Hypocritical Susan Sontag...is positively pedantic and pretentious

Reading Susan Sontag's On Photography and second essay, America, Seen Through Photographs, Darkly, is just infuriating! Arbus' work is so original? No it was not. And it was Weegee's disaster series that inspired her work? No it wasn't. It was Weegee's photography on the absurd, the grotesque, the odd that inspired her work. 

And you're going to tell me that Warhol's work was narcissistic!? His work is a direct reflection of society, in particular the disgusting obsession with celebritism (the obsession with fame, hence his 15 minutes of fame quote) which has just gotten worse. That's not narcissistic; his work acts as a mirror. Arbus' work on the other hand is absolutely narcissistic! 

Arbus has chosen this subject matter because she sees her 'safe' childhood as a form of adversity, as a flaw. Ergo, her work is narcissistic because she experimented with photographing the strange, the odd, the taboo for her own personal experience and personal gain (and personal satisfaction) to make up for the lack of the absurd, the grotesque in her youth. 

It's interesting that Sontag admires her work so greatly - she says it's a fuck you to popular culture, it's an active statement against the conventional, the popular, which is fascinating because Sontag considers the act of photography as passivity ( read previous essay). Sontag is arrogant, pedantic and pretentious, and her work is arrogant, pedantic and pretentious. Her argument is flawed - its structure is so holey it metaphorically resembles that of swiss cheese.

The obsession with uniqueness is so....completely banal and prosaic. Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and Pinterest are boring and repetitive and the impulsivity fostered by 'social media' leads to a narcissistic society mental model which happens to become quite monotonous. It's narcissistic of Sontag to give a completely one-sided argument, but that is/was her personality; always going against the current. It gets boring to be so rebellious, and to maintain the same facade for so long, is well, rather inhibitory. 

How much is my education worth?

The new semester and recent articles in newspaper publications have me thinking about the cost of a four year college education and the true value of it. Some people would say that I am lucky to receive the HOPE scholarship – a scholarship based on merit, not financial need. But I worked for the scholarship. I was an A/B student, mostly A’s, in high school, and I maintained my high performance in college from the beginning. I have a 3.80 GPA and “am lucky enough” to have 100% of Georgia Tech tuition paid for. In-state tuition, the amount HOPE pays for, is under five thousand dollars a semester.

A roommate from last semester is an out-of-state student. Her parents, as she said it, shell out forty grand a year for her to attend Georgia Tech. I knew the tuition for out-of-state students was high, but I hadn’t thought of myself, or my parents, paying that much for my education, especially for an undergraduate degree. I was wondering if my roommate thought that she was receiving forty thousand dollars worth of education. But then again, how can you measure the worth of an education. It can’t be based on where undergrads go to graduate school or how much money they make at their first job because these are not guarantees. Georgia Tech cannot guarantee me admittance to Columbia or NYU, nor a job.

It really infuriates me that ‘the rising cost of tuition’ can be attributed, partly, to colleges and universities ‘hiring more administrative staff’. First of all, some of the administrative staff is useless; fewer employees are needed to actually to get the job done. Secondly, if I have a question, I receive an automated response or a response by a student employee. 

I honestly cannot say whether I have or currently am receiving a forty thousand dollar a year education. I find it difficult to give my education a price tag. I don’t know what the true monetary value of the quality of my, or for anyone else’s for that matter, education is. Realtors ask, “How much is this property worth?” Well, the answer is “what someone is willing to pay for it.” If colleges had open seats, and had a pool of applicants that were ‘pre-approved’ and then would be allowed to bid on how much they would pay for that spot, then, and only then would we know how much an education would be worth.

I am in my junior year of college and so, naturally, I am preparing for the future. This means deciding on what to do for graduate school, because let’s be honest, you can’t afford to not make money and I don't want to struggle to live how I want. I’ve come to the decision that law school is what is at the top of my short, short list – that is if I can get into one of the top ten law schools in the US (and I greatly prefer Columbia University or NYU and I do not want to go to a school in California so Stanford is out of the running). If I can’t get into one of the best, I am not sure it would be in my best interest, or in the interest of my parent’s bank account, to go to a lesser school for a J.D. It’s too bad that apprenticeships in the field of law just don’t happen too much anymore (will firms want you if you do an apprenticeship?) because we all hear that it’s experience that facilitates learning. I like the idea that I would take the LSAT’s, apply to law school and then, I would go shopping around for a sponsor, a law firm, that would pay a percentage of my law school tuition (some or all of it) guaranteed if I commit to working for them when I graduate for a period of time. This way I would be guaranteed the funds to make it through law school with little to no debt, and a job (that's unheard of...just kidding)! Anyone out there want to be my sponsor? Yes? 

PicOfTheDay and Extra Stuff That's Annoying

Are you... lookin at me???

So here at GaTech everyone is required to take a computer science class. I chose to take CS 1315 - Introduction To Computational Media (whatever that is...) because it's CS for non-CS, math or engineering majors. Every week we get a problem set (a special word for CS homework) and I just really look forward to it (one eyebrow raised, much like the alpaca pictured above)...

I go to the TA hours every week and since I've been going my experiences are getting worse and worse. One thing I really loathe about going is that one TA (the same one every week) asks me if "Do you love doing the homework? Isn't it fun?" I respond the same way, honestly, "No." And sometimes I add, "No. I don't find it fun." And then she looks at me like I'm nuts. I can't decide if the look is because I respond honestly or if she can't imagine someone not having fun doing the homework. 

Anyways, I went to the open hours yesterday at 11am. I was there till 1:30pm. I wasted two and half hours and then some guy had the nerve to yell "Bye!" (in a disgustingly happy, jovial sort of way) as if I was in my usual super bubbly, happy-go-lucky mood (pfft), when I decided to quietly leave with an expression of pure anger (no I didn't bare my teeth like my chihuahua). I was in no mood to respond, so I didn't, and when I walked out of the room and looked back, everyone was staring at me. Anyone who knows anything about visually assessing a human being to see what type of mood they are in would know I did not want to speak to anyone. So then I was really pissed. 

Not to mention that one TA said "You're really close. I know you can figure it now!"

Well, actually, you told me the wrong thing - so thanks.

I spent another two hours fixing what the TA had me do and finishing the rest. Damn you turtle graphics - you suck!

SciFiLab Radio Show

Hello World!

Today was the launch of the new 'rebooted' Science Fiction Laboratory Radio Show ( SciFiLab) on GaTech WREK Atlanta 91.1 FM! I was on air for just about 12 seconds (yay me). Everyone was great and the interview with David Benedict from the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company was enlightening - especially since we are in the beginning of getting a radio drama written.

You too can listen in every Thursday night, 7:00pm to 8:00pm to the SciFiLab program Online or using the GaTech App or if you live in the area! You can like us on Facebook or more importantly, FOLLOW SciFiLab on Twitter!

Next week the theme is robots. Oooohhhhhh. I believe R2D2 is going to be discussed and then in the future, the themes will be cyborgs (I've already got my example picked out, Ironman) and zombies.

Why the GaTech STAC major is cool...

You may be thinking, Georgia Tech? Georgia Institute of Technology? has a what major? You may think GaTech in terms of engineering only: #1 for Industrial and Systems Engineering,  #2 for biomedical engineering, blah blah blah. GaTech is one of the TOP 10 public schools in the country. And they have a STAC major. 

When I went to orientation before my first semester here, a librarian asked me what my major was so she could direct me to the correct library for my major. I said "STAC" and she looked at me like "what?" I said "STAC, you know, science, technology and culture?" and then she gave me a blank stare and said "well good luck at Tech."

Before my academic advising, all 200 transfers were placed into a large auditorium and were asked to cheer for their major. There were loud claps and whistles for anything involving engineering, particularly mechanical and electrical. When it came time to "Science, Technology and Culture," guess who was the only one clapping - me - all alone. Everyone laughed, turned around in their seats to see who this one, single person this was. They laughed, smiled and then I heard (sotto voce) "What's that? Science, technology and culture?" As I left to go to my appointment, I announced to the entire auditorium "The major exists. It exists!"

Anyways, back to my main point. So what is the major? It's exactly what it is. It's an integrative major that combines science (2 years of it), technology (everyone at GaTech takes a CS class) and culture. Basically, on a daily basis, I read, think, write (my own stuff and very few actual assignments except two term papers due at the end of the semester), discuss and then I go read some more. If you don't like reading 100+ pages a day, don't go to GaTech for anything. 

I had a test last week that had three essay questions - you pick one. I chose to write what would make a better suspense/action/horror film: scavenging, vicious, super strong robots (that aren't that bright) or a digital worm making technology completely useless. I chose the robots and I intend to put my essay on this blog for everyone to read it. It's kind of brilliant. I got to use 'warm fuzzies,' yes those two words, in my essay for a class at GaTech....I think I may have taken a huge risk by doing this...