Week 4: Everything One Needs to Know About Science, and Everything I Never Wanted to Know About Florence.(With A Little Milton on the Side!)

DIRECTOR-BLESSED-WITH-DRY-WIT: All right! Does anyone have ideas about how mentors could easily get ahold of their mentees, while still having a somewhat informal setting?
YOURS-TRULY: We could try mugging them!
 DIRECTOR-BLESSED-WITH-DRY-WIT: hmmm...It's certainly informal enough. Tell you what, we can try that with the wrestling and Karate teams.
YOURS-TRULY: Sounds great!
VIOLENCE-PRONE-NEIGHBOR: Awesome!
NAIVE-FRESHMAN: Sounds like fun!
 DIRECTOR-BLESSED-WITH-DRY-WIT: *Rolls eyes while sighing extravagantly*

 
  Hello all! My weekly reminder to you all that I am still alive. You can let out that pent up breath of anxiety that I, the Gryphon, might not survive the week. This week has been one of extreme contrasts. It has held a "Eureka" moment, and a "you have GOT to be KIDDING ME!" moment. The bright part of the week is split into two events (A) Science and (B) Milton Friedman. The so-so parts include the mentor program and an opportunity. The devastatingly disappointing part is due to Renaissance Europe.

  I might have said this before, but I truly like this science class, because it allows students to come to their own conclusions through a very flexible, almost debate style, series of conversations. I know for a fact that the current professor is an atheist or agnostic, but he gives students quite a bit of leeway in their development. This is why I am having so much fun. We are currently going over the scientific method in depth. The observation part has been interesting to me in particular. The very basic facet emphasized throughout the lectures has been that observation, whether through unaided senses or applied technology, is the central part of explaining any scientific endeavor. Taking a moment to chew this over, one can come to an intriguing conclusion that many people might argue. Science is very limited in its scope. While it seems as if much of society worships science as the end all be all of creation, its capabilities are only as accurate as our senses. This throws a wrench into the argument of those who would say that a belief in God is unscientific. This argument tries to use a wrench to transport water, wrong tool for a job. Science can be used, quite convincingly in fact, to create evidence for God, but in the end it can't prove or disprove his existence. Faith is the tool the Christian relies upon in the end.

  Milton Friedman is an economist that basically became the leader of free market principles for America. We got to watch an excerpt where he basically destroys the ideas of socialism and communism (but I repeated myself right there). It was fun to watch. You could see some people just hissing and spitting, and on the other side you had me and some other students salivating and nearly clapping. I am not sure if the Prof knew how to deal with all the tension. :D

  I had been voluntold (Volunteer + told) that it would be good for me to enroll in this mentorship program. It sounded decent. I would simply act as a wealth of sophomoric information, and the mentees and I would meet once a week to discuss his or her troubles. Basically a collegiate psychologist. Well, I had no problem with this. (pshh....It might even be fun to do. I have never had any trouble giving advice before, much to everyone's detriment.) The problem occured when I realized that in order to be a mentor one needs two things, yourself....and mentees who will return your emails. Needless to say I shared this at a conference we had. It seemed I wasn't the only one having the trouble of being ignored. It was slightly disappointing to say the least. "It tore me apart. But I learned an important lesson. You can't count on anyone, especially your hero...er...flaky, overstressed, freshman mentees." (somewhat paraphrased Incredibles quote for anyone who didn't know) It shall be interesting to follow the exploits of Gryphon the menteeless mentor.

  long story short. There is an opportunity to graduate with a cool award as long as I keep grades up and am accepted.

  Okay, I know I just wrote about how cool studying the Medicis was, and it was really awesome. Unfortunately, the city of Florence was, unbeknownst to me, considered something of a Las Vegas of the renaissance, and my Professor couldn't help but devote an entire lecture to the subject of its nightlife. Needless to say, I am getting rather adept at blocking out people talking. (evidenced by the fact that a sister was yelling up to me, and I just completely had it tuned out. I know, "I am a despicable human being." Tangled quote) Anywho, one other person looked as uncomfortable as me, and I was impressed with some of the points he struck on the prof. In the subsequent discussion, I am happy to point out that I got him to admit that no not all renaissance cities were this immoral. In fact, most cities were much more conservative. This was a deflating experience for a class that was verging on one of my favorite ever. Ah well, such is the life I live.

  That is that. I will wrap this post up with a slight look into my US history and pull out one, Andrew Carnegie. A millionaire, Andrew Carnegie put upon one of the key tenets of Capitalism in my opinion. This is the idea that there is a large difference between government "charity" and philanthropy. Carnegie defines charity as the public administration giving away money. This ultimately hurts the community because money will most likely be distributed and spent inefficiently by bureaucracy, and just giving people money won't help very much in the long run. On the other hand, philanthropy is providing the means for people to raise above poverty and by contributing to the community to create opportunity. Carnegie saw opportunity as education, firms, and investing to create more jobs. I will say that I don't agree with all the things Carnegie upholds, he was an agnostic for one, but there is some truth I think to this. If properly seen through a Christian lens, this kind of proposition appeals greatly to me.

signing off
Guten Nacht
Gryphon