 |
|
wBeverly's Journal |
|
|
 |
This is my Journal. If you stop by, leave a comment. Thanks!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
wJune 15, 2002 |
|
|
|
If there was a way to quantify cool, Reed College would rank at the very top. (Actually, it does. See the ranking on p. 374.) -Cool Colleges
Yessiree bob, Reed is a cool place. I just picked up this article from a book on Higger's desk yesterday. I'll put some excerpts from the article in this entry, so you can see what I'm talking about.
At Reed, if it was good enough for the Greeks, it's good enough for students today. (p. 62)
... Reed is not afraid to stand up and say it is interested only in the student's mind. This school exists for the life of the mind. Reed is the epitome of an ivory tower. It is a place where students and faculty hae discussion sfor days over whether words can ever completely convey a personal realizty, and whether calculus was invented or found. It is a place where ideas matter. A lot. For their own sake. (p. 63)
Reed actually does offer underwater basket weaving as an activity during winter break. (p. 72)
Reed's reputation among college professors, especially, is exalted. (p. 64)
At a convention for the National Association for College Admission Counseling, I heard a senior US News and World Report editor actually admit, "I realize our methodology excludes some important factors. I realize that it excludes what goes on in the classroom." What's strong about Reed is what goes on in the classroom. (p. 65)
Reed shows up on these lists:
US colleges and universities
- Offering the best overall academic experience for undergraduates
- Where students study the most
- With excellent instructors
- With the most accessible instructors
- Which produced the most papers cited an citations for papers published
- Deemphasizing varsity sports
Private, four-year undergraduate colleges and universities
- Producing the most Ph.D.'s in all fields of study
- Producing the most Ph.D.'s in life science, chemistry, computer sciences, economics, English, history, mathematics, physics, astronomy, political science, and international relations, psychology, anthropology, and sociology
- Top baccalaureate colleges for bachelors degrees awarded to science and engineering Ph.D.'s
- Innovative and/or unorthodox colleges
(p. 66)
... Reed also has one of the toughest grading systems int he country, along with Harvey Mudd and Swarthmore. It is extremely difficult to make an A at Reed, and only four students have graduated with a 4.0 in the last sixteen years. (p. 67)
... Reed has no football team and no Greek system. Yay Reed! (p. 67)
Reed has a ski cabin on Mt. Hood... Any currently enrolled student can stay there at any time, for free. (p. 68-69)
But Reed has an undercurrent of irreverence and lightheartedness that offsets the seriousness of the academic workload. When I visited, there was a television buried face up in the middle of the lawn, showing Oprah reruns to the sky. Near it was a labyrinth laid out by hundreds of toothbrushes no doubt stolen from the dorms. Reed has an almost british acceptance of eccentricity. There's a Reed professor whose patents have done well, who has a Rolls-Royce with a uniformed driver wait for him outside his classes. Somewhere else this might be odd. Not at Reed. (p. 71)
Isn't Reed awesome?!
~~~
As an aside, please note now that there is a typo on my "accomplishments" under my picture in the yearbook. For some reason, the Yearbook staff decided that they knew how to spell "Decathlon" better than I could. WRONG! It's not "DecathAlon," it's "Decathlon." Get it straight.
posted by
Beverly at 9:27 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
wJune 14, 2002 |
|
|
|
I went to school again today. Yeah, I know... three days out, and I've already been there three times! How sad is that?! Well, I'm starting my summer clean-up-fest. Yay! My room is going to be a lot cleaner when I'm done with it! What did I do today? I woke up at about 6 am when Lissa came to say goodbye... then she and Tom left for Colorado. =.( Well, then after that, I went back to sleep on the couch. Lovely sleep! Anyway, after I woke up, Byron and I went to Ball and Loara. Schroeder showed us the Band Video. Arcadia, baby! :) At Ball, Mr. Geronsin wasn't there (supposedly, he's sick). I did see Mrs. Sutherland, but left just as they were getting to work cleaning the room. :) teehee. I got home to find that Karina and LeaAnn couldn't make it to our YaYa scrapbook-making day. I drove to Current to pick up scrapbooking supplies for my own scrapbook ($15 worth of paper! This had better be pretty good!). I also stopped by Sav-on to get some Graduation cards. Once again, it's weird and boring having nothing to do. Thus, why I need either a job or a class. I opt for the latter. Well, I'm off to find a Calc class that's still vacant. Then, maybe I'll have time to watch Cabaret.
