"Liberal"

The other day, I was talking to a friend that I hadn't talked to in a while. Aside from the usual catching up and all, we talked about politics and how the Democrats were basically taking over the government, though they are having trouble agreeing with one another. How sad - even the fact that the executive and legislative branches are currently dominated by the same party cannot streamline the red tape of bureaucratic government. What struck me about the conversation, however, was that my friend was actually quite the Republican in terms of his points of view - he believed that the government should let the economy be, he was a conservative in terms of abortion, gun control, and the like, and he even saw some sense in the Bush Doctine, "even though it needs a hell of a lot of tweaking". He, however, voted for Obama in the last election. When I asked him why, he jokingly stated, "Well, isn't it all the rage to be liberal now?"

Even though he was just being humorous, I found this statement truer than ever. The Republican Party is in such shambles that no self respecting person who isn't far right on the political spectrum would currently support them. Especially after the tremendous media bloodbath on the already torn carcass of the GOP, due to characters like Sarah "ethic-complaints-are-the-least-of-my-woes" Palin, Mark "Argentine mistress" Sanford and Bobby "Kenneth-the-Page" Jindal. The media is probably now waiting at GOP throne hopefuls like Haley Barbour and Tim Pawlenty just so they can be the first to witness the fall of the next GOP great. The dismantled party is now even turning away moderate conservatives away because of their horrible track record.

This is, of course, from the opinion of an outsider who's just happy to see a President of the United States who other states can finally respect and look up to. I wonder what people who actually under the umbrella of the social contract of the country feel.

High School Overeager-ness

So it's definitely been a while since I posted on this blog. Classes and such have really been taking over too much of my time. Instead of spilling out all my thoughts onto one post like last time, I think instead I'm going to focus on one thing that's been bothering me this summer - high school students.

There are definitely a lot of benefits that come with taking classes in the summer. Easy As, a closer setting so you can get to know your professor better, etc etc. Last session was actually pretty great and I had a ton of fun and learned a lot from both my classes. This session, however, is different. I can go on and elaborate on a list of cons that include having a paper a day to complete and having to endure a required intro class that I should've taken years ago, but I'm going to instead talk about the topic of overeager and annoying high school students in these classes. It's like they think the mere fact that they've been accepted to take classes at Penn makes them superior above all else and must show it to the world. These students, which take up an alarmingly large percentage of the population of my classes, are (1) overeager to a fault and raise their hands at every opportunity, (2) don't exactly have the foggiest clue what they're talking about half the time and (3) really think that they're the center of the world. Let me elaborate by giving a few examples of the wonderful experience I've had with high schoolers in these classes:

• During a simple Q&A section to see if we did the readings for the day, my Professor asks the class for the specific three points that the author stated in the article regarding a certain topic. Hands go up, and the three things are answered. Hands are still up. I kid you not. My professor announces that she has all her answers. Hands are still up. My bewildered Professor picks one of these hands and the high schooler gives a ridiculous answer. My Professor shakes her head in confusion.
• I'm going to assume everyone here knows what the Prisoner's Dilemma is. In explaining the problem, she makes everyone in the class state whether or not they would confess (and either risk a moderate punishment or no punishment at all - this option is the one that carries the best outcome) or stay silent (and either risk a high punishment or a low punishment). Also note that my Prof has clearly stated that this is a one shot deal. Half the class confesses, half the class stays silent. Alright, understandable as maybe they haven't heard of the Prisoner's Dilemma before. After my Professor explains it and says that confession will yield the best outcome, MORE people actually choose to stay silent, even though it's common knowledge that confession in this case will yield the best results. The problem here is that when told that they were putting themselves in a less advantageous position, they REJECTED THE GAME. Yes, they rejected the game and defended themselves by saying the stupidest things like 'I'll just simmer in prison and get revenge', or '...but confession isn't socially acceptable!'. They could NOT admit they were wrong.
• The most recent example of this was when we talked about nuclear deterrence. My Professor gave the usual spiel that deterrence is gained through the concept of mutually assured destruction, which rests on second strike capability. Fine. Then she asks whether the class believes that deterrence is sustainable. Someone raises the argument that irrational actors can destroy the system, and leads my Prof. into the legitimate discussion of afterlife rewards distracting the system a bit. Again, still legitimate. Unfortunately, the high schoolers then lead to a discussion of whether or not a SUICIDE STATE can occur, with the high schoolers thinking that IT COULD. They explicitly stated that it can happen with democratically voting to destroy the state by launching a nuclear weapon. One kid even said this: 'Islamic states are just wired that way. The afterlife reward is so great that EVERYONE in the state won't mind dying for a cause.' I don't know whether the kid is just ignorant, stupid, or alarmingly representative of the American blindspot towards the Muslim moderate majority.

These are only a sampling of what I have to put up with on a daily basis. These are just the instances that stick out the most. Every day my Professor would have to shut these kids up by saying 'OK, no more discussion or else we'll not finish the material.' Every day she would look very confused and have to find more and more obscure ways to not make these high schoolers feel bad.

It made me think - was I like that before college crushed my spirit?

Hello there

The time right now is 2:33 AM on Sunday, June 14, 2009. The only sound I can hear is the oddly soothing melody from the most unlikely of places - the "Classical Treasures" track from the Restaurant City game on Facebook. The syllabus for my Political Science class is open, as usual, sitting on the edge of my desk and occupying the corner of my eye while subtly whispering that it's probably time for me to get to work on readings for Tuesday's class. I really can't though tonight. Whether it's because of the unexpected rain earlier today or the fact that I missed out on a perfectly good opportunity to go out to nature this morning, I'm feeling rather restless tonight.

