KRHA

In the summer of 2000, when I was but 15 years old, I journed to K-State and spent a month living in the same residence hall I would come back to two years later. I was at KRHA, which is Kansas Regents Honors Academy, a summer program also known as "nerd camp" which gives kids the opportunity to take college level courses. It alternates between the six state colleges in Kansas (K-State, KU, Fort Hays State, Emporia State, Pittsburgh State, and Wichita State) and is completely free if you are accepted. You can buy course credit.

Our theme was "humanities" which kind of eludes me. It seemed to focus on high and mighty literature that we were expected to read. I also took a class on Violence in the Media which was pretty sick. I get that we were trying to analyze things, but it just seemed like watching a lot of strange, violent movies.

I don't know why I was thinking back to the books we read. I thought I'd share them with you - in case anyone wanted to pick up some meaningless college credit. There was value to a some.

Beggars in Spain
This was a fiction book, and science fiction to boot, so I loved it! We only read the first episode of a little trilogy. I think we should all read this book, because it is surprisingly starting to become relevant. It tells the story of a girl who was genetically engineered so that, not only would she be perfect, she would never have to sleep. It digs into the problems of jealousy she encountered, and also her own desire to understand the rest of us who do sleep. As people have more and more opportunities to custom make their children, this is a great book to help you think about some of the results.

Robinson Crusoe
Another fiction novel, this was pretty good. It kind of drags on, but it's a classic, so I can't really argue with that. And we all know the countless remakes of this story.

Amusing Ourselves to Death
Of all the non-fiction, I probably liked this one the best. And I would recommend it, because it is also pretty relevant. It talks about the increase in popularity of the media, and our dependence on it. It also talks about how we have developed ADD, that a scene in a TV show or movie now is on average less than a minute, and any given screen shot is less than three seconds. It challenged us to watch the news and look at it deeper to see how it had become the bread of the masses. Our teachers showed us a news clip, first with the words, and then with the sound muted, to show us how funny the video clips that go along with the nightly newscasts can be. All in all, you learn to see the sensationalism of it. As more and more people spend time in front of the computer (look where I am) or TV or playing video games, this book is very relevant to dive into some of those issues.

Imagined Communities
I thought this was the hardest book I had ever read. Incredibly college level, it takes 200 pages to make an interesting, but simple, point. The point is that we only imagine the communities we live in, and yet we stake everything on them. We call ourselves Americans, but our borders are just ideas we have come up with. We call ourselves Kansans and think that means we have something in common with other Kansans, but it might not. That, and I may have less in common (right now) with someone who lives in western Kansas than I do with someone who lives in Kansas City, MO. The irony of this book was that we were asked to read it over the fourth of July weekend. Yay for patriotism.

The Autobiography of Henry Adams
Being the grandson of two US presidents made this joker think he could write. Wrong. This was a hard and long book to get through. And it just made no sense to me. I literally was throwing it across Hale library in frustration. I know he was obsessed with the dynamo, an early engine that he felt symbolized society. I also know he used the word bourgeoise a lot.

Dr. Strangelove
Not a book, but a movie we did watch in class. This movie is pretty funny - but it's dark satyre. A much better way to waste time than reading some of these books. It tells the dark story of what could have happened if something had gone wrong during the cold war. We can literally thank God that something did not. I watched it again this fall, and some of the comedy was lost when I wasn't in a mass audience laughing, but if you are a fan of satyre, this is a must see.