The grouping of education and research non-profits include: elementary and secondary school, colleges and universities, and research organizations.
Private vs. Public K-12 Schooling:
Most private schools are small with “the average public school enrolled 516 students, whereas the average private school enrolled 191 (U.S. Department of Education, 1997, p. 10). With the exception of catholic schools with slightly higher numbers “[n]early a fourth of private school students are from racial or ethnic minority groups” (O’Neill 111). Another exception would be the high school I attended.
My experience with private schooling is a little different than most private school systems in America. I attended high school at Kamehameha Schools Maui Campus which is an estate which was left for the Native Hawaiian children of Hawaii in the will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. In order to get into the school one needs to have Native Hawaiian ancestry, pass academic tests and an interview. The school itself has three campuses on three different islands, all of which have the appearance of a college campus with outdoor pathways and state of the arch facilities. It is founded off Christian beliefs and Native Hawaiian values and in order to graduate each student had to attend Chapel services every month. This school is unlike other private religious schools however in that most of the moneys behind it comes directly from our founders will, since she was royalty she had a lot of it and the right to leave it behind along with land to whom she wished. As a result all three campuses now have facilities for K-12 in which they separately have their own campus with in the whole. Kamehameha Maui Campus’ high school students each receive a new laptop when they enter high school to be given back when they graduate, which is where all the students work is to be done. To some extent this would be considered a college-prep school in that the students truly are being prepared to go straight to college with graduation requirements: during your sophomore year picking one of the four departments to take classes in your junior and senior year, doing a related internship, 60 hours of community service, and senior projects and presentations. This private school though has one other area that stands out greatly above all compared to other private schools and that is that is does not cost nearly as much as most private schools in America. “Tuition is by far the largest source of private school revenue, especially for independent schools” (O’Neill 113). Part of all students tuition that it would normally cost to attend a school of such manor is paid for from the school, or our founder.
Because the public school system in Hawaii is close to the bottom of the charts in comparison to other schools in America, there is a great want for better education in Hawaii. Therefore it should come to no surprise that many families without Native Hawaiian ancestry and the money to send their children to a expensive private school with good education, think it is unfair that this school system is excluding those without Native Hawaiian ancestry into the schools. Another upset over this school is how there is somewhat of a competition as to which teachers get jobs there because the teachers as well as the students get to use the state of the arch facilities, laptops and get higher education they seek while in the teacher position paid for. This differs completely from the usual public school teachers getting paid more than private school teachers.
Higher Education:
In moving on to the topic of higher education of colleges, universities, and research institutions, I found it very difficult to wrap my head around the idea that some of these are in fact non-profits. I can’t help but to keep thinking about my expensive out of state tuition I pay every month and some of the oldest universities with such big endowments that they could afford to send each student to attend schooling for free. Why then would these institutes still be charging students? They are in fact making a profit off of them, are they not? To me every large university is just like a business. They charge their students (or customers) to attend their school and in return give them education and a good college ‘experience’. Pac 10 schools with direct interests in recruitment for sports and sponsorships are to me some of the worst. Maybe it is because I attend the University of Oregon and never for a second get the chance to forget that I am in the town that Nike was founded, and that founder and University of Oregon alumni Phil Knight has so much money invested in this university that there are buildings named after him. Yes he has given a lot of money to the school, but not to do what they wish with. Seeing as how Phil Knight was the founder of Nike which started as a running shoe as has expanded to a whole variety of shoes, a clothing line, and athletic wear; he obviously has his interest in sports. So much so that an educational institution such as the University of Oregon gives him whatever say he wants. It is known that Nike had been (and might still be using) workers in sweatshops in third world countries to produce their products. In 2000 when the a group of students protested against sweatshops on campus and signed petitions against them in joining the Workers Rights Consortium. Phil Knight said that he would pull the $30 million donation he was about to give the University of Oregon if they stayed joined to the Workers Rights Consortium. He said his reasoning was because they had a history of being unfriendly to shoe companies and Nike is a member of the Fair Labor Association (FLA) already; which is similar but government affiliated. In the end the administration of the University of Oregon forced students into not being apart of the Workers Rights Consortium and no longer signing petitions or having involvement on campus, and Phil Knight gave the school his donation. In this example, it is clear that instead of the educational institution being focused on a better education and students voices being heard and expressed, they are being shut down so the institution can receive money. This looks blatantly like the focus is on money: profit over education! Knowing this is what makes looking at higher education institutes as non-profits versus for-profits so hard.
