101 Things To Do (in and around Poughkeepsie)

Hey everybody!

I just started on a cool (almost) new project called 101 Things To Do In And Around Poughkeepsie (that capitalization always confuses me) that is basically what it sounds like--except that we do not yet have 101 things. But we're working on it!

Anyways, I'll leave a link so that you can check it out in case the blog is really boring you (it shouldn't be, but of course I may be the only person who thinks so).

Cheers!

http://vsa.vassar.edu/index.php/resources/101-things/

Denazification vs. Berlin

It's been a pretty crazy week, but at least now I feel like I'm getting somewhere. Most of my thesis chapter done? Check. Spring semester class pre-registration finished? Check. Half done with the Nazi paper? (Yes, you read that right. Nazi paper.) Check.

I started writing this paper on Nazi Germany a couple weeks ago for a class I'm taking called "German History from 1914-1990." Boy, they weren't kidding. If I had any sense when I signed up for the class I would have realized that we would spend most of the semester talking about the Nazis, considering that's pretty much what modern Germany history is; you know, Nazis taking over the government, starting World War II, denazification, now. It also doesn't help that I have blonde hair and blue eyes, which causes my Jewish housemate to interrogate me while I read a book called "The Racial State," or when I curl up on the couch with my popcorn while watching the propaganda film "Triumph of the Will." But I swear I don't do this for fun--I have a term paper! My paper focuses on Weber's definition of charismatic authority and it's representation in the film "Triumph of the Will," which I think is a pretty cool topic. But that also means I've seen the film so many times at this point that I'll catch myself whistling the music out of nowhere--then I have to pretend that I was whistling something else in an effort to make people feel less uncomfortable, especially considering the number of Jewish friends I have on campus.

As much as I need to get away from the Nazis, I have a very tempting offer to take a seminar next semester on the Holocaust. You may be wondering why I'm considering taking a class on such an uplifting subject. Well, the key to this class is that it offers a study trip and study trips are AWESOME! Well, I don't know that for sure because I've never actually taken a class with a study trip, but any class that makes you to travel to another country as homework must be awesome.

Basically, if I take the class, I get to spend Spring Break in BERLIN while getting financial aid to help cover the cost of the trip. And considering the amount of financial aid I'm on... well, we'll just say that for me it'd be a pretty sweet deal. Plus, the professor said that after Spring Break I wouldn't have that much work to do because going on the trip is a such an important part of the course, which would give me time to work on my thesis. And what's holding me back from this exclusive offer? Two things: a thesis and a Sociology seminar.

At this point, the question is: "Do I give in to senioritis and take some easy courses to balance the work of the thesis and a required seminar, or do take something interesting and opportunistic even though it might cause me to scream at random points throughout next semester?"

Decisions, decisions.

Actually, reading over that last big paragraph just talked me into it. I'm signing up for the seminar!

I'll Have History With A Side Of Swimming, But No Dance

......So I've been neglecting the blog. Ooops. But to be completely honest, I don't think I've ever had a busier semester. The classes I am taking are not that much harder than any of the other classes I've taken here (to tell you the truth, they might even be easier), but just as I suspected, writing a senior thesis is draining the life from my body. ....Okay, so that's a bit of a stretch, but only a bit.

I really want to do well on my thesis and so far I'd say it's coming along. But that also means that any free hour I have is spent working on my thesis and I basically have no free time left--weekday or weekend. I took off last Thursday night and Saturday night for hanging out with a friend/the campus Halloween Party (whooo!), but I really haven't had any time to just chill out and watch a movie or just do nothing. I'm like a hamster on a wheel...although much less fuzzy.

And now that I am back from October Break, it's time to start picking classes for next semester. Crazy, I know. FYI: Please don't remind me that this is the last time I get to fill in my little online sheet and constantly change my mind on courses and rearrange the order of the classes that are the most important for me to take--unless you want to make me cry. But on a more optimistic note, I'm pretty excited for my next selection of courses and I think that if everything goes according to plan, I can leave Vassar feeling fully satisfied.

One thing that I do not plan on taking again is dance. For the past three years, I have taken a dance course about every other semester. I took two course from modern dance, and right now I'm working on taking a jazz dance class. Actually, I take that back--I'm working on SURVIVING a jazz dance class. Why? Because I am the world's worst dancer. The title isn't exactly flattering, but trust me--I'd rather have that title than be forced to watch myself dance. When I was taking modern dance, I wasn't exactly good, but at least it wasn't painful to watch. But jazz dance on the other hand.... well, that's another story.

I'm a pretty athletic individual and I swam for six years between middle school and high school. But as soon as I step onto the dance floor, it looks as if I'm just learning how to walk as I stumble into what is supposed to be an arabesque but ends up looking like I tripped over an invisible staircase. I think most of the time the instructor tries to ignore me because if we spent the entire class going over what I did wrong, I don't think we'd get past the first exercise. Instead, she'll instruct those in the group who look like professionals in comparison as I sort of hobble along and make a sad attempt at what is supposed to be a dance move whenever I feel like it's safe to humiliate myself again.

Now, everyone has their on-days and their off-days, and you're all probably thinking that I just had an off-day today. But compared to the average person, my on-days are like off-days and my off-days are, well, extra-off if anything. It doesn't help my case that I had virtually no dance training as a child and my classmates seem like they've at least taken some form of classical dance. I'm pretty certain that the rugby player in my class decided to take it as a joke, but I end up making him look like John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever. When I walk into Kenyon Hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'm not walking into my dance class, I’m walking into my own worst nightmare--where all eyes are on me as I trip over myself while trying to doing twirls across the room, saying as if I were Derek Zoolander: "I can't turn left!" What's even more humiliating is that my mom was a dance instructor at a studio in Cleveland when she was about my age, and performed shows at discos back when they were cool. But somehow I was born with two left feet and I have no idea where they came from; a recessive trait, perhaps? I'll never know for sure.

So right now you're probably thinking, "So why do you keep putting yourself through this if you think it's comparable to torture?" Good question. As a Vassar student, I guess I'm kind of masochistic by nature. But as myself... well, you could say I'm probably crazy.

Speaker In Lieu Of Midterm? Please?

October Break is next week, but you never get off easy around here before a break from classes. Oh no no. Between yesterday and today, I've studied for nearly 14 hours (almost) straight, but I still feel like I'm only going to "pass" my film midterm exam. Earlier in the semester I thought taking film was going to be a complete joke, but at this point my study guide indicates that I haven't really learned much--or paid attention in class, for that matter. After taking mostly classes that focus on theory for the past couple of years, memorizing dates, people, and concepts just isn't my thing anymore. Whoever it was that invented flashcards is my savior.

Thankfully, my exam is scheduled for noon tomorrow, so after that point I won't feel obligated to study--instead, I'll feel obligated to write a 4-5 page paper for my sociology class in lieu of a midterm exam. That really makes me feel special.

But no matter what happens tomorrow, John Amaechi is coming to give a lecture, and I am definitely going. In case you don't know who John Amaechi is, he's a former NBA star best known as a power forward for the Orlando Magic and the Utah Jazz. Now, I don't know anything about basketball, but John's story is pretty cool. In February he became the first NBA player to come out as gay, which was pretty groundbreaking. I learned about John Amaechi soon after he made his announcement, and at that time (as well as now) there were a lot of mixed feelings from players and fans about Amaechi's sexual orientation. Personally, I think his decision to come out was very honorable and proved for one--to put it bluntly--that gay men can play basketball. Not that that was the only thing that came out of his announcement, but you know what I mean. Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing him speak tomorrow (as well as the free refreshments beforehand!).

