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Not bad, if I do say so myself. (And I do.)

If not for the lack of posts, I should probably feel obligated to note that effective sometime this morning until about the 16th of July, I will be off on tour, exploring a musical endeavor and honing my musical abilities. It promises to generate many memories, few (if any) of which will probably be recounted here, primarily for reasons of privacy and of laziness; I do not expect to have Internet access while away.

And even if not for the above two points, I should feel obliged to point out my graduation of about a week ago. And the fact that I gave a speech, an earlier revision of which was inexplicably distributed and printed in two local papers¹. And maybe even the fact that one of those papers (the “better” one), for some reason, threw in a quote that never appeared anywhere in my speech, was never used in any interview (none took place), and was not even necessarily substantiated by the contents of the speech itself².

For the interested, I do supply a complete (and accurate) version of my speech below, and although doing so runs the risk of having my every alteration questioned and analyzed excessively, it’s a chance I’ll take. However, as the clock would suggest, I do not have the time nor the energy to document the differences between the different versions of my speech myself, or more thoroughly lambaste those responsible for these journalistic oversights. I do, after all, have packing to do. (more…)

1. To be truthful, it is not so inexplicable–the principal forwarded the draft copy I sent him to these papers, and although one of the papers received the final version before press time, it did not, for some reason, appear in its correct form there either. So inexplicable, no–unpleasant, however, yes.
2. This phenomenon, it seems, was not limited to my case–it appeared that the author of the article demonstrated an aptitude for created quotes that read more like first-person paraphrases than, say, actual quotes.

Last year’s race was fairly interesting: the board’s minority faction seemed to be at or around its peak in notoriety, and with Walsh being regularly lambasted by the local press it seemed, at least for a little while, as if the tide was about to turn. That didn’t happen, and it seemed when it didn’t happen that the minority had fallen for good. Then this year came around.

Board candidates Treyz and Owen, notable for their membership in the critically-acclaimed “Sunshine Group,” have been attracting much of the attention of last year’s minority freedom-fighter Meyer. Normally I, being the bright and happy person I am, am a great fan of sunshine and enlightenment. Normally I, being the rebellious and contrary teenager I am, am a great fan of resistance and revolution. Normally I, being the schadenfreude-enjoying person I am, am a great fan of the public mockery and figurative effigy-burning of public officials much deserving of such berating. Yet, there’s something about the Sunshine Group that just doesn’t sit quite well with me.

Maybe it’s got something to do with this. And it’s not necessarily the video itself per se; there are certainly enough foot-in-mouth moments deserving of public scrutiny that have gone unseen by the public at large, largely for reasons of indifference and disinterest. I certainly don’t oppose, unlike others¹², the fact that an enterprising citizen spent her own time putting together such a video for public consumption—these are, after all, public meetings, and anyone so inclined to respond in kind is, of course, more than welcome to do so³.

Yet, it is the tone of things that does seem to concern me. Funny as it is, there’s an unmistakably high school (or younger)-ish vibe that I get from the video, at least given the knowledge that it’s being used as a campaign tool. Perhaps not explicitly so—I’m not sure how much the Sunshiners are actually playing this up—but certainly implicitly so—one of their candidates posted it. And the cornerstone of their entire campaign has been to assert that there have been flaws in the BOE in recent years, and that these problems need to be addressed.

Except, that doesn’t really sound like it’s what they’re saying. There is no real hint at any sort of “solution” anywhere in the video, nor anywhere else in their broader campaign. Certainly it’s a campaign against those who are in power, but for what? Last year’s elections called into question the handling of sensitive financial matters and other professional oversights by those in power; those who composed the minority were clear in their desire to find any other flaws and correct those that were already there, because the people who were in power hadn’t been doing that. This year the Sunshiners seem to have all the vigor of last year’s minority but with none of their purpose.

Instead of sounding like a group with a passion for fixing clear problems, the Sunshiners are stuck in a position where all they have are attempts at character assassinations. And that’s unfortunate—not necessarily because character assassination itself is bad, but because it’s a really bad way to address legitimate problems. BOE President erroneously going on the Today show as the voice of the district? Bad idea. BOE leadership regularly showing bad faith and misleading the public on matters that should be open? Bad idea. Most of the other things that showed up in that video on YouTube? Bad ideas. But turning the entire campaign into a playground-style rash of ad hominem attacks is a worse idea, and it obscures any legitimate points that might be made in the process⁴.

