And shepards we shall be...
Alrighty, I'm going to try and keep this one brief, and sadly, rather limited in politics and relevance. My classes started up Monday, and I'm still a little sick from last weekend. I'm on a different antibiotic now, which will hopefully prove more effective than the first. Classes are okay, I'm getting a little stressed, but no big deal. I have the same lecture and lab teachers for Biology II that I had for Bio I, which is neat. My American Government teacher (she's a lawyer, actually) is interesting, and I think I will like her, but it's too early to tell. My ethics teacher is a pretty funny guy, and while I was certain I would hate the class (come on. Ethics. Lots of writing about nothing...) as I read the book it may actually prove to be quite interesting. I don't have many stories to tell as of yet (only been to two classes of each), except perhaps one from American Government... This one is kind of rambly, so feel free to skip over it. I'm just still mad about it.
I found this exercise to be frustrating, to incredibly understate it. The class was broken up into groups of 4 to discuss and answer 5 questions on the meaning of being "American". The first question was to define what it was that being "American" meant to you. For the sake of privacy, all names have been changed. Rom, an older gentleman with an outgoing and humorous attitude answered "rights and freedoms". I followed up on that, saying that being American to me meant having a responsibility to defend the rights that we perceive having in whatever way we feel best. I further reasoned that the conflicts within America are rooted in the fact that people have different beliefs on what those rights are, as well as the best way to defend them. Yes, that's actually what I said, I'm going to be a real joy in this class. A girl, I can't quite recall her name right now, stated that she didn't know what made someone "American", "I guess being born there". I tried to help her clarify her position, offering "What about people who move here" to which she replied that there was a test for the immigrants, and when I mentioned that people born in the US don't have to take a test (what a shame), she said "I don't know!" and that was the end of that. But oh no. It doesn't stop there. Then we go on to Bulia, er, Rulia. Whatever. She says something along the lines of "Stupid, materialistic". Now, that's all good and great, I know, nobody likes Americans, I sure don't. But that's... not really an answer to the question. So I say, "Ah, so it's personality traits that define Americans" and she replies by repeating herself and throwing in "greedy" or somesuch. I protest, saying "Right, but--" and she yells at me to not tell her how to think, and the other girl joins in shouting "There's no right or wrong, there's no right or wrong!" at me. At that point I just shut up and thought "DIE SOON" as loud as I could. I don't my wish will be granted, so I intend to sit somewhere else when I go in today, since permanent seats are being assigned and it wouldn't be pretty if I kept getting stuck with those two for every group project over the semester.
In random news, I recently watched a few films, all very good. "Boondock Saints" is a masterpiece of action and dark humour, with pulp religion thrown in for good measure. High marks. "The Killer" is the essential Chow Yun Fat / John Woo offering, plenty of action built on a foundation of drama and morality. Very interesting. Very good.
Because I need to maintain an air of professionalism, I'll point you all to an interesting op-ed piece I read in the St.Pete Times. "The Rambo Coalition" by Paul Kruger. It is very interesting, I assure you. When I get some free time and energy, I think my next political post will be on my dislike for organizations like Rock The Vote the aim to mobilize young voters. While these organizations have a good idea, in practice it just doesn't work well. I'll elaborate further some other time.
I found this exercise to be frustrating, to incredibly understate it. The class was broken up into groups of 4 to discuss and answer 5 questions on the meaning of being "American". The first question was to define what it was that being "American" meant to you. For the sake of privacy, all names have been changed. Rom, an older gentleman with an outgoing and humorous attitude answered "rights and freedoms". I followed up on that, saying that being American to me meant having a responsibility to defend the rights that we perceive having in whatever way we feel best. I further reasoned that the conflicts within America are rooted in the fact that people have different beliefs on what those rights are, as well as the best way to defend them. Yes, that's actually what I said, I'm going to be a real joy in this class. A girl, I can't quite recall her name right now, stated that she didn't know what made someone "American", "I guess being born there". I tried to help her clarify her position, offering "What about people who move here" to which she replied that there was a test for the immigrants, and when I mentioned that people born in the US don't have to take a test (what a shame), she said "I don't know!" and that was the end of that. But oh no. It doesn't stop there. Then we go on to Bulia, er, Rulia. Whatever. She says something along the lines of "Stupid, materialistic". Now, that's all good and great, I know, nobody likes Americans, I sure don't. But that's... not really an answer to the question. So I say, "Ah, so it's personality traits that define Americans" and she replies by repeating herself and throwing in "greedy" or somesuch. I protest, saying "Right, but--" and she yells at me to not tell her how to think, and the other girl joins in shouting "There's no right or wrong, there's no right or wrong!" at me. At that point I just shut up and thought "DIE SOON" as loud as I could. I don't my wish will be granted, so I intend to sit somewhere else when I go in today, since permanent seats are being assigned and it wouldn't be pretty if I kept getting stuck with those two for every group project over the semester.
In random news, I recently watched a few films, all very good. "Boondock Saints" is a masterpiece of action and dark humour, with pulp religion thrown in for good measure. High marks. "The Killer" is the essential Chow Yun Fat / John Woo offering, plenty of action built on a foundation of drama and morality. Very interesting. Very good.
Because I need to maintain an air of professionalism, I'll point you all to an interesting op-ed piece I read in the St.Pete Times. "The Rambo Coalition" by Paul Kruger. It is very interesting, I assure you. When I get some free time and energy, I think my next political post will be on my dislike for organizations like Rock The Vote the aim to mobilize young voters. While these organizations have a good idea, in practice it just doesn't work well. I'll elaborate further some other time.