Theodore Roethke and The Waking :: Waking Essays

Theodore Roethke and The Waking   In portraying the manner in which he gets life's exercises and learned encounters, Theodore Roethke utilizes redundancy of two unique sentences and a straightforward rhyme plan to enable the peruser to comprehend his point of view toward how to suffer life. The two sentences rehashed all through the sonnet are I wake to rest, and take my waking moderate and I learn by going where I need to go [with slight variety in the latter]. I wake to rest, and take my waking moderate appears in refrains 1, 2, 4, and 6 and allegorically implies that Roethke stirs in the first part of the day and gains from the day's encounters. In contrast to the vast majority, Roethke doesn't race during that time as though he anticipated another. He survives the day in a quiet and moderate way so he finds out about existence without missing anything en route. Around evening time, he nods off substance with the day's encounters and stirs the following morning in the equivalent moderate way. When Roethke states I learn by going where I need to go in verses 1, 3, 5, and 6, he announces that he goes anyplace and wherever to encounter all that he can. He watches uncommon things all through his excursions and commits errors en route, yet any place he goes, he secures the encounters his memory and rehashes the cycle. The redundancy of the sentences in the sonnet set a pace of assurance and persistence to appreciate the entirety of life's encounters that come Roethke's direction. The feeling depicted by the sentences is an inspiring inclination in light of the fact that Roethke watches and appreciates even the most paltry parts of life, for example, when the humble worm moves up a winding step. The rhyme conspire started by the creator follows the rhyme plot ABA in the initial two refrains, CDA in the third through fifth verses, and ABAA in the last refrain. This specific rhyme conspire makes an agreeable progression of obvious rhyming. In the initial two refrains, the rhyming is the equivalent ( ABA) as Roethke discusses how to encounter life by feeling. The rhyme conspire changes in the third through fifth verses as the concentration in the point changes to how Roethke typifies his experience by feeling thought by sharing the particular instances of the worm and the ground. The last verse comes back to an ABAA rhyme conspire a lot of like that of the initial two refrains.

Being Gay Free Essays

Being Gay: What the Filipino Parents Should Understand About the LGBT About 3 days back, I have perused an article in the Philippine Star exhorting guardians on what to do when they have a gay kid. It was composed by a nearby columnist, Tintin Bersola-Babao as indicated by her meeting with a â€Å"noted clinician. The article subtleties how guardians should stop all the womanly methods of their youngsters and how to disclose to them that they are what â€Å"God† made them and they should live a family with just the other gender later on. We will compose a custom article test on Being Gay or on the other hand any comparable subject just for you Request Now Stating my last sentence that way is putting it mildly on how the article despises the LGBT and limits a child’s decision on his own sexual personality, yet in any event, you have a trace of where I’m coming from. This paper is entitled â€Å"Being Gay,† a similar title as that of the said article I have perused to parallelize the disputes of what should the guardians do to their gay kid as per the point of view of a â€Å"noted psychologist† who talks about the expression of her god (I still don’t know which god she has been alluding to each one of those occasions, however) instead of the expression of her calling and somebody from the LGBT and is upbeat that his folks never did what the article exhorted them to do. On the decision of â€Å"Being† Gay As a matter of first importance, the title of the article has communicated a conviction that the writer, under her brain, has the possibility of gayness as a condition of being as opposed to a shame. You, guardians ought to have the option to comprehend that homosexuality isn't a forced awareness that your kids need to live with, in light of the fact that nothing ought to be forced on them, regardless. They live their own lives as indicated by what they characteristically have, not that somebody has delivered them with qualities and mentioned to them what they ought to be on the grounds that the holy book says as much. You should let your kids investigate the skylines of their sexuality than force a personality that you need your youngsters to have. Your child’s character is a result of the decisions they made, the difficulties they confronted, and the preliminaries they won. So as to decidedly boost your child’s character, s/he ought not be restricted to the out dated social standards and ideas of ethical quality. These things prevent them