Highschool Dropout

Who I want to be when I grow up:

2010-05-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

Also, La Roux.

Helloo, people of the internet

2010-05-21T09:44:00.001-07:00

You may be wondering things like: who the hell are you? Why are you SO BAD AT BLOGGING?

No seriously, WHY.

I have answers, guys. Why am I so bad at blogging? Here's the breakdown.

So, I got into college a month or two ago (go me-- drink blood, smoke crack, worship Satan, go Mac, etc etc), and the whole point of this blog, ostensibly, was kind of to get me into college. I mean, did college admissions officers actually go to the blog link I provided at the end of my resume? No, I think that is a hilarious joke. But it made me feel like I had Another Accomplishment which is kind of important is those unschooled moments when you're like "I am doing nothing useful with my life who am I what is this why am I reading Jezebel.com for the fifth time today". Or maybe that was just me...

But anyway, now that I'm into college, I kind of felt/feel like blogging makes me an asshole. Because seriously, what is blogging beyond indulging your own self-obsession?

Yeah.

So I was just gonna close down the blog, say goodnight and good luck, but I keep biking along, thinking (having my iPod break has caused me to... think a lot more. Which, when you consider it, is really just kind of horrifying.), and I keep being like "that'd be a sweet blog post!"

And honestly, if there's one thing that's more lame than having a blog, it's wishing you were writing blog entries. Like, dream big, right?

Also, all of my classes are over, but I still have to go to track practice, so my days still have this kind of awkward shell of structure, and I get bored. Soo, lucky you. Posts to come will probably involve lying on roommate forms, my Bust subscription, Raphael Saadiq, my new obsession with that web TV series stuff, Elena Kagan, ETC ETC.

Do You Get the NYT Mag?

2010-03-17T09:12:00.000-07:00

We do, but it's also available online. A couple weeks ago, there was an article on how to make a better teacher that I thought was interesting. If you didn't read it, check it out here.

The article basically lays out two different possible ways to improve teachers nationwide. It argues that teaching well is not an innate ability, but a learnable skill that should be taught in schools of education in colleges across the country.

As I read the article, I tired to decide whether I agreed with that idea. Most of the great teachers that I've had seemed to simply have been born that way-- but it's not that they were doing things that normal humans would find impossible. They had simply honed their skills through years of experience-- and had been interested enough in teaching to want to hone their skills in the first place.

Something that the article failed to touch on (and that maybe isn't as true in elementary schools as it seems to be in high schools) is that many bad teachers don't seem to be bad because they don't know how to manage their classes or how to lead or explain activities in a sensible way. A lot of bad teachers are bad teachers because they don't know how to do that, and they don't care. They're burnt out, bored, hopeless, underpaid, overworked, and maybe chose the wrong profession to begin with.

I agree that many teachers can surely be trained to be better, and Lemov's 49 points, and the MKT test seem to be good beginning. But before teachers can get better, the ones who don't want to get better should leave.

Spring Has Sprung Sprang Spurng...

2010-03-17T08:54:00.001-07:00

You get the idea.

Grass!

Skies!

Bikes! Except I've been biking all winter, and I actually bike less now because I have my license! But whatever!

Emerging from the dark, hideous cocoon of winter in Minnesota as a beautiful spring time Baywatch butterfly is a glorious time.

So happy spring-- I think the first official day of it is this Saturday. Celebrate by frolicking on the beach or something. I'll be jamming in my car to KFAI and KDWB with the (automatic! We got a new used car.) windows rolled down.

Look What Happens When You Don't Blog for Two Weeks

2010-03-11T08:08:00.001-08:00

I've cracked 1,000 page views!

Internet confetti!

That means that many, many people have looked at this blog to see if there is any new content and been sorely disappointed! Just kidding (I hope).

Thanks for reading, people who read this.

Sexist Song of the Week

2010-03-09T17:48:00.001-08:00

(Ha ha that makes it seem almost like I post more than once a week. But I am really am going to try now! I've fallen off the boat, again-- thank god I'm not addicted to crack-- but two to three posts a week for the next next weeks. I promise.)

So I got my driver's license a couple weeks ago. It only took me three tries, but I did eventually get it. What this has meant most significantly for me is that I listen to the radio. A lot. Every time I drive, I put it on, and it's usually KDWB (top 40) Now 96 (also top 40) or the Current (hipster top 40).

Listening to KDWB and Now 96 for half an hour a day or so means that I hear the same five songs over and over. And there's one that's really starting to piss me off.

Why do I hate this song so much? There are chicks with guitars! Rock 'n' roll! And according to some other dude, she's great!

Oh wait, yeah, it's that part. Your emotionally abusive boyfriend is telling you that you suck, and the rock 'n' roll response is to say that some OTHER guy thinks you don't? No! The response you're looking for, Orianthi, is "According to me, you are a dumb loser and I am awesome." Listening to verse after verse of self-esteem pumped from outside sources doesn't make me, the listener, feel empowered. It makes me feel concerned that you get your ideas about yourself from the guys you like. That sucks.

Also, that music video makes me feel like I'm playing Guitar Hero at someone's concert, which is just weird.

Homework of the Future

2010-02-22T08:43:00.000-08:00

In the futureee, this blog post will be transmitted to your brain via cyborg...

Does that even make sci-fi sense? Probably not.

But for now, I am doing my math homework in the WAY OF THE FUTURE (and listening to Heads Will Roll, by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which is kind of Music of the Future-y). So let futuristic me tell prehistoric you that math homework of the future has some serious disadvantages.

All of my math homework for Mathematical Ideas in Contemporary Society is to be completed through an online program called CourseCompass. It basically turns math homework into a computer game, which is kind of cool. You can try any problem as many times as you want, it has a calculator built into the page, you can click a button and the relevant textbook pages pop out into a new window, etc.

However, the drawback to all of this computer-y business is that the math prof has a Patriot Act level of access to everyone's homework records, including time started, time completed, time spent, attempts made, etc.

As a committed procrastinator with skills fine-tuned through years of junior high and high school practice, having my professor know when I start assignments is NOT GOOD. Especially when she is Extremely Concerned about procrastination in her class.

"Look lady!" I want to tell her, "I will complete those stupid problems about dividing chocolate cake. But it's Sunday! I have until Wednesday! Check back in at 11:45pm Wednesday night, and there I'll be, furiously punching calculator buttons. But until then, pleease stop checking when everyone has started their homework and sending out Extremely Concerned e-mails!"

I have seen the future. And it's not pretty.

Yesterday in Communication Ethics

2010-02-17T07:45:00.000-08:00

So, number one, I was ten minutes late, again, because I missed my transfer bus after the 16. Taking the 87 after the 16 is kind of a perfect storm of inevitable failure, which is something I probably should've realized earlier. Basically, the 16 is always late. If the 16 isn't late, it's because you're getting on the bus that was supposed to be coming 15 minutes ago, and its lateness just happens to match up with the bus schedule.

The 87, on the other hand, is always right on time. Like three people ride that bus ever, and I think the bus driver knows who they are and where they get on, so he basically revs it up to a million mph in between those stops.

So what happens when you're taking a bus that's always late to get on a bus that's always right on time, if not a little early, is that (as I have now learned) you will miss your transfer bus. And then you will be stuck on the street corner like "Noooooo!"

Yeah, like that. My point on this blog was gonna be utilitarianism, but man, now I'm just fired up about MetroTransit. Unfortunately, I can't be too mad at them, because they kept my wallet when I stupidly left it on the bus (kind of like how I stupidly leave everything everywhere), and then sent me a very nice little postcard like "We have your wallet."

But seriously, I would GIVE them my wallet if there buses would run on time. They could get my Hamline ID, and even my library card. That's a bargain.

You know what's hard?

2010-02-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

Schedules. Schedules are hard. (Life iz haaard!) (Not but srsly.) Anyway, so when I'm not whining on the internet, I do things sometimes, and for the past two weeks, I've had my classes at St. Kate's and Hamline.

Things That I Have Learned So Far:

You can't really have a discussion-based class if no one talks. Case in point, in Gender Politics last week: "So, if you were looking for feminist news, where would you go?" Silence. "...Okay, what if you were just looking for regular news? Anyone? News?" Awkward, especially since Sarah Palin totes did that response better. (PS: Palin 2012?? On what? The Teaparty ticket? We're all mad here-- campaign slogan? Just wondering.)
Math class minus math=easy! Direct quote from my extremely sweet professor: "Soo, you won't be using a whole lot of that fancy math stuff in this class. It's more... if you're good with language and problem solving, that'll help." Oh, like literacy and common sense? Oh yes, I have those. In SPADES.
I'm trying to think of something sassy for my Communication Ethics class, but that's actually just been a really good class so far. Although I did go on the wrong day of the week for the first class session, and then missed my transfer and ended up 15 minutes late the next week. So that was fun.

What have you learned in the pat two weeks? Also, if you live in the Twin Cities area and are in 7th-12th grade, come to the Interfaith Youth Day of Service on President's Day! Register here. I'll be there, you can stalk my whole life.

Rabbit rabbit

2010-02-03T09:29:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-28T08:59:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-25T08:19:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-19T09:04:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-01-10T18:30:00.000-08:00

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

TAKE A HINT ALREADY.

I Do Not Have a New Year's Resolution

2010-01-09T12:03:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-06T07:54:00.000-08:00

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.

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.
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.

"Hey giiiirl..."

2010-01-04T07:47:00.000-08:00

"How old are you?"

"Are you married?"

"Daaamn!"

All of these are things that I no longer hear, because, number one, it's winter in Minnesota, so I think even creepy guys in pick-up (heh) trucks are either hibernating, or can't tell who's actually female when everyone is wearing down parkas; and, number two, because I wear noise-blocking headphones with my iPod.

So, I was thinking the other day, being your standard creepy guy hollering at some underage girl must just not be as much fun anymore. Because, seriously, look around some time when you're walking down the block. I'll bet you that the vast majority of the teenage girls (or guys, for that matter) who you see walking alone are plugged into an iPod, or talking on their cell phone. Which means that Creepy Joe no longer gets any reaction from girls when he, like, barks at them. Or does whatever creepy thing he wants to do.

Just thought I'd highlight a benefit of being a part of Generation Not Paying Attention to Our Surroundings.

Yeah, yeah

2010-01-02T06:34:00.001-08:00

It's been a while. But hey, here I am again. I always come baaack...

And honestly, if I had been blogging for the past three weeks, the blogs would've looked like this:

"AHHHH college holidaze holidays birthday LOOK MY LAPTOP CAME BACK AFTER I DROPPED IT skdnbglsdncollege."

