Happy Sign

A sign proclaiming "It's a Girl!!" greets passers-by of Utah's Hogle Zoo.

I saw this sign about a week ago and got so excited and happy that I had to point it out with excitement to a girl I hardly know who was sitting by me on the bus that day. It's too bad I can't find a picture of the sign - it would make you happy too.

I realize now, as I write this, that the sign is merely a form of zoo advertisement. But it's still great that a phrase I usually associate with tiny baby girls has been applied to a large elephant that probably weighs almost twice as much as me. Also, the zoo proclaiming that puts them in a parental position, and that's a bit comical. Mostly, the situation is cute.

For more details and for the full press release, visit https://www.hoglezoo.org/about/news_media/press_releases/08-11-2009/it-s-a-girl!-elephant-calf-born-at-utah-s-hogle-zoo.

By the way, elephants are pregnant for 22 months. And their babies are called calves.

I'm glad I'm not an elephant.

Speaking of England...

Turns out five weeks of England isn't enough for me. I've decided to extend my stay there...by nine weeks. Guess where I'll be for the last eight weeks?

Here:

And here:
Who are these from? Jonathan. Where did he take them? Cambridge! Yes, as in Cambridge University, UK.

So: 5 London weeks + one in-between week + 8 Cambridge weeks = 14 weeks in England this summer! Crazy!

My feelings? I'm terrified. Excited. A bit anxious. Sad to miss another summer away from home, especially now. Overwhelmed. Good grief - what in the world am I doing? I'm going to Cambridge! Remember this?

More New Haven architecture:

I decided that those few pictures didn't do Yale justice. Here are a few more pictures:

These first two are on the front of the Sterling Library. They are a chronological representation of how man's writing has evolved over time. Included are cave man drawings, hieroglyphics, Hebrew, Latin, and Chinese.

This is one of the law school windows. Note the judge gargoyle on the far left, the policeman on the far right, and the three criminals in the middle.
I think this is the Hall of one of the residential colleges, Lampson Hall:

Connecticut and New York

I had a simply mah-ve-lous time with Jonathan and Brittany this last weekend in Connecticut. We mostly stayed around New Haven, with a trip up to New York in the beautiful weather on Saturday. Here are a few pictures:

This is a sampling of the beautiful Yale campus:

One of the Divinity School libraries:

The Marquand Chapel in the Divinity School Quad:
The Divinity School Quad in the mist:
The Sterling Library:
Woolsey Hall:
I think this is called "Cross Commons"... Jonathan?

This was on Sunday. Jonathan made me a chocolate bunt birthday cake, and Brittany topped it off beautifully with strawberry frosting. Very, very good.

A few snapshots of New York:

A boathouse in Central Park:
A view of the skyscrapers from Central Park:
Lego Batman in FAO Schwartz:
On the train from New Haven to New York - imagine just riding the train for 90 minutes to such a place as New York!
Such a good trip. Such good company.

Solution for Movie Critics:

A jem of wisdom offered by Dr. Jessica Straley, my Victorian Literature teacher, on "closely reading" movies:

"you'll walk out of a movie, analyze and talk about it to your friends, they'll hate you for a while...and then you find new friends."

(For the record, I'll keep my friends, and I don't usually analyze movies)

Two Questions

1. Why is it that 12:15 a.m. is a great time to update a blog, and not a great time to finish a take-home midterm?

2. Why can't the blog be due at 9:10 instead of the midterm?

Blast.

To my credit, note the word "finish" instead of "start" used in question 1.

Course Review

Since this is a required course, I won’t start by telling you why to take it. I will instead tell you how I think we can make the most of it. This is a course I’m still in. You’re actually in it too.

After looking it over, you may have found that the syllabus is a little vague. This is for a reason. We actually get to choose the course content. However, take care in your choices. The assignment is graded, and tests come at unexpected times.

Assignment:

The assignment is somewhat of a blueprint constantly under revision. You submit your blueprint however many times you feel you should to the Teacher. He reviews it and gives you feedback. This feedback comes in many different ways:

1. in an immediate response

2. in a delayed response, but at exactly the right time

3. through a given test

Now, this blueprint assignment may seem a little unexplained, and have too few guidelines. This may seem to be the case, but we have resources at our fingertips.

1. We have a perfect record of other blueprints, and we also have the thoughts and experiences of their drafters.

2. We can collaborate with other students working on the same assignment.

3. At a moment we feel is appropriate and right, we can choose a partner and blend our two blueprints forever into one and together create a synergistic design.

4. The Teacher has office hours all day and night, every day and night.

The difficulty of this course lies in three areas:

1. Indecision with how to move forward in creating our blueprint.

2. Forces inside the class that distract us from making the right decisions and encourage discouragement. (This second reason may even explain the difficulty presented in #1). These forces are not only present in other class members and people who come in and pretend to be the Teacher, but also inside ourselves. We must NOT let these forces deter us from creating our masterpieces.

3. The tests are hard. Yet the tests are what improve our drawing skills, so this difficulty is really more of a blessing.

The preceding lists are not exhaustive in the least. This course is unique for each person. These are merely things I have experienced.

Course Fulfillment: Where will this course get us?

At the end of the course, we will be able to look back at our blueprint and say “Though the Teacher had an exact copy of this in His office all along, this was made by me.” Nothing we experience in the process of the course will be as fulfilling as this moment if we make the most of this opportunity we are given.