by Marian on June 17, 2010
For the last 2 years, prep schools in the northeast have been uniting for annual GSA conferences. Hosted first by Philips Andover Academy and then by Choate Rosemary Hall, these conferences have been rewarding days of workshops and presentations. But at both events, I was struck by how secondary all of the scheduled events really were. While it was nice to have a structure to the day, the most important thing was getting to meet real live human beings that had experiences similar to mine.
While there are many wonderful organizations out there providing resources to help students and teachers run effective GSAs, I have yet to find any infrastructure that helps individual schools reach out to other schools. Especially for schools that have a hard time forming a GSA or whose GSAs have only a few members, this can be crippling and disheartening. And while smaller, independent groups (such as Hartford, CT’s Rainbow Room) can do wonderful things on a local level, their information is still somewhat one-sided, because it focuses on the events they host, and not the events that groups of students host at their schools.
One of the best gifts you can give a young gay person is a way to meet other young gay people.
In the wake of the Andover conference, I tried a small Facebook experiment called the “New England Inter-School GSA.” The group is still there–go join, if you feel like it! But unfortunately, the group hasn’t been everything I hoped for. Organizing through the group is incredibly one-sided, since I’m clearly listed as the creator and the only person who frequently uses it to promote events.
GSA leaders and their teachers need a tool that will give them the contact information and interschool event calendars for other groups in their area.
Many organizations of this type exist at the collegiate level, but there are few—if any—groups working to unite high school students. (And for middle-schoolers, who are perhaps the most in need of camaraderie and open minds, there are virtually no options.)
So this is where you come in.
I want to create a new web space that will feature all of these things. Here’s the plan:
Gay-Straight America: A Nationwide GSA
Mission: To connect students and teachers in Gay-Straight Alliances across the country, as well as fostering community between schools by improving interschool communication.
Site Features: Contact information for GSAs both by state and by region (New England, Midatlantic, Southwest, etc) as well as interactive event calendars with information on inter-school events hosted by those GSAs. Additional information such as the rights of students in public schools and tips on starting a GSA should also be available. The writing style of the site should be accessible for high school students, since so many sites out there are not.
Yeah, okay, I dream really big when I dream. But there’s no time like the present, and if you can’t dream big when you’re young, then when can you?
But I can’t do this alone. Sure, I can create the site in Dreamweaver or in WordPress. I can maintain the links and make it pretty and try to create interest.
The biggest lesson I learned from NEIGSA is that networks only work if they are used and publicized by a wide group of people.
The most important step is going to be creating the membership. The whole point of this organization is to create personal connections where, previously, there were none. In order to do that, I need individuals from diverse communities to help create a network—to use their personal connections to bring more schools into this project.
So, if you want to help create a resource for young LGBTQ people, you know someone I should talk to, you want to donate time/server space/funds to buy domain names with/support/advice/etc, please comment on this post or send me an email at marian [dot] firke [at] gmail [dot] com.
Thanks!
M
by Marian on June 15, 2010
Yes, yes, I know, there are thousands of these out there already. But I know that before I made my big purchase, I read around to hear from real people about their experiences. So here’s mine.
First: the specs.
The iPad: 32 GB, wifi-only model. Shiny, new, and slightly intimidating.
The contender: Me, Marian Firke. 18 years old, buying the iPad as my graduation gift. Relatively well-versed in technology, but certainly no expert, and (I think this is important) NOT the owner of an iPhone OR an iPod touch.
That means that I’m not someone primed for this interface. I’m not someone who’s been using the tiny little tap keyboard for months, and I haven’t already gone through all of the apps in the store. (Therefore, everything I can do I have learned with the iPad; there’s no carry-over knowledge from the other 2 devices.)
Initial reactions: In very quick succession…
The author, contemplating an article she has just read in the HuffPost app.
“Oooh. Shiny.”
“OMG free apps!”
“I am going to BREAK this thing…”
While it is definitely a substantial device with a little bit of weight to it, there is also something very fragile about it. I’ve heard so many horror stories about people dropping their iPad on the second day and just shattering them. This is what prompted me to quickly invest in a case and a sleeve. (Reviews for that are posted on Amazon. I go by the moniker “Aimée” on Amazon. Excuse any typos you might see–I wrote those on the iPad, and typing on it isn’t my forté just yet–more on that later.)
I can’t say it enough: if you’re going to plunk down $500+ on this device, you need to know that the $50 or so you’ll spend on your case(s) is WELL worth it. It’s partly psychological, I’m sure, but with the speck case on I feel much more secure while using the device.
Likes:
- iPod that stays on while you browse through other applications, Safari, etc. This isn’t the case with other players, such as Pandora.
- eBooks are beautiful in the iBooks app. The interface is much nicer than other readers such as the Kindle. (The annoying black-to-white flashing that happens when you turn pages on the Kindle is one of the biggest strikes against the device in my opinion.) The page-turn is fluid and pretty, and the text is attractive. I can’t speak for the quality of images, etc in eBooks just yet–but on balance, I like the reader a lot.
- News apps. More than anything else, I am using my iPad to learn more about what’s happening in the world around me. While I really appreciate the BBC’s reporting, I find their website very difficult to read on my laptop. (I don’t know if it’s because I find it cluttered or simply because the distance isn’t great for reading, but I can’t stand reading online news on my laptop.) Other great apps include NYT and HuffPost. I am eating this baby up.
At this point, I feel compelled to point out, as a smart lady once said, that the iPad is a lot like the mirror of Erised, and that you absolutely find in it what you want to. I am not interested in games; therefore, I can’t speak to their quality on the iPad. Individual interests (and therefore the apps that individual users choose to install) are the single biggest factor in the functionality of the iPad.
Dislikes:
- Mail seems to be somewhat buggy. I have been able to set up one of my accounts successfully, but when I go through all of the steps to set up my second account, it seems to freeze/get stuck in a “verifying” stage. (And no, I’m not entering my info wrong! Everything is entered exactly as it is on my MacBook.)
- Touch is less sensitive than I was expecting. Links will often take multiple clicks to open, etc.
- Typing is such. A. Drag. When the iPhone was first coming out, I was in the process of getting a new phone. I chose a Blackberry over the iPhone because I found typing on the tiny keyboard without the aid of raised keys to be completely impossible. The iPad is slightly better, but still awkward. In portrait mode, I’m able to type slowly but accurately. However, you’re stuck with hunting-and-pecking that way. In landscape mode, it’s tricky. The keys are large enough that you’d like to type normally, but it’s just a little too cramped to do so well. It’s hard to type quickly and accurately. Now, I know lots of people who have no trouble at all on the iPad OR the iPhone, so this could just be a Marian-has-no-hand-eye-coordination thing, but I think it’s worth pointing out. I tend to prefer using apps of websites rather than navigating TO websites because it’s so much easier to tap than to type.
One last note to students:
I bought the iPad with the hopes of using it as a functional device for taking notes. I prefer to store notes digitally, but I study Chemistry and it’s damn near impossible to type/insert Lewis Structures or chemical equations quickly and efficiently while typing on a laptop. With the help of a stylus designed for the capacitive screen, apps such as “Penultimate” become useful digital notebooks. (I also recommend the free app “Ideas” by Adobe for sketching and doodling.) BUT, writing with the stylus is neither neat nor easy. There is clearly a learning curve and my ability to write on the iPad is getting better. But it’s nowhere near as easy as, say, writing on a paper pad with a regular pen. The most obvious difficulty is, of course, the fact that you can’t put your hand down. (Even with a feature turned on that’s designed to prevent the heel of your hand from creating marks on the page, they’re still there.)
I’m confident that I’ll be able to use the iPad when I start at Swarthmore next fall, but it’s going to take some practice. Unlike the rest of the iPad’s smooth interface, trying to write by hand is not intuitive or easy. This is largely by design, since Steve Jobs hates styluses.
It's a winner!
Digitally yours,
Marian
by Marian on May 10, 2010
In other news: Per instructions from my endocrinologist, I am about to stop taking a thyroid medication that I’ve been taking for the last decade. He admits that it’s quite likely that I still need the med–a synthetic thyroid hormone that replaces one my body doesn’t produce enough of–but that I should try a 4-week test period, just to see.
I know I’m going to be looked after and taken care of, but this is still kind of scary to me. After all, a decade in the life of an eighteen-year-old is a long ass time. When I started taking this medicine, I hadn’t yet started puberty. I still played with dolls and breyer horses. The twin towers were still standing. I think I still had baby teeth!!
As strange as it sounds, that little purple pill–which produces no side effects, does not alter my mood, and has no bearing on my mental health or well-being–has become a huge part of my life over the last ten years. And while it’s extremely liberating to think that I may not need it any more, stepping out into this new territory is pretty strange.
Chronic thyroiditis is not really a condition that you “recover” from…hence the “chronic,” I’ve always assumed. I’ve always figured that I’ll be taking these meds–in varying doses–for the rest of my life.
Woohoo change and uncertainty! Bring it on!
In other changing and uncertain news: 27 (26 now that it’s after 12, I guess) days until graduation, approximately 2 months until we move to Virginia, and approximately 3 months until I begin at Swat.
No big deal. 
by Marian on May 10, 2010
Imagine that you are sitting in an exam room at your school or university, your blank exam book sitting open before you on the table. You can hear the clock ticking stealthily behind you, and your palms begin to sweat as you look down at the outline you’ve prepared. You’ve reviewed your material, you’ve found your citations, and you’re ready to show the exam reader that you know your stuff. There’s just one problem: You have no idea how to start the essay.
