Author Archives: krr75

A Marvelous Massage

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Last Saturday, I got a wonderful 10-minute massage at Rose. I was debating whether or not to get the massage because Saturday was an extremely busy day for me. The club that I am the president of was hosting its largest event of the semester and I was back on campus briefly between two shopping trips at the time of my massage. I planned out my time and realized that I could probably make the massage and decided to go – a decision that I didn’t regret.

When I first sat down for the massage, I tried to relax but my mind was racing – I was going over plans for the evening and reviewing all the tasks that needed to be done. But I soon scolded myself and tried to relax. I tried to stop thinking and just focused on the movements of my masseuse. She spend a lot of time massaging my back and neck area but also focused a lot of effort on areas that I didn’t realize she would massage, like my shoulders and arms. This surprised me because I don’t usually think about the fact that stress effects all parts of my body – not just the most obvious ones like my back.

The overall experience reminded me to make time to focus on my own health and well-being by making time to relax. On the day of a prelim or a big event, like this day, I usually wouldn’t take time for myself. I would study in every moment that I had or try to plan out every detail I could. But this massage reminded me that making time for myself can be as simple as a 10-minute break and easy enough to do on even the most stressful of days. Last semester, I took a PE class about stress management and relaxation. I left the class promising to make time everyday for some sort of relaxing or pleasurable activity, whether it be reading for pleasure or starting the day with meditation. It was easy enough to fall out of that habit but I have a renewed interest in pursuing it again. As finals roll around, I want to take time each day to destress and I hope you do too.

Hydroponics at Cornell

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Last week’s Rose Cafe was on hydroponics and specifically detailed hydroponic production in the greenhouses at Cornell. I went into this cafe with no knowledge of hydroponics and very little about agriculture as a whole. I thought that it was extremely interesting to learn about the alternative ways people cultivate plants beyond simply planting them in soil. We learned about the different techniques in hydroponics, such as deep water culture, and the amounts of water, nutrients, air and the general setup that differentiates each. The use of hydroponics is also specifically promising because it can bypass some of the problems found in traditional agriculture, such as dealing with extreme weather and problematic insects.

The research done at Cornell about hydroponics works  to determine the best conditions for growing different plants hydroponically. The graduate student presenting at the cafe mentioned that her research centers upon the type of lighting that hydroponic plants are exposed to. She studies the effects of normal yellow light as well as that of LED lights, which can be different colors, in this case, purple. Her talk inspired me to branch out and learn more about the varied fields researched at Cornell. Plus, now I really want to see hydroponics in action at the greenhouses!

Costly Healthcare

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On Monday, Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal came to Cornell to talk about her experiences reporting on healthcare and its many problems. Trained as a doctor, Dr. Rosenthal became a journalist for The New York Times. As a journalist, she covered many stories relating to healthcare and health policy. Her talk mostly focused on the problems in the American healthcare system. She discussed how arbitrary the costs of healthcare can be. For example, she mentioned how a drug that combined two products in one cost much more than both of the drugs separately. Therefore, patients that were prescribed the joint drug paid much more unnecessarily. In another story, she described the experience of a man who had a minor injury but ended up going to the hospital in an ambulance. Because the hospital did not know the extent of the injury, they had dispatched an unnecessary trauma team to meet the ambulance. Even though the patient did not need the team, he was still billed an exorbitant amount for it.

This talk really made me reflect upon the problems in the field I hope to go into. There seems to be a paradox that in a field that quite literally deals with life or death, some people can’t afford to chose life. That being said, doctors and other healthcare professionals usually go through rigorous training and schooling that takes a lot of time and money. They should be justly compensated for that. However, no one should be in a situation in which they can’t pay for a treatment that could save their lives. Hopefully, with efforts from citizens, state governments and the national government will be able to balance these two sides so that the healthcare system as well as the people it serves will be able to be supported.

Perfection and Privilege

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Last Friday, I rewatched the Dead Poets Society with other Rose scholars. The movie follows a group of high school seniors who attend an elite boarding school. The boys are inspired by a new English teacher who helps them pursue their dreams and break out from their parents’ expectations of themselves. As the movie takes place in a prestigious boarding school, some of the themes it explores resonate with some of the problems we face here at Cornell. The boys deal with high expectations from parents and their general social circles. This pressure and suppression of their true dreams reaches an ultimate high when the protagonist Neil commits suicide. This aspect of the movie shows the real ramifications of the high-stakes pressure of chasing perfection. I think this can help ground us as we struggle with the pressure of doing well on prelims and hoping to achieve our goals.

While I appreciate the gravity by which the movie reflects the pursuit of perfection, I do think that it is important to look at the movie in perspective. In a way, it romanticizes the idea of dying for your dreams and art. Neil’s death is not in vain as his friends’ learn to see beyond the mold that society has pressed upon them. However, the struggles that the boys face showcase their privilege. They face problems that straight, white males face and as such the movie neglects to show any characters of other races, sexual orientations and even really gender. The largest female role goes to a Kris, a girl, that one of boys Knox has a large crush on. Knox kisses her while she is intoxicated and Kris is portrayed to be fine with this lack of consent and even falls for him. As a whole, Dead Poets Society has many salient points about societal pressures but does overlook the narratives of more marginalized communities.

Deconstructing Disabilities

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Last week at the Rose Cafe, I learned about disability history and disability at Cornell with Erin Sember-Chase. I learned that the ADA which prohibited discrimination based on disability was only instituted in 1990, a mere 27 years ago. But unlike other marginalized groups, the fight for rights for people with disabilities  has never been as visible as other social movements, such as the civil rights movement. At Cornell, most professors will at least briefly mention special exam accommodations for students with disabilities but that is usually the extent of the discussion of disabilities. In our society in general, there are a few public accommodations of disabilities, such as handicapped bathroom stalls and parking spaces. Before our talk, I had honestly forgotten about these sort of accommodations for disabled people. In a way, that is a good thing because it has become so normalized to me but these adjustments are often not discussed. Additionally, while useful for physical disabilities, these accommodations do nothing for other disabilities that are often less apparent. These “invisible” disabilities are unfortunately just as pressing as physical ones.

We discussed the large social stigma that is associated with disabilities and the way that people with disabilities themselves are taught to overcome their disabilities rather than embrace them. We talked about how disabilities shouldn’t need to be justified or explained but rather celebrated and understood. I am grateful that I was able to attend this cafe because it made me think about disabilities and the amount of people who face disabilities much more than I ever do. As a society, we need to talk about disabilities more widely so that its stigma can be lessened and people with disabilities can feel more comfortable and accepted in their lives.

Climate Change and Malawi

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Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a dinner conversation with our visiting fellow, Ruth Magreta. Her expertise was about climate change and agriculture, specifically in Malawi. I found the conversation very insightful since I knew very little about the effects of climate change in countries like Malawi before. We hear a lot about the effects of climate change here in the U.S. but in sort of removed ways.  We hear of weather phenomenons and changing temperatures but Ruth told us personal anecdotes about floods that happen in her area almost every year. She recounted the one that hit last year in which she had to cross a flooded river in her car with her children, truly scared for their lives. This spawned conversations about how the countries that have the most resources to combat climate change, like the U.S., usually don’t feel the direct and visual impact of its most consistent and problematic effects.

The conversation also shifted to other cultural differences between Malawi and the U.S. For example, Ruth and another visiting scholar asked about gender ratios in education at Cornell and were shocked to find out the basically equivalent ratio between boys and girls. It’s moments like this that remind me of the intangible privileges I have living in the U.S. This entire conversation was eye-opening in that it challenged me to look at the problems that the world faces as a whole and the privileges we have in the U.S. We need to be more vigilant about how we treat our planet not only for ourselves and futures but also for the people across the world that don’t have the resources to prevent such problems that impact their daily life.

Let’s Talk About Love.

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On Saturday, I filed into one of Rose’s study rooms to talk about love, dating and relationships.  I was a little surprised to see just how many people came to this discussion because love is a bit of a messy topic to talk about. For all the pop culture surrounding love, dating and relationships, you would think that we would all have a clearer idea about what it means and how these sort of relationships work in college.

Talking to the other Rose scholars was particularly illuminating because I don’t usually talk about these things to people I don’t know well. Transfers and students who went to different schools highlighted how different relationship culture is between different schools. They mentioned that as Cornell students are particularly career-oriented and very driven, less people seem to be in relationships. But of course, before one can even be in a relationship, they have to meet potential mates. We talked about how much of meeting people nowadays is electronic. People meet other people through social media and online dating apps. These platforms also provide key insights into how interesting the other person finds you. Virtual flirting by tagging each other in memes or texting someone fairly consistently seems to indicate how attractive someone finds you. The overall consensus was that the virtual dimension of relationships hinders information that would otherwise have been gained from face-to-face interaction, such as body language.

I left the discussion really thinking about how everyone deals with doubts about relationships, dating and love. Because everyone has had different experiences with the topic, it can be easy to feel that other people know more about finding love than you do. But hearing all the other Rose residents talk helped me realize that we’re all just as clueless and that’s okay because it is normal.

Ithaca Farmers Market: Insight into the Ithaca Community

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A lively fiddle tune fluttered through the breeze as our small group of Rose residents reached the Ithaca Farmer’s Market at around midday last Saturday. Setup under a wooden pavilion, the market was made-up of many stalls selling almost every local product available, from fresh honey to Sri Lankan cuisine and homemade cheese. A large crowd of people wandered between stalls, talking, eating, laughing and enjoying themselves.

The overall atmosphere of the market surprised me because I had expected something much smaller, less crowded and less inviting. Instead, I found it to be cozy and lively with a wide variety of items sold. It’s, therefore, not surprising that it is rated to be one of the best farmers markets in New York and America, itself.  It was extremely relaxing to partake in such a casual weekend activity beyond social life at Cornell. Seeing the tourists and families walking around the market reminded me that Ithaca is not simply what we see at Cornell. The residents of Ithaca have a radically different experience of the city than I do. Walking through the residential areas surrounding the market to on my way there, I realized that I spend about 10 months of my life in a city that I know so little about. I want to see myself as a resident of Ithaca community in addition to the Cornell community. Luckily with events like the farmers market, it should be easy to explore Ithaca more thoroughly in my remaining three years here.

Honey Stall at the Market