Thanksgiving Break

Although Thanksgiving break isn't quite over, I thought I'd share some photos from my break so far. My parents came down to Stanford and spent some time away from the cold, snowy weather in Bend. We went on a few road bike trips, including one along the famous 17 mile drive near Monterey. We also went to Cirque de Soleil's show Totem, which was quite incredible.

Pictures above:

1) A picture of Hoover Tower that my mom took from the top of The Dish

2) A picture of my mother and I during the Monetery bike ride

3) Picture of my mother and I after a nice dinner in Monterey

View from my window

Fall Quarter Classes

CHEM 35: Organic Monofunctional Compounds

Organic chemistry of oxygen and nitrogen aliphatic compounds.

POLISCI 3P: Justice (ETHICSOC 171, IPS 208, PHIL 171, PHIL 271)

Focus is on the ideal of a just society, and the place of liberty and equality in it, in light of contemporary theories of justice and political controversies. Topics include protecting religious liberty, financing schools and elections, regulating markets, assuring access to health care, and providing affirmative action and group rights. Issues of global justice including human rights and global inequality.

HUMBIO 2A: Genetics, Evolution, and Ecology

Introduction to the principles of classical and modern genetics, evolutionary theory, and population biology. Topics: micro- and macro-evolution, population and molecular genetics, biodiversity, and ecology, emphasizing the genetics and ecology of the evolutionary process and applications to human populations.

HUMBIO 2B: Culture, Evolution, and Society

Introduction to the evolutionary study of human diversity. Hominid evolution, the origins of social complexity, social theory, and the emergence of the modern world system, emphasizing the concept of culture and its influence on human differences.

Summer Happenings

Summer is dwindling! Only a little over 3 weeks until I am back on The Farm.

Here's what I've been doing this summer:

1) Continuing my regular shoe stacking summer job at The Footzone, sad that this will probably be my last summer. I will miss all of my fellow footzoner's humor and hard work. Probably the most awesome job/ work environment I will ever have.

2) Teaching summer science camps at the Bend Science Station. This has been a really fun part of my summer. I started doing in-lab camps with 4/5th graders, and ended up co-leading a week long traveling camp to Hood River where I got to windsurf, rock climb, white water raft, and bunjee jump. One of the in-lab camp I taught was Harry Potter themed, and I dressed up as professor Sprout and taught Herbology. The kids caught on fast that I didn't actually possess any magical powers.

3) Road biking. I purchased my first road bike this summer (fancy, huh?). I have been riding it all over the place and have fallen quite in love with long bike rides. I've been all over Bend, including up to Mt. Bachelor and the top of McKenzie Pass, and have been able to do some riding at the Oregon Coast as well. However, I do feel a little out of place on the road being passed my middle-aged men with calves the size of cantaloupes.... and I thought I had big calves. The picture is me and Pat at the top of McKenzie Pass.

4) Vacationing! Misleading, I really haven't vacationed much this summer. We did go on the annual Pacific City surf trip with the Maddens, Smiths, Lopezes and Rhymers. My mom and I are also considering heading up to Hood River for a weekend in September to take kite boarding lessons and possibly a shopping trip to Portland. I should probably also visit my darling sister Teenie in Eugene before heading back to school.

5)Visiting old friends. I've had a lot of fun catching up with my friends who have been on gap years and off at school. With Naomi having been in Africa and Eirann trekking the entire globe, it's nice to have them home. It's been fun helping them prepare for their first year at college after having been just gone through my freshman year. Rachel has of course been tearing it up at the Naval Academy, and the four of us enjoyed the time we had together while she was home for a short few weeks.

6) Montana. I'm currently writing from Pat's desk in his (ridiculously nice) house in Bozeman. I am unendingly jealous that I will be living in dorms for the next 3 years :( We've been in Bozeman since Wednesday, I leave Tuesday, and I've been enjoying the hot weather and fun biking and hiking in the area. (Don't be misguided by the picture, Pat is happy to be here too!) The picture is from our hike to the M. I have to say I'm also jealous of Bozeman's beautiful scenery, what I wouldn't do to get some majestic snow capped mountains down in Palo Alto.

Spring Quarter Classes

CHEM 33: Structure and Reactivity

Organic chemistry, functional groups, hydrocarbons, stereochemistry, thermochemistry, kinetics, chemical equilibria.

CHEMENG 25B: Biotechnology (ENGR 25B)

Biology and chemistry fundamentals, genetic engineering, cell culture, protein production, pharmaceuticals, genomics, viruses, gene therapy, evolution, immunology, antibodies, vaccines, transgenic animals, cloning, stem cells, intellectual property, governmental regulations, and ethics. Prerequisites: CHEM 31 and MATH 41 or equivalent courage.

IHUM 73B: Ultimate Meanings: Decoding Religious Stories from around the World

Is there more to life than survival, or does it have some higher purpose? Why is there suffering, death, and evil in the world, and is there some way to overcome them? Religious communities often answer such questions through the art of story-telling, through history, myth, biography and other forms of distilling human experience into narrative. These stories have shaped the world we live in, helping people to cope with difficult aspects of experience, influencing the way we love, suffer and die, inspiring the imagination, and helping to ignite conflict and violence.\n\nThis course introduces you to some of the great stories of the world's religions¿the sacred narratives of Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. We will read these stories to learn something about the religious cultures that produced them, and how they have shaped human experience.\n\nIn the winter quarter, students will be introduced to stories drawn primarily from the Buddhist tradition in the many forms which it developed as it spread across Asia from India to Japan and beyond. We will look at the biography of the founder, the Buddha, the tales of his previous lives, the stories of his disciples, and of later saints and heroes, religious practitioners and ordinary folk. Students will learn to read these stories to see how they elaborate a persuasively constructed world of meaning in terms of which people can make sense of their own personal histories.\n\nIn the spring quarter, the focus will shift to the foundational narratives of Judaism, Christianity and Islam¿the stories of the Israelites¿ exodus from Egypt, the suffering Job, the life and death of Jesus and the calling of the prophet Muhammad. Do these stories have only one meaning, and who determines what that meaning is? Can a story's meaning change over time, and if so, what do such stories mean today, in a partially secularized culture very different from the ones that produced them? We will address these questions by exploring how these ancient stories have been re-imagined by recent thinkers and writers who can help us understand how their meaning has changed¿or is changing¿in the light of modern experience

MATH 20: Calculus

Continuation of 19. Applications of differential calculus; introduction to integral calculus of functions of one variable, including: the definite integral, methods of symbolic and numerical integration, applications of the definite integral.

New Classes

It's the first day of winter quarter! Today I had Chemistry, Math, and my Intro to Humanities class: Ultimate Meanings. Math and Chemistry were as expected, but IHUM was surprisingly hilarious. Our teacher is a really old guy from NOT Australia (I'm guessing New Zealand from his accent, but he never did tell us...). He started class by telling us Brother's Grimm story, click HERE to read it. He also told us another story, this one about the class and how he was duped into teaching it because he's fairly new on staff (IHUM is dreaded by both teachers and students because it's a required class that mostly is terrible). Overall it was pretty hilarious, and he optimistically suggested that the class might actually be fun. Hopefully my first Anthro lecture tomorrow is half as entertaining.

List of classes and descriptions follow below:

MATH 19: Calculus

Introduction to differential calculus of functions of one variable. Topics: review of elementary functions including exponentials and logarithms, limits, rates of change, the derivative, and applications. Math 19, 20, and 21 cover the same material as Math 41 and 42, but in three quarters rather than two. Prerequisites: precalculus, including trigonometry, advanced algebra, and analysis of elementary functions.

IHUM 73A: Ultimate Meanings: Decoding Religious Stories from around the World

Is there more to life than survival, or does it have some higher purpose? Why is there suffering, death, and evil in the world, and is there some way to overcome them? Religious communities often answer such questions through the art of story-telling, through history, myth, biography and other forms of distilling human experience into narrative. These stories have shaped the world we live in, helping people to cope with difficult aspects of experience, influencing the way we love, suffer and die, inspiring the imagination, and helping to ignite conflict and violence.\nThis course introduces you to some of the great stories of the world's religions, the sacred narratives of Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. We will read these stories to learn something about the religious cultures that produced them, and how they have shaped human experience.\nIn the winter quarter, students will be introduced to stories drawn primarily from the Buddhist tradition in the many forms which it developed as it spread across Asia from India to Japan and beyond. We will look at the biography of the founder, the Buddha, the tales of his previous lives, the stories of his disciples, and of later saints and heroes, religious practitioners and ordinary folk. Students will learn to read these stories to see how they elaborate a persuasively constructed world of meaning in terms of which people can make sense of their own personal histories.\nIn the spring quarter, the focus will shift to the foundational narratives of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the stories of the Israelites exodus from Egypt, the suffering Job, the life and death of Jesus and the calling of the prophet Muhammad. Do these stories have only one meaning, and who determines what that meaning is? Can a story's meaning change over time, and if so, what do such stories mean today, in a partially secularized culture very different from the ones that produced them? We will address these questions by exploring how these ancient stories have been re-imagined by recent thinkers and writers who can help us understand how their meaning has changed, or is changing, in the light of modern experience.

ANTHRO 1: Introduction to Cultural and Social Anthropology (ANTHRO 201)

Crosscultural anthropological perspectives on human behavior, including cultural transmission, social organization, sex and gender, culture change, technology, war, ritual, and related topics. Case studies illustrating the principles of the cultural process. Films.

CHEM 31B: Chemical Principles II

Chemical equilibrium; acids and bases; oxidation and reduction reactions; chemical thermodynamics; kinetics. Lab.