Seems that the Sunshine’s a little too bright around here. It’s kind of a shame, too, because I’m not even sure how big a fan I am of the alternatives (or would be, at least, if I could vote).

1. Inexplicably (or not so much), there seems to be a student posting comments on referenced video who’s pulling double-duty as VOTE cheerleader and as uncontested unilateral spokesperson for the entire student body. I tend to think such (mis)representations (at least the last one) are asinine. I don’t plan to identify said student by name, since I have no direct evidence and doing so would thus be irresponsible, but it should not be a difficult exercise for the observant reader to figure out who it is for himself.
2. Yes, that was a footnote I just used: enjoy.
3. Some, in fact, do, at least by the same medium. Reference: Breslin for School Board, a somewhat déjà vu Feierman for School Board, and, in perhaps the most impressive use of the medium, Christopher Knight for School Board. A different school board, yes, but still very much worthy of your attention.
4. It really is a fortunate thing that I’m about done with high school; even though I’ve actually been fairly lucky at avoiding it, I think this kind of melodrama would have soon enough done me in.

Oh well.

So spring break, I suppose, has been as interesting–if not as productive–as any other break this year. Incidentally, my brother’s birthday is tomorrow, and it came as quite the shock the last day of school before break that my brother is apparently more social than I. My brother, apparently, not only has friends who celebrate his birthday, but he has friends who get him things–including (much to my amusement, if not bemusement) members of the opposite gender who bake cookies.

Needless to say, this forced me to take a closer look at my own standing socially. If my brother, purportedly even more awkward than I, was making such headways mere months into his freshman year, where did that place me, less than three months removed from high school graduation, and five months from college matriculation? If nothing else, it placed me, certainly, in quite the quandary.

Spring break, if nothing else, provides an opportunity for contemplation. Certainly the desire to procrastinate finds no enemy, despite the piles of calculus or Spanish work awaiting me even as I type this. I’ve found it generally difficult to accomplish things of tangible value, even with a to-do list staring me in the face. Thus contemplation is all that remains to be accomplished, aside from some idling in the name of “rest and relaxation”.

Certainly contemplation is easy to come across. Having a decent amount of free time to watch television, for example, I haven’t been able to help but shake the notion that game shows would, almost invariably, be better if contestants would simply hurry the hell up more often.

It’s really a pretty simple idea, actually. As any number of teachers will remind one during a test, you either know something, or you don’t. Watching a 40-something year old mother struggle on a second grade math problem (thank you Fox) hardly challenges the typical viewer’s nerves quite the same way Jack Bauer getting shot does, provided you don’t notice the bulletproof vest he’s wearing. (24′s recent failings can be the subject of another post, more likely to come on a Monday night when it can be as terse as possible.) Certainly the audience is most interested in seeing the contestant win the grand prize–whatever that may be–and any impediment to this is merely a waste of the viewer’s time. So let those who can proceed quickly, and those who can’t step aside promptly. Relatedly: why would Fox run a promo for their show by advertising the fact that they went through three contestants in one hour? Doesn’t that suggest that there are three stupid contestants, none with any ability to reach the end of the game? I digress, but I urge the further consideration of my point.

Yes, it would be difficult to argue that contemplation cannot be had during a break. And when it comes to social contemplation, it’s difficult to ignore the attempts at quantifying the social experience that have been heralded in by the proverbial Web 2.0. Indeed, as others have discussed previously, this quantifying defies all ambiguity in the name of open dissemination and comparison, betraying perhaps the unquantifiable–stated more eloquently, perhaps, as unintellectual “feelings”–that propel this experience. As Facebook informs me that I have a scant number of friends in comparison to much of the rest of my “network” (and my personal belief that I probably have about twice as many as I should) and periodically offers a glimpse into the lives of the social elite via my “news feed,” it seems but to confirm my instinctual belief: I’m behind.

