I took this picture at Hocking Hills State Park, which is about an hour south of Columbus. I went down with some photography buff friends sort of on the spur of the moment and got some fun pictures of my own. (Theirs are much better.) It was a nice day for a hike except for the humidity and it was good to spend time with some buddies that I haven't seen in awhile. Hocking Hills is home to natural scenery, trails, cabins and lodges, arts and antiques shops, and many other activities, so there's something for everyone. I hadn't been there in a very long time, and it's certainly nice to have such a large park so close to campus.
Here are some of my projects for Art 342, Wheel-throwing ceramics. Enjoy!
And here is why I think I should go into baking business part-time: Posted by nice_genes at 7:28 AM|Permalink
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May 22, 2009
The Main Reason I'm Going into Education
I may have said this before, but I often think that my academic career might have had a different course if I had encountered different mentors throughout my life. Most of the time I'm referring to my lack of real research mentorship in biology, but I also realized recently that I probably would have done a thesis in English if I'd had stronger encouragement from faculty.
I wish I had met Professor Michelle Herman much earlier in my career...things might look a lot different now if I had. She is currently my professor for English 596 (Literature and the Other Arts: The Book Musical). One of Dr. Herman's graduate students, Donald Ray Pollock, just won the PEN Robert Bingham Fellowship for Writers, a very prestigious award (with $35,000 attached, I might add) given to newly published writers. He is the second student from OSU's MFA program in three years, and the previous winner, Christopher Coake, was also a Herman protege.
Now I am not nearly vainglorious enough to think that if I were under Dr. Herman's tutelage, I would follow readily in Pollock and Coake's footsteps. But from our conversations in class and office hours, I think she is exactly the sort of mother figure I'd need to nurture my creative work. I've written before about the preponderance of men in academia, particularly in the field of science, and while most of my male professors have been brilliant, I have not been able to make the final emotional connection that could drive me through a rigorous research or creative endeavor with them. And with just one or two exceptions, my female professors have not really been available for that sort of nurturing relationship either...there's always talk bandied about of women having to act like men in order to succeed in academia, etc etc. But don't get me wrong, I respect all my professors immensely, and it is really more a matter of my personality that requires intense relational bonding to achieve great things.
You will hear from a lot of people how important it is to find a mentor in research, personal growth, spiritual health, etc. and I could not agree more. Students are hungrier for personal attention, encouragement, and advocacy than I think they even realize themselves, and that is what I'm really going into the teaching business for. If it were primarily about the biology (which I do love too), there are far more lucrative and less frustrating professions to enter, but I really care most about the students. This was my last week tutoring at COSI for the year and as I said goodbye to one of the girls I'd worked with all year, I definitely felt a tug on the heartstrings. I am probably going to be one of those teachers who cries at the end of the year when her students leave, but frankly I'm okay with that because I believe that "a good teacher is like a candle, consuming itself to light the way for others."
I've been getting OSU Weekly, the e-mail newsletter for graduate and professional students for several months now, and this week I got access to the course content for my master's classes on Carmen. So far all we've done is post introductions, but those are really a lot of fun to read and it's nice to have an idea of who I'm going to be spending the next five quarters with. Some of these intros read a little like personal ads, but I think I'm really going to like working with these people. The majority are women, many of them are getting married soon (unlike me, of course!), and a good number of them say they are Christian, which is a distinct change from either of my undergraduate departments.
I think a certain amount of self-selection and self-association at each level of schooling. In high school everyone is thrown together based mostly on geography, since everyone has to go to school. Some people never make it to college; those that do find their niche in an academic department, in workplaces, in extracurriculars. Graduate school is even more elective; only those with academic credentials, financial means, and interest will be there. I expect there are far fewer people who don't know what they are doing with their lives, and I look forward to that. One thing that has always bothered me is when people don't have a good reason for doing what they are doing. I've learned that life is too short to do everything that is "mostly harmless;" you have to pick and choose the things to which you devote your time, energy, and resources. Back when I went to interview for the Knowles Science Teaching Fellowship, I was pleasantly surprised to meet people who were just as passionate about the same things I was. But even if I don't share their interests, I am always impressed when someone knows what they want and like in life.
"Do not ask what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." -paraphrasing John Eldredge in Wild At Heart
I probably shouldn't be writing this when I am really tired and apt to be crankier than I'd like, but I doubt I'll get around to it later. Maybe I was naive about journalistic integrity, but half of the "Duann said" indirect quotations in this article are blatant fabrications. In his e-mail interview, the writer requested, "Please give me some quotes to work with when answering." And apparently mine weren't good enough, because he saw the need to make up some of his own. The article don't misrepresent me in any sort of negative light, but making things up that sound good is just not a good journalistic practice in general. Am I alone in thinking that?
This is the second incident this week that has me wondering about the state of academic and personal integrity these days. (Yes, I know I sound old and stodgy, but that's the standard complaint of the morally ambivalent.) Earlier this week I found out that the logo I designed for a campus event last year has been reused this year and modified without asking or letting me know. Again, it's not really about my own intellectual property being compromised, but the assumption this year's students made, that anything used in previous years was okay to use freely, is slightly alarming.
Back in February a chemistry TA was fired for telling students how to fudge their lab reports without doing any work.
It is not okay to take things and modify them to suit your needs. You cannot do it with laboratory results, even if it's a Chemistry 101 lab. You cannot do it with research papers, even if it's for English 110. And you cannot do it for a newspaper article, even if it's for a school paper like The Lantern. It is a bad habit to get into, and if you do it in the professional or academic world, you will be punished severely. I hope I'm not alone in realizing this.
Haven't decided what to do about the Lantern article. (The previous two were not a problem.) Maybe a letter to the editor, but I suspect the editorial staff condone, if not outright approve, of this behavior.
This weekend was the formal for Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship. Sometimes when people hear our name they think we are part of the Greek system, and while we are not a sorority, we are definitely sisters.
(I like to think we have some of the most eligible single women on campus. Our guys are great...but somehow they just don't measure up to that my standard... ^_-)
I always wondered whether I wouldn't enjoy being part of Greek life as I've always longed for that sort of close friendship that sororities seem to promise. But I also knew I wouldn't fit in with the [stereo]typical college culture, so I never seriously considered joining one. Fortunately, I found my own family away from home with Chi Alpha. My faith is an important part of my life, and here I found people who lived like they knew God loves them and challenged me to do the same. I've formed lifelong friendships through the years here, even as we welcome new girls every fall to continue passing the torch, as it were. These women are probably whom I would miss most if I left Columbus, so I'm glad to be here for at least another year.
Well, it has been a very interesting Uno De Mayo indeed! There was a tornado warning from about 6:00-6:30 pm, cutting short my English 596 class viewing of West Side Story. (When I got home, though, it happened to be showing on the digital channel 6.2, right about the point where we got cut off, so it worked out nicely!)
As I was biking home in the rain, I passed Stradley Hall and saw an ambulance parked outside. I just found out (literally a few minutes ago) what that was probably for: a suspected case of swine flu in a resident. (See full article here. I wonder what this will do for President Gee's plan to mandate campus housing for sophomores...with more students in the residence halls, there is definitely an increased chance of disease outbreaks spreading. Currently OSU requires campus housing residences to get meningococcus vaccinations, but not any others that I am aware of. Maybe this will change soon?
Sometimes I wonder whether I should not have just picked one or the other of my two majors. More than once in my four years (usually as I was gnashing my teeth over some chemistry, physics, or mol gen exam) the thought occurred to me that if I were only majoring in English, 1) I'd probably be done in three years; and 2) I'd probably have a 4.0 GPA. But then I always reassured myself with the thought, "But I wouldn't have a job after graduation." (That argument is failing in the face of the sour economy in which jobs are hard to come by for anyone...so it's off to grad school for me!)
There are boatloads of English classes I wish I could have taken. More creative writing courses, in particular, and maybe more digital media courses. Today my 596 professor told me mine was the best short written assignment she had received from the class, and my H590.04 professor suggested I submit my digital media project from his class last spring for the Digital Media Award for Undergraduate Work. Frankly, though, I know that neither is my best work and that, with more time and effort, I could do a lot better. But I was probably in an o-chem class instead, or physics, or EEOB, or mol gen.
If I had majored only in English, I probably would have done a senior thesis. I never did one because I thought juggling two majors for Honors Contract was quite enough. (And I was probably right.) But I sort of wish I had some sort of culminating paper or project or thing to say, "This is what I worked four years for." Instead, I'll end up with two diplomas, and a ticket to graduate school to be a teacher who will likely never teach 75% of what she learned in college because high school biology is just not that in-depth.
But you know what? I don't really regret double-majoring. I certainly would not give up molecular genetics because it is the cutting edge of biological science. I'm glad I stuck with English because otherwise I think I would have read nothing but textbooks and journals for the past four years, and that would have been a shame. I've been introduced to some amazing works and authors through my studies and I think our English faculty are really top-notch. (Same goes for biological sciences.) And really, English and molecular genetics are not as disparate as people may think; though the subject matter differs, the analytical skills needed to succeed in both are the same. I may not have been able to go as deeply into either field as someone who only has one major, but I maintained and broadened my interests and I believe that is the purpose of university: to cultivate a love of learning. If I could do it over, I could think of three or four other majors I probably would have loved just as much. That said, double-majoring is a lot of work and certainly not for everyone, but I encourage everyone to at least take some courses that aren't required for your major and make the most of their time at OSU.
My mom asked me a good question the other day: "Out of the four places you've lived in the past four years, which was your favorite?" Now, this is slightly difficult for me to answer completely objectively because I have very strong emotional associations with specific location, so my perception of a place is highly influenced by what happens in my life while I'm living there. That said, it's probably a close contest between Neilwood Gables sophomore year and the apartment I'm staying in now. They are about the same size, except now I have the entire place to myself. While I do relish the privacy, I liked my roommate sophomore year and sometimes living by myself can make me a little daffy. Freshman year in Taylor Tower wasn't bad; the only major complaint I have is that it is so terribly far away from everything. My roommates were nice enough, although it was a little strange to have seven people sleeping in one room by the end of the year counting boyfriends. I probably wouldn't choose to live with three other people again, decided mostly by my experience last year. Of course, it was really a combination of shoddy landlord relations, noisy neighbors, roommate issues, several personal hardships, and the complete impossibility of effectively heating or cooling three floors of a townhouse that make me look back on 176 W 9th Avenue with mild horror. Things are going better in this apartment now, but I am definitely looking forward to getting away from campus-area living as soon as humanly possible.
Apparently I've become a minor OSU celebrity, having appeared in the Lantern two days in a row (yesterday for Next Chapter Book Club, today for Jeopardy). And now I am a little worried about being the object of too much attention...well, let's just say that a stranger has contacted me through electronic channels I thought I'd closed off and that makes me a little uneasy. It might just be a coincidence, but I kind of doubt it, as I know this person is in the OSU community. So if I am distinctly laconic on this blog for a while, that is probably why.
In other news, it is still winter in central Ohio, with low temperatures right around freezing. By Saturday, the high will be 85 degrees. The poor bikini-clad denizens of South Beach Oval must be very confused indeed.
I have severe senioritis. Everyone is in a dither about scheduling classes for next fall and I'm just kind of like "Meh," even though I actually need to schedule for summer. But my master's orientation isn't until May, and I doubt I'll be crowded out of graduate level courses, so I'm not worried. I have an appointment next Friday with my honors adviser to fill out my graduation application, my friend's black gown is ready and waiting in my closet, and the weeks slowly tick down for my undergraduate career...
I brought my bike to campus this week for the first time in my four years here, mostly to get to and from the ceramics studio in Hopkins Hall on north campus a little faster. The jury is still out on this idea, since traversing campus on bike is definitely different from going on foot. (Especially in the spring, now that the Oval has once again been transformed to South Beach and there are all manner of flying objects whizzing through the air.) It's also handy for getting to and from Target in the Lennox center without waiting for the bus.
I'm essentially taking my summer vacation this quarter, as my real summer break is exactly one week long. It's a strange feeling, knowing this is my last ten weeks as an undergraduate. It's also funny hearing friends bemoaning midterms and homework when I have very few of either. I'd ask why the rest of my college career wasn't like this, but the answer is simple: if I'd taken the past four years as easily as this quarter, I definitely wouldn't be graduating on time!
Over winter break my classmates and I went to London for ten days, which was a tremendous amount of fun. Among other places, I went to Kew Gardens, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, Stonehenge and Uffington, Bath and Oxford, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Harrod's, and Les Miserables at Queen's Theatre.
Unfortunately, this was probably the high point of winter quarter for me. The excitement of starting college was wearing off and though my classes were still fun, I was quickly realizing that all of the "friends" I had made really didn't know me well at all. A lot of the freshmen I've talked to in years since have reported the same sort of experience. Fall quarter everyone is running around meeting people, but by winter quarter people are less interested in hanging out except with their more select group of friends. I did not manage to settle in with new friends as well as others, and my old friends from high school seemed to largely disappear, even the ones who were at OSU too. I don't blame them for this, it just sort of happened, but it did seem to usher in a low period in personal life.
My classes, on the other hand, were not bad. For the first two years I slaved away through the galleys of general and organic chemistry and entry-level physics, so not much interesting happened there, but I did get started on my English major courses. Winter 2006 I took English 265, which was beginning creative fiction writing. The class gave me the opportunity to explore some personal issues through writing and revealed things I didn't even know had been brewing under the surface. Writing has always been therapeutic for me and there wasn't any pressure to write a masterpiece, so it was a good choice.
On a lighter note, I also discovered very quickly the fastest ways to get across campus to avoid the biting cold, and the importance of warm fuzzy boots.
Even my "last" quarter is bringing plenty of firsts. My first studio class, Art 342 (Wheel Throwing), is proving to be more time and labor-intensive than expected, but so far it is fun and satisfying. It's good to practice what eluded me in my high school ceramics classes.
I am also using e-Reserves for the first time in my English 596 class to view video recordings of the musicals we are studying. e-Reserves works like physically reserving an item, which means only one student can view each title at once. You also have to specify start and end times that are completely inflexible. Literally, if you miss your reservation start time by one minute (like I have done), you are out of luck. WebCheckout does not work on the current version of Firefox or on Macs, and I seem to be running into a glitch even using Internet Explorer in which the movie doesn't always load properly, which means I have to make a new reservation when the original allotted start time passes. I have to say I am distinctly unimpressed with this system, like much of OSU's technology, to be frank. (Don't even get me started on Webmail...no, I don't want to keep my OSU e-mail for life after I graduate!)
And another first since 1922...a semester schedule for OSU. That's right, the Board of Trustees unanimously approved the switch to take place no sooner than 2012. I will be long gone, and I think it is probably for the best in the long run. (While I did enjoy the opportunity to take more classes, I'm not sure if I have necessarily learned more in the rush to cram in six midterms in one quarter.) See the Lantern article here.
You take a deep breath and you walk through the doors
It's the morning of your very first day
And you say hi to your friends you ain't seen in a while
Try and stay out of everybody's way
("FIfteen" by Taylor Swift)
No matter how old I get, I just love first days of class. (I suppose that's one of the reasons I like the quarter system...three first days a year instead of two!) You never know who you're going to meet, both students and professors, and the hopeful prospect of a new quarter, like so many sheets of blank notebook paper, is always exhilarating.
So this quarter I will be spending my time watching Broadway musicals, throwing clay, and reading the Bible. I could not ask for a better end to my undergraduate career!
For some reason, February seemed to drag on and on and on, but March has completely passed me by. Between traveling to Philadelphia, finals, and a spring break jaunt to Atlanta, I suddenly find myself on April's doorstep. I suppose next year's freshman class is quivering with anticipation of their acceptance letters, but I have already decided to accept a Graduate Enrichment Fellowship to get my M.Ed at Ohio State next year. Here's to another year of Buckeye greatness!
In other news...
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I am going to be on the Jeopardy College Tournament. More details forthcoming, but I will be flying to L.A. for the taping in about two weeks, and the tournament will air the first week of May. It is still sinking in even though I found out over a week ago. Now I need to go buy another OSU sweatshirt...
I got a lot of funny looks last weekend in Philadelphia when I told people I had finals the following week. When I explained OSU's quarter system, many people looked aghast at the idea of finishing a class in ten weeks. I've never known any different so it seems normal to me, but I guess if you think about it, it is a little intense and certainly can be very grueling. I think the worst part about being on quarters is the fact that you can have midterms as early as three weeks into a course. (And, if your professors don't time things correctly, you can have midterms for five consecutive weeks like I did this quarter!)
President Gee is pushing hard to have OSU switch to semesters. Here's the resolution to convert from quarters to semesters, which would take effect no earlier than 2012. That's [hopefully] long after I'll be gone, but my brother would be a college sophomore at that point. (Which is not to say he will be going to OSU for sure, of course.) Some people love the idea, some hate it, and there are certainly advantages and disadvantages to the switch.
I don't know all the logistics and expenses that would be involved, but from my limited perspective I think it would probably be a good idea to get on the same calendar page as most of the other schools in Ohio if not the country. This will help students looking for employment, seasonal or longer-term, and perhaps facilitate academic cooperation with other universities. It may result in less pressure to cram a lot of material into ten weeks, or reduce the amount of material that winds up getting cut as a result of a shorter teaching schedule. On the other hand, I'm glad I've had to the opportunity to take so many different classes in my time at Ohio State, and I might not be able to do that in a semester calendar. I guess the jury's still out on this one.
In other news, OSU has made me an offer for graduate school that I would be extremely foolish to refuse. So unless Emory drops $75,000 out of the sky within the next few weeks, I'm looking forward to another year as a Buckeye at The Ohio State University! (Plus another year of free RPAC membership...yesssss!)
I'm rather liking this retrospective exercise...gives me a good excuse to dig through all the old photos I have on my computer (and really should back up to an external hard drive!)
Fall 2005: It's funny how this time feels like both yesterday and a lifetime ago. It's impossible to write about everything that happened this quarter, so I will condense it to a list of "Would Do Again" and "Would Not Do Again."
Would Do Again:
Live in Taylor Tower 403 with the roommates I did. My best friend from high school and I agreed to live on the same floor but not together, so that we would go out and make new friends. I think this worked out better for her than for me, as she moved into an apartment with her freshman roommates the next year, while I have never been extremely close to any of my roommates except one whom I've known since childhood anyway. We've gotten along just fine, we're just not best friends.
Go on the London Honors Study Abroad trip. Sure, it cost $1800 extra, but it was an opportunity I will almost certainly never have again, to travel to London with a group of 25 excited freshmen. (I do hope to see Stonehenge and Bath again, though.) There's something about traveling together that really helps people bond...although one of my professors from this trip now thinks my name is Jessica.
Started eating a vegetarian diet.
Would Not Do Again:
Take Math H161. While I had fun in our 8th-floor study group, I would rather not have my friendships forged in the crucible of severe mental anguish induced by 15 hours a week of some odd brand of calculus in which we prove the existence of numbers. I literally remember nothing we learned in this class beyond the phrase "epsilon delta." I was suckered into signing up for this class at orientation, where I was advised to take a math class EVEN THOUGH I had already tested out of everything through 153. Worst way to begin freshman year, ever. Not that I'm disgruntled or anything.
Failed to declare a major before beginning classes. I don't know why I kept the "Exploration" major...I already knew I wanted to double major in English and molecular genetics. I guess I was curious whether I would learn anything in Exploration Survey that might change my mind. Um, I didn't. It was a huge waste of time, though I'm sure the major-specific surveys probably aren't that much more informative anyway.
Left Ballroom Dancing Association after just one try. I was too shy to dance with strangers, but now I wish I had stuck with it.
This weekend I went to Philadelphia to interview for a teaching fellowship sponsored by the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation. It provides financial and professional development support for high school science teachers in their first five years of teaching, as well as tuition assistance while enrolled in a credentialing program. It was a great experience overall: I feel confident about my interview, I met a lot of really interesting people, and I feel generally confirmed in my calling to be a teacher. Surprisingly, I was one of the youngest candidates there; many had finished undergrad a few years ago and were now turning to teaching. But despite that, I left feeling more like a "grown-up" (whatever that means) than I had before. Maybe it was just the realization that in little more than a year I will actually be read to start my career! And also, June 14 is now less than three months away.
But first, to pass this quarter's finals...
P.S. As I was flying in this afternoon, I looked out the window just as we were over Downtown. I recognized the Nationwide building, Leveque Tower, and COSI, and quickly realized that we would be going over campus. I saw the Shoe, the Towers, the Oval, the Med Center...even my apartment! (We were pretty low at the point...Port Columbus is only about ten minutes east of campus.) As much as I do want to get out of town sometimes, there really is no place like home.
So I was advising one of the girls from my old church who is going to be a freshman at Ohio State this fall, and it was hard to believe that was me in her shoes just four years ago. And today I attended my last molecular genetics lecture of all time (I will be out of town Friday). In the spirit of Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture, I will be presenting a series of retrospective entries about my time at Ohio State. Nothing fancy, they'll probably be mostly in list format. I figure I've been here 12 quarters and four summers, so at the rate of two entries a week, that will get me right up to mid-May. Of course, I'll probably intersperse some entries about what's happening now, but that's plenty to blog about until that magical day of June 14. Let me know what you think or if you have any questions about any part of the OSU experience...I will do my best to answer them!
