I must share this with everyone.

http://www.threadknits.com/entries/view/94 !

Trial mockery

Just got back from watching Round 4 of the regional mock trial tournament. The Hunter team, being somewhat less than ideally prepared, opted not to compete, but some of us still went to watch (all the way out at St. John's in Queens. Bit of a trek). Just watched one trial. It was cool to see. The more experienced teams are definitely more polished with the procedural details, pretrial stuff, etc, which was intimidating, or would have been if we'd been competing against them. It's great to watch a case where you actually know all the details, and see one version of that trial actually played out. Learned a lot; both teams had some nice strategic and tactical moves that we hadn't thought of. And it was a good ego-boost to see that there's some stuff they missed which we've been going over for months (we overall know the rules of evidence and case law better than they seemed to). Overall fun. Snobby Manhattanite that I am, I never thought It'd say this, but it was definitely worth it to get up at 7:00 AM just o spend 4 hours in Queens.

Snow Day = Sore Body

So, New York City public schools had their second snow day in two weeks, which is just wild! NYC is notorious for making students weather the storm despite the conditions outside. Nevertheless, 2010 has softened New York City's heart, and the days off have been wonderful.
On a darker note, my CHC class has been hell. :-( The teacher is very insightful and knowledgeable, but the workload is terrible. For the past three weekends, I have been assigned three different books - The World in a City by Joseph Berger, Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto, and How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis - all of which I had to read for the next class. Pretty much, life hasn't been great for the past couple months. I have been doing pretty well with keeping up with the reading, but it is just too much. I should probably be reading now...
In any event, the snow day brought about a massive snowball fight at Brookdale, and a tackle football game right after. I pretty much got clobbered by snowballs and then slammed during the match... I am in need of some R & R.
Fun picture below.

All this snow is crazy - I know I've only been at Hunter for 4 semesters now, but in that time we've never closed for anything unplanned, and now we've had two snow days in a month! It worked pretty well for me yesterday because I got to skip an 8 a.m. chemistry lecture, but I was already up anyway since Hunter didn't cancel until 7 a.m., and I was kind of bummed about not getting my chem lecture, I've taken quite a liking to the subject.

On the bright side, it gave me that much more time to start studying for mid-terms, which for me are clustered around the end of next week. Because I'm only taking 4 classes though, and one of them is CHC which has no tests, I don't have a bad crunch of exams which is great. Being able to concentrate on the classes I do have has really been making a difference this semester.

OK, back to the books...

Snow! & the Olympics!

Hey guys - nothing interesting to blog about today, especially with this weather! Just hunkering down at the dorm in front of the Olympics with some of my floor mates - we've been watching them almost every night in the common room since they began. I always find the half pipe and figure skating particularly exciting to watch, so that makes tonight enjoyable - the women figure skaters are doing their free skate.

On my plate for this weekend -
-editing the first round of poems that are being work-shopped in Creative Writing including *gulp* mine
-reading half of the Scarlet Letter for Sexuality and American Culture, and the weekly blog post, -tons of reading for the Peopling of New York
-German homework
-finish putting my opportunities fund together so I can submit it next week
-a Macaulay common event - the second "tech fair" for freshmen

For all of you unfortunate enough to have class tomorrow, good luck getting around in the snow!

Not much new

I think I've finally settled into the swing of this semester, my front-heavy weekly schedule and all.

Yesterday I had my first solo assignment for Legal Aid. I went to two alleged crime scenes to see if there were any security cameras that would A) have captured the scenes and B) still have records. There weren't. Oh, the exciting life of an investigator intern!

Otherwise... classes continue to be fairly engaging. Women and the Law seems to be picking up, now, we're starting to actually discuss cases, handing in our first case briefs today. The Beckett seminar is good stuff, this week we're doing Endgame, which is desperately funny, or funnily desperate, or something. Also had to read a couple critical essays on it, which were perhaps a bit reaching in some conclusions but provide interesting perspectives.

Had a good meeting this week with Mike Lamb, the Macaulay graduate fellowship advisor. It's always a nice walk across Central Park over to the MHC building, and Mike is very nice; I first met him last summer when I was interviewing for the Kennan program, a leadership program at Macaulay. As the graduate fellowship advisor, Mike is the go-to person for students interested in pursuing National Science Foundation, Goldwater, and other such scholarships and fellowships. Mike is great because he really knows who you are, and we had a very productive talk about what I'm doing now, what fellowships I should keep my eye on, and what I need to do to get there. He also gave me a neat book on science and how scientific changes take place, The Pasturization of France. I've gotten really interested in how science effects the community and the ethics and importance of science, and now I'm strongly considering doing a CUNY BA interdisciplinary major in neuroscience and it's interaction with society which I'm very excited about.

