Hatred of Twitter

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The looks I get from people, when they learn I absolutely despise Twitter, is absolutely camera worthy. They look sort of like they saw their first three-headed bulldog, with a mixture of shock and disgust. I just can't help it I simply don't like Twitter. Amusingly Twitter was on of the major projects  had for my English class.

As you can imagine, this assignment for me was like pulling teeth for me. I would log in and look at the feed, and then log out. This assignment, as simple as it should have been was just as hard as graduate level calculus to me. Finally realizing I had no choice but to do the assignment I sent up a quick prayer and painstakingly got to work.

When I was done I felt like a kid who had just recited the full alphabet, I was so excited. Not only was I happy that it was over, I was happy with the effort  I put in to finish it.

Here is a link that gave me some tips to deal with the Twitter monster http://www.aliciacowan.com/social-media-and-digital-marketing/twitter/twitter-overwhelm.

Insanity of the Paperwork

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I have spent a healthy amount of time this semester preparing for graduation and, needless to say, losing my mind. When I first began this semester I was so excited,  just couldn't wait to touch my degree. Now I just want to finish my classes. Don't get me wrong I still want my degree (I didn't go through all of this trouble just for fun), it's just that my workload seems to have become exceedingly heavy.

I felt like I was drowning in course work, breaking my neck to perform at work, and still trying to make it to graduation. I was lost until I realized that I just needed a way to keep up with everything on my plate. Now the problem was I had no idea how to do that, so I went to my advisor. He suggested that I make prioritized lists of what needed to be done each day and make a separate one for graduation. Thankfully this course of action worked out better than I thought it would.

I'll be graduating in about a week, with my mind and sanity intact.

Here is how I make my prioritized lists http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-manage-time-by-prioritizing-daily-tasks.html.

Constitutional law

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In my constitutional law class, we discussed the constitutional formation of the three branches of government, particularly the executive branch. Considering the fact that we give our president power of over our military, the professor asked the class what would prevent the president from becoming a king.My answer to this question was simple and very American: The constitution is set up with the main purposes of preventing a rebirth of the monarchy.

There are several provisions embedded into the constitution that are meant to limit the power wielded by the executive. For example, The President has no power of the purse nor does he have power of the pen, so he does not decide what the laws is, but is only responsible for their execution. Also, unlike the king, the president is liable to be impeached, tried, removed from office, whereas the king no matter what his actions entail is inviolable.

The president is also limited in terms of his selection and terms of service. Unlike the king, who is hereditary in nature the president is elected into office by an electorate. Also unlike a king who holds his position for life the president of the United States is restricted to four-year terms. In addition to all of these reasons, the American people will probably burn the country to ashes first, 

Here is a link Federalist Paper 69 which details the presidency http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa69.htm.

Is the Imperial Presidency Dead?

In one of my classes, we were having a discussion about the ways in which our presidents (past and present have tried to extend the scope of their authority. One of my classmates asserted that Richard Nixon was the last to expand his powers to the point of imperialism. I had to disagree and upon my objection, I was asked to back my counterclaim.

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Nixon may be the most obvious and extreme example of an imperial president, but he is not the last. An imperial presidency occurs when there is a substantial expansion in presidential power. The role of the imperial president was so profound that people had begun to adjust to the idea of the president taking on multiple responsibilities, and are said to even be more comfortable with the strong leadership presented by such a president.

Watergate was a very extreme show of imperial presidential power, but it is not the only one. President Reagan expanded his power when he invaded Grenada and Libya without evoking the War Powers Resolution. President H.W. Bush did the same when he sent troops into Kuwait without a formal declaration of war from congress. It was the same case with Clinton when he sent troops to Haiti, Somali,  and under NATO auspices, Bosnia without congressional authorization. These presidents, some of which are still popular among citizens, definitely fit the description of an imperial president. 
 

