“Call it idealism but most of my colleagues at Bates spoke about wanting to do something with their Bates degree to effect transformative change.  In fact, I’ve actually been recruited to head up the Development Office of my old roommate’s nonprofit once she gets it started.  Generation Y is redefining what success means and our definition, though still mired in monetary amounts (money has always been a status symbol and I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon), relates more to our feeling fulfilled more than simply making a living.  We want to have personal lives, we want to enjoy ourselves, and things are simpler in some ways than they were for our parents.  Though exponentially more difficult in other ways don’t get me wrong.” Read more.

“Art Commons is a student art space that stemmed from the Art-In, a demonstration of how the empty Old Commons building could be a perfect place for student art. After the art-in, Bates gave us a chance with Rowe Room, and we had a big opening during short term where tons of students painted the walls and made the space feel more lived in and comfortable. This year, after meeting with a lot of deans, and a lot of different committees we finally got access and the green light to get Art Commons active in the 2009-2010 school year.” Read more.

“…moral of this story, there are two: 1) Don’t always go for the cheap.  Sometimes the cheap gives you your inhaler for the price of two cashmere cardigans.  And don’t always trust the people who should know this information (like doctors) to actually know it or actually care.  You’ve got to be on top of things in the post-graduate world.  I find that many people don’t like to help me out or make things easy for me unless it’s my parents because they love me or Jordan because he loves me and I cook the dinners.  2) Educate yourself.  I know health insurance and health plans have been all over the news lately and one can get sick of hearing about it.  However, it is a big deal.  And listening to NPR passively while you’re cleaning the bathroom doesn’t automatically mean you understand the workings of health insurance plans.  Trust me, I know.” Read more.

“Wednesday of last week I attended a documentary as part of the Latin American Film Series here at Bates, titled: “The Other Side of Immigration”. The film consisted of interviews of rural Mexican farmers and presented the U.S.-Mexican immigration issue from the perspective of these small-town people. The director of the film was on hand and held an informative question and answer session after the documentary was shown…” Read more.

“Between Black Feminist Thought and Race and U.S. Women’s Movements, I spend about 6 hours each week discussing the importance of feminist theory in the context of the societal normalities that much of the United States holds dear. These converstations take place in small classes, where the students are seated in a round table manner…Like Public Discourse, these courses have facilitated conversations about the gender-related, newsworthy events of the 2008 Presidential Election, the debates on South African runner Caster Semesnya’s gender, and Morehouse College’s new dress code.” Read more.

(Image: http://www1.essence.com/news_entertainment/news/articles/south_african_runner_must_prove_gender)

]]> http://bateslife.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/happy-foliage/feed/ 0 Bateslife leaves http://bateslife.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/its-not-easy-being-green/ http://bateslife.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/its-not-easy-being-green/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:49:43 +0000 Bateslife http://bateslife.wordpress.com/?p=780 ]]>

“You’ve probably seen the video of the impromptu dance performed by our Bates environmental activists, in support of the 350 cause, from a few weeks ago (Here it is, if you’ve missed it, or just want to watch the awesome-ness of it again!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_cjmt0EA-o&feature=player_embedded). For those wondering what 350 stands for, it is the standard safe upper limit for the concentrated amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As our planet is continuously being affected by the crisis of global warming due to burning of fossil fuels, the threat of environmental chaos looms just above the horizon; in fact, we face extinction if we exceed 350…An art exhibit was also created in Commons to showcase and document the efforts of Batesies for 350.” Read more.

“Recently I made the decision that I needed to revamp my resume after reading the advice provided by a few blogs and career books.  Apparently, my resume wasn’t doing enough bragging.  I read that recruiters usually only take about 10 seconds to look at a resume and if they don’t see anything that catches their eye in those 10 measly seconds, they move on…Basically the rule of thumb I used for my resume revamping was this: don’t list your duties, but highlight your accomplishments.  Now, it is extremely difficult to actually successfully do this on a resume for a few reasons.” Read more.

“We got there Wednesday night, and we were staying in a private 9-person room at a hostel. Yes, that means three sets of triple bunk beds…We spent our days fighting the weather, which wasn’t too great, seeing the sights, walking the streets and even examining exotic insects at the Botanical Gardens. We spent our nights running around the city seeing concerts and meeting new people.” Read more.

“Remember the days when you were young- when every autumn you’d wait patiently for enough fallen foliage to collect in your backyard, rake them up, then off to dive into a sea of colorful, crunchy, and cushy leaves?” Read more