In other words, you didn't miss much. But as you may have surmised from the above non-sentence, a few things that have happened are:

I applied to college. That's the part most responsible for the non-blogging. The first blog is always that hardest... (Kind of true! I stop blogging for a while, and then I think about it, and I'm like, "Shit. If I blog again now, it'll have to include at least a line of 'heeeey, I suck at blogging.' TRAUMARAMA, to quote Seventeen.")
I casually dropped my computer on my little shag rug.
It casually broke.
So I sent it back to Acer, and those nice young people just sent it back to me all fixed up!
My birthday happened, so I can finally watch my first R-rated movie.
Christmas happened, and I got a balaklava, and it was my favorite present.

THIS

NOT THIS

That's about it. I'll be posting a handy guide (probably also in list form) on how to apply to college as a kind-of-home-schooled lady. Trust me, it ain't easy.

How were your holidaze?

Let's Talk About Sex, Baby...

2009-12-09T20:33:00.000-08:00

(Is it totally cliche to use that as a blog post title? I think so. Just bear with me, I guess.)

Tonight, two of my volunteer worlds collided.

It was remarkably peaceful.

Actually, two members of the Planned Parenthood Teen Council (not including me), and Emily, one of the adult facilitators, came in tonight to Beyond the Birds and Bees, and the parents discussion group that I co-facilitate at my church. We acted as a sort of "teen panel" for the parents, fielding their questions for a little less than an hour and a half.

The parents at BTBAB are great, thoughtful adults, and I'm sure that they're good parents. But what I was shocked by tonight was how little they knew about STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections, formerly called Sexually Transmitted Diseases, formerly formerly called Venereal Diseases)! They had lots of questions related to STIs, most of them very concerned about specific facts, and almost all of it information that is findable online.

I was a little surprised that these smart, responsible adults didn't know this information that I think of as obvious. But then I thought about it a little more. It made sense when I was reminded by one of my co-facilitators that most parents were educated about STIs around the same age that I am now-- which, for many parents, was 30-40 years ago. A fair amount has changed since then, and I think it's important for parents to be available as resources for their kids.

So, if you're a parent, educate yourself! And if you're not a parent, this info is important anyway.

Here's Planned Parenthood's resource center on STIs.

Here is the Center for Disease Control's STI factsheet.

Info from Mayo clinic-- their website is very straight-forward and clean.

Last but not least, Scarleteen's STI article collection. Scarleteen is an awesome resource for sex-positive, medically accurate information for young people, and their articles are informative and fun to read. They also have a message board staffed with highly informed volunteers, who provide answers to the questions that are posted. They also boast a great texting service-- explained here-- where you can text Scarleteen your sexual health questions, and a trained, real live responder will give you an answer. (Again, parents: this would be a great resource to tell your teen about. They might be too embarrassed to ask you a nitty-gritty sexuality question, but texting a professional provides all of the info with none of the awkwardness.)

Kids Say the Darndest Things

2009-12-07T07:16:00.000-08:00

I spent six and a half hours at my church this weekend, none of which were spent participating in a religious activity of any kind. I get paid to do childcare at Unity, and I've adopted a philosophy of taking on any event that's thrown at me. It's worked pretty well so far.

Adorable child moment of the week: This past Wednesday, I was working at my church, and kids were running wild all over the parish hall. One such kid basically looks like an angel (big brown eyes, dark curly hair, little snub nose, five years old) crossed with Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes (exceedingly mischievous). He quickly honed in on a huge plastic tub of Legos that we have-- it's about the size of a small desk. He hopped in it, on top of a few inches of Legos, and grinned at me as he snuggled into the second layer of Legos.

I lifted him out of the tub, and told him that it wasn't strong enough for him to play on. Once released from my arms, he immediately hopped back into the tub. I looked down at him with my best you-know-what-you're-doing-wrong stare, and he continued to smile. "Noooah," I told him, "you need to get out of that tub."
"But I can't!" he responded, eyes widened in horror, "It's my home!"
That time, I was laughing as I pulled him out.

I also got invited to Google Wave this weekend, which is awesome and really only serves to exacerbate by compulsive tendencies. If you're chatting with someone, and they say "when your going to the grocery store" you can go back and edit what they said. "Your" can be transformed into its proper form every (appropriate) time!

Of course, the person you're chatting with can then go into your chat bubble and type in "I am an obsessive brat." And be completely justified. But anyway, Google Wave has some cool feature besides the whole catering-to-my-hidden-50-year-old-grammarian thing. Check out some more info about it here. It's currently in beta version, so you need an invitation to join, but just let me know if you want one-- I think I have six or seven left.

veep veep veep

2009-11-30T07:06:00.000-08:00

This week's New York Times Magazine has a main article focusing on Joe Biden, our fine nation's VP.

Heeey Joe!

The article discusses a number of things, but one of its main focuses is strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Biden's role in shaping it. The author of the article, James Traub, predicts that Biden "...is very likely to once again lose the debate on troop strength, though he may win on narrowing the objectives. The real test of his success will be whether the new policy tilts toward Pakistan."

This article in the Washington Post, released yesterday, essentially says that the U.S. is seeking a deeper strategic partnership with Pakistan, and that "Pakistan has been the hot core of the months-long strategy review. The long-term consequences of failure there, the review concluded, far outweigh those in Afghanistan." So, congrats to Biden, I think.

Unrelated to Pakistan, but there was also a quote in the article that I liked a lot: "Question people's judgment, not their motives."

Anyway. Thanksgiving weekend is now officially over, which probably means I should blog more than, like, once a week (I will, I will!). I was... in a food coma? For like four days? Story of my life, actually.

World AIDS Day is tomorrow, y'all. Big calendar of events anywhere in the world here, calendar of MN-specific events here.

Weighing Obligations

2009-11-25T07:22:00.000-08:00

First off, sign this petition! It's an anti-Stupak petition. Your signature tells Congress that you will not allow them to disregard women's health during healthcare reform.

As I've mentioned a few times before, I'm thinking about going somewhere warm and Spanish-speaking for January, when I won't have any classes at Hamline. However, I now realize that I've thoroughly entrenched myself in life here in Saint Paul-- through Planned Parenthood Teen Council, the Interfaith Youth Leadership Coalition, and, soon, mentoring a 5th grader at a local elementary school.

I'm really not one for quitting in the middle of things (unless that thing is Nordic skiiing freshmen year), or shirking on my obligations. But I'm also really not for being in Minnesota for another 31 days of snot-freezing, hypothermia-inducing cold weather. So, shit. My current thought is that perhaps this trip would make more sense in the summer, when I'm generally obligation-free. We'll see.

Separating Beats and Lyrics

2009-11-23T10:26:00.000-08:00

The song that got me thinking about writing this blog is being played on the radio a lot right now.

Akon, chivalrous dude that he is, is "tryna find the words to describe this girl/Without being disrespectful". The words he settles on? Over and over? "Damn, you's a sexy bitch, a sexy bitch". Yeeah. Nice work, Akon.

I co-facilitate a parents' discussion group on teen sexuality at my church, and one topic that has come up a surprising amount (to me) is song lyrics that parents find distasteful. In general, the parents feel that hip-hop is full of misogynistic, sexist lyrics. This is sometimes true. I don't listen to Superman by Eminem when it comes up on my iTunes because that song is basically rhythmic hate speech.

But when the song is about appreciating women-- kind of-- or, more accurately, appreciating womens' bodies, does that cross a line? And does a parent have any role in censoring their kids' music choices?

In general, I'd say no. Baby boomers, which is the generation that most of my friends' parents fall into, grew up with songs like Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix ("I'm going down to shoot my old lady/You know, I caught her messin' around with another man"), Run for Your Life by The Beatles ("Catch you with another man/That's the end'a little girl"), Brown Sugar by The Rolling Stones ("Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good/ (a-ha) brown sugar, just like a black girl should"), etc., etc., etc. That generation seems to have turned out okay enough, despite the hideous sexism in those lyrics, to feel compelled to be horrified by the lyrics of current music.

My point is not that past misogyny and sexism in music makes present misogyny and sexism inmusic acceptable. Instead, concerned parents of teens should realize that song lyrics don't corrupt their kids. In all likelihood, gangsta rap didn't make them do it. Instead of addressing problematic lyrics by telling your kid to turn that noise off, ask them what they appreciate about the song. Tell them how you feel about the lyrics, but let the decision be theirs.

Feeling Unproductive

2009-11-17T09:07:00.000-08:00

I think one of the biggest differences between unschooling and attending highschool full-time, is that while I frequently felt that I was wasting my time at Central, I rarely felt like I was being unproductive. After all, there I was, in school, taking classes, busybusybusy.

Now that I'm unschooled, and frequently have large swathes of time to plan completely by myself, I often have overwhelming feelings of unproductivity. I should never just be sitting! I should be doing something worthwhile with every! Single! Second!

Of course, this sentiment is not terribly realistic. And I've found some pleasure in sitting, staring off into space, when I'm able to turn off the nagging voice in my head. I do a lot. I do enough. I write, I read, I advocate and educate, bike, do the dishes, sometimes I even shower... My life is fulfilling when I can stop and recognize that staying up until 2AM working on an English paper of Math portfolio does not make your life fulfilling. It makes your life busy, busy, busy.

Off to Sioux Falls!

2009-11-13T07:07:00.000-08:00

So, for the Cross Country team's last shebang, we're all (all, in this case, meaning the 12 of us who wanted to go) piling into vans and heading down to Sioux Falls for the Nike Regionals race. It should be extra fun-- kind of like a slumber party, plus eight hours of driving and a 5k race. More like a roadtrip with the CC team, I guess.

Other excitement has been fairly minimal. I'm now a member of the YPulse Youth Advisory Board, which should be interesting. YPulse, as far as I can figure, is a market research/trend-following organization that gives its information to marketing companies so that they can tell their clients (big companies) how best to market to youth. I have no idea what my role will be, but I'll post an update when I have a clue.

In the "of course they do" category goes this new piece of web information: Up until this past Thursday (when it was discovered by the media) the Republican National Committee's healthcare plan covered abortions. Naturally. Now, the brilliant Michael Steele has resolved to strip this perfectly sensible coverage from the women of his committee. You go, Michael Steele. You know what's best.

And just a little something about his past actions, for fun.

Officially Finished

2009-11-10T08:41:00.000-08:00

With standardized college-acceptance testing! Hollaaaa. After hours and hours of testing-taking, and even more time spent staring skeptically at the cover of my SAT/ACT study books, I am finally done. Thank god.

Ironically, although part of my decision to become homeschooled was fueled by my fundamental disagreement with the "teaching to the test" mentality that seems to be overpowering public schools, being homeschooled means that most colleges want you to take as many standardized tests as possible. It proves, I guess, that you haven't just been sitting around the house drooling on yourself. So, two SATS, one ACT, and three SAT subject tests later, our long national nightmare is finally over.