from being who they truly resemble a crate that detains them in the shadow of others. Without giving them the opportunity to find their own ‘self,’ youngsters further evelops disarray on their own sexuality. They will address themselves since they veer off from what you advised them to be, more regrettable, on what they can see and get from the general public. Indeed, even you preclude your gay kid to be womanly, his inward â€Å"gay† self will at present show, at some point or another. That is on the grounds that by and by, gay ness is a condition. You can’t strip that part of your kid off them. That is the sort of people they are. The least you can do is to acknowledge them, sustain them, and bolster them. Additionally, whatever they will become, they are your youngsters. On the assurance to heterosexuality The primary thing to fathom on the issue of homosexuality and effeminacy is that a child’s inclination on garments or toys doesn’t propose their sexuality. There is no assurance to heterosexuality of a kid who adores sports and toy firearms or a young lady who acts truly refined. As youngsters, their decision on toys relies upon what you give them or what they find in the media. There is nothing of the sort as an instinctual inclination on things like these; it’s the general public that is revealing to us that young ladies should play with Barbie dolls and young men should play with toy weapons. In a similar line of thought, a kid who’s playing with Barbie dolls doesn’t recommend his homosexuality. He may be playing with dolls since he appreciates their magnificence or he needs to be a doll producer or style architect later on. A young lady playing with toy weapons should be in the military some time or another or an activity film entertainer. The point here is that kids are path past what we see on them. You ought to have the option to acknowledge your youngster past what is seen by the unaided eye. Notwithstanding their sexuality, they are as yet individuals. On God and Morality Considering the idea of independence as a playing card in the issue of sexuality, ethical quality ought not be a premise of your judgment to your kids. Ethical quality is something that you can’t measure. What is corrupt to you might be good to other people. The idea of good and bad doesn’t truly matter in the issue of homosexuality, however; in light of the fact that there is nothing amiss with homosexuality and gay acts in any case. What's going on will be on what people look like and name the LGBT as an infection made by evil presences. The religion spine of the contention against the LGBT isn't even legitimate. Those were close disapproved of feelings figured by individuals who from the outset accepted that ladies are mediocre compared to men. The thing is, the book of scriptures might be the expression of God, however what we think about the holy book is only a translation of a gathering of individuals as per their own specific circumstance. The time of close-mindedness has been away for an extremely lengthy timespan; be that as it may, we despite everything endure its post-quake tremors. God made everybody similarly, the holy book says, and God made the world. Indeed, even the gays and the lesbians are made by God in his own picture. They also are offspring of God. They were gays since God needs them to be gay. It’s simply pitiful that others accept something else. Once more, there is nothing amiss with being gay, what's going on is to rebuff your youngster since he is one. Raising a superior individual The main confusion of most guardians when they have a gay youngster is that their kid will be a lesser individual †they will make some hard memories getting a decent line of work, they are disgraces on the family, et cetera. The second is that having a gay youngster is brought about by their inability to bring up the kid to improve as an individual. Guardians, I let you know, none of those were correct. They were simply mixed up convictions. Truly being a straight individual is certainly not an essential to improve as an individual, similarly that being gay isn't a hindrance for somebody to find on a great job. In our general public these days, gays are all around acknowledged in the corporate field. Organizations esteem capabilities and aptitudes more than one’s sexuality. Indeed, dominant part of the LGBT graduates were recruited in the primary employment they applied to as a result of their certainty and innate dynamism, contemplates appears. Nothing’s to be stressed over. In any case, on the off chance that you rebuke your kid for being gay on account of the explanation that he won't find a decent line of work for being one, you’re the person who are separating your youngster, not his future chief. Being a superior individual methods having the option to add to more noteworthy's benefit. What's more, with its definition, none is said about one’s sexual personality. For whatever