We All Want To Change The World

we're going to raise the level of public debate in this country, and let that be our legacy

2008-06-07T20:23:30Z

Today, I drove Mom up to the Harvard Bookstore so that she could see if they'd take some used books to sell. At one of the most stressful intersctions, I muttered "I hate this city." Mom asked if I really did. My answer was "Sometimes."

It got me thinking, though. There's something very hypocritical about a frightening number of the people here. It's not intentionally so, nor do I even know if they realize it's going on.

But here it is: Cambridge is a very diverse city -- and they're rightfully proud of that. At the high school graduation on Thursday, announcements were made in English, Haitian Creole, Spanish and Portuguese. The school's motto is "Opportunity. Diversity. Respect." More than half the speakers talked about that motto, but most about the diversity part of it.

It's absolutely true that Cambridge is a diverse place. There are so many more ethnicities than there are in Charlotte, and they're far more integrated that there. Socially, ethnically and racially, it's an incredible melting pot.

But when the mayor mentioned Obama during her remarks on Thursday, the entire crowd cheered. The. entire. crowd.

So why is no one talking about diversity of opinion?

I bring this up for two reasons: I'm incredibly contrary, and I adore intelligent debate. The first reason is pretty self-explanatory. If everyone has the same opinion, I'll go against them, because I'm just annoyingly pig-headed. The second reason is more complex. I can't stand honest-to-God conflict, but I thrive on debate. I need people to disagree with me, or I'll make myself disagree with them.

So I'm living in the same city as what is arguably the single greatest intellectual hub in the world, and no one is really debating politics. Everyone supports Obama and believes that global warming needs to be stopped. They're all for gay marriage and lord knows they're probably all pro-choice. If I were to say that I supported McCain, I probably wouldn't get an honest debate. I'd get funny looks or laughter. Who knows?

But how can you learn to argue your point when everyone cheers for the same candidate? And what happens when you go into the world and it turns out that your new crush -- this amazing guy blah blah -- disagrees with you?

Besides, if we're here much longer, I'm going to become a McCain supporter because I am that contrary.

at least it's an easy a

2008-05-25T13:54:29Z

I have proof, I tell you, proof.

That is, now I have something more than my own impressions (and my knowledge of CMS curriculums) to prove that I'm not getting as good an education this year as I was last year or would be in Charlotte.

Last year, in English, we did what's called the Inquiry Paper. It's a huge project that counts for 25% of your fourth-quarter grade, same as the Author Project I did this year. I worked hard on my IP, which was about Lewis Carroll's use of satire. There were multiple rough drafts. I got several classmates whose opinions I respected to edit it, and asked both my (writer) parents to do the same. We were required to have two print sources (other than the books we read) and three online sources. This project, though, was huge. And it was hard. I worked at the research, at the writing, and at the editing.

I got a 93. As far as I know, it was the second-highest grade in the class.

I'm pleased with that grade, but that's not the point. The point will become clear in time.

The Author Project this year was, granted, more writing, so each piece counted less towards the final grade. But it was still a large amount of writing that I did about an English satirist. The difference is that I didn't work nearly as hard on this. I wrote one of the essays at 6:00 AM, in under half an hour. The only research I did was last-minute googling. (And reading carrole's thesis, but that was interesting.) The only people who edited the essays were me and Miss Fairbanks, and she didn't even edit all of them. In short, I didn't work nearly as hard on this project as I did on the IP.

I got a 98.

My writing, citing, et cetera, have not gotten five percentage points better. I know that, because much of the writing on my IP was better than on my Author Project.

So there's the proof. (That, and the fact that I couldn't do Llili's physics homework.)

x-posted to miraxcorran

seriously, people!

2008-04-06T02:16:40Z

Get it together! I'm not even watching the game, but talkingbanana's updates on score (and, occasionally, how my team is getting away with traveling because they're losing the ball anyways) are causing me pain.

As of right now, the score is 48 - 31 Kansas.

Let me just go mutter and anguish now.

to walk, to walk ...

