Blue Jay Buffet

The Return of the H.I. Mascots

Last April as part of our now defunct Fun Blog, the Hopkins Interactive students experimented with what became know as "Mascot Blogs." The admittedly silly entries had one of the H.I. students selecting from three adopted (purchased) stuffed mascots. Then in a traveling gnome style series, the students and mascot went on mini-vacations or campus excursions that were documented in blog form. We all admit that ridiculous nature of these entries, but also feel they were a neat way to give everyone out there a feel for Hopkins, Baltimore, and the worldly experiences of our students.

Well, the mascots will be back. And to get you all excited we though during this holiday week we would provide re-caps of the mascot travels this past spring and summer.

ENJOY and stay tuned!!!

• Start with the first post that introduces you to our three mascots, Henri de Lafayette, Anne-Jay Leena, and Eleanor Smythe; April 2, 2007.
• Henri makes the first trip with Esther, visiting Rhode Island, Montreal, and New York; April 12, 2007.
• Anne-Jay also visited Canada (Toronto to be specific) during spring break with Stefanie; April 16, 2007.
• Eleanor's first adventure was with Michelle T. as they spent some time on-campus, at a HEAT rally and then did laundry together; April 18, 2007.
• Anne-Jay decided to fly solo and attend an admitted student open house to confirm Hopkins was the right place to attend, July 9, 2007.
• Henri decided it was time to crack the books so Kate escorted him to the MSE Library, July 16, 2007.
• Andrew and Anne-Jay had a sleep over and then she shadowed him during his morning routine, July 23, 2007.
• Henri accompanied Ramy to the Blue Jay Cafe and they decided to try to pick-up girls; July 30, 2007.
• Anne-Jay tagged along with Tanmay to the Inner Harbor during an admitted student visit program; August 6, 2007.
• Henri and Blake headed to the Swirnow Theatre to enjoy a Dunbar Baldwin Hughes production; August 13, 2007.
• Liny and Roxi kept Eleanor busy escorting her sailing on the Inner Harbor and to various Spring Fair events; August 20, 2007.
• Eleanor shadowed Michelle B. during the summer at her various jobs and research; August 29, 2007.

October at Hopkins

October brought an array of weather patterns, fall colors, and a whole lot of events to campus! Here are some of the highlights:

Literary Magazine Returns to Hopkins
On October 2, Writing Seminars faculty, students, and general admirers gathered at Hodson Hall to celebrate the relaunch of the Hopkins Review. The literary magazine had been dormant for more than five decades, but recently the Writing Seminars and the Johns Hopkins University Press decided to bring it back – just in time for the 60th anniversary of the Writing Seminars program. Read all about the ceremony and the new magazine by clicking here.

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Confessions at Barnes and Noble
Frank Warren spoke at Barnes and Noble on October 9 to celebrate his new book “A Lifetime of Secrets.” He created the popular blog PostSecret.com and has been called “the most trusted stranger in America.” Herds of Hopkins students showed up to hear his confessions and witness his impressive multimedia presentation. Check out the site at PostSecret.com.

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Politicians Crusade at Hopkins!
The MSE Symposium hosted Martin O’Malley (Governor of Maryland and former mayor of Baltimore City), Howard Dean (grassroots Democratic politician), and Danny Glover (actor and political activist) on three separate nights. This “triple play” was not just attended by Political Science and International Studies majors – everyone was welcome to check out the motivational speakers on campus. Learn more about the MSE Symposium by clicking here and read the campus news release about the 2007 line-up by clicking here.

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Halloween Debate

Halloween brought debate to campus (and not just over whether or not to trick or treat). The Humanities Colloquium hosted a discussion of “Dracula, Deadlines, and Standard Time”. Dr. Hollis Roberts presented special research on these topics and highlighted what they have in common. As the event was held at 5 pm, attendees were still able to change into their costumes before nightfall! Learn more about the new Humanities Colloqium in this recent Gazette article.

Freshmen take the Stage!
On October 19, 20, and 21, the curtains opened on the 22nd Annual Freshmen One-Acts. Six excellent short plays were performed, including works by Ives, Durang, and Shel Silverstein. The One-Acts provide a great opportunity for freshmen to get involved in theater, and for upperclassmen to witness the new talent on campus! Click here to read the JHU News-letter review.

Blue Jays Storm the Field
The men’s soccer team wrapped up the month by claiming their seventh Centennial Conference title in 15 years. After a bold 14-1 victory over Gettysburg College, the proud Blue Jays now stand at a record of 17-3. They’re geared up for a good chance at the NCAA tournament, and crowds of Hopkins fans will continue to be there to cheer them on. Read more about the team in this News-letter wrap-up.

Greetings from *finally* fall-like Washington, D.C.!

Name: Michelle Tellock

Class: Class of 2007 Graduate

Hometown: Hortonville, WI

Current Residence: Washington, DC

Major(s): Cognitive Science and Sociology

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I’m writing to you from the 2nd-floor balcony of the beautiful Hotel Mt. Pleasant (yes, we have a website/blog!)– the affectionate name my housemates and I have given to our residence in DC. Why is it a hotel, you ask? Well, it’s because we have a seemingly-endless list of guests and visitors – friends, former classmates, new coworkers, high school buddies, and out-of-town family members. At any moment, someone new could be coming over or crashing on one of our couches. It’s certainly never routine, and there is ALWAYS someone who wants to hang out or explore the city.

