Oberlin Blogs

My first semester here, I wrote/drew a blog post about Thanksgiving. I'm building on that for my final semester.

It helps to arm yourself with information that both supports what you already know and also challenges what you believe.

Pretty much the whole student body cares about community service, and we got good stuff done. We still need a deeper discussion about "interfaith," but that's next on the list . . . Many Oberlin students have a tendency to be dismissive of religion or openly religious classmates. I think they're responding more to the political end of religion (as we know it) than to any actual beliefs.

"Family" at Oberlin is a fluid term... it can mean the people who are related to you to as well as the people who are not.

Gangnam Style at the opera? Only at Oberlin.

I was surprised at the level of detail that goes into every inch of the piano. You can see why a good piano costs as much as a car - we spent a few classes repainting the dampers, aligning and glueing new felt to each damper (the shape of the felt changes through different registers of the piano), putting them back into the piano, and fitting them until they perfectly silenced the strings.

The Interfaith Day of Service is this Friday, 3:30 - 5:30. "Interfaith," in this case, means both among people of different religions and between people who are religious and those who aren't--an important factor to consider when dealing with Oberlin students.

Why this term is not as easy as I meant for it to be, featuring: a llama in a party hat, yours truly on a metaphorical balcony, and a quick historical linguistics lesson (among other things).

I think I was happier this time than when Obama won in 2008; this year, I was more involved, I knew more, I canvassed, I voted --I was able to be a part of it. This win was my win, in a tiny, tiny way, and I had seen more of the other people whose win it was too.

A question I ask of all my students.

What do you do in the last week before the midterm break, when everyone is tired, sick, and overwhelmed? Bring in Lego®, of course.

Why is Dascomb the best freshman dorm on campus?