[17] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: LIVING WAGE SIT-IN AT HARVARD (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Laura G Dean)
Thu Apr 19 11:24:09 2001
Message-Id: <200104191513.LAA04307@department-of-alchemy.mit.edu>
To: mit-talk@MIT.EDU
In-reply-to: Your message of "Thu, 19 Apr 2001 01:48:20 EDT."
<200104190548.BAA11769@m4-167-8.mit.edu>
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 11:13:41 -0400
From: Laura G Dean <lgdean@MIT.EDU>
Resent-From: jhawk@MIT.EDU
Resent-To: mit-talk-mtg@charon.MIT.EDU
On Thu, 19 Apr 2001 01:48:20 EDT, Zhelinrentice L Scott wrote:
> Self centered, greedy, selfish, evil, mean, inhumane
yes, maybe, yes, no, no (except when i screw up), maybe
> Why is it that the PUblic Service Center has such a hard time
> getting volunteers(if the average MIT student is so great)?
Fore me: When I volunteer, I usually do it through APO. To be honest,
I think it's *good* to have a group organized and run by students. It
helps us develop those organizational and people skills that our
classes don't.
(Would it be a more efficient use of MIT-student manpower to let the PSC
organize all such things we do, instead of having students "waste" their
time calling places and organizing people? Maybe.)
And yes, I did claim I'm barely spiffy enough to handle four classes,
and now I'm telling you about extracurricular activities. How is this
consistent? Extracurriculars may take time that could otherwise be
devoted to classes, but they're more social than classes, and so they
keep me sane. Also, they involve having my body move around, which is
good and healthy. My classes don't.
Sure, I could volunteer through the PSC, and I could go swimming (nice
and solitary) instead of square dancing (more social, less efficient
in terms of getting exercise). But increasing my efficiency wouldn't
give me more time to use; I'd just burn out more quickly.
(Note: I don't think Zhe was suggesting we should all use ourselves to
maximum efficiency and a life of solitude. Not at all. It just
seemed to me that it'd be the difference between my volunteering
through the PSC and through APO, and then I wandered off on a big
tangent defending my choices in how I use my time. Turns out,
defending such choices is one of the main topics of this thread.)
Laura
