Good Luck

I don't know when the AP exams start, but i know the first IB exam is next Tuesday. To every single one of you taking exams (even 'just' high school ones) Good luck. I'm stressed and wound up right now, and i imagine some of you all are. But as my friends say, we are some of the brightest, and we don't need to. So take a deep breath, study hard, and "pass with flying colours" (forgive the cliché).

50th anniversary?

I have not received a letter as of yet, and God knows where along the lines it got lost, so could you guys post the dates on the Blog?

The July 17-18 dealie would be convienient for me. Although if I could get a ride somehow, I could easily make it for any of the dates, I think.

By the by, I'm thinking about putting a funky new different layout for the blog soon. Thoughts?

I also think I might disable comments, because not many people use them.

Yeah, maybe everybody could go to one specific 50th anniversary thing. Let's talk about which one.

say, did you crazy dudes get your TASP 50th anniversary letters?

I hope some of you fine folks can make it to the House on one of those summer dates so we can compare our extreme coolness to tomorrow's TASPers.

this is what the finished product ought to look like save the color factor

n'encontre pas le fin. (<----is that even french?)

ok so i can't finish my sketches.

more saving the world- an idea this time!

I believe we should institute recess not just all the way through school, k-12, but in the workplace. Everyone should be STRONGLY encouraged to go outside, and play equipment should be provided. This would:

Improve health by fighting obesity and encouraging fitness, thereby reducing medical insurance costs

Make people less irritable and depressed by getting them out from under fluorescent lights and into the sunshine

Give people an outlet for stress, which would lead to reduced workplace conflicts, better mental health, and better health overall

Give people a sense of perspective- doesn't it always seem like things fall into place when you've a got sky over your head?

I'm willing to bet the increased efficiency would more than make up for the lost worktime, and if we could prove it, businesses would want to take advantage of it. Admittedly, this looks kind of trivial when you compare it to the problems of bad workplace safety and insufficient wages, and then to the exploitation of illegal immigrants. But I think it's still an idea with some merit. Some countries have a headstart on it, with long lunch hours that allow for a little R&R in the middle of the day. People are too fucking serious about adulthood, and our supression of physical play and casual interaction is killing us.

Everyone would laugh at this idea, but if there were a way to scientifically test it out and see if it really did improve health and efficiency, and we found that it did, maybe people would sit up and take notice.

(I also posted this in my livejournal.) Please give me your thoughts, shoot it full of holes, whatever!

presidential scholars junk

hey Rima, Greg, Krishanu, and Adam, i saw your names on the presidential scholar semifinalist web page. cool beans... maybe we can win a trip to washington dc and meet up there! at least a few of us will, i hope. (sorry to the folks who didn't make it to semifinals -- some states are harder than others.)

anyway i'm 99% sure im doing yale next year, although it will bankrupt me in the process. thats all from seattle~

Does everyone know where they're going to college yet? I'm hoping to have an updated list of where to find all you guys next year...
I'm about 95% sure I will go to WIlliams in MA, which means I can see you guys, if periodically.
In other news... I can't believe our white board is still there. Did u take a picture? If so, I'm dying to see it... again. I wish I could visit all of you guyz one by one, randomly, but I'll wait. Soon now.
Anyways, c y'all sometime I hope.
PS... if anyone is really bored, they have my permission (alright my plea) to email me jargon.
Pps. I feel like I can't express myself in writing anymore.... it doesn't sound like me... Help writers, tips please

another bizarre question

completely unrelated to my last one.

Any online forum attracts lurkers: people who read the posts, but don't post themselves.

Now, some of you CI and CII people are such slackers -- you guys really need to post. You all, for the most part, have accounts; if you go to blogger and enter your username/pass, you can post as much as you like. They'll even mail you a new password if you forgot the old one. If you -still- need an invite, ask in the comments section on this post.

