End of Spring 2010 Semester Reflection Blog

Wow.

What a year this has been for me. During the Fall 2009 semester, I studied abroad in Madrid, Spain, and took classes for my Spanish major as well as doing an internship with a non-profit organization called Club of Madrid, whose membership comprises the world's largest forum of democratically-elected ex-presidents and prime ministers from around the world. I have talked about this in a previous blog post, so I will not devote much space to it here. Needless to say, my experiences with studying abroad have returned me to the United States a well-heeled traveler who has attempted to incorporate the lessons I learned from living abroad into my everyday life so as to become a "citizen of the world."

After I returned from Spain in December, the realization that I was fixing to have to return to the mass amounts of homework I had not experienced since the previous spring semester had not yet hit me. But, oh boy, did that realization slap me in the face during my first week back. I found myself unable to write a paper as quickly as I had previously done, which I chalk up to the fact that I had only written two essays during my time in Spain. Two sounds like a vacation in Tahiti compared to the mountain of essays that has eclipsed my life this semester.

Our Paideia cohort's topic is, "Understanding Human Behavior." I feel that having a firm grasp of the systems on which other cultures operate is part of the process of beginning to understand human behavior. That is why I found my study abroad experience so valuable. Being able to live in and experience a completely different cultural, political and historical environment is why I feel that study abroad should be an integral part of everyone's college education, not just those students in the Paideia program, or just Southwestern students, for that matter. I have gained experience in learning to live with people different from myself, not just with different value systems and languages, but with different problems, concerns and goals from my own. In Spain, my host mom and I had many disagreements (which might just be the understatement of the year). She didn't like cooking and often fed us frozen meals or the leftovers from the restaurant at which she worked. She had an irrational obsession with the cost of electricity and the fact that the only way I could sleep was with the white noise from a electric fan. She was unwilling to compromise on the schedule she kept, even though she was supposed to per the contracts we signed with program. But, through all these disagreements and problems, I have emerged a person who is more confident and able to deal with situations that aren't exactly favorable. I have learned that in life, we most often do not get what we want and sometimes we just have to make the best with what we are given.

Paideia, for me, is a little like my experience with my Spanish host mom. We are put into this group with people we may not know or like and asked to cooperate and design a civic engagement project. In the process, we not only have to compromise and find ways to make things work, but we also have to make every attempt to get along, as those with whom we work will be with us for the remainder of our undergraduate educations. In the moment, a lot of these compromises and disagreements only serve to anger or annoy us, but for me, after I have time to step away from the situation and reevaluate that which occurred, I usually get a different view than that which I originally had. As the program has progressed, I have gotten to know several of the members of my cohort well and I have also shared intimate details of my life with them in the process. This give and take, back and forth exchange of ideas and feelings is what a liberal arts education is all about and why Paideia works for me. I needed the study abroad experience in my life at this time to open me up to new ideas and ways of living; to teach me to eat the plate of shit that life sometimes gives me and be thankful that I at least have something to eat. Paideia allows me to take the experiences I had while studying abroad and continue the discussion by not only providing a place to vent about the frustrations I had, but also providing a forum in which others can provide advice and commentary which help to bring into focus my perception of the situation.

This year has been a turnaround in terms of what I feel Paideia, as a program, is and aims to be. I love that it is open-ended and up to each group to decide what they want to get from their class. Not that I didn't like the original members of the Paideia group, but I thoroughly enjoy the small size of the group now. It allows for me to form a much more personal connection not only with my fellow cohort members, but also with Dr. Giuliano and her family, the members of which are included in many of our activities. The format of this semester's meetings has been very conducive to conversation. In addition, it required much less preparation and outside work than in previous semesters, which was one of my principal concerns with the program. As it stands, I am as happy in Paideia as I have been since I started the class.

This semester has been rather crazy for me. I have held two different jobs, the second of which I currently hold, and am on the edge of completing some of the last requirements for my majors, outside of my Capstones. I am constantly learning new lessons about myself and about life, in general. These are in addition to the obvious lessons pertinent to aims of my classes. This is one of the reasons for my renewed love affair with Southwestern. When a university makes as its mission the inclusion of life lessons into its classes, that is impressive. I have only recently realized the significance of the combination of these two lessons in solidifying my knowledge of theoretical texts in my classes.

Though it is still a year in the future, I can literally taste the finish line for this portion of my life. I love college, and my rediscovery of Georgetown has only furthered that effect, but I am looking forward to seeing where my journey takes me next. The view from this side of the future is rather foggy and undetermined; yet this is one of the reasons I am so excited to move into the next step in my life. I am a much different person than I was when I arrived at Southwestern. Hell, I'm a much different person than I was at this time a year ago! Not that I didn't like who I was then, I did. But now, me is the me specifically designed for this period in my life. I guess that one could say this about any time in their life and thus make it their preference at all times, but maybe that is part of growing up. Recognizing the changes one has gone through to get to the present day, being happy with one's current self and always keeping one eye on the horizon, ever searching for the next piece in this puzzle we call Life.

Yours,

Brady

On-Campus Event Blog

Hey again!

I have been to more on-campus events this semester than in any previous semester in my time here at Southwestern. Not sure why this is, but I am going to chalk it up to me growing up and rediscovering the reasons why I came to Southwestern in the first place. Anyway, the event I decided to write about is the most recent of the events that I have been to, the theatre department's production of Escape from Happiness.

In the play, we find ourselves thrown into the life of a family in turmoil, due to the accusations made against them due to the presence of hidden drugs in a bag in their basement. We witness the transformation of the father, an ex-cop who has supposedly been reduced to a shadow of his former self by Alzheimer's disease, from a blithering, stumbling old man into a criminal mastermind who has been pretending for the purposes of reconciling with his family members. He has recruited the help of his daughter's husband to rid the neighborhood of crime so that his family members might finally come to terms with the things he put them through during previous years, when his alcoholism caused a familial rift. All of this is staged within the kitchen of the family.

Not only does the play take us on the journey of discovering the truth behind the drugs' presence in the basement, it does so in a way that explores the depth of relations between the members of a damaged, seriously dysfunctional family. To stay funny amidst the seriousness of the subject matter, the play relies on the ability of the actors to subtlety insert the proper amount of sarcasm and cynicism into their lines.

At a liberal arts school like Southwestern, I feel that attending theatre productions is a good way to get some insight into not only the world of the performing arts, but also into the emotions that are conveyed in said productions and the messages communicated through them. I feel that this play not only depicted a dysfunctional family in a rather strange situation, but it also depicted a group of people who struggle with problems that sometimes have no solution. The message communicated through the story of this family, or at least the one I took away, is that just as blood has the power to bond us together, so can it tear us apart. What I mean by this in the context of the play is that we are bonded by blood to our family members, but when that bond of blood is betrayed or desecrated in some way, it hurts more than if a complete stranger had done the same thing. Coming from a strong family background, I cannot imagine what it would be like to not have my family members in my life, or what it would be like to have to deal with a rift in my familial unit, a rift like the one in the play.

Good works of art, in my opinion, evoke some sort of personal emotion in the viewer. One that sometimes cannot be explained or understood. In the case of Escape from Happiness, my connection is that of the complete opposite family situation in which I was raised. I have spoken about my family numerous times in Paideia sessions as they form an integral part of who I am. When times are tough, I turn to my family to help me get through. I define myself in terms of my relationships with others, my family being the single biggest influence upon the person I am today. I can't imagine what it would be like to not have family connections and bonds that I can always depend on. Sure, my family has its problems, like any normal family, but the presence of problems just signals that at least the family is communicating with each other, as opposed to bottling up all their emotions inside in order to keep the peace.

Family relations is very relevant when one considers the topic of human behavior. Families represent the most basic of social structures, one that has evolved over the millennia in order to better the survival chances of humans and to fulfill our need for social interaction. The complex nature of the modern familial structure is much more developed than those of early humans. This is good in some ways and bad in others. In the case of the family from the play, a rift has formed that probably wouldn't have had the characters not been family members, an example of a bad effect of the modern family structure. But, in this same family, one sees the ruthless lawyer daughter who fights to protect her family and will go to any lengths to accomplish her goals. This illustrates the strength of familial bonds.

I was not expecting to come to Southwestern and be a regular attendee of theatre department plays and musicals, yet that is exactly what I have become. The production values are much higher than what I would expect here at Southwestern and the actors are all immensely talented. If they continue to put on moving performances that allow the audience to think instead of just blindly consuming that which is occurring onstage, you can expect to see me in line for my tickets as soon as they are available.

