SchwartzBlog

I have seven email accounts. Yea I know it’s a lot. But I guarantee almost every one of them has a specific purpose. Kind of.

Anyway, there are certain emails I give out and certain emails I don’t. I am also very selective in what I subscribe to. Because when I get an email in one of my “priority” inboxes, I check it almost instantly.

I got an email a few days ago:

For those of you who haven’t read part 1, click here…

When communicating online or even in person, the types of words you use are key. When online, it can be even more important.

But, its a two way street. If you hear someone say something inappropriate like “that’s so gay” or “that’s so retarded”, you can’t go up to them and say “Why on earth would you say something like that!?!?!”

I see it all the time, especially on facebook. People will have status updates like:

1 in every 10 people are gay.That means 1 of every 10 people is
instantly put down, given bad labels, left alone, put in minority and
more… for something they didn’t ask for. Many gay teens are turning to
suicide as a way of escaping. If you want to tell them that life will
get better and that you respect them for who they are, copy and paste
this. Most of you won’t, but lets see the 5% of you who will.

That is a Facebook status update from a friend of mine. It has great intentions, but it doesn’t help the cause in a healthy way.

So what can we do about it? I’m glad you asked. I happened to be an avid blog reader and today I came across a post by a friend of mine who has uncovered a new way to help minimize certain language in a healthy way.

Here’s the link…

We Hate The Hate, Do You Really Mean That?.

Take it in and spread the message…

Peace.

As I started writing this post I realized why I had such a long gap between posts this past month. It’s because this past month I have read more literature than ever before.

Because for the first time, I have found the kinds of books that I simply cannot put down. And its about time.

My reading habits are a function of my intrinsic motivation. While I have always been assigned reading material, I didn’t always read them. And the ones I did, I didn’t always enjoy. What I did enjoy were the books that weren’t given to me as an assignment. They were books that I chose to read on my own; books that had nothing to do with science fiction, nothing to do with magical realism, and nothing to do with something that never happened. The books I dove into dealt with real world issues, issues that I could connect with. Those books were not only read cover to cover, but they changed the way I thought for the better.

The first type of consistent reading I had was in ninth grade. I didn’t love the content, but I loved the way it was taught. My teacher used his assignments to make me want to focus on what I was reading. So while I may have been reading Shakespeare, I also had to connect what Shakespeare was saying to a song by Nickelback, which back then was my favorite artist. It was because of that teacher that I started appreciating Shakespeare, which came in handy when I went to the Globe Theater in London.

Sophomore year was different. While I had nothing against my teacher personally, I didn’t like the style of reading she chose. Magical Realism was a joke to me because I could never connect it to any part of my life. For the first three quarters, I rarely read. I still read the USA Today every day, but I didn’t read my assigned English content. This was until the fourth quarter when we received a new teacher. This teacher was more into class participation, which I was a big fan of. The one book he chose, The Glass Menagerie, was the only English book I read cover to cover that year.

Junior year I got back on track. My first class, Ethics and Existence, focused on content that I could connect with. The second semester, however, was on American Literature; Fictional American Literature. However, in this case, I still had an incredible time. While initially I didn’t care for the content, I loved the assignments given around the content. I loved the miniature reading assignments given daily, because those assignments had to do with real issues in this country, issues that I could connect with what I read every morning, which by then was the New York Times. It was because of the assignments given by my teacher that lead me to start enjoying the books given. This would be the first full semester that I would read at least three books cover to cover.

My senior year had positives and negative. My first class was Mythology in Literature. And while I had great respect for my teacher, I couldn’t get into the content. I would read “And then he grew wings”, and would think to myself “uh, no he didn’t.” However, this year there came another source of reading material. Material that while I was not forced to read, I loved. The first was $20 A Gallon. I read its book review in the Times and that day I bought it. It was a theoretical book, but it used current hot issues to prove its points. The second book was recommended to me by a friend, called Never Eat Alone. It talked about how in today’s business environment, self marketing is crucial.

