Meme time
After an interesting party day (among other things, I managed to get a decent-feeling, semi-expensive pair of shoe/sandal hybrid beforehand after my current pair got... well... affected by intense waves) I'll just do an interview meme with the following rules:
- Comment to be interviewed.
- I’ll respond by asking you five questions so I can get to know you better.
- Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
- Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.
I was interviewed by scarletladyy, daydream11, sweetthumbelina, and bodha; here are my questions and answers:
1. What are your goals in life?
I have driven people crazy when I insisted that I cared a lot more about being successful in what I did than the specific nature of what I was actually doing. So I'll be vague here: I want to have a comfortable lifestyle based on being one of the best people in my field - or even inventing a new niche (like my old idea of running a business involving teaching people how to pass actuarial exams). In 5 years I should know more about my direction: having seen a number of dreams die lately, there have to be some new ones rising out of the ashes!
2. What historical figures fascinate you and why?
I have to admit that after A LOT of thinking I couldn't find any, really! I will say that I have a bust of Chopin on my desk (given by my piano teacher back in 1993) because I loved - and still do love - his style of music, though...
3. What's your favourite book and why?
Again, a very very very hard one: for now I'll say The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for its sheer hilarity and irony.
4. How did you get into Harry Potter?
FINALLY an easy one! Taken from 2 years ago...
Between 1998 and 2007 I had diligently avoided everything associated with Harry Potter because I had thought that it (like, say, Pokemon or 'N SYNC) was part of a culture aimed at people five to ten years younger than myself.
Things changed in the summer of 2007, when I was working in the boring town of Los Alamos, which, among other things, preferred to go to bed before 10 PM... until the day Deathly Hallows came out. Amazingly, these people were actually willing to stay up and party in time for a midnight release, which made me decide that maybe HP was enjoyable after all (after all, how bad can anything that induces early birds to stay up later be?)
Two days later, I bought the first book in the series, plowed through it, and finished the entire series within the week; it was like discovering a cool new club at 1:57 AM.
5. If you could hang out with any fictional character, who would it be and why?
There's an obvious answer (Bellatrix so she can do unspeakable things to me) but that's TOO obvious. Let's see: Nick Twisp (Youth In Revolt) would be tempting but he's a bit TOO wild for my taste.
Really, to hang out with - though - I'll say someone from HP who has been given nearly no mention in canon largely because she's so secretive: Andromeda Black. She managed to survive everything even if she might have been an obvious target to the rest of her family... and, she looks exactly like Bellatrix so she would be great to fool around with afterwards!
6) Who was your favorite teacher in school, before college?
I don't think I have a #1 favorite at all; there are quite a few I liked from the old days - for a number of reasons: let me just give you a list of a few that I *loved*, starting in eighth grade, and why:
8th grade social studies: Mr. Higdon - after a REALLY bad social studies class in 7th grade (old, boring lecturer using out of date notes and projects which he hadn't changed since like the 1970s), it was refreshing to have an inspiring teacher who made history seem interesting for what it was - as a story of things that were connected together and led to where we were today instead of as a long list of boring facts to memorize - challenged us... and, more importantly, let us fail and allowed us to recover from our mistakes. Finally, it was from him that I really learned how history books weren't always correct - and that each author had a personal slant on things that we needed to realize if we wanted to understand what was actually going on.
9th-12th grade Latin (with Greek mixed in): Magister McCarron - essentially a Sirius Black clone who, while an effective Latin teacher at least one year, entertained us with interesting rants about school politics and plenty of other things. When Christmas parties in school were banned, the Magister's response was to throw a Saturnalia party instead - and during my last year I remember switching from reading sexual poetry about a "passer"/sparrow to "Tres Porcelli" (the 3 little pigs - in Latin!) Yes, he did a lot of things I didn't like... but the fact that I DID return for all four years of his class says a lot.
9th-12th grade Independent Research/Mentorship: Dr. Bezilla - who had the policy that we could do whatever we wanted in her class BUT the real work was done at home in our own time (or going to our mentorship, which, in my case, was at College Park). It was in her class that I learned the joy of The Onion (back in 1997)... and it was also her class that allowed me to do a personal project of taking AP Physics in 1999-2000 when it was not offered (inviting a UMBC prof to come to give me a private lesson a week during that period out of a college text).
