To: jeremy.shearmur@anu.edu.au
Date: November 20, 2012, 2:48 PM
Dear Jeremy,
My name is Wendell Charles NeSmith and I am interested in transferring from Murdoch to ANU to complete my BA in Philosophy in aims to one day receive support for my thesis on love based learning. My entire life has been invested into this project. My entire life has been invested into philosophy and before you try and debunk this fact, let me explain to you the background conditions of me.
I suffer from Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder. I rarely sleep. Even as a child I was a philosopher because I would spend all of my time contemplating the most difficult subjects of all human existence. Each second presented me with an ethical dilemma: what should I do? The one streamed sleepless life became one in books. The clock never resets for me. So I dominate it by investing all of it into meaningful pursuits.
To begin with, from the very beginning this type of life alienated me from everyone else. So I spent my life searching for people who would love someone like me, which are few and far between. But this made me learn what love is or could be. Love is my focus in life and and always has been. How to integrate wisdom into society is what I was called to do, whether or not I end up benefiting from it. There are countless works backing up the words that I speak and I do hope you click some buttons to see who has just emailed you.
I am an online philosophy teacher attempting to revolutionise education by creating a loving learning environment on the Internet that will one day replace our current education systems. My father is a professor in education and I learned very well the errors of his ways through the practical failures that I observed within his own understandings.
I also attempt to revolutionise our mass media by presenting philosophy in an entertaining way. I have just finished a mythology movie about Pygmalion, aka, me. This will be released later this year and is my best and most controversial work. If I calculated correctly, this film will cause a chain reaction for our education and entertainment industries. And I have spent the last six or so years calculating this, for I am working around the Mayan calendar and this first movie will be released the day after the world ends. The movie attempts to romance a young girl into philosophy. You would not believe the miracles that I caught on camera. It is about to change a lot of hearts and the way people feel about philosophy. And I hope it to encourage young people to take philosophy more seriously.
I am an eccentric guy. I have spent the last two years travelling around Australia homeless, living in the wilderness. The last seven months has been living around the mountains of Canberra with my beautiful animal friends. I am poor and everything that I do, I do for free for the future evolution of our human society.
I am obsessed with the ideal of a utopian society. I have studied its theory for my entire life and I have everything that it takes to start a chain reaction that will one day obtain us one. And my works speak for themselves. I am famous for them. But because I deviated from a typical "university" education and instead focused everything on self-development, not for a degree, but for the result of the human that I become, "academics" will not even look at my work. But my work is based upon solid foundations and I am ready for them to argue about any of the subjects that I have released to the public... Public use of reason, go Kant! I am fulfilling your prophesy. You just did not have the Internet to make it happen. I will bring you enlightenment.
I want to transfer from Murdoch to ANU. I have almost completed the degree there but I would prefer to move into ANU for everything. I was not happy with Murdoch and that is why I am in Canberra. My life directed me to the ANU philosophy department for a reason and I am doing my best to jump through all of the loops to help me get my thesis right, for it will be my baby.
I want to be an ANU student and I would like to be directed to the quickest path for me to get help with a thesis on love based learning. I have studied all of my life but will do whatever units that you want me to so that I can be a part of ANU. Ultimately, one day, I would love to be employed by you guys. You can not get more of a philosophy nut than me and having the world's most passionate philosopher on your team who is already famous for his work would be beneficial for both of us.
I want to apply but there is a fee that I am unable to afford. I could afford it on a payment plan or I could just save up and apply for it late and pay the late fee. I am homeless so money like this is money that is taken away from my stomach. But I need to be here. The problem that I see with all of this is I am afraid to fork out the money and then be rejected by you. Philosophy is my life. Please help me make it my life within the ANU structures.
I have spent my lonely life travelling around the world and I came to Australia's heart for ANU. At first I wanted friends but I quickly realised that these departments tend to not possess nor care about love with their employment. But after much consideration I have realised that I should be in this school and I could really use the help to create a solid thesis that will be highly respected by all academic fields. And the thing is, is this thesis has already been completed through many different formats publicly available. But my next step needs to be to create an academic researched based format of this thesis. I am ready to start right now, I want to start right now, but I will jump through all of your hoops to become "the person" that you guys want me to be in order to receive your help for this altruistic life investment.
Please do get back to me as soon as possible. I would love to meet with you and discuss potential future plans. I am really looking for an "in". I love ANU and want it to be my home. Please help me make it my home by helping me open the doors required to do the philosophy that I was built for. I am ready to become ANU's most dedicated philosopher and I have a sleepless life full of conscious seconds to give it all to. And I always shine brightly as the star that I am for all of the world to recognise my origin, which could one day be you. Please help this flower to bloom so that you can display it proudly to the world.
With Heart,
Wendell Charles NeSmith
From: Jeremy Shearmur
Jeremy.Shearmur@anu.edu.au
To: Wendell Charles NeSmith
Cc: Kate Achilles
daniel.nolan@anu.edu.au
Date: November 20, 2012, 4:09 PM
Dear Wendell,
Thanks for your e-mail and all the information about yourself.
At the ANU, issues about admission and transfer are handled externally, and then by our College administrators, rather than by academic staff, so I can't assist you directly. In addition, at ANU there is no BA in Philosophy - the best that one can do is to pursue philosophy within the B.A. degree (or within one or other of our combined degrees).
