Katie's Blog

There are almost 100 members of the Hendrix Experience Ambassadors Team (HEAT). That means almost one-tenth of Hendrix students are involved in helping prospective students choose whether Hendrix is the right place for them. We show them around the campus, introduce them to our friends, let them sleep on our couches. It's a tough job, hanging out with all those cool high schoolers, but someone's got to do it.

We don't get paid for the hours we put in, but we do get points. At the end of each semester, we all get together for an auction and use our points to bid for things. In the past I've won coffee cups and gift certificates, but this was the best auction ever. My friend Jake and I are both staying in Conway over the summer to work for the College, so we pooled our money and bought summer-enhancing prizes: a beach towel, a game of Jenga, a badminton and horseshoes set, and an absolutely enormous bottle of "Fan Yang's Gazillion Bubbles."

I'll be working at the Office of Communications this summer, writing articles about the students doing Odyssey projects this summer. I genuinely enjoy working for the Comm office, and I'm really excited about the projects they have lined up for me, but I was also looking for a good reason not to go home. I love my parents and siblings, but it's hard to go back to Kirkwood and realize how much my high school friends have changed. After a remarkably lame winter break, when I realized all that my old friends like to do is get drunk and play Rock Band, I promised I wouldn't subject myself to more of that.

I'm also looking forward to interacting with Conway on a deeper level. As it is, I leave campus maybe once a week, to get dinner on Saturday nights or to buy some necessities at Target. Even after living here for a year and a half, I can count on my fingers the number of street names I know. I'm hoping at least to get to know enough to count on my toes.

Another exciting thing about Conway is that I recently discovered I have relatives here. She's something like a second cousin once-removed -- someone rather distantly related -- but she has a black lab named Harry Potter, so she must be cool. We have yet to meet.

In order to prepare for summer -- and to procrastinate on studying for finals -- I've been buying books.  I went out to Hastings book store yesterday and picked up a $5 copy of A Little Princess to add to my collection of cheap summer reads. It reminded me of my last Saturday in London, when I walked to the local bargain bookstore for the last time and bought the book I would read on the flight home. That time I chose A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, but I ended up reading only about 10 pages on the plane. So it goes.  (I finished all 600+ pages during winter break, while my friends played drinking games and Rock Band.)

Also on my list are The Red Passport by Katherine Shonk and The Discomfort Zone by Jonathan Franzen.  Each was on sale for $1 at the Hendrix bookstore.  They may be remarkably bad, but at least they were also remarkably cheap.  Perhaps when I finish these, I'll check out some from the Hendrix suggested reading list. Any other recommendations, anyone?

Yesterday was the release party for the Aonian, the Hendrix literary magazine. I was on the staff last year, but this year my going abroad for a semester precluded me being involved in most year-long activities like that. It seems to have been for the best, though, because three of the thousands of pictures I took in Europe ended up in the magazine.

They actually ran in chronological order, which was surely unintentional on the editors’ part. "Berlin," page 10., was taken in the Reichstag parliament building in Berlin, in early August. (I'm a very creative namer.)

“Brussels," page 34, was taken in Brussels, Belgium, in late August.  This gorgeously rusty door was on the very sketchy street where my hostel was located.

One I never gave a name ran on page 56.  It was taken in London, in front of Westminster Abbey, in late November.

The last one is probably my favorite picture I took in Europe.  It reminds me of the bag scene in the movie American Beauty – probably my favorite movie scene of all time. A teenage boy shows his girlfriend a video he took of a plastic bag blowing around in the wind.  His narration of the video, which he terms “the most beautiful thing I’ve ever filmed,” is:

It was one of those days when it’s a minute away from snowing, and there’s this electricity in the air – you can almost hear it, right? And this bag was just dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes.  That’s the day I realized there was this entire life behind things, and this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know that there was no reason to be afraid, ever.

Video’s a poor excuse, I know, but it helps me remember.  I need to remember.  Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart is just going to cave in.

I love that, and I love that my photo reminds me of it.  Apparently Rita Henry, the judge of the 2008 Aonian Visual Art Competition in Photography, liked my photo too. She gave it first place in the competition. I was awarded a certificate yesterday at the Honors Day ceremony, and I got to talk about my photograph at the Aonian distribution reception.

