I went to a Rose Cafe this week where we talked about gender and transportation. I hadn’t really thought about how gender influences the transportation choices you make, but talking about it during the cafe made me realize that it really does. For example, I don’t use Uber/ other ride-sharing apps, and I don’t accept rides from people until I really know them because of safety reasons. It seems like every couple weeks you hear about women getting sexually harassed or assaulted on these ride sharing apps. I am lucky enough that I don’t need to use those services, but there are many women who have to use services like these to get to work, or go grocery shopping for example. That’s why we as a society have to come up with a way to prevent sexual harassment/assault from happening on public transportation. One thing that we talked about was that in India, there are some areas of the train/subway that are reserved for women only. But that is only a band-aid solution, it doesn’t target the root of the problem. The only thing that can is education and progress so that societal norms change. Society is very resistant to change, so more and more people have to speak up and convey that sexual harassment and assault do happen, and that that is not okay. We have already seen that recently with the #MeToo campaign, and also in the film industry. But I do think that these “band-aid” solutions are good until society changes. They allow women to leave their homes and go out and work/ care for their family. This gives them more independence. This independence will lead to demands for equality, which will eventually end up changing societal norms. This independence also gives women the power to leave abusive situations and still be able to provide for themselves. In short, I believe that these “band-aid” solutions allow women to be more independent, which leads to society changing bit by bit. I hope that one way everyone can ride public transportation/ use ride-sharing apps without the fear of sexual harassment/ assault.
Author Archives: Gauri
Your Hometown and the Environment
I went to a Rose Cafe last week where we talked about city planning. Professor Schmidt asked us where we were from and whether we thought that our hometown was a city, suburb, or a rural area and why. I’m from Pittsford, NY, which I would describe as a suburban area. We talked a lot about what defined a suburban area, and the thing that stood out the most was the need to drive everywhere. This is definitely true for Pittsford because Wegmans is about a 15 minute drive from my house, and the mall is about 25 minutes away. This definitely has environmental consequences. Climate change is a huge issue right now, and we need to find a way to stop or slow down climate change. Millions of people driving everywhere is definitely not good for the environment, but there really isn’t a good solution for this problem. Public transportation really isn’t very good where I’m from, but even if it were I don’t know how many people would use it. The reality is that using public transportation can be a huge inconvenience, as I’ve learned from my experiences at Cornell, because you have to plan your schedule according to the bus’s schedule. You also can’t go grocery shopping as easily because it’s hard to carry a lot of bags on the bus. It’s just easier to toss the grocery bags in the trunk, and go shopping whenever you have time. I don’t know how many people are willing to give up their cars, especially in a suburban or rural area where everything is far away. One solution to this problem might be electric cars because they are better for the environment. Of course, they also have their drawbacks because they are pretty expensive right not and there are not as many electric car charging stations as there are gas stations. But, if we can find a way to get around these problems, electric cars could help stop or slow down climate change.
Old is Not Always Gold
Last week I went to a Rose Cafe where we talked about modern primitivism. It was interesting because we also talked about how some people try to avoid modern advances, and go back to how things used to be. For example, the paleo diet is very popular because people believe that that’s how we used to eat long ago, and therefore that must be healthy. I am not super familiar with the paleo diet, so I can’t comment on its health benefits, but we should avoid thinking that things should be healthy/good for you just because we used to do them long ago. For example, people used to carry sweet-smelling salts around because they thought that it would prevent them from getting the plague. We now obviously know that that is not true. On another note, some people also avoid using technology. While it is not good to always be on your phone/computer 24/7, I think that using technology is really good in moderation. You can use to keep in touch with your family/friends, learn new things, and find out what’s happening in the world. Technology helps make the world smaller. For example, you could be in Ithaca practicing your spanish online with someone from a Spanish speaking country. The world is getting more and more interconnected every day, so it’s really important to keep up with all of the new changes.
Housing on Campus
Last week I went to a Rose cafe where we talked about development in Ithaca. I found it really interesting that Cornell doesn’t pay property taxes. I guess that makes sense since Cornell is an educational institution and it benefits all of NYS. I do think that because we don’t pay property taxes, Cornell could stand to lower housing prices a little bit. This year I was lucky enough to get a single in Rose Main, but last year I lived in Founders. It was terrible: we had to keep the windows open all year long because there was no way to turn down the heat, the bathrooms were just awful, and there were bugs everywhere. One of my professors actually lived in Founders when he was an undergrad and he told me that we have the same problems that they did 50 years ago! I understand that Cornell can’t renovate every dorm because that would get really expensive, but I don’t think that those who live in the gothic should have to pay the same price as someone living in Rose Main! This year I am lucky enough to live in a dorm that has AC (in the hallways), no bugs, nicer bathrooms, a dining hall, tv lounge, piano room, elevator, etc. Obviously the main houses are way better than the gothics, and so this is a potential solution to the problems on West Campus.
