Historical Preservation and Chicago's Judge of History

It has come to my attention that the University of Chicago plans to demolish a childhood home of Ronald Reagan to build a parking garage. As a kid, my Dad would take the family off the main road, up winding and dirt roads to former Presidents' houses, usually a log cabin with a flagpost and a sign (a la President Buchanan). So that's why I took a little bit more than a cursory glance at the issue. While it makes for a sensational headline that Obama intends to clear Reagan's house out of the way for his own Presidential library, this is absolute fiction. But Reagan's house may be short lived. It just feels a little uncharacteristic that a University like U. Chicago would contemplate tearing down this tasteful looking building, especially since gentrification and adaptive reuse are in vogue. And when the building is gone, perhaps there will be a 4-by-6 inch plaque reading “On this site…”, and maybe a little flower garden. Some would say that the inconsideration given to this century-old building is because Reagan’s politics were incongruent with Chicago machine politics. Although the machine may have had beef with the Gipper, it’s a fact of history that he won the hearts of the majority of voters in states with granola, bookish reputations (I mean this with positive connotations), like Oregon and Vermont (In fact, Minnesota is the only state Reagan did not win). And who in academia is to judge history? After putting disgraced Vice President (and former Maryland Governor) Spiro Agnew’s painting back up on the statehouse wall in 1995, then- Governor Parris Glendening, once a school teacher, stated: "It is not up to us to alter history. This is not an Orwellian future where history can change. We learn from history, warts and all." But in Chicago, there probably is nothing to do with politics; rather, Reagan’s childhood apartment is a low-rise building that can be knocked down with a few swings of the wrecking ball. Profit can be maximized by building a high-rise parking lot. Universities are businesses, too. Throughout my childhood, I watched as my neighborhood university, George Washington University (GWU), buy townhouses and build large buildings. Some townhouses they preserved; others were demolished to make way for premium-rate dormitory towers. In the most recent case, GWU had a hand in the construction of a 12-story commercial office and luxury apartment building. One might call this mission drift, but the University had the interest of students in mind: the Whole Foods in the basement provides students’ kitchens with organic food on days when the farmer’s market across the street is not open. As for the University of Chicago and Reagan, the city government of Chicago is standing on the sidelines, allowing laissez-faire to take the day. Perhaps it’s just my DC bias to find tearing down buildings as unusual. DC is the city where just about every building is defended fiercely by the Preservation Board. Not particularly Reagan’s values. So maybe it’s an expected end for the home of a pro-market advocate. Then again… “You don't know what you got till it's gone They paved paradise to put up a parking lot” Reference: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-04-14/news/1995104008_1_agnew-glendening-portrait

