Advices, advices

Advices, advices Trivia: In Mandarin blogs, being first to comment is to get the tou xiang a phrase that alludes to the traditional tou xiang, a Chinese practice that is meant to bring good luck which entails being the first to place a stick of incense in the incense pot at a temple festival. Now isnt that so much cooler and less lame than FIRST!!11!!!1!!1? ;) Anywhoo, Im an Associate Adviser this year to 5 froshies, Jeremy, Orit, Natalie, Kang, and Justin. We had some productive discussions from yesterday and today, and I thought I would post some of the good things that came up. Take them for what you will. On Homesickness Everyone is lonely in the beginning, whether you want to admit it or not. Some people are struck by it harder than others, while others hardly notice it at all, but either way its normal. Its merely your bodys natural defense mechanism of coping with being away from home. My only good advice for homesickness is merely this: dont stay in your dorm room. At least for me, I tend to get more and more depressed the longer I spend in my dorm room. Thus, I hardly spent any time in my room during the first couple of weeks of college. I found that the more I was up and about, forcing myself to meet new people, and trying new things the better I adjusted to a new life at college. And my advice for you is precisely that. To echo Pauls last? blog, turn off Facebook, close your computer, and go meet that new froshie down the hallway. If youre going for dinner, why not call someone you met at your FPOP, during Orientation, or when you were walking down Dorm Row? As tempting as it is to retreat to your comfort zone, dont spend all your time messaging your high school friends, calling your parents, or shutting yourself out from all the excitement thats going on outside of your door. You have a golden opportunity right now. What better time do you have of making new friends and getting to know new acquaintances when HUNDREDS of froshies are running around, trying to do precisely that? What better time do you have of joining new clubs, exploring new interests, and connecting to a new support network when even MORE upperclassmen are up and about on campus, trying to meet all of you and hear your stories? That said, you better be at Activities Midway tomorrow. ;) On Pass/No Record One junior said to me last year, If I had P/NR again, I would trade a lot of my As for a lot more steak and lobster dinners during Rush week. Pass/No Record is what you make of it. Im not here to talk to you about using your P/NR strategically, as some froshies Ive met have already done laying out their weaker GIRs all in the first semester (or, on the other hand, taking a complete killer courseload), while under the safety umbrella of P/NR (which are both not necessarily advisable) but rather about your perspective of looking at P/NR. I was speaking with a faculty member (who also served as a frosh adviser) earlier this year. He related to me an individual who got straight A+s his first semester at MIT, but added, but he did nothing but study. That is NOT what P/NR is for! P/NR is there to smooth out your transition to MITs rigorous courseload to allow you to explore what MIT has to offer while not compromising your coursework. Youre probably used to being a straight A student; youve probably turned your friends down on an offer to party because you had to study. Im here to advocate that you forget about that the first semester.* (see disclaimer!!) You probably wont have a better time to discover MIT, Boston, and the people around you than this very first semester at MIT. Yes from now till December. Dont turn down a midnight IHOP run just because you have to study for 18.02; dont turn down an invitation to go hacking just because you are scared you wont wake up for your 9 am lecture; dont turn down an opportunity to chat with that cute girl down the hall till 3 just because you need to get back to work. Trust me, you wont be as inclined to do those things when youre on ABCDF grades. BUT, like all things that come free in America, this isnt without a disclaimer, which you should read carefully, in addition to the above. * DISCLAIMER: Despite my bold statement at the top, academic focus is still important. Unless you are *really* sure of what youre doing, DO NOT skip multiple lectures or neglect to turn in psets. MIT courses are very different in the sense of high school courses that, in many cases, you cannot do well by not going to lecture or not turning in psets. Some lectures even take attendance (cough8.01cough). At any rate, youre still in college to study first semester frosh year or not and dont make the mistake of froshies that partied too hard first semester and ended up having to repeat half of their first semester GIRs again their second semester of frosh year. (trust me, this happens but its the unfortunate other extreme of P/NR) A good indicator is thus if youre in A/B range consistently for psets and exams, youre probably fine, but if youre in C/D range, you really need to spend some extra time in your dorm room, hitting the books. I guess what Im trying to say is that getting all As is not of paramount importance first semester. Strike your own balance between work and play, and hey when can you walk away with a C but get the same grade on the transcript as someone who had an A? (you know that EVEN on your internal transcript on WEBSIS, a P is a P=p) On Extracurriculars Pretty short here. But I would say that if you really want to do something join early. Most clubs have a mailing list which is used to send out notifications for meetings, practices.etc., so getting on the lists that you are interested in is a good first step. At any rate, joining an extracurricular when everyone else is new and trying to do the same is much easier than trying to do the same in the middle of the year, when a lot more things are established. On How do I plan my schedule so I can graduate MIT with 2 double majors and 2 double minors?! One phrase. Too early. Dont get me wrong, but theres really plenty of time to think about your majors and minors after youve experienced more of MIT. As Im sure many students who are more senior than me can attest, some upperclassmen are still switching their majors! MIT is cool in the sense that the courses here are so different from what youre used to, and you would probably find your interests shift in and out as you take more courses and talk to more people, so I would suggest dont take too much of your time just yet planning out the next 4 years of your life already. ;) On HASS 1. CI-Hs wont kill you. And yes, you have to take them to fulfill the Communication Requirement. No, you cant bribe MIT. 2. Taking a CI-HW class doesnt mean youre dumb. Really! 3. If you didnt do the HASS-D lottery, or if you didnt get what you wanted in the HASS-D lottery dont worry! Just show up with an Add/Drop form on the first session of your HASS-D class and ask the professor if you could still join the class. 4. You HAVE to take a CI-H HASS during your first semester if you are at all thinking of Early Sophomore Standing. On Rush Soon, Orientation would end and Rush would begin. To give you a brief picture of Rush all two dozen+ fraternities (if youre a girl six sororities in Recruitment) would be pretty much be all vying for your attention. Through the course of one week, there would be free food galore, free iPods given out, and free jaunts to the beach, rafting, paintball, go kartetc. etc. Upperclassmen whom you barely knew a few days ago would be calling you on your cell phone, taking you around in their car, and introducing you to other brothers at house parties. My biggest advice for you: dont be afraid to explore in the beginning. Since Rush is often an aggressive process, many fraternities would be trying to get your attention and fast. You might be overwhelmed at all the attention youre suddenly getting from Mu Mu Mu, for example, but I would encourage you to go around to different ones in at least the first two or three days and just check out some other options before settling down to a single one and going exclusively to their events (called rushing). After all, deep relationships form within fraternities, and you probably dont want your choice to be a hasty choice. You would probably feel better after youve compared a few and made sure that the fraternity that youre rushing (basically, trying to get a bid from them which is an invitation to join the fraternity) is the one you truly want. - Comments? Further questions? Post away!

The Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals of Colorado

Analysis Of The Article Reality Tv Goes Where Football...

Advertisement or Stereotype The media is the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that s power. The article â€Å"Reality TV Goes Where Football Meets the Hijab†, published in the New York Times in November 2011, introduces how the media controls the minds of the masses. Media has become a major issue in our daily lives. We live in a world that we cannot have access to what is going around us, unless we refer to the media. For instance, in our daily routine we usually listen to the news in the morning or at night before we sleep. The news has already been reported and its being delivered to us that fast, but how do we know if what is being said is what is actually happening or if it has been manipulated for political/social reasons? In the beginning of the article, Porochista Khakpour the author of the article, Iranian born American reared, mentions: â€Å"If anything made me, an American, it was televisions.† TV, especially the reality TV, resembles the characters and movie stars the way they want to not the way they are. Khakpour said, Darkness-dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin-always equaled trouble, as if it actually implied a dark side. When we watch TV, most of the movie characters are labeled, either by their gender, religion, or color. Khakpour reaches out to the outcasts, to prove her point on reality TV shows shaping our beliefs towards each other, especially the freaks†.

Alan Bennet’s “Talking Heads” †A monologue commentary Free Essays

After reading a selection of monologues from Alan Bennett’s â€Å"Talking Heads†, I was inspired to right one of my own. In my monologue the focus is on a young girl who lives alone with her father, who abuses her. The title, ‘A father’s love’, is ironic because if her father loved her, then why would he abuse her? This links to the monologues written by Alan Bennett as he also uses the technique of irony to engage the audience. We will write a custom essay sample on Alan Bennet’s â€Å"Talking Heads† – A monologue commentary or any similar topic only for you Order Now The opening stage directions show some aspects of the character’s lifestyle, â€Å"Emma sits on a battered leather armchair in a plain living room† From reading this, the audience will be able to identify the poor lifestyle that the girl experiences; this is also shown in a further set of stage directions â€Å"Emma is washing dishes in a basic, untidy looking kitchen.† In both instances there are hints of poverty, yet her father finds enough money to go to the pub at night. This helps to reveal her father’s character and his priorities. In the first section of the monologue there is no clue as to what the problem could be, but as the monologue progresses the clues become clearer and the audience may have more of an idea of what the girl is experiencing. For example, â€Å"I said I was sorry about the medication but it really wasn’t my fault, there wasn’t a need for the way he reacted.† There it becomes obvious to the audience that the girl’s father has a bad temper. This idea is developed in the next section of the monologue as the girl debates whether or not to go to school. It now becomes apparent that he has hit her. To create a more obvious clue I had to re draft my monologue in order for the audience to pick up on the problem, â€Å"How can I go to school with a face like this†¦ I could just tell everyone I fell down the stairs.† The clues are really subtle at first but do become more obvious as the monologue progresses. I tried to create tragedy in the monologue by portraying the young girl as feeling alone in the world; she lives alone with her bad tempered father who drinks a lot. The tragedy is that she doesn’t want to walk out on her father but she knows that it’s not safe for her to stay. I think that the audience could identify this in the monologue. In my monologue, it shows the father suprising the young girl with a shopping trip; this was only through guilt. It’s tragic that he has to show his love for his daughter by buying presents and not through affection. By the end of the monologue we can see that there has been no change in the attitude of the father, although he promises his daughter that things will change, they don’t. Emma says, â€Å"He promised me that he wasn’t going to do this anymore†¦ I just hope he isn’t drunk again.† This demonstrates her fear of her father. The last set of stage directions shows that the girl is frightened and that her father hasn’t changed. The young girl knows what is going to happen when her father comes home. â€Å"A door slams and a man is heard shouting from off stage†¦ He’s home! (Frightened)† I have tried to end my monologue on a tragic note, but leave the audience in suspense. It shows that the father has broke his promise and come in drunk again, but there is no indication as to whether he will beat his daughter. How to cite Alan Bennet’s â€Å"Talking Heads† – A monologue commentary, Papers