Summer 2005
Immediately after graduating high school, my family and I whisked off to Taiwan for a month, which I regret a little because I missed almost all the graduation parties. But if there's anything I've learned about old friends/classmates, it's that the ones worth keeping up with you'll keep with automatically. Orientation is a bit of a blur, but I remember the weather being rather hot and me being rather uptight. There were lots of corny icebreakers, O-H-I-O's, and exhortations to "get involved" (but not with sex, drugs, or alcohol, of course!) I discovered the wonders of Facebook and made a lot of promises about keeping in touch that I fully intended, but did not manage, to keep. Everything looked new and promising but a little scary at the same time.
I'm not going to pretend this has been the easiest quarter of my life academically (six midterms in five weeks brought me rather dangerously close to literal insanity), but it has certainly been one of the richest. I'll go out on a limb and say that, in general, my professors this quarter were the best I've ever had. My classes also seemed to coalesce in a perfect storm in which concepts in one class reiterated or elaborated on concepts presented in another.
My historical geology class discussed dinosaur phylogeny, which dovetailed nicely with my evolution class. In the evolution class, we talked about development today, which is what I've spent the entire quarter studying in molecular genetics. Besides my ag econ class, there's been a significant amount of integration between my courses this quarter, which I like because I'm a holistic thinker. I kind of wish more of my classes in previous quarters had meshed this well...
I haven't heard back from the Jeopardy College Tournament yet, but in the meantime another OSU student has made an appearance on the show. Jerome Socolof's appeared on the show that aired February 23. He didn't win, but took home $1000 for appearing on the show. The rules for College Tournament are a little different...I think you get $5000 just for making it to the show, which would certainly make life a lot easier if I got it! Stay tuned...
Every year Columbus Alive, an alternative weekly newspaper, does its Best of Columbus readers' poll. Since I'm a little bit of a hermit for economic reasons, I can't knowledgeably vote on all the categories, but here are some highlights worth commenting on.
Category
CA's pick
My Pick
Comments
Best Movie Theater
Arena Grand
Landmark Gateway
Maybe I'm partial because I go to church here, but I also like Gateway's selection of more eclectic films.
Best Museum
Columbus Museum of Art
COSI
This one's a tough call, but I'm going to go with COSI because I volunteer there and I think it has wider audience appeal.
Best Place for People Watching
Easton Town Center
OSU's Oval
I concur that Easton is great for people-watching, but if you want true variety, hit the Oval on a sunny spring day.
Best Festival
ComFest
Columbus Arts Festival
I admit I've never been to ComFest so I can't say for sure, but the Arts Festival is always really neat.
I went to a meeting of Mercy for Animals last night, mostly for the promised vegan dinner (lentil sloppy joes which was incredibly delicious!) but also because the talk was about "Creating Peace through Vegetarianism." Many notable peace activists were vegetarian or vegan, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his family, Rosa Parks, Leo Tolstoy, and of course Gandhi himself. I feel like this topic was overshadowed by the promotion of the group itself, though, or maybe that's just because there was a somewhat combative person in the audience who wouldn't let the speaker finish (or even start, for awhile) what he was saying before arguing about veganism in general.
I've been effectively vegetarian since starting college, for various reasons too complex to explain in detail, but I will keep a long story short and say it was for health reasons. Suspending all value judgments, it doesn't surprise me that I haven't run into many other vegetarians even on a college campus, this being the Midwest and all. (Though maybe smaller schools that lean left more, like Kent State or Antioch might be different.) It hasn't really been too much of a problem for me since I started doing my own grocery shopping and cooking (I rarely eat out). Here are some of the options for vegetarian/vegan-friendly dining:
Campus Dining: Sprouts Cafe is a section of Kennedy Commons that has vegetarian/vegan cafeteria food The Marketplace has the best salad bar on campus, in my opinion (but that's not necessarily saying much) Fresh Express opened after I went off the campus dining plan, so I can't say anything about their options, but it's supposed to be healthier.
Off Campus: OSU campus is buffered along High Street by the Short North (to the south) and Clintonville (to the north), two neighborhoods that seem to have a fair amount of vegetarian, vegan, and otherwise health-conscious eating choices. These are the ones I've tried. Benevolence Cafe (near North Market) Northstar Cafe (2 locations conveniently bookending campus) Whole World Natural Restaurant and Bakery Aladdin's Eatery is not explicitly vegetarian, but Middle Eastern or Mediterranean places usually have some fairly good options Dragonfly Neo-V has upscale vegetarian food. I haven't been here yet since my college food budget doesn't stretch that far, but it looks very swanky and hopefully yummy.
In the latest dispatch from the theatre of the absurd, an OSU professor failed to make enough copies of an exam before it was distributed and completed by a portion of his students. He then proceeded to take the next logical step and give everyone in the class 100 percent. Yeah, I'm a little confused too. Here's the link to the full article in The Lantern.
I will admit that is a tough situation (but one that should never have happened). Once the exams are out, some dimwit (not realizing or caring that he is wrecking the curve for himself and everyone else) is sure to talk about it, so giving the same test is not an option. And it is really hard and time-consuming to write a new exam of the same difficulty, which is why professors really do need advance notice if you can't sit an exam at the normal time. So I really do understand the dilemma, but I think there could have been a better solution...like maybe a run to the copier?
Another test-related story, this time from my own life: My AED Econ 597.01 class was getting the midterm back today. My professor started writing up the statistics for this exam on the board, and he writes, "MEAN," pauses, then scribbles, "67.0." And you could hear a collective gasp/groan from the class of 75. At which point I literally snorted and thought, "Oh, you softies. I've taken exams where the average was 42." (A classmate later reminded me of the exam that averaged 30%.) Now I'm not making fun of econ majors...oh wait, yes, I am...but it just made me feel a little smug about my academic grittiness. They may be have their highfalutin intellectual grandstanding, but I think I've stared down worse things than they can even imagine. And let me be the first to disenchant anyone entering college of their 4.0 dreams (says the girl who is still striving for summa cum laude, but that's just me).
(Yes, I know Christmas was almost two months ago, bear with me...)
I heard an interesting hypothesis from my EEOB TA today. She said that winter is usually the best quarter grade-wise because students are coming off an extended period at home, during which time they either celebrated their good fall quarter grades or were dressed down by parental units for rather poorer ones. In any case, they return to school with a renewed sense of determination to do well (or better) academically.
...I don't know if I buy this. A quick Excel graph of my quarterly and cumulative GPAs (which I don't mind sharing, with the exact numbers removed) reveals that my lowest and highest quarterly GPAs both occurred during winter quarters. (Ironically my highest post-freshman year GPA was in the absolute worst quarter of my personal life.)
Winter quarters always seem the worst to me, no matter what the report card ultimately says. The excitement of a new school year is gone, the anticipation of summer is too weak to offset the winter slog, the weather is ghastly, and to cap it off, spring break is only a week long. A week is not nearly enough time to recuperate from the ten-week long haul, especially this year when I'll be jetting to Philadelphia the weekend before finals, then trucking down to Atlanta the weekend before spring quarter starts. In between I have a physical and dental cleaning appointment, in keeping with my once-quarterly health maintenance regime. For the rest of the time, I am barricading myself in my room with the pile of books that never seem to get read, photos that never seem to get scrapbooked, and perpetually messy desk that never, ever, seems to stay organized for very long.
(I'm in my fourth consecutive week of midterms and my brain, literally, feels like mush. And I have one more next week after which...I get to think about finals! Hurray!!)
I have to say I think I have the best professors this quarter that I've ever had in college. Which is not to say I haven't had good professors before, just that it seems like all my professors this particular quarter are pretty good. I've already written about the spate of interactivity during lectures, and all of them seem to have fun personalities too. My mol gen prof folded me an origami Xenopus (frog) in honor of the animal's development that we are studying. My EEOB prof gave out plastic parachute men and Play-Doh as prizes for our review recitation.
Most of them seem to genuinely be interested in their students' success, which people sometimes don't expect from a large research university. (There's probably only a few exceptions the sight of whom causes me to double over into the fetal position muttering, "Bringer of pain, bringer of pain!")
Which is why I get a little upset when students are not equally engaged in class. It drives me nuts when the professor asks a question, even one as simple as, "Is everything clear?" and gets no response. For starters, I think it is just plain rude not to answer someone who is asking you a question. And as a prospective teacher myself, I would want my students to tell me when something I say doesn't make sense, rather than see them fail a test later. As a teacher, it's painful to see your students not do well, because that means they're not learning and somehow or other, you're not doing your job well. I hate being "that kid" in lectures (and I try not to be annoying), but if I don't speak up and give the teacher some feedback, who will?
In other news, I've been accepted to OSU's Master of Education program. That's 2 for 3 so far, much better than my record of undergraduate acceptance decisions! :P I'm also going to Philadelphia the weekend before finals to interview for the Knowles Science Teaching Fellowship, which would give me significant tuition assistance, stipends and professional development for five years. Spring break will take me down to Georgia ("gonna eat a lotta peaches...") to visit Emory. Sure brings back a lot of memories from four years ago... where has the time gone?
I think all meteorologists should have to do a residency in central Ohio before being allowed to predict the weather anywhere else. In the past week, by my count, we have had the following phenomena:
-a high temperature of 66 degrees F accompanied by the melting of the Columbus ice sheets (Wednesday, capping off several days of highs in the 50s)
-torrential rain for a few hours and a few seconds of hail (yesterday)
-sustained 40 mph winds with gusts up to 60 mph (yesterday)
President Gee once told me that our chances of a snow day were zero on his watch. He has since had to eat his words, but I confess I can see where he's coming from. Losing that one day has put all my classes behind schedule and in a quarter-system school with only ten weeks, that may prove impossible to make up. I think it isn't just a matter of the lost class time but there is some momentum lost too, as the next time the class meet the professor has to review and recap and it's all a pain in the butt. As much as I would enjoy a day off some times, I think I would regret missing the instructional time even more. (Which probably just makes me crazy.)
Along the same lines, I did in fact find a second English class I wanted to take next quarter (596 - The "Book" Musical) and probably could have worked it into my schedule, but stopped short when I realized that would mean taking 19 hours in my last quarter, 5 of which are a studio art class and 5 of which are a creative writing workshop; I anticipate both classes to be fairly time consuming. (Now if I don't get into the workshop I'll of course take 596.) And I was talking to a classmate in my department about the AED Econ 597 I'm taking as my capstone and she asked, "Of all the 597 classes you could take, why did you pick that one?!" My answer: "Because I want to?" Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only person left on earth who likes learning for its own sake and did not come to university just as a stepping stone to a career. There are a lot easier ways to become a teacher (or even a doctor or MPH) than majoring in molecular genetics, but I stuck with it because it did, in fact, interest me. And maybe that's my problem, is that I'm interested in too many things, but I figure there is so much out there to be discovered, why not go and find out what it's all about? I may have said this before, but I guess the most important thing I learned in college was how to learn in general, and I hope to exercise that skill long after I graduate.
Monday, Feb. 2nd, is Dr. Gee's birthday. As a present to him, we want to see how many of you we can fit into the lobby of Bricker Hall for a surprise singing of "Happy Birthday."
We will be gathering at 10:30 a.m. If you are on campus, and in the neighborhood, please stop by. Hot chocolate will be on hand for those who brave the cold. (But please remember: it is a surprise!)
I was in class, so this is my tribute to President Gee instead. Speaking of pairing presidents with steamy sirens...
In other news, I have just scheduled my last quarter as an undergraduate at Ohio State. And I got accepted to Emory University's school of Public Health. :) AND it's like 30 degrees outside...HEAT WAVE!!!
OSU closed on Wednesday due to snow for the first time since March 8, 2008 (and that was a Saturday anyway). I spent the day working out and catching up on some academic and personal reading and writing...it was rather nice. Now things are still a slippery, slush mess outside and I've discovered that none of my winter boots are very waterproof, which is definitely unpleasant in such conditions. Can't wait for spring...
We haven't gotten to mass extinctions in my geology class yet, but I am either experiencing or anticipating a few right now in the months running up to graduation.
Classes: My very last scheduling window as an undergraduate at Ohio State opens in less than a week. I am planning to take EEOB 405 (my final teacher content course); English 568, the creative nonfiction workshop, which requires submission of a writing sample by which the professor judges which 15 students get in (or English 570 - History of English if I don't get into the writing course); and Art 342, the wheel-building ceramics class I have been dying to take since coming to OSU. AND THAT'S ALL. (Of course I will probably end up finding some other random interesting class in the course catalog and wind up graduating with an obscene number of credit hours...I'm going to be over 300 regardless.)
Extracurriculars: I've already written about feeling like an old curmudgeon at student organization meetings, but now it's gotten to the point where I don't even bother reading things like Honors&Scholars Net or Buckeye News Net all the way through. I still care about what's happening on campus, but chances are rather slim that I will actually go and participate in most events. Most of it is just due to the fact that I already have other commitments, but a part of me is reluctant to get involved in anything new because of my impending doom graduation. I feel like five months is probably not enough time to get established and make a difference for a new activity, and I don't like giving less than 100% to things I do.
Friends: This happened after high school and I expect college to be no different. As we scatter to the ends of the earth, I expect to lose touch with maybe 50% of the people I know. These are most likely to be classmates, as I find it hard to sustain relationships with people I know only from the classroom. I have some friends I don't hang out with much outside of an academic setting, but even studying together outside of class is enough to move someone from the "acquaintance" list to the "friend" list. Of course, with the ever-evolving marvel of Facebook and social networking, it's hard to say.
Time and change will surely show...how firm thy friendship...O-HI-O.
Ohio Union Activities Board (OUAB) sponsored a free concert tonight at Newport Music Hall featuring country singer Craig Morgan and opened by the Dirt Drifters. The place wasn't packed but it was pretty full, and there were lots of cowboy hats, boots, and plaid shirts to be seen. The great thing about Newport is that it is right on campus. I'm not really into the live music scene (this was, in fact, my first concert!) but I'm sure more avid music fans will agree with me on that point. Click here for more on Columbus' music news.
Greetings from a severely frozen Columbus. It's been a week of below-freezing temperatures and subzero wind chills. Alas, we must still go to class, thus transforming the student population into strange, shuffling, mummy-like creatures slipping and sliding across campus.
But amidst all this, I have found a tropical oasis: the Biological Sciences Greenhouse Facility.
I went in there this morning to collect some information for an EEOB 400 assignment. The greenhouse is on top of the K Garage next to Aronoff Labs and provides a nice little breath of green in the dead of winter.
My friend graduated this past December and last week she passed on her cap and gown to me for use in exactly five months. Right now it sits in my closet awaiting, as I do, the culmination of four years' toil...or sixteen, depending on when you start counting!
This quarter I am taking Agricultural and Economic Development 597.01, the so-called capstone GEC (Issues of the Contemporary World) required of B.A. candidates. [Apparently B.S. students do not need to be aware of the contemporary world?] Here is the official university line on the capstone experience:
The course AEDE/IS 597.01 satisfies the tenth GEC requirement, which is a capstone experience. Such courses are upper-division and thematic. In addition, they draw on multiple disciplines and enrich the students’ experiences of the contemporary world. There are two learning objectives of capstone courses. One is that students “synthesize and apply knowledge from diverse disciplines to contemporary issues.� The main discipline drawn on in this course (which focuses on contemporary issues in the global food economy, including implications from population growth and effects on environmental degradation), is economics, while contributions from demography, environmental geography and political science are incorporated as well. The second objective is that students “write about or conduct research on the contemporary world.� Hence, a final paper is required.
Now, I've never taken an economics course in my life, but when I told my professor so, he said, "Good, good." And I am inclined to agree with him: I am looking forward to the challenge of investigating a new field that I happen to find interesting. University education was not originally intended to be job training; it was a continuation of the love of learning and thus included the study of grammar, logic, and rhetoric (trivium); and arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy (quadrivium); all in preparation to study philosophy or theology. I've found that my most intellectually satisfying and stimulating courses at OSU were taken for my English major, a degree I do not intend to use in my career (for the time being, at least). As much as I sometimes grumble against the GEC, my Art History and Linguistics courses introduced me to whole new areas that I would have happily pursued given infinite time and resources. People always comment on the broad difference between my two majors, but I feel like by taking both I have truly learned how to think, not just what I know. Knowledge will always be superseded by new discoveries and conceptualizations, but the ability to think about and process that knowledge is enduring and thus, in my view, much more important.
Note: Ask me again how I feel about this course three weeks in when I'm up to my ears in reading!
I don't know if all the OSU professors went to some sort of teaching skills seminar over winter break or what, but all four of my classes this quarter have a rather significant amount of interactivity built in, and these are all lectures I'm talking about.
Mol Gen 608 - In-class quizzes (which is good for keeping me on my toes with the reading) and small group discussions
Earth Sciences H122 - Extensive use of clicker technology for in-class polls and review questions
EEOB 400 - In-class simulations, quizzes, and assignments
AED 597.01 - This capstone course is technically a discussion section, except it's cross-listed in International Studies, bringing the total enrollment up over 70 students. But we still manage to have a little question-response sometimes.
While this is certainly good for keeping me awake in classes (especially Tuesdays and Thursdays when I have class for 5 hours straight), it's kind of frustrating because I really wish more of my professors had done this sooner. Oh well...
In a poignant turn of events, legendary central Ohio sportscaster Jimmy Crum passed away yesterday as his beloved Buckeyes took a bitter loss to the Texas Longhorns. My own memories of Mr. Crum are limited to a few faint glimmers from my childhood, but he was as famous in Columbus for his charity work as his sportscasting. He was a champion for "handicapable" people and worked with Special Olympics and Easter Seals, among many other charitable organizations.
First, passing on President Gee's New Year's greetings to students. I love this man and I'm so pumped to be graduating under his tenure.
I got back to campus Thursday evening and things were still pretty quiet on Friday when I went around to pick up my textbooks, which I now have down to an art. I stopped at the campus bookstore in the Gateway, wrote down the titles and prices. (I couldn't have bought them there anyway since they didn't have any of them in stock!) Then I hustled up to SBX where they actually had my books in stock for [marginally] cheaper, so I bought three books for $220. (My geology lab manual cannot be found anywhere for the moment.) Then I went to Sullivant library, looked up the prices on Half.com and discovered I can save about $60 on the whole caboodle, so I ordered those and will be returning my SBX purchases before the winter return deadline next Tuesday. Take that, textbook industry!
By Saturday campus was showing signs of coming back to life. I went to the RPAC in the afternoon to lift and it was pretty packed...I couldn't even get a racquetball court to play on. Coming back after church today, 11th was chockful of cars returning students to the south dorms, so it's officially time for back-to-school.
Dr. Anita Hopper, one of my former professors and chair of the molecular genetics department, was just named an AAAS fellow along with seventeen other OSU professors. OSU was second only to UC-Irvine in the number of new fellows this year, and had more than twice as many as Michigan (Boo!). It's always humbling to realize just how distinguished OSU's faculty are and what an honor it is to study with them.
Last week my friend and I went to play racquetball and I've been hooked ever since. (Which just goes to show you how dangerously addictive my personality is.) In the past few weeks, I have discovered my inner jock in such a dramatic fashion that my former gym teachers would probably pass out from shock if they saw me. And swatting the ball around in an empty room is surprisingly conducive to some life lessons, which I now present to you...
1."Life is like sex and tennis: you only get better if you stroke with someone better than you." I don't remember where I originally heard this, but it's very true. Most days I just go to the RPAC by myself and practice hitting off the walls, but it's always much more challenging to actually play with someone. You can't read their mind and know where they're going to hit the ball, and you have to make an effort to hit something they can return rather than just swing haphazardly. (Though I end up doing that a lot too.)
2. "Swing like you mean it." Half-hearted just doesn't cut it, in racquetball or in life. My best volleys happen when I race to meet every hit like my life depended on it. I've run into a few walls as a result, but I figure that's a small price to pay to be able to return a crazy hit.
3. "Play off the back wall." Another friend introduced me to this one when we played on Sunday. He suggested we play off the glass rear wall, so that if the ball hits that first before bouncing, it's still good. Sometimes stuff happens that just blasts right over our heads, but the rebound is still returnable. So play off the back wall.
4. "Let's play left-handed." Another suggestion from Sunday that actually resulted in some pretty good backhands. My backhand is much weaker than my forehand, but when I race to hit a ball on my right side using my left hand, suddenly my backhand is much better (and in my non-dominant hand, no less). Sometimes all it takes is a change in perspective to make life easier.
5. "Forget the rules." This is my life's motto anyway. I don't know the rules of racquetball, and for now I have no interest in learning them. I just want to practice hitting the ball the direction I want it to go and wake up the long-dormant fast-twitch muscles in my body. So for practice, I'll play left-handed or make a rule that says I can't pick up the ball with my other hand to re-serve--I have to hit it off the wall or floor no matter what. It's not regulation, but it's good to hone the skills I need if I ever do decide to play seriously.
And finally...
RPAC Staffer: We have racquets but no balls.
Me: (to my friend) Hey, we know men like that...
