a cordial facade we stroll…

I am running out of excuses on why I’m not blogging. Yeah, really- this is raw. I’m going to lay it all out on the table and just say this: I’m just busy. Yes, I’m busy. But when you say “I’m busy” to someone- you don’t realize you either: scare them away or cut down the friendly tone in the conversation you’re having with the person. So I typically try to avoid the B word whenever I’m clacking my heels around the campus (usually with flats packed inside my bags because I start limping approximately three hours after the use.) Until tonight, I realized that this is a blog. I’m blogging about my life and it is BUSY. There! Using the B word has never been so liberating as tonight feels. Now what I am about to tell you is considered as a good excuse, probably the best you’ll ever hear.

Lately ever since I left off after my last entry (around Thanksgiving) I’ve been discovering more about my GNU Baby (for those who don’t know, it is a snowboard) and I love it until I injured my tailbone. I am now living with a coccyx injury. I have to stay away from Lomo the long board for a range of 6 months to a year and yes that includes my GNU Baby. I have read so much more books and yes it includes King’s books *ALWAYS! I’ve written a 45 page long story about a LSD trip and the catch is that I have never tried LSD. I became the Anagrapha Grammareus for my sorority in the spring semester. I coordinated Colorfest 2011 Workshops. Arranged several events on behalf of Student Body Government as their Director of Community Relations. I got an internship gig at National Council of Disability. And yes! I got tattooed (much more to come!) I discovered great bands like Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons, Doctor Squid, and more. I went to Alaska in the summer then made an impulsive decision to stay there for two months. Where I enjoyed a lot of Kaladi Brother Coffee, honey-cinnamon-nutmeg-lavendar infused beer, and good local indie music (talking about the hoons: http://www.facebook.com/Thehoons). And here I am. So, I think this considers a good pass for slacking on this blog lately.

Anyways, one of my objectives for my last year is to blog as frequently as I can. This is because I want to have my own blogging site someday and this is a good start for me. I’ve been browsing around other wonderful sites (for ladies or anyone with kitschy art interests, and yes vintage fashion with a little bit of tattooing culture nicely interwoven into the mix) I fell in love and felt suddenly inspired! Their url(s) are:

http://www.delightfully-tacky.com/

http://entroende.wordpress.com/ (a dear friend of mine!)

http://skunkboycreatures.blogspot.com/

http://thevelvetbird.blogspot.com/

Something to keep you all occupied before your preseason training begins, or any other training that heavily involves workshops (the usual at Gallaudet for Resident Assistants, Campus Activities Workers, Student Body Government *me* officers, Greek Officers *me again*, and more.)

The upcoming academic year of 2011-12 will have to begin and end with a bang for me. It will be my very last year at Gallaudet University before I go off to explore the perks of life out there. Before I can do that- I’ll lead my sorority (I’m the Proedros- check our site out: http://www.phikappazeta.org/) and I’ll be the Chief of Staff for the Hinks and Behm Administration- it will be a great year for Student Body Government. I’m very animated about how I will lead my cabinets, we have a very diverse and wonderful team this year.

I can’t write about the year any further because it is yet to come! If you’re a existing student, a new student, a transfer student, a stalker, or a someone who wishes to give me an insult…rant…death threats.. I welcome them. contact me at my school email address: clara.baldwin@gallaudet.edu

ask me anything, I’m an open book!

p.s. the subject “a cordial facade we stroll” is a portion of lyrics stolen from one of the hoons’ song “a new credo” (a pretty rad tune to listen to) had to credit to them. just felt very fitting.

Spring Semester 2009: The Final Edit

 

Eagle River, AK

 

 

Greetings from the lovely Alaska! I am enjoying my little adventure at Eagle River and I am sad to say that it will end this Friday. Anyways, I cannot believe that the semester is over, I know that I’ve been inching closer to the ending. But it is finished. I remembered that I had a severe case of sophomore blues at the beginning of my epoch. There is something I would like to share about Gallaudet University. I looked back on how my courses were and the benefits of General Studies Requirements course, which consists two professors teaching an integrated course.

 

When I begun my freshmen year and I learned that our class will be the first to explore the new curriculum which has GSR courses in it. I didn’t understand what GSR was for until I got my schedule. For example, First Year Seminar is GSR 101. When you register for classes you’ll see the headline to be “GSR 101” and the topic will tell you what this GSR course will cover. I have taken seven GSR courses and I have had a quite interesting experience.

The pros of having an integrated teaching environment is that you do really get most out of the course itself. Because you have two different professors who have undergo an experience of a lifetime where they fully invest in their doctrine. You hold an option of talking to one of them, in certain situations. One time I recall myself being very uncomfortable about my paper’s thesis. I decided it was best for me to ask one of my professors for an opinion because I am comfortable with her. You will also be able to get am insight of your professors’ strengths and weakness where you will become familiar with situation tactics they use. Once there was a scramble between an enraged student and one of the professor. The professor who was dealing with the angry student couldn’t understand “fast” American Sign Language. The other professor who was also hearing but is a CODA herself quietly interpreted what the angry student was saying. It was wonderful watching an actual integrated team work in action.

The concept of having two professors can be difficult because when they disagree on something, the classroom environment can become awkward. Some of the professors have different learning outcomes which makes it much more frustrating for us. Some of the professors bring up an issue which other professor strongly disagrees on, which becomes a squabble inside the classroom. Sometimes the professors do not communicate with each other where the lesson plan is lost; it can be frustrating for students because it is a waste of time. One of the few guarantees about having a GSR course is that you will get a very strict professor and a sweet one. I remember my GSR 101 professors very clearly: one was a mother-like and another was just some kind of crazy aunt! The motherly one was all about making sure that we got our life under the table. However the crazy aunt really kicked our rear end with tons of academic workload.

Overall I am glad that I enrolled Gallaudet in time they invested in the GSR courses. I feel that I do get the most out of those courses and it is not like I have this attitude where I groan and say, “I have to take this course!” I do not think that GSR course needs a major facelift but they do need to polish up some area.

 

Ok, I need to go back to where I was in Alaska!

 

Till the next time I blog,

 

-C