I’m happy, I tell myself. I’m lucky, and I live a charmed life. I tell myself this all the time, and I believe it. I also believe a heart can be trained to believe whatever you want it to.

My heart often overflows, too, with love for small things. Sometimes, it’s so easy to be happy that I wonder how people are ever anything but. Spending time with my family, coming back to Eugene after a long break away and going for a run on my favorite trails in the woods, cooking dinner with my best friends: when I’m there, I can’t imagine doing anything other than exactly what I’m doing at that moment.

The heart can remember, but I find it’s best if you let it forget. I’ve spent years trying to forget that for most of my life, I lived in a shell of self-doubt. When I was 19 I got a job that forced me to shed all of it, and since then, my heart has become a place that disposes of bad things. Where I used to hang back, holding on to the things that troubled me and wallowing in the fear that I’d stumble, I now let those fears wash over me, and shake them off until they’re no longer there. I like to let the light things stay, and the heavy things fall where they belong: to the ground, in shambles.

Sometimes I take a closer look at the light, though, and I see something that didn’t used to be there. A tough, almost forcibly positive heart beats proud and confident. And I’m glad it’s there. But I think about the things I shed to get it. I see the remains of a heart – a heart in constant fear of not being enough, in worry, in pain. But I also see the gentle, cautious, and earnest girl I used to be. I wonder if I could ever find it in my heart to be those things again. And then my cruel heart sweeps those thoughts away.

I find that my heart functions best as a separate entity from my mind. It’s best not to let the two cross paths, because my mind, while possessing all the capacity of my heart, still very much has a memory. Sometimes I start to think, and I remember: things I worry about, things I forgot to be angry about and moved on from because I was tired and just wanted to be happy again. When I start to think, I start to wonder: should I have been angrier about those things?

But this heart – my heart – is a place to let things go.

1. A group of international students during “international student orientation” fall 2012.

2. Caricature found on http://www.edu-sp.com/; On the sign: “Welcome home!” On the door: “National headhunting company.”

3. Inside East Meets West restaurant, across the street from the Duck Store, University of Oregon.

From the outside, the three story, baby pink Victorian style home looks like a dollhouse. A concrete path cuts through the full, green lawn and leads to large double doors. Inside, the rooms are filled with racks of long, printed dresses, simple floor length nightgowns, silk scarfs and jewelry displays. But, the last room is the most popular, and the most important. Through the doorway behind the glass chandelier are racks of bras and swimsuits for women recovering from breast cancer surgery. Each item has a discrete pocket for a silicone insert. 

Believe Boutique, Willamette Valley Cancer Institute

Located on 3^rd and Pearl, in north Eugene, Cynthia’s Fine Lingerie is a resource for womenbyproviding breast prosthesis. Women come to Cynthia’s for bras and prostheses that help fill out their original breast shape and balance following breast cancer treatments and surgery.  

“This can be a tearful place. Ladies are so happy when they get their breast and they get put back together,” says Joanne Erickson who has worked at Cynthia’s for fourteen years. “I always tell the women, ‘ This is the best part of the whole ordeal.’”

Cynthia’s serves women throughout the Western United States including Arizona, California, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii and all over Oregon. “The need is great,” says Erickson. “People think that breast cancer has gotten better, but I think it has gotten worse.”

The American Cancer Society estimates that 232,340 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diag

Triangular breast prostheses at the Believe Boutique

nosed nationwide in 2013. Of these cases, many will result in surgeries that remove a portion or the whole breast. As an alternative to reconstructive surgery, breast prostheses help women regain their comfort and physique, without an additional reconstructive operation.

At Cynthia’s, next to the racks of bras and swimsuits, a door leads to a discrete room filled floor to ceiling with what appears to be white and light pink shoeboxes.  A tall, freestanding mirror stands at the far end draped in measuring tapes. 

