In a Better World...There Would Be More Good News

Ever wonder why the Étudiant is so sarcastic all the time? We writers have become so disillusioned and skeptical of the people in power, and have turned this site into a place to vent and joke - to deal with it by writing. You know, a blog.

Not that we're a bunch of sad sacks - in fact, Glen and DeCarlo must be Morrissey's most upbeat fans - it's just that the news media's top priority is to turn all its consumers into Holden Caulfield. Bill O'Reilly gets you to hate Bin Laden's driver while the FOX News ticker constantly reminds us that the terrorists might strike. The corruption in China has made this year's Olympics the most controversial contest in a while.

The media has taught us how to look at the good grass on the other side of the fence and wonder why the grass on our side is a grayish shade of brown. The nation of Iraq is making so much progress, making us wonder if the mission is truly accomplished and if we can withdraw. Barry continues to inspire the world with his favorite words - hope, change, and unity - only for his chief opponent to compare him to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Harsh, John.

Our cynical society doesn't want us to look forward to the future, but we try anyway. We try to help each other by writing what not to do at an airport, or by adding music to the day. We try to remember that whether things get better or things get worse, we'll always have our friends around to cheer us up.

All in all, we just have to remember that, no matter what the news media would rather have us believe, life is good. There's good people all around, and plenty of good things happening, and we Americans are especially lucky to be here. In a better world, the media would remind us of that.

Top Tan List: Weird Things That Happened This Week

Either the planets have aligned, the world is coming to an end, or God just picked this week to toy with us. Whatever the cause, this was a very strange, though very enjoyable, week. In fact, instead of the usual This Week in É format, I've put together a post of the ten weirdest moments of the past few days.

10) Confirming a few of the rumors, the Boston Red Sox traded one of their stars, Manny Ramirez, to the Dodgers. The weird thing is all the former Red Sox stars are becoming Dodgers - Manny joins Nomar and Derek Lowe! Four years ago, that was OUR lineup!

9) As you should know, I'll be leaving this site when I move in to Emerson. Subsequently, Glen dared me to reach 1, 000 posts before I depart - and I did, by tagging older, previously untagged updates. Hooray for tags!

8) On this blog, you hear a lot about a famous linguistics professor/author/political aficionado named Noam Chomsky. This week, Professor Chomsky became aware of our little site AND had a little talk with our own Glen Maganzini. Good work, Glen.

7) Chris Mogni...yes, THAT Chris Mogni...made a splash, as he tends to do, with his first work as an Étudiant - two posts about his summer homework. Don't worry, incoming juniors - the required reading doesn't get worse than Walden. You'll like some of your required reading. You really will.[/foreshadowing]

6) Chris DeCarlo makes this list not for any post he made this week, but for any post he didn't. After a couple Daily Recommendations, he disappeared from the blog to focus on his homework. Congratulations to Chris for getting a life!

5) Glen's been posting videos for a while now, but the content of those clips has gone in a direction far from the daily newscast format. This week saw the darkest, most personal, most introspective video yet, besides, of course, Rex Lam's return to Wakefield. Joking aside, check out Glen's look back on the last three years, in a video that just might destroy any chance he might have had of getting a girlfriend THIS year.

4) New Étudiants aren't too unusual. This week, we welcomed a few new additions, Mike Brisbon, Brian Hickey, Rob Reinold, Petar Todorov and...Chris Mogni. Yes, THAT Chris Mogni.

3) The other co-founder, Chris Morrill, is a bit of an insomniac. It's not weird for him to be out somewhere in another town long past midnight - but for me? Anyway, I had plenty of fun hanging with Chris and Brian Hickey on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning - and the strangest moment had to be when we were approached by the most insane stranger we've ever encountered.
She spent about ten minutes talking to us - each sentence having nothing to do with the last. It sounded something like this...
"Excuse me, but would you happen to know a restroom I could use? I like your haircut. You don't put sea kelp in your hair, do you? Because I do, and it costs 83 cents!"
I could go on, but any more would drive YOU insane.

2) Liz, Glenna Regan, and I danced the samba. This story began when Liz posted about a dance class at MIT and invited her fellow Étudiants to it. Unfortunately, only two of them went, because only two of them aren't pussies.

1) I went to a George Michael concert. I've always thought he was talented, and liked a few songs, but I never thought I'd actually go to see him at the TD Banknorth Garden. But when my cousin invited me to go, I asked, "Why not?" And you know what? It was a good show.

