Understanding Our Food Choices

Attending the Food and Brand Lab talk this week made me cognizant of our little effort humans put into eating, especially when we are tired. It was surprising to learn that in a buffet, the three items first lined up are the three items that people will fill up their plate most with. Additionally, I got an understanding of why the house dinner buffets are set up the way they are. The healthy items such as salad and vegetables appear first so that people fill up their plate with that first and with the protein left for last, they are likely to take less of it since their plate is already full with other items.

I also appreciated some of the tips given for healthier/less eating. It is recommending that junk food remain out of sight and be hidden away in cabinets or drawers. The less convenient it is to access, the better because every step required to access the junk food is a deterrent. Fruits and vegetables should be in the forefront.

A tip for eating less when eating as family for meals is to place all the vegetables and salads on the table and leave the carbs and protein items in the stove so extra effort will be required to get seconds. This way, at the end, if you still want to eat more, you’ll be more likely to just reach for the healthy food on the table than get up and the fatty items for seconds.

Syrian Refugee Crisis and the Space Race

The Syrian Refugee Crisis is a cause close to my heart. It was a pleasure to hear Professor Holly Case talk about the issue and provide so many interesting perspectives on it and also explain the Spaceship Earth world view analogy. A mass relocation brings about controversial politics in play as often times the citizens of the host country can have very strong opposing views. As in Hungary, the prime minister Victor Orban has taken a harsh stance on allowing refugees and works to gain support for his view.

However, other Hungarians such as the Two Tailed Dog political party has been very anti-Orban and has been working against government propaganda satirically. Xenophobia is an unfortunate reality the Syrians refugees have to face and it is especially sad that the hostility is state-sponsored. Interestingly enough, this divide on whether refugees should be allowed can also be seen throughout the various posts on this blog by Rose Scholars themselves.

West Campus Dining Chat with Paul Muscente and Chef Daniel

Paul Muscente and Chef Daniel detailed all the activities and planning that go into maintaining West Campus dining, and overall the Cornell dining system that is consistently ranked in the top for campus dining nationwide. He is in charge of West Campus’ five house dining halls and the kosher dining at 104 West! It is not easy to run a dining system

Due to Cornell’s location, it can take advantage of fresh food nearby by either getting it from nearby farms/plantations or growing its own due to Cornell’s efforts in sustainability. Each dining location is assigned a well renowned chef who are then allowed to create their own menus. This is giving leeway to Chefs that is often not found at other colleges and I as a student can appreciate it because it offers me more variety in food.

I was also happy to hear that if I have dietary restrictions or am unable to find something that I can eat, all I have to do is communicate with the chef and they will work through it with me and provide me with more choices. This is especially useful for people with food allergies or restrictions and I really appreciate Cornell’s attention to this matter.

Under the Sea

As a student enrolled in Oceanography at the moment, this was a great opportunity to learn more about coral reefs and biodiversity. An interesting point in the conversation was when a student challenged Professor Harvell about the massive death of sea stars in west coast as a result of unusual warm water.

A part of me wants to play devil advocate and wonder, species have always been evolving and/or dying out and mother nature seems to go through cycles of major extinctions. We have already gone through 5 of them (previous ones not being human induced), so is a 6 mass extinction really even avoidable? There is actually such a thing as “Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis” which states that disturbance maximizes species diversity by periodically removing competitively dominant species and allowing less competitive species to reestablish themselves. So if this is indeed correct, perhaps species such as starfish need to be “periodically removed” for their growth to stay in check or help other species to thrive. This also leads me to question whether preventing a 6th mass extinction is really even possible. To be clear however, I do not condone the human induced polluting of the ocean and earth overall. I am just wondering if pollution has simply sped up a natural earth cycle?

Now tying this back to the film shown by Harvell, I think her argument for saving marine life is lacking. It seems like her argument is, marine life is pretty so we should save it. I’m sure her interest is deeper but it just came off that way to me. Overall though, interesting film.

Professor Ohlin Explains International Criminal Law

When I read about the Doctor’s Without Borders incident, I was infuriated to see the lack of accountability by the U.S. regarding the situation and the constant stream of very different official stories being told. Once Professor Ohlin explained how International Criminal Law works and the lack of enforcement involved in these cases, I think it just added to my astonishment as how easy it is to avoid accountability if the right players involved don’t want to take action. Countries can let criminals slide through various loopholes, such as the criminal being an current leader of a nation. These loopholes need to be closed and there needs to be clarity whether diplomacy or international criminal law should be priority.

On another note, I appreciated being explained the concept of collateral damage. If there is no collateral damage, then no war can be possible. However, the span of interpretation for collateral damage is also too broad and lets many countries working on its own agendas to get away with excessive damage. The Doctor’s Without Borders case doesn’t even have an official story and currently, there is no news on how important a target the U.S. was going after to justify killing 22 doctors and patients, injuring many others, and destroying the main source of care for thousands of people in the region it was in, in Afghanistan. Not to mention, this only fuels the spite of the Afghan population at Americans and other countries getting involved.

 

Tackling Sexual Assault on Campus

Rose Scholars Meet Elizabeth Garrett and Ryan Lombardi

Rose Scholars Meet Elizabeth Garrett and Ryan Lombardi

Combating sexual assault is the responsibility of more than just the sexual assault victim. We all need to have open discussion about the problems and not shame the victims. It is our responsibility to help the victims come forward with their assault incidences and make them feel comfortable about doing so. Accessibility is a key issue. The question raised is how can we ensure victims have and are aware of the appropriate resources in the event of a sexual assault?

That is where all of our roles come in. We need to be educated about these resources and the high prevalence of sexual assault campus. We need to understand how often we let these incidences slide or belittle the severity of the situation. The stats on sexual assault is astounding and should not be the reality. No one should have to feel violated in the place that is their home while they are receiving an education. Sexual assault is needs to be tackled as a campus community, not by individuals impacted already. It is refreshing to hear the Cornell Student Assembly tackle such an important issue and involve Cornell President, Elizabeth Garrett, and VP of Student and Campus Life, Ryan Lombardi, to also speak on the issue and know it is on their radar.

As a junior, I am too old for his advice?

The one piece of advise that really stood out to me from Dan Schwarz’s session today was interviewing with alumni or any interviewer who hogs the conversation. I have in the past mistaken that to mean that the interviewer must really like me to be opening up so much to me. However, Mr. Schwarz has made me realize that scenarios like that eat away from my limited time to impress the interviewer and I need to focus on how to appropriately claim the conversation back to highlight my own skills.

However, beyond that, I don’t think Dan Schwarz said anything that I did not already feel like I knew how to do. Now this is not to say that his advice wasn’t superb, but rather that it could relate to the fact that he was speaking to a group of college students who are already in the habit of taking charge of their academic and career goals, as opposed to if he were speaking to less intellectually simulated students.

Also, as I happen to be a junior in college already, I felt like I was past the point in life where I could still take into account the advice he gave. Had I heard him speak as a freshmen or even early sophomore, I would have felt like I gained much more from the experience. Nonetheless, it was an absolute honor and privilege to spend time listening to such an accomplished and knowledgeable man.