Erickson enters the room and looks up at the shelves, bends down and pulls out a box from the bottom shelf. She takes of the lid and carefully pulls out a nude-colored triangular silicone prosthesis. It is flexible, yet holds its shape resembling the front of a breast. It’s a smaller size, maybe meant for a B or C cup, but because of the silicone it also weighs about the same as a real breast.

“The doctors now send their patients here before surgery and we try to educate them on what the products are for and what’s available to them,” says Erickson. “After surgery sometimes we talk about reconstruction, if that’s their choice and what they want to do, but a lot of them feel that after surgery they have been through enough and they don’t want to do anymore. In that case, we fit them with breast prostheses and mastectomy bras.  It’s the first time they’re coming to a place that isn’t sterile and they’re more comfortable here.”

After a woman has healed from surgery usually about six weeks, she is eligible for a prescription to get fitted for prostheses. Depending on the area of incision and how much tissue was removed, the prosthesis help to recreate the look of the breast to return her balance and shape. Teardrop shape prosthesis is associated most commonly with lumpectomy surgeries as the shape is only designed to fill a partial-breast. However, triangular prostheses are more appropriate following mastectomies or when larger portions are removed explains Erickson.

At The Believe Boutique in the Willamette Valley Cancer Institute, volunteer Melinda Plummer fits women with breast prosthesis as a free service through the American Cancer Society. The boutique serves women with breast cancer and gives them free prosthesis from supplies that are exclusively donated.

“It’s really gratifying to watch them in the boutique because most of the women can’t believe that it’s a free service available to them,” says Plummer. “Some didn’t think that they really wanted to get implants or they didn’t think they wanted to mess with a prosthesis but when they find out how real and how comfortable they can be and what a difference it can make when they try it on and put their shirt on and go ‘oh!’

Plummer has volunteered at the Believe Boutique since it opened in January 2012 at the Willamette Valley Cancer Institute. She has developed relationships with the women who regularly come in for treatments because the Boutique is located in the same building where many of the women receive their chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Inside the Believe Boutique, the vanity along the left wall is stocked with a variety of patterned scarves and colored hats.  A large mirror reflects two dark red velvet curtains on the opposite wall. Behind the curtain on the right is a dressing room with a closet full of shoebox-like containers. Underneath the lids of these boxes are bras with the internal pocket for a prosthesis.

Behind the curtain on the left are cabinets with the teardrop and triangular nude colored prostheses and fiberfill foam breast forms.  Plummer is the only volunteer certified to fit breast cancer patients for prostheses and, in her experience, she has never had anyone take the fiberfill breast forms.

“[The silicone] is more natural and it feels real. I guess it would be like a padded bras versus the real thing,” says Plummer. “When people come in here and especially if it’s free and if they can get a prosthesis, they’re going to take one.”

In both styles of prosthesis, there are options between fiberfill and silicone material. The fiberfill is lighter, but women popularly choose the silicone to create a natural looking breast in both weight and movement says Erickson.

If the cancer is caught early and localized, the woman can undergo a lumpectomy, which removes a smaller portion of the breast.  These treatments leave women unbalanced in both size and weight.  Backaches, and poor balance and posture are the medical incentives for wearing prosthesis, but many women choose to wear prostheses for their own comfort. Prosthesis, says Erickson, can make women feel more comfortable by balancing them out. 

Breast cancer affects ­­­one in eight women in America and many of these diagnoses require surgery.  A mastectomy, as opposed to a lumpectomy, removesthe whole breast, sometimes both, to ensure that all of the cancerous cells are removed.

Katie Burke, the Patient Navigator at the Willamette Valley Cancer Institute and leader of the Young Women’s Support Group, finds that choosing a prosthesis over reconstructive surgery is dependent on a woman’s age and where she is in her life.

One of the women in Burke’s support group underwent a unilateral mastectomy, which only removed one of her breasts. She began the process of reconstruction, but stopped because in some reconstructions, the doctors might have to operate on the other breast as well, and she didn’t want the doctors to touch her other side.  