When I got back to my room after the reception, I read the Aonian from cover to cover, starting with page 70 and working backwards, the way I like to read magazines.  It inspired in me a feeling I haven’t had in about six years: the desire to write a poem.  An almost burning desire to cut through the prosaic nature of day-to-day existence, to scorn sentences and reach for the shorter, truer form of poetry.

I didn’t do it, though.  I wrote an Anthropology essay instead.  So it goes.

Hendrix makes a big deal of the fact that you can "be the change" in the Hendrix community, and that it's easy to start your own student organization. The how-to document has even been posted online, on the Student Organizations website. I haven't started any clubs on campus, but I was the lucky beneficiary of one of these new organizations on Saturday night.

My friend Katie called me around four that afternoon, wondering if I would like to take her spot at the Culinary Club dinner.  As someone who is not particularly adept at cooking anything more complicated than grilled cheese, I hesitated.  Cooking itself is scary enough, and cooking in front of other people -- especially the kind of people who would be motivated enough to join a culinary club -- sounded awful.

Of course, my stomach and my pocketbook got the best of me.  The cafeteria doesn't serve dinner on Saturday nights, so students are left to fend for themselves.  How could I turn down a free meal?  Using that same "let's save a few bucks" rationale, I roped my roommate Emily into joining me.

The club meets in the kitchen of the Hendrix cafeteria, which is reason enough in itself to show up to at least one meeting.  Freshman Kevin Watford runs the show, assigning pairs of students to work on the various dishes that will compose the meal.  Hendrix's certified executive chef Scott Pickens oversees the cooking, to make sure no one burns the building down. He also taste-tests the food at the end of the night and offers his commentary.  More on that later.

The menu for the evening included baked chicken, some special kind of broccoli, and a lima bean dish, with cinnamon fritters for dessert.  Since I'm a vegetarian, Emily and I were assigned to make the beans -- a task which is harder than you would imagine.  The recipe, which was published in Cooking Light magazine, calls for thirteen ingredients!  That makes it by far the most complicated dish I've ever even thought about making.

Emily and I boiled the beans, diced and sauteed ten cups of vegetables, and simmered sauces.  We improvised spice measurements, because the cafeteria makes all its dishes in such large amounts that they have no need for a tablespoon measure.  We even reassessed the recommended cooking time, cutting it almost in half.  The result was an impressively tasty, if not very beautiful, lima bean casserole.

When Scott came to try our dish, he paused.  He wafted the aroma toward his nose and complimented the fragrance -- a good start!  After he took a bite, he commented that the beans were very well cooked and that the sauce had a pleasing, sun-dried tomato taste to it.  Emily and I were happy not to burned the kitchen down, chopped any appendages off, or have burned or under-cooked or over-spiced or otherwise ruined our dish.  With the compliments, we were glowing.

The other dishes were equally well executed.  The chicken was golden brown, the broccoli was supple but not mushy, and the sugary fritters were worth eating as an appetizer (which I did).

After eating, we spent about half an hour cleaning up the various messes we had made.  I washed so many dishes that my back started to hurt, while other students sanitized counters, mopped floors, and put the clean dishes away.  From handing out the recipes to drying off the last dish, we spent about four hours in the kitchen.

This was the culinary club's last real meeting of the year, but they will continue on alternate Saturday nights throughout next year, and hopefully long into the future.

Monday afternoon, Hendrix alumnus Doug Blackmon visited his alma mater to talk with students about journalism and his new book, Slavery by Another Name.  Now the Atlanta bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal, about twenty years ago Blackmon was an English major here in Conway.  Eight students gathered in the Private Dining Room, Monday, to listen to his career advice.  He emphasized the value of a liberal arts education, which teaches journalists how to analyze and interpret the events around them, over a traditional journalism education.

Blackmon himself never studied journalism in college, nor did he pursue a master's degree. Instead, he focused his efforts on on-the-job training.  Throughout his time at the WSJ, which is known for its in-depth analytical reporting, Blackmon repeatedly covered the complex issues of race in American society.  This work led to his new non-fiction book, Slavery by Another Name, which was just reviewed very favorably in the New York Times.  Here's an excerpt:

"...'Slavery by Another Name' becomes relentless and fascinating. It exposes what has been a mostly unexplored aspect of American history (though there have been dissertations and a few books from academic presses). It creates a broad racial, economic, cultural and political backdrop for events that have haunted Mr. Blackmon and will now haunt us all."

