More WaPo Love

Continuing from yesterday; all the stuff I wanted to share before going off on the Front Runners tangent:

Post retail reporter Ylan Q. Mui became a holiday temp at Sam's Club for a day, and here's her evaluation (it ran yesterday). I can't explain why, but I really liked this piece. I've read a lot of her articles, and it's nice getting a glimpse at the person behind the byline.

Today's Business front has some tips (seven to be exact) to get your new computer running right, and then five things that should be on everyone's computer. All this computer talk, coupled with the fact that my mom found a trojan on my dad's computer, made me rush to mine and back everything up. As quickly as I can, I'll explain my beef with computers: You see, I'm a pack rat in real life, meaning I throw absolutely nothing away (though I've gotten a lot better over the past few years. This summer I actually brought myself to recycle all my old algebra II notes and chemistry lab write-ups, though it was quite the tearful good bye). So, when it comes to saving things on the computer, I feel the need to back up and save every single thing I type, even though we all know I'm never going to look at it again. The other thing that drives me crazy is that even though I'm not a terribly organized person in real life, on the computer, I want everything to be hyper-categorized in folders arranged by date and everything. You don't know how many hours I've wasted organizing it all, only to find out I messed it up somehow, and have to do it over again. (Man my eyes are going to haaate me for making them stare at this screen for so long). Okay, phew, enough with the rant; now back to interesting articles.

Quarter collectors rejoice! DC will be getting its very own quarter (as will Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.)

And on a side note - the English dork in me had to point out the beauty of this sentence:

"We get snubbed, disrespected, belittled, forgotten, overshadowed and minimized in every way," said WTOP radio political commentator Mark Plotkin, a virtual thesaurus of how the city is disparaged, denigrated, underrated and calumniated.

I love it, just love it.

Complaining about the commercialization of Christmas? Then you may not like this Post piece on the cost of Twelve Days of Christmas. That's right, they found out how much each of the items from the famous carol cost, and it looks like the traditional turtledoves and leaping lords will set you back a little more than $36,000 (Though you may have to bend the rules a bit when it comes to the French hens and the maids-a-milking. Just read the article, you'll see.)

In other, more serious news, Fareed Zakaria's column, The Power of Personality, in this week's Newsweek, which I read at the dentist's office, made an interesting point that I wish other people would understand. America may be the dominant power in today's world, but it certainly isn't the center of the universe. Not everyone thinks like we do, and that is so important for us to understand.

And, on that slightly philosophical note, I'm off. Happy reading!

The Washington Post's "Front Runners"

I love the Washington Post. Granted, it's the paper I've grown up reading it, but I love it nonetheless.

Since the media frenzy over the presidential election began what seems like eons ago, I told myself I wouldn't get caught up in it until 2008 (you know, the actual year in which the election will be taking place). And since the new year is now barreling down on us, I guess it's time for me to strap on my political thinking cap and dive into this mess. Enough with all the speculation, bring on the caucus results and lets get some answers.

But what does that have to do with my love for the Post, you ask? Well, luckily for me, just when I decide to start paying attention, guess what appears in the paper. Last week the Post ran a series called "The Front Runners," profiling the eight leading presidential candidates - three Democrats and five Republicans. Each day for a week, the paper ran a double truck biographical piece ("How (S)He Got Here") and three shorter pieces: "How (S)He Runs," "How (S)He Talks" and "How (S)He Looks" on the candidate of the day. On the last day, the paper also ran shorter pieces on Biden, Dodd, Richardson, Kucinich, Paul and Tancredo. Though I still can't tell you what each individual's plans are for immigration, social security or the war (though there is this extensive quiz on the Post's site that will tell you just that), I enjoyed reading about the people, not the candidates, who want to run my country.

The series wasn't a recap of each campaign's progress, it was a look at the individuals at the center of the campaign. I can look anywhere to find out where Clinton, Obama or Huckabee stand on a specific issue, but this series told me about Hillary and Barack and Mike, where they've come from and how they've gotten here. Sometimes we get so caught up in the debates, the stump speeches, the photo ops that we forget that at one point, these candidates were regular people. They were kids who goofed off in class, they were teenagers who argued with their parents and as much as all this media coverage bothers us regular people, the whole campaign process takes quite a toll on them.

