The Great Appalachia

Hi everyone,

It's Zhe. Nice to hear from all of you guys!

Last week, I much enjoyed listening to Margot last week (and watching her son run around). It was great to review the various backgrounds of energy in both America and in the world. This gave a solid foundation on which to delve into future topics and further details. We did a good job getting into aspects of each of the several types of energy sources and various problems, concerns, or controversies around them. Margot brought about some great points that I hadn't thought about like: the already-built grid infrastructure in Texas, large amounts of research into cold fusion, and the question of who's going to pay for transmission lines. I learned a lot last class and enjoyed it.

I have been to West Virginia once before, on a weekend trip during my Stanford in Washington program. During that trip, we were able to hang out at the yearly Apple Butter festival, complete with a parade and various booths down around the main street and park. Going into that trip, I was unsure what to think. I had a vague notion of country and rural aspects. Now, with a clearer preconception of the area, I would definitely recognize the fact that most of the area has small-town characteristics. The community is stronger and the environment is different. It seems that the people will be more self-reliant, due to the lack of large cities or amounts of people. Growing up in these areas, I would guess, would present a different personality and upbringing than my own in suburbs. The consequences of this may different perceptions and viewpoints on national topics and debates. The idealism is one that I would imagine to be different than my own from Stanford and my hometown of Berkeley, CA.