Some even say President Obama is an imperial president: https://www.askheritage.org/how-is-obamas-acting-like-an-imperial-president/

The Need for Public Administration

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It is being debated among the Political Science staff whether or not requiring Public Administration as a course for majors is actually beneficial to us. The argument against the class is that the students aren't really gaining the knowledge that was initially desired when the class was made mandatory. My response to that is to change the professor.

Now don't get me wrong I adore all of the professors I have had so far, but the current instructor isn't offering the course at its full potential. Usually, I wouldn't mind removing a class as a requirement (I mean hello, less work to graduate) but honestly this is what I call a "money course" for political science majors. This class is designed to outline the many areas of government work that political sciences majors can go into. For students who have no desire to attend law school, this class is their lifeline.

This class introduces students to the concept of a bureaucracy and shows them the possibility of employment in cabinet positions. Without this course, the Political Science department would serve an infinitesimal purpose for non-law students. This would cause a huge problem with recruitment because most students who choose political science as a major, want to be White House aids or Ambassadors. So I'm sorry current public administration teacher, but you have to go.

Here is an overview on public administration http://www.administrationjobs.com/career-advice/public-administration-careers/

Fear of the Coutroom

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I have wanted to be a lawyer since my eighth birthday, when I was allowed to watch my first episode of Law and Order. In my young mind I was determined to take A.D.A Carver's job. As I got older I started to take as many public speaking opportunities as I could to prepare myself. I even started a moot court club in my high school (even though we only had about 5 members). So when I got my first internship that would give me the opportunity to sit in an actual courtroom I was beyond ecstatic.

I walked into the courtroom filled with so much excitement, and watched the proceedings at the edge of my seat. I thought the attorney's job was to argue the case, destroy the opposition, and then wait for the judge to make a ruling. Sadly that was not at all what happened in this case. It was all going smoothly (or so I thought) until the judge interrupted the defense, because of an incorrectly posed question, and started to utterly demolish the man. She rattled off question after question and made a ton of comments, most of which were hidden insults.

By the time she was done belittling these attorneys (one of which was held in contempt, twice), I had tapped into my inner turtle and retracted into my little shell. I sunk into the chair, praying to become invisible so that I wouldn't be next on her list. It was then that I realized that I was body numbingly afraid of the courtroom.

Knowing how badly I wanted to become a lawyer, my mentor decided that there was only one cure for my fear: more exposure. She said that the more time I spent the courtroom the less likely I would pass out at the thought. Thankfully, she turned out to be right. The more differences I saw in how judges operate the better I felt. Now I will happily go to court as long as I am not a client in the case.

Here is a link that provides helpful tips on overcoming fear http://www.wikihow.com/Overcome-Fear.

PV to the polls

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In the spirit of the elections, the Political Science club came together with the Sociology club to figure out ways to get Prairie View A&M students to go out and vote. We had great ideas that were formulated, but the shutdown factor for them all was the event the students asked "why should I vote?”

Since this is an HBCU, many of my fellow club members decided to appeal to the students' sense of history. Unfortunately, they wound up spouting the usual "so many people died for this right" and "our ancestors fought and marched for the right to vote" spiel. Even though I agreed with them that those reasons were solid enough to make someone want to vote; however, I had to disagree that they were motivational enough to everyone.

My plan to appeal to students was simple, find the main reason they chose to attend college and make the connection to politics. When I asked many of my fellow club members why they were ultimately here in college, the answers all boiled down to more money in the future. Since money was the ultimate goal and tax money pays politicians, I compared politics to a fortune 500 company, where each student was the CEO and each politician was an employee. I said since they were going to pay the person elected regardless, they might as well have a say in who they hired. Needless to say when money was thrown into the equation, people became less averse to voting, in fact that walked to the polls as if they were Donald Trump on an episode of The Apprentice. 

 This link provides additional reasons why college students everywhere should exercise their right to vote: http://education-portal.com/articles/10_Reasons_Why_College_Students_Should_Vote.html