Hey, tout le monde. I've been inspired by Aida and Alberto to update all of you on my life, which is somewhat selfish of me, but also very cathartic.

Overall, I've been good. My classes are strange and wonderful. The best one is Intro to Theatermaking, where we have to put on pieces of theater each class (they can't be called mere scenes, and they're not presentations. It's oh so dramatic). My group's final presentation is 'Pest in Buda' from Heiner Muller's "HamletMachine": http://www.galerie-raskolnikow.de/paddavis/pages/Hamlet2.html

Our final stage directions are "The actor playing Hamlet steps into the armor, splits with the ax the heads of Marx, Lenin, Mao. Snow. Ice Age." So postmodern.

Extracurriculars: I told myself I wouldn't become a theater major, but theater here is just so good. I finished a student-written show a few weeks ago called "Your Mom is a Social Construct," dealing with expectations and women. I wrote three pieces for it; it was the first time I've had other people perform my writing. (Exciting!)
I've also been cast in a 20-minute senior film project. My role: WOMAN. SHYES...stardom!! Fame! I'm also going to try and PA a shoot for a film called "Fades With Age" over winter break (free food and shelter in the city? Tiiight).

Actually, I'm not just doing theater/film-related things. I'm also part of Squirm, the erotica magazine. We helped with Rocky Horror, brought a professional dominatrix to campus, and held porn screenings. It's good fun.

Oh, I'm also an art model (it's my campus job - $10 an hour. Easy prostitution). The first job of my life. But then again, I'm also a Theatrical Journeyman (I build sets for the drama department)(more theater), which is the best job I could have ever hoped for. You know all of those job descriptions? "Requires creative problem solving, teamwork, etc, etc." Mine actually DOES, though. I love going to work every day and screwing something together or hauling bricks or sawing through iron pipes. It's empowering.

Ahem. In terms of love lives, since the others described theirs:
There's this really adorable boy who looks like a baby bird. Or a leprechaun. He's blond with a little beard, and he's my height (tiny boy), and he has green tattoos up his arms. He's on the quidditch team. I see him EVERYWHERE, and every time I want to go up and introduce myself, I get so nervous my stomach hurts. So instead of talking to him in real life, I found him on facebook (I'M SO CREEPY), bwahahaha. So now not only do I know his name, I also know where he lives, his phone number, and the fact that he's a Hufflepuff. He has pictures of himself cuddling his baby cousins. BAHHHH.

That's all, I suppose. My finals are basically over. (I still have nightmares about Art History.) Life is good, good, good. There's snow on the ground. I bought myself a bass (my dream of starting a band with my sister shall finally be realized!! We'll be like Coco Rosie, but less hot and more Asian). I've been doing artwork; I'm actually still thinking of reapplying to art school later. No major life decisions have been made, though. I'll keep you updated if they are.

Ok, ok! Bye! Update us, you guys.
Love,
Grace

TIME FOR FABULOSITY!

Wow kids. It's been a while.

Finals are here and it's time for procrastination. Gotta love it. :) So, let me update you kids on my life, organized by topic.

First of all, an announcement. If you haven't talked about it with me or seen stuff about it on my facebook, LJ, or something, I wanted to let you all know that I identify as queer and some other stuff I don't wanna prattle on and on about. Basically, I'm a big dyke, hahaha. ^_^ I didn't really talk about this at TASP because I didn't feel it was really anyone's business, unless I was actively interested in someone, plus the opportunity never truly came up. I wasn't going to deny it or ignore the question if it came up, but I just wasn't going to volunteer the information out of the blue. How long have I known? For years. Don't think this is a random whim, mkay? Now that that's out of the way, we can continue. :)

Academics:

My classes this semester were: Intensive Portuguese (double-credit), Intro to Ethnic Studies, Intro to Linguistic Anthropology, and Bodies Out of Bounds (a Gender & Sexuality Studies course about when bodies move beyond what is seen as "normal" and yada yada--so good!). They were all very cool and eye-opening. My Intro to ES teacher was a GOD. I love him. Alas, I have no chance with him--he's gay. My heart weepeth. =P Now finals are drawing to a close and I only have two papers left. I have an A in Ethnic Studies and an A in Portuguese (I think). Anthro might be a B or something? Not sure. I kinda slacked on the midterm and this final paper might not be the best shit ever either, lol. Ah well. BOOB, as I affectionately call it, it a toss-up. I participate in class constantly and I got an A on my first paper, but some of my homework was late, and I have no idea how I did on my in-class final. And I still have a paper to write for that class, due on...Monday? Sunday?

Friends:

SO many cool people. I'm the biggest social butterfly you'll ever meet, I think. It's kind of ridiculous, lol. I know a ton of people, and it's pretty sweet. Some of my closest friends now are people I kind of (or REALLY) disliked at the beginning, so I'm glad I gave them a chance. :) My friends are all over the map, ethnicity/gender/sexuality/age/year-wise. C'est cool. ^_^ Sadly, however, I've seen a bunch of kids leave because of depression, eating disorders, suicide attempts, and other such stuff. It's really jarring.

TASPer contact:

I've hung out with Joy Liu and David Harmon a few times. :) I encourage you all to visit Providence, dammit, and come see me. Whenever I go to Boston, I'll look you Harvard kids up. :P And I miss my Grace-Pie, sooooo yeah. I've thought about ALL of you at some point, and it's been really nice to remember our days at the Cornell branch house. I wear my TASP shirt often. :) I think I'm gonna go visit Miranda from WashU at Wesleyan next semester, as well as visit Harvard, and some other places. YOU SHOULD DO THE SAME! :P

Thanksgiving:

Went to a friend's mother's house in New York and went to her dad's NJ home area to meet her friends. Had my first White Castle experience. Met her family, on both sides, and had a nice, chill Thanksgiving.

Clubs & Miscellaneous Activities:

The naked donut run? Totally happened, though I was too busy to go. SexPowerGod? Went and party-managed. It was fun, but insane. Some people got huge ego-boosts, while others suffered blows to their self-esteem when no one asked them to dance. It was hilarious and interesting, and I dressed up like a sex goddess, so it was great. Starf*ck, which is the second semester dance-party like SPG, will be co-coordinated by me. :) OH, THE POWER! lol. I'm part of the Queer Alliance and some of its subgroups (the Dance Committee & Girl's Night Out), The Next Thing (a group for queer people of color), CityGirls (a middle-school mentorship program), and I volunteer at the Third World Center. I'm on the steering committee for Caribbean Heritage Week right now, and I'm probably gonna be involved in the same shiz for the PR Heritage Week, Latino History Month, and some other related activities. I go to WORD! (the spoken word group) sometimes, and I wanna be part of a frat called Zeta Delta Xi. Yes, me, frats, WHAT? Well, it's a co-ed frat full of cool cats and queer kids, soooo...I love it. :D I'm gonna rush and hopefully pledge. But enough of EC's--this is beginning to sound like a college app. ;)

Love-Life:

I liked this cute Jewish kid from South Africa at the beginning of the semester and he seemed to like me back, but that suddenly disintegrated a few days after it began, so I mourned for a day, then got over it. Then I was mildly curious about a boy and one of my friends said she was obsessed with him. AWKWARD. lol. So...I have a few people on my Tops list (mwahaha, remember the top 5 lists!?), but they're all girls at the moment. Let's see how that goes. ^_^ Thanks to my personality, outfits, and dance moves, I've gotten mad props and respect from a lot of them, so, lol, hopefully that helps me in my pursuits. ;) In fact, I'm not really interested in men right now.:/


I'm really glad I'm at Brown, because it's so liberating. I can be myself. :) Everything is awesome. I'm glad to go home on the 18th, but just so I can see some people and chill out, sans stress, for a while...but I'm already excited to return in january. =) My hair is still changing colors, and it's gonna undergo a full dye-job in February, so be on the lookout for that. ^^ I love you all, and I hope to see some of you soon! <3

A brief update

Hello!

It's four in the morning here (in Gambier, Ohio for all of you that don't know) and I am seriously procrastinating instead of studying for my finals as I should.

Its been so long since, I've seen/heard/talked to so many of you. In fact, I think the last person I've seen in at least 8 months has been Diya. It's strange how time passes, but C'est la vie I suppose.