America

The Redskins were slated to win that game. The Carolina Panthers, a team with a 1-5 record in the football season to date, were going to face the Redskins in their last home game before Election Day. The ‘skins had lost the last two games, and were looking to turn this streak around. But anyone who defied the predictions and put their bets on the Panthers won a potload of cash. Online, one Redskins fan vividly recalled the 2004 election-predicting Redskins game that was not: “In 2004…there were bad calls… they took points off the scoreboard…” (This was the first anomaly after 16 correct election calls, the Redskins lost the game, but Bush won a narrow reelection). This victory for the Panthers was one attributed to the god of the elections; the game was fated to reveal who would win the election: when the Redskins lose, the party controlling the White House changes. Based on this predictor, Romney was going to win this one. Other signs included the unemployment rate (no incumbent since FDR has won with a higher unemployment rate than what it was at his first election) and the incumbent’s job approval rating (no incumbent can win with a rating under 50%-- Obama had 49% at the end of October). But, as 99% of us know, Obama pulled it off. In my circle; our America; the student body of the US Merchant Marine Academy, Romney's loss left us young voters with mixed feelings; and deep philospophical questions. Romney performed well in our America-- This is to say the America that consists of the military, of those making (or envision making) $50,000 per year, and a higher-than-average proportion of Caucasians. This America was Romney's America, and seeing how well he was performing in our America, he was confident in his chances for victory- it will now be a minor legend that he had only prepared a victory speech for Election night in Boston. Just a glimpse into my circle is is the kitchen table on the ship where I spent the three months prior to the election: The 26-year-old son of an Army officer from Virginia concerned about Obama’s relation with the military, and of the income tax rate (“They’re milking me and my girlfriend!”). The 28-year-old libertarian who left California for Nevada because of taxes and restrictions on gun ownership (“ There’s no income tax in Nevada—my mortgage now is what I was paying in taxes in California”). The gold-buying, gun owning 60-something from California who is disturbed by the increased activism of the federal government over his lifetime—and by how his state destroyed itself politically (“The problem is the young sheeple, their colleges, and their shoebox apartments—but you give me hope”). The well-read 50-something moderate from Vermont who thinks the Obama agenda is the wrong track for the country. And, speaking in a whisper… the NPR-listening liberal from DC… That’s the Captain they’re referring to. With so many reasons to vote for Romney, how did he lose? Simply put, Pro-Romney America made up a smaller part of America than it thought it had. It was Romney's lack of connection with the reality of changed voter demographics that cannot be understated. Young (white) voters under 30 went for Romney: Forget the preconceived notions of liberal youth: Romney won with young caucasian voters. That's all and well: In a survey of students at the USMMA, where I attend college, At least 80% of students consider themselves white. (White males make up 73% of the student population). But the prevalence of young caucasians at my college is an anachronism: between 35 and 40% of young voters under 30 are Black or Hispanic. Not to forget our Asian-American young voters. Given that the nationwide median age of presidential election voters is 44, it will become statistically unlikely for a presidential candidate in the future to win an election by the strength of the white vote alone. Despite winning 56% of the young white vote (McCain carried 42% of these voters in 2008), Romney won only 38% of the youth vote overall. (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/todays_median_age_voters_grew.html ) The white vote won't win you the winning ticket anymore: Obama is the first president to be elected without the majority of the white vote. He achieved that distiction in 2008, when McCain won 53% of the white vote. It made news fairly soon after this recent election that Romney won 59% of the white vote, and swept 90% of the white vote in Misissippi and Alabama. Many commentators whose articles I read pointed out that whites in "liberal" states were responsible for re-electing our President. But according to a grid from www.dailykos.com, Obama won the "white vote" in just seven New England states and Hawaii. States where Obama won the white vote in 2012: Vermont—66.4% Rhode Island—58.9% Massachusetts—55.9% Maine—54.8% Hawaii—53.5% New York—51.9% Connecticut—51.8% New Hampshire—51.3% It's no secret that Romney banked on high voter turnout among whites for his re-election. Indeed, Romney fared as well among white voters as George H.W. Bush did in 1988 when he swept 40 states. The simple truth is that voter demographics have changed, and banking on the white vote for victory is not a solution anymore in a good number of states. Take into account the states Obama won in 2012 with low support among white voters: Virginia-- 34.4% Florida-- 37.4% Nevada-- 37.8% Ohio-- 41.8% New Mexico-- 42.2% (If Romney had won these states, he would be the 45th President of the USA). There is a small tidbit of good news: we don't really live in a Red State vs Blue State America. The divisions are not as stark as the state line: Red Americans live among Blue Americans. They may be neighbors. But the circles we affiliate ourselves with, or are put into, may define our view of what is happening around us. As much as my circle put our belief in the "Big Mo'" Romney was riding after his October 3rd primary; another circle, say, liberal-arts college students, saw an Obama win as inevitable. The results, however, draw into question how integrated our society actually is. If America is really post-racial, how does the vote split so cleanly on ethnic lines, including among young voters? They (mainstream media and intellectia) talk about "multicultural America". How young people of my generation, of different ethnicities, interact seemlessly with each other. Says David Burgos for the industry magazine Ad Age, "Kids and young adults, for example, are more open to diversity in advertising because their world is already majority-minority". This talk of a "multicultural America", a diverse (and politically liberal) Obama-era America, is manifested in local listings of "most diverse elementary schools", parents going out of their way to ensure their children grow up in multicultural environments, and in the diverse crowds at Obama rallies that you see on TV. Perhaps, the mainstream media and intellectia shares the slim worldview that my cicle had. As seen by how the vote split, their view of America is not as wide as it ought to be. "Multicultural America", where racial tension of any degree no longer exists, is relegated to just parts of the country-- frankly, the Northeast. Elsewhere, votes were cast along racial lines. And as the election results turned out, my circle of America, consisting of those who benefit, or think to benefit, from a Romney presidency was not quite as large and encompassing as we had envisioned it to be. With the customability and subjectivity of news sources, credible and not, it became easy this election cycle to hear and see the news you wanted to hear. The danger, of course, is that the world view of members of each camp will devolve further from reality and objectivity. That is if there is nothing to ground a person in the reality of multiple ways of thinking about the world. And what about the young adults today? Between liberal-leaning and conservative-leaning youth how dissimilar are our growing-up experiences and our youth? And what does it take to reconcile these differences? *( http://adage.com/article/the-big-tent/role-whites-a-multicultural-america/229483/)