length of time that you bring up your gay kid to be somebody who regards others, somebody who cherishes of God, somebody who doesn’t damage the law, and somebody who is gainful enough to support himself, his family, and his nation, you ought to be glad for yourselves. You have raised a superior individual, despite the fact that he’s gay. On adoration and future family â€Å"Love is human experience, not a political proclamation. † Anne Hathaway said. Love should know no restriction, love should know no segregation. You should adore an individual, not a sexual orientation. This is the thing that the greater part of Filipino guardians neglected to comprehend. Telling your delicate child that he is a kid and that he ought to wed a lady (young lady) is a decent method of raising him however disclosing to him that he should adore an individual paying little mind to who and what he is, is better. You, of the considerable number of individuals, are the ones who ought to have the motivation to comprehend your children’s emotions. Don’t drive them to adore somebody that they don’t. They can’t pick who to adore, nor would they be able to decide to cherish who they don’t. The key is to simply bolster them genuinely for them to know whether what they feel is genuine love. Nobody else can assist them with doing that. Just you. The issue with the vast majority is that they imagine that adoration just exists between a man and a lady, and that a gay relationship is only a posterity of desire and sexual wants. Yet, for a reality, the most strong love is the adoration that exists in a gay relationship in light of the fact that the couple has conquered the test of an obligatory social congruity. Gay couples had the option to epitomize what love truly is â€loving someone’s heart, not someone’s penis or vagina. Guardians please don’t deny your youngsters to adore and be cherished. You’ve once experienced it; let your kid have the equivalent. An intrigue to Filipino guardians To the Filipino guardians who were blinded by the nearby disapproved of culture of social congruity and strict nobility, it would be ideal if you evacuate your blindfolds. The world is more than what you see inside the case of numbness. You are guardians, and as guardians, you ought to comprehend your kids; not cause them to endure in light of the fact that you think they veer off from the social standards. Acknowledge them for what their identity is, not make them somebody else. Let them see the world the manner in which you saw the world, let them experience life, the manner in which you did. At long last, paying little mind to their sexuality, they are your youngsters. We are your youngsters, and we need you to control us to be better individuals, not a superior dick or a superior vagina. You, of the considerable number of individuals, ought to be the initial ones to perceive our personality, to engage our faculties, and to be pleased with us. The contentions that were laid are of unadulterated rationale and human explanation. There are no solid logical proof to demonstrate the contentions, however at any rate, they are something to consider upon. The most effective method to refer to Being Gay, Essay models

Tchau! Labs vai para a praia!

Tchau! Labs vai para a praia! * This is a Goodbye Post * Ive always liked the 4th of July. I like fireworks. (Although a couple years ago I had a friend that kind of ruined it for me by pointing out that fireworks are a celebratory representation of warfare.) I like fried chicken, hot dogs, the sun and an annual day of jingoism. But this year, I wont be celebrating Indepenence day. Ill be celebrating feijoada, capirinhas and the beach. Ill be celebrating Havaianas, Ipanema and Portuguese. Ill be celebrating the protestors too, but dont worry mom Ill be celebrating them from the comfort of my couch! Brazil for two months people. Eu vou trabalhar no Portugues e ajudar minha noiva com sua trabalho. Now, this is a long winded way of saying Im leaving. Yes, this is a goodbye post. But dont worry the King of the Internet, Chris Peterson, fresh from a masters degree from something I still dont understand in the Media Lab, is coming back! (And maybe the return of m_quinn but hopefully not.) So, in usual admissions counselor fashion Im going to use this last pulpit opportunity for reflection and admissions advice since most people reading this are probably pre-frosh anyway. (And my friends at work who, in the connected world of social media, might need this small reminder that they have no excuse to NOT to maintain our friendship.) Ok Dear Prefrosh, There are still some little things bugging me that I want to say before I leave, so lets clear up some misconceptions. Misconception One: These selective schools arent looking for people like me. I just got back from an admissions conference that had all of the most selective schools in attendance. I was in the room with the entire admissions