I also wrapped up my independent study in psychology from last fall by giving a presentation to the lab where I did the independent study. I was just presenting on a research paper I had done over the fall (on gaps in the literature on protein kinase C's in spatial learning and memory) but I was really nervous. It went surprisingly well though, and my former professor even asked me to give the presentation to his masters/honors seminar!

Now, with mid-terms just two weeks away, it's time to grab my bio textbook and head to bed.

It's been a while

Hi guys and sorry I've been away :( I've just been kind of crazy with all this new spring termness. So far, all my classes have been really good. I'm taking Intro to Women and Gender Studies, Peopling of New York , Human Sexuality, Intro to Lit, and Greek and Latin Roots of English. My Intro to WGS is amazing, particularly because the professor is amazing. Professor Hymson is not only really nice, but incredibly knowledgeable on the subject. I completely recommend the class for everyone - not just for those who are planning a WGS major/minor. As for my MHC seminar, I have the much coveted Professor Chin who is just as amazing. I understand why everyone wanted her. Our final project for the class will be a virtual tour of an ethnic area in NYC, which should be interesting, so I will keep you all posted on that. Human Sexuality is tons of fun! I really recommend Professor Koken. I'm so glad she's young and fun and open, otherwise Human Sexuality would just be boring and awkward. Intro to Lit is alright too, moving a bit slow, but Professor Varga's accent is adorable. And lastly, Greek and Latin Roots of English is interesting, but not so much fun. At some point or another, you think: 'So what?' Why am I learning Greek and Latin roots?! But I want to be a teacher, English major so I suppose it can't hurt. But Professor Simmard is lots of fun. All in all, I recommend all of these teachers for these courses. I know they say ratemyprofessor.com shouldn't be trusted, but it worked out for all my professors this time, so I don't know....

Law-y stuff!

Really meant to post here earlier this week but I've been a bit of a lazy spell. I'm trying to adjust to a very front-heavy week, with school 11:10-6:50 on Tuesday and Legal Aid 9:00-5:00 Monday and Wednesday. Some part of my brain keeps telling me that I can really put off work till the weekend, so I ended up reading 236 pages in 2 days for my Beckett class, and not paying enough attention to things like Mock Trial, then had to cram in work for that right before it was due, etc etc etc.

Had more fun at Legal Aid yesterday, another relatively short day shadowing a staff investigator. Again, the details are all privileged and whatnot, but I can say that I got to go to One Police Plaza, where we were serving a subpoena for records and documents. It's actually a pretty nice building, incredibly high-security, of course, a very interesting mural in the lobby made out of different kinds of bricks.

My Law and Literature class is now reading Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (or, as some people call it, Rapesheake's The Chamrent of Venice). The focus is entirely on legal stuff, so we're not dwelling too much on the usual "ohmygodIknewitwasantisemiticbutwhatdidtheyjustsay?" aspect. From a legal perspective, it's all about contracts--Lockean stuff, private contracts, marriage, informal promises, friendship, etc. It also has, really, a total idiot plot. Antonio is an idiot for borrowing money from Shylock on the whole pound-of-flesh deal--surely there are other loan sharks in Venice, yes? Shylock is an idiot for not realizing that attempted murder trumps a business contract. Actually, everybody's an idiot on that count--I mean, um, duh? And then there's Portia's suitors, who fall for the most obvious riddle ever. The only people who come out looking decently intelligent at Portia and Nerissa (and, I suppose, Doctor Bellario, whom they consult, but who isn't an actual character).

In other news, I discovered that The Addams Family is now available on Hulu. Is amusing. Aside from that irritating laugh track. I prefer my sitcoms without the audio track telling me what I'm supposed to find funny, thank you very much.

Practice Makes Perfect

I got my first assignment grades back for The Critical Perspective today. The class is really amazing - the professor is Michael Levitas, who was an op-ed editor for the New York Times, and the class is a combination of peer editing and guest speaking. Today's guest speaker was Alessandra Stanley, who is the New York Times' TV critic. It's really incredible to get to speak to people who are professionals in their fields (when you see how relatable they are, it's a real confidence boost!)

So my first two assignments were B's, which isn't too shabby considering I've never written an opinion column before. Hunter has helped me grow so much as a writer so far; my literary criticism has become so much stronger after taking English classes like James Joyce (English 389.89) and Jane Austen (389.55), and the creative writing workshops I've taken have really honed my skills as a fiction writer. (I'm not perfect - I don't think I'll ever be, but I've learned so much about the craft so far.) Now, not only Hunter, but Macaulay (Critical Perspectives is an honors course) is providing me the opportunity of building my foundation as a column/editorial/journalistic writer. I'm really excited to see how my writing grows throughout the semester! =)

-Katharine

Applicants and applications

Yesterday I volunteered for Macaulay interviewing students who applied this fall. We had some really interesting kids come in, who had interesting things to say about themselves and their aspirations and seemed to be very engage in life. We also had a ton of pre-meds - not that those two classifications are mutually exclusive, but it's always amazing to me how many people come here wanting to go to med school (although many don't leave here with the same intentions).

