Author Archives: aa2473

About aa2473

Sophomore Information Science Major

Reflection on Movie Fire’s Influence on Modern Approaches to Marriage

Posted on by

Days ago, I watched the movie Fire as part of the Flora Rose Film Night. As I’m back at home, this movie got me thinking about the structure of arranged Indian marriages and how they work long-term. In the case of my parents, an arranged Indian marriage has worked really well for them. However, as seen in this movie where two wives are neglected by their husbands, that is not always the case. I think this movie brings to issue a common issue that many societies in India face, where people get married just for the sake of their families, but aren’t truly happy. In the case of my parents, their arranged marriage works well since they did meet many times before their wedding. But many times in arranged marriages in India, the wife and husband don’t get enough time to meet each other which leads to unhappiness of one or the other in the pair. Nowadays in India, there is a lot more transparency about getting to know people before marrying them, but it is still not a common practice. Many people in India still get married because their families force them to, not due to their own will.

This movie was able to bring across this issue to demonstrate the lying and cheating there is in arranged marriages where partners don’t get to know each other well before. I believe that this movie aims to show men or women who are having an arranged marriage without knowing their partner that this type of marriage isn’t easy and perfect just because the horoscopes match up. I think this movie aimed to be a turning point in which Indian men and women realized the challenges they could face with arranged marriages, and prepare them for what their life after marriage could potentially be. I believe the movie additionally conveys the imperfection of arranged marriages not to denounce them, but as a way to alert people who are getting an arranged marriage of the risks involved. I think the target audience of this movie expands not only to men and women considering arranged marriages but also to the parents of the families that force their children to get arranged marriages. This is because if parents of these families are able to see the unhappiness the spouses feel towards each other as well as the cheating and deceit that can occurs through these marriages, then they would be less likely to encourage them. Change occurs once the elders change their opinions, since they pass on these ideas to the rest of the future generations.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged

How Modernity Incorporates Ancient Ideas, Rose Cafe Discussion with Sam Legasse

Posted on by

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Rose Cafe where GRF Sam Legasse spoke about his research involved modern primitives. I thought this discussion was very interesting as we were discussing about how modernity really relies on primitive features/aspects as well. A main example being about how many of the modern museums we have nowadays showcase many primitive artifacts, paintings,etc. This discussion was interesting because we keep on hearing about how the world is becoming more modern in terms of the barriers people are able to surpass in terms of success, technologies being used to solve environmental/medicinal problems, etc. However, this discussion also brought to light how many “primitive” aspects of history are still with us today in terms of museums displaying paintings that convey old views people had about certain race groups.

This got me thinking about how a lot of “primitive”aspects of life that people want to dissociate with are still prevalent today. It is important that we have a balance between “primitive” and “modern” as primitive aspects of life because one is not superior to the other. Instead, both have played concepts have played a huge role in the developing society that we have. This discussion also got me thinking about the negative connotation that people give “primitive” aspects because there is this belief that if something is old, or not used as frequently then it is inferior. However, in reality, there is so much to learn from “primitive” artifacts/technologies, and ways of life as they have dictated the lives that people are able to lead today. This idea really relates to learning from your mistakes/past and using that to guide your future. I’m curious to see the degree to which modernism will keep progressing and eventually reach a point back to its primitive roots making a complete circle.

Into the Streets 2017- Recreating and Re innovating the “Playground Experience”

Posted on by

Last week, I had the opportunity to volunteer at Into the Streets.  This was an interesting experience for me because I never knew that Cornell had a day of service emphasized on giving back to the community. I also had never realized how far the Ithaca community spanned. I volunteered at the Y, and the task of my group was to rearrange the tree logs, stones, and rocks to make a nice playground setting for younger students who come to the outdoor Y for Summer Camp. This was an interesting experience since not only where we doing community service, but we also got to apply our creative skills in thinking about how we could arrange an interesting setup with the tools that we had to engage students. I appreciated that we got to collaborate with each other, brainstorm ideas, list pros and cons of what activities younger students were more likely to partake in etc, instead of just doing work that wasn’t mentally stimulating. I also got to meet diverse people from various grades and majors which was exciting because I feel like I only usually talk to students in my majors as they are taking the same classes as I am. In understanding the reasons people were choosing difference majors and minors, this got me thinking about the different minors that I could potentially do especially since I am enrolling for classes tomorrow.

