Tuesday, September 23

Finals

Block 1: Intro to International Relations

I gave a presentation with 5 other students on the situation in Bolivia. I took the last topic, Foreign relations: Diplomatic responses. Here's the outline.

Bolivia: involvement/impact on international community

1. Historical context: oppression of indigenous people
2. Composition of government: President Evo Morales and party politics
3. Economy: “liberalization”
exploitation of natural resources
- Bolivian Gas War
- Cochabamba water war
4. Illegal international trade: smuggling and drugs
5. UNACUR: South American relations
6. Foreign relations: Diplomatic responses to these issues
- course of foreign aid or intervention

It went well, and the follow-up is to write a paper on the country, with a focus on my topic.

Monday, September 22

Schedule Reconfiguration

I made an appointment with the course advisor, and got this year sorted out, so this is how it's going down. This post has been annotated post-modernist style. [a]

Old Sched
Block 2 - Basic Filmmaking [b]
Block 3 - Chemistry 107 [c]
Block 4 - French 305
Block 5 - Arabic I [d]
Block 6 - Arabic I
Block 7 - Intro to Comparative Politics
Block 8 - International Politics of Middle East and North Africa [e]

New Sched
Block 2 - Politics of the Legal Process [f]
Block 3 - French Civilization [g]
Block 4 - French Civilization
Block 5 - Arabic I [h]
Block 6 - Arabic I
Block 7 - American Politics and Government [i]
Block 8 - Dance and Digital Technology [j]

FOOTNOTES
[a] Speaking of annotations and postmodernism, I can't believe David Foster Wallace committed suicide. Mom told me he died, but I didn't imagine the worst. I loved his review of Terminator 2. Poop.
[b] Waitlisted #4 and probably never going to make it in. There were few Block 2 class choices that appealed to me. Really.
[c] "Kathryn, I feel like you're trying to prove something here."
[d] Not changing this. Nope.
[e] I want to take Int. Politics of Mid. East and N. Africa later on, and not during a Block 8.

[f] with Carter, my ex-advisor.[k] I'm gonna feel the burn in this class. He's a toughie. But I feel that it will be very beneficial to my overall education.
[g] This was the only "West in Time" requirement I could fit in. While the requirements at C.C. generally don't ask too much of us kids, I think of the "West in Time" requirement concept (and the very small choice of classes that fit it) as rather silly. The good news is: there's only 7 kids signed up for it. That's not including freshmen, though.
[h] Still keeping it.
[i] a Poli Sci major requirement. Yawn.
[j] Sweet! And there's no final live performance, because the projects are filmed and made into a movie which is then presented, so I won't miss track things.[l] And Patrizia will be so happy. [m] She asked me specifically to enroll. I'm continually surprised at how phenomenal the dance dept. at C.C. is.

[k] Something tells me that I should learn to play golf, so that I can get on his good side. Not that we would actually play golf, but we could talk about it.
[l] Also, there's no papers and I'll be able to get some sleep during track season and not get sick [n] and attend all those pole vault practices besides.
[m] Patrizia taught my beginning choreographer class, and she's brilliant.

[n] I haven't been sick all Block. I have been so healthy[o] that I deserve a medal. Not even a sniffle.

[o] immune system-wise. Taunt me not about running.

Thursday, September 18

Adagio for Haircut No. 1: Variation


Yeah, it's hard to hear. I said, "the hair was getting kinda long, so I took some scissors and trimmed it. Looks okay."

Tuesday, September 16

Question for Lawyer Dad and Writer Mom

Today I got a letter in the mail from the International Library of Poetry saying I was a finalist in their Open Amateur poetry contest. I sent in one for laughs.
Now, I know the whole thing is a terrible scam. So what does one do with the offending documents?

Vegetarianism

I am officially a healthy vegetarian. My hemoglobin and hematocrit levels are excellent, so I'm going to keep it up. Must be the pound of tofu spinach salad I eat every night.

Saturday, September 13

Petruskas

The Petruskas are here. I walked right past Caitlin heating her back in the training room without recognizing her. But then I saw her family and they gave me cookies and I watched her team for a bit. (I didn't stick around to watch Whitman get demolished by CC.)
Between games I took Greg and Michele and the brother (I forgot his name already) to see my room in Slocum. If you guys - my real family - come to visit me this year, people are going to be really confused because Michele is blonde and they know I have a brother in high school. They'll be like, "Didn't your family already visit?"
We're going to dinner later tonight.

Sunday, September 7

IT Band Woe


Yes, IT band woe. It's not a season-ruiner, but it means lots more time spent in the training room and doing extra physical therapy.

MONDAY UPDATE: My shoes got in and they're pretty fabulous.

I've been doing lots of swimming and getting super strong, arr! Dad, guess what - after I did a really hard interval workout in the pool, I did a 34 sec 50 meters.

Saturday, September 6

The Freshpeople Race

The big kids did something special for their first race.

Ted was rather impressed with how well they did so early in the season.
Also, meets are quite fun, when you're just spectating.

News: CC [just the freshmen] take fourth at Rust Buster Invitational
9/8/2008
"The women’s cross country team finished fourth out of five teams at the CU-Colorado Springs Rust Buster Invitational on Saturday at Monument Valley Park despite competing with a lineup consisting of all first-year runners."

Tuesday, September 2

Headline News

The Room
We're in Slocum on the third floor again but not in the same hall. My RA's name is Jennie Vader

and she's nice. Sammi and I are getting along very well, as usual. We purposely arranged furniture in our room to leave a ton of space,

because we want to put in a table and a couch. This weekend we'll be perusing craiglist and/or garage sales for sub-$30 furniture.

This one looks good.

It seats 8. And it folds!

Send Me Things
Sammi's in Lit Theory this block, and reading Heart of Darkness, so please send my stack of DVDs, especially Apocalypse Now. I have a box of things I'm sending back (including some useless NCL care package things from last year, so don't falsely harangue me for buying a leopard-print wallet.)

Block One
Intro to Some International Relations
I made some contributions to the discussion today, which blows, because now the professor's going to expect me to have insights on future discussions. Sometimes I just don't have something to say on a particularly obvious topic, ya know?
I translated French for my class today (even though our class has a French major, who couldn't do it. heh)
Montesquieu: Une maladie nouvelle s'est répandue en Europe ; elle a saisi nos princes et leur fait entretenir un nombre désordonné de troupes. Elle a ses redoublements, et elle devient nécessairement contagieuse ; car sitôt qu'un Etat augmente ce qu'il appelle ses troupes, les autres, soudain, augmentent les leurs ; de façon qu'on ne gagne rien par là que la ruine commune. Chaque monarque tient sur pied toutes les armées qu'il pourrait avoir si ses peuples étaient en danger d'être exterminés, et l'on nomme paix cet état d'efforts de tous contre tous. Aussi l'Europe est-elle ruinée.
Visitors
When are the Petruskas coming over for volleyball?


2008 women's cross country preview
Future looks bright for young Tigers (ha ha)
My running is going really well. I adjusted to the altitude with no problem; start with daily doubles in the pool tomorrow morning. Just keep swimming . . .