Well, I must say, this has been quite the fucking coyote crazy semester, my friends. I have enjoyed it but am also glad to get moving onto something a bit breezier (scary to think that my first overload semester may be easier than this one :p). I’ve been a bit more crazed than usual this semester due to a variety of factors – my boyfriend is graduating this semester (couldn’t be prouder of him), I’ve delved into many classes outside my academic comfort zone (i.e. Economics and Astronomy, no English), I’ve dealt with graduate applications and GRE work (that’s a lifetime I’ll never get back), normal class work stresses (pure enjoyment – no sarcasm, I mean it), got my book contract guaranteed and signed up (now I just have to finish writing the thing :p), I started an actual semi-extracurricular with the Paideia Conversations group, and then beyond this I have had quite a bit of family issue comin’ at me from the home front. But, overall, I cannot complain. After all, I was greeted with enthusiastic recommendation letter writers – shout out BIG thanks to ours truly, Dr. Giuliano, Dr. Gaines, Dr. Tahm, and Dr. Bednar – and my family is still alive and well and financially sound (though my grandpa did have a few run-ins with the hospital during this semester and my brother’s fiancé is now pregnant).
Basically, Paideia has helped keep me sane and moving this time around. Our conversations have given me a wonderful environment in which to ventilate, discuss project ideas, paper ideas (thank you, Michelle, by the way, as your presentation reading over bioethics has now become my major final paper topic for my Rhetorics of Resistance class – I can send you the final work if you want), and just general mental well-being. You all are a wonderful and joyous group to be surrounded by; getting the fresh air of new topics and lively conversation (which I am definitely not getting out of many of my new and younger classmates) left me feeling empowered after each class this semester. So, this Thanksgiving, I am particularly thankful for Paideia and you all in my cohort especially.
I again appreciated our system of dedicating one class to one person and their chosen topics/readings, though next semester I know I’d appreciate it if we could also use that time to perhaps faux-present our final project for Paideia and get feedback. I already presented on my thesis once in CA but, to be honest, presenting at the Student Works Symposium terrifies me much more than CA ever did. By n’ by, when and how do we go about getting a slot to present at the Student Works Symposium next semester?
I’ve still got a fair amount of work ahead of me – the last 35-40 pages of my thesis need to be edited by Friday, a Macro final exam, and then there’s a presentation and 12 page paper for Rhetorics of Resistance. But, overall, this is a blessing of a cool ending. Monday I have my next session with the Paideia Conversations group – I really should get crackin’ on the readings for that one :p – and then it’s just meetings and classes.
The thought of our Paideia group entering its final semester really does give me pause. It saddens me in a deep way I hadn’t anticipated. I really do love being a student at Southwestern; it’s such a safe and clean and encouraging environment, and you all have been a blessedly constant source of reassurance. It’s frightening and sad, the thought of losing our Tuesday meetings and our strange tangential conversations – but I suppose the good thing about a group so malleable as Paideia is that we don’t have to stop simply because we aren’t officially registered for the class. A prospective student’s parent asked me the other day if Paideia was simply a semester by semester type deal. And I told her, happily, no. Our blogs and Dr. G helped me so greatly while I was depressed out of my mind in New York City this past summer. I apologize for not being more involved in all of your blogs and summer activities – but I can’t thank you enough for being with me in New York even only in blog-ghost form.
You all have helped me greatly and widely. I am thankful for you and our time and times together.
See you Tuesday
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Astronomy
Check out the photos I took in Dr. Bottorff's Astronomy course! If you look closely at the Jupiter photo, you can see two of its Galilean moons. I was so impressed with Dr. B's cameras that they could pick those up along with some of the belts and zones.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Job Market -- College Degrees to Sop Up Tears?
Well, I apologize for how depressing my chosen article was but I feel like it was an important piece to share with my fellow near-graduates.
"How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America" by Don Peck from the Atlantic
is one of the best articles I've come across (thank you, Dr. Roberts) describing the actual issues and possible latent consequences of our actions right now as college graduates, whether we're moving back home, going to graduate school (fingers crossed!), or marching bravely into the job market.
I cannot tell you how frightening it is to know that my joining the job market while the economy is weak is tantamount to beginning my career $100,000 in debt compared to those who entered the job market during a healthy economy -- but what interested me most about this article was the cultural psychology it dipped into. From discussing the differences between how men and women are responding to joblessness, considering that men are culturally the breadwinners -- breadwinners which amount to 3/4 of our newly unemployed population -- to discussing the problematic cocktail of apathy and entitlement supposedly poisoning our generation's chances.