Online Persona
Last week I went to a seminar where we talked about to to cultivate your online persona. As a premed bio major, I haven’t really had to use websites such as LinkedIn or Handshake because I can find internships/other extracurriculars through other means. Still, I thought that it was really important for me to at least be aware about how I should present myself online, and I’m really glad that I went because I learned a lot! For example, I didn’t know that you could use Twitter/ Facebook professionally. Sometimes in interviews for jobs/internships, employers will ask you questions about relevant topics in your field. You can use Twitter to follow important figures in your field so that you can answer any questions that they might have. Also, I think that social media is a big part of our daily lives, so it makes sense to use it in order to further your career professionally. We hear so many stories of someone posting something terrible on social media and then getting fired because of it, and so it’s really important to make sure that your social media stays professional, at least publicly. This seminar was really useful and I’m really glad that I went!
A Discussion about Students with Disabilities
Last week I went to a Rose Cafe where we talked about disability services at Cornell. I was really surprised to hear that the ADA wasn’t passed until 1990 because it seems like such an important piece of legislation, and I thought that it was passed much earlier. Another thing that we talked about was how during elementary/middle/high school, students with disabilities had their own classrooms and we never really got to interact with them. I remember in high school that students with disabilities even ate lunch at a different time/in a different room! Even though we went to the same high school for 4 years, we never really got to interact much with students with disabilities. I think this needs to be changed. I realize that some students with disabilities may need a specific learning environment to learn best, but I think that everyone would benefit if we all got the opportunity to talk to one another. Even something simple as having the same lunch period would facilitate that. I think that everyone has a unique viewpoint to offer, and that we would all learn something if we all got to share our viewpoints with each other.
Fake News In Science
Last week I went to a Rose Cafe where we talked about fake news. We talked about what it is and why it is so widespread. While we were talking, I realized that “fake news” is not just limited to news organizations, it also exists in science. It is common knowledge that recently many of the papers that have been published either exaggerate their findings/p-values or just straight up make up data. This is a very real problem facing the scientific community with consequences that can affect the general public. For example, there was a paper published a couple decades ago that suggested that there was a link between vaccines and autism. It claimed that vaccines cause autism. Since then, there have been numerous studies and papers published that prove that vaccines do not cause autism. But, the damage has already been done. There are many people who choose not to vaccinate themselves/their children because they believe that vaccines cause autism. We have already seen the rise of diseases like measles that could have easily been prevented by vaccinations, all because of one fraudulent paper. This is why we have to wary of “fake news” both in the scientific community and in general because it can have far-reaching consequences.
Sterotypes
This week I went to a Rose Cafe where we got to talk with Judge Miller. It was really interesting to hear stories about his career as a defense attorney, and now, a judge. One thing that he said that really stood out to me was that he noticed that very few people that he met were all good or all bad–most people were shades of grey. I think that that is very true. Most people’s first reaction when they hear about something good (or bad) that somebody did is to classify that person just based on that one action. Now while is a good idea for truly horrendous actions, I think that we should refrain from making judgements about people just based on one mistake that they made. I took a social psych class last semester, and we learned that the reason that we stereotype or make judgments about people based on limited information is because it’s easier for the brain to predict future behavior based on these judgements. But a lot of the time these stereotypes or judgments turn out to be wrong. That’s why I believe that we should look at the whole picture before forming an opinion about the average person.
A Discussion About Rose House
Last week I went to the very first Rose Cafe where we talked about Rose House in general. We spent most of the time talking about concerns that students have about things like the bathrooms in the gothics. I lived in Founders last year, and I definitely agree that the bathrooms in the Gothics are not the best. We had mysterious bugs, nonfunctional showers, and toilets that did not always flush. Professor Blalock explained to us that since the Gothics are considered historical buildings, it’s hard to get the permits (or the money!) to renovate them. One thing that I really liked about last week’s cafe was that we used PollEverywhere. It’s hard sometimes to criticize things or to suggest improvements in front of a lot of people. PollEverywhere was an anonymous way that we could all share our opinions. If in the future we have more cafes like the one last week, I definitely think that we should use PollEverywhere again.