But back to the series. I especially loved the tag clouds. (Here's Romney's, which I found interesting because "woman" wasn't the largest word for Clinton and "black" wasn't the largest word for Obama, but people still seem to characterize Romney by his religion). The Post created these graphics based on survey results where people defined the candidate in a word. This seems like just the type of thing our journalism professors keep telling us we need think about if we want to be successful in this field.

This whole series embodies what how we should be thinking. Yes, there was a paper component, but online, the series used flash graphics, videos, audio and regular slide shows, discussions, and comment boards - all the weapons in the online journalism arsenal. And while I haven't really looked at many of these online-only components, they are at least making use of the medium. So, from a student whose professors keep telling her the internet is the way to go, thanks WaPo for providing me with such a good example.

And on a completely unrelated note - I think I finally understand the meaning of that phrase, oh how does it go, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing? After learning some basic coding in my online class, I keep wanting to overhaul the layout of this blog, but every time I play around with the coding, Blogger's mean red text pops up and I'm left with the regular old layout I started with. *sigh*

Message from the diversity office...

Starting my sophomore year of high school, I got letter after letter from x college and y university each telling me that they had the prettiest campus or the smallest class sizes. I never paid them any mind since they all embodied exactly what I didn't want in a university.

But now the selfless marketing has begun again, only this time it's from schools I've actually heard of pushing their "world class" graduate programs on me via e-mail. And while the messages are irritating, there's one thing about them that has really struck a nerve. Now I'm not one to delude myself into thinking they're sending me messages because they actually think I would be a good student at their school. No, my address was just one of the couple thousand that was randomly selected from their list, right?

Well, not exactly. Apparently, the only reason these schools are showing any interest in me whatsoever is because of something I can't even control. Most of these e-mails, they've been coming from the "Office of Minority Programs," or some other diversity initiative. Say what you want about affirmative action and diversity and whatever, but not only do I find this irritating, it's patronizing.

Why is it that we still need to be doing things like this? Why do universities have to set up special visitation events and campus tours and information sessions for minority students or "students of color," a description I personally detest. What, is white not a color too? Don't tell me you're willing to give me special attention just because my skin is a little darker than yours. You might think you're giving me an "opportunity," but all it tells me is that you think my intelligence and my accomplishments aren't enough. Thanks, but I'd much rather be thrown into the pool with everyone else and be judged solely on my merits. Don't give me something unless I've completely and truly earned it. And being born an Indian doesn't count as earning anything.

I know I may be overreacting slightly, but it bothers me how we sometimes focus so much on things we can't even control. If we have to focus on something, it should be the socioeconomic gap. If you want to give someone a free trip to visit your school, give it to the person who may not otherwise be able to afford it. If you want to talk to someone about grad school, talk to the person who had to work their way through undergrad. Then again, who knows, maybe someone in that situation would find even that patronizing, just as I find this.

As much as I hate to admit it, I know it's there. It almost seems like it sucks to be a white male nowadays because everyone is so hell-bent on being diverse. I know, people say that white males have had their fair share of the spotlight and now its everyone else's turn. But now that we've established that everyone deserves an equal and fair chance, shouldn't we focus on hiring the best person for the job, or admitting the best students to the university, regardless of demographics?

It's a dental conspiracy

Since when has "selling things" been in the job definition of a dentist?

Last Thursday I had my regular cleaning and check-up, and everything was going along just fine until the actual dentist came to do his two second evaluation of my oral status. I've only been going to this particular office for about two or three years now, and of the three dentists at this practice, this guy had never seen me before.

After going through each and every tooth and pointing out to the hygienist, in incomprehensible dental speak, what was wrong with it (way to make my oral self-esteem tank there doc), he asked if I'd ever had braces, which I haven't. He asked if I'd be interested in them, since my front teeth are slightly out of alignment. I gave him my best look of incredulity, as if to say, I'm not an awkward middle schooler; why the heck would I voluntarily become a metal mouth? He went on to explain how nowadays they have invialign, and I could have the braces and nobody would know. Well, doc, that certainly changes my perspective.