I'd like to focus, here, on this apathy/entitlement issue (as it more directly pertains to me as a member of this accused generation). I was very glad we got to spend so much time examining this problem because, despite the microcosm of aggressive workers at Southwestern University, it is apparent to me (from others I've known through high school and through media) that this problem does actually permeate our generation. The fact that many of our generation do not even know generally what the Federal Reserve is or does is an issue worth addressing. One would think that being born into an "era of joblessness" would make those of us entering the shit work harder to be more aware and knowledgeable about the economy and how it works. This is all partly why I decided to take at least an introductory course into micro and macroeconomics -- it just seemed too important and far too relevant to pass up. But the fact that this economic crisis hasn't shaken many of our peers out of the wealth mirage and into the reality that is lifetime barista-hood, troubles me.
I would like to reiterate, however, the point which Dr. Giuliano helped me come to that this mixture of apathy and entitlement to wealth really didn't begin with us and our generation, but with our parents. After all, what else but apathy for the future and entitlement to the wealth of now could've convinced people it was wise or even ethical to "purchase" houses on 90-100% borrowed money? When did we decide it was cool to switch from 30% of our income to beyond the entirety of our annual incomes? Isn't buying beyond our means (and knowing that a bubble is forming -- lookin' at you Alan Greenspan) a particularly keen example of American entitlement? If our model generation is spending and spending beyond its means because they believe they deserve to do so, why should our generation feel any less entitled?
It was simply nice to know that we aren't entirely to blame for our cultural make-up -- everything comes from somewhere, I suppose.
At any rate, if this cocktail, article, and economic shit has taught us anything, I hope it's the necessity of aggressive learning and pursuit of opportunities. Persistence is the key to success and apathy is apparently not only the lock from success but the mote filled with sharks as well. We must not be discouraged or demoralized -- we must fight for those jobs out there and we must begin to fight for each other. If we could just improve our schools and our health care (whoop, whoop, universal health care!), then America truly would be the land of opportunity.
Thanks for bearing with me through this mammoth of blues, this dark harbinger -- but things are looking up. According to the Wall Street Journal, businesses are gaining confidence which could mean an increase in investment spending which could lend businesses the boost needed to begin hiring more people. Plus, Ben Bernanke's $600 billion stimulus package will definitely help out, devaluing the dollar this way will increase our exports beautifully and should be another good promoter of business investment spending. Also, this is probably a good time to start investing in the EFA ETF -- foreign economies are probably going to pick up quicker than ours will.
Anyway, I'll keep praying for President Obama and Chairman Bernanke, and we'll see where we go.
ciao for now
P.S. Here's a link to the article again, if anyone needs/wants it.
http://people.southwestern.edu/~earlyd/su_only/principles/How%20a%20New%20Jobless%20Era%20Will%20Transform%20America.pdf
"How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America" by Don Peck from the Atlantic
is one of the best articles I've come across (thank you, Dr. Roberts) describing the actual issues and possible latent consequences of our actions right now as college graduates, whether we're moving back home, going to graduate school (fingers crossed!), or marching bravely into the job market.
I cannot tell you how frightening it is to know that my joining the job market while the economy is weak is tantamount to beginning my career $100,000 in debt compared to those who entered the job market during a healthy economy -- but what interested me most about this article was the cultural psychology it dipped into. From discussing the differences between how men and women are responding to joblessness, considering that men are culturally the breadwinners -- breadwinners which amount to 3/4 of our newly unemployed population -- to discussing the problematic cocktail of apathy and entitlement supposedly poisoning our generation's chances.
I'd like to focus, here, on this apathy/entitlement issue (as it more directly pertains to me as a member of this accused generation). I was very glad we got to spend so much time examining this problem because, despite the microcosm of aggressive workers at Southwestern University, it is apparent to me (from others I've known through high school and through media) that this problem does actually permeate our generation. The fact that many of our generation do not even know generally what the Federal Reserve is or does is an issue worth addressing. One would think that being born into an "era of joblessness" would make those of us entering the shit work harder to be more aware and knowledgeable about the economy and how it works. This is all partly why I decided to take at least an introductory course into micro and macroeconomics -- it just seemed too important and far too relevant to pass up. But the fact that this economic crisis hasn't shaken many of our peers out of the wealth mirage and into the reality that is lifetime barista-hood, troubles me.
