About 9 years ago, a tragic accident occurred at my university, resulting in the deaths of twelve students. One of those students had been valedictorian of my high school. Though I never knew him personally, I knew his brother and others who were close to him. Watching the news coverage of the accident in my freshmen speech class was an experience as surreal and emotionally charged for my high school as was watching the second plane crash into the tower two years later in my statistics course. There's a memorial built near the accident site honoring the twelve students. I've visited it twice with each of my parents, once in the daytime and once at night. It's a beautifully designed memorial and a moving experience to read about the lives of the twelve and see their faces etched in stone. If you ever come visit, I'll take you there if you like.
This memorial is also near my parking lot, and today when I drove by I noticed an unusually large crowd entering the site and a school bus parked nearby. I suppose this was a school field trip which made me wonder: What's the educational purpose of this field trip? There are many valuable lessons to be learned from visiting this memorial: honoring those who have fallen, the transience of life, and the necessity to create something meaningful out of our lives. However, these all seem a bit too existential to fall within the normal realm of public school education. I do think I had some AP English courses that touched upon these themes, and perhaps the students were from an English course, and will soon be turning in compositions based on what they experienced. Or perhaps it was a history course, and this field trip was something akin to visiting the Vietnam War Memorial in DC. You know, I automatically assumed that the students were from a local school, but I never was able to see what the side of the school bus said. Perhaps they were actually from one of the high schools attended by one of the twelve and had driven in from somewhere near Houston or Austin. If this was the case, then perhaps no lesson was being contrived from this experience - they were simply paying homage to an alumnus. Whether they were directly connected to one of the twelve or not, I'm glad that many experience this memorial.
Showing posts with label alma mater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alma mater. Show all posts
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
anthropology via facebook
Ok, I can't write solely about politics for two weeks straight. I do have more to say in continuation of my previous post, but for now, just let me ramble.
I discovered that there are statistics for each network on Facebook, showing that network's favorite activities, movies, music, and books, as well as relationship status and political statistics. So, I had to do a little comparison between the school where I (and most of you) went to undergrad, and the school where I currently attend graduate school.
My alma mater enjoys listening to Coldplay, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Incubus, and the Fray the most, and those all made the top 10 for my current school, who also placed "Country" at number 2 and included George Strait. Both schools' favorite books are the Bible, Harry Potter, the Dan Brown books, and some books we probably all read in high school like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby. Lord of the Rings made the list for my current school. For my alma mater, the Number 1 favorite movie is Wedding Crashers, followed by The Notebook as Number 2, and for my current school, these two films switched places at top. I was pleased to see two of my favorite films, Garden State and Love Actually, made it into the top ten of my alma mater's list, but Braveheart and 300 (which I also enjoy) pushed those two films off the top ten at my current school. Also, some of my favorite tv shows like Friends, LOST, and the Office were in the top five of both lists, but for my current school, Scrubs replaces Sex in the City.
At both schools, about 40% the network members don't list their political view, and 30% don't list their relationship status. At my alma mater 28% are conservative, 15% are moderate, and 10% are liberal. At my current university, 33% of the network is conservative, and only 6% claims to be liberal. Relationship statistics are pretty similar between the two schools, which surprised me. At my previous school's network, 29% are single, 25% are in a relationship, and 12% are married or engaged. At my current school, 31% are single, 26% are in a relationship, and 14% are married or engaged.
The really interesting differences emerge when you consider the top interests of these two schools. Both love music, reading, movies, shopping, dancing, friends, and sports. However, for my current school, fishing, hunting, and football replaced the former school's interest in traveling, working out, and running.
So considering these comparisons, I can make a few general conclusions. My previous and current schools read the same books, watch the same tv shows, and have a lot of the same favorite movies and music. My current school enjoys country music more than my previous school (no surprise). It's hard to tell with only a 60% response rate, but my current schools appears to be slightly more conservative than my alma mater. I had expected it to be much more conservative, but I guess I had forgotten that my alma mater is also overall pretty conservative. According to these statistics, my current school really isn't more marriage-minded than my alma mater, which actually completely surprised me.
