Luke Hopping - Senior Project

Editing

I was hoping to start the Age Gap this week, but I got bogged down in the editing process for 2012. If it takes a quarter as long to edit it as it did to write it, I'll be happy. At some point over Christmas Break (no, I don't mean Thanksgiving, yes, that is how backed up I am) I'll have to go in and make proper in text citations for 2012 because I don't have time now. I'm dreading that. For now it's mostly grammar and syntax I'm concerned with. Also, some recent developments have warranted that I edit the content of some sections. 

Believe me, I want nothing more than to begin the Age Gap. It's a new and interesting topic... and it doesn't take place three years from now. But for the moment, I'm stuck editing and adding here and there to 2012. I figure I should finish this mammoth essay before I move on and get distracted. All and all, another terribly busy week (the Long Island Challenge and Model UN didn't exactly hone my focus on Senior Project), but I hope to get A LOT done over Thanksgiving Break.

2012 Complete(ish)

Not a ton to report this week. College essays and applications dominated most of my writing time. I did, however, at long last finish my 2012 essay. But I'm not too ecstatic about having completed this opus only because it's going to take me the better part of two weeks to correct it all. Also, I'm not entirely sure that I don't want to add just a little bit at the end. In other words, 2012 is done, but it still needs work. Either way, this is a big milestone. After the lengthy correction process is complete, I will then, finally, move onto the long awaited Age Gap essay. More details on the nature of that paper to come next week.

In other news, I got my budget request confirmed which means I'll be reimbursed for the research books I purchased. This is great news, I'm really happy that I was able to get that done so I can further my study into American electoral politics. 

Still Trying to Finish "2012" Before 2012

Okay, so if you said that I'd been working on my 2012 essay for an inordinate amount of time, I couldn't blame you. If you said that I wasn't working on it enough, I'd probably discontinue whatever relationship you - theoretical person - and I have. Yes, I am still working on my essay on the 2012 presidential election. Yes, I hope to finish it before Election Day, 2012 or the Mayan apocalypse thing that's supposed to happen that year. 

But honestly, even though I'm pulling my hair out trying to finish this paper, I've enjoyed writing ever word of it. Even as I close in on forty (yes, forty) pages total, I am still having fun hypothesizing about the next presidential election. Since I last posted, I finished covering Pawlenty, and moved onto Palin, Romney, and Huckabee (the "Big Three"). Of the Big Three, I'm done with everyone except Huckabee. At this point I'm finishing up Huckabee, editing extensively, and working on the mammoth conclusion that is going to need to be tacked onto this thing. 

Without giving too much away from the content and predictions of the essay, I can say that I have entered a very, very long term bet concerning the election. I have chosen the top three most likely people to receive the nomination, and two potential running mates. My list of nominees, in order of likelihood, is as follows.

1) Governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty

2) Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee

3) Former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney 

For running mates, where the order of their likeliness of being chosen doesn't matter, I have Senator John Thune of South Dakota and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas. 

Want to know why? Read my essay. By the time you finish, it should have a day or two to wait until you find out if I'm right.