Rabbit rabbit

So, with the start of the new month comes new classes. At least, in February, that's what comes. I'm taking Mathematical Ideas in Contemporary Society and Communication Ethics at St. Kate's, and Gender Politics at Hamline. I only recently realized that this means that I will be around women ALL THE TIME. How will this impact the classroom experience? I do not know. I'm sure that it has been extensively studied, probably by people at St. Kate's, but I have not read these studies.

However, I will soon have experiential evidence, and I will report my findings back to you, the loyal consumer. I'm doing it all for science...

Speaking of genders, did you read that article in the Times on Sunday comparing Spike TV and Lifetime? It's pretty interesting, and concludes that in a lady's perfect day, as interpreted by Lifetime, "...she is kidnapped on the way back from putting the kids on the school bus but vanquishes the kidnappers in time to go for a fattening lunch with her single-mom pals, at which they lament their lack of dates before donning designer gowns to go to a school board meeting where they successfully address all major educational problems."

Sounds like Tuesday to me. But what I found interesting about the article was the idea that crime-ish (more I Escaped My Terrible Cult Kidnappers! than CSI) shows are very common on the female-centric Lifetime. Why is that? Is there something empowering about watching women consistently become victims-- but then escape with their quick wits. I'm inclined to believe that I would rather watch women not be victims at all, but I've watched my fair share of crime shows (although not on Lifetime. We no longer have cable, tragically, and when we did have it, we got, like, Univision and Food Network.) and found them pretty gripping.

On the subject of female victimization, check out this list of female comic book victims. Are comic book artists raging misogynists, or is it just a fact that everyone dies at some point in comic books? Will write more about this later.

An Amendment to Applying to College as a Kind-Of Homeschooler

Step bajillion: Get your Spanish professor to write you a letter of recommendation, because a letter from your Political Philosophy teacher, a letter of recommendation from your mentor/discussion group co-founder, test scores, a two-page narrative transcript, an explanation of school switch, an exhaustive list of activities, a brief explanation of one of those activities, full familial educational history, Hamline transcript, Central transcript, letter of recommendation from your own mother (hi guidance counselor!) , a resume, more test scores, a "school philosophy" explanation, Common App essay, and supplemental essay are JUST NOT ENOUGH TO MAKE A DECISION.

I'm just getting a little tired of this. Getting into any of these colleges will be worth it-- they're great schools, ones I'm excited about-- but damn, you gotta work!

Behind the Curve

Is that the right phrase? Anyway, I saw Avatar last night. It's now been out for like ten years, but I figure it's still on top of the box office, so I'm not too far behind there. At least I'm making James Cameron happy (always my number one priority).

So, I saw the movie in iMax 3D, which was... ridiculously expensive. But worth it, because it was the kind of movie where you spend three hours thinking "This probably would've been really cool in theaters" if you watch it on DVD at home. The movie was pretty cool-- blue people, big machines, lots of flying around. Kind of Transformers/Harry Potter/Pocahontas.

Some other people thought so, too.

Avatar has also taken some heat for racist undertones, which is an idea that I think this video addresses well.

And, of course, the Playboy boob quote.

"PLAYBOY: How much did you get into calibrating your movie heroine’s hotness?

CAMERON: Right from the beginning I said, “She’s got to have tits,” even though that makes no sense because her race, the Na’vi, aren’t placental mammals."

Coool. But like I said, I like big machines, flying stuff, and glowy flowers, so I kinda dug the movie, and I'm not into pretending like I was outraged throughout. Just some things to consider.

Phun with Phonics

For the past two weeks, I've been meeting with a pretty cute fifth-grade boy named Tayshaun, who goes to Barack and Michelle Obama Service Learning Academy (somehow they got around the whole don't-name-shit-after-current-presidents rule).

I'm doing it through a program at my church, which is right across the street from the school. The program hooks up willing church members with kids to mentor. However, the mentoring solely involves having the kid read from a preselected book for half an hour. This kid, Tayshaun, is already a pretty good reader, so I'm basically just sitting next to him in the hall, following along as he reads his book.

I feel kind of useless. Aren't we supposed to have some kind of amazing Dead Poets Society bond or something? (Is that reference even accurate? I haven't seen that movie in a million.) Maybe not quite that, but, come on, something! Save the Last Dance? Dirty Dancing? Except without the leaping around and romance, and plus R.L. Stine and an 11-year-old?

Am I serving any kind of purpose by listening to this kid read for half an hour? He doesn't obviously hate it or anything. I also don't obviously hate going to the dentist, but it's not how I'd choose to spend my last hours on Earth or anything.

Hopefully this is good for something that I just haven't realized yet.

Dedicated to All of the Colleges That I Didn't Even Apply To...

...but that send me SO MUCH e-mail anywaaay.

TAKE A HINT ALREADY.

I Do Not Have a New Year's Resolution

So suck on that, lady mags with January makeover obsessions.

However, on the subject of lady mags, I have started a new work out routine. It's Women's Health Ultimate Fitness Plan from 2008. And it's really, really hard. I did their cardio and strength thing two days ago, and the day after I basically fell out of bed and crawled to the remainder of my activities for the day. (Benefit of unschooling! You don't have to do anything if you don't really feel like it's physically possible!)

Anyway, that's the thing... that I'm doing... starting in early January.

Have you read any good books lately? I'm gonna be honest-- I'm getting real sick of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Yeah, yeah Tom Wolfe, you are a great experimental journalist of your :::generation::: and use a lot of :::colons::: (seriously, what's the deal with that??), but this book if effing repetitive and not that interesting. Acid, bus, Day-Glo, lather, rinse, repeat. And I know that I am not contractually obligated to continue reading a book that I don't enjoy, but I feel sort of duty-bound.

We'll see what happens. It's kind of bad when you find yourself getting jealous of other people reading other, more fun books. However, as with this stupidly hard Women's Health workout plan, I will keep trucking through 300 pages of Tom Wolfe. Because reading should totally be as hard as 45 minutes of interval running.

How to Apply to Colllege When You're Kind Of (Not Really) Home Schooled

DISCLAIMER: I have not yet been accepted to any colleges yet. However! I have also not been rejected! My batting average, therefore, does not exist. So, take that as you may.

ADDITIONAL DISCLAIMER: This blog is not so entertaining. But when I was applying to college, I felt like I was making it up as I went along, which I shouldn't have felt, and some info like this would've helped.

Here's my advice.

1. Keep lists of everything. Keep lists of books you read. Keep lists of places you volunteer, people who like you, things you're interested in, projects you've completed, etc. They will definitely come in handy.
2. Save everything. Not only all of those lists, but also any graded papers you have, and ungraded papers you have, any grades from classes that you have, projects that you complete, and so on.

That's pretty much it. You'll have to create a transcript for yourself, have one of your parents write you a recommendation letter (weird), write a statement on why you decided to become home schooled, write several more statements, take SAT subject tests in addition to the ACT and SAT, etc. It's a long and somewhat tedious process., and I'm glad to be done with it. But you get to maybe write some funny essays! If you're into that.

Some resources: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/home-schooling-college/ College Confidential itself is a great general resource, but their message boards have a specific homeschool section that I found pretty helpful.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hs2coll/ This Yahoo forum requires registration, but that's pretty simple, and definitely worth it. The forum is populated by completely crazed homeschooling parents, who give exhaustive answers to questions you haven't even thought of yet.