by SUSAN ZHU
March 7th, 2010
^ Great NYT article on what educators and researchers are trying to do now to improve teacher quality. I’m glad they’re now focusing on teaching teachers how to teach, and not just eliminating the bad ones and trying to pick out the good ones (although being able to fire bad teachers is important). There are some very interesting techniques presented. I wonder to what extent suburban schools who already perform at high levels will try to incorporate these techniques and methods – just because you’re better than under-performing schools doesn’t mean you shouldn’t always seek to improve, right?
Posted in Uncategorized |
by FAITH ZHANG
February 26th, 2010
I mentioned in my article on Olympic figure skating (which you can find here) that skating exhibitions can be more fun to watch than competitions: less pressure, more emotion, and more time for appreciation instead of having to hurry to the next element to rack up the points — and besides, we don’t all enjoy watching people fall (though I know some of you out there do — roomie, I’m looking at you). I make no promises regarding the quality of these performances from a technical standpoint except to note that these are all top skaters; these are merely the ones that struck me, a relatively uninformed viewer, for one reason or another. And with that, I present for your viewing pleasure a selection of my favorite skating videos on Youtube.
Johnny Weir, Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face,” 2010 US Nationals – If you haven’t seen this yet, you’ve been living under a rock. This is the performance that we’ll be missing at the Olympic gala with Weir’s sixth place finish, and it also epitomizes the reasons people find him alternately fascinating and controversial — his vivid personality on full display.
Evgeni Plushenko, Tom Jones and Mousse T’s “Sex Bomb,” 2001 Worlds(?) – Plushenko may be keeping himself busy being a poor sport these days, but he does put on a good show (for some definitions of good, at any rate). Watch this video — you may find the experience hilarious or horrifying, but either way it will be memorable. (I hear some people are holding out for a reprise of this program at the Olympic gala.)
Evgeni Plushenko, Britney Spears’ “Oops, I Did It Again” (unknown remix?), Russian TV – There is no explanation for this. It will haunt you, waking and sleeping.
Alexei Yagudin, Ronan Hardiman’s “Overcome,” 2002 Olympics – The title of this video is actually “Jedi Master Alexei Yagudin.” Think about that one.
Yu-Na Kim, Mandy Moore’s “Only Hope,” 2008 Words – Moving past the farcical we have this, wherein Kim looks marvelously light and graceful skating to music that, in my opinion, suits her well. Skating — above and beyond the lovely things figure skaters learn to do — seems to hold a certain inherent grace in that long glide across the ice, and it takes an exhibition like this to have the unhurried pace to appreciate it.
Stéphane Lambiel, Gavin DeGraw’s “I Don’t Want to Be,” 2006 Worlds – Last but not least, my favorite of all of these. This is Lambiel right after winning his second world championship, and I’ve never seen any other skater look so happy just to be on the ice. Here he is skating wholeheartedly, with the audience responding in kind; and when the music goes, “I don’t want to be / anything other than what I’ve been trying to be lately,” I believe it utterly.
Posted in Olympics, Sports |
by YUYING LUO
February 25th, 2010
10. You think poutine is delicious. And you actually know what it is.
9. You also know what “prorogue” means.
8. You are still surprised every time you buy something here because of the obscenely low taxes.
7. You know some French, even if it is the ingredients on the back of a cereal box.
6. You still convert Farenheit into Celsius.
5. You forget the legal drinking age here is 21.
4. You are connected to a current NHLer by six degrees.
3. You realize you still have Canadian change in your wallet when you come back to school.
2. You know exactly how much a double-double costs at Tim Horton’s, with or without Timbits.
1. You make sure everyone you know knows you’re Canadian. And a proud one at that.
Posted in Canada |
by SUSAN ZHU
February 25th, 2010
1. Canadians have a prime minister, not a president, as per the traditional British system of government. The current prime minister is Stephen Harper, of the Conservative Party. Liberals in Canada sometimes consider him to be their George W. Bush.
2. Canada is the United States’ largest trading partner, and the two share the world’s longest land border. In my own experience, the border security is actually tighter going into Canada than going into the USA.
3. Canada did not have a written constitution until 1982. They received their (peaceful) independence from Britain, which still does not have a written constitution, in 1867, with the passage of the British North America Act. Their independence day is appropriately called Canada Day, and is celebrated on July 1. Despite being its own nation, the Queen is still the Canadian Head of State, is depicted on Canadian money, and is represented in Canadian government by her Governor General, currently Michaelle Jean.
