I was so excited for this rose cafe. I am in the ILR School and I swear we talk about labor and law and labor law a lot. But in my classes it is normally just theories, definitions, and concepts. It was awesome seeing these theories, definitions, and concepts applied to a real life, current situation: Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling during the national anthem at a football game in protest of police brutality against blacks. I learned a lot about labor law during this discussion but also Professor Angela Cornell brought to our attention many important ideas and concepts. For instance, one idea that really stuck with me was that legality and morality do not always align. We are always taught to abide by the law but sometimes the law is not just and abiding by that law conflicts with what is morally correct. There will be instances when one can feel morally obligated to take a stance against something even though doing so, regardless of if it is done peacefully or not, is illegal. The most interesting part to me was the discussion on the allegations of collusion. There is a strong possibility that many people in the NFL are colluding to exclude Colin Kaepernick from the NFL. The arbitrator ruled that there is enough evidence of collusion to have a full blown hearing. In the end I think that, regardless of the backlash, Colin Kaepernick’s actions were a good, respectful way of starting a very difficult conversation on occurrences of racial injustice in America. It was additionally impressive how long this topic stayed in the media. It was smart of Kaepernick to kneel in such a public setting because his protest would probably not have been as effective if it had not happened on game days when people who would normally not care were watching.
Author Archives: Victoria Malkoun
Well I Hope You All Voted
I am fully aware that this blog post is a month late however I wanted to take a more reflective stance on the midterm elections. I had originally tried to write this post after the rose cafe and then during the midterm elections but I just couldn’t come up with the right words to say what I was thinking. I wanted to attend this rose cafe in the first place because I wanted to take that time to catch up on politics for the midterm election. Last year I was very good with keeping up with what was going on politically in my state (Michigan) and in the nation. I had even volunteered at a polling booth for the primaries in August. Before this semester started I told myself that I was going to continue to stay up-to-date on everything, especially on the midterm elections…but then the semester started. When I saw this rose cafe I was very excited but then I realized I had not been keeping up with who was running for what in my state. I realized I knew nothing about what was going on leading up to the midterm elections. I was registered to vote already but I was absolutely clueless about who to vote for. When we went into the cafe and Glen Altschuler started asking questions about who had been keeping up I was so embarrassed by my lack of knowledge. But he did mention that Americans tend to be stunningly ignorant about politics and I must say I have never felt so American than in that moment. But honestly majority of the conversations I had heard prior to this rose cafe were literally people saying “GO VOTE!” or “REGISTER TO VOTE!”. I really didn’t hear many conversations about the candidates in each state. It wasn’t until the Rose Cafe with Glen Altschuler that I was aware of the different candidates and about what was going on in the political arena.
I really liked how Glen Altschuler talked about the midterms elections. He was very well informed about all the different candidates and the political races in each state. It was very interesting because he mentioned that in his opinion we haven’t had such party polarization in America since the Civil War. Ironically, both Republicans and Democrats claim that the other side is a threat to the security of the United States. But what really stuck with me from his talks was his advice at the very end on what he thinks should be changed. Glen Altschuler’s advice was to reduce the importance of the primary elections and to get rid of gerrymandering. Honestly, I completely agree with his advice. I think that the primaries are unnecessary and gerrymandering in conjunction with the primaries manipulates results. I am definitely going to be taking time this break to catch up on what has been going on in politics and I am looking forward to it. Keeping up with politics is very important since many of the decisions made now will impact us in the future. It is important that we young people become more active in politics because the decisions made to today will impact us in the future in a time when the people currently in power who made those decisions might very well be dead and gone. We will be left to deal with the consequences of a decision that we may not have agreed with in the first place. Thus the most important piece of advice that Glen Altschuler left us with that day was his concluding statement: “This is your country, own it”. Wise words from a wise man.
My Gourd I Loved This Event
I was not sure what I was getting myself into when I signed up for this Rose Activity. Some of my friends had signed up to do it so I thought it would be fun to sign up as well. For some odd reason I thought we were going to be making a string of lights not a night light. But, I am so glad that I signed up for this event. My night light is on display in my room and I have it on constantly. It’s so pretty and so nice to look at. Surprisingly it was also very fun to make and the process was quite therapeutic. It was nice to take a break from studying and to take time to be creative. It was fun doing it with friends too and seeing what everyone designed. I had so much fun with this event and I would love to do it again!
