I recieved this email today. This is beyond ridiculous. We should not be supporting grade inflation. We should not be choosing professors based on their grade distrubition! WTF?! Why is not one #DrivenToDiscover? Dear friends, choose professors based on:
research interests similar to your own
those who teach well (ie: just because your friend says “that dude sucks” doesn’t mean the professor sucks. Your friend just doesn’t understand initiative!)
those who are #driventodiscover. or something like that.
those who will play racketball with you.
those who skipped their undergrad for GradSchool
those who spend their free time writing operas
those who buy you bagels during midterms
those who talk with you during office hours
You’re in college to learn. If you do that, then you succeed. It’s not the other way around!
WHAT?! Dear capitalist friends. Get out of my classroom. kthxbai.
I’m excited for school, but I’m sort of in a slum. Lots of work up ahead of me. The blogosphere exploded today (I’m not telling you where, it’s for the best), but it reminded me of something particularly depressing:
Many people are convinced it is impossible for atheists to have objective standards of morality.
In other news, everyone screws up. Even me. Even in the midst of other small victories I can be excited about, one screw up can make everything else be forgotten. How to deal with it:
Perfect Dark
Madmen
OK Go
Mac and Cheese
(I’m out of lime…)
Poetry
Remind myself that I’m trying to make things better. Always working.
Everyone needs a base of things to go back to. People. Music. Food. Places.
The word curriculum means something along the lines of “all the courses of study”. It is the full complement of courses offered by an institution. To say something is extra-curricular is somewhat misleading. But it’s what schools call any activity students do under the supervision of school employees (teachers) and that they pay for.
LZ Granderson writes for CNN. His articles are usually pretty intriguing. He’s a gay black family churchgoing man. In his most recent post, he mentions that America isn’t very smart. Because it’s not. Here are some of the statistics he pulls out:
newly released ACT scores revealed that only one high school graduate in four in the class of 2011 could meet the benchmarks for college readiness in all four core subjects.
The National Institute for Literacy found that nearly 47% of the Motor City’s adults are functionally illiterate. Not surprisingly, Detroit’s unemployment is near 12%, and the city is the country’s poorest metropolis according to the census.
Four of our poorest states had four of the lowest ACT composite scores — Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas.
A cursory glance at the most recent aggregation of ACT scores shows that the national average is a dismal 21. Some will tell me that’s because the scores need to reflect a bell curve.
No. No they don’t.
The ACT test is a test for college readiness. If America is full of geniuses, we do not need the ACT score range to look like a bell curve. There are more ways to figure out who to accept to a university and what to do with your life.
LZ properly points out that there is a link between socioeconomic status and level of education, and why that fact leads to the failure of programs like No Child Left Behind.
What does this have to do with extra-curriculars? LZ properly points out our nation is one that is fueled by sports. Football teams have amazing booster clubs and it’s because people love football. I don’t because it’s not particularly exciting and generally involves cold weather; football also is remarkably dangerous, especially considering the amount of safety equipment they wear. Lots of people like blaming football and other extra-curriculars for why students fail—they’re not paying attention to school!
But can life really be only about your books? How dull! What would my life had been if I had not taken the stage with my community theater group? What kind of character would I have if Coach hadn’t taught me how to go from JV to the top of the list not by only improving my technical skills, but serious life skills as well? Quiz bowl taught me to appreciate knowledge and curiosities. Swimming opened gateways for the rest of my life. Forensics allowed me to make new friends I would have never otherwise met.
And if kids are doing bad in high school, why are we not focusing more on elementary school? Provide more incentive to become a teacher and you’ll attract more people, which will allow schools to select for those who will be the best teachers, and not just the smartest students. Valuing education as a culture will probably enrich our extra-curriculars by bringing talent to diverse fields (not just engineering/medicine—we can be more than just an industrial nation!). It’ll also probably get rid of the popularity of football (again, with the injury thing, it’s against common sense). We need to get rid of the idea that school is a rite of passage that’s simply mandated by the government: ergo, something students can simply slide by without performing well. Time for a paradigm shift. (I hate that phrase)
Okay. I really don’t like football. It’s sexist. People die from heat exhaustion all the time. People die early from brain injury, whether it’s a stroke or suicide. Their bodies are wrecked. It’s a sport that is based on how hard men can hit each other and less about smart game play (see: basketball). It’s a huge waste of money, talent, and lives. Go play something a little less ridiculous (see:anything else).
