Impatience

In a previous blog post I talked about how I could not wait for it to be February because everything would be done.  It is the end of January now, midterms are over, and every aspect of my college applications including the interviews is done.  I honestly thought I would feel so relieved, but instead I am more anxious now than ever.  

I have put all of my blood, sweat, and tears into my college applications and now I have to wait until the end of March/beginning of April to find out anything.  While it technically is only a couple months away, it feels like forever.  The decisions I will receive will determine where I spend the next four years of my life; who I will meet, what I will do, what I will learn.  I am excited but mostly nervous.  I have never experienced receiving so many important decisions all at once.  I believe there is good and bad in receiving all the decisions around the same time.  On one hand, it will be hard to deal with so much rejection at once, but on the other hand it will be nice if after receiving a rejection I can also receive even one acceptance.

I am the most impatient person in the world, but I am trying to put it all out of my head.  It is easy to speculate and drive yourself crazy over-analyzing your application and trying to figure out what is going on in an admission person’s head.  I am trying to remember that I cannot change my application.  I did my best and I cannot control the decisions so I might as well enjoy the end of my Senior year before I go back to being at the bottom of the food chain as a freshman.

Preparing for Launch Day

Saturday is Launch Day for Project 351 and for months now I have been preparing to lead my Service Hero Team and my ALCer mentee through a day of service.

What is Project 351?  Project 351 is one of the most amazing organizations and one of the hardest to explain. Each year, an eighth grade ambassador from every community in Massachusetts is selected for their service and leadership potential. As a former ambassador and current member of the founding Alumni Leadership Council (ALC), I have had the incredible opportunity to help guide the direction of the organization and mentor new ambassadors each year with their Project 351 service projects. I enjoy providing advice to ambassadors such as how to advertise for clothing collections and connect with food pantries for food drives. The ALC gathers at leadership summits as well as teleconferences in order to brainstorm ways to engage ambassadors in service and to plan Launch Day and Reunion. During Launch Day and Reunion, we each lead our team of ambassadors through team-building exercises and guide them through a day of community service.

At Launch Day we gather at the State House or in Faneuil Hall in the morning.  Throughout the years I have heard from inspirational speakers like Governor Patrick, Governor Baker, Bill Richard, Senator Seth Moulton, Robert Kraft, and others.  Then we go out to service sites throughout the city painting murals, creating scarves, and packaging meals for the homeless.  We then come back together to celebrate our service.

This year all ALC members who are Seniors in high school are on a council within the council called the Senior Leadership Council.  I was partnered this year with a younger ALC member to help her lead our team of ambassadors during Launch Day.

I have been going to Launch Day since 8th grade.  I am so excited but also sad because this is my last Launch Day.  I'll save my tears though for our Reunion; the last Project 351 event I will ever attend.

Let January End, Let It End, Let It End!

I cannot overstate just how excited I am for it to be February.  Right now, there is so much to do as the semester comes to a close and by February all this stress and worrying will be over.

Semester 1 grades are so important because they are sent to colleges and are the most recent representation of your academic abilities.  As the semester winds down, there are more and more tests and assignments that need to be squeezed in before the end of quarter 2 in addition to the midterms.  I cannot believe that this is the last time I will have to take exams in high school.  Obviously these are not going to be the last exams I ever take since in college midterms and finals actually make up the largest portion on one’s grade, but I cannot believe it was 3 years ago that I was taking midterms for the first time.

Besides quarter 2 and semester 1 being over, by the time it is February all my college applications will be submitted.  My last application is due February 1st and the minute I hit send, I will sigh a huge breath of relief.  Every year of high school has been a delicate balancing act between extracurricular activities and schoolwork.  This year has been even harder because I have had to balance college applications, extracurricular activities, and school work.  I do not want my grades to slip because semester 1 grades are important to colleges, but at the same time I want to make sure I am putting careful thought into every single supplemental essay I write for colleges.  These supplemental essays seem endless and are extremely time consuming.  Some questions ask why you want to attend the college, some ask about your extracurricular activities, and some ask fun questions like “What’s your favorite word and why?”  