The main thing that struck me about these applicants was how incredibly stressful the whole experience was for them. Each current student was paired with a Hunter alum, which was a good idea but came out a little strange I think. And my alum was asking really tough questions, like "if there were 10 people here and 1 spot, why should I give it to you?" That's the question I always hate on applications, and in person it's even worse. How are you supposed to answer that without sounding pompous? It's terribly awkward, and it's always seemed to me that a strong application has a "show rather than tell" quality - as you read it or talk to the person, you get an idea of why (or why not) they should get that spot. But being asked point blank is so stressful!

The other funny thing is how little anything matters once you get to the next step: once you're in college no one cares what you got on your SAT (I know people who barely studied for it at all and are doing amazingly well now), and once your in grad school undergrad seems to fade away similarly. The recent PhD's I've talked to agree that no one cares about their Master's at all any more. And yet we get so engrossed in each little detail at the time....

Snow Day on My Day Off...

So, yesterday was suppose to be my regular day off during the week, the day where I am free to take care of anything I need and can enjoy the quietness of Brookdale (name of Hunter's Dormitory). But guess what? CUNY calls a snow day, negating my day off and giving everyone the same thing. :(
I was stuck in my room with some homemade soup and CSI: Miami. I am not too pathetic. Am I?

Crossing My Fingers for a Snow Day

So today was a pretty typical day in the life of a Macaulay student: woke up, went to MHC 150: The Peopling of New York, ran to catch the crosstown bus to the Macaulay building for my Sexuality and American Culture class, after which I just headed down one flight of stairs to the Executive in Residence dinner and discussion with Sy Sternberg on leadership.

MHC 150 is still in the introductory phase; for the past couple of weeks we worked with finding good articles/books on a topic, i.e. how to research. I think this is actually really helpful for a lot of students, I personally came into college never really having done a serious research paper, but as I had to do one last term for my honors history class, I've already figured most of this stuff out. I'm looking forward to going more in depth about the neighborhood my class is focusing on - Greenwich Village.

As for Sexuality in American Culture, today we discussed the first reading, which came from the History of Sexuality by Michael Foucault. For those of you who don't know who that is (I didn't before this class) he's a French philosopher (although his work is used throughout the humanities, as his ideas and writing is somewhat interdisciplinary). The work was dense, and hard to read, and even harder to understand and I felt way in over my head - yet somehow the 2.5 hour class flew by - Professor Quinby is great at relating and explaining ideas, and I was reassured as most of the class seemed to have at least a little bit of trouble understanding the text. Our next class, we're visiting the Museum of Sexuality, which isn't too far from the dorms but I've never been. I'm excited!

Finally, I ended my evening on the high point - a great lecture/discussion by Sy Sternberg as always, and a delicious (again, as always) dinner provided by Macaulay.

Now if only they would cancel school for tomorrow...everything would be perfect!

Forms!

So I'm graduating in June, which means I've got lots of forms to fill out. I'm currently trying to take care of the Degree Audit Form, which is buried in a dark little corner of the Hunter website, and must be printed out hard-copy and filled in by hand. I got most of it done within my first couple days back at school, and double-checked with my advisor and all, but I've still got to have my major department (English) sign off on it, and I have to verify that I'm fulfilling the requirements for my major (French), because back in Spring 2009 Hunter changed its minor-requirements policy and everyone's still adjusting. I'm sure it won't be a hassle once the new requirements are more firmly established, but right now you have to run around double-checking that you're fulfilling the requirements for your minor and it's a bit of a pain.

In other news, I did two days of training last week for my internship with the Legal Aid Society's Manhattan Criminal Defense Practice. Yesterday, Monday, was my first day there. I'm an Investigator Intern, which means I'll be going around looking into facts of cases, verifying the stuff the police find, interviewing witnesses, etc etc etc. My first day, I just tagged along with an investigator who had to serve a couple subpoenas and take pictures of a few building entrances. I can't really say any more than that, partially because of client-attorney privilege, partially because I don't know much about the case. In any event, it involved sitting in a tiny little waiting room next to some random guy who started telling us not to do drugs, and segued from there into his own life story, presumably to illustrate his point. I'll be back tomorrow (weather permitting), and shadow another investigator, and eventually I'll start actually doing stuff myself.