Looking around our campus today, one would find a recently new football stadium, brand new baseball stadium along with an athletic building where only student athletes are allowed into except the public first floor, and a new basketball arena and alumni building being built. It is said that these facilities were built on moneys that Phil Knight donated, and not out of students tuition fees. However, I challenge this information because students tuition did go up. Why then? Instead of paying thousands and thousands of dollars on a tiny percentage of students in an educational institute (athletes) to have brand new EVERYTHING: private tutors, laptops, study rooms, lounging rooms, separate food courts, and probably more that I do not know about; why not spread that money to reach out to a wider audience of students? When I have often brought this knowledge to fellow classmates of mine they often counter argue that Phil Knight had also though given moneys that went towards other things and mainly our library on campus named after him. However, I challenge one library open to the whole campus population compared to the five recently built or being built buildings open to about only 7 percent of the student body.
What is it that the University of Oregon really cares about? With recent additions to the campus being focused on only 7 percent of the student body, it appears that keeping their status as a pac-10 school and keeping their sponsors and Phil Knight happy is the main focus. Phil Knight equals money. Sponsors give money. Good athletic department equals a happy Phil Knight and sponsors. This seems pretty self explanatory... money is the objective.
For-profit or non-profit??
These are obviously just my personal thoughts and opinions. I realize that some of what I am hinting to might offend some people or upset their personal views of the University of Oregon and their mission. I do in fact attend school at this institute and am no doubt proud to be a Duck, I am simply challenging some of what I think is over looked in the nonprofit sector of higher education.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
My post today will be in response to the reading I completed covering chapters 3 and 4 of Michael O'Neill's book Nonprofit Nation. The first chapter focused on Religion and the latter on Social Services. Reading through O'Neill's book this weekend came to me with quite some enjoyment surprisingly (since normally readings for academics can be dry to say the least). His chapters are short and for the most part to the point. It is somewhat hard to take note of the statistics he throws in the book though because they are so out dated. I am not sure what if any relevance such numbers would have today.
On the topic of Religion:
I learned quite a bit about this particular aspect of the United States that I had not known before of my own Country purely because I personally do not identify as a religious person. I have had personal experience with how religious most are in this country through being brought to church as a young child, attending a private high school founded of Christian beliefs and attending Chapel there, and having friends that highly identify with one specific religion. Having this experience, I was still quite shocked to learn just how religious America is, especially in comparison with other developed countries. Once reading further however, I came to understand that our history in social crisis and movements would be the reasoning behind why there were increases or decreases in the number of members participating in religious services, memberships to certain congregations, and donations to such. Not yet established religious churches were America's first voluntary associations in our history, and continues to be the largest in the nonprofit sector in our country. It is hard to know just how large this part of the sector is however. Because of the 'separation of church and state' that is found throughout our country on which the foundation of which this country was built, all religious organizations do not have to file annual financial reports to the IRS and state agencies. Therefore only estimates are found on the size of such congregations along with their expenditures, revenue, assets, and the like. Researchers do know through consistent findings throughout our history that around 70 percent of Americans or more consider themselves affiliated with a certain religious congregations. O'Neill also states that "a consistent finding of survey research is that more people do volunteer work for religious organizations than for any other type of nonprofit" (O'Neill 62).
It is not really surprising once you think about it that religion directly touches way more people than other parts of the nonprofit sector because it is something that has been part of not only our society, but humanity as a whole for so long. Religion ties people together no matter where you are geographically, it is through faith in God that so many individuals put everything towards because in times of desperation, it seems as though faith is the only true constant. Communities where everyone attends the same religious congregation than are much stronger than those that do not. This falling back on faith in seen multiple times over and over again throughout our countries history, especially during or after wars. The most vivid example is seen during the two decades after World War II when America fell into a slump. Religious organizations cam to the rescue with a heavy increase in international relief programs, missionary activity, religious hospitals and health care centers, and along with the number of congregations in the rise we saw the membership and volunteering increase.
Religious congregation within a community really creates a tighter nit community when it is one of the same faith. O'Neill quotes Putnam that to me touches on just what a big role religion can play within communities.