Finally, I am most excited for February because of all the fun that awaits me.  In February I will be going on vacation during February break which is in stark contrast to what I did over December break: college applications.  February also marks the return of my favorite show on television, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.  Now that I am 18 I am old enough to enter the “lottery” to try and get tickets to see the show taped live in New York!

I cannot wait to get through January to the paradise that awaits me in February.

Thoughts on The GOP Debate

This week we talked a lot about politics.  Yet another GOP debate occurred this week and our class enjoyed arguing and discussing the candidates and their policy ideas.  For my blog post I am going to dare to post my thoughts on this week’s debate.  I want to clarify from the start that if you disagree with me, that is perfectly fine and I completely respect your opinions.

In our class we have students with opposing ideologies who vehemently disagree with one another, yet they manage to discuss and debate different issues with respect.  The amount of disrespect, and irony during the debate was almost as depressing as the proposed plans to carpet bomb citizens in order to take out Isis and to shoot down Russian planes if they enter a no-fly zone.

At the beginning of the debate, Governor Kasich said that his daughter was uninterested in politics because of all the fighting and yelling.  He called for unity between candidates and the two political parties.  Right after he called for people to start working together and stop yelling at each other, the camera cut to Governor Christie who began saying “America has been betrayed.  We’ve been betrayed by the leadership Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have provided this country”.  This comment seemed so ironic after Governor Kasich had just finished pleading for unity between Democrats and Republicans.  

The main focus of this GOP debate of course was national security after the events in Paris and San Bernardino.  Each candidate had a slightly different plan for keeping Americans safe, but one point all the candidates seemed to agree on was that our military is weak and must be strengthened.  Perhaps I am young and naive, but I do not understand how our military can be so weak when in 2014 the total amount spent on national defense was $613.6 billion.  The projected amount that the government will spend on the military for 2015 is $598.5 billion dollars2.  While the government also spends billions of dollars on other programs, the government still spends the most on the military.  The projected amount spent on the military in 2015 would account for 54% of all federal discretionary spending, and I think this statistic is best illustrated by this pie chart2.

It should also be noted that the amount the United States spends on the military is far greater than many other major countries combined which is also best illustrated by a graph for the year 2014.

The candidates never mentioned statistics or data that backs up their claim that the military is “weak”.  Some candidates talked about military equipment being old and out of date.  If the government truly needs to update military equipment, perhaps the money allotted to military spending could be budgeted better.

While the candidates all attempted to make various points during the debate, most of them were based on this presumption that the military is underfunded, which based on the data, just seems to simply not be the case.

The most important thing, however, that I took away from the debate is that Governor Kasich really enjoys playing Fruit Ninja.  

1http://www.pogo.org/our-work/straus-military-reform-project/defense-budget/2014/total-us-national-security-spending.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/

2https://www.nationalpriorities.org/campaigns/military-spending-united-states/

My Wish List

Each week for the past few weeks we have had the luxury of being able to write about whatever we want in our blog posts.  Nevertheless, each week I try to relate my posts to something happening in class.  This week I have decided to take this freedom to write about something I want for Christmas.

In A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, all Mary (Woolf’s narrator) wants is money and a room of her own in order to write fiction.  Money is a tangible item that one can obtain, but if one is a woman like Mary in the early 20th century, it is hard to obtain money on one’s own without a husband or a father.  A room of one’s own could possibly be considered a tangible thing.  A physical room with walls is a tangible thing, but the idea of a room of one’s own is not a tangible item.  The desire for privacy is intangible.  It cannot be bought.

As we get closer and closer to Christmas, everyone in my family keeps asking for my Christmas Wish List.  They want to know what to buy me.  As a child my list would go on for pages and pages with items like Chat Nows, Tamagotchis, Webkinz, a digital camera, and a karaoke machine.  This year however I have no list.  There are many things I really want, but none of them are tangible items that can be bought.  It is aggravating when the things one desires no longer can be bought at Target.

