BEDA 7: Teachers are Cool

Hey. I'm going to rant again. Just a warning.

If anything is of import to me, it's education. Education is the foundation of a society--through lack or existence of an adequate educational system, a government can manipulate the members of its society, or the citizens can form a productive system of the people. Every law passed, every court ruling, every class division, and every dollar contributing away from or towards the GDP derives from education.

And let's be frank. Texas, as a whole has an absolutely awful education system. And we're probably the state that needs it the most--what with our massive amount of illegal immigrants and general population, in addition to the amount of stock we hold in the House. Our drop-out rate, literacy rate, and SAT scores are shameful. Seriously, everything is bigger in Texas... except the proportion of the budget dedicated towards education.

The most frustrating aspect of our education system is that it isn't good enough to teach the students that education is important. Most people don't understand the role of education beyond some governmental requirement. I was in the bathroom after fourth period today, and a girl said that she had nine makeup hours. Nine. How does one even acquire nine makeup hours? And the sad part is that she's probably not educated enough to realize the detrimental effects of stinted education.

This year has been particularly enlightening with respect to teachers. In the past, I, along with nearly everyone else, definitely took teachers for granted. It's probably one of the most honorable professions in existence. I could never be a teacher. And this year, I've come to realize how fleeting life is. How easily it changes. How life takes things and people away and gives some things back.

I never want to take my education for granted, because I have been better off then most people. And this year, I've had some of the best teachers of my educational career. They deserve so much more than they have received.

BEDA 6: My Love is a Young Rider

I had a choir competition today. Like, all day. Did you know that choral music is exhausting? Because it is, especially if you're standing and singing for three hours straight.

My brain hurts. And I still feel dizzy.

Anyway, during the sight-reading portion of the competition, we read a piece called "My Love is a Young Rider", which is pretty much the largest innuendo I've ever seen in a choral arrangement. And I've heard the song "Standin' on the Corner, Watching All the Girls Go By", so that's saying something.

The lyrics to the song were fantastic. At one point it said (mind you, I may be paraphrasing) "the young girls on the Platte should stay away from my cowboy, for he pets you, and courts you, and then he leaves to ride other broncos". Brokeback Mountain, much?

BEDA 5: Powderpuff Sign-up

Each year, the sophomore class hosts a notorious fundraiser for prom--Powderpuff Football, in which the junior and senior girls compete in an intense game of flag football. I didn't participate last year on account of my complete lack of athletic ability, but I decided to seize the day and participate this year.

Each of the 95 girls participating either chose or was assigned a number between 00 and 99... excluding the number 69, as the sponsor felt it was too inappropriate. The fact that she took it off the list is even more funny than someone actually having it. Anyway, I inquired as to if numbers with decimals were permitted. After receiving a positive response, I requested the number 3.14.

Yes, dear reader, I am player number pi. This will be glorious.

BEDA 4: Science Fiction

She was born this way. Oh wait, wrong mega-pop star.

Yeah, I'm going to be honest. I don't really have time to blog tonight, what with a remainder of a dystopian novel (Brave New World) asking to be read, the executive branch wishing to be studied, and Calculus begging to be reviewed.

Nevertheless, I'm finding the time to discuss science fiction.

A good majority of my time is devoted to science fiction, in fact. Reading it, watching it, forcing other people to read or watch it, discussing it. But the funny thing is that I wasn't always into that broad sub-genre of literature and film. I mean, I read science fiction books in elementary school, but they weren't my favorite--I was definitely more enamored with the Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, and Anne of Green Gables back in the day.

If I could pinpoint any moment in which I started enjoying sci-fi, and absorbing every robotic ounce of it, I would say it was either after reading 1984 in the eighth grade, or watching GATTACA in freshman biology (still one of my favorite movies). Sometime after that, I started obsessively watching Star Trek, fully aware of its camp value and utter cliche-ness, and reading novels by the likes of H.G. Wells.

I'm not sure why I like it. I suppose I just enjoy reading and watching outlandish and pessimistic visions of what humanity could be or may have been. I enjoy how (literally) alien the conflict described is to the boring hum-drum of much of human life. And I like forming conspiracies, and being frightened out of my wits by just how similar dystopian life is to many Earth societies.

I don't have a better conclusion to this, so here's a video:

BEDA 3: Choir Kids like to Creep

Each year, choir competes in a UIL competition. And because not many parents can attend the actual competition, there is a spring preview, typically hosted at a local church.

I don't have too much to say about it, other than choir kids really like to photobomb. (Photobombing is the art of creeping in other people's pictures.) I'll let the pictures I took speak for themselves on this one.






On an unrelated note, I went to a Georgia Tech "meet and greet" for accepted students this afternoon. But really, it was more of a meet and greet with alumni. I mean, it was definitely informative, but there was only one other acceptee in attendance.

