Author Archives: RitaAnn

Loving Wins

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Friday evening I watched the true story of “Loving”.  It recounted the struggle of an interracial couple after their marriage was deemed illegal by the state of Virginia.  They took their fight all the way to the Supreme Court, which ultimately led to the abolishment of the law, claiming that “marriage is an inherent right”.

The flow of the movie was interesting because it was almost like “snapshots” of events.  I think the reason the film felt so powerful was because it was based on a real couple, the Lovings, and their perseverance was inspiring.  Their battle lasted for years but they kept going because they knew it was the right thing to do.  Without their dedication to the case, it may have taken years more for interracial couples to legally be married in all of the states.

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Into the Woods

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On Saturday, I volunteered in the Ithaca area for the first time ever and it was quite an experience.  I honestly didn’t know what to expect going into Into the Streets however, the last thing I did expect was the forest.  When I found out we were volunteering at the YMCA, I had assumed that meant the one by Target and we were going to spend the afternoon organizing things or cleaning the gym.  no.

As I have mentioned previously, I have a severe phobia of bees.  So, when the taxis arrived in a wooded area with no sign of an indoors facility in sight I was not happy.  However, after we were assigned to our jobs (my team had vine-hut weaving) and began working, I really wasn’t too concerned with bugs.  The challenge was kind of weird and I definitely took more breaks than I should have but overall, it was actually fun.  I never stay outdoors in woody areas for long periods of time but the forest air and interesting task was refreshing.  We struggled at first and time was moving extremely slowly but at the end, we were all very proud of our vine hut.

Stylist Advice

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I attended the Rose Cafè with stylist, Nicholas Carbonaro and it was very interesting.  He was obviously extremely passionate about his work as well as extensively trained.  He had been working on his portfolio for years before settling in Ithaca, which included working at Madame Tussad’s Wax Museum in the city!  I especially enjoyed listening to him talk about his interest in theater because I share that passion with him.

My biggest takeaway about beauty advice from a professional was to care enough to look presentable but don’t overdo it unless you know you can keep it up.  College kids are notoriously broke yet always try to have the latest trending hair colors or styles- which are normally extremely expensive to upkeep.  I am an example of this phenomena as I dyed my hair bright red last year.  It was super time consuming, required lots of maintenance and faded like 3 days after I dyed it anyway.  It wasn’t ideal for me personally and color that would fit me AND be easy to keep up with did make my life much easier.  Basically, his message was: do what works best for you time-wise, financially and personally satisfying.

Fresh Never Frozen

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This week I attended the Rose Cafè with guest speaker, Chef Hans of Rose dining hall.  Immediately, I could tell he was extremely passionate about cooking and had his own “vision”, as he called it, about food.  A lot of thought and hard work goes into every meal, especially house dinners.  I don’t think we realize how lucky we are in terms of dining hall options- most schools either only have one dining hall, serve stagnant meal choices and/or just use food straight out of a box (the same that’s served in prisons nonetheless).  Chef Hans doesn’t even use frozen vegetables- the dining hall staff chops up fresh heads of broccoli,m cauliflower, etc. for us every night.  The menu isn’t random, it’s carefully planned in order to accommodate a variety of people (ie. vegetarians, vegans, gluten-free, etc.) and changes when something isn’t working- in other words, our opinions matter.

Overall, I was very happy that I attended this talk.  Chef Hans was very open and friendly and genuinely seemed to value our feedback.  The dining hall staff works very hard for us and we can easily show our appreciation by smiling and thanking them, disposing of our food and utensils properly, and being respectful.

The Big Apple business

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I was especially excited for this week’s Rose event: Apple Fest!  It was my first time going and my third time ever going to the Commons.  Before we departed for the festival, Professor Blalock played a NPR segment on the apple business for us- something I never even thought about- and I was a little shocked?  The apple business is apparently a huge, high-tech line of work with fierce competitions, advanced science and a large market.  Apparently apples can be patented and trademarked!  Cornell even has two of their very own unique varieties: Ruby Frost (which doesn’t brown!!) and Snap Dragon.

When we finally arrived at Apple Fest, there was already a substantial crowd of people.  There were blocks of stands selling homemade food (I didn’t buy anything but everything looked delicious- especially the doughnuts!), jewelry, clothes and more.  There were also live performances, carnival games and a mini goat petting area.  The festival was definitely my favorite Rose event so far and I plan on going every year from now on.