For the past four months, I’ve been working as a research analyst at a consulting firm in DC, just a few blocks from the White House. I do research into all things computer-related, which I find really interesting. The web design and database work I did at the Center for Social Organization of Schools while at Hopkins has definitely made it easy for me to start a job that isn’t exactly (okay, at all) related to my majors – cognitive science and sociology.

Living in DC has also given me the opportunity to stay connected to an activity that I devoted a TON of time to while in college – the JHU debate team. There are a handful of DC-area tournaments each fall, and we live close enough to Baltimore to be able to help at Hopkins’ home tournament, too. It’s nice to see a bunch of my friends, help out by judging a few rounds, and get to know the new Hopkins novices when they stay over at our house on DC-tournament weekends.

Besides debate, in college I was involved in a variety of other on-campus student groups and activities. I was a resident advisor for my junior and senior years – I lived with between 40-50 underclassmen in dorms, which was a blast. I also did research in the Language & Cognition Lab in the cognitive science department. Combined with my courses in sociology and at the JHU School of Education, my research experiences and my summer internships have led me to a goal of working in education law and policy creation. It’s fitting, then, that during my junior and senior years, I worked at the Center for Social Organization of Schools and also in the Admissions office – two more education-related jobs.

Lately a lot of my time has been taken up by doing what many of you are doing – investigating schools, writing essays, and filling out seemingly-endless applications! I am currently in the midst of completing about a dozen law school applications, so I feel your pain. I spent about three months studying for the LSAT that was administered in September, and now it’s really crunch time for turning in all my forms. It’s definitely exciting to get lots of e-mails and packages from law schools telling me all about their programs, and I’m looking forward to visiting a bunch of the campuses, too.

Though I’m glad that I took some time off after college to work (and breathe!), I’m really looking forward to going back to school. I can only hope that whichever law school I end up at provides me with an experience as fulfilling and enjoyable as I had at Hopkins – the academic and extracurricular activities at Homewood have definitely prepared me for what I want to do in the future, and I have met some of the most amazing people who I am now lucky enough to call my friends – including the seven (yes seven!) of them that live with me.

Well, time to go back inside the house…it’s our weekly “Kid Nation” viewing (we’re seriously addicted), and we have to pick up the Chinese food from the place down the street before we settle in for the night. I hope your school year is off to a great start – please feel free to leave me a comment or ask a question – I love talking about my experiences at Hopkins! You can also check out my archived blog from when I was a Hopkins student: Not-Quite-Daily-Ramblings.

Engineering News Briefs: October 2007

A Team of Whiting School Grad Students Competes in Red Bull Soap Box Challenge

Four Materials Science graduate students have teamed together to create a soap box racer and enter it into the Red Bull Soap Box Challenge. The team of JHU students raced their "Timmy the Turtle" racer in Providence, RI on October 13. For more details on the racer, check out the Red Bull Soap Box teams page. Unfortunately, the JHU team did not win, but their "slow and steady wins the race" motto still could help in future competitions.

Hopkins Engineers Discover the Brain is No Longer Needed

After suffering a spinal cord injury, it’s not the severed communication between the brain and limbs that causes restricted mobility, but the severed communication between limbs. When limbs can't "speak" to each other, walking is impossible. Ralph Etienne-Cummings and his colleagues in Electrical and Computer Engineering have developed a chip that can produce communication between limbs. Their work shows terrific promise for people suffering from spinal cord injury. Read about it in EETimes.

It Took 100 Years, But WSE Researchers Finally Made the Change

The way researchers incubate cells has remained the same for 100 years … until recently. This month, engineers in Johns Hopkins’ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering developed a thumbnail-sized micro-incubator that can culture baby hamster kidney cells over a three-day period. Self-contained and requiring no external heating source, the eco-friendly, low cost unit can easily be moved to different microscopes, imaging devices or other experimental tools without jeopardizing the health of the cell culture. Says Jennifer Blain, one of the students responsible for this breakthrough, "Once it's set up, you can just walk away!" Read more about this development in a recent Gazette article.

Engineers Without Borders: Students Supply a Remote South African Village with Water

For the second year in a row, a team of undergraduate engineering students from the Johns Hopkins chapter of Engineers Without Borders traveled to the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa to provide a small, rural village with a water supply and irrigation system. Thanks to the students’ work, the village’s elderly women no longer have to carry heavy loads of water to use for drinking or for their communal vegetable gardens. The student group has plans to implement another water supply project in Guatemala later this year. Learn more about Engineers Without Borders at JHU by visiting their web site.

Introduction to the Buffet

Welcome to the newest blog in the Hopkins Interactive collection. The Blue  Jay Buffet will not be a blog about food at Hopkins, but will rather be a collection of entries that reflect many aspects of Hopkins life. We will approach this cornucopia of stories with an "everything-but-the-kitchen-sink" style, meaning that everything and anything goes.

In the coming weeks and months we will feature a variety of entries:

• Each month we will publish a "This Month at Hopkins" entry that looks back at all the news-worthy stories from the previous months.
• Each month we will also publish our "Engineering News Briefs" which will provide a glimpse into our Whiting School of Engineering.
• Periodically we will feature guest entries from recent ALUMNI, who will want to fill you in on what life is like after Hopkins.
• We also plan to have current PARENTS of Hopkins students writing guest entries on how it is to be a JHU Parent and advice for future parents.
• You'll also find remnants of our old JHU Fun Blog as we re-introduce our Hopkins Interactive Mascot Series.

In addition to all that, we are leaving the door open for even more unique, unusual, and entertaining content. So check back weekly, as we provide you with a 360 degree view of all that makes up the Johns Hopkins University experience.