The Swim Test Saga

The Swim Test Saga Youre a first-semester senior and this is what Section 2 of your Undergraduate Degree Audit looks like: This is a very lonely situation, because the vast majority of your peers passed the swim test as fresh-off-the-boat/plane/car freshmen. (During freshman orientation week, new MIT arrivals swim four laps (100 yards) in droves, and receive a free t-shirt as a reward for not drowning. If drowning seems plausible, an individual can opt to take an introductory swimming class instead.) When you arrived, drowning was highly plausible,  not because you didnt know how to swim but because your ankle was badly sprained and a small bone in your foot was broken. Courtesy of a brutal Ultimate Frisbee injury, you spent the first two weeks at MIT hobbling around on crutches, and didnt get to take the swim test with your friends. :( And now its December, sub-zero (Celsius) outside, and it occurs to you that breaking your leg could actually prevent you from graduating. You do a quick calculation, and realize that you have had an average of one serious leg/foot/ankle injury per academic year at MIT. Freshman year: that Ultimate Frisbee incident. Sophomore year: the incident with the wheelie chair and the ramp, which landed you in an x-ray facility at Mount Auburn Hospital. Junior year: the incident on the New House 5 staircase, which landed you in an ambulance and MIT Medical. You were on crutches for weeks, thanks to a broken big toe. Senior year: ??? Uh oh. Visions of watching your friends receive their diplomas while you weep in the audience flash through your mind. You have pistol class in a few minutes (for those last two PE Points!) and the swimming pool is right near the range*, so you put on a swimsuit and head on over. *Theyre separated by lots of wall, dont worry. Its 2pm. Goggles on your forehead, you approach a lifeguard and announce that you are here to take the swim test. She looks at you skeptically. Its only offered at 8am and 8pm, she says. You say that you saw on the website that its possible to arrange to take the test at a different time. Try going to the swim office, she says, waving her hand vaguely in the direction of a solid wall. Okay. You retreat to the locker room, look up the swim office number, and walk over barefoot. Knock, knock. Swim office lady: Hello? Me: Hi. Id like to take the swim test, and I was wondering if I can arrange to take it now since theres a lifeguard free. Swim office lady: Um. I dont know anything about that, sorry. And the guy who does is in a meeting. Me: Do you know when the meeting will be over? Swim office lady: I dont know anything about it, sorry. Me: Okay. Swim office lady: You can leave a note for him and Ill get him to e-mail you. Me (thinking that seems unlikely): Okay. You write your name and e-mail address down, wait around for ten minutes, then sheepishly walk home. * * * Six Hours Later * * * You return, except now its MANY MORE degrees below freezing. Clothes in locker, goggles on forehead, find lifeguard. Lifeguard #1: You need your ID card. Back to locker room, retrieve ID card, past Lifeguard #1 who seems busy, find Lifeguard #2. Lifeguard #2: Okay, lets find a lane. There are no empty lanes. Lifeguard #2 stops a random man at the end of his lap. Can we share this lane with you? Theres a student who needs to take the swim test. He says sure, then awkwardly starts zigzagging, presumably because hes not sure which half of the lane you want. Lifeguard #2: Okay, you have to jump in, then swim four laps continuously. You must swim the first three laps on your stomach, but the last one can be on your back if youd like. Me: Okay. (Thinking JUMP? Like, jump far? Or just hop? Or step? What if I land on the other swimmer? Also, why would anybody opt to swim the last lap backstroke?) You jump and start with freestyle. At the end of the second lap, you remember that freestyle is kind of tiring and switch to breaststroke. Four laps isnt too bad. Me: Okay, all done. Lifeguard #2: Great! As you walk out, you pass Lifeguard #1. He says piece of cake, right? and for some reason that makes you realize that you forgot to bring a change of clothes. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! You stick your head under the hairdryer for a couple of minutes, then walk back to your dorm commando so that your swimsuit doesnt freeze solid to your skin. Congratulations! You passed the swim test. Four laps (and zero displacement) closer to graduation.

Reflection Of The Poem The Great Gatsby By F. Scott...

