Author Archives: Ore Afon

Thinking Outside the Box

Posted on by
Reply

I thought the Becker-Rose Cafe this past Wednesday was very interesting. I could only stay for about half the time, but I’m glad I did because I feel like I learned a lot from what Professor Sloan had to say. Strangely enough, though, the thing that resonated with me the most about what Professor Sloan shared about Galileo wasn’t particularly related to astrology or theology at all. In fact, it had to do with sheer resilience and sticking with something one believes in. Obviously a very intelligent man, Galileo tried something that others hadn’t ever thought to try before: “taking a telescope and looking up,” as the professor put it. By doing so, this 17th-century man made the discovery that the Earth was indeed round and wasn’t the center of the universe after all, thus challenging everything people of his time believed in. This fact that Galileo didn’t let what others thought of him snuff out his beliefs was the thing that stuck out the most to me. He had an idea, he supported it, and he ran with it, which I think is a lesson that can be applied to anyone, especially people at a place like Cornell.

And, for the record, I did learn some pretty cool facts about space that I hadn’t previously known, such as the fact that Venus is never more than 47 degrees away from the sun and that retrograde movement of the planets is just a matter of perspective. I really enjoyed this cafe, and I’m glad I could get a life lesson out of it, too!

An Unconventional Time Capsule

Posted on by
Reply

Going into the Becker-Rose Cafe yesterday, I thought the talk was going to be solely about marine ecosystems and preserving them, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Professor Drew Harvell had a lot more in store. She was also there to tell us about the beautiful glass replicas of various underwater organisms that different artists and biologists alike create. Showing us gorgeous pictures of insanely intricate glass models of jellyfish, octopi, sea anemone, and coral—all with vibrant colors and intense detail—Professor Harvell explained to us that these models, specifically those made centuries ago, reveal the change that has occurred in these animal species over time. In other words, because the glass animals capture the physical structure of these animals almost perfectly, marine biologists today can use them to examine how those animals have evolved into what they are in the present time. In this way, Professor Harvell described these highly-detailed objects as being a sort of time capsule to represent the dynamism of different underwater creatures.

Something I found myself wondering as she said this was: “Why don’t students studying the lives, structures, and functions of these organisms just observe ones that have been preserved over time?” And Dr. Harvell had the perfect answer for this: When a jellyfish, for instance, has been preserved in formaldehyde, the animal’s body turns an unappealing gray color and gains an exceptionally hard feel to it, something that doesn’t accurately represent the organism’s features in the slightest. Knowing this, it makes sense why such beautiful models are used for educative purposes instead.

Finally, as Dr. Harvell was wrapping up her talk, she emphasized that we can’t afford to take our oceans and their inhabitants for granted because we only have one earth and these amazing creatures will have no where to go if their homes are continuously destroyed.

Baby Steps to a Smaller Footprint

Posted on by
1

In the cafe series today, the environmental panel spoke about a very salient issue in our world today: preserving our planet. Even though it’s not a topic that’s always at the forefront of my mind, I realized by listening to what these men had to say tonight that it should be because it’s not like we can just hop over to another planet as soon as this one has been used for all its resources. And yeah, to be completely honest, I thought I was doing my part (or rather enough of my part) by recycling my empty milk jugs at home or tossing my used lunch plates in the compost bin at Trillium, but I’m becoming increasingly aware that that’s not enough. There’s so much more that is slowly destroying this planet than just an overabundance of plastic in landfills. These three professors made that point abundantly clear tonight.

For one, fracking (a word I only just learned the meaning of) is an enormous problem in many places in the world. By shooting fluids deep into the Earth in order to extract fossil fuels, some frackers have succeeded in doing so without some property owners knowledge at all. This surprised me a lot, not only because I was completely unaware that this was a practice actively being carried out, but also because it seems as though acquiring fossil fuels has become a much more competitive process than I thought it was.

On the bright side, though,  the professors enlightened the audience that because Cornell is a “hotbed of environmental activism,” no such thing (and by that, I mean fracking) occurs on our campus or near it.  In addition, the professors revealed that lake source cooling (a process that brings the cold water from the bottom of Cayuga Lake up  to campus to power our air-conditioning units) is the way that Cornell has chosen to keep our dorms cool. Learning both of these things gave me a certain sense of comfort because now I know that it’s not just the “going green” efforts that are being made in dining halls campus-wide that are tackling environmental issues, but rather it’s also things going on behind the scenes that are pushing for environmental reform in our little corner of the Earth. Not that I wasn’t already proud to be a Cornelian, but knowing that, as a school, we’re taking baby steps to leave a smaller footprint on Earth  makes me that much prouder of this awesome school.

What Most People Don’t Know

Posted on by
Reply

At the Becker-Cafe series this week, Jens David Ohlins talked about the concept of war crime, something I had previously known very little about. Even though I had to leave fairly early, there was something that Professor Ohlins said that really caught my attention–and not in a good way. Through the course of a war, the United States apparently has the ability to chalk down the deaths of innocent civilians if they were just “collateral damage” as a part of a military operation. The sad thing about this fact, though, was that for some reason, it wasn’t that surprising to hear that this was the case. The fact that it’s legally okay to kill hundreds of people as long as they’re just “collateral damage” disgusts me, and I wish with all my heart that this wasn’t the way it was.