2008-04-04T00:24:22Z

I admit, sometimes I wish Cambridge were a more drivable city. It's a real pain to have to walk everywhere, or wait for buses in nasty weather.

But I do like my 25-minute walk home from school every day. It's a great way to clear my head, and remember all those little random tidbits that I wish I could remember when I first have the thought. Today, the tidbits I remembered were the term for a type of music that I was blanking on yesterday (it was counterpoint) and the name of the actor who played Lindsey MacDonald on Angel (Christian Kane). A few weeks ago, it was that Mirax is three years younger than Wedge, though it's possible that came from an unreliable source. Of course, from there, my train of thought headed towards the totally worthless. The combination of "Lindsey" with the use of the brand name Chanel in the song I was listening to ("Take It Like A Man" from Legally Blonde) had me thinking about Sarah Thompson's commentary on You're Welcome ...

Either way, the walking really is just something I like. And since I'm trying to be good about updating this journal, I though I'd mention it.

In Emmett's words, "Oh my oh my oh my god!"

2008-03-31T22:06:15Z

New York is, as always, awesome.

Mom and I went up for two days, give or take. We took the train up Friday afternoon and left Sunday evening. And because it was awesome, I figured I'd give an account of my (fabulous) trip.

We stayed at the Harvard Club of New York City, which is right down the street from the Yacht Club. It's also literally two blocks from Times Square, which was just a fun location. The club itself was gorgeous, but I was afraid to pictures of anything but the room we stayed in. The Club is just amazing. There's dark paneling everywhere, with really high ceilings in the dining and sitting rooms. There was a great library with desks that have Harvard Club Stationery (on which I wrote Lili a letter), a beautiful reading room and all the carpets were red -- just so you wouldn't forget it was the Harvard Club.

The first night, we got into the room pretty late, unpacked a smidge, watched some of the Davidson game and oohed over the room. Since Davidson was ahead by about thirteen with a minute left, we headed out for dinner. After looking around for a bit, we found a place called Café Un Deux Trois. (French. Fancy that.) It was in a beautiful room and they had good onion soup. That night, I made Mom watch Stardust on my iPod (because I'd watched it on the way up and it is amazing) while I watched The Tudors on my computer. (Incidentally, Charles Brandon is walking sex and I love Margaret.)

Saturday morning, we had breakfast with Greg Brock, the corrections editor for The New York Times. He was very interesting, and he took us on a tour of their new building. After that, we picked up our Legally Blonde tickets and walked around Times Square for a bit. There was a really cute store with the most amazing kalidescopes and beautiful wooden jewelry boxes, but they were huge (and expensive.)

Now for the show. It was so much fun. I had an amazing time. It was really funny and fabulously acted. I'd never seen a show that was (almost) original cast and it was so much fun! Because we were at a Saturday matinee, understudy Becky Gulsvig played Elle, but she did a fabulous job. Christian Borle as Emmett, though, he just owned that part. I'm really bummed he never came out for pictures and autographs after the show (or when we went back after the evening show to get more), but whatever. I did get it taken with several other people, including both Elles (Becky and Laura Bell Bundy), as well as the guy who played Aaron Shultz, Orfeh, the girl who played Brooke, the one who played Vivenne and several others. The weirdest bit was how much Christian Borle looks like my middle school friend Gordon. It totally freaked me out, too, but it was neat at the same time.

After the show, we went down to Chinatown, where Mom bought "Dolce & Gabbana" sunglasses, and then we had gelato in Little Italy. At the restaurant, there were pictures of the owner with all kinds of famous people. There was one of him with Jerry Orbach and one of him on The Sopranos. It was quite neat.

Sunday, we headed up to the Upper East Side (after having packed, checked out and left our bags with the bellman). We had breakfast at a luncheonette that was really fun, then I headed to Central Park and Mom went to the Frick (an art museum). Turned out the skating in the park was still open, so I paid an arm and a leg to do it. It was great fun, though, so totally worth it. I wandered around after that, people watching and enjoying the beautiful day.

