A recommendation I wrote for a favorite teacher [21 Dec 2009|06:53pm] madcow23sg To Whom It May Concern: As a former English student of Ms. Kwon, I am honored to write a reference letter for one of my most influential teachers.  Junior year is a hard year for most students- in the midst of growing up, but not fully grown.  Teachers often are faced with an impossible task of not only educating, but also molding our future leaders.  Ms. Kwon always managed this task with intelligence and patience.  My class of almost 30 was regular English. I had been a shaky student before, alternating between A's and C's depending on my motivation and thus, hadn't quite qualified for honors English again.  My classmates were mostly underprivileged students and minorities as well.  So although Los Altos High School saw many wealthy individuals with active parental support, this class had a dearth of them.  Somehow though, through creative projects and individual care, Ms. Kwon was able to grasp our minds and attention.  For instance, I still remember one of her first assignments was a personal questionnaire.  From this, she was able to glean some of our personalities and interests to shape an engaging curriculum. Additionally, she was a strong, young, Asian woman.  Her minority status reflected ours and she made sure to choose curriculum that could speak to us.  For instance, she assigned Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, exposing us to minority voices in an American English class.  A tale told in our own voices. But most importantly, Ms. Kwon somehow knew in that year I needed a mentor to look up to and to motivate me.  She was always available after class for discussions, whether personal or educational.  We spent many hours discussing the state of a society I didn't fully believe in.  She instilled high standards and challenged me intellectually when she knew the basic curriculum would not suffice.  This continued even after I left her as a student. For instance, when I was a senior, she allowed me to lead a discussion group on Ishameal, a book that had changed my life. It was inspiring to be able to come up with lesson plans together to influence younger minds. Thus, not only did she convince me that I could succeed, but that I would.  And that I should use the success to make a better world, instead of rejecting it.  This year I graduated law school, turned 25, and passed the California bar exam.  I work in public service, doing policy research that will hopefully influence our legislature for the better.  I have no doubt in my mind that my education with Ms. Kwon's and her individualized attention helped me achieve all that I am today.  For that I thank truly her.  Sincerely, Janet Young, Esq. rip a wave

[19 Dec 2009|08:46pm] cswallow Struck, spun, struggling with sleeplessness, I am startled to suddenly feel a great wave of surrendering drench me, every sound amplified, I am overwhelmed by the sensation of this second, and the next and the next. This is living, this is what I must hold. rip a wave

The closing [12 Dec 2009|03:46pm] cswallow The semester, wound to a close, seems already far behind me. I am looking onward, to the opportunities ahead, to things yet undone, to the hopes and uncertainties of another day beyond. In the last moments of these days, I spend delicious time with classmates barely known, calmly walk through the last of my assignments, pace myself, ever always learning newness. Having attended Fuqua's "Weekend for Women" last Thursday through Saturday, I am convinced of the fit for me, for how I can contribute best to the future of conservation, how I can contribute to others there and inspire some greater awareness of environmental issues. I will be spending all my waking hours on my essays for my Jan 7 application due date. Today I head to Key West, to meet up with Stuart Pimm and 19 other Nicholas School classmates. We'll be volunteering at the Key West Botanical Garden all week, and enjoying what will hopefully be warm, sunny weather. I spent much of this morning cleaning up a storm and packing. Now, I'm ripping many of my CDs to my laptop, rediscovering mixes made by friends many years ago (Danny, Mikey, Dan, Steph) - there's not much more relaxing than this. Winter is setting in, enfolding us in short days and touching cheeks and noses with lively flushes. We complain bitterly of the cold, as southerners are wont to do, not understanding yet that the brilliancy of spring relies on these dark, chill days. I relish it instead, the way it brings every nerve into shuddering existence, the way my fingers numb slowly and my knuckle joints ache when I thrust myself back into the warmth of a heated building. The sunrises now are cloudswept, orange. I haven't been dancing as much as I would have liked, due to finals and projects, but when I do it aches like the warming of my knuckles, muscles and sensitivities slowly awakening to the shift and movement of my partner. I quiet my mind, I bring myself down from audaciousness, try to do nothing but listen and understand. These things help humble me, remind me of what I am giving and what I am taking, hope it is helping me be better in myself. This adventure is all I can think about. rip a wave

Squaw! [12 Dec 2009|12:24am] madcow23sg I'm going skiing this weekend!!! It'll be my first time up this season, and it's my favorite sport these days, with endless variation (tree skiing, jumping, moguls, groomers) and challenge (tree skiing, jumping, moguls). This season, Julia, Robert and I got season passes to Squaw at the end of last season, for less than 50% of what they are selling for now. Also I just discovered it is ranked best out of all the ski resort for environmental policies. See http://www.tahoeloco.com/archives/3627. They were ranked on habitat protection, protecting watersheds, addressing global climate change, and environmental practices and policies. Not that that affected our purchase, at the time we just wanted to get in on their 60 year anniversary deal and my Kirkwood vote was trumped. Oh democracy. Good to know though! Ski resorts aren't exactly environmentally friendly. They ruin the natural landscape for slopes, encourage development, and those pesky snow makers/lifts/thousands of people driving up from the bay. And in the summer, when the snow is gone, the impact is so much more apparent (as you can see from my trip to Whistler last summer). But from all the "Keep Tahoe Blue" bumper stickers I see and from the actions of my fellow ski buddies, it's clear that more exposure to nature means more deep seeded environmentalists. Summer in Tahoe It's a beautiful place. Hopefully we'll make it up there and back just fine! Robert is far more enthusiastic (or otpimistic?) about the weather this weekend than I am. What can I say, "severe weather" forecast of weather.com sounds daunting. 4 waves ripped| rip a wave

Public transportation- this should not be this hard. [10 Dec 2009|04:20pm] madcow23sg The San Francisco Airport is about 2 miles from caltrain, so one would think public transportation would be a viable and thrifty method to get between the two. One would be sorely mistaken. On behalf of Justina, I've been looking up ways to get in between the two and apparently, to get from SFO to Millbrae station (home to BART and caltrain), one has to take airbart to San Bruno BART (caltrain also has a san bruno station you can alledgely transfer to, but is a MILE away), then BART one station to Millbrae. For a total cost of $6.90. For 2 miles. At 15 minutes, if you time the 2 transfers right. Hah, not likely. The trip down from Millbrae to Mountain View station, where somebody else will have to pick her up in a car, is $4.25 (and 22 miles away). This is so nonsensical!!! When getting of a plane, one has very few options. Your suitcase keeps you from walking, and you can't put a bike on a train. So BART decides to charge a $4 surcharge for exiting the airport. And taxi's have a $2 surcharge (so that 2 mile trip is $11). We. Are. Just. Trying. To. Save. The. World. People. Throw us a bone! Public transit should not take at least 2x longer, and cost 2x more! What kind of viable business plan is that? The kicker being, of course, that before BART, there was a free shuttle from Caltrain to SFO, and the biggest kicker of all being that it had a ridership of 350 people/day. Not viable. California is a convoluted and inefficient amalgamation of patchwork legislation, touted and passed under the guise of progress, but instead makes life harder for us all. And no, that's not necessarily a dramatization. Just ask our fleeing businesses. rip a wave

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