Then came Drive. It was an amazing book that basically explained to me why I didn’t like reading most of the books I had read prior. My kind of book is one that talks to me directly. There is no main character, no magic, or anything like that. It’s a piece of writing that changes the way I think. That was drive in a nutshell.   It had to do with a new type of motivation that many had not considered a sort of “intrinsic motivation”, the kind of motivation that had caused me to read the paper every morning instead of my English book for the past four years. And I fell in love with it. I had two long flights the next two days, so I read that 300 page book cover to cover in 48 hours, a feat I had never completed before.

I don’t read because I am told, I read because I get curious. I don’t read because I want to see action and adventure from text, I read because I can’t wait to see how an idea can dramatically change my way of thinking.

I’ve read two more books since then, Outliers and The Tipping Point, both by Malcolm Gladwell. But that’s another post

Thanks for reading…

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Wow. It’s been almost 6 weeks since my last post. So what have I been up to? Not what I’m used to. Since midterms ended I have learned the practice of low stress. It’s not that I don’t do anything, but I simply don’t do anything I don’t want to do.

February then was pretty uneventful. That’s not to say that I didn’t have a lot of fun. Skiing, Trumpet, & just meeting new people. Uneventful, but I loved it.

This past monday I was invited to be part of a panel as part of a PTA meeting. The topic was students and social media, and I guess they thought I knew a little about that.

So I made a powerpoint with a few videos, some snapshots of my Facebook profile and others, and gave parents some suggestions on how to ease their kids into social media.

here is what I covered (in short):

Today your “Digital Identity” is more important then ever. Not only is everything you do public, but it is saved. And you never know when something you post today is going to creep back in the future.

Facebook is like a megaphone. It makes the good things you do better and the bad things you do worse.

As a parent, it’s important to be a part of the experience. Kids need to understand that while social media is a great tool, it needs to be used wisely.

What I also told them was that it needs to be a mutual experience. If a parent tries to put major restrictions on their children when it comes to social media, that kid is just going to find a way around it. It isn’t rocket science. If your parent has access to your Facebook profile, you make a new Facebook profile. If your parents put locks on your computer, you use your friends computer. All in all, parents cannot completely control internet access anymore. So if they want to be a part in it at all, they need to be more of a guide and less of a governor.

I gave them my checklist of what I think about before I post things online:

Would my mother have a heart attack if she saw what I posted online?

Would my girlfriend have a heart attack if she saw what I posted online?

Would my boss have a heart attack if he saw what I posted online?

Would Carnegie Mellon have a heart attack if they saw what I posted online?

Yea I know an entire school can’t have a heart attack. Just go with it.

In summary, I had a blast. but it wasn’t because I got to talk about Facebook. It’s because I got to talk.

I love public speaking. I love the idea that in a few minutes I can communicate so much to such a large group of people without missing a beat. And believe me, I don’t miss a beat.

That’s one of the reasons I decided to go into Information Systems. I love technology, but I can’t spend my life behind a desk. I need to be out there, I need to have that ability to change the minds of others.

BTW, after the presentation, a few parents came up to me and asked if they could pay me to come talk to their kids about Facebook. I told them I’d have to look at my schedule…

But that’s not even the best part. The next day I was exchanging emails with Tom Krieglstein. If you don’t know who that is, get a life.

Tom is a social media guru and public speaking guru. You can see why I would want to be exchanging emails with someone like that. So anyway he says he is doing an event at a nearby high school next week and he invited me to join him. Only problem is I’d have to miss school.

I walked upstairs to my parents office and said:

“Guys, I would never ask you this before I got into college. Next friday i’m skipping school to watch Tom give a presentation on social media. I’m not asking”

and they said

“You’re going to make up everything you miss. We’re not asking”

end of conversation.

I sent that transcript to Tom and he put it on his blog. Here’s the link.

So yea that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve got a few more posts in draft mode so keep tuning in and as always, thanks for reading…

Last week I turned 18. I didn’t really get to celebrate it since I have had midterms. But through my friends, family, and Facebook, I certainly was reminded quite a few times that, as of last sunday, I am legal.

I don’t rank gifts. I really hope no one does. But today I realized that there was one gift that on my birthday was beyond any other.