Brady

Off-Campus Event Blog

Heyo!

For my off-campus event, I decided to write about my first trip as a 21 year old to the wildness that is sixth street. As it was my first time, my friend and I decided we would barhop to lots of different places so that I could get a feel for which ones I liked enough to return.

During spring break, I felt all alone on campus until my friend called me up to see what I was doing. We talked for a little while, at which point she told me that she was going downtown for the night and asked if I wanted to accompany her. I said hell yes and made my merry way to meet her.

We started things off at a place called Maggie Mae's. This place is really cool and huge and they have cheap drinks, to boot. It was a little chilly out that night, but it was still nice on the upstairs patio, which is perfect for people watching, by the way.

After Maggie Mae's, we headed to another bar called The Chuggin' Monkey. Here, let me point out the preponderance of strangely named bars involving the use of animals in the bar name. Case in point, the aforementioned Chuggin' Monkey, as well as another called The Dizzy Rooster. Not sure, but there are probably more along the lines of Hair of the Dog and the Cat's Meow. Anyway, the Chuggin' Monkey didn't turn out to be my cup of tea. It was a much smaller bar than Maggie Mae's and its drinks were a bit on the expensive side, as well. These weren't the deciding factors, though. The type of people that this bar attracted is one of the reasons I will never go back, unless they are hosting a band that I really want to see, like REALLY want to see. Another reason is the quality of bartenders that the CM employs. I don't want overly interested and too nice bartenders, but a little more attention and and attitude adjustment couldn't hurt.

As our Paideia group is all about understanding human behavior, I feel the social environment of a bar is great place to explore and attempt to understand this. Not only is the 'mating ritual' of modern-day society in full blow in a bar, but one can also see the social cliques clustered in groups around the bar. The alpha males always stand together and tend to orient themselves in the bar wherever the most attractive females choose to go. The attractive females tend to orient themselves around whoever looks like they will buy them a drink. On top of these social groups, there are also several other outliers of males and females all jockeying for the attention of the opposite sex. It is interesting how the bar has developed into a place for not only interaction between the sexes, but also a place where one can find a potential mate (if only for the night). It is also interesting how there seems to be unspoken rules of interaction between the opposite sexes, by which I mean that if an 'unattractive' male approaches an 'attractive' female, he will at best get the cold shoulder, at worst he will be made a laughing stock in front of her group of friends. Why do we continue to engage in behavior that not only damages the health of our livers, but also perpetuates gender stereotypes and acts as a source of humiliation to those individuals who so happen to not be born 'beautiful' by society's standards?

Engaging in my first night of typical college student debauchery on Austin's sixth street provided me with my first hands-on experience with a scene that is depicted time and time again on television and in movies. The people watching experience was eye-opening as simultaneously confirmed and resisted the popular culture depictions of what a bar is like. There is not nearly as much social interaction as I would have imagined (at least not at the bars I went to). This, however, is not a phenomenon I feel is only occurring in the bar culture. I see us all becoming less and less social in person, yet more social through digital means like Facebook. We have talked about this phenomenon numerous times in Paideia, yet I feel it merits mention again in connection with my experience on sixth street. The cell phone usage in bars is so rampant that it was not uncommon for there to be periods of time when everyone around me was looking at a screen and not the people around them. I find this progression of technology a little creepy and was one of the deciding factors that I used when gathering the strength to delete my Facebook account.

I feel that we are losing the ability to converse face to face, especially those who are several years younger than myself and have not known a time when cell phones and wifi were not in widespread use. This slow move towards more digital means of communication and interaction is something that will, in my opinion, hurt the future of our country. We need to move swiftly to rein in the influence that technology has over young children in order that they will not become dependent on it in order to perform the most basic of tasks (as many adults, including myself, do today).

'Til we meet again,

Brady

So, this year's Brown Symposium sucked...

I attended two sessions of this year's Brown Symposium, both on Thursday. The first talk I attended was entitled, "Are we Rome...Really?" which attempted to draw parallels between the United States and Rome. Me and history aren't exactly the best of friends, thus I didn't get a whole lot out of the talk, but after talking about it with one of my friends who was also in attendance, I gained an understanding of the basic parallels that were drawn in the session. One of the more notable parts of the session is the parallel that was drawn between the religious tolerance of both Ancient Rome and the United States. The speaker used this parallel to illustrate how both societies have used the presence of religious tolerance to accumulate great power, or that it is in fact the very variable that allowed them to do so. My friend isn't religious and living in Texas, she feels that religious tolerance and "separation of church and state" play a smaller role in local and state issues and she pointed this out as what she thinks will be the eventual downfall of the United States. I am a bit more optimistic as I can see good things happening right now in society, even if politics are not following along at an equal pace. So many of my peers (even those who identify as politically conservative) are socially progressive and accepting that I feel the tide of intolerance is changing in the United States and hopefully, the rest of the world.