“She hated it,” said Burke. “There was no way she was going to get her breast back, so she would rather wait so she could keep her other breast in case she was able to get pregnant again, she would be able to breast feed.” She now wears a prosthetic with the option of reconstruction available further down the road.

As a breast cancer survivor, Burke, who was 23 years old when treated, chose reconstruction over wearing prosthesis. “I just wanted to feel a little bit more comfortable in my skin,” says Burke. “Being able to wake up with looking somewhat normal was, what I felt like, encouraging.”

“I think young women are more likely to go for the reconstruction because, in their minds, it is something that is more long term, says Burke. “For older women their tissue tends to be a little different, so reconstruction tends to be more painful. A lot of times because they are older, they have the mentality that reconstruction isn’t necessary. But to me, age doesn’t matter. It’s more about what you’re comfortable with.”

The popularity of breast prosthesis results from women avoiding a dangerous and invasive breast reconstruction surgery that adds longer healing time to their treatments says Erickson. Although they should avoid wearing a prosthesis in the weeks following their surgery and treatments, prostheses are prescribed by oncologist and often covered by patient’s health insurance.

Most women recovering from breast cancer are allowed one prosthesis every two years that is covered by their insurance through companies like Medicare that, in addition, allows the women as many bras as they want says Erickson. On the downside, companies like Blue Cross only limits their client’s coverage to four bras and two prostheses per year.

The prostheses have a two-year warranty, but Erickson encourages her clients to get another prosthesis as soon as they are eligible for a new one. The normal wear and use of the prostheses breaks down the material and can potentially cause leaks and air bubbles. Other factors such as how large the prosthesis is and if it is being worn every day shortens the lifespan of the prosthesis. Nevertheless, Erickson encourages the women to wear their prosthesis every day, regardless of the size.

Cynthia’s works directly with the local oncologists and help the patients find the correct prosthesis and bra. The goal is to fit the woman as close to her original cup size as possible says Erickson.

While at Cynthia’s, Erickson notices that the women with smaller breasts are often more eager to get their prosthesis sooner than the larger chested women. “The smaller they are the more they want that breast back,” says Erickson.

Erickson recalls a woman who came in to Cynthia’s with her husband following surgery. Even though she was a small size, she was desperate to not be seen without wearing a prosthesis. She went to the back room, put on her prosthesis, put on he top and asked her husband, “Do I look better?” He replied, “Do you feel better?” She nodded and he said “Then that’s all that matters.”

 “The patients come here a lot of times crying. They don’t know what to expect. And I’llsay nine out of ten time they’ll leave here laughing and feeling good about themselves and hugging us. And that makes us feel really good,” Joanne Erickson.

Other than the financial cost of prostheses, women are self conscious about their breast and do not want to ask. “It’s really individualized,” says Plummer. “Some women don’t want any reconstructive surgery. They’ve had their mastectomy and that’s all the cutting they want, so they’re really happy just to have their prostheses.”

The decorations that represent Veterans’ service, set up in the UO’s Veterans and Family Student Association office.

Michelle Miller, a senior at the University of Oregon (UO), nods her head as her roommates sit in their living room chatting about graduation plans. Miller, however, will not be graduating with her roommates or the class of 2013. After switching majors this year, she won’t graduate until after spending an additional year at school.

Miller will not be the only one watching her senior friends walk across the graduation podium.

All across the US, More students are staying in school longer than the traditional four-year time frame. Less than 40 percent of students who enter college each year graduate within four years, according to the Department of Education. According to a study by nonprofit Complete College America, on-time graduation rates for bachelor’s degree students are shockingly low in Oregon.

“Many students don’t find their academic home until somewhat late in their academic career,” says Susie Brubaker-Cole, associate provost for Academic Success and Engagement at Oregon State University. “It means that sometimes they need to go beyond the traditional four years to complete those requirements.”

