“Mason wählt”: Getting Quoted in German

This is totally random and has nothing to do with my week in New Orleans or my continuing attempts to kiss a penguin. However, it’s awesome.

Last fall, a group of foreign correspondents were brought to George Mason University during one of the Mason Votes watch parties for a presidential candidate debate. I talked to a couple of them and had great fun hearing all the countries they were from. A few of them interviewed me but I didn’t really think about it after that.

Well! I was googling myself a little while back and managed to find a German article written from that event quoting me! Pretty awesome. Stephanie Plagens, a cool woman from my church, was kind enough to provide a free translation for me. : )

To avoid breaking any copyright laws, I’ve only put the English translation here. Go check out the original German article!

(And for the record, no, I was and am not the director of Mason Votes- there was clearly a miscommunication there. I worked in association with Mason Votes on a lot of things during the election, as a live-blogger, reporter and whatever.)

 

McCain scheitert bei Aufholjagd

Von Joachim Frank, 16.10.08, 07:22h, aktualisiert 17.10.08, 10:14h

In the last presidential race TV debate there was aggressive discussion as in prior debates. The Republican Jon McCain attacked Barak Obama sharply – but he couldn’t, according to the student body and viewers, take the advantage over the Democrat.

John McCain and Barack Obama already “butt heads” before the first radio broadcast to the public. About 100 students in the Atrium of the George Mason university (GMU), a sober patio surrounded by stepped construction, pursue the last TV debate before the US presidency choice on the 4th of November.  As McCain, the republican candidate, once again brings up Obama’s contact to the former radical left-wing anarchist William Ayers as well as irregularity in the voter recruitment of the democrats, Obama strikes back:  The selection of this theme says a lot about McCain’s campaign.

That’s when the spectators in the GMU- “Debate Watch” applaud for the first time.  They follow Obamas observation that McCain wants to take the advantage of his opponent with this attack.  Reporting technology student Eugene Luarasi will criticize McCain’s introduction of this connection in the live broadcast as “nasty” and “an unworthy president”.  Although both candidates complain about the irrelevantly led campaign and mutually reproach themselves about negative campaign advertising, this evening McCain clearly goes more aggressively into the discussion and spares no personal attacks on Obama.  This repeated opportunity to shake his (Obama’s) head and seemingly calmly laugh – is, for the sturdy Albanian student Elia Celsulal, a mark of his “class” and a “presidential bearing”. 

Most of the time the listeners of the 90-minute debate concentrate to follow subjects of the US domestic policy, specially tax politics and health politics, but without outwardly recognizable interest.  Only occasionally does an elective voice arise.  In one of these rare moments, John McCain extols his “Running Mate”, the strong conservative vice presidency candidate Sarah Palin from Alaska, as a role model for American women. 

That’s when Tahira White, an African American marketing student, can no longer refrain herself. She hisses through her teeth, narrows her eyes and shakes her so that her thinly woven braids fly. “I already can’t bear McCains face“, she says. “the fellow bores me”.  White speaks for the majority of her fellow students – and obviously also for the majority of Americans.  Representative Ad-hoc-surveys of the television station CNN and CBS see the democratic applicant clearly ahead in the viewers’ favor after the end of the debate. 

The Obama fans in the “Debate Watch” at the George Mason university are also clearly in the majority, not just because many republican minded students are attending the religious services taking place simultaneously.  The Wednesday evening time is after the preferred Sunday gathering time for the Christian students, explains Rachel Dickson, organizer of the university-wide campaign “Mason votes” for a high voter turnout. 

Certainly pious reasons alone are not why republican minded students stay away at this evening.  In the entire campaign, its representatives had been as good as invisible, says James Greif of the press office of the university.  At the same, time the mobilization of students in this campaign is extraordinarily high. “Everyone on the campus has his opinion”, so Rachel Dickson.  And two-thirds go home agreeing with Obama.

For the young, well trained Americans – so seems it –, the race to be George W. Bush’s successor is already decided – for the benefit of the charismatic party of big change in the United States.  In his summary, Obama does not let the keyword of his campaign escape the people:  He stands for a “fundamental change”. 