The other session that I attended was entitled, "Consummate Empires: Ancient Rome and Imperial America, c. 1900." If possible, it was even more boring than the first session. It was about the migration of architectural styles reminiscent of Ancient Rome to the United States at the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century. The presenter focused much of her presentation on the World's Fair that was held in Chicago in 1893. She spoke about the "White City" that the city constructed and which composed more than 200 buildings. The Beaux Arts movement as well as the European Classical style heavily influenced this “city’s” architectural style. She also spoke about how Chicago's desire to be perceived as a grand and well-planned city mirrored that of the rest of the United States. She spoke about how the construction of such a grand "city" for the world to see compared with the city of Rome's role as the crown jewel of the Roman Empire.

For me, this year's Brown Symposium was a huge snoozefest, especially in comparison to last year's controversial and relative topic. Maybe when I am old and have nothing better to do I will enjoy sitting through a Powerpoint presentation about the similarities between Rome and America, but by that time, we will probably also be comparing the similarities between the downfall of the American Empire and that of the Roman Empire.

I hope this blog did not strike too critical or disinterested of a note, because I very much value the intended goals of the Brown Symposium. I only wanted to express my disappointment in the finished product that was presented last week.

Yours,

Brady

I can has easy semester??

When my grades from Spain finally arrive, I will have the hours necessary to be classified as a senior. Wow. It seems only yesterday we were having our first Paideia meeting; and the day before was when I moved into my dorm room in Mabee, my first time living away from my parents.

This rollercoaster of an experience they call college has been above and beyond any of my expectations. The best part about it, however, is that I still have three semesters to go!

So, down to business, this semester. For this semester, I want to: 1) maintain a 4.0 GPA; 2) get an off-campus job (currently on the lookout, if anyone knows of anywhere that is hiring); 3) move towards a clearer view of what it is I want to do for the rest of my life; and 4) enjoy myself! How Paideia fits into these goals, I am not really sure, but I do know that I have a newfound interest in doing some volunteer work in the Georgetown community. I am also not really sure how we go forward with the Paideia program from here, thus I am coming into this situation with an open mind and hoping that we get a chance to shape what we want our group and personal experiences to be. The last time I did anything with Paideia was Spring 2009, as I studied abroad during Fall 2009, thus my knowledge of the program and its newest developments is very little.

Though I may not know a lot about what we are going to do this semester, I do happen to know quite a bit about studying abroad. I culminated my undergraduate study abroad experience this past fall when I studied in Madrid, Spain. This past summer, I also studied in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the summer before that, I was in Guanajuato, Mexico, for six weeks. As you might have noticed, these are all Spanish-speaking locations and as you might have guessed, I am a Spanish major (in addition to being a Communication Studies major). I must say, these were all very rewarding experiences, but Spain was downright life changing.

Not only did I learn more Spanish in one semester than I did in the 5 years of classes prior, but I also had an internship where I was able to work on improving the condition of human rights throughout the world and strengthening the condition of democratic governments in newly democratic countries. I am sad that I am no longer in Spain, but happy to be back in the United States (right now, that is, until the SU homework load takes its toll on me).

I am taking a lighter course load this semester, which includes two Spanish classes and one of my core classes in Communication Studies. I am starting to think about the two Capstones I will be required to do and even though they are months away, I can still see the heavy, dark clouds forming over my social life. No pain, no gain, right?

Oh ya…I almost forgot that I am planning on becoming healthier this year with the help of the workout program P90X. I will keep you all updated on this as the semester goes on.

Until lunchtime,

Brady

On-Campus Event: Late Blog Penalty

Hello,

As I write this, it is the Friday before Finals Week and I couldn't be happier that this semester is finally coming to an end. This semester has been a pretty difficult one for me, as is evidenced by the fact that I am waiting until now to complete my last two blogs. 

