Baby Eli...

Here are some pics of the Baby Eli in the flesh!!

Sick...

My best friend and his wife came over tonight for steak. I grilled it just like my dad taught me, his special teriyaki recipe. As it was grilling, I begin to feel sick. I'd felt sick for a couple of days, but it got worse. I curled up on the couch until I realized that I needed to just go to sleep. I rolled around in bed for an hour and then ran to the bathroom where every muscle in my core contracted as tightly as possible at the same time and I vomited for a full thirty seconds without inhaling. I yelled out as loudly as I could for my mom and threw up again...I heard what sounded like her coming, only to realize it was my friend, his wife, sister and husband and mom laughing so loud in the dining room they couldn't hear me. It wasn't their fault...but it didn't feel too good.

My mom went to buy me medicine. I'm going to try and sleep.

Christmas Photos...

I got a digital camera...so expect lots more picture posting. These ones are of my house around Christmas. My mom always does the house up very nice. It's really extravagant, but not tacky. Here are some of the things she did:

I'm too lazy to rotate this picture. We have two trees. This one has all the tacky ornaments form when I grew up, including the hippie angel on top. We used to hate it, me and my sisters, now I want it for myself. Luckily, there are two, so when we duke it out over who gets to keep it, only one of use loses!

These aren't really decoration, but they were around to give people who stopped by instead of cookies...nice.

These were our stockings for many years...now they hang by the dart-board.

My mom made these reindeer when I was just a child...I don't know why, but I love em...they make me nostalgic.
This is the second tree...all matching bulbs and white lights.
These were my presents...she helped me wrap them. They're all black and gold because everyone got west point stuff this year. I always hesitated because I worried about quitting or getting kicked out and then having my family with West Point stuff that represented me failing...but now, I'm actually graduating...sweet!

Baby Eli...

Sorry for the multiple posts, but, as of thirty minutes ago, Baby Eli is a real living breathing baby!!

All Academies Ball...

I went to my first (and last) all academies ball last night with my Godmother. She couldn't make it to ring weekend, and can't come to graduation as she graduates law school the same day. This was my Christmas present to her, to let her see a little of the pageantry that has been my life for the past few years. Anyway, I was the only Firstie Cadet, so, I had to cut a cake. I got to see my friend Rich and hang out with him for a bit...those were pretty much the highlights. Anyway, we got to take some pics together, and here they are:

Me and my Godmother...easily the best looking couple there...

Me and Brandon, my cousin's son. He, my cousin, is trying to indoctrinate him early...kept asking him, "see...you like those shiney buttons, don't you? Want to get some? Want to go to West Point?" ha ha...I think he just liked anything shiney though.
This is me and Zoomie Rich. He's going into the Navy...interesting.

Santa...

Tonight, I saw Santa. He was at my Aunts house to visit the kids and had a bag full of toys and candy canes. He was going house to house, visiting children he saw.

As he was coming back to my Aunts house to finish off the night, I opened the door for him to come in. Just as he was stepping through the threshold, from down the block, we both heard a childs voice, "Santa!" A young boy, no older than five or six, was standing in the middle of the sidewalk waving enthusiastically.

Santa looked at me and said, "well...one more, let's go." I watched as Santa went over and two more kids came from inside. The eldest, ten, looked like he was going to cry and said, "Santa! I knew you'd come! I'm ten and I still believe in you, so I knew you'd come!" Santa gave them all toys and candy and told him, "As long as you believe, I'll keep coming." Said his obligatory "ho, ho, ho's" and left as I watched him walk down the street and fade into the night.

Chirstmas Leave...

Just a short post as I don't have much time, in bullet form, as I like that:

• I had dinner w/ the Battaglia's today. A great family, Janelle, Alise, and the parents. Mr. Battaglia is a wine salesman, and the drinks flow like...well...wine, when I go there. He mad amazing crab cakes and we sat around talking for a couple of hours. I left with a copy of Reiner Marie Wilke's poems and Season One of the Office...Score!
• Driving to LA tomorrow to see my (now pregnant) sister and some cousins.
• Went out downtown w/ my friend Xavier from the Naval Academy and going out again tonight with some friends.
• Watched all of Season Two of the Office and Little Miss Sunshine w/ my mom.

Pictures will follow soon as I got bored and took a shit-ton of pictures of all the Christmas wonderfullness that is currently my house. Christmas night is drinks and snacks at my place for all the twenty-somethings I like...so, if you're around...stop by.

I'm Just a Little Black Raincloud...