After completing three-fourths of her geography major, Miller realized her interests laid elsewhere. She switched to cinema studies her senior year in order to be academically connected with her real passion, music.

Michelle Miller, senior at UO, reviews the four-year graduation plan for her new cinema studies major.

More than 60 percent of bachelor’s degree graduates take longer than four years to finish, and close to 30 percent take more than six, according to a report by Complete College America.

This is a national trend, explains Associate Provost Brubaker-Cole.

So, why are more students staying longer than the traditional four years? Despite departmental or even university finger pointing, the answer is not so simple.

Extended stay in college is quite common, explains Randy Martin, advisor for Family and Human Services (FHS) at UO. In fact, around half of all FHS majors need to stay longer than the traditional four years.

Even though Martin says the goal of the program is to graduate in four years, the annual application process makes four years a little less realistic for many FHS students. Students who choose the major after fall may have to wait a calendar year to apply and get into the program.

Even so, Martin continues to encourage all students to add value to their education.

“It might be better to extend longer because more time in a supervised practicum and the skills gained from it actually helps in the long run,” says Martin.

Adding value to education

Katy George, a journalism and Spanish student at the UO, briefly taught English abroad before taking a couple of community college classes. She applied to the UO but was initially denied because her extra classes made her ineligible to enroll at UO as a regular student. George returned to community college to complete the transfer credits required for UO enrollment as a transfer student.

“I think it was worth it to do a few more terms of college,” says George, who will be graduating in four years and a term.

George chose to embrace an opportunity to go abroad despite the short-term consequences. She spent a full year in Spain in order to learn about journalism abroad and sharpen her Spanish skills. And for George, it was totally worth it.

“In today’s world you can’t just go to school for four years,” says George. “You need to have stuff on your resume that’s relevant to the job you want.”

College students have many choices to add value to their education, including study abroad, internships, job opportunities, volunteering, clubs, and even a minor or second major.

Benjamin Christensen, a UO journalism student, intended to complete his bachelor’s degree with money from his own pocket. Christensen transferred to the UO from Clark College in 2007, and decided to take a year off after just two terms at the UO.

“I was still in that mentality that I needed to pay for it myself and not take student loans out,” Christensen says.

Christensen returned to complete his degree but his plans were shortly interrupted. He applied for his dream job in New York City, an opportunity to work for Major League Baseball “FanCave”, and got it. However, the opportunity meant it would take longer complete his degree.

“I think its sad and sickening to fully isolate yourself and embed yourself just in your education and not get a well-rounded life experience,” says Christensen.

After a series of on and off terms, Christensen took six years to graduate.

Money matters

Christensen was yet another student who works to supplement student loans and the cost of living. Christensen realized he couldn’t pay out of pocket, and now works as a part-time bartender at the New Max’s Tavern. If a student has a job while going to college, they may be more inclined to take a lighter course load, explains Brubaker-Cole.

“Since the economy has turned south more students have had more financial struggles and need to take fewer classes to work,” says Brubaker-Cole.

More than half of today’s college students have a job, according to a report by Upromise.

Still, college students are accruing more debt than ever before. An estimated two-thirds of 2011 college grads had student loan debt, averaging a total of $26,600. Between 2010-11 student debt increased by five percent, according to a report by the Project on Student Debt.

George also continuously works to keep up with student loans. “I’ve had to turn down several unpaid internships because I have to work in the summer,” she says.

Students balancing a job and college credits is not the only threat to late graduation. Colleges have noticed students are graduating later because required classes are full during registration, explains Brubaker-Cole.

Within the past four years, OSU has contributed $3 million annually to increase class offerings and fight against prolonged graduation rates. Course offerings at the California Community Colleges (CCC) were reduced by roughly 15 percent resulting in hundreds of thousands of students being turned away, according to the CCC Chancellors Office.

Limited course availability is yet another contributor for delayed graduation.

Expectations

Sally Garner, advisor for the School of Journalism at the University of Oregon, believes that the transition from high school to college can be a difficult adjustment for freshman.

