Seen on a forum I read, in a side discussion of whether private schools always trump public schools: “Have you ever heard of the ‘Illinois Math and Science Academy (IMSA).’ I got to college and like 13 people in my class went there. It sounds amazing and it’s a public school.”
I messaged her later. “I chuckled at your use of quotes. Makes it seem like IMSA’s this fictitious place.” Her response: “Until I see it, I think it’s Hogwarts of the Midwest.”
(with apologies to Aaron Sorkin)
Even as I charged ahead towards a new future in my trips to Boston and DC, in my visits with old high school and college friends I was reminded of an altogether different past—a past in which I envisioned something completely different than the path I now find myself following, a future characterized by Fourier transforms and Smith charts. Delighted as regions of my brain probably last exercised in college sprang back into action talking shop with Amanda and John the electrical engineers and Angela the computer engineer, I nonetheless felt wistful at leaving all of that behind. At the same time, in Donna the teacher, and in other classmates and friends who went onto separate careers, I found some reassurance.
Technology never stopped exciting me. Math and physics still excite me. But are they enough to make me want to wake up in the morning?
Only if I can directly help someone by doing it.
I’ll just have to find some way to be an EE-doc, I guess.
The unique perspective that being an alum provides for serving on the admissions review committee cuts both ways. The first-hand experience is an asset, as it allows for a particular insight on the type of student who would thrive in this setting. However, it’s also a burden once you realize that same privilege you were afforded could have just as easily been denied, and presumably, since you’re serving on the committee, you know what a Big Frakking Deal that would have been. When I think about that–and not only that, but that this had to happen for Every Single Person There–when, try as I might to avoid it, my mind attempts to ponder a life not having become friends with these Wonderful People… I can’t.
[As I troll through my digital archives, piecing together memories of Scott for a brain that often fails to remember the more mundane details of life (it's those details that I think not only help provide context to what actually does matter, but also trigger memories that might be otherwise buried unreachable in my subconscious), I find things that I think are worth remembering. I hope no one minds me sharing them.]
If you asked me nowadays, I would tell you that, despite the tragedy of a certain day, I wouldn’t trade my college years in New York for anything. If nothing else, they clarified my love of the city (a term which, by the way, can only refer to one place) and left me with many fond memories–of people, places, and things, and a siren-like call to return.
I don’t remember this at all.
From [MY SENIOR YEAR RC] Sat Nov 15 01:12:37 1997
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Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 01:11:08 -0600
To: [MY SENIOR YEAR ROOMMATE], [ME]
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Subject: Wing clean up
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The two of you need to organize and execute a wing clean up.By wing clean up, I do not mean everyone taking one job the housekeeping
people normally have. No, I mean the whole wing should scrub the damned
common areas clean. The wall by the trash can should have the food
splatters wiped off it. The microwave should be spotless. The floors
should be mopped. The furniture moved and vacuumed under. Rearrange
things if you want. Clean the fridge. Organize the cabinets. Throw away
shit that we don't need. Replace thumbtacks in posters that are missing
them. Wiped down the tables. Clean the windows. Do a REALLY good job!Then, have some people clean the laundry rooms like never before. Clean
the dried soap off the machines. Empty the lint hamper. Clean clean
clean!Anyone who you feel does not participate up to snuff should be given extra
cleaning assignments for the week, the month or the year. I don't care.
From now on I want the two of you to make sure that housekeeping is done
every night, and done well. When you leave for the weekend, you should
check with whomever is on housekeeping and make sure they have a
substitute. You should also post a list of who has housekeeping when. Put
it on the window, facing out, next to the name/room number list by the
door.The reason I am so pissed is because it is now 1:07 a.m. and I am cleaning
the wing because Finegan and Gurga did not get replacements, and Knuffman
refuses to do it because he has done it for the last two nights. Finegan,
Gurga, Schaefer and Knuffman are all getting an extra week, starting this
week. They will not stop doing housekeeping until the do one week right.In the future, I expect the two of you to take care of all housekeeping
problems. Anyone who doesn't live up to their responsibilities will not
only cause problems for themselves, but for the two of you as well.I expect you to run a meeting explaining the new policy, and organizing the
wing clean up. From now on you should do more wing clean ups more often.And I really, really, really want to see some action on an educational
meeting of some sort. Otherwise I am going to have to start docking your
work service hours, which I don't want to do.Any questions, feel free to come see me Sunday night from 8-1 in the RC office.