My current school enjoys fishing, hunting and football more than traveling and working out. Perhaps this is because there are more men attend my current school and those interests are typically more masculine, whereas more women study abroad. Or, perhaps I just came from a school where people were more image conscious and had more money to travel, and now I'm at a school where people are more typically country and Texan. Indeed, over 85% of the students here are from Texas, whereas I believe that about a third of the students at my alma mater were international or from another state. Folks from Connecticut and California just ain't gonna be fishin' and huntin' as much as us Texans. The high number of Texans here makes sense, since this is a public school and charges higher tuition for non-state residents, and my alma mater was a private school which charged the same tuition for everyone.
So there you have it, facebook statistics show what I've known all along: my new school is a little more conservative, a little more country, a little more masculine, and a little less geographically diverse than my previous school. Sadly, this is all a little less me. Fortunately, my interests are pretty varied and I consider myself somewhat of a social chameleon. I enjoy myself drinking beer while playing dominoes and going to the shooting range (not while drinking beer, of course) or drinking wine at an art gallery and going to a poetry reading, though of course, I prefer some of these activities over others.
Classes start tomorrow. I told a friend a couple of days ago that I was actually ready because I've been bored at work this past week. Now that in 12 hours I'll be back on campus, I sure could go for another week off! Oh well, I am excited about seeing my classmates again, and I read a little from my textbook for tomorrow, Systems of Psychotherapy: A Transtheoretical Analysis, and yeah, it's going to be pretty interesting. Funny, one of the authors is from Scranton, Pennsylvania, home of our favorite branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. I had the opportunity to watch several episodes from season 3 the other day ("The Merger" through "Phyliss' Wedding"), and was surprised to find that Karen was kinda a likable character. I always just thought of her as some pretty hussy stealing Jim from Pam, but I should have trusted Jim's judgment better. Group exercises, excuse me, "Group Recxercise" classes are free at the campus rec center this first week, so I'm going to check out a few (Yoga, Cycling, and maybe even Hip Hop) and see if they're something I'd like to continue. Tuesday we're celebrating one of my classmate's birthdays. You know, this might be a good first week back at classes after all. Even if it's not, I'll have MLK day to breath again.
I discovered that there are statistics for each network on Facebook, showing that network's favorite activities, movies, music, and books, as well as relationship status and political statistics. So, I had to do a little comparison between the school where I (and most of you) went to undergrad, and the school where I currently attend graduate school.
My alma mater enjoys listening to Coldplay, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Incubus, and the Fray the most, and those all made the top 10 for my current school, who also placed "Country" at number 2 and included George Strait. Both schools' favorite books are the Bible, Harry Potter, the Dan Brown books, and some books we probably all read in high school like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby. Lord of the Rings made the list for my current school. For my alma mater, the Number 1 favorite movie is Wedding Crashers, followed by The Notebook as Number 2, and for my current school, these two films switched places at top. I was pleased to see two of my favorite films, Garden State and Love Actually, made it into the top ten of my alma mater's list, but Braveheart and 300 (which I also enjoy) pushed those two films off the top ten at my current school. Also, some of my favorite tv shows like Friends, LOST, and the Office were in the top five of both lists, but for my current school, Scrubs replaces Sex in the City.
At both schools, about 40% the network members don't list their political view, and 30% don't list their relationship status. At my alma mater 28% are conservative, 15% are moderate, and 10% are liberal. At my current university, 33% of the network is conservative, and only 6% claims to be liberal. Relationship statistics are pretty similar between the two schools, which surprised me. At my previous school's network, 29% are single, 25% are in a relationship, and 12% are married or engaged. At my current school, 31% are single, 26% are in a relationship, and 14% are married or engaged.
The really interesting differences emerge when you consider the top interests of these two schools. Both love music, reading, movies, shopping, dancing, friends, and sports. However, for my current school, fishing, hunting, and football replaced the former school's interest in traveling, working out, and running.
So considering these comparisons, I can make a few general conclusions. My previous and current schools read the same books, watch the same tv shows, and have a lot of the same favorite movies and music. My current school enjoys country music more than my previous school (no surprise). It's hard to tell with only a 60% response rate, but my current schools appears to be slightly more conservative than my alma mater. I had expected it to be much more conservative, but I guess I had forgotten that my alma mater is also overall pretty conservative. According to these statistics, my current school really isn't more marriage-minded than my alma mater, which actually completely surprised me.