"Faith communities in which people worship together are arguably the singe most important repository of social capital in America... Churches provide an important incubator for civic skills, civic norms, community interests, and civic recruitment... [C]hurchgoers are substantially more likely to be involved in secular organizations, to vote and participate politically in other ways, and to have deeper informal social connections" (O'Neill 63- Putnam, 2000, p.66)
One aspect that I do not agree with that O'Neill states quickly and subtly in this chapter is his reasoning behind possible declination of religious involvment in America. One reason he states is the recent increase on 'spirituality', "a non denominational and largely self-directed pursuit, [that] may also signal a move away from traditional religion" (O'Neil 69). Being that I do not personally affiliate with the idea of religion, I do consider myself a highly spiritual person. Although he never directly states that this growth of 'spirituality' would be a negative thing, it is quietly heard in my ears when reading off what a high pedestal he puts the Religious chapter in the nonprofit sector for how large it is in participants and contributions to society. I would not of stereotypes all types spirituality to be mostly self-directed for there are those that are not, and of those that are, there are groups that meet together to find conquer this pursuit. If there is in fact a movement towards spiritually and away from traditional religions more well known, there is no telling if these types of spirituality will form congregations, take the role of traditional religious organizations, and ply such a huge role in society in contributing to education, health care, social service, and international aid.
On the topic of Social Services:
I have somewhat of a shorter response to this topic because it is one that I have more involvement and background knowledge of. Social services in America that are contributed by some of the most well known nonprofit organizations include helping victims of sexual, mental, and child abuse, the homeless, elderly, disabled, drug and alcohol addicts, mentally ill, single parents, foster children, natural disaster victims, immigrants, the jobless, and much more. Helping the needy is for the most part universally agreed to be what is morally right to do. How this is done is still debated however, along with what duties this specially includes or not. Unlike the Religion chapter in the nonprofit sector, social services are considered a small part on this sector with little revenue and very few employees. Most of the work done for these services then is volunteer work. I was a little shocked to find though that "sixty percent of social service revenue comes directly or indirectly from government, under grants, performance contracts, and fee-for-service agreements" (O'Neil 77). I apparently had thought less of our government and their involvement with truly taking care of their people, due to my somewhat negative mindset with the general way our government works.
One area I did learn something in my interest was that of child day care services. "In child day-care services, for-profits have 60 percent of nongovernment revenue and employees, and three-fourths of the firms" (O'Neill 78). To me this hsould be one place that the government does have a foot in. America provides free public education for it's children except college, AND before grade school. Many still have the thought process that this time in a child's life is not one with heavy importance since they are so small and not yet capable of indept thought processes. Yet what most people are turning their backs to is the fact that this is fact is one of the most crucial periods during a child's life. This is when they first establish many of their emotional ties to things or people, view of life, eating habits, and the like. Because this is not a service widely given by the government, it creates great stratification as to whom gets the greater quality service. That would of course be those who can afford it. Day care providers to the majority of our society, middle or working class, get paid very little in general because they are not usually educated, and those that need to go back to work before their child reaches grade school are obviously those who need the income from their jobs to support themselves and families, so can not pay a lot for day care. The government should have more of a presence in this area of social service and not just rely on nonprofit organizations to put forth the accommodations to those in need of such. These children are our future! They should not be watched over (or some case not) but uneducated, and unqualified carers who live in ridiculously dirty places over packed with children; which in unregulated by the government!
Conclusion:
Of those social services that nonprofit organizations do offer to society, the great majority of them are from religious congregations... Who would of thought! Well maybe you, but not me! Our country is much more religiously oriented than I had ever imagined. I still have not decided if this is a good thing or bad. Due to all of the social services they do provide and the money and volunteer work by their members, so much religion in America seems to truly be our savior. However, in those services offered and vast degree of nonprofit organizations that are funded by religious congregations, there are very few to hardly any of them that focus on ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS. This to me is one of the top most important and URGENT issues of our time. I do know all too well that there are nonprofit organizations that are purely created for these issues, however they do not get the support from the community through religious congregations like social service organizations do. It makes me wonder if the Christian way of thinking (that many Westerners were brought up into whether they realized it) and ideal of Eden in the Bible along with the general theme of wilderness as a gift from God to do what we wish with, will ever change....
