No camera, but I still am breathing

My camera died on me due to the extreme amount of water and moisture my boat for the Scioto River Sweep so for this writing, I will go without it until I can get one from one of my friends. I guess that is the price for being adventurous. I still did a ton of things from then to now so I will just have to explain in detail instead of relying on my pictures to do the talking for me. I hope you will be able to relate without the help of pictures.
This week is the first real challenge for me in terms of academics. The fifth week at OWU seems to be that way. I recently completed my Environmental Alteration paper, a thirteen pager. I still have to check for a never-ending amount of errors and adjustments so my paper does not meet the wrath of the red pen. Oh, how I despise the red pen (everyone does, even if you have a 4.0- you are still going to get red inked). The topic is about environmental sustainability and how to rescue the earth from its own destruction in the hands of human abuse. If this sounds like fun, then Geography should be your major. I also finish my paper for Power of Maps. This was a introduction to finding real and paper maps. I found out some interesting information about Cleveland in the 70's and 80's. Cleveland's past is revealed to me, awesome. My other classes were uneventful in terms of papers or assignments. I have a problem set that I have to turn in on Friday for my Applied Stats class. I better get help to make sure that I know the concepts so that I will not bomb the first exam. I know that I am fully capable of passing that class with a decent grade if I get the concepts down. Now I have to pound that logic in my head to make sure I do this. I know that this class will pick up exponentially come Thanksgiving break (mommy!!) I like the class and having to visualize the problem before I can do the problem. I have a mid-term (already!) for Applied Stats next week, a mid-term for my Power of Maps class on Friday, and a mid-term for my History class (Making of Britain) Thursday. My other class, Cultural Geography is next Friday and personally, I can't wait to start linking comparisons about globalization and neoliberalism to the questions that are given to me. Let me pump it out!!! To keep me sane, I do some Choral Arts to not become bogged down in my written work. Some gospel and classical will do me just fine.
I am involved in a lot of activities. The activities balances out my classes (I have six so I am in a good amount of activities to alleviate the stress that comes from these classes). I am a double (maybe triple) major so I have to take these classes eventually and the activities are not linked to these (I don't want to be thinking about Henry II at lunchtime). Some of the activities I do is Circle K (community service, getting some), Habitat for Humanity (yet another version of community service except with building homes), Campus Programming Board (Demetri Martin in the house!!! Attend the show, OWU students and staff), and the Student Homecoming Organization (leak coming!!! There will be a luau during the Wednesday of Homecoming Week!) These are additions to all of the responsiblities I had last year (remember: SUBA, BMF, WSCA). That is right, I'm back and I am here at OWU to stay, full of the spirit. People at OWU: expect to see me a lot this year. In town, in the streets, in the classroom, even in your room. I am on the residential life committee, believe it or not. RA's and RLC's, thank the WSCA President for that decision, so if you see me in Crider Lounge everyday, now you know why.
Well, today I am very busy. I have Choral Arts at 6:30 and I have to get some sufficient food in my body. Otherwise, I might pass out or fall sleep from lack of nutrition. I also have to continue to work on my Applied Stats homework, due Friday. I am going to the Brown Jug after Choral Arts for a little Wings Night sponsored by the Office of Minority Student Affairs. I have to get prepared.


Carefully testing the winds of college life,
Hasani Wheat
Class of '10

Scioto River Sweep

I have kept myself busy since the end of Orientation almost three weeks. Yeah, it has been that long and I miss the hustle before the actual classes already. This is why I joined the Student Homecoming Organization- to keep the momentum built from my responsibilities at Orientation going during the school year. With five whole credit classes that are not particularly my specialty, I have to work extra hard to understand the material and to do well in the classes. I want to finish on time so I am usually bouncing in between classes, eating, organizations that I am in, and sleeping. I have little down time but when I do have the time, I do other eclectic things.

Next Saturday, I went to the Scioto River to do a little down and dirty work. At 8:00 a.m., I showered and left my house for this huge service project in which I partook in. The commute to get to the Scioto River wasn't long- about ten minutes from campus- and I was excited to be stepping out of my natural element a bit. Before I went to the Scioto, I had to get a donut and a coffee, just to make sure that my nerves were not shot. Around 8:30 a.m., a couple of my fraternity brothers and I headed to the tent that had all of the people anxiously waiting for instructions. I saw the gear we were using such as gloves, bug spray, and tons of bags. I have never cleaned a river before but I knew beforehand that this was going to be an enervating experience.

