Last Wednesday, I attended the talk by Keith Lemnios about his company, Sun Coffee Roasters, which is the company that provides coffee to all of the dining halls here on campus. As a person who does not drink coffee, I did not know what to expect from the talk, but I actually found it to be really interesting and informative. What in particular interested me was the business approach the company had. Instead of focusing on the what that their company did (sell coffee), they focused on the why (to help coffee growers). Mr. Lemnios mentioned that people often buy products for the why, and not the what. For instance, many people insist on buying Apple products, even though there are plenty of alternatives. One of the main ways that Apple is different from those other products is that they market themselves as being a company that focuses on producing high quality products, regardless of what those products are. This idea interested me, since I feel like I would buy a product for the mission of the company, rather than just from any company. This is a way for consumers to show support for certain goals by spending money on products that they would have purchased anyway.
Author Archives: Shannon
A Different Farmer’s Market
Last Saturday I finally had the opportunity to go to the Ithaca Farmer’s Market for the very first time. I had always heard good things about the Ithaca Farmer’s Market, so I was very excited to finally have the chance to go. I would certainly recommend going, for it was a great experience. There was lots of amazingly delicious food, as well as beautiful crafts. I also found myself wishing that I had a garden, since there were so many wonderful plants. Overall, it was a Saturday well spent, and I shall certainly return.
Being from upstate New York, I have been to plenty of farmer’s markets before, but I found the Ithaca one to be a bit different from the others that I have attended. The most notable difference was the enclosure. The farmer’s markets that I have been to before have all had their booths set up under temporary tent-like structures (much like the farmer’s market at Cornell). At the Ithaca Farmer’s Market, however, everything was set up in a wooden enclosure that appeared to be built for the purpose of housing the farmer’s market. This was also the first farmer’s market that I have attended where there were vendors selling crafts, in addition to the typical vendors selling food and plants. Maybe I just had never noticed them before, but the only place where I have seen a collection of craft vendors is at a crafts fair. I actually thought that their inclusion was nice, since it added in a bit more of a variety to the types of vendors present. I have always liked attending places like this, and the Ithaca Farmer’s Market was set up in a way that I enjoyed.
A Missed Opportunity
Last Friday, I had the opportunity to watch the film The Professor: Tai Chi’s Journey West. Although I knew very little about Tai Chi before watching the film, I have had a bit of exposure to it. In fall semester of freshman year I had, out of curiosity, decided to sign up for a class on Tai Chi. However, I never really got the chance to participate much before I ended up with a foot infection that caused me to miss out on most of the course. Since then, I have always been curious to know what I could have learned from that class. After watching the film, I can say that my interest in Tai Chi has only increased.
While often lumped together with the other martial arts, Tai Chi is actually quite different. The film revealed how Tai Chi is more of a way of life, than just simply another martial art. It is often used as a form of meditation, and it can have benefits on a person’s health. In addition, the film showed how Tai Chi has a philosophy behind it. Perhaps most interestingly of all was how Tai Chi related to concepts like art or medicine. I found it really fascinating to learn that the Professor would incorporate painting lessons into his class on Tai Chi. It was not exactly a combination that I would have thought of, but it surprisingly seemed to fit really well.
The whole concept of Tai Chi seems really interesting. I really like the fact that it is an all-encompassing way of life. Overall, the film made me more curious to learn Tai Chi, as well as make me regret having missed out in the first place.
A Trip Overseas: Cultural Exchange and the Transatlantic Series
Last Wednesday, I listened to Paul Wilcox speak at the Rose Cafe on the Transatlantic Series. I went into the event questioning why I signed up to listen to a talk about a sporting event when I have zero interest in sports. I was pleasantly surprised that I could relate to the talk, for while it was about sports, it also was about cultural exchange. I find it fascinating to consider the fact that there were groups of American college students in the late 1800s, many of them from Cornell, who were getting on a boat and traveling across the Atlantic. Nowadays, this does not seem as big of a deal, since traveling to England only requires less than a day of flying by plane, but back then this was a major commitment. Traveling across the Atlantic took days, and there still was the return trip. This seems like it was a massive endeavor for a group of college students, just for a track and field meet. This idea of an international sporting event was quite new at the time–not even the Olympics had started yet–and it seems astonishing to me that such an event could be pulled off during this time. The fact that this tradition has been able to remain for so long–as well as the fact that there were those willing to put in the effort to have this event back in the time before airplanes–suggests that the chance to actually experience a different culture was worth the effort.
