Washington Post article

This semester has been more of a whirlwind than any thus far, but that's to be expected since each new semester will be significantly harder than the last until I graduate. I'm barely hanging on in Physics and Chemistry is kicking my butt. Genetics is the only one that is going fairly smoothly. Despite how hard this semester is, it's been a very exciting one with tons of opportunities.

First, during the month of February, our campus took part in activities and seminars that were meant to counter the many celebrations that were going on all over the country in honor of Charles Darwin's 200th birthday. The Liberty Law School hosted an all day symposium on intelligent design (ID) and public schools. Their keynote speaker was famous biochemist and ID proponent, Dr. Michael Behe. The Law School hosted a dinner where he spoke. Le’Rae came up to surprise me for my birthday, so she and I went to the dinner along with other biology students and law students. It was a great experience for me and partly justified my decision to come up to Liberty. Back when I was making the decision to uproot myself and come way up here I thought that if any university was going to give me the opportunity to meet such science celebrities, Liberty was it.

Later on that week, another famous science scholar visited our campus. Dr. Paul Nelson, who is featured in Ben Stein’s documentary, “Expelled”, gave a seminar. I, along with other biology club members, got the opportunity to go to this seminar and meet him.

At the beginning of the next week, Answers in Genesis came for a large conference called “Answers for Darwin”. The biology club along with other biology students volunteered during the conference. We were able to take a picture along with Answers in Genesis founder, Ken Ham. He took a copy of that picture and posted it on his personal blog that is featured on the Answers in Genesis web site.

The most recent excitement followed a trip that Dr. DeWitt takes every year to the Smithsonian. Every year, Dr. DeWitt, Dr. Marcus Ross and the advanced Creation Studies class goes to the Smithsonian to get a creationist view of what is displayed there. A reporter for the Washington Post caught wind of this and asked if he could meet us there to do a story on creationist groups that go to secular museums. The reporter talked to me and many students throughout the day. A photographer also followed us around. This week, the article came out on the front page of the paper. It was also featured on the Washington Post website. I was quoted in the article and was in many of the pictures online. Dr. DeWitt was happy with the outcome. The article was actually pretty well done. When it comes to secular articles talking about Creationism, a well done article is one that isn’t blatantly negative.

Apparently, this article was one of the most popular on the website all day and got a lot of feedback. The paper and the reporter actually got nasty blogs and emails simply because the article didn’t outright trash us. It’s pretty exciting and hopefully it will open doors for the biology department at Liberty. The link to the online article is below.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/10/AR2009031003690.html?nav=hcmodule

First week of Spring '09

Hello and welcome back to the crazy little disaster that I call life. Last semester had a surprisingly painless ending once my final grades were posted. I sure am glad my professors use funky math because that's the only way I ended up with 3 A's and a B. I bombed two final exams and still ended up with those grades. Thank goodness for weighted lab grades. This semester is turning out to be a crazy one...well, they all are, so at least I'm consistent. I have genetics, my second semester of physics and, after an 8 year break, my second semester of chemistry. I will most likely be continuing with the salamander research as well.

One new thing that I've been asked to head up is the dilapidated Biology Club. In it's glory days, the club would take different types of trips to all sorts of cool natural places. The purpose is for biology majors to actually be able to get out there and enjoy the subject that we sacrifice our lives to study. I hope to be able to get a lot of people signed up and plan some cool trips.

As if that wasn't enough to do, I will be applying for a third job. The amount of money I'm making at my current two just will not cover my expenses.

I leave you with a funny picture that illustrates the craziness of university life. The first week of school, the bookstore is about as crowded as Disney World on a holiday. The lines snake their way all the way to the back of the store.

Why I'm not happy about Obama's appointment as President.

It's obvious that a right wing conservative such as myself will not agree with anything Obama stands for. I'm a pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, fiscal conservative. The fact that a majority of Americans believe such a radically liberal man as Obama is the best suited leader of this great nation left me sick to my stomach. The man that will occupy the Oval office will do nothing to protect the lives of innocent, unborn children. He will not protect the sacred institution of marriage.

Please know that I have been dreaming of a day when we as a country could elect a black man (or woman) as president. I hate racism and I've wanted this day to come for the entirety of my adult life...I'm just sad that the ONLY positive thing about this election is that it's the first appointment of a black man in office. There are many black men and women that I would have gladly and whole-heatedly voted for in place of Obama.

As I watched Obama win the election, I thought about a phrase from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic speech so many years ago:

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the CONTENT of their CHARACTER."

I don't wish to belittle the accomplishment this presidency signifies for African Americans in general, but my fear is that Obama was NOT elected because of the content of his character but ONLY because of the color of his skin. Even though history has been made and I'm proud of how far our country has gone in that respect, I'm ashamed at how superficial Americans in general have become.

I don't think we've reached that place Dr. King was dreaming about. When we can have an election between two men of different races and not have even the slightest whisper of race, THEN we will be where we need to be. Each man should have been measured by what he stands for and not by how dark his skin tone is or by how entertaining of a speaker he is. If we were where Dr. King wanted us to be, ALL voters (black, white, man ,woman, Democrat & Republican) would have questioned exactly what kind of change Mr. Obama was advocating. Every voter also would have closely scrutinized the experience & character of this man and compared both equally to John McCain's.