My current school enjoys fishing, hunting and football more than traveling and working out. Perhaps this is because there are more men attend my current school and those interests are typically more masculine, whereas more women study abroad. Or, perhaps I just came from a school where people were more image conscious and had more money to travel, and now I'm at a school where people are more typically country and Texan. Indeed, over 85% of the students here are from Texas, whereas I believe that about a third of the students at my alma mater were international or from another state. Folks from Connecticut and California just ain't gonna be fishin' and huntin' as much as us Texans. The high number of Texans here makes sense, since this is a public school and charges higher tuition for non-state residents, and my alma mater was a private school which charged the same tuition for everyone.
So there you have it, facebook statistics show what I've known all along: my new school is a little more conservative, a little more country, a little more masculine, and a little less geographically diverse than my previous school. Sadly, this is all a little less me. Fortunately, my interests are pretty varied and I consider myself somewhat of a social chameleon. I enjoy myself drinking beer while playing dominoes and going to the shooting range (not while drinking beer, of course) or drinking wine at an art gallery and going to a poetry reading, though of course, I prefer some of these activities over others.
Classes start tomorrow. I told a friend a couple of days ago that I was actually ready because I've been bored at work this past week. Now that in 12 hours I'll be back on campus, I sure could go for another week off! Oh well, I am excited about seeing my classmates again, and I read a little from my textbook for tomorrow, Systems of Psychotherapy: A Transtheoretical Analysis, and yeah, it's going to be pretty interesting. Funny, one of the authors is from Scranton, Pennsylvania, home of our favorite branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. I had the opportunity to watch several episodes from season 3 the other day ("The Merger" through "Phyliss' Wedding"), and was surprised to find that Karen was kinda a likable character. I always just thought of her as some pretty hussy stealing Jim from Pam, but I should have trusted Jim's judgment better. Group exercises, excuse me, "Group Recxercise" classes are free at the campus rec center this first week, so I'm going to check out a few (Yoga, Cycling, and maybe even Hip Hop) and see if they're something I'd like to continue. Tuesday we're celebrating one of my classmate's birthdays. You know, this might be a good first week back at classes after all. Even if it's not, I'll have MLK day to breath again.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
hail all, hail
Yesterday morning at work, I noticed a customer’s credit card had a New Mexico Lobos logo on it.
“Oh, New Mexico, are they in the Mountain West conference?”
He gave me a funny look before he answering. Maybe he thought I was trying to memorize his credit card number. Like I could do that, maybe if I were Cara.
“Yes, I believe they are.”
“I thought that sounded familiar. My Alma mater plays them.”
It has not even been a month, and the words just rolled right off my tongue. “Alma mater.” No correcting myself, no stammering, and I did not even have to think about it. There it was. When I first graduated, people kept asking me if I felt very different. I usually replied, “No, not yet, it just feels like I’m on Christmas break again. I’m sure in January when everyone else starts going back to school it’ll really start to hit me.” My prediction was correct.
Some of you had asked me to keep you updated on my poetry entries. A few weeks ago I received an email basically saying, “Thanks for your submission, but this is not what we’re looking for this year.” It was mildly disappointing (maybe a 2 or 3 on a scale of 1-10), but mostly I’m just thankful that I tried something and took a risk.
However, I just let go of another risk I was planning on taking. I was going to apply to graduate school at NYU. I knew it was a long shot – they accept only about 3 a year in the program I’m applying to and most of them already have their masters. But I knew if I were accepted, I’d go there in a heartbeat. This past weekend, I was working more on my application when I discovered in a PDF file a recommendation form that I was supposed to give my recommenders. Months ago, when I was acquiring recommendation letters from professors and supervisors, I scoured the websites of the schools for the specific forms they were to use. Some schools had forms, others just wanted a general letter. I never found a form on NYU’s website, so I just asked my recommenders to write me letters. This discouraged me, but I decided I would wait until Monday and call and find out if my letters were acceptable. On Monday, in that same PDF file, I came across a listing of four reasons why they would rarely invite sometime to interview, and 4 reasons why they would invite someone for an interview. Three of the four negative reasons applied to me. The first two reasons demonstrated that I am not the kind of student that NYU looks for. The final reason showed me that NYU is not the sort of the program that I’m looking for – my career goals contradict what they want from their graduates. It was because of this final reason that I have decided not to apply.