Thanks, but no dentist raised this back when I actually was in that formative teeth period, and I'm actually quite pleased with my mouth right now, no matter how out of alignment you say it is.

But that wasn't all. He then said something about seeing an ENT because some canal pops when I open and close my mouth. Well doc, I said with a slight smirk on my face, I actually did see and ENT several months ago because of an ear issue, and he didn't find anything. Dentist responded by saying he could have them do some complicated sounding procedureish test thing, and I just didn't reply. He also talked at some length about teeth grinding, which I know I don't do. By this point I was just thinking, unless there's something of actual dental peril going on in my mouth, please stop asking me questions.

And then he told me some useful, albeit crappy news. I have two tiny cavities that need to be filled. Boo. I don't get it. I didn't get my first cavity until I was about 13, but now it seems like every time I go to the dentist, I have to get something filled. I brush, I even floss every night - how does that stupid sugar still remain? Maybe it's a conspiracy at the office and if you reject their braces ploy, they threaten you with a drill and some sealent. Well, buddy, it won't work on me. I may not enjoy being drilled into, but I'm not one of those who cowers in fear at the mention of a dentist. So there, drill all you want doc, but you can't convince me to get unnecessary things done in my mouth.

Why can't all doctor's visits go as smoothly as the one with my eye doctor last Friday, where I went in, read some letters, got my eyes dilated, read some more letters, and then Doc was like, hey everything looks great, see you next year. Quite uneventful and it makes for a very boring story, yes, but it was straightforward and simple, which, when it comes to doctors, is what you always hope for, right?

Journalism Success

This post-graduate dilemma now has an added twist. A twist that kind of has to do with the VERY BIG NEWS I'm about to reveal. Okay-are you sitting down? Here it (drumroll please) is:

I GOT AN A IN JOURNALISM CLASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not an A minus, mind you, but a solid, I actually-earned-this A.

Okay fine, so Prof may have been right when he told me last Monday after class that I'm really good at this whole reporting thing. And yes, I may now be able to pick up the phone and call complete strangers and ask them a bunch of annoying questions without panicking. But this totally does not help me figure out what the heck to do with myself after graduation. I told prof that, despite my journalistic success, I was thinking about going to grad/law school after graduation. Prof, who got a master's in history just so he could have it, said he could see me doing the law school thing, and suggested I try the whole jour thing for a year, and if I like it, go ahead and get the master's to have it, and if not, then go to law school.

Great - so the option of going straight to work is back on the table again. Even though I still don't think that journalism is necessarily my life's calling (at this point I have absolutely no idea what is). Then again, I shouldn't totally write off journalism until after I've truly worked in it (i.e. until after I've done my journalism internship). Who knows; I might actually enjoy it (and boy would my mind's life planning mechanism be overjoyed to hear that?)

3 papers in 4 days

That, my friends, is why I have been relatively silent for the past few weeks. The semester has ended and while the rest of this university prepares to start exams in about, oh seven hours, I am done. And by done I mean every assignment turned in, stuff moved out of the apartment, me sitting at my real home in my real bed done.

Yes, I've been writing papers since Saturday. And yes, there is so much stuff I meant to blog about but found myself too caught up in the end of the semester crunch to do so. And yes, I will write about all that stuff shortly.

But not tonight. Tonight I'm going to sleep so that I can wake up one more early morning and go pick up my visa. Only then, then can I finally let out that sigh of relief and try to enjoy the next three weeks as much as humanly possible before I board a plane to a foreign country an ocean away and get set for the craziest eight months of my life.

Silence

Silence has a way of sneaking up on you, and when you finally realize it's there, it stops you cold.

Ever since I woke up about 45 minutes ago (I don't have class on Tuesdays), I've been researching the history of the online magazine Salon for a paper I have to write. About a minute ago, I looked up from the computer screen and realized there was absolutely nothing going on around me.

No one is here in the apartment, the fan is off, there's no construction outside, no chatter of students milling about campus. The old light fixtures in the hallway are off, so they aren't buzzing annoyingly. For a second the wind picked up and was making noise outside, but it's gone now.

It's nice to have this brief break, nice to be reminded that no matter how crazy the world gets, it can all actually stop for a few glorious minutes.