It's Only Homecoming, People

Warning...another post is coming in which Berne will occupy a soapbox...I seem to be posting more of those these days...

Yet another controversial issue has been in the air this week that I've been going back and forth whether to comment on or not. But I've been reading about it a ton, and it's even been on TV, so why not?

By now you've likely heard, read or seen that students at St. Cloud State did something very unusual last week...they named a male homecoming queen. Granted, a very unconventional move, but the controversy and anger this has generated is unbelieveable. In the past week, this coronation has been covered by the Pioneer Press, Star Tribune, St Cloud Times, WCCO TV, and others. It even made ABC national news.

My perspective: This is Homecoming for goodness sake. Within a matter of years,maybe even months, chances are nobody will remember who was crowned what without a trip to the university archives...it's not worth the hoopla.

Over the past week, I've read a multitude of articles and the comments they generated, particularly on the SC Times site. I offer the following assessment:

• This choice was made, fair and square, by SCSU students. The voter turnout wasn't huge, but very few elections on any campus draw a huge turnout.
• The nomination was not a joke. I can tell you from experience that SCSU Student Government, who nominated this man, are very serious people.
• Yes, this does break "tradition", but aren't traditions subject to be broken?
• This HAS happened before, as someone pointed out to me earlier this week, at UofM Morris I believe.
• If this were an attempt for SCSU Student Gov't to push a liberal or radical agenda, they'd be asking everybody to endorse this or do the same thing in order to quash gender stereotypes. They have not.
• Homecoming has NOTHING to do with the academic performance or mission of the institution. For a parent to threaten to remove his/her student from SCSU as a result of this would seem to be a gross over reaction to the situation.

Above all else, I find it absolutely disgraceful that people have actually threatened the lives of both the man crowned queen and the Student Government President over this. That is inexcusable, and really crosses the line, whether you agree with them or not. Seriously, if you'd sink so low as to threaten someone like that, you must have serious problems.

I'm not attempting to say this crowning was "right" or "wrong", but I think the hoopla is crazy. It's happened before, It'll happen again, and none of us has the right to judge the students involved. It was their choice. I wish the media, and society in general, would get a clue and move on to more pressing matters.

New on the Sidebar

You may notice some new links on my sidebar:

"Blogs I Manage"
I thought it was time I included links to the three Senate blogs I maintain:

• Senate Weblog
• Student Services Blog
• Web Team Blog

New Additions to "Blogs I Read"

• bizefingers- Go Tammi! Glad to see she's returned to blogging.
• Downward Facing Life- I know she reads mine, and apparently she adores me (Thanks for the kind words!), so the least I can do in return is add Sara to the blogroll. Being adored is so nice :)

Studio Tours

Hello readers!

Are you curious to know what other people think of my blog? If so, then read the latest round of Studio Tours from class:

Jonathan's Tour

Aaron's Tour

Jeppe's Tour

Boo!

Happy Halloween! Mom's favorite holiday, always big around the Christiansen household. Wonder how many trick or treaters they'll see tonight?

ANOTHER Chucky Movie?

For the love of Pete...just saw a commercial for yet another "Chucky" movie. Think I'll miss that one...those movies are so stupid, why do we need another one? Hopefully "Seed of Chucky" will not grow, and this movie will be the last in the series.

Another Useless Saturday

What did I do today...nothing. What did I need to do...a lot of things. Oh well.

On another note, I think Saturday Night Live is going downhill...these sketches aren't even funny. Except for the Robert Smigel cartoon with Bush and McCain...that was great.

Showing My Opinionated Side

Tonight I helped out with a voting discussion for the students in Maple. Justin, the MSUSA campus relations guy, came up to help. We had about 20 people there, a variety of perspectives both liberal and conservative. In addition to telling people how/where they can go in order to vote, we had some great discussion of issues, how people planned to vote and why.

I have a general rule I've set for myself that I stay pretty neutral in political discussions when I'm at a Senate sponsored event. We're a non partisan group, and we don't advocate for any candidate in particular. So, I usually keep my opinions pretty quiet.

Well, I broke my own rule. I knew it was going to happen when Justin told me on the walk over to Maple that he'd be asking for my opinion...political that is. When I realized that most people in the room knew me from Hall Council, I thought..."What the hell, they probably have figured out my leanings by now anyway" I said I was for Kerry, and told them why...mostly because I'm sick of Bush and the people around him, don't see a long term strategy for the war, don't like his education policy (NCLB=ALL children left behind), and am so sick of his push for a marraige amendment I could puke. I'm not necessarily for gay marriage, but it does not need to be part of the freaking constitution...when there are so many other things (like a war) going on, why is it such a big deal?

Afterwords, I said to Kelli and Pete (the PAAs who organized the thing) that I wasn't usually so politically open...it was a new side of me for them to see. Kelli said she figured I was more liberal, so I don't think anybody was too shocked.

And that's how a handful of Mapleites got to see Berne on Politics: Real, Uncensored, and Uncut.

Potluck for A Buck

HUPB's Potluck for a Buck event tonight looked to be a big success. There were a ton of people there, and the food was good. Only heard a little of the music, but that sounded good. I have to give some big kudos to them for putting something like this together in only about 2 weeks. Congrats to Lindsi, who was in charge of the whole shindig.

It was for a great cause (Hurricane Disaster Relief). Judging by the turnout, they should do this kind of thing again sometime.

The Double Standard of Leadership

This post on Julie's blog makes me think. In fact, I have been thinking for a long time about this higher standard, or is it a double standard, that student leaders, all leaders are held to.

I am a student leader on campus. Great, but that does not mean that I don't have opinions of my own. Not everything I say will be in line with Senate's stances. Not everything I do is related to Senate. I have views on campus affairs, the world, and politics. We all do. We are 25 individuals, not a singular blob. None of us are perfect.

Why then, does it sometimes feel like we have to be? I've often thought twice before expressing a personal opinion, because I wondered what it might look like. I've even thought twice about what I post on this blog, because god knows how many people around BSU read it.(Hence the well displayed copyright notice) Now, I'm not prone to say controversial or inapproprite things in the first place, but that's not the point. The point is I continually watch what I say, much more so than I think someone who is not a student leader might.

And now it's come to the point that the President of our organization has to take the "apology bullet" for something another student leader said. It would be one thing if the student was currently a member of the group, but he's not. So why in the world should she take heat? He is not her responsibility.

We are always under the microscope. Does this mean the Berne you know is fake? No. Does it mean I'm censored? Not really. But am I guarded? Yes. Should I have to be? Probably not, but that is life I guess.

BlogSpam

I always thought spam was an email thing. Apparently, it hits blogs too.

And he's right...don't buy cigarettes. Save your money for something fun.

A Different Perspective on Homework

Maybe those of us that bitch about homework...and those of us who will be high school teachers, should think about this post.

Another Reason to Vote

Yet another reason to vote: Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist has cancer. He is also old, and at 80, is not even the oldest Justice.

So why should this make people want to vote? Because the next President will surely name a couple of judges to the court. And that President will name someone who is in line with his thinking. Who do you want in your high court?

I'm Back!

Well, I've returned from my weekend in the Cities and am back to blogging. I thought about doing one from the hotel last night, but unfortunately the darn public internet shut off at 9:30 pm, so no such luck. Each day was it's own adventure.

Friday:
Left Bemidji nearly on time! I have been so impressed with our punctuality this year. Had about an hour worth of meetings, before the Penny Fellowship Dinner was to start. Having been to the dinner 2 years in a row, I elected early on to forgo it this year. Was later told I didn't miss much. Former Exec Dir showed up, which I guess was rather awkward.

Instead, I had a wonderful dinner with Brent at Friday's. Good food, good times. It'd been several months since I or anyone else in the group had seen him, so it was nice to be able to get together. He has had a rough couple of months, but seems to be happy now. After dinner, we met everyone else, plus Melissa J, another fabulous former Senator, at my house. Mom had been nice enough to bake us cake and cookies--Yum!!...Actually, I'd wanted to get there before the others, after all it was my house, but the schedule we were going by was wrong. So, Julie called my cell, and left a message like "Hey we're at your house, where the heck are you?" It was pretty funny :) It was nice to see everybody together again and having fun.

Saturday:
The day was incredibly long...14 hours. Mostly it was pretty good. Lots of meetings and seminars which were very interesting and informative. One delegation walked out of a seminar because they were supposedly offended by the way a presenter used a certain word (Hispanic). Most of us found this quite rude...the presenter was an Assoc. Vice Chancellor who himself is a member of that ethnic group.

Saturday night was supposedly Delegates Preview. That was kind of a mess. There were 3 different versions of the Articles of Operation floating around, and people were extremely confused. Thankfully, the Board realized they were going to need to do something differently, and let the rest of us go at 10:15.

Lesson Learned: Never forget to shut off your cell phone during meetings. Or, at least change it to vibrate. Jena (sister) called during Student Services committee. It was funny, especially since we'd all reset each others ringtones on Friday and mine is now a lot more obvious than before.

Sunday:
Delegates ended up not dealing with the Articles. Thank God, it would have taken forever. We passed the budget which took half an hour...quickest Assembly ever. But a new committee to discuss Articles awaits us in December and January, before the regular Spring DA in March, so it's nowhere near over. The Board meeting got bickery...an hour spent on the wording controversy, another on the non-appointment of a PR Coordinator. We were all really frustrated, especially Julie. We talked on the way home...Sasina said she'd never heard me swear so much before. That tends to happen when I'm frustrated by a conference.

Overall, even with ups and downs, it was a decent weekend. Most of the people who were first time conference attendees have told me they want to go again in December, so they must have seen a lot of positive things. That makes me feel really good...reminds me why I keep doing these things, and that I did the right thing taking the Campus Rep position.

Here's looking forward to December.

Off To The Cities

Well, it's Friday. About an hour until we head to St Paul. Don't expect to be blogging again for a couple days, but one never knows. I said the same thing before I went to Moorhead.

Typical

As usual, I've stalled and left my packing to the last minute. But it's done now. I have not had a good night's sleep in two days, and probably don't have one coming over the next three. I'm going to be running on fumes by the time Sunday rolls around. I also see little hope of getting any homework done over the weekend...never have time at conferences, so I'll need to play catchup when I get back. The usual routine. Tommorrow night should be fun, Mom is baking for all of us.

Now, off to bed...

That Strict Feeling

Tonight was one of those crazy meetings. Jon was calling Kate "Chair Christiansen" all night. Maybe he just gets into a rhythm of calling my name. It was pretty funny.

Afterwords, I got the people who are going to the Conference this weekend together so I could answer questions and explain how it's going to work. We've got several people who've never been before, so I had to go over expectations and rules...that people are supposed to go to all sessions, etc.

People were teasing me about being so tough, the "attendance nazi"...I don't like having to sound so strict. I hate it. But the fact is that as Campus Rep, it's my job to know where everyone is at all times, and that they follow policies. I don't like sounding "parental"

But hey, I think we're ready and it should be fun.

Wow! Cool!

I was looking through my referrers, and noticed the address of a blog I'd used for the Blogging Blogs assignment. I clicked on it, and discovered she'd actually written about my review on her blog. And, she even took one of my suggestions to improve her blog by shortening the length of her profile. Pretty cool, I think.

Read her post, and my comment here.

Are Wikis really that bad?

According to this wiki rant (well ok, maybe not a rant) they are boring pages nobody likes. I used to love the wiki. I now love blogs.

But fret not, I still like the wiki, for certain things. But collectives can be scary uncharted territory.

It's all a matter of personal taste.

A Good Monday

I must say that today was one of the better Mondays I've had in a while.

• My computer works!!! I turned it on before class this morning and the screen was fine. Weird.
• I got an A on my Ed Psych Test...HUGE WOOO HOOO! I was so worried about that dang thing cause I kinda let it go till the last day before I did it. I am so happy with the result...it was all I could do to keep from jumping up and down in class.
• I am almost caught up on my homework
• I searched through my archives and found a couple good ideas for Adv Writing papers. I'll read to the class tomorrow and ask for comment.
• I was almost caught up on my email, but after my committee meeting, I have new ones to send out.
• My pre-grad plans are nearing completion. Yeah, we Ed majors have to submit them TWICE.
• The sweatpants and Maroon 5 CD I ordered from Amazon came in the mail!

Computers Are Evil!!!

I woke up this morning( well ok, around noon) with the best of intentions to do a whole bunch of work on the computer...type up a bunch of stuff, work on my Advanced Writing papers and etc. Well, lo and behold I turn on my laptop and the SCREEN IS OUT!! I can see there's stuff there, but it is so dark I can't read it. I AM SOOO PISSED! I have not had a single problem with the thing in the 2.5 years I've had it, and now this...and screens tend to be the most pricey repair, usually like $500 or more...ugh! At that rate, maybe it's time to start shopping.

What makes me crazy is that I practically live on the thing...all my school papers, senate documents....all on the hard drive, and if I can't see them I can't get at them. And to think I was just beginning to consider buying flash drives to back stuff up in case of an incident just like this, but hadn't gotten around to it.

So here I sit in the Senate Office on a Sunday afternoon, making do so I can try to get my work done. This sucks!

Back in High School, Part II

Today I found myself back at BHS. This time I observed a portion of the 9th grade class, plus the afternoon class of Seniors, Advanced Composition. And at lunch, I got to meet the majority of the English teachers, most of whom are BSU educated, so that was cool.

It was really nice to get a chance to spend time in a high school classroom this week. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy working with the middle school kids every week, but I want to teach high school kids. Therefore, experiencing a high school level English classroom is much more applicable to me as a future high school English teacher.

I've spent enough time there in the two days this week that my observation assignment obligations are fulfilled, but I've been told I can go back anytime. (and maybe even interact with the students as opposed to being "invisible") And believe me I will.

A Positive Morning Meeting

This morning, on my day off, I woke up and headed over to Deputy for a meeting with BSU's new VP of Administration. Yes, Senate addicts work off days and weekends. He actually apologized for requesting a meeting on day with no classes, but I didn't mind because I had to visit the high school this afternoon anyway, so it wasn't really a day off for me.

I'm sure meeting with administrators sounds like a torturous activity to most people, but it's really not. BSU's "top brass" is great, probably the best of the state universities. We are lucky here--our administration actually gives a rip about what students think. We may not always agree with their decisions, but they at least give us the time of day.

This was the first one on one meeting I've had with this new guy, and I must say it was one of the best I've had with any administrator in a long time. We met for about an hour and covered a lot of ground. There seems to be a genuine interest on his part to make changes around here that we've been requesting for a long time; to make measurable, documentable progress on things like security and campus accessibility. And it seems that when we ask him a question, we're gonna get an honest answer in a reasonable period of time. No more waiting 2 or 3 months after repeated reminders.

I left his office feeling energized. It's always a guessing game when you start working with someone new, but I think we've got a winner in this guy...someone who will be willing to help us make BSU better. Of course time will tell, but so far things look really good. Yet another sign we're headed for a banner year senate-wise.

A Free Night

Tonight was the last session of Foundations, and we had an oral exam. Most of us were let out after round one of questioning. We were done about 7 pm, and I was going to go over to the office to put the new pictures up on the website. Of course I told P, who said there was no way I was going back to the office: "You work too hard, go home and watch TV or something," he said.

He's right. I do work very hard, and sometimes push myself to the limit. So I did exactly that, watched TV all evening, and did not touch homework or Senate stuff. I'm lucky to have friends who watch out for me, and remind me to relax once in a while. Because sometimes I'm so focused on taking care of things that I just don't.

Thanks P.

The 4FC

A few weeks ago, I noticed a filer posted in Maple advertising for something called the 4FC. On the flier was a Blogspot address, and I wondered what in the heck it was all about.

Well, I have since discovered that 4FC stands for the Fourth Floor Club. There's a group of students on the fourth floor of Pine who are attempting to foster community among residents of the fourth floor. It started as a group for fourth floor residents of any BSU dorm, but apparently has now expanded to any fourth floor resident, on campus or off, who lives in Bemidji and is a student.

Now, I'm not a resident of the 4th floor (I've lived on 1 Maple since coming to BSU), but I think it's pretty cool that these guys have banded together to take pride in where they live. Evidently, they have attracted 80 people to their email list so far. Plus I think it's cool that they are using blogs to get the word out.

So, all you 4th foor residents out there, or any other interested people, take a moment to visit the 4FC at the 4FC Blog

And now...Presenting The Prez...

Julie's inagural post on the Senate Blog.

Yeah, I reminded both she and Jake about posting tonight at the meeting. Now that they've started I hope we can keep it going. As JP alluded to in her project blog, I think this will be a very good thing for us...another way to reach out to students.

And yes, I sometimes talk in funny voices in the office. Is that so wrong?

More Insanity

So yeah, this afternoon Julie found out that MnSCU cancelled the Revenue Fund meeting, which means we need to reorganize our conference transportation plans. And I thought being MSUSA Rep would be simple. Arrrgh!

Jake Enters the Blogsphere

Let us all welcome Vice President Overgaard to the BSU Senate Blog!

Crazy Day

Yeah, today has been nuts. My Tuesdays and Thursdays always seem this way, but today I was especially frazzled...

Dragged my ass out of bed, and arrived at the Senate office about 9:15. I like to be there from 8-10 on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, but it just was not going to happen. Was immediately greeted with several emails to respond to. There is a conference coming up, and people needed to be added/subtracted from the participant list. Doesn't sound like a big deal except that lists were due yesterday, and I actually wanted to have it in Friday, but that obviously didn't happen. Things always seem to crumble when I try to be the most organized.

Went to Advanced Writing, where we had a great discussion about Lindsi's paper, which was both personal and thought provoking. The paper had to do with religion, so that got people thinking. I feel a little bad though...I think I took some of comments a tad out of context, and although I did not intend for it to be, my response may have seemed a bit harsh. But overall, it was a good class hour.

After class, back to the office I went where I wolfed down a sandwich before work, and tried to clarify with Julie and Jake who in the heck we were listing as Delegates given the musical chairs that had gone on this morning as far as conference attendees.

Upon arriving at the lab, I was almost shocked to find that the usual Pedagogy class was not using it. I spent the next 2 hours reading and responding to email, mostly from administrators, senate people and MSUSA. Finally got the conference list clarified with office manager Kathy...the woman is a saint to put up with all of us crazy kids constantly changing things. Also wrote about my blog for JP to use as part of her project, and sent a reply to BK, plus posted stuff on the Senate message board, before being visited by a committee member who helped me write a bill. We also talked about senate in general, and how weird it is that so many people have moved on. I love our group, and we have great new people, but it still feels odd, almost like there's this void .

After work, headed back to the office and finished off another bill with another committee member's help before heading to my second to last marathon session of Ed. Foundations. We got out early, about 9:15 instead of 10, which was good...and here I sit wondering what happened to the last 2 hours.

I suppose I better go to bed soon, so I can get up and have more craziness tomorrow.

Mail

Just checked my mail. Sprint bill. Yay!...NOT!

Why is it that 99% of my mail is either junk or bills? A postcard might be nice once in a while.

Master Teacher

Tonight in Foundations we watched a video, actually a tape of a Nightline segment, following around a "master teacher" in inner-city New York. It was quite interesting. I wouldn't exactly have called this woman a master teacher, but she was fairly good...I don't think I could ever handle a school like that, so more power to those who can.

Re-Evaluating One's Blog

When I started this blog, or at least the project portion, I decided that I was going to use the archive capability to look back, see how I'd changed, and reflect on how the blog had changed or matured.

Well, the other day on one of my frequent visits to UThink, I stumbled... Well, ok I'll be honest, the blogger is a friend of a friend, so I didn't exactly stumble upon it... this blog (Fourth on the list for blogs with most entries), and a post entitled "Why Blog?"

Although not as in depth as my evaluation of my blog in a few weeks will be, the blogger here has done pretty much what I intend to do at the close of this class...he's looked back at his first post, in his case five months ago, and reflected on his reasons for blogging, and the changes since he started.

I find it cool that someone else out there is actually making use of archives to reflect. And from what I can tell, there are no plans for this U student to quit blogging, just like I don't intend to quit once the project is over, and the sun sets on Blogs and Wikis Class.

Back in High School

Today I did an observation at Bemidji High School for Ed Psych. Being back in a high school is kind of funny...Granted it's only been a little over two years since I was in one myself, but the experience is still interesting. So is going to BMS for the practicum every week.

I must say I was rather struck by the size of Bemidji High. I mean, I come from a suburban high school with over 2000 students, but BHS is easily a third bigger. I guess I was surprised there would be such a big school here. I mean, Bemidji is not that big of a town.

Anyway, I spent about 3 hours there observing 2 English 9 classes. Oh, life as a carefree 9th grader...those were the days. It was definitely interesting to see the contrast between the two periods. The kids were pretty good, only a couple trouble makers. The period 2 group was like "What's he doing here?" when they saw me. Third period didn't really acknowledge me, which was ok since I'm not technically supposed to interact with them while observing. I'll be going back on Friday to observe a group of Seniors...that contrast with the Freshmen will be interesting too. It sounds like the teacher would like me to visit more beyond the observation too...we'll see if my schedule permits.

It's a Bird, it's a Plane...

I never saw the Superman movies, but their star was certainly a cool and inspiring guy.

Rest in Peace, Christopher Reeve.

Dreams

I had another one last night...another dream about Senate. This time I was in a meeting with Res Life people about God knows what. I always have such stupid dreams. Most of them aren't even weird, they're just about mundane crap like meetings. It also surprises me that most of my dreams revolve around Senate...is it a sign of the important role it plays for me, or a sign that it's October 10, and I already need a vacation?

Political Satire

I was skimming through some of the entries on the Rhetoric 1101 blog (see blogroll) and noticed some discussion about JibJab. Normally, I'd have thought nothing of it, but since Julie told me that her MSN display name was from jibjab.com, I was curious about what this site was that I'd now heard about twice.

So, I went to the site and watched both clips...political jabs. Very funny, and they poke fun equally at both candidates. Laughed my ass off. Although I must say that the Rhetoric students are right in their comments. If clips like that are where voters form opinions, we're in trouble.

Weekends

Once again, it's Saturday night, and I realize I have done absolutely nothing today. Why is it that 9 out of 10 of my weekends are completely useless. I start out with the best of intentions, to catch up from my busy week, and all I end up doing is sleeping and watching tv. Why is this? I am a driven person, and I have so much to do...why am I such a lazy ass on the weekend?

I've Reeled in Another

A friend just told me she's become hooked on blogging.

One more down, so many to go...

BSU in the Blogsphere

I don't know who Chris Samp is, but according to someone on UThink, he deserves the Heisman and he'll give the Beavers a run for their money this weekend.

I hope not. Go Beavers!

Eval of the debate, Julie Style

" George Bush is a dumb hick smurf."

-Julie

I wonder which smurf he'd be? And if he's a smurf, then what cartoon character might John Kerry be?

Late Night Musings

I promised a practicum update...well, all I can say is it seems to be going well. As the weeks pass it seems that the kids are responding to me a little more. It's still a challenge, but it's getting better. I'll be doing observation at the high school on Monday, we'll see how that goes.

Senate is good. Still extremely busy, and in need of people. MSUSA ED was back yesterday and today. We appointed a high school classmate of mine as a senator, which I think is pretty cool. Higher Ed committee was here today, and I heard it went well. I wanted to go, but had to work in the lab. I guess footage of Julie and Chris testifying made it on Lakeland News.

Spent several hours in the office tonight working on Ed Psych take home test. Never gonna leave one of these till the last day ever again. It's due at 3pm tomorrow, and I still have 2 questions to do. Thank god I am free between 9-2, so I'll have time to finish adequately. I hope I do ok, it's not easy.

Noticed tonight that I've been listed as a link on Julie's blog as Mac Stud. I guess that nickname's gonna stick for a while. I suppose I don't mind. Heck, I don't even really mind being called Bernie anymore, and I used to hate that with a passion.

Well, I think it's bedtime.

Nothing Major Today

It's late, I'm tired. More blog tomorrow. Maybe a practicum update.

Homework in the Senate Office

The post immediately before this one is actually a draft paper for Advanced Writing. So if any people from that class read my blog, they get a sneak peek of what I'll read on Thursday. I put it here because it relates to blogs.

Here's the funny part--I wrote it this evening while sitting in the Senate Office. I wrote it quickly, and actually felt productive. Maybe it's easier to concentrate in the office...fewer distractions, less noise. I dunno, but at least I got some writing done.

