How do they do it?

Believe it or not, there are still plenty of events going on during reading week and even finals. I don't know how the members of these groups manage to handle rehearsal AND studying, but the results are pretty amazing nonetheless.

The Davenport Pops Orchestra playing a medley of Studio Ghibli themes (arranged by a DPops member!), including music from Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, at their concert Fantasie

"Woodland Rituals" from Groove's fall show: World Tour 2007

Each college also has study breaks to help students get through those long hours . Master K had some amazing food at her house (think chicken nuggets, crackers and Brie, fresh sliced apples, homemade cookies, etc.) but we also had a fun gingerbread house-making break in the dining hall one night. My suitemate Sara and I managed to put one together without eating too much of the candy =P

Sara working on our house

Freshmen working on their house

Our completed house (front view)

Sky view (isn't the roof awesome?)

Just a few more exams to go, then home for a nice, long three weeks =)

Holidays at Silliman

First snowfall, lots of yummy food and good fun at the holiday dinner...how much better can it get?

The lovely Christmas tree in the Common Room

Stu's gingerbread house at the Holiday Dinner

Mmm...sugared fruit!

The festive Silliringers



An interesting version of "Santa Claus is coming to town"

The view from my bedroom window Thursday
(might look a little weird because of the screen)

Just one week of finals to go, then home for the holidays!

Overimitation published!

Major congrats to my grad student mentor Derek, whose paper was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The abstract is on the PNAS website here:

The Hidden Structure of Overimitation

Derek has also been working very hard on getting Felix's website ready for public launch, and it looks absolutely awesome:

www.hellofelix.com

We've also been written about in the Yale Daily News, which is here

Study: Children 'overimitate' adults

Now on to the next project...

Return to Childhood

The last couple Master's Teas that I went to made me feel like a child at heart again: first the author Lois Lowry and then the singer/songwriter Raffi Cavoukian, better known by just his first name, Raffi. Both of them were super-crowded: we had to move into the Trumbull dining hall and the Silliman common room to fit everyone!

Just half of the Silliman common room, full of people waiting to hear Raffi...

The great thing about Master's Teas is the feel of a close, casual conversation with these fascinating people. The speakers aren't always well-known, but they have all led very interesting lives. Earlier this year I attended a Tea with one of the World Fellows, Sharmila Nebhrajani, then got to have dinner with her afterwards at Master K's house.

Besides being Chief Operating Officer of BBC Future Media and Technology, she also works with the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (sticking with the British spelling) on bioethical issues, like the creation of human-animal chimeras for research. On top of that, she's a single mother with two young children, who apparently enjoyed themselves immensely on Halloween =D

Second cool thing about Master's Teas: They're all organized by students! In general, students are the ones who initiate the contact with the proposed speaker and then talk to their residential college master to see if they're interested in sponsoring the tea. For Yale Scientific Magazine, we've had science writer Carl Zimmer and John Rennie '86, the editor-in-chief of Scientific American. Freshman year, my friend Sudipta arranged for Arthur Levine (the American editor of Harry Potter) to come; this time, fellow URCs Rosh and Roshan helped arrange both the Lois Lowry and the Raffi teas for YUM (Yale Undergraduate Magazine) and UNICEF, respectively.

You see all sorts of quirky details, like Lois Lowry's insistence on having Earl Grey tea and how she used her own family as semi-models for some of the books. Her daughter, then a college student, even helped her write some of the dialogue for the Anastasia series, since Anastasia's father is a college English professor.

Another interesting topic was book censorship, since Lowry's works are both some of the most lauded and the most challenged literature in the school systems. I remember reading Number the Stars for fifth grade and The Giver on my own around the same time...even though I'm twice as old now as I was back then (wow, that sounds strange to say), the lessons the books taught and the "deep" questions they brought up are certainly still relevant today.

Lois Lowry with her Earl Grey tea =)

I also had no idea that Lowry was also a photographer! Did you know she took the photos that appear on the covers of The Giver and Number the Stars?

You also never know what might happen afterwards...in this case, a friend emailed me a photo taken by Lowry's iPhone - you can also see it on her blog post here: The Tables Down at Mory's

See if you can find the girl with the striped red sweater...that's me!

The other cool thing is getting to hear about the speakers' current work, like Lois Lowry's upcoming book The Willoughbys. She even brought a proof and read us the first few tantalizing lines...it sounded something like Roald Dahl's The Twits and Matilda combined, with a bit of A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (who came for Master's Tea freshman year!).

