Author Archives: Fiona

HAAAH! Self-defense Workshop

Posted on by
2

Last week I attended a self-defense workshop taught by Kathleen Garrity.  Before I went to the event, I had no idea about self-defense.  I just knew it looked cool to be able to defend yourself in any situation especially since I was always taught to run away from conflict.  My brother took karate, but he never taught me anything.

The first lesson learned was about posture and the message conveyed through one’s stance.  Garritty taught that the main reasons why people are targeted for bullying is due to the message your body conveys to others.  For example, Garritty started to hunch over and crossed her arms to express timidness and fear.  What was surprising was that a lot of other people were also doing the same thing, including me.  I quickly got out of that position and took a more opened and more balanced stance.

We were then taught basic martial arts to quickly stun the opponent, using your hand to smack the jaw and your knee to kick the opponent in the stomach.  Then main goal of the combination was to quickly get as far away from the person as possible, not necessarily to go for the kill (haha).  Using your voice was also critical in self-defense as Garrity showed how your voice can both communicate your feelings but also to move your energy through your body.

At first I wasn’t taking these moves seriously.  I felt empowered learning them, but didn’t fully understand how dangerous a situation is when you need to defend yourself.  Garritty then did one-on-one demonstrations on how to get away from someone grabbing you from behind.  I started panicking after the moves she taught the class were not working and tried to squirm my way through to no avail.  It made me realize how important it is to keep a calm composure while trying to defend.

Overall, I am very glad that there was a self-defense workshop.  It makes me consciously think about my posture and the messages my body language conveys to others.  I’m glad to know how important it is to learn the basics of self-defense in order to prepare for any dire situation.

Cornell Dining is moving towards a Healthier Lifestyle!

Posted on by
4

Last week, Paul Muscente and Chef Daniel held a discussion about Cornell Dining and the programs and ideas being implemented.  As the Director of Cornell Dining, Paul is in charge of managing 30 venues that serve 22,000 customers/transactions per day.  That is a lot of food to coordinate.  Currently, Cornell Dining’s main goal is to promote healthier eating.  This can be seen in the changed menu that includes more vegetable and fruit options as well as whole grain foods.  I really liked the idea of infused water with fruits so that people avoid the sugary drinks.   In addition, there have been programs such as 5 Days of 5 where their try to promote eating more vegetables rather than protein.

At first I was against these changes, especially because the dessert bar disappeared for Becker brunches and the dining hall limit how much protein you eat.  But these changes are needed to work towards promoting healthier diets.  I have actually been eating a lot healthier with these changes, especially with their most recent change to move the cookies away from the fruit table in Rose.  I look forward to December 8th where the dining halls will give back to the students healthy and delicious food creations.

Declining Biodiversity in Coral Reefs

Posted on by
1

Last week, Professor Harvel joined the Becker Rose Café Series to discuss about the decline in coral reefs around the world and its impact on biodiversity.  Professor Harvel has been working on the sustainability of coral reefs for quite some time and helped make a documentary on its biodiversity.  What was really interesting is how she utilized glass models from the 1860s to compare its biodiversity to what is currently going on now.  In 1860, the Blaschka brothers were requested to create glass models of sea creatures for students to use to learn.  There was about 570 glasses produced for the marine biology major, but was later forgotten.  Professor Harvel saw the glass collection as a lens to the biodiversity during the 1860s.  She then got the idea of using these glass pieces as a time capsule to help determine the current state of coral reefs compared to the 1860s and see how many species have become extinct.  The time capsule project showed that the marine ecosystem has been rapidly changing due to many factors.  This and other problems arising in marine life has called for multi-national effort to preserve what is left of the coral reefs.

 

The rapid change in technology in relation to the change in environment was a key theme in the documentary.  Technological change has caused long-term damage to the biosphere.  As key stone species are declining, ecosystems are rapidly changing.  But technological change has also helped us discover these environmental changes and find solutions to these problems.  Without technological change, we wouldn’t have been able to discover an ocean virus that threatens many species of coral reefs.  Professor Harvel’s talk was insightful of the how current tech change has spurred major impacts in our environment.  I am looking forward to the glass pieces display in the Johnson soon.

A Heated Debate Over the Ethics of Collateral Damage

Posted on by
Reply

Last week, I attended Professor Ohlin’s talk at the Becker and Rose Café Series.  It was an intense discussion about who is defined as a war criminal, what actions define a war crime, and the current war criminals in the world today.

What I found interesting was the idea of collateral damage.  Killing a target with collateral damage is considered lawful because it always happens.  International law allows collateral damage as long as the number of civilian killed is not disproportioned like blowing up an entire hospital.  The proportion is determined by the importance of the target and the value of the target relative to the lives of many.  This is basically saying “how many citizens are you entitled to kill?”, which is an ethical question that is a grey area in the law.