Illuminati (The Deans of all the Ivys and some other awesome schools youve definitely heard of) and I wanted to tell you some good news: everyone there was thinking about how to diversify their class by race, income level, social/cultural background, and point of view. Maybe you knew that, but I didnt. When I was a high school student in lower middle-class California I would have expected that this room would have been filled with old guys who look like Mr. Burns, say excellent, pet a white cat like the bad guy in the Inspector Gadget cartoons (which none of you have ever seen cause Im old and was probably based on a Bond villain anyway) and laugh like this Mwauh, ha ha ha. And throw in a blue blazer with gold buttons. The didnt look like that, talk like that, and I didnt see any cats. What I did learn, is that these people want you to apply to their schools. They want to find you. So if you have some antiquated notion that these schools only accept people who look like Barbies boyfriend (Ken?) then youre wrong and someone needs to tell you. Not saying youre getting in admissions rates are at ridiculous lows but throw your app in if youre interested. They will likely give you a fee waiver anyway so it shouldnt cost you any money if you cant afford it. Misconception Two: Theres some secret algorithm that selects students, and MIT doesnt doesnt like me because theyre looking for x. Next, Ive decided that the entire process in selective schools admissions is based on one hurtful misconception that annoys me. The idea that you get rejected admission. Stay with me here because it sounds like semantic nonsense. Many people have many different metaphors to describe how the process works. You can think of it as cutting, filtering, funneling, separating, as in the cream separates from the milk it goes on and on. But for the sake of this blog post, lets call it fishing. So if we go with this fishing analogy, then most people would describe the process as fishing with nets. You take a first pass with a big net that has big holes(?) in it, all the small fish slip out and you end up with only medium and big sized fish. Then you do the process again, you increase the hole size, and all the medium fish slip out leaving all the big fish. Yay! We have a complete admit class of big fish! Everyones happy right? True, we have a net full of big fish but now all of the medium and small sized fish hate themselves, get mad/offended, and have a life-long vendetta against college admissions. Everybody assumes this is how it happens, but it doesnt really. And with this analogy you have two major problems: Problem 1.) Were selecting around 1500 kids and using the above net analogy, our net would really be holding about 8000 big fish. Not even halfway there. Problem 2.) It presupposes that other fish are smaller for some particular reason. Like they didnt grow up in warm enough waters or eat the right kind of plankton (what do fish eat?) or have the best fish genetics. Sorry, this analogy is going off the rails.   Heres the point, people end up with a lot of questions, what were the deficient parts of my application, what did I do wrong?, why dont you like me? why am I perceived as a small fish? People always have a hard time with this point. They cant separate the issue of slipping through the net with some sort of deficiency. It has to be something. Isnt it compatitive? Chris, dont sit there and try and tell me that I havent been compared. It has to be comparative, and in this comparison Im not doing well. Of course youre being compared a little. But how? How does a kid from private school New Jersey get compared to a farm kid in North Dakota? They have nothing in common.   I think it may help by changing the analogy. Hows this:   Its not a fishing net, its a fishing pole (with special bait and a special radar). Ok, so now our fictional admissions officer, using a pole, is off fishing. She finds one. She loves the fish and the fish loves her. Repeat 1500 times until youre done. How is this different? One fish at a time. With this analogy you might notice that its impossible to say you got all the perfect, most attractive and largest fish in the lake. You have no idea what fish was lurking under a branch somewhere. Our bait is very good, our radar is very advanced. We have the coolest fish-matching technology in the world, (as evidenced by our outstanding yield numbers.) And still you cant say for sure. So if you didnt get caught, theres nothing to be upset about someone else is going to catch you. This is called having a compelling reason to admit. Some fish made themselves compelling in the process for some reason and we snagged them. But some didnt. You cant take all the fish of course! People are obsessed with objective criteria. You cant stay sane at this job unless you embrace the idea that the fish in my bucket are the ones I want, and I cant get upset about some fish that I didnt catch. On the