Chances are, if you are a prospective student reading this, you already want to go to college, but perhaps not for the same reasons I would advocate. I went with several other WOW staffers to Como Elementary today to talk with the fifth graders about college. Amid questions about tomatoes and cabbage juice, here is some of the advice we gave.
College is less about acquiring a body of knowledge than learning a way of thinking. You won't come out of college knowing everything about anything (or a little about everything), but hopefully you will know how to find out about everything.
Always ask questions. That is the key to scientific inquiry but also any other discipline. Who, what, when, where, why, and how questions, are not limited to any particular field.
Read, read, read. Whether it's the newspaper, a novel, or a textbook, cultivate a strong appetite for reading because the written word is the primary means of disseminating information, at least in our culture.
College is not an end in itself but a gateway to a lifetime's worth of possibilities. Again, it is not so much what you learn but how.
It was a lot of fun talking with these young students and seeing how open-ended their futures are. It definitely reaffirmed my calling to work with young people through education, which is a nice encouragement as I slog through the application process. All my grad school apps have been turned in and the quest now turns to finding money...
Is it really just eight days until Christmas? It seems like we finished classes later this year so that the time between the end of the quarter and Christmas is shorter than I remember in years past. Campus is very quiet now, although the tenant above me is still doing jumping jacks at six in the morning (the only explanation I can think of for the noises I'm hearing). At least OSU is a research university, so there are still people around working. I can't imagine what it would be like in a true "college town" that pretty much dies during holiday season. I've been spending my time catching up on my reading, mopping up graduate school and fellowship applications, and spending much-needed time with friends who are still in town.
I took my friend Sarah out to lunch today and we went to Anna's Greek Cuisine over in West Worthington, my old high school stomping grounds. Theoretically I was supposed to have her back for class in 45 minutes, but she said that missing 7th period English wasn't a big deal. Which is good because service was a little poky during today's lunch rush. We hovered for about five minutes before being seated and there seemed to be longer-than-necessary gaps between every stage of the meal, from ordering to getting our check.
The decor is your standard faux-Greek isle, with a slightly incongruous tiki-looking hut on one wall. I ordered the roasted vegetable pita, which consisted of onions, eggplant, zucchini, and mushrooms, but unfortunately came swimming in too much of the promised tomato sauce. It tasted decent but I personally would have preferred more spices. But all in all not a bad lunch for $6, though service could have used some improvement. (Though probably I was just stressed about trying to get us in and out too quickly.)
Just a quick update:
-The in-flight magazine for American Airlines featured an article on Columbus! I did not think to snag a copy, but it was funny to see the city mentioned right when I was leaving it.
-I will be performing in the Vagina Monologues 2009 on February 14 (also known as Singles Appreciation Day) with VdayOSU.
-The lights are up at Mirror Lake! I'll try to post a picture here soon. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
-Finals don't look terrible this quarter, if you overlook the specter of another half-of-total-grade-exam for mol gen. My English classes are in the bag and I feel pretty secure for my animal phys exam on Friday. But it will be a long long weekend of cell biology...
I think I've swallowed the egg in terms of work for this quarter: seminar paper is turned in, midterms are over, cow's in the barn for my final project in English 405. Except not really: next week I have a final on Friday, a Christmas party to plan for Thursday night, an outreach event on Saturday, final project due Monday, final exam and take-home exam all on Tuesday.
But all that matters not, for tomorrow I go...to CABO SAN LUCAS. Don't be surprised if I go parasailing into the sunset, never to return.
I am not condoning jumping into Mirror Lake, but I have to say it.
I SAW BEANIE WELLS!!!
I was not able to see this live, but that's okay.
I don't know if I've ever been so starstruck. Except maybe the time I met Bill Nye. Which makes no sense because I don't even care THAT much about football and I'm frankly kind of relieved that the season is over because that means I don't have to help host a football party every other weekend. But in the end, GO BUCKS ALL THE WAY!
I sort of wish I cared enough about Beat Michigan Week to have any desire to participate in any of the *festivities* but honestly it is so cold and I am up to my ears in schoolwork that banking my emotional well-being on a game of pigskin seems rather unwise.
I had vaguely considered jumping in Mirror Lake as a senior year hoorah, but that was last week when the temperature was still in the 60s. And before my friend told me about the lab work his microbiology class did on the Mirror Lake water...
But in any case, I'll be down there tomorrow night with Chi Alpha handing out free hot chocolate to those who have less common sense than I do. I figure I should at least go see it once in my time here.
Today from 11am-1pm OSU Serving With Honor is putting on the Empty Bowls event where students can buy a bowl for a donation of $10. They also receive soup, bread, and a drink for their donation. All funds raised go to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank to help fight hunger in Franklin County. My high school participated in a similar project every year, with the Pottery Crew lending their skills to making some pretty nice bowls for sale. All this makes me really want to take ceramics spring quarter, but that will depend on whether I can make all the content course substitutions I want for my master's in education. So I could have anywhere from one to three classes that I actually need to take spring quarter. Boo...
The title of this post refers to the two ways your grade in a class can die.
Death by a thousand paper cuts: Between weekly quizzes and homework assignments, discussion problems, lab reports, cleanliness points, and the ever-popular "participation grade," there are a million ways for you to earn but also lose points. The danger of having a class structured this way is that you tend to ignore the 0.5-point lost here and the 0.75-point lost there, until the law of subtraction catches up with you and suddenly you are out half a letter grade. Examples of this in my academic history include: Chemistry 245, 246 (organic labs), Microbiology 520 (laboratory portion), English 405 (Carmen-based science writing course)
Guillotine: You have two, maybe three, exams in which to prove your mastery of the course content. One of them has just passed. You got a 75. (This situation being PURELY hypothetical, of course.) This happens more the higher your course number. Examples of this include PCMB 432 (Plant Physiology) and Mol Gen 607 (Cell Biology).
Sometimes I wonder why I didn't just major in general biology rather than specialize in molecular genetics. I thought that entomology and plant biology would be horribly boring, but it turns out I need some of those classes for my teacher certification content anyway. Why, why, why. I used to be able to say that I found it fascinating, which I do, but not enough to compensate for the damage I am about to do my GPA and sanity.
So just in case you live under a rock and my blog is your only window to the outside world, America has elected its first black president, Mr. Barack Obama.
In other history-making news, it has been over 70 degrees in central Ohio for the past three days. Yes, it is November, no, the weather did not get the memo. As a result you see students wearing intriguing and innovative combinations of gym shorts and Ugg boots, trench coats and flip-flops, in this unprecedented spate of meteorological shenanigans...oh wait, it's always this crazy in Columbus.
So this entry will be huge, so I'll put most of it in the extended entry. Chicago is the nearest BIG city, which is why it was the site of my JEOPARDY! audition this weekend. There is also gobs of good shopping all around downtown, although the 10.5% (&#@!) sales tax really put a damper on my purchases (that, and the Christmas sales haven't really started yet). A lot of OSU graduates (and Ohio students in general) wind up in Chicago for work; I have a friend who graduated last year working there now and another friend in my year who is going there for an internship winter quarter. I'm not sure I'd like to live there, but it's certainly a lot of fun to visit. Plus it is literally about 45 minutes flying time away, closer than New York or Philadelphia, and without any of that slightly weird East Coast vibe. (No offense to the East Coast, of course, but Midwest is Midwest!)
I probably can't stay overnight at any of the OSU museums, but it might be fun to try! I did a search on OSU's website for "museum" and here's what I came up with:
This year OSU revamped its main web site to incorporate some new interactive social media features like the tag cloud and news feeds. Another feature is the O-H-I-O page which invites students (or anyone, really) to submit pictures of the O-H-I-O cheer done in various places around the world. For a day or two my picture was up on the front page of the Future Students web page! You can see it and all the other photos here.
In mid-July I jettisoned my entire fall quarter schedule when I saw this class being offered. The class is titled, "Writing About Science" and it is a welcome break from the hair-tearing of my other classes. (No quizzes! No midterms! No final!) It is also possibly the most practical of my classes; it has helped me read my science textbooks and articles more efficiently and (hopefully) communicate more clearly with my biology tutees down at COSI. I'd definitely consider this as a career, maybe for when I retire from teaching. (Because I just can't seem to cut myself a break...my next to last quarter schedule still has...18 hours. What am I, a sophomore?!)
Is it normal for homecoming to be mostly meaningless until senior year, when I am on the verge of leaving the place that has been home to me for the past four years? The same sort of thing happened in high school, now that I think about, but high school homecoming is more about dresses, dinners, and drama, rather than school spirit.
This year I actually knew enough about the homecoming court to cast an educated vote for two classmates I have had the privilege of knowing through OSU's honorary system. Hope they win! I may also participate in the Stefanie Spielman Step Stride Swim next Sunday.
On issues such as abortion, gay marriage and religion, college students shift noticeably to the left from the time they arrive on campus through their junior year, new research shows.
The reason, according to UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute, isn't indoctrination by left-leaning faculty members but rather the more powerful influence of fellow students. And, at most colleges, left-leaning peer groups are more common than conservative ones.
After college, students -- particularly women -- move somewhat back to the right politically. [read more]
I'd say I've moved left in my overall political leanings, but that's not really saying much since I used to be right of Rush Limbaugh. I don't think my professors had anything to do with it, since most of them know better than to mention politics in class and I am distinctly unimpressed with grandstanding of any persuasion. As for the current election, Obama is hitting central Ohio much harder than McCain, though the Republican ticket is certainly not without its supporters on campus.
The Oval was a hotbed of activity today, with Guitar Hero World Tour, the Obama campaign, capital punishment protesters, crazy Oval preacher, and some sort of weather balloon all making an appearance. Maybe 60s style activism is dead, but that doesn't mean people don't care.
On Thursday (10/9) Mary Robinson came to the Wexner Center for a discussion with Fred Andrle (host of WOSU 820's radio program, Open Line) about women and international policy. Ms. Robinson is the former president of Ireland and is currently one of the Elders, a group of world leaders working toward peace, equity, and sustainability. She also shares my birthday!
Large colleges like OSU attract a lot of big-name visitors, from entertainers to researchers. Here's a list of people I've seen or met in my time here:
-Homer Hickam, author of Rocket Boys, on which the movie October Sky is based
-Bill Nye the Science Guy
-Kathy Sullivan, former astronaut and COSI director, current director of the Battelle Center for Mathematics and Science Education Policy at The Ohio State University’s John Glenn School of Public Affairs
-Al Gore, former vice president and director of An Inconvenient Truth
-Lonnie Thompson, OSU researcher who was recently named one of TIME magazine's "Heroes of the Environment" for 2008
-Leo Paquette, my o-chem professor who synthesized dodecahedrane
-Kathleen Sandman, my microbio lab prof who helped discovered histones in archaea
-and a plethora of other faculty who are truly distinguished in their own right; it's always a little trippy to pick up a paper or even a textbook written by someone who lectures you three times a week!
I was at a Global Health Initiative meeting today and as discussion turned to organizational housekeeping stuff, I was struck by the sudden thought, "I don't have time for this kid stuff." GHI is not alone in receiving my spinster grumblings (nor does it really merit them...I think their purpose is quite noble and their members dedicated). But I have slowly shed nearly all of my student organization associations through the years. Granted, I have substituted other non-university affiliated activities so I'm really no less busy, but I am rapidly feeling greater disconnect from undergraduate life as I hurtle toward graduation. This is probably a common occurrence, as many older students opt for different (usually more lucrative) ways to engage their time not spent in class. I am still involved with the groups and activities that matter most to me, so I don't really miss the peripheral ones, but being more and more of an "outsider" does feel a little odd.
Columbus Metropolitan Library rated #1 in the country
OSU's Main Library may be closed (scheduled to reopen Summer 2009), but Columbus Metropolitan Library was just rated #1 in the country. Full story here.
I love libraries even more than I love bookstores, because the books in the library are FREE! I actually liked the old Main Library a lot, despite the labyrinthine stairwells and winding stacks. In fact, I think the mishmash was part of its charm, because I am one of those people who could very happily get lost for weeks in a building full of books (see also: The Book Loft). The new library looks pretty nice already, but who knows if I will even be around to enjoy it.
This reminds me, I need to renew my Worthington Libraries card.
P.S. I finished The Brothers Karamazov right before school started. So that only took me like...nine months.
1) I'm featured in on on this Lantern article on Buckeyes Blog.
2) I'm going to try and be a fit model for Victoria's Secret next Thursday. Received this job ad from the College of Education and Human Ecology listserv.
3) I passed the Jeopardy! online test and have been invited to Chicago for an audition November 2. (AHH!!!)
Maybe I should drop out of school right now, if these other money-making enterprises turn out to be sufficiently lucrative. :P (I do NOT condone dropping out of college by any means!) Except I am soooooo close to my diploma that it would be ridiculously foolish to give up now.
What do you do when you find yourself next to the dean of your college in the RPAC locker room, wearing nothing but underwear? (Both of you)
A) Awkwardly say hello, praying she'll know who you are
B) Hope she'll recognize you and say hello first
C) Hide in the shower until she's gone
D) Consider doing all of the above and end up adopting locker-room tunnel vision like everyone else and get dressed in determined silence.
With exactly five weeks to go before the presidential election, it seems like campus has become prime stomping ground for get-out-the vote campaigns. Obama has an office on High Street (which, incidentally, is in the former storefront we wanted to get as Chi Alpha's office last year) and various tables set up around campus to register voters. McCain was in Columbus yesterday at Capital University (Lantern article, Dispatch article). USG itself put out an e-mail reminding students to register and apply for absentee ballots before the deadline next Monday. Personally I haven't had time to research the candidates, and I am honestly a little jaded about the American political process in general, but I do feel it is my civic duty and privilege to vote (this being my first presidential election), so I will do the best I can to vote conscientiously.
Apartment: Love love love it. It is quiet and supremely conveniently located (though I will not divulge where that is, as I am not a fan of stalking!) Lots of space and well worth the extra $120 in rent. Pics here.
Classes: So far, so good. 3:1 male to female professor ratio, at least until Dr. Park takes over my Mol Gen 607 class, which looks to be my hardest class.
Red Tape: Update from this disgruntled post...I've got my money back and should not have any trouble graduating on time. Now if they give me any more trouble...wanna fight?!
Chi Alpha: I am leading the international student ministry team, with exactly no idea what I'm supposed to be doing, but it will be fun anyway. We're hoping to pull together an event for next Monday at Jones Tower, but I have yet to hear back from the hall director about reserving the lounge. (See above: RED TAPE)
There is a strange odor lingering around the east end of the South Oval, and I think it may be some sort of glue or chemical used in constructing the new Ohio Union. For a building that is seeking LEED certification, this does not bode particularly well. (I mean, how green can noxious chemical fumes be?) I also heard from a fairly reliable source that while demolishing the old Union, the crews had to take out a mature tree, which leads me to wonder about the project planning. All the "green" features of the new Union will take years to make up the carbon sequestration that could have been done by that tree, if it ever catches up at all. Not to sound like an angry hippie or anything, but it's hard to believe these green promises when the smell of glue is wafting across campus and addling my brains.
1. You will not need your meal plan at all for the first week. Free food is practically falling out of the trees. (Vegetarians and others on restricted diets excepted.)
2. You also do not need to buy or bring any writing utensils whatsoever. All will be amply supplied at the Involvement Fair, along with backpacks, water bottles, letter openers, magnets, and, at least this year, salt shakers.
3. Don't bother trying to remember anyone's name. Wait until you decide whom you actually want to hang out with, and work from there.
4. Send yourself a letter before you leave home. (Better yet, have Mom mail some cookies and your favorite shampoo!) It's nice having something waiting for you in the mailbox at school.
5. ...you still have class on Wednesday. (Plan accordingly.)
It is still mildly frustrating that I have moved every single stinking year of college, but this could be the best place yet. It reminds me a little of Neilwood Gables, where I lived sophomore year, but for one striking difference: It is all mine!!
I also got yelled at from two cars today, but it's okay, because they were from friends. This is prime people-watching and random-run-in season. Gotta love it!
Yesterday we had a ridiculous windstorm caused, purportedly, by Hurricane Ike down in the Gulf. I didn't manage to get video footage, but this person did, and his video also conveniently explains how 300,000 people lost power.
We had a tree uprooted in the backyard and lost the upper half of a tree in the front, and a great many branches and leaves blown into our yard.
The power went out around 5:00 pm yesterday afternoon and we didn't get it restored until almost noon today. In the meantime I played cards with my family, sewed, scrapbooked, (finally) started reading Pride and Prejudice after (FINALLY!) finishing The Brothers Karamazov, and generally did not miss technology (except electric lighting) very much at all. I have therefore decided not to spring for Internet access at my new apartment this year. For starters, the Younkin Success Center is literally next door so I can go there any time I really need to use the Web, and this will force me to consider whether I actually need to use the Net, since I will have to actually look semi-presentable when I venture out.
The power loss and the three weeks I spent in Taiwan with very sparse Internet access showed me just how much time I waste on-line. As a case in point, I turned on my computer to print something out for my Taiwan scrapbook, only now, an hour later, I have checked 3 out of 11 e-mail messages, written on 3 Facebook walls, watched 3 videos on YouTube, looked up the hours and services of Younkin, and not even opened the file I was originally seeking. Dangit.
(Yes, I am fully aware of the irony of my writing this blog entry as part of my attention-deficit, and it kind of makes me want to scream.)
I spent the last three weeks in Taiwan teaching English summer camps and visiting relatives. Now that I'm back I never want to hear anyone in the U.S. (or at least Ohio) complain about heat. We taught at two elementary schools, which did not have air-conditioning, when the outside temperatures exceeded ninety degrees F and the humidity was nearly 100%. When it finally cooled off for one day, it was because a typhoon was coming! So unless those conditions are found in Ohio, I don't want to hear any complaints about heat!
I also don't want to hear any complaints about American dorms being too small. This photo was taken at my cousin John's new school, which is similar to a trade school. The space pictured is about six feet square and intended to sleep two boys. The loft is built over two teeny little desks and closets:
Oh yes, and there are four of these units in one room. Which equals eight boys. I can only imagine how that place smells in the summer!
Just something to keep in mind before the hullaballoo of move-in starts next week!
Last night I went with some friends to see Disney's The Lion King at the Ohio Theatre. Now, the Lion King is my favorite Disney movie to begin with, so it's pretty much impossible to screw up in my book, but I still think it was a really good show. The puppeteers in particular did a great job of incorporating their own bodies into their animals' personalities and physical presence, and the dancing was fantastic, representing many genres from hip-hop to ballet. And with mezzanine seats coming in at $31 a pop, it really is affordable to see Broadway shows in Columbus and I don't think the quality suffers at all. For those who are curious, here is the 2008-2009 season.
I have retired to my parents' home in Worthington for six days of "real" vacation. It's only twenty minutes north of campus, but what a huge difference. I literally can't go anywhere without a car, which my parents were nice enough to lend me while I'm here. The streets are blessedly garbage-free. And I have nothing to do, except unpack and organize the detritus of my room.
Saturday I went to a travel writing workshop at the Griswold Center and afterwards I browsed through downtown Worthington, which is really cute, almost like a beach town.
Unfortunately, most of the shops closed at 5, so I didn't get to look for very long, but walking around in such a nice atmosphere was lovely after the seediness of campus.
As I wind up my summer on campus, it's a good time to take stock of what I've been doing...
-Working on the WOW web site
-Tutoring science at COSI and language arts privately
- Volunteering at International Friendships
-Co-facilitating a chapter of Next Chapter Book Club
-Riding COTA buses a lot to get to aforementioned activities
-Getting hit on by creepers at the bus stop >:(
-Reading at a much slower rate than normal: She's Come Undone, Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul, A Mind for God, The Purpose-Driven Life, Orthodoxy, and that infernal Brothers Karamazov
-Crafting: crochet, friendship pins, origami, and cutting out thousands of fruit stencils
-Working out so much that the guy at the JOS desk knows my name, haha. And I have triceps.
-Baking, though not quite as much as normal, it seems like
-Traveling more than expected: Springfield, MO; Cedarville, OH; Toronto and Montreal, Canada
-Getting ready to go to Taiwan: writing my testimony and singing in Chinese; making lesson plans; learning to type in Chinese
-Trying to catch up with high school friends and keep up with university friends; not doing too shabby there
-Making new friends in Morning Star Fellowship
-Actually doing a pretty decent job keeping up with prayer and Scripture reading, almost out of necessity in anticipation of Taiwan, really
-Thinking about what happens after graduation @_@
It is still a little scary to think that my life is no longer laid out for me. I've always known what the next step is, but now, it is all up to me. Overwhelming, but also liberating.
In light of rising gas prices, I present the Buckeye State World Tour. In Ohio, you can go around the world within six hours! Visit lovely:
Athens, Baltimore, Berea, Cairo, Cambridge, Canton [pronounced KAN-tun], Delaware, Dover, Dublin, East Liverpool, East Palestine, Elyria, Genoa, Hicksville [no joke], Holland, Kent, Lancaster, Lima [pronounced LYE-ma], Macedonia, Madeira, Malta, Mantua, Milan [pronounced MY-lun], Montgomery, Montpelier, Oregon [pronounced or-uh-GON], Oxford, Parma, Salem, Sidney, Strasburg, Toledo [pronounced toh-LEE-doe], Trenton, Troy, and Yellow Springs [the English transliteration of the Chinese word for the afterlife]
I chose Ugly Tuna for our mini-reunion because a cursory glance at the menu seemed to suggest that there would be something there for everyone. Which is true, but the overall experience was decidedly underwhelming.