So here I am, starting up the blog that a younger version of me would denounce as narcissistic and unnecessary. Yet there is too much on my mind that on some days I can barely keep my head on straight. A lot of people, including an older version of me perhaps, may scoff at me when I say that, as my mind is not even 21 years old. But when there are days when my mind just keeps racing to the point at which I can barely sleep at night, I think I'm entitled to spill out some of my mind. So I guess I'll jump into the river that is the blogosphere and see what's up with this phenomenon called blogging. This whole process reminds me of the pensieve in Harry Potter, except I can't go in and experience someone else's memories from a third person point of view. That would be pretty awesome.

Since this is merely my first post of (hopefully) many, I think I'm going to go with a bullet point approach of what is occupying my mind right now.

• The LSATs: So I postponed the LSATs, that I was supposed to take last Monday, to the test at the end of September. In the process, I got a big fat A (for Absence) on my LSAC records, despite the fact that they only recently changed the policy for moving the test day so that I would have had to decide to postpone it about two weeks in advance. I think that's utter BS. Any possible legitimate reason could have come up between the middle of May and June 8 that would have hindered me from taking my LSATs. I read a blog somewhere that assured people in my position that admissions counselors wouldn't view the Absence harshly at all. As for my own reason for postponing that infernal test? I just felt unprepared, and I was still not scoring where I wanted to score on diagnostics. Combined with the apparent fact that some of the top-notch schools still take the average for things means I could have been screwed if I took the test on Monday. Oh well. Now I have a whole summer to prepare, and a newly found appreciation for iCal that I did not have before.
  
• Spiritual Stuff: After spending most of my time at Penn really not thinking about religion, something moved me towards the end of last semester to take a leap and give the stuff another chance. We'll see where this leads me. So far, it's been going fairly well.
• Next Semester: Being Music Director for PennYo will be the first time I've led a group since the Yearbook Committee in high school, and I remember how much that stressed me out. I'm hoping that next semester I'll be able to get everything done and be the leader that they deserve without going into a nervous meltdown or something. That would be the worst case scenario, but I don't think it'll go that badly. I also have to remember to buy that MBox2 so that I can start helping our alums mix music and stuff. I think that'll be good fun. And I have to start arranging. And I have to plan out the song list for next semester while keeping everyone happy. And I have to think about my life outside of PennYo and plan this new thing called an English minor that I'm planning to go through. Hrmph.
  
• Sims 3 and Restaurant City: Yes, no documentation of my brain's current state can be complete without some mention to these two similar games. I think many of us derive some sort of perverse pleasure when playing these sorts of games. We get to control our creations, whether a fully-functioning restaurant or a gaggle of simple-minded Sims, and subject them to any whim we have. I know I've had immense pleasure from just watching my Sims go through their daily lives, go to work, prepare meals, learn skills, and be friends with one another. I feel an odd sense of pride when these Sims get promotions in their jobs (such as from being a Paramedic to a Trauma Surgeon - if only Med School were that simple!) and I don't know whether it's because I subconsciously regard these virtual humans as the babies I've created or if I just place myself in their shoes and relish the thought of moving up in the world. Who knows. And there's also a certain joy when I get to customize my Sim's home or my Restaurant City restaurant. Maybe I'm unleashing my inner interior designer. Or my creative side has been kept down for way too long.
• The Iranian Elections: Being a Political Science major, the events unfolding in Iran have not escaped my view. From my daily roosting at The Huffington Post and CNN, I've followed this election for a few days now. I can say that even though the experts say that Mousavi really won't be that much better than Ahmedinejad in terms of foreign relations, I still hope that something happens to let Mousavi have his shot at being Iran's President. He has a record of being a more moderate figure than Ahmedinejad in terms of his dealings with Iran's traditional enemies, and he seems to be able to provide the reins for a more liberal and free Iran. His wife, Zahra Rahnavard, is even being hailed as "Iran's Michelle Obama" (though I think given what I've read about her, she may be more of a Hillary Clinton or Elizabeth Dole than a Michelle Obama) and that can only lead to good things for the women of Iran. In summary though, I think why I want Mousavi to win is more the fact that the unknown alternative is better than the familiar status quo right now in Iran. If he is allowed to continue leading Iran, given Ahmedinejad's rough language and harsh stances on certain issues, he could further anger a more violent Israel led by Netanyahu, who has already compared Iran to Nazi Germany. If the world accepts Netanyahu's sentiments and he chooses to attack the Iranian state, the world will be much more accepting of the invasion if Iran is being led by a coarse-mouthed Ahmedinejad than if it was led by a politically-correct Mousavi, even though their views on issues like Iran's nuclear reserves may not be all that different. On a shorter term, I do hope the unrest in Iran ends soon, though I do hope that this unrest caused by Mousavi's supporters is a small but stinging wound that can lead to a better Iran. I just read on the HuffPost that some of the Mousavi supporters plan to depose Khamenei? That'll be an interesting show to watch, to be sure.
  

Well, actually, that's all that I feel like saying right now on this post. It's already 3:21 AM, and I think I should get to bed soon.

Note: Moved to a new page due to problems with the old one. That's the last time I try my hand at reckless blogging HTML for a while.