Whitworth University has a wonderful tradition called Community Building Day. On this day, all of the little wide eyed freshmen go to buses, and are carted off to help their community through pre-planned service projects. It's a wonderful idea, having the normally looked down upon College Students reach out and stretch their fingers in the local community. My involvement and opinions on CBD (Community Building Day) are as follows.
I first learned about CBD about two hours after it was over. Being a freshman myself, I was expected to show up bright and early (8am, the proverbial "asscrack of dawn"), and hop on a bus. This might have gone better had I known about the event. After speaking to a dorm mate about their experiences (and wondering where everyone in my Freshman Seminar class had gone), I learned that an email blast had been sent out to alert the students as to the existence of this fabulous event. I hadn't noticed said email, and so I went to my gorgeous little hunk of silicon to investigate. I checked the email folder; Nothing new for days.
My brain followed this general thought train: "Odd, no email... In days. Huh. Whitworth normally spams me (almost literally, I had to create a mail filter to stop the .whitworth.edu domain from being blocked) with emails. Something must be up. Ok, let's check what's going on. Settings. Hm, my password seems right... Oh wait, I had a problem getting to my email in the library on tuesday of last week... Had them reset my password. Wonder if I forgot to update it in my Mail program settings? Hm, yep, that was it."
Bing, I had 57 new emails from Whitworth. The little bouncing icon on my screen reminded me of the wonderful community that had been built during my technical absence from the mail list.
The moral of the story? Don't check your email from the library, and if you do, remember to keep all password entries the same.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Four Years
Four years. Four years ago I wanted to be an engineer, the head of my own cutting edge robotics company. Four years ago I joined the Robotics club, and started learning in an attempt to make this a reality. Four years from now, I'd like to be that wide eyed young adult with an idea. An idea, and almost no means to solve it.
I thrive for the challenge. When things are too easy, I get worried. It's tucking down and bashing your way through trials that make me feel confident in my achievements. So in four years, I'd like to be struggling to make an idea become reality. I'd like to be meeting with venture capitalists, and being denied until I find the right one. And then, when the time is right, I want to start my company.
What I'll call it, I don't know. I do know that we'll be doing something new, something that the world hasn't seen before.
I thrive for the challenge. When things are too easy, I get worried. It's tucking down and bashing your way through trials that make me feel confident in my achievements. So in four years, I'd like to be struggling to make an idea become reality. I'd like to be meeting with venture capitalists, and being denied until I find the right one. And then, when the time is right, I want to start my company.
What I'll call it, I don't know. I do know that we'll be doing something new, something that the world hasn't seen before.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Professor Edwards: A preliminary review
I'm currently taking Romans with Professor Edwards, and I couldn't be more thrilled. He's a teacher who actually cares about his subject, which makes a difference as clear as night and day for the class. So far, we've barely covered the introduction to the book of Romans. However, Edwards has already fired up an interest for the history surrounding the book, writings, and author of Romans. It's wonderful to learn from someone who is incredibly passionate for their subject.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Freedom, and related musings.
It's late nights (or extremely early mornings?) like this that get me thinking. This time, it's about freedom. What is freedom? In the absolute, freedom is simply the lack of restriction. Freedom does not entitle an individual to DO anything, it only protects others from limiting said individual. In the modern sense, freedom is the lack of an overt system of control. What we call free seems to change from day to day.
No longer does freedom apply as a unilateral term addressing our lives. Instead, freedom seems to have been sectioned, and portioned off in smaller sections. For example, an individual is free to drive whichever car they like. We see here freedom of ownership. In a unilaterally free system, we would see this also apply to guns, as well as any other object. Instead, our modern system has chosen to apply freedom to only aspects which do not interrupt the norm, or shatter the perfect script of our daily routine.
So what do we do with this? We can keep freedom sectioned off, and go about our daily lives, all the while allowing small chips to fall away from the grand statue of our liberty. We can ignore those little chips, such as the PATRIOT act. Or we can take a proactive stance, and begin gathering knowledge, and preparing for change. We can begin to pick the chips off the floor, and re-establish our freedoms in a move unlike anything our world has experienced.
Or maybe I just spent too much time thinking about the movie I just watched, V for Vendetta...
No longer does freedom apply as a unilateral term addressing our lives. Instead, freedom seems to have been sectioned, and portioned off in smaller sections. For example, an individual is free to drive whichever car they like. We see here freedom of ownership. In a unilaterally free system, we would see this also apply to guns, as well as any other object. Instead, our modern system has chosen to apply freedom to only aspects which do not interrupt the norm, or shatter the perfect script of our daily routine.
So what do we do with this? We can keep freedom sectioned off, and go about our daily lives, all the while allowing small chips to fall away from the grand statue of our liberty. We can ignore those little chips, such as the PATRIOT act. Or we can take a proactive stance, and begin gathering knowledge, and preparing for change. We can begin to pick the chips off the floor, and re-establish our freedoms in a move unlike anything our world has experienced.