I'm making significant inroads on my application to Amherst, too, which is good, because it's due in five days (no pressure). But let's talk about something more interesting. Or at least more enraging.

Disclaimer: I am by no means a political expert. This information is what I have understood from what I've read. I think that I'm understanding it correctly, but it's complicated, and I wouldn't be surprised if I got something completely wrong. If there's a glaring mistake in this information, please let me know.

STUUUUPAAAAAKKK. Representative Stupak and his stupid, stupid abortion amendment added to the healthcare reform bill in the 11th-and-a-half hour. The amendment, as far as a I can tell (healthcare: it's confusing! Who knew...) prevents abortion care from being covered in the public option. Which, although obviously idiotic, does, I think, follow in the footsteps on the generally-accepted Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal money from financing abortion care nationally. Anyway, this part is worth getting pissed off about even though it does appear to follow national standards because it means that the stripping of abortion care from the public option will be specifically disenfranchising poor women. The public option will only be available for about 10% of the population-- those who aren't poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, but aren't covered by their employers and can't afford to cover private insurance costs themselves. So that means that women who don't have enough money to afford private insurance will be forced to pay out of pocket for an expensive, legal medical procedure.

But it doesn't stop there! The Stupak amendment also prevents private insurance companies (and I'm sorry, but why aren't Republicans equally pissed off about this because of that part? There's the government! Meddling in private companies' affairs! They hate that! Why aren't they pissed off NOW?) from providing plans that cover abortion services if they accept insurees who are receiving government subsidies from healthcare. And, under the new plan, a whole hell of a lot more people would be receiving government subsidies. Which means that millions of middle-class women would need to pay out of pocket for abortion expenses.

Alternatively, they could purchase an extra abortion "rider"-- kind of like an extra added to an already-established plan. You know, for all those women who plan for their abortions.

Anyway, the whole thing is obviously completely idiotic. As has been proven countless times, banning abortion doesn't lower abortion rates; it just raises the rate of illegal, dangerous abortions. Hopefully, common sense will prevail in the Senate, and the amendment will be struck from the bill. Which seems unlikely in a Senate that has leaned more conservatively than the House so far, but you never know.

If the language isn't struck from the Senate when they vote on it, there's still a possibility that it could be taken out when the Senate and House versions of the bill are resolved, and then re-voted.

eggghhh.

Excitement!

2009-10-27T06:42:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure that I figured out yesterday which schools I'll be applying to this fall. This is pretty major for me, because up until yesterday I had mostly buried my head around a pillow and thrashed about when I thought about deciding which colleges to apply to (there are so many of them! There are colleges you've never heard of in places you've never heard of! Like Iowa! Any decision you make is ultimately fairly arbitrary!).

Anyway, the list. Organized in terms of how absurd their acceptance rate is.

Brown (ha.)
Amherst (ditto)
Northwestern (Only school I could find with Community Organization, Education, Women's Studies majors and double major and teacher certification options without being in the middle of a cornfield.)
Macalester (Because going to college three miles away from my house now would be awesome, right? But Mac is a top liberal arts college, according to people who know these things, like the obsessive forces behind College Confidential.)
Sarah Lawrence (Such a tight-sounding school. I can't even say anything cynical and sarcastic here. Open curriculum, writing-focused school, small class sizes, etc. No, hold on, I do have bad things to say. The 70/30 female-male breakdown is pretty daunting. And they're featured on Gawker's list of Most Annoying Liberal Arts Colleges, ha.)
Syracuse University (Focus on internships/experiential learning, decently sized city.)
U of M-Twin Cities (Because I'm pretty damn sure I'll get in.)

So, there it is. The top seven that beat out the thousands of others for reasons both legitimate and completely absurd.

Time to start applying.

Pillar to Post

2009-10-24T17:39:00.000-07:00

This blog entry comes to you from the ninth floor of the Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis. I was hired by a family friend to be a "Personal Care Assistant" for her daughter, who is both in a wheelchair and in a Guthrie production. My job was to make sure anything she needed was available before the show, but now the production has started and my job is basically over. I'm just hanging out in the lobby, enjoying the view and surfing the web (the joys of laptops and WiFi).

I might head back down to the fifth floor Express Cafe in a minute or two-- I realized a few minutes ago that the bean salad I had been happily munching contained huge chunks of sausage. I've been a vegetarian for almost 13 years, so that made the salad a no-go. Eating in the dark is dangerous, I guess.

Here's a question for those of you reading this: If you were an ACT test writer, what would you make the essay question? Be specific! I took the ACT this morning, and was forced to write an essay for half an hour on a truly inane topic (ACT rules prohibit me from disclosing the actual essay prompt, god knows why). Anyway, I don't feel like it should be impossible to think of essay topic that actually inspires some form of opinion in your average 16-18-year-old. Any thoughts?

Minneapolis is beautiful at night.

Baby, You Can Drive My Car

2009-10-22T07:01:00.000-07:00

So, I'm not learning how to do that, but I am learning how to drive (equally impressive, amiright?). I'm kind of thinking that driving might be a little easier than winter biking come December. I'm definitely not one of those people who winter bikes because it's "fun" or "exciting". I'm winter bike because I "have no other option". And although you can get a lot of street cred in some circles from biking home in a sleet storm (yes, I have), you also get a lot of sleet in your face.

Hopefully, having a driver's license at some point in the near future will prevent future sleet-in-face problems. My dad has mostly taken charge of driving instruction, as he did with my older sister, but my mom has also, somewhat reluctantly, stepped up to the plate. The car I'm learning on is an old Ford Escort, which starts immediately only sometimes, and frequently refuses to go in reverse altogether. But it goes forward just fine, and that's my number one priority at this point.

Quick hits:
-POS show on Saturday! To buy tickets from TicketMaster, and endure nine million percent service markups on ticket price, ooor to make the long haul to First Ave and buy tickets for their low, low $9 price, but endure an hour-long bus ride both ways?

-Cross Country St. Paul Conference meet was this Tuesday. Conference is a meet that pits all of the Saint Paul public high schools against each other, and it's exciting and fun. Central swept JV and Varsity team championship titles for both genders, and each individual winner was from Central. I won the girls' Varsity race, which was a sweet way to start wrapping up three years of Central CC.

Oh hello.

2009-10-20T07:12:00.000-07:00

Back again, blah blah blah. I have a blogging schedule now-- written down in my planner and everything. I've realized that I need to give myself, or things take a while to get done. I also really like arbitrarily assigning due dates (is that what being a teacher is like?). So here we find ourselves.

I've discovered that the Organizing for America internship that I got a couple months ago is more or less useless. Surprising, right? The same people who send you dozens of e-mails on a regular basis aren't pulled-together enough to find something to do for people who said they'd be willing to volunteer up to twelve hours a week. Kind of weird, but whatever. I've moved on to scheming bigger and better things, such as...

Where to go for J-Term! I have a few ideas, and none of them could be described using the words "20 below". Hamline has no classes from December 14th to the beginning of February, which is a fact that I'm going to try my best to exploit. Anyone know someone in South/Central America who'd like some free help for the month of January?

BEST WEEKEND EVER.

2009-09-14T20:08:00.000-07:00

I am still unwinding from this weekend. It was the best. Weekend. Ever.

So number one, I saw the POTUS. No big. I took a photo of him with my cell camera.

Some other people took pictures of him, too.

Okay, seriously, AHHHHH!! It was so, so amazing! I have never willingly sung the entire National Anthem in recent memory! Or been around so many happy and insanely people. Or seen so many tiny, waving flags. Video footage of the speech is available here.

I went with Planned Parenthood, and (benefit of being a teenager!) the two other Teen Council members who were there and I received VIP tickets, along with our adult leader-types. There was a large amount of screaming, jumping up and down, etc., and I believe that just about every step of waiting in line for three hours was documented. When we finally got into the Target Center, we were probably about twenty feet away from the podium. Best part of the waiting there was looking over people's shoulders in front of me to read their texts ("I'm 20 ft away!!!! AHHHH!!! Wish u were here!!").

And then the President spoke. The energy was electric and rock concert-y, and the wait was absolutely, absolutely worth it.

Then I went home and made brownies. They were delicious.

Good weekend. There was more, but I think that should be another entry, so I'll hold off.

Hamline University and the Problem with PSEO

2009-09-12T22:32:00.000-07:00

But first, a brief disclaimer. PSEO (Post Secondary Enrollment Options, a program that enables high school juniors and seniors to enroll-- for free!-- in college classes) is a great program, and an awesome deal.

However, there's a somewhat crucial problem with it. The kind of schools that make it easy to enroll in their PSEO programs (Concordia and Hamline, specifically) are the kind of schools that are looking to attract highly motivated, hardworking students into their school. Schools that have no problem attracting highly motivated, hardworking students, are much more selective with their PSEO enrollment (Macalester, spefically, and the U of M, to a lesser extent).

So, since all college credit is more or less equal, more PSEO students opt for Concordia than Macalester. From what I can tell, a fair number of Concordia students are at college because of a societal/familial obligation than from a passion for learning, or a passion for the unique environment that Concordia offers. PSEO students, who have opted out of high school classes, hypothetically, in search of something more stimulating than a class of bored high school students and an exasperated teacher find themselves in a class of bored college students and an exasperated professor.

I'm not hating on the quality of instruction at Hamline or Concordia. I've found my professors and Hamline to be well-informed, accessible, and engaging. But the students aren't engaged, and that naturally degrades the quality of the class.

The solution to this is pretty simple: Kids who don't want to be in college shouldn't be in college. But somehow, we've created a society where 16 years of institutionalized learning is necessary to access a basic, idiotic desk job. Database entry? Yeah, you don't need a four-year degree for that one. You don't even need a GED.

So, how do we stop pumping disinterested students into colleges without pushing them into dead-end jobs instead? Can we realize that most jobs would do better with real-life training and interning than a collection of irrelevant college credits? Honestly, I don't really think so.

But it'd be pretty cool.

newpostnewpost

2009-09-08T08:53:00.001-07:00

Finally blogging again. Summer, although unusually cold this year, left me in a groggy state of blogging ennui. But now I'm back in the swing of things, I swear.

On that subject, here's what I have planned for the year. I'll be taking two college classes, Advanced Conversation and Composition in Spanish and Macroeconomics, at Hamline University. I have an internship with Organizing For America that will remain somewhat mysterious until this Sunday, when I'll be attending a meeting that I hope will tell me what I'll actually be doing. I'll also hopefully be doing classroom work at a local elementary school, which I'll have more details on by this afternoon. I'm a member of Planned Parenthood's Teen Council, which does peer sexuality education and community advocacy. I'm also on the Interfaith Youth Leadership Coalition again this year, aaand I'm planning a parent discussion group on sexuality at my church with my fabulous mentor, Grit. I'm also captain of the Cross Country team at Central, and I'll be babysitting at church and for a baby a block away when I can.