Before we went to Into the Streets, there were performers who were showcasing their talent at Kennedy Hall. These performers were playing various drums and were very skilled and talented. I appreciated that we got to see the performers because that put everybody in an uplifted mood ready to get out and do service which I believe was the goal of the performers. Through this opportunity, I also realized the many opportunities there exists to volunteer in the community at Ithaca which I had never known before.  Sometimes because there are so many community service organizations at Cornell, it can be hard to see the simple ways that people can volunteer in the community. This one day of service was helpful in allowing me to understand very easily the types places I could do community service at Ithaca later on. Through this experience, I am looking forward to volunteering my time at similar outdoor settings like the Y in the near future.

Rose Cafe with Nicholas Carbonaro

Posted on by

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend Nicholas Carbonaro’s discussion on how we can make the best impressions of ourselves with our style.  I found this talk interesting because it brought to light the simple ways in which people can take care of themselves to present the best versions of themselves. This could be through using certain conditioners for your hair, or wearing certain clothes that display your personality. I found this discussion interesting, because Nicholas described how certain subtleties in your appearance can depict a lot about your personality and can affect jobs, and future opportunities that people have. For example, I didn’t think that the way in which people presented their hairstyles would depict certain characteristics about yourself such as whether you are a risk taker, an introvert, etc.  I also thought it was important how Nicholas said that in order to develop into our “idea professional self” in the future, we have to start preparing for that role in the clothes that we wear, the hairstyles we choose, etc. A lot of times when I imagining the type of “professional” I want to be in the future, I often forget that forming this “persona” of myself is going to be a journey and not a persona that I can immediately acquire over time. This discussion has allowed me to evaluate how I can be the professional that I hope to be in a few years and the steps that I can take to achieve that in evaluating the types of clothes that I wear, how I wear my hear, etc.  Although someone hearing this may think that these terms sound superficial, the way Nicholas was explaining these ideas, it didn’t sound that way.  Thinking about how you present yourself to the world is a big indication of how you take care of yourself which for me personally is difficult to balance in college. However, I’m realizing that to embody the “persona” I want to be in the future, I will have to start working towards that right now.

Additionally, I was interested by how Nicholas formed his career in hair styling, restoration, painting, wax figures and wardrobe. I thought it was interested hearing how he had formed his career based on taking skills he had in design in a unique context by working in Broadway and working with wax figures. I was fascinated by how Nicholas extended the “traditional” boundaries of what design entails to his current career, because typically when I think of designers they of people working with hardware/software, or in the fashion industry. Nicholas has encompassed, fashion, art, hair-styling, as all interdisciplinary topics that depict him as a designer. As I am also interested in pursing a career in design, this discussion got me thinking about how I can encompass a wide variety of my interdisciplinary passions and still be a designer. In my case, I would tie together my interests in environmental science, health, writing, and game theory.  Overall, Nicholas brought to light the importance of changing my daily schedule to accommodate how I want to present myself to the world which was a helpful reminder to me.

Lunch Event with Dining/Building Care Workers

Posted on by

Last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to attend a  lunch event with Dining/Building Care Workers  at Becker House where I got to learn about a lot of the members who work at all the houses on West Campus. This was a very interesting event to attend because I have definitely seen many of the workers around West Campus and in the dining halls but never before knew who they were.

This event was important in facilitating conversation between the workers and students, because it allowed students like myself to see other people that were part of the Cornell community. In addition,  this event was a fun event to honor some of the workers who have dedicated many years to working at the West Campus Community. Understanding the dedicated work that the building staff have been putting in all these years was also very important for students like myself to see because many of the luxuries that we have in West Campus are due to the hard work of the staff.  This event emphasized the gratitude West Campus students should have for the work of the building staff that often goes unnoticed.

