Hello

Several months later, I've not forgotten about this blog, and do come back to past essays on certain fact-finding missions. I just don't write much anymore, which one expects ought to be the primary motivation for an author to return.  I've been firmly entrenched in graduate serfdom, and just recently finished my coursework and chosen a lab to subsist in/on for the next few years.  This impromptu blog post may fool the reader into thinking that the posting frequency herein may well increase, but that likely shan't be the case.

I recently retook an online personality test I took 2.5 years ago, back when I was a relatively new teacher, to see how I've changed after 1.5 more years of teaching and a year of graduate school.  These most recent results and comparisons between the older data set are outlined below:

Advanced Global Personality Test Results Extraversion |||||| 23% Stability |||||||||||||| 56% Orderliness |||||||||||||||| 70% Accommodation |||||||||||||||| 63% Intellectual |||||||||||||||||||| 90% Interdependence |||||||||||| 50% Mystical || 10% Materialism |||||||||||||| 60% Narcissism |||||| 30% Adventurousness |||| 20% Work ethic |||||||||||||||||||| 90% Conflictseeking |||||||||||||||| 70% Need to dominate |||||||||||||||| 70% Romantic |||||||||| 40% Avoidant |||||||||||| 50% Anti-authority |||||| 30% Wealth |||||| 30% Dependency || 10% Change averse |||||| 30% Cautiousness |||||||||||||||| 70% Individuality |||| 20% Sexuality |||||||||||||| 60% Peter pancomplex |||||| 30% Histrionic || 10% Vanity |||||| 30% Artistic || 10% Hedonism || 10% Physicalfitness |||||||||||||| 60% Religious || 10% Paranoia |||||||||||||| 60% Hypersensitivity |||||||||||||| 56% Indie |||||||||||||||| 70%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality test by similarminds.com 

Data Analysis:

Strong Growth (up +50%): Conflict Seeking (54)

Growth (up +20%): Intellectual (27), Materialism (37), Work Ethic (20)

Decline (down +20%): Mystical (33), Hedonism (46), Dependency (33), Histrionic (20), Vanity (40)

Strong Decline (down +50%): Narcissism (53)


Results:

After the last few years in the crossfire of students and research, I've not surprisingly become more confident with how I work with others and in addressing conflict, as contentious issues are common territory in the edu and science worlds.  Also, I've steadily increased my work ethic and spend solid chunks of the day now by reading, all in anticipation of future, more lucrative, science careers.  Perhaps a growing interest in material wealth is just a sign of adulthood, where I want (and need) to consider money more frequently, but I think it also stems from the fact that I went from a teaching career that paid alright, to grad school, and this downward trend must cease immediately before I start having to pay my next employer.

My declining traits are interesting, too.  I've grown more in touch with my logical side, settled down quite a bit, and have become increasingly introverted.  This is likely a product of both my environment and my nature, which emphasizes that grad school has been a good fit so far.  There's much to be done individually in this setting as it was for teaching, and so an increased reliance on my own skills is necessary.

While this was only a 126-question survey, the analysis is somewhat enlightening, and at the very least entertaining.

SC Orientation

I'm in a new place called UC Santa Cruz, and after a long day of listening to and reading up on and thinking about everyone-there's research project, I see that there's a long road to travel before I can get all of my mind here, too.

Pilgrimage

The school year ended in June in the plainest of fashions. A week of finals, grading, and yearbooks accompanied efforts to clean up and empty the room of my supplies. Someone asked me if I felt nostalgic at all to not be coming back next year, and I gave a perplexed look, not knowing how to define my answer.

Since leaving the keys at the school office over a month ago, I've sturdily focused my energies on the immediate present and future, looking up apartments in Santa Cruz, studying old (and recently re-purchased) biology and chemistry textbooks, reminding myself of how different I thought of education and my teachers a few years ago. Files from my classroom are still in a neat pile in the corner of my room. My diploma just came in the mail from the education coursework I completed, but I haven't much more than glanced at it.