During his visit to campus, Blackmon stayed in the guest apartment in the Murphy House. That apartment, which is off-limits to students, intrigues me.  The Murphy House itself is so cozy and comfortable that I'm convinced the apartment must be luxurious and amazing.  It has become my life goal to grow up and be cool enough that Hendrix invites me back to campus and lets me stay in the Murphy apartment.  With alumni as impressive as Blackmon (and Chicago Tribune editor Mark Jacobs, who visited a few weeks ago) setting such good examples, I'm convinced it can't be that hard.

If you have never read a Hendrix admissions publication, you might not know how important the cafeteria is to our campus. The admissions website has an entire webpage devoted to the glory of the Caf.  (Click here, and then click on the picture of the french fries to see it.  It's cute.) 

A large percentage of Hendrix traditions have to do with the cafeteria.  For example, if you pick up one of the eight sparkly green Disco Trays left over from the '60s, you're guaranteed good luck for the day.  Plus, on your birthday the cafeteria ladies will bring you a cake and call out, "Hey, y'all!  Today is ______'s birthday!  Do you want to help us?"  They proceed to sing a special Hendrix birthday song, and all the students clap along.

One of my favorite cafeteria traditions, though, is the theme day.  There are about a dozen each year, but we've had two in the past week!  Last Thursday the cafeteria honored the retiring professors by serving their favorite foods during lunch.  Today was a more traditional theme day, the annual Rock 'n' Roll Special.

This awesome car was parked outside the entrance to the caf.  My friend Harmony and I couldn't help sitting down for the photo opportunity.  The cafeteria itself was also decked out, with paper music notes dangling from the ceiling.  The themed food included chili foot-longs, French fries, BBQ smokies, onion rings, cheddar cheese jalepeños, and more. The best part is that a live band played old rock favorites in the middle of the cafeteria.

Past theme days have included an Academy Awards luncheon, with extra-fancy food and free Oscar statues. Several of the cafeteria ladies walked around serving hors d'oeurves and fake champagne (sparkling grape juice). Other classics include the Jimmy Buffett lunch, Fall of the Wall day, the Valentine's Special, the Halloween Special, the Thanksgiving special, the Luau luncheon, and more. My personal favorite is the breakfast-for-dinner day that happens twice yearly, on the night before finals begin.  There's nothing like eating French toast and scrambled eggs when your brain is scrambled from studying French.

I just heard the good news: next fall, I will be spending the semester at the Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM), a medium-sized liberal arts university in northern Mexico.  Although I really enjoyed my semester with Hendrix-in-London, I felt I would be cheating myself if I didn't spend at least a semester in a Spanish-speaking country.  I've been taking Spanish classes since sixth grade, and I really want to make the leap to fluency.

I will be studying in Mexico through ISEP -- the International Student Exchange Program.  I also applied to schools in Argentina and Chile, but UDEM was my first choice.  While taking ANTH 230 Cultures of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands this spring, I realized just how much I didn't know about our southern neighbor.  I'm especially excited to be studing in Mexico this fall, because I feel sure that immigration issues will play a large role in the 2008 election.

Through my anthro class, I've also become interested in the issue of crypto-Jews, especially the Sephardic (Spanish) Jews who were forced to convert to Catholocism but who secretly retained their Jewish traditions.  Many crypto-Jews fled the Spanish Inquisition by heading to colonize the New World, and Monterrey (as well as the wider state of Nuevo León) became home for many of them. 

In fact, according to the incredibly reliable (or maybe not ...) Wikipedia, "Monterrey was founded by Luis Carvajal y de la Cueva who although had converted to Roman Catholicism, in 1590 was accused by the Spanish Inquisition of heresy. It was officially found that members of his extended family had reverted to Judaism and he was exiled from the territory then known as New Spain. A large portion of his extended family, 121 people, was executed in Mexico City in 1596. They included most of the original settlers of Monterrey."

The ideas are just starting to come together for me, but I'm hoping to study Mexican crypto-Judaism as an Odyssey project while I'm abroad.  Let the research begin!