The number one item on my Wish List this year is an acceptance letter to one of my top choice colleges.  Even just one acceptance letter to one of my dream colleges would vindicate years of balancing schoolwork, homework, and extracurricular activities.  I care deeply about academic achievement, and I am the type of person who stays up until two in the morning in order to complete all of my homework and study for tests in order to achieve the best possible grades.  For the past four years (and even in middle and elementary school) I have stressed and worried about grades.  I have worked as hard as I can forgoing friends, sleep, and fun just to do well in school.  I have heard over and over that “It doesn’t matter where you go to school.  It matters what you do wherever you go.”  I understand that this is mostly true, and I am sure that no matter where I go, as long as I work hard, I will be able to achieve whatever I want and have a great life.  However, while I have certainly learned a lot by working as hard as possible, getting into just one great school would feel like a reward and recognition of all my efforts.  Unfortunately, an acceptance letter to an amazing college will not be under the tree this year, no matter how badly my parents would like to fulfill my wishes and give it to me.  

College Applications and A Room of One's Own

A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.  This is the thesis of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own.  Her essay attempts to make points that prove why a woman needs money and why she needs privacy in order to write fiction.  So far in class, we have read about why a woman needs a room of her own.  Each time Woolf’s narrator, Mary  wants to find a quiet place to think or begins to think, she is interrupted.  Woolf writes in a stream of consciousness, which helps demonstrate the narrator being interrupted in the middle of her thought process.

While I personally have never attempted to write fiction, I have and am currently writing many college essays.  While the entire point of Woolf’s thesis is to discuss the inequities and challenges women attempting to write fiction face, I want to discuss the challenges that high school seniors face when applying to college.  I would argue that her thesis slightly altered applies to the college application process.  My thesis would be that “A (man or woman) must have money and a room of one’s own if he/she is to successfully apply to college”.

A high school student primarily needs money.  In order to apply to college one needs to have SAT or ACT scores.  Most students take these standardized tests two or three times in order to achieve desirable scores.  If one cannot afford to take these tests, the colleges one will be able to apply to will be very limited.  Most students as I said will retake the exams and will take the two different exams to see which one they can score better on.  Again, it costs money to take multiple exams.  It costs $29 to take the ACT.  It costs an additional $14 to take the writing test portion which many schools require.  If you sign up late it costs an additional $19.  The SAT costs $54.50.  If someone cannot access the internet and wants to register by phone, that will cost an additional $15.  If one needs to change the date or location or register late, that will cost an additional $28.  If one wants to apply to an elite university, it is necessary to take at least two or three SAT subject tests.  It costs $26 for the first test and $18 for each other test taken on a single day.  While each individual fee may not seem like a lot, it can add up quickly.  Fee waivers are offered for students who absolutely cannot afford the tests, however; many students who succeed on standardized tests take expensive preparatory classes and buy study materials.  Even if a student is able to have the fee for the actual exam waived, the student may not be able to afford preparatory materials, and their score may be lower than someone of approximately the same academic ability who was able to buy preparatory materials.

In addition to the cost of standardized testing, students must also pay an application fee when applying to a college which often ranges from $50-$80.  As college becomes more and more competitive, many students are applying to more and more colleges to ensure entrance into a university that is a match for them.  If a student wants to apply to even 8 schools, this can cost upwards of $400-$640.  It is necessary to have money in order to be accepted to college.

One also needs a room of one’s own.  As applying to multiple colleges becomes easier and easier with the Common Application, many schools are adding supplemental essays to see if students are truly interested in their universities and to see how well they “fit” the school.  There are also additional essays if one wants to apply to an Honors program or Honors college and additional essays if one wants to apply for scholarship money.  The number of essays one has to complete can become overwhelming quickly.  In order to write so many thoughtful essays, one truly needs a room of one’s own.  Not only is it important to find a quiet place so one’s thoughts are not interrupted as one tries to brainstorm and craft the perfect essay, but it is also important to be alone.  It is vital that these essays are a true reflection of the applicant and are not influenced by friends or family.  One must be truthful and honest and write what one actually thinks, instead of what someone else thinks they should think, or what someone else thinks the college is looking for.  If one is not alone during the writing process, the essays may become tainted by others’ ideas.  Colleges often say that they can tell when someone else has helped the applicant write an essay, and that it is a reason for them to reject an applicant.

Virginia Woolf faced two major struggles as a woman writing fiction, and we as college-bound high school seniors currently face the same two struggles as we apply to college; a need for money and a need to be alone.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and Feminism

Tonight I went to a movie on opening night; something I have never done before.  If you have not seen the latest Hunger Games movie, SPOILER ALERT!  You have been forewarned.

This week in class, we have been reading A Rose For Emily by William Faulkner and analyzing the short story using feminist criticism.  As I watched The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, I tried to also watch for examples of feminism.  The entire Hunger Games series, especially this final movie, is clearly a part of the Third Wave of Feminism.

The protagonist of the movie is Katniss Everdeen, a young female, living in a dystopian society.  She is a strong female character that holds power in society over not only the rebels but the capitol.  As the “Mockingjay” she represents the movement for change in the corrupted society.  All the rebels hold great respect for Katniss and all she has done in the games and for the fight against the Capitol.  When she walks into a district that is preparing for the war, everyone immediately holds up three fingers as a sign of respect.  The Capitol is the corrupted but powerful government that is controlling and ruining the lives of everyone in the districts.  The Capitol is scared of almost no one, but views Katniss as a serious threat to their totalitarian state, as she has become a symbol of the fight against the Capitol to all of the districts.  Katniss, a woman, is truly empowered as she holds so much influence and power in society.

She also does not need “saving” by a man.  Actually, it is the men in the movie that rely on her and need her help.  Often in stories and movies, it is the female character that is portrayed as the weak one who needs saving by a man but, Peeta, who is one of the male leads is taken in and brainwashed by the Capitol; not Katniss, the female lead.  Katniss throughout the movie is able to help Peeta overcome his trauma as he recovers from being brainwashed.  She is always there for him to help remind him of who he is and help him distinguish between what is real and what is false.  She reminds Peeta for example that his favorite color is orange, but specifically the orange color of a sunset.  

When the leader of Katniss’ unit in the war dies, he entrusts her with the device that finds all the dangerous pods.  Whoever is in charge of this device must lead the group.  He could have turned over the leadership of the group to one of the many men in the unit, but instead gives Katniss, the woman, the responsibility.

The two “love interests “in the movie, Gale and Peeta, both vie for Katniss’ affections.  Instead of both men competing for her love like in a romantic knight’s tale or choosing amongst themselves who will “get” Katniss, they give the power to her.  They both acknowledge that they like Katniss, but decide that Katniss will be the one who gets to choose which of them she wants to be with.  The female protagonist has the power to choose rather than the male characters.

The defining moment for Katniss that truly exudes pure feminist power is at the end of the film.  She is the one who is supposed to kill Snow, the former, corrupt leader of the Capitol.  However, the new President of Panem is already exhibiting behavior that indicates that she is going to become just as ruthless and corrupt as Snow.  When Katniss prepares to shoot Snow as planned, she uses the opportunity to kill the new President which leads to all the former rebels also killing Snow.  This entire event leads to Panem becoming a true democracy with a real election that will ultimately lead to a brighter and less corrupt future for all citizens.  The corrupt and totalitarian world is ultimately overturned as a direct result of Katniss’ actions.  

Katniss is a strong and powerful leader and woman in the dystopian society of Panem.  This last installment of the Hunger Game film series especially showed the power of feminism and the benefits of not having a patriarchal society, but rather a society that values people based on their abilities and personal qualities.