“It sometimes takes a little while to find your footing,” says Garner.

Students who declare journalism as a freshman typically have few problems graduating on time, says Garner. However, individuals who transfer majors or even institutions may end up at school longer than four years.

Dylan Geil, international studies advisor at the UO, has also noticed that the students who are graduating later are those who delay deciding on their the major until junior or senior year. He suggested the possibility of a shift in parental expectations for the new generation of college students. New parental expectations may be responsible for students taking longer to choose a major or finishing their degree.

“‘Do something that you love,’” echoes Geil. “We hear that all the time.”

Parents are encouraging their children to wait for ideal opportunities, Geil explains. He suggested that older generations held clear financial expectations for their children, which may no longer be the case today.

“Because more choice has been given to us, it means that for some people there is no clear route,” says Geil.

Four years is realistic, according to Geil. However, he believes that it’s much more realistic for students who have already taken a one to two years period to explore their options. exploration. For example, chances for on-time graduation are much higher if a student enters college at age 21 rather than 18.

“The four-year thing is very doable,” says Geil. “But it’s more doable if you have a track in mind.”

According to a recent survey, more adult children are returning home to live with their parents. The US government embraced the trend by enabling children under age 26 to remain with their parent’s health insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.

“When I was in high school the push was to get a marketable skill and go out there and work 30-something years,” says Martin. “Our style of living has decreased in urgency.”

Is four years still realistic for students?

There have always been journalism students who take longer than the traditional four years to graduate, Garner explains. “Four years is a good goal,” she says. “But the bigger goal is getting the education that you want.”

The “traditional” four years is often interrupted by nonlinear, unpredictable decisions by today’s college student. Those who study enrollment call it “swirling,” rather than the “straight” path to graduation, according the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Christensen was just weeks away from earning his degree, yet chose to fly across the US to gain experience with MLB. His call to the big leagues delayed his graduation by almost a full calendar year.

“If somebody is able to do it in four years, that’s awesome,” says Christensen. “But I don’t think it’s realistic anymore.”

Story by Cari Johnson

The Left Bank Ape

By David Quammen

National Geographic, March 2013

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/bonobos/quammen-text

The lead in The Left Bank Ape by David Quammen was surprisingly lacking in action and details. It was a scene setting graf that described, in basic terms, the location of the Wamba Research Camp and the founder. It did not fully grasp my attention as a reader, and as a journalist I would have like to see a scene that would have show what the camp was, rather than told us. However, it did a good job of giving the reader the necessary details to get right in to the piece.

Quammen also is quick to engage the reader by addressing them in his usage of the word “you.” Journalist tend to stray away from that point of view because they want to present the information with authority and credibility and it “you” doesn’t typically fit in stylistically. His decision to use it brings down the academic tone to present the scientific information in a less intimidating way because he uses such specific jargon that the typical reader wouldn’t be familiar with.

Not too far down in the feature, Quammen takes a break from the scientific language and facts to introduce us to some secondary characters. I appreciated the slower pace when he stopped to name each of the apes by name and their identifiers. It gave credibility to the writer for being present and also to the research institute for their close relationship with their subjects.

The scene that he chose was one that I had wanted to see earlier but it also fit well further down in the story. He used specific descriptions and clear language that moved the action and kept the pace quick, almost as if we were watching the scene as well.  He successfully wrapped the action up with a quote that summed up what it was, and its relevance all in a few words.

The structure that we learned in class holds here too: lead, nut graft, establish the story and the action, hear from the main sources, then background info followed by the less important details. Quammen digs into the history of the discovery of the bonobo by the Belgian scientist and the misconception of the apes as pygmy chimpanzees. He also describes the species’ distinguishing characteristics as mostly behavioral that give the reader more knowledge on the personalities of the main subjects.

