An Old Look at a New Beginning

My apologies to all three of my readers for this extended holiday I have been on. What can I say? Things get in the way - like Christmas travels, football playoffs, the first season of LOST on DVD. What the heck is that island? No spoilers please. So as I relish the last few days of my vacation before the monster strikes again, I thought I'd provide for your reading enjoyment an old piece I wrote for the Iowa State Daily on New Beginnings. A bit cheesy I admit but appropriate for the start of 2008. You can read it here.

Dead Week?

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I have indeed arrived at the end of this semester, and therefore, the end of my first year of PhD work. It is not quite yet time to send in the clowns or the undertaker as it were. I still have a week and then finals. At Iowa State, this week before finals was aptly named "Dead Week." And though the subjects have changed (and the workload has certainly increased), I think that "Dead Week" is an appropriate title for this week at Marquette as well.

If you are confused as to the meaning of Dead Week, don't feel alone - I too was confused at the onset of my freshman year at Iowa State. But I found out pretty quick. If you'd like to read my thoughts on this subject back when I was a mere 19 year old college freshman, you can check them out here. It's funny to realize that, though it is - incredibly - ten years later, I still have many of the same thoughts. (Enter horrible cliche here.)

A Blazin' Good Birthday

Today is April 20th. It is my birthday. It is also a counter cultural holiday celebrating the smoking of marijuana. No one knows exactly why. Some link it to a group of teenagers called "The Waldos" who, in 1971, met every day after school (at 4:20) to smoke pot (thank you Wikipedia). Others link it to the slopes at Aspen, where the last run of the day would be about 5 minutes to 4:00, meaning that everyone would get to the bottom at 4:20 and celebrate the day by blazing some doobies. Either way, 4/20 is generally recognized as their national holiday. Happy birthday me.

It should come as no shock to my readers that I have not had any personal experience (on my birthday or otherwise) with the smoking of marijuana. However, it occurs to me that my birthday has been linked to a blaze of sorts.

Nine years ago, my 20th birthday, I was a freshman at Iowa State University and I had volunteered my services as a Parade Aide in the annual VEISHEA parade (VEISHEA is the celebration of Iowa State University). For the average Parade Aide, this would entail walking beside a big float and nothing else. Unfortunately I am not the average person and it meant an entirely different experience for me. It was such a good story that I wrote about it in my weekly column in the Iowa State Daily. If you are interested, you can read it here.

Happy 4/20 bloggers! Stay off the hash.