So let me fill you in on how things are here. I am at Kenyon which is amazing. The people here are really laid back, very artsy, kind of hipsterish, but very nice. There is almost no diversity which took a lot (and is still taking) a bit of getting used to. But I think I am faring well. I ran for student council and I am the president of my class which is very exciting.

In my class there are about 460 of us which is pretty small but very nice. I would say that I know about 3/4 of the people in my class and its really nice to walk into someone you know wherever you go.

Life back home is....interesting.

I came out to my mom this past summer and there were a lot of theatrics. It was the most emotionally and mentally draining experience I've gone through. We had stopped talking for about 2 and a half months, but I think that things are slowly starting to return to the way they once were.

I decided to check the blog because as I was procrastinating I decided to look at old TASP pics on facebook. It stirred up so many memories and emotions, it was really incredible. That summer was so precious and its strange how now it all just sort of seems like one big blur in retrospect. Yet I love how seeing one picture can take you exactly back to that moment and you can remember how you felt and who was around you. I suggest you all do it.

Hmm, what else. My love life is sort of lackluster. The Quentin thing got much more confusing and then I decided to leave that alone. There have been a few prospects here but not much more than that. Classes are good, but the people are so much better. I'm happy here. It was really weird, when I went home for thanksgiving break I felt oddly out of place back at home. When I came back to kenyon I kept catching myself almost calling it home. Did that happen to any of you guys?

I would love to hear how your college experience is going. If you happen to be perusing the blog please write a little post, it wont take any longer than 5 or 6 minutes.

Alright, well this stream of concioussness has gone on long enough. I think I'm gonna either try to study more or go to bed.

This is Alberto, and I'm out.

P.S. I still love all of you guys even if I don't talk to you regularly :)

Happy thanksgiving guys!

Now go and eat excessively!

November and College life

All right, because no one has posted since September and because I feel like procrastinating, I'm going to step in to fill the void. We're all at our respective schools now and have had a while to adjust. How is everyone faring? Personally, I really like Yale. I am taking good classes, and I have made a lot of friends. My suitemates are all really cool. I get a decent amount of sleep for college. Also, I survived midterms, a feat that was more difficult than it may sound. And now, I really should go study Russian history...

2 Days

On the 18th I will finally arrive at school after many weeks alone at home after my friends all abandoned me to go to "college". I am very excited. The weather will be ten degrees cooler and the time two hours later. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Updated

If you're not blind, then you would have noticed that the blog now has a new look. I finally got around to updating the blog to the new Blogger widget configuration, and in the process, I changed the appearance. Hope you like. I like. It's nice. High five.

As always, if you find problems, you know where you can find me to complain.

Ah oh, one note, you can now subscribe to this blog via RSS or email. Click on the "subscribe in a reader" link if you have a RSS feed reader. If you scroll down, there's also a email subscribe option. I haven't tested it out yet, but it should email you any new posts.

Oh, reunions!

Whereas a lot of us will be in the North-East,

Whereas we LOVE TASP reunions,

Whereas not everyone could go to our recent Bawston rendezvous,

Be It Resolved That we plan a new one after being reasonably settled in at our respective colleges.


We can have small ones that require little to no planning, but a slightly bigger one would be pretty cool (and by pretty cool I mean FREAKING AWESOME). I highly encourage random visits and mini-reunions (especially during holidays when and if some of us don't fly back home), too! Anyhoo, since I'm interested in getting back together, I mapquested our locations to see how far we were from each other.

Harvard & Brown are an hour away from each other; Yale is about 1.75 hours away from Brown; Williams is 2 hours away; and NYU/Columbia/Vassar are 3.25 hours away. Dartmouth is about 3.1 hours away. Cornell is about 6 hours away and Swarthmore is 5.12 hours away, while UPenn is 5 hours away. Princeton is...about 4.1 hours away.


Kenyon and UMich are like 12 hours away. Purdue is 16 hours away (same with Loyola, though it's about half an hour less). *cringe* Stanford is, obviously, on the other side of the country. UT Austin and Deep Springs are super far away as well. :'(

Then again, you could all stop being betches and just swim over to Puerto Rico during the summer so we can ALL have fun under the sun--going to the beach, trekking in the mountains, chillin' at the mall, and partying in Old San Juan (18 years old = you can get in anywhere! Weeee!).

I think that takes care of everyone. Again, this is using Brown as a reference point, because DUH, Brown = best place ever. ;) Haha, basically, I'm selfish and I want to see everyone. *grin*

Anyway, possible future reunions aside, the Bawston get-together was nice. :) We had fun, we draped, we ate, and we visited cool places. There are many pictures on Facebook for anyone who's interested (which I hope is everyone!).

Love you crazy kids!

P.S. - I'd definitely be willing to help with planning a reunion again. :)

"I don't care."

"Thank you, Darlene."

There's something in the air ...

Today I mailed a package to the 2007 Cornell TASPers. The following were included:

One (1) tin of Anti-Establish Mints (motto: Liberté, Egalité, Minty Freshness)
One (1) package of Nihilist Chewing Gum (motto: We don't believe in flavor)
One (1) Nunchuck (http://www.accoutrements.com/products/11580.html)
One (1) package of eleven (11) fake mustaches.
Assorted strange articles, including:

• Excerpts from The Universal Panacea in the Nick of Time, by Nelson Dwight Sickels
  
• "Beating the Bra Burners," Phyllis Schlafly
  
• Excerpts from The Areas of My Expertise, by John Hodgman

One (1) approximately 8.5"x11" photograph of Paul Wolfowitz, from the 9 April 2007 issue of the New Yorker.
One (1) top-secret enclosure from Laura and Levent.
And the following letter:

July 19, 2007

Cornell TASPers
217 West Avenue
Ithaca, NY 14850

Most esteemed Cornell TASPers of the 2007 Vintage—already fine examples of the varietal: fragrant, ripely flavored, full bodied, and long on the palate, tasting of pink grapefruit, pear, and baked bread, with just a whiff of coriander—,

We write to inform you of a singular opportunity: You, too, can be just like the honorable Mr. Wolfowitz. To be plain—you may already be acquainted with the eschewal of hygiene and ethics that characterizes one of our most infamous co-TASP-alumni, but there is more—oh, so very much more—to the life upon which you now embark.

As you languish now in the lushly furnished quarters you most likely consider “yours,” we ask merely that you pause to consider those who came before, those who diligently bowed their heads over thousand page reading packets, and those who stained said reading packets with flecks of partially-chewed Fig Newton during 3:00 am eating contests, and to realize that the implied diametric opposition of these circumstances is deceptive, that there is no perfect student in the Platonic sense—though erudition may creep, engendering the clarion realization of the separation between linguistic signs and plastic elements; equivalence of resemblance and affirmation—no laggard counterpart, that identity is fluid, and that you need to exhaustively reread this run-on sentence to discover that which unifies it, that which, by virtue of its presence is truth, consistent with the concept of the metaphysics of presence

—but that is just our interpretation.

Consider, you TASPers bright, the following scene: it is some time in that lost decade called the seventies, and as some now forgotten CBTA member ambled down the second floor hallway, he couldn’t help but notice a door ajar, and there, bald-pated, bespectacled, grinning slightly, the notes for the third volume of The History of Sexuality open beside his typewriter, lay Michel Foucault, masturbating.

It really happened—maybe on your bed.

Yes, consider the number of times the phrase “self-interest” can be used in a sentence, the relative benefits of tiki-torches, all of the iterations of the science v. religion debate, the unquenchable need for mixed-sex sleepovers, the potpourri of tofu products readily available, the gradations in meaning of the snap, the overflowing cornucopia of reasons stay awake past four am, the abundance, in your own midst, of those who enjoy—nay, covet—steamy romps amid the bedcovers, or on the floor, around the house, at all hours—those who have screamed in the night, the merits of abstruse post-post modern (or simply post-modern, depending on whom you ask) literature, and the mélange of reasons to adore and loathe (actually, just loathe) Ayn Rand, not to mention the ontological facticity of any forays into the kitchen under constant threat of ambush by Drosophila melanogaster, the glut of justifications for enacting the gesture meaning "point of fact" when—and here we place our collective hands palm-down on our collective heads—one is, in point of fact, simply circumventing the line in debate, and, finally, the electric, odically haunting hours known as le fin du TASP.

Consider these things, and many others, and then, in a few weeks, when you’re at home, the pile of TASP readings rising mountainously on your desk, a wrinkle of discontent marring your brow, the quiet ache of nostalgia murmuring in your soul, consider what it means to have spent a summer as you did. Realize that its value lies not only in the fleeting moments that have fallen to the dust, but in every day, every book, every conversation of your future.

If you don’t, and believe us, we’ll know if you don’t, we’re gonna hunt you down, rip open your chest cavities, tear out your still-beating hearts, and eat them. Raw.

In the spirit of L.L.,

Sarah Howland and Daniel Briggs, et al.
Cornell TASP 2006

Hello

Hey, everyone. Well, seeing as no one has posted to the blog lately and I've got some free time since I just got my wisdom teeth out, I figured I would do so. Unfortunately, I'm also kind of spacey because I'm on some pretty strong pain medication. Anyway, how's everyone's summer so far? Anyone doing any traveling? I personally have left the vicinity of my hometown only twice since I graduated from high school, but I am hoping to do some more traveling once my mouth heals. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the summer!

Burning Question

This is sort of semi-specifically for Yu, whose Facebook seems to have disappeared, but I would guess that other TASPers with better memories than I (that would be most all of you, I'd bet) could help. One day, near the end of TASP, You (Yu) played the piano for both our seminars, and, if I remember correctly, you (she) played Twelve Variations on a Theme. Unfortunately, I don't remember whose twelve variations they were, because every composer and his brother seems to have done twelve variations on multiple themes. If anyone could give me a hand, it would be much appreciated.

Happy July.
Dan

Summertiiiimeeee... and the livin's is easy...

(I assume you've heard the Sublime song. If not, that's a direct allusion to a Sublime song.)

Hooolaaaa! We need to pump some life back into this blog yet again... What's happening, kids? I'll tell you a bit about my summer...

First of all: HAPPY TASP ANNIVERSARY!!!! It's been a great year, partly because we've been able to rely on the amazing support system that our TASP has provided. Those 6 weeks last year were amazing, and I've grown a lot because of them. Thanks for everything :)

Now, onto other news.
My plans of landing a dream job sadly did not come true. Turns out not many exciting employers want to hire fresh high school graduates with no work experience. Oh well. On the plus side, the newspaper I write for occasionally has found out I'm currently unemployed, and they keep asking me to cover certain events and write articles for them. So there's something to fill up the days. Next weekend I'm covering a political satire comedy show, featuring two famous Puerto Rican comedians. Soon I'll also be interviewing an up-and-coming singer/songwriter, who just put out a CD. We'll see how that goes, but it should be cool.

Apart from jub-hunting, I've been trying to enjoy my summer as much as possible. It's the first summer in years that I'm going to spend entirely in Puerto Rico. I wouldn't mind traveling a little, but I want to take in the PR scenery and nightlife as much as I can before college. Last Saturday I spent the entire night at the beach, along with most of PR's population, celebrating "Noche de San Juan" (Night of San Juan).
[Explanation: San Juan= Saint John. He's Puerto Rico's patron saint... but the celebrations have nothing to do with religion ;) Basically, everybody goes to the beach at night, has fun, and when the clock strikes 12, we all rush to the water and jump back 7 times. It's supposed to give you good luck for the year. So imagine hundreds of people jumping around in the water, massive water fights... it's amazing. I've missed the last few San Juan Nights because I've been out of the country, so this one was extra special :) ]

What's going on in your lives? Any exciting summer plans??

Even though I'm having lots of fun here, I'm dying to go to college. I need to meet new people, and generally get out of my safety zone. Everyone needs a change every once in a while... and I'm SO excited for Yale! I'm sure college will be great for all of us, and we can't forget to visit each other. Much love, kids!

Laura

2008

Hello all,

It's been quite some time, hasn't it. I'm writing because I need to intellectual exchange here and some different perspectives. Who do you plan to vote for (or are at least thinking about) in the 2008 presidential primaries. I'm asking, because I was talking to Sarah the other day and she told me she was campaigned for Obama, which surprised me. I'm not a huge Obama fan. I would in no world vote in the Republican primary so let me just give you my thoughts of some of the democrats running (and not running yet) to start the dialogue:

Hillary Clinton - Let me start here: I've read a couple of the anti-Hillary books (though not the most recent) and I find them complete trash. I do not believe her motives are awful; I do not believe she is a cold and overscripted person. For the longest time I wrote off the possibility of voting for the good Senator because I believed she would be unelectable in a general election (polls still confirm this, she trails Giuliani and McCain and her unfavorables are higher than her favorables). However, looking at the evidence, she had a very similar situation when she ran for the Senate in New York and she ended up winning. Also, as the Democratic Party had gotten to know her more in this cycle she has only polled better and better. During the debates she seems the most presidential and intelligent. Also, the issue for me really is Iraq. I want to get out of Iraq, but I do not want to do so in a completely irresponsible way. I think Senator Clinton's plan to leave residual troops for logistics and training purposes is a responsible attempt at a dignified exit. I am very uncomfortable with her still because of the general election. I won't support any candidate until November. By then Al Gore would have gotten into the race or not and Mayor Mike Bloomberg would have announced if he was running. If Bloomberg runs as an independent I could easily vote for Hillary since I'd believe that she would then win easily. On the whole, I agree with a lot of what she has to say and would certainly be willing to return to the fiscal discipline of the Clinton years. As a sidenote, as a student of history I would love to have a former First Lady elected president - imagine the books that would be written!

Barack Obama - Let me put it simply: there is no Obamamania in the Mariano house. I just worked hard campaigning for Deval Patrick for Governor in MA and he resembles Senator Obama in many ways. They both were inexperienced and offered rhetorically pleasing visions of what America or MA could be and ran grassroots campaigns. When he entered office he did nothing at all and suffered a series of self-inflicted scandals. In every way, I feel let down. Unfortunately, that makes me less likely to take "a chance on [the audacity of] hope" again. In terms of substance I do not see much from Obama and I sincerely hope that changes. I would also offer that the latest national polls have him trailing Giuliani by 12% and McCain by 8% (he polls at 39% and 38% respectively). I would only ask that TASPers not get infatuated with him and make sure they have the right guy before they go head over heels (that is not an attack on anyone, merely a word of caution from someone who made that mistake).

John Edwards - I admire John Edwards for putting poverty back on the political agenda, at least for the Democrats. However, as he goes further to the left on the war I see him as a George McGovern figure who I find both irresponsible and unelectable. I think he also lacks the substance that Hillary has in terms of both vision and general ability. However, national polls show he is the only democrat of the "top three" that consistently beats both McCain and Giuliani. That having been said, I believe Mitt Romney will be the republican nominee.

Bill Richardson - I love Bill Richardson on almost every issue. I would be ready to vote for him in most situations. In fact, immediately after 2004 I endorsed him and probably told many of you this past summer how great I think he is. However, I think his plan for Iraq is dangerous and irresponsible. He wants every single troop out of Iraq by the end of this summer. His polling in Iowa and New Hampshire is now in double digits and I would be very surprised if he did not go on to be nominated for the Vice Presidency. I would love Al Gore to be president and give Bill Richardson the joint job of Vice President and Secretary of State (constitutional questions suspended for a moment). Unfortunately, I think he is the perfect candidate except for his Iraq proposal.

Joe Biden - I like Joe Biden. He seems like a great guy and a talented statesman. His polls in early states and national are disappointing; however, I think that he would be a terrific president. His plan for a federated state in Iraq, I think shows his critical thinking and ability to solve problems in a unique way. That having been said, I have no idea if it would work. I think the passion he showed on the last debate when discussing Darfur was very moving but I'm torn on the issue of whether American should unilaterally send a military force into Sudan. Once I decide this issue for myself I will know how I feel about Biden a lot more clearly.

Bloomberg/Hagel or Hagel/Bloomberg - The two are rumored to be considering running as an independent ticket for president. There is a WONDERFUL article of their possible influence here:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/electoral_chaos_how_michael_bloomberg_could_deadlock_both_the_electoral_college_and_the_house_of_representatives I think the idea of the two nominal republicans teaming up for a ticket that represents social liberalism and fiscal disciple would be very tempting for me. I'd strongly consider voting for them.

