Most of the events that I have attended thus far have been table talks, largely because I enjoy the intimacy of conversation with such a small group and the typically open atmosphere they provide for sharing thoughts and asking questions without judgement. That being said, I did not receive a similar feeling of positivity for this particular event, and actually found myself not enjoying it nearly as much as the ones I have gone to in the past. With the topic being the Playlist of Life, I assumed that conversation would be largely light-hearted and I was excited for some meaningful song recommendations and to hear how music has affected others in the Rose House community. However, this was not the case at all. Instead, the conversation began with one scholar mentioning Kanye’s new album (one I wasn’t familiar with at all at that point) which sent the entire room into a rather heated discussion on controversy. I felt as if the discussion veered entirely off of the original course, even going as far as to make me uncomfortable as two scholars exchanged loud points back and forth (some as alarming as claims in support of a totalitarian regime in the U.S. with extreme censorship and a mandate for citizens to vote– a bit contradictory of an argument, if you really think about it). As a government major I love academic discourse and thrive off of debate, but the nearly hostile altercations that took place during this table talk were not something that I had been expecting nor looking for when I decided to attend. The fact that discussions remained ten times more civil for the much more controversial (in my opinion) topics such as the electoral campaign, impeachment, and eugenics, came as a bit of a surprise for me. We never did quite move past that first Kanye album conversation starter, and so I didn’t find much insight into the musical leanings of my fellow Rose Scholars nor get the recommendations I was hoping for. For future table talks, I think I will be more careful not to assume any direction for the conversation based on the given topic alone.