We've had a lot of cool speakers during my three and some years here--to name a few: Tom Hanks, Tim O' Brien, Jeff Corwin (from Animal Planet!), Terry Gross, Ralph Nader, and Amy Goodman. But the real question is, Who is going to be my graduation speaker? I suggested Vaclav Havel, but I'm pretty certain that I'm the only student on campus who would be giddy about seeing the former president of the Czech Republic up at the podium, as my fellow classmates are sick with the welcome or unwelcome anticipation of receiving their diplomas. But what's more charming than a little Central European-style humor with a few "back in communist times..." stories on such a special day? Much to my disappointment, it seems to be unlikely scenario.

On the same token, it may be my missing the Czech Republic that has caused my recent sick obsession with anything and everything Czech. The other day I spent an hour looking online for anywhere that might sell or offer downloads of songs by the Plastic People of the Universe, only to find a minute and 30 second clip of a song that barely gave me the feel for any of their music. At that point, I think I felt a tear drop out of my right eye. Creepy, I know.

Interestingly enough, Vaclav Havel's favorite band is the Velvet Underground (who were the main influence of the PPU), and one of my bosses was married to a member of the band. When I told her about my obsession with Vaclav Havel, she said she could hook me up with one of his books, which practically had me drooling last week at work. I swear I'm not a stalker......

Sick (Literally) Of Summer

I must be some sort of control freak because whatever I can't control seems to get on my nerves. Take for instance the weather. In case you haven't noticed, I love to complain about the weather. The high for today is going to hover around ninety, and I know already that I'm going to complain about it all day long......and what I also know is that I'm going to be dying for this type of weather near the halfway point of winter. But for now, it's fall, and I wish the weather would behave itself.

But I'm not the only one looking forward to the change of seasons-the three trees in front of my TA honestly started changing colors overnight. [Sorry to disappoint you guys, but it looks like there are going to be at least a few more odd days until the cool weather is here to stay.]

The last day of summer is always kind of bittersweet. As much fun as it is to go swimming outdoors and wear flip-flops all the time (not that people don't mind frostbite on their toes in the winter, of course), you begin to look forward to a change from periods of infinitely many days worth of ninety plus weather. I can definitely say that I greeted fall with open arms this year. On the last night of summer, my friends and I lighted up my mini Weber grill and toasted marshmallows under what would have been the stars, had the night not been so cloudy.

It's crazy how fast senior year is going right now. I turned in a research paper proposal yesterday and my senior thesis proposal on Monday. Next week I have two short (as in five page) papers due, and my professors have already started talking about midterms in class. While I've learned a lot in my classes, I still kind of feel like the semester just started--every day and week seem to be divided up into moments I've spent in the library. Senior year is no joke, although it kind of seemed like it yesterday when I reached into my mailbox to find a couple small boxes of Nerds from the sociology majors committee, congratulating me on turning in my thesis proposal. Maybe by the time I turn in the first draft I'll have worked myself up to the "cupcake level." If I were a third grader that might be inspiring.

Just a couple of weeks left until October Break. I realize it's still early in the semester, but I'm in the mood for a break. Earlier in the week I became deathly ill (okay, I caught a cough and a cold....lame, I know) and I'm working on recovering at this point. Reading about Nazi Germany and racism in America isn't helping me feel any better, but my parents are visiting this weekend and bringing me cough syrup, so that should be good. If only they could bring me a couple more hours per day.... that would be worthwhile.

Books Are My Master

Quite miraculously, I think I managed to come up with a senior thesis topic. Even more miraculous? I think the topic might actually be good.

As the story goes, I was probably one of ten people who spent Saturday night in the library. Don't let the aspect of Saturday night in the library scare you-you know I definitely left at ten o' clock for a late night Stop & Shop run which eventually resulted in baking pumpkin pie-but sometimes it's kind of nice to chill out and go on book hunts instead of going completely haywire at some sort of Vassar concert. The best part is that you always feel like you did something productive after you leave, whether you actually did work or not. Don't believe me? Try it:

Cool Friend #1: Hey, where were you Saturday night?
Cool Friend #2: Yeah, seriously. There was a killer concert in Main featuring the Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Clash!
Me: Oh, I was in the library sleeping, I mean, SLAVING over books.
Cool Friend #1: Wow! You have so much motivation!
Cool Friend #2: I wish I could be you!

