...and now for somehting...
In the past several months, even before the previous blog, there have been lots of changes in the life and times of the author. I have graduated from Iowa State which is pretty exciting. It took four years which seems to be a short stint these days, and was a really great time. Several frowny faces appear when seeing various difficulties, but nearly all are the smiley type.
I was turned down for a few jobs and graduate schools and turned down a few more jobs. Luckily, I even got some job offers and was accepted to a graduate school. Next, I had begun one job in Des Moines and changed to another in Peosta the next week. Lots of factors played in but I think it will turn out for the better.
Ultimately, I will be in the Dubuque area for the majority of the summer with a weekend here and there in Ames, a possible week near and in Rocky Mountain National Park, and hopefully, hopefully, hopefully two short stints in Chicago for the Pitchfork Music Festival and Lollapalooza (let me know if you want to go!).
The most important change has resulted from speaking with a professor whom I respect quite a bit. We were talking about what college is and should be in governmental terms and found our way into the question: Why are people attending colleges? Most minds when confronted with this question that I have spoken to jump to the “...to get a job” response. I am pretty sure that my mind was similar until early in this semester and had been for quite a while—go to grade school to make it to the next grade, go to junior high school to be ready for high school, go to high school to make it into a good college program, and go to college to get a good job. Finally, I found that the happiest times of my entire formal and informal education were not with the “next logical step” in mind, rather what was happening in the moment. These times include arguing with professors over what certain readings meant, reading extra into things to understand them better, nearly my entire internship, &c. After too much time, I realized that I should be in college to learn things not to get a job. This past semester has been the most interesting and beneficial of my entire formal education. So, knowing what and feeling how I feel now, I have decided to continue with my education. I will be learning more at Northern Illinois University next fall and I am pretty excited.
In the past few we have also lost some pretty interesting individuals. Just yesterday, Jerry Falwell passed on. Even though I disagree with nearly everything for which he stood and pushed so hard and, despite the best efforts of our wonderful (sense the sarcasm) American private media to convince us otherwise, the FACT that nothing he had ever done was political—most were economic or demagogic—he was a peculiar conversation piece. On a more thoughtful note, we lost Kurt Vonnegut recently as well. Mr. Vonnegut, as opposed to Falwell, did not agree with intelligent design, on which he commented “What do you mean intelligent design? Look at giraffes and hippopotamuses and the clap.” He is the biggest of our literary losses since Mr. Hunter S. Thompson and he will be missed. “So it goes.”
As for the future of the (my) blog (essentially, I need to define an individual blog because the bloggosphere will undoubtedly grow even larger if our government does its job in securing the lower and middle classes and providing sufficient health and education funding for its own people...or maybe it will shrink because of these, I guess we will have to wait and see) I am in Dyersville with very low speed dial-up so it looks like it may be a while before my next blog but I will try. You have my word and my peace and love. Until next time...
I was turned down for a few jobs and graduate schools and turned down a few more jobs. Luckily, I even got some job offers and was accepted to a graduate school. Next, I had begun one job in Des Moines and changed to another in Peosta the next week. Lots of factors played in but I think it will turn out for the better.
Ultimately, I will be in the Dubuque area for the majority of the summer with a weekend here and there in Ames, a possible week near and in Rocky Mountain National Park, and hopefully, hopefully, hopefully two short stints in Chicago for the Pitchfork Music Festival and Lollapalooza (let me know if you want to go!).
The most important change has resulted from speaking with a professor whom I respect quite a bit. We were talking about what college is and should be in governmental terms and found our way into the question: Why are people attending colleges? Most minds when confronted with this question that I have spoken to jump to the “...to get a job” response. I am pretty sure that my mind was similar until early in this semester and had been for quite a while—go to grade school to make it to the next grade, go to junior high school to be ready for high school, go to high school to make it into a good college program, and go to college to get a good job. Finally, I found that the happiest times of my entire formal and informal education were not with the “next logical step” in mind, rather what was happening in the moment. These times include arguing with professors over what certain readings meant, reading extra into things to understand them better, nearly my entire internship, &c. After too much time, I realized that I should be in college to learn things not to get a job. This past semester has been the most interesting and beneficial of my entire formal education. So, knowing what and feeling how I feel now, I have decided to continue with my education. I will be learning more at Northern Illinois University next fall and I am pretty excited.
In the past few we have also lost some pretty interesting individuals. Just yesterday, Jerry Falwell passed on. Even though I disagree with nearly everything for which he stood and pushed so hard and, despite the best efforts of our wonderful (sense the sarcasm) American private media to convince us otherwise, the FACT that nothing he had ever done was political—most were economic or demagogic—he was a peculiar conversation piece. On a more thoughtful note, we lost Kurt Vonnegut recently as well. Mr. Vonnegut, as opposed to Falwell, did not agree with intelligent design, on which he commented “What do you mean intelligent design? Look at giraffes and hippopotamuses and the clap.” He is the biggest of our literary losses since Mr. Hunter S. Thompson and he will be missed. “So it goes.”
As for the future of the (my) blog (essentially, I need to define an individual blog because the bloggosphere will undoubtedly grow even larger if our government does its job in securing the lower and middle classes and providing sufficient health and education funding for its own people...or maybe it will shrink because of these, I guess we will have to wait and see) I am in Dyersville with very low speed dial-up so it looks like it may be a while before my next blog but I will try. You have my word and my peace and love. Until next time...
posted by andy at 7:47 PM
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