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Despite the rumors plastered on bathroom stalls across the south, I happen to be quite the cultured young lady. I mean, I never take a sip of my $4.99 jug o' wine without first raising my pinkie stiffly in the air.

From art and music to literature and the performing arts, I take pleasure in the finer things in life. However, with my paycheck, the finer things in life are resigned to discount CD's and framing famous pieces of art that are torn out of pages from art books (I'm on Barnes and Nobles most wanted list).

But now there is hope for us wanna-be art collectors. A woman by the name of Jen Bekman has found a way to connect emerging artists with emerging art collectors and all for about 20 bucks.

In a Wed. Houston Chronicle article, Bekman describes how she came up with the idea to make art affordable to those of us who barely have our heads above the poverty line.

Twice a week, her Web site, 20x200, offers high quality, limited edition prints by various artists in different sizes and ranging in price from $20 to $2,000.

According to the Chronicle article:

"Each week, Bekman sends funny e-mails to 'all you fine collector people,' explaining in plain English why she picked the week's offerings: usually, one photo and one fine-art print...stuff that's 'pretty freaking thought-provoking,' like this week's haunting offering by photographer Nina Berman, about the aftermath of 9/11.

'I want to demystify art,' Bekman says. 'I want to make it OK for people to say, 'I like that because there's a lot of green, or because there's a bird in it.' And then they can look at it longer, and see more, and have a deeper experience.'"

Considering the art world is often thought of as a closed off circuit, available only to the hip or the wealthy, Bekman is changing not only the perception but also the reality of the art world. And now, the rest of us can finally take down our college posters of Jim Belushi and Bob Marley and actually put some grown-up art into our rented apartments and townhouses.

Could shedding our diet of Ramen Noodles and Natural Light beer be too far behind?

Well, let's not push it just yet.

Just what is the true measure of how good you are as a person?

Is it how often you go to church?

The number of good deeds you do?

Whether you decide to tell your boss about that piece of broccoli stuck in their teeth or just silently chuckle to yourself? (Which, let's be honest, we're all hoping it's not that one...but if it is, I'll see you and 87 percent of the rest of the world population in hell).

Or is there a new standard of measurement in today's Internet obsessed world? With a new slew of Web sites out there that allow people to post comments anonymously (including this Web site) and a bunch of Web sites having been created specifically for that purpose (such as JuicyCampus.com and GossipReport.com), maybe a new measure of what kind of person you are is whether or not you can resist the temptation to say whatever you want about anything you want with absolutely no repercussions.

 If you've ever gone to any site that allows anonymous comments, chances are you've seen some of the worst human behavior, at least in terms of typing, we are capable of.

Just what is it about being able to remain anonymous that turns some people into a cliche straight out of the movie  "Mean Girls?" (not that I've ever seen that movie...or secretly hate myself because I just can't seem to stop watching Lindsay Lohan movies no matter how bad they are).

I mean, some people are capable of saying some really nasty things about each other when they don't have to sign their name to it. But while it's no surprise that a small sect of the population is abusing this power, the real question is whether or not this anonymity and the Web sites that encourage posting gossip and nasty rumors is harmful.

A recent slew of articles have come out in several publications about this issue, including a USA Today article about an investigation into JuicyCampus.com, a New York Times article about network bullying and a Heraldnet.com article about troubles arising in schools due to students anonymously posting gossip.

All in all, I think the majority of people realize that anonymous online postings shouldn't be taken at face value and aren't a fact. And I'd also say that a majority of anonymous posters are leaving comments not to be malicious, but to simply voice their opinion.

Let's just all hope that those who are abusing this power don't ruin it for the rest of us.

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The summer before my senior year in high school, believe it or not, I decided to try out for the varsity cheerleading squad. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision that occurred right before tryouts.

The decision making process went something like this:

Woke up. Brushed my teeth. Thought to myself "Hey, I think I'm going to try out for cheerleading today. I like skirts and stuff."

Even more unbelievable was I actually made the team. While I was lacking in important things like "pep" and "coordination," they said they were impressed with my athleticism and how high I could jump (although in hindsight, it could also be I made the team because I went to a really small school in rural Ohio and there were only 13 girls trying out for 12 spots. God bless Sally Gugoulli and her wooden leg).

Anyhoo, that year I spent as a cheerleader was an eye-opening experience for me. One, I realized that stretching hurts if you haven't been able to touch your toes since you were 6. And two, the world of cheerleading can only truly be understood when you're on the inside. Being somewhat of an outsider, it was an odd and yet fascinating experience to enter their world for a season. Kind of like Jane Goodall living among the gorillas, only these gorillas were far less hairy and much more into nail polish.

 But what's the point of this little trip down memory lane? Well, of late, it seems that cheerleading and dance and drill teams (pretty much anything involving hair ribbons of some sort) has come under fire lately in Victoria. One of my favorite pastimes is to read the Advocate discussion forum and nothing gets people as riled up as an article about cheerleaders and dance teams (although how much the Advocate sucks also seems to be favorite topic...much to us hard-working journalists' delight, let me tell you).

Now, I have no dog in this fight. I wasn't raised here, didn't go to school here and in general, besides my one season stint as a cheerleader, am not too invested personally in the world of spirit fingers.

But a recent Newsweek article that explores why the sport of cheerleading deserves more respect than what it gets got me thinking. It seems that as much as cheerleading has changed over the years (think 1950s "Rah Rah!" vs. today's competitive "throw a girl 350 feet up into the air"), the one thing that has not changed is the public's perception of the sport.

Let's be honest, most of us still think of cheerleaders as blonde, Valley-girls who bully other girls and then head out to a party to get drunk and make-out with the quarterback.

But why is that? Is it jealousy? Is it because it's partially true? Did a few bad seeds ruin it for all cheerleading kind? Is it because we've all watched way too many cliche high school movies?

We may never know. But I think the Newsweek article makes some good points about our culture's love/hate relationship with cheerleaders. And maybe it's time we gave them a break. Maybe it's time to pick on a new sport.

I did always hate those pretentious lacrosse players.

Forget the highly charged race to the White House going on. In fact, forget world leaders all together.

What's really going to change the world is social entrepreneurship.

You can say a lot of bad things about our current culture (I mean, the whole "Girls Gone Wild" phenomenon has set us back at least a good 50 years...thanks Joe Francis...no, really, thanks butthead). But one area we as a society seem to be thriving at is social awareness and ambition, a combination that has lit a fire under young people's behinds.

In a New York Times opinion piece by Nicholas Kristof titled "The Age of Ambition,"  (brought to my attention by the fabulous UHV professor Dr. Jim Holm) Kristof delves into the growing numbers of young people who are taking the world's problems into their own hands.

There's 26-year-old Andrew Klaber who started Orphans Against AIDS, which pays school-related expenses for children orphaned by the disease.

Then there is Jennifer Staple, who as a sophomore in college, founded in organization out of her dorm room that collects old eye glasses and redistributes them to poor countries.

And there's also 27-year-old Ariel Zylbersztejn who founded Cinepop, which shows free movies in public parks for Mexicans who can't afford to go to the movies. He has also partnered with social welfare groups to engage the families that come to the movies and help them come up with ways to get out of poverty.

As the article states, "from their dorm rooms, social entrepreneurs are saving the world." While I think its great that so many young people are getting involved in politics and the presidential race, I think we also need to realize that it's not the president who is going to be the most effective at changing the world.

Government has been gridlocked for years at all levels. Bills take years to pass. Reform in any form has to go through about a ba-zillion committees and then often doesn't come to fruition any way.

But a 19-year-old college student can start a foundation from scratch in between classes and make a difference in 200,000 people's lives.

I think too often we think that it's only the powerful or the wealthy or the extremely intelligent who can change the world for the better.

When in fact, the power has always resided with the common people.

I've always been big on supporting the local arts, from artists to bands to performers. So when local filmmaker Will Moore gave me the chance to screen his new movie "Cowboy Smoke," I jumped at the chance.

The movie follows the story of Joe, a lowly convenience store clerk who dreams of becoming a real cowboy. Eventually, after getting fired for spending too much time playing a cowboy "shoot 'em up" game at work, Joe heads to South Texas to make his dream come true. Joe's idyllic cowboy dreams are quickly shattered, however, when he learns that his first job consists of killing Mexican immigrants who are trespassing on private property.

Eventually, Joe finds himself embroiled in an illegal immigrant smuggling ring and along with the help of a Texas Ranger, has to figure out a way to stop it.

Filmed mainly in Victoria, McFaddin and Tivoli, Moore has truly captured the beauty of South Texas. Call me bias because I happen to live in South Texas, but Moore has an eye for scenery and as a final flourish, has added a realistic background noise of cicadas and crickets in full bloom.

Does the movie look like it was made in Hollywood? No. And that could be a good or bad thing depending on your perception. But the one thing this movie has captured is the very real issue and plight of all those involved in illegal immigration, from law enforcement to landowners to the immigrants themselves.

Moore doesn't hold back from, to use a Western term, the good, the bad and the ugly of what happens in towns close to the border. In fact, my favorite line in the movie is when Joe and his newfound Texas Ranger friend help a bunch of immigrants escape from the back of an 18-wheeler and one immigrant turns to them and says, "What do we do now?"

What are they supposed to do? Regardless of where you stand on the issue of illegal immigration, the reality is that people die in the battle of the border and Moore doesn't shy away from showing that. He also doesn't shy away from showing that the blame for the illegal immigrant mess our country is in today rests on more than one group's shoulders.

All in all, "Cowboy Smoke" may lack some of the niceties that movies with bigger budgets have, but it's succeeded in telling a modern-day Western story and touching on a relevant yet sensitive topic that deserves more attention.

And I applaud Moore's grassroots effort to create films outside the normal circles of Hollywood, Austin and the other places where the film industry elites gather.

For more information about the movie, click here.

To read Will Moore's blog he kept throughout the entire production of the movie, click here.