Once Mom was done at the museum, we got egg creams at a little place, and went shopping on Madison Avenue. I tried on a Donna Karan skirt that was just beautiful.

Unfortunately, then we had to leave. But the trip was great fun, even if the train ride back was bumpy and crowded. I wish I were still there!

x-posted to miraxcorran

The Last, Y'Know, Two Months

2008-03-01T16:03:17Z

It's horrifically clear that I'm terrible about updating this journal (assuming that anyone is reading it).

However, it's not like I don't have a reason.

A few weeks ago, I went to one of the Nieman seminars. It was by Robert Putnam on social capital, the bonds between people and suchly. I found it fascinating, especially how he said that when people move (and, thus, lose all their previously acquired social capital) they tend to draw into themselves and often prefer to associate with almost exclusively people with whom they have a lot in common (which is called bonding social capital).

So the good news is that I'm not a slacker, but that my almost total loss of social capital has caused me to draw into myself. Well, that, and the fact that this semester has been very work-heavy. On the first day of class, I was handed L'étranger by Albert Camus in one class and Great Expectations by Dickens in another. So I've been reading those and working with them and so on and so forth. It's only in the past week that I've been able to do any reading of my own initiative, since I was also reading Mort by Terry Pratchett in Lit for an independent reading project. So, of course, having read several somewhat depressing books, I picked up The Other Boelyn Girl, since there's nothing to get over morbid existentialism like beheadings.

I've been going to occasional soundings this semester, which is nice. It means that one of the nights where I would've been sitting at home eating crap alone, I'm out eating not quite so unhealthy food with other people. On the one hand, that's helping with the loneliness. On the other, it, well, isn't. That one is more, complicated, though.

In other news, I was off school the week of Presidents' Day, and Lili and Amberli came up for the long weekend. That was pretty much fabulous. We walked all around Harvard square and yard, went to see Julius Caesar and had dinner in the North End one day. The next, we went to the Museum of Fine Art, shopping on Newbury street and to the Public Gardens to see the ducks. A great time was had. (At the same time, my grandma was here, though she stayed a full week.)

Other that those things, my life has been uneventful. We're playing Holst's Suite In E-flat in band, which I'm totally psyched about.

Skating 101

2008-01-19T23:11:01Z

Well, it becomes clear that efforts on my part to update this journal regularly are somewhat futile. Oh well.

Anyways, first semester has ended. Thank god, too, though I will miss chemistry.

Today, I had my first ever figure skating lesson. Obviously, I'm not all that good yet, but the one thing I was truly terrible at should improve a lot next time I skate.

Afterwards, we went into the skate shop to ask about getting used skates and, low and behold, the woman running the shop had not one but two pairs of relatively soft women's nines. Mom got a pair, and so did I. Also, I learned that a lot of the reason I was having trouble doing snowplow stops is that my feet roll in - a lot. So I've gotten my skates build up (as well as fitted), which should help with the rolling issues.

I can't wait to try them out!

Mom's sounding is in 17 days. (Some food is prepared, power-point is not. And I need to teach her to scan ...)

Gave To Me Three French Hens

2007-12-29T00:25:37Z

Well, this is (yet again) a late update.

But I would just like to say that yesterday evening and this morning were quite wonderful. I acquired The Sweet Far Thing, Libba Bray's new book, of which the first 160 pages have pleased me very much. My two good friends and I watched Ang Lee's Sense & Sensibility, and then proceeded to confuse ourselves by watching Love Actually, in which Elinor is married to Brandon (but he cheats on her) and Edward is busily running England (and falling for the cookie girl.) The entire evening was brilliantly fun.

And has, unfortunately, served to remind me of just how much I adore my friends here in Charlotte. We talked through two entire movies (actually, we paid perfect attention while Hugh Grant was dancing), chatted for hours about nothing, argued about duvet covers, made Ted bring us food, and ate hot chocolate mix straight from the bag.

I have a dilemma. It's kind of like deja vu, really. I think I've done this ~~once~~ ~~twice~~ too many times before.

