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Man, WREK‘s Atmospherics really puts you into the zone. I’m going to have to listen more often.

Where is my mind?

As I was walking from one task to the next today, the only time I had to reflect, and I was thinking about how Shanky’s inner ear is damaged and so he has great vertigo, I realized how much my life is out of balance right now. The song lyric from Wilco’s “Sunken Treasure” comes to mind:

I am so out of tune with you

I am horribly out of balance right now, and it’s unfortunately not even AIESEC that’s taking up all of my time. It’s school. Why am I so worried about school? I have friends who are dropping out and are far happier than I am. Heck, just look up famous Georgia Tech alumni and you’ll find that nine out of ten of them dropped out or transferred. Kind of an undeniable statistic.

The only other thing I was able to reflect on about balance was that there are some extreme forces in this world, but taking what I know about homeostasis, I think that the only truly lasting force in this world is one which forces balance, rather than forces a turnover. Revolutions are important, and sometimes power is so unbalanced that only an extreme polar opposite force can put it in a place where it can come back into balance. But if you can live forever as a person in balance, against all odds and storms and temptations, then over thousands of years the entire world will come to be in balance with you.

So I have to get back into balance. But society has done balance wrong with this kind of educational system. You are wrong, all of you, and you are going to pay for what you have done, if you aren’t already. Prepare to watch your children die as idiots or kill your gods. There is no balance otherwise, and Nature always wins.

Shanky gave us all quite a scare this weekend. I’m still proud of him, but keep your head, man. Below is a letter I wrote to stakeholders in Shanky’s fate, Stateside. I suppose it does better than anything to reflect my feelings on the incident, and how it relates to me personally and how it relates to my role as LCP.

On 2/24/08, Preston Frost Rhea <Preston.Rhea@gatech.edu> wrote:
Hello all,

This is regarding Sean, who was mugged on Saturday February 16 in Nairobi, Kenya, while on an AIESEC traineeship there. Thus far he has been in Kenya for about three and a half weeks. The details are found on his blog: http://orangehat.nomadlife.org/

The people on this email are myself, Local Committee President of AIESEC at Georgia Tech; Laleh Khoogar, VP Outgoing Exchange for AIESEC at Georgia Tech; Jessica Forrest, Sean’s OGXpert (someone who is responsible for overseeing him while abroad); Dr. John McIntyre, AIESEC at Georgia Tech’s faculty advisor; Michael Flood and Peter Stewart, two members of our Board of Advisors; Debbie Gulick, who is in charge of GT Work Abroad; Margaret Kolk, Sean’s mother; Pinar Comezoglu, the head of the Student Process Team for AIESEC US; and Missy Shields, Member Committee President of AIESEC United States.

The consensus of AIESEC at Georgia Tech’s Board of Advisors is to advise Sean and his family that Sean should return home. They believe that the risks outweigh the benefits of staying in Kenya, and the Board does understand that as posted on his blog Sean does not intend to come home. Dr. McIntyre has also expressed concern at our BOA meeting about someone being allowed to go to that country given the political situation. However, Sean had communicated with Debbie Gulick about going there, and he had to sign a contract with AIESEC US.

I did not hear about this until I was forwarded the post that Mrs. Kolk had made on Sean’s blog regarding the attack, early Saturday morning the 23rd. I sent an email to his TN manager, but that was all I could do (she has still not responded). Laleh and I therefore identified some further steps that AIESEC at Georgia Tech will take in preparing all of its EPs to realize their traineeships, including getting a portfolio for each EP with their own contact info as well as that of their caretakers and responsible individuals in the LC abroad. Email addresses, skype and msn addresses, and phone numbers will all be sought. The Board would also like for each EP who is matched to go before a review board to make sure that they are fit to go to where they choose, and mostly to “ground” any possible liability issues that may come up. I support such a process.

