Mommy The Journalist: April 2012

One day last week my assignment editor looked at me and said, "You remind me of Barbara Stanwyck."

Wow. What a compliment. Who wouldn't want to be compared to this amazing woman?

She made 85 films in 38 years, was nominated for four Academy Awards, won three Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe. She received honorary lifetime awards from the Motion Picture Academy, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Golden Globes, Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Screen Actors Guild. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is ranked the 11th greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute.

But those are just her on-screen achievements. Barbara Stanwyck was an amazing person off-screen as well.

She was born Ruby Catherine Stevens on July 16, 1907. Her mother died when she was young, and her father disappeared while working on the Panama Canal soon after. She was put in foster care when her older sister could no longer take care of her because of a job.

She never went to high school and held several jobs before finding her niche. One of those jobs was with Vogue cutting out dress patterns. She was fired from the position when customers complained about the quality of her work.

But Stanwyck didn't let all of those setbacks stop her from pursuing her true career goal - that of becoming an actor, and she finally struck gold in 1923.

That's when she became a Ziegfeld Girl. In 1926, she made her stage debut in The Noose. That play led to her name change - Barbara Stanwyck was born.

Stanwyck's first film appearance was in 1927 with Broadway Nights. However, she didn't get the lead because she couldn't make herself cry in the stage test. She landed her first lead later that year in Burlesque.

1944 was a good year for Stanwyck. That was the year she made Double Indemnity - a film everyone should see. She was also the highest paid woman in the United States that year.

Stanwyck began her television career in 1957. The Barbara Stanwyck Show was never a big ratings hit, but it did win Stanwyck her first Emmy.

She starred on The Big Valley from 1965-1969 and had three guest appearances on the popular 80s soap opera Dynasty.

Stanwyck was married just twice. Her first marriage to Frank Fay was filled with physical confrontation. They divorced in 1935, but there is speculation that their tumultuous relationship was the basis for A Star is Born.

Her second marriage to Robert Taylor was arranged by MGM, which was a common practice back in the golden age of Hollywood. During their marriage she had an affair with Henry Fonda, but it was kept a secret. Stanwyck and Taylor divorced in 1950 after his affair with Lana Turner was made public by another starlet.

Stanwyck never remarried after Taylor, but she did have a long-lasting relationship with Robert Wagner. In the end though, she broke it off.

Barbara Stanwyck died in 1990 of congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Many believe her demise began in 1981 after she was robbed and assaulted inside her Beverly Hills home. She contracted bronchitis in 1982 from breathing in special effects smoke, but her chronic smoking likely contributed to it. She first lit up at age 9 and smoked up until four years before her death.

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There's nothing like student loan debt to make you rethink your decision to attend college.

Luckily, my student loan debt is the only major debt I have, but when I say major I'm not exaggerating.

I went to an out-of-state school. That means everything I paid for was almost double the cost of an in-state student. I had a scholarship to cover my tuition for two years, but that did nothing for the student activity fee, student housing fee, student meal plan, registration fee, lab fees (even for classes that weren't in labs) or books. So I took out loans.

In the beginning I was optimistic that I would be able to take what was left over from those loans, put it in the bank and let it draw interest. Then when it came time to repay my loans, I could put that large chunk of change towards my debt. It didn't work out that way.

So now I actually owe more than I did when I first started paying on my loans. I've had to have my payments lowered three times because I don't make enough to cover a standard payment. I've even had to forbear the payments for an entire year because of a huge mistake on my lender's end that had me making monthly payments that were more than what I make in a month.

My lender offers several ways of communicating with them - email, live online chat or telephone. It doesn't matter which method I choose, every time I try to get something accomplished with them I end up fantasizing about what life would be like if I had never made the decision to do something with my life. It almost makes me wish I had decided to make McDonald's a career.

And sadly I know I'm not the only person currently in this situation, nor will I be the last person to find myself here. Colleges all across the country are raising tuition rates at an unbelievable rate. It used to be that going to school was a way to better yourself and get more out of life, but when no one can afford to go to school it kind of defeats the purpose.

That's why I've signed a petition in support of the Student Loan Forgiveness Act. If you've ever taken out a student loan, or know someone who has, please take three minutes to sign this petition. Student loan debt is serious and it's threatening the livelihood of thousands of Americans whose only goal when taking out those loans was to get something more out of their life.