Looking Forward not Behind

Striving harder and being better.
Not settling for a mediocrity that my environment has dictated to me.

The Grade Factor: the figures that DO matter

Ever since I caught-up call this semester and started to realise that grades are not the meaningless digits I used to think they were, I have taken a different perspective toward my academic life. Earlier on in my life, these figures were as important as the food I ate and would work in all my power to obtain the straight A's I wanted to achieve.

This year, I took a rebellious approach and decided to experiment with the idea of not thinking too highly of grades. Of course, the direct result was somewhat of a slack-off which led to undesirable test grades and a whole lot of terrible other things that had to do with the...grades and started to notice that although one should not stress themselves out too far, it is essential to take some care when it comes to school work. Neither extreme is good for a person's health but a middle ground, where one is able to have the discipline needed to complete all tasks as well as they possibly can while still taking the time out to relax and have time for enjoyable activities.

Denzel Washington has a word of advice that he gave to his children and that is "Do the things you have to do so that you can do the things you want to do." It's all about sacrificing what is enjoyable to you for the time being so that you can get the essentials done because it's obvious that pleasurable activities keep you occupied for hours on end leaving no time left over for what really needs to be done and that is the work that more often than not has a deadline of some sort.

Mr Washington kind of reminds me of my parents, mother especially who instilled a great deal of discipline and a great work ethic. By forcing us to keep the kitchen and our rooms and bathrooms spotless and neat, she was conditioning us into having a sense of responsibility for the state of our surroundings i.e. what goes on in our lives. That what we get out of life is a direct result of the work that we put into it and that we are victims to nothing but carve out our own existences based on the choices that we make. A "You made your bed, now lay in it" approach to the repercussions of things.

"Consequence is no co-incidence," one of my favourite quotes from Lauryn Hill.

Wisdom begins when you understand that you are a factor, a fundamental one to the events of your life. For a while, I may have forgotten this when I was slacking off and blaming fatigue. Hell, coffee was made for a reason right and there is no better motivation than imagining the good results of your perseverance tomorrow today.

As a true scientist, I ran an experiment, testing a hypothesis and the result was quite close to what I expected. A lax attitude yields mediocrity. It is only a winning, focused and serious attitude that yields excellence. If you're reading this, at whatever level you are in your academic life, know that although grades are not a reflection of your intelligence what they do display is commitment, loyalty, hard-work and determination. And these are all attributes that will make you a pleasure to work with.

Mah Dawgs at the Merridienne Cypha, elke Woensdag

Shout out to Jay-Tip, Green Pantha and that dude who sounds like that dude who isn't Q-Tip in a Tribe Called Quest.

@Home_UCT_Res

I commend the photographer for making this desert-place look so cool! Ah, photography...what an art!

Scored a Free Blackberry Today

Proabably the most exciting and fortunate thing that has happened to me in a very long time. I won a brand new blackberry 8250 through a rapping contest. Yes, it's time to start taking this thing seriously. Lol, maybe not. But hey it got me a new phone. Life is dope right now. Ooooh! Oui, oui!

Ugh, Gender-Binary at ThinkGeek.com

Firstly,why are the guys T-shirts at thinkgeek.com so much better than the women's. Why do they insist on applying false gender-sterotypes to the phrases that are written on the girls Tees. That is, women are more concerned with romance and all that gooey stuff than men. I hate this notion, it's so false. What is it with this constant assumption that women are more concerned with romance than anything else. I've received this message a number of times and it bugs the nonsense out of me because I am one of those objective people that just could not be bothered. Really, just couldn't care less and I am a woman. So, there. Gender stereotypes are a waste of time as we all should note.

Yes, they are dope but in startling contrast...we do not even have a reference to "guys Tees" they just are. That is to normalize the male as usual. This happens too with the slang usage of "guys" when referring to people in general. When I thought about it, I saw how deeply troubling it is and how the fact that is has been normalized reinforces the idea of the male representing all peoples. What comes along with that is a simple negation of the female presence as its come to be.

Needless to say that the dopest T-shirts are located in the Unisex section...oh well...

Here are a couple that I particularly like...

Okay that was more than a couple but hey it was enough dopeness to make me stop ranting about those silly "babydoll" T-shirts.

But of course it was racism...

