Capstone Conversation 1-2008 Election

I went to the capstone conversation on thursday october 23rd. It was a guest speaker talking about the impact of the 2008 election. He also discussed his predictions and support for those predictions. The speaker actually took a while to arrive and delayed the start by about twenty minutes but in that time Dr. Spurrier held a discussion mostly towards the audiences participation in the election. As to no surprise to me the room was very seperated as to who was supporting and ultimately voting for who. That wasn't surprising for a couple reasons. For one people at USC come from all over so you can expect different views and sides but at the same time it shows how close and seperated this election will be. Once the speaker arrived he gave background information about how the election works in terms of the electoral college, voting methods and times, and significant past elections. He then discussed some of the main views for each Obama and McCain and discussed how each could win. Up until this point I thought it was impressive how he was only informational and didn't take any sides or biased towards either candidate. But once he expressed his prediction that changed. He was in support of Obama and believed Obama would win the electoral vote in a landslide of 340-169 which I thought was highly unlikely. I believe even if Obama won most of the independent votes that the traditional republican-democrat state vote would make it closer than that. However, he supported his prediction and it possibly could happen but I still disagree that that will happen. Coming out of this conversation I can say my information about the set up of the election was refreshed and I got a very good perspective of each candidate. I enjoyed this conversation even though I generally don't like the topic of politics and elections. But I do recognize this year is incredibly important and is the first election I can vote in so I decided to attend this conversation for those reasons.

Oct 24th-Keeping Busy

Besides my schoolwork and classes I stay busy. For a lot of it it is dealing with getting in trouble. I know it is repetitive but I have a lot of work to do for my lawyer and preparing for my November 4th court date. I take time going to and from my lawyers office as well as getting documents completed for court. Not only the law trouble but housing trouble. As I mentioned in my previous post I am a most wanted of Capstone as I am now being written up for anything and everything. If something bad happens in Capstone my name is thrown in with it. I have already had judicial twice and just got another letter for a third judicial meeting and a notice that I will be placed on housing probation and I honestly could not tell you what for. So I take time doing that. But besides all that time I stay busy doing positive things as well. I am capstone student government. This means I have an hour meeting every monday night and then give that information to my floor in hour meetings on the floor wenesday nights. I also am apart of the recreation team in capstone which has meetings wenesday nights as well. This team is responsible for setting up events such as the capstone bowl and managing recreational equipment kept in the basement of capstone. I do also have my fun on the weekends. I generally go out thursday and friday nights either into five points or the vista. Whether its going to the bars or clubs downtown is always alot of fun. I also go to the strom and play pickup basketball almost every night I don't have meetings or too much work. I love the strom I could move in and just live out of the locker room there. School and classwork takes up majority of the time but between my legal issues, capstone meetings, playing basketball, and just taking time to hang out on weekends I stay pretty busy and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Oct 24th-Faculty at USC

I have to say I have mixed emotions towards faculty I have met at USC so far. When I say faculty I am talking about everyone that works at USC including professors, building managers, and even the cafeteria ladies. Starting off with the good, I like all my professors. I am closer with some more than others as is probably everyone but even the ones I am not close with I still enjoy there classes and feel comfortable in the learning enviornment they provide. I would have to say that my U101 professors (which are probably reading this ;-)) I am most comfortable with and feel the ability to open up to and discuss with whether in an in class situation or out of class conversation. I believe this is because of the content of the class as well as its a tight group with small number of students but a close group of students as well. As for some other faculty I can't say the same. I don't like a few of the leaders of my dorm building. I understand when someone is just doing their job and they have to take certain actions. But when those people go out of the way and out of their job description to target a specific person I can't say I have good thoughts about them. I am not the type who is paranoid and would say I am being targeted but I have been told I am being targeted which I don't think is fair. I guess you can say the I don't like some of the leaders of my dorm because they don't like me. Then there are all the other staff such as cafeteria ladies and janitors. I love stopping and having conversation with all of them and I know almost all of them by name as they do me. They are wonderful people who do a great job and I have to say spending a minute to hang out or talk with them makes the day better. Overall I like a majority of the faculty at USC there are just a few exceptions to that but I hope over time I can work out my differences with those who I don't care for so much as of right now.

Oct 3rd- Stress and Me

Up until about two to three weeks ago I always thought I was a very low stress person. I have never felt nervous, anxious, or overwhelmed in any subject. Whether it was school work in high school or pressure sports situations or public speaking I never was the type to feel stress. When I was put into what typical people would call a stressful situation I always dealt with it very well. However, a few weeks ago my world got rocked. After being arrested and spending a weekend in jail I haven't felt no stress ever since. Between the constant memories of that weekend as well as having the possible consequences on my mind I constantly nervous and stressed. When I thought it would be difficult to deal with classes and homework and extra curricular activities in college I never thought about dealing with the law as well. Going to class to my lawyers office to a drug test to a lie detector test to having a paper due the next day I feel rushed and overloaded every single day. I want to think that once I go to court and get over my charge I will be back to how I normally feel but my mind is telling me that won't happen. Although I have all this stress I feel like I am handling it the best I can. I write everything down, I have a handy calendar, I check off a to do list, and I still am getting my meals, exercize, and sleep in. I really hope I get through this court date and come out the low stressed relaxed person I always was prior to my arrest.

Oct 3rd-Diversity at USC

I have to say since I have been to USC I have experienced a very different style and levels of diversity from where I came from. I went to high school about five minutes outside of DC. Therefore when it comes to diversity I have to say where I lived is far more diverse just because DC is one of the most diverse places in the world. Just because USC isn't as diverse as DC doesn't mean it isn't diverse. I still have experienced a lot of diversity. One area of diversity I have found most prevalent is religion. The city I live in is about 99.9% jewish. There were no churches in my area and there was never discussion of religion. Here I have already been approached by several different religion groups or clubs. I have heard of more different religions in the month I have been here than I have my entire life prior to coming here. Also the diverse areas people come from have been interesting. In DC people come from all over the world but in my particular HS everyone was from Maryland. It is so interesting making friends with people from all over the country. I have made friends with everyone from places such as upstate new york, ohio, arizona, california, colorado, etc. You can really see how where the people came from influence them as a person. The kids from new york have significant differences than those that are here from south carolina. So although I came from somewhere I experienced a lot of diversity I have to say I have experienced a significant amount of diversity since I have come to USC as well.