A Sociology Professor and his Idiocy

I was in the Sociology department the other day, working on a professor's computer. From the looks of the posters and such around the room, he was obviously a typical flaming elitist academic, but he was a very nice guy. And I say elitist in the real meaning of the phrase, not the Republican anti-intellectualism idea.

Anyways, Tulane has a very good Latin American studies program (2nd in the nation according to some estimates) and there is an upcoming conference on US-Cuba relations here. That was when he let out a comment, which I just found so typical of an elite academic. We were chatting about Cuba and he said something along the lines of," Yeah, I want to get there before the embargo ends and capitalism ruins it all." Smug and stupid.

The professor was obviously talking about the fact that Cuba is stuck in the 1960s. He wanted it to stay there, I suppose, as some kind of museum of the decade. But Cuba is not a museum, it is a country full of people. How many of them do you think like living in poverty, with no opportunities to advance? How many of them like driving 40-year-old cars, because that's all they can get? How many of them like the shoddy quality of products that do reach the island? How many of them like being arrested for expressing their political (or sexual) views? Given the numbers of Cuban emigrants over the last 40 years or so, I'd imagine is not too many.

Clearly, he had an idealized nostalgic view of what Cuba was. I'm sure if he visited, he might be fascinated. However, if he talked with Cubans...and perhaps had to live there for a year with rolling blackouts and the lack of work opportunities it provides, maybe he'd have a different view of it.

Morning Verbal Diarrhea

This morning it was really nice out, mid-60s, clear blue skies, nice and sunny. I had an exam in Urban Econ at 9am, it went well, and on my way walking back I felt very relaxed, even though the exam was the least of my school-related burden right now, I think just because it was such a nice day out. I saw a plane ascending into the sky and had two thoughts- #1. I wonder where it's going? and #2. What a perfect day to fly. I don't know why, but everytime I see an airplane I think about where it's coming from, and where it's going to, and try to guess based on direction/altitude, ie- this one was obviously had taken off from New Orleans, and was flying northeast.

School has been absolutely oppressive recently. Two of my classes have a "sane" work-load and are very manageable, the other two have 20-25page papers due in a month or so and about a book of reading per week, it's really been getting to me lately. The positive, I guess, is once I finish these papers (I'm aiming to before Thanksgiving) the semester is more or less over, and so is college classes. The first two classes I mentioned with a sane workload have finals, one in-class and one relatively early during finals period, and don't concern me a whole lot, and the two insane ones have the papers as the final requirement. So I don't think there will be much stress for me finals week, and this semester has been hard but afterwords, I only need 1 econ class (econometrics), a public service internship, and possibly 1 history seminar (hopefully not if my Study Abroad class counts as it) to graduate. Optimally, I'll just have to take the first two next semester.

A final, and unrelated note- As I was walking home from my exam this morning (I walk down the famous St. Charles Avenue) I was watching the streetcars roll by. They each have one banner of advertising on the sides, and I noticed they were predominantly hospital-related, one for a hip replacement, another for general hospitals, etc. What does this say about their ridership? I'd assume "old people" but that generally doesn't seem to be true. Maybe some old tourists, though I don't think they are here for medical tourism, I'm not sure. One of the banners said you can now check online for wait times at Ochsner Baptist (which this morning are all at 0) for the emergency room. This kind of baffled me, isn't the point of the emergency room that it's the ultimate triage system? If you have the sanity/health/patience whatever to go online to look up who has the lowest wait times, I'm not sure you need to go to the emergency room. I mean who says "Gosh, someone shot me twice, but Ochsner Baptist has a 35minute wait, I better go to the Tulane Medical Center."

Changing of the Seasons

The changing of the seasons is usually a gradual shift between the long bright days of summer, and more cold, crisp days of autumn. This was not the case in New Orleans this fall, however. First, let me mention how much I miss fall back home. It may be my favorite season, there is just something special about it. The cold, the crispness, the rustling of fallen leaves, the explosions of colors in the trees, etc. The activities- doing corn mazes in a full moon, hayrides, or just walking through the forest with a pallet of colors surrounding you and a slight breeze.

Here in New Orleans we sort of had an Indian summer, I say "sort of", because, is it really an Indian summer if there's never any fall to begin with? It's normally hot and humid until late September, when it cools off and progressively turns into the 2nd season of Louisiana, not-summer. But up until yesterday, it was 90s and 90% humidity virtually everyday, and true to monsoon season, every afternoon there was intense rainstorms, sheets of rain pounding the sidewalk and the streets fill up with rain. There was a week break mid-September, but it was only false hope.

