Katie's Blog

As it turns out, I did sleep the night of the 19^th, after Albine moved out – but barely.  I tossed and turned and had nightmares. You might too if your only neighbor had just left, and all the furniture had been moved out of the rooms around yours and stacked in the hallways like this:

Yes, that is about two feet of passing space.  It was a slasher film waiting to happen.  Poor Katie Rice goes to brush her teeth and – suddenly – from behind a stack of desks jumps the evil menace with his knife gleaming!  OK, so maybe I have an overactive imagination.  I guess that’s why I’m a writer.

Speaking of being a writer, my summer job is going well!  I’m working for the Communications Office, and I just had a story published on the Hendrix homepage.  Jerry Maldonado, who is also a rising junior, was just named an All-American high jumper, and I had the pleasure of interviewing him for 45 minutes as he drove home from Little Rock to Rockwall, Texas.  We were already acquaintances, thanks to seeing each other almost daily in Journeys and Explorations.  Although my experience with Journeys was really nothing to brag about, I can’t say it didn’t do me any good.  That class introduced me to some of the nicest people I know.

My main task this summer is to interview the recipients of summer Odyssey grants about their travels and experiences.  With the first voyagers recently returned from their adventures, that work is about to start in earnest.  In the mean time I’ve also been working to put together a list of the efforts Hendrix is making to be “green” and sustainable.  It’s surprisingly long, considering that Hendrix doesn’t (yet) promote itself as a particularly eco-friendly school.

One thing we did publicize was the recent removal of a beehive from the ceiling of the aptly named Green Chapel.  Rather than send in an exterminator, Hendrix put in the time and effort to “humanely save the hive, which involved dismantling part of the chapel’s roof, gently removing the honeycomb, and scooping the bees – one handful at a time – into a ‘swarm box.’ All of this was achieved from the top of a platform elevated 40 feet above the ground.”

The quote is drawn from a story that Mark Scott, the Director of Media Relations but better known as “my boss,” wrote and put up on the homepage.  Less well publicized are more important things, like the fact that all of the residence halls are equipped with geothermal heating systems.  Hendrix is also a leader in the field of green chemistry, which focuses on designing chemical reactions in a way that reduces or eliminates hazardous materials and wastes.

I’ll know more soon, after I conduct some more interviews.  Then you’ll know more, too.  I’m under the impression that the information I create will become part of a webpage on the Hendrix site, but it might equally well turn into a pamphlet of some sort.

The other news is that I have moved into my apartment on Front Street!  My roommates, Leeann and Katie, are nice as can be.  Katie is working in the Odyssey office and Leeann is actually conducting green chemistry research with chemistry professor Liz Gron.  I am very pleased with myself for how quickly my room became clean and organized – and how long it has stayed that way.  If responsible adulthood is correlated with waking up in time to eat breakfast and make my bed in the morning, I’m well on my way!

Aside from working and cleaning, I’ve found lots of time to read.  I haven’t yet cracked into any of the textbooks I kept, instead preferring to start the summer off light with Bridge to Terabithia and A Little Princess, both children’s books, and the steamy Henry and June.  I’ve now moved back into academia with the 400-page Guns, Germs and Steel.  A friend loaned it to me about two years ago, and now he finally wants it back.  Which means now I finally have to read it.

I also spend time with my friends who are still in Conway, which is what I’m about to go do.  I’m going home to St. Louis for the next week, which will include my birthday.  My friend Aaron and I are getting together tonight to bake a cake and take a celebratory dip in the fountain on campus, since we won’t be together on our actual birthdays -- June 5^th and 6^th, respectively. A birthday trip to the fountain is a famous Hendrix tradition, but it usually involves the birthday boy or girl getting thrown in.  With the weather as warm as it's been -- in the 80s and 90s --  I will go in willingly.

I wrote this May 15th, back in the days of the error message.  Here it is, now:

As I walk toward Couch Hall, the metal patio table out front is lonely.  No one is smoking a cigarette, talking on a cell phone, absentmindedly flicking ashes into the dirt.  As I approach the front door, no one bursts through unexpectedly, running to get to class on time.  I scan my ID card, pull open the front door, and enter Couch completely undisturbed. 