There's been a desire strongly rooted inside me since deep within the dragging middle months of the school year to cut away thoughts of classes and students and curricula for a period of time, to cleanse and replenish myself with ideals and dreams outside my then-current situation. The past month of reflection hasn't been eventful but it has been necessary.

I'm going back to the university education setting come September at UC Santa Cruz, but it'd be silly to say that I'm putting my teaching experiences behind me or ruminate about the path of higher education ahead me. There's no everlasting feeling of fruition in my mind despite finishing my 2-year commitment with Teach For America, and there's no place to put all of these teacher understandings other than under my arm and in my head for the next journey.

My Strengths

In today's episode of My Fun Future Careers Limbo, I took a personality assessment, called StrengthsQuest, designed to pinpoint my strengths and talents.

(It would be prudent to note that joining Teach For America opens up a wide array of career resources like these to help those of us almost finished with the two-year teaching commitment and who may be looking toward new career ventures (not saying I am, I'm just sayin'). From career mentors to free career guides from Vault.com to free personality tests such as the one I started writing about, Teach For America has got you covered. End praise.)

All of the 100-something questions I answered in StrengthsQuest were analyzed and my 5 strengths were pinpointed out of a list of 34. I definitely agree with these 5:

LEARNER: You love to learn. The process, more than the content or the result, is especially exciting for you. You are energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ignorance to competence. The thrill of the first few facts, the early efforts to recite or practice what you have learned, the growing confidence of a skill mastered—this is the process that entices you.

Graduate school is perhaps on the horizon?

INTELLECTION: You like to think. You like mental activity. You like exercising the “muscles” of your brain, stretching them in multiple directions. This need for mental activity may be focused; for example, you may be trying to solve a problem or develop an idea or understand another person’s feelings. The exact focus will depend on your other strengths. On the other hand, this mental activity may very well lack focus. The theme of Intellection does not dictate what you are thinking about; it simply describes that you like to think. You are the kind of person who enjoys your time alone because it is your time for musing and reflection. You are introspective.

I'm trying to get my kids to be like this. Thinking is quite helpful, students.

ANALYTICAL: Your Analytical theme challenges other people: “Prove it. Show me why what you are claiming is true.” In the face of this kind of questioning some will find that their brilliant theories wither and die. For you, this is precisely the point. You do not necessarily want to destroy other people’s ideas, but you do insist that their theories be sound. You see yourself as objective and dispassionate. You like data because they are value free. They have no agenda. Armed with these data, you search for patterns and connections. You want to understand how certain patterns affect one another. How do they combine? What is their outcome? Does this outcome fit with the theory being offered or the situation being confronted? These are your questions. You peel the layers back until, gradually, the root cause or causes are revealed.

I experienced an inordinate amount of enjoyment when I took my education research class this past summer. Using an analytical eye to determine causal relationships between various factors in the classroom, or simply to find correlations at the very least, was great fun. Logic puzzles for the win!

INPUT: You are inquisitive. You collect things. You might collect information—words, facts, books, and quotations—or you might collect tangible objects such as butterflies, baseball cards, porcelain dolls, or sepia photographs. Whatever you collect, you collect it because it interests you. And yours is the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity. If you read a great deal, it is not necessarily to refine your theories but, rather, to add more information to your archives.

I am a collector (of intangibles), and I do find many things interesting. Maybe too interesting.

ACHIEVER: Your Achiever theme helps explain your drive. Achiever describes a constant need for achievement. You feel as if every day starts at zero. By the end of the day you must achieve something tangible in order to feel good about yourself. And by “every day” you mean every single day—workdays, weekends, vacations. No matter how much you may feel you deserve a day of rest, if the day passes without some form of achievement, no matter how small, you will feel dissatisfied. You have an internal fire burning inside you. It pushes you to do more, to achieve more. After each accomplishment is reached, the fire dwindles for a moment, but very soon it rekindles itself, forcing you toward the next accomplishment. Your relentless need for achievement might not be logical. It might not even be focused. But it will always be with you.

This was what kept me teaching last year. Little achievements are what keep me going. Achievements like actually posting in this blog.

Summer: The End

Well, that was fun.

My summer odyssey took me to the library, the beach, and the ends of the Earth! (Assuming there are "ends," and Hong Kong was at one of said "ends").

I stepped out of the cabin of an airplane into another world. I left my first footprints here on the suspended bridge to the airport, greeted by an attendant with a smile and a nod. I noted the oppressive air of this climate, dripping with humidity, before a tide of conditioned air rushed past and formed an invisible barrier that led to a temperate zone past the bridge. There, I joined a moving mass of people toward customs, signs along the way equipped with dual languages to remind me where I was. Moving walkways brought me closer to my legal entry to Hong Kong, but I was already here, really. I flipped out my passport, grabbed my suitcase with all of the teacher stickers on it, and journeyed out the door toward a bus headed for Kowloon.

I flew to Hong Kong because I could, but I also flew there to see Toshiko, my guide to all sorts of fun and adventure.

I also did a bunch of research for my education research project, and am preparing a study that starts when school does, which is on Tuesday.

There is so much to write about that I must temper my excited planning fervor with some due credit toward writing again.

Get Me Out of Here

Depart: 02:00pm _________San Francisco, CA (SFO)
Arrive: 05:05pm _________Tokyo, Japan (NRT)

Depart: 06:30pm _________Tokyo, Japan (NRT)
Arrive: 10:00pm _________Hong Kong, Hong Kong (HKG)

My Personality

To procrastinate grading, I took an Advanced Global Personality Test that Andrew linked on his blog. Quoted below is a section of its findings.

Data:

Advanced Global Personality Test Results Extraversion |||||||||| 36% Stability |||||||||||||| 60% Orderliness |||||||||||||||||| 80% Accommodation |||||||||||||||| 63% Interdependence |||||||||||||| 56% Intellectual |||||||||||||||| 63% Mystical |||||||||||| 43% Artistic || 10% Religious |||| 16% Hedonism |||||||||||||| 56% Materialism |||||| 23% Narcissism |||||||||||||||||||| 83% Adventurousness |||||||||| 36% Work ethic |||||||||||||||| 70% Self absorbed |||||||||||||| 56% Conflict seeking |||| 16% Need to dominate |||||||||||||| 56% Romantic |||||||||||| 43% Avoidant |||||||||||||| 56% Anti-authority |||||| 30% Wealth |||||||||| 36% Dependency |||||||||||| 43% Change averse |||||||||||| 43% Cautiousness |||||||||||||||| 70% Individuality |||||||||| 36% Sexuality |||||||||||||||| 70% Peter pan complex |||||||||||| 43% Physical security |||||||||||||||||||| 90% Physical Fitness |||||||||||||||| 64% Histrionic |||||| 30% Paranoia |||||||||||||||| 70% Vanity |||||||||||||||| 70% Hypersensitivity |||||||||||||||| 70% Indie |||||||||||||||| 65%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality test by similarminds.com

Data Analysis:

* Physical Security (90%) was the highest score. I believe I am well-off, and have a sufficient number of material things. I'm a teacher. This works well for me, because y'all know I'm not getting anything, anytime soon.

* Narcissism (83%) was the second highest score. This score stems from the fact that I believe I am a sexy, sexy beast, and that I am extremely optimistic and prone to working my ass off in hopes that I can do anything I will myself to try.

* Artistic (10%) was the lowest score. I am a silent, organized and logical being. I am a little surprised this was so low, because I am prone to expressing myself publicly via this blog.

* Religious and Conflict-seeking (16% each) were tied for the second lowest score. The questions were geared toward religion. Had they asked about spirituality in general I believe that score would be higher. The other score suggests that I am calm and level-headed, which agrees with prior experimental results.

Conclusion:

I am a stable, organized, logical, motivated, hard-working, secretive creature.
I am also a ninja.

2007 in Review

2007 was one of those milestone years for me, like how invading Iraq made 2003 a milestone year for America.

