Camps

CYC is this week, this is the 3rd or 4th year I haven't gone.  My chinese school asked if I wanted to be a volunteer there this year, but I had to intern, not like I would have been doin anything interseting anyways.  In fact, I didn't do any camps this summer, no YLC nor BYC.  I like the whole idea of camps though, a couple of days away from home, where you could meet new people and be on your own without your parents breathing down your back.  A chance for counselors to mentor and demonstrate thier leadership to younger kids.  They might extend BYC to a week after their new site is complete and well hopefully CYC will eventually allow old people like me to come back as an advisor, CYC-Dallas already does, we should too.  Camps are great!    

YAY...I got an interview for a fall internship with Public Strategies Inc., a public relations and political consulting firm based right here in Austin.  They do public policy work for everyone from the small town politician to Fortune 500 companes. This is just the thing I wanted to do. The recruiter wanted writting sample,  I have plenty of writtings but I have no clue which ones to select.  I hope I get this internship, but this means that I can't take that job with the law firm if I decide to go with PSI.  Oh well, the law firm hasn't gotten back to me yet, it's not a job where you can learn much; the pay is good.  But I gladly take a pay cut and actually participate in something that I've always wanted to get into then to just do something for the money. It's truly not all about the money, money is nice, but if you have no passion in your career I don't think you can truly do it for a lifetime and enjoy it.  I see so many people who goto work everyday and they hate every moment of it.  I'd rather be happy.  I want to dread retirement when the time comes.

"Holding anger is a problem. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person that harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade.  And the harm we do, we do to ourselves."  
                                               -- Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet in Heaven

I wish I was this smart.

Socio-economic Reasons for Obesity

The problem with obesity goes further then a simple issue of prevention.  For many, the greatest barrier to weight control lies with socio-economic status.   In the June 7, 2004 issue of Time magazine, there was an article entitled Not Too Rich or Too Thin by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen. The article cites studies that have shown that there is a direct correlation between obesity and family income-- the less money you have, the more likely you are to be overweight.  25% adults below the poverty level are obese.  The effect is even more striking among minorities where 1 in 3 poor African Americans are obese.  
 
This is contrary to conventional wisdom which might say that because of the lack of money individual living in poverty tend to be thin rather then obese.  The truth to the matter is this issue has as much to do with socio-economics as it does with socio-geographics.  The communities in which individuals living under poverty reside in are far different then communities in which you or I have grown-up in.  These inner city communities do not have major grocery chains such as HEB or Randall's.  Rather individuals who live in these communities are forced to primarily buy their groceries from convenience stores or even gas stations.   Where apple flavored airheads are more plentiful then apples themselves.  Fast food becomes a favorable option.  The majority of the underprivileged do not work 9 to 5 jobs; they tend to work odd hours and hence time becomes a great commodity.  Microwaving a hot dog is not only faster then grilling chicken but also cheaper.  As well, individuals living in poorer communities not only do not have access to health clubs or gyms; the idea of having a jog around the neighborhood is unheard of because of the high crime rates surrounding these communities. 
 
The people who are hurt most by this are the children.  When parents are at work the babysitter tends to be television and a large pizza.  By allowing children to play outside you run the risk of exposing your child to gangs and drug dealing.  Urban schools are more likely to strike deals with vending machine companies and cut funding to physical education classes when money gets tight.  Fighting obesity is difficult as it is. Adding poverty to the situation just deepens the problem.    ....for more info.

Dreams and Ambitions

There are some people in this world that just seem like they have no ambitions. They live life day to day, week to week. I can't possibly imagine a life where you have no dreams, no goals. But I suppose without dreams or goals one can never truly be letdown by failure. Unfortunately, the fear of non-success drives even the most motivated people towards mediocrity. People should never surrender simply because its too hard or the chance of disappointment too high. Edison noted that "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." ...But I guess to reach his own.

I hate removing people from my buddylist. Its like saying your no longer my buddy.

I wonder how many kids go: Geee, I wanna be a accountant when I grow up!

Lawyers, Ethics, and World Domination

Someone once told me that there were only two reasons why people became lawyers, either to save the world-- or to take it over, but why do one when you can do both. First, save the world, then, take it over. World domination isn't exactly in my career plans, but I wouldn't mind becoming ruler of the universe, though I think you need more then a law degree to do that.

Lawyers are just as bad as Business people when it comes to ethics. Maybe its 'cause most of their clients are from business. They led them astray. Ambitious lawyer who dreamed of fighting injustice turned towards darkenss by the claws of big business, not to mention big money. Anyways, lawyers have been poorly stereotyped as liars and generally scum of the universe. When in actuality, they aren’t liars at all! Attorney's simply exercising their judicial duty as an officer of the court to ensure the best light always falls upon their client. Now doesn't that sound much better then liar liar?

