A place where men go and think really deep thoughts
Sunday, February 24th, 2002 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flwydWhen I was a senior in high school, I decided to major in computer science because, among other things, I figured I probably wouldn't make any money doing philosophy. I was wrong.
Last spring for my class "Senior Seminar: Ethics and Psychology," I wrote a paper about self-control and weakness of will. I felt it was worth submitting to the Rocky Mountain Student Philosophy Conference, to which it was accepted. Heather, the Philosophy Club Vice President Who Actually Does Things was in charge of the undergrad side of the conference and the conference dinner, and decided to try to get funding so that undergrads, already paying for their own transportation to Colorado, wouldn't also have to pay $25 for dinner at The Med. ASSG, a student government body that gives away money for campus events, can't fund food and other personal benefits, but they can pay "speaker fees" to speakers. So, Heather figures, why not give each a $25 speaker fee? A Philosophy Club and ASSG board member, who'd suggested ASSG in the first place, laughs at the small amount of that request -- they pay thousands of dollars for top speakers all the time. They're the Arts and Sciences Student Government at the second most radical college in the country, giving money to intellectuals is what they do. So why not $100? That covers the dinner and $75 of transportation costs. Sounds great.
So, not only do I get to say that I got paid $100 to talk about philosophy for an hour, my transportation costs were 10 minutes of walking, so I get to pocket $75. Well, I get to deal with the Student Organization Financial Office and try to get them to put $100 in my bank account. But I can still say I pocketed the $75.
Everyone liked my talk, too. I don't understand the people who travel long distances to a conference just to read their paper word for word. I can do that from home. I, therefore, wrote an outline, but because I'm akratic, I didn't time myself. The presentation thus degenerated into ramblings a few times, but everyone enjoyed the talk and the fact that I was "explaining it in my own words."
For the intellectually curious, I'll try to upload the rest of the papers I've written. I didn't realize I hadn't uploaded any essays since high school.
Last spring for my class "Senior Seminar: Ethics and Psychology," I wrote a paper about self-control and weakness of will. I felt it was worth submitting to the Rocky Mountain Student Philosophy Conference, to which it was accepted. Heather, the Philosophy Club Vice President Who Actually Does Things was in charge of the undergrad side of the conference and the conference dinner, and decided to try to get funding so that undergrads, already paying for their own transportation to Colorado, wouldn't also have to pay $25 for dinner at The Med. ASSG, a student government body that gives away money for campus events, can't fund food and other personal benefits, but they can pay "speaker fees" to speakers. So, Heather figures, why not give each a $25 speaker fee? A Philosophy Club and ASSG board member, who'd suggested ASSG in the first place, laughs at the small amount of that request -- they pay thousands of dollars for top speakers all the time. They're the Arts and Sciences Student Government at the second most radical college in the country, giving money to intellectuals is what they do. So why not $100? That covers the dinner and $75 of transportation costs. Sounds great.
So, not only do I get to say that I got paid $100 to talk about philosophy for an hour, my transportation costs were 10 minutes of walking, so I get to pocket $75. Well, I get to deal with the Student Organization Financial Office and try to get them to put $100 in my bank account. But I can still say I pocketed the $75.
Everyone liked my talk, too. I don't understand the people who travel long distances to a conference just to read their paper word for word. I can do that from home. I, therefore, wrote an outline, but because I'm akratic, I didn't time myself. The presentation thus degenerated into ramblings a few times, but everyone enjoyed the talk and the fact that I was "explaining it in my own words."
For the intellectually curious, I'll try to upload the rest of the papers I've written. I didn't realize I hadn't uploaded any essays since high school.
