what i want to be when i grow up

okay, so i just braindumped this all into notepad in a flurry of about 15 minutes. i'm thinking it may end up the substantive basis of my personal statement for applications (obviously to be edited and rewritten extensively if that's the case). anyhoo, here you go:
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i don't want to just help a small number of individuals alive right here and now. i want to find the big solutions to the fundamental problems we, as humans, face. not just one group or another, but all of us, as a society. plan ii engineers are exceptional in this way; we are problem-solvers with a focus on what it means to be a well-rounded citizen, a human and part of a larger community. in this sense, it's natural that Plato's Republic has such a deep appeal to me. he's thinking outside of convention, rationally/scientifically to try to find justice in the individual and in society, and to show that such justice will ultimately achieve the greatest happiness, both of the whole and its parts.

i want to go to law school and public policy school so i can get the skills and knowledge i need to enact change, to state a goal for my community and then actualize it. most often, such change results from policy, which is why i want to be involved in law. a friend recently told me i had too much heart for law school. upon reading this i thought, "if all those with heart avoid law, the laws will be heartless." i think this is very much the situation today. too many people go into to law for the wrong reasons: to become rich, to become powerful, to become well-known. these are selfish motivations. i want to go into law because i see it as the foundation of our community, so if our community is to see changes, the law must change as well.

i have grown up in texas, where everything is broken. our social programs are underfunded and poorly performing. we have an unacceptable percentage of children in poverty. the wealth is concentrated in the suburbs, drawing teachers out of predominately minority schools. and that's only if the excellent and/or mobile teachers choose to stay in the public school system; many turn to the higher pay of private schools or of other states entirely. corporations control the legislators, so the environment suffers. toll roads are becoming prevalent, increasing our already painful regressive taxation system that includes a high sales tax on most goods and omits any form of income tax. texas, my home, desperately needs a new direction, but those who suffer from the current system are those least represented by its leaders. i want to provide that leadership for the currently voiceless. and, i want to show those who do currently feel represented that their leaders do not have their best interests in mind.

but in order to bring real and long-lasting change to texas, i need the tools of an expert in public policy and law, two fields that i see as counterparts. my vision is broad, and i want an education that will empower me to realize that vision.

here comes (my) man! dootdoot dootdoot doodoodooo

Currently Playing:
Doolittle
By the Pixies

that's right, friends and comrades: ethan's headed home! but he won't be here for long, so if you'd like to see him/me/us (since we will indeed be joined at the hip for the entire 60 hours he's here), you should let us know! i mean, come on, late saturday night's already gone, and two of three dinners are already claimed. : D

the details are as such: ethan gets in around 6pm tomorrow (friday) and leaves in the wee hours of monday morning. since we're meeting in new york for thanksgiving, this will be the only time he's in austin until late december. until this weekend, i've been totally consumed by LSAT preparations and school work, so i'd really love to see as many of yall this weekend as possible, too.

so post a comment, leave an IM, or give us a call for happy fun eb-infused times. this weekend's gonna be, in the ever-remarkable words of bb, off the heezy, off the chain.

eb, look away!

So I finally identified the miniature monster in my backyard; this is a Black and Yellow Argiope:


It's about 3" long, tip-to-tip. Creepy, huh? Fortunately, it's not poisonous but does like to eat mosquitos and flies. I'm hoping I can get somebody in the Biology Dept. at UT to take it, but it turns out this spider is not all that unusual after all. Anybody want to adopt an argiope? : )