Or maybe I just spent too much time thinking about the movie I just watched, V for Vendetta...
Friday, September 5, 2008
Prior Planning, or the lack thereof
So, tonight was supposed to be a Bingo game of epic proportions, with prizes as nuts as a 42 inch flatscreen TV. Sounds great, right? Here's the issue: ASWU (or whoever was running the stupid thing), didn't do very well at basic math. We arrived about five minutes before the event was supposed to begin, and assumed we'd be able to take part. Much to our surprise, they were already out of Bingo cards. Ok, we assumed this was because the room was full. So, out of curiosity, we stuck our heads inside, and found almost a third of the auditorium unfilled, and attendents apologizing left and right for being out of cards.
So what happened, ASWU? If you're going to advertise an event to EVERYONE, you might as well AT LEAST be able seat as many as the auditorium has seats for. Instead, you managed to tick off many of your students.
One last thing: Maybe that 35k a year you've spent to be in a position of Student Gov't should have gone towards a few more math classes, so you could fail less.
So what happened, ASWU? If you're going to advertise an event to EVERYONE, you might as well AT LEAST be able seat as many as the auditorium has seats for. Instead, you managed to tick off many of your students.
One last thing: Maybe that 35k a year you've spent to be in a position of Student Gov't should have gone towards a few more math classes, so you could fail less.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Convocation: Praise and Criticism
Today we attended the Annual Convocation Ceremony. To be honest, it was not as boring as I thought it would be. My expectations were to sit through a boring speech about how proud Whitworth is of the new class, as well as some "inspirational" Quotes for the seniors. Instead, it began with an interesting twist.
A horn section opened it up with very Medieval sounding music, as all of the Professors marched in behind Whitworth flags. Each prof was wearing a black robe, with some color and flashy ties, much like you'd see at a typical graduation. As the first speaker ascended the stage, we learned this was the 119th Convocation, as well as Academic Year.
The Freshman class was asked to stand. We made up the majority of the audience. After we sat, the returning students were asked to stand. Rather than be overwhelmed by the population, all I could notice was the difference in numbers. I couldn't help but wonder if this reflected a conflict of interest, or a "burning out" of older students. But more to come on that as the year progresses.
The President of ASWU (Associated Students of Whitworth University), Obe, read a verse from Ecclesiastes. After this, the highlight of the ceremony ascended the stage; The great B-Rob. A President like I've never met before, B-Rob proceeded to deliver a powerful speech (with which I only found a few small flaws, but more on those later in the post). His humor was wonderfully mixed in with his seriousness, which made the speech easy to follow. There were seven main points he was imparting, all of which stemmed from this quote: "Esther, could it be that you have come to a royal position, for a time such as this?"
His seven points of advice are as follows:
1. Don't answer this question too quickly. (this one is sort of obvious)
2. When you know the right thing to do, you cannot be intimidated by the consequences.
3. "Such a time as this" means risks, but not Stupid Risks. ("Dumb risks are Dumb." -Bill Robinson, Sept 2008)
4. Underestimating Smart women is ALWAYS a stupid risk. (this was met by loud, female sounding applause and cheers)
5. There are moments in time when greatness will come within reach. (they're not always there, so you need to wait for the right moment)
6. Behind all greatness if faithfulness.
7. "Such a time as this" is almost always revealed in the form of something challenging.
After B-Rob was done with his message, a hymn was sung to close the ceremony.
On to the less positive: My criticism of the ceremony. B-Rob made a point to say this, and I quote: "You must respect differences, and push for equality." Now, I agree whole heartedly with this idea. Without respect of differences, however core they may be, equality and tolerance cannot happen. Here's the flaw: This is from the same man who has refused to allow a GSA club on campus, or to be official. I see a conflict of interests here. Some people may try to say that a GSA is "different" somehow. However, no matter how you examine this issue, there is a conflict of ideals here. If you wish for true equality, and constantly preach tolerance and acceptance, maybe it's time to have some of your own, Whitworth.
A horn section opened it up with very Medieval sounding music, as all of the Professors marched in behind Whitworth flags. Each prof was wearing a black robe, with some color and flashy ties, much like you'd see at a typical graduation. As the first speaker ascended the stage, we learned this was the 119th Convocation, as well as Academic Year.
The Freshman class was asked to stand. We made up the majority of the audience. After we sat, the returning students were asked to stand. Rather than be overwhelmed by the population, all I could notice was the difference in numbers. I couldn't help but wonder if this reflected a conflict of interest, or a "burning out" of older students. But more to come on that as the year progresses.
The President of ASWU (Associated Students of Whitworth University), Obe, read a verse from Ecclesiastes. After this, the highlight of the ceremony ascended the stage; The great B-Rob. A President like I've never met before, B-Rob proceeded to deliver a powerful speech (with which I only found a few small flaws, but more on those later in the post). His humor was wonderfully mixed in with his seriousness, which made the speech easy to follow. There were seven main points he was imparting, all of which stemmed from this quote: "Esther, could it be that you have come to a royal position, for a time such as this?"