So, for my on-campus event I chose to attend my friend Colin's biology honors thesis presentation. Colin and I studied abroad in Mexico together during last summer. I knew that he was very busy this year because most of the time when we ran into each other, he was either coming from or going to the laboratory. For a double humanities major, it is sometimes hard to realize there is this whole other area on campus where they do experiments and write lab reports...ick. 

Colin's honors thesis was over the reproduction habits of pomacea insularum, or the apple snail. From what I could gather during the presentation, he was studying their reproductive habits in order to evaluate their potential as an invasive species. Not only was his presentation informational and enjoyable, but he also took his project a bit farther by using the shape of the snails' shells (logarithmic spiral) as a metaphor for their reproductivity, which delighted me because metaphors are something that humanities majors DO understand. He used the shape to show how rapidly the snails could expand in number, even though many of the snails never make it to adulthood. Then he showed the potential implications this has for the snails to be an extremely invasive species.

His experiments were mainly focused on what type of surface the snails prefer to lay their eggs. He tested many surfaces, including the two different kinds of natural plant surfaces where their eggs have been seen, wooden rods of varying shape (i.e. cylindrical, rectangular) and some metal rods, also of various shape. All of his surfaces were of different length in order to examine the issue from all different angles. If I remember correctly, the snails didn't lay any of their eggs on the metal surface and their was a wide distribution on the plant and wooden surfaces. Also, I don't think there was a height preference displayed by the placement of the egg shoots. He told us a story about one of his excursions to collect a plant species on which the snails could lay their eggs. On this particular occasion, he had to travel to Houston to collect the plant and upon seeing a pond with the species growing around it, they stopped and asked a homeowner if they could go through her backyard to access the pond. Once they were collecting their specimens, Colin saw the plants near him rustle as if something was moving through them. Once he let his eyes scan to the area, he saw an alligator moving towards him in the water. He was standing in muck wearing golashes and while trying to get out of the muck and to safety, he had to leave one of his boots behind in the muck. From then on, one person was collecting specimens and the other was on alligator watch.

It's been a fun (and busy) semester. Ready for summer!

Catch ya on the flipside,

Brady

March 10th Reading Blog

Hello everybody (aka Dr. G),

I wasn't able to attend the first half of the March 10 meeting as I was attending a mandatory study abroad session. I am completing this blog over the assigned readings for the day in order to offset my absence. I hope that this blog post finds you well. I know that writing it suited me as I was laying on my bed in my house, taking a couple days of rest before finals week.

I'm not a big fan of reading the transcripts of dialogues, which is one reason why I like the style of the piece, "Is the Welfare of Disadvantaged Children Improving?" Rather than presenting the issue with the two people engaged in a dialogue, it merely presents the writings of each side. My stylistic preferences aside, I thought the sides were distinct and each side was represented by a more-than-capable person. I would have to say that I don't think the welfare of disadvantaged children is improving, but not for the same reasons as Bennett. I don't think it is the decline of the traditional family or some type of moral confusion that is hampering improvement in the disadvantaged children's welfare. I think that the problem lies with failed policies that haven't addressed the issues that need to be addressed, not in some arbitrary measurement of moral stability.

I read an article a while back that talked about how rich people are more likely to be healthy and fit than those who are not rich. This surprises me none in the least, especially when looking at the prices of the healthier fresh foods. There are many other reasons that Gary W. Evans', "The Environment of Childhood Poverty," identifies some of these as: increased chance of exposure to violence and an increased presence of television programs instead of books or computers. This all seems to stem from their status as disadvantaged children. Most parents of these children do not have time to engage in learning with their child, as many of them are merely concerned with putting food on the table.

I'm not sure how well the class conversation went for these first two articles, but the third article ("Is Spanking Detrimental to Kids?") had its discussion pushed back to the next meeting, at which I was present. Our entire cohort engaged in the conversation, each one of us defending our ideas. I liked this activity because it got a lot of the class talking and it helped give our group a more group-ey feel, rather than being a basic three-man show.

I was spanked as a child and every school I have ever attended has practiced corporal punishment, so I can see both sides of this argument. One the one hand, spanking does seem to have a negative effect of the psyche of a child. One the other hand, it seems to stop the behavior immediately. I really feel that a child's development depends more on their own discoveries and through talking with a parent than it does on pain enforcement. 

Sincerely,

Brady