The basic storyline is that there are these absolutely horrible parents who hatch a plan to get rid of their children, but at the same time, their very bright children are trying to rid themselves of these horrible parents. [Potential spoiler - highlight to read] Perhaps the best moment was when Ms. Lowry dryly stated, "Yes, by the end of the book, the parents are dead."

Raffi turned out to be an incredibly charismatic speaker with a wide range of interests and fun stories, though I should have expected it from some of his tongue-in-cheek lyrics. Nothing seemed off-limits, like he told us about quitting college and traveling around Canada playing coffeehouses. After that, he wrote a song for his former high school sweetheart (ironically a cheerleader for the rival school), invited her to come hear him play, and they eventually ended up getting married!

She was a teacher so he got involved with children's music, which is certainly how all of us in the room knew him. He even had the good grace to sing for us, which brought a sense of nostalgia to all us "Beluga Grads":

Nowadays, however, he's working on something slightly more serious but still very touching: a philosophy that he calls "Child Honoring." The basic idea is that children are people in their own right, but they're the most vulnerable members of the population since they're still growing and developing, mentally as well as physically.

Therefore, we should try to provide a safe, nurturing environment for all children so they can grow and learn to become productive, caring adults. The emphasis is on the child and the family, not any sort of political party, religion, or specific culture, which is one of the things that makes it so idealistically powerful. Now he's become a children's troubadour of another sort, even meeting with people such as the Dalai Lama and Al Gore.

Raffi reading the "Covenant for Honoring Children"

Third great thing about Master's Teas: how inspiring they are. From dinner with Sharmila I saw how it's possible to follow the topics you're really interested in, even if they're completely different. From tea with Raffi, I saw there were still plenty of forces for good, even though all we hear about on the news seems to be bad.

Perhaps with enough work and a little creativity, maybe one day I'll be asked to come back to Silliman for tea, cookies, and good conversation =)

CosmoGirl?!

I forgot I had answered this survey, but sure enough, I'm quoted =D

100 Best Colleges 2007: Yale University

What next?

I don't just talk in my sleep, I do stuff!

~ 2:00 AM Showered, put my hair in two braids, and went to sleep.

~ 9:00 AM Woke up, with my hair loose.

The two elastics holding the braids were on my wrist.

I don't remember taking them off.

Weird...

Halloween 2007

Having Halloween on a Wednesday this year made it like a week-long celebration rather than just one day. A bunch of us went on a Haunted Hayride in Old Saybrook, we had the traditional Silliman Haunted House in the basement, plus the Halloweenie Roast, Master K's party, and the YSO midnight concert.

The Tower does look kinda eerie...

Cari, Jess, and Lulu with one of the haunted hayride ghouls

Matt grilling at the Halloweenie roast

Pumpkin carving!

At Master K's party, I was thoroughly impressed with my fellow Sillimanders' creativity and sense of humor =P Unfortunately, I can't upload the Disney princesses video (it's too large) so you'll just have to imagine what might have happened...

Devils in disguise

(sophomore) Super Smash Brothers

The claws are orgo lab scoops =P

Charlie and the Tyng Cup Factory

Oompa-Loompas and all

"Desperate Disney princesses"

Pizza-eating squirrels!

I was on my way to class Friday when I saw this little guy. Upon closer inspection, it was confirmed that he was indeed eating Yorkside vegetable pizza.

His friend a few feet away seemed to particularly like the crusts.

What'll be next, squirrels running off with Ashley's?

Silliman 2.0

Not that I didn't like the old one, but I LOVE the new Silliman =D

Our lovely courtyard, with brand-new grass

The skylight in the lobby of Byers Hall (looking straight up)

(Half of) the enormous dining hall

One of the game areas in the Buttery (the other has the pool table)

My cozy single room =)

That's not even including the dance studio, half-basketball court, sound studio, student kitchen, Silliflicks, Sillibrary, digital media center, etc...

I'm feeling philosophical

10 things I'd like to do, in no particular order...

In the next week
1. Lots of laundry =P
2. Start running again, or at least stretching on a regular basis
3. Recover quickly from wisdom teeth surgery #2
4. Re-read all seven Harry Potter books
5. Upload and edit the rest of my YSS photos
6. Clean up my computer hard drive - I'm running out of space!
7. Repack for the coming school year...
8. Get a better idea of what classes to take
9. YSM 80.4 - 'nuff said
10. Spend quality time with family ^-^

In the next year
1. Travel to another country again (Yay for Reach Out!)
2. Finally write up my Caplab research from last summer
3. Learn at least one new prop in Phoenix/YAGS
4. Not pull an all-nighter for work (for fun is ok)
5. Lose the remainder of the weight I gained freshman year ^^;
6. Be in a show again (besides Phoenix)
7. Blog more often =P
8. Get at least 6 hours of sleep a night
9. Stay in better touch with some of my NJGSS/NYSC buddies
10. Relearn some of the Chinese I've forgotten...

