Essays

In order of date written. (Better organization ideas? Let me know.)

November 29, 2007 My Senior Project Application narratives
  These are a requirement for graduating Prescott College. Weirdly, they want students to justify their education. Includes a description of the Psychology of Society and Culture and why I am competent in it, a description of my planned senior project in the Psychology of Volunteer Recruitment and Retention, and a Liberal Arts statement.
November 28, 2007 Sucessful Theatre for Social Change and the Creation of Heroes
  My answer to the question of how art can be useful. I haven't actually read this since I turned it in.
October 29, 2007 Reflection on Street Theatre
  Written for Theatre and Social Change. A little less grammatically correct than I like my essays to be, but hey, it's just a reflection.
May 4, 2007 When Normal People Do Abnormal Things: The Psychology of Perpetrators, Bystanders and Upstanders (PDF)
  Written for Human Rights Seminar at Prescott College. Wins the Longest Title Prize of This Page, yay. I'm proud of this paper.
April 25, 2007 Utopia Is What Happens When You're Busy Making Other Plans
  Written for Utopia and Dystopia class at Prescott College. The assigment was "write about your utopia" and I got it down to only four pages. Whew.
February 1, 2007 The Disney Dichotomy: Idealism and Cynicism in the Disney Princess Story (PDF)
  Written for Image and Power in Mass Culture at Prescott College. An exploration of why my mother should have let me watch Disney movies when I was little.
December 14, 2006 Cognitive Dissonance: How Reality Harshes Your Mellow (PDF)
  Written for Introduction to a New Psychology class at Prescott College. I'm fascinated by the many ways cognitive dissonance can be useful. A lot of the things I learned from this paper ended up in When Normal People Do Abnormal Things.
November 27, 2006 Bread and Counseling Skills: A Review of The Tassajara Bread Book (PDF)
  Written for Counseling Skills class at Prescott College, partially influenced by Of bread and unschooling.
September 21, 2006 Soup or Salad: Immigrant Assimilation, Separatism, and Multiculturalism (PDF)
  Written for Migration in the Americas class at Prescott College. I didn't like this paper right after I wrote it, but my professor loved it. I think it doesn't say quite what I wanted to say, but it's still a good paper.
December 8, 2005 The Future of Peace Activism
  Written for Peace Studies class at Prescott College. Grand title, short essay.
Spring, 2004 An unschooler going to college.
  This was written as several rambles and edited over the course of most of 2004.
March 25, 2004 On being shy and preferred communication methods
  Written out of a slight feeling of guilt for not hangin' out in the kitchen with friends.
March 18, 2004 White privilege
  Written partially for English 101 at Portland Community College and partially for a friend who requested an explaination of white privilege. I'm not sure what I think of this essay these days, but the resources listed at the bottom are definitely worth checking out.
March 14, 2004 About reading poetry
  Written in response to a good ol' form vs. content argument with Vruba.
August 23, 2003 Of bread and unschooling
  Written after being interviewed about homeschooling twice in one week. Quite a bit of it influenced Bread and Counseling Skills.
December 5, 2002 Why I love eucalyptus trees so much
  On my informal solo coming-of-age sort-of-ritual just before moving out of my parents' house.

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