Photo Album

Today, I went through all of the photo prints I had stashed away and digitized most of them with the scanner.  They are all up on Flickr now. Ignore most of the dates because many are incorrect, but there are dozens of photos showing many friends and happenings over the years.  Imagine if I took my camera along more often!

 

Something to Say

Kevin, one of the roommates whose name I learned only after fours months of living together, left the apartment last week for a month-long trip to China. Kevin didn’t even tell me; I learned the information second-hand via Jae. I’ll be moved out by the time he returns, but there are no hard feelings. On the contrary, Kevin left bottles of Grey Goose, Jack Daniels and some Brand X tequila on top of the refrigerator. PLUS, when I rummaged through his cabinets in the kitchen I found a half-full case of Budweiser and some granulated sugar for my Cream of Wheat!

It’s gotta be clear to readers from that last paragraph that there’s absolutely nothing going on here. Now that my master’s project is submitted, I have all the time in the world to work on my podcasts, blog, look for work, etc. Naturally, none of that has happened…substituting Hefeweizen for orange juice during breakfast kinda lowers ones drive. Seriously, though, I have just over a week left in Seattle, so I’m going to try my best to cheaply live it up until the flight home.

 

Good With Children

If I ever needed any confirmation of my antisocial nature, it was demonstrated this afternoon. On the daily walk to the graduate library, a little kid with a skateboard and a dog on a leash approached me. The kid couldn’t have been older than 11 or 12. His dog was pretty big. It had some semblance of a golden retriever but it wasn’t a purebred (as if I know anything about dogs). As the dog reared up and placed its front paws on my abdomen I could see that its eyes were two different colors, like that teacher I used to work with at International Studies Academy in San Francisco. Okay then, Captain ADD!

Kid asks where the University Bookstore is, and here’s where I collapse (figuratively):

First, I point in the wrong direction, toward campus. Instantly, I remember that the bookstore is really two blocks off of campus, so I point in the opposite direction, but now I’ve already lost the kid’s faith. Pointing isn’t enough so I ask the kid if he has been there before and if he knows what it looks like, drawing a semi-wary, semi-indignant “yes” from him. Meanwhile, Fido is treating my hand like it’s a Tootsie Pop. In an effort to end the conversation quickly I tell the kid to walk three or four blocks north and he would see the building. But when I resumed my own journey I chastised myself as simple and precise directions suddenly materialized in my mind: “It’s on University before 45th.” Maybe it’s because the project is due. I just need to chill out.

 

Na-Na, Why Don’t You Get A Job?

Have you ever applied for a job that seems like a little bit more than you would like to take on? I threw my name in the ring for a couple of them back at home. The jobs are at Stanford and Berkeley so that means a ton of people applied for them. Also, the reviewers will certainly get a chuckle out of my six months worth of experience in student services. Otherwise, my application was dynamite. I got all philosophical in my writing sample where they asked for the components I would include in a leadership training program for students. To justify conflict management training, I wrote:

Conflict management is another vital component because public service is seldom done alone, and good teamwork is necessary for a group to have success. Virtually no group conducts itself entirely free from disagreement, but student leaders must be able to act as moderators, diplomats or even confidants so that the completion of the service goal and group mission remains both the focus and the result.

Huh? HUH? Is that too dull? I think it’s something that would interest the application review committee. Anyway, there’s two pages of that stuff so we’ll see if I at least get an interview out of it. Watch me have to eat my words when I get one of those “The position has been filled” emails instead.

Anyway, back to the point…what does one do if offered a job that’s a bit of a reach for him (Governor of California)? Perhaps the credentials are solid on paper but the practical experiences just don’t add up to enable the person to perform well (General Manager, New York Knicks). Do you decline after going through all of that trouble? Or do you accept the job and stumble embarrassingly through it? I won’t worry about it, as it probably doesn’t happen that often. Plus, if it were really, really out of my league I wouldn’t have bothered.

 

Dusty Lake Trip

The Dusty Lake field trip wasn’t nearly as fun as our class’ first two field trips to Olympic National Park and San Juan Island. Desert environment, a ton of mosquitoes and a ton of ants. No cabin this time; everyone pitched a tent outside in the brush minutes after we arrived at the campsite. Everyone except me, that is. The 6-7 person family tent I borrowed from Kristian was missing poles, and of course I didn’t notice this until we were three and a half hours from Seattle because I didn’t realize what components were necessary to pitch a tent. Yes, there’s a dirty joke to be said there.

