Calc 2

In 2012, I didn’t know I had autism. I didn’t really understand my ADHD. If you’d asked me at the time, I would’ve said I was still dealing with my mother’s death from 4 years earlier. I had no idea that my dad was continuing to emotionally abuse me. The fact that I had PTSD couldn’t have been further from being discovered. I had never tried SSRIs, let alone weed. I didn’t even know I had any mental health issues whatsoever. I lived for the weekends, when I would get drunk and laugh with my girlfriend. Saturday and Sunday were oases that motivated me to keep crawling through the grit and heat of weekdays in my small singles dorm room at my university.

My Calculus 2 professor was woman so old, she used the PA system wired into the walls of the classroom. If she hadn’t, the people in the back wouldn’t have been able to hear her speak. She was about the height of a mailbox, and looked like she weighed about as much as a couple of bowling balls. I wasn’t foolish enough to ask her age, but she couldn’t have been younger than 70.

She was passionate about her subject and her job. But, when she would raise her voice, it would come out through the PA system. One day, she kicked out two girls who were chatting. She went over to their desks, gathered their belongings in her arms, and lead them out the door. You may be asking yourself, “How does a 5-foot, 100-pound, 80-year-old math professor kick two college girls out of her class?” The answer really is quite simple. It’s easy to do, really. All it takes is being terrifying.

I didn’t go to class for weeks after that. It might’ve even been months. I hated myself for not going, and I knew what I was doing was setting myself up for failure, but I couldn’t help myself. No matter what I did, for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to go back. Every time I tried, her furious voice would ring in my ears, and I would shrink away from the thought. Those mornings, I didn’t even leave my room. I would eat handfuls of peanut M&Ms and pretend not to be in if friends knocked on my door.

At the end of the semester, with exams approaching, I panicked. I flew into a storm of studying.

I got a B in the class.

Respect

Some days ago an incident occurred between a student and a teacher that I witnessed. The teacher was putting words into the student’s mouth, and the student was becoming understandably upset by this. When the student tried to interrupt to defend himself, the teacher cut him off, saying “excuse me, I’m speaking”. The student tried again to interrupt, saying that what the teacher was saying wasn’t true, and the teacher cut him off again, saying “excuse me, be respectful” to which the student replied that she (the teacher) was being disrespectful by putting words in his mouth. She continued to speak, and he interrupted her again. Even though she had followed him to the room that he was supposed to be in (which was already was occupied by a teacher) from a study that she was supposed to be watching, at this point she told him to go to the office. He complied, but on his way out said what all of us watching were thinking, if not in so many words; (the following is paraphrased, but is probably very close to what he actually said) “this is why I never liked you”.

I also have a deep dislike for this teacher, and teachers like her, because they treat students like children. Yes, it is true that I have left the details out regarding why the student was followed back to his room by the teacher in question, and yes, it is probably true that while the teacher was exaggerating the student’s offense by putting words in his mouth, the student did break a rule, or perhaps more than one. It is for this reason that adults would tell teens that if they wish to be treated like adults, they should act like adults. This point of view, however, is intrinsically flawed. If you wish us to treat you as adults, you too must act like adults. You were so busy teaching us to look before we leap that you forgot that with this knowledge we had gained the ability to see that like us, you are imperfect.

Do not misunderstand me. Well, you can if you like, but do not mistake my intention. I am not saying that the student was not wrong. What I am saying is that the teacher was also wrong. A small person behind a big desk is still just a small person, and nothing more. I care not about the potential punishment, unlikely though it might be, that might ensue from writing this, because I think that it’s important that adults understand that while you were telling us to grow up, you made the mistake of showing us that you are not as perfect as you would have us believe. Not all teachers and authority figures are like this. In fact, there are those which easly spring to mind that are the direct polar opposite.