Pick and Choose

I started writing this blog post in Korea. Since then, I've sailed out to Saipan. And I've gone for two weeks or so without most of the internet, though I've been able to access wikipedia aboard the ship (and spent quite a few hours on that informative website). I have not been around blogging much, but I've been thinking about politics at home. Here are some of my picks and explainations for those choices in the upcoming election in DC. Charter Amendments Expulsion by council on 5/6 vote (or 11 of 13 members) for gross misconduct. I voted Against, since “gross misconduct” does not appear to be defined, at least as presented in the proposed amendment. Although unlikely today, 20 years ago, it might have been a possibility that such an amendment would be used to expel members who “didn’t fit in” with the group. On barring councilmembers convicted of a felony while in office from holding that position again. On barring Mayors convicted of a felony while in office from holding that position again. I am For these amendments. Talk about crooks in government, DC has had its share over the years. Passing such an amendment could make it easier for minor party or independent candidates to take office. Some of the larger names in DC politics have had their share of legal troubles, to mention the least, Marion Barry (he might have been charged with a misdemeanor only, though). Chairman of the Council Phil Mendelson, Democrat He is competent in his current job as chairman of the DC council. While much of the city's political power lies east of downtown, he fares from the Northwest part of the city (where I live). He was elected from within the council to fill in for Kwame Brown, who resigned over the all-too-common-in-DC ethics scandal. At-large Councilmember Mary Brooks Beatty, Republican Her major opponent in this election is Vincent Orange, who has been on and off the DC political scene for at least the past decade. Orange most recently ran in an April 2011 open-ticket special election to fill a vacancy in the city council left by the newly-elected mayor. His major opponents, resulting in a 3-way split of the vote, were Patrick Mara, Republican, and Sekou Biddle, the placeholder and a Democratic candidate. Mara lost by about 1,200 votes (4%) and attributed it to Biddle competing for the same demographic of voters. But Orange was not a shoe-in. He had lost his past three campaigns in the city, but I recall him being quoted in a newspaper saying (this is not verbatim): “I was discouraged, but God told me to run again”. Given Orange’s recent indecisive victory, without a strong third name on the ballot, Beatty might stand a chance in a city where only 2 or 3 Republicans have won elections in the past 40 years. Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, Democrat Without him on the DC Council, the City might have looked as bleak and blighted as it did 20 years ago, when he was first elected to this position. Since then, he has raised a family with three children in Georgetown; sadly, he lost his wife to cancer, and then remarried to have a large stepfamily. He has been reported by newspapers such as the DC Examiner and the City Paper as being the most fiscally conservative member of the DC council, and being very enthusiastic about new development projects, including getting a stadium built in the Chinatown area. His district includes downtown DC, and he seems to be a good match for this special duty. He also happens to go to the same barbershop as I do, and works at Patton Boggs, a legal firm just across the avenue from my place. US Senate (Shadow Seat) Nelson Rimensnyder, Republican His view on things? No taxes. That’s right, no federal taxes on DC residents until we get two voting senators and a voting representative. He is running against the incumbent Michael Brown, Democrat. While on an insiders’ tour of the Capitol, my classmates and I got to see what DC’s shadow senators do: When in the Senate chamber, they sit in chairs alongside the wall (without desks), and make comments when welcomed to. It happens that the Rimensnyder family was present at the Congresswoman’s Service Academy Send-off this past June; they have a child attending a Service Academy in the Class of 2016 (didn’t hear which Academy). US Representative G Lee Aikin, Statehood Green Party She hits out some clear points on what she would improve with the DC tax code. From the Washington Post: "My son, District-born, now in special forces, said it best: 'Mom, you have two important things. You are honest and you care." (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/elections/2012/dc/city-councilor/2368/g-aikin/) State Board of Education At Large Mary Lord Should research more. Ward 2 Jack Jacobson He has no opponent on the ticket.

