Frozen.

A must see. It can brighten a sick day or right after a midterm as Sarah, Ben, and I discovered tonight. The song "Let it Go" by Elsa performed by Idina Menzel sent chills (pun intended) down our spine. Check it out on YouTube. Josh Gad absolutely steals the movie as Olaf the snowman. It was really incredible :) I am going to see it again.

"Go to the wilderness, be like Buddha, have your own revelations."

Some advice from Susan Cain's "The Power of Introverts" TED Talk.

Dorm Days - Proper Style - More Pictures!

Kylie, one of our excellent dorm photographers, took these great pictures of the etiquette dinner we had a week ago. Enjoy!

This was the tomato bisque soup that was served.

The key lime tart dessert!

Dorm Days - Ski Trip

Here are just a few photos from ski trip... there will be more coming. It was one of the best days of my life. I hadn't been skiing for 8 years and being up on the hill again was breathtaking. It was beautiful.

We stopped to eat lunch here!

Fortunately, I did not fall. 

Academic?

My Art of Living class is reading Hamlet. I have never read Hamlet but I know the story pretty well through all its references in other literature and so forth. It's the Shakespeare play with "To be, or not to be, that is the question" and the one where everyone dies. As far as I am concerned, that is what has been important to know until now.

Anyway, I am reading Hamlet and I come across this passage:

"... to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man." (Act I, Scene 3)

This rings a bell and I read it in certain way, like I almost sing it? ... and that's when I realize...

It's in Legally Blonde the Musical. Vivian introduces Elle as the Valedictorian of Harvard Law School at the end of the musical beginning with this quote. The quote might be other places as well, but this is definitely how I know it :) Thanks Legally Blonde :) You helped me connect to Shakespeare!

Here is the clip from the musical!

http://youtu.be/XmkhgxnKvco

Weather

It's been in the seventies all week. I have been in shorts and tank tops. 

I can't get over how beautiful it has been.

First time at Ike's

Ike's is this really famous sandwich place on campus that students absolutely love and go to all the time. I HAD NEVER BEEN...UNTIL TODAY! It was truly amazing. I had this meatless meatball sandwich that was delicious. But Maia ordered this sandwich called the Ugly Owl with meatless chicken and swiss and some other stuff that was definitely close to the best sandwich I have ever experienced. I need to put Geneva's and Ike's side by side to figure it out.

Barn Dance, Bonfire, and Elephant Seal

Saturday night Sarah, Triple, Orie, I went to a Barn Dance. It was an hour away from campus near Half Moon Bay. There was a live band and a caller who taught everyone square dances. We had a wonderful time! Afterwards, the Stanford students went to the beach and built this bonfire. 

FIRE! So beautiful.

It is really interesting because we made the bonfire out of cardboard and these crates that you can pick up from behind the dining halls. So similar and yet so different from kindling and firewood. 

There was this elephant seal on the beach when we showed up. A giant, very large, sleeping elephant seal sleeping in the corner, maybe 100 feet from where we were standing. People kept getting really close to it, wanting to take pictures, and the fire was pretty hot so it woke up a couple of times, croaked at us, and went back to sleep. A couple of times we were pretty freaked out because it was moving towards us. People were not being extremely intelligent, typical college Stanford students. 

Because we were so intrigued by the seal, we made a song, it goes something like this:

You're my elephant seal

Please don't make me a meal

I want to hug you

That's all I want to do

You're so blubbery and fat

You look like my front door mat

Sorry if we disturbed you

In return we'll write a Haiku

Your grunts frighten me

They make me want to pee

Oh no, you're getting near

Let us get out of here.

Hope you enjoyed :) 

An Academic Episode - Personal Narrative Speech

I had my first assignment for my TED Commandments - The Art of Effective Public Speaking class. The assignment was to give a 2-3 minute personal narrative speech where you spoke about 3 objects, one from the past, one for the present, and one for the future. Here is somewhat of what my speech sounded like. It is more like notes or a generally idea of what I said. My three objects were: Anne Frank Diary -past, Sponge - present, The Book of Awakening - future

I know what it is my past. This diary doesn’t hold it all, nothing does, but it holds a piece, and a very important one. This diary is meant to look like Anne Frank’s diary, and she holds two very significant purposes in my life. 1. She represents my heritage 2. the greatest journey I had in learning about my heritage was through playing her in The Diary of Anne Frank, the play. As an actress, I researched and learned so much about her life, that I carried it with me, everywhere I went. I carried the diary with me to class, to rehearsals, and sometimes even to the dinner table. Doing the research for the show, stepped me into her life personally. The relationship an actor develops with a character is difficult to describe but it is very personal and special. In the case of this show, I wasn’t just learning as an actor about another person, but I was really learning about my past and where I come from.