I must also express my own feelings, as sending Sean was an emotional experience for all of us in AIESEC at Georgia Tech. Even in the very short time he has been there, the change in Sean’s perspective has been enormous and evident through conversations and his blog posts. One of the first things I thought after being scared for him was, “I know he doesn’t want to leave.” I was in fact relieved to see that stated by him on his blog. Sean is one of those people who is learning lessons many of us never will because he has cast away the lines that would bind us, of fear and uncertainty and simply the hum of those around him damaging the Dream he seeks, in order to learn what life is, and what Kenya is, and how to change your own life by changing several others. I would feel considerably differently if his injury was related to the political situation there, but it was not, and I have half a mind to give him another head injury for being so hard-headed and walking in a dangerous area. But I know that he has learned a lot from this experience as well, and I trust Sean to return to us when he feels he is ready. How much better we all will be for it, I can only guess.

As the charge, I would like for all concerned parties to consider Dr. McIntyre to be the contact point for the Board of Advisors and for myself to be the contact point for the LC. Pinar, if there is someone other than you who should be the contact point for the MC, then let this thread know who that is.

I look forward to the clean conclusion of these difficult events. Cheers,

Preston

Thankfully they have concluded cleanly, with Shanky’s parents supporting his decision to stay in Kenya. He still has eight months of work left to do.

Been sick, but getting over it. Today was my birthday, and after all the work, interviews for VP Projects, homework, and lunar e-clipse watching, I managed to snag a beer at home a mere 10 minutes before T-364 Days until P. Rhea turns 23. Finally did a little work on my (hopefully) magnum opus szechuan, “The Dream Team.” If you have any advice, sling it.

Will play soccer at UGA this weekend. Hope I don’t embarrass the Good Name.

Board of Advisors meeting tomorrow. I aim to satisfy. Learn now for the future, right? Maybe in a different form. Lifetime employability will take on a new meaning, Mr. Friedman.

/me, exhausted, shuts down

Tuesdays aren’t my most relaxing days. I don’t know why, but labs are very exhausting even though you sit down for three hours. Maybe that’s just it, the worthless futility of sitting under those flourescents with no sunlight, clicking and pinning. I completely forgot to do homework for the class too, there is just too much homework going on in my life. I got to the radio station late. I did get to shave, though. I’ll get a haircut tomorrow.

Ben James and I had a dinner date tonight at Eats. We talked about recruitment and his decision to go to MENAXLDS in Tunisia, of which I am proud. Peas in the pod.

And despite the overwhelming work, there is reason to celebrate. I’m proud of you, Shanky, and I’m proud of you, Ariane. Thanks for bringing light into my day through your growth and success.

I went to the national subgroup meeting this weekend. There are fewer people going and the list of what the subgroup must accomplish keeps getting shorter, so that must mean that problems are getting fixed, which is a good thing. It’s pretty frustrating sitting in there a lot of the time but that’s probably just because my style of planning doesn’t mesh well with the style that goes on in subgroup. Aside from that I had an enjoyable time seeing old friends, including the amazing Luke Bonney whom I hadn’t seen in over a year with the exception of a snippet at LTM in December, and of course the King, Costa, Shannon, and I got to stay with Trent, whom I hadn’t seen since WSC 2007. That was also my first trip to Jersey. The damn plane was delayed for almost four hours on Sunday night and we didn’t get into Atlanta until after 2 AM, but because we were all delayed we were able to sit around some drinks for some good ole FAT (Fucking AIESEC Talk).

I’m reading this book that Williams recommended, The 4-Hour Workweek, which I am beginning to take to heart a lot. It even made my today more productive. I hope it makes my tomorrow more productive as well.

Looking for that magic exit!

I have been a bad boy for not posting as often as I should have; Brett has made sure to point this out.

I’m sitting in the WREK studio right now doing my Just Jazz shift. I put on a 30-minute movement of an entire live album called “Happening” by Francois Carrier and it is almost over. Tomorrow I have my first test, in the hardest class too – EMAG, ElectroMAGnetics. Back during the quarter system, for ECEs like me the saying went “EMAG, ReMAG, ThreeMAG, Management.” If I don’t just EMAG it, I’ll be here longer than I wish to be.

