Thursday, May 17, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Excitement
I keep posting nostalgic and pessimistic things. I don't know why, because my life is awesome!
Starting Saturday we are going to have a HUGE teaching project! I find myself not even able to be excited enough because I have never done anything like this, so I don't know what to expect. I am really happy about it though... Children's classes every day.... the chance to meet all kinds of new people and make spiritual connections with them... :-)
This weekend my junior youth group is working together to make a movie. It's not really a project of the group, I think... the lines between Animator and just friends activities are seriously blurred in this group. I even feel weird calling it a youth group sometimes. These people are my friends and we do stuff we like, including study a book, service and art sometimes, but a lot of the times just talking.
In general, I am blown away by the effectiveness of the core activities in creating intimacy in groups. Study circles I have tutored and been in are still dear friends that I rely on in teaching activities and in life, children's classes I teach are creating bonds between not only me and the children, but also with me and the families of the children and most importantly right now, animating is creating bonds I would never have imagined. I think it will take some time to realize how important this is in our community. I think (and here the alternative education brainwash-ee is unleashed) that schools/society as it is structured are training us away from unity in our very infancy. The emphasis that is placed on children having the ability to interact with their peers (who consist mostly of classmate, grade lines being almost impossible social barriers) makes us think that our intimate connections should be only with people like ourselves. Not children, or youth or the middle aged or old. This is completely false and dangerous for our communities. The intimacy of core activities is helping us to break those are lines and interact, really and truly, like family.
Also, I have been looking at apartments this week and having a great time thinking about where I am going to live and the communities I want to be a part of. Aside from the fact that I keep finding places that I can't rent because I can't move until July, I am loving figuring out how this is all going to work.
Starting Saturday we are going to have a HUGE teaching project! I find myself not even able to be excited enough because I have never done anything like this, so I don't know what to expect. I am really happy about it though... Children's classes every day.... the chance to meet all kinds of new people and make spiritual connections with them... :-)
This weekend my junior youth group is working together to make a movie. It's not really a project of the group, I think... the lines between Animator and just friends activities are seriously blurred in this group. I even feel weird calling it a youth group sometimes. These people are my friends and we do stuff we like, including study a book, service and art sometimes, but a lot of the times just talking.
In general, I am blown away by the effectiveness of the core activities in creating intimacy in groups. Study circles I have tutored and been in are still dear friends that I rely on in teaching activities and in life, children's classes I teach are creating bonds between not only me and the children, but also with me and the families of the children and most importantly right now, animating is creating bonds I would never have imagined. I think it will take some time to realize how important this is in our community. I think (and here the alternative education brainwash-ee is unleashed) that schools/society as it is structured are training us away from unity in our very infancy. The emphasis that is placed on children having the ability to interact with their peers (who consist mostly of classmate, grade lines being almost impossible social barriers) makes us think that our intimate connections should be only with people like ourselves. Not children, or youth or the middle aged or old. This is completely false and dangerous for our communities. The intimacy of core activities is helping us to break those are lines and interact, really and truly, like family.
Also, I have been looking at apartments this week and having a great time thinking about where I am going to live and the communities I want to be a part of. Aside from the fact that I keep finding places that I can't rent because I can't move until July, I am loving figuring out how this is all going to work.
Moving On
On Saturday, Earlham graduated the class of 2007. I remember last year when I was in the same place last year... Finals had taken forever, my thesis was over, family from everywhere had descended on my school home... I don't think I really had time to be sad.
It has hit me this year though. I think its because with the exodus of this class, I really don't know anyone at Earlham anymore. And most of them, I will never see again, even though they really did mean allot to me. If I go to visit now, my home that I loved so much will not be my home. It will be a series of strangers going through some of the first steps in figuring out who they are. I can't call Earlham anymore and expect someone I know to answer the phone. The community that I cherished, that we all cherished, is completely shattered for me.
everyone should see Avenue Q, it's a musical, it's pretty much rent, but done with muppets. I keep thinking of one of the songs.....
KATE MONSTER:
I wish I could go back to college.
Life was so simple back then.
NICKY:
What would I give to go back and live in a dorm with a meal plan again!
PRINCETON:
I wish I could go back to college.
In college you know who you are.
You sit in the quad, and think, "Oh my God!
I am totally gonna go far!"
ALL:
How do I go back to college?
I don't know who I am anymore!
PRINCETON:
I wanna go back to my room and find a message in dry-erase pen on the door!
Ohhh...
I wish I could just drop a class...
NICKY:
Or get into a play...
KATE MONSTER:
Or change my major...
PRINCETON:
Or fuck my T.A.
ALL:
I need an academic advisor to point the way!
We could be...
Sitting in the computer lab,
4 A.M. before the final paper is due,
Cursing the world 'cause I didn't start sooner,
And seeing the rest of the class there, too!
PRINCETON:
I wish I could go back to college!
ALL:
How do I go back to college?!
AHHHH...
PRINCETON:
I wish I had taken more pictures.
NICKY:
But if I were to go back to college,
Think what a loser I'd be-
I'd walk through the quad,
And think "Oh my God..."
ALL:
"These kids are so much younger than me."
It has hit me this year though. I think its because with the exodus of this class, I really don't know anyone at Earlham anymore. And most of them, I will never see again, even though they really did mean allot to me. If I go to visit now, my home that I loved so much will not be my home. It will be a series of strangers going through some of the first steps in figuring out who they are. I can't call Earlham anymore and expect someone I know to answer the phone. The community that I cherished, that we all cherished, is completely shattered for me.
everyone should see Avenue Q, it's a musical, it's pretty much rent, but done with muppets. I keep thinking of one of the songs.....
