figment1990

YES I am in England, greatest country in the world (or at least tied for greatest with a dozen or so other countries).

Expect lots, and lots, and lots of new pictures.

Only give me some time, because I am here to do work and that takes up quite a bit of time.

The boyfriend gave me two roses for valentine's day they're very pretty.

expect pictures within the week

also....I love snow from the window. And I admire people who can photograph it. But I am just not one of them...

There's been a large uproar on campus recently - it started when our paper, the Diamondback, printed an article about the declining numbers of black and latino students enrolling in our school. After that, the provost (an man whom I dislike named Farvardin) removed the position of Associate Provost of Equity and Diversity, a position held by one Cordell Black. Ever since, there's been an explosion of "DIVERSITY" on our campus, and especially in the Diamondback (not a week goes by without someone writing in about diversity). And today, I received an email from the history department asking me to fill out a survey. Apparently some student at Harvard is conducting some study re: diversity and how students feel about it.

"3. Are you Hispanic/Latino (including Spain)? yes/no

4. Regardless of your answer to the prior question, please select one or
more of the following ethnicities that best describe you:

American Indian or Alaska Native (including all Original Peoples of the
Americas)
Asian (including Indian subcontinent and Philippines)
Black or African American (including Africa and Caribbean)
Nataive Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (Original Peoples)
White (including Middle Eastern)"

See, I hate questions like this. I really, really hate them. So I decided to be a smartass and check 1, 2, 3 and 5 (there was no way I could justify Native - sorry, "Nataive" - Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander).

"7. If you marked more than one racial category in question 4, in your opinion, which single category most accurately describes you?

None-I AM an "original people of America", since I was born here. I am also Asian - my family has distant, distant roots in the mongolian empire [Thank you, ELT project!]. I am also African American, since all human beings originated from Africa and I am an American. And I am considered a "white" person, even though its really more of a pinkish-peach tone."

"8. Do you think it is important to have racial diversity on your campus? yes/no
No.

9. Why or why not?
Because diversity encompasses more than just race. It includes religion, ideas and culture. I think that on a college campus - a place devoted to furthering one's education - its more important to concentrate on a diversity of thought and culture than it is to have racial diversity. I think that when you choose to define diversity purely in terms of what color someone's skin is, you're promoting outdated ideals."

11. Do you think your school should consider race as a factor in the admissions process? yes/no
No.

12. Why or why not?
Because the school wants a more "racially diverse" campus - i.e., they want more black and latino students. As such, they will do their best to admit more students of those demographics, sacrificing the standards of academic integrity as they do so ("Hey! This applicant is black!" "Yes, but their GPA is a 2.1." "So? They're black! We need more black kids! Accepted!").

The point of racial equality is to treat people of different races EQUALLY. When you consider race as a factor in the admissions process, you treat some races differently than others (see above satirical conversation). This is blatantly unfair. Race should not be a deciding factor - students should be admitted based solely on their high school academic records, their SAT scores and their essays. THIS is a reflection of who they are as a person - NOT their race.

And dear God, I hope someone intelligent sees this and passes it on, because its about damn time this was said."

See, I've been wanting to say this for a long time. Every time I read one of those Diamondback editorials with students arguing that we're not diverse enough as a school, I want to scream. Since I read the paper in the Diner for breakfast, surrounded by other people, I can't. We have a population of 35,000 students (undergrad and graduate). We employ God knows how many teachers, TAs, instructors and researchers. There are student groups for almost every imaginable thing. Native American? There's a group for you! Some denomination of Christianity, Judaism or Islam? There are groups for you! Fan of rocks? Join geology club! We have a Fencing Club, a Ballroom dancing group, an orchestra that plays only video game music (BTW, we have a concert on the 12, come see us), a parkour group AND FREAKING QUIDDITCH. This school offers classes on every conceivable race, religion or school of thought. How is this not diverse?

Why does "diversity" mean race? Why does it become an issue of skin type percentages? A person can be diverse in so many ways; by limiting the definition to "race", a school can cripple its student population! A diverse student is one who has been exposed to and comprehends numerous cultures and ideas, not one who attended a school with X% Latino students.

What I'm ultimately trying to say is this: the point of college is to take education beyond the basic curriculum and out of the classroom. Its purpose is to expose students to experiences, cultures and ways of thinking that he or she would ordinarily not be exposed to. When a school stops focusing on diversity as a whole and only focuses on diversity of race, it limits that essential education of its students. Diversity is not a bad thing, but thinking that diversity means multiple skin colors IS bad. Choosing to focus only on that one aspect means that students also focus only on that aspect, and forget about all the other ways a person can be diverse - which is nothing short of tragic in this day and age.

I left my camera at school.

*headdesk*

The Germans don't have thanksgiving, so there's no real word for it, so I'm making one up: Dankfest!

I'm so exited for this Thanksgiving: I'm going home in just a few hours, which is making me all sorts of excited. I've run out of pictures, so I'm thrilled to be going home where I can find things to photograph and set up little still lifes to take pictures of.

Also, home is where my clay is. I haven't sculpted in YEARS, I miss it so much! I think I stopped because I was running out of money and because my workshop was the basement, which our dog converted into her bathroom (yes, ew).

Also also, I'm big on scrapbooking lately. I should take pictures of the pages I make and put them up here, too.

Also also also, I've been sketching a lot in the past few weeks. I wish I had some way of putting them up here but alas, my printer at school doesn't have a scanner and my printer at home has a scanner that has never worked, ever.

ANYWAY

Back to thanksgiving.

Instead of pumpkin pie this year, we're having pumpkin cheesecake instead! My parents bought a 15 pound turkey for 4 people, which means delicious leftovers that I get to take back to school.

HOORAY!!!