Al Gore - I truly hope he runs and I think he will at the start of November. Unfortunately, I think he will lose but he will certainly have my vote. He is the guy. He has been right on so many different issues and he has the type of foresight and experience that we need the next president to have. As Joe Biden says, the next president will have no margin of Al Gore. The bottom line is: I trust Al Gore.


My prediction for 2008:

Al Gore will run and lose.

Democrats
President: Hillary Clinton
Vice President: Bill Richardson

Republicans
President: Mitt Romney
Vice President: Mike Huckabee (maybe Rudy Giuliani)

Idependents
President: Mike Bloomberg
Vice President: Chuck Hagel

I believe Clinton-Richardson would win in a landslide with all 3 tickets winning electoral votes and Romney-Huckabee coming in 3rd.



WHAT DO YOU THINK?!?!?!


-Anthony W. Mariano

Official Reunion Letter

You should be receiving the official reunion letter by mail and email. It is also visible on the facebook group. Please say you can come!!!

The following people have confirmed that they can attend:
Mike Adelson
Maria Avrutsky
Dan Briggs
Co'Relous Bryant
Marina Magloire
Aida Manduley
Anthony Mariano
Martin Geiger
Sarah Howland
Diya Sikka
Mindy Zhang

Onward with the Reunion

YES, we are still planning to have the reunion, and YES,
we really, really hope you'll be there August 3-6 in Boston.
You were probably hoping that we'd have sent you the letter about our final reunion plans by now . I apologize that that is not the case. Unfortunately, we've been delayed by the major issue that has plagued us
from the early planning stages: money.

The current plan:
1. I am still debating hotels. One possibility is the Courtyard Boston South. The main priorities are that it be accessible by subway & airport shuttle, cheap (the one above is $149/night + $19 tax), and willing to let 18 year olds reserve rooms.
How do you feel about hotels which are outside the city, but accessible by subway? How about hotels with 2 stars? Anthony reminds you that during TASP, flies spawned in our milk.
If you have a strong opinion, contact me.
2.I will put the hotel rooms on the credit card I will soon be getting in preparation for college (my mother has approved this).
This raises the following issues:
--Do you and your parents actually trust sending me checks for $130+? (You should evaluate this honestly. I won't be offended.)
--I have to actually apply for and get this credit card

3. In addition, my mother is considering (CONSIDERING) coming to Boston with us, and staying in the same hotel during the reunion. It is important that you realize that she would have NO legal responsibility for you,
nor any sort of liability. She would just be there, reasuring you and your parents, but not actually doing anything.

Other housekeeping matters:
--Anthony is off to summer school at UMich, so he's ceded his planning seat to Aida.

--Maria recently stated "I didn't know four-person hotel rooms existed."
To clarify: the hotel rooms we are looking at have two double beds. You'll have to share with someone of the same gender, or possibly bring a sleeping bag. The goal here is to be economical, and hopefully you are willing to sleep in close proximity with fellow TASPers (Recall, if you will, tickletackle fights, sleepovers, draping, etc. I hope the bed thing isn't a big deal [nevertheless, please feel free to inform me if it is]).

--What are we going to do in Boston? I would appreciate your input;
please look for things that are cheap (or free!) and accessible via public transportation. Suggestions:
-Emerald Necklace Parks
-Freedom Trail

So, I'm hoping to send out the letters in a few days, after consulting with Aida.

Summer again

Friday was the last day during which I spent the hours between 8:05 AM and 3:05 PM in the white cinderblock hallways and nubbly carpeted classrooms of my high school, likely the last time I shall ever open locker #651, and without question the last time I shall eat school lunch (fish sticks) from the "U.B.U. Lounge" (a.k.a. cafeteria).

It is not, however, the last day of school--next week I'll drop by school to take an exam and present a final project, that weekend I'll graduate, and the week after that I'll still have to come in and take a few surveys (because of complications with making up for snow days).

Still, it definitely feels like the end. Since several of you have graduated, and we're almost within a month of the one-year anniversary of the first day of TASP, I was wondering, what are your summer plans (aside, hopefully, from the reunion, which Anthony and I are still working on)?

Mine are pretty dull--more days at the Law Office of EAJ, the occasional bonfire with friends, perhaps seeking further employment as a waitress--but I assume some of you are doing exciting and unusual things. Please elaborate.

Something Potentially Worthy of Your Eight Minutes and Seventeen Seconds

I would offer the animated communist manifesto.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1oGIffyVVk

Final College Destinations

Alright, I am here to take over for Aida and make the final Cornell TASP college list. Just post a comment and I'll update as soon as possible. Unlike someone *coughcoughAida*. I'll start it off.

Stanford
Johes Bater
Ingrid Hernandez
Jenny Tiskus
Omonigho Oiyemhonlan

Harvard
Marina Magloire
Sarah Howland
Chris Dantzlerward

Yale
Levent Tuzun
Kira Wojack
Laura González

Brown
Aida Manduley

Swarthmore
Stanley Beliar

Cornell
Ali Wright
Martin Geiger

Princeton
Brendan Carroll
Michael Adelson

Vassar
Grace Statwick

Deep Springs
Donald Bickmann

Columbia
Yu Zheng
Gary Zhang

UMich
Anthony Mariano
Ricky Bicknell II
Freya Rajeshwar
Maria Avrutsky

UT
Diya Sikka

Kenyon
Alberto Solis

UPenn
Mindy Zhang

Purdue
Nahla Ahmed

NYU
Co'Relous Bryant

Dartmouth
Dan Briggs

Loyola- Chicago
Sheron Mui

Williams
Michael Teshome

Updates, children

Again... it's been a while. Let's pump some life back into this blog. I'll tell you about my latest ordeal/triumph.

I spent last week at Yale and Harvard, trying to decide where I was going in the fall. I went to Yale first, and I absolutely loved it. Originally, I thought I was going to hate it, but thankfully I was wrong. The people were so welcoming and nice, and it was such a fun-filled, energetic atmosphere. A friend threw a party for us on a Tuesday night and it was awesome. I left even more confused than I entered, since I was so set on Harvard before.

Harvard, on the other hand, was somewhat of a letdown. The only great part about it was that I got to see Sarah, as well as Marina, who I had seen at Yale :), and Chris! The university itself is amazing- so many opportunities. But the people in general... eeeh. I didn't have nearly as much fun as in Yale. The culture at Harvard is much more individualistic, and everyone goes their own way. At Yale there's more of a community and people seemed a lot happier to be there. I kept updating the pros and cons list, until the only pro left for Harvard was its larger name recognition. And I have to say, 4 years is a long time to sacrifice for the sake of a name. So, as my trip drew to an end, I was convinced that I wanted Yale. But it wasn't so simple.

Turns out Yale didn't give me ANY financial aid. As in $0. Harvard had offered to pay for half of it all. My mom and I freaked out and started harassing the financial aid office nonstop. Millions of emails were sent, my mom and I haggled to no end, until finally, 5 tension-filled days later, they matched Harvard's offer. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! :D

As for high school, I really can't wait to get out of it. I have 6 days of class left, and I still think it's taking too long. This last semester has been really dissappointing for me. I've always liked my school very much, but recently, the administration and even some of the teachers are making me want to never set foot in that place again. It's kind of sad, but whatever. At least now I know where I'll spend the next 4 years of my life. And that is SUCH a relief :)

Good luck to all of you and your decisions. It's always going to be a tough call, but at least we're lucky enough to have options. Many hugs, and hopefully these mini-TASP reunions will keep happening :)

Laura*

College Acceptance Frenzy

Hey kiddies! In maintaining my status as Head INTERTASPing Fiend, here's the list I've compiled so far. There are many missing, so feel free to leave messages with additions or corrections; I'll promptly make the necessary changes. :)

Congratulations to you all, and MUCH LOVE!


**Harvard**

-Ivana (UT)

-Ferris (EA) (UT)

-Katie (EA) (UT)

-Nick (UT)

-Varun (UT)

- Laura G. (EA) (Cornell)

-Katharine ____ (EA) (?)

-Tracy H (EA) (WashU)

-Fuyuo N (EA) (UMich?)

-Marina M (Cornell)

-Sarah H (Cornell)

-Jon N (UT)



**Cornell***

- Aida M. (Cornell)

- Levent T. (Cornell)

- Breanna B. (WashU)

- Ali Wright (ED) (Cornell)

-Martin G (ED) (Cornell)

-Ali Hussain (ED) (UMich?)