The Unrealistic Nature of Mad Max
Last Friday, I had the opportunity to watch the film, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. I knew basically nothing about the film before watching it, so I did not really know what to expect. I ended up not really caring much for the movie. I suppose it was just not my type of movie. I found the action scenes to look ridiculous and fake–almost cartoon-like. I also found the plot to be kind of weak. It felt like they had taken some random scenes and tied them together. For instance, after Max was exiled from Bartertown, he ends up among a group of children. Although the story line involving the children was eventually connected back to the story involving Bartertown, it originally looked as if the movie was starting a completely different plot–almost as if it were a second film. I found this transition to be a bit disjointed as a result.
Perhaps the issue that stood out the most to me was the irrationality behind some of the scenes. Yes, I understand that this was a movie, and so being realistic was not a big goal. However I kept thinking about how impossible some of the scenes were. For instance, how did that one child climb up onto the top of the tail of the crashed jet? Also, how did everyone manage to fit into that plane at the end? Plus I doubt that removing one person would have reduced its weight enough to be able to take off. The biggest question that I had was this: Where were they even getting the fuel for that plane? Isn’t this place supposed to be a post-apocalyptic world, where resources are limited? They are constantly shown to be short on water. Bartertown was powered by the methane produced by pigs waste (which, as my friend pointed out to me, would have been a poor use of resources–it would have been much better to just make ethanol from all of the plants needed to keep the pigs fed). It did not appear to me that this world would possess the fuel required to run that plane. Overall, I found this movie to be quite an unrealistic portrayal of a potential post-apocalyptic world.
How to Write a Song
Last Sunday, I attended the performance of the CU Wind Symphony and the Ithaca High School Wind Ensemble at Bailey Hall. This was my first time attending a performance by the CU Wind Symphony, and I was shocked at how good they sounded. I have always liked classical music. I used to play violin back in high school, and I am currently in Cornell Chorale. In addition, this semester I am taking Introduction to Western Music Theory, taught by Professor Spinazzola, who is the conductor for CU Wind. A few days before the concert, our class got a chance to meet David Maslanka, the composer of the majority of the pieces performed at the concert. Mr. Maslanka described to us his composition process, which involves a lot of visualization. He also mentioned that walking can help somebody to think better–a fact that I have also found to be true, as I often walk around when trying to come up with something to write for an essay. I was also surprised to learn that Mr. Maslanka often based his musical themes after the melody in other, older works. For instance, during the lecture, Mr. Maslanka handed out to each of us a copy of “Jesu, meine Freude,” an old chorale, and had us sing it. He mentioned that the melody of the chorale was present in his Symphony No. 8, as well as another piece he wrote, titled “Oh Earth, Oh Stars,” which he played a recording of in class. Although I could clearly hear the melody of “Jesu, meine Freude” in the piece that he played for us, I was surprised to so distinctly hear it again several days later when CU Wind performed his Symphony No. 8. By this point I could no longer remember what “Jesu, meine Freude” sounded like, but as soon as the second movement of Symphony No. 8 began, I immediately realized that I had heard that tune before. I was shocked that Mr. Maslanka would so obviously incorporate a different song into his own. I guess I always figured that original music would not include music from outside sources, but I suppose that there is only so much originality that exists in the world. Music can still be original even if it borrows from other songs, as long as it reworks it into something new. Although I could clearly hear the melody of “Jesu, meine Freude” in Maslanka’s Symphony No. 8, I could also tell that it was not the exact same song.
What People Really Look Like
Last Wednesday I attended an art show showcasing the work of Nicholas Carbonaro. I found the art to be quite fascinating to look at, as it was not exactly what I would call “typical.” Instead of paintings of people that display a type of perfection not usually found in real life–faces that most would consider to be “beautiful”–Carbonaro’s work depicted faces that appeared distorted (I think that most people would prefer to not share any image of themselves that looks like that). However, Carbonaro himself pointed out that usually the images of people that we see on social media, such as selfies, do not accurately display how a person often looks, but instead depict a brief–and often fabricated–moment of perfection. Just from looking at photos of people on social media, one might suspect that most people look “perfect,” but in reality they usually do not.