I realized this because today I was thinking about how I was going to thank people for their gifts. For many it was as simple as a phone call or a letter.

But then I came across a gift that couldn’t be thanked by a letter or a phone call. Because the gift itself was not a letter, nor a gift card, nor a voicemail. It was a video.

On the night of my birthday I got an email from Facebook telling me a video had been posted on my wall. The video was from someone I knew from school, but not extremely well.

Later that night I got home, turned my computer on, and logged onto Facebook. And I was blown away. The video was of the Quaker Notes, an acappella group at our school, singing happy birthday.

That video had no economic value. I couldn’t go use it at a store, and I couldn’t return it if I didn’t like it. And yet, it was the best gift I got.

I spent this past week thinking about how I was going to thank the members of the Quaker Notes. Truth be told, the video itself was kind of blurry and I didn’t know all of the people in that group. And since midterms are still going on, the thought seemed to go to the back of my mind.

Until today when I was browsing through Facebook and found that today is a birthday of one of the members of the Quaker Notes. As I went to write on her wall, I stopped myself. After what I had been given, I just couldn’t go and only put 8 seconds into a gift that 50 other people were giving. Not when what I had been given had been so unique.

And that was when it hit me.The ability to sing is a resource. It is a skill that requires time and effort to develop, and a skill that I do not possess. So getting a group of friend together and singing happy birthday for someone I’m not that close with, is something I would never be able to do. So what made that gift so meaningful to me was that I could see the amount of resources and time required to put something like that together. It was something I couldn’t measure, and something I couldn’t do myself.

As for the Quaker Notes, I still have no idea if or how I could thank them. Because not only did they give me the most unique birthday gift I have ever received, they left me puzzled. And not many people leave me puzzled.

So for now I am just going to say thank you, in front of everyone I know. Thank you for a gift I can’t return.

And happy birthday Victoria

Thank you for reading…

You don’t need a degree to post something online. As a matter of fact, you don’t even need to identify yourself to put something online. But there are two types of writing on the internet; Writing that people give credibility to, and writing that people do not.

So what makes a website credible?

The first thing that come’s to my mind is cited sources. Well, that’s kind of true, but not exactly. Let’s take a look at Wikipedia. While today Wikipedia is much more credible with cited sources, people still gave it credit before it had a lot of cited sources.

So what about foul language? Do credible sources use foul language? Well, I can’t rule it out…

So what makes a website credible? Well, I’ll tell you a little story…

Someone posted this on my facebook wall today:

“check out my blog. let me know what you think. i know you’re a blogger too – feel free to submit an article.
badnewsatgreeley.blogspot.com”

So I went to the blog, and I did think one of the articles was very good. But the first thing I thought to myself is, who is this? How can I trust this information if I don’t know who it is?

People comment on my blog all the time. But a lot of times they don’t put their real name or email. And I have no idea why. Do they not want me to know who they are? Why? So I try to give these comments as much attention as I can, but it is very difficult for me to do so not knowing who actually wrote it.

I’ve been jumping around so lets get to the point.

Being Anonymous is counterintuitive to the concept of social media in general.

You can put whatever you want online. But if you want credibility, you can’t be Anonymous. You need to let the world know who you are and stand behind what you believe in.

Stand Up, Speak Out, Don’t Be Afraid.

Thanks For Reading…

I have had this blog up for over 6 months now, and I have to say it has had a huge impact on me.

Since its inception, it has generated over 50 posts and almost 4,000 hits. The most successful post has been “What Makes A Great Musician And What Makes A Great Ensemble”, which consequently has also gotten the most google clicks.

There’s another thing, google. Whenever someone clicks my blog from google, I can find out exactly what they typed to have my blog pop up. The top hit has been from that music post, but I have had plenty of them. Some just from someone goggling Andrew Schwartz, but some other weird ones. I go to a camp in the summer, and if you google the name of my camp you might come across my blog. If you google a friend of mine Hikari Senju, you might come across my blog as someone did.

The effects of my blog can be seen everywhere. Sometimes at the dinner table someone will say something, and to that there is the reply, “Andrew, you could blog about that”. And if I have a strong enough opinion on the subject, I usually do.