After the background information, the author jumps to answer the So What?  question. As bonobos and chimps are the closest living relatives to humans, Quammen wants to uncover if the human lineage branched off closer to the chimp line of male dominance and fighting, or the bonobo line of female dominance, social sex and peace.

The author appropriately inserted his sources opinions and quotes that backed up the story he was trying to tell. He also used the pacing to determine when to introduce new sources, when to tell anecdotes, when to use quotes, and when to do his on scene setting. This feature included all of those elements, and event though it was heavily research and reporting based, I was still hooked till the end thanks to the details, action, and story.

When I was 15, my mom went in for her annual mammogram, religiously as she always does. She has always been a stickler about her doctor’s appointments. Considering that her mother and aunt both had breast cancer, her obsession was understandable.

A couple days after the appointment, my mother told me that the doctor found a suspicious lump and needed to run more tests. My mother has always been a worrier but for some reason, her voice and calmness while delivering this news made me feel that it was no big deal. She told methe doctor was taking every precaution and they were just keeping a close eye on her. That was enough for me.

I was a junior in high school and thinking about college, color guard practice and my boyfriend, not about hospitals. I was consumed with my high school life and I was unprepared for how it was all about to change.

My mom sat me down one weekday evening after a long day of school and practice. The test results had come back. Her voice was soft and her words didn’t slip out withher normal ease and animation. Each word seemed to be carefully chosen as if she had practiced this speech. My mom, at the age of 44, had breast cancer.

In my 15-year-old mind, this was the end. I didn’t understand how she could be so calm, but I figured her strength was just for my dad, my older sister, and me.

My mom had always been the emotional one in the family. We teased her for crying during the Lion King, grabbing the tissues at weddings and never saying no out of fear of hurting others’ feelings.  I was taken back that she wasn’t crying when she broke the news. Was it worse than she was letting on? Was it better? I didn’t know what to feel.

The next morning before school started, I met my boyfriend and best friend in hallway at the bench in front of room nine, like we always did. Nobody knew what was going on with my mom, but my best friend’s simple question of “what’s wrong?”  flipped a switch inside of me. My eyes filled with tears and a lump in my throat grew to the size of a baseball in a matter of seconds. I was balling in the middle of the hallway, and for the first time in my life, I didn’t care how I looked to everyone else.

Within a few weeks, I realized everyone was going to find out soon and that I would have to make my peace with it quickly. I was going to have to watch my mom go through radiation, chemotherapy and surgery to have the cancer removed.  My mom was going to need my support and I needed to figure out how to be someone she could rely on, even though she would never ask anything of me.

Over the next couple of months during her radiation and chemotherapy treatments I watched my mom lie in bed or on the couch, paralyzed by the effects of the chemotherapy medication. The day my mom decided to have my sister shave her head, so she wouldn’t have to watch her hair fall out over the next couple of weeks, forced me to realize how serious my mother’s cancer was. I couldn’t watch my sister take away my mother’s hair. When I saw my mom after it was all done, I couldn’t look at her the same way. This woman was not my mom. This woman looked weak and helpless and even though I hated myself for it, it made me uncomfortable to look at her with a bald head. I didn’t want to know this side of her.

I had no starting point of what to do for my mom or how I should react to her. During the week I stayed at school for as long as I could. WhenI was home I used homework as an excuse to stay busy. This was no longer the life I was used to and I had no idea how to be apart of it.

The day my mom went in for surgery, I was forced to face the reality I had been avoiding. My parents went to the hospital around 6 AM, so I woke up to an empty house. My best friend was going to pick me up in a couple hours to take me to the hospital, but I couldn’t sleep any longer. I couldn’t sit still. In what felt like minutes, I cleaned my room, the kitchen and my car. My compulsive stress cleaning took over, because if I stopped for a moment my brain went into overdrive about all the “what ifs” that could happen.