Another interesting topic is international law that prevents people from hunting down big threats.  For example, many people believe that the President of Syria, Bashar Hafez al-Assad, is a war criminal for attacking his own citizens.  However, international law prevents others from going after Assad as a humanitarian intervention due to international law.  This is also another controversial self-defense law.

I enjoyed listening to Professor Ohlin’s lecture on war crimes and the lively discussion that ensued.  It was certainly thought provoking.

If You Know Your Food, You Should Also Know Your Farmer

Posted on by
Reply

Last week, I attended the Becker Rose Café Series featuring Justine Vanden Heuvel and Mary Jo Dudley and their discussion on the state of New York state agriculture.  I didn’t realize that 25% land in New York is farm land and the state is known for growing apples and grapes.  Another cool fact about NY agriculture is that Walmart is the biggest New York apple buyer!

But the most interesting topic in last week’s discussion was the workforce behind New York’s agriculture.  Majority of New York farm workers are from Mexico and Guatemala, most of which are improperly documented.  It is surprising hear stories about how these people raise their families having an average literary of 6th grade.  Farm workers have a lack of opportunities to interact with the community, and learn more about safety procedures on the farm, English, and even finding out more information about immigration policies.   As I started to realize how little I knew about the workforce behind the state’s agriculture system, I soon learned that there are a lot of people like me.  Research shows that U.S. citizens are unsure of what to do with immigrant farm workers.  Maybe the reason why a lot of people don’t know about this topic is because of the lack of knowledge and experience interacting with farm workers.  Farm work typically has a negative stigma due to the work being physically exhausting and dangerous with low pay.  But people should be encouraged to pursue opportunities in farming because it is more than just physically demanding tasks.

Mistreatment of Native Americans

Posted on by
Reply

Surprisingly, very few people know about the history of the Native American Genocide as the U.S. expanded westward.  Professor Cheyfitz makes a good point about how our U.S. history curriculum currently focuses more on slavery and equality for African Americans rather than the conflict with Native Americans and taking land that is rightfully theirs.  It is humorous to think that the U.S. created the Discovery Doctrine, which gives the “first Christian” who discovers land to lay claim to it.  It completely ignores the fact that Native Americans first discovered the U.S. and the land wasforcefully taken away from these people.

Professor Cheyfitz’s main focus in the cafe series is Native American genocide throughout history.  The U.S. government has mistreated Native Americans ranging from restricting medicine and vaccinations to sticking a needle in a Native American’s mouth while teaching them how to speak English.  Some might say that the current poor economic conditions of Native American reservations are due to U.S. government destruction of Native American culture.  Currently, 1-in-3 Native American women are raped and murder rates are huge on Indian reservations.

The mistreatment of native Americans throughout U.S. History has been ignored by the U.S. government.  Even now, very little money is given from the government to help maintain law and order on the Native American reservations.  However, one way we can reduce ignorance is to spread awareness of these events and the reasons behind these effects.  Reducing ignorance can help support Indian reservations and change the perception of Native American victimization.

 

 

APPLES APPLES APPLES!

Posted on by
1

Yesterday, I got the chance to explore the Cornell Orchards.  It was a nice sunny day, perfect for a tour around the Orchards.  Surprisingly, the Cornell Orchards is not a typical orchard for growing apples to sell on the market, but more of a research facility to cultivate the different varieties of apples that we know and love.  Our tour guide showed us different sections of the orchard that uses different growing techniques to develop each different variety of apples.  The oldest apple tree is over 100 years old and some sections of the orchard were very ancient relics!

The current research that the Orchard does is growing dwarf trees from roots systems.  Research places such as Geneva send saplings to Cornell Orchard to graft onto trees and develop the apple variety.  One of the most modern apple growing techniques is the Tall Spindle Growing System, where they plant the root systems in rows and graft the apples to create dwarf trees.  With special pruning techniques, these trees grow to a certain height and bare more fruit to acre.  This type of system gets more fruit exposed to the sun, allowing for a more flavored and better apple.  The Tall Spindle Growing System is popular but very expensive.

Afterwards, the tour group got to try a new variety of apple called Snapdragon named after its sweet and tangy flavor to market to kids.  Supposedly a lot of thought goes into naming the apple brands.  It was fun to learn more about the history behind Cornell Orchards and how it is consistently supporting research for better and delicious apples!  Fun fact: Cornell apple cider is made from all the different apples grown on the orchard, so one glass of apple cider is not the same as the next!  Looking forward to apple cider soon.

2015-09-18 15.05.38