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.
Author Archives: kbl45
Diya Jale
Going to Diya Jale was a ton of fun! I had initially been wary of committing to this event for my weekly Rose Scholar attendance due to the sheer length of the show (nearly three full hours), but I’m glad that I eventually did. With tickets costing $10 each, I know that I definitely wouldn’t have gone if this hadn’t been one of the Rose events, and getting free access definitely made it more accessible. Having not gone to any previous performances of the many groups participating, it was amazing to see all of the dancers, singers, and performers take the same stage. I’ve heard all about Cornell Bhangra in passing (especially during club fest and recruitment season at the start of the fall semester, but seeing them actually perform was entirely different. One of my favorites out of the many groups, their colorful costumes matched the high energy moves and made me wish I was graceful enough to join a dance troupe on campus. Overall the experience was a positive one, and getting to hear Omi Vaidya give a very comedic monologue was the icing on the cake! Hopefully I will get the chance to attend again next year.
Impeachment
I love going to the Table Talks, particularly when the topic is most related to my major. It’s always interesting to attend ones on crazy scientific developments, but as a government major I enjoy being able to contribute things I’ve learned from class to the discussion and share the ideas with others. I thought that this topic was also very helpful, as it gave me a chance to look more at domestic politics and discuss the latest developments in the impeachment inquiry against President Trump, seeing as how my main focus in class is typically on international affairs. I hadn’t really thought much about the ambiguity of impeachment in the Constitution before either, and examining the question of what constitutes the need for impeachment resulted in so many different objective opinions around the table. Hearing each person’s varied idea of what kinds of actions are considered “impeachable” or not really offered insight into the complex political landscape of the entire inquiry. With no hard, explicit line for when a president should be impeached, I feel as if I have a better understanding now of why the entire process has taken so long to be set into motion up until this point. The discussion took place in a nice, low-stakes environment and gave the perfect opportunity for everyone to share their opinion and hear feedback from others. I definitely feel more informed about our current national situation after attending.
Sewing!
With the current atmosphere of female empowerment and the vehement rejection of all things “domestic,” it’s easy to forget just how helpful knowing the basic task of sewing can be.
When I was younger, I went through a bit of a crafting phase (as preteens often do), despite the fact that I was horrendous at all things artistic. My mom taught me a few, very basic fundamentals of sewing, and my overall experience was largely limited to sloppily crafted clothes for plush and homemade sock monkeys.
I hadn’t thought (much less practiced) much about sewing since those early days, only mourning the loss of my pitiful skills on the occasional day that I would discover a rip in a favorite shirt or dress. So when I saw the seminar with SA Beverly, I thought it would be fun to revisit that crafty side from my past.
The seminar itself was incredibly helpful, and was able to show me sewing in a modern and very applicable light. It was no longer just a tool to explore my creativity, but with the techniques demonstrated by Beverly herself and taught meticulously by her mother over the platform of a Skype call, sewing became an easily applied tool to revamp articles of clothing I had previously believed destined for the trash. We learned ways to hem, in case pants were too long, to fix holes, create sturdy backwards stitches, and even something known as an invisible stitch if we wanted to keep our mending efforts as subtle as possible. I’ve never been confident enough in my crafting capabilities to apply my skills to actual clothes that I wear, but after this seminar I feel much more empowered with the ability to handle fabric-based issues all on my own.
Casual Politics
This was easily my favorite Table Talk so far, and as the other topics have been interesting, it was nice to have one focused individually within my major. As a Government student, the talk was a great opportunity to meet a professor in the department who I had previously never taken a class with before. Focused mostly on the topic of international relations, dedicating time to exploring the U.S. electoral campaign and getting a more in-depth explanation into the Trump impeachment inquiry was incredibly helpful and showed me that a lot of the concepts I’ve been learning in class don’t only apply abroad, but widely to domestic policy issues as well. The open and casual discussion provided the perfect platform for asking questions on things like the electoral college and other complex subjects that I’ve sometimes needed clarification on. Hearing the opinions of other students on the subject and that of a professor from the department (who also brought the discussion into comparative politics) was a great experience and I feel much more confident as a voter going into the elections now.
Serious? No. Seriously helpful? Yes!