I kind of had a break-down this afternoon about movies and other unimportant things. It was, I think, partly low blood sugar and partly depression about this whole damn year.

Oh well.

And I passed my driving test. w00t!

Two Turtle Doves

2007-12-27T14:47:46Z

Well, didn't update yesterday. I win. :p

Anyways, Ellie came over for dinner, which was pretty much amazing. We watched "Welcome to the Hellmouth" (omg yay hot sexy Angel!) and messed around online and generally had a great time.

And I'm taking my driving test this morning.

Excuse me while I PANIC!

Right now I'm just blogging to keep my hands from shaking. I panicked to Bria a few minutes ago, and she mostly talked me down and then she had to leave and guess what? I'm freaking out again. But I'm excited too.

Go me?

Also, Ellie and I are going to the mall later. It will be awesome, as will my sleepover with other friends. (Omg yay hot sexy Kartik!)

I'm now through babbling randomly and my hands are shaking a little bit less.

Deep breath. Deep breath ...

On the First Day of Christmas ...

2007-12-26T04:55:19Z

Today was a very blah Christmas Day, I must tell you. There were few presents given out this morning, for a variety of reasons. My big one from the parents was a laptop that I got back before Thanksgiving, and no one wanted to bring the big presents down, so they're still in Cambridge, among other reasons.

I've also been feeling pretty bummed, just because being here reminds me how much I miss the life that I would have were we not in Cambridge. That's one of the more painful aspects of this year, actually. Mom was an alternate who got accepted, but before she knew she was an alternate, so told me she hadn't gotten it.

This was in the middle of May. I'd basically been not thinking about "next year" from the time I found out that she was applying for the fellowship, so all of that kind of came in a rush. Every "maybe I'll do this next year" and "won't it be fun to (fill in the blank) next year" just came rushing in.

And we left anyways.

It's just been bittersweet being back for a little bit. Church last night was, too. We saw the bells play, and I miss being up there and being in that group - but there are parts of that that I don't miss in the least.

It's all very vexed and twisted, I must say.

I'll try to do a more upbeat and Christmassy post tomorrow or another day.

Christmas Eve, baby, Christmas Eve!

2007-12-25T00:22:03Z

I've a couple of things to say.

First, isn't my new Christmassy journal beautiful? (Also, the title is - yet again - from a song. This time it's Winter Wonderland. The previous title, To Be Where You Belong, was from the Beatles' song Honey Pie.)

Second, I hope to post once a day for the twelve days of Christmas, to make up for the fact that I literally never post to this poor, lonely journal. (There is, however, a possibility that some of those posts will be about how lonely I am.)

Third, as Clement Moore said:

A happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Adventures in Shopping and Gasoline

2007-12-16T03:14:48Z

Life's going well - in fact, today was quite wonderful.

A friend of mine who lives in Hartford came up to visit for the day, and we basically spent the whole afternoon shopping. Can you say fun? (And it was quite productive. I now have only a minuscule bit of Christmas shopping left.) We took the T into Copley square in Boston and went to Copley and Prudential malls.

The malls are really nice, by the way. We explored many wonderful designer stores that neither of us could afford - by the way, Coach has some seriously nice gloves with cashmere lining. Had lunch at the food court, then made with the Christmas shopping. I've got most of mine down now.

Once that was all done, we bought some cheesecake to go at the Cheesecake Factory and too the T up to the Cambridgeside Galleria in hopes of acquiring some DVDs. The quest was a success, and once I'd been given (yet another) DVD set that my mother can make fun of me for, we ate our cheesecake and talked some serious fandom. We are that cool.

Anyways, after the last bit of shopping, we came back to the apartment for a few, then I went with my friend while she got gas. Only problem was, the gas station at the corner had closed. So we went driving around a little bit looking for one. In the process, we nearly got lost. And found nothing. Because she was running on fumes, we headed down to Mt Auburn Street, where she said she'd been a gas station earlier. We get there - and the gas station is closed.

