Week 5: Tests, Tests, And More Tests

WELL-RESTED-COLLEAGUE: Hey man! I slept in. Did I miss anything important for class?
YOURS-TRULY: uhhhh......today was the midterm test.
[I suddenly have the overwhelming urge to buy an alarm clock and hit him over the head with it.]

Hello all readers, and all not readers who happen to be having this read to them by family members who understand that my little snippets are chuck full of wise witticisms for all ages, or maybe you are watching the movie after I sell the rights of my life to a reality tv show company. Either way, welcome!......I am tired. Can you tell? This week has officially been indescribably busy. The title says the whole story. The week started with some tests, after which we segued into more tests, then moved onto some more testing, and I have rounded out the week with a test, which is but a prequel to the test I have online tomorrow. 

*sigh* 

Fun times! 
I will say that some of the tests were fun. It is a great feeling when you score high enough on an economics test to skew the curve and force the professor to drop the curve all together. Man, I hate testing curves. It simply rewards incompetence and punishes decent work, but I digress. (I have always wanted to use that phrase in a logical fashion.) On the docket for today, we have my first mid-historian crisis (Feel free to comment on it. You may help quell some serious nerd doubt), my morning with a liberal talk show host/baptist/professor/visiting speaker, and a very interesting class discussion.

Well, it came upon me so suddenly that I couldn't even tell you how it happened. I guess that is these things happen. There I was innocently reading school material, when BAM. I was hit square in the face with a 600 page interpretation of Alexander Hamilton. That's right folks. I couldn't resist it. I just had to read this biography that had been given the "best biography of the year award". As I was browsing this balmy book's pages, I had the worst thing possible happen for a historically interested individual, ANOTHER BOOK.....ON THE SAME PERSON......THAT PRESENTED THE EXACT OPPOSITE VIEW......AND IT HAD 600 PAGES TOO. (give or take on the page count that is.) You can see my problem. Needless to say, I simply had to read them both, and they were both so excellently written that I was just floored. So, I was caught between two rocks, two hard-places, two overdue library books, and a mind totally stressed by tests. This is not conducive to making up one's mind. Was Alexander Hamilton amazing or no.  Now I have always been a bit of a fan of Hamilton. The boy prodigy that came from a rough background. He came to the good old USA, and he basically became Washington's right hand, to the point that Washington raised him to the position of Aide-de-camp. He was one of the writers of the Federalist Papers. A near visionary of the kind of government and economy the USA would have, and he was murdered honorably in a duel with one of my least favorite characters in American History, Aaron Burr. All this I knew, and it was only reinforced by the first book, added to it even. But, this other book is also quite good and points out how many of Hamilton's policies would actually clash with many Conservative political principles which I hold. Plus, I hold the anti-Hamilton author, an intellectual with deep connections with the Tea Party, in higher regard than the pro-Hamilton author, a journalist that calls himself a democrat that has been betrayed by his party (not a bad stance, but not the best either). Plus, there is also the issue of Hamilton's moral character in his later years, which, despite his confession, is inexcusable in the study of this man. *sniff* "please, Obi-[insert name of historically savvy individual here. e.g. Rennuke, Nadea of Kelly Hill, etc..etc..] you're my only hope." (Star Wars reference) I will be crafting my own arguments, but any opinions would be appreciated.

As a fish in a very small pond, I got invited along with about 50 other students to meet with a visiting speaker. Let's just say we didn't agree on much, or anything for that matter. First of all he was late. Quite a bit late in fact. Despite this, he continued to give us the full liberal lecture, with no regard to our busy student schedules. But, I was good. I didn't say anything that would further isolate me from my campus compatriots or start a lynch mob. Granted, the highlight of the whole happened during the intermission when all the "Socially-deficient-individuals-who-were-carrying-conversations-with-the punch-bowls-and-their-shoes-on-the-periphery-of-the-group" were cornered by a zealous member of our student government. He was newly elected, glowing with that idealistic blush, and he had that new politician smell. (There is nothing quite like the smell of a new politician. You just can't get it back.) This guy was VERY happy about everything, and he introduced himself to everyone very vigorously. Later, I found out exactly why he was being so darn outgoing. The headline news for our school newspaper was that the student gov had the least amount of students in its history participating in it or participating in its electoral process. All in all, that was the meeting in a nutshell. I do think I will need dental work (more dental work) for the amount of teeth grinding I did though. 

The interesting discussion centered around a primary source document. It was a copy of a debate between a man and a women in the Renaissance about who was more at fault for the first sin, Adam or Eve........yeaaahhhh......You can tell how well that went over with the crowd. Theological thinking doesn't come naturally to my classmates, and I am so proud of the lads and lasses that they actually came up with what they did. Unfortunately, I opened my big mouth (you know, the one I kept shut throughout the visitor speaker's lecture mentioned above?), and I was dubbed "right-faithful-anti-feminist". Well, actually, that did kind of cover my views on the subject, and I had already been accused of being racist in my American History class so why not go for the gold, right? Anywho, the discussion eventually degenerated into a "it depends on what your definition of 'is' is." I'm not in the business of getting into losing arguments though, so the professor basically had to end the discussion as a tie. The prof was absolutely giddy (he is an atheist who studies Christian history. I know weird). As he closed the debate, he said, "I wish there was actually a place were little debates like this actually happened over coffee or something." I could only think, "One sec, lemme check what day would be good for you to come over." 

I am hungry. So, I will sign off now. 
Ciao for now everyone.
Gryphon

P.S: Sorry for the different format this week, but there wasn't much "class" work. The tests remember?