Earlier in the week, I called the person in charge, Jenifer Day-Young, to reserve some canoes. I was kind of nervous because it has been a while since I canoed anywhere. Fortunately, I was told of the possibility that the Scioto may be very shallow. I accepted this fact and pursued to double check what I wanted to take with me in the canoe. I decided to take my camera even though I think my camera is now affected by the tumultuous trip down the river (I will have to see about that before this week's community service project at Blue Limestone). Anyway, I took only the most valuable items with me to capture some river exclusive images. This way, I would have memories of how environmentally sustainable the rivers of Ohio have become and what message I need to advocate around campus.

My fraternity brothers and I were driven to an even more remote part of town (practically to the middle of nowhere) and we were given a canoe, a life jacket (which I do not believe was necessary considering the depth of the river), and a couple of canoes. We were explained the length of the river and approximately how long it would take to canoe down the river. We were also told where were the critical points we needed to look out for such as bridges and two cones signifying the end of the journey on the river. We proceeded to enter the wrath of the Scioto River. Truthfully, the first part of the river was actually not bad; the river was not that shallow and most of the river was free from debris. When we passed the bridge in Radnor, an area obscure to me but was visibly seen on the map we received in the beginning of the day, that is when the shallow part of the river started to hit us. This section was also the part where we had collected the most debris. This middle section was very tedious but very rewarding as well in a sense. Some of the debris that we collected were tires, televisions, and a huge grill along with obvious items put into our bags (beer cans, beer bottles, rugs, etc.) Around the halfway point, we saw one of the people in charge in ridding the canoes of its debris and we happily handed over the debris to pursue the rest of our canoe ride down the Scioto. The sight of it was abstract but beautiful. Some of my pictures captures the exquisite nature of the Scioto- a close, in-your-face beauty only captured when you are in its path. I am pretty sure Geography majors (and my Geography professors) can agree with this statement.

The last part of the trip was excruciating and exhilarating simultaneously. I guess the fish in that area felt that we were intruding their territory so they proceeded to ram our canoe. One of the fish decided to jump in the canoe, landing in my crotch area. This was relatively uncomfortable for me since fish out of the water are known to flop around a lot. Calmly, I tossed the fish back into the water. That fish seemed to bring a bad omen to the rest of the trip. For a time, we seemed lost since we were the head team in the pack. The river was very walkable near the end so we got out and pushed for the majority of that time. We finally saw a woman with her dog nearing the end of our journey; for reinsurance for not being lost in the Scioto River, we asked where the Main street bridge was. 1200 feet was the reply and feeling tired and weary, we cruised to the bridge, which was there. I had a growing fear that the bridge would not be there and we would potentially be stuck in the Scioto River. I like the beauty of the Scioto but looking at anything for almost four hours can turn off that beauty since you are so weary. We finally found the two red cones on the left on the river and happily greeted the people waiting for us. We unloaded the boat and waiting to dry off a little bit. We left that obscure area around 12:30-12:45 (I don't remember exactly). Back at base camp, there was food awaiting us. Seeing the need to eat again, I grabbed as much food as I could and went back to OWU to shower.

This is my adventure for last week; I know that this was a good experience all around except for the shallow parts of the river. I felt that I was helping the community become environmentally sustainable and economically sound. I also got to do something I never imagined doing. Enjoy the pictures on top of the page, which are a combination of serious and silliness. The van ride to the obscure place was packed and yes, I was sitting on top of three guys the whole way through (4th picture). Images of the Scioto up close and pictures of me and my fraternity brothers. I actually should stop writing now because I have to prepare for four straight hours of hardcore classes and never-ending madness.

Being environmentally sustainable,

Hasani Wheat

Class of '10

The end of Orientation

Orientation has finally ended. I guess this was inevitable considering the fact that it was prepared very nicely and the length of all of its activities. The warm welcome is still felt on campus as organizations are feeling out the freshmen and professors are going through the easy, introductory part of their courses. Everything is still slow- it hasn't picked up yet. Personally, I am glad that Orientation went as smoothly as it did, however, I am also glad that I can deal with hundreds of problems and tons of books (believe it or not). I did not take pictures everyday rather I took pictures from a particular event. The pictures shown here all come from our Orientation's game night and the festivities for last Saturday. I will talk about each activity that I participated in briefly. The grind of schoolwork is on my mind even though tomorrow is Labor Day.