When I walk in, the TV in the lounge is off.  It surprises me every time, because during the school year the TV is always on.  Sometimes no one is watching, but the Couchies can never quite get the hang of turning the TV off.  It’s like whoever was watching just wandered off during a commercial break and forgot to come back.  But all the absentminded Couchies have gone home, now, and I have never seen Couch so spotless or so silent. 

The underclassmen left early last week, but campus was still pretty vibrant until last Saturday, when the seniors graduated and went home for good.  The vacated rooms have their doors open wide, reinforcing the fact that the building is almost totally empty.  It’s just me and Albine Miwemugeni.  She lives two doors down from me, so I don’t have the disconcerting feeling of knowing I am the only one on my floor, or – heaven forbid – the only person in the building.  But it’s still pretty weird.  When she moves out on the 19^th, I might not be able to sleep.

Couch is famous for being high-spirited and rather grungy.  Now, the floors shine.  There’s no hair in the shower stalls.  The toilets aren’t clogged.  The common room furniture is clean and properly aligned.  … I barely recognize the place.

I move out of Couch and into the college-owned Front Street Apartments on May 23^rd.  It should be better then, with more people around.  If there’s anything I’ve learned so far from my summer work at Hendrix, it is that I never want to be a recluse!

I tried to post the following several weeks ago (5-13-08).  The mysterious goblins that run the Hendrix website apparently didn't like it too much, because the post wouldn't go up and the blog started showing a long, scary error message.  Specifically:

An error has occurred. Please verify that your web.config is correct and that you have granted sufficient database permissions. Below is the captured exception:

System.IndexOutOfRangeException: There is no row at position 410. at Ektron.Cms.EkException.ThrowException(Exception ex, EventLogEntryType EventType) at Ektron.Cms.EkException.ThrowException(Exception ex) at Ektron.Cms.CommonApi.GetBlogString(Int32 BlogID, String scUniqueID, Int32 MaxNumber, DateTime ShowDate, Boolean ShowRSS, String ShowMode, BlogArchiveMode ArchiveMode, String urlpath, NameValueCollection urlparams, Hashtable& CustomParams) at Ektron.Cms.Controls.CmsConnection.GetBlogString(Int32 blogid, String uniqueid, Int32 maxnumber, DateTime showdate, Boolean showrss, String showmode, BlogArchiveMode archivemode, String urlpath, NameValueCollection urlparams, Hashtable& customparams) at Ektron.Cms.Controls.BlogEntries.ReadAll() at Ektron.Cms.Controls.BlogEntries.Fill() at Ektron.Cms.Controls.BlogEntries.RenderContents(HtmlTextWriter writer)

I was understandably frightened, but the IT angels have fixed everything now.  Here is that post, belatedly.

***

A week ago I tried to write a post called "Utter Exhaustion."  I got about three words written, and then I just couldn't force my fingers to type anymore.  Instead, I closed down my computer and slept for ten hours.  After following that routine for the past seven days, I am now refreshed and ready to write.

First, let me explain my exhaustion.  Basically, I wanted to be on the Dean's List.  That means I wanted to make straight As.  That means I needed to make As on all my finals, which means that I needed to study.  A lot.  Luckily, my finals were pretty spread out: a presentation last Wednesday, a test on Thursday, a paper on Friday, and another test on Tuesday.

The last one, 20th Century East Asian-American Relations, was the kicker -- dozens of terms to memorize, lots of historical events to analyze, etc.  After studying all day on Sunday and Monday, I stayed up until 3 a.m. on Monday night and then woke up at 7 a.m. to start studying again.  By 10 a.m., the test was done.  By noon I was waking up from the deepest nap of my life.

It is here again appropriate to quote Longfellow, as I did last semester during finals:

"The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night."

The sleeplessness worked: I'm back on the Dean's List.  But since then I have been attaining no heights; I've just been sleeping.  Indeed, since finals ended I've mostly been at a loss as to what I should do with myself.  I sold a few books back to the bookstore, netting about $20 back from my original $400+ purchase.  Part of the reason I got so little money back was that selling books back is never really a good deal.  At best, you can get back 50% of your original costs.  The women who run the bookstore are very sweet, but they're still The Man.

