The Finer Points of Blogging

Then there came a problem with the Internet at about 5:00 PM. Whoever bought a drink only got Wi-Fi access for an hour. After our one hour limits were up, some of us bought another drink while others used the free Wi-Fi that the FedEx next door had. It was slow, but it was free Internet access. Worth it to Damian, Eric, and me.

We got a lot done and I got to know my cohorts a little bit better. Knowing the basics about blogging and setting up the site now will ensure that we don’t get frustrated while on the East Coast trying to figure out where to include links or how to change the background. Knowledge is power, and I will use this knowledge to make a great blog.

Damian, one of my cohorts, working hard.

Then there came a problem with the Internet at about 5:00 PM. Whoever bought a drink only got Wi-Fi access for an hour. After our one hour limits were up, some of us bought another drink while others used the free Wi-Fi that the FedEx next door had. It was slow, but it was free Internet access. Worth it to Damian, Eric, and me.

We got a lot done and I got to know my cohorts a little bit better. Knowing the basics about blogging and setting up the site now will ensure that we don’t get frustrated while on the East Coast trying to figure out where to include links or how to change the background. Knowledge is power, and I will use this knowledge to make a great blog.

The Four Horsemen

I was planning on titling this blog The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse but worried that someone might get the wrong idea about who and what these four men are all about or even what may lie on store for them when they get to Yale or even what may lie in store for the rest of us once they put into practice what they learn while at Yale.

Way back in December--the 13th to be exact--thew ILC’s Yale panelists read the application essays, reviewed the transcripts and listened intently to the responses to the 10 questions asked of each of the applicants.

As usual, the cadre of applicants were all qualified and made the job of the panelists all the more difficult.

In the end, though, four were selected to be this season’s Yale cohort.

In just two hours from the time of this posting, the four will gather to start setting up this blog site and personalizing it as their own.

In the coming months we should read of their reading of the many thousands of pages of preparatory material, of their appearances before City Councils, their tutorial session where they will learn more about working this blog site, their dinner with sponsors and alums from Yale, their presentation to the School Board and their Orientation session to prepare them for their trip.

Stay tuned for more.

Heavy Reading

At Don’s behest, I want to write about the reading that my cohorts and I have to do before we go to Yale. We have to read over 850 pages by the 21^st of April. We have been given a month to read these pages, but this is only the beginning of approximately 4,000 pages that we will have to read by the time we depart for Yale. We have to read such books as Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and The History of the Peloponnesian War.

The Art of War was extremely interesting because of the military strategy that Sun Tzu proposes. One of my favorite quotes from the book is, “One able to make the enemy come of his own accord does so by offering him some advantage.” This simple yet elegant statement says a lot about Sun Tzu’s military philosophy. He believed that the part before every battle was the most important. He has an entire chapter titled “Strengths and Weaknesses” where he does not only talk about the strength you must have in battle, but how to build and keep your strength before battle. If your army is weak before it goes into battle, then it will be weak during battle. Sun Tzu also mentions gaining strength by holding key vantage points at passes or at rivers. Another quote I like about holding key points is “When a cat is at the rat hole, ten thousand rats dare not come out.”

He warns that weakness comes if soldiers feel contempt and at ease in their camp. This will make them less prepared for battle, and preparation is vital. Sun Tzu also talks about when and where to strike. He says that in the heat of battle, finding a weak spot and pushing to attack it can make the enemy crumble. He also suggests that you strike the mind not with weapons, but with ideas. If you can convince the enemy that your force is superior even if they are not, then you have won the battle before the first man is killed.

Another drier book was The History of the Peloponnesian War. It drones on and on about how the Greeks are in a war with the Peloponnesians, then they make a peace treaty, then they are at war again. The writer describes the battles in the book using a lot of flowery language that draws away from the point he is trying to make. I read an entire page that could have been summed up in one sentence. Not to mention that the monologues that some of the characters give are so long that you forget what he is talking about. There is one obituary that a great Athenian philosopher has to give to praise the fallen soldiers and all their sacrifices for Athens. The man drones on for a whole page about why he has to give speech for the state, what will happen if he doesn’t, and who he was asked by to make the speech. Unnecessary details abound, it blows up simple sentences into mini speeches with the continual use of colons and semicolons.

Thankfully, though, I have finished The History of the Peloponnesian War. I have moved on to a 90 page report by the U.S. federal government made in 2002 about the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and what it will do for the nation after it is made. It’s so interesting to read how the U.S. plans to protect our borders, our infrastructure, and our liberties from terrorists. It also describes a few counterterrorist methods, like more thoroughly searching through imports brought on ships and checking what’s inside semi-trucks that pass from Mexico to the U.S. everyday.

Well, that’s just an update on my reading that I have to do. Hopefully the Department of Homeland Security report stays interesting and hopefully they’ll include something on how to get other nations to participate in counterterrorist operations.

Tutorial At My School

I woke up at 7:00 AM to attend a tutorial for the Ivy League Connection at my school. I thought to myself, "Great. The last place I want to be on my Saturday morning is at my school." I got ready and left my house knowing that the outcome would far outweigh attending the tutorial in the dusty, musty, depressing, and crumbling computer lab that used to be my geometry classroom. Since the geometry teacher left in the middle of the 2013 school year, the classroom and its computers have been constantly abused by students. I remember when my class took a health survey in there, we immediately became dangerously aware of how filthy and run-down this once lively classroom filled with posters of movies and hope became. What disgusted us even more was our hypothesis that someone had empty their fluids into the hand sanitizer. Then again, all the hand sanitizers at school smell unsanitary, so our teacher told us to pay no mind.