10th-12th grade German: Frau Pigo - even if she did get a bit old near the end, she was a very energetic teacher with an interesting style; in her 3 years I managed to attain a REALLY high level of proficiency in German and enjoy doing it (and from the first day I learned: "Deutsche Klasse ist die beste Klasse!")
10th-11th grade Chemistry: Ms. Schulman - THE SEVERUS SNAPE OF WILDE LAKE HIGH SCHOOL... and I was, in effect, her Draco. That should say it all right there: chemistry would possibly be my absolute favorite class even if she did NOT try to rig the votes to get me elected Homecoming Prince in 1998 (I fell short by seven votes).
12th grade French: Madame Kogut - imagine an old-school Slytherin, who strongly values blood and ability but is most frustrated by people who don't try AT ALL, giving French lessons... and whose ultimate criticism of me is that I only took her for one year instead of three (my ninth grade French class was so bad that I stopped taking that language for a couple years somewhere in there). My BEST memory of that class was that one Thursday, snow caused school to be closed three hours early but by the time I got to my car it was so snowy I was barely able to go in a straight line to the mall with my car then trapped in a parking spot. I now had the perfect idea for a "news" presentation I would give the next day in class - knowing that Mme Kogut HATED "news" stories about going to the mall, I warned her ahead of time to wait past the first few words because this one would be different from the usual mall story... mine began "Je suis alle au Centre Commerciale de Columbia, mais ce n'etait pas mon choix." as I moved on to talking about the snow storm and being stranded; needless to say, she loved it.
12th grade English: Mr. Cramer - a HILARIOUS instructor who led exactly the class I was looking for after years of obnoxious "gifted and talented" assignments... covering a huge number of interesting topics from Greek philosophy to the Modest Proposal (I wrote my own modest proposal about how ALL candidates should be banned from debates - in the aftermath of Nader having been banned in Fall 00) to Hamlet (I had read it before in 10th grade - but here was I learned how much Hamlet's life SUCKED) as book and film to 1984... ending with a course on how to use PowerPoint. Oh, and did I mention that despite this not being the AP class, I aced the AP exam anyway?
7) If you were given the opportunity to settle in either Finland or Buenos Ares for
good with the perfect job, which place would you choose and why?
BUENOS AIRES: I have famliy there, the winter is not quite as bad, everything is a lot cheaper due to a weaker currency - one of the few that deliberately TRIES to be weaker than the dollar (though maybe that's an argument for working in Finland, getting paid in euros and living in Buenos Aires?)... and I feel tall in Buenos Aires and short in Finland due to the Finns being way taller than the portenos on average.
8) Who is your favorite character ever?
Not the most literary character ever but I'll go with Curious George. I grew up on the original seven George books and I simply *loved* the way that he was able to use his charm and ingenuity to get out of any situation caused by his own curiosity. He even managed to get into space! Learning that you can get out of problems caused by wanting to know stuff still gives me hope that I can succeed in my own life...
9) If you could choose any other astrological sign to be, which one would you choose and why?
My Sun sign is Taurus, but my rising and moon signs are both Scorpios (or at least on the cusp)... and thinking about it, as good a fit as Taurus is, I am much more of a water element than an earth even if earth is a strong #2. Considering that the vast majority of my most intense crushes end up being Scorpios, I would totally choose that sign if I had to switch!
10) If you were able to choose, would you want your only child to be a boy or a
girl, and what would you name him/her?
Amazingly, for everything else I've planned... I simply have no idea. On the one hand I might want to ensure my family line goes on (the only other person who can pass on my family name, my younger brother, seems even less ready to settle down than me) and think I might do better with a boy like myself. On the other hand... you've made a good case before for me doing better with a girl (easier to spoil). And, further, I have no idea on what to name my kid yet; probably a name generally recognized as cool and sexy but not too trendy (and DEFINITELY not tied to a particular time period, so "Jennifer" is out - for example... though I could see myself naming a son Jason despite its affiliation with a very narrow time window); when I have a spouse or even a significant other THEN I can talk.
11) Did you have a "dream job" when you were a child?
When I was young it was the vague job of being a "research scientist" (discovering the cure for cancer, predictability for the weather, etc...) as I had a vague suspicion that as good as I was at math in school, I didn't want to make my career to be *just* math.
12) What is your favorite place that you have visited/lived in?