* Turned an inconspicuous age. Down the hill, I go.

* Finished college. Miss it.

* Left Berkeley. Miss it.

* Started teaching. Biggest challenge of my life so far.

This is not to say that I look unfavorably at the past year and the challenges it has brought me. It is what I wanted. Most of these adversities have been self-afflicted, as I choose what ridiculous circumstances I put myself into, and when my plate is more than full I devour it greedily. I want to be challenged. It's how I operate.

Did I fulfill my past resolutions?

1) Read more/Write more? Kind of. I still blog, and in December I've read a few actual books.

2) Learn to cook? No.

3) Focusing on health? Kind of. Must stop stressing. Must stop stressing.

4) Drink more? This was a stupid, juvenile resolution. And yes.

5) Focus on friending? No. Well, not since school started.


Do I have resolutions for 2008? I think so, but I'll relegate them to the next post.

Teach For America Extravaganza

Sorry for the lack of posts; I've not had internet for the past week, but have still been writing daily, and I intend to post those today and tomorrow. I just came back from a week-long Teach For America orientation and training with other corps members from the Bay Area, and am flying down to LA tomorrow for a month-long intensive teaching institute. I stress the adjective intensive.

Anyway, down in LA I will continue my attempts to write on a daily basis, and 99% of the time my posts will involve topics of teaching, so if you're into that, then you know what to do!

Humanist Manifesto

Lately, studying for chemistry tends to lead me to other passions. An example, if you will:

Pondering my core ideals and what I've learned about myself in college, I feel that the Humanist philosophy most closely matches my own, and though expected, I'm still a bit surprised at how uplifting it feels to read more about the ideology. I do have beliefs and I do appreciate spirituality, however it simply feels more right to me to believe in our connections throughout humanity versus our connections into the supernatural.

Humanists are concerned for the well being of all, are committed to diversity, and respect those of differing yet humane views. We work to uphold the equal enjoyment of human rights and civil liberties in an open, secular society and maintain it is a civic duty to participate in the democratic process and a planetary duty to protect nature’s integrity, diversity, and beauty in a secure, sustainable manner.

Thus engaged in the flow of life, we aspire to this vision with the informed conviction that humanity has the ability to progress toward its highest ideals. The responsibility for our lives and the kind of world in which we live is ours and ours alone.

That last line gives me chills. Hoooah.

Bobby and I

Every online perch I call home must have an obligatory Bobby Burgess post. This is that post.

What helps most in processing through my warring emotions and primal desires is reading how others have acclimated and advanced onward, as Bobby accounts:

4/24/03
8/7/03
10/4/03
2/4/04
3/21/04
4/8/04
6/12/04

The timeline seems painfully familiar, and it never really ends, right? Stages are supposed to progress linearly, like Super Mario Brothers, but all I end up doing is taking the warp pipe back to start. For years this has happened: same girl, same game. It's pathetic.

I wrote this way back in 2003:

You visit me more in my dreams than you do in real life, and I pick up the phone to hear your voice because I stumble into a small pocketed oasis of my unconsciousness, where everything is alright again, only to have illusions fade, oases disappear, phones turn into drool-soaked pillows. My eyes open and everything is back to the way it was. And the way it is.

...

I’m going to carry on like I have been, happy ecstatic joyful and loving of life, because my life right now is going well, and I love my job and I love my friends and not thinking about you is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.

Here we go again.

This wisdom-through-aging process is not working as intended. I might be defective.

CBEST and Update

I finished up the CBEST today, the second of 2 tests I need to be on my way for teacher certification, and am happily letting you know this on my new computer. There's nothing like selfish materialism to offset the pangs of lost love.

Ah, sweet nothings!

Grinding Organs

In our decal class today, instead of the usual workshop, we encountered a short free-writing prompt given by our gracious, facilitating host. No rules, no restraints, just write for a bit of time. So I did, and I think some of my personal life has rubbed its way into my writing (god forbid), but I hope to start writing more frequently on other topics soon enough. This is fiction, by the way.