There was no hostess when we arrived, so we seated ourselves and waited a few minutes for a server to notice us and bring us three menus for five people. (She said she couldn't find any more.) Our group ordered a sirloin burger, a cheeseburger, the spicy shrimp special with a side of onion rings, crab-stuffed shrimp, and garden salad with shrimp.
The only reason I didn't object to paying almost $10 for this was because they were admittedly generous with the amount of shrimp on the salad. The promised onions and shredded carrot did not materialize, so it was just romaine lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. (When I asked them to hold the croutons and cheese, I didn't want them to hold everything.) The shrimp was cooked with a soy marinade, which is fine but really similar to the salmon I made for myself last night, but that's just an unfortunate coincidence. My friend requested no sauce on her cheeseburger, but the burger came with a sauced bun and no cheese initially.
The service was subpar and the food lackluster. I should have suggested Aladdin's like I'd initially wanted to.
Sunrise, sunset,
Sunrise, sunset,
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears.
(Fiddler on the Roof
I met up with four high school friends for dinner at Ugly Tuna Saloona. (Restaurant review to follow.) These meetings are always interesting because usually some six months elapse between them where there is only patchy contact at best. There usually isn't time to truly go deeply into each other's lives and conversation is devoted to reminiscing or catching up at a mostly superficial level. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I've come to realize that my high school friendships weren't quite as deep as I'd maybe imagined, which is, I stress, probably natural, since we were all less emotionally mature anyway.
We talked about whether there would be a five-year high school reunion for our class and whether we would attend if there were. Truth is, most people haven't changed much since high school (some will not even have graduated college yet). But on the other hand, one of the girls from this evening is now married and moving to North Carolina with her husband in a week. Another friend who couldn't make it tonight is engaged, which is probably the case for many more classmates, and it might be worth seeing everyone just to keep tabs on everyone's life status. Honestly, though, the people I actually care about I already keep in touch with without the benefit of any planned class reunion, which would probably only serve to assuage any of my passing curiosity. And Facebook does a pretty decent job of that anyway.
I wonder when class reunions actually start to get interesting?
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, YOU ARE ON "CONDITIONAL STATUS" FOR AUTUMN QUARTER 2008.
[...]
If you are on Conditional Status because you are within 36 credit hours of your maximum time frame, you will remain on Conditional Status until you reach your maximum time frame, at which point your aid eligibility will be cancelled and you will not be eligible for aid for subsequent quarters of enrollment.
After a few unvoiced profanities, I clicked through to the Student Financial Aid website and found out that because I have 268 credit hours, I am close to the maximum 300 hours beyond which I would become ineligible for financial aid. This is a measure intended to prevent students from taking classes indefinitely without graduating, which I understand. Only problem: 100 of my credit hours are from examination credit, and none of them count for either of my two majors. One of my majors also contains at least 40 hours of prerequisites that do not actually count towards graduation. My scholarships were awarded for twelve quarters; I have been enrolled all of nine quarters, so there is no reason to take them away.
I love how my efforts at making the most of my education by taking 15-20 hours per quarter, earning two degrees, and satisfying all the content requirements for teacher licensure before graduation, are rewarded by the threat to take my rightfully earned scholarships away. I also like how the $5000 scholarship I won was not actually awarded to me but deducted from my awards for the other quarters because I am already receiving the maximum amount of aid per year. It's not that I particularly want or need the extra money, but I do wish I had been told that I could not receive any additional money; I might have put the credit towards summer tuition instead. I might have just let it go, but I just wish I had been better informed.
So OSU's chances of getting an alumni donation from me just decreased by half.
Well, hate is a bit of a strong word. But this week I seem to be constantly disgusted by the neighborhood I live in. I know it could be much worse and that I'm privileged to be able to afford an apartment near campus, but I am really getting sick of it. I am sick of being hit on at the bus stop. I am sick of seeing shoes with drug money strung over the utility lines. I am sick of knowing there are three sex offenders within two blocks of me. I am sick of loud music and louder wahoos in my apartment complex weekend nights. I am sick of seeing TRASH strewn around everywhere I walk. (I am also sick of supporting my roommates' cable habits, but don't tell anyone.)
On the other hand, I'm very heartened to see several more Priuses and other hybrid cars rolling around campus. Some bright spot at least...
I meant to put this up last week, but got distracted by life in general. In the course of my volunteer activities, I find myself traveling up and down High Street a great deal, which inevitably means running into panhandlers. In this respect, OSU is no different from any other urban setting, so there is no especial danger here.
On Thursday I was walking over to the IFI office on Chittenden and Summit when I was approached outside Barnes and Noble by a man wearing a slightly shabby but still decent suit. He asked for my help and told me that he had locked his keys in his car. I offered to call AAA for him on my phone, according to the first rule of dealing with panhandlers: if you do want to help, offer a good or service, not cash. He told me he didn't have AAA, so I asked if he had any friends or family in town who could come pick him up or who might have a spare key. He then claimed to be visiting from Virginia, where he grew up on a chicken farm. At this point my fraud antenna went up, since most people who are honestly stranded won't bother to tell you some childhood sob story (rule number 2). He said he'd called the police department but they were unable to unlock his car due to liability issues. (Not sure if this is true or not.) A locksmith would charge forty dollars to open the car, and he only had twenty-five. At this point my fraud alarm went off, since he was asking for money point-blank (rule number 3). Then a Barnes and Noble employee came outside and told me, "Go on your way, ma'am, this guy's a professional." I had gathered as much anyway, so I continued on to the office.
I try to be a compassionate person, but it's also important to be safe and responsible. Never give a panhandler cash because you never know what he will use it for. On one occasion I bought a guy McDonald's, gave him money for bus fare, and watched him get on the COTA bus. I don't know where he went after that, but I know that he got some food and where the money I gave him was spent. And this was in broad daylight right on High Street with lots of people around; I wouldn't suggest stopping for anything at night or if you're alone.
From the Columbus Dispatch: Under current law, begging is prohibited within 20 feet of a bank or ATM and at bus stops. A new proposal would increase the bank and ATM distance to 25 feet, and also prohibit panhandling near parking meters, parking lots, pay phones and within 20 feet of a sidewalk cafe.
I just spent the last week in Canada; 3 days in Toronto and 3 in Montreal, spending the last night in Syracuse, NY en route to visit Corning, original home of the Owens-Corning company. Toronto is an extremely diverse city, basically the New York City of Canada. Montreal is a little more like, say, Canada's version of Boston, if Boston were French. If it weren't for the -30 degrees C winters, I would move to Canada for its recycling bins and public transportation alone.
We stopped at Niagara Falls on our way north and I tried to set myself up for a digital version of double (or in this case quadruple) exposure. Unfortunately my mom does not quite understand the concept of "Don't move the camera AT ALL" so it didn't work exactly the way I would have liked, but that's nothing the magic of Photoshop can't fix!
Red, White, and Boom is purportedly the largest fireworks display in the Midwest, which is a slightly dubious claim given that fireworks aren't even allowed to be sold in Ohio, but what the heck. It's a really good show and worth trekking downtown to see. I would not suggest driving because you will end up in so much traffic you will start playing "Jingle Bells" on your car horn with the other drivers. (True story, we heard them while walking back along Neil Avenue.) It is an easy walk (about 45 minutes one way) from campus, just go straight down Neil Avenue until it dead-ends at the Scioto River. Red, White, and Boom always takes place on July 3 so as not to interfere with community celebrations on the 4th.
I was crossing the Oval today and I saw a guy who appeared to be walking on a tightrope strung between two trees. Unable to contain my curiosity, I approached him and said, "Do you mind if I ask what you're doing?" His response: "Would you like to try it?" Oops.
Unfortunately I did not videotape my rather sorry first attempt at slacklining. I did manage to stand up but promptly fell over when I tried to take a step. He was very nice about it and explained that many rock climbers pick it up as something to do in places where there aren't any mountains around (central Ohio comes to mind). I'd seen groups of people slacklining on the Oval before but had no idea what kind of crazy tricks they can actually do.
Inspired by our conversation at last night's Columbus Social Media Cafe meet-up, I present a video podcast of our adventures to Missouri. This also makes use of some of the skills I learned in Dr. Tannenbaum's multi-modal romanticism seminar last quarter (English H590.04).
I have now been a part of O-H-I-O in London, England, and Springfield, MO. Excellent. Nine of us journeyed out to the Great Plains to participate in Chi Alpha's Reach the U conference over the weekend and we stopped by the St. Louis arch on the way home. Met up with some LSU students and our honor defended... (We also sang an admittedly bad rendition of "Hang On, Sloopy" for karaoke on the last night.)
I guess I can check off "road trip" from my list of college to-dos. All I really have left is to watch the Mirror Lake jump, climb the Orton Hall clock tower, visit all the campus museums, and...walk across the field in that Horseshoe in...one year minus 9 days! (But who's counting?)
I heard the Orton chimes playing "Carmen, Ohio" while I was walking to work this afternoon. The last line is, "How firm thy friendship, O-HI-O," and I started thinking about how true that is.
On the one hand, it's a complete lie. Ohio State is huge and people drift in and out of classes, clubs, jobs like so many autumn leaves. Last week while cleaning out a purse I found the corny tear-off business cards they gave me at orientation three (!) years ago. First of all, handing someone a business card is not a good way to make friends; secondly, I hardly remember anyone I met at orientation, except for those who ended up in my dorm freshman year. And those I do remember I greet with little more than perfunctory hello and the requisite chitchat that has progressed little from the, "Where are you from? What's your major" conversations of freshman year.
On the other hand, it is completely true. I think the key word is "firm." In retrospect I realize that many of my high school friendships were based on convenience; you were friends with the people in your classes or those who lived near you. In college you have the ability to choose your associates based on their values, your common interests, or shared experiences, to an extent that was not possible, at least for me, in high school. The best friends I have made know me at a much deeper level than most of my high school friends. I think there is something a little special about sharing the college experience that makes these friendships much more meaningful, but I suppose only time will tell. In a year I'll be making another big transition and in all likelihood a group of people I count now as friends will quietly fade to acquaintances and memories. There's no way of knowing who will be in that group, but those who remain my friends will be all the more precious for it.
On Saturday I went home and visited Schnormeier Gardens in Gambier with my parents. It is a private garden that has only been open to the public four times since its opening, so it was pretty special. It's very unique in that there are no paths or trails so you feel like it is your own home. I admit to feeling decidedly weird tramping straight across the grass, but it was very beautiful.
On Sunday we went to catch Shakespeare in the Park's closing performance of Macbeth. I had planned to go with some friends on Friday but the monstrous thunderstorm persuaded us otherwise. (We ended up having an indoor picnic and watching "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" which is a really weird movie.) I've been attending Shakespeare in the Park performances for four years now, and it's a lot of fun seeing the same actors appear in different roles and (for the most part) doing a bang-up job every time. It stirred in me again the urge to act.
So I was going to write about the CERMACS awards banquet I attended today (and I will), but first I thought I'd share this photo of the aftermath of a crazy thunderstorm we had this afternoon.
You can't see from this picture, but to the left is the rest of the tree...and the collapsed porch underneath it. All I have to say is, I hope they have insurance!
After battling our way through the storm and the resultant traffic, my colleague Denise and I made it to the Hyatt Regency downtown. Wonders of Our World received the Stanley C. Israel Regional Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences, and I got a free dinner with the swankiest treatment I've ever received. The waiter spread my napkin on my lap for me! (A little weird, but very very swanky.) After the awards we heard a keynote speech from Dan Mushalko, the General Manager of WCBE, Columbus' NPR station, about the power of nerds. For all he said about making science accessible, though, I think there was still a slight air of superiority in his speech. Maybe that's just natural, but not necessarily a good thing. Had a good conversation afterward with Dr. Jimmy Cowan, who is a chemistry professor at OSU and also attends my church. Also ran into another WOW volunteer who works for CAS and also attends my church. Small world, huh?
Flowers displayed in an Erlenmayer flask.
Ryan and Dr. Susan Olesik accepting our big shiny plaque
In the spirit of reducing, reusing, and recycling (and decluttering), I went up to the Goodwill store up on High Street this morning to drop off some old clothes. Then I went inside and managed to snag all this for $20.21:
The Purpose Driven Life - $1.49 The 9/11 Commission Report - $0.99
2 8-inch round baking pans - $1.99 each
Black dress from The Limited - $4.99
SO... jeans - $3.99
Beige dress slacks from Express - $3.49
Monday I went down to Take2Apparel in the Short North to see if they would buy any of the stuff I cleared out of my closet. They only took a handbag and gave me $6 store credit, which I put towards a black blouse that will go nicely with the slacks I bought today. I really wish more people (especially students) would swap or donate clothes they no longer wear instead of throwing it out or letting it sit in the closet while they buy still more new stuff that requires resources and energy to manufacture. There is already plenty of stuff to go around, we certainly don't need to go around demanding more.
I try not to preach too much on here, so I'll let others do it for me:
On my first day of summer vacation (Friday) I headed downtown to check out the Columbus Arts Festival, forgetting the fact that it would get up to 94 degrees. The heat didn't seem to deter many people, though, as I saw a lot of downtown worker types stop by during lunch. It was at least fun playing tourist in my own town, despite the always slightly shady experience of riding multiple COTA buses.
Here at the corner of Broad and High is our own version of Times Square.
Not sure if I can completely agree with that sentiment, but that's the Dispatch offices behind the State House.
Ran into some colleagues from when I worked for the radio station last quarter. Will hopefully be able to hit the June meeting of the Social Media Cafe.
My favorite things were these hard-sided purses crafted with book jacket art, record album covers, board games, and playbills. Besides Harry Potter, there was Hannah Montana, Monopoly, Wicked, the Beatles, and more.
I also learned about a unique art form from the Peruvian Andes. These figures are made out of boiled and mashed potato mixed with pigment and some other hardening agents, and they are part of large, wall-mounted dioramas.
Finally, on the way home, I stumbled on the Pearl Market which just opened this week.
All the group fitness classes at the RPAC are FREE this week, so I went to the Pilates class this evening for a welcome study break. (Despite my best efforts at spacing out my studying I'm already starting to feel brain fatigue. I hate Thursday finals.) Tomorrow I'm probably going to check out Body Sculpt. Historically I've always felt too awkward and self-conscious about working out in groups, but three years of sharing various gym facilities with enormous, muscle-bound men whose biceps are bigger than my thighs has taught me that, really, no one cares about your workout unless you happen to be hogging a machine or perhaps grunting particularly forcefully. Most people I see at the gym have iPods stuffed in their ears anyway a symptom of our generation's at blocking out the rest of the world that does not immediately concern them, which is mostly a liability but at least allows me to work out without feeling self-conscious.
Gordon Gee sent us a link to this video in his e-mail to the student body. I really like how he does that, by the way, sending us messages at the beginning of each quarter encouraging us to do well, wishing us happy holidays, or updating us about the Governor's budget for state schools. Yes, I know that 50,000 people got the exact same e-mail, but the fact that he even bothers to write them is a testament to his concern for students.
Anyway, I am actually settling in to study for finals now on Sunday afternoon. That would have been appalling to the student I was two years ago, but at this point I've learned how much studying is too much and I think I've timed it so that if I start studying now I will peak in information retention by Thursday but not burn out and overload. Theoretically, anyway.
After the class of 2008 graduates from high school, no one I ever shared the halls of Worthington Kilbourne High School with will be left. I can still remember the heady sensation of the last week of high school...oh wait, that was me getting my wisdom teeth taken out! But seriously, high school feels like yesterday because college has gone by so incredibly fast.
I'm also watching the class of 2008 prepare to graduate from OSU, including some of my friends. I can't help but think, "Wow, that's me in a year. Will I be ready?" I've come to realize, though, that undergrad is rarely the end of the line, even in terms of formal education. Many jobs require a master's or terminal degree, professional license, or other post-graduate schooling. Some fast-changing fields demand continuing education. Even if formal schooling ends with undergrad, I would hope that people continue to learn and adapt their skills on the job and in the "real world," if I may use that cliche.
I am now considering going to graduate school for public health, at the rather astute suggestion of my dad. Reading through some of the program descriptions at various schools around the country, it seems like something I would be interested and passionate about. Rather than treating illness on an individual basis, public health focuses on preventing health problems on a population scale, and this includes everything from research to education to advocacy. I've often thought that if I were to start college over, I'd probably pick a field like nutrition or dietetics. It's a different way of taking care of people than being a bona fide doctor, focusing on everyday quality of life rather than acute problems. I would still love to work with young people, though, so maybe I'll pursue both a M.Ed and MPH, since I'm no stranger to doubling majors, after all.
Winding up a lazy Memorial Day weekend and/or feeling the onset of senioritis a year in advance.
Got sick last Wednesday (on my birthday no less) and have been crashing out on cold medicine and consuming an inhuman amount of cough drops.
Threw a farewell party Saturday for our campus pastor who will be leaving for Indiana. Have started saying the first of many good-byes...always hate that part.
Reverted to second grade by having a slumber party in my roommate's room, mostly to escape the corn-holing crowd in the courtyard outside my window. Woke up this morning and played with stuffed animals for an hour.
Walked ten blocks to Noodles & Co. for lunch and ten blocks back. Was hungry again by the time I got home.
Microbio lab final tomorrow, no biggie. Wrapping up English H590.04 tomorrow with multimedia project presentation. EEOB final this Friday. Two finals next week and then three-quarters done with college. (WHAT?!)
PERSONAL ASIDE: While the article was interesting, I have to note that when I was a kid, looking/being smart because of my glasses was decidedly not an asset. (I suppose my weird clothes, social awkwardness, and the multiple times I threw up at school didn't help matters.) Just saying. Not that I'm bitter or anything.
The Denman Undergraduate Research Forum was a week ago, and though I did not get to attend, here are some of the samplings of projects that were presented:
Proteomic Analysis of Whole Muscle Fingerprints from Yellow Perch, Perca flavescens, and Identification of Proteins Associated with Body Weight and Length
Columbus Cares: A Benefit Dance Performance
Role of IL-35 in Inflammation and Infection Caused by Leishmania major
Sleep Patterns, School-Related Stress, and Pedestrian Traffic Injury among Middle School Students in Rural China
Access To Excellence: Chicago School Desegregation and Its Impact on Latino Students
The Effects of Weight Rack Height and Method of Weight Plate Transfer on Peak L5/S1 Moments and Erector spinae Muscle Recruitment.
The Expanding Scope of Practice and Competency Assurance of Respiratory Therapists in Ohio Hospitals
MicroRNA Signature of Tamoxifen Resistance in Breast Cancer
Denied and Disparaged: Madisonian Federalism and the Original Meaning of the Ninth Amendment
Elliptic Curve Based Primality Tests
Impulsivity and Psychopathy in Adolescent Smokers and Nonsmokers
I'm about to hit the big 2-1 on Wednesday, and even though I don't drink on principle anyway, I was touched to receive this e-mail Friday morning (click through extended entry to see it). It made me sad to think that people believe they have to get completely trashed to have a good time. Normally I'm just irritated when there are noisy, drunk people carousing in our courtyard, but now I realize that their lives are in danger every time they do this. Sooner or later something bad will happen, much worse than tipped over trash cans or barf on the sidewalk. My heart goes out to Erica for her loss and I admire her for her strength to speak out.
I've been stuck in a bit of a study bubble (helped by the March-ish weather) this week so I haven't been out and about campus much, but I realized today, somewhat randomly, that I really don't like mixing school with the rest of my life. I was thinking about this as I passed a sign for EUGO's end-of-year cookout, EUGO being the undergraduate student organization of the English department. And I realized that I've never gone to any of their events, nor I have ever participated in the Molecular Genetics Club. My closest friends are from Chi Alpha and church, which are non-school related groups. I think I tend to feel as if I spend enough time in class already without devoting non-class hours to school-type activities. Not that there's anything wrong with being in EUGO or Mol Gen club, it just isn't my cup of tea. I wonder what other students think of that?
Yesterday I was judge at Ohio Academy of Science's State Science Day held at St. John's Arena and the French Field House. My own science fair experience ended in elementary school, and my school never encouraged further participation in inquiry-based science, something I am more than a little miffed about now. I knew that all the students who were presenting yesterday had already passed local adjudication, so I wasn't expecting baking-soda volcanoes or anything, but I was not prepared for the caliber of some of the projects and students I saw.
I judged the Health and Medical Sciences division, and some of the experiments these students put together used the same methods and protocols you'd see in a university research lab. The last project I judged was about the effects of polyphenols in blueberries on short-term memory and this girl was able to carry on a full-blown discussion beyond the scope of her own project, which means she actually knows the science behind the methodology. The other projects I judged were less impressive, but were far more than I could have done in high school. For whatever reason, my school district did not encourage participation in events like this, which is really too bad, because I think science is best learned by doing. I didn't even know it was possible to do "real" experiments when I was in middle and high school, which may partly explain my erstwhile antipathy to it.
At any rate, the science fair was a lot of fun, albeit a reminder of just how old I am getting. A room packed with prepubescent kids who may be smarter than I am is not the greatest self-esteem booster in the world, but it does partially restore my faith in humanity's ability to think itself out of the problems of the future.
My dad and I went to hear Al Gore speak at the Schottenstein Center yesterday. Despite his claims to the contrary, Mr. Gore is still a consummate politician who really knows how to work a crowd. And that's okay. I'm personally already convinced about global warming, but I thought he presented a compelling case for those who may not be, all without getting too politically punchy. I also think he handled the hecklers at the very end with grace and class, which probably comes (unfortunately) from ample experience. I don't mind if people disagree with each others' ideas as long as they do it respectfully and intelligently, not based on prejudice or just spoiling for a fight. I was glad to hear Columbus just signed on to the Kyoto protocol and am eager to see more efforts toward a green campus at Ohio State.
One thing I'm very concerned about is the amount of waste generated by the learning labs on campus: biomedical, chemical, engineering, whatever. We're throwing away literally tons of petri dishes and centrifuge tubes so that undergraduates can learn proper lab techniques. I admit that's important, but maybe everyone would be better off learning in a real research lab and (maybe) producing actual data as a result. of course, the sheer scale of OSU probably makes that impossible, but I am curious to know what happens to the waste generated by laboratory courses. Will try to do some investigative digging into this...
Yesterday I had lunch with Dr. Anita Hopper, chair of the molecular genetics department, sponsored by the Honors Collegium. (All the juniors got to do this.) It's always really neat to talk one on one with professors about their history, their current research and work, and their life in general. It's a reminder that they're ordinary people too even as they may be doing extraordinary things in their field. Dr. Hopper told me she had been planning on a career teaching high school, but the combination of a mulish education department and an encouraging science professor turned her toward research. I can't help but wonder if I'm making the right decision...I'm sure I'd be much better at lab research now that I actually know some of the science (and am not following a semi-terrifying researcher as I was my freshman summer) and I'd probably even enjoy it a little more now, but I still can't help feeling as though teaching is my true calling. On the other hand, if it doesn't work out, I can always try something else.
The President's Salute to Undergraduate Academic Achievement
I attended this event last night at the Fawcett Center, with my guest of honor Dr. Sebastien Knowles, Dept. of English. (Every student honoree got to invite one faculty member to join them for dinner; I had to share Seb with another student, but that's all right.) Despite the slight irony of taking the university's best students away from their studies for three hours, the program was really quite nice. President Gee made a cameo appearance but had to race off to yet another engagement, though he did shake my head during the reception beforehand! After dinner, in which not one but two well-meaning waiters offered me enormous helpings of meat despite the yellow vegetarian tag at my place (um, no, I did not change my mind about my dietary habits in the past five minutes!), we had a few remarks from Michael Jaung, who is truly one of the most outstanding students I have ever met at this university, and Executive Vice President and Provost Joseph Alutto. Then we had some really neat presentations from the Foreign Language Center, including a Hindi love poem, a Swahili folk tale, and an ASL rendition of Carmen, Ohio. Finally, Professor Dick Davis presented all the honorees with a copy of his latest book, a translation of a Persian love poem, Vis and Ramin, which I actually think is exceedingly cool. All in all, it was a nice way to end an otherwise blah sort of day.
...but my Microbiology 520 class is too easy. Well, maybe not so much too easy as almost entirely redundant. We spent the first five weeks covering a total of about two chapters, all of which I have already learned in Biochem 511 and even AP Biology (i.e. Bio 114/115). The second half will be devoted to genetic elements, replication, transcription, translation, exchange of genetic information and mutations, which, last time I checked, is, oh right!, my entire major. I would be very interested in learning the finer points of bacterial genetics, but as this is a general course, I doubt we will get beyond the basic mechanisms. I am pretty disappointed with this class and wonder why the molecular genetics department accepts it as an elective when all the material is covered by other, required major classes. I wish I had taken Virology, Advanced Microbial Genetics or even Food Microbiology instead. I figure if I'm going to spend time in class I want to be learning something new and exciting, not rehashing the same things I learned in high school.
Monday morning I had three needles stuck in my arms before 9:00 in the morning. Why? A minor phenomenon I call College-Kid-Checkup-Syndrome, which is characterized by piling all one's various medical appointments into one big gulp, or as few big gulps as possible. Even though my home is only twenty minutes away, it can be difficult getting there to see all my doctors. I have timed my twice-annual dentist cleanings to fall exactly during spring break and the day or two before classes start in the fall. My eye appointments are usually scheduled for the summer. I have to get monthly allergy shots, however, and sometimes it's quite a task juggling those so they fall on weekends when I can go home.
So Monday I had scheduled a physical, since I haven't had one since graduating high school and leaving my pediatrician's office. (Though I did go back to get my flu shot there, garnering a lot of funny looks in the waiting room as people tried and failed to figure out where my screaming toddler was.) I decided to go ahead and squeeze in my allergy shot too, since I was already at home for the physical. At the doctor's office, I ended up getting a tetanus booster and some blood drawn for blood work. Those are the three needles I mentioend earlier. Recall that this is after I literally ran around all day Sunday picking up trash at the 'Shoe, working out, and generally racing around like a crazy woman.
Around 1:00 Monday afternoon my body finally said, "No. I quit. You pushed too hard, I'm done. You're on your own." This resulted in me being physically unable to fully rouse myself after what was supposed to be a half hour nap. This would have been fine if I hadn't had a midterm to take in half an hour. I managed to wrestle myself out of bed and stagger to class, at which point I no longer cared about electroreception in fish (oh wait, I never did) but still managed to write a few decent paragraphs about it.
I feel much better now, except that I haven't really started studying for Friday's microbiology midterm. But at this point I'm just glad not to feel like a zombie.
Today was Get on the Ball, hosted by Chimes Junior Class Honorary. One of the perils of scheduling anything spring quarter is the sheer volume of concurrent events. Today we had some very stiff competition in the form of the spring game, but we did have fairly good turnout nonetheless. We had free food from Raising Cane's, a DJ, and some really nice raffle prizes, if I may say so myself, including a watch from Buck-I-Zone, a football signed by Archie Griffin, and gift cards to Dick's, Barnes and Noble, Eddie George's Grille 27 and Buffalo Wild Wings, among others.
I went to see the academic advisor in the College of Education today to get some information about the Master's of Education program. I needed to make some substitutions of content courses I will need for licensure, and it's a good thing I checked because there were three courses I had plain forgotten about taking since they weren't listed on my Honors Contract. This would not have affected my bachelor's degree, but I would have had to take the courses at some point before getting my teaching license and master's degree. I would definitely prefer to have all my content courses under my belt before starting graduate studies.
I cannot stress enough the importance of doing your own homework when it comes to course planning. As I've juggled two Honors Contracts (but fortunately only one set of GEC's) and the content requirements for teacher licensure, I've become nearly religious in scheduling my classes. Too many times have I seen people discover, to their severe chagrin, that they need just one more class to graduate...and it is only offered once a year. That means an extra quarter and extra tuition. Not pretty.
The advisors here on campus do not get paid nearly enough to chase you with a broom toward your diploma. It is entirely your responsibility to make sure you are taking the classes you need at the appropriate time. When you decide on a major, keep a copy of the department's undergraduate handbook, and download a copy of the college's GEC requirements as well. Consult these every time you schedule; if you have an Honors Contract, follow it or make modifications as necessary. People always complain about OSU screwing them over in terms of scheduling, and yes, it is difficult competing against 50,000 students to get into a class. But being informed and paying attention could eliminate many problems that cannot be blamed on the university.
My mol gen professor shared this tidbit with us today:
Apparently that's what happens when the entire genetics department of Stanford gets stoned in the 70s. I promise that OSU's department is not (quite) this insane.
1. A curious melange of winter coats and flip-flops as the temperature gyrates between 40 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. In one day.
2. A sudden surfeit of cleavage on the Oval: toe, butt, and the traditional kind.
3. An abundance of flying objects on all grassy surfaces: Frisbees, footballs, the occasional freshman.
4. An unprecedented depletion of sidewalk chalk at all local retailers.
5. A distinctly earthy new aroma on the buses and other tight spaces.
6. The descent of my schedule book into inhuman chaos.
A pagan, a Mormon, two Christians, and a spiritually undecided student sit down in Postle Hall and discuss religion, UWeekly, and Facebook. One of them turns out to be the photographer for UWeekly's Fashion Police and the writer of Question of the Week. (I also now know which area of campus to avoid if I'm having a bad fashion day.) She had overheard my conversation with my friend and accountability partner and had some questions about religion. The conversation blossomed to include the other people and topics mentioned above.
Incidents like this are, bar none, my favorite part of life at OSU. Of course, it's not right for everyone. I just talked to a friend who transferred to OSU Lima after two quarters on main campus, and she sounds about a million times happier to be at a smaller campus and closer to her family (and away from some drama here in town). But I do love meeting all sorts of new people, even if most of my close friends are admittedly from similar backgrounds as mine. Everyone has something to say and if there's one thing I love, it's a good story.
So tonight around 9:00 pm my roommate called to inform me that the power was out at our apartment. Lovely. On the way back I stopped by CVS to pick up some flashlights, then went over to my other roommate's boyfriend's place, watched Family Guy and helped my roommate with her physics homework, then decided to head back. We sat in her room in slumber party-like ambiance for about twenty minutes, then rejoiced with the rest of the block as, with a click and a whir, modernity returned to W 9th Avenue.
All the while the lighted windows of Marketplace and the Neil Student Resident Complex twinkled at us in mockery. So at least everyone knows their residence hall fees are well spent!
That's me performing in "A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and A Prayer" this weekend. It's the first time in three years that I've seen my name in a program, and it made me feel good, despite the very crazy week I've had leading up to it. We were all a little slap-happy by tonight's performance, but it went well. Turnout was not great tonight, unfortunately, but last night's crowd was decent. Maybe next year I'll clear out my winter quarter schedule and do something in The Vagina Monologues?
Also today: work-out, speed-reading workshop, grocery shopping, attempting to get ahead on homework. Now: sleep.
This will be fast because I really should be reading right now.
I'm back up to 17 credit-hours this quarter, but I am (so far) enjoying every one of them. I'm expecting Microbiology 520 to be my least favorite, which is not to say I don't think the subject is interesting or relevant, but that my other classes are even cooler. Mol Gen 606 seems to focus more on the cellular mechanics of genetics, which I absolutely adore. EEOB 632 (Neurobiology) is focused mostly on neuroethology (behavior), which is different from what I had expected, but should be interesting nonetheless. And my honors Romanticism seminar (H590.05) is conducted in a computer lab, which is singularly appropriate for the topic multi-modal Romanticism. Although there do seem to be a few more overly-pretentious people in the class than I would like, but that's what happens in honors English seminars, I guess.
I'm running around like a maniac between class, work, meetings, and rehearsal for MMRP this weekend. Show times are 8:00 pm Friday and Saturday in Hitchcock 131. Everyone should come, tickets are only $3 and proceeds benefit SARNCO.
Well, I managed to have a very productive spring break, even though it was not terribly exciting.
1. Interviewed for a summer job with Big Brothers Big Sisters Camp Oty'okwa.
2. Cooked me some yummy grub.
2. Volunteered at a Center for Child and Family Advocacy Family Night at Sullivant Elementary.
3. Got my teeth cleaned, which was kind of painful owing to my newly-discovered cold sensitivity.
4. Learned to quilt and made a cute little pillow!
5. Took the GRE and scored high enough that I do not need to consider taking it again.
6. Discovered that I cannot eat grapefruit anymore, as it interferes with the medication I'm taking. Basically it disrupts digestion of the drug, which causes a rise in blood hormone levels. The side effects are rather personal in nature, so I will not go into details, but suffice to say that I was not feeling very good for the latter half of the week. Hopefully things will get better, but just in case, I've made an appointment to see an internist and get some blood work done.
I took the GRE today and according to my unofficial score report I should be in pretty good shape for admission to grad school. Over the summer I'll probably get cracking on my application essays so that I won't have to fuss with them too much once school starts again. It is only slightly sinking in that after spring quarter I will be on my last year as an OSU undergraduate. The time has literally flown, partly a natural consequence of the quarter system, part because I have crammed my schedule full of classes, clubs, and a part-time job. I think it is all worth it, though, even the occasional bout of hair-pulling and gnashing of teeth, because the only worthwhile life is a filled and fulfilling one. My high school career was spent in relative hermitage and I was quite determined that not happen in college.
I resurrected this tidbit from my high school blog (now safely hidden from public view)...let's see how I did.
List of things I want to try in college, now that I don't have to worry about earning money to pay for it all:
Ballroom dancing: I went to one session of the Ballroom Dance Association my freshman year and quickly discovered that I am too stinkin' shy to dance with strangers.
Yoga/Pilates: Have never gotten around to this, though I took a 6-week belly dancing class at the old Union before it became a hole in the ground.
Rowing: I corresponded with the coach before starting classes but never made it to any meetings or practices. My roommate sophomore year did it for a quarter, though, only to be told she wasn't good enough, which probably means it's a good idea I didn't try.
Campus Crusade or Intervarsity or however many Christian groups I can find: I was with Intervarsity my freshman year, then settled in at Chi Alpha my sophomore year and have been there ever since.
Cooking lessons a la Iron Chef: These have turned out to be mostly self-taught, with the help of Allrecipes.com, the Food Network, and my friends as the willing test subjects for my dessert dalliances.
International cuisine: So far I have tried Indian (in London, UK, no less!), Middle Eastern, Vietnamese, Greek, variations on the Italian theme, noodle (yes, that is now a cuisine type in and of itself) and what I can best describe as crunchy-earthy-hippie food.
Volunteering: I think I want to go back to West Central and work with the kids there. I'll find a place for a car on campus, somehow...or maybe I can walk? We'll see. Well, I did end up doing a lot of volunteering on and around campus: at the James Cancer Hospital, through WOW, and as always, at my church.
--College is going to be bloody awesome.
I went to see BalletMet's Aladdin today with a $5.00 ticket courtesy of Unity. My ticket was originally for the March 8 matinee last Saturday...but we all know what happened that day. So I went to this bonus performance instead and enjoyed it quite a lot. It was my first ballet so I don't have anything to compare with, but I do have a little theatre experience to inform my opinions.
The set and costumes were lovely, except I'm not a fan of the Genie puppet, which looked for all the world like something out of Maurice Sendak. As far as I could see the dancers are very talented, but of course I have almost no standards for dancing ability, besides "not falling = good." One thing I did miss was the presence and richness of live music. I don't know if most ballet performances are done with recordings; I guess maybe that would eliminate the potential for musical miscues that could trip up the dancers. But I certainly enjoy the nuances of live music, and dialogue for that matter. (The few lines delivered by the Baskan Cali character were clearly and somewhat bombastically recorded.) I suppose, though, that since it is a ballet, after all, the dancing is primary and from what I can tell, it was well done.
As I am very bored waiting for my last final tomorrow (and yes, I have studied quite a bit, since I've had nothing to do since my first final Monday afternoon), I've been planning my last four quarters at OSU. By my count I have four English classes left, which works out nicely to one 5-hour class per quarter. I have three 3-hour molecular genetics courses left, each of which is offered only once a year, so that makes scheduling a no-brainer. I need Earth Sciences 122 for my master's content, so that's another five hours next fall, continuing my faux-tradition of taking geology in the fall. Then I have to take Biology 597 to fulfill my Issues of the Contemporary World requirement for my BA. (Why it's only required of BA's, I'm not sure.) I would like to take Art 342, Introduction to Ceramics (Wheel) during spring quarter. None of this puts me at over 15 hours per quarter, which is just unheard of for me. In fact, Winter 2009 I'm only at 11 hours, so I'll have to throw something else in there to be counted as full-time for my scholarships. But what?
Sports are popular filler classes. But I am not an athlete nor do I have any desire to be, I just want to be healthy and fit. I am considering Recreational Dance, Yoga, or Self Defense, but I found this particular offering intriguing: EDU PAES 250 How to Avoid Dying from Cancer Now and Later. That's a pretty audacious claim that even my genetics classes don't make! I would be curious to see what the curriculum is. (Lesson 1: STOP YOUR DNA FROM MUTATING. NOW!)
There is also always Food Science 101 (Chocolate Science) and 170 (Wine and Beer in Western Culture).
As of yesterday, King Avenue and High Street were clear, but the side streets of south campus were still covered with about six inches of supercompacted snow and slush. It's supposed to hit 40 degrees today, which means the already-swollen Olentangy River is going to flood rather severely.
They are comparing this storm with the Blizzard of '78, a storm of once-in-thirty-years magnitude. This means the next time it snows like this, I will be fifty years old. As much as I love my hometown, I kind of hope that I am not around here to see it, because I would like to not have lived here my entire life. Though I did enjoy playing in the snow yesterday.
PSA: Walk carefully, particularly at night: my roommate got clipped by a car yesterday and had to go to the hospital to get checked up. And get this, the jerk just yelled, "Sorry!" and drove away!! What kind of person does that?!
The Ohio State University has announced that classes scheduled on the Columbus campus for Saturday (3/8) have been canceled. All essential employees scheduled to work on Saturday should report to work as usual. The Ohio State University Medical Center and other essential services (such as police, residence halls) will remain open. This message applies to the Columbus campus only. Decisions relating to regional campuses will be based on local conditions. The status of all other activities will be determined by the sponsoring organization. Individuals can check www.osu.edu for status on campus activities. Information compiled from University Relations.
Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. Gordon Gee lied. He said we had zero chance of having a snow day. I am just curious as to why, oh why, they did not make that decision for today, before I had to tramp around campus with snow blowing down my shirt. I also wonder why Columbus Public does not dismiss their elementary students early, which necessitated a very treacherous and prolonged WOW visit (because we canceled the second round of visits we tried collapsing them all together). I understand that they don't want to send small children home early if no one is there to take care of them, but seriously, the PA was calling kids down to the office to be picked up by their parents left and right. Out of all the storms this winter, this one is probably the worst yet. And still I go to school.
I do hope it lets up by tomorrow, because I have a ticket to see Aladdin at the ballet. Saw the Vagina Monologues tonight, hysterical as usual. Maybe you are wondering why I am not studying my face off for finals. It is because my only real study-worthy final is not until next Thursday. And I am trying to break the pattern of life kind of sucking.
So after a universally-disagreeable February, March has come in like a lamb, which has me slightly worried about the two snowfalls we will still inevitably have this season. It is sixty-five degrees outside, which means flip-flops, crop tops, and Crocs have come out of hibernation to join the occasional wool pea coat and scarf still wandering around outside. (Of course, I did see a girl wearing flip-flops during a snowstorm, but I've given up asking questions about that sort of thing.) We are in that curious netherworld of climatic ambiguity that is so characteristic of central Ohio, but after such a brutal winter (in more ways than one), I have learned not to ask questions and just enjoy the rare 40 mph winds that do not cause my teeth to chatter uncontrollably.
For those of you interested in the namesake of this entry, Le Sacre du Printemps, is a ballet with music by Stravinsky, which I studied last spring with Seb Knowles in English 596, Music and Literature. We watched the video of this distinctly edgy interpretation in class. [Warning: Contains nudity]
I just met the one and only E. Gordon Gee, in the same room where I met Bill Nye last spring, as a matter of fact. (For the record, President Gee is definitely friendlier than Bill Nye.) Bucket & Dipper arranged a Fireside Chat with Dr. Gee and graciously invited Chimes members to attend. I asked him what lesson he would ensure every Ohio State student learned before leaving, and he said, "The ability to write well, think creatively, and ask good questions." A man after my own heart.
We also asked what our chances were for a snow day. His answer: zero.
This is me working as a guest griller at BD's Mongolian Barbeque in Easton for our Chimes fundraiser tonight. We sold tickets for $20, of which we receive $5, and that bought all-you-can-eat stir-fry and beverages, which is really not that shabby a deal. We also raffled off some T-shirts, hats, and a football signed by twotimeHeismantrophywinnerArchieGriffen (yes, that is his legal name). Proceeds will go to the Beanie Drake scholarship fund. Grilling was fun, though slightly hazardous what with the 500-degree grill surface and all; I burnt a knuckle that will probably blister tomorrow, but it's not that bad. Plus wielding those swords was quite a workout! I did manage to get pretty good at cracking eggs with swords, though. Hi-yah.
I went to the Nonprofit Career Fair at the RPAC this morning, braving the third substantial snowfall in as many weeks, I might add. (No, seriously, I am sick of this.) I've been thinking lately that I never ended up doing research or studying abroad during college like I had originally envisioned, which is fine because I decided they weren't what I was looking for, but I would like to do something special, or at least meaningful, while I am here. I'm thinking that nonprofit work might be it. I am blessed by financial security in terms of my academic costs and much of my living expenses, so I figure I should give of my abundance. I can afford not to earn a paycheck this summer, so if I can spend the time helping others, why shouldn't I? I'm looking at positions with COSI, International Child Care, First Love, and a summer camp with Big Brothers Big Sisters. Will keep you posted on my summer plans...