It might be kind of a busy year.

I think I have a dentist appointment soon, too.

My Parents Are Dirty Hippies

2009-06-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

I'm sure this shocks exactly no one. A lot of people, upon learning that I was dropping out of Central, immediately asked me whether my parents knew, cared, what they thought, etc. My parents were pretty much all for it. My mom read a few of the books I had checked out of the library at the time (John Taylor Gatto, that kind of thing), and I think by the end she would've been a little horrified if I hadn't dropped out of school.

So, they're pretty freaking liberal. So-- and I think this follows-- my mom wants to get chickens. To put in our garage.

This strikes me as moderately insane.

There are dead chickens at Super Target. There are live chickens on farms in places where your next neighbor lives several bajillion miles away and there is no WiFi. We do not live in one of those places, but we do live six minutes away from Super Target, Rainbow, and that one shady discount grocery store.

Real, living chickens would squawk and strut and probably shit everywhere. I find this worrisome. However, I feel like I probably owe my mom one in the keeping-an-open-mind department in terms of letting me drop out of school. So we'll see.

It's Been a Minute!

2009-06-23T09:30:00.001-07:00

So, I've been at camp, lazy, procrastinating, etc., for the past couple weeks, but here I am. BIGGER AND BETTER THAN EVER. (And with more metal punched through my skin! I got a second lobe piercing for both ears about a week and a half ago. The price and the degree of badassery don't really equate, I'd say-- 90 freaking dollars, and about 0% badass-- but hey.)

Anyway. Apparently I failed the Saint Paul Math GRAD Standard test. I guess the Saint Paul Public School system has no method of distinguishing between "failed" and "didn't take because is not planning to graduate, partially because of these stupid tests". Ah, the sweet smell of failed bureaucracy. In similar standardized-failure news, the MN legislature has decided to make that math test easier next year, because too many kids failed it. Why yes, legislature, that IS the reasonable solution! If kids aren't up to education standards, just change the standards! (Check it out.)

In significantly less idiotic news, I'm going to the Winnipeg Folk Festival in about two weeks. Which will mean seeing Elvis Costello twice within the span of about a week, weirdly. He's going on something of a whirlwind tour, and I'm briefly stalking him. I hope to have developed a pretty close relationship with him by mid-July. Just kidding...

In the Elvis Costello spirit, though, check out this amazing video of his:

Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?

2009-06-02T07:51:00.000-07:00

Carmen Sandiego, man. What a babe. Also, what an awesome name.

So, I mention all this because I might be going on a trip... somewhere... this summer and/or next year. I am really, really cheap, and I've saved a lot of money from babysitting and nannying over the years. According to los parentos, I should spend all that money before they have to list the money we have on college financial aid forms. How about that.

Naturally, this goes against everything I stand for as a really, really cheap person. However, if the choice is between spending my money on an awesome trip and spending my money on college tuition, then I guess the choice is clear. So the question, then, is: Where to go?

Why I Have Beef With Karen O

2009-05-29T07:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (fronted by Karen O, as referenced in title), and Gogol Bordello are both playing all-ages shows. On the same day.

OH, THE TRAGEDIES OF MY LIFE.

Really, I'm pretty freaking lucky that deciding which show to go to is my biggest concern, but hey. Couldn't Karen O have called Eugene Hutz? Partially because that would be THE BEST PHONE CONVERSATION EVER? Anyway, in honor of both of them, here are two videos, one from each.

So, which show would you go to? Which one do you think I should go to?

The E-Mail Unwritten

2009-05-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I heard back from Nancy X (in the interest of leaving this unlikely to be found via casual Google search by involved parties, I'm leaving identifying details John Singer Sargent-y), the new intern director at X Literary Center.

I've been trying for about a month, fruitlessly, to contact Claire X, the woman who promised me an internship at X Literary Center about, oh... three months ago. I finally went straight to the source and e-mailed Nancy X about what was going on, who got back to me yesterday with something along the lines of "Yeah, actually, we don't have an internship available. Our bad!" To which I kind of feel like, okay, fine, but why didn't you tell me that THREE MONTHS AGO?

Ugh.

Anyway, I'm going to write the requisite polite response, but the e-mail I'd like to write would be something along the lines of:

Dear Nancy:

You suck. This means NUCLEAR WAR.

Cheers,
-Anna

You know, something along those lines...

Winding Down, Winding Up

2009-05-26T07:43:00.000-07:00

First of all-- I had a freaking fabulous weekend. Soundset (an outdoor hip-hop festival) was this weekend, and even though it's easy to mock for being a whitewashed, bro-tastic celebration of middle-class male insecurity, it was also a really good time. I got a very cute one-sided sunburn from standing facing one direction for six hours, and I used my sneaky short girl skills to weasel my way up close to the stage.

The weekend also involved an L Word marathon, ordering in Chinese food, lounging at a park, chatting with mall security, going on runs (plural! Actually!), and trying not to laugh hysterically with my best friend through a Catholic mass. Excellent.

Second of all, as the title suggests, things are ending and beginning. My two Central classes are wrapping up (meaning we haven't been doing anything in them for weeks), this week is the last week of track, and summer is just generally chasing out the school year. However, due to this new-fangled unschooling thing I'm doing, I'm trying not to see summer as a time when my personal efforts end. I'm slowly drafting a plan for summer, and for the next year, and that (along with my creeping dread Cross Country captain's practices every day this summer at 9AM) is winding up.

Summer is Hereee

2009-05-22T07:40:00.000-07:00

Come on-- two 90-degree days and Memorial Day weekend? Sounds like time for a summer jam to me. I'm loving this song right now-- it's getting pretty heavy circulation on The Current, and, unlike 35-80% (depending on the DJ) of the music played on that station, this makes me want to: a.) dance AND b.) not yell at the radio.

Yikes!

2009-05-20T06:58:00.000-07:00

So, it's May 20th, and I've blogged like five times this month. My bad! Although I kind of doubt that my millions of readers are super torn up about it, I do promise to blog every day for the rest of the month.

Double yikes...

My Sister Graduates

2009-05-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

My sister, Laney, is now done with college. How about that? Were she so inclined (she's not), she could now enter the workforce, settle down, get married, pop out children, and spend the next 18 years driving them around. So that's cool, I guess-- having officially reached a stage of education where your socially-acceptable "real life" can begin.

Incidentally, that phrase kills me. "Yeah, I can't wait to graduate high school and go into the real world." "I graduated, so I guess now I'm going to have to deal with the real world."

I'm sorry, where were you before? In a world of make-believe and unicorns? I mean, kind of, (you're never really taught to do anything in school-- you're taught to pretend to do it. You don't actually ever apply your Physics knowledge to constructing a building, or your math knowledge to mastering the stock market, but, you know, you could. Theoretically.) but you are still ALIVE in the very same world that you will be living in once you graduate from higher education XYZ. You do not suddenly enter the "real world" once you're handed a degree. Either you've been living in it all along, or you never will.

Anyway though, my sister graduated.

Four Hours of Fun

2009-05-14T06:43:00.000-07:00

Am I talking about the SAT or prom (which was last weekend, and which I got into as a Central student, despite no longer actually being a student there)? Whoo knows??

I'm talking about the SAT. I got an SAT review book yesterday, and I've been reading through it since then, and it's pretty funny stuff. First of all, The Princeton Review, which is the test-cracking organization that wrote the book, treats taking the SAT as if you're entering a highly secretive, highly dangerous spy mission. Actual quote: "The SAT has remained highly vulnerable to our techniques. And the current version of the SAT is even more susceptible to our methods." THIS IS YOUR MISSION, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT.
Oh look, it's me taking the SAT.

But despite all of that, it's kind of an interesting book. Instead of teaching you any real concepts or information, it teaches you the techniques that the test creators use to mess you up, and promises that knowing the trick part of SAT trick questions will raise your score.

Gee, I wonder if that means that there might be something wrong with the test?

Guess What?

2009-05-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna build a boat soon.

How cool is that? My dad promised a loong time ago to help me build a kayak of my own (he builds them in same way other dads... I don't know-- construct Fantasy Football teams?), and I'm going to make him start today. BOAT BOAT BOAT. I don't even much like kayaking--my feet always fall asleep after like five seconds, and my butt always feels soggy--but rolling kayaks is cool, and building a boat for funsies is cooler.

On a completely unrelated note, I had no idea how much today's bike-polo-ing, Pabst Blue Ribbon-drinking hipster style is influenced by late 80's/early 90's style. My sister got me to watch the Rapture music video by Blondie last night, and hipster style does not reference those looks-- it straight-up rips them off the backs of their emaciated brethren of the past.

What decade are these disaffected youth from? Whoo knows!

Anyway, it's time to get to class.

Naitonal Poetry Month

2009-05-05T20:52:00.000-07:00

Was in April, it's true. But here's some poetry videos, as promised.

Ruth Kohtz, who's local, and performing in the video at Kieran's, in Minneapolis.

Derrick Brown and Anis Mojgani (who is also a fantastic poet).

The mesmerizing Patricia Smith.

Op-Ed

2009-05-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

Finally, right? Here it is. Tell me your thoughts! (Sorry it's long and ugly-looking-- I'd like to make one of those cool "read more" tag things, but after half an hour of messing around, I've concluded that the level of nitpicking required exceeds my level of interest.)

Dropping Out of High School: A How-To Guide

If you’re a parent of a kid over the age of eight, you probably already know the drill.

“Mom, do I have to go to school? It’s so boring!”

“I hate Calculus! It’s so pointless. I forget it as soon as I take the test. When am I going to use it, anyway?”

And so on. Even the brightest and best kids don’t love the daily drudgery of school. Waking up before 7AM to sit in an overcrowded classrooms with few windows and bored classmates, shuffling through stifling hallways listening to overzealous administrators admonish kids to get to class before the bell rings, counting down the minutes until class ends—correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s not how most kids learn best.

Of course, it’s easy to criticize the public school system, and equally easy to dream up sweeping changes that would magically fix it. That’s not what I’m proposing. I don’t think your kid should try to fix the school system.

I think your kid should abandon the school system.

That’s what I did, now almost four months ago. I’ve created a curriculum for myself of high school and college courses, along with plenty of free time, which solves my qualms with being a student in a Saint Paul public high school.

The majority of the problems facing public schools are borne of too little funding, which is not a problem that can be fixed by the average family. However, it is a problem that affects the children of the average family. The next time your kid starts in on a tirade about why school is the worst idea ever invented, listen to what they’re saying. Know that there is an alternative.

