After a very stressful week, it was a very pleasant experience to be able to sit back and relax while enjoying this interesting documentary. Like several other students present, I am not a huge fan of documentaries, yet nature pieces always seem to captivate me. This jungle episode of Our Planet focused on several different species ranging from eagles to orangutans through beautiful cinematography. It had me wondering and admiring how much work must be put into this unmatched camerawork. My favorite animal covered was the adorable Eden the orangutan. Eden was learning important life skills such as searching for food from his family. Those scenes about learning techniques reminded me of my animal behavior class in which I learned about the research behind monkey ant capture and their intelligent use of tools. Combining my academic knowledge with this visual piece was an overall delightful experience.
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Behind the scenes of social protest
A year after the overcoming polarization in American democracy Rose Cafe, this Zoom chat about social protest was a very interesting follow-up. It was very pleasant to have a chat with a smaller group of people rather than a presentation with a big audience. After listing to HF Ken Robert’s perspectives, we all had the chance to share our experiences regarding protest participation and protest organization. We discussed the importance of social protest as a tool to give voices to those who are not represented by the mainstream government. I shared my experiences organizing high school protests for the March for Our Lives movement, as well as the frustration over the lack of government response more than three years later. One interesting point brought up by Professor Roberts was that, in an era of social media, we must expand beyond these platforms and emphasize in-person grassroots organization.
Social justice and higher education
The conversation between Professor Stefan M. Bradley and President Ajay Nair was an eye-opening talk that allowed me to deeply understand the role of the Ivy League when it comes to achieving social justice on our college campuses. The Ivy League itself is and has been a representation of privilege in the history of American education. Other colleges often look up to these 8 institutions and follow their path establishing university legislations and academic curricula. That is why it is Cornell’s duty to incorporate the voices of racial, gender, and sexual orientation minorities into our policies. Recently, there have been conflicts regarding the Student Assembly’s decision not to disarm campus police. This decision imposes a direct threat toward black and other minority students at Cornell who no longer feel safe on campus, due to the existing tensions regarding police authorities. This event shows that Cornell still has a long way to go when it comes to achieving social justice on campus. As Professor Bradley stated, there is a difference between desegregation (accepting students of all minority groups) and integration (actually hearing their voices and implementing them into the school’s decision-making).
Making connections
After three episodes of watching the Chernobyl series, I have not been able to stop making connections between the situation portrayed in the show and our current battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. There were various gruesome scenes in this episode, as well as incredibly frustrating character interactions, which has become a recurring theme in the show so far. Several characters, specifically the pregnant woman, continuously avoided the advice and warning of medical professionals telling them not to go near the intensive care patients because of their exposure to dangerous radiation. Those scenes reminded me of the groups of people in our country who refuse to listen to science and deny the terrible consequences of COVID, which just leads to an increase of cases and a further deviation from normality. At the end of the episode, there was a powerful moment where a beautiful day filled with blue skies was contrasted with a ‘mass funeral’ of caskets being lowered into the ground and covered with cement. This could also be seen as a metaphor for our lives in the midst of the pandemic. As tempting as leading a normal life may be, COVID is still sadly the biggest threat the world is facing and millions of human lives are being lost.
The art of silencing
This prison arts session was an incredibly eye-opening event that exposed me to the different interconnections between art and systemic racism, as well as the criminal justice system in the United States. One of the points mentioned that mainly caught my attention was the synesthesia of racism. Race, despite it being a ‘visual entity,’ can also be expressed through sound, and this sound can be used as a discriminatory tool. As it was explained by Professor Jennifer Lynn Stoever, there is important intersectionality between race and gender and black women have been pressed since their childhoods through the use of sound and silencing. Black girls are stereotyped as noisy since their early years of life; their unique voices and opinions have been dismissed and silenced throughout their lives. As a person who has never been a victim of discrimination because of my skin color, it is my duty to educate myself and others about the importance of uplifting black voices. In an America undergoing multiple crises, an important step toward dismantling systemic racism is to understand the importance of intersectionality, as well as the connections between racism and the patriarchal nature of our world.
Science and chaos
In comparison to the first episode of the series which was characterized mainly by plot-building, this week’s episode was much more active and filled with action. It was very interesting to see the problem-solving approach to the situation from the perspectives of both the scientists and the government officials. At the beginning of the episode, one of the team’s scientists described the science behind a nuclear reactor using chemical jargon. In my opinion, it was a very interesting scene, since it allowed me to incorporate previous knowledge from my field of study together with the plot of the series. Once again, the increasing disagreements between the scientists and the public reminded me of today’s current climate, in which many Americans still deny the veracity of the scientific research behind the virus. An aspect of this episode that I thoroughly enjoyed was the presence of a powerful female scientist playing a key role in the story, especially in a field and during a time period where women were terribly underrepresented.
Connecting or controlling?
The Netflix film The Social Dilemma was an interesting mixture of documentary and fiction. It allowed me to engage in self-reflection about my own social media use and how much those practices control my daily life. This captivating piece explores our growing dependence on social media and how the usage of these platforms has expanded beyond their original goal. I have always analyzed the effects and dangers of social media from a personal perspective, in terms of how much damage it can cause to people as well as their mental and physical health. However, this film allowed me to portray these issues from a broader point of view, focusing especially on the companies, the creators, and masterminds behind such platforms. With time, big companies have continued to throw ethics out the window to expand their profits. Platforms like Instagram or Facebook have become much more than a form of communication and, as it was revealed in the film, have become monitors of our daily lives. It was very interesting and somehow ironic to see the tech creators denouncing their own creations and becoming self-aware of the damage behind this growing industry.
A recipe for disaster
The first episode of Chernobyl provided a very mysterious, intense start to the semester. I had learned about this historical event through history and environmental science courses, yet it was very interesting to see it portrayed through film. This initial episode narrated the escalation of events that led to Chernobyl. The visual and auditory cinematographic effects utilized were brilliant. A dark color scheme was present throughout the episode, creating a very dark atmosphere overall. The background music and sound effects were also truly powerful and anxiety-provoking. If I could use a word to describe this episode, it would be frustrating. The plot showed a major conflict between science and politics, and how the government officials tried to hide the magnitude of the event, while the situation became increasingly worse. The feelings of denial and confusion reminded me of our country’s situation with COVID-19, where countless people today still deny the gravity of the virus and refuse to listen to scientists and government officials.