However, what I really want to know is who outside of our little House community is lurking on this blog. I know Kelsey from the Texas TASP surfs over here -- but are any of you Michigan TASPers, or House members, or someone else entirely? Come out, come out whoever you are, and say something in the comments section. I don't think we bite. Nor does Haloscan.

Just in case any readers (including you, Cornellians!) don't know how to use the comments system: just click on the Comments link, and it'll pop up a comments forum. To post, just scroll down and fill in as many fields as you want and your comments.

A followup, of sorts, to Linda's last post

This is a question that's plagued me for months on end, one that I hope to see resolved shortly:

in due consideration of how damn good looking we were last summer -- was there any sex at TASP?

(hey, -someone- had to ask it.)

I've heard there was some, ah, sketchy business at the UT Austin TASP, and given that there were no fewer than thirty two of us at the House...

In any case, laugh at me all you want, but if you have anything to answer the above question, you can put it anonymously in the comments link. I don't need -- nor want! -- any particular specifics. Yes or no will do (although feel free to add further commentary, if you so desire).

Besides, I'm sure many of us are dying to know.

extra, extra

other note: I was talking to a House guy last night about what he calls the "TASP Eugenics Project," i.e. TASPers have a way of breeding more TASPers who in turn take over the world, so we have a moral responsibility to be as attractive as possible. I told him that we thought our TASP was pretty damn hot, and he said, "Yeah, I've seen the pictures. It's pretty impressive. My TASP was ugly as sin." So now all we have to do is go out and breed, guys!

Love and Rhyming

Just hearing the word Olin brings back wonderful memories of agonizing over papers and talking about having sex in the stacks, and trying to hide my breathlessness after walking up the hill. Thank you, Linda.

we had ought to make solider reunion plans- i'm guessing a lot of us are planning our summers right now, and it would be good to have something set. are we pretty agreed on the ny-area location? what about the date- when do most schools start? we need the formation of a location as a destination, creation of a duration for our celebration, to send out some invitations to break our isolation. we shall ease our desperation and replace it with elation, but we must soon commence preparation, before graduation. we shall have some fascination in our conversation! i think the next step is for someone in the northeast to suggest solutions to these equations.

Is anybody going to the Yale admit weekend? Because if there were the prospect of seeing a tasper, I think that would be more exciting than seeing the school itself.

take care everyone, and keep up the PCBs!

lots of love

House news

okay, so here I am at Cornell, sitting in Olin, using the computer which is logged on in some poor girl's name. eeee. it feels so, so weird to be back, you guys. the House is still there, although it's really messy because the RenCom (renovations committee, I deduced that all by myself) is putting in an elevator. times sure are a-changin'. everything seems pretty intact, though--there are two cats, and the food in the refrigerator is different, and although I haven't seen Amina or Nathan I mentioned that I know them, and that I cracked Nathan's skull, and the three people I was talking to said, "oh, that was you?" I'm here for five days, and I'm the only visiting person since KEEGAN CANCELED at the last minute. not his fault, but I am still sad. there's a girl that looks just like Miriam but has some kind of exotic accent.

to sid in particular: this philosophy guy I was talking to, I think his name is Bruno, answered "YES" when I asked, "do you feel like you missed out by being here and not at the Freshman Experience thing?" he said it's much harder to meet people because all the freshman dorms are on the other side of campus. hm. actually a lot of them seemed kind of iffy about Cornell overall, but I guess people are bound to complain about whatever school they go to. or maybe they aren't lying when they say they wish they'd gone to Stanford? hard to tell. I don't know. I feel weird, like the first day of tasp when I didn't know anyone and was just wandering around bumping into people like a quiet, confused cue ball. Simon (the house president?) has offered to take me to some kind of weird techno/strings/bongo concert on saturday, and I have nothing better to do. he also offered me a cigarette.

oh! that reminds me! remember our whiteboard, the one by the phone where all the messages were, and that big muscley bald guy that Rafie drew on it? yeah, well, all our stuff is still on there!!! there are messages telling me and Sid to call our mothers, and a note from Blaen saying to wake her up if her dad calls. it was like traveling back in time.

sorry I'm babbling, you guys, but I really really miss you all. the first thing I thought of when the House came in view was that I wanted a psychic computer linkup so I could tell you guys, "hey! the House is in view! and there's a cat... and this guy named Simon... and it seems I have no room to stay in."