In my lifetime
1. Get married and raise a family (have and/or adopt kids)
2. Travel to any combination (or all) of the following countries: Spain, China/Taiwan, England, New Zealand, Italy, Greece, France...more that I can't think of right now
3. Take a cross-country road trip
4. Have a bunny and/or a cat (or any of several other possible pets)
5. Make some contribution to the "sum total of human knowledge" (and not just on Wikipedia hehe)
6. Create my own secret brownie/cookie recipe
7. Hold a patent or copyright on something
8. Be a movie extra =P
9. Find faith.
10. Have someone come back and thank me for changing their life (hopefully for the better)

Viva the La Resistance!

Welcome to Oppression City, a happy, fun-filled, sunshiny place =)

At least, that's how it was before THE REVOLUTION.

Now the only sounds are the hope-crushing thuds of propellable objects hitting the ground.
Occasionally, some brave soul will try to have fun, but they are quickly caught and arrested by the Ministry of Not-Juggling police, who paradoxically use juggling to strike fear into the hearts of the populace.
Every day, the people of Oppression City come to the telescreen to yell epithets and curses at the Jugglemaster.

The police notice a certain Mr. Daniel Wright is not adequately expressing his hate. He is instructed to report to the Ministry at 4 AM.

Terrified she'll never see him again, Daniel's girlfriend Emma gives him a locket as a token of her affection.

The next morning at the Ministry, Daniel takes the "Why Juggling Ruins Everything" tour.



He is accepted into the citizen "Snoop Squad," a job he thoroughly enjoys until he comes across someone familiar:

Right after Emma's arrest, Daniel encounters a mysterious figure who quickly whips him back into shape.

"Zat French guy" brings Daniel to join the La Resistance, a small but visionary group dedicated to overthrowing the Ministry's dictatorship.



Filled with anger at Emma's arrest and his own brainwashing, Daniel leads a night protest:





The Ministry catches on, however, and raids a La Resistance rally. Fortunately, all the leaders except Daniel escape, but look who's leading the raid...
The locket? It was really a homing device.

Trying to make him reveal the whereabouts of the rest of the La Resistance, Emma introduces Daniel to the Ministry's most elite force: the J-team!



Despite training in a 100G chamber, however, they are ill-equipped to handle the ingenuity of the people, who have begun to hope again...



The rest of the La Resistance decides to boldly rescue Daniel, leading to a pitched battle that will determine the fate of Oppression City:



Hey you. Yeah, I mean you. Don't just let the Ministry take over our lives! Join the La Resistance!

Puberty and...Dean Salovey?

Bulldog Days 2007 was an crazy three days, jam-packed with activities from visiting 9:00 classes (if prefrosh chose to do so) to late-night festivities organized by various campus groups, or perhaps just staying up talking with friends and current students. With everything going on at once, it was impossible to see/listen to everything, but I hope everyone had a good time!

My Bulldog Days began with a Phoenix performance at Mosaic - unfortunately I don't have any photos of myself balancing three bowls on my head - but two of my favorite events came Tuesday night. For those of you who were elsewhere at 7 PM and 9 PM, a sampling of photos and videos from the Davenport Pops "Puberty Concert" and the Purple Crayon's "Dean Salovey" show. For those of you who were fortunate enough to be present at either or both of these, enjoy the good memories =D

Puberty Concert - Woolsey Hall 7 PM

DPops is undoubtedly one of my favorite orchestras...it was founded in 2005 (one of the founders is featured in a video below) and is completely run by students with a wide range of talents and interests. Even the conductors, who also do most of the musical arrangements, are students, so it's an awesome opportunity for anyone looking to expand their musical repertoire and skills.

"Toddler Medley"

The Spizzwinks(?) performing various childhood themes


Duel of Fates - Justin vs. the Common App

Many more videos...

Dean Salovey show - Davenport dining hall 9 PM

Where else would the dean be willing to come make fun of himself in an improv comedy show? Only at a school where the president shows up at the Freshman Holiday Dinner as Santa Claus...

He's right! Maybe he is the dean...

I know a dean when I see one!

Doc, things just haven't been the same since the incident

The blue phone put me on hold...

Honey, we just moved to Australia and you killed a kangaroo!

You're going to have to throw me, elf!


Aaaaaand...scene!