Good Advice
I really enjoyed the Rose Cafe with Mary Opperman even though I already knew some of the tips she gave us. I haven’t really had a serious job and when I do get one I am afraid that I will do something wrong or do something that annoys my supervisors without even realizing it. I know some things that drive superiors crazy can be just common sense things of what not to do like don’t be late for work and don’t miss deadlines. But there are some things are not so obvious. Some of the things that Ms. Opperman mentioned that I thought were really important included saying something if you don’t understand an assignment you were given, figuring out how your boss wants to receive information and how they give information, and taking accountability for your mistakes. Before this cafe I had never realized that how your boss wants to receive information is very important. Giving and receiving information is an aspect of communication and if it is not clear how to give information to your boss it is likely that miscommunications will occur. As someone who struggles sometimes with communication I found this reminder very useful. She also gave great advice on how to approach touchy subjects like having your compensation reviewed. In addition to advice on how not to annoy your supervisor, Ms. Opperman gave us good general work advice. She reminded us that nobody advocates for you better than you do and to not stay in a job where you are not learning anything and/or where you are being taken advantage of. I am always being told these last to bits of advice but it is always good to hear it again. I can definitely say that these are all tips that I will probably use in the future.
An Insider’s View of Cairo
To capture the essence of a city and have that be shown accurately in a film is a very hard feat to accomplish, but Tamir Said has done just that in his film In the Last Days of the City. Said was trying to capture the soul of Cairo two years before the outbreak of revolution in Egypt, and after watching the film I believe he did exactly that. We follow the story of a filmmaker in Cairo who is trying to find a new apartment. Through this story we are introduced to numerous new characters who bring in new elements to the overall story. There are scenes of protests and audio of radio announcements that show the buildup to the revolution but the storylines of the characters also create a tension and impatience in the audience. We find out a lot about the characters but the story feels like it is going somewhere and nowhere at the same time until the film is suddenly over. I believe that the story was told in this way to make the audience feel the impatience and tension that must have been felt in Cairo in the buildup to revolution.
Said also disperses short clips throughout the movie that bring to the viewers’ attention many social issues including poverty, women’s rights, and domestic violence. For example, there is a scene where a man is beating a woman, presumably his wife, and the main character catches it all on film from his apartment window. This scene is fictional but Said says he put it in the movie to raise an ethical question. To what extent does the main character (Khalid) have a right to film it? He is protected by his walls but the people he is filming are poor and do not have the same privacy that he does. They do not have a home with walls on all sides or a ceiling over their heads. But now that he has it on film, is he obligated to help or protect the woman?
I am Lebanese and I absolutely love the culture and the country. Being Middle Eastern allows me to see the Middle East in a different way than people who are not. It is not a scary place full of bombs and terrorists. It is more than that. In the interview portion after the movie, Said revealed that this movie has been shown in so many places around the world except in Cairo because it did not get clearance from the Egyptian government. I hope that it can be shown in Cairo sometime soon because I believe the people there would definitely appreciate this film the most.
Somewhere Beyond Ives Hall
It was on the walk to the Botanical Gardens that I realized how little of the campus I had seen. Once we passed Ives Hall it hit me. If it wasn’t for the other people who knew where to go I would be lost. I had done a bit of exploring of the campus lately but it was on this walk that I realized I had so much more of the campus left to see. I am in ILR and sometimes I get so caught up in my classes and my daily routine that I forget how big Cornell is and all the places on campus that I have yet to see. I am glad I can check the Botanical Gardens off of my list of places on campus that I need to see. The Botanical Gardens were very peaceful and very beautiful. I am so happy I got the chance to go there and explore the area a bit. I have definitely found a place where I can escape from things for a while and just surround myself with nature. It is a great place to walk around, explore the wildlife, and take some time to reflect. As the semester progresses I find that I do not have enough time to just sit and think. There is always something going on and while I do like having things to do, I also like having some time to reflect on what I have done. I know I will definitely find myself back at the Botanical Gardens very soon.
Innocent Until Proven Guilty
I had never thought about how conflicting it would be to be a defense attorney until Judge Miller talked about being a defense attorney at the Rose Cafe. You have to believe what your client tells you and you have to defend them even when you know they are guilty. Is it wrong to defend someone who is guilty? If it is your job then you really don’t have a choice. Someone has to defend them. One of the things that struck me the most is that when I was asking Judge Miller questions after the Cafe he said it was worse to be defending someone who is innocent especially when there is an abundance of evidence against them. Is it worse to have an innocent person put in jail or to have a guilty person go free? In my opinion, defending someone who is innocent would be much more stressful because if the defense attorney fails then the innocent person could be blamed for committing a crime that they did not actually commit. An innocent person would be sent to jail. It would be hard to sleep at night knowing that you were not able to prevent an innocent person from going to jail. The job of being a defense attorney is much more complex than just ‘defending the bad guys’ and listening to Judge Miller’s stories reminded me of that.