On Saturday, I attended the modern art tour at the Johnson given by professor Schwartz. Honestly, I though it was a great time. I took AP Art History in high school but haven’t really entered that world of observing art critically since. It was a true treat to be able to look at the pieces we did in such depth. The way Professor Schwartz led it made it feel like we were all just picking each other’s brains, and I think that kind of subjectivity and ability to discuss fluidly has always been my favorite thing about art history. I plan on frequenting the Johnson myself now to analyze and draw some inspiration from the art base don some of the lessons form Professor Schwartz’s tour.
Author Archives: FTAhealy
Tales of Impeachment
I attended the impeachment table talk this week, and I felt that it was a very rewarding experience due to all the different perspectives I got exposed to around the niches of impeachment proceedings. One of the interesting points brought up was a theory on how Trump wants to be impeached because it would take attention away from the democratic primaries. This was definitely a new take that I had not heard before, and it was something I actually sat with as the week progressed, and I kept viewing various statements on impeachment on social media. The second thing discussed at the talk that I found very interesting was the topic on how the nuances of government influence the act of impeachment. For example, the fact that we currently have a democratic dominated house and a republican dominated senate completely changes the dynamic of what could even become of impeachment if the investigations were able to leave the house and result in a trial. Would a republican senate take a trial seriously at all?
The last point of the talk that stood out the most to me was another unique take wherein a participant brought up the notion of celebrity. She stated that the relationship between celebrity and the office of the president has, as a whole, changed what the presidency looks like and, as a result, what impeachment would look like. We now consider various things impeachable that may not have been impeachable in the past due to the fact that the president is a celebrity now and, perhaps, has more cultural expectations to uphold rather than just political ones. I think this is something that I definitely agree with, though I would even add that it is something that has been happening over time and has been primarily enhanced by technology. I remember learning in APUSH how those that watched the presidential debate between Richard Nixon and JFK felt that JFK won, while those who listened on the radio felt that Nixon one. This is an example from decades ago of how new technology was changing the qualifications of presidency as people preferred a president who looked a certain way and had a certain kind of physical demeanor, yet this is something that they would not have had as much care for if the technology to allow us to view people in real time (via video and TV) never existed.
Replaying Us
Us was a very dynamic movie that, though I enjoyed watching, I left leaving like I would need to watch it again to full grasp what went on within. One thing I really liked and admired about it was the use of symbolism. There was symbolism in the imagery of the Native American welcoming Adelaide when she went to the beach as a child, but the imagery switching to a wizard. I felt it was showing how the location was cloaked by a “PC” exterior to cover up its racist and horrific foundation. There was also symbolism in the repetition of a bible verse in the movie. The allusion in the movie was also great as Jordan Peele paid a lot of homage to the Shining with the twins, the overhead shot of the family driving, and the tethered holding the scissors like the ax in the Shining. The last part I enjoyed the most about the movie was the actors’ performance. I believe Lupita Nyong’o was absolutely stunning to watch as she portrayed such drastically polar characters with such nuance, which was exactly what was needed to show us that those characters were really not as different as they seemed.
Food and Capitalism
I attended Frank Rossi’s talk on food. It was very enlightening and was primarily useful to me on giving another lens through which to analyze the effects of capitalism on our bodies. It is common to see capitalism’s stake in the body through the lens of labor and work, but Frank Rossi’s talk opened my eyes to the ways capitalism permeates the body through food.
He spoke heavily about the Western diet and how it is based on a lot of starch and calories. A main takeaway he left on this point was that the western diet is actually moving towards a place where it effectively has the same effects as malnutrition. I thought this was very jarring, and also disappointing, because it really showed a testament to how counterproductive greed can be.
On the note of greed, perhaps the main point Rossi tried to drive home was that we don’t need more food, but rather need to waste less food. He spoke about how the way to solve this problems we see with our food has to be through a change in the economy globally and through moving towards a more equitable economy. Though I am not an expert on food as Frank Rossi is, I believe that I agree with this sentiment. It is also not a surprise that this solution would probably work for, not just food, but for many of the other problems we face in the world today.
Workers’ Rights are Workers’ Power
I went to the Angela Cornell talk this week about the Google Walkout and found it very enriching. We talked about how the last few years have seen an uptick in job action whether that be teacher activity, NFL protests, the Google Walkout we focused on, or even the MeToo era at large. She described the GoogleWalkout wherein employees chose to organize and leave the job for some hours )in some offices, for some days) in order to protest not just the sexual misconduct of top executive Andy Rubin, but largely to protest the “punishment” he received: a severance package of over $90 million.