I started this blog for one reason, because Tom Krieglstein told me to.  I got the name SchwartzBlog from Jon Schwartz, former CEO of Sun Microsystems, who’s blog is also called SchwartzBlog. And since it began I don’t think I have gone more than a month without posting. I never get a day without fewer than 5 hits.

This blog has become a part of me. When I have something on my mind, I just type. It lets me chronicle my life, it lets me dig deeper into my interactions, and one day maybe I can take all of these posts and turn them into a book.

So here is where you all come in. This blog has definitely improved over the past few months, but that doesn’t mean it can’t get better. So I ask all of you, how can this blog improve? Leave a comment, shoot me an email, or just stop me in the street if you want to. Whatever it takes to get this blog up a level. Because this isn’t just a website. It’s SchwartzBlog

I wrote this post after visiting Carnegie Mellon

enjoy…

Blog Post Written for 10/18/10 - Carnegie Mellon Trip – Summary & Analysis

——-

During the last two days I have been at Carnegie Mellon University, and I can without a doubt say that these two days only confirmed what I already knew in terms of where I want to go. So lets get into it. Sunday I woke up at 4:45am (yea I know) and packed, because I was too stupid to do it the night or day before.

Car pickup at 5:45, and off to JFK. Flight to Pittsburgh, cab to CMU. When I got to CMU Registration I walked around, and then went to the main opening session. The room was stadium seating, probably 30 rows with around 150 students and maybe 200 parents. And I bring this up because with all of that, there was only one person sitting in the front row. So being me, I went to the front row, sat down and started a conversation. Nick Peterson was from Seattle and this was his fourth college on this trip, I think. He had seen Cornell, Yale, and Columbia so far. So right off the bat I assumed he was a bright kid. But not bright like he had pocket protector and glasses. In all honesty, He looked like a snowboarder. But he was smart. Let me also say that as a referee I have nothing against pocket protectors, but it helps make the point. So Nick and I started talking, and it turned out that we had a lot in common. We were both interested in the same fields, were both involved in student leadership, and one other thing. When I asked him about his flight back home, it turned out that our flights were 5 minutes apart and the gates were in the same concourse. So essentially Nick and I spent the next two days going to information sessions, sitting in on classes, and we even both got interviews.

I’ll get back to Nick in a bit.

Before I go on, I’d like to go back to that opening meeting. The director of admissions came out, introduced himself and a few other officers, and then he said he wanted all of us to stand up and tell him and everybody else what their name was, where they were from, and what they were interested in studying. And to punish those in the back, he started at the back row. So I went last. I would have gone first, but whatever.

Sunday night I met my “host”, Alex. Interestingly enough, I didn’t spend that much time with Alex. I got a bite to eat with him and his friends, and then we walked to the soccer fields where a pickup game was going on. One of the kids wanted to play and they needed a second to balance the teams, so I played.

Afterwards I went with one of the players to a frat house where they were talking about planning a theatrical performance for an event called “Sing” (Some of my friends know my connection with this, others don’t so I’m not going to bring it up). At CMU, “Sing” is an event in the spring where fraternities and sororities compete in putting on 13 minute renditions of musical performances or broadway shows. And since I actually have some knowledge in the area of shows, I started putting in some ideas and giving them feedback. They loved it. I was no longer a prospective student at that moment, I was, for the time being, one of them.

Afterwards I headed to a mixer, hung around for a little bit, and then went back to the dorm and a few hours later I was asleep. The next morning I woke up around 9, had my interview, went to a few classes and sessions, and went with Nick to the airport. Quick tangent (as if there weren’t any others): I missed school today, but I did attend an hour lecture in a calculus class and learned WAY more than what I missed in a high school math class.

This experience was amazing on two levels, both of which told me the same thing; that Carnegie-Mellon is the perfect school for me. Reason 1 has to do with its programs. Lets face it, almost every piece of technology we currently use will be obsolete in four years. Programming languages we use now will be obsolete in four year. Most of the things taught in Community Center Tech classes four years from now will probably be lightyears beyond the app store. So how do you teach a student body to be on the cutting edge of tomorrow? CMU answer: Teach them to learn. Have them learn to learn the new era (no its not a typo). Teach them how to problem solve on a level that no one else can. So when that software comes out in the years to come, those students will quickly know its flaws and can sell that information back to the company that made that software in the first place. But let’s be realistic; MIT does the same thing.