posted by
Beverly at 10:50 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w |
|
|
|
It's boring having nothing to do.
posted by
Beverly at 1:23 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
wJune 13, 2002 |
|
|
|
I didn't want to go to Grad Nite at first. Then, I wanted to go because Lissa was going. When she couldn't go, I figured we'd spend a party night at her dad's. I was okay with not going. Now that I see she didn't want to do a party night after all, I don't feel bad about wanting to leave her for another bunch of my friends going to Grad Nite. I didn't want to leave her out, but instead, she does that to me. I don't know what to think of it. She's changed a lot.
posted by
Beverly at 1:26 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w |
|
|
|
...The closest I came to crying was when the band was playing "Pomp and Circumstance." It was weird not being there with them. It was interesting hearing the sound of the band that will take over next year. Good flutes. I also wish to say that I did not know I was supposed to go back there to meet the band. I am upset that no one told me. Grrr...
posted by
Beverly at 1:23 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w |
|
|
|
I didn't cry during graduation. In fact, I don't even remember what was said. I sat there, and I thought about that which should have made me cry... but I didn't cry. Life goes on... I'll see many of these people in the ensuing days. In fact, I'll see the Ya Ya Sisters tomorrow, and I'll see Gary on Saturday (if not before then). Alana came to graduation. So did Ms. Jelin and Lorena, Liz, Beth, and April! It was so awesome! Suraj even came! I love Suraj! He's such a sweetie! He also looks really sharp in his classy apparel! :)
The dinner went well, except for the vegetarian thing... it was fixed. I hope there are no hurt feelings or no one in trouble. The food was delicious! The leis got to me after a while, but they smell so sweet! $80+ worth of double carnation leis! How awesome! Ms. Jelin gave me a calendar book with things to think about and do in it... and she gave me a Guide Book to Portland/Seattle! How sweet of her!!! :) I love it!!! :) Ken gave me a cute kiddy book about going further and onward... oh yeah, and $100. :) He and JJ are engaged! I didn't even know that until today!!! :) Mark and Mary gave me a Dr. Seuss book. Really cute. And Byron gave me a graduation build a bear! :)
Kininahs made two frames of pictures for me. How pretty! And so sweet of her with all her work to do. She came out here the day before her finals! How sweet! I wish I could have spent more time with her... but the picture taking had to be done before everyone left! Well, I like the frames! :)
Dinner was fun. Gary, Kunal, and me. We three are a comedy club within itself. Somehow we got to the topic of the sponge and the hedgehog... the French commercial... we three were cracking up, as others stared. How fun!
Lissa and Tom came! I'm so glad they came. I feel like Melissa is physically here, but I can't see her because she's always with Tom. It's weird what a boyfriend can do to you.
We left at 10:30. I am so exhausted. Test tomorrow for math.
posted by
Beverly at 1:20 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
wJune 12, 2002 |
|
|
|
I had a blast today with my Ya Ya girls. We went to Denny's for breakfast with Lissa, then we went to grad practice, then we signed yearbooks under a tree at La Pama Park, and then we went from Karina's house to my house, doing anything we could amuse ourselves with at those places. We went bowling at Carter Bowl, then we went home. Such an eventful day. I am so glad we have our "sisterhood," all we need now is the giant "Divine Secrets of..." book!
I graduate in less than 2 hours. This morning, as I was reading yearbook messages, I shed a couple tears or two... thinking that that may have been the last time I would ever talk to those people again. Hopefully, reunions and phone calls will sustain communication between those people and me. Maybe I do care that I graduate... the ceremony itself, though, is probably blown to a much bigger scale than it should be. All this is is a pit stop in the road of life. Life goes on afterward. The next time I post, I will be a graduated-from-high-school young adult (well, not quite an adult, as I still have to wait a few more months before I turn 18).
posted by
Beverly at 4:27 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
wJune 11, 2002 |
|
|
|
In order to be different from everyone else, might I add that today, high school ended for me. Nothing really changed in my life. No big revelations, no big thank yous. Life goes on... friendships go on... and those that don't go on were never meant to. And I still search for a point to this all.