The next what must've been five that we saw were closed, too. I'm having terrible thoughts about being stranded on the side of the road in 20-degree weather with only her cell phone - that was almost out of battery.

Finally, we find a gas station. When we pull in, we're just laughing insanely. I'm totally relieved and I've never been happier to see a gas station, I can tell you that. She confesses that she was going to tell me to memorize the numbers of any cabs that I might see go by in case we needed to call for help.

Either way, it was just hysterically funny - once it was over.

Christmas Cards

2007-12-09T05:17:05Z

I'm going to ~~try and~~ send out some Christmas cards this year, so if you want one - and haven't told me so already - comment with your address. Comments will be screened so I'll be the only one who can see them, but if that makes you antsy, my email is maggiebarrows@gmail.com.

Woohoo Christmas!

The Trouble With [Physics] Is ...

2007-12-02T04:11:41Z

Kelly Clarkson sings about what "The trouble with love is."

I speak on the trouble with physics.

My physics class is hands-down my least favorite this semester. I'm sure, however, that is has nothing to with the fact that I love higher-lever math, the criminal justice system and teachers who share my sarcastic sense of humor - which hits my other three.

But either way, there is some trouble with physics.

Here, the class is called Physics First. It's taught, for the most part, to freshmen, many of whom haven't even taken algebra 1. Because of that, the math is dumbed down quite a lot. In fact, there's a distinct that I'm not even getting a good education in physics, the math is dumbed down so much. Never having taken another physics, I have no idea whether that's the case. Either way, it means that I could pass the class - well - just by plugging the right numbers into the right formulas. It also means that a lot of emphasis is put on things like teaching students how to rearrange v = dt to know that t = v/d or that d = v/t, things that I can do in my sleep. (There's some whacked out triangle thing they use. Me, I just divide by d or t, respectively.)

The physics classes at CRLS aren't tracked. Instead of taking the honors class, you choose the honors option in a standard-level class. Beats me why they're doing it that way, but I don't think that it encourages students to pick honors. First off, all the extra work that you're doing has to be pointed out so that the kids who aren't doing honors don't do it. Second, if you do the work without asking for the honors, you get extra credit. Talk about a disencentive to get honors credit!

So the class isn't all that good. Also, the students are obnoxious. Maybe it's a freshman thing, maybe it's because I'm used to honors students and they're not, maybe it'sjust them.

Either way, the class provides me with a good opportunity to practice my cursive, which, incidentally, has gotten a lot better this year. (This I mostly do my babbling randomly about whatever TV show I watched last night. Woohoo.)

(12/7 - Inserting a post-script to say that I don't think every student in that class in an idiot, or obnoxious. Just that I think there's a higher percentage of them who are than in most of my other classes. Sorry, Lucy!)

Good News from the Hometown!

2007-11-08T20:15:30Z

Well, Tuesday was election day and - for once! - there's good news coming out of Charlotte. How amazing is that?!

To start, though, the bad news: Kaye McGarry got reelected. That just bites, but at least there's lots of good news!

The school bonds passed. I'm thrilled. I'm over the moon. I'm giddy. A lot of people don't get that if you're going to bitch about how the public schools suck, you should at least have the decency to try and make them better. So very good news about the school bonds passing.

There were some other bonds that passed, but because charlotte.com is idiotic, I can't find what they were.

Also, the transit tax didn't get repealed! Time to throw a massive feast in celebration of the fact that some people in that city see the value of public transportation!

Brunch (With Singing)

2007-11-08T20:03:51Z

Well, I have an amusing story to tell - for once.

A few weeks ago, I was out to brunch on Sunday morning with my parents, some friends of the family, and some friends of theirs. The brunch was pleasant and the food was wonderful, yadda yadda yadda.

But just was we were finishing up, a couple of guys came running in, dressed in nice pants and sport coats. They introduced themselves as the krokodiloes, Harvard's oldest a capella group and claimed to have been ditched by the rest of the singers. As they began to sing, though, the rest of the guys came running in, one at a time.