His seven points of advice are as follows:
1. Don't answer this question too quickly. (this one is sort of obvious)
2. When you know the right thing to do, you cannot be intimidated by the consequences.
3. "Such a time as this" means risks, but not Stupid Risks. ("Dumb risks are Dumb." -Bill Robinson, Sept 2008)
4. Underestimating Smart women is ALWAYS a stupid risk. (this was met by loud, female sounding applause and cheers)
5. There are moments in time when greatness will come within reach. (they're not always there, so you need to wait for the right moment)
6. Behind all greatness if faithfulness.
7. "Such a time as this" is almost always revealed in the form of something challenging.
After B-Rob was done with his message, a hymn was sung to close the ceremony.
On to the less positive: My criticism of the ceremony. B-Rob made a point to say this, and I quote: "You must respect differences, and push for equality." Now, I agree whole heartedly with this idea. Without respect of differences, however core they may be, equality and tolerance cannot happen. Here's the flaw: This is from the same man who has refused to allow a GSA club on campus, or to be official. I see a conflict of interests here. Some people may try to say that a GSA is "different" somehow. However, no matter how you examine this issue, there is a conflict of ideals here. If you wish for true equality, and constantly preach tolerance and acceptance, maybe it's time to have some of your own, Whitworth.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Internet Restrictions and Other Shady Shenanigans
Having now been at Whitworth for a total of six days, I feel I am entitled to my first official complaint-fest. Here's the only few issues that I've found with Whitworth, hopefully laid out nice and neatly.
Article One: Internet Restrictions. If the goal of a college is to brew Adults, and brew individuals who are world-conscious, as well as upright and strong individuals, then this filtering seems counter-intuitive. Rather than prepare a college student for the real world, filtering simply holds back some of the less happy parts of the world until graduation. Now, I have read B-Rob's justification for this filtering, and some of it makes sense. Assuming the individual is never going to leave this school, that is. His reasoning (and if I'm wrong, please correct me) seems to be that filtering helps those who have pornography issues. Now, I understand how this could be a problem for someone. But the answer should not be the stock Christian (yes, I said it. If you don't get what I'm talking about here, the book unChristian might be good to read, it's got a wonderful section all about this) response of isolating and denying. (note, this is not ALL Christian's response, it just has been an underlying theme that I've noticed)
It is precisely this attitude towards negative aspects of life that have caused me to draw away from the church. Instead of simply blocking the bad things, and hoping they won't touch the inside of our precious Pine Curtain, why not educate and advise? Put in a few days (or even weeks) of education about the Evils of this world. This way the shock of entering the real world even more than we already are will be less shocking for the sheltered little denizens of Whitworth.
Article Two: Wireless/Internet ease of use. Yes, I understand that security is important. But it IS possible to be secure while not being friggin retarded. Seriously. You shouldn't need a machine-side client to simply sign in with WPA (which is what the client does...). So, if a Whitworth IT guy reads this, here's some advice: Break your crack-like addiction to WIndows based security and switch to something more usable. You might have to actually learn some coding, but in the end it will be less painful for your student population.
I have a feeling this Blog will end up with more articles, be they in contention, or in support of Whitworth. Overall, I'm loving this school. Till next time, keep that flag hoisted, and keep on Plundering.
Article One: Internet Restrictions. If the goal of a college is to brew Adults, and brew individuals who are world-conscious, as well as upright and strong individuals, then this filtering seems counter-intuitive. Rather than prepare a college student for the real world, filtering simply holds back some of the less happy parts of the world until graduation. Now, I have read B-Rob's justification for this filtering, and some of it makes sense. Assuming the individual is never going to leave this school, that is. His reasoning (and if I'm wrong, please correct me) seems to be that filtering helps those who have pornography issues. Now, I understand how this could be a problem for someone. But the answer should not be the stock Christian (yes, I said it. If you don't get what I'm talking about here, the book unChristian might be good to read, it's got a wonderful section all about this) response of isolating and denying. (note, this is not ALL Christian's response, it just has been an underlying theme that I've noticed)
It is precisely this attitude towards negative aspects of life that have caused me to draw away from the church. Instead of simply blocking the bad things, and hoping they won't touch the inside of our precious Pine Curtain, why not educate and advise? Put in a few days (or even weeks) of education about the Evils of this world. This way the shock of entering the real world even more than we already are will be less shocking for the sheltered little denizens of Whitworth.
Article Two: Wireless/Internet ease of use. Yes, I understand that security is important. But it IS possible to be secure while not being friggin retarded. Seriously. You shouldn't need a machine-side client to simply sign in with WPA (which is what the client does...). So, if a Whitworth IT guy reads this, here's some advice: Break your crack-like addiction to WIndows based security and switch to something more usable. You might have to actually learn some coding, but in the end it will be less painful for your student population.
I have a feeling this Blog will end up with more articles, be they in contention, or in support of Whitworth. Overall, I'm loving this school. Till next time, keep that flag hoisted, and keep on Plundering.
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