I'm thinking of a vacation I went on back in 1995 to Costa Rica; gorgeous weather (even in December) and animals, crazy monkeys throwing coconuts, amazing waterfalls (things I LOVE) and delicious tropical fruits and their associated smoothies - along with great beaches to boot! Not a place I'd want to live in, but it WAS a great vacation...
13) Why did you go to Harvard for your undergraduate studies?
In essence: my parents put a lot of pressure on me and I didn't feel I had a choice, even if I knew ahead of time that I would be struggling to tread water socially (and, as it turned out, academically as well) and that I would not find ANY mathematics in the area I wanted to study (though even I couldn't guess that I'd run out of those courses 2.5 years in)... see http://mmailliw.livejournal.com/50212.html for more detail.
Had I only KNOWN I could apply to Oxbridge as well...
14) Recommend something for ME. :-)
Looking at your classical music interests - I would recommend my favorite 19th century musician: Frederic Chopin... maybe start by listening to this prelude -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsKwtXgFo24 ?
15) What sparked your love for mathematics?
First of all, keep in mind it's been a LONG time since I truly 'loved' mathematics - and that was only a narrow window when I loved it... but that time period when I did (age 16-20) was sparked by a summer program called MathCamp in which I saw that proofs didn't have to be long and tedious (nice one line ways to solve problems)... of course, third year undergrad problems have nothing to do with ACTUAL mathematics... cf http://mmailliw.livejournal.com/156943.html for when I was faling IN love and
http://mmailliw.livejournal.com/202090.html for when I was falling OUT of love
16) Where would you like to live eventually - any specific city, or state, or country?
Seeing as I am VERY far from settling down at the moment, this is a really hard question: after all, I spent from age 15-21 dreaming of living in Southern California, and almost as soon as I moved there I quickly dreamed of getting out! And a lot of tempting places would be REALLY hard to permanently settle down (especially the ones outside of North America). So I'll answer with my most recent city!crush: Seattle, Washington. I was only there through an airport while going to give talks at WSU, but the airport itself (from the intriguing artwork and musical water fountains subsidized by the city to the reasonable pricing forced by the city government to the amazing seafood and chocolate) indicates that the city itself must be great! PLUS, in many ways it seems like the exact opposite of LA in terms of real vs. vapid...
17) What irritates you the most about other people? (Apart from their lack of ambition.)
I want to be vague and say total douchebags - or maybe pseudo-elitists who are like "you're not worthy, even though I suck". But these are only minor short-term annoyances that sting; the true "winner" here will be one that injures far deeper: the attitude that the only thing that matters for someone in a career is that they get to do something they love. In my field, many people do not care about their actual prospects of success (or about whether they can earn a decent living, for that matter) as long as they're doing mathematics in any form at a university.
To me, this is about as ridiculous as someone who really loves cooking but isn't any good at it working at an entry-level job at McDonald's for their whole life just because they get paid to do something they love!
Worse, when more people in my field who are willing to accept crappy conditions and low prospects for advancement, employers have to offer less to people entering the field (when overqualified people are wiling to accept low-tier adjunct positions, why do universities need to create *real* positions?) There's a reason why the career trajectory for a typical academic in economics is so much better than that in mathematics... it's because the academics in economics have figured this out!
18) What were the best things about living in L.A.?
The fact that the weather never got awful (even if it wasn't as perfect as the ads said), being able to sleep in and stay up three hours later relative to the east coast (as hard as it made staying in contact with people), and all sorts of delicious food options - many of which were surprisingly cheap.
19) What country/city is on top of your places that you still want to visit (but haven't yet), and why?
I have never been to Australia yet and it seems like it would be a fascinating place to visit: although it's really far away from where I am and would be a long trip, everyone speaks English so I would be able to get around just fine. Also, my brother spent a good amount of time there for his performance and he loved it (and had GREAT things to say about Qantas as well - even coach service... which DOES seem to reflect on the character of the country as a whole).
20) What do you think of Rubeus Hagrid?
So many people either love him or completely hate him... and I feel that both feelings are out of place. Sure, he can't keep a secret worth crap - but he's a MUCH better teacher than many people think (and the students definitely learned from him). Yes, one of his research projects - which he tried to turn into coursework - backfired miserably, but how many professors who are struggling to get tenure do the same? And yes, it's awesome what he did to the Dursleys... but he trusted Dumbledore a little too much in my opinion - but that's another story entirely (DD is not the character you're interviewing me on). And, yes, his life was sabotaged from a young age which you can't blame him for... but you CAN blame him for - largely - having his emotional development *stop* right at that age.