-Paul H (UT)

-Ivana S (UT)

-David (UT)

-Varun S (UT)

-Marina M (Cornell) - *right?*

-Dan B (Cornell)





**UChicago**

-Aida M. (Cornell)

-Tracy (UT)

-David (UT)

-Paul (UT)

-Rachel (EA) (UT)

-King (UT)

-Sarah H (EA) (Cornell)

-Conor (UMich)

-Levent T (Cornell)



**Brown**

-David (UT)

-Nick (UT)

-Peter (ED) - (UT)

-Joy (ED) - (UT)

-Aida M (Cornell)

-Alberto S (Cornell)



**Yale**

-Ivana (UT)

-Paul (UT)

-Nick (UT)

-Varun (UT)

-Levent T (Cornell)

-Laura G. (Cornell)

-Ryan (ED) (WashU)

-Kira W (ED) (Cornell)

-Conor (UMich)

-Marina M (Cornell)

-Jon N (UT)



**Stanford**

-Jon (UT)

-Stephanie (UT)

-Varun (UT)

-Marina M (ED) (Cornell)

-Omonigho O (ED) (Cornell)

-Jenny T (ED) (Cornell)

-Nick (UT)

-Ingrid H (Cornell)


**Princeton**

-Ivana (UT)

-Nick (UT)

-Varun (UT)

-Michael A. (ED) (Cornell)

-Brendan C (Cornell)

-Peter W (UMich?)

-Conor (UMich)

-Marina M (Cornell)


**Columbia**

-Yu Zheng (Cornell)

-Lucy Sun (UMich)



**Oberlin**

-Ivana (UT)

-David (UT)

-Rachel (UT)



**Kenyon**

-Alberto S (Cornell)



**Swarthmore**

-Nick (UT)

-Paul (UT)

-Aida M (Cornell)

-Stanley B (ED) (Cornell)

-Sarah H (Cornell)


**Amherst**

-Ivana (UT)

-Tracy (UT)

-Grace S (Cornell)



**WASHU**

-Monica (ED) (UT)



**UPenn**

-Ivana (UT)

-Levent T (Cornell)

-Mindy Z (ED) (Cornell)



**Duke**-Ivana (UT)

-Levent T (Cornell)

-Ryan (WashU)

-Ryan (UT) - (hehe, two Ryans)



**Hamilton**

-Ivana (UT)



**Vassar**

-Ivana (UT)



**Williams**

-Ivana (UT)



**Dartmouth***

-Ryan (UT)

-Levent T. (Cornell)

-Dan B (Cornell)



***Georgetown***

-Ryan P (UT)



**Stony Brook & Rutgers**

-Ed (UT)



**Deep Springs**

-Paul (UT)

-Donald B (Cornell)



**UC-Santa Barbara**

-Michelle (UT)



**NYU**

-King (UT)



**UMich Ann Arbor**

- Maria A (Cornell)

-Aida M (Cornell)

-Freya R (Cornell)

-Ricky B (Cornell)

-Levent T (Cornell)



**John Hopkins**

-Paul H (UT)

-Levent T (Cornell)



**Wesleyan**
-Miranda B (ED) (WashU)



**Oxford**
-Alison (WashU)



**Ball State**
-Aida (Cornell) - bahahaahaha.



**Purdue**
-Nahla A (Cornell)



**Macalester**
-Grace S (Cornell)


**UT Austin**
-Alberto S (Cornell)

-Diya S (Cornell)



**Boston University**
-Johes B (Cornell)

-Aida M (Cornell)

-Anthony M (Cornell)



**Boston College**
-Anthony Mariano (Cornell)



**McGill**
-Levent T (Cornell)



**UC-Berkeley**
-Dan B (Cornell)

ETHIOPIA

HOW U DOIN!? aha, so you know how (back in the day) I used to go to the same school in Ethiopia that Michael goes to now? Well, If you didn't know, I used to go the same school that Michael goes to now. So this means that we know a lot of the same people.. Crazy right? small world, small world. Anyway, a lot of our friends have recently posted pictures.. And SO i'm looking through these pictures, and guess who I see? ETHIOPIA MICHAEL!

So basically i thought i would share some of them with you all :D

AND CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!!!

I'M SOOOO HAPPY FOR ALL OF YOU!!!

KEEP ME POSTED ON ALL THE FINAL DECISIONS, OKAY? OKAY.

♥ ♥ ♥ !!!

Spring, Awesome is thy middle name

I basically love spring. Completely and without reservation. Especially when the word "break" is added to the end.

Today was my first day back at school and somehow, I've still got a bit of that spring break serenity left. Even after waking up early to go and take notes in AP Biology. I mean who really cares about freakin' photophosphorylation. Damn excited-state electrons. They're only fun in physics, which is why I somehow managed to be completely focused when we were learning about them in physics class today. While my teacher was going on about dielectrics and capacitors, I managed to just so happen mention my little raft trip over break.

Basically, me and two friends were bored and so we just up and decided to raft down a nearby creek. Of course, we couldn't use the perfectly good raft that one of them owned, we had to build our own. Out of buckets, 100 ft of rope, duct tape, and a big plastic sheet. I even did calculations to see how big it needed to be to support our weight. So we built it according to the numbers and when it was done we dubbed it the RS IWOP (It works on paper).

To be honest, it didn't look very creek-worthy, my friend's little sister openly mocked us while we were putting it on top of my car to be transported. But I refused to listen to her. It WAS going to work, even if I had to put it on my back and drag it through the water.

After a minor run in with a cop who thought we were going to burn up the nearby railroad tracks, we managed to get to the creek and plop the raft in. And somehow, it floated! I for one was shocked.

When we had fallen in a few times, the whole idea of equal weight distribution finally dawned on us and after an awkward repositioning, we were off and rafting down the creek. One of my friends tugged us a long in a raft of his own, one that he bought. The poor fool.

And so we rafted. For a pretty good distance considering the buckets kept shifting and making us fall in. But eventually, the RS IWOP met its fate after a particularly violent rapid ripped it apart. Godspeed, I'm sure it'll go on to become the RS IWIHT (It works in heaven too!).
Funny thing, none of us had actually considered what to do with the raft after its inevitable end. And that's how we ended up lugging a bunch of buckets and raft materials down the railroad tracks for about a mile, in the dark, with cars passing by and staring. One jogger saw us coming, abruptly turned around, and ran the other way. Personally, I didn't think that I smelled that bad.

So yeah, spring is awesome. Rafting is awesome. Channeling classic Twain characters is definitely awesome.

How did everyone else spend their break? I'm sure you guys all have stories that'll make mine look like the mud-soaked sneakers I used to wade in the creek. And don't leave out any details, especially not the embarrassing ones.

Of Arrivals, Rainforests, and Onions

THANKS, JOHES! ^_^


Okay, SO. Good news. Grace arrived yesterday in our beautiful, little island of Puerto Rico. Today we're going to go to El Yunque Rainforest and I will FINALLY be able to go and bathe in a waterfall. The only other time I've gone, I haven't been able to. Honestly, I think that I'm going to see more of Puerto Rico now than ever. (Actually, that's my mission before I leave for college. I HAVE to see Puerto Rico's landmarks; I can't leave without having done that.) XD

Anyway. Here's what we did yesterday, without the proper accents and stuff because this laptop is a betch. Sorry, Laura! :P I just copy/pasted this from my LJ because I'm a lazy foo'. Every time it says TODAY, it means YESTERDAY. ^_^

Didn't really have school today. I spent all day working on the English Week Activities for elementary school, which included being the pronouncer of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade Spelling Bees, and helping out with random stuff, including taking the time, ringing bells, and whatnot for the 4th-6th grade portion of the activities.
Got out of school, saw a text message from Grace saying they would arrive an hour earlier than planned. So I dashed home, got ready, she arrived, I was still home, our mothers talked, blahblah. We headed to the airport and met up with them at about 3 PM. ^_^ Big hugs upon arrival! Yay! Affection!
Our moms had trouble pronouncing each other's names (Onions and Davida, when their real names are Unyong and Yadira). It was hilarious. I suggested they just call each other Billy and Bob. They were amused. Anyway, we headed from the terminal to Budget, the car-rental place, where Ummah (= Unyong = Grace's mom) got a car. She left it there, though, and we all headed toward Pinones for some super greasy, fried PR food. :D We drove around, talking and joking, and then finally stopped at some random little spot. We tried pinchos (shiskabobs), alcapurrias filled with meat and alcapurrias filled with jueyes (crabmeat), bacalaitos (cod-fritters), rellenos (mashed potato balls with meat inside), pionono (sweet, ripe bananas that are fried and filled with meat...or something like that.), and pina colada with WAY too much rum. Gloria and Grace downed those Coladas, though. I was impressed. They were way too strong for me. XD They REALLY liked the piononos and the alcapurrias. Grace liked crabmeat, but her mom and sis preferred the meatmeat.