If I were totally immature I would have identified my oversight as a golden opportunity to make nice with some of the women in my class because really I had nowehere to sleep and there’s no question the mere act of sleeping in each other’s close proximity would undoubtedly fetch me dates and lovin’ for, well…until the end of the quarter, but that’s incredibly foolish. Plus, none of them had room. I ended up bunking with Devon (shown below) in his 2-person tent. Turned out as something of a blessing in disguise because I’d never spoken with Devon at length before this past weekend but he seems to be generally a decent guy. In fact, that’s my wifebeater he’s wearing in the photo.

Check out the Dusty Lake area. I call it Grand Canyon, Jr. because these high rocky walls surround an expansive valley. It’s quite lovely.

Make no mistake, this thing is fucking HUGE.

 

Future Journalists of America

Another weekend, another field trip.

Tomorrow the class is headed out to the aptly-named Dusty Lake. It reminds me of something of the Grand Canyon although I’ve never been to either place. The power of photography, man. We’ll be camping for real this time; the 6-7 adult family tent will accompany me tomorrow. It’s much too big, of course, but it’s the only one I could scare up from among my friends. It’s all good, though…I’ll run a hotel for the class, you know?

I’ve written before about how the UW campus seems to be divided across racial lines. Or at least among the hard-hitters, those students who are active in student organizations and also community and Greek groups. The battle for ASUW office seems to always boil down to the white Greek organizations versus some combination of progressive white students and students of color. I can’t even remember what it was like at Stanford. Certainly not as contentious as it is here, but then again, what power did the Stanford student government really have? I suspect that at Stanford there is an overriding sentiment that the school is run as it ought to be and that it is fair for everyone. The concept of Stanford pride and honor is pitched at all times and perhaps all of that pride and gratefulness clouds students’ imaginations on how to make things better. Not so at UW, though. This student government has cash, power and influence; it is the flagship institution of the Northwest.

Anyway, let me get to the point. One of the students running for the Director of Diversity Efforts position is Miranda, a young woman I’ve interacted with often since starting my job. The campus newspaper ran an “endorsement” for Miranda that was neither challenging, nor supportive, nor informative. In fact, it was just racist trash:

“Miranda Bethay as a candidate is like vanilla: Her responses were very standard and she didn’t make us want to go out and diversify. “When did vanilla get to be such a bad thing?” asked our opinion editor. “When chocolate was invented,” an editorial board member responded. Exactly. We wish we could offer a flavor to the position of diversity efforts, but seeing as Bethay was the only candidate to show up to our forum for an interview, the only choice we can offer is the standard vanilla variety.”

Is this a play on Miranda’s being half-black and half-white? Is her job to make other people want to diversify? And what kind of ignorant crack is this about vanilla and chocolate? I think it is totally inappropriate to even use euphemisms like that for this particular candidate. If the Daily editor missed that when reviewing this piece then he’s a fucking idiot. If he didn’t miss the offensive content, then one must wonder why it was allowed to run. Mind you, this isn’t the humor paper or conservative rag on campus (not that the nature of the paper would have made it acceptable) but rather the widely-circulated, student-funded and presumably unbiased source for news. These are our future journalists, people. The people writing for the Daily, who chose to deliver a backhanded slap to Miranda instead of offering no endorsement, are the ones the public will rely on in the future to deliver facts about politicians so that we can make the best decisions. I wish I could get angrier at this and I wish more people recognized this when they read it…it’s just the sort of unnecessary, “innocent” bullshit that happens every day.

That said, I finally got some photos from the Bachelor Auction. Ignore the dates on the photos; these are from about 3 weeks ago. Did I mention that I went for $20?! Two guys went for less, thankfully for me, but really I could kick anyone’s ass who was at that thing. View, enjoy and have a good weekend!

Twin MCs. These guys ought to go professional.

Myself and lovely Angelita, $20 poorer.

Way to keep that camera above waist-level

Accessorized with phone and rose

I think this dude went for less than me.

This crazy girl spent $170 on this dude. No pressure at all!

Cross my heart.

