I’ve already had 98 visitors to my blog today. Surely one of you can help with this rather ridiculous imaginary search of mine. 🙂 I was talking to a friend of mine who spent much of his childhood living in China and Japan. He’s about the eighth person I’ve met who has a nice little bank account now because he did a bit of modelling when he lived there. I got to thinking, I seem to have somewhat of a track record with Asian men, so why not see what would come of an internet search for a modelling agency? I found a few, but I’m not sure. I’ve gone through the details on my counter and it seems my blog is frequented by several people in that neck of the woods. Anybody happen to know anything about the industry over there? I’m entirely new to this, probably won’t do anything about it, but if somebody knows something that might help get me a job, please let me know. I’m generally a nice person and do my best to respond to emails. Plus, I seriously need a job of some sort or I won’t be going to college next year. And that would stink.
While looking to see if anybody from Asia visits my blog, I found tons of other interesting ISP references. Who keeps visiting from Australia? There are *tons* of .net.au’s in there and it intrigues me. 🙂 Plus, I noticed quite a few .de’s, a couple from the Netherlands (I think I know who that one is, though), oodles of .ac.uk’s, .co.uk’s and the like. It’s just interesting. I look at the numbers on my weekly counter report but I don’t really think of those numbers as people. I’m averaging 142 people per day – if we all got together in a room I’d be shocked by just how many people that is. That exceeds most fire department safety limits. 🙂 That’s right, we’re a hazardous group of combustible people!
Anyway. Why am I blogging so early? Because I feel like it. And I have a lot to say and I figure if I leave it until tonight I’ll be pooped again and I’ll end up forgetting half of what I meant to say, and then I’ll be frustrated with myself. So I’m blogging now.
The biggest thing I wanted to mention was a thought that hit me today. I should spend the rest of my life in the shower, I get my best ideas in there. (“Best” being a relative statement.) You should all be familiar by now with my desire for a degree specializing in Really Cool Person. If you don’t know, my plan would be to spend about six years in school learning about a very large variety of topics, but watching how they all interconnect. As an example, I don’t believe anyone can truly understand art history without also delving into other topics such as sociology, religion, political history, and even things like psychology. So why even claim to give a degree in something as extensive as art history, but not even touch what really went into the development of art? It’s ludicrous and pointless. I’ve looked at so many different art history programs and, believe it not, the vast majority don’t even cover art history anymore. They focus on modern art, from the late 19th century onward. How in the name of Munch can that be considered a history?
Anyway. That’s my theory. An MA in Really Cool Person. But how would that work? How would it not just turn into every other Masters degree program? I’ve been struggling with that idea for a while but it finally hit me this morning. Campuses are the problem with the school system. (Well, one of the many problems.) Students get locked into stuffy little classrooms and don’t even have a chance to look at the big picture. While that’s great for some professions, like doctors, lawyers, etc, it won’t work for everybody.
So what to do about that? How do you break free from the campus structure and look at the world as a whole, while not overwhelming the student to the point that they learn nothing? It’s a tough problem, but I think I figured it out.
Instead of one large campus, you spread the school out over the globe, choosing several key cities in the history of Really Cool People. With a very small student body – only about 20 students accepted per year – you circulate between campuses in a period of four to six years, gleaning all you can from the best minds in the area. You visit historical sites, frequent museums and lectures, and the faculty at each location is comprised of local experts. The various faculties work together to create a curriculum so the students travel through history, in a sense, while attending continunous courses at the different campuses. It’d be a nomadic lifestyle, but I think that would lead to greater understanding of the world as a whole. It would open up minds to various cultures and ways of life, while seeing everything first hand. Instead of just seeing pictures of Michelangelo’s David, you go see it in Florence and attend lectures given by the curators of the museum. Rather than just read about the Holocaust, you got to Dachau, walk through the concentration camp itself, and meet survivors.
It may sound just like a bundle of High School class trips, but it’d be more complex than that. It’d be a roving campus. There would be regular classes, just parsed out over several locations, handled by many different cooperative minds. It’d be an intellectual smorgasbord. Throughout this experience the students will see how everything interconnects, through history, sociology, religion, art, everything.
Think how much fun it would be to talk to a graduate Really Cool Person. They’d have intelligent things to say on nearly any subject. They’d be humble after the things they’ve experienced, after the training they’ve had (I’d make sure of that. No pompous dorks would come out of my school, dang it!) They’d be compassionate, mindful of others, tolerant of cultures, more willing to accept truths. And most importantly, they’d see the world not limited by borders, but enhanced by them. Made more beautiful through the interconnection of people and histories. I think it’d be fabulous.
The logistics could be a nightmare, but I think even that could be handled. Honestly, I think the best reasoning to put behind such a project would be the same plans put into play at Virgin. (I just love Richard Branson.) They’d be the perfect corporation to sponsor such a school. With very little bureaucratic overhead and a close-knit group of intellectuals, the operation of the school could be fairly simple and cost effective. The Mini-campuses could be as simple as a small apartment building – enough rooms for the students, accommodations for travelling teachers and possibly live-in facilities for the local faculty. A library for each campus, labs, all on a smaller scale. What would be really perfect would be to utilize old mansions or castles. Like my dream house in France. It’d most likely have adequate facilities.
Buy such buildings in places such as London, Berlin, Paris, Florence, and a small city between New York and Washington, DC. Even Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney, Johannesburg, Brasilia, and who knows where else. It’d be extensive, but not any more so than a large University. And yet it would be more benefitial because you would not be limited to the minds available to you in a smaller geographical area. True, you can recruit and relocation some people, but not all. Instead, you take the school and the students to the teacher and to the location. The mini-campuses could even be privately owned by dignitaries or real estate developers. I’m sure Donald Trump wouldn’t mind the tax write-off of donating a very large building to something as noble as a school. 🙂 Ooo, or Bill Gates.
I think Virgin would definitely be the perfect sponsor for such a project because they have the resources, they have the philosophies, and they have the final and most important aspect of the school; transportation. With one private jet the school could easily handle transporting 20 students and the travelling professors.
There would be loads of taxes and legal matters, but I think the outcome would be so dramatic. Nothing can replace the experience of actually being somewhere, seeing something for yourself, soaking in everything about a culture and place. That school is my big goal, I think. I want to see it established in some form or another before I die. There’s no better time to travel like that than when you’re young and unattached. There would have to be some sort of scholarship options, otherwise we’d be stuck with only the rich. That wouldn’t solve anything. Hence why I still think Virgin would be perfect for this. They’d have the resources to help out with that.
Maybe I should just write to Richard Branson.
That’s my blog for this afternoon. You’ll probably hear from me later tonight after I go bowling. I’m going to try and top my scores from last week, so wish me luck! 🙂