On the topic of Religion:
I learned quite a bit about this particular aspect of the United States that I had not known before of my own Country purely because I personally do not identify as a religious person. I have had personal experience with how religious most are in this country through being brought to church as a young child, attending a private high school founded of Christian beliefs and attending Chapel there, and having friends that highly identify with one specific religion. Having this experience, I was still quite shocked to learn just how religious America is, especially in comparison with other developed countries. Once reading further however, I came to understand that our history in social crisis and movements would be the reasoning behind why there were increases or decreases in the number of members participating in religious services, memberships to certain congregations, and donations to such. Not yet established religious churches were America's first voluntary associations in our history, and continues to be the largest in the nonprofit sector in our country. It is hard to know just how large this part of the sector is however. Because of the 'separation of church and state' that is found throughout our country on which the foundation of which this country was built, all religious organizations do not have to file annual financial reports to the IRS and state agencies. Therefore only estimates are found on the size of such congregations along with their expenditures, revenue, assets, and the like. Researchers do know through consistent findings throughout our history that around 70 percent of Americans or more consider themselves affiliated with a certain religious congregations. O'Neill also states that "a consistent finding of survey research is that more people do volunteer work for religious organizations than for any other type of nonprofit" (O'Neill 62).
It is not really surprising once you think about it that religion directly touches way more people than other parts of the nonprofit sector because it is something that has been part of not only our society, but humanity as a whole for so long. Religion ties people together no matter where you are geographically, it is through faith in God that so many individuals put everything towards because in times of desperation, it seems as though faith is the only true constant. Communities where everyone attends the same religious congregation than are much stronger than those that do not. This falling back on faith in seen multiple times over and over again throughout our countries history, especially during or after wars. The most vivid example is seen during the two decades after World War II when America fell into a slump. Religious organizations cam to the rescue with a heavy increase in international relief programs, missionary activity, religious hospitals and health care centers, and along with the number of congregations in the rise we saw the membership and volunteering increase.
Religious congregation within a community really creates a tighter nit community when it is one of the same faith. O'Neill quotes Putnam that to me touches on just what a big role religion can play within communities.
"Faith communities in which people worship together are arguably the singe most important repository of social capital in America... Churches provide an important incubator for civic skills, civic norms, community interests, and civic recruitment... [C]hurchgoers are substantially more likely to be involved in secular organizations, to vote and participate politically in other ways, and to have deeper informal social connections" (O'Neill 63- Putnam, 2000, p.66)
One aspect that I do not agree with that O'Neill states quickly and subtly in this chapter is his reasoning behind possible declination of religious involvment in America. One reason he states is the recent increase on 'spirituality', "a non denominational and largely self-directed pursuit, [that] may also signal a move away from traditional religion" (O'Neil 69). Being that I do not personally affiliate with the idea of religion, I do consider myself a highly spiritual person. Although he never directly states that this growth of 'spirituality' would be a negative thing, it is quietly heard in my ears when reading off what a high pedestal he puts the Religious chapter in the nonprofit sector for how large it is in participants and contributions to society. I would not of stereotypes all types spirituality to be mostly self-directed for there are those that are not, and of those that are, there are groups that meet together to find conquer this pursuit. If there is in fact a movement towards spiritually and away from traditional religions more well known, there is no telling if these types of spirituality will form congregations, take the role of traditional religious organizations, and ply such a huge role in society in contributing to education, health care, social service, and international aid.
On the topic of Social Services:
I have somewhat of a shorter response to this topic because it is one that I have more involvement and background knowledge of. Social services in America that are contributed by some of the most well known nonprofit organizations include helping victims of sexual, mental, and child abuse, the homeless, elderly, disabled, drug and alcohol addicts, mentally ill, single parents, foster children, natural disaster victims, immigrants, the jobless, and much more. Helping the needy is for the most part universally agreed to be what is morally right to do. How this is done is still debated however, along with what duties this specially includes or not. Unlike the Religion chapter in the nonprofit sector, social services are considered a small part on this sector with little revenue and very few employees. Most of the work done for these services then is volunteer work. I was a little shocked to find though that "sixty percent of social service revenue comes directly or indirectly from government, under grants, performance contracts, and fee-for-service agreements" (O'Neil 77). I apparently had thought less of our government and their involvement with truly taking care of their people, due to my somewhat negative mindset with the general way our government works.