 

Celebration 2005

My boss at the ECC has been out sick all week so he tapped me to take his place at Celebration 2005, an awards banquet for EOP students here at UW. It was a pretty hoity-toity affair with the president of the school in attendance and hundreds of university staff wearing suits, waiters serving wine and fish with ginger sauce served for dinner. The last two parts were especially nice. I’ve gotta make it a habit to eat more fish.

But this Celebration was about the students. Pretty amazing students, at that. Dozens of them were also in attendance…easily identifiable by virtue of wearing casual clothing amongst all of the lipstick and cuff links. Twelve students were being honored and given scholarships for their research and academic achievement. Listening to the stories of these students…from tough backgrounds, first in family to attend college, divorced with two children makes one sympathetic and awestruck at the same time. How it is that the young woman who has worked since age 15 is the Phi Beta Kappa-qualifier and also has completed four undergraduate research projects? How is it that the C-student in high school whom the university rejected, raised his GPA in community college, then raised it to Dean’s List-level upon his transfer to UW, then became the head of the Student Senate Judiciary Committee for two years and has already been accepted to a Master’s program at Columbia? It’s the kind of thing that reminds me that I’ve got to take advantage of the opportunity…and so does everyone here. It shouldn’t take a life of adversity for students to dawn on the fact that they are capable of, and somewhat obligated to, doing great things. Sometimes it just takes a reminder like tonight and so I congratulate all 12 scholarship recipients for grabbing life by the horns and, in doing so, reminding us that we can do the same.

 

UITC – That’s What I’m Talkin’ About!

Last year, when WhatUpThen was holed up in his apartment learning the basics of epidemiology, the College Republicans of the University of Washington threw one of those Affirmative Action Bake Sales that have become increasingly popular at schools across the country. I hate linking to FOX News, but it has the blurbs about the different schools. It’s a horrible thing, in my opinion, first because affirmative action has been illegal in Washington as of 1998, and second, because the premise of the bake sale is flawed. The concept of the sale is that women, people of color and disabled citizens pay less for the items sold; it’s supposed to be an allegory for those groups putting forth less effort for the same job or college admission. However, let’s use the college example. Every university in the U.S. has minimum standards for admission. No school would bring in a student who did not meet those standards, so every person admitted has put forth the effort, or “paid the total price”. It’s also insulting to suggest that white males have a more difficult time advancing in life than women and minorities, yet that assertion is implicit in the CRs claim that whites are paying the most. Of course there are white males out there in truly fucked-up situations, but there are privileges to whiteness that, if anything, allow whites to pay less than everyone else to obtain the same things. I hate to even talk about this whole “payment” idea because really everyone should be judged on their talents, abilities and skills. We’ve made a ton of progress in the right direction but we aren’t anywhere near that day and I know I won’t see it in my lifetime. There’s a lot of other stuff I’m missing, but I should move on.

The Bake Sale last year ended badly. There was a lot of shouting and someone got hit and one student (I’ve met her and she’s fucking awesome) tore down the CRs sign and canopy. It wasn’t totally crazy…not like anyone was arrested or anything, but it wasn’t just another day.

Long story short –> Last week, the CRs put on another Bake Sale but this time the sane students on campus were ready. The GBLT Student Commissioner rallied a ton of student groups to essentially have a fair that day and in the same location as the CR Bake Sale. The idea wasn’t to confront the madness, but to drown it out with music, promotion of events, frisbee and FREE baked goods (I got my hands on a few donuts before I left). It was a great success. There were no confrontations and the unnecessary and divisive messages were largely ignored this time around. I’m impressed by the student’s ability to mobilize in such a short time (just 6 days for the whole thing) and also I was happy to see so many groups encompassing so many ethnicities working together for a common goal. It was called Unity in the Community. If you were an employer, wouldn’t you want to hire a student who put this together?

Here are a coupla more links to Leoule’s column in the UW Daily and the counter-argument by the CR president, Nick Dayton.

This crowd wasn’t just for the bake sale.

I shoulda gotten in this photo.

ASA next to Amnesty Int’l…everyone got involved.

The Young Democrats are outspoken in their own right.

At least he passed up the MSA.

Leoule (being interviewed) was the driving force behind UITC.

Doing the MEChA clap.

Bunch of my students smiling for a job well-done.

