In this very thought-provoking biopic, I learned about Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple in the 1957 case Loving vs. Virginia. Here’s a few things that struck me about this film: 1957 isn’t that long ago. It’s insane that … Continue reading
Author Archives: Cindy Chen
Halloween!
Last week I attended a table talk discussing the history of Halloween. I think it’s extremely interesting that Halloween is the second biggest commercial holiday (the first being Christmas), but not at all surprising considering the amount of candy and costumes Americans purchased every year. It also made me think about how America (and other countries too I’m sure) commercializes holidays. For example, Christmas is a holiday of religious significance, and while a lot of families still go to church and celebrates Christmas for what it means, there are plenty of other families who partake only in the getting together with family, exchanging gifts, etc part of Christmas. Similarly, in this table talk, we learned that Halloween had religious significance in the past, but now, it’s simply a “spooky” holiday filled with costumes and candy and a lot of fun for both adults and children.
In my opinion, I think it’s pretty cool that America has Halloween, and it definitely gives everyone an excuse to dress up and have fun, but it’s also pretty cool learning about the history behind it with GRF Seema, because that was something I hadn’t considered much before. But also, through the discussion, I feel like Halloween is a holiday that is actually quite unique in America (I don’t think anyone else enjoys it as much as we does!) and though I’m too busy and probably too old for Halloween festivities nowadays, it’s still cool to see everyone’s different costumes last week.
GMOs and public fears
In the table talk, we talked about GMO animals and how that may have more of a place in our lives in the near future now that GMO salmon is officially coming on to the market. I personally don’t eat meat, so I’m not much of a stakeholder in the field of GMO animals, but I can definitely see how this can impact all of us.
The appeal of GMO salmon (and GMO animals in general) is that the animals can be raised fast (they grow faster), and so can be sold cheaper. So, that may mean cheaper/more accessible meat for the public. However, the concerns: some people don’t know if there are any long term side-effects to eating GMO produce, and some worry that it may mess up the livelihood of fish farmers, etc. My own concerns doesn’t really involve either of those–GMO produce can’t possibly be any worse than what we are currently pumping/injecting into our livestock now, and produce farmers, whether it be cattle, fish, or chicken–are usually all employed by one single big corporation anyways–my concern revolves around the environment and how this change can adversely impact it. GMO farming doesn’t make farming livestock any more sustainable, just faster. And faster is not better, it just means more can be produced in less time. GMO farming doesn’t improve the lives of the livestock animals–farmed salmon will still be farmed salmon, living in small, cramped, unclean spaces, but GMO farming would encourage even more of that to happen, because more salmon would be produced. People, motivated by cheap salmon, will buy more salmon (or at least buy the same amount), which doesn’t help the carbon footprint of eating meat at all. In the very end, the big corporations that are creating and distributing these GMO salmons are making a lot of money, but the animals suffer, and the environment suffers. GMO farming can have a lot of potential, but when money is involved, things usually aren’t done in the interests of everyone involved; just in the interest of the person who gets the money. So–maybe it’s a good idea, maybe it’s not–it’s interesting to see where this will take us.
Eco-Anxiety
Prior to the table talk, we were all given an article to read. The article addresses something called ‘eco-anxiety’ — without going to deeply into it, it’s the anxiety associated with global warming and climate change. The article suggested that people should trade “beef for beans” — ie, eating beans instead of eating beef. Apparently, even a simple change like this can help curb the impacts of global warming (and help alleviate eco-anxiety).
Through the table talk, we really went into how asking everyone to eat beans instead of beef is actually not as simple as the article makes it sound. Climate-change is a multi-faceted problem that can’t be solved by that one change (though I think it was mentioned that if we all made that change, we would be able to meet the climate change goals), but even making that one change can prove to be very difficult. The article made it sound incredibly easy, but in reality, changing people’s diets is one related to both culture and socio-economic status. For example, I know in my own family and some aspect of my culture, we show our love for each other through food–so when I first became vegetarian, my family was really confused and wasn’t sure what to make of it. Not to mention, I felt like I was inconveniencing them a lot of the times during family gatherings and dinner. Another problem would be the feasibility of this; in watching another documentary last year, I learned that there were food deserts in America where produce and healthy food isn’t always readily available, so trading beef for beans might be hard in those areas.
Overall, I think the suggestion that people should trade beef for beans is a really good idea and a great sentiment, but there are a lot more things that we have to consider before saying it’s a great idea and that everyone should adopt it, because it’s not always possible (even if the article made it seem really easy). Though I think that if trading beef for beans for yourself helps quell your eco-anxiety, you should definitely do it.
Migration
This was a really great table talk considering the current political climate, and I’m glad GRF Sam was able to facilitate a great discussion and give us some insight through his research!
We first started the discussion on talking about the “far right” movement in Germany, and some of their campaign slogans. I think it’s interesting that the far right is not only appearing domestically in the U.S., but also elsewhere in the world as well. However, I also feel like this isn’t anything new. Throughout history, there’s always been a concept of “us versus them”, and this is no exception. I feel like people often feel like immigrants are always here to “steal their jobs” (not really the case) and the people originally there feel threatened and proceed to discriminate against them.
What I find most sad about all of this is that all humans, regardless of ethnicity, background, etc, share 99.9 percent of all their DNA. I think it’s sad that we can’t all get along and politicians continue to perpetuate the “us vs. them” narrative to garner votes.
Sam (and the other Table Talk participants) mentioned this might be due to other factors, such as race/ethnicity/economy, etc, and I totally agree–but that means that the problem is multi-faceted and there’s no easy fix to it. Whatever we do will likely displease another group of people (for example, raising minimum wage will anger others even though it helps a lot of people), and since it’s usually the rich who call the shots in America (the only people who can appeal to politicians/lobby through money), it kind of seems like a hopeless cause. I think, though, that doing nothing/complacency doesn’t help the cause either. I think it’s really important to speak up and more importantly, educate ourselves and speak up for those who cannot. There’s a lot of power in numbers.
The War on Terror
At this table talk we talked about the War on Terror, its impact, and where to go from here. I think it was an interesting discussion, and I think as to answering the question “where to go from here,” there isn’t that much of a straightforward answer (as with most things in life). I think the U.S. is too deep into this to simply pull all the troops out in one go (I think that would put Afghanistan at risk of being back into Taliban control), but I also think it’s time for the U.S. to withdraw (as Obama had done) instead of trying to get even more deeply entangled in this mess.
I feel like a theme throughout U.S. history is that we try really hard to be involved in things that we “believe in” (fight terrorism, for example, or communism, as in the past), but at the same time, are very hypocritical about these supposed “values.” Something that was discussed in the Table Talk was that the US got involved in Iraq and Afghanistan but not Saudi Arabia. I guess what I’m trying to stay to that point is that I feel like it’s not particularly the U.S.’s job to protect other countries, especially because every time we try, we just make a mess (and spend a ton of money). But it’s the politicians/people with a lot money calling the shots, so it doesn’t particularly matter what people like you or me think.
A point that was said during the table talk was that the War On Terror helped the U.S. economy. Sure, the war generated jobs, but if that same amount of money was invested on education, the ROI would be far higher. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m not really for more engagement in this issue for the U.S., but we certainly can’t just leave (because we started it). Perhaps with some time, though, our “next steps” would become clearer to us.
It was a really interesting table talk and brought to light an issue I haven’t thought about.
Remembering Everything
For this week’s Flora Friday Films, we had watched a Black Mirror episode revolving around a dystopian society where everyone has a ‘grain’–a device inside them that allows them to record everything that they see, hear, and experience. Not only that, but this device also allows them to play everything they experience back to them.
An interesting question Ty posed before we began the movie was “would you guys like to have this device?” For me personally, I suppose it wouldn’t be terrible to have such a technology, but I don’t want it to record every aspect of my life at every moment. What happened in the Black Mirror episode was that the main protagonist got obsessed with playing things back to himself, which led him to finding out about his wife’s ex and past lover, and throughout the episode he was very tormented by his wife’s past. Having this sort of device into existence would definitely facilitate this kind of obsession, I think. Memory is a really powerful thing, and having that device and the power to replay our memories exactly as it was made can be dangerous. With that device, we could potentially play back every embarrassing moment, every regret, every moment in our lives we would rather not have to relive. Even though we don’t want to relive those moments, we would play it back to ourselves, because that’s just how some people are–some people ruminate over small things and get really distressed over it–as we all saw with the protagonist in the episode.
But still, I can see the benefits of having this device. Imagine if we could record lectures and play them back, for example. I definitely wouldn’t mind having a more convenient version of a cellphone camera/recorder. I think one big thing is that I would like to have control over what I record. Not just everything I see, as demonstrated in the episode.