I miss you all so much. we must must must have a reunion, and I think I will steal the whiteboard so it can be present. don't know yet about going to Cornell or the House. anybody else made college decisions?

On gay marriage...

Yeah, they can cheat the system, but men and women can do that too, and it's not terribly common. I somehow don't foresee that happening if homosexual marriage is legalized.

My dad's opposed to it, but he really hasn't given me a very coherent reason. He's not homophobic, certainly (his brother was gay), and he's definitely not using religious arguments. He just thinks that marriage is and always has been fundamentally between a man and a woman, initially created for the sake of reproduction (notwithstanding its modern metamorphosis), and that anything else is just expanding a definition that doesn't need expanding. He basically thinks that this thing in particular should be kept traditional for the sake of tradition itself. Needless to say, I don't agree, but that's an argument that's at least non-religious.

Still out in the cold

Yes, it has been about five and a half weeks now, and we are still without internet or outcalling capabilities. This has severely damaged my ability to maintain communication with anyone. It contributed to my inability to travel as well. A real quick note on the Gay marriage, Linda asked for an argument against it...I've also heard that some are against it legally, because Marriage gives a great deal of financial and legal advantages. Some say that gay marriage would allow people of the same sex with no real love to "cheat" the system, and gain unfair perks of legal marriage.

I yearn for TASP contact, I have no idea what's going on, really. It's very confusing to read through a whole bunch of blog posts at once. I can't tell who's going where, who hates what...etc. Nancy, I've developed a consuming desire to play GO. If you have any rules, strategies, history, philosophy about the game, could you e-mail it to me? I think it's fascinating just to learn about it, even if I can't find a way to play it at the moment.

Adam, thank you so much for the use of the bike! That'll be awesome. I hope it's still there.

Tosin, tell me if you'll be in London this summer, since I'll be moving there with my family before I return to the states.

Alexis, I wanted to say that I'm really happy for the win in Illinois, and that I would like to know more about (I'm sorry, I can't remember his name). See? I guess I should know his name. I swear I read your e-mail with interest. I had no idea there have been so few blacks to hold that office. Please send me stuff on how your political future is shaping up as well.

I'm sorry that people are having such a hell of a time. I can't really do anything, save give my most sincere hope that things turn out for the best and that there's some light at the end of the tunnel. If anyone wants, my phone can receive calls. Hope people are having a good summer break.

Bye again, buck up friends!

Keegan

mi vida.

my goodness. i am sorry for not posting earlier. since my last post i have: started working, been admitted to Cornell, been rejected from the House, thought about taking my shirt of on stage for my school's poetry slam which i will be MCing, met up with Linda twice (twice), funneled thoughts into an existentialist daze which is clearing up i think, written about two new poems, published another edition of my newspaper, cried, i have also ___ ***, watered myself repeatedly, blown up in my mother's face, received and recovered from pneumoinia (an amazing spelling bee word simultaneously a mini supernova in the chest), read, skipped too many days of school, done any sort of drug probably once, yes that is once only, sent my girlfriend a book titled things that are heavy and things that are light or something like that, not had surgery on my thumb, not developed a resistence to love and the ways to show it, slept in a box at night, and now i am left to continue approximating and condensing, dreaming and storming, blazing and waiting, for death of course.

a quick thank you

i just have to thank all you tasp people for being there. even though i havent seen most of your faces in over 6 months, I know i can still count on you. thanks.

-- Alex

curiouser

One of the Texas TASPers who got into the House didn't get into Cornell.

I wonder what the implications are for rejected House applicants. If there was a waitlist, I'm certainly not on it, but hopefully one of you guys is going to get a happy letter in the mail soon.

Alex -- I sent you an email.

Edit: I guess I made this post w/o the further explanation that this is a pretty unprecedented situation (for both alexen in question). something's pretty rotten at the Cornell admissions department; TA memos don't seem to be making it up to Goldwyn Smith, or wherever those decisions are made.

maybe later i'll read some of this gay marriage stuff, i think it's very interesting.

right now, i'm in France on an exchange program, it's wonderful.

but I need your help. I got rejected from Yale, waitlisted at Cornell. Needless to say, I'm not feeling very good right now. Those are, by far, my top two. What do I do about Cornell? I already have double legacy, TASP, an alumni interview, and an interview with a friend of my father who is on the board of trustees.

did you know that keyboards here are different? it's very disorienting.

email me, respond, something. I need to hear from you guys right now. Even if all you geniouses got accepted and I didn't.

-- Alex (en France)

thoughts

hey linda

yeah just send me a shrimp fork. or you can take a picture of the yellow bike that I left in front of the tell'ride house. You can use it. Tell Keegan that it is his if he is going to live in the house. All of you cornell ppl can use it too but you might have to find it or change the brakes because they were not working very well.

Interesting you brought up gay marriage/ civil unions. I was just at a RI model legislature event. It is a simulation of the state govt where students draft bills and debate on them. Anyways, civil unions are a hot button issue this year. I hesitate to use "gay marriage" because of the various connotations that have developed, especially recently, around the word. Some gay people even refuse to accept the term marriage, seeing it as an institution that, through acceptance of the name, places the couple at the judgment of an institution that has marginalized and excluded them. But, barring a better term (gay unions?.. it sounds like a labor force), I will use gay marriage.

Most conservative arguments are based on religion/natural law perspectives. To many people, homosexuality is inherently a sin. I am doing a project on human rights violations of sexual minorities in India. Prejudice is built into the gov't and law; it categorizes homosexual behavior in the same category as incest and bestiality. I bring this point up in order to stress the certainly widespread and arguably world-wide view that non-heterosexuality is a sin.

Natural law advocates bring a perspective that is somewhat thought-out. The reasoning is that sex is meant to procreate. Homosexuality does not produce kids, therefore it is somewhat deviant. Sexuality is a naturally useful and fulfilling act, when used "right". The same train of thought holds that murder and violence are inherently wrong; that is, the purpose of our fist and tools are for the fulfillment and procreation of our species. These actions do not objectively lead to fulfillment and happy lives. The fact that beating people and robbing them is wrong is independent of what society likes to think. These are objectively immoral acts.

This is the extent of what I have been able to glean from a natural law class that I took last year.

I am sure that there are better arguments against gay marriage and homosexuality in general.

Those are the arguments and Im just laying em out.

P.S.

I just had a long conversation with some friends today about gay marriage. one of them said that, while she's usually tolerant of the conservative point of view, she will automatically tune out anyone who says that gay marriage is bad. another friend (who happens to be gay) said that he's only heard religiously-founded arguments against it. I guess that's true for me too. can we have a respectful discussion about this? I'd especially like to hear some arguments for the other side, because I haven't yet heard any that make sense. I don't see how we can keep from drawing the inevitable parallels between the gay rights and civil rights movements, or women's rights, or any other rights for that matter. I'd like to know if it's really conservative religious dogma getting in the way of the resolution of what seems to me like a non-issue. thoughts?

a plea

heya everyone! I'm doing a project in my literary publications class where I have to make a chapbook of my fiction/poetry/plays/whatever. the only problem is that I'm supposed to include art too, and of the original, noncopyrighted variety. I'm supposed to use mine or ask friends. since appointment is apparently no longer available, I was wondering if any of you artsy people have scanned art or photos (or even CGI) that I could use (I would credit you, of course, and also mail you a copy of the finished book). I would really appreciate it. I'm not picky, either. anything cool-looking or funny or... anything. thanks!

also I'll be back at the house next week visiting. (keegan too, I think/hope!?!) anybody want an orange cushion in the mail?