For my third blog post, under the Career category, I attended a resume writing workshop. It started quite badly actually; there was a serious misunderstanding or miscommunication regarding the workshop. One of my fellow freshmen had been randomly handed a flier for the workshop and being a nice guy, shared the info with several of us. However when we arrived at the workshop we were told that it was being put on by and only for Sigma members. Since AJ had been handed the flier with no questions and since the wording was fairly ambiguous we all thought that the workshop was hosted by Sigma, but open to all. The guy who appeared to be leading the group was initially rather rude in his dismissal of us, saying however that we could ask the woman conducting the workshop whether or not we could stay.  (I’m quite certain he hoped she would send us away.) Eventually his attitude to us warmed and Ricki Weitzen, who put on the presentation was quite kind and allowed us to stay. I can’t help but think they must have both been very happy with this decision; as our little group of freshman were easily the most engaged and participatory, throughout the whole presentation. Ricki did an excellent job explaining all the proper components of a resume and giving us many tips on how to edit and finesse our material. She used several Power Point slides, but it was still fairly painless. My one complaint, is that, stylistically it was very clearly “business” tailored. Which is a little unfair, I admit, since this is primarily a business school. However I do wish she had spent more than a few cursory moments talking about some of the other options that come into play in different employment fields.

For my second blog, I was quite happy that donating blood was an option; under the ‘Health and Wellness’ section of Student Life. I have been donating blood at least 2 or 3 times every year, for several years now. I think it is a very important thing to do; it costs me nothing but time and it can mean so much to someone else. I don’t have a rare blood type, or anything, but there is still always need for donation of every blood type. I have had positive and negative experiences when donating blood, in the past. This time was a little bit of both. Overall the mobile donation unit set up at Baruch was pretty well run. The staff seemed to be very efficient and also fairly friendly. However the woman who ‘stuck’ me, quite honestly did a terrible job. She completely mauled my arm. It seemed like she was not paying attention and she caused me a lot of pain. She initially either didn’t get the needle in all the way or allowed it back out, causing me to bleed profusely all over myself and the table. Which I am blaming for traumatizing me to the extent that I forgot to take a photo, after she finally prodded and fished the needle around to a suitable position in my vein. Subsequently the entire process was extremely and unnecessarily painful. And my arm was sore for the following two days. I hope this experience does not deter anyone else from making a life saving donation. Really a few moments of intense pain followed by a few day of less intense pain, is a small price to pay for saving (potentially many) lives. And, as I said before, my experience this time, was not the norm, it is usually a much less traumatic experience.

On Friday I went to the Rubin Museum. The Rubin is smaller than a lot of the other museums in the city – I like that about it; it is much more manageable than some of the larger ones. It is also, for me a nicer atmosphere; there are fewer people, it is dimly lit and offers a very calm ambiance. The museum is currently featuring exhibits on Himalayan art, specifically Hindu and Buddhist iconography. There are four floors of open exhibits, featuring (mainly small) sculptures and painted tapestries. I was very interested to see their display that illustrated one of the processes used for creating the figurines. They also had an example showing each of the steps to create the painted tapestries. It was captivating to see the diagrams and guides that the artist used to create the painting’s subject in mathematical proportions and details that were specifically dictated by the religious doctrines. My favorite part of the exhibit was the Shrine Room on the fourth floor. It was a small space set up to mimic Buddhist shrines and meditation rooms. There was little lighting, except for the flicker of the (artificial) candles, representing the offering votives used in the temples. There was also the faintest scent of incense, and a quiet soundtrack of (I assume monks) chanting. I sat there peacefully for several minutes & even had the space to myself for most of that time. Overall, it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon & I highly recommend the Rubin Museum.