Later we headed over to Old San Juan, going through Isla Verde, Condado, and all those nearby places. We got out at El Morro and took some pics, then got back in the car and drove around a little more. From there, we headed over back to Budget where we parted ways and agreed to go to El Yunque tomorrow. I'm so excited. They plan to go all around the island, basically. They're staying at a hotel in Ceiba right now. Two days later, it's an inn in Rincon. Then, another one in Patillas, and FINALLY one in San Juan/Condado?. I'd like to tag along as much as possible, lmao. XD I wanna see bits of PR I've never seen, like Los Banos de Coamo and La Bahia Bioluminiscente (the Coamo Hot Springs and the Bioluminiscent Bay of Fajardo). Bonus points if we wind up going to, say, Culebra! lol

My mom LOVED Grace and her family. *does a happy dance* We are ALL so freakishly similar, it's nuts. Both mom and Ummah share many characteristics, like their love of hitting their children and attempting to Facebook-stalk them. :P And Gloria/Grace/I are super alike as well. Cool beans.

I might miss school on Monday so I can head out to Rincon or something. Woot. Fun, fun, fun. The Calculus test that was today was postponed til' God knows when. I do have to study some more, though, and do a homework thingy we were assigned. God, that Spanish novel is driving me NUTS. I haven't even BEGUN IT and it's due on April 2nd! PRINTED AND BOUND! ACK! I basically have a week to write it. O.O Oh dearie me. Right after I post this, I'm gonna get started on the novel. After that, the Calculus homework. I swear. (EDIT: I fell asleep.)

Anyway, Grace's mom is ADORABLE and super sweet. Gloria is rockin', too. Overall, much love for the fam.

UGH. PAPERWORK! I DON'T WANNA DO IT! Stupid financial aid forms. GRR. I had a parcel to be delivered today, but no one opened the door or something...so I gotta go get it at some point, er, tomorrow, or something. I think it was Swarthmore's accepted-student fat package. (EDIT: Nope, it was just an art-school catalog I'd requested ages ago, hehe. Swat's is mailed on Monday.) BROWN DECISIONS IN A WEEK! UChi...at some point! BU... = 'tevs!


PICTURES COMING SOON!

Thanks for reconnecting me to the blog, Johes

As Don told us back at the beginning of TASP, technology is harmful to society and should be despised. While he had broad reasons for espousing that view, I think it applies very much to the Blogger-update fiasco, which kicked me off the blog for the past two months or so.

In that interval I have retired from swimming. Our high school season ended in February, and I really hadn't enjoyed it as much this year as I had in the nine years preceeding. Additionally, I swam much more slowly this season, and I was pretty apathetic about it, and it didn't help that my littlest sister rose to dominate the events in which I had previously excelled. So retirement is nice; I read more and actually socialize sometimes.

I'm working in my mother's law office from through the summer, which is ok, if a little bit tedious. Part of my job is going through old files, throwing away extra copies of documents, and then boxing them up and putting them in storage. Since my mom is a small town lawyer, I end up reading the histories of painful times in the lives of people with whom I am slightly aquainted. It's weird knowing these things about people--I am, of course, bound by a confidentiality agreement, so I don't tell anyone else about it--and also weird to think of lives being reduced (in some cases quite literally, because there are wills and things) to a series of documents in a cardboard box in a garage behind a law office.

I really hope to see lots and lots of you at the reunion, and also to hear about your final college decisions--and obviously about things in your lives that are more important/fun than college decisions.

Sarah

DON! HUZZAH!

DON GOT IN @ DEEP SPRINGS!!!

*dances*

Our very own Brawny Man made it!! EXCITEMENT! I look forward to visiting him at some point. Sarah, I think you should give him his TASP Drag-Night dress to wear during the DS Drag Nights. ;P Anyway, go and congratulate him, people (MY PEOPLE?! *flips table*). The kid deserves it. :)

So here, a brief log of our chat:

Lyra Aidyta: DON!
Lyra Aidyta: Congratulations!
donb303: I GOT IN
Lyra Aidyta: I JUST HEARD!!
donb303: thanks so much aida
Lyra Aidyta: I literally JUMPED
Lyra Aidyta: Was it a letter or an email?
donb303: they called me up
donb303: it wasnt supposed to be for like a month!
donb303: but they said i was so impressive on my visit!
donb303: i just hope i can live up to the title of deep springer
Lyra Aidyta: Oh gosh, that's awesome!!
Lyra Aidyta: "Well, Don, we just wanted to let you know that since you're so awesome, we had to accept you and tell you way earlier"
Lyra Aidyta: *grin* Did they notify everyone?
donb303: i got the impression they are still debating about kids
Lyra Aidyta: How many were they going to take, anyway? 6?
donb303: 13
donb303: per year
donb303: i believe
Lyra Aidyta: ah, whoa, nice. ^^
Lyra Aidyta: your little cow icon is dancing excitedly, hehe
donb303: haha yeah man i thought it fitting
Lyra Aidyta: Extremely
donb303: this goes without saying aida but youre invited to the ranch whenever i can have visitors
Lyra Aidyta: Actually, I'd eventually like to go take a peek at it sometime
Lyra Aidyta: Can girls even go?
donb303: sure for visiting. thanksgiving i can have any kind of guests i want and school lets out one week every 6 or 7 so if i stay i can have visitors
Lyra Aidyta: That sounds pretty nifty! I'd love to go.
Lyra Aidyta: So at some point, I'll go check out your little home on the range
donb303: awesome
Lyra Aidyta: ^_^ Well, I must be off for a bit. I'm kind of tired and I have to make some phone-calls to coordinate a school activity, so I'll talk to you later. But, again, CONGRATS. ^_^ You definitely deserve it.
donb303: leave a message on the blogger for me telling the other taspers?
donb303: me and computers dont mix as you know
Lyra Aidyta: I just did
donb303: haha atta girl
Lyra Aidyta: a good three minutes ago
Lyra Aidyta: :P
donb303: im gonna go shoot guns in celebration. (its what we american rednecks do) see ya bud.



:)

Reunion through Social Entrepreneurship

I'm going to Boston for a student summit on social entrepreneurship and the impact of the private sector on eliminating poverty. The conference is *free*, but you must arrange your own transportation and housing (Harvard TASP network, perhaps?). Just posting the information here in case any of you are interested. Anthony might attend, and we're probably going to meet up afterward for dinner in Boston. :]

To apply: http://www.globalscholar.org/bc
^ Very basic application. Just copy, paste, and submit.

Summit schedule: http://www.aidemocracy.org/changesched.cfm

Description:

Our goal for the summit is to bring together young global leaders from across the U.S. for a day of workshops, speakers, and discussions on the new fields of social venture capital, micro-finance, corporate social responsibility, and cause marketing. The rise of social entrepreneurship is changing the way we live and the opportunities for global social change. The Social Entrepreneurship and Global Change summit will examine how leaders today are increasingly taking a business approach to make a social impact - from helping to end poverty to reducing the impact climate change. We will also be leading a workshop, giving you the tools to become involved in your community.