(just a warning...being as I'm bored, and alone, with nothing to do but dick around online and think...expect multiple rambling posts)

I just talked to some friends, and read some blogs, and I realized something. After vacations back home, when cadets go back to school, we're on a high. People had fun, acted like civilians for a while, and otherwise forgot about the stress and craziness that is West Point. Unless you're me. For the past four years, quite often, coming home has been as stressful, if not more so, than when I am at school. Sometimes, it's been tragic (deaths, marraiges, divorces, etc.) and other times, it's been happy stress (births, baptisms, etc), but I can really only think of one or two times where I came home and returned to school relaxed.

This means, in general, when I go back to school, I'm stressed, and happy to see all my friends. My friends, on the other hand, are relaxed, and while they may be "happy" to see me, it's less enthusiastic as they'd really rather be home again.

It makes for an awkward time. My friends say very excitedly, "How was home man?!" In the same way most people say, "How's it going?" when they really don't want to know, but simply want to verify that you are doing as well as they are and they can continue feeling good about themselves. And then I am put in the position of pretending I am feeling like them (relaxed and coming off the best vacation ever) or, explaining that I'm pretty stressed and going home really wasn't all that great an experience...and killing thier buzz.

Yeah...it's good when you know you're going to be the black cloud at the picnic. It gives you time to prepare to fake the funk. And I think of Wilco...

How to fight loneliness

Smile all the time

Shine your teeth to meaningless

And sharpen them with lies

And whatever is going down

Will you follow around

That's how you fight loneliness

You laugh at every joke

Drag your blanket blindly

Fill your heart with smoke

And the first thing that you want

Will be the last thing you'll ever need

That's how you fight it

Just smile all the time

another crazy-ass

Alright, in my reading, this will be the third post tonight (but will be posted second due to chronology issues). It belongs in the "are you fucking kidding me" file or politics. This is why our country is fucked up...because people like this guy are elected to office.

You see, in Minnesota, a Muslim was elected to the House of Representatives. He took his oath of office on the Koran instead of the Bible. Not surprisingly, right wing nut-jobs flipped their lids. The representative was asked on CNN if he could "prove....you are not working with the enemies" (no, I'm not kidding).

Enter Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode. In a letter sent to supporters (and also, providentially, to the head of the VA Sierra Club), he wrote:

When I raise my hand to take the oath on Swearing In Day, I will have the Bible in my other hand. I do not subscribe to using the Koran in any way. The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran. We need to stop illegal immigration totally and reduce legal immigration and end the diversity visas policy pushed hard by President Clinton and allowing many persons from the Middle East to come to this country. I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped.

The Ten Commandments and “In God We Trust” are on the wall in my office. A Muslim student came by the office and asked why I did not have anything on my wall about the Koran. My response was clear, “As long as I have the honor of representing the citizens of the 5th District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, The Koran is not going to be on the wall of my office.” Thank you again for your email and thoughts.

I wont even begin to get into the full argument (well...it's not really an argument...but...string of illogically connected thoughts) put forward here. What I will say, however, is that if people who run our country are demonstrably lacking in basic understanding of American Politics (as taught at the 8th grade level), it seems things will only get worse before they get better. According to his website, he's co-sponsored two bills. One falls under the "compassionate conservative" ideal and allows people to earmark any money they voluntarily pay over their Taxes to help pay for people without insurance who need medical help. The second makes English the national language. I guess it's safe to assume I couldn't earmark my over-paid taxes to pay for immigrants to get medical care?

Here is Congressman Goode's email address if you care to write him:
http://www.house.gov/goode/contact.shtml

First of Two...

This will be my first post tonight of two...they are unrelated other than I will write them both tonight, and they will both probably be 1. overly emotional 2. rambling and 3. long. For all those, I apologize.

Well, come to think of it, this one will probably not be number 1 on the list.

My mom's boyfriend does a lot of work around the house...in fact, the house hasn't ever looked as good as it does now. That does not go, however, for the family room, which is now a game-room filled to over-capacity with a shit-ton of toys and random crap he's collected over the years (I know it's random because one of the items on proud display is a plaque I wont last year for first place in a team 10k which I told them to throw away. I realize an optimistic way to view this is that he's simply irrationally proud of me, but even that points at some level of craziness). Anyway, my point is, I don't want to discredit the work he's done on the house, which, as I said, is substantial.

I am beginning to realize, however, that I may have been the only giving him too much credit for the work he's done on the house while overlooking the numerous ways in which his behavior and conduct is incredibly self-centered and selfish.

Take, for example, today. His car broke down on the way home to Arizona and, since he probably doesn't have insurance or AAA (<-unsubstantiated by anything but a guess on my part), he called my mom to pick him up and drive him to Arizona...right now. She, of course, went.

I'm not surprised, but I am upset as that leaves me here, alone, without a car...in Fallbrook.

Easy...

I have watched too much TV since I've been home. Probably not as much as most people watch, in general, but too much for me. One thing I've noticed (and I realize I'm about to sound like one of those "hate the liberal talking-heads" people, but hear me out) is that most of what passes for "thought" in the media and on television is not all that well thought out.

I saw Comic Relief was on TV and thought, "oh boy...Comic Relief...I remember this from my youth" and expected the same as I remembered--comics doing their thing to get money for a good cause. This time, it was Katrina Relief. Midway through a fairly touching monologue that Billy Cristal was doing (oddly well considering the monologue was in the voice of an old black man), he said something like, "Mr. President, give the money from the war to rebuild New Orleans." And the crowd went wild! But...seriously? What is he recommending? I mean, sure, it sounds like a great idea, and from a simplistic view, you look at the numbers (trillions for war and a much smaller number for Katrina) and it seems imbalanced and an easy fix--take money from one and give it to the other. But, that can't happen...that's not a viable idea. People cheered, and I'm sure, felt good about themselves because Billy Kristal had really just "stuck it to the man" but, in all honesty, what good did he do? Nothing.

Matt Damon is going to be on Hardball, the College Tour (I'm not kidding) and said this:

I don't think that it's fair as I said before, that it seems like we have a fighting class in our country. That's comprised of people who have to go for either financial reasons or , I don;t think that that is fair. And if you're gonna send people to war, ahh, if, if we all get together and decide we need to go to war then that needs to be shared by everybody. You know and if the President has daughters who are of age then maybe they should go too…

now...again, maybe he has a point, maybe there is an imbalance of who is in the military, but is calling out Bush's daughters really all that ballsy? I mean, hell, he's in front of an audience of college students. If he really wanted to be ballsy and take a stand, maybe he should have told them to "go"...whatever that means.

I saw a lady at the post office yesterday with a license plate that read, "USNA 66" and she had on a shirt with this picture on it

I believe I've talked about this before, but again...read what he actually said, have some common sense and don't mis-represent. But, I don't know if I can blame the USNA lady. Odds are, all she knows is what she heard on FOX and read in the San Diego Union Tribune. I mean, how many people actually take the time to verify what they read/hear on the "news" (especially FOX"news" watchers)?

I guess my point is, across the board, I feel like I'm surrounded by people with opinions (on both sides) who don't take the time to educate themselves, but are more than happy to share their opinions. Worse still, it seems as though the majority of society is fine with that...so, we listen to Matt Damon or Comic Relief or Bill O'Rielly and they rail about what is "wrong" with society and offer no solutions. I guess I'm just...annoyed. Particularly with the left side of the spectrum today. It's so easy for us to fall into the trap of self-aggrandizement and "preaching to the choir". Sitting around and watching Michael Moore movies and patting ourselves on the back for being so "enlightened" without contributing anything toward a solution is useless (which isn't to say there's moral equivalency between doing nothing and actively hurting the country...but that's another posting altogether).

Ignant Christmas...

I'm sitting at the airport right now at 630 in the morning. I had my last final a little over twelve hours ago, and I'm not quite sure how that went. (as a side note...if you travel, "carry on" doesn't mean anything you can carry. Common decency would say, as overheads are shared space, bring something small and pack the rest of your shit away. I hate those people, like the two I'm looking at right now, who have more bags to carry on than I have checked).

Anyway, after my final, I went to the trunkroom where we store all our things when we're away, to drop off my last uniform and leave. It's kind of like a communal garage, but more organized. Apparently, my Officer in charge didn't like the way we had it "organized" (imagine trying to more 15 people out, on various schedules, with no communication between the 15 of you, and how your garage would look after that). He had moved all our things into the hallway and told me that, until it was organized, I couldn't leave.

Thank God for Kelsea, the girl who was going to give me a ride to the airport. She came and helped me re-pack the room and then the two of us took off to NYC. Our flights left at 5 and 8 in the morning, so we decided to spend a night in New York enjoying the Christmas wonderfulness. We ate at Benihana's (where some party next to us got very upset they didn't get enough shrimp, blamed it on the fact they were black and "ignant" and then said, about us, that "that table of cuacasians wont even look us in the eye anymore cause they don't care about us black folk." I almost said something to them, but instead let it slide. Apparently, I'm now a caucasian who doesn't care about "black folk"...lady's nuts!)