What I have a problem with is that while you would expect us to accept being treated in a manner suiting our actions while simultaneously expecting us to treat you with respect, regardless of your actions. If you truly wish for us to become independent and functional members of society, I submit to you that you should set better examples than this. Many of us are below many of you only because of the limitations placed upon us by the rules in the student handbook, a document that I do not recall ever agreeing to. There was no contract that I signed or deal that I agreed to that ever in any way let you take away my rights, and as a legal adult I resent that you would believe as such. The circumstances themselves are, while inconvenient, not unbearable, but it is the principle of the matter that irritates me. If we are (and we are) forced to stand for the pledge of allegiance each morning and face the flag, should we not be entitled to the freedom which that flag represents?

I’m not saying that I necessarily want anything to fundamentally change about the student-teacher relationship and the rules and regulations surrounding the school experience, but what I am saying that what you are doing is taking our submission for granted. The moment that you assume that we’re going to let it slide is the moment that I become okay with letting your rules slide…and I’m one of the nice ones.

This is NOT “The Big Post”

(Title is referring to this)…I do want to post these rather interesting numbers and short facts that will only be relevant as I type this.

I have only slept for 2 hours in the past 42 hours.

19 hours ago, I woke up to go to school an hour later at 5:00 am.  15 minutes later, the bus left for New York. (Check out the photos from the field trip here)

18 hours later, 30 minutes ago, I came home.

Barring some exceedingly convenient freak weather patterns, in 8 hours I’ll be at the same place that I was 18 hours ago this morning, and 30 minutes ago tonight.

Plus, tomorrow isn’t even Friday, it’s only Thursday, and all I can say is that this is going to be one interesting couple of days.

Gas Day

You’ve heard about snow days…you’ve even heard from me about rain days…but today, I give you the gas day.

I told Brian Dunaway from the Mission Deep comic about it over Skype, so I’ll paste it below:

CO (carbon monoxide) was detected, and this isn’t the first time that this has happened
in fact, this is a chronic problem
the school that I go to was built about 6 or 7 years ago…something else that you should know is that I live in a pixel of a town
no alarm went off
people started feeling crappy
not even today – last night
the voting for my town is held in the school
people were showing the signs of CO poisoning
and yet, for some reason, WE WENT TO SCHOOL TODAY
only to find that for some reason, the problem had not miraculously fixed itself
like problems of this nature often do, right? right?
yeah…here’s the thing
this has happened about once every 3-4 months since the school was built
according to the people that knew the seniors that knew the seniors that knew the first graduating class of 2000 or 1999 or something

Chopfest ’06 FINAL [v.1]

This video is work safe!

Chopfest ’06 PART THREE

Check out parts ONE and TWO while you’re at it!

 

OR if you really feel like being cool, you can check out the youtube playlist I set up here of all of the videos!

Chopfest ’06 – IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE!

Yep – we have to make a trebuchet for physics class 🙂

This is only part 1 – wait until part 2 is filmed 😀

Ouch. That hurts.

I started school on Tuesday of this week, and so have been so busy that even when Scott Johnson from ExtraLife raised my status to Contributor to the site, I only had time to post one article.  SO busy, that besides the fact that I couldn’t stay up late enough to watch ELR by their video chat, I still (as of when I’m writing this) haven’t had a chance to listen to the whole show!  I’m about halfway through! 

So, in conclusion; when I say that I’ve been “too busy to post” here, please know that this is no random excuse!

I’m not dead.

I just want to let everyone know that I haven’t died or anything, I’ve just been extremely busy.  School is starting in a matter of days, I have young cousins and older relatives up to visit, and I have a curfew of 10pm now.

Summary: I’m not dead.

Stupid in America

A 20/20 John Stossel special.

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Aged, like cheese, to perfection

They can see beyond the light
And into the Ivory Tower

The webcams portray
The start of another day
As the madness begins

They brighten the world
One day at a time
Their artistic creations
Touching the sublime

While the Webmaster drinks
And forum threads proclaim
"This Stinks!"
The ninjas refrain
From going insane

The monkey man sings
While bridgers ping
What spammers bring to fling
And then get zinged
The sherkins fly
As Shishka waves goodbye

The updates come in flocks
As the universe ends
Chad turns off the lights
And takes care of all of the locks
Soffish now swims in LingLing's jar
While sounds of Gnop 2 are heard from afar
Truth, Carnage, Rampancy.