One area I did learn something in my interest was that of child day care services. "In child day-care services, for-profits have 60 percent of nongovernment revenue and employees, and three-fourths of the firms" (O'Neill 78). To me this hsould be one place that the government does have a foot in. America provides free public education for it's children except college, AND before grade school. Many still have the thought process that this time in a child's life is not one with heavy importance since they are so small and not yet capable of indept thought processes. Yet what most people are turning their backs to is the fact that this is fact is one of the most crucial periods during a child's life. This is when they first establish many of their emotional ties to things or people, view of life, eating habits, and the like. Because this is not a service widely given by the government, it creates great stratification as to whom gets the greater quality service. That would of course be those who can afford it. Day care providers to the majority of our society, middle or working class, get paid very little in general because they are not usually educated, and those that need to go back to work before their child reaches grade school are obviously those who need the income from their jobs to support themselves and families, so can not pay a lot for day care. The government should have more of a presence in this area of social service and not just rely on nonprofit organizations to put forth the accommodations to those in need of such. These children are our future! They should not be watched over (or some case not) but uneducated, and unqualified carers who live in ridiculously dirty places over packed with children; which in unregulated by the government!
Conclusion:
Of those social services that nonprofit organizations do offer to society, the great majority of them are from religious congregations... Who would of thought! Well maybe you, but not me! Our country is much more religiously oriented than I had ever imagined. I still have not decided if this is a good thing or bad. Due to all of the social services they do provide and the money and volunteer work by their members, so much religion in America seems to truly be our savior. However, in those services offered and vast degree of nonprofit organizations that are funded by religious congregations, there are very few to hardly any of them that focus on ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS. This to me is one of the top most important and URGENT issues of our time. I do know all too well that there are nonprofit organizations that are purely created for these issues, however they do not get the support from the community through religious congregations like social service organizations do. It makes me wonder if the Christian way of thinking (that many Westerners were brought up into whether they realized it) and ideal of Eden in the Bible along with the general theme of wilderness as a gift from God to do what we wish with, will ever change....
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Hello World of blogging, or as we say it in Hawaii, Aloooooooooha!
My name is Cassidy Ventura and I am currently a Junior at the University of Oregon majoring in Environmental Studies and working towards a minor in Planning, Public Policy and Management. The United States and other countries of comparable measure have four sectors: the household sector, the government sector, the business sector, and the nonprofit sector. I created this blog as part of a requirement for a class that I am taking, PPPM280: Intro to the Nonprofit Sector, which is pretty obviously focused around the fourth sector of the U.S. I will be sharing my thoughts and reactions to the readings assigned in class as well as the material we cover in lecture, along with my general thoughts on the nonprofit sector in America and worldwide. I started a blog about five months ago but never got back to it, so this is my chance to test the waters in the world of blogging, but ill have more like a foot or leg in the water instead of just a toe.
Personally I have been involved in nonprofit organizations since the beginning of my high school career, in which it was a requirement for graduation to complete the minimum of 60 hours of community service. I went far beyond this requirement once I realized where my heart truly was grounded; in the environment. I started volunteering for Maui Dryland Restoration Group doing conservation work reforesting Auwahi, a native Hawaiian dryland forest on the leeward side of Haleakala. From there I received a paid internship through AmeriCorps where I continued my field work in Auwahi and was blessed with the opportunity to be apart of Hawaii's annual conservation conference where I confirmed the direction I wanted my life to lead in. Other nonprofit organizations I have been a part of include American Cancer Society where I have participated in Relay for Life, OSPIRG's chapter on the University of Oregon campus, OMAS' Student Leadership Team (SLT), and the ASUO Women's Center where I have volunteered and this school year work as an office assistant and on the Diversity Coordinators Team. Now I should point out however that I had no idea that I was in fact participating the nonprofit sector of America while partaking in these activities. To me, I was simply following my heart and interests.