Once Upon Time By Nadine Gordimer Essay Example For Students

Once Upon Time By Nadine Gordimer Essay Once Upon a Social Issue Fairy tales have always been told to us as children;whether to comfort or entertain us, they always seem to be a part of mosteveryones childhood. When Nadine Gordimer was asked to write a childrensstory, she replied with a short story titled Once Upon A Time. Althoughthe title is characteristic of a fairy tale, she leads the tale to an endingthat is anything other than happily ever after. Gordimer distorts thefairy tale by dealing with certain issues rather than giving the reader theusual fairy tale characteristics. Three of the more significant issues Gordimerlikes to deal with in her story are racial discrimination and prejudice,societys insecurities, and the persuasive way fairy tales have with children. Gordimers Once Upon A Time has the feeling of insecurity right away. Inthe first part of her story, Gordimer reminds us of our own insecurities. Shebrings up a familiar situation in which one is awakened by a bump in the nightand cannot go back to sleep because of fear or their own insecurities. Gordimerwrites, I have no burglar bars, no gun under the pillow, but I have the samefears as people who do take these precautions So, to better convey thisissue of societys insecurities, she tells herself a bedtime story. In thestory, there is a family who is living happily ever after, yet is seemsit is all that they can do to keep it that way. Rather than putting theirinsecurities aside and getting on with their lives, they feel that they must puttheir trust in security devices to protect their selves. For a short while, thefamily has a sense of security by posting a plaque stating YOU HAVE BEENWARNED over the silhouette of a prospective intruder. After a short time thefamilys psychological need for more security calls for a number of newsecurity devices in order to sustain the top level of security. It is in thefamilys pursuit of this security that they virtually imprisonthemselves. After the installation of burglar bars, Gordimer describes the viewfrom every window and door in the house where they were living happily everafter they now saw the trees and sky through bars. One of the less obviousissues lining Once Upon A Time is racial discrimination. Gordimer firstsuggestion that this suburb may be slightly racist is by stating that the plaqueon their gate warning possible intruders didnt designate black or white,therefore protesting too much the owner of the home not to be a racist. Byadding this statement, Gordimer lets there be evidence for a possible racismproblem in this suburb. Gordimers statement of riots outside of the city wasalso supporting evidence toward racism in this place. The only black people thatwere allowed in the suburbs were those considered to be trustworthy gardeners orhousemaids, and soon the trustworthy were not the only black people to beloitering around the suburb. Gordimer writes of the community stating it wasa beautiful suburb, spoilt only by the black peoples presence. With thecoming of these undesired guests, the familys sense of security begins toweaken yet again. In order to further suppress their insecure feelings, theydecide to raise the walls surrounding the property to a height of seven feet. Later, after finding footprints that were not their own on the street side ofthe wall, the familys sense of security was further diminished. As a finalattempt at gaining complete security, the family pondered the addition of evenmore protection for their outside wall. The familys pursuit of a mentalsecurity booster was finished when they lined the outside walls with razor wirethat formed an unconquerable barrier. Feeling quite safe with their new wiredefense, the mother finally feels secure enough to let her guard down and readher little boy a fairy tale. The fairy tale, a story about a prince who dashesthrough a terrible thicket of thorns to enter the palace and kiss the SleepingBeauty and bring her back to life. Children, having the imaginations that theydo, sometimes like to pretend to be a hero as in the fairy tale. So, the nextday, the little boy decides to also save the sleeping beauty by crawling throughthe shinny new obstacle atop the outside wall. Once inside the young princ ebegan to charge through the insurmountable odds, and found them to be

A Biographical Sketch of William Morris Davis

A Biographical Sketch of William Morris Davis William Morris Davis is often called the Father of American Geography for his work in not only helping to establish geography as an academic discipline but also for his advancement of physical geography and the development of geomorphology. Life and Career Davis was born in Philadelphia in 1850. At the age of 19, he earned his bachelors degree from Harvard University and one year later earned his Masters degree in engineering. Davis then spent three years working at Argentinas meteorological observatory and subsequently returned to Harvard to study geology and physical geography. In 1878, Davis was appointed an instructor in physical geography at Harvard and by 1885 became a full professor. Davis continued to teach at Harvard until his retirement in 1912. Following his retirement, he occupied several visiting scholar positions at universities across the United States. Davis died in Pasadena, California in 1934. Geography William Morris Davis was very excited about the discipline of geography; he worked hard to increase its recognition. In the 1890s, Davis was an influential member of a committee that helped to establish geography standards in the public schools. Davis and the committee felt that geography needed to be treated as a general science in primary and secondary schools and these ideas were adopted. Unfortunately, after a decade of the new geography, it slipped back to being rote knowledge of place names and eventually disappeared into the bowels of social studies. Davis also helped to build geography up at the university level. In addition to training some of Americas foremost geographers of the twentieth century (such as Mark Jefferson, Isaiah Bowman, and Ellsworth Huntington), Davis helped to found the Association of American Geographers (AAG). Recognizing the need for an academic organization composed of academics trained in geography, Davis met with other geographers and formed the AAG in 1904. Davis served as the AAGs first president in 1904 and was reelected in 1905, and ultimately served a third term in 1909. Though Davis was very influential in the development of geography as a whole, he is probably best known for his work in geomorphology. Geomorphology Geomorphology is the study of the earths landforms. William Morris Davis founded this subfield of geography. Though at his time the traditional idea of the development of landforms was through the great biblical flood, Davis and others began to believe that other factors were responsible for shaping the earth. Davis developed a theory of landform creation and erosion, which he called the geographical cycle. This theory is more commonly known as the cycle of erosion, or more properly, the geomorphic cycle. His theory explained that mountains and landforms are created, mature, and then become old. He explained that the cycle begins with the uplift of mountains. Rivers and streams begin to create V-shaped valleys among the mountains (the stage called youth). During this first stage, the relief is steepest and most irregular. Over time, the streams are able to carve wider valleys (maturity) and then begin to meander, leaving only gently rolling hills (old age). Finally, all that is left is a flat, level plain at the lowest elevation possible (called the base level.) This plain was called by Davis a peneplain, which means almost a plain for a plain is actually a completely flat surface). Then, rejuvenation occurs and there is another uplift of mountains and the cycle continues. Though Davis theory is not entirely accurate, it was quite revolutionary and outstanding at its time and helped to modernize physical geography and create the field of geomorphology. The real world is not quite as orderly as Davis cycles and,  certainly, erosion occurs during the uplift process. However, Davis message was communicated quite well to other scientists through the excellent sketches and illustrations that were included in Davis publications. In all, Davis published over 500 works though he never earned his Ph.D. Davis was certainly one of the greatest academic geographers of the century. He is not only responsible for that which he accomplished during his lifetime, but also for the outstanding work done across geography by his disciples.