posted by
Beverly at 11:47 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w |
|
|
|
Some people think that the last day of school means that you will never see your high school friends again. Incorrect. By chance, I saw four Saxons at Elizabeth Howard's tonight. Cabaret. I didn't quite like the musical (the music was horrid!)... but the acting was pretty well done. The man who played Herr Schulz is an awesome actor. He's in all the EH plays! Anyway, back to what I was saying... I saw Veronica, Barbie, Katie Sedlak, and Nikki Pal. What a coincidence! We had much better seats though. It was Lissa, Tom, and me... fun!
Today was the last day of school. It still hasn't hit me yet.
I am plum tired. Going to bed. Will write more later.
posted by
Beverly at 11:38 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
wJune 10, 2002 |
|
|
|
What day is today? Monday? I can't even tell anymore. Today, school was a blur of yearbook signing. I see how many are so impersonal. It's disgusting how many entries are not even specific. Oh well.
Schroeder liked the "decorations." Ashley and Grace went on Sunday to put up the trophies and a banner that said "UNDEFEATED." Schroeder called it "classy." He said it was non destructive, and therefore an example to the senior classes to come.
After school, I went to Schroeder's house with Gary and Sean. Working on the video some more. I needed to get a lot of work done today, so I left early. I made copies of the "where has the time gone" picture, and I went to Murph's to pick up some books. Good idea. I bought many for myself while I was at it. The Giver by Lois Lowry has now been recommended to me twice. I figured that I should read it. I also got for myself Faulkner's As I Lay Dying and Carnegie's How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. I also picked up one of the Reed Hum 110 reading books... One by Plato. I'll give the title later... I can hardly comprehend anything right now... it's getting too late for my brain.
Tonight, the whole prank thing didn't work out. Martini lost his keys, so we couldn't get into the room. Tomorrow at 6 am. I went into the office, where Higger was frantically putting together the books for TOK. Apparently, he'll be there tomorrow at 6 am too! Hopefully, he won't catch us!
I waited for a while, but then, I decided to leave. I saw Sean on the way out... he and I talked for a while. We went to my car (it was getting quite cold outside!). We tried to figure out what to do about the prank. I have 200 copies of the picture! Tomorrow 6 am. Then, seeing as he was tired and completely worn out, I gave him a back rub. He returned the favor. I don't think I've had a good back rub in years! (Maybe never... back rubs in lines are not back rubs... but if you were to count that, I guess my last back rub would have been the ASB conference... but Phu Tang isn't a great back rubber). Enough about this... I started reading yearbook messages. That's against policy, so I should end it there. I don't want to cry before Graduation, though. I almost did today in band, when the rest of the band was playing the processional and recessional. How sad!
One day left, and we'll be out of high school forever!
posted by
Beverly at 10:09 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
w |
|
|
|
So tired today. I've been running all over the place for Scouts. It's all over. A little teary eyed, but in the end, okay. Danny's video was great. (Sure glad we have an artist on our side!). I was actually sitting in Lorena's house, painting aprons when he edited the ending for the video. I like the aprons! I want one now! :)
After the Scout Court of Awards ended at 9:00 or so, we took pictures and indulged on a bunch of desserts. I didn't get home until 10:15 or 10:30. There are Horizons who have yet to sign my yearbook.
Upon arrival home, the work was still not done. I had to make a French silk pie for French class. Did anyone know that there is raw egg in French silk pie!? Go figure. I hope it tastes good. It certainly looks good. And I used the right chocolate! :)
Two days of school left. Kinda depressing. Gee, I wish Lissa would actually be here when she's here.
posted by
Beverly at 3:33 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
wJune 09, 2002 |
|
|
|
Dinner with Amy was productive. I feel she learned something from it. Tonight, we also "decorated" the band room. Balloons galore! We also traced ourselves on butcher paper, and we wrote little advice phrases to the underclassmen. I am tired.
By the way, you can't back up time and pretend things didn't go the way they went. The pretending doesn't mean a thing. (Neither do appologies, really)... I guess it's impossible to mend something already broken when it comes to mentality. The only thing one would be able to do is to never do it again.
posted by
Beverly at 1:01 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|