Crystal Bridges: Coming Fall 2011

The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Yeah, I totally thought this was a casino when it was first mentioned at band. Although sending a pep band to play the opening of a casino might make more aesthetic sense than having people play the fight song for the opening of a fancy art museum...as it is, I wish I could go so badly. I, however, must go to class instead.

PM

The letters PM have come to mean many things in my life...usually they refer to potential members of Kappa Kappa Psi, but today they stand for Prime Minister, because I'm watching the Prime Minister's Questions on CSPAN's website. I like that I always count keeping up with current events as studying for my major, although it has nothing to do with any of my classes. (Although the last time I think I watched PM's Questions was when Gordon Brown became PM & David Cameron was leader of the opposition. That happened, right?) There's something so wonderful about people playing out their political battles in public and expressing their outrage for everyone to hear. I also like that they call each other "right honorable" when they're tearing each other apart.

Also, I read a story on TIME.com yesterday about how students in London are protesting funding cuts to higher education. Then I saw that Penn State students are rioting over the rightful firing of their beloved coach over a shameful scandal. It really calls American priorities into question...out of state costs for students at the U of A are being raised by 32% next year, and no one seems to have noticed it. I wouldn't have heard of it at all if I didn't follow the Traveler on twitter. Although lack of outrage over this may be due to how laughably easy it is to get instate tuition here...it's still not a good thing. I could easily turn this into an attack from the right, which shows that I've spent too much time in Davidson's class.

Parliamentary Funsies: http://www.c-span.org/Events/Prime-Ministers-Questions/10737425347/

Developing Your Intellectual Potential

So, I generally hate talking about religion. I think talking about your beliefs is a way for people to alienate others generally. (Last year, one of my friends told me I wasn't a Christian because I believe that if you live in a part of the world where Christianity isn't the majority religion or if you've never heard of it and follow a good and moral life, God will love you and you get to go to heaven. I'm still upset about this...I find the Dalai Lama to be an adorable little man whose message of peace should resonate with all people, no matter their religion.) But one of my sisters mentioned yesterday that she liked to use Bible verses to show how the 5 & the 8 for TBS are relevant in life outside of college, and it got me thinking about "development of your intellectual potential." I know several people who are extremely smart and don't use it properly. These people don't seem to realize that God may not care about your grades, but I believe that He's disappointed when He gives you the ability to earn good grades on the road to something bigger and better and you choose not to take advantage of that. Maybe you were meant to cure AIDS, but you didn't study for biology and couldn't get into med school. Maybe you could have ended the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but you skipped class too much. So I study. It's very boring, but I don't want to limit my future. Besides, college is an amazing opportunity that so many people don't have...so I'm going to learn all that I can before it's off to the real world. Or maybe grad school if I ever stop writing and start studying for German.

Also, new second favorite movie:

This video doesn't do it justice at all. Most movies are better as a trailer...this one isn't.