Hey Carol,

I definitely am going through a few weeks of end of primary burn out. I'm just taking it easy and figure I'll get back in the swing of things around independence day.

I'm totally psyched about the crowd we're getting in the courts class. (I'm the voice asking the interview questions). It's definitely our biggest and most diverse class yet.

Dan Klein
Communications Intern
Young People For
People For the American Way Foundation
149 5th Avenue, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10010
212.420.0440 x25

Thank you. Interesting. This is printing in red. Is that because I pressed return with an empty comment field? (I was in the subject line.) I'm going to submit & edit, it's hurting my eyes. Yes, black print is easier to read.

I took Poli Sci for my BA: Western Civ wasn't offered (I read an old textbook about 5 yrs. ago, and it really did fill in a lot of history)and I was afraid History would be the same trimmed and fumigated stuff I'd been served before. I had an ex-Democratic committeewoman from Texas for the applied PS and a former Czech for the theoretical. Umm. I mostly slept thru theory, it baffled me. I got that the U.S. and U.S.S.R were nearly tied for aggressive acts, and our total was slightly higher. I finally got straight that "normative" meant average, not normal. Those two facts were significant, but I was pretty frustrated. Applied PS came the next semester. After that, I had a great friend (began babysitting for the teacher) and decided I'd stay out of partisan politics, fight only for issues.

Now, what's interesting - how I learn and how I learned that. A classmate asked for my notes once, and I agreed but said to let me copy them first, as I'd been tired that day and was nodding off. (Normally, my notes looked like outlines.) It was gibberish, beginnings of sentences and then chicken scratch. I felt terrible but had to apologize and show it to my friend. And then - I aced the test, on stuff I hadn't seen elsewhere. I've tested it since, and while nodding off's disrespectful and rarely understood, if I have a lesson on recorded media, I can nod off and really learn it.

So what DID I learn in PS theory? Well, certainly to extend my sense of self, my concept of "we" to include humaniy as a whole. And apparently I learned to avoid partisanship. And that norm/normative/accepted doesn't necessarily indicate normal at all. If George Bush were my next door neighbor, I wouldn't consider him normal, though given his use of others, I would probably not in that situation consider him dangerous.

And that's not what I intended to write at all. No regrets, though. It seems my old failing is following me - I am a synthesizer, not really an original artist. I can come up with an idea or develop an idea or test one or adjust one to a new situation/use, but - originating an idea is hard for me, unless it is totally spontaneous. I think of myself as creative, but I am really more of an applied person. I think really hard to get the theory straight, then to organize it for practice, and once it's tested, I walk. But - I need the truly creative to get me going.

Last week, I was trying to write less, and be more focused. And it was counter-productive. I still need to have political discussions with my neighbor to sort things out (still have my cold-or strep), but keyboarding is one of my best ways to put my thoughts together. I guess where I am going is - I am not terribly creative without someone else's spark, and unless the duties are clearly defined and primarily nonverbal I have to focus to be a good team member, and - my preferred mode is to jump onto other people's ideas and monopolize them in my own way in my own corner, and though I love people, unless I have a lot of time with them, I am a really execrable listener (meaning I hardly listen).

Now, that's an exaggeration, but - not a huge one. It is something I have to watch out for if I am too much alone. And between schools and deadlines, the cold, the broken car, and preparing to move, I am looking at it head-on. But - why should I worry? Anyone not interested can skip to the next entry. And perhaps, having admitted how wound up I am, I can unwind. Or get off the laptop and run down the street to my friend's when I start again. Or take the laptop over there. Hmm.

And, Dan, I am not taking a walk on this one. When my grasp on economics and politics is fleshed out, I won't need to follow it daily to keep the general understanding. I will have inner access to that general understanding for networking, teaching, and action. Otherwise, I sure wouldn't put myself through this.