The real reason I didn't get much money back is that I didn't sell very many of my books back.  I kept seven of them:

• Supercapitalism by Robert Reich
• Bad Samaritans by Ha-Joon Chang
• World on Fire by Amy Chua
• Coyotes by Ted Conover
• Embracing Defeat by John Dower
• Lyndon Johnson's War by Michael H. Hunt
• About Face James Mann

Don't tell Professor Zhao this, but the reason I kept many of his assigned texts was that I just couldn't get through the lengthy reading assignments each week.  Now that it's summer and I don't have three other classes' texts to read, I can take a more leisurely look into Asian history.

The reason I kept my Political Economy books is that I want to share them.  I can't think of another class that has so revolutionized my understanding of the way the world works.  I know now how the IMF, World Bank, and WTO work, and I could explain to you the various ways in which the policies they promote are antithetical to the ways in which the United States has became an advanced, industrialized nation.

Or I could talk to you about how embracing democracy and free market capitalism simultaneously – a decision the United States encourages throughout the developing world – can be the worst thing for a country.  In class we debated whether economies can grow forever and whether we should focus immediately on "powering down" and re-localizing our economies. We also talked about the "bottom billion" – those living on less than $2 per day.  We talked about the way industries' lobbyists have weakened the democratic process in America.  Although I have no plans to change my major to economics, I think the basic knowledge I gained is absolutely crucial to my understanding of the way the world works.

Ditto for East Asian Relations, and for Cultures of the US-Mexico Borderlands. Graduating and getting a job would eventually be nice, but the real goal of my Hendrix education has been to make me a more educated and informed citizen. This year has been the most effective one so far at bringing me closer to that goal.  Between the fantastic classes this spring and the amazing adventures last fall and summer, I feel dramatically smarter and more capable now than I did this time last year. 

That feeling of competence and understanding is a reassuring one as I come closer and closer to my twentieth birthday.  I can read the New York Times and, by and large, really understand what the articles are about.  I have context, background, understanding.  It feels good.  As I experience the joyous horror of knowing I've seen two decades pass, it at least feels good to think I've learned something from them.  Maybe next year I'll finally learn how to sleep and get good grades.  ... Nah.

This is a shout-out to high school seniors around the country, who have finally, officially chosen which school they'll attend next year.  (Unless, they are in the purgatory of being waitlisted.)  You've probably spent most of the last year filling out forms, writing essays, getting copies of transcripts, checking the mail maniacally, etc.  I did it too.  We all did it.  And now it's over!

So here's to you.  Now it's May 2.  It's a Friday.  Sit down, crack open a nice rootbeer, and watch twelve hours of That 70's Show.  You earned it.  This time next year, you'll be a sleep-deprived wreck yet again, studying for your spring finals.

Hendrix is getting ready for you, just so you know.  A big truck came a few days ago and dumped a fresh load of pecan shells in the Pecan Grove, so it's extra pretty and extra crunchy.  The construction at the new Student Life and Technology Center looks to be going well; they're pouring the foundation at this very moment.  Across the street, the streets of The Village are being poured.  It's an exciting time.

In about three and a half months you and your family will show up at Hendrix in your mom's minivan, with all the most important things in your life packed into boxes and stacked in the back seat.  You'll probably cry when they drives away, but you won't have time to be sad for long.  You'll inevitably have brought too much or too little, and unpacking becomes your first priority.  You'll have left your toothbrush on the bathroom counter, and you'll make your first Hendrix friend when you walk down the halls asking anyone if they have a car and a spare moment to drive you to Wal-Mart.

Ah, I miss those days.  I won't be here to personally welcome you to campus next semester, because I'm going abroad again.  But I do have a little present for you: my reflections from the first year of college.

• First Impressions of a Freshman 
• Lasting Impressions 
• The Hendrix Experience 

There are times I've been disappointed by Hendrix, but I really can't think of anywhere I've been so relaxed, so inspired, and so happy.  You've picked a good place.