I really think I want to rush this fall. It's seeming more and more of a good idea, especially at a largely male school like Georgia Tech. Don't judge me.

BEDA 2: Pi in your Face

So, raise your hand if you promised to blog every day in April, and then completely forgot about it the second day. Oh, just me? Whoops.

I suppose I'll compensate for the lack of yesterday by double-posting today. That's right, twice the fun. But not really.

A few weeks ago, the Math and Science Club celebrated Pi Day, which traditionally falls on March 14th... but we celebrated it March 22nd. But it's okay because pie is delicious. Speaking of which, a new restaurant called the Pie Garden just opened. It's like iHop, except with more pie, worse food, worse service, and more old people. Do not recommend.

Anyway, I don't really understand the point of pi. I mean, I understand that it's the ratio of the circumference to the diameter, and that it's used in many, many equations, but things would be so much easier if it were the ratio of the circumference to the radius. Like, the whole radians thing where you have to multiply by two? Ridiculous.

Watch this video for a better explanation.

Yeah, I think I'm going to refuse to use pi in Calculus, opting to use tau instead. That'll go over well.

Pictures from Pi Day?






Yeah, Math and Science Club is cool.

BEDA 1: Wreck 'em

Click the picture. Click it.

Oh, hey. This is awkward. We haven't seen each other in a while. Sorry for neglecting you. This (my inability maintain any interest in anything for more than six months) is exactly why I should never be trusted to take care of babies or puppies for an extended period.

Anyway, today is April 1st. And I'm not clever enough to come up with some elaborate joke. So instead I'm blogging. Actually, today is the first day of BEDA, or Blog Every Day in April, if you prefer. I figure that since I took March and most of February off, I should compensate by going on a massive blogging binge. Which may result in another massive purge as I become more and more disillusioned with the idea of high school.

A lot has changed in the last month. A lot of things I haven't blogged about. I suppose the most notable is that I will officially be a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech. But don't worry, I won't forget to wear my seatbelt. You know, seatbelts can be the difference between life and death in a car accident.

Wow, tangent.

Yes. I will be attending the Georgia Institute of Technology, majoring in Nuclear and Radiological Engineering and partaking in the Honors Program. Which means I'll also be a helluva engineer.

Why Georgia Tech, you inquire? I was accepted to Georgia Tech, along with Baylor and Tulane, by applying early action. It's a great school, particularly for engineering, and is a very well-known name for graduate programs and the working field. It is quite academically rigorous, which is a quality that I was particularly looking for in a school--first in foremost, I am going to college to learn, not to party. Oh, and there are a lot of Asians.

I wasn't accepted to most of the other schools I applied to, which were admittedly schools that I thought were out of my reach. My philosophy was to apply to as many outstanding schools as possible, and cross my fingers that I would get into one of them. I must have applied to too few schools, or not crossed my fingers hard enough.

But I definitely don't want you to pity me, as I'm extremely excited for next year! Georgia Tech is tied with Caltech as the #4 engineering school in the country, ranked only beneath MIT, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. It is an absolute honor to be part of such a program, and I'm very anxious to meet all my fellow jackets and get out of Texas.

Also, I spent like five hours on skype today with a potential roommate. She's crazy rad. And she's a nerdfighter. NERDFIGHTER! We're basically going to be best friends.

Star Trek and Georgia Tech

I've officially been accepted to the Georgia Tech Honors Program. And because I've been accepted to college, and the honors program, have a bad case of senioritis, and have been feeling decidedly spunky lately, I responded with the above e-mail (click on the picture for a better view).

Good choice? Good choice.

**Note that this does not mean that I will definitely be attending Georgia Tech. It just means that if I do, I'll be in the Honors Program.

UIL and Anglerfish

I am afraid of fish. You have no idea how massively uncomfortable this makes me.

Oh, hey. Long time, no see. Lately, I've been devoting most of my efforts towards my youtube channels, EveryFlavorVlogs and katherinifyable. Which explains why I haven't been updating the blog. Sorry.

On to things pertinent to senior year.

I'm officially on the UIL Ready Writing team, which means that I competitively write essays on behalf of my school. To most people, I suppose this is the exact opposite of fun. But I'm different--in an ideal world, I would do nothing but write essays, watch Star Trek, and make videos. I actually look forward to cold writes in English. I like to tell people my opinions when I'm asked, and I like to flaunt my (humble) knowledge of current events, literature, history, and science. Essays are my thing.

In order to obtain my sacred position on the team, I had to try out. Yes, there are other people that enjoy sitting in a chair for two hours and analyzing ethics. Actually, there are five other people that tried out for the three spots on the team.

So here's how it works: we're given two quotes--one relatively modern, and one from another era. We choose one of the two quotes, and write an essay over it, interpreting it as we wish. Unfortunately, the paper with the prompts is missing in action, but I do, however, have the essay that I wrote in response, which gained me my spot on the team.