I’m not suggesting homeschooling—an option that is simply not possible for two working parents. I’m suggesting unschooling. If you are a working parent with a working spouse, I might advise you to hold off until your child is old enough to transport his or herself to activities, classes, and experiences that he or she has planned. Naturally, this age may differ from family to family and child to child.

But when you believe your child has reached that age (and it’s probably significantly before 18), why not suggest an alternative to school? School is not spent learning much of anything besides how to surreptitiously pass notes in class and stay quiet while the teacher is talking, and yet it takes up seven hours of your child’s day, five days a week. There are better things that your brilliant, passionate kid could be getting mixed up in for seven hours a day.

As a starting point of structure, Saint Paul high schools have a wonderful dual enrollment program, in which students who are homeschooled may attend up to three classes from the school. That means your kid doesn’t have to miss out on that brilliant Biology class junior year, or doesn’t need to drop out of band.

Minnesota also offers homeschooled (and regular high school-attending) students the possibility of taking college classes during high school through the PSEO program. This program allows juniors and seniors to take college classes from institutions like the U of M, or St. Kate’s, for college credit, without even being enrolled in a public high school.

Besides these traditional, classroom-centered ways to fill your child’s day, why not help him or her find a way to delve deep into a passion? Many organizations are eager to take on enthusiastic young volunteers—it’s just a matter of asking. Your kid could also use the sudden swath of free time to start a business, act in a play, rebuild a car engine, paint a mural, perform a science experiment… The list goes on. But the beauty of performing a task for the joy of performing it is that you don’t forget it how to do it after the test.

Tell your kid to drop out of school, and encourage them to become a life-long learner.

In Case You Didn't Know

2009-04-30T22:03:00.001-07:00

April is National Poetry Month! And, well, April just ended two minutes ago, but I feel lame for not doing anything to celebrate. So I'll comb the YouTube treasure trove for lovely spoken word videos in the next few days and post them here for your viewing pleasure.

Additionally, I wrote up that Op-Ed last night, right around this time (the only time I do any work, apparently). I'll be posting that soon, too.

Nom nom nom

2009-04-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

Books! Books, nom nom nom. I got The Second Sex, Nine Stories, The House of Mirth, and The Portable Dorothy Parker at Half-Price Books today. None of them are what I went in looking for (100 Years of Solitude and The Lovely Bones, if you're curious), but I'm pretty satisfied with my score. All the paperback fiction was half off (half off being half off, I know), which is AWESOME. Four books for $7, what up what up?

I'm a little afraid that my eyes might be bigger than my stomach, if you know what I mean, with The Second Sex. It's big! And scary! And originally written in French! But I feel like I should read some hardcore second wave feminist lit before starting in on more sparkly, pink third wave books that are mostly referencing and responding to second wave ideas.

If that made zero sense to you, I recommend this really great overview of feminism is the US from Bitch Magazine's website.

On a similar note, today is Equal Pay Day. Equal Pay Day is the day when the average woman catches up to the average man in terms of annual pay. So, the average man works 12 months to earn $44,300, whereas the average woman would have to work another four months to earn that same amount. That's effed up.

Also, I didn't write that Op-Ed article yet, ergh. But I have an early release day tomorrow, so I'll have lots of time to get to it, theoretically. I will do it!

Things That Make Me Say Yeah

2009-04-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

This NY Times article.

"When you look up, you sometimes wonder if at the centre of the solar system, if in the middle of the Sea of Tranquillity, there isn't another one like you also looking up, also trapped by geometry, also struggling with fear, rage, madness, hopelessness, apathy."
-Yann Martel, The Life of Pi

Really? Reeally?

2009-04-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, in my Political Philosophy class, we discussed a Supreme Court case being heard right now. Maybe you've heard about it. The case involves a 13-year-old girl who was strip-searched by two female school employees due to an unsupported claim by a fellow classmate that she was distributing ibuprofen. Slate has a great piece on the case that's worth the read just to get a sense of the absurdity of Supreme Court justices being involved in anything that involves youthfulness.

But my issue with the case is not whether the girl's mother should've been called first (she wasn't), or whether another type of search would've been more appropriate (obviously), but why we live in a society in which strip searching a 13-year-old girl in middle school for drugs is even within the realm of the possible. Or imaginable. I'd prefer my schools not to bear striking similarities to maximum-security prisons, thanks.

The system is broken, guys! Why are we discussing painting the cogs of a broken machine instead of fixing it? Children and teenagers aren't wild lunatics who can only be contained by magnetically locked doors, security guards, and strip searches. When those things become necessary, someone should take a good, hard look at what's going on and, let's be honest, throw money at the problem until class sizes are smaller, teachers are motivated, supplies are unlimited, and schools are exciting places to be inside.

Just sayin'.

On Womanhood (a stretch), and Activism

2009-04-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

A few videos and a link.

That video is fan-made. Isn't that awesome?

On that note, OutFront's justFair Lobby Day (lobbying for the marriage equality bill; recognition of marriages from out of state; Safe Schools bill, which protects GLBT and other youth; health security for children; and runaway and homeless youth supports) is tomorrow, for anyone in the Twin Cities. Register here.

coughcoughcough

2009-04-21T21:07:00.000-07:00

So, I left on a somewhat cliffhanger-y note last post and then just did not deliver. Lame, I know. I've been sick for the past two-ish days, though, if that's any explanation (not really, seeing as all I do when I'm sick is lounge around in my pajamas and not shower and check my Facebook).

Anyway, the brief explanation of the Hindu temple is that I'm a member of this cool group called the Interfaith Youth Leadership Coalition that does... interfaith service-y stuff. We organized an Interfaith Day of Service, we learn about other religions, blahblahblah. It's a little lame in that the only religions really represented are Judaism and various branches of Christianity, but the idea is cool.

The group had a retreat this past weekend, and for part of it we went on a "scavenger hunt" that basically involved visiting different places of worship around the Twin Cities areas and being awestruck. We visited aforementioned Hindu temple, a mosque, and a Presbyterian church. Regardless of my own shaky spiritual grounding, the places people build to feel part of something larger than themselves are truly inspiring.

(Annoyingly, I can't remember the name of the mosque we visited, and Google isn't helping me out. I'll post a photo of that too, if I do remember at some point.)

On an unrelated note, I'm planning on writing an Op-Ed for submission to the Star Tribune this week on unschooling. I'll post it here by Saturday or Sunday, hopefully. I've also written another little piece on unschooling that I might put up, just for kicks and gigs.

Did You Know...

2009-04-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

That there's an INSANE (meaning beautiful, intricate, huge, extremely un-Prarie-Home-Companion-style-Minnesotan) Hindu temple right in the middle of the most middle-of-nowhere-ish part of Maple Grove?

I didn't! Check out these photos, though. You learn something new about Minnesota every day?

More on how I ended up in Maple Grove tomorrow.

"I'm All Alone at a CROSSROADS...

2009-04-16T07:02:00.000-07:00

I'm not at home in my OWN HOME..." (Thanks, Beyoncé!)

Jay kay. But really though, I have a pretty big unschooling decision to make soon. My senior year is fast approaching, and it could go one of two ways.

1. Full-time PSEO at the U of M. Probably four classes for both semesters. If that made no sense to you, PSEO stands for Post Secondary Enrollment Options, and it's a very cool program in MN that allows high school juniors and seniors to take college classes at colleges for high school (and potentially college, depending on where you go) credit for free. Full-time PSEO would be a full courseload for the whole year. I might get some amazing profs, I might learn some interesting things, I might have some terrible graduate student TAs and a ridiculous amount of work. I might save up to $40,000 of freshman year college tuition, if the credits I earn apply to the college I decide to go to.

2. A full year of complete unschooling crazyness. I'd have to plan out what, exactly, this would entail, but probably a lot of writing, a lot of traveling, maybe learning how to repair bikes, maybe getitng a kick-ass internship, maybe a big, self-directed research project-- things like that. It would undoubtedly be an fun, exciting, stimulating year, but would it get me into the colleges I want to go to, or would they be like, "I see no AP Stats class-- REJECTED."? There's no way to tell. And if I did get into the colleges I wanted, we're still talking four years of up to $40,000 (although probably significantly less, given financial aid) of tuition.

If you have any advice or thoughts, get at me! Comment below, or call me up-- it's something I'll be thinking a lot about in the next few weeks.

Oh, also...

2009-04-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of talking about the Internet (post below), check out this poem by Rives that I found yesterday.

Also, if you don't know about TED talks online, check them out! TED is an annual conference where a bunch of really, really smart people get together and talk and, like, braid each other's hair for four days. Didn't you always kind of know they did something like that?

Self-Referential Blogging

2009-04-15T08:11:00.000-07:00

But first, a brief aside. So, sorry for the moderate lack of posts and... weirdness of my Monday post. Time for excuses! I'm a really huge procrastinator (I procrastinate responding to Facebook messages. Seriously.), and I've had two large assignments due this week-- one due yesterday, and one due today. Naturally, I didn't remember either of them until the night before they were due, which was when I had been planning to blog. Ohh well. I'm back. It's been two days. I'm not even sure if that merits saying I'm back. Moving on.

Anyway, as promised in the title, this is a blog about blogging. I know-- harf, right? But I think this is kind of cool, in terms of illustrating what the interwebs are good for.

I read feminist-y pop culture blog Jezebel pretty much every day. Last weekend, they had a post about a NYT Magazine article that was previewed on the NYT website on sugar daddy/sugar baby connecting websites. (Aaand that's enough linking for the rest of my life.) I read the Jezebel post, but not the article.

The next day, my dad mentioned the article, and the skeezy vibe of its subject matter. I mentioned the Jezebel article, and then showed it to him, and from the Jezebel blog, I eventually read the NYT article. Now I'm blogging about it.

The mind. It's boggled.

Oh Dear...

2009-04-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

I have a Track meet tomorrow, and I'm not allowed to wear my nose ring in meets (because Track is a contact sports, obvs). I went to get a retainer, which is a clear plastic stud that is essentially invisible but keeps the hole from healing over, today, which brought back unpleasant memories of my last experience with new nose jewelry.

Hopefully this will go a little better.

I'm currently watching my mother's dog attempt to escape out the back gate by kind of pawing at the gap between the gate and the ground, so I should probably wrap this up and reign him in. What a bad dog.

Lent?

2009-04-09T06:40:00.000-07:00

I was really bored last night. I was too full to eat out of boredom, and I already had run a killer Track workout that afternoon, so I couldn't go for a run, but I was still feeling restless. I was sitting at my computer, listening to restless music (The Hold Steady usually does the trick), and trying to think of something to entertain myself.

