Next is Chinwe Okona from Florida.
One of my favorite books is The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. The thing
I missed out most on in high school is reading for leisure, something
I really enjoyed when I was younger, because I just didn't have the
time. It turns out that Toni Morrison was born and raised in Lorain,
OH, just down the road from Oberlin. For winter term, I decided to try
and read all nine of Morrison's novels and blog about each one. I
aspire to be a neuroscience major, and feel that I won't have the
opportunity to take some of the literature classes that interest me at
Oberlin. With this project, I am able to read some books that I have
always hoped to read, as well as analyze them on my own terms. Check
out my blog for more insight on each of the novels:
http://chinweokona.blogspot.com
Chinwe
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Winter Term #3
Laura Jessee a middle hitter from Virginia has today's installment.
For my winter term I am backpacking in Arizona with my friend Anna Hughes. We are visiting sights such as the Grand Canyon and Oak Creek Canyon. We are camping and living out of our backpacks. For credit we keep nature journals to record our surroundings and we identify at least one new species a day. Today we hiked to a waterfall and climbed/bouldered. My journal focuses on the differences between the Appalachian Mountains where I grew up and the mountains here in Arizona. We are working on our observational skills along with our survival skills!
For my winter term I am backpacking in Arizona with my friend Anna Hughes. We are visiting sights such as the Grand Canyon and Oak Creek Canyon. We are camping and living out of our backpacks. For credit we keep nature journals to record our surroundings and we identify at least one new species a day. Today we hiked to a waterfall and climbed/bouldered. My journal focuses on the differences between the Appalachian Mountains where I grew up and the mountains here in Arizona. We are working on our observational skills along with our survival skills!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Winter Term
Our second posting comes from Liz Wong our sophomore setter
This winter term I decided to take on the adventure of baking. I did not want to just bake anything but I wanted to bake cakes! I love watching those cake shows on food network (admit it, you do too), so I decided to attempt to do it myself. My first cake was a birthday cake theme. I made a two tier square cake and decorated it to look like presents stacked upon each other. It came out really well for my first try. I made it just in time for my Grandma's birthday. For my next cake, I thought I'd give fondant and gum paste a go. Let's just say gum paste should be left to the professionals. I missed a direction on the gum paste box and couldn't move my fingers for fifteen minutes. In fact, my hands and fingers would still be stuck together if Amanda had not come to save the day. Fondant is not an easy thing to work with either. Those professionals make it look like, well, cake! My second cake was a 'thank you' cake for the physical therapist office that has helped me recover from my ACL injury. The finished product looked great but the process was messy. Powdered sugar, eggshells, and various other baking goods were all over the counters and floors. I failed multiple times before my fondant came out nice and smooth. By my third cake I was done, making rookie mistakes, such as forgetting to frost my cake before putting the fondant on (according to common sense the fondant needs something to stick to…according to me, it doesn’t). Anyway, winter term has been messy, fun, and semi-relaxing. I have realized that baking cakes and decorating them are certainly not as easy as Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss make it look. I will definitely be leaving it to the professionals, mostly because my mom has banned me from the kitchen haha.
This winter term I decided to take on the adventure of baking. I did not want to just bake anything but I wanted to bake cakes! I love watching those cake shows on food network (admit it, you do too), so I decided to attempt to do it myself. My first cake was a birthday cake theme. I made a two tier square cake and decorated it to look like presents stacked upon each other. It came out really well for my first try. I made it just in time for my Grandma's birthday. For my next cake, I thought I'd give fondant and gum paste a go. Let's just say gum paste should be left to the professionals. I missed a direction on the gum paste box and couldn't move my fingers for fifteen minutes. In fact, my hands and fingers would still be stuck together if Amanda had not come to save the day. Fondant is not an easy thing to work with either. Those professionals make it look like, well, cake! My second cake was a 'thank you' cake for the physical therapist office that has helped me recover from my ACL injury. The finished product looked great but the process was messy. Powdered sugar, eggshells, and various other baking goods were all over the counters and floors. I failed multiple times before my fondant came out nice and smooth. By my third cake I was done, making rookie mistakes, such as forgetting to frost my cake before putting the fondant on (according to common sense the fondant needs something to stick to…according to me, it doesn’t). Anyway, winter term has been messy, fun, and semi-relaxing. I have realized that baking cakes and decorating them are certainly not as easy as Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss make it look. I will definitely be leaving it to the professionals, mostly because my mom has banned me from the kitchen haha.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
J-Term at Oberlin
The cool thing about being a student at Oberlin is you get the entire month of January off to do anything you want and you can usually get the school to fund it! Over the next couple weeks we are going to put up some of the fun things the OCVB team is doing. First, is Rosie Eck a first year student from Maryland. Rosie writes:
For winter term, I am in Sarasota, Florida, trying some new things. I am interning at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium with the graphic design department and staying with some friends from camp in their cooperative house of 8 housemates. Though the weather has lately been an un-Floridian 30 to 40 degrees, I have been loving exploring and experiencing the novelties of a very interesting place. On my 45-minute bike ride to and from work, I enjoy observing the beautiful Sarasota Bay and accompanying pelicans as well as the swanky shops of St. Armand's key compared to the poorer but infinitely more colorful neighborhoods nearer to my house. At work, I have been adjusting photos in various ways, helping design a poster, digitizing raw video film and updating the website. On my first day, I got to snap some pictures of a leatherback sea turtle that had just been brought to Mote's sea turtle hospital and rehabilitation center, which was a dream. It's such a huge, smooth, incredible creature. On the weekends, I have adventured to such places as the Bargain Barn, where the thrift store cast-offs go to be sold by the pound. Wait till you see my new cowboy boots. I have also been enjoying diverse musical experiences from the church down the street's low-key musical worship to a student punk rock concert packed into a space the size of a living room to the folksy banjo-ing of one of my housemates that I can hear right now. Hopefully, the weather will warm up soon, but regardless of the temperature, I'll keep picking the grapefruits regularly right off the tree.
For winter term, I am in Sarasota, Florida, trying some new things. I am interning at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium with the graphic design department and staying with some friends from camp in their cooperative house of 8 housemates. Though the weather has lately been an un-Floridian 30 to 40 degrees, I have been loving exploring and experiencing the novelties of a very interesting place. On my 45-minute bike ride to and from work, I enjoy observing the beautiful Sarasota Bay and accompanying pelicans as well as the swanky shops of St. Armand's key compared to the poorer but infinitely more colorful neighborhoods nearer to my house. At work, I have been adjusting photos in various ways, helping design a poster, digitizing raw video film and updating the website. On my first day, I got to snap some pictures of a leatherback sea turtle that had just been brought to Mote's sea turtle hospital and rehabilitation center, which was a dream. It's such a huge, smooth, incredible creature. On the weekends, I have adventured to such places as the Bargain Barn, where the thrift store cast-offs go to be sold by the pound. Wait till you see my new cowboy boots. I have also been enjoying diverse musical experiences from the church down the street's low-key musical worship to a student punk rock concert packed into a space the size of a living room to the folksy banjo-ing of one of my housemates that I can hear right now. Hopefully, the weather will warm up soon, but regardless of the temperature, I'll keep picking the grapefruits regularly right off the tree.
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