For the first time, I'm fearful for our country...not because of the skin color of our president but because of the questionable character he brings to the oval office. I'm also fearful because of the inability of voters to carefully research presidential candidates and vote for them based on their qualifications and personal character. I wish this historical moment was not tarnished with the feelings of overwhelming bitterness and hopelessness that I have for the future of this country. Conservative Christian values and cool-headed reason seem to be the minority in today's America...not any ethnicity or skin color.

Another semester started & half way finished.

Sorry for not posting a blog since last May, but the way this semester has started out has left me with little time to get things caught up with the blog. Believe it or not, this semester is almost half over! I have a lot of catching up to do, but before I get into this semester, I need to finish things up from last year.

The last blog left off with an uncertain GPA. It was a challenging semester & I was not happy with what I thought would be the outcome. I ended up with two pleasant surprises & one not so pleasant surprise. The bad news was that I showed up for what I thought was my last Old Testament survey class only to find out that they were giving the final early. I was totally unprepared and did not do well. My poor final exam grade resulted in a disappointing B for the course. I should have easily received an A.

I got slightly better news in Zoology & Calculus. I figured out that I would need at least a 96% on the final exam in order to get an A for the entire course. I received an A on the final, but not a 96%; so, based on my calculation, I should not have received an A. My zoology professor saw me a before I left & congratulated me on my A for the course. Apparently, he weighted the final higher than previous exams because it was comprehensive. My calculus professor did much better than that. Apparently, he curved the final grades of the whole class by a LOT of points because I received a C. A final grade of C for a math course is the only low grade I will be happy with.

Now on to this semester. The class load is getting progressively more difficult. I am taking Physics I, Microbiology & Botany. This will be the last easier semester for me. This spring will begin the year & a half nightmare that is the final three semesters of a biology major. I am doing OK in the classes. So far, I have an A in Botany & a B in both the other courses. It is way too soon to call, but there's still hope to get a perfect 4.0 for this semester.

I'm also taking part in an independant research course studying a specific species of salamander. My zoology professor & Botany professor have been heading up the research for many years. The salamander we're studying is called the Peaks of Otter salamander. It belongs to the Plethodontidae family of lung-less salamanders. These salamanders actually breath through their skin which is not uncommon among some amphibians. The Peaks of Otter salamander is unique to only a few mountain tops of VA and is found nowhere else on the entire planet. We are trying to determine why these salamanders only occur at a certain elevation and on only a certain few mountains. There is a very similar species called the redback salamander that shares habitat and competes with the Peaks salamander. The redback occurs in higher elevations from North Carolina all the way to Canada, so it's a mystery why such similar species have such different ranges. It's pretty exciting work and I hope we are able to make some breakthroughs this year.

"The low-down on the grades" update

The grades have been tallied up…I will be sending my application in to Sea World for a custodial position…

The low-down on the grades...literally...

This semester is finally winding down to a close and it can't come along any sooner for me. This was one of the worst semesters for me grade-wise since first starting college back in the fall of 1999. The combination of being overworked with two jobs, grading papers for three classes, volunteering with the church and battling with my stupid piece of crap computer really hurt my ability to focus on actual school work.

Even with all that trouble, I was able to secure an A in my GNED class (if I didn't get an A in that class, I'd need to get smacked with the stupid stick). GNED is already over and my other relatively easy class, Creation Studies, is over as well. I only need to pass my final exam in creation studies with a 77% in order to secure an A in that class. Likewise, I only need an 87.28% on my Old Testament survey final in order to be sure of an A there.

That is the good news. Now, on to the bad stuff. I've completely written off calculus...at least when it comes to making an A. It is impossible at this point. The state of my grade in that class is so bad that if I pass with a C, you will see me on the 6:00 news being arrested for dancing naked in the streets of Lynchburg.

Due to a mid-semester exam disaster in zoology, I do not have any room for error on my two final exams in that class. In order to get an A in zoology, my upcoming lab practical will need a grade of at least 94% and my final lecture exam next week will need the same. The lab practical is do-able, but the lecture exam is a bit disconcerting because the highest grade I've made on any lecture exam to date is a 92%. This class is noteably more difficult than the majority of the college courses I've taken thus far, but it is still a lower level course, so a minimum grade of A should be expected of anyone desiring to go into graduate school for marine biology. Put another way, if I can't make an A in a 200 level zoology class, I might as well just cut my losses and apply for a custodial position at SeaWorld because that will be the closest I'll get to becoming a marine biologist.

And just think, this is my last easy semester...from here on out, it's going to be as easy as performing an appendectomy...on yourself!

Second semester update

I'm sorry for not writing much this semester. The reason for my scarcity is the fact that this has been the worst semester of my entire college career. I'm not used to getting grades lower than a B, but my calculus class will probably leave me with my first ever D. I've not had any math class in 9 years and I received a C in that class. Those two factors combine to absolutely confound me in this upper level math course. The professor is nice and patient, but we are only given one hour to complete tests that require at least two for me to complete. Needless to say, I'm going to have to either repeat this class later or pray for some kind of grading miracle.

On a more positive note, Jeff has finally succumbed to his desire to own another Great Dane! He just flew to Asheville, NC today and came back with a pure bread puppy born February 8th. The puppy's name is Titan...and we can tell he definitely will be. His paws are so big, he can barely lift them. In a matter of weeks, he'll be big enough for a child to ride. We will definitely need to dog-proof this house...actually we'll need to horse-proof this house.