My present, however, seems more muddled. I carry this backpack because a lot of my present is school and focussing on building my life here. I carry my books, my assignments, the things I have learned, and the things I am about to learn. That makes it sound like my entire life is centered around school right now though… and it is not. So my object is not the backpack and the books, but a sponge. No. I do not like cleaning. But I do like soaking things up, and that is all I seem to be doing right now. I don’t know what I want to study and this is the first time in my life that I have felt that way. I always knew that I would be a rainforest scientist, an environmental lawyer, a politician, or a diplomat. Today, I don’t know, and I am uncomfortable with that. But I am soaking that in. The new experiences of college and living on my own seems to be a pot of water with a lot of mixed up stuff in it. But I am ready to absorb it. For the first time in my life, I am not planning. I am not writing everything down, I am being patient, and waiting.

[sitting down]

If my present is confusing, my future is even more up in the air. I believe in the idea nothing is impossible, which my brother criticizes for two reasons, 1. it’s a double negative, and 2. He says, “Ari, tell me right now how to teleport myself to Mars on a dancing unicorn.” So making a commitment to my future, like finding an object to represent it, is troubling. But I think I have one thing that I know will still be constant, I would like to share it with you.

[read a passage from The Book of Awakening]

Every morning and every evening, I read the daily passage from this book. Although I do this in my present, this is my future. The one thing that I am sure of is that while I will experience new things, I know I will be grounded, as I am now.

Dorm Days...Proper style

Our dorm staff organized an etiquette dinner for our dorm Thursday night. It was a four course meal with 6 utensils. We got all dressed up and were served by the dorm staff. In addition, we had an etiquette consultant to guide us through the entire meal process and how to behave correctly and look proper. Many students simply enjoyed the four courses with really good food but I loved learning the proper way to do it as well. 

There is somewhat of a debate about valuing etiquette because it is a class distinction that serves to create a clear social hierarchy that may be oppressive to certain economic and social classes. I think this is really interesting and valid. I guess I certainly know that it can be beneficial to understand these etiquette conventions in business and social settings, but be aware that it is specific to upper class Americans, and everyone has not grown up in the same social and cultural setting. Food for thought! haha

Our meal consisted of:

1. Bread

2. Arugula salad with beets, feta cheese, grapefruit, candied walnuts, and a lemon vinaigrette.

2. Tomato bisque garnished with micro-basil and croutons

3. (Vegetarians) - Quinoa patty with chipotle aioli and roasted vegetables. The non-vegetarians had a chicken and mushroom dish.

4. Key lime tart with a raspberry glace

5. Sparkling Apple Cider

P.S. It cost us one meal swipe!

What time is it? - It's Swingtime! BLEYERS!

These are bleyers, they are the amazing dance shoes I get to dance in for Swingtime. I am very excited.

Is this a job? - Yes, this is now a job

I coordinated an event for Cardinal Nights and it finally felt like my job had some serious responsibility. I had to deal with a scary confusion over finding a freezer for gelato to stay frozen for 5 hours. Thankfully everything turned out ok but it sure worried me. Anyway, the event was a huge success. We had over 200 people come in 45 minutes before we ran out of all of our gelato. It was very fun.

Here are the 7 flavors. From left to right: Blackberry sorbet, Blood orange sorbet, Stracciatella - chocolate swirl, Pistachio, Vanilla Bean, Cappuccino, Gianduja - chocolate hazelnut.

Me trying out the gelato before everyone else got there. I will admit, I had two or three cups.

People played board games as well! The staff played Scrabble and Cards Against Humanity after all the gelato was gone. 

This was the line ten minutes into the night. 

This was a small portion of the line twenty minutes into the night. It went around the corner! It felt really good to have a successful event :)

Here is the promotional poster I designed for the event. Does it make your mouth water?

Plug in for the CGD

The Cedro Gentleman's Department is the source for all Cedro music. They rehearse in Studio 215, right next to my room 213 where much less exciting work is done. The CGD have been slaving away, recording every day and night to bring the best of rap to the world. They have done a stellar job. Chris creates bumpin beats, Nick can't stop working the web, Thomas organizes the crew, no one can compete with Bradley's lovely lyrics, and Ben supplies the humor. They really have worked hard and though I don't know how if you are at all interested, I though you might like to check them out. They show some of the lively spirit here and appreciation for doing whatever for the heck you want.

Here is the link to their Facebook page. Nick will love you forever if you like them on FB.

You can find their website and first song "Aluminum" here.

From the website you can also access Twitter, Soundcloud, and all that other social media.

They are in the process of rerecording for the purpose of distribution, "C-House," "Tree," and "Serious S**t." I have heard all these songs and let me tell you, they are stellar! Hahaha I hang out while they record and it is really fun.

Check them out!

TGIF - Kindergarten

"I will never grow up." - Peter Pan

We embodied this quote whole heartedly today as our dorm's weekly TGIF was celebrating Kindergarten. We ate Gushers, animal crackers, juice boxes, Caprisuns, Teddy Grahams, and ants on a log (celery, peanut butter, and raisins). Sadly, I never had any of those anyway, so this was my first real Kindergarten experience. Thanks mom! You taught me health but fortunately Stanford is taking that all away! Just kidding. We played with Playdo, made friendship bracelets, and blew bubbles. Couldn't have been a better start to the weekend :)

Then, I left my phone sitting around and my staff went crazy. There is a rule in my generation that if you leave a phone sitting around, people have the right to take at least 100 pictures to flood your camera. Here are the best ones :) And that should tell you the quality of the other 100. 

