescued strays that people left abandoned in the nearby woods. Anyways, I wish you the best for your last semester and for all your future plans after graduation!

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  3. Hey Ryeli! The whole criminology field is really cool and I feel like you could do so much with it! I am also a senior but I am in the biology field! My sister is in love with Dolly! She listens to her music and lives by her morals every day! I hope to see more of your post and hear more about your studies! Remember! The higher the hair the closer to Heaven!!

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  4. Hi Ryeli! I think you and I would get along great. You commented on my blog about social work and I would love to answer any questions you may ever have. I think it is amazing that you want to work with the wrongfully convicted. You are so right about how small happenings in someone's life can really shape an individual. By understanding that sometimes people do things not out of ill intention or spite, we can be more empathetic to people's decision making. I do my internship at a homeless shelter and I have seen first hand that some people are just never given the tools or resources growing up to simply survive/succeed. I totally get what you mean by not knowing what to say when asked a question, I can think of a million movies i've watched but ask me to list my top ten favorites and I will go completely blank. Anyways, good luck this semester and I look forward to reading your blog!

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  5. Hi Ryeli!
    I keep reading introduction posts from seniors, and I am starting to get jealous! I am a junior, and I am already getting excited to graduate. Do you know where you would like to work once you graduate or what organization/agency you want to work for? In any case, I think helping people who are wrongfully convicted is an amazing cause, so best of luck!

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  6. It is always so cool meeting up with people a second time around, Ryeli: now I can attach "aspiring criminology" to the person I know instead of just the name on the roster at the start of the semester. And listen, if you are interested in teaching and in criminal justice, maybe you could work on the intersection of education and the prison system. Trying to find ways to bring education into the prisons is really hard, but it is so important. Especially with online, there are all kinds of opportunities for that now, but Internet access is often super-restricted in prison settings. Anyway, if I were to start my education career over again, I'd be really tempted to go in that direction; back when I went to graduate school, online education was not even a thing. But now, OBVIOUSLY, it is a thing... and it is something that can and should make a huge different in what happens in prisons IMO.
    And yay also for the little gremlins; I can tell that Shay is a good dog even when being bad: such a cute picture!
    Plus of course you can gave me an excuse to Google: Prison Policy Initiative: Education. Inspiring stuff!

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  7. Hi Ryeli,

    First of all, I love how you spell your name. I think it makes it unique to you. It amazes me how one name can be spelt so many different ways by many people. Congratulation on being in your senior year and so close to graduating. I have many friends with a major in criminology and it sounds so much fun. It is a great field because it is diverse and there are many different paths that you can take. This was one of the reasons why I chose to go into Speech Pathology.

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  8. Hey Ryeli,

    I can relate when it comes to novel spellings of names! Mine is pronounced like "Reece" but its spelled in the Welsh format (Rhys) which has led to some pretty interesting mispronunciations in my lifetime. Congratulations on your upcoming graduation! This is my last semester as well and I'm very excited to graduate and really begin "adulting" as they put it. Good luck with everything this semester and good luck after graduation!

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  9. Hi Ryeli! Criminology sounds really interesting. I loved your point about how understanding the circumstances behind someone's life fosters empathy. Empathy is so incredibly important and lacking in the world and it warms my heart to hear that you believe in its importance as well. And Dolly Parton is awesome! Have you heard her cover of Collective Soul's "Shine?" She made it a bluegrass song and it is incredible! I'm also impressed to hear that you are a fan of Kate Bush. I first heard her music in the early '90s when I was in high school. Good luck with everything!

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  10. Hey Ryeli!

    Shay is absolutely adorable. I understand the gremlin part. I adopted my dog (Bucky) from the humane society in August, and I'm still learning how he works. But one thing I understand is GREMLIN. He constantly steals toys from the lab and runs around because he knows he's so fast and we can't catch him. But I love him all the same.

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  11. Hi Ryeli! The love of pink was definitely apparent from the second that I opened up your page. I think that working with the wrongfully convicted would be a great cause. It is tragic whenever I turn on the news and hear about somebody who has been released from prison after years and years because it was finally determined that they were wrongfully convicted.

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Reading Notes: Household Stories of the Brother's Grimm B

Source: The Three Spinsters  from  Household Stories of the Brother's Grimm  translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane ...