Big Sky Today

Big sky today. The clouds billowed as far as I could see, and their white highlights and black lowlights edged the gray centers that spilled into the light blue voids. It reminded me of late fall, but there was no chill or possibility of snow. It was just big. I wanted to get out of my car and stretch my arms and breath deep. I wanted to jump and see how close I could get to the soft gray edges, but why today when the clouds are bigger and higher than ever?

University of Michigan Admissions

In 2003, three years after I had been admitted to the University of Michigan, the constitutionality of the points based admissions process was challenged. The case, Gratz v. Bollinger, reached the Supreme Court. The admissions process was held to be unconstitutional because it was not narrowly tailored enough to not violate the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the United State Constitution.

You need 100 points to be admitted.

Academic factors (100 points):

  • 80 – High school GPA
  • 12 – ACT or SAT score
  • 10 – Quality of high school
  • 8 – Strength of high school curriculum

Non-academic factors (40 points):

  • 10 – In-state resident
  • 4 – Alumni relationships
  • 1 – Outstanding essay
  • 5 – Personal achievement
  • 20 – Other, including
    • Socioeconomic disadvantage
    • Underrepresented minority
    • Athletic recruitment
    • Provost’s discretion

Looking back, I spent way too much time on my essay.

I Read Harry Potter

After vehemently abstaining from Harry Potter books for years, I must now admit to succumbing to their magical-mystical-mumbo-jumbo. I’ve read* the first three in the last two months and am a third of the way through the fourth book.

And although it’s tough to admit, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed each book. However, after starting the fourth, I’ve realized how dull the first three were. It’s like the J.K. Rowling took a writing class before starting the fourth book, and just in time. I was getting sick of the repetitive plot cycle of books one thru three.

I’m hoping to finish the first six books before the seventh comes out in July. The seventh book happens to be the last Harry Potter book ever, which is a good thing. No longer will I be chained to this absurd reading list of dark children’s books.

*By “read” I mean that Skye has read them to me while I drive.

What About the Kid?

I’m reviewing for my Constitutional Law final and I’ve just gotten to Personal Liberties: Abortion under the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Specifically, I’m briefing Roe v. Wade, which for the handful of people who don’t know, is a case concerning whether a Texas law that banned abortion under almost all circumstances was constitutional. The Court held that the law impinged on the woman’s right to privacy as a fundamental right.

That’s all old news. I’m just wondering who Roe’s kid is and how he/she feels about not only almost being aborted, but also about being the outcome of such a landmark case.

More on Personal Timelines

Mark Cuban wrote (link):

Our past, and really our profile was defined by the contents of shoeboxes and milkcrates. The places where we kept old papers, pictures, grades, notes we passed to the girl we had a crush on.

Over the last few years, its evolved to the equivalent digital placeholder. Its on Flickr, photobucket, Myspace, Facebook, wherever we host and store all the digital pictures, videos,blog entries , comments and discussions we participate in that we share publicly. Or its in an email database that is hosted or backedup online that we may or may not choose to make public.. And these are just the elements we self maintain.

Our lives are being documented , cataloged and indexed whether we like it or not. But since its a relatively new phenomena, there really isnt much history out there . Our pasts, even of high school kids has far more offline and out of the reach of search engine spiders, than online.

All of this is very true and there is very little we can do to stop it. Information is power, and it flows more freely than ever today.