Through CNet e-mail, I only found out about this incident this incident now. I do not refute the fact for a second that this young man would not have been arrested had he been a caucasian male. It sounds harsh becuase racism is essentially harsh you know. Harsh on those that have to live it everyday of their damn lives.

Input to Varsity Newspaper

This is an article I just sent to the Opinions Section for the Varsity Newspaper. Hope they publish it. The whole thing that is! Here goes:

In response to Gosia Podgorska's succint article about the subtle ways in which chauvinism comes into play within our daily interactions with one another, I would like to expand on a number of points she made. But firstly, and this is by far the most important piece of news you will ever receive with regards the feminist movement: it is not an ideology that seeks to point men out as egregious rapists, wife-beaters and murderers. Quite clearly, there are plenty of men, young and old that each one of us can point out as not coming even nearly close to fitting this profile. But the truth of the matter is, on a broad scale, our world's collective society has evolved in such a way as to place the male gender on a higher position on the heirarchy. We see this manifestation in the wage-gap phenomenon (which is not much of a phenomenon when one begins to closely inspect the dynamics between genders). The fact that historically, women have been economically-repressed for centuries, by not being given access in the workplace, held back from seeking tertiary education, not being allowed ownership of property and land, disallowed from partaking in the public vote, being given titles in accordance with maritial status (which still happens today mind you) and others are plenty of cause for such a movement as feminism to have struck its climax during the 1970's and though some argue we now live in a post-feminist society (the same claim they would make with respect to race), I disagree. Put simply, until we reach a state of absolute equality between women and men in every sphere of society, feminism will still have its place in attempting to galvanise the notion that yes "Women are people".
To describe this pattern of degrading, dominating, controlling and humiliating women, I use the word misogyny. It's important to note that this word does not relate to the ways in which men view women but often times the ways in which society as a whole treats people who belong to the female gender. Women too can be guilty of it; I can bravely say that because our society is built on sexist beliefs pertaining to the gender-binary and chiefly subscribes to a notion that there are specific and clear-cut roles that women and men must play, the very language we speak, is a language of male chauvinism (upholding the false notion that men are superior to women).
From the ways women's bodies are commodified for media consumption and sexualized for the purpose of male erotic stimulus, it is no surprise that general "guy-talk" or what I would personally call "douchebag-talk" comprises of the excitement found in dominating a women sexually and then calling her a "slut" which relates to a very intrinsic manner in which society as a whole likes to compartmentalize female behaviour - you are either a "good-girl" or a "ho" (the virgin/whore dichotomy). Sexism often shows up in the dismissal of female intelligence and creative agency. Often times women are treated as if we are dumb and are in need of male instruction. It goes further, our ideas are often discredited despite the richness they may carry. In worse cases a male may even steal the idea and take credit for it knowing full well that people will have a better time believing in his intelligence rather than that of a woman. In asserting a gender-binary with regard to stereotyping, we all do ourselves a great disservice. I know for sure, there are young women out there who you'll probably find one afternoon sitting in front of the TV with beer in hand and Arsenal jersey getting aggravated about Fabregas missing the goal. Gender stereotypes are a fallacy, they are socially-constructed. We have effeminate men and tough chicks and plenty other types of personalities that bear to relation to the individual involved's gender whatsoever! What Gosia described is misogyny (hatred of females) in three acts. This perpetual need to re-affirm patriarchal masculinity by observing women as sex-toys, virgins, whores, crazy, uncontrolled, docile etc and not as the individual PEOPLE that they are. It's an attitude that unfortunately does prevail and for this reason, feminism is absolutely necessary in combating misogyny and deconstructing patriarchal definitions of masculinity.

Why I'm Such a Bookworm

My college campus is running a 10 Days of Academic Activism and part of their campaign is this:

This campaign serves as a reminder to all students that our academics are the means through which we can take ourselves to new heights and reach the goals that we have set out to achieve in our lives.

 I love it when people emphasise the importance of the academic life. For me, it's not a matter of toughing it out for a couple of years so that I can get a decent job. It's about taking myself to new heights and using this organ I have sitting in my skull to the absolute fullest. Stretch my mind as far as I can possibly stretch it and do my part in making a positive contribution to the world at large. And not for vanity's sake. Oh no! (Although, I am tempted to sometimes...that's a sincere admission which took plenty of courage to make.)