This realization that I do in fact have quite a bit of experience in nonprofit organizations has not come to me until a few nights ago while reading through the first two chapters of Michael O'Neill's book Nonprofit Nation. To be honest I was quite shocked to learn about just how broad of a category nonprofits are and what a vast range of associations can be grouped into such. I had no idea what a large portion of our societies members work for nonprofits, and how much of our money actually comes from them. Once I started reading about the historical background of the creation of nonprofits in America this all made much more sense to me. With the birth of democratization, privatization, a developing economy, and religious activism came the birth of nonprofit associations. O'Neill states that one can trace human history as far back as when hunter and gathers first started to settle down and there were different social roles not being met that could be filled by associations of people grouping together and working toward a common goal for the benefit of the society. Any rapid social change throughout our history also called for the birth of new nonprofit organizations, and still do. Some of these include environmental and women's movements, anti-war and anti-racism movements, and equal rights for the LGBTQQI community. Once I had this piece of information, I realized just how large the nonprofit sector really is in America and other similar countries: realllly BIG! In O'Neills words this means "1.8 million registered and probably million of unregistered organizations, with annual revenue greater than the GDP of all but six nations, with more civilian employees than the federal government and fifty state governments combined, and with a place in virtually every American's life" (O'Neill, 33). The rest of the book was informative yet interesting at the same time as it is a topic I am obviously intrigued by. I am looking forward to the rest of the readings and lectures to go along with them, and can't wait to continue blogging :)
My name is Cassidy Ventura and I am currently a Junior at the University of Oregon majoring in Environmental Studies and working towards a minor in Planning, Public Policy and Management. The United States and other countries of comparable measure have four sectors: the household sector, the government sector, the business sector, and the nonprofit sector. I created this blog as part of a requirement for a class that I am taking, PPPM280: Intro to the Nonprofit Sector, which is pretty obviously focused around the fourth sector of the U.S. I will be sharing my thoughts and reactions to the readings assigned in class as well as the material we cover in lecture, along with my general thoughts on the nonprofit sector in America and worldwide. I started a blog about five months ago but never got back to it, so this is my chance to test the waters in the world of blogging, but ill have more like a foot or leg in the water instead of just a toe.
Personally I have been involved in nonprofit organizations since the beginning of my high school career, in which it was a requirement for graduation to complete the minimum of 60 hours of community service. I went far beyond this requirement once I realized where my heart truly was grounded; in the environment. I started volunteering for Maui Dryland Restoration Group doing conservation work reforesting Auwahi, a native Hawaiian dryland forest on the leeward side of Haleakala. From there I received a paid internship through AmeriCorps where I continued my field work in Auwahi and was blessed with the opportunity to be apart of Hawaii's annual conservation conference where I confirmed the direction I wanted my life to lead in. Other nonprofit organizations I have been a part of include American Cancer Society where I have participated in Relay for Life, OSPIRG's chapter on the University of Oregon campus, OMAS' Student Leadership Team (SLT), and the ASUO Women's Center where I have volunteered and this school year work as an office assistant and on the Diversity Coordinators Team. Now I should point out however that I had no idea that I was in fact participating the nonprofit sector of America while partaking in these activities. To me, I was simply following my heart and interests.
This realization that I do in fact have quite a bit of experience in nonprofit organizations has not come to me until a few nights ago while reading through the first two chapters of Michael O'Neill's book Nonprofit Nation. To be honest I was quite shocked to learn about just how broad of a category nonprofits are and what a vast range of associations can be grouped into such. I had no idea what a large portion of our societies members work for nonprofits, and how much of our money actually comes from them. Once I started reading about the historical background of the creation of nonprofits in America this all made much more sense to me. With the birth of democratization, privatization, a developing economy, and religious activism came the birth of nonprofit associations. O'Neill states that one can trace human history as far back as when hunter and gathers first started to settle down and there were different social roles not being met that could be filled by associations of people grouping together and working toward a common goal for the benefit of the society. Any rapid social change throughout our history also called for the birth of new nonprofit organizations, and still do. Some of these include environmental and women's movements, anti-war and anti-racism movements, and equal rights for the LGBTQQI community. Once I had this piece of information, I realized just how large the nonprofit sector really is in America and other similar countries: realllly BIG! In O'Neills words this means "1.8 million registered and probably million of unregistered organizations, with annual revenue greater than the GDP of all but six nations, with more civilian employees than the federal government and fifty state governments combined, and with a place in virtually every American's life" (O'Neill, 33). The rest of the book was informative yet interesting at the same time as it is a topic I am obviously intrigued by. I am looking forward to the rest of the readings and lectures to go along with them, and can't wait to continue blogging :)
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