On an utterly unrelated note, one of my classes seems to be suffering from Writing Workshop Attrition Syndrome, a condition whose symptoms include 1/4-1/3 of the class, on any given day, saying to its collective self, "You know what? My story's not getting workshopped today, so why should I bother showing up?" Most irritating.

One week in, the semester is really picking up speed now; spring has an odd way of being more... serious than fall. Between taking only 13.5 credits and not working in a lab any more, I've come by large quantities of found time which makes it infinitely easier to sit down and digest the material I'm learning, and that in turn is making this semester very stimulating and exciting. I'm also excited to have started working with a researcher at the NYU psychology department, assisting with preliminary research for a book on human intelligence, and I'm applying to take money from my Opportunities Fund for the first time. Being a science major leave limited time for studying abroad, so my fund has been untouched so far; I'm finally getting a chance to use some of it as I'll be working at Johns Hopkins this summer. I also somehow had the impression that using the Opportunities Fund was incredibly difficult and complicated, but so far it's been very straightforward - some forms, a statement of justification, a short quiz - I'm almost done already.

This semester's CHC is on the future of New York, and for reasons best know to himself my professor decided to take us all out on a walking tour of lower Manhattan on a freezing cold morning. Here's us huddling to stay warm (there was no straggling on this field trip as we were all packed together):

We were also required to make a few sketches while we out there; witness my brilliant artwork:

To his credit, our professor did acknowledge our cold and made sure to stop indoors periodically, where we thawed somewhat:

OK, time to finish up that Statement of Justification.

Justice!

Classes are good so far. I had a bit of a scheduling/communication issue with my writing class, so I ended up doing my first story in a rush over the weekend and may not have to hand it out for another week or two.

Today was my first day of training for my internship with the Legal Aid Society (Manhattan Criminal Practice). A bit depressing (most things examining the justice system are), but it's looking to be a great internship.

Also having fun in my Law & Literature class. We're starting with the Oresteia--well, The Eumenides, the last of the trilogy, which dramatizes the creation (by Athena, no less) of the first criminal court ever. Not a bad play. All sorts of fun issues to poke at. On the one hand, the Furies, who have a narrow jurisdiction and pursue all crimes within said jurisdiction with extreme prejudice, ignoring any extenuating circumstances (kinda like traffic cops, really); on the other hand, Apollo and Athena, who are all about law and logic and justice and hearing both sides of the story and considering all relevant factors. And so the gods win and Orestes gets a fair trial and is, on top of that, exonerated. Which is all "Yay! Justice prevails!" Except that, you know, the argument for his defense is basically "He killed his mother, but that was because she'd killed his father, and men are more important than women, so it's all cool." ...um, yeah. But hey. At least there was a trial. Still better than people getting Furied to death.

Not sure why I felt compelled to delve into that, except that I'll have to miss Friday's class for the second day of internship training, but I did the reading anyway because it was only 20-something pages, so then I felt compelled to comment on it somewhere, lest my brilliant glibness be lost to posterity.

Full Swing

I've had nearly all of my classes - I had had all of the ones I signed up for, but I dropped one. For future English/Education majors, be forewarned: DO NOT TAKE STRUCTURES OF MODERN ENGLISH WITH PROFESSOR KAREN GREENBERG. She's insane. The course is supposed to be a grammar course, but she spent the entire hour and a half arguing that "correct grammar" is a ploy created by white people in order to discriminate and oppress people who do not have a handle on it. Meanwhile, don't all languages have grammar rules? Isn't that part of what makes them cohesive languages? Whatever. I dropped it and replaced it with an honors course on Freud, which looks really interesting. At the very least, Freud's works are great foundational texts for creative writing, literary analysis, and women studies. Woo hoo!

On par for the week - reading Foucault and Freud, writing and reading articles, some CHC work, and German homework. Pretty exciting! (A little dense, but still, exciting.)

- Katharine

Art is fun.

First I just want to put up some good news before moving on to current events: I've been accepted to the Watson School at Cold Spring Harbor for a 10 week summer internship! I'll be working on genetics and development in tomato plants with one Dr. Zach Lippman, and I'll be involved in all sorts of fun activities with students from all over the world, including meeting Dr. Watson himself.

On a completely less academic note, yesterday was my good friend's 20th birthday (woohoo!). So I went to his place in floral park, where we hung out to celebrate his birthday. He had a pretty large piece of good, heavy paper that was a gift to him from his drawing teacher from last year, and a good set of different art supplies. We made an amazing playlist, and decided to just go and paint, draw and color everything we wanted on the page, with the catch that every time the song changed we also had to change what we were drawing. Folk-Punk songs are absolutely hilarious in this, because you're lucky if the last more than 2 minutes. We went strong until 4 am, when we were almost completely dry of both ideas and ability, but I really can't wait to see that thing finished.