Solitude Can Be Great Sometimes

But others may perceive you as slightly deranged or of the notion that others are less than relative to you. I don't like having to dismiss people when I have that urge to be alone. It comes across as a bit insulting but that is the intended motive. To diss someone. Sometimes, I just prefer my own company, some silence and the space to be unabashedly authentic.
I often find that in order to be truly myself around someone, I must trust them enough. This often takes time. This may be a result of my upbringing. I can't tell but if you and me aren't cool, there is no way you'll really get to see the real side of my personality.
Walking alone is also very convenient. You get where you need to in your own time and at your own pace without having to accomnodate the wishes of another. Writing alone is perhaps the only way I can write and that includes academic writing. When I want to grasp the concept of something, there must be enough silence for me to hear my thoughts otherwise, I become confused and fail to absorb anything.
Although I do balance alone-time with the presence of company, I do not find being alone unbearable, in fact, I've grown to like it not because I am timid and self-conscious. Simply because I have found myself most capable of stronger mental activity when I am by myself and surrounded by complete and utter silence.

UChicago Admissions Gets Steamy

One thing I did notice about this college some two and a bit years ago was the level of unconvention it strives to with regards to its admissions. There was nothing too austere or stern about it's approach the college application process and almost every instructional sentence on the web page sought to reduce any kind of pedantism. So I am not really all that surprised at the recent controversy stirring over an Early Decision 2010-11 applicant's essay which dove very superficially I might add into the world of erotic literature. By creating an analogy between human mating habits and the student's application process to the College, the student explained how UChi-Town will "satisfy" his "desire" for a specific kind of learning. You mean, they still got that essay topic running (yawn!). At least the boy spiced it up a little. Even if it did make for some cringe-worthy erotica. Who am I kidding. Any erotica is good erotica. Right?

"Dear University of Chicago, It fills me up with that gooey sap you feel late at night when I think about things that are really special to me about you,” the essay began. “Tell me, was I just one in a line of many? Was I just another supple ‘applicant’ to you, looking for a place to live, looking for someone to teach me the ways of the world?

Wrong. It's not even thaaaat raw you know what I mean. There is a hint at body fluids but nothing too explicit but since it is University we are dealing with here and the last thing parents need to think about is the sex that their "innocuos", "well-raised" young ones are going to be partaking in in any case, such talk is preposterous and absolutely worthy of complaint.

Courtesy of this article at Gawker which supplied me with a good dose of laughs this evening. Props. Kudos.

That said, the best are the parents who get their fangs out over it, far more so than the kids. One—"MumMum"—notes:

I agree with the person who said cloying and almost painful to read. Unless one really likes that mop commercial.

Jesus, parents are all over this College Confidential nonsense. That woman's logged 175 posts! Another user's name is VicariousParent. She claws:

I 'got' the essay (in the OP) but personally I thought it was 'meh'. It got a bit tiresome after the first few sentences.

Even the NY Times paid this incident some attention, imagine making the news and all you did was write an application essay. Lucky stiff I tell you (no pun...I promise).

Oh, the sauciness of it. Keep it cumming Dean Nondorf (no pun...ehehe). Would T.O'Neill (toenail?)  have had the audacity to post such an excerpt for public display and hold it up as the  modus operandis for the relaxed and open tone expected of application essays? There's no telling. But thanks for the entertainment people. Much appreciate it.

Time to Chill

Man, today is great. Time for a break. I've been waiting for this one for a while. The last five months have been a whir. Running from lecture to lecture. Sometimes bunking cause I just didn't feel like running. Then sitting in P115 and dozing my ass off through thermal physics I or worse. Ma'f***ing WAVES! Lord, I need to chill. Just wake up late everyday and not feel guilty about it. Cuz since the beginning of the semester I have felt guilty about every unwarranted nap I've taken during the day or any extra four hours I spent online writing blogs when I should have been studying or at least reading ahead for the next lecture (which I never do by the way). I think I'm really gonna grind the books now. Not the textbooks oh no! The novels and maybe some nonfiction here and there and movies...watch lots of them. I now realise how valuable time is. I was a fool last year. There was so much more I could have done with my time besides vegetating and other stuff I can't mention here. This month I'm gonna read as many books as I can and try not to gain weight and perhaps get around to more writing.

I'm feeling good right now! Really feeling great. Liberation, it's a wonderful feeling!