To submit an undergraduate application to ANU you'd need to apply through the University Admissions Centre: http://www.uac.edu.au/
For information about applying for the Bachelor of Arts, and undertake a major in Philosophy, see: http://studyat.anu.edu.au/programs/3111XBARTS;overview.html
I'm sending a copy of my note to you to one of our administrators, and also to the Deputy Head of our program, who looks after undergraduate issues for us, in case you need to be in touch with either of them.
All good wishes
Jeremy
To: Jeremy Shearmur
Date: November 20, 2012, 8:16 PM
Thanks for your reply Jeremy. I am only interested in a BA in philosophy. So I have enrolled back in Murdoch to finish my degree via correspondence.
When I finish then could a door open for me as a PhD student at ANU? Do I need to finish with an honours?
I am not going to lie. I hate our current university structures. It is all about who you know, how well you follow instructions, and how well you fit in with the herd. I care about virtue. I care about the good life and how to live it. I don't waste my time breaking apart theories without any practical application. I so want to one day be a PhD student at ANU, but I know that I will not fit in with that crowd. And I think that this combined with my rebellion against our current employment of education (without love) would hurt my chances. But I would be happy to be the recluse of the group. I wouldn't bother anyone. I would just do my work and stay to myself.
All of my work is very controversial. This will not change, for my methods are from the god responsible for the death of Pentheus, for this goat drives my spirit. Would the ANU PhD program even consider someone like me? My entire life is the love of wisdom, and this became my primary obsession in life even as far back into childhood as I can remember. And all of it I have been trying to fit myself in to society. Please say that a career for someone like me is possible at ANU. I am who I am. And I have so much to give to society if your doors would open up to me.
I am always personal because I can only live one life. I am unable to act how schools want me to act because my life is all entangled in these subjects. And I am very emotional and this also does not help me in your university's systems. But I am who I am and if systems like yours refuse me then they are the ones responsible for my homelessness. Because philosophy is not my occupation but my life. And if an eccentric genius is excluded for these reasons, then I question the ethics behind the systems. I am not going anywhere and exclusion from my entire life's investments just because I am weird could prove Darwin wrong (or maybe right).
My main fields of expertise are love, education, virtue ethics, mythology, sociology, and collective psychology - just in case this makes a difference. And my whole life is dedicated to these topics.
To: Wendell Charles NeSmith
Date: November 22, 2012, 7:28 AM
Dear Wendell,
Thanks for your note; I hope that your BA goes well.
As for the ANU, you need to bear in mind the *kind* of philosophy that it done here. It - and our graduate students - are typically doing high-powered rather narrowly analytical work, and there is now normally a requirement that people are doing that, if they are to be admitted.
Jeremy
To: Jeremy Shearmur
Date: November 25, 2012, 6:49 PM
Dear Jeremy,
I found a part in society that my soul cares so deeply for that I have given my life to protect and nourish it. I think that teaching is much more receptive when it is administered with love, care, and particularity. I am convinced that actually caring about those you teach can provide the best level of education to our future society.
I want to spend the rest of my life demonstrating how all of these structures could be developed to improve global consciousness about important topics.
My question to ANU is whether they would think about supporting and helping me research and write a really good thesis about making open source education a sustainable model of education with basic level options free to the entire world to obtain a university grade and better education system.
I am demonstrating how it could all work in Divine Tragedy's first film Ivory Heart that will be released at the end of the year. nesmith.net, targeted at children and teens.
This is my life project and I would really appreciate guidance as to how I could obtain educational achievement success throughout my life travels that take me through amazing philosophical journey's.
Wendell
To: Wendell Charles NeSmith
Date: November 25, 2012, 7:43 PM
Dear Wendell,
There are different styles in which philosophy is done, and I'd strongly suggest that you check out the *kind* of work that is currently done by people at the ANU - which I'd describe as for the most part, rather narrowly analytical and technical.
Given the *kind* of thing on which you wish to work, I can't see that applying to the ANU would be likely to be a very fruitful thing to do. As I explained, what is required of our incoming students, is that they undertake work in analytical philosophy; and while if people's interests lie in that area, it is a great setting within which to work, if they don't, then there is very little on offer.
All good wishes
Jeremy
To: Jeremy.Shearmur@anu.edu.au
Date: November 26, 2012, 3:10 AM
I have read the thesis of multiple PhD graduates of yours.
My problem still, is that I wish to do careful analytical research on why this type of learning is much more effective than our traditional learning atmosphere. I plan on learning from many different types of people in test situations that would give us sociological insight.
The "type" of philosophy that I do is the type originally meant for academic learning. I was not asking ANU for assistance with the entire range, but part of, which is assistance to obtain empirical researched based evidence to support or reject my premises.
If ANU would not be a good candidate furthering my future education, then who would after my BA? I am very serious about these topics and will be spending my life on them. And I am in the education system whether or not my methods are traditional.
The next few years of my life is being planned out to make mythological documentary films around the beautiful ACT. People will know if educational institutions reject me and that would reflect the "kind" of philosophy that they do.
Wendell
To: Wendell Charles NeSmith
Date: November 26, 2012, 8:30 AM
Dear Wendell,
The situation at ANU has changed: the old department in the Faculty of Arts has merged with the RSSS department, and the new graduate students working here fit the interests and concerns of the people in the old Research School (as well as a few people working on contemporary French 'continental' philosophy). They are simply not doing the kind of thing that you are wishing to do.
Jeremy