Tuesday, July 13, 2010

I'm Not Ready to Leave...

Day 20/ Tuesday Drama at the Cornell Store

Sometimes there are those mornings where you wake up pretty early but somehow end up wasting a lot of time. Today was this kind of morning.

For some reason, it took me 40 minutes to leave Donlon. Don't ask me how, but it just happened. In ten minutes, I enter our Lecture Hall. I quickly placed my book bag on a chair, grabbed my wallet, and headed out again. On my way to class, I saw a place to get food at the corner of my eye. I didn't eat breakfast yet and since I was tired of Appel anyway, I decided to try something new.

This of course, was not my original plan for the morning. Just the night before, I received an email from Lucina Parada. Currently, she's a rising sophomore at UC Berkeley and when she was a high school sophmore, she attended the same program that I'm currently doing: Cornell Summer Program, the Freedom and Justice Course with Professor Kramnick. She recommended that I try the little cafe inside the library which was right next to the famous McGraw Clock Tower. She admits that whenever she grabs a drink and pastries there on her way to class, it makes her feel collegiate.

So yes, originally, I wanted to try getting some of that collegiate feeling, but with the time I was running under, it just didn't happen. In the end, I ate a quick tuna salad just 5 minutes before 9 o'clock. It wasn't the best or worst breakfast ever; it was food so at least I wasn't going to be starving.

Today's lecture dealt with the Socialist thinker, Karl Marx, and his ideas on economic equality. As always, Kramnick gives great lectures. I admire the way he speaks as well as how ORGANIZED his lectures are. Every time before lecture, he'd write an outline of what he will be covering. By having this outline in our notebook/laptop, we're also able to organize our notes according to his outline. Of all the lectures and I've ever had from a teacher, Kramnick by far, is the best.

We left Class Dsicussions 15 minutes earlier than usual today because at last, students from our group were finally having lunch with Kramnick! You see, Simon G. has all the students with the last names beginning with the letter P and down, and since the first day of class, we've been waiting and waiting. Seven students eat with him everyday, and by this week, there's only two more lunch dates to go. I have a fairly high chance of going tomorrow, but it all depends on how many people have a last name starting with an "S" in my class. If I don't make it, I guess I will also be joining in with fellow ILC peer, Andrew Woo, who, no doubt, will be near the end of the list of names called.

The guest speaker we had today (for it was a Tuesday) was our last one of the course. His name is Richard Stumbar and he is a defense attorney of New York that argued on behalf of same-sex couples having their right to get married. His case went all the way to the federal level. Although he lost his case by a hair, I was really glad I got a chance to her what he had to say for his argument. Personally, I've always been for same-sex marriage only because I thought only on the surface: that people should have the right to pursue their own freedoms and not have others endanger it. And of course, it's a matter of love; you can't get more personal than that. However, Mr. Stumbar was able to present to me further arguments why he believed same-sex marriage should be legalized. These points, such as the absence of certain marriage rights, really helped to further persuade my opinion on this issue.

At the end of the presentation however, there was a little debate between some of the students in Kramnick's class. A couple of them were against same-sex marriage while some were not. For about ten minutes they had a friendly but a bit aggressive debate on this case. A friend of mine commented that she really didn't like what one classmate said as he argued against same-sex marriage, but I disagreed. Though I may not like/appreciate what someone says, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. After all, I'm pretty sure if I pulled out my free pocketbook Constitution that Mr. Stumbar handed out, I can find "Freedom of Speech" somewhere in there.

After class, I headed straight for the Cornell Store again. I had to make another item exchange because now my Dad wants a jacket with larger lettering. However, I left the store empty-handed. The receipt in the bag was missing and even my Cornell ID didn't have my purchase on record when they scanned it to print me a new receipt. This was really frustrating because I JUST made a purchase WITHOUT a receipt at the SAME counter and around this very SAME time. It's equally preposterous that they claim that my purchase yesterday was not on record. I was there when they swiped the card! And so, with a little bit of frustration, I marched to the Olin Library, the one by the clock tower, carrying my unreturned item and walking into the quiet room to study.

I stayed in there for almost 2 hours, hard at work as I finished up my Marx reading and starting my study chart for the final exam this Friday. I couldn't stay much longer because I had to the Balch Halls for Office Hours. All our TAs wished to have us meet them to take back our graded second drafts. These grades were only there to tell you how your essays were doing. It's vital information for the grade you will be getting on your third and final draft, after you edit it. This is an important essay since it is worth 25% of your whole grade.

For the rest of the evening, I hung out with my friend Clara and Alexa. We ate dinner together at Appel and shared a couple of laughs. When we returned to Donlon, we helped each other pick dresses for tomorrow since there was a "Formal Dance" at Balch Hall tomorrow evening. And speaking of tomorrow, Talent Show Tryouts are taking place in the late afternoon as well. I'm trying to decide whether I should participate or not...

Well, toodles to you all. I must go back to my studies!

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