Flora Rose House: The House of Secrets

Posted on by
Reply

Going on the tour of Flora Rose House this past (rainy) Saturday was quite an experience, especially because I learned so many things about the newest West Campus dorm that I hadn’t previously known. For one, I wasn’t aware that the whole “Secret Society” rumor of Lyon Hall was actually a thing. Professor Blalock informed us (while we were standing in the pouring rain, might I add) that on the very top floor of the Gothic Tower across from McFaddin Hall was the home of the Quill and Dagger Society, a secret club whose actual proceedings no one quite knows. When I’d first heard of the society, I thought it was just a story started to keep students from venturing up to the top floor (which I now know we couldn’t even do if we wanted to), but lo and behold, the society actually exists, and they only recruit students when they’re in their senior year. A goal of mine before I graduate is to, not become a member myself, but just to find out what exactly they do at these super-secret meetings.

The next stop on the tour after that was the War Memorial Room in Lyon, which–as a resident of Lyon Hall–I pass on an almost-daily basis. Inside, was a beautiful mural of angels on the wall, under which was a list of all the Cornellians who had lost their lives in any American war. I thought the concept of the room was absolutely beautiful, and I’m not going to lie, I got a definite sense of patriotism being in there. I wish the room could be open to the public during daytime hours, but it makes sense to keep such an important room locked up from potential vandalism. (Below is a picture I got of the impressive painting.)

IMG_2742

Yet another secret part of Rose that I had no knowledge of prior to Saturday was the underground tunnel that ran between Rose and Becker Houses. Used for food delivery trucks to get foodstuffs from Point A to Point B, the tunnels were a very cool thing to see because I hadn’t even been aware that there were any. Additionally, I thought it was especially funny to learn that Professor Blalock’s apartment was right above the tunnel, which he proved to us by yelling his dog’s name up at the ceiling–to which Pepper replied with his adorable bark a few seconds later.

Following the exploration of the underground maze that is the tunnels, the group ventured back up to the ground floor, where we ate sushi and desserts and drank hot apple cider (which was all absolutely delicious). Overall, despite the rain and cold and general gloominess of the day, this adventure full of secrets was definitely one for the books.

1 in 3

Posted on by
Reply

“1 in 3 American Indian women are raped in their lifetime. And 86% of those rapes are committed by non-Native Americans.” That staggering statistic was one of the first of many unbelievably saddening facts that Eric Cheyfitz, an American Indian Studies professor, gave during his talk on Wednesday. 1 in 3. As in 33%. And the majority of them aren’t even raped by other men on the reservation (not that that would be any justification in any way, shape or form). So, in history, not only have Americans (then European explorers) stolen the land that Indians settled on first and committed mass genocide of these people and insisted on ethnic cleansing to rid the land of Indians and waged war against them and forced them out of their homes, but they also raped their women. Just to name a few.

None of this information was particularly news to me, considering I took a history class every year of grade school, but hearing Professor Cheyfitz inform us that no significant federal action is currently being taken to protect the rights and economic, social, and emotional well-being of Indians even today revolted me. What I kept asking myself was, “How can people see an entire ethnic nation of people within the United States suffering and not feel compelled to do anything about it?” That’s why I was especially glad to hear that Professor Cheyfitz, as a member of the American Indian Program here at Cornell, was making an effort to do his part in giving back to the Indian community in his own little way. Even though Cornell sits on the land of the Cayuga people, something I was completely unaware of until yesterday, administration refuses to recognize this pretty interesting fact at either convocation or commencement, something I found appalling. In response, Professor Cheyfitz told us about the effort that he and his colleagues have been making to turn that all around. I sincerely hope that they succeed in doing so because it’s the least we can do after what Indians here in America have already been through.

Everyone Finds a Place and Everyone Makes a Space

Posted on by
2

As a fitness monitor at Cornell Fitness Centers, I actually had the pleasure of spotting Professor Schwarz almost every week at the Teagle gym, and I can honestly say I’ve never seen a gentleman as old as himself (74, as he often reminded me) bench press as much weight as he regularly did (175 pounds–his own body weight!) Because of our weekly interaction in the weight room, I grew fond of Professor Schwarz and all the new bits of random, but interesting information, he would bring in with him every Tuesday. So as you can imagine, it pleased me a lot to hear that he was going to be the speaker in the Rose/Becker Cafe this past Wednesday.

The talk that he gave about succeeding while in college came at a really good time–for me, at least. He gave the audience several tips that he knew would help us, as college students, make our post-secondary education experience the best one possible. One thing in particular that he mentioned, that I’d actually been trying to figure out whether or not I wanted to pursue, was studying abroad. “Do it,” I remember him saying. “Just do it; it will be one of the best experiences of your life, and you won’t regret it.” Though not many pre-med students actually do study abroad, I’ve had an interest in it since I was still in high school, and hearing Professor Schwarz explain what a good time he had during his time abroad more or less solidified my desire to do so, as well.

Another thing that really stood out to me was his “three R’s: resilience, resourcefulness and resolve.” I felt that there was no other way to list three of the major themes necessary to succeed in school, especially at one like ours. And even though the semester has only just begun, I’ve already felt myself burning out–falling into the “sophomore slump,” I guess–and this particular piece of advice didn’t fall onto deaf ears; in fact, I felt it was just what I needed to remind myself that no, school isn’t easy, but if I put forth the work, give in the time and set my mind to it, it won’t be half as bad as I think.

Additionally, near the end of his talk, Professor Schwarz gave five quick bullet points for us to remember: do something fun everyday, stay physical, take care of yourself emotionally, keep a journal, and laugh a lot. I won’t lie, I thought these points were fairly cliche, but nevertheless, they still encouraged me the way I’m sure he meant them to do. Then, as he was preparing to take questions, he reminded us that “everyone finds a place, and everyone makes a space,” a friendly phrase meaning that all students at Cornell will eventually find where they belong and have a positive influence somewhere in our school. Overall, hearing Professor Schwarz speak was definitely inspirational, and I’m especially glad he recognized me as his “favorite Teagle spotter.”