Presidents' Day Eve Reflections

Hurrah for Henrik getting into Oberlin! I'm psyched, even if it means California will be less one TASPer.

Anybody have definite summer plans yet? I'm applying for summer research programs in math, so far ones at University of Minnesota Duluth, Oregon State, and Cal Poly Pomona; I'm also looking at CS research here at Stanford, at UC Santa Cruz, or at University of Rhode Island. Or maybe I'll get lucky and find a programming job here in the Valley. On va voir.

School continues as usual: math, computer science, and writing. My humanities class this quarter is on the epic, and is featuring quite the selection of ancient/medieval depictions of gore, including the Odyssey and of course the Song of Roland ("Roland feels his death is near/Through his ears his brains are seeping"). My writing and rhetoric class has us researching violence in the media, so I'm preparing to write a paper about the rhetoric of America's Army (the US Army's new computer-game-cum-recruiting-device) in online gaming communities, comparing its role to that of Counter-Strike. To my surprise, I've discovered that the Stanford libraries have an excellent collection of computer and video games - including about 4 distinct versions of our cherished, mind-corrupting Grand Theft Auto.

I miss you guys. I was realizing recently that several of my acquaintances here remind me a great deal of individual TASPers - maybe my college experience is just an expanded version of the TASP experience-paradigm that I formed two summers ago, and I gravitate towards people who fit into the mold of my ideal TASP-like world. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if I'd gone to Cornell instead and lived in T-House, so I could hang out with ex-TASPers and Nunnites all the time - but Stanford is pretty sweet.

Did any of you manage to get in on reading TASP applications this year? I was going to email the other Stanford TASPers and see if anybody had leads on how I could get involved, but I haven't got around to it yet and the hour is getting late.


5. Bad Moon Rising - CCR
4. Things Have Changed - Bob Dylan
3. Ain't Wastin' Time No More - Allman Brothers
2. Bientot - Coralie Clement
1. Crazy Love - Allman Brothers

Groetjes,
Sam