Man, school is hard. You really do get rusty on these things. Plus, since it’s Roy who is in class and Dave who’s cooping right now, Roy is usually least apt to do homework and study together, which makes me suffer some because I do much better in a group environment. Of course in the end I can only blame myself, but it does help to have people to do your homework with and study with.

Bernice, our resident call-in woman for WREK, just called me. I should have checked the caller ID.

Last night was the first GPM for new members, of which we had 27. That’s a ncie number. I feel like we’ll have more stuff for new members to do this time around, which will make AIESEC more valuable and will keep them with a higher retention rate.

Other than that, AIESEC is certainly stepping it up. We just sent Shanky to nine months in Kenya on Wednesday, Arcadiy is going to Kazakhstan on the 19th, Maddie and I are bound for NYC and the national subgroup meeting this weekend, and the next weekend we trip it up to Boone, NC for a reception event with the entire Southern Comfort region. Plus, RoKS at the end of the month. And somewhere in the middle of it all is my birthday. (That somewhere is the 20th).

But what can a poor boy do, ‘cept to sing for a rock ‘n roll band?

Yesterday me an’ Willie B saw that new film, Juno. Not only did I think the film was incredible, but Ellen Page, the actress who plays the film’s namesake, gave one of the greatest performances I’ve seen in a long time. Of course, Charlie Wilson’s War was also freakin’ fascinating, with each actor playing their part just right. I would love to have Charlie Wilson as my Congressman. Instead of Aderholt. Then I met with Shawn Wick, on furlough from the trenches Over There, for the American tradizchuan of pizza and beer. Today I did almost nothing except get some stuff for my new bike.

Tomorrow morning at 6 AM we make that trip to Winter Conference 2008 in St. Louis, MO.

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Here’s hoping to jump-start some minds.

Tomorrow I return home for Alabama, then Winter Conference in St. Louis, upon my return to Atlanta I will move into my new digs for the rest of my college career, and come January 7, I will re-enter a Georgia Tech classroom for the first time in seventeen months.

Although many scramble to get the piece of paper that gives them a disproportionate and increasingly obsolete feeling of security before they turn 23, I think that the time I have had away from GT, especially the entirety of 2007, has been one of the most formative and important times for me. It certainly has made me appreciate my environment, both immediate and remote, more than before, and I believe that it will make my graduation much more valuable than if I had just rocketed through and even gotten a Co-op designation. My reflections are more sincere than ever before, I have gotten a better sense of place in Atlanta by working as a bartender at the Fox Theatre, and I have had a free hand to prepare my team to handle AIESEC GT for 2008. How thankful I am for that Fate which made Ozymandias of my constructed plans, because had I been in Ecuador, Turkey, or Panama this fall I certainly couldn’t have prepared for LCP like I should have.

I finished a large but important book, Einstein on Politics, the other day. He is a fascinating character who I not only respect as a fellow man of the sciences, but also for his way of thinking and acting with his peers to engage the world on his deeply-felt passion for pacifism and a “world government” to abolish war and conflict. I drew a lot of parallels for AIESEC, but I especially noted that kind of culture that used to exist, and which we have all read about: learned men of old meeting for this conference and that, be it in the upper floor of a tavern or in a parliament hall in Geneva. I draw a convoluted parallel, that of personal connection, in my mode of operation today.

Now I am reading The Power of Myth with Joseph Campbell, which is proving highly influential on me and the way I think. I am seeing the motifs and stories everywhere, including in myself and the parts of my life and those of people around me which I have found interesting. I hope to read a good bit more in general before I return to servitude.

I have enjoyed my week and a half of unadulterated relaxation, which has resulted in many a late rise. I intend to sieze the days I have left, however, so no more such late rises. And this has become a late night – away.

I am sitting in the theater, watching the new film Awake, and I am the only person in the theater.