What Facebook fails to offer, however, are solutions. How does one take hold of his last months of high school for the best? If an event like senior prom is to be regarded as one of the most memorable events of one’s life, surely there must be more than one’s internal willpower and social prowess–things that I, apparently, have been lacking going on eighteen years–to guide him forward? How is it that there could be such a disparity between intellectual stature and social maneuvering ability?

Perhaps the intellectualness of it all is part of the problem. As I sit here writing this, I can’t help but notice the swath of Firefox tabs, each open to something undoubtedly important that I’m trying to master–how to write UIs for Java programs, looking at the most recent Drupal modules, figuring out how to optimize Google Calendar, some new program that will convert these DVDs to DV video for me, and probably any number of things in addition to that. Maybe it’s my intellect that persuades me to attempt to address all of these things, always caught instead in the infinite loop of contemplation–hindered from action by thought–instead of properly accomplishing that with which the dumb dolt sitting next to me finds no issue.

A quick check of the calendar reveals three days remaining in my spring break (barring an unexpected snowstorm–given the weather recently, stranger things have happened) and about 76 days until graduation. I guess I should try to figure this out by then.

I think some introspection is good every now and then.

• About this: if you’re truly the one person concerned about me getting more than one CD you should either claim it or choose something else. Obviously I can’t be privy to everything I’m getting, because that would make me omnipotent, and I can only be so perfect.
• The poll is now approximately representative of actual votes received, and not votes erroneously calculated. I think I’ll have to end it by Thursday or so, for obvious reasons (which I will not state, in the event that they are not obvious).
• Guidance demanded today that I fill out an application for a New York State scholarship, which I don’t think I’ll even be entitled to since I’m almost certainly not going to an eligible college in New York. But it was demanded of me, so there you go.
• Recent surveys have indicated that my readership apparently dislikes both long entries and entries that are entirely devoted to computers. As my entries frequently fall into both of the aforementioned categories, this poses a problem as far as sustained readership is concerned. We may return to this topic of discussion in the future.

That is all.

And for those of you who don’t believe in the concept of asking for gifts, I’m not actually anticipating that anyone likes me, nor do I think that anyone would heed my requests, because this has what experience has taught me to believe. So I think the element of surprise will remain untarnished, regardless of how much hate I have sustained.

Speaking of which, my awesome conducting job in concert band apparently led at least one person to call me an asshole. (For what, pointing out that no one slowed down at a ritard?) It’s good to know my first impressions haven’t lost any of their charm.

Nations that try to teach math in terms of daily life have the lowest test scores.

So glad I didn’t stick around the elementary school for Everyday Math. Mean Jeans was many times better.

Sidenote: our class’ senior superlatives are due this week. All I can say is that I wish Corey Brezak and Sheila the best in their quest for “Best Car,” and can only remind my readership that every good cause has a Facebook group. And this is a very good cause.

Want to avoid calculus teachers who can’t teach calculus? Take Physcalc.

Want to make sure you don’t keep falling asleep while reading Crime and Punishment for English? Take Fitness Walking in gym and take your book with you, and do the readings a day in advance.

Want to claim a Saturday morning to yourself? Do well enough on the SATs in the spring so that you don’t have to take them again in October. (Corollary: Don’t do the Columbia Science Honors Program unless you’re already antisocial enough that you’d have nothing to do on a Saturday morning anyway.)

Since this entry is pretty much to-the-point, here are some other points I feel compelled to include:

• The Almighty College Board has informed me that I have reached the level of “AP Scholar with Distinction”. I’m not sure what that’s worth exactly, but it sounds important.
• It seems the influx of questionable poll votes has been curbed. I’m still not sure of the cause, but I took some preemptive measures to attempt to solve the problem, and one of them worked. At some point in the future I might try to figure out how to appropriate the votes.
• My body hurts. This is probably because my shoulders don’t like supporting my backpack (which I recently updated, thank you). Yesterday I also was due for a couple shots, which while not a big deal left both of my arms sore. Interesting note: the building in which I went to get my shots is numbered 666. Notable politicians who have a campaign office located in said building? None other than Democratic candidate for Congress John Hall. (Be warned, a mysterious figure will appear on your screen if you click that link, and he makes noise.) The distinguised candidate has some dumb picture of Bush on his door saying something about John Hall giving him a headache. I think Mr. Hall is a bit too fond of himself.
• Random thought: all work weeks should be four days long.