Which is why, out of boredom, I decided to give up complaining for Lent. Lent-ish, I guess, because Easter is this Sunday, so I'm really just giving up complaining for the long weekend. This will probably be pretty difficult for me. If you've read this blog somewhat regularly, you've probably noticed that I really enjoy whining. Waaah, school sucks, Seventeen sucks, not being 18 sucks, waaaaah! Whining is one of my options for my blog tags. Seriously.

So we'll see how this goes. I'll pretty just build up a huge repository of bitter unsaid thoughts until my head explodes.

Which could be cool.

Unschooling How-To

2009-04-07T07:01:00.000-07:00

Dropping Out of High School in 6 Easy Steps!

1. Read The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewelyn. Ignore the drama queen title, pay attention to the solid advice.

2. Tell your guidance counselor that you want to become homeschooled. Wait as s/he explains all the other options that are a little less drastic and don't bring down the school's standardized test scores.

3. Tell him/her you still want to be homeschooled. Get a phone number for the Department of Education that you could've found online with less attitude.

4. Call the number. Follow the steps you're told by the Director of Home Education. It'll probably involve filling out some paperwork, and, if you're under 16, getting a copy of your birth certificate, your parents' college degrees, if they have them, writing up a schedule of your unschooled year, and planning to take some kind of standardized test once a year.

5. Turn in the paperwork.

6. FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE.

Major Life Achievement

2009-04-06T11:48:00.000-07:00

I am now pretty decent at Mario Kart Wii. I can die happy.

Wii is a form of interactive video games that THOSE DARN KIDS are using these days. You hold a white remote in your hand, and it has some kind of sensors or something that recognize when you move your hand up or down, or side to side, and control your game avatar on the screen as such.

Mario Kart is a game for Wii where you race other players around various tracks using the Wii remote/joystick inserted into a faux-steering wheel. It's really, obscenely easy. You push down a button, and then steer your racer using the steering wheel. Despite its any-idiot-can-do-it design, I have seeeriously struggled with it for quite some time. A friend of mine has the game in his basement, and we play it occasionally when we're over at his house. My usual process with video games is to play once, realize that I am shockingly bad, give up, and then text my female friends while the boys I'm with continue playing the game.

Unfortunately for me, this past Saturday, there weren't enough boys to monopolize the controllers. This meant that I was forced to do something I'm bad at, over and over. I really hate that. But I kind of sucked it up (maintaining a long stream of complaints throughout), and played a few rounds. Surprisingly, I found myself getting better and better. I probably should've found this less shocking than I did--uh, why yes, you do something repeatedly, and then you improve--but I've always figured that I'm just a natural failure at video games.

Apparently, that's not that case. And if there's one thing I love more than I hate being bad at things, it's being good at things and then beating other people. Sweet.

Anyway, that was my second source of major satisfaction over spring break. The second will be revealed... tomorrow. Teaser!

Embarrassing Gushing

2009-04-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

Basic summary of the rest of this blog, if you're rushed for time: OMGDESSAOMGOMG.

So, I went to a show at the 7th Street Entry last Friday, and I was expecting it to be pretty decent. I was kind of pouty about not being able to go to the later 18+ part of the show in First Ave proper, with Sage Francis and Building Better Bombs, but I was pretty much over it. Cecil Otter, who's part of the Doomtree crew, was slated to perform at the all-ages show, as was the Battle Royale, a greasy (literally-- dudes needed to shower) indie band, and spoken word artist El Guante. I was like, you know, I hate not being 18, whine whine whine, but I can deal with this.

I got there an hour late, because I had track practice until 4PM, when the show started, and I needed to bus from Central to First Ave., so I missed El Guante, but I was there for Cecil Otter. And who gets up onstage with him but Dessa Darling, writer/MC/McNally Smith prof/overall badass. I have a huge girlcrush on her (she's so pretty! And smart! And talented!), so I completely geeked out. This is a really good all-encompassing clip.

Dessa's in the middle of the trio in the first part of the clip, and Aby Wolf, another tight local artist is to her left, but I'm not sure who's on the right.

Anyway, I bought her book, Spiralbound, from her backpack after the show-- 7th Street Entry is so small that once she was finished performing but still onstage I just walked up and asked her if her book was for sale. I'm planning on starting to read it within the next couple days.

Sage Francis also ended up performing without any accompaniment, because all the planned performers were playing off their iPods, for reasons unclear. So that was cool. Overall, an extremely value-added type show. Good ups.

Oh, also, the whole show was put on by Substance, a non-profit somethingrather committed to arts and the environment and probably advancing whatever their mission statement is. This is their website, though their Myspace seems a little more comprehensive right now.

SPRING BREAK.

2009-04-01T13:59:00.000-07:00

(For me, for my two Central classes.) I might blog sporadically the rest of this week, but I'll be posting semi-regularly again next week.

Milestones

2009-03-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

I would say that one of the most significant "growing up"-type moments in my life so far has been a realization that I had a year or two ago. It's this:

Adults are just as flaky, irresponsible and irrational as teenagers.

As far as I can tell, teenagers and adults face about the same workload--is a nine-to-five job in a cubicle pushing papers much different from a seven-to-three job in a desk doing busywork?-- and are capable of doing what they're assigned in about the same proportion. Which makes sense, because those teenagers end up being the responsible adults.

Which seems obvious, but it was quite the moment for me when I found myself e-mailing a prospective employer multiple times to ensure a response and realized that she was just a flaky person. Appaaarently, turning thirty doesn't automatically make you reliable and together. Who knew?

To briefly relate this to unschooling, this is certainly not an idea that is ever suggested in school. Teachers are infallible and all-knowing, and if that test became misplaced, you probably lost it, and even if you think you did a good job on that project, you didn't until your teacher confirms it. It should not come as a surprise that adults are human, so why do schools pretend that teachers are demigods?

A Day Late, Buuut...

2009-03-26T06:50:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday, Gloria Steinem!

Feminist icon, journalist, activist, etc.-- turned 75 yesterday. In honor of her birthday, the Ms. Foundation is asking for you to perform an outrageous act for simple justice. The idea is inspired by this Gloria Steinem quote:

“If each person in the room promises that…the very next day she or he will do at least one outrageous thing in the cause of simple justice, then I promise I will, too. It doesn’t matter whether the act is as small as saying, “Pick it up yourself” …or as large as calling a strike….”

Hell yeah. Learn more about this idea here. I have no idea if this is still technically going on or what, but I'm for sure going to be brainstorming something outrageous anyway. Why miss any opportunity, right?

Why I Blame Seventeen

2009-03-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

So, I somewhat vaguely concluded yesterday's post by saying that I blame Seventeen. I guess I don't really blame Seventeen for every dumb teenage girl in America. Most girls are smart enough to realize when they're being played. And for the girls who aren't, Seventeen is only a small sector of all of the conflicting and ridiculous advice that media dishes out daily. But back to Seventeen-- have you read that magazine lately? It is shockingly stupid.

There's now a regular feature called Body Peace something-rather, which is a woman named Jessica Weiner's personal passive-aggressive soapbox. Although the column is supposedly aimed at making teenage girls come to peace with their bodies and crippling body image issues (which, I'd also like to mention, not every girl has), it's mostly written like your bitchy friend. "Remember that one time when you thought you looked really fat? Ha, that happens to everyone! You're... healthy! Seriously though, remember that time?" Not my fave.

Then, in addition to that idiocy, Seventeen has an admirable commitment to "real girl" models. However, most of the time, this appears to mean real models who are girls. But more offensive than that is the idea that each of these "real girl" models have a specific body flaw (pear shaped, boobs too big, boobs to small, short, skinny, etc.) that must be somehow disguised in order to sufficiently pass as a normal teen girl.

The fish rots from the head on this one. For a while, Seventeen's editor in chief was a woman named Atoosa Rubenstein, who, although giving off the distinct impression of being completely out of her mind, made a good, fluffy-but-uninfuriating magazine. She also presented herself as more of a cool aunt than a peer of the teen readers. Then she quit, or was fired-- it was never really explained--and was promptly replaced by a woman who seems to want nothing more than to convince the readers that she is just like them. She too worries about the perfect summer dress and how to flirt with that cute boy next door and has a disturbing affinity for multiple exclamation points!!! The letter from the editor is often flat-out creepy.

It's also just a really boring magazine.

So the question is, what's the alternative? Where is the awesome, bad-ass magazine for girls who like Rachel Maddow AND Lil Wayne? Wheeeeree?

What Those Kids Are Doing These Days

2009-03-24T07:28:00.000-07:00

Sexting, apparently? Yeah, I hadn't heard of it until a week ago, either.

No, last night, I watched the movie Twilight. Obviously, I'm a little behind the times. But whatever. Basic plot-- girl meets boy, boy is a sparkly vampire, girl is all "I'm not scared of you," boy is all "I watch you while you sleep," (I'D BE SCARED), girl and boy go to prom.

The book series that the movie is based on has been slammed routinely for creating the single most boring protagonist on the planet (I can honestly say, without exaggeration or sarcasm, that Bella, the "heroine"'s two most defining characteristics are her clumsiness and her obsession with her boyfriend), perpetuating Stone Age gender roles, and generally just being pretty terrible books. The actual writing is also just... bad.

I read the first book in like two days. I'm not particularly proud of that, but it speaks to the idea that there is something compelling about these books. Why is a condescending, pedophilic (he's 100-odd years old; she's 17) vampire stalker attractive to millions of teen girls? Why do these same girls identify with a girl who is consistently incapable of saving herself from the sticky situations that she consistently leaps into?

I blame Seventeen.

Saul Williams

2009-03-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

I saw him last night.

Getting Out the Door

2009-03-19T07:45:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly difficult. My main struggle this morning was finding a shoelace for ones of my Chucks.

I've already replaced the original shoelace with some other white shoelace for reasons I don't remember (I would guess that the original broke), and this newer shoelace has since broken in a couple places. Instead of taking it out and buying a new shoelace for like $1 at Target like a normal person, I just tied the two broken ends together, creating one lace again. I did this a couple times.

Finally, a couple days ago, the lace broke again, and I lost the tiny second length of shoelace. So, for the past twenty minutes or so, I've raided my sneaker collection, looking for a shoelace that I could use as a replacement. For some reason, this is Very Important, and not just any shoelace will do.

I finally found an acceptable shoelace in an old running shoe.

Apparently, I am not the only one who cares about shoelaces.

http://www.shoel-lacing.com has waay more where these came from.

The Big Questions

2009-03-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

I'm a pretty deep person, so I think about a lot of really philosophical and important things more or less all the time. Recently, the question that's been keeping me up at night is, WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH MY HAIR?

Like I said, deep stuff.

I recently received a bizarre and awesome compliment of my hair. I was standing around at Track practice, and a friend of mine standing to my side asked if I had a hair binder. I didn't (my hair is short, I don't need one), and she smacked her head when I responded. "Duh! Your hair is too short. Anna," she added, "I love your hair! It's like an orphan's!"