flip side, you cant get upset that our hook didnt grab you youre still a nice fat delicious fish. Now, I know that youre not likely to be so laissez faire about your future as I am being. Its not my life I realize. But thats where the next point comes in. Misconception Three: There are only a handful of colleges worth going to. At the aforementioned conference, there was also a discussion on familiarity, brand, prestige and fit as it relates to colleges and matching them with the right students. This is also a frustrating point because for some reason, some of you out there are convinced that you can not possibly be successful unless you go to one of these top schools. Dont get me confused, I do work at MIT (at least for another week) and I happen to know that MIT and others have very good programs that in some cases prepare students in a way that others schools might not be able to. But really, people need to get their realities straight. Sometimes its been drilled into you by peer pressure, sometimes from parents and their vicarious behavior. Sometimes (rarely) youve done a ton of research on the topic and youve concluded that you would be a greater fit for one of these schools more than the others. But you know what I think? I think your success is based much more on participation, engagement, work ethic, and fit, than it is on famous professors, famous brand names, and famous facilities. Maybe theres some reason while youll thrive at Big State University, and be sad here. I hope not, but Im just making a point. Is there any doubt that youll learn more, be happier, gain leadership experience, and just be a more sucessful person at Big State if that were the case? No doubt. Sometimes in the process we can sense that. Sometimes in the process its almost as if youre secretly telling us that. And were happy to oblige you. Its like being the general manager of a sports team. If you pick all the players just on talent, you wont do as well as the GM who picks on talent, fit, personality, and enthusiasm. So you really need to go to school where youll thrive. Generally people understand that. Some kids like big cities, some kids like small towns, some kids like clam chowder, etc etc. Theres a saying for this youve all heard anyway, you get out of it, what you put in. Ok, everyone understands this point. What NO ONE seems to understand, (at least from my perception sitting at this desk) is that there are like 3000 awesome universities in this country you can go to other than MIT, Stanford and the Ivys. The United States sells colleges like Toys R Us sells Elmo. Like Amazon sells books. Like Wal-Mart sells goods manufactured in China. We have more colleges in this country than LaBounty has analogies! Why dont you want to attend any of them? Why do you tell me youll never be happy unless you attend MIT? Because youre not being rational about it. And although you never write me saying, Hey Labs, its Bill writing from Big State. Just wanted to let you know freshman year was awesome! I still know it was because I went to a school like that, and at 39 years old Im still an immature sports fan (Go Ducks!) and I still reflect fondly on my friendships and experiences during this time. Thats three final points of wisdom from Labs. Hope you internalize them. If youre an applicant, I bid you good luck. Its a jungle out there in college admissions. You really need to just get zen about it if you go to Big State, youll never know what a parallel world at MIT would have been like, and if you come here youll never know what the parallel world at Big State would have been like. We all like those movies where you can see what your life would have been like if you had only hit that home run, or if you had only sucked it up and asked Sally to the dance, or if your parents didnt move you to a new town when you were seven. But, youre not going to get that chance. So apply to some colleges, get in somewhere, go there, get involved and do well. If Mom or Dad gets too freaked out, just tell them that Labs said to mellow out its going to be all good. I promise. Last point to any people out there over 30 reading this. Youve heard that this generation of kids is a disaster. (Has any generation NOT thought that about their successor?) Youve heard that theyre self-centered, impatient, entitled and have a poor work ethic. As a consequence, youve learned that the future of our country is a risk. Whatever.   I spent the entire year reading the applications of kids who are intrinsically motivated to learn and succeed. Ive spent the last year reading the applications of kids who maintain a life of academics, creativity and fun and arrive to MIT ready for a full sip of the firehose. If anything, they need to learn to take some quiet time now and again. So take it easy, were going to be fine. My expectations remain high and thats the key. sign off Christopher Labs LaBounty 06/26/13

Tchau! Labs vai para a praia!

Tchau! Labs vai para a praia! * This is a Goodbye Post * Ive always liked the 4th of July. I like fireworks. (Although a couple years ago I had a friend that kind of ruined it for me by pointing out that fireworks are a celebratory representation of warfare.) I like fried chicken, hot dogs, the sun and an annual day of jingoism. But this year, I wont be celebrating Indepenence day. Ill be celebrating feijoada, capirinhas and the beach. Ill be celebrating Havaianas, Ipanema and Portuguese. Ill be celebrating the protestors too, but dont worry mom Ill be celebrating them from the comfort of my couch! Brazil for two months people. Eu vou trabalhar no Portugues e ajudar minha noiva com sua trabalho. Now, this is a long winded way of saying Im leaving. Yes, this is a goodbye post. But dont worry the King of the Internet, Chris Peterson, fresh from a masters degree from something I still dont understand in the Media Lab, is coming back! (And maybe the return of m_quinn but hopefully not.) So, in usual admissions counselor fashion Im going to use this last pulpit opportunity for reflection and admissions advice since most people reading this are probably pre-frosh anyway. (And my friends at work who, in the connected world of social media, might need this small reminder that they have no excuse to NOT to maintain our friendship.) Ok Dear Prefrosh, There are still some little things bugging me that I want to say before I leave, so lets clear up some misconceptions. Misconception One: These selective schools arent looking for people like me. I just got back from an admissions conference that had all of the most selective schools in attendance. I was in the room with the entire admissions Illuminati (The Deans of all the Ivys and some other awesome schools youve definitely heard of) and I wanted to tell you some good news: everyone there was thinking about how to diversify their class by race, income level, social/cultural background, and point of view. Maybe you knew that, but I didnt. When I was a high school student in lower middle-class California I would have expected that this room would have been filled with old guys who look like Mr. Burns, say excellent, pet a white cat like the bad guy in the Inspector Gadget cartoons (which none of you have ever seen cause Im old and was probably based on a Bond villain anyway) and laugh like this Mwauh, ha ha ha. And throw in a blue blazer with gold buttons. The didnt look like that, talk like that, and I didnt see any cats. What I did learn, is that these people want you to apply to their schools. They want to find you. So if you have some antiquated notion that these schools only accept people who look like Barbies boyfriend (Ken?) then youre wrong and someone needs to tell you. Not saying youre getting in admissions rates are at ridiculous lows but throw your app in if youre interested. They will likely give you a fee waiver anyway so it shouldnt cost you any money if you cant afford it. Misconception Two: Theres some secret algorithm that selects students, and MIT doesnt doesnt like me because theyre looking for x. Next, Ive decided that the entire process in selective schools admissions is based on one hurtful misconception that annoys me. The idea that you get rejected admission. Stay with me here because it sounds like semantic nonsense. Many people have many different metaphors to describe how the process works. You can think of it as cutting, filtering, funneling, separating, as in the cream separates from the milk it goes on and on. But for the sake of this blog post, lets call it fishing. So if we go with this fishing analogy, then most people would describe the process as fishing with nets. You take a first pass with a big net that has big holes(?) in it, all the small fish slip out and you end up with only medium and big sized fish. Then you do the process again, you increase the hole size, and all the medium fish slip out leaving all the big fish. Yay! We have a complete admit class of big fish! Everyones happy right? True, we have a net full of big fish but now all of the medium and small sized fish hate themselves, get mad/offended, and have a life-long vendetta against college admissions. Everybody assumes this is how it happens, but it doesnt really. And with this analogy you have two major problems: Problem 1.) Were selecting around 1500 kids and using the above net analogy, our net would really be holding about 8000 big fish. Not even halfway there. Problem 2.) It presupposes that other fish are smaller for some particular reason. Like they didnt grow up in warm enough waters or eat the right kind of plankton (what do fish eat?) or have the best fish genetics. Sorry, this analogy is going off the rails.   Heres the point, people end up with a lot of questions, what were the deficient parts of my application, what did I do wrong?, why dont you like me? why am I perceived as a small fish? People always have a hard time with this point. They cant separate the issue of slipping through the net with some sort of deficiency. It has to be something. Isnt it compatitive? Chris, dont sit there and try and tell me that I havent been compared. It has to be comparative, and in this comparison Im not doing well. Of course youre being compared a little. But how? How does a kid from private school New Jersey get compared to a farm kid in North Dakota? They have nothing in common.   I think it may help by changing the analogy. Hows this:   Its not a fishing net, its a fishing pole (with special bait and a special radar). Ok, so now our fictional admissions officer, using a pole, is off fishing. She finds one. She loves the fish and the fish loves her. Repeat 1500 times until youre done. How is this different? One fish at a time. With this analogy you might notice that its impossible to say you got all the perfect, most attractive and largest fish in the lake. You have no idea what fish was lurking under a branch somewhere. Our bait is very good, our radar is very advanced. We have the coolest fish-matching technology in the world, (as evidenced by our outstanding yield numbers.) And still you cant say for sure. So if you didnt get caught, theres nothing to be upset about someone else is going to catch you. This is called having a compelling reason to admit. Some fish made themselves compelling in the process for some reason and we snagged them. But some didnt. You cant take all the fish of course! People are obsessed with objective criteria. You cant stay sane at this job unless you embrace the idea that the fish in my bucket are the ones I want, and I cant get upset about some fish that I didnt catch. On the flip side, you cant get upset that our hook didnt grab you youre still a nice fat delicious fish. Now, I know that youre not likely to be so laissez faire about your future as I am being. Its not my life I realize. But thats where the next point comes in. Misconception Three: There are only a handful of colleges worth going to. At the aforementioned conference, there was also a discussion on familiarity, brand, prestige and fit as it relates to colleges and matching them with the right students. This is also a frustrating point because for some reason, some of you out there are convinced that you can not possibly be successful unless you go to one of these top schools. Dont get me confused, I do work at MIT (at least for another week) and I happen to know that MIT and others have very good programs that in some cases prepare students in a way that others schools might not be able to. But really, people need to get their realities straight. Sometimes its been drilled into you by peer pressure, sometimes from parents and their vicarious behavior. Sometimes (rarely) youve done a ton of research on the topic and youve concluded that you would be a greater fit for one of these schools more than the others. But you know what I think? I think your success is based much more on participation, engagement, work ethic, and fit, than it is on famous professors, famous brand names, and famous facilities. Maybe theres some reason while youll thrive at Big State University, and be sad here. I hope not, but Im just making a point. Is there any doubt that youll learn more, be happier, gain leadership experience, and just be a more sucessful person at Big State if that were the case? No doubt. Sometimes in the process we can sense that. Sometimes in the process its almost as if youre secretly telling us that. And were happy to oblige you. Its like being the general manager of a sports team. If you pick all the players just on talent, you wont do as well as the GM who picks on talent, fit, personality, and enthusiasm. So you really need to go to school where youll thrive. Generally people understand that. Some kids like big cities, some kids like small towns, some kids like clam chowder, etc etc. Theres a saying for this youve all heard anyway, you get out of it, what you put in. Ok, everyone understands this point. What NO ONE seems to understand, (at least from my perception sitting at this desk) is that there are like 3000 awesome universities in this country you can go to other than MIT, Stanford and the Ivys. The United States sells colleges like Toys R Us sells Elmo. Like Amazon sells books. Like Wal-Mart sells goods manufactured in China. We have more colleges in this country than LaBounty has analogies! Why dont you want to attend any of them? Why do you tell me youll never be happy unless you attend MIT? Because youre not being rational about it. And although you never write me saying, Hey Labs, its Bill writing from Big State. Just wanted to let you know freshman year was awesome! I still know it was because I went to a school like that, and at 39 years old Im still an immature sports fan (Go Ducks!) and I still reflect fondly on my friendships and experiences during this time. Thats three final points of wisdom from Labs. Hope you internalize them. If youre an applicant, I bid you good luck. Its a jungle out there in college admissions. You really need to just get zen about it if you go to Big State, youll never know what a parallel world at MIT would have been like, and if you come here youll never know what the parallel world at Big State would have been like. We all like those movies where you can see what your life would have been like if you had only hit that home run, or if you had only sucked it up and asked Sally to the dance, or if your parents didnt move you to a new town when you were seven. But, youre not going to get that chance. So apply to some colleges, get in somewhere, go there, get involved and do well. If Mom or Dad gets too freaked out, just tell them that Labs said to mellow out its going to be all good. I promise. Last point to any people out there over 30 reading this. Youve heard that this generation of kids is a disaster. (Has any generation NOT thought that about their successor?) Youve heard that theyre self-centered, impatient, entitled and have a poor work ethic. As a consequence, youve learned that the future of our country is a risk. Whatever.   I spent the entire year reading the applications of kids who are intrinsically motivated to learn and succeed. Ive spent the last year reading the applications of kids who maintain a life of academics, creativity and fun and arrive to MIT ready for a full sip of the firehose. If anything, they need to learn to take some quiet time now and again. So take it easy, were going to be fine. My expectations remain high and thats the key. sign off Christopher Labs LaBounty 06/26/13