Learning Good. Grades Bad.

I dont care much for grades. Learning is fun, grades just ruin the fun. I enjoy learning, I dont enjoy grades. They aren't a necessary evil either. UC-Santa Barbara tried a total pass/fail system and was relatively sucessful but was forced to change to a more traditional grading system when students were not being accepted into graduate programs. Supposedly grades provide an incentive for students to study. The fear is without grades students would all become slackers. The idea of learning for the sake of self-enrichment doesn't really exist anymore. Its just hard for me to comprehend how knowledge can be reduced into two digits and how a 79.5 is equal to an 89.4; an 89 is "okay" a 79.5 on the other hand is "you suck". But, no our transcipts dont reflect this fact. How grades are determined irritates me even more (refer to previous post). On a lighter note I got an 'A' in my comm class, though I have to admit I did the minimal amount of work neccesary and was only saved by the curve, yet I've gotten B's in classes which I've gone above any beyond what was required...I wonder what that means? Grades at the end don't measure much yet so much emphasis is placed on them.

Downfall of Critical Thinking

I had a similar conversation earlier in the evening. It seems that our schools, specifically public schools, today are churning out students that substantially lack critcal thinking skills. With America school facing an ever mounting teacher shortage crisis, our classrooms are overcrowding. Simpy for time efficiency sake teachers are forced to administer multiple choice test in subjects where essays or papers might better satisfy pedagogical goals. The concern I have with multiple choice testing is that it seems backwards. Traditiaonlly speaking test questions are created by the teacher while answers are given by the students. In the case of multiple choice testing the test questions and answer are both created by the teacher. Turning multi-choice testing into a teacher focused test rather then student focused. This debunks the argument that multiple choice tests are in fact objective rather then subjective. There is in fact no such thing as an objective test. Though students might prefer multi-choice tests over essays or papers the truth to the matter is essays and papers, specially ones that require the student to advance an argument are better able to teach necessary critical thinking and development skills.

In addition, with the hiring of less and less qualified teacher the use of classroom discussions as a teaching tool is quickly disappearing. No longer are students encouraged to ask questions. Rather critical questions that challenge the status quo posed to lousy instructors are more of a threat to the teachers ego and are seen as defiant to authority then as a educationally useful. Critical discussion of history is crucial to its understanding. The marketplace of ideas dictates that in order for new thoughts to flourish they must undergo scutiny. Students are no longer encouraged to scrutinize class material but rather blindly accept what is taught.

Fahrenhite 9/11

I saw Fahrenhite 9/11 two weeks ago. Shouldn't really consider it a documentary, it was considerably biased, but nevertheless still entertaining. Besides the clearly anti-Bush message, the movie could also be interpreted as a critical critique of the ills inherent in capitalistic societies. Moore portrays greed and money as the driving force that has relagated the poor and disadvantaged into fighting an unjust war that heavily benefits major corporations like Halliburton and Lockheed-Martin. To a certain point I agree. The ever increasing stock prices of these corporation and the bulging pocket books of their shareholders lies with the blood of our military. With individuals that have limited options for education or career advancement the military is sold by recruiters as an impressive option for college money or a point to start a promising career.

Ironically, Moore fails to mention that he is expected to earn millions off of his latest film. As he should. Like, Michael Eisner of Dsiney or others in the film industry Moore is in fact a capitalist and out to profit from his enterprises. Maybe that is why he chooses to clearly focus the film as a docotomy between democrats and republicans, left versus right, a clearly political debate rather then one based upon socio-economics where the haves and have nots are put at odds. Moore is by no means a "have not". He is a "have" and will continue to be one. He would love for you to believe that lining the pockets of republicans is far worse then lining his pockets. This may or may not be true who really knows? All in all the movie was entertaining and for the most part I enjoy warching Michael Moore. Supposedly his next film will deal with the ills of big business.

Leaving the Familiar

It is this idea that most ppl connect with. Its the realization that it is simply a matter of time before all of us must move on and go our seperate ways to pursue our own dreams our own ambitions be it at a different college or a new career. It is this idea that friendships built upon a solid foundation spanning many years could face such uncertainty at this crucial moment. That is what have difficulty comprehending. Friendship is truly forever but certain things are still finite. We must move on with our lives sooner or later and be faced with a decision to physically leave what we know and care about behind. Many of our own families have choosen distance from relatives in order to pursue freedom education careers among other things. It is a decision that we all must evetually face one way or the other.

im back!