Ok, back to your regularly scheduled program

When I came back to school I had to recalibrate my whole way of thinking. I hadn't been in school in ten years. Note taking, homework, study groups, none of this was stuff I was looking forward too. I think the one thing that has been unexpecting has been the personality of the professors. Keep in mind I love people that have personality. Anyone that can carry a decent conversation.
My wake up call to my professors I have to go back to my first class. I had to take a General Requirement in Math. Steve, the professor, he only liked to be addressed by his first name (In fact, I'll just refer to teachers by first name just incase you guys might know these people), was definetly a man of the world. From Alabama, he had been in the military and I guess a war or two. But like a bad 80's sitcom he would go from talking about math into a flashback. My first example when something along the lines of "Algebra is actually from the Middle East. From Iran *he stops and looks out the window* I remember when I was stationed in Iran.." and would go into a speech about it. I thought it was funny.
Ellen is one of my writing professors, she would have us go outside on sunny days and write poetry. She didn't care what we wrote about. She is a real 60's child. Arcata is her home, and before people moved to California in the mid-to-late 60's to soak up some "flower power" Ellen was a true California hippie, one of the last true peace lovers who was actually there from day one! One girl in class wrote a poem about smoking pot before going to school. You can just see Ellen's face and said "Good Honesty, go with that." Ellen hasn't smoked pot in years because she just doesn't have to. "You have your fun with it and move on. Get high off life!"
I think that is one of the big advantages of living here. It is a lot more freeing how you act. The more vocal you are the more you are embraced. This town is about as opposite from Los Angeles as a Quaker Village would be from Washington DC. So after 9 years in LA this is all a culture shock.
As I write this I have a homeless man sitting next to me on his myspace account. I am peeking over and notice that some students are actually his friends on myspace. I don't think you'll find that in Los Angeles.