Please Help Me Go to Antarctica and Kiss a Penguin

I am entering the Blog Your Way to Antarctica Contest from Quark Expeditions. The deal is, you write up a little bit about yourself online, post a picture, and try to get people to vote for you to win this prize. The person with the most votes by September 30 will win a free expedition/cruise for two to Antarctica!!!! The only catch is the winning person has to blog 24 times about their experience. And pssh, is that really a catch? I would jump at the chance to blog from freaking Antarctica!

(Here’s my profile, please vote for me, and I will love you forever)

This would be, in an addition to the MOST AWESOME VACATION IN THE WORLD, a fantastic opportunity for me as a journalist. It really is my goal to become a foreign correspondent of some sort- whether for a newspaper or magazine or a travel book company- I want to travel the world and write about everything and everyone I see and meet. In the current economic climate in journalism, I really thought I would have to give up my dream for a while. No one’s going to pay someone to travel around the world and write when blogs and the Internet allow anyone out there to write about their particular patch of the globe.

(Did I mention that my profile is right here, written and ready to be voted on?)

Honestly, winning this trip would help me keep my dream of someday being a foreign correspondent alive. So please, do a good deed to day and vote for me- I think the top person currently has a bit under 2,000 votes- I think I can get that with a bit of hard work. What do you think?

And I’m making a campaign promise right here and now that if I do indeed win this trip, I will kiss a penguin on the nose/beak/whatever he has. I will also dance with penguins. And serenade them with Alanis Morrisette’s “Head Over Feet” (a seemingly appropriate song, since penguins slide down ice hills, if I recall).

The only bummer is you have to register to vote. But it really doesn’t take that long. Don’t let such silliness stand in the way of you getting to see me kiss a penguin someday!

Please VOTE FOR RACHAEL to MEET PENGUINS IN 2010!

On Needing New Photos, Or, Rachael’s Changing Hair

Looking at the profile yesterday got me thinking. I seriously need to get some decent photos of myself with my current hair cut and hair color that I can send to potential employers, profilers, etc.. One in which I’m not posing in front of the Colosseum. I love that picture, but I’ve honestly sent it out to UWire and the others because I had nothing else that would really work. Any Photogs want to volunteer their lovely services?

Here’s a little montage of Rachael’s hair through college….going from natural Blonde (freshman year) to its current light red color.

I’m Featured on College Media Matters : D

Dan Reimold of College Media Matters contacted me a while ago for an interview – He posted a J-Student profile on me July 11.

Amusingly enough- I’ve checked his website regularly for the last few months to see when it would go up, and then the week I forget to check- it goes up! Oh the wonders of Googling yourself and finding out where your name is online…

I’m tremendously flattered by the profile and excited at how it came out. I’m surprised by the description of me having “reporting wunderkind status,” but I’m pleased by that as well.

I also love his intro-

“Rachael Dickson is an award-winning, professionally-trained harpist.  Over the years, she has even played “rock harp” in a few bars, which immediately makes her cooler than you.”

Hah. I don’t mention much about the harp here, but yes, I have studied harp since I was in 4th grade with some excellent teachers, all directly in the Carlos Salzedo line. I won a harp solo competition in uhm…8th grade, I think, and made All-State Orchestra three years in a row in high school. I also played with the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra Philharmonic in junior high, GDYO in high school, and have twice performed with GDYO Wind Symphony as a guest (although curiously enough, I actually never auditioned for GDYO- they just tended to call my teacher when they needed a harpist). I also put on a full-length junior and senior recital. At this point I play very little, only really at church occasionally, but it is still very much part of my life.

Here are some old pics from my high school senior recital- me playing a duet with a friend, All my friends that came to the recital, and a fantastic Harp cake the baker for my sister’s wedding made for me. : D

College Media Matters really is a great website that looks at a lot of college journalism issues with great depth and insight. I encourage y’all to go look at other posts on the site as well. : )

In Other News:

I’ve been crazy lax about updating this website the last couple weeks. I’ve been unhappy with my lack of focus in posts lately- I’m working up plans to revamp the website with a new design (something more than a blog) and a new schedule of alternating posts on journalism and law. I definitely want this website to be more than just my place to show off- I’d like it to be something that’s actually interesting and useful for other people.