When I got to the school, I parked right outside of the computer lab to save walking distance. When I walked in, I noticed that I was the first student to arrive. I also noticed that the computer lab was a lot cleaner than my previous visit in this classroom. Don later told me that the custodians, who usually hold excellent conversations, cleaned the place. The room was no longer as dusty and sticky as it used to be, but what didn't change was the empty and cold feeling that lingers in the room and the horridly slow and run-down equipment. It wasn't until about ten minutes after my arrival that chaperones began walking into the classroom. Then about five minutes after the chaperones, came the students. 

Before the tutorial began, many people ran into technical difficulties. Half the kids had no idea how to access Blogger and Blogspot was restricted on our computers. Don and one of the chaperones had a little episode in setting up a new Google account and getting access to Blogger. It became increasingly frustrating and I began to space out. Being the only person in the room without a laptop made me a bit self-conscious and I pondered on the idea of owning a laptop. By the time I knew it, Don was ready to lecture. The tutorial began with special tips, tricks, and talismans to ward off "Evil Don." Through out the tutorial Don taught the students the ILC standards of blogging and reasons as to why our blogs must meet the criteria. Throughout the tutorial I was a bit bored. Of course in a cold, smelly, and dejecting classroom, it gets a bit hard to focus especially when the classroom brings back a flood of memories. It took a bit of effort to keep myself interested, but Don's quick quips, snide remarks, and occasional jokes and punchlines made it a bit easier.

Hercules High School. Ironically, I found this picture on the website of my former geometry teacher.

The rest of the tutorial went on in a similar manner. Don teaching us about blogging, the East Coast, loaner items, etc. while inserting little anecdotes and other interesting, humorous, or awkward comments. We had a few quick breaks which I spent either walking slowly to the bathroom, attempting to start a game of Solitaire, or exploring Facebook. There isn't much to do when no one is at school and you're in a room filled with people you've never met with their faces blocked by bulky snail-paced computers. When it was time to scan our personal information, the scanner decided to inconvenience the group even further by not working. Half the tutorial was filled with technical difficulties and frustrations. What would have been a possible hour long tutorial, doubled in length due to electronic errors and irritations.

I didn't feel as if my time at the tutorial was a complete waste, but it was a bit tedious.  I learned little tips and tricks about the East Coast, Adobe Photoshop, blogging, picture taking, and much more. Unfortunately, the most important aspect of the tutorial, scanning the information for our plane tickets, amounted to nothing. Although there was nothing much Don could do, he repeatedly apologized. After I left the tutorial, I ran a few errands, went home, and continued my interrupted slumber.

The Tutorial

When I woke up this morning, I knew that Don Gosney, the man in charge of directing all the students in the ILC, had an informative session planned for us. What I didn't know, however, is how deep Don would dive into each subject. Don, seven of my ILC cohorts, and and I met at Hercules High School for the tutorial. The campus was large but the empty campus had a sense of peace to it. The flowers were in bloom and the sun was shining. I would have preferred to have spent such an afternoon on a walk down and up the hill I live on, but the information I gathered from the tutorial is invaluable.

Everything that I needed to know for making this blog, Don taught me. The justification of the lines of text, putting in an adequate amount of photos to keep the reader interested, and of course, how to make our blogs interesting. I also relearned the skill of checking my work after I'm done typing it. I know it may seem like a little thing but a grammatical error here and a syntax error there can misrepresent you as lazy or apathetic of your work.

There are of course those bloggers that don't care. Don gave us some humorous but true accounts of people failing to capitalize the first word in sentences over and over again, having blatant disregard for the proper spelling of some words, and writing a boring story.

Don also showed us exceptional writers. The one that I want to emulate is Mr. Austin Long. As he recounted his tale in his blog, I felt as if I was actually there with him on the Yale campus. When he described the food, I felt as if I was there eating it with him. The visuals, too, brought his story to life.

Hercules High School Computer Lab

We also learned that pictures are vital. If you write a lot and don’t have pictures to provide something for your readers to look at, they lose interest quickly. Don also showed us a couple of photo editing tricks to get the picture to look how we want it to. I’ll definitely be using this a lot to modify my photos because I get way too much sky when I take a picture.

Hercules High School

Beyond that, Don went over general things like the responsibilities we had to fulfill, like giving speeches and going to events, and mingling with adults. Mingling with other people has always been easy for me, so I think I’ve got that down.

But with the good, there is always the bad. The school district basically cut us out of the sites we needed to get to for Don to show us exactly what we needed to do. When I was trying to log in to this blog site, I was blocked by the Internet. I tried using a proxy website to get around it, but was stopped at each of the sites I tried. I tried getting in through my Gmail account, but couldn’t find it until Don pointed me in the right direction. To express the frustration that I felt when working with a system that was bent on keeping me from reaching my goals would require me to use some words that shouldn’t be exchanged in polite conversation. Not to mention that my ILC cohorts also had problems accessing their accounts using such slow and archaic technology.

We got a lot done today, and I am now more enthusiastic than ever to participate in the Yale Grand Strategies program. I can’t wait to share my story over these next few months. Also, to those reading, if you think that my stories are dry and droning please don’t hesitate to leave a comment. Constructive criticism is all I ask for, and in return I will be able to better articulate my experiences so that you, too, can share in my journey.

To be chosen to be a chaperone for the Ivy League Connection Yale cohort this year is beyond belief.  

Upon hearing that I was chosen for this opportunity I was in a state of shock. I could not belief that I, like my cohorts, would have the opportunity to visit an Ivy League school as well as travel across the country to an unfamiliar destination to discover all the wonderful things the world has to offer.  

I look forward to being able to being a part of this experience and discovering the world with these young men and women. As we embark on this journey and all the upcoming events, I look forward to spending time with and supporting my group as we discover the opportunities the Ivy League Connection is providing on their journey for higher education and the world beyond.