Category Archives: Personal

The Path

Chinese style dinner. Eat until you're full, then you eat some more!

It’s that time of the year again. The temperature is dropping, the sun is setting earlier and, most noticeably, the recruiters have come to campus. The PowerPoint’s are the same, each HR VP makes the same pitch and the multitude of alumni now working for the company gush about how great their experience has been. Each company claims to be searching for the same thing: motivated, intelligent and adaptable people to join them as they expand to every corner of the globe. But are they truly searching for the best available talent? Or are they simply looking for someone who has the most boxes checked off a pre-determined algorithmic list? Are we valuing the most creative and innovative in society, or the ones who have stuck closest to the path mapped out for them by the ones who sit comfortably on top?

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China: Reprised

Some of my Chinese classmates. Really cool people!

It’s been a transitional two weeks here in Beijing.  While the buildings and streets remain consistent within my environment, the cast of characters in my life have changed completely.  I haven’t really had an opportunity thus far to step back and gather my thoughts on my experiences these past few days, but I do feel that a reflective writing session on the current situation is appropriate.  So read on to find out more about my thoughts on the past couple weeks.

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The Other Side

A couple of my Uncle's and I

It’s difficult to believe that it’s been nearly a month since I’ve last posted thoughts related to my current experience in China. It’s taken a couple months, but I think I’m firmly in a position of social and environmental comprehension. Maybe that’s why I haven’t been as eager to share my observations and perspectives; nothing really feels outlandish or remarkable anymore, everything related to a previous experience is old, and everything new is brushed off as just another peculiarity of China.

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