Amanda's Blog

Prep schools

It’s odd for me to know that many of, if not a majority of the students that will go to Middlebury next year with me went to prestigious prep schools.

I met with the other girl from San Diego who got in to Midd today. We had smoothies at this cute place in Del Mar.

She was down-to-earth, stunning, talented and smart with a lot of interesting stories to tell - she plays cello, is the captain of her school’s sailing team, has traveled extensively, has a French mother and an immediate family who lives in Massachusetts, and is interested in International Politics and Economics like me. We easily talked for about an hour and a half.

The weird thing was that she goes to The Bishop’s School in La Jolla (if you guys didn’t know, it’s one of the best private schools in the country) and lives on Prospect Street (the main street) in La Jolla.

I have nothing against/for people who have money - they’re no different from anyone else. It’s just strange for me to now be mingling with those kinds of people - I feel like personally, I’ve been raised completely differently, so it’s hard to relate or “fit in.” I have a lot of interesting stories to tell, but nothing about my travels in Europe. It’s just a completely different perspective.

My situation is weird. I would estimate that 70 percent of white people accepted to private schools are prep-school graduates (does anyone know where I can find this data?). I’m not Affirmative Action, either, because I’m not a minority. I’m just kind of…inbetween.

I want to meet at least one other girl or guy in my situation at Midd - went to a public school, is relatively unwealthy, white, and is mildly intelligent but works pretty hard. Maybe I’m the only one picked by Admissions, on purpose. In any case, if I do meet this person, it will be a comfort to know that I’m not a fluke.

Not that race or money really does matter when meeting people and building friendships, but when admissions offices stress diversity, they better be diverse on ALL levels by reaching deep into the “slightly boring” demographic.

An observation and generalization that is not politically correct

At Cold Stone, there are two demographics that comprise most of the customers, and I’ve tried to not see it, but it’s blatantly obvious. Marines and their families, and Indian/Southeast Asian people.

Marines probably constitute 40 percent of our business. I know they are Marines because when they pay with a credit card, I see their ID. Many of them have a Southern accent. They order large ice creams that are cake batter or chocolate flavored, often opting for the Peanut Butter Cup Perfection or Birthday Cake Remix. They’ll often add a banana or extra peanut butter to their mix-ins.

The Indian/Southeast Asian customers nearly always get the Chocolate Devotion or the Banana Caramel Crunch. Sometimes they will buy a chocolate milkshake. Roasted almonds are also a popular mix-in.

First-year Seminars

As a first-year, I have to take a “First Year Seminar” (FYS) which is a writing-intensive course that focuses on something off-the-wall really deeply. The prof for the course is also your academic adviser for the year, and you live in the same area with your classmates so you can talk about class stuff together.

Here are some that I’m particularly interested in.

FYSE 1249 Food and Choice (Fall)
In this seminar we will examine the choices that we make about food, both as individuals and as a nation. We will consider the importance of food to a culture and take a close look at American food culture. Looking more broadly, we will consider the U.S. response to poverty and hunger, both in the U.S. and abroad. Readings will include selections from The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Pollan and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Kingsolver. In order to help understand poverty in the U.S., we will work with a local agency on hunger issues. 3 hrs. sem. SOC NOR (E. Proctor)

FYSE 1211 Gödel, Escher, Bach (Fall)
About 100 years ago, mathematics took an introspective turn when its practitioners endeavored to organize human reasoning itself into a formal axiomatic system. The attempt ended in a kind of paradox when logician Kurt Gödel proved that all formalized logical systems would necessarily contain some unprovable truths. Reading Douglas Hofstadter’s Gödel, Escher, Bach, we will discover the connections among the seemingly disparate fields of mathematics, visual arts, and music. Our journey will pass through the philosophical worlds of Lewis Carroll, Artificial Intelligence, non-Euclidean geometry, and Zen Buddhism, and crash head-on into questions about the nature of human consciousness and creativity. 3 hrs. sem. DED (D. Scharstein)

FYSE 1236 The Malleable Human (Fall)
Could you be more than you are? In this seminar we will explore possible and potential genetic, mechanical, and chemical modifications to the human form and how they influence our definition of ‘humanness’. The source material for the class will include film, classical literature, contemporary essays, and cutting-edge science writing. Students will create and edit their own non-fiction and fiction writings with the goal of stimulating discourse on human issues surrounding the intersection of technology, biology, and society. 3 hrs. sem. (J. Ward)

FYSE 1247 Everyday Life in South Africa, 1948-Present (Fall)
In this seminar we will explore some of the social worlds of South Africans amid the country’s recent decades of turbulent and dramatic change. We will look at how different groups within the nation’s diverse population have understood and experienced the rise of the apartheid system, its demise, and its legacies in their “everyday” lives and interactions. We will draw from various sources - non-fiction, fiction, film, music, and other forms of popular culture - to interpret these social dynamics and their ongoing significance in a post-apartheid society. 3 hrs. sem. HIS SOC AAL (J. Tropp)

People I should make amends with

So it’s the end of high school. This is the time when I’m supposed to tell people how I truly feel about them (too bad I have no secret crushes). This is also the time when you’re supposed to tie up loose ends - make sure nothing is left unfinished when I leave San Diego on August 29 (ish).

Here are the people who I still feel “unfinished” with.

Ryan Fellows - This guy was my first crush and a friend of mine through elementary school, but then he was a douche and we stopped talking. I don’t really want to befriend him again ever, but it would be fun to talk about elementary school and be able to say “Hey” when I see him around.

Sara, Jessie, Kayla - We were all best friends throughout middle school and the beginning of high school, but drifted apart. I still talk to them, but it would be nice to talk about why we stopped being so close because it’s always a source of awkwardness for me, at least.

Ben Oydna - Although we don’t talk anymore, he was a great friend to me last year during a hard time and we had a lot of fun my sophomore year. I also liked him a lot and never really got a chance to make anything happen about it, but he’s one of “those guys” that I’ll remember from high school. I’m not 100 percent sure if he knows that but I’d like to tell him.

I guess I’m in relatively good shape because those are the only people I can think of right now.