4. Before the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, Canada had never won a gold medal on home soil (Montreal Summer Games 19 76, Calgary Winter Games 1988). As of Wednesday night, they have won 6 gold medals, and 12 medals total.
5. Canadians have a publicly-funded health care system, as written into the Canada Health Act of 1984. Health care providers are still private entities, but the government helps cover health care costs. Medication is often covered by public funds for the elderly or indigent. A 2008 CTV/The Globe and Mail poll found that 91 percent of Canadians prefer their health care system to Americans’, and that 70 percent of them found the system to be working either “well” or “very well.”
6. Canada is a bilingual country, though French is mostly associated with Quebec. Canadian children can sing their national anthem in both French and English. Consumer products typically have one side in English, and another in French.
7. Canadians spell like the British, for the most part. Sometimes they follow their American neighbors, but more likely than not, they’ll write Britishly. They put the “u” in “colour,” and the “e” in “judgement.” They don’t find it odd that “centre” ends in “re,” or that “programme” looks like it came out of Ye Olde English Shoppe. I had a good chuckle in one Vancouver Starbucks, where the sign read, “savour the flavour.”
8. The Canadian parliament legalized gay marriage in July of 2005, two years after the first provincial court ruling in Ontario ruled that opposite-sex only marriage laws were unconstitutional. Despite being more liberal than the Americans, Canadians are capable of being conservative (see fact #1). The most conservative province, their version of the American South, is Alberta.
9. Canadians call their aboriginal population “First Nations.” Americans seem to vacillate between calling our aboriginal population “Indians” or “Native Americans.”
10. Canadians have always been good at hockey. At the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix (the first ever winter olympics), Canada outscored its opponents in hockey 110-3. Canada went on to win the gold in hockey at six of the first seven Winter Olympics.
Posted in Canada, Uncategorized |
by SUSAN ZHU
January 22nd, 2010
Earlier this week, The New York Times published a very thought-provoking article on new cultural trends in Germany. I know very little about German culture other than beer, wurst, lederhosen, and BMWs, having been a French student myself. So I was pretty surprised to learn that this country, with Europe’s largest economy, and headed by a woman (Angela Merkel), still goes by a culture that largely forces its women to stay at home.
I pass no value judgments on the practice itself; I’m sure that staying home gives your children innumerable benefits, but that should be an individual, or a familial, decision, not one made for you by the school system.
The article raises a lot of interesting points – you should read the article yourself, since you’ll most likely find more things to think about than I did:
1) Why shouldn’t men stay at home, too, to help with the kids? Paternal leaves sound just as logical as maternal leaves, to me. Every parent needs to spend time with his or her kids, right? And this way, both parents will understand “sacrifice.”
2) Every form of government has pros and cons. Americans tend to shriek in horror at the sight of the word “communism,” and anything that’s even remotely “socialist” (e.g. universal healthcare) is an abomination. But our northern neighbors, who are the more socialist version of us, are doing just fine, and they take better care of their elderly than we do. To go a bit more radical, it seems that if there’s one thing communist countries can do, it’s promoting women’s equality. It’s not about rights – it’s not fighting for something extra. It’s about being able to have the same options that men do. Communist governments don’t have to wait for society to change, since they’re typically not democratic. They can do certain things much faster, and much more efficiently. But in general, Winston Churchill’s words still stand. It doesn’t mean, though, that there isn’t anything to learn from other forms of government.
3) Last point is sort of unrelated to the article. One reader commented that a high fertility rate makes a country poor, citing Haiti as an example. I think the commentator has it a bit confused. Isn’t it that poverty, a lack of education and opportunity, particularly for women, makes fertility rates high?
Tags: Germany, Women
Posted in Uncategorized |
by MARION LIU
January 20th, 2010
Let me preface this by saying, I was anti-blog… until I saw Julie and Julia. I have a weak spot for feel good chick flicks.
I am old-fashioned, conservative (non-politically?), like to read newspapers and fawn over Maureen Dowd and not one of those Carrie Bradshaw types (did she have a blog?). Sure blogs hold valuable opinions. Call me elitist but I like to hear commentary from people in authority and not Joe Smith from next door who lives in his self-absorbed world. I was explaining to my debate kids (I coach debate at Boston’s Public Service Academy and am that possessive over them) how the expansion of the Internet could be antidemocratic. It basically boils down to this: people who are politically active on the Internet tend to be on the extreme sides of the spectrum. You have your KKK fan sites and your free Tibet groups, and they drown out those in the so-called silent majority, where arguably democratic decision-making should be made. For these reasons, I was anti-blog, pro-NYTimes.