***

I grind organs. All afternoon of every day last week, and every day thereafter, I've extracted little clumps of living tissue from freshly euthanized animals. Their bodies are still warm when I make my incision, and fondle their insides for ripe targets. Isolated in plastic containers, I line up my specimens next to a complicated-looking lab instrument that resembles a power drill with a blunt bit. I turn on my tool and

I grind.

"There's little we can do to change this"
"Please..."
"You've not been honest with me"
"Please..."

My hand cramps from the effort and my nose protests the scent. Slowly, slowly the organs break down. Flecks of tissue climb the test tubes' sides. Guts, brains and all, dissolve into a lumpy lubricant for another machine.

"We can't go back to what we had"
"Please..."

When I grind organs, I must focus my attention on the heart.

"Please forgive and forget me"

Muscle turns to fibers turn to loose threads, and I continue to grind. The heart is the hardest organ to break. But it always does.

UCLA Visit

Other than one particular interview with a professor, my UCLA visit went well. I blame anything other than myself for the following transcript of some of the conversation had during our one-on-one:

Prof: Draw the structures in your project that you're referring to.
Me: Oh, ah, sure... *pencil stutter*
Prof: *waits*
Me: *pencil stutter*
Prof: *waits*
Me: Ahh...
Prof: *looks at paper, then at me, then at pencil*
Me: ...*pencil stutter*
Prof: *picks nose*
Me: *draws a particular rendition of structures*
Prof: Really?
Me: ...*pencil stutter*

...

Prof: So how many DNA molecules are in a human cell?
Me: Umm... millions?
Prof: ...What?
Me: I mean, uhh, billions?
Prof: ...*narrows eyes and motions to floor*
Me: Oh... ahh... 100,000?
Prof: Oh for fuck's sake it's 46.

...

Prof: Do you know [insert any scientific topic here]?
Me: No! *cries and waves white flag*

For the most part I liked the visit and did well, despite the painful encounter above. I met a couple really nice professors that are doing some fascinating work, and I'm growing fond of the campus and the city. We'll see what happens!

Daily Cal and (another) Intro

Welcome to all 7 of you who found this blog from the Daily Cal article "Blogging Berkeley". Yes, please read on in good health and humor and feel free to leave comments and feedback, although I must caution that all of you simply must control your raging Firefox browsers, as bandwidth doesn't grow on trees, y'know. Hippies, yes. Bandwidth: no no no.

I had thought being plugged in a newspaper would feel somewhat more momentous then it does now. But I shan't complain. I'll instead give some background for this blog and this author's ideation.

I started "The Catalytic Triad" in July 2006 as a response to what I've experienced in blogging communities both here in Berkeley and afar, and as a chance for personal growth. Blogging offers an open forum for folks to circulate different perspectives regarding all kinds of issues, and reading these can be as educational as it is enjoyable; there is a wealth of good writing that can be found within many blogs, offering insightful analysis, witty humor, and a powerful voice.

I’m fond of the different perspectives and styles I’ve read from bloggers whom I admire, and so I thought I’d also contribute my voice and perspective to the forum. Writing has also been a great way to sort my thoughts and stances on various issues, and to push myself into being more informed of issues that interest me.

The title of my blog espouses some of my motivations for writing: I believe that science, education, and progressive policy will most effectively promote the formation of a technologically-sound, socially-just, free-thinking society, one that isn't afraid to address questions of where we came from, nor one that acts myopically in its treatment of different cultures and norms. As a student, I choose to act on these by first educating myself, and then by educating others. My blog is one venue for that. My job on Hall Staff is another.

And in the nearby future, Teach For America will also be one. After graduation, I’ll be beginning my summer training to become a teacher, since I will be teaching secondary biology come this September. By that point there will be a million more ideas that I will want to write about. Consequently, this blog has taken up permanent residence for the foreseeable future.