Confirmed speakers at the summit include:

· Fernande Raine, Changeleader and Managing Director of Talent, Ashoka

· Mindy S. Lubber, President, Ceres

· Robin Ratcliffe, Special Assistant to the President, ACCION International

· José Luis Rojas Villarreal, Director of Lending, Ecologic Finance

· Seth Green, President, Americans for Informed Democracy

· Robbin Peach, Executive Director, Massachusetts Environmental Trust

· Bob Sheppard, Deputy Director and Business Program Manager, Clean Air - Cool Planet

· Sandra Waddock, Professor, Boston College, and Senior Research Fellow, Center for Corporate Community Relations

· Jerome Dwight Maryon, President, the Committee on Contemporary Spiritual-&-Public Concerns

· Mark Orlowski, Founder and Executive Director, Sustainable Endowment Institute

Hola! :)

Hello everyone. First of all, thanks to all those who took the time out of your busy busy schedules to wish me a happy birthday :) I had a really good time, although it would have been better if you guys had been there. I went with some friends and family to a traditional dance/music "show" (I say show because there is no other word for it in english. It was more like a group of percussionists playing the music and really talented people dancing in the middle of the small crowd.) The music/dance was Bomba, a Puerto Rican artform developed by the African slaves who were brought by the Spanish. It was so much fun! The beat really gets into you... Hopefully when you all come to visit me I can take you there. Afterwards, I went with a few friends to Old San Juan and hung out for a while.

Other than that, things have been ok. I have senioritis like never before, especially since I have about 35 days of class left. There are so many holidays and activities in the coming months that we almost don't get any class. It's pretty sweet, not gonna lie. However, we have a lot of work to finish before the glorious 8th of May arrives (last day for seniors), so I'm not celebrating yet. I assume I'm not the only one dealing with chronic senioritis, though ;)

I'm going to be in Boston from April 18th until the 24th, for Harvard prefrosh and random partying with some college friends. I'd love to see a few TASPers while I'm at it, so if anyone is going to coincide with me, tell me! (Needless to say, I've already informed Anthony about this:) ALSO, Grace is coming to Puerto Rico on March 23, so we'll be having another mini-TASP reunion! Seeing as Aida will be here, there will of course be pictures :D Keep me posted with your lives!

Much love, Laura

MBTA (Someone had to)

Who is applying?

I know:
Anthony
Levent
Aida
Freya

Testing

Testing..

Congrats, Grace!

Just wanted to say "congratulations" for winning LOYALTY QUEEN!!!

*skips around the room throwing confetti*

IB v. AP

What are your thoughts on this? I have mixed feelings and I am still not 100% clear on what exactly is involved in IB and getting your diploma. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Presidential Scholars, Fashion, and...Such!

Blogger is a betch.

Anyway.

CONGRATULATIONS to Miss Laura! She is nominated for the Presidential Scholars Program. :) I also received a nomination, so I'm uber happy. TASPers repreZENT! Yo, yo.

*cough* Anyway. For those that went to Discovery Weekend and met the ASIAN guy from Puerto Rico, Carlton, yeah, he and his sister also got nominated. :D

In other news:

+ My Cornell interview is tomorrow. Woo!
+ School is crazy! Woo!
+ Laura's school's fashion show is on the 11th! Woo!

I will obviously take an obscene amount of photographs and promptly upload them onto Facebook for your collective viewing pleasure. ^_^

I'm sorry for being MIA lately. :'( I love you all, though. I'll try to call soon, but I can't promise anything yet. <3 <3 <3

Has It Been That Long?

I sat in AP Statistics today counting down the seconds until class ended and I realized something. September, October, November, December, January, February – today was exactly half a year since the end of TASP. In ways it seems so tragically far away and yet it is never too far from my mind.

I realize it has been quite some time so I will give you all a brief update as to my life. My debate team is doing wonderfully, my novices continually win tournament and get speaker awards – this, of course, I will take credit for in college interview. Truth be told, it was very little of my doing and mainly their own talent and dedication which continues to impress me. Mock trial has just started a few days ago and for the first time in the history of my school we won our first of three trials, beating a team we have lost to for the past 3 years by a single point. As captain, I feel very glad to have made our moderator so proud, though there is a lot of pressure to win the next two as well so we can advance. I have another trial Thursday and the final of the three a week from tomorrow. So, I’m keeping myself very busy with that. My classes are going well for the second quarter and the first I’ve had straight As with a single B+. Hopefully colleges will make a note of this before they outright reject me. As for colleges, almost all my interviews are done. I have Brown on February 15th and I still have not heard from Yale, which is strange. My complete list: Harvard, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Hamilton, UMich, BC, American, George Washington, Boston University, and Brandies. No need to tell me that’s far too many schools – trust me, I know.

On the TASP front, sadly I was unable to convince any deserving juniors to apply. I was informed of my region’s TASPlication Reading Day a few weeks ago, and although I was looking forward to it a lot I will not be attending because it is February 17th. Instead, I will be hanging out with Dan (and maybe Sarah?) on February 17th. We will, of course, do our bests to take many pictures and post them on the blog. Also, my mom makes scrapbooks for each of her kids when they graduate high school, meaning mine is coming up. This prompts me to ask, does anyone have any print photos of some of us together with me in them? If you do and would be willing to send me some please let me know and it would be greatly appreciated. God forbid I have a high school scrapbook and no TASP photos! Thanks to those of you who already replied to Sarah’s email, the earlier the better. I look forward to helping plan the reunion and seeing all of you again. I think of you guys all the time and I miss you so much you can’t even imagine. You often come up in my college interviews – not TASP – you, specifically. I know I have told stories of Laura, Levent, Ingrid, Sheron and Martin in interviews because you are all so smart and wonderful and influential in my life. I’m sorry to those of you I haven’t done a great job keeping in contact with, please call me whenever you have time and I will certainly make time to talk. I apologize if this post is all over the place, I’m trying to hurry so I can go shower.

I miss you all and love you,
Anthony

Scary (Updated!)

Today was a very eventful day. And not in a good way. I don't know how to start writing about what happened, because it's so freaky. But I'll give it a shot. I can't promise any coherence, because I'm still shaky.

We were in Spanish class, the last class of the day. The bell was due to ring any minute, so we were all chatting and joking around. Suddenly, one of the school secretaries comes in, sweaty and agitated, and told us that the bell was not going to ring, because there had been an emergency and everybody needed to stay in their classrooms until it was solved.

It turns out that a classmate of mine, who was taking a history test at the moment, had suddenly started convulsing and they were waiting for the ambulance to arrive. As I was told by my friends who were in class with him, the teacher had just handed out the tests and he turned his head towards another classmate. The teacher reprimanded him and told him to focus on his work, but he did not react. He started turning his neck towards his back, as if on a 180 degree angle. Then he started shaking, and foaming in the mouth, and his eyes rolled backwards. She hugged him tight and told everyone to leave the room and call the principal. The administration staff came, with the nurse, and they laid him on the floor, where he started shaking and convulsing even more. He tensed his hands and kept turning his neck, which had grown very red. They immediately called an ambulance. But apparently, the convulsions lasted a long time, which is very, very dangerous.

I'm seriously freaked out. Nothing like this has ever happened to a classmate of mine before. He and I had drifted apart over the years, but I have many happy memories of him from when we were children. I've known him for 13 years, since we were in kindergarden together. He was my boyfriend in the 5th grade, and his mom used to called me every night to ask me about our homework (he wasn't the most studious of kids). Even though we haven't talked as much in high school, he's very dear to me, and I would be devastated if something serious happened to him. Any of my classmates would be devastated, not only because we are a very united class and almost everyone knows each other, but also because of the proximity of such an event. Plus, we're in our last semester of senior year. Something like this can't happen when we are so near to the end.

My classmates and I are trying to remain calm about the whole thing. The last I heard, he was in the ER and they were running all sorts of tests. Tomorrow we will know more. Until then, I have to study for the same history test he was supposed to be taking today. It doesn't do wonders for my mood. But I just wanted to write about this to you guys, because you always have the ability to calm me down and make me feel better. I miss you all, and I wish we were back at TASP now. Much love.

*******************UPDATE***********************

He's fine. He was discharged from the hospital yesterday and he came to school today. I had visited him at the hospital on Sunday and he was a lot better, so I was much calmer after that. Anyway, they never found out exactly what caused the convulsions. The doctor had to make some sort of diagnosis, so he said my friend had some weird type of epilepsy, which is not easily detected through the tests they administered. He is going to be on medication for a while, and he cannot drive for 6 months. Also, he cannot drink for 2 years. That one is especially painful, but we're all going to be watching him, because we don't want another episode like that :)

Thanks so much for your support, guys. I was really freaked out when it happened, and I directly came to you because you are all so important to me and I trust you. I also realized yesterday that it has been 6 months since TASP, and I can honestly say that it does not feel like that long, because you are all still very much a part of my life. And it will stay that way. Much love, and many thanks.