The second reason I know I want to go to this school is because of the people I already know there. The people I played soccer with were ages 18-23 (17 including me). Business majors, information technology majors, computer science majors, and more. Those head’s of that fraternity were the same thing. There were no airheads at that school. I could go play with some kids, and then talk to them about the inner workings of what they were learning. When I was with them, I felt at home. Then look at Nick. Nick is my age, lives in Seattle, and became my best friend over the past 36 hours. Just because we were the only two students who sat in the front row. Nick is the kind of kid who I could easily spend hours upon hours with, and we would have never met if it hadn’t been for Carnegie Mellon.

I’ve talked to quite a few people over the past 36 hours, and here is what I have told most of them: I am not in the slightest worried whether colleges accept me or not, and neither should anybody else. The reason why college admissions process is so extensive is because each college is built for a different type of person. So if the college doesn’t accept you, it is simply because they don’t think you are a right fit for that school. So even if you went, you probably wouldn’t enjoy yourself.

I bring this up because I want to make it clear that I am not saying I should go to Carnegie Mellon because my GPA fits their profile. The reason I want to go to Carnegie Mellon is because I can see myself there. I can see myself going to class, playing soccer, and having mature lunch conversations. I see myself getting a degree in information systems, maybe getting a minor in music. Who knows, the opportunities are honestly limitless.
This experience was great, and I can only hope that I get to come back in the years to come.

———————-

If you read all the way to this point, Thank You.

There were a few minutes left in the game. The rain was torrential. A Lightning player was tripped. It was a clear foul, and I was supposed to do something about it.  I was thirteen, a new, young ref, and I had been making a lot of mistakes. “Come On!” the Lightning coach rasped at me. He had screamed relentlessly throughout the game. Now, his voice strained, and his hands bunched up in fists, waving at me. He was a friend of my father’s, and his rage made me even more uncertain about my new credentials.

I blew my whistle for the trip. But I had hesitated. A ref can’t hesitate.  His actions need to be immediate, confident. The Lightening coach’s eyes bulged and he screamed at me some more. I looked at the other coach for comfort, some smile of sorts that could give me some more confidence. But I could see that even his faith in me was starting to fade. A Lightning player asked if I would stop the game. He had a good point. The rain was coming down in freezing sheets, and it was no longer fun. I could have stopped that game on account of weather; I could have carded the coach for yelling so viciously at me; I could have just walked off of the field and ended this torture. But I didn’t do any of that. I was petrified.

On that November day back in 2006, I froze.  Not just for one second, but for many, and often. But it wasn’t the freezing rain that paralyzed me.  It was fear.  I was afraid of what one coach would say to my employers, and I was afraid of what the other one would say to my parents. I was afraid of the screaming parents and of the 10-year-old players.  I was afraid of my new responsibility. I was afraid of everything I could think of. I sat in the parking lot at the end of that game and cried. I had lost control of the game, and of myself.

When they teach you the fundamentals of being a referee, they tell you to keep your whistle at your waist while you are on the field. So if you see a foul, you have at least one full second as you bring your whistle from your waist to your mouth to contemplate whether or not you should make the call. That second can be unbelievably terrifying. Anybody can memorize the rules of the game, but a referee does something more:  He memorizes, observes, synthesizes, determines, and reacts. One second can determine a lot.

Four years later, I walk at least three times a week onto more fields. I am one of the youngest high school certified referees in New York State to officiate varsity soccer games. On the field, I refer to the coaches as “Sir” as to give them the respect they deserve as adults. But through my quick and confident calls I earn respect as a referee. At the end of the game the coaches shake my hand, and refer to me as “Sir”. Then I travel to another field to watch a new young referee attempt to earn that same respect. As a mentor, I provide them with the confidence they need to make those same calls. I’ve worked hard. I have learned to stand up to fear. I keep my whistle at my waist. I can do a lot in one second.