 

Wed. night

Ice Climber began almost a year ago in the Odegaard Undergraduate Library here at the University of Washington. I’m here again tonight after a bit of studying. It’s always fun to come here. It’s like a fashion show, no kidding. The 18-20 year old young women in here seem to embrace one of two extremes: either pajamas in public (a pet peeve of mine) or full-on, hair styled, make-up’d, skin-flashing tartness. Not that I’m complaining. It’s the guys, too. Right now I’m looking over at a dude wearing that multi-colored, vertical-striped dress shirt that I know I’ve seen in Macy’s for $55. It’s nearly midnight, so he got the hour right, but he forgot he is in the library and not Club Medusa…or wherever kids these days like to party. And this other dude has salt-and-pepper hair but there’s no way it could be natural. How the hell did he do that?!

Anyway, the photos from Black Boy haven’t been sorted out yet. In the meantime, I’m going to put up my notes from last week’s camping trip…a process neglected earlier this week, again, because of the play. So read and N’Joy like non-dairy creamer.

This color is for writing done onsite.
This color is for writing done tonight.

I stole the term “backblogging” from the Texas Cooking Woman because that’s what I’m forced to do for this field trip. I have my phone but there is no reception up here in the woods so there will be no audio post. Damn T-Mobile. It’s all good. Practicing writing in the notebook is a good idea.

Four-hour drive to get up here to the Olympic Mountains. Naturally, I’m more interested in my classmates than our surroundings. Everyone here is an up-and-coming naturalist, for sure, but a couple of guys have their own band, one woman is a bartender who looks like a combination of Rachel Dratch and this girl Haane I met in college. Lastly, the three professors along with us are very good-humored. Evidently, they both attended Cal and they’ve been working together for the past 30 years. So, by now, they’ve established a little bit of a rapport. Anytime a grown man can say to another grown man “you stupid son of a bitch” and it’s absolutely no problem between them…well, that’s a sign of true friendship.

It’s ten minutes after twelve and we’ve gotta wake up at 6:30a to go bird-watching so maybe I ought to wrap up. Also, my head is killing me after a margarita, two tequila shots, a Smirnoff Apple and a Lucky Lager. Oh, and Brite Crawlers. How can you top that? Best field trip ever.

Oh, snap! Saw a coupla bald eagles today. One of ’em flying around with a twig! This afternoon, my classmates and I got down and dirty searching for salamanders in a creek. It was cold as FUCK. WhatUpThen is not the outdoor-oriented person, but I certainly didn’t want to stand out or otherwise hold the class back. So I put on my rain gear, raised my Leaf Shield and dove headfirst into the brush, baby! Before long, they’re gonna start calling me Wood Man.

Spirit of the Woods

 

Bit O’ Weekend

Let me first say that last weekend’s class field trip to the Olympic Mountains was, in a word, money. That’s money as in a whole lot of it spent on rain gear, etc., as described in a previous post. It’s money as in the $25 I spent at a Mexican restaurant the first night, the $33 I spent at a steakhouse the second night and an amount spent on beer at the grocery store that I don’t wish to disclose at this time. God, I like to spend money. But, perhaps most importantly, the trip was money in that it was totally valuable, totally enjoyable and I’m totally ready to do it again. Dig?? I got a crash course in forestry, chilled out with some amphibians, met a few very nice people and my cheap equipment survived the excursion.

Unfortunately, the big play is tomorrow and with so much preparation for it I haven’t had time to savor the memory of the weekend. Plus, I have no photos because I can’t seem to figure out how to upload the images from the damn school-loaned camera and it is due back today. They threaten to bar future equipment borrowing for three months if you return your borrowed items late, so it is a choice between no photos for this trip or none for the next three. I envision an electronics tutorial in my near future.

On Tuesday during the day I’ll play host to our performer and this evening I will MC the show, so there’s a ton happening tomorrow that I should probably get to bed. To be quite honest, though, I’m most excited because I get to check out a Chevy Suburban from the university’s motor pool. I’ve never driven an SUV before. I’ve never driven in Seattle before. And if you think I’m turning THAT thing back in a split-second before the motherfucker is due then I don’t know what blog you’ve been reading all this time.

Ho ho! Check it out!! I just figured out the camera! Here are photos. I’m gonna hit the sack. Wish me luck tomorrow!

It’s a newt. Must remember what type before midterms roll around.

It’s a salamander. Ditto on the ID deadline.

Behind Devon, Victoria, myself and that guy on the right is a 200-foot drop.

Even human structures can’t hide the beauty of earthforms.