One of my favorite types of poetry is the haiku. It’s short, sweet, and captures a portrait with emotion in only 17 syllables. It’s an accomplishment of form, language, and curtness.
I do not have a haiku for you today. But, it’s similar. You’ll probably recognize it if you took 12th grade english/AP English/you’re a dork like me. It’s a fairly well known poem.
We Real Cool is written by Gwendolyn Evans and has been distributed in song and English anthologies. It sounds good, it feels good, and it feels wrong. Because they’re going to die. Soon.
The poem alludes to black men and masculinity, and it was the titular reference of a book by bell hooks. The secret about this poem is that most analyses of this poem completely ignore race. So while I have almost zero credentials to be capable of making that kind of analysis, I still want to share this with you. Everytime I read it the images explode in my head. I shiver a little. I wonder.
But most of all, I appreciate the capturing of many ideas, people, and emotions in such a short form.
Muriel’s Wedding is a drama/ romantic comedy set in 90′s Australia. It features Muriel, a disenchanted and not particularly smart young woman. Her, her siblings, and her mother live in a house under the shadow of the psychologically abusive man of the house.
Muriel has desire.
She has ABBA dreams. She desires marriage, to set her free of her conditions: a decrepid family life and degrading personal life. She sees herself as ugly and fat. There are scenes when Toni Collette, playing Muriel, simply stares in the mirror as ABBA plays softly in the background. There’s an inherent disgust in her gaze, disgust so rampant that anything ought to be done to change her life.
The movie shows scenes of desire, as characters chase their dreams and find out it’s often at the expense of one another. How do we rank our personal dreams and desires against the importance of our friends and family? Where is the middle ground between the two, where happiness is found for all?
Muriel’s Wedding also suggests that we can all find redemption. Unfortunately for the characters, it comes after the suicide of an important family member, torn apart by the selfish desire of her loved ones. The characters learn that it is at the site of honesty that we find the middle ground between individual desire and interpersonal harmony to achieve happiness.
Watching, you will laugh, feel vindicated, cry, and stare with disappointment, as Muriel so often does. A good film–it is available on Netflix instant streaming. I give it a 10/12. Muriel’s husband deserved slightly more development, as did her first boyfriend. Muriel’s family is also left slightly undeveloped with deadbeat children of unknown ages and a burning lawn who’s symbolism will not be apparent to everyone. Regardless, this compelling movie is a must-see.
The public perception of social ills is generally one of evil. People have often considered those ill to be possessed by demons, or perhaps had it coming and were plagued by God. You might have been considered unclean for moral reasons. In literature, a guilty conscience or serious character flaw might manifest itself as an illness.
This, without knowledge of science, might even look like a reasonable characterization of disease. A concept in social psychology says that when we view others, their ills are caused by themselves and their wealths are a result of their environment and friends. When we view ourself, we see our ills as caused by society and our wealth as caused by our own hard work. In fact, this concept explains the Tea Party’s irrational judgement fairly well.
However, germ theory and modern microbiology have allowed us a new look at disease. Agents of disease are not evil. They are not good. They are simply coordinated biochemical reactions, orchestrated to propagate the life and well-being of an organism. (yes, i know a virus isn’t really alive–that’s a topic for another day)
Look at this photo of ebola. Ebola literally wreaks havoc on your body. It destroys it. Ebola is relatively quick and extremely painful. Luckily, this helps us quarantine it. Ebola is one of the hemorrhagic viruses. If you don’t know what that means, consider not finding out. It may not be worth the nightmares.
But regardless of the grotesque involved with ebola, you have to admire it’s simplicity. Compared to the complexity of human biochemistry, ebola packages relatively few genes on a negative-sense RNA strand. When it enters a body, it does not scheme to enter particular cells with vengeance. Biochemistry simply permits it.
Viruses have no intent. They are, somewhat simply, biochemical reactions that went wrong. You can’t really classify things as right or wrong, though.