So that’s what I’ve got to say. Now to go off and work on college stuff, or calculus problem sets, or something.

First: the means of comparison here was the writing portion of the new SAT, a section which I feel compelled to point out is not weighed particularly heavily (if at all) by a number of colleges compared to the critical reading and math sections of the test. And this perhaps is the most important point to consider. I hardly think that the SAT writing section is capable of telling me whether or not I’m a “good” writer, and I certainly don’t need an 800 to validate my own ability to compose sentences and make points in writing.

The SAT, like all standardized tests, judges the student (or blogger, as the case may be) on his ability to provide to the grader what the grader wants to read. Typically this takes the form of a position on some vague human ideal or absurd philisophical question, which is then supported by equally absurd “concrete examples” either from personal experience, historical examples, or readings, the last two of which typically come from what’s been studied in school that year. The SAT does not care whether you have any actual interest in the topic, or whether you have any fitting “personal examples,” or even whether your paper has any semblance of fact in it. The grader essentially takes each paper through a vague rubric that places emphasis on using concrete evidence to argue abstract ideas, creating an argument designed exclusively to please one’s audience, and preparing a piece of writing to meet these goals in a span 25 minutes.

In short, it’s no wonder that the high scoring essays from students weren’t particularly astounding, or that bloggers didn’t score particularly well. The essay on the SAT is just like any section of any standardized tests: those who perform best on the test are not necessarily those who are most qualified at the subject matter. The College Board chooses as exemplars the essays that most clearly address the points that graders have to check off on their rubrics, and those who fail to meet these points explicitly are left by the wayside.

I enjoy blogging for a simple reason, if nothing else: it gives me the opportunity to write. I can’t blog unless I actually decide that I have something to say–it just won’t happen. I write about things that interest me, and things that I have an opinion on (and yeah that’s a preposition at the end of a sentence, but I don’t care). Without a blog I’d be left with no writing experience other than a few formal papers on the changes in women’s roles in Chinese history or the effect of friction on the speed of a rolling ball, or something similarly useless. One of the most important things I felt I was able to do in my English class last year had to do with voice, and being able to actually write something informal while injecting some personality into it. I’m rather pleased, and this very blog is the one place where I have the most opportunity to practice it and take advantage of it.

Besides, I could sure as hell spend 25 minutes writing something out on my blog when I already know what I want to say, and I don’t have to worry about saying what some robot in Princeton wants to hear.

So since I’ve been a bit sleep deprived in all of this, I’ve been neglecting my blog. Hopefully this is a condition that won’t last for exceedingly long, as I do enjoy being able to write a bit on what’s on my mind, which hopefully is not the fact that I haven’t been doing much of that.

Though the amotivation thing is kind of bothering me. I wrote my national merit essay Sunday night. My counselor told me it kind of sucked (using other words), so I took it back, reworked it, and handed it in on Wednesday (she wasn’t there to read it on Tuesday, else I’d have had it in then).

Maybe it’s just the amount of work I’ve had to worry about that prevents me from getting anything done. Last Spanish test I didn’t bother to study for until my free period the day of (though for the record it turns out I got the highest grade in the class on that, so maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea). The school newspaper editor application was due yesterday, but I didn’t bother to finish mine. My guess is that the whole concept of answering yes/no questions in “3-5 sentences, typed” kind of suggested that it wasn’t the job for me anyway (there were probably other things too, but I’ve got enough to worry about without trying to rewrite articles rants about how much cafeteria food sucks).

Of course, my “free time” is really supposed to be spent toward application completing and essay writing and whatnot. So I guess we’ll see what that ends up leaving me with.

By the way, I don’t know if you knew this, but Ken Jennings has a blog. I only stumbled across it (not to be confused with StumbleUpon) a few days ago, but it seems he’s slightly more regular in his posting habits. He’s probably more enjoyable to read too. And you’ll learn more from him than you will from me. And even if you don’t think he’s that great I gave you a second link to suck up some time so you won’t notice me not posting.

And one day I’ll figure out where all those damn poll votes are coming from.