Hear Me Out

Inauguration Update

DC is a crazy town right now. The media estimates the crowd for tomorrow at anywhere between 2 and 5 million people.

In fact, the NYTimes says our cell phones may stop working tomorrow:

"The largest cellphone carriers, fearful that a communicative citizenry will overwhelm their networks, have taken the unusual step of asking people to limit their phone calls and to delay sending photos. The carriers are also spending millions of dollars to temporarily and substantially upgrade their networks in Washington."

I have a Verizon CrackBlackberry, which I rely to function day-to-day. I'm hoping my service won't be interrupted because of the throngs of inauguration-goers. It's a good thing they're adding extra radios to cell towers in the area.

Tomorrow is one reason why DC is unlike any other city in the country. And here at AU, we're front and center.

Bolivian President

Bolivian President Evo Morales spoke at AU last month in his first visit to DC. He is known as the country's first indigenous head of state in nearly 500 years.

Although Morales has been praised by some for his populist policies, he is a member of Bolivia's Socialist Party known as MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo). He has established ties with other Socialist and anti-American world leaders like Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Cuba’s Fidel Castro, and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

According to American Today, Moraleas spoke in Spanish and utilized a translator for the crowd. He was in Washington to speak at the Organization of American States (OAS).

We have many world leaders come to campus on a regular basis. And although they may not all be strong allies of the U.S., AU always supports education and dialogue. You don't get heads of state dropping by on just any college campus.

AU Inauguration Festivities

AU celebrated the inauguration with its own day of events. First, University Archivist Susan McElrath led guests on a special tour of the campus. Then there were a bunch of professor-sponsored panels on the election in the Katzen Arts Center.

I was asked to sit on a panel called "The Youth Impact on Election '08 and the Obama White House" moderated by Distinguished Professor Leonard Steinhorn. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it ended up being a great time. 4 Other students were invited who had diverse political backgrounds. We had a great discussion in front of an audience of about 50 or 60 (which is pretty good, I think).

There was also a featured panel with more qualified participants than me, like Public Opinion Strategies Founder Glen Bolger, Distinguished Professor Jim Thurber, and members of the Obama Transition team.

Overall it was a great time. It's cool to be able to participate in these kind of events in the nation's captial while history is being made in front of your eyes.

Election Stats

I was watching CNN the other day and they were talking about the voter turnout statistics for the 2008 presidential election. They cited a report from the American University Center for the Study of the American Electorate (CSAE), which I didn't even know existed. But here are some stats they came up with from November:

• 131,257,542 Americans voted for president; 9 million more than 2004.
• Overall turnout records were set in 9 states and DC.
• DC had the highest increase, followed by North Carolina and Georgia.

It's pretty obvious that the crazy increases in voter participation can be attributed to the huge increase in the African American vote.

Oh and as for the Republicans, GOP turnout was down by 3 percent, representing just 25 percent of the electorate. The last time that happened was in 1964, when Lyndon Johnson blew out Barry Goldwater. So I guess McCain didn't do too bad considering the electorate he was working with.

At any rate, it's cool to hear your school mentioned on CNN randomly.

Basketball

I sure hope our men's basketball team can win the Patriot League again this year. And so far, it's looking good!

Last night, AU won its 5th straight game 69-55 over Bucknell. And they haven't even been close - all 5 wins have been by more than 10 points. I was a bit concerned when we lost to Mount St. Mary's at home, but it looks like we've found our groove.

On Saturday, we play Colgate in Hamilton, New York (which I guess is near Syracuse?). Hopefully the long drive won't get to our team and come away with a win. AU's athletic site says we've won 8 straight games against them, so we should be able to increase our win streak to 6 games.

The game will probably get lost in all of the inauguration festivities this weekend, but that's okay. The team knows we're rooting for them to head back to the NCAA tournament again this year.

Peace Corps

Before you apply, you should know that AU is all about service. Now, I realize every university says that, but AU really walks the walk.

For instance, we just ranked 3rd for Peace Corps volunteers in medium sized schools (between 5,001 and 15,000 undergrads). At first glance, that may not seem like a huge deal. But think about this:

We're at the way bottom in the "medium-sized" school category. We have about 6,000 undergrads and they compare our numbers head-to-head with schools with up to 15,000 undergrads. Yet we still smoke all but 2. Oh yea, and those 2 in front of us? GW and University of California - both of which are WAY bigger than us.

I personally think this is a dumb way to rank schools. Why not do it by percentage? If they did that, we'd be near the top nationwide. I guarantee it.

Oh well. According to AU's website, 51 AU students volunteered in the Peace Corps in 2008, bringing our overall total to 769. Not too shabby.

Class Over Winter Break

Sound fun? It actually wasn't too bad. I took the Public Affairs and Advocacy Institute this year from Dec. 29-Jan 10. The class teaches you all about lobbying from the top experts in DC. There were Republican and Democrat speakers, plus issue advocacy people.

Oh yea, and you knock out 4 credits in 2 weeks. So it's a pretty cool deal. Now I have one less class to worry about this Spring.

But it's not easy. The class runs 6 days a week for 2 straight weeks, 9am-5pm. Our team of 5 undergrads and grad students designed a detailed lobbying plan for a cap-and-trade climate change program. It was intense, but I learned a lot.

For more information, click here.

Making Money

So I'm a little strapped for cash this semester, so I'm looking for ways to make more money. A friend told me that the National Institute of Health might be a good option. Apparently, they pay a lot of money if you participate in one of their many clinical trials. So, I signed up.

Today I got a call from the NIH. I guess they needed a healthy person to do some tests on - just blood work and then a brain scan. And get this: they were offering almost $600! Too bad I'm not free tomorrow to metro over for the study. They said they'd call me back if something else turns up, though. Bummer...

The Best Dorm on Campus

One of the best things about college is getting to live out on your own, so of course we all want to make sure we're in the right dorm. Mandy just commented and asked which dorm is the best to choose. The answer is one you hear often about important life decisions - it depends.

AU's dorms are split up between 2 sides of campus. The South Side dorms are Anderson and Letts; while the North Side dorms are Hughes, McDowell, and Leonard. Centennial (on South Side) and Nebraska (on North Side) are upperclass dorms.

In general, South Side has a reputation for being more noisy and party-friendly than North Side (mostly because there are simply more people in a smaller, interconnected area). But this is only a generality. Your living experience will depend most on your roommate and your floor. There were many floors that were really quiet/study-friendly on South Side and many that were noisy/party-friendly on North Side. So, like I said, it depends.

I lived in Letts for my fresman and sophomore years and in Centennial for my junior year before moving off campus, so I'm a South Side person for sure. I really loved living on the first floor of Letts my first year since it made it really easy to meet people. My roommate and I got to know a ton of people because they would walk by our door every day. However, we also had to deal with noise as well. The walls are really thin. Even though there are quiet hours, commotion can go on through the night.

As far as practicality goes, Hughes is the closest to the main quad and most academic buildings. So if you want to walk less, Hughes is the way to go. If you need help choosing between the South Side dorms, I think Anderson was recently rennovated (or will be soon).

I hope that helps!