When a virus enters a cell, it is what it is man. It feels wrong, but for the virus it’s sooooo right. When cholera injects its toxin complex into your intestine cells, it just is what it is. Your body more/less helps it, for while your immune system will attempt to fight foreign objects, cellular proteins will help mediate infection. It is all just simply a beautiful orchestration of biochemistry.
When someone gets an infection, we don’t blame them. Unfortunately, this does not apply to all types of illness. Victims of mental illness are still viewed with stigma and shame. The public perception can barely stop viewing viruses as agents of evil, so how can we expect them to stop viewing mental illness as an object of shame? The first is consciousness raising, and I’ve seen this work. Campaigns like Spread the Word to End the Wordare changing the language, which inevitably are helping change perception (eg: that individual is not autistic, they have autism). In the same vein, a better biological education with evolution and molecular biology will help the future understand the beat of the heart, HIV infection, hormonal regulation, the biochemistry of the brain, cancer, and so much more. viva la revolution!
Today I defer to a contemporary song (as in, things people listen to today. Not sure if 90′s music still counts as contemporary. Depends on who you ask.) This is Pumped Up Kicks, a song boyfriend is obssessed with and one I like to hear every now and again. The lyrics are provocative. I’m putting them first, which passe`! But we’ll get over it. Azlyrics, as always. I put them first because if you don’t read them first, you’ll think the song is joyful. And do I really listen to happy things????
Robert’s got a quick hand.
He’ll look around the room, he won’t tell you his plan.
He’s got a rolled cigarette, hanging out his mouth he’s a cowboy kid.
Yeah he found a six shooter gun.
In his dads closet hidden in a box of fun things, and I don’t even know what.
But he’s coming for you, yeah he’s coming for you.
[Chorus x2:]
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you’d better run, better run, outrun my gun.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you’d better run, better run, faster than my bullet.
Daddy works a long day.
He be coming home late, yeah he’s coming home late.
And he’s bringing me a surprise.
‘Cause dinner’s in the kitchen and it’s packed in ice.
I’ve waited for a long time.
Yeah the slight of my hand is now a quick pull trigger,
I reason with my cigarette,
And say your hair’s on fire, you must have lost your wits, yeah.
[Chorus x2:]
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you’d better run, better run, outrun my gun.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you’d better run, better run, faster than my bullet.
[Whistling]
[Chorus x3:]
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you’d better run, better run, outrun my gun.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you’d better run, better run, faster than my bullet.
And like, maybe the drummer and singer are mega cute. Whatever.
So I’ve been doing a lot better about like: posting things on something that vaguely resembles a schedule. I’m like, getting into the hang of things. Kind of a warm up for school?
Anyways, this photo nails it. I spend a lot of time with badawesome company. From memebase:
This actually prompted an idea for next Sunday’s Faith Sunday post, so that’ll be thrilling.
this temple is my home.
these legs mine, honed
by miles ran past rivers and lakes.
i feel at peace with nature
my own and the universe.
this hair is my signature.
it bleaches in the summer
shave my face only twice a week
comfortable in my status
i let it show, i let it grow
this height is my privelege
i stand upon the shoulders
of an ungrateful spine, pathetic
i am to not stand straight.
a man, but crooked
these teeth are my weakness
decay like the dying breath of autumn
reveal my softness to the outside
acidity. i talk with these teeth.
but i can't sing.
my body is my temple, heathenistic
and young, but i mistreat it.
Yet it holds up my status
and permits me passion.
it wrangles with desire
it struggles to divorce LIES
i tell myself to find truth in my nature
but everyone tells me that's murder
If you can’t read the text, just open it in a new tab and blow it up.
Adorable. I mean, not because I’m kind to him or anything. Or that he threatens to maim people for me. I’m sure I’d do the same for him.
But definitely and always he’ll be the best boyfriend in the world. You know, because we probably won’t ever get married. Also have to throw some props out to Marvel for including real and significant gay characters in their comics. The X-Men series has always stood as a serious metaphor for gay rights struggles, and this was including consciously in the movies (I mean, Bryan Singer directed them. REALLY).
Another friend I can’t link to posted this as well:
I’m glad the Marvel geeks get us. Because I get them. Identity is important, and it’s something comic geeks are probably ridiculously familiar with.
Being a geek is a way more important identity than being gay. #letsbereal
.jpg "The Plague")