They did an entire short performance in the restaurant, which was just amazingly fun.

(Of course, my father, who doesn't like live music, looked a little bit appalled when I crawled over him to be able to see better. We'd somehow managed to get one of three tables or something that the guys had their backs to.)

During their last number, they actually danced. Seriously. Two of the guys got in the middle and danced - think Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, only less talented.

Not only was it great fun, but it was a brilliant way to get people to remember them.

And I loved it!

Quote of the Day

2007-11-02T22:39:35Z

If gratitude and esteem are good foundations of affection, Elizabeth's change of sentiment will be neither improbable nor faulty. But if otherwise, if the regard springing from such sources is unreasonable or unnatural, in comparison of what is so often described as arising on a first interview with its object, and even before two words have been exchanged, nothing can be said in her defence, except that she had given somewhat of a trial to the latter method, in her partiality for Wickham, and that its ill-success might authorise her to seek the other less interesting mode of attachment. Be that as it may, she saw him go with regret.

~ Pride and Prejudice (Volume 3, chapter 4; pages 265-266 Penguin Edition 2003)

Mucho Life

2007-11-02T01:43:28Z

Well, I've been bad and haven't updated this journal in forever, but there you are. I do have a lot to tell about to make up for it - and tons of pictures! (Just in case people have slow connections, I'll put those behind cuts.)

A few days before my birthday - I know, I know - I got to sit in on a seminar of James Wood's about Pride and Prejudice. It was seriously one of the most fascinating things I've ever done. I took more than three pages of notes, which I've been thoughtful enough to scan into the computer, though whether or not anyone will be able to make heads or tails of them.

Click on these to make them bigger, if you want to read the notes.

Another cool thing that I did was an apple-picking trip with a ton of the Niemans. We went up to an orchard in the town of Harvard and picked lots and lots ~~and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots~~ of apples. It was awesome - and I've found a new variety of apple to love. Macoons are pretty much the best ever. And I had some really good sparkling cider! Afterwards, we went to the house of a former Nieman fellow and had apple crisp and I got to practice throwing a football. It was a very pleasant afternoon.

Pictures (not taken by me):

This is Kate, the little girl that I babysit.

I also have some pictures that I took of my room, when it was somewhat clean. Kate was over here for a few hours, so I needed to speed-baby-proof. (That's the reason that she's in a few of the pictures.)

There's also this one of Kate, just because it's cute:

Finally, I have one of, if nor the most exciting thing that I've done since getting up here: I got to hang with a friend of mine whom I'd never met before. (FYI, it's helplessdancer.)

Yeah, I know, it sounds whack, but bear with me here. I had a great time and it was pretty much amazing. Totally surreal, though.

(Almost) Sweet Sixteen and (Almost) Never Been Kissed

2007-10-10T20:20:09Z

This past weekend, Mom and I flew back to Charlotte for my sixteenth birthday party.

The word awesome doesn't even begin to cover it.

Saturday morning, we went to the regional farmers' market and to Basil's, where we had livermush! I know, it sounds gross, but it's really not. And the only place you can get it is in a small area of the Piedmont of North Carolina. I was practically raised on the stuff, and I was going into withdrawl up here!

After breakfast, we went to our house to acquire stuff we needed, talk to Stefanie (one of the two teachers renting our from us this year) about some issues she'd been having and, of course, visit with the kitties. I've missed the kitties a lot. (In case you didn't know, we have two orange cats - brothers, Squeaky and GB - that we had to leave in Charlotte for the year.)

That afternoon, we went out party-shopping. We bought snacks and drinks and food for breakfast. We also got sparkling white grape juice and sparkling lemonade for later.

We checked into the hotel - and discovered the was a problem. The door had broken off the limo we were supposed to ride in, so the driver was going to be late. A couple of hours late, to be honest.

Ellie had to come early -at six - so we hung out for a bit. Then Alexa came, then Rebekah. Lili called me, asking where the hotel was. You see, somehow, she and Amberli had gotten confused and gone to the wrong Doubletree Suites.