The Hope Lies with the Proles

"The hope lies with the proles." It is the phrase echoed by Winston Smith in George Orwell's 1984, suggesting that the key to triumphing over an oppressive system resides in education. It is a paradox: freedom derives from education, yet education is limited when freedom is limited--they are mutually dependent. Without education, the knowledge that injustice persists will remain unknown, and injustices will continue.

The anglerfish dwells in a permanent state of ignorance, completely unaware of how truly abysmal a life it leads. The anglerfish is frightening, scaly, and an unattractive specimen of the animal kingdom. It is a habitant of the deep sea, a highly inhospitable environment as a result of tremendous levels of pressure, a severely limited amount of light, and it consequently maintains a highly restricted diet of whatever happens to fall into the depths of the sea. Yes, the deep sea anglerfish has no reason to be happy, but it is ignorant of a better, more hospitable world. It is content with the depressing sea around it only because to the anglerfish, nothing else exists.

Humans too often suffer from the condition of the anglerfish, or at least they do in Orwell's 1984. The proles, non-government workers with mundane, unknowingly restricted lives, are unaware of their manipulation and oppression by the INGSOC regime. They, like the anglerfish, have no motive for their happiness, yet they are content with their lives because nothing else exists to them. But the anglerfish and the proles differ: the proles have the power to rebel and resist their oppression. This idea of the human ability, necessity, and desire for rebellion litters the pages of Helen Maria William's Julia, which contains her poem "The Bastille: A Vision." In the poem, a prisoner of the Bastille, after immense torture, gains an omniscient persona that permits him to envision a future exempt of injustice. The speaker further exhorts the reader to resist subjugation and strive for injustice. But the key is education. Without knowledge of their situation, the proles do not know how to rebel, or, for that matter, how to rebel.

In the world beyond dystopia, satire, and omniscient personas, the paradox of freedom and education persists. China is largely recognized as one of the most controlling and restricting governments, and is increasingly recognized as such by its own citizens, with the growth of the internet. Companies such as Google have been criticized for their permittance of the Chinese censorship of the internet and communication, yet many Chinese citizens remain anglerfish in their world. Recently, however, large steps have been made towards the public education of China's people. The Google homepage has been rerouted to Hong Kong, which cannot be censored by the Chinese government. Now, searches including "Tienanmen Square" contain images of violence, uprising, and oppression, rather than the prior, highly-censored search results containing tourist information. In addition to Google, the Nobel Prize committee has made leaps toward universal freedom and education. This year, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to an orchestrator of rebellions against the Chinese government, who coincidentally is also imprisoned by the government he resisted on account of his efforts. His receipt of the prize is predicted to lead to greater awareness among the Chinese people.

In the Middle East, such a rebellion that is only hypothesized of china has already occurred. A single fruit vendor, residing in Tunis, disenchanted with the treatment he had received from the government, lit himself on fire in a solitary act of resistance. His spontaneous suicidal mutiny did not go unnoticed by his fellow Tunisians.Within days, rioters plagued the streets in such great numbers that military force was required (although, they too could not dampen the flames of rebellion.) Their passionate opposition inspired many Egyptians, particularly the radical political party The Muslim Brotherhood, and spurred an overthrowal of their long-time president Hosni Mubarak, and a complete reestablishment of the Egyptian government. and it began with a Tunisian fruit vendor, who unknowingly educated the masses in a rash act of bravery.

Overcoming justice isn't easy. It requires martyrs and dedication. However, the first and most important step towards freedom is education--of the masses, not of the elite. But until the public is educated, injustice will continue until people are aware of the world around them. The hope lies in education

You may have picked up on the anglerfish motif. I'd like to chalk that up to my own creativity, but I infact ripped it off from the famous vlogger Hank Green, of vlogbrothers fame. Watch the video that inspired it here:

More Interviews

I had initially intended to blog about my interviews with Columbia Engineering and Harvard immediately following their occurrence, but I was preoccupied by the time-suckingness of Poet Museum.

I interviewed with a Mechanical Engineering major from Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (c/o 2010) on Sunday at a Starbucks. The kid that went before me was named Dennis, and I was the third person she interviewed that day, which may or may not be ominous. I didn't feel spectacular about that interview--for some reason, I wasn't able to think on my toes quickly. I kinda felt like I was translating all of my thoughts into another language.

On Monday, I met with a Harvard graduate (c/o 2004) at Panera Bread. The interview was to occur at 6:30 pm, but for some reason, I thought it was at 4:30. Needless to say, I was incredibly stressed out when she wasn't there at 4:45, until I realized that I came at the wrong time. So I went home, did some homework, and came back at the correct time. There was a knitting club going on simultaneously, which was quite awkward... and ridiculously awesome. I genuinely enjoyed this interview. Very stimulating conversation. DISCLAIMER: I don't actually think I can get in to either school.