The improvisation workshop last Thursday was a fun and much needed break from the stress of prelim studies and essay submissions. Perhaps not as academically stimulating as a table talk on the latest scientific advancement, this event felt much more relaxed and casual, and it had the potential to be as useful as you were willing to make it. For anyone who ever gets even remotely shy, the small-group, low-stakes setting offered a great opportunity for operating outside of your comfort zone, and a few of the activities served as great practice for public speaking. As someone who dabbled briefly in theater throughout high school, it was interesting to receive instruction in the field of improv specifically, which I hadn’t explored much before. The instructors for the workshop were members of Cornell’s own Whistling Shrimp Improv Comedy Group, and all three were very supportive throughout the entire process. Not only did the members offer us some insightful tips to use even outside of improvisation, but they made each exercise a little less painful by suffering through some of the more awkward ones right along with us.
In the past, I’ve always thought that the performing arts helped with giving speeches/presentations– it introduces you to different delivery techniques, helps you overcome stage fright, gets you used to the attention of an audience, etc.. But improv takes that preparation a step further by sharpening your ability to ad lib, or think on your feet, and speak without any prior practice on the particular topic. You can’t always memorize or plan ahead of time for every aspect of a presentation, and having the skills of an improv actor can come in very handy when this is the case. The workshop was very fun, and I would recommend scholars attend any similar event in the future!
Genetic editing: Dystopia or Our Inescapable Future?
The idea of having the ability to choose every aspect of your child’s appearance and aptitude, down to his/her eye color, is a thought believed to be reserved solely for dystopian films such as GATTACA. However, after attending this particularly frightening table talk, the idea doesn’t seem so far fetched to me any more.
With technology such as CRISPR in existence today, the ability to genetically edit babies is rapidly evolving as scientists test the bounds of eugenic exploration. The moral defense for pursuing such controversial work typically revolves around its ability to prevent disease or genetic disorders in babies before they are even born, sometimes with a very simple switch. But as incredible as such a development could be to our world of modern medicine, delving into personal genetics could get very messy, very quickly with insurance rates, discrimination, and the individual advantages/disadvantages GATTACA so prophetically pointed out for us.
Despite the hot debate still surrounding this issue, I was more than shocked to find out that gene edited babies already do exist, designed covertly by a Chinese scientist in 2018. More are expected to be on the way as biologists in countries such as Russia take advantage of their nations’ freer laws in terms of research-based restrictions, such as those found in the U.S.. With no central authority able to control the world as a whole, regulating this new form of technology will prove extremely difficult, even if all international powers can come to a final decision on whether or not gene editing is appropriate in babies. With the restrictions set in the U.S., America is already at a disadvantage should CRISPR babies become the future of our world. With the historical inevitability of technological progress, I believe that said future is a very strong possibility, and probably not as far off as any of us would have originally expected. Whether the U.S. agrees with the experiments or ethics of prenatal gene editing or not, I’m afraid it eventually won’t have a choice in pursuing the research if it hopes to stay on par with other countries around the world.
Adult Interaction Made Not-Awkward
Being students on Cornell’s campus, I’m sure that the majority (if not all) of us have had to attend networking events, cocktail parties, alumni gatherings, or situations of a similar nature. For some, these can be fantastic opportunities to make connections and gather insight from experienced individuals in your field– for others, they can be highly dreaded events. It’s not the idea of meeting new people that is so terrifying, per se, but when all of your past experiences have consisted of highly awkward interactions and uncomfortable bouts of total silence, you tend to avoid gatherings that throw you into a forced environment of conversation.
That being said, the Rose Cafe House Fellows meet and greet was nothing like the embarrassing and unpleasant experience that I had been expecting. In fact, it came to an end long before I would have even liked it to. As a mildly antisocial individual myself, I have to thank the event coordinators’ foresight to design the meeting in a speed-dating type of style with a list of provided questions to reference if things started to lag (which they never actually did, for me at least). It was the ideal layout for avoiding uncomfortable lapses in conversation, and even preemptively took care of the typically awkward end of the conversation by providing a strict time limit for each chat. Needless to say, the structure made the process of interaction as painless as possible, and for once I was actually able to learn and enjoy myself at such an event.
Getting the chance to interact, entirely one-on-one, with some of the fellows was a great experience and really gave me a sense of the Rose House community– a perfect takeaway for my first event attended. Every single fellow I had the opportunity to chat with seemed genuinely interested in my area of study, view of Cornell, and hopes for the future. Our fellows come from such a wide variety of backgrounds that I felt as if the thirty minutes I had to interact with them taught me more than a good portion of my lectures this year have so far. It was a surprisingly good end to a very long day, and one particular fellow smiling and saying “I support you” turned out to be the exact encouragement I needed to solidify my decision of a major in that same week.
I will definitely be attending future events with our House fellows, and I one hundred percent encourage you all to do so as well. We’re very lucky to have direct access to some of the most incredible people on campus through Rose House, and I would highly recommend taking advantage of it.