I've decided the worst part about having a website is this page. It is, quite frankly, fucking impossible to keep it current. So what happens is that every few months I'll look at it and start groaning at how embarassingly juvenile it is. Of course, I don't do anything about it, so when another few months go by it's even worse. After that happens a few times I actually get around to updating it, and the cycle begins anew. So here's the latest version.

I'm Jonathon Rubin. I'm 17. I live in Florida, in a town called Belleair, on the fringes of downtown Clearwater and the northernmost stretches of Largo. That means I'm around 18 miles from St. Petersburg and 35 from Tampa. My parents are rather wealthy--my dad's a doctor--so we live in a nice house and have lots of nice things. I'm spoiled. Oh fuck this, I'm already sick of this page. So I'll just copy in the answers to some questions the college counselor at school asked me.

My academic interests are mainly humanities type classes--English, history, foreign language, drama. I also like philosophy, for all that I'm not taking History of Ideas next year. I guess I'm interested in these things because they come easier to me than math and science; I can figure the answers out intuitively often, and when I can't, it's a string of concepts to remember, not a method of problem solving. I suppose it has something to do with subjects such as English and history being more involved in interpreting than in creating a metaphor. I mean by that that with, say, history, you look at what happened, and try to explain it. This, of course, includes placing it in a certain framework based on one's objectives and society, but falls short of making the whole thing a metaphor for something else. It's answering "why?" Whereas with math, the whole idea is "these numbers are a metaphor for how many objects you're dealing with, and we're using metaphors because it lets us do nifty little operations that are more difficult when one deals with fingers or bushels of grain." So with math and science, it's more involved in the "how?" I'm also making this all up off the top of my head, and if I'd bother to really think about any of it, I'm sure I'd disagree with myself.

Oh, and in answer to the "which classes would you do the work for regardless of the grades?" (which, by the way, I think is a great question)...let's see. That's hard to tell. For the subjects, any of the ones I listed above. For individual classes? The only one would be drama, because while I enjoy the other subjects, we never seem to cover the really compelling stuff in school. So I read about it on my own when I have the chance, things like lit crit. If it wasn't for the grades, I wouldn't do half the petty, mindless essays Doc asks us to churn out. I'd still sit in History, though, if it wasn't for a grade, as long as that meant not having to take tests. Actually, now that I think about it, I'd do that for most any class. If "regardless of the grades" means "you don't get scored on anything" then I'd sit in on all my classes. I can listen to boring lectures and not fall asleep. I'm even better if they're interesting ones.

No really compelling outside circumstances to make my grades dip. I've been really involved with school plays and such this year, that saps away a lot of time. When you get back from rehearsal at 11 at night, you don't really feel like studying for math. I'd say that's more of a personal motivation problem. There was also the France trip, but I got back up to speed pretty quickly with that. And not that it really counts as a reason, but having so few classes after AP exams makes it extremely difficult to care at all about my two remaining academic classes. Which probably isn't a good thing, it being the end of a quarter that included all the reasons I listed for not putting my "all" into school.

The only course I "skipped" in school was French 1. I took it over the summer after 7th grade at Duke, as part of the TIP program. French 1 in 3 weeks, 7 hours day. And I "skipped" to Honors Algebra II last year, since I had an honors recommendation after Alg 1 and chose to take normal geometry my sophomore year and used the honors recommendation to get into Alg II H.

The main way I've changed in highschool is that I'm less of an intellectual snob. I was an unpopular, nerdy kid who seemed smart just because I read a lot and had a bigger vocabulary and got introduced, by books, to ideas sooner. And then I got into computers, which certainly didn't help. So I talked to maybe 2 people, and was a real smartass and suckup. That didn't change till...oh....let's see, probably the first time I went to France with school, second semester of my freshman year. See, the nice thing about the France trip is that it's a small group of kids, and long enough to get to know people. So while you don't make many lasting friendships, you get involved in stuff while out of the States. So I got to hang out with popular sophomores and juniors and I had a fun time. It made me more accepting of people and popular culture in general, and a nicer person. I can't say I have a more exciting social life now than I did when I was 14, but I have a lot less hostility, and at least don't consider going to school hell. That probably has more to do with other people maturing than with me maturing, though.

The other way I've changed is that I've gotten more vocal. When I get pissed off, I let people know. When I don't agree with something, I don't just sit there and take it. Usually this expresses itself in futile, brash rants written to faculty members--ask Mr. Craven about that, he'll know. Students like it, though, and respect me for it. I say things. It might not change anything, but I say stuff.

