Year in Review
May 6, 2011
One week from now, I will have one year down, six more to go. Then I’ll have full-fledged bachelor’s degrees in political economy and speech. So here are 40 random things I’ve learned this year; some serious, some humorous, and some inside jokes:
1. Hillsdale is hard.
2. It is entirely possible to get a B+ in a class in which you don’t do a good amount of the reading.
3. God’s grace is fully sufficient.
4. The only way to truly live is with the cross of Christ in the forefront.
5. Rap does not make good studying music.
6. Iowa is exactly 306 miles wide.
7. Those who are half white and half black have special hair care needs.
8. Some parts of the Bible make a lot more sense when one knows the basics of Classical philosophy.
9. Some debaters possess the ability to cause the other team’s brain to shut down through cadence and intonation.
10. Monty Python applies to the Odyssey, Aeneid, and the Divine Comedy….actually, make that pretty much every situation in life.
11. Debate partners can and do react violently when you insult high school successes. Especially when said success was against you.
12. Nuclear war is a lot more likely than anyone wants to admit.
13. According to certain professors, Reagan and Nixon (pre-Watergate) were the only two decent presidents since Lincoln.
14. Learning about Stoicism makes John 1 way more meaningful.
15. No amount of winning is enough when one forgets to win for God’s glory.
16. If not for having a female debate partner I would probably show up to every round without pen, paper, timer, and in the wrong room.
17. When I’m doing LD (the kind without a partner) I have a tendency to go to the wrong room. Without a pen. Not knowing which side I’m on.
18. “Fuego” by KJ-52 is great pump-up music.
19. Not everyone understands what “J-Mac” means.
20. Cribbage via webcam takes forever.
21. Mango-onion pizza is disgusting, but that doesn’t keep the Hillsdale cafeteria from serving it.
22. All the food from the Hillsdale cafeteria is disgusting, see 21.
23. Academic Christianity is more dangerous than outright heresy.
24. “Man is an animal who by nature must live in a polis.”
25. “Polis” is a totally amazing word—and way more impressive sounding than “city” or “community.”
26. Christian community is one of the most important things one can have.
27. Seeing a close friend come to Christ is an amazing experience.
28. Slonim.
29. The culture I grew up in doesn’t operate well in inner city Detroit.
30. Being stuck in the Detroit airport for 12 hours is not a fun experience.
31. The Detroit airport floors are really hard, but they do not necessarily preclude sleep.
32. Its entirely possible to get an A in a class you haven’t done most of the reading for.
33. Never, never, never call illegal immigrants an “annoyance” in a debate round. That might invite a racism K. And you will have to argue that “annoyance” is not a racist term, which is difficult when you’re specifically talking about Mexicans
34. We should probably just mine the border between the US and Mexico (sarcasm).
35. Sleep is good.
36. Resolutions which are a paragraph long make for really bad debate rounds.
37. 17 credits plus three national-level debate tournaments, two of which are national championships, plus regional tournaments, plus recruiting trips, makes for a busy semester.
38. Economics can actually be kind of interesting.
39. I’m still good at math, no matter how much I hate it.
40. Slonim.