- Laura

Reunion: When and Where

Ok, I know you are probably starting to tire of my incessant facebooking/emailing/blogging about this reunion thing, but I'm just trying to cover all the bases and make sure everyone gets the information. So please bear with me, or I'll forcefully raise my hand in your general direction ;)

You should by now have received an email detailing proposed dates and places for the reunion. Please reply by February 12th with your preferences. The more information you provide (i.e. your second, third, and fourth choices, as well as places and times that absolutely won't work for you) the more effective this survey will be. The goal is to have a date and location chosen by March 1.

WHERE?

Boston
Washington, D.C.
St. Louis
New York City
Chicago
Minneapolis/St. Paul (because it's cheap)

WHEN? All of these are Friday to Monday weekends, the idea being that you show up when you can and leave when you must.

July 20-23
August 3-7
August 10-13
August 17-20
August 24-27
August 31-September 2
September 2-5

If you haven't received the email (I used the TASP directory) please contact me: sjhowland27@yahoo.com.

Thank you for all of your cooperation!

Advice for college interview, please

Many of you have probably gone through the college interviews, having applied early admission, and I'm elated at the news I've been hearing through facebook I've an interview for Harvard scheduled this Friday, and it's ,frankly, making me nervous. Could you share any advice/experience with me? Even the mundane things like what to bring and what to wear. Any help would be really appreciated.

Jan 19:

well, that's over with now. Thanks for the comments, and yes, Aida, I did wear clothes. ;D My interviewer was coincidentally Ukrainian, so we talked about the Russification of the country for part of the time. Now I just have to wait till March or sometime to hear the results.

Iron Chef News

I was just watching Iron Chef America and someone said something that reminded me of TASP.

The secret ingredient: peas.

They were commenting on the Iron Chef's plates and suddenly one of the judges said: "I think there is too much pea-ness going on."

I almost died.
My mother looked up and asked "Did she just say they had too much PENIS?!"


XD

Okay. Those were my big news.

Scholarships are scary

So I really, really ought to have begun applying for scholarships ages ago, but I didn't. And now that I have begun searching for them, I am intimidated and frustrated and scared.

Most of the scholarships that my school advertises can only be used at Indiana colleges, which is annoying because I cannot wait to leave this flat, soybeany state. I used the collegeboard's scholarship search, which helped me find a few good leads, although it produced a lot of results I couldn't use ("Must write an essay about growth after parent's death in line of duty," etc.) Then I tried the service affiliated with princetonreview.com, BrokeScholar, but after I provided a lot of information, it displayed scholarships for 2006, which leads me to believe it is defunct. Then I tried to do a google search, but narrow terms produced even narrower results ("Philippino journalists for peace scholarship," etc.) and broader terms led me to sites with weird pop-up ads that required application fees. At this point I started to feel edgy and unsafe, as though there were no possible way for me to find a scholarship for which I was eligible, and as though all of these scholarship search services were out to steal my identity.

This in addition to the concern that I won't get any financial assistance at all, and will end up indebted and liberally educated (i.e. skill-less) in four years was quite unsettling. How are all of you faring?

Ethiopian news/ Puerto Rican love

Hola!

Chris was nice enough to message me on Facebook and tell me that he's been keeping in touch with Ethiopian Mike! I'd like to post the update he gave me, so that the rest of us who haven't been as responsible (shame... including myself) can rest assured that he is doing just fine. Chris told me that Mike applied early to Brown and got deferred (no one from his school got in early), but he is optimistic about his chances. He is applying to 23 schools in the US. Yes. 23. So I'm guessing we can count on meeting him at some undisclosed location come September :)It's not easy for him to keep in touch with us because he only has internet access at his school. Thanks Chris!
-------------------------------------------------
Anyhow, it's now been 5 months after TASP, and it still feels like yesterday... sort of. Lately there has been a huge wave of TASPian photo comments on Facebook, which makes me very happy. I think it's due to the Facebook initiation of certain elusive TASPers ;) It's great that we still have so much to laugh about and look back on. I still find out new things about our stay at TASP, even after 5 months. It's a privilege to know you all.

I'm sorry for the corniness. My next update is probably going to be about my measures for coping with senioritis. I start classes the 12th, and I definitely feel it coming. Oh MAN.

Much love!

PS- Aida had mentioned something about posting our first impressions of everyone at TASP on the blog. I think it's a fun idea. Anybody in?

Dear Everyone: Sorry, this is a long one.

Many people I know and love have written end-of-the-year reflections. And yet, until now, I haven't. Perhaps this is because I fear being judged or despised by, say, my school friends, who are not as close to me as you folks are (metaphorically speaking).

The other day, I came to the recognition that this has really been an excellent year. Don't hate me, as I may sound like an unfeeling, cocky bastard (slash betch)...but I am truly happy right now. I am content with myself: the way people perceive me and my actions, the different roles that form my character, and the prospects my future holds. I am thrilled to be who I am and to be continuously finding out who that is. I am defining my character and my identity, and much of this is because of you guys.

This summer, I flew to TASP directly from Lincoln, Nebraska - where I spent the worst week of my life. (Pictures are on facebook, heh.) For the first time, I understood what 'the creepy kid' feels like: you know, the one whom you talk about - in fun! - who really doesn't belong. I didn't belong in the glitzy world of performances and name dropping ("Ohmagawd, Aaron Lazar taught my workshop! I carry a photo of him in my bra for good luck!" <- yeah, I know. Weird). Examples: I hadn't taken voice lessons since the age of three; I didn't have a moneysmile; I hadn't memorized the songs in RENT; I didn't have tap, jazz, character, or ballet shoes, nor did I have Airborne, Performer's Secret, or Singer's Saving Grace. (I learned a lot that week!!) I ate alone. I slept alone. That was the lowest I've ever been in my life. I actually had to remind myself that "I'm a nice person and someone, somewhere likes me!"

And then I flew to Ithaca and found a bunch of someones.

Thank you for being so loving. You kids were the highlight of my year - perhaps my life - and you are helping me grow and change. You are so good to me! I consider many of you to be my best friends.

So, with that in mind, here are my resolutions for the year. I expect you to keep me accountable.

1. I am changing my name legally, for my 18th birthday. Grace LeeYong ...____? Suggestions?
2. I am going to see at least one of you. Or, hell, I resolve to go to the reunion, if we have one.
3. Related to the last resolution...I am going to take a roadtrip this summer.
4. That roadtrip may extend into a year's stay, because I have my mother's blessing to defer my admittance to college and spend the year living somewhere.
5. Get a tattoo. Heh.

Anyway, I'm stealing this from UTAustin's blog-extraordinaire, because it caught my fancy. (Thank you, Tracy!)

http://www.meish.org/projects/mayfly/

This is how I would describe my year in 24 words.

sleep is dead. Summer:
The creepy kid. Lonely.
Ishmael.
My people: Love! Superlatives! <--This is you guys.
Chicago.
School = friendless.
Killed a man. ....Anymore!
Bliss.
Identity! Happy myself.

Who knows what 2007 will bring?

Love,
Grace

Sir, Let's Reunite

Most of you should have by now received an invitation to a facebook group with the same title as this post. Guys, we really can make this reunion happen.

Post your brainstorming suggestions--where? when? how?--as comments here, or on the facebook group discussion board, and on the weekend of January 27 the executive committee (if you want to be in said committee, post that here, or better, post it on the facebook group's discussion board) will compile the brainstorms into a set of ideas to be further discussed (and posted on the group/on blogger).

Happy 2007!

Sarah

THE NEW YEAR HAS ARRIVED!

Thus, 2006 has ended and we are one step closer to graduating and embarking on our great college quest.
But, it also means one more thing:
We must start thinking about our fantabulous, grand, spectacular REUNION!!!
As I recall, there was previous mention of a reunion committee. Said committee would begin planning and organizing our reunion.
I would be wiling to help out if need be. Who else wants to help.

LET'S DO THIS!!!
FOR REAL GUYS!!! I REALLY WANT THIS TO HAPPEN!!! I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE REST OF YOU, BUT I AM DYING TO HANG OUT WITH SOME FELLOW TASPERS!

Seriously, its almost been 6 months (that's right, half a year!) since I've seen some of you guys.

SO LET'S GET THE BALL ROLLING!