He Ran and Ran The ball was thrown to the wide receiver Who ran and ran with the ball Trying to score that first down That was needed so desperately He ran and ran through the line Dodging each defender in his way He twisted and weaved through the safeties He ran and ran to get first down Zipped through the hands of every lineman The crowd cheered him as he plowed He ran and ran and continued to run All the way to touchdown Reflection for Poem #1 I feel that this poem does really well in describing what happens in the moment when the ball is caught by the receiver. I changed the structure of the ballad like poem so that it fits more with the steady pulse and the overall poem is rather smooth. The constant â€Å"ran and ran† does very well with the overall poem because the whole purpose of this poem is to run and run when the ball is caught. I also changed a couple words so that it flows slightly better. I really enjoyed writing this poem because I felt that this poem was not hard to write at all and required a bit of creativity as well. This poem was probably one of my favorites as well because the ballad like structure made this poem with a sense. I did not have to be too creative in writing the format of the essay and only had to write the words to fill in the format. I did not change too much of the poem as I felt that it was already really well written and only needed a bit of tweaking to make it editorial level. The poem I felt was not too long either because itShow MoreRelated The Great Gatsby and the Valley of Ashes Essay1149 Words   |  5 PagesThe Great Gatsby and the Valley of Ashes    Many times we hear of societys affect on people; society influencing the way people think and act.   Hardly mentioned is the reverse: peoples actions and lifestyles affecting society as a whole and how it is characterized.   Thus, society is a reflection of its inhabitants and in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it is a wasteland described as the valley of ashes.   Since the characters of this novel make up this wasteland, arent they theRead MoreF. Scott Fitzgerald Research Paper1504 Words   |  7 PagesF. Scott Fitzgerald is in many ways one of the most notable writers of the twentieth century. His prodigious literary voice and style provides remarkable insight into the lifestyles of the rich and famous, as well as himself. Exploring themes such as disillusionment, coming of age, and the corruption of the American Dream, Fitzgerald based most of his subject matter on his own despicable, tragic life experiences. Although he was thought to be the trumpeter of the Ja zz Age, he never directly identifiedRead MoreComparison of Great Gatsby and Sonnets from the Portuguese Essay1420 Words   |  6 PagesHow does the treatment of similar content in The Great Gatsby and the prescribed poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning reflect changing values and perspectives? Throughout different time periods in history, perspectives change. With changing perspectives, artists and authors convey their feelings for particular social issues in varying ways through their texts. As the prescribed text, â€Å"The Great Gatsby† by F. Scott Fitzgerald and the prescribed sonnets from â€Å"Sonnets from the Portuguese† by ElizabethRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald2390 Words   |  10 Pages Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is an American short story writer and novelist who lived in the period between 24th September 1994 to 21st December 1940; his works are considered to be the paradigmatic compositions of the Jazz Age. He is a well-known member of the â€Å"Lost Generation† of the 20th century. During his life, he completed a total of four novels; Beautiful and Damned, This Side of Paradise, Tender Is the Night and The Great Gatsby (the most popular of all his stories)Read MoreAnalysis Of The Great Gatsby And I Too, Sing America979 Words   |  4 Pagespopular writing style allows people to express their opinions through underlying themes in their stories thus allowing writers to be spokespeople of their times. From The Great Gatsby to The Crucible to â€Å"I, Too, Sing America,† each author has expressed the values, critiques of society and traits of their times through their stories and poems. 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It is written about a young man named Nick, from the east he moved to the west to learn about the bond business. He ends up moving next to a mysterious man named Gatsby who ends up giving him the lesion of his life. After love circles with Gatsby and his cousin Daisy, lastly Jordan and gossip resulting with killings end up discussedRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1548 Words   |  7 PagesF. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, â€Å"The Great Gatsby†, is one of the few novels he wrote in 1925. The novel takes place during the 1920’s following the 1st World War. It is written about a young man named Nick, from the east he moved to the west to learn about the bond business. He ends up moving next to a mysterious man named Gatsby who ends up giving him the lesion of his life. After love circles with Gatsby and his cousin Daisy, lastly Jordan and gossip resulting with killings end up discussed overRead More Modernist Literature Essay2369 Words   |  10 PagesHilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas. Poets like T.S. Eliot, e.e. cummings, Wallace Stevens, and William Carlos Williams broke the rules of conventional poetry. Lastly, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald replaced the plot-driven novels of the nineteenth century with their works: The Sun Also Rises and The Great Gatsby. New was in, and new meant new ways of looking at and experiencing literature, poetry, and other forms of art. Modernists realized that there was more than just understanding a

Descriptive Essay Infinity - 1914 Words

Infinity came to me in the oddest way—death. It was a shroud, the one you wear to church for a funeral, or to hide underneath the ash falling from the sky. The one you wear when you anticipate an event, and you shield yourself from any emotion. Infinity was what made me live past my day, not what kept me alive and structured. Maybe it was the way it jutted into my life that made me keep it, for the sake of a seven year-old’s dreams. She wanted to live, then so did I. I was five days from my seventh birthday when the city turned into the epitome of Heck, and the normally blue ceiling sky bloomed a ghostly shade of red. The enemy came for us. And we came for them. It was almost bittersweet, the sight of heaven. I was seven. Heaven hadn’t been registered into my thought clock; my most deep thoughts only consisted of whether the moon was made out of cheese, or whether or not I should step on the anthill. I reached heaven, hand in hand with my mother and father, as we waited for the gates to open. Once they did, my father stepped in first. He looked back at me, smiled and gestured for my mother to follow him. She almost danced inside, turning on her heels so happily and so much that I could not ever recall seeing that before. At last, it was my turn. I followed the light inside to join my parents, and avoid the lecture about my disobedience. The colors inside this new world were something I’ve never seen before: bright, chaotic, full of life. Maybe that was the first time IShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Amrhein, Lexie Sr Flavio s Home 935 Words   |  4 PagesGlimpses Toward Infinity (1996). The piece below is a description essay of one of his most touching photographs that he took in 1990 of a poor boy in Rio de Janeiro. Summary â€Å"I’ve never lost my fierce grudge against poverty. It is the most savage of all human afflictions, claiming victims who can’t mobilize their efforts against it, who often lack strength to digest what little food they scrounge up to survive† (1). In â€Å"Flavio’s Home,† the author gives his readers a descriptive visual of whatRead MoreHistory of Economic Thought1412 Words   |  6 Pagesan invisible hand that became the bedrock of Western Capitalism. Often misquoted, Smith is both praised and discredited as the father of one of the most influential movements in history. Smith was the first oen who was prescriptive rather than descriptive and hence the popularity of his system. According to Smith, in his Wealth of Nations, competition is the foundational source of national wealth and governments should refrain and abstain from interfering in free trade. 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A body is defined as that which is bounded by a surface, therefore there cannot be an infinite body. 2. A Number, Numbers, by definition, is countable, so there is no number called ‘infinity’. 3. Perceptible bodies exist somewhere, they have a place, so there cannot be an infinite body.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Read More Role of the City in Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue and Hoffmann’s Mademoiselle de Scudery4157 Words   |  17 PagesThis student perceptively examines the role of the city as a setting and frame for detective fiction. 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Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement Free Essays

In Martin Luther King‘s speech he speaks with such passion and determination, you can tell in his voice that he means everything he says and his hope reaches out to people and the way he emphases his words captures the audience’s attention. He believed that every person should be equal despite their skin color. In Malcolm X’s speech he talks more about himself and he thought it would be best for everyone to keep their religion to themselves. We will write a custom essay sample on Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement or any similar topic only for you Order Now He believed that the black people were trapped by the white people. He thought of white people as the enemy and he mostly spoke negatively about them. He made jokes throughout his speech and to me he didn’t sound at serious as Martin Luther. For example Martin said â€Å"Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. As opposed to Malcolm X, who stated in his speech â€Å"There is nothing in our book, the Koran, which teaches us to suffer peacefully. Our religion teaches us to be intelligent. Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery. That’s a good religion. † Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wanted a more peaceful approach. He hoped that w ith sit-ins and peace marches to appeal to the ideals of dignity and justice in the white people of the time. To show them the wrong they were doing so that they would want to correct it in themselves out of their own personal honor. Malcolm X on the other hand believed that white people would never give up their power, at least early on in his career as a civil rights leader. He believed they would only give it up if forced to do so, and that meant through militant means. He eventually give this idea up in favor of more peaceful means after finding white Muslims who treated him and other black men as brothers; and black men who treated white people as brothers as well. And with this he began to realize that they could live in peace, and so he switched to a more peaceful style in his protests in the end. Personally, I believe that Martin Luther’s approach to gaining equality among people worked best. When taking a forceful approach, such as Malcolm X’s you take a risk that your enemy will not fear you but that they could possibly fight back and over power you. This could possibly be said for a peaceful approach as well but it’s less likely. How to cite Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, Papers