Last night the season changed in about 6 hours. Yesterday, there was a high of 92F, about 85% humidity, and an early afternoon shower. A powerful cold front came through, waking me up around 2am. I had just fallen asleep about 30minutes ago, having spent most of the night writing a paper on how I could fix all of Brazil's economic problems in 20 pages. (an exaggeration, of course) I was awoken by a crack of thunder, and the pounding of rain on the roof. I opened the blinds and watched the storm for a while, 30minutes, 2 hours, I'm not really sure. I watched as the pounding rain cleansed the sidewalks and streets of New Orleans, doing it far more efficient than any government service could do.

When I woke this morning to come to work, it was definitely a new season, that of not-summer. Not-summer in New Orleans is generally 70s of highs and lows of 50s, and a decent amount of wind. It's a bit chilly in the day, and colder at night, and progressively gets to the low of not-summer, which is high of mid50s and low of mid30s in the winter months of January-February. It rarely ever hits freezing temperatures here on the Southshore (south of Lake Pontchatrain) and if it does, the media issues plenty of freezing alerts.

I have to say, I'm glad it's not-summer. No longer do I break a sweat walking to campus and back. And I have to say, I think that the late summer makes the semester fly by even faster. When it feels like summer, you kind of forget it's September or mid-October. Now, it feels like school, and Thanksgiving is only a month and a week away, and thus, we only have 5-6 weeks left in the semester. Maybe Tulane should put that up on the admissions website as a per.

Surburbia, Madrid, and my Dislike of Cars

I'm taking Urban Economics this semester, which is one of the most interesting classes I've ever taken at college. On the surface, the questions seem simple- Why do we build the way we do? Why do cities even exist? It's complex and simple, in a strange semi-contradictory way, but there are so many fascinating explanations. The current unit is on suburbs, pros and cons. I uploaded a chapter from a textbook we read, that is a scathing critique of suburbs. I agree with a decent portion of it, not all, but it's a good read (not too long, 10pages) and worth your time.

Currently I've been thinking a decent amount about my future after college; I've thought a good amount about where I'd like to live, (or more specifically where I wouldn't like to live) though perhaps I should be focusing on what job I'm going to do. Secondly, I sent an email to a girl from my old high school who is studying abroad this semester in Madrid, she asked me for suggestions on places to go, and I happily obliged, it brought back some good memories. Thirdly, I've been studying Urban Economics recently, and they all brought about an interesting revelation.

Having returned to the US, I often wondered why I loved Madrid so much. The culture, food, definitely. The people, certainly, everyone there was very friendly and it was quite easy to meet new people and become friends, not like the clique-filled social network of Tulane. I had been thinking about that, and the prior 3 things, and that chapter from the Urban Planning book really nailed it for me. Before, I thought it might have just been city living, but I live here in New Orleans and I'm frequently frustrated at getting around. what the main thing I loved about Madrid was- The lack of a need for a car.

I've never particularly liked driving, or being driven. I don't really like being in a car. I do occasionally get carsick, but generally it has nothing to do with it. I don't know exactly what it is offhand, I haven't really thought about it. But I know I don't like cars, and even moreso I dislike the obligation of needing a car to get to places I want to go. That's what I loved about Madrid- I lived in a neighborhood with an incredible amount of shops and stores, of all sorts of kinds. There was a grocery store, a pharmacy, a drugstore, several bars and restaurants, a pizzeria, etc, etc, etc, all within 3 blocks or so. And everything else was only a metro ride away on one of the world's best subway systems. I loved it- the comprehensiveness of the metro system extended out to the suburbs, yet had plenty of stops in the city center so it was never far away from your destination. That's one thing that bothers me, in the US there's no place with anywhere near as great of a subway system. In Madrid, it was very easy to live without a car, here, with the exception of NYC, even living in a city it's difficult to live without one.

If I wanted to go to the grocery store in Madrid, I walked a few blocks. If I wanted to go play soccer in the south of the city, I hopped on a metro, walked to a friends house, and went to the field. If I wanted to go to the movies, I hopped on the metro and took 6 stops to Callao. If I wanted to go to Barcelona, I could take the metro to the train station (Atocha RENFE) or take the metro straight to the airport. There were few places, if any, within Madrid I could not get to cheaply and quickly- and thanks to the connection to the airport, it was easy to get anywhere within Spain or Europe.

