A love affair and some other stuff.
I love the Constitution. Seriously so. Like, if the Constitution were a person I would marry it and have all of its babies. It's by no means a perfect document, but therein lies so much of its charm: It knows it's not a perfect document. I love it because it is self-aware. It is also beautifully written, in its legalistic way, and the foundation for one of the grandest social experiments ever conducted. We Americans are an audacious (if haughty, if sometimes overbearing) people because we have this rockin' standard to hold ourselves up against.
I was reading my pocket-sized Constitution (and the Declaration of Independence--another kick-ass piece of writing, especially if you dig hyperbole as much as I do) during my breaks today. I swear, no matter how many times I read the Preamble, I still get a little tingle up my spine and a smile on my face. Take that, tyranny! Take that, inequality! Take that, injustice! It's one of those rare cases where the intent really does outweigh the finished product. The finished product, in this case, didn't count women as citizens or slaves as whole people. But the intent, "a more perfect union," was and is more powerful than even the most ignorant prejudice. Because the very same document that decreed over half the population of these United States as "less than" or "not even" was self-aware enough to provide for redress of its shortcomings so that those disenfranchised groups would [eventually] get their due. Gush, gush, dork, dork.
Moving on.
I did my state exams today. I think I did pretty well on both of them, actually. I didn't find any of the multiple choice questions overly challenging. There were a handful on the second test that I couldn't figure either the right answer or the answer the test wanted, so I guessed. But anybody who ever saw me Quiz Team--which, actually, I don't think any of you people would have--knows that I am a preternaturally good guesser.
As for the essays, the first exam had a prompt regarding junk food vending machines in schools. Happily, I already had a pretty well-defined opinion on this topic. And the prompt wanted a persuasive response, which I feel very comfortable with. So that was a'ight.
The second exam, the one that was more heavily focused on literacy instruction, had a prompt that was nearly identical in form to one of the practice tests I took. So that was nice. I did misread a section at first and thus ended up having to rewrite the last half of that essay. However, at least I caught the error. And, otherwise, I didn't feel like it was a problem. I think I learned the appropriate jargon well-enough to sound like I knew what I was talking about. I guess I'll find out in 2-5 weeks.
When all was said and done, though, I got out of there a full two hours early. Actually, as I type this, the second exam still has 25 minutes to go.
Notables of the day, included finding a line to get into this thing this morning that stretched from mid-block on 18th Street around onto 6th and then 3/4 of the block onto 19th Street. Yikes! It moved pretty well, once it got going. But finding the end of the thing was harrowing in the sense that it seemed infinite.
I also liked the proctor we had in our section for both exams. She was pleasant and appropriately bored-yet-responsive to the examinees. She also had a personal chic that I can only describe as post-Goth. Like, the Goth kid grows up, ditches the eye-liner and navel-gazing, keeps the spikey accoutrements, kickin' wallet chain, and all-black aesthetic, and goes to work for a state testing agency. Nice.
I had about an hour and half between tests, so I grabbed some lunch and then cruised the Barnes & Noble for a while. I managed not to buy any books, but this was mostly because you can get them for half price on Amazon, so why pay full list in the store if you don't have to? That made me think of something my boss said: that she and some of the sales people are convinced Barnes & Noble will be out of business in the next five to ten years. I don't know how I feel about that. I like bookstores a lot. Although, I prefer bookstores where I can get the titles I seek for something a little closer to the e-discount, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Barnes & Noble went under. I do know that their DVD section prices suck even worse than the books. The books are being sold at list, so it's not entirely their fault (though they do buy at a discount, usually a pretty good one); but their DVDs are being sold at list plus a mark-up. I glanced through their TV on DVD selections, and their season sets were marked a good 10-15% higher than the same titles at BestBuy. And they don't come close to comparing with the deal you could get down at J&R or, if you're willing to wait for the mail--which, unlike with books, I am usually not--the Amazon rate. Come on, people.
However, it is nice to have a place to go and touch books that I might one day like to read. I'm a very tactile person. I like to hold things. I like to physically flip a book over to its back cover and/or touch the pages to see if I want to purchase it. I will pay more for a different edition of the same title if it is printed on good paper. I couldn't find Don DeLillo's newest, which was disappointing. And, as ever, they had no significant or interesting media studies titles (at least that I could find). But I did finally remember to cruise the Neil Gaiman titles. Those of you in the know, which of his do you recommend I start with? Also, I would like to check out some graphic novels. Aside from Watchmen which I swear I will read as soon as I have some free time, what's good?
