Dr. King, radicals…..

You would have to be living under a rock to have not heard a thing about the massive protests going on in our country right now.  Michael Brown, an 18 year old black man, was fatally shot by white officer Darren Wilson.   The jury decided no indictment for Wilson.   About a week later, the case of Eric Garner, a black man selling loose cigarettes on the streets of New York City and put on a choke hold to death by white officer Daniel Pantaleo, was presented to a jury.  No indictment for officer Pantaleo.   Massive protests are breaking out all over America over these outrageous rulings by the jury; some comment that this is the start of a new, huge social movement.  We are all playing a role in perhaps a turning point in history.  The ones playing the critics to this movement have made claims of how disappointed Dr. Martin Luther King would be in this movement that involves rioting and looting.  However, these claims go only as far as looting and violence claims (though, check this out), for I would argue Dr. King would whole heartedly support this movement condemning police brutality against black bodies.

Dream jobs, huh…

x

General Chemistry 125 and Menand

It all starts in high school.  It starts with maintaining a good GPA, taking standardized tests, participating in extra curricular activities, and finally the long and meticulous CommonApp process.  After months of waiting, students receive their acceptance letters.  A relaxed feeling settles within high school seniors; many of them think, it’s done, we made it! This long, excruciating selection process is over.  These good feelings lasts until they walk into their first “weed-out” class in college.

 

Are you the weed to be pulled from the class?

If you are not familiar with term “weed-out class”, you will not going to find its definition in a dictionary.  Yet, it’s well-known term around most college campuses, among students and professors alike.  The general concept of a weed-out class is this(provided with context of few sources, the daily news at Duke, StemWire, USNews): a weed-out class is an introductory course set up to be highly difficult to discourage some students from continuing the subject, meanwhile some students who do well or suffer the grade continues on.  In concept, it is another selection process.  Here at the University of Michigan, General Chemistry 125 is a well known weed class among students.   I am not part of this class, thus making this blog post from second-hand experience.  I informally interviewed few of my close friends and other students who are currently taking General Chemistry 124.

 

The Jolly November voting season

Ah, people stopping you as you walk to class to get you to register to vote, the phone calls your parents might be receiving from the Democratic party, all over the news and in the air tells you this – it’s voting season, everyone.

Kimberly, my gurl, what are you saying…

For as long as I have been living the US, I have only ever encountered endless calls for me to act my duty as a citizen and start voting.  Now that it’s the the season to vote, these calls for my civil duty only amplify, and never in my dream did I think that I would hear the very opposite to be spoken during this time, and done in an amazingly offensive way targeted at my demographic.  Kimberly Guilfoyle, a co-host of “The Five” of Fox news channel, stated this on Wednesday : “Same reason why young women on juries are not a good idea, they don’t get it… They are like healthy and hot and running around without a care for the world.”  After her fellow co-host point out that young women in fact have “every right in the world to sit in a jury”, Guilfoyle unremarkably replies,  “I didn’t say they shouldn’t be, I just think, excuse them so they can go back on Tinder and Match.com.”

Kim Jong Un rubbing his dirty hands

Please imagine the stereotypical imagery of a prince: riding a white horse, handsome, elegant, and loved by his people.  Please imagine Kim Jong Un: chubby cheeks, the ever so iconic split-in-half haircut, solemn expression, and loved by his people.

In case you needed more help with the visuals

What do the two have in common?  Well, by denotations, like that Prince Charming you just imagined, Kim Jong Un is also a prince, or a ruler of state, so to speak.

Kim Jung Un, the infamous supreme ruler of North Korea, has been appearing on the news often lately.  His appearances on the news were actually caused by his recent disappearance.   As reported by CNN, Kim hasn’t made any appearances in public since September 3rd.  This is his longest absence from official public events, sparking international speculations about his health, as he was seen limping before his long absence.   Many theories came about to explain his illness, and these theories ranged from weight gains (CNN) to that Kim Jong Un was drunk, tripped down the stairs and sprained his ankle (a South Korean friend of mine translated this for me out of jest).  But thankfully, just today, the leader is finally back with North Korea’s released pictures of him “field guidance” to newly built residential districts and the Natural Energy Institute of the State Academy of Sciences.

I voted down your Yik Yak

If you’re in the university setting and the app Yik Yak isn’t on your radar yet, either you’re way older than the average college student population or you haven’t been going outside very much. (Which, by the way, is completely chill)

Or you could hip old people and always keeping up with the youth.

Yik Yak is an app that allows people to post anonymous tweets that can be voted down or up by other users of the app.  What’s special about it is that it’s updated according to your location, and aimed especially at college users.   Go to the “Peek” section of the app, and you can see what prestigious students at Harvard University are posting on this lovely Sunday afternoon.  Which, turned out, they are currently #Hempfest right now.