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Yet another: young Objectivist!

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Hey all! I was "encouraged" to join this board by another user who's a good friend of mine, Maarten. My name's Katie, but some around on the internet like to call me Azelma. Since I always take awhile to find my way around a new forum, I thought I'd introduce myself here while getting a feel for how things work. I'm a college senior about to graduate with a double degree in English and Psychology (big mistake on the former, but at least I can sing that Avenue Q song...), and I'll be starting work on a PhD in Neurobiology this fall. As you can probably tell, I have pretty eclectic interests, though most philosophy tends to get on my nerves a bit (with the exception of AR, obviously!). With that exception, though, I'm generally interested in everything. I've coached swim team for kids 3-18 since 2003 and, as you might guess, love both working with children and being active. I also love writing, like just about everyone else -- I tend towards young adult but am currently trying to finish a novel more on the science fiction end of the spectrum. I'm a total Batman addict, and I spend way too much time in Harry Potter sorting communities -- I am 99% Slytherclaw, and yes, I would love to sort you. :D

I would say I've been an Objectivist since my grandparents gave me The Fountainhead as a birthday gift when I was sixteen, but I found that reading it was a case of finding a name to call the thing I've always been, rather than growing into something I hadn't been before. I wouldn't say I completely agreed with everything in the canon of what "we" are supposed to agree with, but Objectivism is a better definition of how I live my life than anything I've yet to encounter. I've grown tired of having to explain it to everyone I meet -- and of the shock-and-horror that comes from the ultimate six degrees of misunderstanding I'm usually met with. In general, though I'm an eternal optimist, I'm a little frustrated with the values I'm seeing from people around me (partying college students are not always the paragon of virtue), and I'm hoping to find some friends who are a bit more like-minded in how they see the world, themselves and their priorities.

It's very nice to be here, and I hope to talk to you soon! Yes, you! Make my day: tell me about yourself!

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What, no n00b!hazing? This is an outrage! I'm bitterly disappointed! Here I was expecting ancient cream cheese mongoose rituals!

gags, I did see the thread (Maarten pointed it out to me, actually). Gotta confess it was a major factor in my decision to join. Any forum that realizes Batman's superiority over Superman has got to be a place worth spending time.

Thanks for the welcome, and nice to meet everyone!

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Hi Katie ;) Glad to see that you, umm, "decided" to apply here.

There was absolutely no coercion involved in that ladies and gentlemen!

Nobody told me there was an application process! I thought I was done with that when I got accepted to school! You guys want a personal essay, too, huh?

Oh man, K-Mac, now I'm going to be wondering what he's said about me...

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I also love writing, like just about everyone else -- I tend towards young adult but am currently trying to finish a novel more on the science fiction end of the spectrum. I'm a total Batman addict, and I spend way too much time in Harry Potter sorting communities -- I am 99% Slytherclaw, and yes, I would love to sort you.

Welcome Katie,

I hope you'll share some of your writing. It's very lonely in the Member Writing Forum, but I'm hoping it will pick up.

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You're probably not alone in the reason to come here. I can't say that I agree with 100 percent of what you referred to as "the Objectivist canon", but I totally understand the college life. I went to school at what was at one point the "number one party school in the nation," which I, for one, was never that proud of. It seems like more and more, college focuses on partying and a carpe diem lifestyle, wherein nobody considers the rationale or morality of their actions until (1) they decided to accept Jesus (that seemed to be popular at our school after a long Saturday night) or (2) they wake up face first in a pit of vomit and drool next to someone whose name they don't know only to find that the world no longer makes sense.

Anyway, here's to hoping more people will understand that you don't have to be a religious fanatic to understand there is more to college than partying.

Which reminds me, does anyone at your school just automatically role their eyes or act like you're a self-indulgent idiot if you tell them you're a fan of Ayn Rand? Anyone else for that matter?

Edited by tsprat
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tsprat: I would end up quoting your whole post and shouting "I agree!" so I'll just avoid the quoting and go with "I AGREE!" Especially about the Jesus-finding part; my school is, fortunately, in one of the more socially-liberal areas of my state, but for South Carolina that's not saying much. We also have a bad party school reputation, though the Honors College (which I'm about to graduate from; it was the only reason I came here) has been trying very hard to rid us of that stigma. They've succeeded somewhat over the past few years: our numbers are generally higher than the other state schools, and I know several friends who got into said other state schools while being rejected from mine.

People usually give me blank (better yet, drunken, sigh) looks when I mentioned Objectivism, but I have found a few friends who at least know what I'm talking about. If they do know what I mean, however, they're more likely to howl about how evil I am. I do recall a conversation with someone who said he "loathed" Objectivism, and then didn't seem to understand why this meant we probably would not work out romantically. =P

Sadly, I do have a comment on the religious fanatics: in my experience, it's less of them understanding why they're in college and more of them replacing alcohol/partying with Finding a Godly Husband/Wife. (Which, if that's really what you want, oookay, but there are less expensive ways to find a fellow fundamentalist Christian in South Carolina, seriously. That's like saying you can't find pollen around here!)

Chops: Yep! I really like the hybrid house system because I think it gives a much more accurate view of someone's personality, especially if you take into consideration which house is dominant. I found a community for sorting people into hybrid houses and have been having way too much fun with it. As to which one I have more of, a bunch of my friends say Ravenclaw, but my best friend swears I'm nothing but Slytherin, so I'm really not sure. (Slytherin is my favorite house, I think, for reasons obvious for any Objectivist familiar with Harry Potter, but I don't want to assume it's my real primary house just 'cos I like it!)

Roger: I'm not too sure if y'all would be interested in my current project (it has a lot of religion in it, and not in a necessarily negative way; don't ask me how I ended up writing it -- sometimes my characters take charge of my brain, as Maarten will tell you). But if I get hit on the head with something more AR-friendly, I'll certainly see what you think. I don't post writing in its entirety in public places due to copyright issues, but I do have most of what I write on my Livejournal in an awesomely disorganized blend of writing + Katie's life. The writing is all locked, but I'll add pretty much anyone who wants to read it to the writing filter provided that they prove they aren't creepy.

So nice to meet everyone! Any suggestions on where to get started on this board?

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So nice to meet everyone! Any suggestions on where to get started on this board?

I think it just depends on your interests. The forums here pretty much cover the spectrum....unless of course you want to discuss the merits of Communism. And even if you want to do that, you can in the debate forum. :P

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