Back to School - many Academic notes for my parents

After a wonderful winter break visiting friends and family, seeing New Mexico, going to Puerto Rico, and chillin (as we ALWAYS say here in my dorm), I am back at school and done with my first week of winter quarter.

I had a dramatic and horrible time getting bags so I have been busy all week adjusting to my classes and dealing with that. But, I finally got my bags today, about a week after I left arrived back at school. I have to thank my mom for all the hard work she put in with helping me figure things out. From being on the phone with her, FedEx, Southwest, and sometimes at the same time, I now very much appreciate having my stuff with me. Thank you also to my friend Maia who let me borrow some clothes.

Anyway, I can put that behind me and get ready to start my 2014 time at Stanford. Happy holidays and Happy New Year to everyone as well!

I missed my dorm very much over winter break and I was very ready to see them when I got back a week ago. After many hugs though, I had to sit down and start to study because I had 120 pages of reading to do for my class the very next, and first, day.

This quarter I am taking:

International Security In a Changing World - this is exactly what the title says. We look at international security issues. Currently we have been hearing a lot about democratic peace theory, which essentially states that no two democracies have ever fought each other. Condoleezza Rice spoke on Wednesday and really emphasized the United States assisting in worldwide democratization. She believes that spreading democracy is important for the security of the United States and has good moral ground as well. Professor Snyder, from Columbia University, however, points out that the democratic peace theory applies when there are specific definitions of democracy and way. He argues that countries are often forced or pushed to hold elections before they have the proper institutions in place to build an effective and peaceful democracy. When rushed, democratic elections often raise greater racial and ethnic problems and countries have a greater likelihood of violence and war. The main component of this class is a United Nations simulation (like I participated in high school Model United Nations) where the topic will be the Iran situation. I am really looking forward to it. I have also noticed that people in this class are very nicely dressed. My classes last quarter that were more technical, seemed to have a lax dress code, meaning most people wore sweats every day. In this international relations class, however, I find that people put a lot of effort into their outfits.

Spanish - Otherwise known as my Monday-Friday 9am class. College students complain about any class that is held before 11am. When I was in high school, waking up at 6am every morning, I promised myself that I would never complain about a 9am class. So, I am not going to complain about my 9am class this quarter. If I start to complain, stop me. I will learn a lot in Spanish and it will be a wonderful challenge. I love the language and this class will really challenge me to speak and listen a lot. I am not comfortable yet, but I hope I will be by the end. I have to write a research paper and give a presentation in Spanish. My subject is La Segrada Familia, Gaudi's cathedral in Barcelena, Spain. Luckily, I have Daniel, a student in my dorm who is very fluent and whose family is from Mexico. We had a whole conversation last night with me in Spanish. He is very patient with me. He listens and waits until I finally get some kind of sentence out and then corrects the mistakes I make. It is really nice to have him practice with me.

Advanced Yoga: Despite the fact that this a one unit P.E. credit class, I am going to mention it because I love it! I did not like the yoga class I took here last quarter and was worried that I wouldn't find wonderful teachers like the ones I had in Albuquerque. But I love my teacher. She is very warm and embodies the yoga spirit. The class is more challenging as well. It allows me to find my center in the midst of my busiest day so that continue my day at peace. I am so grateful to be able to practice yoga and have it in my life.

The Art of Living: This is my first introductory seminars. Introductory seminars are small classes for freshman to take to explore new or familiar areas and really get to know professors and other students in an intimate setting. My class is in the philosophy department and examines how people and how we, as students, chose to live our lives. We do readings (Enchiridion, Plato, Nietzsche, Toni Morrison, Hamlet, Kirkegard) and then discuss the readings in class the next day. It is so simple but I already know that it will be a very motivating class. I really appreciate the introspection and opinions of the other students. They really care about discussing the material and they have really interesting things to say. Everyone comes from very different backgrounds so there is a lot of diverse representation.

The Ted Commandments, The Art of Effective Public Speaking: I am taking this class to keep up on my public speaking practice. I think it will help me with that. However, it will also be really neat because it is all centered around TED talks, which are wonderful to watch and change the way you look at your day, or even your life. They are absolutely wonderful. The first TED talk we watched was by Brene Brown, and it is about vulnerability and leading a compassionate life. You can find it here. We then watched one by Benjamin Zander, the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic. You can find this one here. I highly recommend this one because it makes you value classical music so much. You fall in love with it in twenty minutes and if you already love it, you will love what he has to say about it. And if nothing else, hear this quote: "Success is measured by how many shining eyes are around me." Your eyes will be shining by the end of this TED talk, I promise.

Strengthening the Heart Through Compassion: This is another simple, one unit course that only meets once per week. The class is focussed on meditation and journaling. I am taking it with Ben, my RA and a good friend. I haven't been to the class yet because I just signed up but I am looking forward to it next week and will tell you more about it then.

Well, that is a good start isn't it?