Big difference or big money

‘We came to Harvard as freshmen to change the world, and we’re leaving to become investment bankers — why is this?’

- one Harvard graduate, quoted in a leading NYTimes story about some ivy schools' encouraging students to do something other than consulting as they graduate.

I don't statistics on this, but I have the growing suspicion that the Times is behind the curve on this question. From what I gather, top university graduates in the nineties headed straight to investment banks; at some point in the early aughts, the "best and the brightest" seemed to filter toward strategic consulting. Consulting was the new badge of best-and-brightest-ness.

But then came along Teach for America, with its soaring vision of changing the US education system entirely. TFA has been around since the eighties, but it wasn't until my junior year at Vanderbilt (2005) that it became a familiar name on campus. Only this year did its founder make the Time 100. But as I was graduating, I watched TFA hunt down - and win over - some of Vanderbilt's finest.

Again, I have no statistics for this, and probably a strong self-selection bias. But as I watch the trajectories of college graduates bending away from Wall Street and toward TFA, WorldTeach and others (?), it's easy to be encouraged.

Many paths, one god(s)?

“Seventy percent of Americans with a religious affiliation say that many religions — not just their own — can lead to eternal life. Most also think there is more than one correct way to interpret the teachings of their own faith.”

- from a new Pew survey on American religion. You can read more about it in this Politico.com article.

Insomnia

(this will make no sense to non-guitar players)

I picked up my duct-taped and superglued guitar tonight when I couldn't fall asleep. This is what came out:

|--------3-2---------------------|
|--3---------3---------3-------3-|
|----2---------2-----0-----------|
|0-----0---------2h4-----4p2p0---|
|--------------------------------|
|--------------------------------| ...and repeat.

If you're a guitar player, help me figure out where to go next! If you can't read it in facebook, change the font to Courier and you should be able to see what I'm doing. Also, try playing in drop-D.

The problem with our Democracy

“People’s responsibility, first and foremost, is to get reelected."

- Congressman Artur Davis (D-AL), on the priorities of our legislators

Welcome to Absurdistan

Follow me, if you will, around this Kafkaesque - and very real - circle of logic:

1. In order to work legally for MPI in Ecuador, I need an Ecuadorian visa.
2. To get a visa through MPI, MPI must be registered as an Ecuadorian nonprofit.
3. For MPI to be registered as an Ecuadorian nonprofit, we have to find five people living in Ecuador who have bank accounts with at least $400 in them to serve as Directors.
4. To make sure MPI retains control of its Ecuadorian organization, I have to be named President of those Directors.
5. To be named President of said Directors, I have to have an Ecuadorian bank account.
6. To get an Ecuadorian bank account, I have to show two forms of identification: a passport anda "censo," an immigrant ID card.
7. In order to get a censo, I need an Ecuadorian visa.

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God gives the nuts, but he does not crack them. (Franz Kafka)

On climbing mountains

My eyes are red and dry, I can't move my ankles around, my legs didn't work this morning and a twenty-minute back massage felt nice but didn't really solve much.

...and this is awesome.

Yesterday Mike (summer volunteer) and I climbed Iliniza Norte (5125 m, 16814 ft, also known as Tioniza) south of Quito. If the peak were in the US, it would be the fourth tallest and the tallest of any mountain outside of Alaska.

Denali (aka McKinley) here I come?

For more about Iliniza and some pictures, check out Craig's blog entry from last fall. We didn't get to take pictures because we summited in a thunderstorm and had to head back down once our heads started tingling and the rocks started buzzing. (?)

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"Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed. If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion. Then, when you’re no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn’t just a means to an end but a unique event in itself. This leaf has jagged edges. This rock looks loose. From this place the snow is less visible, even though closer. These are things you should notice anyway. To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here’s where things grow."

~ Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance