March 2005 Archives

It's people like these (i.e. Ted) that threaten my status as a nerd (taken from the Wilson website):

"Proud moments:
1. Most successful competetive program in school history.
2. 1 National Championship
3. 14 State Championships
4. 31 Top 6 Finishes at State Championships
5. 36 consecutive trips to State Championships

Chess Club: 2005

Wison Chess completed another successful year as it defeated powerhouse teams from Lake Oswego, Lincoln, Jesuit, Benson, Westview and others in capturing both 1st an 2nd place in the League Dual Meet season.

Ten Wilson players earned All League status - the most dominant performance by a school in League history.

Carrying this momentum to State, Wilson's #1 Team took 2nd in State in the A Division and it's #2 Team took 2nd in State in the B Division. In both cases State Championships were determined by a single match.

4 Wilson players earned All State awards in the A Division. This was Wilson's strongest performance in a decade and kept Wilson's tradition alive. This was it's 42nd consecutive appearance at the State Championships and it's 34th and 35th top 6 trophy.

Wilson Chess tradition also includes the school's only National Team Championship."

So, as it turns out, about half of the junior class went to Claremont, California over the break. Everyone claims that they want to go to Pomona, Pomona, Pomona, blah, blah, BLAH!! It appears that the influence of the Kadishes is strong. Now Jonathan wants to go there, like his brother, and his other brother... AND his cousin. I've tried to tell people that theoretical physics at Caltech is what everyone should actually do, although no one seems to agree, especially since everyone who went to Pomona also visited Caltech at the same time. Apparently that institution is the nerdiest, most eccentric, and wacko school imaginable. What else would you expect from the college with the highest number of Nobel Laureates per capita? I think I need to go there.

Please forgive the digital dust. This site is still under construction.

You know, it occurred to me that the notion of having an English "class" is really an incredibly useless and outdated concept. We should really substitute a general philosophy class for all "english" classes. Realistically, students would get at least as much writing accomplished, quite possibly more. "Literary analysis" is quite possibly one of the most useless skills that is taught in high schools, with the probable exception of phasor vector diagrams. With a philosophy class, the pointless literary analysis could be replaced by verbal and written argumentation and discourse--far more valuable skills. Traditional english classes could be offered as electives for those interested in the more artistic side of the written word. Or we could segregate high schools into an analytic track, a vocational track, and an artistic track, a la the European system, but I like my first idea better.

BAH!!

I have no time to keep writing. Readers have undoubtedly noticed the conspicuous void of entries of late. The reason is simple: not only am I short on time to blog, but I am short on time to THINK! This is the capstone of experience to my theory that school suppresses thinking. By forcing ungodly amounts of work down my throat, I have been constricted into a particular paradigm of thinking, with no time to deviate from it. I have become a drone.

A number of events have passed which I feel the need to recap and for which I must give my congratulations (mainly to Ted). Firstly, there is our very own speech and debate team, which is preparing to recapture the district championship after losing it last year to Madison. We've beaten them routinely throughout the year, but only by the slightest margins. Hopefully we can capitalize on our past success when it comes to head to head competition, and bring the trophy back where it belongs.

My congratulations extends to Ian Rocker, after he led the Mock Trial Team to qualify for the state competition. The usual suspects Lincoln, Grant, and Riverdale will be the main competition, from what I hear.

Also, both Wilson A and Wilson B won second place in their respective divisions in the state chess competition. Ted, I know that South Eugene wasn't there, so you didn't have to compete against their prodigious grandmaster Oleg, but what about that other person on the winning team...?

And finally that brings me to the veritable Science Bowl competition. This was the first year that we competed in the regional tournament, and Wilson B took second in the entire tournament to earn a spot at the national competition in Washington DC. But that was awhile ago. Last weekend, the district-organized Science Bowl competition, which is unaffiliated with the national one, occurred. The team that was Wilson B, became the A team, and the former A team (of which I was a member) pretty much disbanded because everyone except Ted had conflicts that rendered them unable to compete last weekend. The new B team became a ragtag group cobbled together at the last moment, and comprised of Ted, Tommy, Abraham, and someone named Tom Hall. By a complex set of unfortunate circumstances, the national qualifying A team finished a disappointing third, and the spur-of-the-moment B team finished just behind them in fourth. The B team actually beat Benson A, the team that went on to win the tournament, and they lost only in overtime to Grant A, the second-place team. I talked to Zaraza about the whole thing, and apparently everyone was pretty disappointed when Benson won, due to their incredible arrogance. Additionally, he claimed that the only reason that Wilson B did so well was because they got nearly every single physics question correct--it supports my theory that physics, chess, and calculus are the only thing that students from our school are good at (for competition's sake, they're also thankfully things at which most people are absolutely terrible). The only consolation is that Benson A is comprised entirely of seniors. Grant A also has a few seniors. Neither Wilson A, nor Wilson B, nor Wilson C have any seniors. Next year, hopefully we'll be a little more organized and actually practice. Then we'll be able to make two uber-teams that will dish out some domination.

Next stop: state economics competition. We had better win again this year... I want my $100 savings bond and trip to Scottsdale, AZ. Plus I have a feeling that Marchese will be really disappointed if we don't extend his two-year winning streak.

Update: I just realized something. If I'm congratulating Wilson B for getting fourth in a meaningless district Science Bowl, then despite the baseless prejudices I may have, I must congratulate the cheerleading team on winning 5th at nationals.

Update to the Update: Swimming won 1st a the district tournament... I'm done for the evening.

"'I mislike undecision as much as ere a man,' pa says."

--As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner