penn

Class has started!

I'm taking some excellent classes this semester: Urban Environmental Policy, Ecology, Vertebrate Zoology, and Creative Writing Mixed Genres. I have one absolute favorite thing about my mix of classes: FIELD TRIPS! I took my first fieldtrip today during Urban Environmental Policy. We took a walking tour of Forest Grove (a little town on the out reaches of Portland, which happens to be located just inside the "urban growth boundary" for the region). On the fieldtrip, we examined zoning rules, plot sizes (an acre is, at the same time, both bigger and smaller than I expect -- it seems like an unwieldy size for a single family plot unless you want a mini-Central Park, but it's also a small area of land if you want to live in forests), and the trade-offs between protecting land and allowing growth.
I'm quite mixed on the whole subject. I'm all for protecting land, but I also recognize the need for growth to produce enough money to protect said land. You've got to generate enough revenue with the land you have already developed in order to subsidize parks, greenspaces, mass transit, undeveloped/underdeveloped areas, and other innovations designed to promote a feeling of oppenness and space within a city.
My ecology class will probably be closely related to UEP; my ecology prof is big into having his nice chunk of land in the wilderness. He commutes quite a distance to school from an island he has land on. I find it an odd contrast -- loves the environment, but also loves to drive and fish. I suppose those are the types who are doing a lot to protect environment and still make it liveable and accessible. That is another concern -- making environment accessible. Do we want to have large forests where people never go? That would certainly be the best way to promote a natural environment. However, many people in cities want to get into that "natural" environment, which means walking trails (and cedar boardwalks -- we must be handicap accessible), added traffic to get there, increased demand by humans on the area we supposedly save for natural animals . . . and the list goes on. There will be many interesting debates spurred by my new learning :-)

Tidbits

I've got several exciting tidbits of wonderful information today:

(1) I'm learning dutch! So far, all I can say is "Hello, ma'am". It's a start.
(2) I bought a digital camera - the Nikon coolpix 4500.
(3) I got complimented on all the help I gave to the newspaper for the orientation issue. It looks like the year will run quite smoothly -- my editor accepted most of my artistic suggestions.
(4) Being home is absolutely wonderful. I'm excited to move into my apartment at school, but I do love being able to spend time with my brothers and parents.

I promise that I will update more soon -- maybe it will be on a new website ^^.

On visiting Reed College

Yesterday, I went to the NW Editor's conference. Technically, I am a college publication editor in the NW; however, the conference was intended for editors of college magazines. They accepted me anyway, and I learned a lot. First, they gave me lots of ideas for sprucing up a student newspaper, including more photo essays, small "shorts" (100 to 200 word stories), "man on the street" sections, etc. Also, I'm hoping to work with the editor-in-chief to help get planning done early; our school newspaper comes out bi-weekly, and we often plan the feature the week before it's due. However, as several people at the conference mentioned, features are usually planned out earlier. That way, a writer and photographer can put lots of time into the features.

The conference was good, and it energized me for working on the paper this year. I really enjoy writing, but I have difficulties sitting down and doing it. That's why I started this blog, and I obviously don't post here enough.

However, I've noticed something about blogs; it's really hard to sit down and post an in-depth, interesting column on a daily basis. Even getting out 200 words regarding anything that doesn't concern my daily life, problems with boyfriends, or personal rants is difficult. I'd like to write about things I see. I want to elucidate odd scientific things, or rebut urban legends regarding health that just aren't true. But like the link on my last post shows, whenever I go to research something I'd like to write about, someone else has already written about the same topic and done a better job of it than I have.

Today, though, I can write about one thing. When I looked around at colleges, I had this romantic belief that I would attend a college that's somehow different. I wanted to go to a small, ritzy school with "intellectual kids" that aren't snotty about it (which is quite difficult to find, let me assure you). I thought I did a lot of searching, and I visited four out of the six schools I applied to. I attend Pacific University, outside of Portland, and I also applied to Reed College. I visited Pacific many times before I decided to attend, but I never visited Reed. First, I doubt I would have been able to afford Reed (although I probably could have taken out loans). Second, my father visited Reed while he was down here once, and he liked Pacific's campus much more. But now that I've been attending Pacific for two years, I finally had an opportunity to visit Reed, as my Friday conference was on Reed's campus. And, damnit, if they didn't have a beautiful campus! It's tucked away into a suburban neighborhood, but Reed is quite close to downtown and SE Portland by bus (as in within 15 minutes on the bus). Now I really wish that I had visited. I mean, I'm glad I came to Pacific; I enjoy my classes and my professors, and I feel like I'm getting a good education here. However, there is always that "grass is greener" mentality, and I've been bitten hardcore by it. I definately recommend visiting (during the school year) each and every place you might want to apply to; it's worth the time.