Wish I was Smarter and More Educated
So I could follow this debate about biology and evolution. It begins with a negative review by Richard Dawkins about a new book by Edward Wilson. Skip the review I say—or not, Dawkins is just such a jerk, even if he has a worthwhile point I can always read the same point from someone else. Go right to the comments.
In another direction, look at this gift this father gave his daughter for her graduation. That has to be the best idea of all time for a graduation gift.
I may have told this story before, but when I graduated high school I used the Freedom of Information Act to see all the records in my files. I had a long history of getting into trouble and I expected to see a lot of, “Will end up in jail one day,” or, “I’m just praying for the day she graduates.” I wasn’t a bad kid, but I was an independent, wild kid, and I had to try everything at least once (use your imagination) and question everything, and I went through a bad patch of acting out in junior high.
But inside my records, they praised the very traits they always tried to discourage, ie, “she’s strong-willed, determined.” On the one hand, it was a nice way of saying “she’s a pain in the ass,” but still. What shocked me the most was how many said I was funny and had a good sense of humor. There was a kindness and appreciation there that they almost never showed me in person. I think I was 19 when I read all this and up until then I hadn’t gotten a lot of encouragement from my family or my teachers. Perhaps because I seemed like I didn’t need it. But of course I did, and reading their words had a profound effect on me. The big one being the realization that you can never be sure what people are thinking about you!
Now I have to decide what to do with my day. Take it easy or drum in the parade? My author photo is due tomorrow, so I guess I’ll start with that! I wish I had gotten a better night’s sleep.
I took his coming home from picking up my camera. If this was a movie instead of a still you would hear the booming, pounding music coming from this car. I wonder what that is about, the need to put on such an audio display?
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I found that bit about you looking at your records to be very interesting. It's instructive to imagine that if your teachers and advisers had been more forthcoming about their admiration for the very qualities they criticized you for, you might have exhibited less of said qualities (and therefore been less of a "pain in the ass"). Perhaps they appreciated those qualities in you, but found they made you harder to deal with and less pliant than they would have liked in a high schooler. I began questioning my teachers in high school, and worked up a petition asking for changes in school policies. Frank Macchiarolla was the big-shot principal then, and i was never allowed to see him. The school postponed meeting with me until the next to last day before graduation, at which time they expected me to drop it off for "someone" to read. I tried like hell to get myself out of "Science Core" (where they automatically placed students of a certain grade average, regardless of their interest, because it was a science-focused school), and was required to take home 6 hardcover books and get my parents' signatures before they'd let me out of the supposedly "volunteer" program. In my first year of college I challenged my statistics professor about the general lack of meaning of statistics. To his credit, though, he liked me for it and was grateful to see me engaged with the subject matter. A little support goes a long way.
Oh, that made me like your statistics professor.