I would like to reiterate, however, the point which Dr. Giuliano helped me come to that this mixture of apathy and entitlement to wealth really didn't begin with us and our generation, but with our parents. After all, what else but apathy for the future and entitlement to the wealth of now could've convinced people it was wise or even ethical to "purchase" houses on 90-100% borrowed money? When did we decide it was cool to switch from 30% of our income to beyond the entirety of our annual incomes? Isn't buying beyond our means (and knowing that a bubble is forming -- lookin' at you Alan Greenspan) a particularly keen example of American entitlement? If our model generation is spending and spending beyond its means because they believe they deserve to do so, why should our generation feel any less entitled?
It was simply nice to know that we aren't entirely to blame for our cultural make-up -- everything comes from somewhere, I suppose.
At any rate, if this cocktail, article, and economic shit has taught us anything, I hope it's the necessity of aggressive learning and pursuit of opportunities. Persistence is the key to success and apathy is apparently not only the lock from success but the mote filled with sharks as well. We must not be discouraged or demoralized -- we must fight for those jobs out there and we must begin to fight for each other. If we could just improve our schools and our health care (whoop, whoop, universal health care!), then America truly would be the land of opportunity.
Thanks for bearing with me through this mammoth of blues, this dark harbinger -- but things are looking up. According to the Wall Street Journal, businesses are gaining confidence which could mean an increase in investment spending which could lend businesses the boost needed to begin hiring more people. Plus, Ben Bernanke's $600 billion stimulus package will definitely help out, devaluing the dollar this way will increase our exports beautifully and should be another good promoter of business investment spending. Also, this is probably a good time to start investing in the EFA ETF -- foreign economies are probably going to pick up quicker than ours will.
Anyway, I'll keep praying for President Obama and Chairman Bernanke, and we'll see where we go.
ciao for now
P.S. Here's a link to the article again, if anyone needs/wants it.
http://people.southwestern.edu/~earlyd/su_only/principles/How%20a%20New%20Jobless%20Era%20Will%20Transform%20America.pdf
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Paideia Conversations Cohort with Dr. Brynes
Hello all! I thought I'd go ahead and write a blog about this even though it doesn't fully relate to our cohort because it does relate importantly to Paideia as a whole. I was recently invited to co-facilitate a freshman pre-Paideia cohort class called a Paideia Conversation Cohort. So I am co-facilitating with Dr. Melissa Brynes (from the history department) a course over her topic choice: "Demonization in our Public Discourse." It's pretty swanky and goes very well with what I am already learning in my Rhetorics of Resistance class with Professor Feyh as well as with the sort of things (protest rhetoric and literature) that I intend on studying further in graduate school. :]
So we had our first meeting last night with a group of 9 total, and everyone was just fantastic. It's very reassuring to be surrounded by such a wonderfully intelligent and energetic group as those 7 freshmen. We discussed everything from the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear to Tea Party rhetoric to Andrew Jackson to Paideia in general. To be honest, it was very hard for me to keep quiet and let them do more of the talking but -- though I do participate a bunch because I just can't help myself -- they certainly didn't let their own voices become subsumed. And yet I don't know if I've ever seen a more polite group of people talking about politics and religion who all had opinions and all wanted to share them.
I'm pretty sure we're only meeting once more this semester (which is kind of a drag, I think, since I loved it) but we are meeting more frequently next semester. I am very jacked up about this -- I think this next generation of Paideia students is going to be just rockin'! I hope everyone from this Conversation group digs it enough to give full-blown Paideia a shot; this is a really promising, sassy, perceptive, and foxy bunch of students.
I can't wait to converse with them again -- November 29th!
ciao for now,
Katie
So we had our first meeting last night with a group of 9 total, and everyone was just fantastic. It's very reassuring to be surrounded by such a wonderfully intelligent and energetic group as those 7 freshmen. We discussed everything from the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear to Tea Party rhetoric to Andrew Jackson to Paideia in general. To be honest, it was very hard for me to keep quiet and let them do more of the talking but -- though I do participate a bunch because I just can't help myself -- they certainly didn't let their own voices become subsumed. And yet I don't know if I've ever seen a more polite group of people talking about politics and religion who all had opinions and all wanted to share them.
I'm pretty sure we're only meeting once more this semester (which is kind of a drag, I think, since I loved it) but we are meeting more frequently next semester. I am very jacked up about this -- I think this next generation of Paideia students is going to be just rockin'! I hope everyone from this Conversation group digs it enough to give full-blown Paideia a shot; this is a really promising, sassy, perceptive, and foxy bunch of students.
I can't wait to converse with them again -- November 29th!
ciao for now,
Katie
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