One of my favorite memories of blogging is also one of my worst, because it involves a news story that broke my heart—the tragic story of Melinda Duckett. Writing of her account and the media pundits that disgraced her was a cathartic experience for me: writing gave me a way to express my grief, while the power of blogs allowed my thoughts to reach out and persuade others. The whole experience reinforced the importance of having a persuasive voice in a public forum, and of taking an ardent stand on subjects one feels strongly for.

Why I Joined Teach For America

My life has seen many changes in the past month. I researched my options with Teach For America and conversed with alumni about the program. I accepted an offer to teach secondary science in Los Angeles. I lost further interest in graduate school and research. I enrolled in “The Achievement Gap: Causes and Solutions” DeCal. I elected to be reassigned to teaching secondary biology in the South Bay Area, and I have been allowed to do so. In preparation for my approaching future, my recent past has oft been spent thinking critically about this next step in my life. I’ve never detailed the whys publicly, however.

Consider this a primer on my newly found desire for teaching in low-income public schools. I hope to persuade you to also consider committing 2 years of your life after college to joining the TFA corps.

Any standard Teach For America essay is required by imaginary laws of nature to start off with the following introduction:

“In America today, educational inequity persists along socioeconomic and racial lines.

Nine-year-olds growing up in low-income communities are already three grade levels behind their peers in high-income communities.

Half of them won't graduate from high school.

Those who do graduate will, on average, read and do math at the level of eighth graders in high-income communities.

These disparities severely limit the life prospects of the 13 million children growing up in poverty today. And, because African-American and Latino/Hispanic children are three times as likely to grow up in a low-income area, these disparities also prevent many children of color from truly having equal opportunities in life.”

These statistics constitute what is commonly called the Achievement Gap, or the discrepancy in successes of children from varying backgrounds. Studies show that the financial stability of a family is a direct determinant of the opportunities available to their children. Here are a few more figures that flesh out the disturbing realities of the Achievement Gap:

Children growing up in low-income areas are seven times less likely to graduate from college than children in high-income areas. (Source: Education Trust, 2002.)

While children from families making over $90,000 have a one in two chance of graduating from college by age 24, that number plummets to one in 17 for children from families making less than $35,000. (Source: Education Trust, 2004.)

In 2000, Caucasian students had a national public high school graduation rate of 78%. The graduation rate for African-American students during the same year was 56%, and for Latino/Hispanic students was 54%. (Source: The Manhattan Institute, 2001.)

Before they even begin school, kids in these areas are already fighting an uphill battle to ever be able to match the successes of students from more affluent areas. Reason number one for my interest in this program logically follows:

I Believe in Equality of Opportunity

America idealizes concepts of equal opportunity and liberty of outcome, yet we do not have that today. Racism, sexism, and similar isms detriment our society by favoring certain folks over others for reasons that preclude choice. We cannot choose our parents or our culture just as we cannot alter the way gravity works, yet characteristics like these still largely impact our daily lives. For example, being white privileges me in many ways that others do not experience. And that’s not right.

Similarly, for our children experiencing the world through the methodical journeys of education in the classroom, there are some choices already indefinitely made for them, like if they qualify for school subsidized free lunches. Or if their schools can afford books.

I’m dedicated to the ideas of social justice because I believe that folks all deserve the same chances in life to succeed and grow. Younger folks in our public schools are entitled to that same American ideal of equal opportunity. Being an engaged and motivated teacher in these neighborhoods will give kids the educational opportunities hitherto withheld from them.

Along with strong American ideals of opportunities for all, you may be surprised when I say

I Believe in Service to my Country and Global Community

Of course, there’s really no need to be all that surprised, for the word service entails more than just conscription. There are myriad paths available to the citizen looking to better his community and strengthen his country: He may enlist in the Marines to protect our borders and interests abroad; He may join the Peace Corps to safeguard human rights for all; He may become a Big Brother and mentor teenagers in a nearby district. Any one of these commitments would have a marked impact on our country and the community at large. Service to our communities means simply giving back to the society that made us who we are, to recognize its merits and to fix its faults.