- Comment to be interviewed.
- I’ll respond by asking you five questions so I can get to know you better.
- Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
- Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.
I was interviewed by scarletladyy, daydream11, sweetthumbelina, and bodha; here are my questions and answers:
1. What are your goals in life?
I have driven people crazy when I insisted that I cared a lot more about being successful in what I did than the specific nature of what I was actually doing. So I'll be vague here: I want to have a comfortable lifestyle based on being one of the best people in my field - or even inventing a new niche (like my old idea of running a business involving teaching people how to pass actuarial exams). In 5 years I should know more about my direction: having seen a number of dreams die lately, there have to be some new ones rising out of the ashes!
2. What historical figures fascinate you and why?
I have to admit that after A LOT of thinking I couldn't find any, really! I will say that I have a bust of Chopin on my desk (given by my piano teacher back in 1993) because I loved - and still do love - his style of music, though...
3. What's your favourite book and why?
Again, a very very very hard one: for now I'll say The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for its sheer hilarity and irony.
4. How did you get into Harry Potter?
FINALLY an easy one! Taken from 2 years ago...
Between 1998 and 2007 I had diligently avoided everything associated with Harry Potter because I had thought that it (like, say, Pokemon or 'N SYNC) was part of a culture aimed at people five to ten years younger than myself.
Things changed in the summer of 2007, when I was working in the boring town of Los Alamos, which, among other things, preferred to go to bed before 10 PM... until the day Deathly Hallows came out. Amazingly, these people were actually willing to stay up and party in time for a midnight release, which made me decide that maybe HP was enjoyable after all (after all, how bad can anything that induces early birds to stay up later be?)
Two days later, I bought the first book in the series, plowed through it, and finished the entire series within the week; it was like discovering a cool new club at 1:57 AM.
5. If you could hang out with any fictional character, who would it be and why?
There's an obvious answer (Bellatrix so she can do unspeakable things to me) but that's TOO obvious. Let's see: Nick Twisp (Youth In Revolt) would be tempting but he's a bit TOO wild for my taste.
Really, to hang out with - though - I'll say someone from HP who has been given nearly no mention in canon largely because she's so secretive: Andromeda Black. She managed to survive everything even if she might have been an obvious target to the rest of her family... and, she looks exactly like Bellatrix so she would be great to fool around with afterwards!
6) Who was your favorite teacher in school, before college?
I don't think I have a #1 favorite at all; there are quite a few I liked from the old days - for a number of reasons: let me just give you a list of a few that I *loved*, starting in eighth grade, and why:
8th grade social studies: Mr. Higdon - after a REALLY bad social studies class in 7th grade (old, boring lecturer using out of date notes and projects which he hadn't changed since like the 1970s), it was refreshing to have an inspiring teacher who made history seem interesting for what it was - as a story of things that were connected together and led to where we were today instead of as a long list of boring facts to memorize - challenged us... and, more importantly, let us fail and allowed us to recover from our mistakes. Finally, it was from him that I really learned how history books weren't always correct - and that each author had a personal slant on things that we needed to realize if we wanted to understand what was actually going on.
9th-12th grade Latin (with Greek mixed in): Magister McCarron - essentially a Sirius Black clone who, while an effective Latin teacher at least one year, entertained us with interesting rants about school politics and plenty of other things. When Christmas parties in school were banned, the Magister's response was to throw a Saturnalia party instead - and during my last year I remember switching from reading sexual poetry about a "passer"/sparrow to "Tres Porcelli" (the 3 little pigs - in Latin!) Yes, he did a lot of things I didn't like... but the fact that I DID return for all four years of his class says a lot.
9th-12th grade Independent Research/Mentorship: Dr. Bezilla - who had the policy that we could do whatever we wanted in her class BUT the real work was done at home in our own time (or going to our mentorship, which, in my case, was at College Park). It was in her class that I learned the joy of The Onion (back in 1997)... and it was also her class that allowed me to do a personal project of taking AP Physics in 1999-2000 when it was not offered (inviting a UMBC prof to come to give me a private lesson a week during that period out of a college text).
10th-12th grade German: Frau Pigo - even if she did get a bit old near the end, she was a very energetic teacher with an interesting style; in her 3 years I managed to attain a REALLY high level of proficiency in German and enjoy doing it (and from the first day I learned: "Deutsche Klasse ist die beste Klasse!")