Now, I'm going to pop in some DVDs and totally veg for the rest of the day/evening. My brain is tired. And, since I've been up since 5:30, the rest of me is pretty tired too.
I was reading my pocket-sized Constitution (and the Declaration of Independence--another kick-ass piece of writing, especially if you dig hyperbole as much as I do) during my breaks today. I swear, no matter how many times I read the Preamble, I still get a little tingle up my spine and a smile on my face. Take that, tyranny! Take that, inequality! Take that, injustice! It's one of those rare cases where the intent really does outweigh the finished product. The finished product, in this case, didn't count women as citizens or slaves as whole people. But the intent, "a more perfect union," was and is more powerful than even the most ignorant prejudice. Because the very same document that decreed over half the population of these United States as "less than" or "not even" was self-aware enough to provide for redress of its shortcomings so that those disenfranchised groups would [eventually] get their due. Gush, gush, dork, dork.
Moving on.
I did my state exams today. I think I did pretty well on both of them, actually. I didn't find any of the multiple choice questions overly challenging. There were a handful on the second test that I couldn't figure either the right answer or the answer the test wanted, so I guessed. But anybody who ever saw me Quiz Team--which, actually, I don't think any of you people would have--knows that I am a preternaturally good guesser.
As for the essays, the first exam had a prompt regarding junk food vending machines in schools. Happily, I already had a pretty well-defined opinion on this topic. And the prompt wanted a persuasive response, which I feel very comfortable with. So that was a'ight.
The second exam, the one that was more heavily focused on literacy instruction, had a prompt that was nearly identical in form to one of the practice tests I took. So that was nice. I did misread a section at first and thus ended up having to rewrite the last half of that essay. However, at least I caught the error. And, otherwise, I didn't feel like it was a problem. I think I learned the appropriate jargon well-enough to sound like I knew what I was talking about. I guess I'll find out in 2-5 weeks.
When all was said and done, though, I got out of there a full two hours early. Actually, as I type this, the second exam still has 25 minutes to go.
Notables of the day, included finding a line to get into this thing this morning that stretched from mid-block on 18th Street around onto 6th and then 3/4 of the block onto 19th Street. Yikes! It moved pretty well, once it got going. But finding the end of the thing was harrowing in the sense that it seemed infinite.
I also liked the proctor we had in our section for both exams. She was pleasant and appropriately bored-yet-responsive to the examinees. She also had a personal chic that I can only describe as post-Goth. Like, the Goth kid grows up, ditches the eye-liner and navel-gazing, keeps the spikey accoutrements, kickin' wallet chain, and all-black aesthetic, and goes to work for a state testing agency. Nice.
I had about an hour and half between tests, so I grabbed some lunch and then cruised the Barnes & Noble for a while. I managed not to buy any books, but this was mostly because you can get them for half price on Amazon, so why pay full list in the store if you don't have to? That made me think of something my boss said: that she and some of the sales people are convinced Barnes & Noble will be out of business in the next five to ten years. I don't know how I feel about that. I like bookstores a lot. Although, I prefer bookstores where I can get the titles I seek for something a little closer to the e-discount, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Barnes & Noble went under. I do know that their DVD section prices suck even worse than the books. The books are being sold at list, so it's not entirely their fault (though they do buy at a discount, usually a pretty good one); but their DVDs are being sold at list plus a mark-up. I glanced through their TV on DVD selections, and their season sets were marked a good 10-15% higher than the same titles at BestBuy. And they don't come close to comparing with the deal you could get down at J&R or, if you're willing to wait for the mail--which, unlike with books, I am usually not--the Amazon rate. Come on, people.
However, it is nice to have a place to go and touch books that I might one day like to read. I'm a very tactile person. I like to hold things. I like to physically flip a book over to its back cover and/or touch the pages to see if I want to purchase it. I will pay more for a different edition of the same title if it is printed on good paper. I couldn't find Don DeLillo's newest, which was disappointing. And, as ever, they had no significant or interesting media studies titles (at least that I could find). But I did finally remember to cruise the Neil Gaiman titles. Those of you in the know, which of his do you recommend I start with? Also, I would like to check out some graphic novels. Aside from Watchmen which I swear I will read as soon as I have some free time, what's good?
Now, I'm going to pop in some DVDs and totally veg for the rest of the day/evening. My brain is tired. And, since I've been up since 5:30, the rest of me is pretty tired too.