Note the lowest rating!

The state of California has no money.  This should come as no surprise to Americans, given the sad state of the economy these days, but we kind of haven’t had money for a long time.  My perspective is that of a student at a public university; I sometimes grow wistful when I hear tell of my friends at private schools and the economic benefits thereof.  But, that is neither here nor there, and I’ve had a great experience at Cal.  Besides, plenty of college students are broke, right?  I did talk to my parents last night about finances.  My mother does not believe this topic to be a matter of public consumption, and I think I agree–with the exception of college, and possibly post-college life.  College students who do have money to spread around tend to be spreading the largesse of their parents (yes, massive generalization), and post-college, there are even fewer people living off their family, leading to a higher incidence of financial straits.  I think.  We’ll see.

At any rate, there are a lot of renovations going on around campus, and I’m not sure where all the money originated to fund these projects.  The stadium, for instance, has already cost an exorbitant sum based on legal fees alone!  I will voice my opinion here briefly, as I keep referencing the controversy obliquely without expounding.  This is a news release from 2005 (my first semester as a Golden Bear) announcing the project plan–boy, did things go awry.  Various groups opposed development; some are just against development in general; others spoke out against the destruction of an oak grove at the project site.  Here’s my take.  The construction is necessary and not uni-purpose (i.e., focused only on the football team).  I’ve seen the field hockey team change at the side of the field, facing the street, because they don’t have their own locker room.  In addition, a famous stop on the tour of Memorial Stadium involves visiting the fault line.  The Hayward Fault Line is the most dangerous in America (I won’t cite any studies on this because I’m running late, but Mik recently told me so, and she is a credible source.  Gold star for anyone who can name the possible logical fallacy in my argument here.), and you can see an actual rift in our bleachers, right under one of the alumni sections.  It would be a tragic way to go.  Second, trees are important, but the trees in question were not…well…polar bears.  They were planted when the stadium was built, so they did not pre-date UC construction.  Furthermore, the proposal indicated that three trees would be planted for every tree cut down.  (Again, my credible source is a friend–an Architecture major.)  Lastly, protests are important; civil disobedience is important.  The caveat, of course, is that causes should be worthwhile.  If there were people willing to go so far as to sit in trees for 21 months, they surely had energy to um…solve world hunger, or cure cancer.  It is my opinion that their passion was wasted on trivia, and they in turn wasted resources the university could have used on ME!  The arguments I’ve presented here have been tossed around ad nauseum by others and are not novel in the least.  I’m simply typing them out here because I should finally explain the past references.

This brings me to my actual purpose.  Another iconic Berkeley monument is undergoing renovation, and this time, I do know where the money originated!  The class of 1950 helped raise funds to give Sather Gate a facelift.  That press release explains many of the reasons why Sather Gate is so special; I should also point out that it is one of the scenes that was actually filmed on our campus in The Graduate, which I have yet to see.  That’s another half-post in itself, though.  I took a couple pictures on the mobile and sent them to my email from my phone (!), which isn’t particularly advanced for anyone else, but is a huge step on my part in embracing technology, ok?

This one is the day before construction began:

And this is the first day of construction (aww…):

Not bad, huh?

I’m taking a graduate seminar this semester; most of the other students are in the Education Department (Cal doesn’t have an undergraduate major for Education).  As we discussed claims that the Internet is dumbing down the world, many remarked that, “Well, we aren’t affected as much–it’s those undergrads that are dumber.”  I could see how this would be true if people were only exposed to the Internet as a credible source, and never been taught to use a library’s resources, non-electronic citations, and the like.  But, I have been!  I may have been part of the last wave to have regular library trips, though–one of my students wasn’t very familiar with her public library’s resources…and now it sounds like I’m saying, “I’m not affected as much–it’s those high schoolers!”  False.  We shouldn’t throw away library and book traditions just because they’re old, but we shouldn’t hold onto these methods just because they’re old, either.  It will take more research for me to be convinced that Internet usage is affecting cognition patterns, but I also like learning from books, not just PDFs.  We can combine multiple learning techniques.  Really.  It’s not an either/or proposition!

My brother (entering college in TWO WEEKS!  AHH!) just played a song that he had heard while spending the summer in Taiwan.
Me: Hey, did you listen to that in Taiwan?
Jon: Yeah.  It’s pretty good.
Me: You know that it’s kind of an old song, right?
Jon: Ok.
Me: No, like Mom and Dad used to listen to it.
Jon: WHAT?!  Oh well, at least it’s a remix…

I’m old enough to remember the music my parents listened to ten years ago, but I’m not hip enough to know what kind of songs are on the scene these days.  It’s cool.  I’m kind of a dinosaur.

Incidentally, Jon and I are now friends on Facebook.  I don’t confirm friendship requests from people still in high school, because it makes me feel like a pedophile.  It’s not that I don’t want them seeing what is in my profile (it’s really not that interesting; I don’t trust the Internet enough to put very much information out there; the flip side of that coin is that I’m sure people creepy/savvy enough to find out information about me have better ways of doing so).  As soon as you confirm, details about their lives start showing up in your News Feed.  Pardon me for judging, but I really don’t need to hear the latest gossip involving two 10th-graders and someone’s older brother.  (Not that that happened in real life.  I hope.)

Once I took the initiative of finding my baby brother on le crackbook, I confirmed the outstanding friend requests from other recent high-school grads.  In honor of the occasion, I added the following status: Cindy is now your Facebook friend because you’re not in high school anymore.  MORE IMPORTANTLY, JONATHAN IS NOT IN HIGH SCHOOL ANYMORE!

Jon: Hey, someone wrote on your wall, asking who Jonathan is.
Me: You were looking at my wall?  You were Facebook stalking me???
Jon: *CAUGHT!* I don’t have to stalk you.  I live with you.

Not for much longer.  Aw.

My high school history teacher just met Anderson Cooper.  Also, I think it may have been on TV and I missed it, but never fear, someone on the Internet probably has a video clip.  I will consult with those who are more technologically-abled, and get back you shortly.

According to his blog (Schneid’s, not Ander-per’s), he told him to “Keep fighting the good fight.”  Um, since I told Schneid to keep fighting the good fight (and yes, I realize it’s on the brink of Shakespeare as far as hackneyed goes), do you think that means I indirectly communicated with Anderson Cooper (or Ander-per, I think, will be my new pet name for him)?  I’ll take it, cliché be damned.

HUGE PLUG: Go read my AP US History teacher, Dan Schneider, as he blogs live from the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.  The URL is http://delegatedan.blogspot.com

Incidentally, I just helped fiddle with it a little, which was very brave/unwise of Schneid, as the last time I had access to his technology, I posted a picture of Mark Wahlberg on his desktop.

Scene: Jon is perusing F-book

Me: So, should we be friends on Facebook?
Jon: Why are you so nosy?  I guess…
Me: Ok
Jon: I’m not adding you, though.
Me: I’m not adding you!
Jon: I guess we can’t be friends, then.

On the computers in our school microcomputing facilities, the new-fangled Microsoft Word threw me off a little, particularly in saving documents.  I assumed I needed “Compatibility Mode” until it specified “Word 97-2003,” at which point I questioned why this would be different from “Word 2007.”

Er.  1997 vs 2007.  THAT would be why.  Sadly, I didn’t figure this out until just now.  I’m on Lee Mama’s computer, which is a slightly newer version of mine–new enough, clearly, for the new-fangled Microsoft Word.  I somehow thought 97 indicated the newest version until now.  Yeah, I get it.  The “7″ is in there.  But, really?  REALLY?

I hate technology.