Don't ask. I'm not sure. (I know I said "The Doubletree Suites at SouthPark.)

Anyways, after everyone arrived, because we had time to kill, I opened my presents. Let me just say that I have some killer friends here.

Ellie got me Will The Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby? by Allyson Beatrice, which I'm looking forward to reading, a cute little cat nick-nack and some amazingly cute earrings. Rebekah got me a really cute Vera Bradley wallet that I'm officially in love with. Amberli gave me The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde which like ten people have recommended to me. Alexa gave me a really cute tank top and shirt from Delia's (in love!) and Lili gave me a pillow covered in Shakespeare quotes about love - including "The couse [sic] true love never did run smooth."

I love my friends.

Anyways, once the limo came, we got it and drove uptown to have dinner at Zink. On the way, we drank the faux-campagne and the lemonade. We had a great time.

At dinner, Ellie really started to assimilate, which made everything more fun. She and Lili discovered they're so alike they have the same cell phone. But we had really good food - mine was actually called "decacence." It was mac 'n' cheese with scallops, shrimp, mussels and bits of lobster, as well as yummy stuff on the top. So good, so good. For dessert, we split a cheese platter (with brie, California cheddar and goat cheese), blueberry cheesecake and key lime pie around the table.

Then we got back in the limo and decided to drive around for a bit. When we passed Paper Skyscraper, Lili screamed through the partition for the driver to take a left so that she could go visit her boyfriend, which we did. The driver got out of the car in front of his house, having asked for his name, and walked up the front door was Lili was frantically calling his cell, which he did answer. (She did get up with her brother, who was spending the night there.) The driver, though, asked "Does Julian live here?" which thoroughly freaked out said Julian, because he though a mob hit had been put out on him or something. But then he saw Lili go sprinting out of the limo and all was well. The two guys and chatted with us for about half an hour, which was way fun.

We then proceeded back to the hotel, where we watched Ocean's Thirteen on pay-per-view and then stayed up until 5 AM playing every party game you remember that doesn't involve kissing.

All in all, I had a fabulous time and I wish it could have lasted longer.

Museums and Marblehead

2007-10-10T19:51:34Z

Well, this is horribly late, but there you are.

Two weekends ago, a friend of the family came to stay with us. I've known her my whole life, so it was great to get to see her again.

Saturday, we went to the Museum of Fine Arts (again) and to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The first was, as I'm sure it always is, wonderful. "The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit" was there this time, and I can honestly call it a life-changing painting. It's just so ... something. John Singer Sargent was a flipping genius with white, I can tell you that much. He literally used every color you can imagine to paint it, but it still looks like white. His whites look so real that you feel like, if you touch it, you'll be touching cotton sheets, or starched pinfores, or a silk dress.

The Gardner Museum was overwhelming and, because of that, underwhelming. There was almost too much art - and it was all crammed together and poorly lit. The paintings were rarely labeled, which meant that a lot of the fun of knowing who painted it was taken away.

On Sunday afternoon, we went up to Marblehead, which is about an hour outside of Boston. It's seriously as cute as it looks - and it's a real cuteness, as opposed to manufactured. How wonderful.

(Yes, I know, Marion Cotesworth-Haye who was on West Wing once was allegedly from Marblehead, but the town is still adorable. And I didn't remember than at the time we were there.)

We took Brenda to see her first rocky coastline while we were there. It was accessed - I kid you not - via a secret entrance hidden between a bunch of Hummer Houses out near the coast. It was beautiful, though. I had such a great time. (We even had fabulous clam chowder at a local place called The Landing. Yum!)

Bite Me, Bureaucracy

2007-09-27T23:53:45Z

I may be the first CMS dropout with an unweighted GPA of 4.0.

Oh, yes, that's right. Somehow - unsurprisingly - it never got all the way through the levels that I'm transferring, as opposed to dropping out of high school. Did it not occur to anyone that most students with straight A's in pre-IB classes aren't on their way to dropping out?

