contests, diversity, job

Contests: Our Yosakoi club is doing great in the homecoming contests! We won first place in the sidewalk chalking contest, first place in the Spirit Banner contest, and first place in the window-painting contest downtown! Our artsy side is doing us great services in propelling us toward the $250 reward for the student organisation with the most points at the end of the week. And we're having a blast doing it! Tomorrow is the parade...it's going to be grueling. 1.5-2 hours of dancing over a route longer than a mile. But I think it's going to be pretty fun...

Diversity: This is a beautiful thing with a little bit of a rant attached to it for today. I have to start off by saying that I'm really glad I am at a big university where there are students from all different cultures, countries, backgrounds, religions and areas of the country that I can get to know and learn from. That is the beautiful thing. But today in University Experience lecture, when a Hispanic organisation came to talk to us about their bicultural program and showed us a theatrical production put on by some of its students to demonstrate the struggles of Hispanic students adjusting to college life, I was shocked at the disrespect shown by a lot of the students there. While the presenters were talking to us, there was quite a bit of disruptive whispering, most of which was snickering at the presenter's accents and moaning about why we have to watch an interpretive poetic play given half in Spanish. This confused me and seemed to defeat the whole purpose of the lecture. The presenters were clearly trying to show that everyone starting college is experiencing a new lifestyle for the first time, and that we can all learn from and support each other. How is this supposed to work if most of the students in my class won't even listen to someone who comes from another country or speaks another language? I was disappointed and embarrassed to be part of a class that clearly did not wish to take an opportunity to learn from others different from themselves.

Job: Back on the bright side, I got the job I wanted at the bookstore!!! I will be working more on the paperwork side of things, upstairs in a little cubby filled to the ceiling with books...I can't wait to get started! The interview I had Monday was a little out-of-the-ordinary in that we spent half the time talking about an armoire my future boss bought at the craft fair in my hometown, as well as about mosquitoes, and why lobsters "scream" when you cook them - both topics of books that came through the office recently. Some of the questions were quirky as well, like what type of food I would describe myself as. (In case you were wondering I said blueberry muffin - sweet and a little fruity.) But the people at the bookstore are so nice, and I can't wait to get started! Oh, and we get our own little cubby where we can stash any books we want to buy or look at later. I think this is going to be a great job!