Growing Up in Malawi

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For this week’s event, I attended my first Rose Cafè with guest speaker, Ruth Magreta.  She spoke about her childhood, her journey to get a doctoral degree and most importantly, her passion for helping the people of Malawi.

Ruth’s childhood was vastly different from mine as she grew up in a poor village.  Although she survived off the bare minimum, she still looked back on her childhood fondly.  She had an admirable mentality that basically could be summed up in three words: “it was okay.”  She was expected to cook for her brothers, walk miles in rough terrain to school and the market and care for the animals on the farm.  These weren’t hardships to her, as they might be viewed in today’s society- they were “just the way things were.”  She wasn’t bitter or playing victim, she was simply telling the story of her life.

Ruth’s dedication to school was her golden ticket to a new life.  She didn’t get pregnant at a young age like the rest of her friends and she took her academics very seriously because she wanted to help her village.  Her hard work paid off, as she went to one of the top universities in Malawi, in the working district.  Her dream to improve agricultural life in her home village and implementing storage for maize (Malawi’s top exported good) has always been her driving force and continues to shape who she is.  Listening to someone talk about their passion and hearing about how hard they worked to get there is always inspirational and I’m very happy I decided to make that Rose Cafè my first one.

Botanics, Bees and A Very Good Boy

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For this week’s Rose event, I chose to go outside of my comfort zone and joined my fellow Scholars on a trip to the Botanic Gardens at Cornell.  I should preface this with explaining that I am petrified of bees.  I scream whenever I hear a faint buzzing sound- whether it be from a fly, a passing bike or a vibrating cell-phone- and I panic and run the moment one comes into my line of vision.  Therefore, I knew visiting the Botanic Gardens (aka the home of bees) would be an interesting challenge for me.

Despite the crazy hot weather, the trip to the gardens was well worth the walk (which was long).  The tour guide was also extremely knowledgable, which made the trip all the more fascinating.  I thought it was especially great to learn that the visitors’ building was constructed as a gold standard in LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and that they used solar energy.  However, my favorite story of the tour guide was about Barbra McClintock- a forward-thinking, novel Cornell alum that won her own Nobel Peace Prize.

I did make one stupid mistake- wearing a floral shirt.  I was only thinking about the perfect aesthetic look for my inevitable photo shoot that I would force my friend to take however, I neglected to realize that bees would see me and think “ooh, pollination time.”  Luckily, I got out of there un-stung (and with some new instagram material).

The highlight of the trip- a beautiful, big white dog.  He initially terrified me as he brushed against me from behind (as I thought he was a bee), but I was able to play with him later on and he was, as the title indicates, a very good boy. 🙂

Black Mirror- Was this really surprising?

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This week’s featured film was an episode of Black Mirror entitled, “The Entire History of You”.  The particular fictional dystopian universe presented a world wherein people could relive moments of their lives with the click of a button.  The plot revolved around an obsessive and jealous husband, Liam, that abused this advanced technology in order to prove his wife was cheating on him.  His neurotic behavior immediately became apparent to the viewers after he continuously replayed and overanalyzed a job interview in the beginning of the episode.  This compulsiveness drastically increased once he had a slight inclination of his wife’s indiscretion.  After seemingly irrationally picking at straws and having a complete breakdown, it turned out that his suspicions were right- his wife was cheating on him.  In the final scene of the episode, Liam removes his chip (which sounds as painful as it looked) that allows him to replay memories.

Did the ending surprise me?  Was I shocked that this technology led to completely neurotic and obsessive behavior?  No and no.  The premise that this was a bad idea for mental health immediately dawned on me once I heard the description of the episode.  People already overthink constantly and neurosis is not something that I think should be enhanced.  Liam was just one example of the product of a society with technology but definitely would not be a singular one.  People could relive their most embarrassing moments endlessly and be afraid to ever react naturally to any situation.   Or, people could stay stuck in their best memories forever, essentially becoming the embodiment of “stuck in the past”.  This isn’t forward thinking technology- in fact, it’s just the opposite; new technology should be promoting a better future, not exacerbating the past.  Dwelling on past mistakes makes it almost impossible to move on from them or grow from them.  I left that screening solely thinking: How could people not end up like Liam when all they have to do is press a button?