We discussed "encoding" today in my Women in Science Fiction class. Basically there is an idea running through feminist literature that there is such thing as a feminine language, different from any languages that currently exist, that can express things in a uniquely female way. In Suzette Haden Elger's Native Tongue, the women are working on "encodings," or verbal ways of expressing something that has never been expressed before. Here's what we came up with in class:
cultural embizzlement: the appropriation of a minority group's identifying behavior by the majority, e.g. Snoop Dogg's "fo' shizzle" being co-opted by mainstream white American culture
squeedle: a high-pitched shriek
wannabe nonconformist: someone who, in an effort to "nonconform," ends up looking just like other "nonconformists," e.g. all "emo" kids wearing black nail polish and band t-shirts, etc.
bithermal: the condition of feeling two different temperature extremes in one's body, e.g. sweating head with cold feet. This also spun off into homothermal, heterothermal, and metrothermal, whatever that is.
A year ago last year OSU canceled school for a day and a half on account of the snow. Frankly, I think they should have canceled this morning, not just because I have a midterm this afternoon, but because it really is quite awful outside. It's supposed to change to freezing rain by lunchtime, which will just be severely unpleasant, especially for those who have to drive to class.
On the plus side, all this snow will erase the growing chalk wars. Spring quarter is usually high chalking season, when every organization on campus strives to cover the soles of my shoes in a fine pastel dust. With the upcoming election season, however, campus chalkers have gotten an early start. Given the polarization of the American political scene, it's disappointing but not surprising that I've seen a war of words playing out on the pavement. "Vote Hillary" slogans have been appended with "Back In the Kitchen" which pisses me off on multiple levels that I won't get into. Once USG campaign season starts in April, I suppose I will just have to walk around with plastic baggies on my feet instead of shoes. So I say, let it snow...
So I finally signed a lease today for a one-person studio apartment on South Campus, thus ending my faint hopes of not living somewhere different every year. Despite that, though, I have not racked up a terrible body count of roommates, which is surprising: 3 my freshman year, 1 last year, and 3 this year. I think Drew had something like 15-20 roommates in his history, but he's also been at OSU for six years (counting work and grad school). The studio is small but adequate for my needs. There was a bigger one off Woodruff that was a full apartment with a much bigger kitchen, but it was probably too far away from my biosci classes to be feasible. I am already kind of sick of rental living, but I suppose the next housing stage is still rather far ahead of me. At least I won't be living in a cardboard box next year, which is always good.
Have a few things to report from the bigger blog universe...
I'm currently writing for two blogs as part of my work with WOSU (see previous entry). One is OhioWarStories.org, which one of my co-workers tells me is gunning for an Emmy, which is absolutely ridiculous to think I am involved with it! The other is Columbus Social Media Cafe, which is WOSU's flagship social media project. (It might get a new moniker, though, since it doesn't seem to roll off the tongue very well.)
The CSMC had its third meeting on Thursday night at WOSU@COSI. You can read my round-up of that here. Today I got to attend the Columbus Metropolitan Club's forum on the future of public television, with Paula Kerger, President and CEO of PBS. Here's my entry for CSMC on that. What I've enjoyed the most about this project is being allowed to dabble in the "adult" world beyond OSU campus. At the cafe meet-up last week I betrayed myself by actually raising my hand to talk, before I realized that no one else was still stuck in grade school. Today at the Athletic Club where CMC holds its forums, the servers called me "Ma'am" without missing a beat (though I'm not sure if I am completely down with this or not). I think that as long as I am a student I will not consider myself quite grown-up, for whatever reason...only four quarters to go...
It didn't occur to me until this afternoon that today is Super Tuesday, when many presidential primaries are held around the country, though not in Ohio. I don't know if this is just my personal lack of interest in politics, but I feel like I'm in such a bubble here at OSU. Of course there are the occasional signature drives on campus, but I get the feeling that a lot of college students here really just don't care that much.
For me, at least, part of it is my complete lack of time to even watch the evening news, which was about the extent of my participation and knowledge in high school outside of AP Government. I'm often mildly oblivious to world events, which is unfortunate at a time in my life when I am supposed to be most aware of new things, etc. etc. I do have to say that, as my teacher predicted, I am at the peak of my liberality, which is not to say much since I used to be somewhere in the neighborhood of Rush Limbaugh. All the images I had in my head of college students protesting do not seem to have materialized, and honestly, I am a little grateful. But I can't decide which is worse, being so engrossed in your own studies that you pay no attention the bigger picture, or being so involved in campaigning for other people's business that you forget about your own obligations and spend seven years as an undergrad. (This is not a generalization about the politically active, only an extreme case.) Thoughts?
It is with deep sadness that I must report the imminent departure of the Sunflower Market. In a sea of fast food and pizza joints, it one of the few remotely healthy sources of sustenance in the campus area. As a crunchy green veg-head, this loss hits me on multiple levels. First, there will be no more $5 off $5 purchase coupons, though I have to say those are probably partly to blame for the chain's demise. Second, there will be fewer choices for organic, local, and exotic food in town. Third, I now have to go back to walking at least five blocks to find the nearest grocery store. Oh well. Maybe it will burn off all the calories I gain from eating nonorganic factory food. (Just kidding. I wouldn't touch the bad stuff anyway.)
On the plus side, Kroger is almost always cheaper!
I seem to have an unholy amount of reading this quarter, despite only taking three classes. Most of it is for my English 575 (Women in Science Fiction) class, and it's all very thought-provoking and fortunately fairly quick to read. Maybe it's just the genre, but there does seem to be a lot of...shall I say, less than top-notch writing in many of these works, which doesn't mean they're not worth reading or anything. Some of it is amusing while some is just plain baffling, but let me show you what I mean.
"A bullet will bounce off its arachnofiber weave like a wren hitting a patio door, but excess perspiration wafts through it like a breeze through a freshly napalmed forest." -Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson. (Of course, this is cyberpunk, so I think there is a certain degree of irony in there. I find this whole book just hilarious)
"It was not human guilt but the kind of helpless, hopeless despair that would be felt by a small wooden box or geometrical cube if such objects had consciousness; it was the guilt of sheer existence." -The Female Man by Joanna Russ. (This is quite possibly the most depressing sentence I've ever read. And I've read Solzhenitzyn.)
"I have worked with grasshoppers, however, not your garden peas. Although you are a man of the cloth, you are also a man of science, and I pray that you will not be offended when I state that I have specifically studied the reproductive organs of male grasshoppers. Indeed, I did not limit myself to studying the organs themselves; instead, I also studied the smaller units that make up the male organs and have beheld structures most amazing within them." -Introduction to Genetic Analysis, Solution Guide (I guess writing science textbooks must get boring, so they have to make up weird stories about discovering independent assortment.)
I auditioned yesterday for "A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and A Prayer." The play is associated with The Vagina Monologues and I think it was compiled by Eve Ensler, VM's author. It's a lot of monologues written by various personalities, all about issues of abuse against women. I did some theatre in high school and have always wanted to get back into it, and since these are individual monologues that don't require a lot of group rehearsal, I thought this would be good.
At my audition I was asked to read an excerpt from a second monologue, this one about human sex-trafficking in Asia. Afterward the student in charge of the auditions told me point-blank that she has to keep an eye on diversity when casting and that I might well be cast based on my ethnicity. I didn't say this, but in my past experience I am used to being cast in spite of my ethnicity, or more commonly, not getting cast based on my ethnicity, so I have no beef with her making a decision that way. I participated in a trafficking-awareness campaign my freshman year, and because it is primarily Asian girls involved, it's a cause that is near and dear to my heart, so I definitely don't mind being the Asian voice. Besides, no one can claim to be race-blind, not even myself; when I was paging through the script, I usually skipped over the "black" monologues, automatically thinking, Oh, I can't play those parts. But why the heck not? Yesterday was MLK Day, and he talked about a nation where people are not judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character...I guess that should extend to the stage too, yes?
Should hear back in the next few days...showtime is March 28 and 29, everyone should come!
I'm taking a service-learning course this quarter, English 567S (Rhetoric and Community Service). You are matched with a community partner for whom you do practical writing projects according to their needs, from organization newsletters to catalog entries to web content. I am working with WOSU Public Media and I'll actually be involved in their efforts to expand to online social media venues...i.e. blogging. I've been a personal blogger for about seven years and I've been writing here for almost a year, but I never really thought about the larger "blogosphere" as it were. Most of my blogging activity is just an extension of my real-life relationships, except for a few online acquaintances. But after checking out WOSUConnect and learning about WOSU's Social Media Cafe, I'm realizing that blogging can be more than just high schoolers spilling their guts about their crushes (a stage I finally, mercifully outgrew a few years ago) and that it can actually have an effect on the whole community, even the whole city. I'll be able to meet some of the blogging "celebrities" of Columbus at the next event, which I'm looking forward to. Stay tuned...
For the first time in my history at OSU, I have all women professors this quarter. (Last quarter was all men.) I would say that this is largely due to the fact that I am taking two English classes, except when I really think about it, the majority of my English professors have actually been men as well.
Ironically, one of those classes is Dr. Sharon Collingwood's "Women in Science Fiction," so maybe that is why I'm noticing the sudden female presence more acutely. I'm sure there are reams of studies published about this, but my own limited experience in academia has already shown me that it is not a terribly family-friendly lifestyle. Of course plenty of women make it work, and that is a very good thing, but I know for sure that it is not for me.
Just as an interesting exercise, the gender break-up by department of my professors:
English: 6 men, 3 women
Chemistry: 4 men, 2 women
Biochemistry: 1 man
PCMB: 1 man
Geology: 1 man
Math: 1 woman
International Studies: 1 man
Linguistics: 1 woman
Physics: 3 men
Art History: 1 woman
Total: 17 men, 8 women
Almost a 2:1 ratio in totals and individual departments. Very interesting. Here's an article from USC's faculty newsletter about Gender Inequity in Academia.
(Title a shout-out to my fellow Douglas Adams fans.)
Another year, another BCS Championship we are not bringing home. Honestly, though, all I wanted this year was to not go down in flames quite as badly as last year, and I think our boys played well in that respect, though a little more sloppily than desired. When I found out we were facing LSU, I felt like Moe Syzlak in that episode of the Simpsons where he finds himself fist to fist with Drederick Tatum, wondering, "How on earth did this happen?" Oh well, there's always next year...
I call this the Edible Buckeye Football, made of peanut butter rice krispies and milk chocolate frosting. You could whip it up in your dorm microwave if you were really careful, but for the sake of all the RA's and maintenance staff in our dorms, I advise you not to.
The Happy Greek has two locations near campus, one in the South Campus Gateway and one in the Short North. Since we were in the area for a (much more pleasant, weatherwise) Gallery Hop last night, my boyfriend and I visited the Short North incarnation. There are lots of restaurants in the Short North that I would like to try, but many of them are screamingly expensive by college student standards. Not so the Happy Greek. Drew's chicken schwarma platter was less than $15 and included salad and fries besides the generous helping of chicken. I had the lentil soup of the day and a side of Mediterranean vegetables, which ended up being a little redundant because the soup was absolutely giant. Tastewise it is similar to Aladdin's, although HG's pita is quite different: it tastes, more than anything else, like the Chinese green onion pancakes my dad makes, chewy and full of herby goodness. The walls are painted with happy Mediterranean murals that make me long for the sun-drenched beaches of Santorini...or just the sun at all would be nice, amid all this rainy, gray, dreariness...
I am currently taking a measly 14 credit hours, which is the lowest in my college career. It would have been 17, but I dropped my Mol Gen 705 after discovering I had not taken Cell Biology, which probably would have made Advances in Cell Biology rather difficult. My guess is that I could have done it, but it would have been a hellish quarter trying to keep up with graduate students. Besides, I would like to dedicate as much time as possible to my service-learning class, English 567 (Rhetoric and Community Service). I would also like to work at WOW more, plus I have other commitments to Chimes Junior Class Honorary, Chi Alpha, and my church. My English 575 (Women in Science Fiction) also has a fairly heavy reading schedule, but I don't expect any of it will be too terribly difficult. (I PROMISE to take feminist science fiction seriously. Seriously.) I figure, after seven 20-hour quarters (or somewhere close), I deserve a little break, as long as I don't end up like my friend who is juggling 24 hours in her penultimate quarter at OSU. But she's going to medical school, and I am not, so I will hopefully have less to worry about.
Back on campus with nothing to do, my boyfriend and I went down to German Village to check out the Book Loft and that is one place I would not mind being trapped in for a year, provided I had food and water. Thirty-two rooms in four wings of the building...all chock full of books. It is quite amazing. And it's not terribly expensive. Right now almost everything is 5% off publisher list price, and many have additional markdowns. I bought a $5 copy of The Brothers Karamazov and it is my intention to read it by the end of this year. I just realized that I have acquired at least twelve books since the beginning of December. That figures out to one book a month, but some of them are cookbooks and I finished Cyrano de Bergerac already, so I should have more time...except for the fact that I know I am going to buy more books. I am going to SBX tomorrow to buy textbooks, and I can never resist their bargain book rack. Oh, what ever am I going to do...
...to my entry, "A Note on Central Ohio Weather", and further proof that Columbusites are, in fact, crazy. I'm in Chicago for a church conference and I heard on the weather today that the city is expecting four to six inches of snow tomorrow morning. The weather forecaster spent all of three minutes delivering this news, and concluded his broadcast thus: "So be prepared for this small snow shower tomorrow." And I'm sure the good people of the Windy City will actually be prepared for the snow, as opposed to running around like chickens with their heads cut off, raiding Wal-Mart for deicing salt, hotwiring a lawnmower to blow snow, or hijacking the nearest snow plow. Not that anyone in Columbus does that...I hope. But all the same...
BRACE YOURSELVES, COLUMBUS. NOTHING. IS. HAPPENING. (BUT SOMETHING MIGHT.) [cue footage of reporters blowing in the wind]
This is Storm Team Jenn, signing off from Chicago.
We went to Wild Lights at the Columbus Zoo on Saturday and it was spectacular. I've been to the zoo several times this year, but the Christmas lights are something else. Besides the regular lights festooning every imaginable piece of flora (that is not accessible to the animals, of course), they have light-up snowmen, inflatable snow globes, lighted animal silhouettes, and more. Very very pretty and festive. One important tip: arrive earlier in the afternoon (we got there around 3) to check out the animals, then stay until the lights come on (around dark at 5:00). When we left around 6:30, the line of cars to get into the zoo stretched all the way through Dublin to infinity and beyond. Granted, this was the last weekend before Christmas and the weather was pretty good, so that might have contributed a bit, but I still recommend getting there early.
My friend Kailin, who attends University of Chicago, came down to campus to visit me yesterday and we decided to go to the North Market. We missed the #7 bus we intended to take, so we decided to walk. Only problem: the market turned out to be significantly farther south than I remembered from the map I glanced at online. I had thought it was in the Short North before Goodale, but it is actually just inside the 670 innerbelt. Oops. The weather wasn't too bad, though, and it was good exercise.
The market itself is indoors and there are lots of specialty shops selling fresh meat, cheeses, seafood, and produce; prepared foods like salsa, gourmet popcorn, chocolate; and a few specialty stores selling cookware, jewelry, and green-friendly knickknacks (including organic PMS tea). Prices are about what you'd expect in a typical grocery store without any discounts or markdowns.
We had lunch at Benevolence Cafe, which features almost completely vegan food and eco-friendly business practices. I had a BOGO coupon, which is good, because $5 is honestly a little steep for the bowl serving of soup they gave us. The food was tasty, but I probably wouldn't be willing to pay full price for it.
On our way back to my apartment, we stopped to browse Global Gallery, which carries a lot of fair trade and sustainable gifts. I was sorely tempted by the alpaca wool blankets, but I couldn't make myself pony up for it. It's nearing the end of the month and my next quarter's scholarship money hasn't come in yet...but maybe later...
Yesterday we were hit by the second major storm of the season, all before Christmas, no less. I suppose I should now explain a weather phenomenon that (I believe) is exclusive to central Ohio: meteorological mania. Here in Columbus even the prospect of snow is enough to set off alarms in TV stations across the city, where I can only assume rabid, semi-human reporters hover in anticipation of The Next Big Storm. If/When The Next Big Storm finally comes, they are set loose by their producers to battle the roaring elements in order to bring you the incredible, earth-shattering news that... It. Is. Snowing.
Or they air something like the following segment I caught on the 11 o'clock news Friday night:
This is StormTeam 4 reporting. This is the current radar image of the central Ohio area, and as you can see, nothing is happening.
I am writing this as a fair warning to out-of-state students, and as a semi-apology to students from anywhere north of Columbus. Yes, we're scared of snow. Yes, we run around like chickens with their heads cut off when snow is imminent (or even remotely possible). But you know what? Considering what we do when the football team loses (and wins), this sort of reaction really should not be surprising.
This is Storm Team Jenn, signing off. And it is not snowing anymore.
My one self-imposed homework assignment over break is to research my options for post-baccalaureate teacher licensure. Most of the schools I've looked at actually do primarily undergraduate licensure; OSU is one of the few schools that (almost) mandate the Master's of Education. From what I know, high-performing suburban schools like the one I attended also prefer their teachers to have the Master's, but I have also heard that graduates with a higher degree can also price themselves out of some entry-level jobs, so I'm going to e-mail some of my previous teachers and seek their opinion on that issue. Ideally I could stay at OSU for another five quarters, but I do need to have alternatives lined up in case that doesn't work out.
I've also taken a look at the applications, including the personal statement and essays. All this brings back memories of the college application process, when I had to try and distill my (then) seventeen years of existence into 500 words or fewer. Now some people have published books dedicated to six-word memoirs, but I am personally not looking forward to condensing my past, present, and future into two double-spaced pages again. It has to be done, though, and I'll manage.
(This entry is 206 words, by the way. Oh, wait, 214. Oh, wait...)
...where my stuff is?
...where I sleep?
...where my family is?
I ran into a former professor of mine this morning at the RPAC, and he asked me, "Shouldn't you be at home?" "I am at home," I replied. Later, I asked my roommate Michelle if another of our roommates, Roxanne, had come home last night. "Oh no," said Michelle, "she went home last night. And she's coming home tonight." At which point the semantics lobe of my brain packed up and left for Jamaica in protest.
Home. That's a fluid word, especially after you come to college. While I was in the dorms, home was definitely still my parents' house, if only because I had to pack everything up and leave my dorm room during every school break. But here it is, Christmas vacation, and I am not under my parents' roof. I'm staying here to put in some extra work hours, because most everyone I care to see is here (except my family), and because my room in my parents' house now consists of about four pieces of furniture: a bed, a desk, a bookshelf, and a nightstand. I am easily bored, so an extended stay in such an environment would probably rob me of my sanity and cause a great deal of unnecessary snappishness. But I think that after three years "on my own" the greater part of me still regards my parents' house as home. My entire childhood is in that house, as is that adolescent period of which we do not speak. I know all the rules there, and everyone knows me. We don't always get along perfectly, but we manage. I suspect that feeling will not diminish until I literally have a house and household of my own. And I think that's okay.
P.S. My parents invited me and Drew up for hot pot this weekend. Yay, authentic Chinese food!
So I guess the real test of whether you have successfully learned your way around OSU is whether you can navigate your way to your classes based on the sidewalk alone, as you duck your head against blasts of arctic air and pelting kamikaze snowflakes.
The view from my window this morning, which prompted me to barge into my roommate's room at 6:45 in the morning whisper-yelling, "It's SNOWING!!!" (Don't worry, she was already awake for a 7:30 final.)
My only hope for this winter is that West Ninth does not become the world-class bobsledding venue it was for much of last winter. A water main burst and the resulting flood froze in the subzero temperatures. I sincerely hope it doesn't happen again, not least because I live here!
I experienced a weird feeling of nostalgia on my way back from my last final. Watching the convoy of parents coming to reclaim their offspring for the month, I was acutely aware that for the first time I would not be immediately fetched back to my childhood home to live out of a bag and defend my decision not to eat meat. And that's okay. It was my decision, my parents are cool with it, and I think it is better for all involved. (Absence makes the heart grow fonder, yes?)
But philosophical musings aside...I'm done! Time for an evening of Noodles&Co and Space Balls!
So I've been meaning to go on the Christmas Gallery Hop in the Short North since freshman year and yesterday I finally got around to it with my boyfriend. And while all the festive Christmas decorations were nice, I think I will wait to more fully enjoy a Hop during warmer weather. I think I could make a whole day of it in the spring or summer. Plus I will probably go with girlfriends, since most of the galleries and shops are distinctly oriented towards the XX-chromosome persuasion, although Drew was a very good sport about the whole thing.
The southbound COTA buses seemed to be extremely scarce, so we walked almost all the way to the Arts District before finally flagging down a bus, only to realize that we were already there. Sort of at a loss of where to go, we wandered through the Sherrie Gallerie and particularly enjoyed the work of Jack Earl:
Then I spotted Cookware Sorceror and that could have been the end of the evening right there, but I restrained myself to buying a candy thermometer (which would have come in handy a few hours earlier when I was making candied pecans). Later, we stopped by On Paper, another place where I could do a lot of damage in a weak moment. So much stationery, so little time! (Do people even write letters anymore?)