This event was also helpful in increasing transparency of what the building workers’ do. In this manner, in the future, if students like myself ever need to communicate suggestions on changes that can be made to the West Campus buildings or dining services, we can do so more comfortably knowing who the staff are. Finally, because of this event, I’ve been able to recognize and talk to some of the building staff when I see them at the dining halls or around West Campus.

 

Fake News Rose Cafe with Professor Dan Schwarz

Posted on by

Last week, I attended the seminar on fake media. I thought this seminar was very interesting because it expanded my thoughts on what exactly fake news was. I had believed that fake news was just news that altered the truth of actual media. However, through this seminar with Professor Dan Schwarz, I learned that fake news can actually expand to any type of information that is slightly altered which includes slightly false information on cover letters, and over exaggerated information in general. The way people commonly perceive fake news is news that alters major truths and facts in politics, however fake news is a term that can explain many common actions of people.

I thought this discussion was interesting because we also discussed about how fake news(in terms of politics) gets attention and spreads. In doing so, we discussed how many times, people who constantly support those who are spreading fake news makes the fake news gain even more importance.  Communication and people emphasize the effect of fake news, which got me thinking about the turning point in which people let their blind support for people promoting fake news overpower their logical reasoning. This topic made me interested in understanding the psychology of how other people can influence one’s thoughts and beliefs about a subject matter to the point where they completely forget their own morals and values.

This discussion also made me evaluate times in my life where I believe I have succumbed to “fake news” in the form of butler lies with regards to availability management, and has allowed me to become more aware of my actions in terms of being completely truthful in endeavors I am pursuing. I also believe that this seminar has opened my eyes to the amount of  “fake news” that surrounds me with regards to people promoting causes they don’t care about, people pretending to be someone they aren’t just for benefits, etc. I didn’t previously understand the depth to which the term “fake news” has and now realize that fake news can be any situation that is presented in a way that deviates from its true intention/purpose, even if the deviation is slight.

Black Mirror- The Extent to which our Faded Memories become a Reality

Posted on by

When I was watching Black Mirror last week, I initially thought how helpful it would be to have the ability to look over your actions, and other people’s actions throughout your life to see if there was something that you missed. Many times, when people get caught up in a particular moments, they lose sight of other events happening around them which results in them not being able to correctly predict what their next moves should be. For example, say that I am going to a business meeting and I am so preoccupied with making sure that I can say everything correctly,that I am not at the moment paying attention to anybody else’s body language or expressions in the room. Later, I can go look back at my presentation and notice the facial expressions and body language my team members are making to see whether or not they actually liked what I had to say in the presentation. I can then go back and use this as a learning experience to change the way I present, or the content of my presentation. However, without this technology, I would rely on my memory of what my workers’ expressions were when I made the presentation, and sometimes this memory can have flaws. This would cause  excess worrying, and my mind possibly making up alternatives to the situation that didn’t really happen.

However, all technology has positives and negatives, and while a major positive of this technology is that it allows us to reflect about our actions and use them as a learning reference, it also prevents us from “living in the moment”. If we were able to relive every moment of our lives, we would never be able to move forward. For example, if bad events happen to us. There may be a temptation for people to keep viewing those bad events, and having thoughts as to what they could have done to prevent a situation. This would lead excessive obsession with the past which isn’t healthy. That’s why it is important for technologies such as this one to have restrictions. This technology could possibly be remodeled so that these stored memories delete after 24 hours similar to the Snapchat model.

Overall, I would not be comfortable having this technology be used mainstream. Although it can be very useful, I feel that everybody will make their selves slightly crazy with over-analyzing all their moves and other people’s moves around them. I think that people must focus to appreciate the past, but always move forward because this type of technology makes it appear that the past is the reality which isn’t true. This technology will be very stressful for people long-term.