oberlin is awesome

I think those of us who have been in Oberlin realize how great it is, but if you haven't been here in the summer, you're really missing out.

I think I'd like to start with this past weekend. It was Oberlin's 4th annual chalk walk. A day full of chalk art and fun in the sun. I didn't actually get to go see everyone lining the sidewalk, but I went that evening to see the day's creations, and boy were they wonderful. Oberlin brought in a couple of local master chalk artists and the rest went to the town locals. Business did some creating advertising, the post office did variations on stamps, the library had literary characters and fruit, and all the kids drew the cutest stuff ever. All in all, it's the best thing in the world right now, to get some ice cream in this crazy heat and stroll around downtown just checking out super cool art.



Second, is the lack of cars on the road, making for nice bike rides out with friends. Cindy, Gio, and I got out on our bikes, and rode for about 20 minutes, just cruising around, enjoying the green and the houses and each other's company. I think we plan on doing this more often, cause it was a really lovely way to be outside and active. Afterwards, we ventured into Tappan, relaxed on the new tree swing and chatted before getting ice cream and heading back home. We're also planning a picnic in the near future, getting dressed in cute summer clothes and sitting out on a blanket

Third, is the fact that I get to talk about how awesome Oberlin is and get paid to do it. Could I think of a better campus job? Nope. I love talking about Oberlin, and I love being able to do that all summer. It's also a big plus that part of my job involves being outside in beautiful Oberlin and then eating popsicles on the hot days. It helps that most of coworkers are amazing, cause, yes, it's Oberlin, and they aren't douchbags.

Fourth, as I've mentioned before, is the public library. They have all sorts of DVDs I can borrow for free (!) to fry my brain, or CDs to enrich my musical world, and lots and lots of books to enlighten my mind. And the people are super friendly cause the town is small and they talk to you when you check out and they ask how the kids are and cute town things like that.

There's lots more, but it's all relative, like the fact that my dear friends are here and that we spend lots of time together and cook and go places and just hang out.

But you get the point, I love it here, and I'm sure that will come out in a lot of my posts.

Being grown up

I officially moved into my apartment for the coming year this past Sunday/Monday. It's kind of exciting, I feel grown up now even though I'm still in college and have yet to turn 21. I have to pay bills and regularly do the dishes and cook and clean and buy toilet paper. I'm also living on my own for the time being, I have yet to decide if I want someone else to sublet for the summer because my roommate for the fall is back home in Philly. I'm sure I'll end up telling Marissa she can live with me, I should probably call her back soon though, to relieve her from crazy housemates.

Cooking is perhaps my favorite part of having a real apartment. Though I'm not actually cooking at my apartment (I eat all my meals at a friend's apartment) I do have to cook and clean and do all that good stuff. We've made some great meals, and being the only vegetarian in the house, I've done a great job adapting everything they make into something I can eat. Granted, they've also been very considerate to make two separate batches of things or leave out the meat. If I had the money, I would have loved to get produce from the farm for the summer, but that's out of my budget range.

I'm also quite a fan of not having to pay for laundry. Quarters are one of my favorite coins, perhaps cause of the most recent (but sadly now over) state quarter campaign and the bicentennial drummer boy quarters. Thus, I was saddened every time I had to spend quarters just to clean my clothes. Now I can put in the laundry and not have to worry about someone else taking all the machines and I can listen to loud obnoxious music at the same time and dance too.

In many ways though, this summer has made me reminisce over last summer. A wonderful summer spent with my sibling reading, cooking, doing lacrosse things (I'm still working on trying to get some sticks here), and just being environmental together and loving plants. My sibling is quite wonderful, although I probably have a biased opinion. You can see for yourself though, cause zie has a blog as well, though zie hasn't updated recently. boooo. We had good times, and I guess I'm just hoping this summer will be just as nice, possibly better cause I like all of my coworkers this time around.

So here's to hoping I actually get all my research done and that this summer is as awesome as the last.

Food, Water, Waste

In the past week I've watched the NBC special about the Obama White House, visited the George Jones farm here in Oberlin, and read Bottlemania and Garbageland by Elizabeth Royte. While these things may seem unrelated they all have me thinking about our precious, precious environment and our food system.

As many people may know, Michelle Obama, with the help of some local elementary school kids planted a garden in the White House lawn in March of this year. By the time NBC did their special "Inside the Obama White House," the garden had already grown 80 pounds of lettuce and herbs used by the white house chefs in the Obama meals and sent a local homeless shelter. The students also went back to their school and are now growing a garden at their school. Can we talk about how awesome that is? Let's bring back the days of Eleanor Roosevelt's victory gardens, when home gardens accounted for 40% of America's produce.

Then I visited the George Jones farm this weekend, which I've always felt tied to as an Oberlin student, and especially as a member of the co-op system (we send all our compost to the farm). The farm is great. It's 70 acres of land, most of which is used as a nature preserve, to restore the natural habitat of Oberlin, which is unfortunately swampy. But they've done a great job since taking over a corn and soybean farm in 2001. The farm now takes in all of Oberlin College and OSCA's food waste and returns that in the form of delicious produce. The restored natural habitats have brought back 65 different species of birds, including 4 endangered ones, deer, and of course all the bugs that come with it all. It was perhaps one of the most awesome things I've done here at Oberlin and gave me hope that food can be grown locally, in a good way. Rest assured, I will be returning more often, not only for the delicious strawberries and beautiful horse Kate, but also for the pleasant 2 mile bike ride there as well.

Last, I've discovered the amazingness of our local public library. Perhaps it's small, but impressive collection has been pushed by Oberlin students and progressive Oberlin townspeople as well, but regardless, you can find many great things there. Most boast about it's extensive DVD collection, but I've recently been able to find great books about waste, bottled water, and our food system. So far, I've only gone through Elizabeth Royte's Bottlemania and Garbageland, but I already never want to throw anything away again. The numbers are disturbing really. The amount of waste we generate daily, the percentage of that waste that should have been recycled or composted, that only 11% of water bottles were recycled (can we really call it that?). It's really quite disturbing. And though the battle between tap and bottled water goes much beyond the environmental impact of water bottles and transportation, I'll stick to my tap water any day, unless I do get seriously ill or mysteriously pregnant.

I worry for the world, I really do. We don't care enough, and the things that are ruining our atmosphere the most are the things we can't control, like the chemicals used in industrial processes, not the kind of car you drive (and even then, you can't control the fuel to air ratio). In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan relays a startling statistic that the average American diet is 70% corn and soybean based. You may be thinking, no, that's not true, but when you realize the amount of high fructose corn syrup you consume, or that all processed foods have emulsifiers and preservatives that are corn and soybean based, the number becomes frighteningly true.

I'm going to do my part to recycle all I can (especially your old electronics) and just waste less in general by consuming less. I'll also drink tap water and do my best to eat locally, and even if I can't, I know my food waste will make it back to the George Jones farm where Aaron and company will turn it into food for others to eat. And let's start the revolution to bike to work. It's not just me, it's admissions counselors, deans of the college, and even our lovely president of the college, Marvin Krislov. So let's care for once, and do something about our future, cause I for one do not see us going anywhere good on the path we're on.

Admissions Office fun

I think it's been about a month since I started work in the admissions office as a Summer Intern, to continue on in the year as a Senior Intern. It's been an adventure. Though I've been working in that office for 3 whole years now, going on my fourth and final year, it's been an entirely new experience to be working in a very official position that in a behind the scenes position.

In the span of about a week I became entrusted with giving tours, interviewing prospective students, answering emails, answering phones, and showing people how to do things. Kind of crazy if you ask me. I'd say that I've done a pretty good job rising to the occaision, more so than some other people I can think of. Not that I don't love my coworkers, but some of them are a bit much.

Other than that, everything is about the same. Same group of counselors, same likes and dislikes, same filing, same being the most senior person, same goofing around in the intern office. Though I've definitely grown in my time here. I have more serious conversations with the counselors about things, like life and the office drama and alcohol. None of them question that I can drink (even though I shouldn't legally be drinking) and I feel like they really respect me.

Overall, it's the same office I've loved since my freshman year, the same office that gave me a reason to stay for so long, the same office that trusts me, the same office that puts a smile on my face each and every day. When my last days come in that office, I guarantee there will be amazing presents to go around. They've earned it.