We looked through a few more galleries, then Drew stopped for a snack at Philips & Son Coney Island. There is a ridiculous amount of food in the Short North, by the way, but neither of us was really able to stomach two large dinners in a row. I am definitely going to try Benevolence Cafe whenever I make an excursion down to North Market, though, and I'm also plotting a German Village adventure sometime over break. I may have to invest in some thermal underwear if I'll be traipsing around outdoors all the time...
To celebrate the end of the quarter yesterday, my boyfriend took me out to dinner at Martini Italian Bistro and then to Columbus Symphony Orchestra's first Holiday Pops concert. It was really nice to get off campus and see the city, get dressed up and eat good food, and just pretend for a few hours that I don't have three exams to study for.
Details in Extended Entry:
Restaurant Review: Noodles & Company
Restaurant Review: Martini Italian Bistro
Concert Review: Columbus Symphony Orchestra
Surprisingly, I am a little sad that my classes are over tomorrow. This is probably the first quarter where I truly enjoyed all of my classes, since I am no longer mired in physics and chemistry. Yes, even the mind-numbingly slow geology class was actually very interesting, even though it took about three times longer to get through the material as it should have. Biochem has me all geeked out and excited about Mol Gen next quarter, and plant physiology revealed a whole new fascinating field of science. I discovered that I don't hate photosynthesis nearly as much when I actually understand the biochemistry behind it. (This is where I grudgingly acknowledge that the six quarters spent slaving over chemistry do, in fact, mean something. Physics, however, has yet to redeem itself in my eyes.) And of course, there was my Shakespeare class. Oh, I could wax poetic about it for ages, but I'll spare you my rhapsodizing. Suffice it to say that it made me seriously reconsider graduate study in English. Not that I actually intend to make a career of it, but just for the sake of studying something I really love. And that's what I've realized this quarter, is that I am not stuck doing the one thing I choose to do right after graduating. I could easily teach science for fifteen or twenty years, then, after the kids drive me crazy, go back and get a Ph.D in English and do...whatever it is English Ph.D's do. I am only twenty years old, probably a little over a quarter done with my life. I still have a long time left (God willing) and I can do a lot with the time I have left. For once, the openness of the future is less scary than thrilling, and that's probably a good sign.
So it turns out the most dangerous place for me to bring my dollars is not Victoria's Secret, TJ Maxx, or even JoAnn's or Michael's; it is Barnes and Noble. Or Amazon, or Borders, or SBX, or any establishment selling the fruits of Herr Gutenberg. The above picture is all the books I have acquired this quarter, not counting textbooks or gifts bought for others. The plan is to read them all over winter break...
Fat chance, with my list of things to do: CSO Holiday Pops concert, Holiday Gallery Hop in the Short North, Columbus Zoo Wild Lights, Alum Creek Fantasy of Lights, gingerbread house construction with the roomies, cookie baking extravaganza, ice skating with my small group, and a weeklong trip to Chicago for a Christian conference and to visit my godmother. I'm going to need a vacation from vacation!
You might be able to argue that Columbus is not the model destination for very high-brow arts and culture. (To counter that I offer up the art museum, the conservatory, COSI, the Statehouse, and the zoo, for starters.) But one thing that absolutely cannot be argued: Columbus is a marvelous place to eat and shop. There are three major shopping malls within twenty minutes drive of the city (Polaris, Tuttle Crossing, and Easton) and each mall is really more of a commercial conglomerate of retailers (Polaris Fashion Place, Polaris Towne Center, Polaris Parkway etc.). There are strip malls out the wazoo. And each merchandise mecca has a corresponding retinue of dining establishments, from our locally-based Wendy's to all sorts of ridiculously overpriced places I have not yet stepped foot in (the Cameron Mitchell restaurant family, all the swanky places downtown.)
My mom and went out today around 7:30 am and I quickly discovered that we are Black Friday tenderfoots, for sure. Macy's was busy but they had pretty fast customer turnover. Bought some presents there and picked out my own Christmas present. (I know that kind of takes the "Surprise!" element out of it, but my taste is so vastly different from my mother's that the "Surprise!" element has really rather lost its appeal by now.) Then we stopped by JoAnn's so I could pick up some craft supplies. Now, my mother knows nothing about the world of crafting. So going into the store for her was like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. Add to that the line of shoppers literally wrapping around the store, and she was completely dumbfounded. I didn't have the chance to explain to her, "Mother, these are women who will patiently hand-cut confetti out of holiday-theme paper. There is nothing they won't do for their craft." So I stood in the line (it was really only about fifteen or twenty minutes) while she went to TJ Maxx next door. I made friends with the mother-daughter pair in front of me, who had come down from Marion for an entire day of shopping, and saw my future self pass by in the form of various craftin' mamas. This week I think I will finally cart all of my scrapping supplies to the apartment so I can work over winter break, which is twelve days away...not that I'm counting or anything.
I guess "going home" was never a huge deal for me because my parents live twenty minutes away. Things are a little different this year with the apartment, though, and I think I've only gone home three or four times this quarter as opposed to, say, every other weekend in years past. The primary reason for that is actually utilitarian...my room in my parents' house has exactly four pieces of furniture in it: my bed, a bookshelf, a nightstand, and a computer desk that once served as my craft table. And a chair. So when I go home I literally live out of a bag for the 12-36 hours I am there and sometimes it is downright inconvenient. Plus there really isn't all that much for me to do there except eat and study, which I could do here in far greater comfort. But family is family and I wouldn't trade mine for the world. This past weekend I actually missed all the Game festivities on campus because we drove down to Mason to see my cousin's family. I didn't mind, though, because I don't get to see them very often and my cousin has a little boy who is super cute and actually likes me. Tomorrow we're having a few families from church over to our house, so I'll have to help get that ready, but other than that, I'm looking forward to a quiet break with my nose buried in Shakespeare.
Remember my list of ten things to do before graduating? Unfortunately, item #1 is now impossible. On November 9, 2007, the albino squirrel of South Campus was taken to the big oak tree in the sky by a damnably gutsy hawk that actually swooped down in the middle of a crowd of human admirers. They even got pictures, but I prefer to remember him (her?) in happier, more alive times.
There is actually a Facebook group dedicated to "Whitey's" passing, which I find strangely touching and puerile at the same time. (Really? They have nothing better to get upset about? It's not like an endangered panda or something...) Despair not, however: there is at least one other albino squirrel scampering around the off-campus neighborhoods south of 9th Avenue...I frequently see it on my way to ghetto Kroger on King Avenue. The South Campus Squirrels shall rise again...
Update: Okay, this is just getting ridiculous. The Lantern published an article about Whitey's demise, which isn't surprising as it is a campus publication and this was a very big deal on campus. What I did not expect, however, was to see Whitey on the front page of the Columbus Dispatch yesterday. Surely--surely--the representative paper of Ohio's capital has better things to write about than the circle of life continuing as it should. Whatever respect I had for the Dispatch just went down a few notches.
And why is everyone so het up about one squirrel being eaten? 1) It is part of the natural ecosystem and evolutionary process--Whitey should never have survived long to begin with; 2) There are hundreds of erstwhile pets killed every day in overcrowded shelters and pounds, to say nothing of the homeless strays that starve or freeze to death. Why isn't anyone joining Facebook groups when those animals die? And [CAUTION: VEGETARIAN RANT PENDING] what about all the animals who are raised in inhuman conditions and killed for food? Now excuse me while I eat some non-albino tofu...
Oh yes, and here's a self-plug: I am quoted in an article in today's Lantern. Apparently I am one of the more popular blogs...thanks kids! Look forward to the possibility of a vlog entry over winter break, perhaps...
Today I got to hear a lecture by Francis Collins, director of the Human Genome Project and author of the book, The Language of God. In his book and today's lecture of the same title, Collins makes the case that faith and science are not irreconcilable and that they in fact enrich each other. I won't say that I disagree with him on principles of faith, but I guess some of the ways he presents his information are different from what I personally think. I am okay with that, though, because he has put a great deal of thought into his beliefs and made a strong effort to cogently articulate that for skeptical, and sometimes hostile, audiences, which is infinitely better than bellowing fire and brimstone out on the Oval.
I remember wanting to work on the Human Genome Project when I first learned about genetics in sixth grade. Alas, the project wrapped up early and under budget in April 2003, so that dream was nixed, but my interest in genetics has endured. (And is responsible for the name of this blog!) So I leave you with a mol-gen joke:
If I were an enzyme, I'd be DNA helicase so I could unzip your genes.
So after yesterday's inglorious defeat, I feel obliged to say that I am still proud to be a Buckeye, and that my identity does not rest on the performance of a few dozen men pounding the snot out of each other. On the other hand, I was still pretty bummed out that we lost. I'm no sports expert, but I've watched most of the games this season and I know they worked hard and wanted it bad...but it just didn't happen. Still looking forward to Michigan this weekend, except I will be in Mason, OH visiting my cousin Nancy because her dad (my Uncle Howard) is only in the States for that one week. :( I guess I will just have to get my share of festivities in during the week.
In other news, I went home yesterday and had a grand old time paging through my high school yearbook and watching home videos from, oh, fourteen years ago when my brother was first born. It was altogether surreal to imagine that the gawky fourth and fifth graders prancing around at Chinese summer camp are now married and/or mothers, or more likely, given current cultural norms in the Asian-American community, in medical/law/some form of graduate school. Even weirder was the delayed realization that I am, in fact, no longer a teenage girl.
We had the head of the English department at Greenwich University visit our English class today to promote OSU's summer study abroad program there. For whatever reason I felt an inexplicably strong yearning to go to England, despite the fact that it is incredibly expensive and would not actually help me progress in my degree whatsoever, since I would already have credit for English 596 and 575 by the time I went, unless I were to swap out one of my classes next quarter. I went to London with the London Honors Study Abroad program my freshman year, and though we were only there for ten days, I really loved it. It was a bright spot in what would turn out to be a darker year for me. And I keep thinking to myself that this may be the last time in my life I can fully indulge my love of literature; once I enter "the real world" of teaching high school biology, who knows when I will have time to crack open a great book. Maybe I'll just fly to London on my own and camp out in the Globe Theater with my complete works of Shakespeare. Oh, London, how I love thee...
This picture is actually in Oxford, I believe, but close enough!
I'm not sure exactly when this change occurred, but I no longer feel like "the little one" in my classes, particularly my English classes. I started on my English major classes in the spring of my freshman year, with English H398 (Critical Writing) and I was definitely one of the youngest people in the class. Now I've always been very outspoken in class, which is particularly good for discussion-based English classes, and up until then I was fairly confident that my abilities were among the highest in the class. Then I started taking 500-level literature classes and I started feeling, sometimes, like the intellectual caboose. That feeling was particularly strong in my 547 (20th-Century Poetry) and 596 (Music and Literature) classes last year, because those were way outside my normal domain of prose fiction. But it was good to stretch my intellectual muscles and I'm definitely rethinking my original plan to take nothing but Victorian-era courses. Next quarter I'm signed up for 575 (Women in Science Fiction) and 567 (Rhetoric and Community Service), both of which I am looking forward to because they are so different from what I'm used to studying and what (I think) my strengths are. I still want to take my Vic- and Brit-lit, but I'm also aware now that there's more out there. Right now in my Shakespeare 520 I seem to have gotten my groove back...I no longer feel completely out of my league, which is nice. Not sure if that is a reflection of my comfort level with the material or true maturation as a scholar.
Wow, that was kind of windy-sounding. Let's go chase squirrels! (P.S. I saw ANOTHER albino squirrel on my way to Kroger yesterday. What is with south campus breeding albino squirrels?)
The Columbus Museum of Art has an exhibition right now called "In Monet's Garden: The Lure of Giverny." I went to see it Sunday with my boyfriend and my friend who happens to be an art history minor. I'd say it's definitely worth seeing, even if you have to shell out $8 for it, since the only other place the exhibition will be held is in Paris. Normally the art museum is free to the public on Sundays and OSU students can get free tickets any time from Explore Columbus in the Union, but this is a special exhibition requiring separate admission. Definitely worth it though.
The museum has changed quite a bit since the last time I went. Alas, the giant barrel sculpture is gone as are several other pieces I remember from previous school-trip visits to the museum. Basically it was a huge barrel, the size of a room, perched on a thick rope. I can't recall the title or artist, but it was awesome.
This was Sunday, before the blast of rain and cold hit the town. Gorgeous.
This entry has been percolating in my head for a few weeks, ever since a biochemistry review session revealed how utterly rude college students can be without even meaning to. I'm focusing on the way students treat instructors. Now, I've probably been guilty of breaking all these, so I'm not claiming any sort of moral superiority, but just some things to keep in mind...
Reciprocate. Don't expect your professor or TA to teach you if you don't come to lecture or recitation. Engage yourself in class and make an effort to learn. Study to learn, not to pass a test. Asking questions like, "Will this be on the test?" means you don't regard the teacher's instruction as important beyond a letter grade. Professors are where they are for a reason. They are likely to be experts in their field, even if teaching is not their forte. This warrants at least a little respect. Education is a privilege, not a right. Treat it that way. (And remember all you're paying for tuition...get the best bang for your buck!) Class is not the only place where you learn. Do your homework and study to make the most of your instructional time. Teaching assistants are people too. People with accented, hard-to-understand English, yes. People who are grading your work, yes. People who are likely hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from their home who are trying to get an education and make a living. Be gentle.
So yesterday I took the most cracked-out midterm ever. It was for Geological Sciences 121, and my professor passed out the exam and gave us 48 minutes to complete it. Then we took a 12-minute break, came back into the lecture hall, discussed the questions in groups, and were given the exact same midterm to complete again. I guess he is going for the whole communal learning thing, and he's not grading on a curve so there should be no competition among us, but what a weird way to give a midterm! He is also making the final into a third midterm and taking the best two out of three, which leads me to wonder how on earth anyone could possibly fail this class. But you'd be surprised...
I just received the wonderful news that my second plant physiology midterm has been pushed back two days due to popular demand and a biochemistry midterm on the first scheduled midterm day which I and many of my classmates will be sitting. This means, instead of two midterms and a paper due on November 5, I have one midterm and a paper, then another delightful geology midterm, and then my plant physiology midterm. The weekend before will still be mildly hellish, but at least I won't have the stress of sitting two midterms in one day.
I just keep telling myself...five more quarters...five...
Today I got to pay a visit to the OSU Center for Automative Research, through the Honors Collegium of which I am a member. It is a gearhead's paradise, and they develop new car technologies with a focus on safety, energy, and environment. The OSU team has built the world's fastest electric car and set the record for the fastest fuel cell-powered car. The technology is completely over my head, but I think it's a step in the right direction. (I'm personally an advocate of serious conservation before pouring resources into developing new technologies, which is an expensive, frustrating, and time-consuming process, but worthwhile nonetheless.) The director, Giorgio Rizzoni, is a fiery little Italian (no joke) and quite a fun man to talk to. He led us on a tour that included a visit to the "cheese room" where they actually "run" cars using a big gizmo in the floor (I am not technological at all, if you couldn't tell!), a very scary-looking room with lots of pipes and wires, and the shop, where all sorts of crazy looking cars are sitting in various stages of assembly. All in all very neat. I have no idea if the place is open to the public, but I'm sure if you ask you can find someone very eager to give you a tour.
This is not a real entry, but I just had to share:
I was walking home from a meeting and as I was crossing the Oval, I saw THE Gordon Gee. He was talking to someone but he said hello to me and asked how I was. I think I floated the rest of the way home. It was almost as cool as meeting Bill Nye. Which I still can't believe actually happened to me.
I'm not sure if this is a new development on campus--maybe I just didn't venture through the South Oval often enough when I lived on north campus. But the South Oval seems to be a favorite place for businesses to set up promotion events. Within three weeks the same patch of land has seen the Cotton Dirty Laundry tour, Victoria's Secret PINK, and today, Swash Rewear-a-thon. These usually involve free swag and product placement out the wazoo. I guess it's nice that corporations think OSU is an important enough market to stop by, but on the other hand, I don't know if I like being seen as nothing but a consumer at a place that is supposed to help me become a better citizen and person. I could go more into the corporate branding of higher education in general, but I have three midterms and a paper calling my name, so that rant must needs be postponed.
I officially have a new job...the official title is Student Assistant in the Department of Chemistry. I'm on staff with Wonders of Our World (WOW), which is a really nifty science outreach program that brings OSU student volunteers to elementary and middle schools in Columbus Public to do hands-on demonstrations and experiments with the kids. Cardboard airplanes, magnetism, simple cell biology for the older kids, stuff like that. You don't have to be a science major to participate; just attend one of the training meetings for each month's different topic, fill in the times you are available, and show up on your assigned date. I did it last year and it was so much fun. As staff I'll be leading visits and updating the web site, which is our main tool for reaching teachers and students around the country. I'm very excited, but kind of apprehensive about adding even more to my twenty credit-hours and two major extracurriculars. This week I am probably going to have to cloister myself in preparation for the following:
PCMB 436 midterm (10/11)
Biochemistry 511 midterm (10/15)
English 520.01 paper (10/15)
Geology 121 midterm (10/16)
Why, oh why, must they all fall so close to each other? And during homecoming week too, seriously...hopefullyt I'll get my major studying done this coming week and it will all be over before most of the homecoming festivities get underway. And now for a delightful Friday evening alone with Henry IV...
I unwittingly conducted a small social experiment today. I had a Chimes meeting at 5:30 this afternoon and planned to meet my boyfriend for dinner afterward. Taking advantage of the opportunity to dress better than my normal jeans and T-shirt, I put on a blue colorblock dress that I picked up at Goodwill over the summer. It is not fancy but is decidedly shorter than my normal wardrobe. And I noticed this as I clicked across campus in my high heels and short hemline: I definitely got a lot more "second glances" than I normally do, from both men and women. Let's face it, you usually don't see that much leg on the Oval unless it's spring quarter, in which you'll probably see a lot more (though not from me...I don't even own a two-piece swimsuit!) So the guys were probably thinking, "Woah..." while the girls were probably thinking, "Tries too hard..." but it doesn't really matter because I was thinking, "I can't wait to get away from campus for awhile." We ended up eating at Ruby Tuesday's since Vicenzo's unfortunately closed at 7:00 pm. Kudos to their never-ending salad bar...great for rabbits like me. (They also have burgers and other entrees, fear not.)
But just try strutting it across campus some time and observe the various reactions. It's very entertaining.
So I never actually went to a homecoming game while I was in high school, mostly because that wasn't my sort of scene in my more antisocial days. We went to the game last night because my brother was chosen as freshman homecoming attendant, to my eternal awe and admiration. The happy creature you see above is our mascot, the wolf, who lights up his eyes and blows smoke out the nose when the Wolves make a good play. (I think he looks slightly like Stoner Wolf, but who cares.) All this has inspired me to, perhaps, make a run for homecoming queen next year. Stay tuned...
Even though I missed the majority of the free stuff at the Involvement Fair, I still managed to bag some swag today.
From left to right: Tide detergent sample, ID holder, shampoo samples, cotton boxers. Everything but the shampoo came from the Cotton Dirty Laundry tour camped out on the South Oval. They were packing up when my friend and I walked by, and a girl threw us each a pair of boxers. I'm not sure what the point of the whole setup was, but hey, I got free boxers and detergent. Seems like a pretty good day to me. I now have to study for my biochem quiz tomorrow, but I will try to update again later this week. Cheers!
So I went to Late Night at the RPAC last night, where there was lots of free food and iced coffee, free dance lessons inside, a wellness fair, bingo, and lots of other activities. A few suggestions for improvement:
1. Buckeye necklace-making is extremely difficult without the proper implements or sufficient materials. Would suggest adding more of both.
2. Would suggest NOT rigging the spelling bee so that one team gets the word "dessert" and the other gets the word "solenoid" in the same round. (Guess which one I got?) Not that I'm bitter or anything, it was really a lot of fun. And I got a free glass and a coupon for a free large Domino's pizza, which I will probably not use, but would be happy to lavish upon someone who is nice to me. :)
Jenn's Chirpy Pink Non-Snarky Tips for Surviving College
If you've read UWeekly's tips for making the most of college, my initial advice would be to forget what they said. But everyone is entitled to their opinion; I just happen to think theirs is needlessly cynical and choose other ways to enjoy my time here.
1. Smile! It makes you a lot more approachable. Just don't smile and stare at the same time, especially at the RPAC where everyone is likely to be sweaty and scantily clad. It's just a bad combination. I really hope I never meet any more King Leers there, King Leer being the middle-aged, balding man whom I saw working out over the summer. He had the extremely unfortunate habit of staring at me on the treadmill and grinning very very creepily.
2. Talk the people next to you in lecture. You never know when you will find a good friend or study buddy, or at least someone to crack jokes at the professor's expense with.
3. Travel with people, if possible. There's nothing like living and moving together to bond. In my Geology 121 class today I ran into two alumni from the London Honors 2005 trip, and heard that two of our group members who started dating after coming home from England are still together. Now if that isn't the sweetest thing ever, I don't know what is.
