Ben, ‘11

September 12, 2008

Before I go into anything else, I want to mention a cool story from one of my classes. My Leadership Studies class met on Thursday and we were told that we would have guests visit us during class. At first, we all just thought it would be some faculty members. As it turns out, we were surprised to have Marlon Wayans, Jurnee Smollett, and Tatyana Ali walk through the door and visit our class. We were all so surprised. We had discussed the role of citizenship in America and gotten onto the topic of voting. These three celebrities have been traveling the country and getting young people energized to vote in a type of Rock the Vote movement. It just so happens that they were in the area and able to stop by our class. Marlon is famous for the shows and movies he’s created with his brother, such as In Living Color, The Wayans Brothers, White Chicks, Little Man, and the Scary Movie series. Jurnee has appeared in Full House, The Great Debaters, Cosby, ER, Gridiron Gang, House, Grey’s Anatomy, and Selma, Lord, Selma. Tatyana is famous for her work on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Star Search. It was so cool to be able to see them. I think they were the last visitors we were expecting. They briefly talked about what they were doing and how important it was for young people to get involved with their country.

Marlon Wayans, Jurnee Smollett, and Tatyana Ali
with someone in my class

In other news, I’m three weeks into school and still settling into a routine. My life is still crazily busy, but I’m hoping that the next few days will allow me to settle down and take a deep breathe to recollect myself. I continue to try my absolute best to stay ahead of my work by planning my classes and events days in advance. Right now, I only have thirty pages of readings and one paper to write before next Wednesday, which is an impressive feat. Yes, the paper is daunting for me and I’m not looking forwards to it at all, but I’m hopeful that early next week will be quite enjoyable.

Since I’ve worked so hard to get ahead in my classes, I have had quite a bit of my time devoted to homework and classes, as well as organizations. Still, I did have a few other highlights throughout this past week.

I returned from Fall Retreat last weekend and two of my friends who lived on my hall used our residence hall’s kitchen to cook an amazing dinner for everyone in my program. There was roasted chicken, biscuits, vegetables, couscous, and chocolate chip cookies. It was so nice to just sit down and socialize with people on my hall. It was almost like a family meal in a way. We had good conversation and even a fun time washing dishes and cleaning up afterwards. Yes, we can get heated with each other in our Campaigns class, but this was just a good old-fashioned fun time. I think we’re hoping to continue this every few weeks throughout the semester. And I believe that is the guys’ turn to cook next time.

My hallmates and I enjoyed a fantastic made-from-scratch meal

I also relaxed by watching Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull at the Pier as well as the Packers game. As a big Green Bay Packers fan, I was quite pleased with our first game and the performance of Aaron Rodgers.

In more business-like matters, I also attended a panel discussion regarding Accounting. Yes, it was for extra credit, which was my main incentive for going. I also had Student Government drag on for an hour and a half for the third straight week. This resulted in me missing InterVarsity’s Large Group for the third time. I have yet to make it to a Large Group, unfortunately. Another meeting involved me going to an information session for the Jepson School of Leadership Studies. I will be applying this month to the school with the intention of minoring in Leadership Studies. That’s just another thing that I have to add to my to-do list.

Also for Student Government, my Cabinet and I hosted an event where we signed students up for our UR Alert, the system that e-mails and text messages students if there is ever a threat on-campus. In addition, we handed out tons of candy to people passing through the Commons. Watching people eat Warheads (which brought back memories of third grade for me and every other person who stopped by) was quite entertaining.

One of my friend reacts to eating a Warhead

Before I leave you for the week, I’d like to show you what some of the students who remained on-campus last weekend did as Tropical Storm Hanna passed through. Since there was so much rain, they decided to create a slip-’n-slide on the Intramural Fields. It looked pretty fun.

Enjoying the tons of rain that Hurricane Hanna brought

Soaking up all of the rain over last weekend

Quote of the Week: “It’s true that we don’t know what we’ve got until we lose it, but it’s also trye that we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives.” -Anonymous
Thought to Ponder: How fast do hotcakes sell?
YouTube Video of the Week:

In Remembrance of 9/11