Chicken Politics

From the Seattle Coffeehouse in Gwangyang, Republic of Korea: If I ask a Southerner at the USMMA about Chick-fil-A, he or she will often rave about the crispy chicken sandwich the restaurant serves up. If I ask someone from the Northeast, a blank stare is likely, the same way that you'll catch me with if you ask me about Jack-in-the-Box (never been there). The chicken establishment's sole presence in DC is a new food truck and a limited selection at the Catholic University's food court. To get a Metro-rail accessible chicken fix, take the orange line to Ballston Commons Mall, or the blue line to Crystal City; both across the Potomac River in Arlington County, VA. Based on what I've seen in the news and on comments forums on those news articles, I'm not expecting a Chick-fil-A in DC anytime soon. To date, there has been a correlation between conservative-controlled districts and the existence of Chick-fil-A. Especially in the DC area. For example, in Maryland, its presence is minimal in DC's suburbs; yet there is one every few miles along I-95 in the Northeast part of the state; and there's a whole line of 'em down State Route 2. Easier to see, take a map, paint red each county with a conservative-controlled government (conserva-Dems included), add the state's two Republican congressmen, and locate the Chick-fil-A's. It'd be a peculiar business strategy if the company intentionally expanded this way, but Chick-fil-A is now breaking new ground up north, but not without resistance by elected officials. In Boston, according the the DC Examiner, Mayor Thomas Manino had tried to block Chick-fil-A from opening shop, but had no legal ground. In Chicago, the mayor raised a storm as well. Says Mayor Rahm Emanuel: "Chick fil A's values are not Chicago values". I wonder what the Chamber of Commerces of Boston and Chicago think. And the same news from DC's mayorial bullpen: "Gray, a Democrat, referred to the company's product as "hate chicken" in a tweet on Friday. His statement... followed similar statements by mayors in Boston, Chicago and San Francisco that the company was not welcome" (AP). (Don't make me feel bad, Vincent). But, from the DC Examiner, "Robert Turner, president of D.C. Log Cabin Republicans, provided his thoughts on the matter to Yeas & Nays. He sees no issue with enjoying a spicy chicken sandwich and also supporting the right of two men or women to walk down the aisle together. "No problem at all," he said. "At the end of the day, if one looks deeply at the companies one patronizes -- eating at Chick-fil-A, shopping on Amazon, ordering a Coke with your meal -- you'll find a multitude of issues where you and that company disagree." http://washingtonexaminer.com/d.c.-log-cabin-republicans-dont-mind-eating-at-chick-fil-a/article/2502621 And in New York City, Chick-fil-A is noticeably absent, except for a small presence in the NYU cafeteria. I wouldn't expect a branch to open in the East Village, but a Chick-fil-A would blend into one of Great Neck's storefronts. And the Subway sub shop would see some competition for midshipmens' dollars.

See you later!

Tomorrow, starting at 6am, I'm headed off to Korea to start "sea year". Actually, it will be a continuation, since I had some experience on a reserve fleet ship in Baltimore-- experience in things like what clothes to bing to work, and why dinner is served at 4pm when the ship is in port (so the cook works a normal 7am to 4pm shift). My relation with a prepositioned ship in Korea-- South Korea-- started as a suggestion about 1 week ago, and the plans were finalized on Friday. Flight to Detroit from JFK, then JFK to Seoul. Found that there is a direct rail link between the two airports in Seoul I will be shuffling between-- Incheon and Gimpo. From Gimpo, I'm headed to Yeosu. It's a 45 minute flight, and the town is 2 hours by bus from the larger port city of Busan (where many a Kings Pointers made memories). I'm sure I entertained and inspired some of the new plebes with the news of where I'm going-- 365 days from now, you can be going to Asia, too! Just don't fail out, don't quit, either. And dear CTO or his petty officer of company (x), could you muster the plebes somewhere other than main deck-- where I want to roll my rolling chair loaded with suitcases and bags from my room to the elevator to the locker room on zero-deck? Put all my belongings in bags-- those which I will be picking up in November when I get back to the Academy are placed in a locker room on zero-deck; and the items I need for sea, into two suitcases or a backpack. A little foresight is needed, since it's going to be October or November when I return. Some items go to my brother. Registered for the November 6 election, changed my computer password, and called the cab. I will be travelling and working with a classmate, whom I will get to know better. And, if things go as expected, we'll have sea stories and you'll have blog posts to read (pending on the availability of internet on the ship-- there's got to be!)