As soon as I arrived at the hospital, I searched for my mom’s room in the chaos of the muted, hospital-pink corridors. I slowly made my way up the hall, not able to keep up a normal pace. I found the room, walked through the door, and saw her covered in needles and medical tape. The nurse at her bedside was busy prepping her for surgery and scribbling vitals on her clipboard.  She still didn’t look worried.  In fact, she smiled when she saw me. I made my way to her and gave her a hug and kiss, careful not to touch the many wires flowing to and from her bed. Even getting ready for surgery, unaware of what might happen, my mom still had her strength. As uncomfortable as I was, I realized that if she could still be strong, then I could too.

In that moment, despite her weakness and vulnerability, my mom wasn’t defeated and I realized I had no excuse to feel defeated either.

In the years following my mom’s battle with cancer, I stepped outside of my teenage bubble. Life was no longer simple and I understood there were more intense stresses in life than my upcoming tournaments and tests. My mom’s health, and the health of my sister and me, became a constant worry. Even though my mom is now cancer free, the chance that my sister or I will likely also get it is a fear that still lingers, but as my mom showed me, I am not helpless.

The article in the New York Times, Trying to be Stars, Like the ‘Jersey Boys’ they Portrayed, features the Midtown Men, a quartet that performs the hit songs of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and plays the part from their vocals to their demeanors and down to tiny details of their appearance. The piece features a scene lead, evoking not only the visual appearance of the group, but the atmosphere in which they are performing and the reaction of the crowd. “Two middle-aged women giggled, then shouted, “Those are Temptations moves!” The quotes from the audience were a nice touch that reminded me that these were, in fact, performers.

The article has a fairly businesslike tone to it, which was a little surprising to me in a feature story. The author did a good job of balancing anecdotes about the group’s background and past performances with quotes from the stars and scenes from their shows. It also included some updates of what the group is doing now, as well as struggles they’d faced, including a lawsuit. The article did a nice job of giving a lot of information in a small space. The main thing I would have liked to change would be to give it more of an informal, conversational feel.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/30/120130fa_fact_lizza?currentPage=2

I liked the lead.  It reminds the reader of the optimism which defined the beginning of the Obama presidency and showed his eagerness to change the way politics work in america.  The quote comparing Obama to Bill Clinton and Vladimir Putin was quite amusing.

The paragraph about Obama’s theory that the politics which he witnessed during the 2000’s was a reflection of grudges dating back to college by politicians such as Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton during the baby boom generation was very interesting.  The use of his book in general and the bipartisan success’ in his pre-presidential political career did a good job of continuing the theme of Obama’s optimism for a post partisan nation.

The use of  political scientists to show how far each party has moved from the center provides great insight.

I like how the article shows the four rationale and necessary decisions Obama made which furthered his political career but illustrated that he was not the extreme advocate for change from “politics as usual”, that he made himself out to be.

Continuing Obama’s change from naivety to knowledge, the second part of the novel dives in to Obama’s challenges and unrealistic goals regarding the economy.  I also like how it offered a look in to the decision making process of the stimulus package as well as other decisions.  The term to describe Obama as the facilitator, is further backed up by this decision to cut stimulus spending rather than spending which would be worthless but keep the house happy.

The third part of the article illustrates the decision making process behind the health care bill and response to the bank crisis.  Very interesting/distressing how much public perception, maintaining image and appeasing bureaucrats go in to policy making.

The fourth paragraph shows all of the sacrifices Obama had to make to attempt to stimulate the economy,  including money from his own political campaign and advancing the space program.  This article really reiterates the point that the presidency is filled with damned if you do damned if you don’t situations.  One of the most interesting aspect of the story that I wasn’t aware of is how little speeches and other forms of communication have on a successful presidency.  I guess like Harry Truman said, the president is little more than a glorified PR representative.

liked how the last few pages provided criticism from republicans, as well as from the writer himself.  But in the end, he admired Obama’s ability to seize the opportunity to pass legislation  when he had the chance in the first two years.

This article was very thorough and well written.  The author effectively walked the reader through Obama’s transformation from a naive idealist to an experienced realist.