The scenario I’ve just described is one that I saw many of my classmates face during our winter term senior english final. Having searched for quotations for hours the night before, many of them walked into the exam room confident about their ability to strut their stuff. But once they were faced with a blank page, they froze. All of the hard work that they had put into finding the quotations was undermined by bland openings, fuzzy phrasing, and other stylistic problems that creep in when a writer is panicked. Why is it that starting can be the hardest part of all? And how can you overcome that moment of panic and write an opening that demonstrates your mastery of the material?
The strategy that I developed to cope with this situation is what I like to call “The Key to an Essay.” I call it a key not because I believe it is essential, but because it helps you to “unlock” the rest of the essay. Typically, this is something I’ll only use in the situation I outlined above–a timed essay during an exam block (or an in-class essay) where outlines and other materials are permitted.
So what, pray tell, is a key?
A key is a descriptive passage or initial thought that helps you to jump into the material at hand. You create a key by imagining (or pre-writing) your opening in your head and then inserting notes into your outline. The goal is to leave yourself a road map that will help you to both re-create those thoughts in the exam room and make it easier to plow through the rest of the essay with confidence.
That sounds pretty vague–and it is!–because a vast range of things can serve as the key to your essay. Mostly, those fit into 3 categories:
- A description
- A quotation (typically to be used as an epigraph.)
- A well-constructed, strong sentence or question
For example: the passage that I used to start this post would count as a description. The way I might shorten that scene to fit into my notes could be fairly longhand, such as “Description: Exam room, booklet, clock ticking, sweaty palms, freezing in front of the test, what do you do?” Or it could be as simple as “exam room description.” (On my english final, one of my keys was “description english forest: vikings -> romantic poet,” which denoted a paragraph describing both a forest and the evolution of english storytellers from viking through romantic times.) Only you will know how much detail you’ll need in order to break through that moment of panic in the exam room–or, ideally, to avoid that moment of panic entirely.
For some people, getting started smoothly means having a perfect sentence–the sentence–to get them rolling. Sometimes that can be a great strategy if you tend to get anxious and are able to maintain a good flow once you begin writing. (I overall find that strategy a little too restrictive, because I begin to second-guess the sentence I’ve prepared once I’m in the exam room. Since the whole point of having the sentence is to avoid second-guessing, it seems sort of counter-productive for me! But to each their own.) It definitely takes some trial-and-error to determine how much you need to set down to avoid feeling anxious while still leaving yourself some freedom to actually write and create during the exam period.
To a lot of people, this strategy sounds very obvious. After all, outlines include main points, quotations, and thesis statements. Shouldn’t they also include your opening? (Yes, yes they should.) But oftentimes, elements that seem more like craft or artistry tend to get left out of outlines. The best essay openers are oftentimes the ones that seem off the beaten path. After all, a short description–of virtually anything!–is more interesting than the dreaded “In [author]‘s novel, [title], [protagonist] [verb]s.” But if you find that you tend to become less creative on the fly, maybe a little bit of outlined spice is just the ticket to getting your essay started with a bang. In my experience, confident beginnings tend to lead me to better-reasoned middles and more clearly-drawn conclusions. Why not do yourself the favor of making your success as easy as possible?
Last thought of the day:
Writing and sex have a great deal in common. Both require frequent practice to keep you in good condition, and your reception can change dramatically based on your audience.
by Marian on February 14, 2010
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want. Not material things, although I will admit that I’ve bought three pairs of pants this week. (To be fair, I don’t own any, and it is COLD here!) When I say what I want, I mean what I want from my future. Or rather, what I want and expect from myself in the future.
This is a list that is probably going to change a lot in the future. I’m positive that my list looked nothing like this my freshman year, or last year, or two weeks ago, but right now, this is what my list looks like. And I think that considering how fluid life can be, knowing what I want now is the best I can do.
I want…
…to make the world a more peaceful place.
…to inspire others, as cheesy as it sounds.
…to have someone look at me the way I have looked at my teachers.
…to help people one by one, individually, with investment and sincerity, to become people they will be happy to see in the mirror each morning.
…to say, do, buy, wear, eat, make, discuss, promote, and enjoy things that I believe in.
…to be in love and to cherish it.
This is a lot more navel-gazing than I usually post here–and I post a lot of navel-gazing!!–but this is on my mind a lot right now. I’m very lucky to have been accepted to my dream college. I mean that in two ways: it was both my first choice school and a school that inspires me to dream about possibilities. I’m thinking a lot about the person that I want to be there, and what the next 4 years of my life are going to be like. (What? Senior-year angst? No way!)