4. If you are doing any sort of recruitment for an organization, you will need the following two items at your table: puppies and pretty girls. Puppies to attract the girls, and pretty girls to attract the guys.
5. Don't wear shoes like this to class. They are hot, but not very sensible, as I discovered this morning.
Encounter #1 - I was walking back to my apartment from the Involvement Fair on Monday and passed a guy on the street. He stopped in his tracks and started following me. I had just gone a few steps when he asked, "I'm sorry, but can I ask you a silly question?" I guess I never really learned the "Don't talk to strangers" rule as a kid because I said, "Sure!"
"Where did you get your shirt?"
I told him about the wonders of Threadless and he told me he had seen another girl wearing the same shirt and thought it a hoot.
Follow-Up: WOW Coordinator Ryan McCarthy saw my complete works of Shakespeare and told me about a shirt he has that says, "What did Antimony say? I come to barium cesium, not to praseodymium." Chemistry AND Shakespeare...the height of nerdiness.
Encounter #2 - I was taking my friend, a new transfer student, to SpaH (Space on High, in the old Long's) and SBX to take care of back-to-school business. As we were crossing College Avenue, a passing girl told me, "Hey, nice bag!" I looked up and said, "Thanks!" Then I noticed she was carrying the same bag.
What are the odds of that? Two completely separate lives momentarily intertwined in the Victoria's Secret spirit and love of all things pink and girly. That's OSU for you.
Encounter #3 (pending) - Tomorrow night Chi Alpha is having its aptly named worship service, Encounter, at 8:30 pm after the Scarlet & Gray pep rally. We are meeting in Hagerty 180 and I am bringing homemade buckeyes. Yarmy.
And so, after much sweat, angst and gnashing of teeth, I am finally settled into my new digs.
One thing I have already learned about living on the third floor of the apartment: don't forget stuff downstairs. It is quite a hike to go retrieve it. But maybe I can build up some killer quads tramping up and down the stairs. Two of my roommates are here and Melissa is coming tomorrow. This sounds strange, but I had forgotten what it's like to live with Chinese people (besides my family)...people who leave the plastic cover on the TV screen, people who cook with chopsticks, people who know automatically to take their shoes off when they come inside, people who bring Pocky for the pantry...good stuff.
This kind of outdoors I can take. I just spent the past two nights at Kings Ranch, near Batesville, IN on a leadership retreat with Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship. It was pretty intense, for personal reasons, but also a lot of fun and I think we bonded a lot as a team. I mean, you have to, when you wake up at 6:00 am to go fishing for four hours. (I copped out and took on the role of mother hen to twenty people, scrambling up an insane amount of eggs and later frying an insane amount of bass and bluegill.) But let me give you an idea of what we have planned for Welcome Week...
9/15 (2:00 pm) - "Learn the Basics of American Football" in Jones Tower
9/16 - 9/19 Contact tables around campus to help people navigate campus and get settled in
9/17 (12:00-4:00 pm) - Involvement Fair
9/17 (evening) - Ice cream social
9/18 (evening) - Capture the Flag on the Oval, pizza
9/20 (8:30 pm, 180 Hagerty Hall) - Encounter worship service after Scarlet Fever
And of course we want to hang out and get to know people throughout the week. Let's be friends!!
I think the global competence level dropped today because I feel like everything I accomplished in four hours probably could have been finished in two if the world were not conspiring to drive me mildly insane. The only task on my to-do list that went off without a hitch was my workout this morning and retrieving my misplaced keys from the SOURCE.
1. Printing Chimes scrapbook at FedEx/Kinko's: The paper jammed in the printer and failed to print the 8 pages it had charged me for. I had to start over and charge another $15.84 to my credit card, but at least they credited the spoiled pages and I only had to pay for 4 extra minutes of computer time.
2. Picking up keys from the rent office: I don't know if this is a universal phenomenon during high-rent season, but the customer service at Buckeye Real Estate really leaves a little to be desired. The girl took about ten minutes to find the file for our apartment, and then I found out that Roxanne had already picked up all our keys. (Which is nobody's fault, just lack of communication, but a little irksome nonetheless.)
3. After hiking down to see the apartment and make sure my bed would fit in my bedroom, I was on my way to catch the #2 bus when I realized I had left my scrapbook pages in Enarson where I had been stuffing convocation bags. (Speaking of which, any incoming freshmen reading this must use and appreciate EVERY SINGLE THING in those bags or else I will be very unhappy.) I booked it back to work, realized the room was locked, and proceeded to dash up and down three flights of stairs for about twenty minutes before someone found a key to let me in to get my stuff. Of course, all this could have been avoided if I weren't so darn scatterbrained, but it still should not have taken so long to find a key for the room. In my humble opinion.
My friend got back from a two-month trip to China and Taiwan last night, and asked if I had any free time to catch up. I thought about it carefully, blinked in surprise at her, and said, "Honestly, no. None at all. For the next two weeks or so." But that is kind of the way I like things. Now if only I could be slightly less incompetent...
[SHAMELESS PLUG] For any high schoolers who might be reading this blog and considering whether to apply to Ohio State...please do. Yesterday I and four other students spent five hours packing up 13,000+ freshman applications bound for high schools across Ohio. (I suffered multiple nasty papercuts under my left ring fingernail in the process.) And I'm doing it again tomorrow. Please. Please. Please. Apply to Ohio State so our work is not in vain. [/SHAMELESS PLUG]
So I'm officially moving into the apartment September 18, the day before school starts. Which officially kind of sucks because that's way more stress than I want to deal with the day before class. But c'est la vie.
For dorm-dwellers moving in on the 16th, there will be a lot of (hopefully) cheerful people in (probably) red shirts pushing large red carts around: OWLs (Orientation Welcome Leaders). I signed up to be one last year, mostly to get the free T-shirt and privilege of moving in early. I paid for it with an unholy amount of O-H I-Oing and mildly irritating icebreakers, which probably would have been less annoying if I had been a new freshman. But overall I think the OWL program is pretty good, despite the obnoxious mixers they concoct that involve extremely loud SexyBack and/or Ridin' Dirty blaring out of Knowlton Hall. You get to know your floormates from the training program itself and from hauling all their junk up to their rooms on move-in day. You get exercise from unloading cars and running carts up and down the elevators (or stairs, if you live in Neilwood Gables!) You get all the privileges of early move-in, including first pick of bunk and desk. And you get a free T-shirt.
So pulling up my to-do list from June, let's take a look...
* Read the following books: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
* See the following new movies: Ratatouille
* Compensate for my cloistered upbringing and see the following old movies: Never Been Kissed
* Indulge myself with old favorites:
* Sing along obnoxiously to the following Disney movies: Cinderella
"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men/Gang aft a-gley" - Robert Burns, "To a Mouse"
Things I'm Looking Forward To:
-cooler weather
-fall sweaters
-wearing my boots again!
-my Shakespeare class
-moving into the apartment
-Welcome Week
-football
My brother started high school yesterday and I have to confess I kind of wanted cry as I watched him go out the door. Not merely because of the reminder of my rapidly advancing age (Two decades...TWO whole decades...arghhh...) but because of the nostalgia: singing and dancing in the musicals, getting ridiculously dressed up for prom and homecoming, fighting to cram all my books into my five-inch wide locker, loafing in the library before class, knowing and being known by everyone in your class...oh wait... And as I thought about it I realized some--many--things about high school were less than rosy. (The angst of going to prom with a date asked by your father being chief among them...) So I thought, Is college better? Well, not necessarily better, but certainly different.
10 Things You'll Do in College (or at least at OSU) That You Probably Didn't Do in High School
1. Go to class in your pajamas. Now I know some people who did this in high school, but I was not one of them, mostly because my mother was always there in spirit to ask, "You're going out in that?" But by winter quarter of my freshman year, I had the guts to answer, "Why, yes, mental mother, and do you know why? Because I am functioning on four hours of sleep, a bowl of Total, and some deep-seated, masochistic drive to go to class despite it all. Plus I am justifying my frumpiness to a voice in my head."
2. Run to class because you have to. Not because you lingered by your locker until the last second, but because your next class is ten blocks away as the crow flies.
3. Take a bus to your next class.
4. Sleep through a class. (Not recommended in classes under 300 people.)
5. Go through the quarter without the professor ever knowing your name.
6. Withhold your grades from your parents. Thanks to FERPA, you assume control of your academic record upon reaching majority. So that D for Diploma can stay under wraps if you so desire.
7. Literally live off one or two staple food items, such as ramen noodles, cereal, pizza, or frozen dinners.
8. Share a room (not a house) with up to four people.
9. Develop a Pavlovian response to anyone who shouts, "O-H!"
10. Accidentally sign your name with your dot number. Related: Try to use your BuckID off campus as a form of identification/payment.
So I'm organizing Chimes Junior Class Honorary's table at the Involvement Fair, and it just got me thinking about all the things I love about Welcome Week. The weather's usually lovely, I get to see people I haven't seen all summer, and there's just stuff happening all the time, except for classes, and I'm even looking forward to that just because I'm taking Shakespeare this quarter. Can't wait...
9/16 - Moving Day (hopefully earlier)
9/17 - Student Involvement Fair; President's Picnic;
9/18 - Grilling With Gee; AAX Bubble Tea Bash
9/19 - Classes begin; Free Fitness Classes at RPAC; World's Largest Pillow Fight;
9/20 - first Chi Alpha Encounter of the year!
9/21 - Dump and Run OSU Yard Sale; Late Night at the RPAC; Inaugural Campus Spelling Bee;
9/22 - Football (enough said)
9/23 - Welcome Week Concert 2007
Your BuckID entitles you to free, unlimited passage on the Central Ohio Transportation Authority (COTA) buses. So far I have ridden the #7 (Neil Avenue to University Village), the #2 (N High Street), and the #84 (OSU/Grandview/Lennox/Upper Arlington). With the exception of one ill-planned excursion on the #84 that wound up taking me on a grand tour of Upper Arlington, my journeys have been smooth. (There is also that extreme frustration of missing the #7 by thirty seconds on my way home from international Kroger on Olentangy, which has happened on several occasions.) I'm trying to remember if I used the COTA buses at all freshman year...yes, that would be the #84 adventure during finals week winter quarter. It took me a while to muster up the guts to try the COTA again, but I've really become quite comfortable with it. The timetables are available online and tend to be fairly accurate for the lines that run fairly frequently.
Nowadays I often ride the #2 home if I get off work early, all the way up High Street to Crosswoods, where my family can pick me up. And since COTA serves the whole city, you certainly get to see far more interesting characters there than in CABS (Campus Area Bus System), although that's certainly a great place to people-watch too. Last week, as an elderly gentleman got on the bus, a book slipped out of the plastic grocery bag he was carrying, but he didn't notice. I brought it to his attention, then seeing his cane, decided to just hop off the bus and get it for him. Today a blind man got on the bus and I had to vacate the seat I was in, which was no problem, of course, and he was very sweet. (The handicap seat happened to be the first one I flopped into as the bus lurched away from my stop.) It's good being able to do little acts of kindness. I'm not saying it's impossible to be nice on campus, but people there seem to be in more of a hurry. Sometimes you have to go out into the real real world to see how valuable kindness is.
Well, it is officially less than a month until I move into the apartment. It will be my first time paying rent and utilities, but not my first time cooking for myself. I moved out in steps, which worked pretty well for me. My first year in Taylor Tower, I went home every other weekend (and probably every weekend toward the end of the year). Last year in Neilwood Gables I went home once or twice a month. Now, since I'm paying for a twelve-month lease, I plan to stay there as much as possible, plus I'm pretty sure my parents are sick of trying to keep me at home when I'd rather go out and, you know, have a life and all. I tried to ease them into it and all; I have a friend who commuted from home all four years of undergrad, and is now at graduate school in Cambridge, UK for five years. To facilitate pre-move discussion, I made a Facebook group (yes, I did it) for my roommates. For the general public, here are some things that did not occur to me at first glance but are important to consider.
1) Visitation: This sounds very RA-ish, but you definitely want to set up clear expectations about this. I made a joke about "No boys allowed upstairs" where our bedrooms are, and caused a minor freak-out. (Why do so many of my jokes seem to do that??) But together we clarified what was okay and tried to be as specific and honest as possible. Of course extenuating circumstances may arise, but when they do, at least the communication channel is already open.
2) Cookware: I have a lot of kitchen stuff from my stay in Neilwood last year, and my roommate wanted to know if they should bring any additional stuff or if they could all use mine. My first thought was, Sure, but then I realized that my pots and pans would wear out that much faster if four people were using them. Last year my roommate occasionally borrowed my stuff, which was fine, but if it's going to be a full time thing, I suggest everyone bring a few pieces of their own to be used collectively, rather than one person supply the entire house.
3) Groceries: This is kind of related to cookware in that it depends on everyone's habits. If everyone eats similar stuff and is willing to share, that's cool. But I'm a vegetarian and my favorite food could well be Brussels sprouts, and I'm not going to make everyone else pay for them if no one else eats them. Likewise, I'd rather not pay for the chicken breasts I won't touch. Asking a Jew or Muslim to help pay for bacon links or a Hindu for hamburger...not wise and not very considerate either. Also a factor: price. I read a story about a Nigerian student at Berkeley or Stanford (I forget which) who split grocery costs with his roommates...only to see his roommates pay $11.99 for organic fruit juice. They were used to it, he wasn't. Now, I'm pretty sure I'll do most of my shopping at ghetto or international Kroger, so it can't be that expensive, but if your roommate suddenly decides Sunflower Market is the only way to go, the grocery bill can start rising pretty fast.
4) Animals: My three roommates are all girls, and as such, have a penchant for cute fuzzy things (to my boyfriend's eternal bewilderment). That said, though, I still think it would be a pretty bad idea for us to keep a pet, even a hamster. At least for me, because when I'm stressed, angry, anxious, or depressed, I have a hard enough time remembering to feed myself, much less a small helpless animal whose rumbling stomach is not connected to my central nervous system.
I'm sure there are other things we're forgetting to discuss...once I move in, maybe I'll update this with important things we forgot!
The first wave of migrations to semester-system colleges is about to commence, and I am suddenly reminded of the fact that CRAP! My friends are leaving and I have hung out with them twice/once/nonce this entire summer. Saying goodbye before you've even said hello is a frustrating but inevitable part of the transition from high school to college...even after two years it still irks me a little. In order to mitigate the wholescale severing of social ties, I will now attempt to persuade everyone that quarter-system schools are better than semester-schools. (Just kidding, I will try to be as objective as possible.)
Quarter System Pros and Cons
Start school halfway through September. But this means you don't finish until June, long after many employers stop hiring for the summer.
Shorter terms mean you only have to suffer through ten weeks of an abysmally boring or horrendously difficult class. This also means that, aside from syllabus day at the beginning of the quarter (which some profs omit), you have to hit the ground running at the start of the quarter, because you will have at most 100 class hours with any professor.
Three sets of classes per year means more opportunities to take unique classes like social dance or creative writing.
You get a winter break that lasts almost the entire month of December. But you don't get a fall break or any other holidays except for federal.
First midterms may occur as early as the third week of classes. You also have less time to get your act together if you don't do well at first.
Most universities around the world seem to run on semester, so if you do study abroad, you will have to miss essentially two quarters of classes at home.
Chances are, if you are reading this, you have already chosen OSU and its quarter system, but it's good to be forewarned about the difficulties this entails. I hope this helps!
Restaurant: Northstar Cafe
Location: Short North
Cuisine: Healthy, Eclectic
Review: I heard good things about Northstar at work, so I went to check it out with my boyfriend around 5:45 this afternoon. I drove past it once, but managed to get turned around and into the very small parking lot. Inside music was playing and it seemed fairly busy. I guess the Short North is less season-dependent than places closer to campus.
The menu is unique but fairly small, with some items available prepared without meat or dairy. Northstar serves salads, rice bowls, sandwiches, and flatbread wraps, as well as some juice drinks. Drew ordered the meatloaf sandwich, which he said was different due to the combination of Dijon mustard and barbecue sauce, but not bad. It comes with a brown rice pilaf type thing. I ordered the Honey BBQ Burrito, and since it was bigger than I was hungry for, you get a picture of the leftovers snug in their little carryout box!
It's got rice, peppers, lettuce, sauteed tofu (also available with chicken), and the eponymous sauce, most of which ended up near the bottom which made the last few bites a little intense. It was quite tasty overall, though. It is served with tortilla chips and salsa. At about $9 per entree it's pricier than I'm used to, but then again my idea of fair price and value is warped by twenty years wearing $10 tennis shoes.
The restaurant has a large magazine rack with periodicals for patrons to read, which is kind of a nice touch. Service is a curious mix of counter and table: you place your order at the counter, take a number, and they bring you your food and later clear your table, no tip required. My takeout box was kind of slow in coming, but that's my only quibble with the minimalist service. If you're willing to go the distance from campus for some new tastes, Northstar is a good destination.
In the uber-achiever Asian-American culture I grew up in, "research" is one of those golden words in the parental lexicon, ranking just about as high as "medical school" or "Wall Street." It is the subject of much admiring, though not necessarily empathetic, head-bobbing at family potlucks. It is the glowing highlight of the family Christmas letter and collective resume ("Little Wilhelmina has been doing research..."). It is the default setting for how undergraduates should spend their summers, the prequel to a successful career in medicine or engineering, and the opportunity of a lifetime to network like it's 1999. Maybe that's true for some people. But there are some things about research, especially at a university like OSU, that many people, Asian or not, tend to overlook.
1. It's hard. Many students and parents are still naive enough to believe that future-Dr.-Gerald-Duncan will march into the lab as a freshman and cure cancer. Well, maybe (hopefully) not. But a lot of people don't realize that for every published paper with findings, a lot of ideas were tested and found to go nowhere. A lot of experiments failed, or data didn't support theory. I observed at a cancer lab at Children's Hospital last summer, and most of the time things didn't work out the way they were supposed to. Cancer cells refused to die when treated with medicines or gene therapies that should have destroyed them. And no one knew why. All the researchers could do was report the results and try something different. Which leads me to #2...
2. It's monotonous. Even after something is found to work, it has to be repeated multiple times to confirm that it's not a fluke. Then you have to explain why something works, and to do that you have to comb through accepted literature or do a thorough proof yourself. For the Navigators project I'm working on now, there are no instruments to detect student achievement pre- and post- technology-enhanced learning, so the team has to design surveys and data analysis standards to assess this, then prove that they are good indicators of what they claim them to be. And then there is the housekeeping involved in a project of any scale: keeping records of experiments, aggregating and analyzing data, and just physically keeping experiments or tests under control. If I could count the plates of cancer cells I had to nurse to confluence only to douse them in deadly doxorubicin...
3.It's self-driven. Maybe I have more trouble with this than most people. At OSU in general, no one will hold your hand. You have to know what you want and work to get it. For my current research, this is difficult because I have had no actual instruction in educational theory, assessment, social sciences research, etc. My adviser has been a great help in teaching me the process, but I have yet to strike out on my own project because I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing beyond a general question that I want to answer. In scientific research, as I said before, there will be a lot of failures, and you have to be motivated enough to drive past those and find the right answer. In biomedical science, I didn't have that motivation, but in education I do, so that's how I know I'm working on the right project for me.
4. It's probably fairly insignificant. This relates to #1. As an undergraduate, you are probably going to be relatively small fry in the grand scheme of things. You may play a large role in the project, but most research at the undergraduate level is not earth-shattering. Of course, your undergrad work may play into graduate and terminal degrees, so you should work hard, but don't expect to rake in grants and publicity at this point. (Although it could happen.)
If it sounds like I'm knocking research, it's only because I have other expectations baggage associated with the idea and that's just personal. Research is great and very important. I'm just saying it's not quite what people might expect it to be like. For more information, check out the Undergraduate Research Office web page.
Pesto has been around OSU just about as long as I have, opened December 17, 2005, but I didn't get to try it until last Thursday. The store is owned by OSU graduate Lee Shadle and is one of the few fast-casual Italian places I've seen besides Fazoli's. The concept is fairly simple: pick a size, pick a base, pick a flavor. The regular entrees run $5.95 and the large is about $7-$8. Choose from three pastas, pizza, salad, or sandwich for your base, then select one of ten or so flavors. (Not all of them are listed on the web site.) I ordered a Caponata salad, where I discovered the joy of the cremini mushroom. My boyfriend got a pollo pesto pizza, which he said was good but would have preferred something with marinara sauce. They also have gelato and sorbetto in the freezer.
The atmosphere is "contemporary Milan Italian bistro" rather than "cliche Tuscan Italian kitchen;" I have to admit it was pretty refreshing to eat Italian in a place without Italian kitsch falling off the walls (ahem, Buca di Beppo). Of course, the plastic bundles of flowers on the tables were a little lowbrow, but at least Pesto doesn't pretend to be something it's not. What it is is a quick place to grab some decent Italian fast food on the cheap. Business seemed pretty slow, but recall that it was Thursday around 5:30 pm and in the summer. It's a pretty good deal for decent food, so I hope business picks up and the place stays open.
I attended a meeting of the Next Chapter Book Club at the Lennox Barnes and Noble over my lunch break today. NCBC is a now nationwide organization originating from the OSU Nisonger Center that promotes reading in individuals with disabiliti