I think this was a wise decision that was made from pure motives. I did not do it because I was insecure and was afraid of taking a risk; I just realized all around, it was not right for me. I just hope I don’t regret it later. I never had my hopes up, I never expected to be admitted if I had applied, but I felt it was just a leap I needed to take, just to see what would happen. Now, I think I know what would have happened. Just to apply, I would have had to alter completely my dreams and goals. For what? To go to a top rated school? To live in New York for a few years? If my heart is really set on living there, I can move to New York after I graduate.
I have several posts rolling around in my head, and I plan on posting more often – as time allows. Sadly, I haven’t written any poetry in a while. When I was writing poetry, it usually just came to me or was something I felt compelled to turn to when going through a difficult situation. I want to continue writing poetry, but I also don’t want to push it. Oye vey. Any suggestions? Also, I have noticed in my verbal story-telling, I have a tendency to give lots of details when I probably could just summarize and tell a more effective account. Did I do that in this blog? In that big long paragraph up there, could I have just summarized generally, or did the details add to the tale? I enjoy writing, but I don’t want to just write for the sake of writing. I want to write when I actually have something to say.
“Oh, New Mexico, are they in the Mountain West conference?”
He gave me a funny look before he answering. Maybe he thought I was trying to memorize his credit card number. Like I could do that, maybe if I were Cara.
“Yes, I believe they are.”
“I thought that sounded familiar. My Alma mater plays them.”
It has not even been a month, and the words just rolled right off my tongue. “Alma mater.” No correcting myself, no stammering, and I did not even have to think about it. There it was. When I first graduated, people kept asking me if I felt very different. I usually replied, “No, not yet, it just feels like I’m on Christmas break again. I’m sure in January when everyone else starts going back to school it’ll really start to hit me.” My prediction was correct.
Some of you had asked me to keep you updated on my poetry entries. A few weeks ago I received an email basically saying, “Thanks for your submission, but this is not what we’re looking for this year.” It was mildly disappointing (maybe a 2 or 3 on a scale of 1-10), but mostly I’m just thankful that I tried something and took a risk.
However, I just let go of another risk I was planning on taking. I was going to apply to graduate school at NYU. I knew it was a long shot – they accept only about 3 a year in the program I’m applying to and most of them already have their masters. But I knew if I were accepted, I’d go there in a heartbeat. This past weekend, I was working more on my application when I discovered in a PDF file a recommendation form that I was supposed to give my recommenders. Months ago, when I was acquiring recommendation letters from professors and supervisors, I scoured the websites of the schools for the specific forms they were to use. Some schools had forms, others just wanted a general letter. I never found a form on NYU’s website, so I just asked my recommenders to write me letters. This discouraged me, but I decided I would wait until Monday and call and find out if my letters were acceptable. On Monday, in that same PDF file, I came across a listing of four reasons why they would rarely invite sometime to interview, and 4 reasons why they would invite someone for an interview. Three of the four negative reasons applied to me. The first two reasons demonstrated that I am not the kind of student that NYU looks for. The final reason showed me that NYU is not the sort of the program that I’m looking for – my career goals contradict what they want from their graduates. It was because of this final reason that I have decided not to apply.
I think this was a wise decision that was made from pure motives. I did not do it because I was insecure and was afraid of taking a risk; I just realized all around, it was not right for me. I just hope I don’t regret it later. I never had my hopes up, I never expected to be admitted if I had applied, but I felt it was just a leap I needed to take, just to see what would happen. Now, I think I know what would have happened. Just to apply, I would have had to alter completely my dreams and goals. For what? To go to a top rated school? To live in New York for a few years? If my heart is really set on living there, I can move to New York after I graduate.
I have several posts rolling around in my head, and I plan on posting more often – as time allows. Sadly, I haven’t written any poetry in a while. When I was writing poetry, it usually just came to me or was something I felt compelled to turn to when going through a difficult situation. I want to continue writing poetry, but I also don’t want to push it. Oye vey. Any suggestions? Also, I have noticed in my verbal story-telling, I have a tendency to give lots of details when I probably could just summarize and tell a more effective account. Did I do that in this blog? In that big long paragraph up there, could I have just summarized generally, or did the details add to the tale? I enjoy writing, but I don’t want to just write for the sake of writing. I want to write when I actually have something to say.
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