The activity that means the most to me is writing, something I do so infrequently that it's a constant cause of shame for me. I like communicating ideas. I don't think I'm particularly creative, though, which has been my problem most of the time. I want to write something like, say, a play, and know what I want to deal with, but have trouble coming up with little details like plots. On the other hand, I can write people things like letters and really get through to them. I've made girls cry with my writing. Well, one girl. As I said, I don't write enough.

As for things I actually do partake in on a semi-regular basis, I care a lot about theatre, mainly because this year, with Spacehunter, I've gotten a lead and with it a lot of recognition. Which is nice. Theatre's a fun hobby for me, since I can really feel how lines are supposed to be read, just from reading them. It's probably connected to reading so much in my youth. I've devoted more time to drama in the past two years than to any other extracurricular activity, probably, besides watching movies.

By describing my family, do you mean "describe the members of your family?" or "give a description of the atmosphere of your home life?" Hell, I'll do both. Nothing better to do except read a book for English that's already four days late. I'm an only child. Extended family plays almost no part in my life, since they live all over the place. My grandparents are all in Boca Raton, so we see them maybe four times a year, at best. The others live mostly in California and New York. My mom hasn't had a job since I was born. She spends most of her time escaping the fact that her life is shallow and meaningless. She volunteers in different organizations in an attempt to feel better about herself. She has a housekeeper, but still cleans the house too often and has a near-neurotic obsession with the topic. She's told me to my face that she dislikes me, and only shows interest in my life when she can brag about it to her friends. For example, before Spacehunter did well at districts and I won Best Actor, on the phone she'd say things like "hold on, I've got to tell Jonathon something before he leaves for school. He's in some skit." Afterwards, she hires a man to videotape the next performance so she can show it to her Book Club friends. My father, on the other hand, spends as much time as possible away from both myself and my mother. This includes being somewhat of a workaholic, and spending his time at home sitting outside by himself reading. At night my parents watch TV on different sides of the house. He doesn't really know much about me, but likes me well enough. Of course, my homelife could be a lot worse. I might not have a close family, but I'm cared for and have money and they aren't particularly strict, and are quite happy to see me do things that make me happy. They don't interfere in my life much, and give me all the opportunities I could want. It's just rather lonely, being at home.

My parents would describe me as "a mercenary bastard." Those are my mom's words, not mine. They think I don't appreciate the lifestyle I live; it's more of, I appreciate it and understand that when I go off into the real world, this little bubble's going to burst and I might as well take advantage of it while I can. They'd probably also describe me, if pressed, as a good kid who stays out of trouble. And quiet. Friends would describe me as...hmm. Funny, maybe. A bit geeky. Reliable. Smart. Good, if weird, taste in things like music and books and movies. I was told by someone once that I like to toy with people's minds--she was referring to my sarcasm, I think. Teachers, well, different teachers would describe me in different ways. I'd be somewhat scared to know what someone like Mrs. Reiff or Mr. Clingman think of me. Most teachers like me, though, because I pay attention and get decent grades. They mostly know that I don't try as hard as I should. That I'm responsible, but a procrastinator. That I write well, lots of teachers tell me that.

The summer before freshman year, I went for three weeks to the University of Kansas at Lawrence to take an expository writing class. It was a less in-depth version of AP English Language, basically, and was part of that TIP program too. I spent the remainder of the summer...hmm. How did I spend it? Oh, right. The Kansas thing was at the end of the summer. Before that I went to New York and Atlanta. While I was at home, I read most of the time, talked to friends on line, stuff like that. I was still really really boring then, plus I couldn't drive. Summer after freshman year was seriously boring. As my mom forgot to send in the TIP form before I left for France in March, I couldn't get into the course I'd wanted to take, so I spent the summer at home. We went to California in June, though. A good friend of mine visited for a week then, too. In July, my friend Pete got his license, so we could go hang out more. And I learned more about computer things--Linux, mainly--and made a homepage for myself on the web. It was a pretty wasted summer, but I had some emotional problems to work out dealing with the end of a long relationship. Last summer, I went to the TIP program again, at Duke, and took a philosophy class, which was quite interesting. I went to a big concert a week or two after I got back, in Orlando. It was a punk festival, and the highpoint of the summer. I spent most of the summer just hanging out with friends. Oh, and while the Vans Warped Tour might have been the highpoint of the summer, the most memorable part was the first night of summer vacation. Two friends and I went to the beach at like 10 at night, and just walked into the water. It was altering, in some way. A lesson about appreciating the moments of life, and searching pro-actively for them. As for this summer, I'm going to the Harvard program, which, for the amount of money it costs, better be the amazing experience everyone says it is. And I'm also going to Nebraska, with Spacehunter, to perform at the International Thespian Conference.