In New Orleans, if I want to go to the grocery store, I have to beg a friend to drive me. If I want to go to the movies, I have to do the same or take a cab. If I want to play soccer, I can usually take the streetcar but it depends on where we are playing. If I want to go to Miami, I have to take a cab to the airport, or take the streetcar downtown, and hop on a bus to the airport. In Fairport, it's worse. The public transportation sucks in New Orleans, but it exists. In Rochester...you can pretty much get downtown after a long walk to the bus stop, and that's it. If I want to go to anywhere within Fairport, I need to bike.

Not needing a car in Madrid and still not being limited was so liberating, in a strange kind of way. And that's what I'd like- To live somewhere where I can get around alright, and not need to own a car. Preferably efficiently...but I doubt I can find that here in the States.

NCAA, "Amateur Athletes", and college sports

One of the main articles in our student newspaper this week was that Tulane and LSU agreed to cancel their annual game, for the 2nd time. Tulane and LSU are the only D-1 teams in Louisiana, and have been battling in football for almost a century now, but since the early 80s it has been lopsided in favor of the Tigers. In the 90s, the rivalry stopped only to be renewed for 10 years in 2006- only 3 years later, they have agreed to cancel it, and Tulane gets a nice chunk of change in compensation from LSU.

It was quite obviously about one thing- money. Tulane games against LSU didn't sell out here in New Orleans and possibly not in Baton Rouge either, and probably more imporantly, the TV contracts were hardly of a national interest. So history and tradition was passed over in favor of the Almighty Dollar. And I don't have a problem with it, it was a competition set in the past that has little relevence to today. I don't follow Tulane football in the least, so maybe that's why I don't care.

The only thing that bothers me about it is unrelated to Tulane-LSU, but this posturing by the NCAA and universities that college sports is still about the student-athlete, "And student comes first!" Give me a break, college sports are a major revenue stream for schools, and athletes at elite schools are hardly amateur- they are trading no cash now for a very lucrative career in the near future. At Binghamton, I read a college professor was "let go" (she says fired) because she blasted the basketball team and said athletics were putting pressure on her to give favorable grades to athletes. This wouldn't surprise me in the least- here at Tulane, there are special classes for football players, special academic advisors, etc. I had an academic advisor freshman year who also advised athletes, and he gave me a list of classes he recommends to athletes because they are "guaranteed A's." Shockingly, economics courses were nowhere to be seen.

We all know college sports is not about tradition or competition, but just a giant revenue stream for schools and a way for them to get national coverage, larger endowments, and a more connected alumni base. I don't see why athletes should be denied money while in school, other than that universities are selfish and don't want to have to distribute some of the cash.

Wanderlust

I defintely have a case of wanderlust. Every few months I get feeling a bit restless, and I want to travel or move somewhere. I guess that's why I moved to New Orleans after graduating high school, and I guess that's why I chose to study about in Madrid, among several other reasons. I feel a bit of nostaglia about the old places I've lived, even though I know they have changed a lot. Maybe that's why I don't have much interest in going back.

Recently, I've been thinking about moving out west after I graduate. I don't know why, but it just seems like the region is very fresh and pulsating with ideas. California, Oregon, Washington...maybe Arizona. Seattle has been particularly appealing, though. I wouldn't be opposed to the East Coast though, but DC appeals to me more than say, Boston or NYC.

I think it's a bit funny though, as much as I want to travel and move, sometimes I'm annoyed about how I don't have a permanent home. Somewhere where I can buy furniture and stuff, without wondering how I can transport it when I move next. My stuff is 1/2 split in Rochester and New Orleans right now, it'll be nice when I graduate to get it all in one location. Maybe the ideal job for me would be one where I travel a lot for business.

From the Department of Theoretical Analysis

There's lot of posturing by Tulane to create the image that we are a much more important university that we are, but I figure that's normal among colleges in this range. By "this range" I mean good colleges that aren't quite elite, yet desperately want to be.

Nothing more is evidence of this than the amount of "Institutes" or "Centers" or "Offices" here at Tulane. I run into them via my job, and I swear, any Adjunct Professor has some interest in say, anxiety research and boom, we have the "Tulane Institute for Anxiety and Neurological Disorders." Or something like that. There's a ton of them at this school, and I would like to know how many of them have more than say 2 people working at them at a time. If it's a temporary research, you don't need this fancy name. If it's a project from 1 or 2 professors, it doesn't need a title. I don't know why it annoys me, but it does.