Walden Update for all interested and uninterested

As you should know if you do not know, I emailed Ms. Tinker regarding my idea for the Walden project. Turns out that my facts were not straight about something: 45 pages, not 90; but that is still a 1:6 journal to text ratio. Ms. Tinker actually approved of my idea for one massive entry, which I will write on Saturday/Sunday. This is how the journal will be set up:

Chapter 0: A Note to the Reader ~ 3 pg

• My introductory chapter will remind readers of the setup of this journal and briefly describe each chapter. Moreover, it will discuss the time it took for reflection and how long it took to read the book.
  

Chapter 1: Concerning the Teachings of Thoreau in Walden ~ 10 pg

• This chapter will talk about Thoreau's life using the text Walden to evaluate his behavior; no outside sources will be used for this. I will attempt to explain what I think is right and wrong with the actual text of Walden.
  

Chapter 2: An Account of Thoreau's Life on Walden Pond from Various Sources ~ 7pg

• After documenting my thoughts on Thoreau's lifestyle by means of the book Walden, I will further validate my arguments through use of other sources. Said sources will validate my arguments, and show the nature of Thoreau's actual life, not the one that he describes in his book.

Chapter 3: An Evaluation of the Teachings in Walden ~ 10 pg

• In this section, I will basically set up an argument with myself, attempting to determine whether Thoreau was consistent with what he did in the book, or if the book itself was not consistent. From the side that I chose to finally believe, I will endeavor to explain why he was either consistent or inconsistent throughout the book and his actual lifestyle. This section will also allow me to reflect again on whether I actually agreed or disagreed with the teachings in the book.
  

Chapter 4: An Analysis of the Reasoning of Thoreau's Ideas Expressed through Walden ~ 15 pg

• I will devote this chapter to a psychoanalysis of Thoreau and also an anaysis of the text of Walden. In it, I will attempt to discover why Thoreau wrote the novel the way he did and what truly shaped his thought process expressed in the text.

What do you know...45 pages! At least this will let me reread Walden in one sitting and do all of the journal entries at once. Thank the lord for email.

P.S. I will be posting the journal when I am finished for all eager readers...which will be slim at best >-(

Walden (+Project) Sucks - Here's Why - And Here is my Solution

If you can talk about food in a book about food for about 30 pages and still go strong, you may qualify for the definition of mentally insane. I'm sure any incoming junior and senior that takes/has taken Honors English 11 will know about this book. Many define it as socialism, but in socialism the people voluntarily work for the greater good of the community, acting as one entity that helps eachother to fuel society. We all can agree that socialism, although quite the utopian ideal, is quite unrealistic. Humans do not have the programming to work together as equals, for not all humans are equals. Some are smarter than others, some are stronger, and some are less corrupt.

Instead of promoting socialism, Thoreau's "teachings" verge on anarchism. He encourages that people stop working for society to better themselves within the community, and further goes on to say how anything past minimal living is, without going further into an analysis of the book, evil. If everyone decided one day that they would not contribute to society and only care about themselves, the medical fields would not be advanced. Food would not be cultivated fast enough to supply for the mass of people. Sure, it would be ideal for everyone to grow their own crops and hunt their own meat, but unrealist, due to the fact that humans work good in groups with specialization. Instead of specializing to help the community, he advocates every man for himself, enjoying himself without regard for other people. Moreover, without such specialization and group cooperation that drives society and makes everyday life easier, there would be no government at all. If someone found enjoyment in arson, they could burn down houses as they pleased. If they liked another person, since theres no government or rules they could just very well...well, you get the point.

Opinions aside, anyone who has taken Honors English knows about the journal that is needed for Walden. That is 90 pages worth of analysis on the book, about 1:3 ratio. Absolute fail. Now, in the directions, it says to fill the entire journal, and recommends that you read 10 pages a day. That would mean about 3 1/3 pages per every 10 pages if we are to go by the ratio. I find that....unrealistic. Furthermore, the chapters are not very uniform in length, so that leaves reflections at odd times. Wouldn't it be better just to read the entire book all at once? However, that poses another problem: How can I do all of those reflections if I do the entire book all at once?

I have come up with a logical solution to this dilemma: I will read the book at once in a day, then do a near 100 page reflection/psychoanalysis on Thoreau, his methods, and why he advocates what he does. Not only will I refer back to the text, but I will also use outside sources. It will be so epic that she won't even read it, she will just look at all the footnotes and passages, and see how intense this was that I will get an A for Term 1. I will be posting the book when I am done with it, that is, my book. I do need a title though...which I'm thinking would be "On the Account of the Psychoanalysis of Thoreau through use of the textual references of Walden and others which concern it"