College.

It is a word that in my high school, will drive some kids nuts.

Normally this is when I go online and try to find some reasonable percentages to prove my point. But honestly, knowing the demographic that read this blog, I don’t have to.

The college admissions process is a long one, but it is something that if planned correctly, can be executed with minimal stress.

So lets break down this proccess.

Standardized Tests

Colleges don’t want you actually taking the test before the start of junior year, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start preparing before the start of junior year. For the most part, anything you will learn in school that will help you with these tests, you will have already learned by the start of your junior year, with the exception of subject tests. So start early. If you start early, you finish early. And once you have the scores you want, you are done.

When you take these tests, you should come prepared. But don’t come over-prepared. Personally, I used the same pencil case for every test I took. And when I finished a test, I put the pencil case in my glove compartment and didn’t take it out until the morning of my next test. I didn’t show up to any test with more than 3 pencils, and I never needed more than 3 pencils. I never showed up with food, because I can go a few hours without food.

It’s not that I think you should be underprepared, but when you over-prepare for these tests, it usually means that you are stressed over it. And stress never helps in those testing rooms. The calmer you are, the clearer you are going to be, and the better you are going to do.

Chill out, take the test, and if you don’t do well, take it again. Simple as that.

Interviews and Tours

Most colleges say that getting an interview is recommended, not required. Well, if you are dealing with your first choice school or even second, it is no longer a recommendation. Don’t just go get a tour and an interview. Spend a day without a guide. Find a friend of a friend who goes there. Meet them for lunch and ask them to take you around. If you can’t find anybody, just go alone. The purpose of a tour is to show you how the school can fit you. But what it doesn’t show you is how you can fit the school.

So walk around. Talk to some students. Figure out what is not on the tour, what the school is really about.

When I went to Carnegie Mellon, I took a tour and had an interview. But I also spent a day without either of them. I walked around. I ended up meeting some students at a soccer field and I played a pickup game with them. Then I talked to them about their degrees. And as I walked around the campus with a few of them, I realized exactly why it was the perfect college for me.

So when I wrote my supplement essay for Carnegie, I knew exactly what to say. I didn’t just talk about why I was qualified to be at that school, I talked about my experience there and why I knew that I belonged there.

Letters of Recommendation

Believe it or not, this was the one angle of the application that could have been my downfall. Because out of the three letters I asked to be sent, only two of them made it to the colleges. So, based on my mistakes, here is what I would recommend; Don’t just get your envelopes to teachers early, keep in touch with them. Most colleges say that they don’t need those letters until a few weeks after the deadline. But in my case, two of the three writers had their letters OUT by october, and I know this because the colleges had opened them and placed them in my file by october 6th. The third writer’s letter was out in early november. Which should have been fine, only it never made it to any of the colleges.

Luckily this didn’t effect me in a negative way because the other two letters arrived with plenty of time to spare.

Essays

One of the biggest parts of your application is your essay. And personally, I loved mine. Here is what I have to say about it:

Your essay has to be about you, not your parents or your guidance counselor. Take an hour and just write about yourself, about everything you love and why. Then give it to your parents and ask them what they think stands out, what they think you could really turn into something.

Your essay is not going to come together in one day, and it’s not only going to come together in front of your computer. One of my strongest paragraphs came after a dinner conversation I had with my parents after watching my brother referee his first soccer game. I actually wrote a post about it…

Overall

There is a reason the college process is so extensive. Those colleges need to figure out not if you are good enough, but if you are a good fit for them and if that college is a good fit for you. If a college denies you, it is simply because you were not meant to be there. But if you get in based off of essays that were not really who you were, you might realize later on that the college you thought you wanted, isn’t that great for you after all.

The process is a long one because it is an accurate one. It picks students that are meant for it. So I know you can’t help it, but don’t stress. You are going to get in to the college you were meant to get into. It is not fate, it’s the process that tries to let the admissions officer know who you really are.

I’ll post up an essay or two later on in the week. If you have any questions or you want me to talk about another portion of the process, just post a comment.

Thanks for reading…