Author Archives: krs262

A New Dimension of Stress

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If you were unlucky enough to have a high school experience similar to mine, with more time spent in class than asleep in a bed, more extracurriculars than could fit on a one-page resume, and not to mention the nights that had more hours of homework than there were hours until class the next day, then college was a whole new dimension of stress. Along with just as much homework and just as little sleep, there’s a complete stranger as a roommate, a diet of Nasties french toast sticks and microwave noodle soups, unreliable washing machines that eat your socks, and the elephant in the room, the self-motivation required to get yourself up out of bed, through the twenty minute walk in the snot-freezing weather, and into a lecture hall. But in the midst of all of these varieties of stress, there is the oasis known as stress management. Rose House’s recent massage offering was a breath of fresh air that gave me a moment to sit back, or rather, forward, and relax. Stress management is the most important skill that students learn in college, but also the least acknowledged. The ten minute massage is sometimes all you need, as long as that break is frequent, in order to feel healthy, calm, and energized. So always try to take just a few moments every day as a stress break to reset and feel your best.

 

If you’d like guidance on taking breaks like the one described, the app “Calm” is a good place to start, and a subscription is free for Cornell students. For more information, see https://www.calm.com/cornell.

Giving: Unequal to Love

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The movie Citizen Kane gave an intriguing look at how the virtue of giving may not be as beneficial to one’s life as generally taught. In the movie, Kane goes through life proclaiming himself to be a representative of the underprivileged, although he is anything but underprivileged as the sixth richest man in the world. Kane tries to offset his wealth by giving his friends and family anything they want, an action that can almost be aligned to the thought of “buying one’s friends.” While these moves do succeed in keeping people close to him, the people who care about Kane most, namely Mr. Leland and Sarah, see through his acts as merely a way to try to please himself, not a way to please the gifts’ recipients.

As the movie progresses it becomes more and more apparent that Kane gives gifts as a way to gain love, he thinks that by giving gifts he is showing love to others and receives it in turn. However, this could not be further from the truth. Kane cannot connect his apparent generosity to a true feeling of love because he does not understand that generosity must involve giving something that you care about, not just giving something to someone for the sake of giving.

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Defining Yourself on Social Media

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Last Thursday at the online persona mini-series, Sam gave a thorough description of how to display oneself online whether on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or a personal webpage. I learned the importance of not just sharing too much, but sharing enough. I generally have the fear that my Facebook reveals too much about me, so I tend to post less rather than more. Sam described how this might not be the best route, because a lack of information will still be unhelpful in a job search. If an employer can’t find anything about you online, then you may be too uninteresting to remember amount a slew of other applicants. We also talked about online biographies and how you should adjust your bio for the type of social media. A LinkedIn profile should probably be more in depth, while Twitter profile is generally short and sweet. But above all, don’t forget a defining piece of info that helps a potential employer remember who you are!

Popping the Climate Change Bubble

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We hear about how climate change will increase sea levels, droughts, and major storms. We read case studies in our textbooks about climate-related events, we see pictures of flooding and drought in other countries. But then you talk to Dr. Ruth Magreta. Dr. Magreta researches more efficient and effective agricultural practices for rural farmers in Malawi. For these farmers, if they do not grow enough food, they do not have enough money to send their children to school, or, in extreme conditions, they do not have enough money or food to eat. This was the environment that surround Dr. Magreta in her early life.

It is one thing to hear about how bad climate change is, and hear about how x number of people were injured or died from some climate-related event. It’s a completely different story to talk to someone who tells you that when there is no rain, (which happens more and more due to our changing climate) there is drought, and if there is drought then there is less food. And if there is less food, then some people will starve. And when some people starve, then sometimes your closest childhood friends will die. This is the story that Dr. Magreta told at her Rose cafe last week, and elaborated on at the dinner conversation. There is no textbook or professor that can quite show you the heartbreaking effects of climate change without first introducing you to the grief felt by someone directly effected.

A Look Into Malawi

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At this past Rose cafe, Ruth Magreta introduced us to life in Malawi and her research on agriculture. She combined the beautiful aspects of Malawi with the dismaying in order to give us insight to her home and the inspiration behind her work. She described the ease at which food could be obtained from the land around her home and described the beauty of its forests. However, Magreta also described her absolute grief when a good friend had died of hunger as result of serious drought in the country. But most of all, Magreta inspired us with her description of school. Magreta’s humble telling of her outdoor classrooms and one-room school without desks or chairs amazed me by her diligence to continue her education. She was the only person from her village at her university and is now working on her phD to improve agricultural practices in Malawi. I truly enjoyed Magreta’s presentation. She was incredibly informative and inspirational, a cafe that I will remember for a very long time.

Wasting Resources to Save One, Or an Epic Saga of Rescue?

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In Friday’s film, “The Martian”, Mark Watney is accidentally left on Mars, and NASA drops everything to build rockets to save him. But no one seems to mention the vast resources used to turn around a spacecraft and send it back to Mars, not to mention the failed rocket built to resupply Mark Watney. According to current NASA information, the average rocket launch today costs half a billion dollars, or in more relevant terms, about a third of the current student debt in the US. So, was it really worth it for NASA to spend so much money, presumably outside their existing budget (see the scene where the NASA director mentions requesting money from Congress) for the sake of one life? Leaving Mark Watney on Mars to die may seem incredibly inhumane, but he went on the mission knowing death was a high risk. The money NASA used to build a failed rocket could have been used to supplement Medicare or Medicaid. So what do you think, should the money have been spent to save lives domestically, or to save a pioneer in space research?

Looking Into the Future: A Show About Looking Back

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White contact lenses or brain projections? An obsessive alcoholic or a concerned husband? The futuristic show “Black Mirror” showed one snapshot of life in a world with constant sensory recordings. The show combined fantastic cinematography with an interesting view of the future; I was constantly on the edge of my seat with fear that the show’s technology had destroyed the main character’s life. As a unmarried young woman I somehow felt the same intrigue as the middle-aged husband playing back his wife’s actions, the same anger when he realized her infidelity, and the same nostalgia when the couple separated. I couldn’t help but wonder, does “Black Mirror” make an important statement about ignorance?

The show encouraged thought about obsessing over human actions: is obsession healthy, or if it comes to a true conclusion is it worth the pain? The main character’s obsession over his wife’s body language around her lover ultimately led to their separation and immense heartbreak. Without this technology, the husband would have been spared the pain, but would he have been better off? Ethically, I believe that although the technology caused pain, the information makes life experiences more authentic, and more worth living.