I guess I realize now blogs don’t have to be either completely fluffy or serious, they can be sweet, charming and inspiring. Thanks Julie and Julia!
Now my boyfriend tells me that my blog posts have to have a theme. You mean, it can’t be a flow of consciousness a la Faulkner, complete with incomprehensible sentences and whatever happens to be on my mind?! Okay. After a brief discussion, we settled that this blog would be about video games.
At one point in my life, I was anti-video games (yes, I am in general a very anti-__ person).
Then I got the Wii for my six year-old brother. Now I am in danger of failing the MCATs.
Video games are addictive.
The funny thing is, video games are addictive because you are motivated by the desire to win, beat that level, kill the monster, and not have GAME OVER flash before you again—the same forces that drive us to succeed. The sad thing is, while it is totally reasonable for us to spent hours and hours playing the same level, going down the same obstacles despite failing so many times before, in real life, we give up so easily. Dejection and rejection bring us down. We don’t always pick ourselves up and try again.
Last intersession, I went snowboarding/skiing with my friends. The slash is there because I tried to learn how to snowboard, then fell down the mountain a couple of times (like around the thousands), and finally gave up, walked down the mountain with board in tow, traded in everything for a pair of skis, and gracefully skied down the hill. If this were a video game, I would have stuck to it, just for sparkling sign at the end that said, CONGRATULATIONS! It might have two hours of my time and a couple of points off my MCAT score, but I would have done it. I wish life had sparkling signs that said, CONGRATULATIONS!
I am not one for New Year’s resolutions, but if I am going to get into video games and write about them, I resolve at least to adopt more of a gamer’s attitude towards life. Instead of being Debbie Downer all the time, I am going to adopt the personality of my alter ego, Mario. Here we go again!
The State Dept doesn’t think I am good enough for an internship? Well, I’m gonna shoot back with these flame thingies I’ve got!
The Indy wishes to reassure the State Department that Marion in no way intends to actually shoot flame thingies at it. She will be shooting Bowser instead, as Mario.
Tags: Julie and Julia, video games
Posted in Uncategorized |
by SUSAN ZHU
January 18th, 2010
It’s been a while since anyone on the Indy has made a blog post (sorrryyyy!), but we’re now back in action. If any interested alums would like to post to the blog, please email someone on the exec board (szhu@fas, florescu@fas, fhzhang@fas, etc.) to set you up with an account.
Here’s to a new start on a new site!
—
Thanks to Stefan for putting up with us for the past few months in making this site. Here is pretty much what we did to him (hee, okay, not really).
By the way, is anybody interested in being our webmaster? Serious question of the utmost importance.
Tags: The Oatmeal, Webmaster
Posted in Uncategorized |
by FRANCES MARTEL
August 3rd, 2008
In yet more proof that the facts can be manipulated to tell absolutely any story, here is Madonna with talented yet evil and annoying filmmaker Michael Moore, posing for a picture. According to this piece linked by Drudge today, Madonna “needs” Michael Moore in her life, while he praised her “incredible heart” and “generous spirit”.
Conclusion: Madonna is cheating on Guy Ritchie, Alex Rodriguez, Eliot Spitzer, and Bill O’Reilly with Michael Moore! And the gossip mill keeps spinning.
Tags: alex rodriguez, drudge report, gossip mongering, guy ritchie, madonna, matt drudge, michael moore
Posted in Uncategorized |
by FRANCES MARTEL
August 1st, 2008
It’s been 27 years since the first video, “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles, aired on MTV, and oh how some of us on the Indy long for the years when the only thing MTV transmitted on its airwaves were images of sexy British men in the jungle. In that spirit, and in honor of the MTV we used to know and love, here’s one of our favorite hot-British-men-in-exotic-locale videos, Duran Duran’s “Rio”:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7VjrW5zgqQ]
Posted in Uncategorized |
by FRANCES MARTEL
July 3rd, 2008
Without going into any details that everyone already knows about the whole Ingrid-Betancourt-is-miraculously-alive-and-the-FARC-website-is-now-crappy thing, we would like to congratulate the Latino gossip blog Guanabee, for pointing out the real reason that every other virile young straight girl/gay boy is so deeply invested in this news:
Lorenzo Betancourt-Delloye, her son.
Posted in Uncategorized |
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