From there we went to Rockefeller Center, Times Square and tried to catch a movie. We were too late, so we got some coffee and drove to the airport, where I find myself now. All things considered, it was a nice trip, and having all the time in the world to get to the airport was a nice change of pace from the week of deadlines and finals and craziness before.

Study Break...

I was studying fairly hard, stressing out and pulling out my hair. Suddenly, I heard the beep that let me know I had an email. When checking my email, I found the following from a Lieutenant Colonel graduate from Notre Dame who had been at the Army Navy game. To explain, before the game, both the Cadets and the Midshipmen march onto the field in parade. Every year, we look a crap-ton better. Anyway, here was her reaction to seeing her first march-on:

Like we were talking about the other night, we may have lost the football game, but there is no doubt who is more disciplined, professional, etc. You definitely blew them away!
We were very proud of the Corps that day.

Ha ha...what a great study break! Funny thing is, the photo on the right is pretty much the best they looked as they marched on too!

Anyway, I realize the game was weeks ago, but hell...you have to admit, this is funny. And, until we can win the goddamn football game, I guess this is all we have to hold on to. Go Army Marching!

bridges and balloons

Hopes and memories seem to be all that's sustaining me right now. I don't know if that makes sense, but I took some time tonight to take stock of what I have and where I am and that's the conclussion I've come to.

Most often, when I think about what I'm doing with myself, I start with, "When I get out of the Army..." I know that's not the "right answer" and I know a lot of people here would either tell me I'm not giving it a chance or that I don't know what the future holds, but it's true. My dad always talked about after retirement...until he died, and I don't want that to be me...but it looks like the road I'm set to travel.

When I think of relationships, I think of people passed...people I knew and loved and people lost. I have friends here who I've grown amazingly close with, Doobs and Koz and Troy and all the others...but when it comes to any semblance of a love life, all I have is what's passed.

And thus...the memories of things passed and the hope of the future is what gets me through today.

Finals...almost.

It's finals time in the Corps, which means everyone is studying and quiet and no one leaves their rooms other than to study and move out. Here is a note someone posted on thier door yesterday:

I, on the other hand, still do not know how to study well, so, I put off studying until an hour or so before when I suddenly think, "oh shit! I don't know anything!" and I cram and cram and cram and take the test.

Since I knew that was my MO, I took the Superintendant up on his offer when he invited some of us to his house for drinks and hors'd'ouvers (sp?) It was a good time and I drank a ton of champaigne and ate loads of shrimp cocktail. Afterwards, I went to COL Zupan's house for a Philosophy party, when he invites his philosophy students, teachers, and other cadets he likes (which is the group I fall into) for parties with loads of food (sushi, vegetarian wraps, turkey wraps, steaks and all kinds of various food stuffs) and great conversation. He also makes a mean martini. I ended out drinking some random frozen stuff that the girls didn't want to finish. Either way, we had a lot of fun and here are some more pictures to prove it:

This is me being witty as usual...and no, this picture wasn't posed at all...I swear, that's how Natalie and I talk normally...OK...maybe it was a little posed, but that's only because photos don't usually show how truly witty I am.

I believe Erin had just broken the commandment written behind her on the fireplace.

I don't know what she did here...but it must have been bad.

And, a night is never complete without somehow Beating Navy. Those signs are in front of the Supt's house, where I'd eaten shrimp earlier in the night.

This picture just makes me laugh...Doobs, Nat and me...man we're cool.

Merry Chrismahanakwanzakuh!

Well, last night was my last Holiday Dinner at West Point...pretty much the best night of the year and the night every cadet looks forward to. I've written about it before, and it was bittersweet knowing this was the end. No more 12 days of Christmas, no more cigars, no more santa hats at a bar where, literally, everyone knows your name...that was it.

I tried not to let the sadness overwhelm the festivities and instead focused on having fun. There were some new faces this year, as I'd only recently met some of my best friends here...and there were some old standbyes too...great people all around. What follows below are some pictures I took (with my new digital camera!!)

The plebes did awesome and we had the classiest table in the Mess Hall. All the Firsties at our table got Santa hats (which make appearances in most of the other pics) and the underclass got elf hats...ah ha ha, looking hot in elf hats!

Here is me with "the cup". You see, when I was a freshman, I got these cups for everyone on our table. I kept mine over the years and used it at every Holiday Dinner...the guy on my left is Mike Thomas...in his elf hat.