Blogs and the Digital World

We live in a digital, technology based world. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. If someone would have asked me just a couple of years ago if I was a technically oriented person, I probably would have laughed in their face. I knew how to use a computer, yes, but that’s about where my tech expertise ended.

It all began to change during my Senior year of high school. I joined the student council, and in my infinite wisdom decided that since so many kids were using the internet, we better have a website. I decided I was going to learn web design, signed us up on a free server, started a Hotmail account, and set to work building a site. It was going so well that I even convinced the advisor to upgrade to a pay site in order to allow us more bandwidth for posting pictures and such.

All was well for about six months, until one day I was shocked to discover that our harmless little site had been blocked on the school computers. Now naturally, I wanted to find out why. After all, this was the student council, not some kind of porn site. Well, I was then told that the district was not allowing any school groups to maintain pages off of their server. Plus, students would no longer be allowed to maintain it without being carefully watched by staff. They unblocked the site for the remainder of the year, but there was no one with the interest to keep it up after I left. It never made it onto the district server, and it died an unceremonious death upon my graduation from Mounds View High.

That experience left me with a fairly bad taste in my mouth as far as technology and education was concerned. So, for the first year I was at BSU, I pretty much reverted back to my semi-technophobe self. I used the computer for papers, email, research, and instant messaging, but I was pretty sure my website days were over. I still had the itch to get “back in the game”, but on the other hand I thought maybe I was better off without it.

Then last year, I caught the tech bug again when during fall semester, I figured out how to use Front Page, and became pseudo-webmaster for the Student Senate. Come spring, I took the Writing for Secondary Teachers course, where I was introduced to the CAL Dialogue and to something called a wiki. I immediately took to both, and posted like mad. I was working on the web again and I loved it.

Because I liked posting to the wiki so much, I decided to enroll in the Weblogs and Wikis course this fall. Little did I know that my affinity for the wiki would be matched, even surpassed, by a love for the journal-like things we call blogs.

In the last four weeks, I have become enthralled with the concept of blogging. I usually post once, sometimes two or three times a day. Some are short, some long. Some are funny, some serious. But it’s all me. I see it as a limitless tool for self expression and discovery. And, with the archives, I will be able to look back months, even years from now and see what I wrote about on a given day. Yes, I could do that with a paper journal, but there’s no telling if I could actually read it…anyone who’s seen my handwriting can attest that it is pretty bad.

Along with keeping my own blog, I have also taken to reading others’ blogs. In my class, the class before me, even complete strangers. I’ve also been surprised to discover how many of my friends keep them. It’s amazing how much you can learn about a person, even someone you’ve known for years, just by reading their blog. From intensely personal revelations about family, friends and even sexuality, to random musings on politics and the news of the day, it’s all there. Reading blogs also builds a community of bloggers. I frequently comment on and link to things I see in other blogs.

Not long ago, Professor Morgan told me he had me pegged as a wiki guy. He’s not entirely wrong, I still enjoy the wiki. But, I’m becoming a genuine blogaholic. I not only maintain my own, but have sucked Senate into the mix with three other blogs. Plus, I post to the Daybook, which means I now belong to five blogs, and I’ve only been doing this for a month! Reading and writing blogs is like eating a can of Pringles…once you’ve started it’s near impossible to stop. Blogs have an almost addictive quality. I’ve told friends in recent days, who are bloggers themselves, that we ought to start a program called Blogaholics Anonymous. Because it’s true folks, my name is Berne, and I’m a blogaholic.

All Right!

So, I've been aggressively plugging Senate in MHC the last two weeks, and this morning two guys came in to get applications. Granted, I couldn't immediately "place" them...I knew I had seen them but wasn't sure where. But when one said "We both live on 2A" I was quite pleased. I guess my recruitment efforts actually paid off for once.

A What-breaker?

As I've said in previous posts, I enjoy made up words. However, I have to wonder if this one on Aaron's blog is a typo:

"Game three of the flag football season was a fartbreaker."

It's my guess that he meant to type "heartbreaker" and hit the F instead of the H. But who knows...so I wonder, what exactly is a Fartbreaker? Is it simply "one who farts" or is it something more? His is a blog about philosophy after all.