10th-11th grade Chemistry: Ms. Schulman - THE SEVERUS SNAPE OF WILDE LAKE HIGH SCHOOL... and I was, in effect, her Draco. That should say it all right there: chemistry would possibly be my absolute favorite class even if she did NOT try to rig the votes to get me elected Homecoming Prince in 1998 (I fell short by seven votes).
12th grade French: Madame Kogut - imagine an old-school Slytherin, who strongly values blood and ability but is most frustrated by people who don't try AT ALL, giving French lessons... and whose ultimate criticism of me is that I only took her for one year instead of three (my ninth grade French class was so bad that I stopped taking that language for a couple years somewhere in there). My BEST memory of that class was that one Thursday, snow caused school to be closed three hours early but by the time I got to my car it was so snowy I was barely able to go in a straight line to the mall with my car then trapped in a parking spot. I now had the perfect idea for a "news" presentation I would give the next day in class - knowing that Mme Kogut HATED "news" stories about going to the mall, I warned her ahead of time to wait past the first few words because this one would be different from the usual mall story... mine began "Je suis alle au Centre Commerciale de Columbia, mais ce n'etait pas mon choix." as I moved on to talking about the snow storm and being stranded; needless to say, she loved it.
12th grade English: Mr. Cramer - a HILARIOUS instructor who led exactly the class I was looking for after years of obnoxious "gifted and talented" assignments... covering a huge number of interesting topics from Greek philosophy to the Modest Proposal (I wrote my own modest proposal about how ALL candidates should be banned from debates - in the aftermath of Nader having been banned in Fall 00) to Hamlet (I had read it before in 10th grade - but here was I learned how much Hamlet's life SUCKED) as book and film to 1984... ending with a course on how to use PowerPoint. Oh, and did I mention that despite this not being the AP class, I aced the AP exam anyway?
7) If you were given the opportunity to settle in either Finland or Buenos Ares for
good with the perfect job, which place would you choose and why?
BUENOS AIRES: I have famliy there, the winter is not quite as bad, everything is a lot cheaper due to a weaker currency - one of the few that deliberately TRIES to be weaker than the dollar (though maybe that's an argument for working in Finland, getting paid in euros and living in Buenos Aires?)... and I feel tall in Buenos Aires and short in Finland due to the Finns being way taller than the portenos on average.
8) Who is your favorite character ever?
Not the most literary character ever but I'll go with Curious George. I grew up on the original seven George books and I simply *loved* the way that he was able to use his charm and ingenuity to get out of any situation caused by his own curiosity. He even managed to get into space! Learning that you can get out of problems caused by wanting to know stuff still gives me hope that I can succeed in my own life...
9) If you could choose any other astrological sign to be, which one would you choose and why?
My Sun sign is Taurus, but my rising and moon signs are both Scorpios (or at least on the cusp)... and thinking about it, as good a fit as Taurus is, I am much more of a water element than an earth even if earth is a strong #2. Considering that the vast majority of my most intense crushes end up being Scorpios, I would totally choose that sign if I had to switch!
10) If you were able to choose, would you want your only child to be a boy or a
girl, and what would you name him/her?
Amazingly, for everything else I've planned... I simply have no idea. On the one hand I might want to ensure my family line goes on (the only other person who can pass on my family name, my younger brother, seems even less ready to settle down than me) and think I might do better with a boy like myself. On the other hand... you've made a good case before for me doing better with a girl (easier to spoil). And, further, I have no idea on what to name my kid yet; probably a name generally recognized as cool and sexy but not too trendy (and DEFINITELY not tied to a particular time period, so "Jennifer" is out - for example... though I could see myself naming a son Jason despite its affiliation with a very narrow time window); when I have a spouse or even a significant other THEN I can talk.
11) Did you have a "dream job" when you were a child?
When I was young it was the vague job of being a "research scientist" (discovering the cure for cancer, predictability for the weather, etc...) as I had a vague suspicion that as good as I was at math in school, I didn't want to make my career to be *just* math.
12) What is your favorite place that you have visited/lived in?
I'm thinking of a vacation I went on back in 1995 to Costa Rica; gorgeous weather (even in December) and animals, crazy monkeys throwing coconuts, amazing waterfalls (things I LOVE) and delicious tropical fruits and their associated smoothies - along with great beaches to boot! Not a place I'd want to live in, but it WAS a great vacation...