Free Essays on Fats Wallers

Ain’t Misbehavin’ No one to talk to; all by myself; no one to walk with, But I'm happy on the shelf. Ain't misbehaving I'm saving my love for you. I know for certain the one I love. I'm through with flirting It's just you that I'm thinking of. Ain't misbehaving I'm saving my love for you. Like Jack Horner in the corner-don't go nowhere What do I care? Your kisses are worth waiting for, believe me. I don't stay out late, don't care to go I'm home about eight. Just me and my radio. Ain't misbehaving, I'm saving my love for you. This is a first person narrator and can be a man or woman singing the song because it is simply talking about not â€Å"misbehavin’† on their significant other. The narrator is speaking seriously about missing their significant other; thinking about them, writing a letter or talking to their loved one directly. The speaker is sad and is waiting for their loved one to return. The speaker wants the object of their love to know that they will stay faithful and that there is no need to worry about them going behind their back with someone else. The speaker makes reference to Jack Horner and I have no idea who that man is so this song must be written quite a long time ago. The last line also makes a reference to a radio, which means this song was definitely written before television because the reference would have been television instead of radio. The lyrics hint at a possible incident or incidents of unfaithfulness because the speaker would not be singing this sad song about being faithful if there was not an incident. The speaker is also trying to convince their loved on that they are their one and only love and even though there has been â€Å"flirting† there will not be anymore. â€Å"I know for certain the one I love. I'm through with flirting. It's just you that I'm thinking of.† Whether or not their loved one will believe them is another song, but it does seem like t... Free Essays on Fats Waller's Free Essays on Fats Waller's Ain’t Misbehavin’ No one to talk to; all by myself; no one to walk with, But I'm happy on the shelf. Ain't misbehaving I'm saving my love for you. I know for certain the one I love. I'm through with flirting It's just you that I'm thinking of. Ain't misbehaving I'm saving my love for you. Like Jack Horner in the corner-don't go nowhere What do I care? Your kisses are worth waiting for, believe me. I don't stay out late, don't care to go I'm home about eight. Just me and my radio. Ain't misbehaving, I'm saving my love for you. This is a first person narrator and can be a man or woman singing the song because it is simply talking about not â€Å"misbehavin’† on their significant other. The narrator is speaking seriously about missing their significant other; thinking about them, writing a letter or talking to their loved one directly. The speaker is sad and is waiting for their loved one to return. The speaker wants the object of their love to know that they will stay faithful and that there is no need to worry about them going behind their back with someone else. The speaker makes reference to Jack Horner and I have no idea who that man is so this song must be written quite a long time ago. The last line also makes a reference to a radio, which means this song was definitely written before television because the reference would have been television instead of radio. The lyrics hint at a possible incident or incidents of unfaithfulness because the speaker would not be singing this sad song about being faithful if there was not an incident. The speaker is also trying to convince their loved on that they are their one and only love and even though there has been â€Å"flirting† there will not be anymore. â€Å"I know for certain the one I love. I'm through with flirting. It's just you that I'm thinking of.† Whether or not their loved one will believe them is another song, but it does seem like t...