How much does it cost to be a Midshipman?

My Dad would say that life in the Navy for a young single man was this: you could get your paycheck, blow it in town, and come back broke to a roof over your head, and four meals per day. (Taco Bell did not invent the fourth , nighttime, meal-- the Navy did). I never agreed that this blog was purely polite dinner conversation, so I decided to discover if this held true for midshipmen at the USMMA. Mids and Cadets at the other four service academies start receiving a stipend on day 0. In fact, all Midshipmen at the USNA are paid the same rate- it's just that the seniors have a lot fewer deductions than the fourth class. At the USMMA, a real neat and motivational promotional video ( ) notes that you receive pay while at sea. In fact, it's quoted by the first class that the stipend received from sea year minus midshipmen fees paid each trimester add to a positive sum for you. (I'm waiting for my check to arrive from my week on a ship in Baltimore, but I trust it will). That figure assumes that you won't spend all of your cash in Bangkok. So what must you do to live off your stipend? Limit snacking-- comissary food (free meals) is to be consumed only at designated mealtimes, in the dining hall, or a box meal if on a team trip, on watch, or while in the infirmary. Having commissary food or utensils in your room will make you eligible for Extra Duty hours. 6 hours of work is a lot to pay for that banana. Have a restricted social life-- I'd say that there are likeminded midshipmen who would enjoy on-campus, free, activities while their classmates splurge in the city-- but I fear that you're one of few! That was also a pun. Midshipmen on restriction go weeks without going out on the town-- but I'd recommend you not put yourself on restriction to make for fiscal discipline. Videogames are a good investment. $60 will buy you weekends worth of entertainment, and, if it's the right game, you'll have plenty of friends to play with. World of Warcraft, Modern Warfare, and Halo are popular. You could also take a knack for reading or aimless cruising of the internet, but be ready for nicknames. Use the "free" laundry service-- no, it's not free, but you paid for it in your midshipmen fees. Drop off one day, pick up the next, except for Sundays. Just be sure you have a pair of PT clothes for the day your laundry's gone. Resist the temptation to buy things you don't need- you'll be tossing a lot of it before going to sea, anyway. Your entire room just won't fit into two suitcases. Yes, I've bought things I regret paying for, but my case is very mild: I've heard of a classmate buying an "unneeded" I-phone. Be athletic- or rather, "sportif", a word borrowed from the French. Sticking to a workout routine, taking extended jogs on weekends, or having an affinity for shooting hoops will take up some idle time that you might otherwise be spending cash during. Also, you might feel enough self-esteem that you have no need to prove yourself as a party-hardy. No one insisted that my next door neighbor stay out past midnight-- after all, he was the star swimmer. Eat meals on campus-- resist the urge to order out. $10 saved by having a meal at the commissary rather than ordering, once per week, adds up to some change. It's okay to "be full" when your pals order over the phone. Got to go to dinner at the chow hall before it closes.

A bit technical, a bit nostalgic: 4th Class No More.