...Yeah! I don't exactly wake up every morning aiming to look like a parentless street urchin, but I think it's pretty sweet if that's what ends up happening. (I'm actually being completely serious here.)

Anyway, so the question is, cut or grow? I'll probably just end up growing it out until I get bored, and then cutting it all off, to be honest, which is what I always do. But I generally go through an obsessive period where I worry about what to do with my hair when it reaches chin length. Which is where it is right now. I am nothing if not predictable, I'm afraid.

Merriam Park

2009-03-17T07:56:00.000-07:00

As the weather warms up, I begin to spend more and more time at Merriam Park. It's a huge, grassy area, with a skate park, a rec center, soccer fields, tennis courts, and roving groups of loud teenagers.

I spent an hour there yesterday with a friend, and we spent most of the time observing the skaters sliding up and down the ramp at the skate park. They sag their skintight skinny jeans, wear baggy shirts on top (for a Cosmo-esque touch of balance and proportion?), and puffy, ridiculous shoes. They stay in the same fenced-in area of the park for hours, attempting to grind on low railings, gliding around the ramp, and taking long breaks to sit at the of the ramp and look put-upon.

At Merriam, they're mostly under the age of 14, which is even better. You haven't seen real attitude until you've had an 11-year-old boy scowl at you as he struts across a soccer field. (Kids these days! So sassy!)

Good times.

Anticipation and Bubble Gum

2009-03-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to start using my normal, non-monstrous, skinny-wheeled bike. Hooray for being able to shift gears! Hooray for unstudded tires! Hooray, hooray, hooray.

Blame my enthusiasm on the weather. It's 60 degrees and sunny out today, and it's enough to make me walk right through the muddy puddles everywhere. Hello, spring. It took you long enough.

I'm planning on being obscenely productive tonight. I want to rip through a chunk of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (which is currently teetering on the edge of unbearable-- the narrator used to be another person? Really?), finish my Political Philosophy paper on cultural relativism, finish up a million late Physics assignments, and start writing PSEO applications for next fall. Good times.

Unfortunately, planned productivity is generally a complete failure with me. The only time I ever clean my room is when I get home on a Friday or Saturday night too late to go out again but too early to go to bed. Cleaning my room in that 11PM-2AM-ish period seems perfectly reasonable. Cleaning my room on a Thursday afternoon seems ridiculous. This inclination extends to almost every other productive thing I do. Why do it at 8PM when you can do it at 12AM? Whee!

Needless to say, it's not my best habit. Neither is chain-eating sticks of gum, probably, but I think I'm on my sixth piece since beginning to write this. Yeeah.

Taking Poetry to the Streets

2009-03-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

Liiiterally! Ha.

I was considering whining about a number of things (my bike broke epically this morning, the day today was 14 degrees, I need to do laundry-- obviously my life is a living hell), but I saw something a couple days that might be a little more interesting.

The other day, I took my dog Archie for a walk. This isn't a regular occurrence, because I kind of hate animals, but I was feeling restless and needed to get out of the house. So Archie and I plodded along the uniformly unattractive streets of wintertime Frogtown, me listening to my iPod and Archie sniffing anything remotely interesting. As we walked, I complained to myself about the weather and my uncomfortable shoes and Archie sniffing everything remotely interesting.

Just as I had crafted a particularly devastating barrage of complaints, I looked down. There were words in the sidewalk. More than words-- there was a poem on a single block of cement. It was simple and beautiful, and as I continued walking, more and more appeared. I walked eagerly down the block, watching for the poems. And there they were, for another two blocks.

I finished my walk with a spring in my step, and only cursed Archie a few more times before arriving at home.

(Photos to come?)

Central Moment #2

2009-03-05T07:20:00.000-08:00

An occasional series of snapshots of Central Senior High School.

Boy, to another boy standing near him: Then you gonna look like Lindsay Lohan when she's drunk and can't control her titties!

Sylvia Plath-- Kind of a Downer

2009-03-05T07:06:00.000-08:00

Uhh, yeah.

I just finished The Bell Jar. Loved it. Amazing book, I totally agree that it's Salinger-ish. More Franny and Zooey then The Catcher In the Rye, because, like F&Z, it does kind of have a plot, but that's not what's important at all. I mean, the plot is meandering and tenuous, but it does exist. Which I realized last night when prefacing an explanation of The Bell Jar by saying that it doesn't really have a plot, and then trying to explain the many, many things that happen in such short book.

But the book mostly made me extremely grateful that I am a happy person.

I've Found the Love of My Life

2009-03-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

Seriously. In Highland Village, no less. Which is a little surprising, because the Village, as a general rule, contains everything that's wrong about everything.

And yet.

HALF-PRICE BOOKS. I got a copy of The Bell Jar (my previous copy of which I have, um, temporarily misplaced) for $0.75. How cool is that?? I stopped in at Borders a couple days ago to get an SAT practice book (barf), and the paperback copy of The Bell Jar that they had was $16.00.

I also got Female Chauvinist Pigs, because I'm a walking feminist stereotype, and The Life of Pi, on my mother's recommendation. They didn't have a copy of 100 Years of Solitude, but I expect to be able to find that at some point once I start, you, know, living there.

Beautiful

2009-03-01T21:36:00.001-08:00

The kind of thing that makes me stay up way too late.

Schmitz Syndrome

2009-02-25T19:59:00.000-08:00

I have my nose pierced. I'm not sure why-- when a six-year-old I babysit asked me why I "have a pin in my nose", I didn't really have a valid response-- but I like it. Recently, I decided that I would switch out the small blue stud I've had for a couple months for a silver hoop.

This afternoon, after my classes, I biked over to a local tattoo/piercing shop, and bought a captive ball ring for my nose. It looks like this:

You can open the hoop part with your fingers, and the ball slips out (or pops out and bounces all over your bathroom, if you're me). Anyway, the pierced, scarified guy who I bought the ring from asked me if I wanted him to put it in for me, or if I'd prefer to put it in myself. I said I'd rather put it in myself, for a variety of reasons. I didn't tell or ask him about any of them, but they were:

It'll probably cost money, or something.
I can totally do this myself. How hard can it be?
I don't want to have this dude stick his fingers in my nose.
I'll have to do it myself eventually, I might as well learn how now.
Seriously though, I can do this myself. I'll just look it up on YouTube if it's hard.

So I went home, and attempted, for probably a good half hour, to pop that stupid ball into the hoop. I despaired. I looked it up on YouTube. The girl in the video I watched said she wouldn't show how to do captive bead rings because they're too hard and annoying. I phoned a friend. He couldn't do it. I tried some more. The ball slipped out of my fingers, for the third time, and pinged its way behind the bathtub. I swore loudly, and gave up. The hoop is now kind of pushed together so the gap is smaller than the width of my nostril. I think it'll probably work.

But why didn't I just get the professional nose-ring-inserter at the shop to put it in for me? Upon reflection, my entire list from above is somewhat idiotic. It probably wouldn't have cost any money. I had no idea what I was doing. That guy's fingers were probably far more sterile than mine can ever hope to be. Etc., etc. That series of justification is of a type that my father and I have now deemed Schmitz Syndrome. If we have the option to do something ourselves, we'll take it, regardless of any professional people with experience specifically there to help.

It's the kind of fierce independence that lead to deciding to unschool myself, and that led to crawling around for ten minutes on my bathroom floor, looking for a tiny metal ball.

Tim? Oh, he's in my Fave Five.

2009-02-24T17:48:00.000-08:00

Pawlenty, that is. Juuust kidding.

I went to an Arts Advocacy Day at the Capital today, which induced the usual mixed feelings of doing something significant and preaching to the choir. After all, there are not so many legislators who will spit on your shoe at the mention of maintaining arts funding. But, as my cuckoo bananas representative, Cy Thao, somewhat explained, it's a matter of prioritizing. No one wants to whack funding from inner-city arts programs, but no one wants to eliminate dental care for seniors, either. Ideally, of course, we would have enough money to fund both, but we don't live in Sweden.

Maybe that's a good thing.

So we did the usual keep-this-and-that thing, and the legislators did the usual yeah-we'd-really-like-to thing, and then I went over to my friend Keefe's house and ate a bunch of pancakes.

Dem0cracy in action?

Click

2009-02-23T11:50:00.000-08:00

The sound of everything falling into place. Everything I planned for my first unschooling semester is, officially, happening. How wild is that? I owe a lot of gratitude to the random forces of the universe, or something. In the spirit of general good vibes, watch this video.

It's great, right?

Anyway, the reason for my good spirits is a call that I got a couple days ago from the Loft Literary Center. I applied for an internship there a while back, I interviewed for it, and they were calling my back about it. I didn't end up getting the internship position I applied for, but I'll be doing outreach for the teen writing group at the Loft as an internship position, which sounds awesome.

I also had a great weekend. And after I write this, I'm gonna take a nap.

Yeah, things are good.

Misnom-ing

2009-02-17T07:25:00.000-08:00

Time for a confession: I'm not sure if what I'm doing is really, technically unschooling. In fact, I'm not quite sure what it is. I'm taking classes that interest me and seem like a productive use of my time, but I don't exactly wake up every morning thinking, "Well, what I'd reeally like to do today is go to Physics class for an hour!" I just don't. Science has never been something that clicks into place in my brain. Science clunks around in my brain like a golf ball in a tin can.

Theoretically, unschooling should be about doing what you're passionate about. To some extent, I'm doing that. I'm blogging, starting a novel, reading... All things I love. But my days are tightly scheduled, and I don't wake up with the ability to do whatever I feel like doing with the rest of my day. I'm not sure if I could handle that, or if it would be enough of a challenge to the tin can portions of my brain. If I could, I would probably spend the rest of the day reading blogs and finishing The Bell Jar. That's a use of my time that would bring me the most joy, but are you really learning if you're only doing things that come easily and naturally to you?

On the other hand, why do I think learning has to be unenjoyable before it's really considered learning?

At any rate, what I'm doing is like the bastard child of an unschooling, public school, and homeschooling threesome. (Awkward...) Right now, it means I have enough free time to pursue my passions, but enough tethers to high school to enjoy a three-day weekend.

About College

2009-02-17T07:22:00.000-08:00

This is the most nerve-wracking topic for me to consider right now. I know that what I'm doing is right for me, but will colleges see that? Will it just look like a cop-out? Will I end up working at McDonald's (which is obviously what always happens when you don't go to college)?

I think this spiral of uncharacteristic concern was brought on by a new influx of college mail starting, like, three days ago. I had managed to completely escape college mailing lists before now (living in Bolivia for your sophomore year will do that for you), but no longer. I can't help looking at the form letters from Dean XYZ of Admissions and thinking, melodramatically, "Would you be saying all of these nice things if you knew I DROPPED OUT OF HIGHSCHOOL??" Then I throw the letters away.