I will start by being casual. There were many a days where food was thought to be an issue because the dining services did not officially start until the August 27, the first day of classes. However, there was accommodations made by the Director of Orientation, Deb Lamp, and the Orientation Leaders, Meg Flood and Joey Yost, to eat in Smith Hall free of charge. I was thinking in my head, "This is so awesome!" The news gets better- I got free breakfast, lunch, and dinner for about eight days straight. This is obviously a good way to promote Smith Hall's dining services as well as keeping the interest of the consumer at heart. I have a picture of Smith Hall, which is newly renovated for the incoming freshmen, on the right. The area that I took a photo of is the lounge area, created with a urban feel to it. There is a television (which usually has something like MTV or BET on it) and couches to make the lounge area very capacious. I like this area, I can fall asleep on it after a long day of classes.

On Saturday, I had the responsibility of gathering the freshman for my Orientation project of Adventure Activities. At times, monitoring who is here and what group needs to go where can be a tedious and nerve-wrecking job. I know I did the best job I could, utilizing all of the resources and knowledge I had around me. The vans were delivered and the route for hiking at Delaware State Park was established (thanks Forrest for leading the freshman through the wilderness, and to Forrest, Ryan A., and Joey for driving the registered OWU vans). There were some difficulties as I could not establish a good rapport with someone who could Swing Dance, however, I did find a person who knows Salsa like it is her own child and that connection worked out great. I believe that was the biggest group as it is unique and interesting to a lot of people. Paola, if you are reading this, I want to say "Thanks a million!" The Habitat for Humanity project on a house nearby the campus was highly sought after by the freshman; the project was filled by last Wednesday, their first day on campus. I met with several people for advice and the cap of how many to bring to the project. To say the least, I was happy with the results of how the Habitat for Humanity project went down. I brought water to the freshmen and watched the magic happen. In addition to these projects, I had lined up a running session, which wasn't grueling but good for the body and mind of an individual and knitting, which was a relief builder and relatively popular especially during finals week. I worked with The Babbling Bishops Comedy Troupe and make sure to request the Stuy Smoker for them to perform and interact with the freshmen. I also worked with Ultimate Frisbee to make sure that the rugby field behind Kroger's was available. I like Ultimate and I wanted to participate but I was dealing with some minor issues behind the Student Involvement Desk. Nevertheless, all of the activities were good and a good amount of freshmen got to experience some of the awesome activities at OWU. I was so happy everything went without a hitch.


While I was waiting for the groups to take off to their destinations, I saw members of CLEAR, the student group for alcohol awareness chalking up the Jaywalk with information pertaining to the Volleyball game. Unfortunately for them, the rain during that time was fast and furious so they had to cancel it. Fortunately for me, I didn't sign up to be a part of that; I signed up to be a part of the Ice Cream Social, sponsored by the Student Honors Board. The invite was for everyone and the setting was informal. I took some pictures- the view of the building from Gray Chapel is very good. The Honors Center is dedicated to two professors who jump-started the program. The building looks like our average one sitting next to the Art Studio. Once you get in the Honors Center becomes a different story. I am hoping that I will stop in there a lot more this year.

The last thing I took pictures of for Orientation was the Game Night. The night started with a Scavenger Night around campus. I did not participate but from the sweat and excitement I can see on the Orientation Leaders and their freshmen's faces, I was excited to see what would happen next. Eventually, everyone let their hair down and had fun. There were DJ's (not a professional, just Jerome Bucceri and Chris Drover working the angle- cheaper for the university and a lot more interactive). There was photo keychains, frisbee making, and Taboo playing. There was also a certain "Right foot yellow, left hand green" mentality- see picture to believe it. By the way, this is Orientation Team Leader, Joey Yost, working the floor. Everyone grew and bonded from the experience, freshmen and upperclassmen alike. I like the concept of game night. It is not whether you win or lose, it is how you play the game.

Wow. Orientation is over and the first week of classes is as well. I guess it is time to be on the everyday grind. It is time to see who will step up to the occasion or who will fall flat to the earth. We will find out shortly; time at OWU goes by quickly if you are involved. I have to go now- my Applied Stats book is screaming my name!



Living OWU style,
Hasani Wheat
Class of '10