Now where did I leave off? Just a quick summary-- I felt that this most recent trimester was the most rigorous of the three. No easy B+'s- the grade needed to score an Academic Star . My GPA this trimester was weighed around B. As a mentor suggested last trimester, I had built up enough of a lead earlier in the year that I could still maintain a Star status for the year overall. I knew of In a brief personal journal entry, I noted this past exam week as "The Crucible", since it would determine if I had a choice of engineering majors (The cutoff for two programs is near 2.8, a B- average). So no big blog post that week. 24 hours after completing my last exam, I was on a Reserve Fleet ship, the SS Wright, in Baltimore MD. Aboard the ship, us USMMA students entertained the staff and leaders of the Maritime Administration from just an hour south in DC; represented the future of American maritime potential aboard the museum ship NS Savannah (and became one of few midshipmen to work aboard a (formerly) nuclear vessel); represented the Academy during Fleet Week in the city (Navy mids and Coast Guard cadets were present as well); and finally, worked on modular refrigerator units that were being placed onto the ship. And we spent some time after work in the evenings cruising the city in plainclothes. On that note, it was to benefit that one upperclassman had brought his car to the ship. My older Academymates enjoyed $1 specials on National Bohemian (Natty Boh)-- but not the driver, mind us; we enjoyed baseball on the big screen at Candie Maries (at Fleet and Milton), and I enjoyed playing some ping-pong. We didn't know how much fun and enjoyable-- and economical-- an American port could be. We expressed some shipboard courtesy- Catch the crew after the meal if you have a question about work. And some courtesy among our own: Do not discuss the Regiment outside of campus-- that includes casual remarks about our promotion on June 19 (after 2012's graduation) to midshipmen-one-class-higher. Indeed, talking about "class rate" is viewed taboo like talking about social class in America. (It seems to me, though, that Band Company is just slightly different. Class rate is paid attention to with detail over there- The Regiment, which includes Class rate, seems to be a big pride in that Company than in the other companies). While at sea, we have the same title- Cadet. We often work side by side. So class rate just is a tad less relevant while at sea--- although, I must note, sea experience does count. Onboard the SS Wright, there were us newbies-- landlubbers, perhaps, with single digit count of days at sea. Our driver was a year higher than us, and had over 200 days at sea- on ships that left port! The rising senior on board had somewhere near 300 days. And that term "Rising firstie/ second/ third class" was a new creation by us, since we had to recognize that the incoming fourth class (Class of 2016) haven't been to sea yet; and that our shoulder boards needed to be restriped. The person in charge, the port engineer, is a 1975 Academy grad, and never heard that term used before. Always room for something new. The taboo of "class rate" is drawn to the spotlight: As a practical matter, I left campus dressed down slightly. I had dry cleaned my official liberty attire- summer whites- and put it away in my suitcase so that it would be fresh for when I needed to entertain official visitors from the Maritime Administration onboard my ship. Others left in civilian clothes for personal reasons, such as to mark the end of fourth class year. Apparently, according to the new commandant, this is a second class privilege that had slid to the third class over time. It's true. I checked the thick book of midshipmen regulations (over 200 pages). But why did second and third class priveleges merged over time? The oldest regulations were written when midshipmen spent nearly all of third class year at sea. This has changed since the 1960's, where two "splits" in each of 2nd and 3rd class year alternate semesters (now trimesters) at sea. But what happened is that A split spends 2 trimesters as third class, B split spends 2 trimesters ans second class. (Part of the reason for this was to better Kings Point winter athletics- B split students spend all 4 winters at the Academy-- the other component was to keep students from the "drudgery" of 6 straight trimesters). So is it really fair for half the class to have better culmulative priveleges than the other half? The other large change is a revamping of liberty policy. The new first class had already gotten creative with 4th class liberty. Noting that most disciplinary problems on liberty occured after dark on Saturday nights, liberty was granted all weekend, as typical for upperclassmen, with the exception of 9pm to 9am on Saturday night. The most adventurous 4th class would have to hang tight until after midnight bed check before heading back out to the City. Previously, we had rotated between weeks of liberty from 2pm until midnight and weeks of no liberty because someone "messed up" the previous weekend. The new strategy (which I had actually suggested months before as a way to raise plebe morale for those who had no intention to participate in nightlife) worked. It worked so well that it came into use for the third class, to combat their own occassional rowdiness on the 3:19am train. (But we were not the most rowdy, though, as the New York Post never mentioned us in why the Long Island Railroad increased police presence on that train. This was a culture change for the third class, who were accustomed to overnight liberty evey weekend. But the 3:19am train would also literally become a thing of memory only. Effective the weekend before Memorial Day, the 3:19am, train was now the 3:04am train. It had been the 3:19am train long enough that recent graduates talk about the memories from that train. Perhaps the change in departure time, it is rumored, was to break us up into two groups- those who came back to Penn Station early, and those who tried to cut it close. Perhaps it was to drive some nightlifers back into town for another hour of cash spending. The Commandant reports that liberty policy will indeed change. Overnight liberty will be granted on a pass system (a system which had existed before the familiar system, which he calls a "free-for-all"). Fourth class will have the fewest (That would be, according to the old rule book, 3 for the second and third trimester, including holiday weekends). Currently, first class are entitled to seven- about one for every other weekend. Policy regarding extra liberty passes for high GPA's will be formalized. While our first go-to guy to take these weekends was the Class of 2012's valedictorian, who certainly enjoyed the privelege as a plebe, his successor doubted that the program actually existed-- doubting that talk on the parent's page reflected reality. For my roommate one recent weekend, this doubt was overruled by the Commissioned Officer on the basis that mothers are right!