13) Why did you go to Harvard for your undergraduate studies?
In essence: my parents put a lot of pressure on me and I didn't feel I had a choice, even if I knew ahead of time that I would be struggling to tread water socially (and, as it turned out, academically as well) and that I would not find ANY mathematics in the area I wanted to study (though even I couldn't guess that I'd run out of those courses 2.5 years in)... see http://mmailliw.livejournal.com/50212.html for more detail.
Had I only KNOWN I could apply to Oxbridge as well...
14) Recommend something for ME. :-)
Looking at your classical music interests - I would recommend my favorite 19th century musician: Frederic Chopin... maybe start by listening to this prelude -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsKwtXgFo24 ?
15) What sparked your love for mathematics?
First of all, keep in mind it's been a LONG time since I truly 'loved' mathematics - and that was only a narrow window when I loved it... but that time period when I did (age 16-20) was sparked by a summer program called MathCamp in which I saw that proofs didn't have to be long and tedious (nice one line ways to solve problems)... of course, third year undergrad problems have nothing to do with ACTUAL mathematics... cf http://mmailliw.livejournal.com/156943.html for when I was faling IN love and
http://mmailliw.livejournal.com/202090.html for when I was falling OUT of love
16) Where would you like to live eventually - any specific city, or state, or country?
Seeing as I am VERY far from settling down at the moment, this is a really hard question: after all, I spent from age 15-21 dreaming of living in Southern California, and almost as soon as I moved there I quickly dreamed of getting out! And a lot of tempting places would be REALLY hard to permanently settle down (especially the ones outside of North America). So I'll answer with my most recent city!crush: Seattle, Washington. I was only there through an airport while going to give talks at WSU, but the airport itself (from the intriguing artwork and musical water fountains subsidized by the city to the reasonable pricing forced by the city government to the amazing seafood and chocolate) indicates that the city itself must be great! PLUS, in many ways it seems like the exact opposite of LA in terms of real vs. vapid...
17) What irritates you the most about other people? (Apart from their lack of ambition.)
I want to be vague and say total douchebags - or maybe pseudo-elitists who are like "you're not worthy, even though I suck". But these are only minor short-term annoyances that sting; the true "winner" here will be one that injures far deeper: the attitude that the only thing that matters for someone in a career is that they get to do something they love. In my field, many people do not care about their actual prospects of success (or about whether they can earn a decent living, for that matter) as long as they're doing mathematics in any form at a university.
To me, this is about as ridiculous as someone who really loves cooking but isn't any good at it working at an entry-level job at McDonald's for their whole life just because they get paid to do something they love!
Worse, when more people in my field who are willing to accept crappy conditions and low prospects for advancement, employers have to offer less to people entering the field (when overqualified people are wiling to accept low-tier adjunct positions, why do universities need to create *real* positions?) There's a reason why the career trajectory for a typical academic in economics is so much better than that in mathematics... it's because the academics in economics have figured this out!
18) What were the best things about living in L.A.?
The fact that the weather never got awful (even if it wasn't as perfect as the ads said), being able to sleep in and stay up three hours later relative to the east coast (as hard as it made staying in contact with people), and all sorts of delicious food options - many of which were surprisingly cheap.
19) What country/city is on top of your places that you still want to visit (but haven't yet), and why?
I have never been to Australia yet and it seems like it would be a fascinating place to visit: although it's really far away from where I am and would be a long trip, everyone speaks English so I would be able to get around just fine. Also, my brother spent a good amount of time there for his performance and he loved it (and had GREAT things to say about Qantas as well - even coach service... which DOES seem to reflect on the character of the country as a whole).
20) What do you think of Rubeus Hagrid?
So many people either love him or completely hate him... and I feel that both feelings are out of place. Sure, he can't keep a secret worth crap - but he's a MUCH better teacher than many people think (and the students definitely learned from him). Yes, one of his research projects - which he tried to turn into coursework - backfired miserably, but how many professors who are struggling to get tenure do the same? And yes, it's awesome what he did to the Dursleys... but he trusted Dumbledore a little too much in my opinion - but that's another story entirely (DD is not the character you're interviewing me on). And, yes, his life was sabotaged from a young age which you can't blame him for... but you CAN blame him for - largely - having his emotional development *stop* right at that age.