Teach For America is an opportunity to do that, to recognize the merits of a publicly-funded and readily-accessible education, and to strive to improve this education for those it neglects. Expanding educational opportunities? Just think of the impact one can have on society by doing this. Educated and motivated youths mature into a talented and inspired work force and return the favor for the next generation. Children are our most important investment and thus service toward their education needs to be our priority.

And hey, why not reinstitute the draft and incorporate this definition of service? I’d wager that a mandatory 2-year service stint for adults 18-25 years of age would bring about a major improvement in our urban and rural communities and in our international relations, not to mention empower the young generation with the skills to become successful leaders in any work sector they enter.

We approach a third and final self truth:

I Believe in Personal Betterment through Service

Many college students are opposed to this. Ask a Berkeley undergraduate to defer the working world for an additional 2 years upon graduation and you might be regarded as joking. Or flirtatious if you happen to be a cute girl and he an engineer.

Service should not be seen as an obstacle to professional development, but as another avenue for it. Service to my residents over the past 2 years has empowered me with the administrative and interpersonal skills necessary to be a leader in any future career. Service to my students over the next 2 years will continue to shape me in this regard, by setting educational goals and working diligently to achieve those goals through exciting and creative ways to teach and inspire.

Aside from further refinement of leadership skills, Teach For America offers a chance for college graduates to give back to society through service and dedication. The Achievement Gap is our generation’s civil rights movement, and Teach For America a channel through which we can create necessary change in our communities. I am teaching after college because I am proud of the ideal of equal opportunities for all that this nation is built on, and because I want to help make it a reality.

Do the same. The final deadline to apply for the 2007 corps is Sunday, February 18. Visit the website for application information.

A Brief Disclaimer

We had our first DeCal writing workshop Monday evening, where we all got a chance to critique a few compositions written by members of the class, and I noticed that perhaps it would be helpful to identify my purpose in maintaining this blog and my interests in writing.

The tagline really says it all: I’m a progressive-minded aspiring science teacher who strives for social justice. That’s me. True colors indeed.

My blog’s name is actually a neat little scientific concept that ties my interests together, as I wrote way back in July:

As for the fancy title: the term "catalytic triad" describes the mechanism in which a large protein, in our case an enzyme, can catalyze the cleavage of parts of other proteins, normally for digestion. The area of the enzyme that manages this, the active site, has 3 separate functional parts that are specifically arranged to interact and cut proteins along certain folds. Without these 3 parts perfectly arranged in proximity, the enzyme loses its function, and its purpose in a living organism.

The idea of 3 parts working in concert to promote change in the system is one that best describes my motivation to begin writing here: together, science, education, and progressive policy will most effectively promote the formation of a technologically-sound, socially-just, free-thinking society, one that isn't afraid to address questions of where we came from, nor one that acts myopically in its treatment of different cultures and norms. Just as with the enzyme, if any one of these ideas is absent from our collective thoughts, there can be no forward progress. To put it chemically: We need to catalyze the change we wish to see in the world.

Since I started writing here, I’ve assimilated styles of writing from blogs that I frequent and adore—a few are listed in the blogroll to the right. Post content and styles vary from personal to professional, from salient to silly, from responses to news articles to relishing Cal Football’s victories. As a blogger, I use my voice to catalyze change in the areas that I am passionate about. And yeah, from time to time I deviate from this path to have some fun, but for the most part I follow clear goals I set for myself.

It all comes down to this: I want to persuade you, the reader. I want you to leave this website with some information you hadn’t known or hadn’t thought of prior. I know that the Berkeley bubble is a blessed place for folks of my political persuasion, but I also see lots that could be changed even within the confines of this city, such as attention to aspects of diversity. And if you're not from around here, maybe you'll take more away from what I write. Who knows?

I’m also not exactly writing just for you. I’m writing for myself, to sort out my thoughts on these topics. I’m writing for my ideological opponents, who scoff at issues of diversity and education. I’m writing for the sake of writing. You are more than welcome to come along for the ride. Enjoy yourself. Write me comments. I appreciate the feedback and advice.