college tuition Essay Example For Students

college tuition Essay Public college tuition fees need to increase and not have a ceiling set on them because over time instructional costs increase due to rising wages, salaries and inflation. If there were a ceiling government taxes would increase, and last many amenities would have to be subtracted.First, over time instructional costs increase due to rising wages, salaries and inflation. If tuition does not increase the salary of employees will decrease and jobs will have to be cut, because there will not be enough money. Along with a smaller faculty there will also be less class choice and increase in . Both of these things will result in a lower quality of education because there would not be enough money due to a tuition ceiling. The tuition that students and families pay goes towards the students education. According to Karen Arenson of the some colleges are already cutting back, taking such steps as eliminating faculty positions and reducing class . These things are already happening without a tuition ceiling. Just think that all colleges would have to do this instead of some if there was a tuition ceiling.If a ceiling was set on tuition at all public colleges in the united states there would be a drastic increase in government taxes. Tuition at public universities is usually shared between the government or taxpayers, and the parents and student. As student costs increase such as maintenance, room, board, travel, laundry, and entertainment taxes would have to increase to cover the additional expenses. The failure of tuition to increase at the same rate as the increases of wages and salaries in the economy will require additional government revenues.College isn’t all about bookwork. College is a place to have and experience new things. If a ceiling was set on tuition there would be almost no money to fund extracurricular activities such athletic and cultural facilities and other programs. Also colleges would not be able to pay for extensive libraries and new technology for students without tuition.

Strategic Groups of Sopura Silk Mills Lid. free essay sample

Strategic groups of Sopura Silk Strategic groups: Companies in an industry often differ from each other with respect to factors such as distribution channels used,market segments served,product quality,technological leadership,customer service,pricing policy,advertising policyand promotions. Within most industries it is possible to observe groups companies in which each member follows the same basic strategy different from the one followed by companies in other groups. These groups of companies are known as strategic groups. Types of strategic groups: Strategic groups are follow into two categories: 1. Proprietary groups: The companies in this Proprietary groups are pursuing a high-risk/high return strategy. It is a high risk strategy because of Sopura Silk is difficult and expensive. It is also a high-return because they can charge high prices as the innovator has monopoly on its production and sale. 2. Generic Groups: The companies in this group are characterized by low Research and Development spending and an emphasis on price competition. We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic Groups of Sopura Silk Mills Lid. or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page They are pursuing a low-risk, low return strategy. It is low risk because they are not investing millions of TK. in Research and Development. It is low-return because they cannot charge high prices. Sopura as a strategic group: By considering the activities that are performed by Sopura silk helps to come into conclusion that it falls under generic group for the following reasons: †¢ It has no RD department. †¢ It is pursuing low risk and low return strategy. †¢ It has no RD,so it can not produce innovative products charge so much higher price. It is price is competitive in market.

picasso essays

picasso essays The issue between the Israelites, the Jewish, and the Palestinians, the Arabs (Muslim), all really started in 1947 when the United Nations voted to give one half of Palestine to Israel. This occurred in what was formerly known as Palestine and now known as Israel. In 1948, Israel became a nation and Palestine loss land from the Israelites. Will this issue ever end over the land of Palestine? In 70 A.D., The Romans conquered the Jewish nations and forced the Jews off the land. For 10 centuries, Palestine was under the Islamic rule. In the 1800s, Jews started immigrating back to their homeland. By 1914, 85,000 Jews lived in Palestine. In 1917, during WWI, Great Britain issued the Balfour Declaration. It started support for a Jewish national homeland in Palestine. After WWII, many Jews were killed and had no place to go. United Nations divided Palestine into two states. The city of Jerusalem was an international city. In 1948, Jews were announced land in Palestine. In a matter of hours the Arab countries attacked Israel. At the end o 1948, Israel controlled  ¾ of Palestine and half of Jerusalem. At the end of the war, Palestinians had no country at all. Last, in 1967, a six day war, Arab countries, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt attacked Israel. At the end, Israel gained Jerusalem, the west bank of the Jordan River from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria, and the Sin ai Peninsula from Egypt. The two positions on this issue are the Israelis that want to maintain their homeland. Then the other side is the Palestinians that want land to claim as their own and govern the way they want. I think that they should go back to sharing the land. I feel Israel should own all of the land because it is their land originally but where would the Palestinians go? This same conflict will come up if the Palestinians dont have a place if their own. This way it is a compromise. ...