The Plebes gave some of us "themed" plates...Emily's was Chanukah (which I can't spell) and Mike's was Halloween...sweetness.

Tim and I took three pictures, this one is the best...

Chip and I took one...this one is, easily, the best

Here's me, Davey and Doobs...looking debonair as always with some loser Eagles in the back making jackasses of themselves...but you gotta love em for it.

Me and Ms. Mary...what would I do without her? Behind and to my left is Mikey B, making another jackass face. I don't think I've seen a picture of him not making a jackass face.

The Firstie Class managed to finish all the kegged beer in the bar...so, they started selling beer by the bucket. This is me celebrating the triumphant return of Koz with our first and second buckets of beer...also our last buckets of beer.

When all was said and done, Chris and I, the Ethics Boys, sat down and pondered the rest of our lives...it was a short ponderation session as it was crazy cold out by then.

Christmas Cards...

Me: With only ten, it's hard to decide who gets one and who doesn't.
Roomate: Just give em to people you love more.

Decision Time....

Black or White? I order tomorrow:

New Years Fireworks 2

The year before the Prep School, my parents had been living in Italy for almost two years. I had just joined the Army and they invited me out to stay with them for Christmas and New Years. I flew into Venice and then drove to their house in Vincenza, which was amazing.

Their house was hundreds of years old with no kitchen sink. Instead, there was a slab of marble tilted toward the back where water ran into a pipe and out the back of the house into a little stream. (you had to be careful what kind of soap you used and what you washed down the "drain"). There was an entryway ready for horses and shutters on all the windows. When my dad made breakfast, I woke up to an amazing aroma and sat at the table in front of the marble fireplace. He opened a window and pulled a fresh bottle of champaigne off the ledge and poured me a mimosa. He, my mom and I drank and ate until noon when we would clean and begin to make lunch. This cycle lasted for days until we finally made our way into Venice to see the city.

Lucia was there as she'd moved to Italy after she finished High School. She wasn't too happy at the time as she was going through some growing pains. Either way, she and I were happy and having a good time. When she'd get in a "mood", I'd stand in her way and put my arms out and say, "oh oh!" as annoyingly as possible, "this road has a toll of one hug!" We played out this little game numerous times, her being angry until she had to laugh and us hugging and my parents just rolling their eyes at her...at me...at us.

We went to Rome for Midnight Mass at the Vatican where I heard Pope John Paul II say Mass in Latin. There was an American family next to us and a Filipino family on the other side. To get in, we had to wait in line for hours and there hundreds of old Italian Nuns standing around us too. We met some seminarians from America and they told us about the Vatican and their experience. When the gates opened, everyone rushed to get good seats. Lucia, Mom and Dad made it through and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see a nice old nun who quickly ran past me. As I turned ahead again, I realized I'd been duped! About thirty of her Nun friends, as I looked at her over my left shoulder, ran around me on the right and got in first.

After Rome, we went to Florence where Alesandro, my Italian Brother lives. His parents made us amazing food and we ate and drank and had a great time. He took me to a bar in the city afterwards and we spent hours looking for a particular bar he wanted to show me. Sometime around midnight, we found it; an Irish pub in Italy. We drank Coronas there and I showed him how to stop the top, flip it and drown the lime in the beer.

We made our way back to Vicenza for New Years and Lucia went out with some of the other American youth there on the military base. Mom, Dad and I went to a bus station in the center of Vicenza. We had heard that's where the party was. When we got there, however, there were only about two dozen people spread over an open area of about 12 Acres. Overlooking the park, there was a hill with a church at the top lit in green lights. It looked as though it was floating in the darkness. There were benches to wait for the trains and it was amazingly cold. An old couple walked past us arm in arm, each tossing fire crackers over their shoulders and laughing the whole way. Most everyone had bottles of Champaigne, but there really wasn't any "party" to be seen.

At midnight, people yelled "Happy New Year!" and everyone began to share their Champaigne and kiss one another...I got kissed by loads of old ladies that night. We were about to head home a little dissapointed when suddenly, from the church on the hill there were sprays of fireworks shooting stright up from the ground. The fireworks continued and intensified to the point my jaw literally dropped...there were hundreds of explossions above the church and, with our small crowd, I felt it was just for us. It began to snow and the fireworks were still visible through large white flakes...and the show continued. It went on for at least thirty minutes, the most beautiful display of fireworks I had ever seen. There were fireworks that I had never seen the likes of...new colors and new designs...all seen with people I didn't know and my parents.

New Years Fireworks 1

I've just wrapped myself in a blanket my mom knitted...or crocheted...for me. I don't know which. In any case, she started it when my dad was in the hospital in San Diego and finished it sometime after he died. I remember her asking what colors and me telling her black, grey and gold. She made it grey, with two stripes on either end of alternating thin bars of black and gold. There is fringe on one side only as she ran out of grey yarn.

I remember her working on it in the hospital room over new years the year I was at the prep school. My dad was in the bed and really wanted to stay up until new years. My mom and I were skeptical. Around eight PM, the nurse came in with his coctail of drugs and put each one in front of him while telling him their function and he would throw it down, drink water, and swallow; "stool softener", drink, swallow, "pain relief", drink, swallow, "Advil", drink, swallow, "sleeping pills", drink...his eyes widened and he didn't know what to do. Swallow.

"Well," he said with a grin, "I'll see you guys next year." He slowly dozed off and my mom knitted while we watched Wheel of Fortune and the Golden Girls. Sometime around 1150, we heard fireworks which we could barely make out through our window, which faced the wrong way. My dad heard us and woke up and asked if he'd missed midnight. No, he hadn't yet, so he insisted we wake him and take him down the hall. We quickly dressed him and unplugged his machines and got him into the wheelchair. My mom, dad and I rushed down the hallway with his pipes and wires and bags of liquids being pulled quickly behind us as we tried to make it to the window at the end of the hallway to catch the fireworks. We got to the window in time to see the last firework pop above the hotel in front of us and that was the end.

My mom hugged me and gave my dad a kiss and I kissed him on his head and said Happy New Year!

Dean of the Business School..

I sat down at lunch today with the Dean of a Business School. It was a good school, but I don't want to say which one in case someone finds out who she was and quotes this. In any case, I was very honored to be eating with her and had a chance afterwards to sit down and talk about respect issues our institutions face. She told me some things that, while I knew them, still managed to shock me.

It's odd, sometimes, when you hear statistics you already know, but used in a context that you didn't expect. For example, it suprised me to hear the Dean of a Business school say that her main concern was the socio-economic differences students face. That 60% of students whose parents graduated will finish, while only 20% of those whose parents didn't, will not. Or that their honor code is skewed toward those who have the money to not have to work. She explained that, when you're working two jobs, and trying to go to school full time, you simply don't have time to finish the paper that someone else has worked on for weeks.

She explained that it's not an excuse, but that she could personally see how the differences perpetuate inequalities. We talked about what we could do, as heads of institutions, as people on the "inside" to help alleviate those, and she said how worried she was the Supreme Court would decide against the school integration case which is on the docket right now.

It's tough, when there are such obvious problems with no obvious solutions. When you know you have to help, but you don't know how (and worse yet, when your hands are tied...)

She asked if we have any issues here with socio-economic groupings and, while I can't say the admissions process is skewed toward the rich, by virtue of what it takes to get in here (AP courses, varsity sports, high SAT's, involvement in Boy/Girl Scouts and Community Activities), it does skew toward the higher classes as any other higher level education would. We do, however, have the advantage of a very agressive Sports program, which allows for more selective admissions and opens doors for those who would otherwise not be able to get in, along with the enlisted enterance slots.

I guess, all things considered, I'm happy I'm where I am and think WP is doing a good job, we could do more. But, society as a whole could do more, and that's the problem. Why is it that if someone cannot afford college, then a college degree is, in essence, denied him, when it is the very attainment of that degree which will most highly predict his, and his children's, success in the future? Difficult question with, yet again, no simple answer.

Sweeet...

First snow. Combine this with the weekend and things are looking up! (<-does sarcasm come through in print?)

Army Football Rivalry...

Everyone knows the Army/Navy game is the biggest of the year. I have had the *ahem* privledge of attending five Army Navy games now. Over those five games, I have seen army ahead by score twice, both first quarter this year and last, and have never seen an Army win.

Everywhere here are things that say "Beat Navy". Our orange juice, our buildings, our freshman...everything. Don't know the answer on a test? Write "Beat Navy!" you'll probably get a point at least.

Why do I write this? Because sitting through another cold, Army loss is the most dissapointing feeling ever. Watching the middies across the way excited and jubilant that they won, especially this year, knowing that I am now one of two classes to never experience that over the four years at the academy (five for me, counting prep school) is utterly crushing. I will now never know what "Beat Navy" really means as it's just a saying to me, a cliche. It's one experience of Academy life that I have now missed out on.