I suppose it's all done by computers, but honestly! If someone had just looked at my transcript, it would be obvious that I wasn't exactly dropout material.

Anyways, now that I've dropped out of school, I'm going to partay all the time.

Or maybe not.

In other news, Brenda Campbell is coming to stay the weekend. She'll be here tonight, so I'm having to do all types of chores, but at least we'll have some company. Oh, and Eliza in my homeroom reads Terry Pratchett, whose books I love. How cool is that?

New Grading - But I Have An A!

2007-09-21T16:10:30Z

In Cambridge, grading is on a ten-point scale instead of the seven-point one used by CMS. Granted, the ten-point scale is more common throughout the country, but I won't deny that it's messing with my head a little bit. My current grade in Calculus is a 91.1%. Here, it's an A-, but it Charlotte, it's a B. Completely ignoring my worry that my grades will transfer based on percentage instead of letter, I can't stop my brain from being worried about my alleged B in Calc. I suppose I'll eventually get used to it, but it's interesting how I can't change the instinct to work hard enough to get a 93%, even though a 90% is an A here.

Life in Criminal Law

2007-09-20T02:00:38Z

This semester, I have an unusual course load - AP Calculus first period, Physics second, Chemistry third and Criminal Law last.

Also, the school's racial breakdown is a lot more like my middle school, Smith Language Academy, than Myers Park High, my school in Charlotte. At Smith, there are a lot of whites, blacks and Hispanics, with a dabble of people from east Asia and almost no one from South Asia. At Myers Park, there are a lot more whites than anyone else.

As much as I hate to say that, it has a rather large effect on the learning environment, because of cultural and socio-economic differences. In my Criminal Law class the other day, a girl had her phone out and was texting. When the teacher called her out and told her to put the phone on the teacher's desk, she didn't actually refuse, but ... she grumbled about her phone getting stolen and not having it, et cetera et cetera. Every time a phone rang in one of my classes in Charlotte, the student surrendered it with minimal complaint - and we don't get them back for a week, and only then if a parent comes to pick it up.

Also, in that class, I have, for the first time in my life, seen my instinct to fit in comes into direct conflict with my instinct to be a good and participatory student. It's an insight, I suppose, into a feeling that many students - many more intelligent that I - struggle with every day. Should one choose to succeed today, or tomorrow? Make friends now or make money in the future? Who knows? I certainly don't.

CMS versus CPSD {2}

2007-09-20T01:44:02Z

{2 - SmartBoards}

In Charlotte, teachers are lucky to have whiteboards.

In Cambridge, the math teachers and some science teachers have what is called SmartBoards. English and language teachers might have them too. I don't know about them yet.

A SmartBoard is like a slide-show on speed. The projectors hang from the ceiling in most of the rooms that have them. They hook up to the computer via a wall cable. It's Apple technology, which, in my experience, works a lot better.

The board itself is in front of the whiteboard. At the bottom, there are four markers and an eraser. The image is projected onto the SmartBoard, where it can be written on with the markers that aren't real markers. The let the board know that it's being touched and it knows which color to use by looking at which one isn't in its little thing. The board also responds to touch. It projects the whole computer screen, so if you needed to change windows or something, you can do that by touching what you want on the board.

Admit it, you're impressed.

Also, because all the teachers have iBooks, the class can watch movies on the SmartBoard. That eliminates all the problems of half the class not being able to see the TV.

Nice.

CMS: 0
CPSD: 2

CMS versus CPSD {1}

2007-09-20T01:42:25Z

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is up against Cambridge Public School Department for the year. And I gotta tell you, CMS ain't lookin' so good.

{1 - Daycare}

My homeroom teacher has an adorable two-year-old, whom she potty trained over the summer.

No biggie, right?

She leaves her daughter at the daycare - and I quote - "downstairs."

The school has a daycare in the basement, I'm pretty sure, for teachers who have little kids but still want to work. It's a wonderful idea - and it probably doesn't even cost that much.

CMS: 0
CPSD: 1