We usually think of people as being symmetrical–as in, if you were to fold someone in half vertically, their two sides would line up perfectly. However, this is not actually the case. Nobody is 100% symmetrical–not even when it comes down to facial features. Carbonaro showed this in his art by exaggerating these asymmetries in someone’s face (such as having eyes of two different sizes), which caused them to be more noticeable. Nobody would mistake someone in Carbonaro’s art as being symmetrical. Although the people in Carbonaro’s art do not necessarily look like the people in photos on social media, they are, in a way, more accurate depictions of people, as they draw focus on the imperfections that we all possess.
Trump’s Executive Orders: How Do They Affect You?
Last Wednesday, I attended a panel on President Trump’s recent executive orders regarding immigration. I found the panel, and the subsequent question-and-answer session, to be very interesting and informative. Given how much is going on in the world right now, it can be hard to sort through all of the information to find the information that is most relevant to us–that is, the information that has the most direct impact on our lives. Although I personally am unaffected by the recent executive orders, I know that there are many Cornellians that are affected, at least in some way. I felt like that was one of the most beneficial parts of the panel. It provided the information to us from the viewpoint of how it would affect us students.
One of the audience members asked a question about where we should look to learn about how these current events will affect us students–since this is an ongoing issue, it was not possible to give many definitive answers at the panel, and so information updates are necessary. While the news sources that the panelist listed off were not surprising, I was unaware that there is apparently a website that is run by people at Cornell that provides an updated list of all of the relevant information to students. Until learning this, I had believed that the primary way that Cornell was providing information to the students was through the emails sent by President Rawlings, which, while useful, can be fairly vague. I am glad to learn that there is another–an almost certainly more informative–method for students affected by these executive orders to get the information they need.
Are You Against This Political Move, or the Policy that is Motivating It?
Last Wednesday, I attended the Rose Cafe led by Professor Peter Enns, where we discussed recent political events. I found the discussion to be very informative and interesting. One aspect of the conversation that especially interested me was the need for people to separate their opinion on a subject from their belief on whether or not a particular method used to achieve a goal is acceptable. In the discussion, Professor Enns used the example that the Republicans in Congress decided to confirm Betsy DeVos before Jeff Sessions so that he could vote for her. Professor Enns said that he initially felt annoyed about the tactic, believing that it was an unfair practice. However, he realized that if it had been the Democrats who had done a similar tactic in order to stop Betsy DeVos’s confirmation, he would have believed that it was a good idea. This showed that he was not really against the tactic. Instead, he was just against the confirmation.
I really feel like this issue is something we all deal with, and it would be helpful for us all to try to recognize, regardless of our political beliefs. For instance, one personal issue I have with Trump supporters recently is that, although they were strongly against scandalous behavior during the campaign (i.e. Clinton’s emails), they do not seem to care about the scandals already affecting the Trump administration. In fact, they tend to believe that these scandals do not matter. It appears that this may be due to the fact that they support Trump, regardless of what he does. However, by not realizing the hypocrisy of their support–by not realizing that they have fallen into a similar line of thinking as Professor Enns–it makes it harder for others to take them seriously and have actual productive conversations with them.
A Great Movie to Watch Many Times
Last Friday, I watched the film Fight Club. This was actually my first time watching the movie, although from what I saw, I really feel like it is the type of movie that should be watched multiple times. There was so much going on, and I know that I didn’t catch all of it. Plus, there are pieces of the movie early on that hint at the things to come–such as the brief flashes of Tyler’s character before we even met him. To be honest, when I first saw them, I just thought it was some sort of glitch in the film. Now that I realize that it was intentional, I would really like to go back and re-watch that part to find out what was happening when those brief flashes occurred.
I’ll admit that I’m not very good at analyzing anything after just one viewing–I need to see something at least twice–however I could tell that there were many messages that the movie was trying to express. For instance, the idea that we shouldn’t fixate on material goods was addressed: the protagonist initially seemed to be more interested in his Ikea furniture than his own life. What really interested me, though, was the whole twist about who Tyler really was. I felt like it showed that we all have multiple parts to our personality–although obviously it is not usually that extreme. One side of us may want to just do fun activities all of the time, while another part of us acknowledges the need for us to spend time on our classes, so that we can learn. I think that many times these different parts of us can be in conflict with one another (who hasn’t procrastinated on an assignment in order to do something more enjoyable?). We must all eventually learn which parts of us to listen to at what times–particularly if, like the protagonist in Fight Club, there are parts of us that wish to tend toward the extreme.
I could certainly go on about this film–there was a lot in it–but I really feel like I need more information. So, overall, I recommend watching this movie if you haven’t seen it already, and if you have, I recommend watching it again. I am almost certain that you will catch something that you missed last time.