Though many of the elements of the event at Google highlighted by Ms. Cornell were interesting, I believe the point that stood out to me the most was that of the power of collective action. We discussed how there was change after the walkout as workers were able to assert their desire for the riddance of mandatory arbitration and were successful at having this policy changed. We talked about the process of such organizing, how much of it took place through social media, showing that workers can possess power by simply picking up their phones to call for change. We lastly discussed how mutual aid and protection is actually provided in the NLRA, meaning that workers can take measures like these if trying to create a better workplace. This one was a large eye-opener for me because it truly drove home just how powerful workers can be in the process of creating and changing employment conditions. Overall, I walked away very enlightened about just how much impact and power labor can possess in workplace struggles, and it can be done through knowledge of the rights that they, or we, all have. When we wield those rights, we can possess more power than we think.
Unplanned Paths
This week, I attended Julia Felippe’s talk “Crossing the Ocean: For a Career, For a New Life.” She spoke about how she moved form Sao Paulo, Brazil to study veterinary medicine in the US and basically never went back. Actually, one of the funny moments form her talk was how she would be on the phone with her parents, and they’d ask when she would come back to which she responded that it would be in a year or two, until they eventually realized that she was going to stay. In fact, I think her talking about these conversations with her parents gave some imagery to the theme of what her whole talk was about, which was that her path was not necessarily very rigidly planned. It was not that she was being untruthful when telling her parents she would be back soon, it is that she didn’t necessarily know when she would return because she was keeping herself open to the different opportunities life could present at any given time.
Hearing about Professor Felippe’s ever changing path was truly inspiring for me. It really invoked in me comfort in not knowing exactly which direction I want to go in yet. One of the memorable pieces of advice she gave was “not to over think or obsess about whether the job/position for you is the one you’re supposed to be in.” I found this very impactful for being in our Cornell community in particular where we can feel pressured to be engaging in activities that serve legitimate purposes for our long term goals or careers right now. Ultimately, statements like these throughout the evening really helped fortify me and assure me to just trust the process and lend myself to all the different opportunities this time in my life could entail if I let it.
Ears and Eyes
The workshop with Kyaw Thein was actually the second self-defense workshop I have attended, and I found it interesting that they both managed to be insightful in a lot of the same, but also some different ways.
Just like in the workshop I attended before, the one at Rose this weekend was in a room filled with women. There was one guy initially, and another guy came towards the end; but everyone else in the room was a woman. I suppose it is just always something to notice that all over the world (with Kyaw being from Myannmar), women are having to share the experience of investing in extra measures to ensure our safety.
We went over various moves and aspects of self defense as the workshop went on, however, it was the first thing that Kyaw mentioned that resonated with me the most. She said that the basics and core of self-defense is knowing your surroundings; your ears and eyes are really the strongest tools you could have. I thought this was so sound, because it made me think of how often I walk into new spaces and make a mental note of where everything is or where all the resources I may need are located. And, unfortunately, I do not this often enough. I don’t enter into new spaces and think ahead about what I may need, and this is something I am going to start doing as I learned today that it could make a life saving difference.
Building Yourself
There were many gems dropped at the U Thrive book event, and I walked a way gaining more insight than I thought I would into the skill of maintaining your sanity and happiness in college and, honestly, in life in general. Prior to the larger conversation with the entirety of those in the room, we were split into small groups to discuss specific themes addressed in the book. My group was tasked with talking about will power and how to build it. Someone in the group mentioned how adversity is a way to build your will power as failure can help strengthen it; I agreed with this and found it to be thoughtful. I actually made a similar point in that I felt that we can build our will power by being intentional about doing things to place ourself outside of our comfort zone.
When we had the larger group discussion, however, Zachary highlighted a very different perspective in building will power. He talked about how it is important to be compassionate to yourself. In a practical way, we can build will power by knowing “when” we work the best, “how” we work best, or “where” we work best. Another way he mentioned was instituting tiny changes for 2 weeks, rather than trying to launch into large scale changes. I just found this to be discerning especially because we do find ourselves in an environment where we feel like we need to be incredibly embracing of all challenges in all forms, but that can easily lead to disappointment and actually end up harming your will power more than it builds it. Overall, this display was just one way that the event was beneficial in spreading advice on how to best treat ourselves in the college context, in order to be the most successful we can be.