KATE MONSTER:
I wish I could go back to college.
Life was so simple back then.
NICKY:
What would I give to go back and live in a dorm with a meal plan again!
PRINCETON:
I wish I could go back to college.
In college you know who you are.
You sit in the quad, and think, "Oh my God!
I am totally gonna go far!"
ALL:
How do I go back to college?
I don't know who I am anymore!
PRINCETON:
I wanna go back to my room and find a message in dry-erase pen on the door!
Ohhh...
I wish I could just drop a class...
NICKY:
Or get into a play...
KATE MONSTER:
Or change my major...
PRINCETON:
Or fuck my T.A.
ALL:
I need an academic advisor to point the way!
We could be...
Sitting in the computer lab,
4 A.M. before the final paper is due,
Cursing the world 'cause I didn't start sooner,
And seeing the rest of the class there, too!
PRINCETON:
I wish I could go back to college!
ALL:
How do I go back to college?!
AHHHH...
PRINCETON:
I wish I had taken more pictures.
NICKY:
But if I were to go back to college,
Think what a loser I'd be-
I'd walk through the quad,
And think "Oh my God..."
ALL:
"These kids are so much younger than me."
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Friendly World Empire
There are many corporations that I really think have too much power. The fact that Coca Cola is the worlds most known word is sad. There's nothing all that wrong with microsoft, but I just don't like them much. Superpower. Annoying.
However, I am coming to the conclusion that Google will take over the world and I will be fine with that. First of all, many of us have seen the google bombs that are so much fun. If you haven't, go type in right now French Military Victories and enjoy a laugh. Then for an even better joke, go look up directions from New York, New York to Paris, France on Google Maps. I really laughed out loud on that one.
Take a look at some of the excerpts from the company code:
e. Our Dog Policy
Google's respect and affection for our canine friends is an integral facet of our corporate culture.
We have nothing against cats, per se, but we're a dog company, so as a general rule we feel cats visiting our campus would be fairly stressed out.
What's a Google?
"Googol" is the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros. The term was coined by Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner, and was popularized in the book, "Mathematics and the Imagination" by Kasner and James Newman. Google's play on the term reflects the company's mission to organize the immense amount of information available on the web.
Code of Conduct: Preface
Our informal corporate motto is "Don't be evil." We Googlers generally relate those words to the way we serve our users—as well we should. But being "a different kind of company" encompasses more than the products we make and the business we're building; it means making sure that our core values inform our conduct in all aspects of our lives as Google employees.
“Aren’t ‘X’ billion pages enough? Who needs more search results?” I hear questions like this often. The answer is, “We all do.” When you are looking for something specific, like a particular person or place, comprehensiveness is the difference between finding a long-lost relative or love, and not.
Company Overview
Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.
As a first step to fulfilling that mission, Google's founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed a new approach to online search that took root in a Stanford University dorm room and quickly spread to information seekers around the globe. Google is now widely recognized as the world's largest search engine -- an easy-to-use free service that usually returns relevant results in a fraction of a second.
I still think all businesses should be a little more like non-profits and that no one business needs to have quarterly profits of over 3,500 Million dollars. I know it's still a business though, and that's the way they work right now. But overall, I just really like Google. My cousin wants to work there because they encourage individual projects from employees. Things like blogger and gmail have come from these Friday projects. Happy employees, happy us.
However, I am coming to the conclusion that Google will take over the world and I will be fine with that. First of all, many of us have seen the google bombs that are so much fun. If you haven't, go type in right now French Military Victories and enjoy a laugh. Then for an even better joke, go look up directions from New York, New York to Paris, France on Google Maps. I really laughed out loud on that one.
Take a look at some of the excerpts from the company code:
e. Our Dog Policy
Google's respect and affection for our canine friends is an integral facet of our corporate culture.
We have nothing against cats, per se, but we're a dog company, so as a general rule we feel cats visiting our campus would be fairly stressed out.
What's a Google?
"Googol" is the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros. The term was coined by Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner, and was popularized in the book, "Mathematics and the Imagination" by Kasner and James Newman. Google's play on the term reflects the company's mission to organize the immense amount of information available on the web.
Code of Conduct: Preface
Our informal corporate motto is "Don't be evil." We Googlers generally relate those words to the way we serve our users—as well we should. But being "a different kind of company" encompasses more than the products we make and the business we're building; it means making sure that our core values inform our conduct in all aspects of our lives as Google employees.
“Aren’t ‘X’ billion pages enough? Who needs more search results?” I hear questions like this often. The answer is, “We all do.” When you are looking for something specific, like a particular person or place, comprehensiveness is the difference between finding a long-lost relative or love, and not.
Company Overview
Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.
As a first step to fulfilling that mission, Google's founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed a new approach to online search that took root in a Stanford University dorm room and quickly spread to information seekers around the globe. Google is now widely recognized as the world's largest search engine -- an easy-to-use free service that usually returns relevant results in a fraction of a second.
I still think all businesses should be a little more like non-profits and that no one business needs to have quarterly profits of over 3,500 Million dollars. I know it's still a business though, and that's the way they work right now. But overall, I just really like Google. My cousin wants to work there because they encourage individual projects from employees. Things like blogger and gmail have come from these Friday projects. Happy employees, happy us.
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