You can expect an exciting relaunch of FourPointReport.com in the next few weeks. I know I can’t wait

: D

GMU Law Professors to Testify at Sotomayor Hearing

Two George Mason University Law Professors will be testifying at the Senate hearings of Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama’s nomination for the Supreme Court, this Monday. Neomi Rao and Ilya Somin are listed among the Republican witnesses. Both have published articles on Sotomayor’s nomination in the past few months.

Assistant Professor of Law Neomi Rao recently served as Associate Counsel and Special Assistant to President George W. Bush. Rao also served as nominations counsel to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Interesting Fact: She’s a qualified solicitor in England and Wales (meaning she can practice law there).

Rao wrote “Questions for Sotomayor: The Confirmation Process shouldn’t be a rubber stamp“, published in the May 27 edition of the Wall Street Journal. Rao suggested a number of questions regarding Sotomayor’s judicial philosophy, including “Do you believe that interpretations of the Constitution should evolve to keep up with the times?”, and “What is the Supreme Court’s role in interpreting ambiguous laws?”

Assistant Professor of Law Ilya Somin is the current co-editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review and a writer for the Volokh Conspiracy. Interesting Fact: He has previously been a visiting professor at the University of Hamburg, Germany, and the University of Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (I wonder how many languages he speaks)

Somin has written several posts regarding Sotomayor on the Volokh Conspiracy. I’m unfamiliar with the Volokh Conspiracy so I don’t know if there’s any way to link to these stories directly that I’m unaware of- you’ll have to scroll down to find them. Post titles include “Would Sonia Sotomayor be the first Hispanic justice?,” “Sotomayor may be wrong about Race but she’s no Racist,” several posts regarding property rights and her ruling in the Didden case, and others. Make sure you’re reading the articles by him- that page contains the work of several authors.

Seriously Cool Foreshadowing in Grey’s Anatomy

I’m going to be a big nerd here and dissect all the foreshadowing in the first episode of season five of Grey’s Anatomy. I rewatched it today and I was just amazed at how many plot points and twists were hinted at or joked about in this episode. Shonda Rimes, the writer of Grey’s Anatomy, must have done this on purpose, but I would imagine that she did, as she has said before that she envisions the last episode of the season before she writes the first one.

Oh and I actually checked out her blog post on this episode- In it she says- “All the clues for this season are right there in this first episode. Nothing happens without a reason. Every line of dialogue has a point.”

I had great fun noticing all the “Oh man, that shows up later” moments. I’d suggest that other fans watch the episode again as well- let me know if you see anything I missed! : D

• Dreams: The title itself, “Dream a Little Dream of Me” refers to the dreams throughout the season- Izzy’s brain tumor hallucinations, Izzy’s dreaming up Meredith’s perfect wedding, and the dream/heaven sequence at the end of the season that leaves so many confused. Though dream/heaven sequences have been used in the past in the show, most distinctly when Meredith almost drowned at the ferryboat crash, I don’t think a season has used as many as there were in this one before.

• Main Characters Possibly Dying: Meredith dreams at the very beginning of the episode that Derek has died in a car accident. At the very end of the season it’s unclear whether Izzy is dead from a brain tumor or whether George is dead from saving a woman from the path of an oncoming bus.