See? That's pretty much exactly how a conversation between my friends and me would go. By the way, The Clash actually did play at Vassar back in the day. No joke.

But Saturday was dedicated to finding a thesis topic. I had an idea of something I wanted to do along the lines of new media (such as the Internet, YouTube, Facebook, etc.) but I wasn't sure exactly what. Then, after leaving the library, I was talking to my friend about what a sociologist might write a thesis about when the words literally came out of my mouth, "Something like, I don't know, activism on the Internet...Wait a second... WHOA."

After researching the topic briefly, I realized that the topic had been researched just enough-not too much or too little for me to write about it. Now all I need is a 1-2 page summary of the topic, a projected outline and annotated bibliography for Monday.

T minus four days until my proposal is due-I'm in the clear.

Senior Freak Out...I Mean Thesis

As a senior, it's getting to the point where I have to face my biggest fear: my senior thesis. Contrary to popular belief, being a senior doesn't necessarily mean I can write a thesis, and somehow I'm expected to turn in a research proposal in exactly two weeks from today. Following a brief freak out session last week, I decided to pay a visit to my advisor and see what exactly I need to do for my thesis, and how far along in the process I should be at this point.

A senior thesis is a long paper written by seniors who majored in certain fields, such as sociology. In fact, I believe that a majority of students at Vassar will either write a senior thesis or create a senior project, depending on their major, during senior year. For example, out of my housemates, I am writing a senior thesis, my housemate who is a music major is performing a senior recital, and my housemate who is a media studies major is creating a senior project. Now don't get me wrong-the senior recital and senior project both require a great deal of work like the thesis-but personally I think the senior thesis sounds the scariest. Upon coming to college, I was so intimidated of the aspect of writing a senior thesis that I attempted to major in a field that didn't require one for graduation, such as psychology or political science. But my love for sociology foiled my plans, and I am now sitting here scared out of my mind.

First of all, I have a hard time getting it through my head that a senior thesis is just a really long paper. From what my advisor said, it's generally between 50 and 60 pages for sociology majors, but I should think of it as being more like four twelve page papers, considering the thesis will probably have four chapters. Okay, so maybe it really is just a long paper, but how can I think of it in those terms when it gets a title like, "senior thesis," which provides no indication of just being four papers. For me, that's very intimidating.

Second, how am I supposed to think of a topic that will interest me for an ENTIRE year? Personally, I think I'm a bit of a flake at most things that I do in the sense that I like a lot of things, and sometimes get really into things, but personally I have no real burning life passions that make me want to say, "Wow! I really wish I could spend a whole year writing about this!" No way Jose.

For me, the "SENIOR THESIS" was a BIG deal. But speaking to my advisor informed me that it's pretty much just like taking a class, but something that is sort of self-instructed (as if I have self discipline).

Here's the abbreviated version of our conversation:

Me: So about this senior thesis.... I hear the proposal is due on September 25th, but I have no idea what I'm doing!
My Advisor: That's okay. Most students have no idea what they are doing, and many of them will actually find a focus after they turn in the proposal.
Me: About the proposal.... can I write it up the week before, have you check it, and then fix it and turn it in on the 25th?
My Advisor: Huh... I suppose you could do that.... but I think a lot of times students write it the night before.
Me: Wow... I thought it was a really big deal?
My Advisor: Brooke, it's just a really big paper. Don't worry about it so much. If you're really worried, feel free to check out the sample theses in the Sociology office.

Wow! Sample theses?! I wonder if any of them are old enough that the professors in the sociology department wouldn't remember them being written.... Not that I would ever do that, of course.

But in all seriousness, creating a research project of my very own could be kind of cool-you know, the opportunity to conduct actual research and write up the results and say, "So THIS is what I found. Aren't I soooooo awesome?" Okay, obviously I wouldn't say that, but you get the point.

Now, to find a topic.....