Anyway, I've been looking at more hippie-dippie colleges-- Hampshire, Evergreen, what up what up?-- and hoping I can convince them of my reasons for doing what I'm doing.

I'm not normally this neurotic, I swear.

Central Moment #1

2009-02-13T06:14:00.000-08:00

The first in an occasional series of snapshots of Central High School.

Administrator speed-walking to follow girl stalking down hallway: Girl, don't get smart with me!
Girl: What do you WANT me to do? Get dumb?

World Play

2009-02-11T19:21:00.000-08:00

Just recently, a lot of things in my life have begun to relate to writing, both in small and large ways. This blog has been a part of this, and so has reading more, writing more. I've been consistently journaling for the first time in my life, and yesterday I started to write what I'm thinking might be a long story. Novel sounds scary and adult, so I'd rather not call it that. It's a story, and I'm excited about working on it. Words are also in my life now in dumb, small way. I spent all of Driver's Ed (more on that later) today rearranging random sets of seven letters to form dozens of tiny words. It passed the time enjoyably, which is more than can be said for watching movies of cars get run over by trains.

I'd like to think that this is my brain normalizing itself now that I'm challenging it in fun and different ways. Honestly, I might just have too much free time. But I don't think it really matters what's causing it, as long as something worthwhile is produced. I hope that'll happen.

On the subject of words and word-y things that I'm thinking about, I'm seriously thinking about heading out to Portland this October for Wordstock. It sounds like a good time, and a chance to get out on my own and travel. If this sounds like your cup of tea, join me!

EDIT: Wordstock link didn't work before-- it should now. Check out Shelfari while you're it at.

Bobby McFerrin's a Genius

2009-02-09T19:22:00.000-08:00

Because simple pleasures are the best. Here was mine, today.

I biked to my friend AJ's house to pick up a messenger bag that I had left there (kind of like how I leave everything I own everywhere), and as I was biking back, I saw another biker going in the opposite direction. To briefly explain a somewhat unique phenomenon, I've found that both winter bikers and runners share the same propensity to give a hell-yeah head nod as they cross paths. It's heartening, and makes you feel like you and the other runner or winter biker are all in it together in your crazy, crazy pursuits.

The biker I passed gave me that nod, which was cool in and of itself. However, this guy was also probably the best biker ever. He was riding a bright red recumbent trike-- photo of what those are below. He had a tiny white dog wearing a tiny purple sweater merrily trotting along beside him, and I couldn't help but grin. When I am old and have back problems and no fear of being run over by a semi, I will be that guy.

This is a recumbent trike.

Balance

2009-02-06T11:45:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, days click into place perfectly. Not because they're the BEST DAY EVER, but because they have a perfectly appropriate ratio of good and bad. Today was like that.

I woke up at 7:30am, got ready quickly and biked over to Hamline, because I realized last night that I totally forgot to buy the textbook required for my Spanish class. I spent probably 10 minutes figuring out where the Bush Student Center is (not by the Bush library, but by the athletic center-- why, of course!). Upon finding the Student Center, I stood outside the bookstore for five minutes, thinking that it opened at 9am. I decided to change out of my biking clothes and into my normal clothes in the mean time, and promptly realized that I had left my sweater at home, leaving me with the choice between a tiny tank top and my Day Glo, moisture-wicking biking top to wear. I despaired, then realized that the bookstore was actually already open, felt stupid, went inside, and discovered that there were no more copies of the textbook I needed. I then despaired some more.

Then I went to class, which was fine, and walked back to my bike, only to find that my keys were not in any of the five million pockets in my messenger bag, or in my equally numerous sweatshirt/windbreaker pockets. Despaired. Found my keys on a table outside the Student Center bookstore-- only the second place I looked. Things began to look up. I unlocked my bike, and biked to school. On the way, I almost wiped out once, and took a wrong turn that made for a several block detour. Things began to look down. I finally arrived at school, where my fantastic father was waiting with my sweater, despite his general confusion as to what the big deal was with just wearing the neon biking top to school, for God's sake.

I peeked at the clock in the car as I leaned in to grab my sweater, and realized that I was not several hours late, as I had assumed I would be. In fact, if I hurried, I would be right on time. I walked in the door of my Political Philosophy class just as the bell rang. That class passed reasonably well, and I headed down to Physics, only to discover that Mr. Murphy was out without a sub. In other words, there was absolutely no reason to remain at school. I headed out, with a brief pit stop at B Lunch. Naturally, I dropped my hat along the way, and rode home with freezing ears, and then ate a delicious sandwich.

Perfect.

Uses of YouTube

2009-02-05T06:25:00.000-08:00

I just watched like five spoken word Def Poetry Jam videos on YouTube. If you don't know what spoken word is, it's kind of like spoken, rhythmic (but not necessarily rhyming) poetry. It can be a beautiful, emotional form of writing, and it can be a series of dumb speech patterns and posturing. This is one of my favorites. Looking at related videos on the YouTube sidebar will find you more. Fair warning-- it gets pretty addictive.

Let's Hear It For Immune Systems

2009-02-03T18:46:00.000-08:00

It's probably something of a mark of my productivity that the most constructive thing I did today was my laundry. Uh... To be fair, I've been semi-sick for the past two days, but I haven't really fallen (fingers crossed) into full-blown incapacitating illness. I like to think it's because I drink a lot of water and orange juice when I get sick, but it's probably more like good luck.

At any rate, I've been using my almost cold as an excuse not to do things (bike to school, blog, open my math textbook) that should probably be done. I think I've nipped this laziness in the bud, but it's something to be aware of in the future.

As I mentioned above, I've been biking to school for the past week or so. It is both awesome and horrible. I am not a cool, enthusiastic biker-- I don't own a fixed gear, live in Uptown, roll up one of my skinny jean pant legs to show off argyle socks, etc. I don't even think I could hold up a decent conversation about biking. However, I've recently found myself biking to school and various other locales, due mostly to the shittiness of Metro Transit and my parents' shocking lack of desire to drive me everywhere I want to go. I feel pretty badass biking in the cold, though. Try it sometime.

Ruts/Routines

2009-01-29T06:50:00.000-08:00

I am a creature of habit. I go to the same out-of-the-way coffee shop sometimes three or four times a week. I use the same pen to write in my journal, and my toenails are always painted red. I once wore the same hat, more or less all day, every day, for two weeks.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise that the erasure of my wake up-get-dressed-breakfast-bus-school-bus routine has caused me to replace it with a new routine. Wake up-go back to bed-breakfast-blog-bike to school-classes-bike wherever-bike back to Driver's Ed-home. Math, unfortunately, will probably be added in there once I get my textbook.

I was thinking about this, and was briefly disgusted by myself. It only took me four days to get back into some slight variation on my original routine? Really? That's soo not what unschooling is about! Then I realized that I don't care. I like routines. And I like this routine better than the old one. I'm happier, and I feel independent and capable, which is what I was going for all along. So, for now, I'm embracing the routine.

Things That Are Boring

2009-01-28T06:05:00.001-08:00

I just finished making an arrangement with a math teacher at a local charter school to buy a math textbook. I've had a nice respite from numbers and the letter x in the two days I've been unschooling, but that's all going to end tomorrow. I figure math is necessary because it's a section on the SAT, and I think my SAT scores are important, because god knows my transcript will be enough to make any self-respecting admissions officer tear out her eyebrows.

I thought about taking an online math class, but apparently they're like $275 if you're homeschooled. A little pricey for something I'm not planning on ever thinking about again past high school. So I'm buying this textbook for $25, which I figure is pretty cheap (especially since it includes an interactive CD! Wheee!), and I'm just going to work through it on my own. This is the part of my plans that I'm most nervous about. Am I really motivated enough to figure out how to do MATH, my school-ish Most Hated Enemy, by myself? Hopefully, hopefully.

Cool website-- www.excotc.org. Free, somewhat hippie-centric classes, that seem to be taught by qualified people.

Combat Boots Are Not So Great

2009-01-27T06:59:00.000-08:00

First day of unschooling under the belt, and I have two puffy blisters to show for it. Shockingly, combat boots are not the most appropriate footwear for several hours of walking. Who knew?

Yesterday, I decided to use the time I had after classes to walk over to Ace Hardware and get my nine billionth copy of the house keys. I stuffed twelve bucks in my back pocket, threw on my messenger bag, and headed out the double doors of Central. I walked the mile and a half to Ace thinking cheery and grandiose thoughts about the beauty of independence, freedom of movement, how empty Grand Ave is on Monday afternoons, etc.

I finally arrived at Ace, and got the key copied, which took like five seconds. I walked down to the register, reached into my back pocket, and realized why back pockets and messenger bags are a terrible, terrible idea. My money, including bus fare for the way back, had fallen out of my pocket somewhere between Central and Ace. The cashier looked like she would've smacked me if I was her daughter and not a customer, but agreed to keep the key while I went back outside to retrace my steps and look for the money.

Remarkably, just a few blocks from Central, the entire contents of my back pockets lay untouched within a half-block radius. Life is sweet sometimes. However, having just walked three miles to lose and find my money, I was now reluctant to spend $2.25 of it on bus fare. The only logical solution was to walk to my next destination and second home, A Fine Grind, a local coffee place about a mile and a half from Central. By the time I arrived there, I was hobbling like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, crippled by my own cheapness.

Lesson learned! Never walk anywhere.

You're doing WHAT?

2009-01-26T07:05:00.000-08:00

Today is my first day as an unschooled student. I still can't really believe it, to be honest-- there was a period last night that I spent bouncing up and down in the upstairs hallway at 11PM, too excited to sleep. "Mom," I exclaimed, "It's like the day before Christmas!"

I guess that's a little embarrassing.

But after all the work I've spent getting to this point, I have that same feeling of giddy, overwhelmed feeling. Nothing about becoming homeschooled proved particularly challenging, it was just tiny task after tiny task. Really, most of the adults I needed to deal with in order to plan my next semester were more than compliant. The exuberant PSEO admissions officer at a certain Saint Paul university informed me that he "wouldn't insult my intelligence" (quantifiable by my GPA, naturally) by subjecting me to the torture of an otherwise mandatory short interview, and the Director of Home Ed explained to me a few days ago that, since I'm now 16, nothing more than my name and address were really necessary in order to qualify as a homeschooled student. Apparently, it really is that easy, because I'm now sitting at home typing this at 9:15AM, and no one has called to inform my parents that their daughter is ditching school. Nice.

But now the easy part is over, and I have to get down to the grimy work of figuring out what to do with all this time that I suddenly have. I'm still excited.