Author Archives: Clarence Boyce

The keys to being a “Master of Love”

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I’ve always viewed love as the sort of thing that can never be mastered and those who say that they have mastered it are simply fools. Surprisingly, the Rose Scholars event I attended Monday has changed my mind. Romantic relationships, in particular, usually feels like nothing but a giant puzzle to me but after some insight by GRFs Antonio and Andrew along with a very interesting article by Emily Smith I realized that there are two keys to successful relationships. Love boils down to kindness and compassion, when both people practice both the relationship could very well be the sort of thing that leads to 70 year marriages. A major point that jumped out to me was the fact that when you enter a relationship you really have to be on the ball, the slightest bit of indifference or disinterest could sour the whole thing. Personally, I’ve always felt that the guys are usually the first to screw up the relationship by being either clueless or saying the wrong thing at the wrong time (not like I’ve ever done anything like that). After hearing some of my fellow scholars’ thoughts on this I found that it is really on a case by case basis. For example, GRF Andrew didn’t screw up his long distance relationship with his now wife, they both put in a ton of effort and it truly paid off. Heck, he is probably the closest thing to a master of love that I’ve ever seen.

 

The event as a whole was extremely fun, especially since Mondays usually suck for me and give me nightmares. The joke that GRF Antonio told about when a guy knows he is in love still has me cracking up, the guy should do stand-up. I also enjoyed meeting and connecting with more Rose Scholars whose thoughts on this particular subject were highly intriguing. Having a discussion in a small group setting was a nice experience and definitely something I’d do again.

 

Each Rose Scholars event teaches me something new and reminds me that I still have a ton to learn about practically every area of life. I can’t wait to attend more great events like this in the future.

Great Coffee

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I know very little about coffee but I do enjoy it greatly. Until this event I never realized just what goes into making a great cup of coffee. The people at gimme!coffee are artist who pride themselves on their coffee and judging from the samples I had they are doing a fantastic job. I did attend the event a bit late so I missed some important facts but the main thing that stuck out to me was the sheer amount joy that radiated from their words. I’m always impressed when someone truly loves what they are doing but these guys did what I thought was impossible and actually made me excited to hear about coffee. My curiosity has been peaked and now I feel the need to know even more about what makes coffee great.

A while ago I went to the gimme! coffee store in Brooklyn (on 5th or 6th street I believe) and I remember thinking that I’ll probably never buy coffee from this shop again. Why? Because I usually drink coffee when I’m in a rush and need to wake up, the coffee these guys make deserves to be enjoyed. I highly recommend stopping by one of their shops when you have some free time and simply enjoy your coffee for once. Then stop by a gas station, pick up another cup of coffee and I guarantee that you’ll realize the difference between good and great coffee.

 

A New Perspective on Love

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I’ve always felt that trying to understand love and its many mysteries is a complete waste of time because it defies reason. Now, after a great event yesterday and hearing all the interesting thoughts of my fellow scholars I learned two major things.

1. Two of the main keys to love are action and responsibility, plus an added dose of accountability for flavor.

2. Love, in all its many forms, is a double-edged sword due to the fact that one must let down all their safeguards (e.g. emotional, physical, spiritual) in order to truly love someone.

My favorite parts of the event were the excerpts from All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks and hearing my fellow scholars thoughts on love. I found that many of the people in my group had very astute observations on love, heck some of them even seemed to know enough to be experts. In the end, love is not as complicated as I thought and it seems that all of us are trying it our own way to navigate its waters.

Fragile Legacy

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I have to laugh at my own lack of knowledge about this school, it seems that everywhere I go there is some interesting something or other that I had no idea even existed. On October 28th, I was quite excited to learn about the Cornell Blaschka collection and boy was I taken by surprise at the level of passion and dedication Ms.Harvell and her team put into these glass wonders. First off, I had no idea the school had such beautiful pieces of art in its possession and I’ll have to check out the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art sometime. Secondly, it boggles my mind how the Blaschka collection could be treated like crap for so long. I understand that underwater filming contributed to its treatment but even if you have no interest in ocean creatures the collection is still  beautiful piece of glasswork. All in all, the most astonishing part of the night was watching the film Fragile Legacy and seeing the resolve that Ms.Harvell and her team have in restoring this beautiful collection. I highly commend all of them for their great work and it is quite nice to see people doing something they love for a living.

Sincerely,

Clarence Boyce

Agricultural Awareness

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For most of my life I haven’t cared about agriculture and the lives of farmers was something that my mind could not even picture. I’ve been a city kid since the day before forever and my grandmother once spoke of working on a farm, she did not enjoy it. Thus my perceptions of agriculture and its wonders were not exactly the best, I’m sure that I’m not the only one but after the Becker-Rose Café this past Wednesday my preconceived notions are slowly beginning to change. First off, I never realized how much food New York state actually produces, thanks to my experiences living in the city I thought that the only thing NY produced was criminals, smelly garbage, and confusing slang . I was also shocked to learn that more than half the kids in the room were just about as clueless as I was about agriculture and farming. I feel that more agricultural awareness should be spread, people work very hard to produce our food and it would be nice to gain some knowledge about the various techniques and methods they use to do it.

I personally will start to think a bit more about those who produce food and learn to respect agriculture as a vital aspect of society. I apologize for the shortness of this post but I must study for a prelim or two.

Sincerely,

Clarence Boyce

Balance

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*Warning!*

To begin, I’d just like to state that I have never blogged in my entire 20 years on this planet. I’ve always thought of blogging as an activity that those who have very interesting lives or are attention hungry engage in. This opinion of mine has begun to change over the past few weeks and I simple ask that anyone who reads my posts remember that I am new to this whole blogging thing. That being said, if I make any errors (large or small) please let me know and I will correct them.

Thanks,

Clarence Boyce

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This evening at a nice little talk by Professor Dan Schwarz I was presented with several views on college life that actually challenged a few of the views I had in the recent past. I’ve just transferred to Cornell and to be honest it was a pain in the behind, the application process was simple but mustering up the grades and getting the recommendations required were not. In order to enter this school I spent a lot of time studying, doing homework, and generally avoiding anything I considered to be a distraction. This included clubs, study groups (I usually work better alone), and sports. When Professor Schwarz mentioned doing something fun everyday my first thought was that he was on to something, since coming to Cornell I’ve actually been able to have fun on a daily basis. Balance is important in all things and it is a critical life skill to cultivate as soon as possible because life will only get busier as time goes on. Also, I liked that he mentioned how students at Cornell seem to be masters of balancing school work and fun. I’ve noticed this myself and it still boggles my mind how the guy down the hall has a full class load, a girlfriend, plays on a sports team, and still manages to look wide awake at 7:30 in the morning while I look like that bum from the Aqualung album cover*. In essence, the most important lesson I received from the talk this evening was that College is a place to hone whatever skills you have and to find a way to create a balance in your life while you have the time to do so.

Alas, I must depart and continue studying for a quiz I have to take in the morning. If you feel so inclined I’d be very interested in hearing about what all of you took away from Professor Schwarz’s talk this evening.

 

 

*Aqualung is an album by the band Jethro Tull, I highly recommend it (especially the title track).*