• Meredith’s Mother’s continuing effect: The Chief commenting on how he’s been too easy on Meredith because she’s Ellis’s daughter. This becomes an important plot point later on.
• Loss of memory: The lady patient Izzy keeps an eye on who loses her memory every 30 seconds. Izzy later loses her long-term memory for a while.
• Alex as potential marriage material: Izzy commenting on the “good men” in the hospital, including Alex, while talking to Meredith about whether she could marry Derek. Izzy later marries Alex.
• Izzy in a Prom Dress: In Izzy’s dream, she goes up the elevator wearing the pink dress she wore the night Denny died before greeting him at the door. At the end of the season, the same thing happens, yet when the door opens, she sees George in an army uniform.
• Izzy and Denny: When Izzy sees Denny in the dream, he tells her she looks better than a bride. Denny later appears to Izzy, eventually revealed as a manifestation of her brain tumor. She becomes a bride later in the season.
• Lexie and Sloan: Sloan tells Lexie that George is an idiot if he doesn’t like her back. This hints at their future relationship. The fact that it takes him so long throughout the episode to admit that reflects the similar troubles he’ll have admitting to Derek that he’s dating her.
• MerDer Marriage: Derek jokes to Meredith that they should just get married instead of moving in together. He later does propose to her in an elevator and they get married….with a post-it note.
• Moving to Peds: This may be a stretch, but Rose tells Derek in this episode that she’s switching over to Peds (pediatrics) to avoid having the problems she’s had working as a scrub nurse with him, though as she said, she was a damn good scrub nurse where she was. Bailey later wrestles with her desire to switch over to Pedes despite her comfort with where she is.
• Doctors Working Together to Make Someone Walk Again: Here’s another one that might be a stretch- Hunt suggests freezing a man’s spine to try to preserve his ability to walk- Torres runs with it and Bailey helps her, along with the Chief. They’re delighted later that they’re able to make this man walk, despite Shepherd’s anger, doubt and disagreement. These same people later act to try to help Shepherd “walk” again, by working to pull him out of the woods. All his emotions are too much at this point though- leaving Meredith to pull him out.
• Killing People: When the Chief yells at Meredith, Derek defends her by saying that sometimes people die no matter what you do. Hunt says a similar thing to Christina- telling her that his mistakes have killed heroic people before. This ethical dilemma is later what drags Derek down for so long.
• Disappearing George: Although I doubt this was intended, George played very much a background role in this episode, with barely any mention of him. Lexie was really the central figure in the area he was mentioned, with Sloan as counterpart. This reflects George’s disappearance into the background all season until, in the last episode, he was unrecognizable to the people who knew him when he showed up in the ER as “John Doe.”
• Heroic Actions of Army Doctors: In the first episode, Major Hunt saves a man from a wreck by giving him a tracheotomy with a pen, something considered rather extraordinary. In the last episode, George, after enlisting in the army, steps in front of a bus to save a woman.
• “Reality, it’s so much more interesting than living happily ever after”: Meredith’s line at the very end of the episode forebodes great changes for the future- such as the fact that despite the seeming happy ending for Izzy, she might die, and despite George’s success as a resident later in the season, he might also die.

First Guitar Video: Attempting to Play Free Fallin’

Don’t make too much fun- a few weeks ago I didn’t know a single chord. I’m pretty proud that I know this song now. Working on a couple other songs too – I figured out pretty quickly that I get the chords memorized a lot faster when they actually go with songs.

Hoping to eventually get a full concert set together of music on guitar, piano and harp.

I’m ambitious. : )

A Dinosaur from Erianny: Sponsoring a Child in Poverty

I don’t know if I ever mentioned it before, but I sponsor a little girl in the Dominican Republic through Compassion International. The approximately $400 I donate a year helps feed Erianny, send her to school, and takes care of her family. Although I’m a pretty poor college student dependent on my parents’ love right now, even I can pull that much money together.

She’s four years old and adorable. She can’t write yet but sends letters to me with the help of an adult and a translator- she signs the letters with her fingerprints in blue ink. She calls me Aunt Rachael and has told me that she likes apples and taking care of red flowers.

I won’t post any pictures of her up because I don’t want to endanger her in any way, but here’s a picture of a dinosaur she sent me. It’s too cool!

I was inspired to first sponsor Erianny last October after Lutheran Campus Ministry at George Mason University had a weekend retreat that looked at the effect of hunger and poverty on our world.

At the time, I did have a close friend try to discourage me from doing the sponsorship, as he said that it didn’t really do anything to solve the greater problem. However, I decided I wanted to do something that would have an effect on the world, no matter how small. My sister sponsored a little girl in Africa for a long time named Aziza.

I write her letters online because I’m pretty bad about actually mailing out letters, but I hope to send her some pictures of me soon.

I know it’s random, but I know it’s something little I do that fulfills me and makes me feel like I have a positive effect on the world.

: )