Do Not Go Gentle Into Monday Morn

          I memorized “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” this morning, for absolutely no rational reason. Mainly, it was because I was in a bad mood at having to get up at 5:10 in the morning, and a poem that says “rage, rage” four times seemed appropriate, even if I was raging at the rising of the light instead of the other way around. It’s a good poem to memorize, especially because if you know the title, you’ve already memorized about a quarter of the lines.

            No, that wasn’t actually a very important fact, but I was trying not to start out with some version of “Hello again; it’s been another week!” – which I have now included anyway. Well, you can’t win them all.

            In any case, PT was actually pretty good once everyone woke up. This morning we had swim PT, which consisted of a few laps, a few exercises, and two relays. The relays are a good way to get people to put in effort, but they also mean that you don’t do anything for about a third of the workout, other than waiting for someone else. Still, I enjoy swimming. Class also went well; I haven’t studied the War of 1812 in a while, but it brings up good memories from various classes throughout the years. They also passed out awards last week in lab for ROTC, and I ended up getting a few for academics and my PRT, which was nice. I hope I can keep it up for future semesters!

            I came back in time to shower, change, and get some work done before heading to my Expos class. We’ve now turned in the initial draft of our first paper and are talking about revision. In addition, we’re having the expected plagiarism brief; we’ll probably talk about it during the next class. As many times as I’ve heard this talk, some things about it still strike me as a little off. If you don’t know or don’t remember, plagiarism is a very big deal in academia – you get the idea that “once you start down the plagiarizing path, forever will it dominate your destiny.”*

            I understand the importance of integrity and original work, but the near-paranoia about plagiarism that occasionally manifests in the academic world still puzzles me. How, exactly, can you 'own' an idea? I believe in objective truth, which means that you don’t invent truth; you discover it. I understand wanting credit for your work, but the concept still strikes me as bizarre sometimes.

After Expos today I went to Hebrew, where we talked about life in a kibbutz and watched part of a documentary. It was very interesting – I think I’m going to go to the library and watch the rest – but it was also very depressing. I can’t imagine growing up and only seeing my parents a few hours a day, and we spent a while in class discussing various issues and their varying effects on people. We thought a lot of the ideas were pretty strange, but then, we grew up in the antithesis of a socialistic society, so I suppose we’re predisposed not to understand.

            A few interesting things have also happened outside of class. Last Saturday was Cultural Rhythms, and Under Construction performed in the matinee and the evening show. It went great, and after we performed in the matinee, we saw two other groups performs: an African dance group and a Chinese martial arts group. We had a great time. Since we were performing, though, I didn’t have my phone on me, so I couldn’t take pictures for you. Sorry!

I’ve also temporarily taken on the responsibility of leading Bible study for UC; we usually have about an hour per week where we connect the songs we sing to passages in scripture and seek to focus on the meaning behind the words. It was great to be able to serve, and of course my dad helped me since he does this for a living. I can’t over-stress how much of a blessing this group is to me. We had a great Bible study and a great rehearsal – and afterwards we enjoyed a few tricks by a brother of one of our members, who’s a magician.

            Overall, I still feel like I’m behind on work; I can’t seem to jump ahead. As soon as I get one thing done, another pops up, but hopefully everything will get done before its time. It’s hard to believe that midterms are already beginning, even though I don’t actually have any. In a way, I want the semester to go quickly, so that I won’t have to worry about my classes and I’ll get to see my parents, but in another way, there will always be things to worry about, and I’ll only be speeding towards times of longer separation. I suppose I’ll compromise and attempt to be content with the actual speed of things.

So, have a great week, maybe memorize a poem or two, and remember – don’t plagiarize!

PS – I also watched Frozen this weekend, and I’ve had “Let it Go” stuck in my head for three days now. It’s a very cute movie, but a very dangerous song – “no right, no wrong, no rules for me.” Self-will needs to be guarded against, not coddled. The movie gets this right, but everyone singing the song seems to forget it.

PPS - I forgot to mention that I also went to a talk on Defense Intelligence at the Kennedy School - that's a picture of Michael Flynn, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency with David Sanger, National Security Correspondent.

*Ah, thought you had me there, didn’t you? I’m fairly sure this quote falls under the banner of “common knowledge,” but if you haven’t seen Star Wars VI, this is an allusion to a quote from Yoda.