Impressed With MHC

Had hall council tonight, and I must say I'm pretty impressed. There are actually lots of residents showing up as opposed to last year, when I was the lone resident at some meetings. Tonight we discussed the issue of locked wing doors, and there was a guy from my floor there that had actually taken time to research alternatives. That blew me away. I'm glad to see that Maple has a strong group, especially since I heard some HC's are struggling a bit.

And as an added bonus, at least a dozen people signed tuition freeze cards. Woo hoo!

A Sad Day for BSU

As I was surfing the web today at work, I noticed that BSU is the subject of a Star Tribune cover story.

You know, this whole incident makes me extremely sad and angry for three main reasons:

First, if these allegations prove true, and it sure as hell seems there's a mountain of evidence, it is absolutely deplorable and disgusting what these three idiots did to this poor girl. Their outright disregard for this individual is mind boggling. What in sam hell made these three lame brains think that in a million years, taking advantage of a woman like this would be ok? Because it's not OK, and in fact it proves that they are sick, twisted, and have absolutely no regard for others or what is right and wrong. In addition, I wonder if these losers comprehend the fact that they have not only done harm to the victim, but have also severely F-ed up their own futures as well. Guilty or not, no one on this campus, in this town, or even in this state, will ever look at them the same again.

Second, their actions have struck fear into the campus and community. If there was ever any doubt that this sort of crime could occur in our midst, there is now no doubt at all. Many people, especially female students, may never feel the same way when they are out at night again. There may always be a level of fear, a feeling that these types of predators are indeed around. And that's scary.

Third, there is now a sort of black mark on BSU, its students, and its athletics. 99% of the people on this campus are wonderful, kind, compassionate, and law abiding. Our students perform well academically. We do good on our campus and in the community. But unfortunately, the overwhelming good of this University has now been overshadowed, at least in the short term by the (alleged) actions of three bozos.

What a sad day for Bemidji State, its students and community. May justice be done, and the school's reputation suffer no further for the actions of a few severly misguided students.

Note: (10/4, 10:30 PM)Readers:This is a personal reaction to a news story, nothing more, nothing less.

New on Berne's World

I've added links to UThink and Clancy's class in my sidebar. The Rhetoric 1101 blog is really worth a look. Her students have really caught on to this thing we call blogging, and there are really interesting posts about things such as religion and politics. The blog allows public comments, so I've taken the liberty of adding my two cents on a couple of them.

Coming this Christmas to a Tree Near You

Tonight I saw perhaps the most disturbing toy commercial ever. In the tradition of Tickle Me Ekmo comes E-L-M-O, an Elmo doll that dances and sings to the tune of YMCA. Good God, that's frightening. Just wait, and you'll surely see the mess in the malls that we had a couple years ago.

And all the kids will play with is the box.

Unproductive

It's almost 2 on this Sunday afternoon, and I must say that this weekend has been completely unproductive. I have so many things I need to do: work on papers, work on Ed Psych take home test, read, and so much more. Instead I'm sitting here watching Real World. On top of that, I have a headache and have been experiencing problems with Blogger all day. It did finally publish, and I now have a counter in the footer. Plus, I found some templates for the web team to consider while I was on Bravenet. Next, I'd like to add a tracker.

I guess that today has not been a total wash, but I suppose I better buckle down and do some work.

Minnesotans and the Weather

I've been wondering lately...why is it that we Minnesotans always like to talk about the weather? I notice that pretty much no matter who I'm talking to, the connversation always seems to turn to weather. In our case, it's usually how cold and nasty it is outside. I was on the phone with my parents last night, and they mentioned it had snowed in Duluth where Jena (my sister) goes to school. Snow this early? Yuck!

Posting at Work

In her book, Rebecca Blood says that you should never post at work. Well, I'd modify that--if you are a corporate professional, it's probably true. However, if like me, you are a student worker in a computer lab, I think it's justified. To be honest, there are days I can sit in the lab for hours and not have more than a handful of people come in. In that instance, I will often blog, work on homework or other stuff. It's a hell of a lot better to try and be productive than it is to sit on your booty for hours doing nothing.