Assignment 1- Isaac

              My name's Isaac, as you've probably now deduced from the title of this post. In terms of goals for this year, I'd like to learn to play an instrument, most likely the bass guitar. I'd also like to continue my success with vegetarianism, a habit I began near the end of the summer- mostly for environmental reasons, but there are other benefits as well- and get a job at some point. In terms of academics I aim to pass both of my AP tests and get a decent score on the SAT.

              The most meaningful piece of my summer vacation has got to be the three-day lobbying trip to D.C. I took with a group of other Jewish youth from around the country (and a couple people from Europe and Israel, too). I had opted to be in the group lobbying for more gun control legislation, a topic whose controversy I recognize but will not shy away from. On the first day there, we only had a couple hours in the city, so we went to the Holocaust museum (a very moving experience) and visited the new Martin Luther King Jr. memorial, which I must say was rather lackluster. The second day we were there we split into our different lobbying groups- along with my own, there was an LGBTQ, climate change, women's rights advocacy, and disaster relief group, along with 8 others that I simply can't remember at the moment. My group then set out to our first appointment with a group called the Brady Campaign. I have difficulty describing what it is exactly they do, but in essence they exist to push legislation that looks as though it will prevent gun violence. This is their website if you'd like to know more: http://www.bradycampaign.org/. After that we went over to the NRA where we had a lovely meeting in which I stumped an NRA lobbyist who is paid upwards of 100,000 dollars a year to answer questions, which felt very good. On the last day we met with two representatives of senators Ayotte of New Hampshire and Manchin of West Virginia respectively. Overall it was an inspiring experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it.


  As for superpowers, I'd either have to go with teleportation or affecting the way other people smell. Teleportation would just be plain awesome, and Odor Modification, which is what I'm calling it now, would be incredibly amusing and a great way to mess with someone.

              Now for what geeks me out- strap in and get comfy, this might take a while. First things first: I love movies. Good movies that immerse you, bad movies that you can laugh at and poke fun of with your friends, I don't care, I love everything about them: Cinematography, special effects, the idea that an actor is really just a writer's guinea pig, the soundtrack, it all just ties together so neatly it seems impossible. I'm also quite a gamer, although I haven't had as much time for that hobby since school started. Two years ago I started reading comics and I'm glad I did, I was really missing out. Right now I really like Matt Fraction and David Aja's new Hawkeye run. In terms of reading in general, I've been a reader since I was little- I tried to read War and Peace in 6th grade, made it to page 322 before I gave up- my favorite book is Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy, and I'm currently enthralled in the Game of Thrones series. I also love TV (not as much as movie) especially Firefly, Community, Parks & Rec and The Simpsons. Other than that I watch a lot of sketch comedy, science, and gaming videos on Youtube.


Enclosed is a picture of the cover of Metal Arms: Glitch in the System, one of my personal foavorite games for the original Xbox. Unfortunately it is almost entirely unknown to the gaming community.

  I have also included a picture of my favorite comic: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour, the final entry in the Scott Pilgrim series.                                                                                                                                                                            

               

Lastly, a link to my favorite website: http://www.cracked.com/. They put out three new articles a day about science life, pop culture, and many other odd things along with the occasional video on similar topics.