Author Archives: thh55

Educational Paths

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This edition of Rose Buzz featured Dr. Julia Felippe and Dr. Andre Kessler, experts in their respective fields, talking about the experiences that led them to where they are now. Both of them grew up outside of the United States, which made it interesting to hear about how they eventually made it to Ithaca to pursue their respective subjects.

Something that I appreciated was the emphasis both speakers placed on diversity in experiences. As a student, I’m often under the impression that my choices have the utmost weight on my future. It feels to myself like I’m putting in great amounts of work, so the effect of that work must somehow become proportional to my standing that I’ll achieve later in life. But as Dr. Felippe pointed out, a career is built up of many experiences and choices; it’s not going to be determined by any single factor, but exists rather as an aggregate of your time in pursuit of your subject. Dr. Kessler’s experiences seemed to be driven by his passion for biology, irregardless of where it may lead him; but his passion served as a strong drive, and in the end, it took him so far that it led him into an expert position in his field. I really appreciated hearing this week’s interview, because it helps me put my academics into perspective. Individual moments are important to me in the present, but the most important thing is that I consistently do what I love.

More to be Done

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This film was great. It interviewed Native people on their thoughts and experiences regarding the derogatory use of Native American words and imagery, particularly for marketing and sports purposes. There was a range of thoughts and feelings about these uses, and many of them centered around the centuries of discrimination against indigenous tribes. This is crucial context for the argument. Native people have been used, without their consent, as symbols throughout history; regardless of intent, these uses need to be scrutinized.

The appearance of Native spirit guides, traditional dance-wear, and tribal likenesses has always been present in pop culture, but the lack of voice from actual tribes is what makes this negative. Actually hearing speakers on the topic was helpful, because they knew best what the uses were. One woman described the hurt she felt at having to see a cartoon image of a tribal character used without regard to the history behind it; but when she fought back, she became the subject of intense scrutiny. There was intense backlash against tribal members speaking out, and the overwhelming force of sports marketing nearly succeeded in drowning activists out completely. But as the film showed, there are still tribal members who speak only out against derogatory usage of Native figures, and the progress being made is hard-fought.

Rewatching an old classic

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My Neighbor Totoro is a movie I’ve seen many times throughout the years; watching it this week, I realized I’ve never sat down and watched it through an adult lens. I mostly watched it when I was very young, and then after that, with younger family members. It’s always been a delightful movie to see, partially because it’s told primarily through the voices of the children.

Watching it this time, I picked up on a lot of details I’ve never noticed before. I’ve always seen the film as magical and happy, but I realize now that a lot of emphasis is placed on the children’s mother being in the hospital. It was a detail I’d expected, but now that I’m a bit older, I’m understanding more of the implications of the mother’s illness. It should be a sad and scary time, which makes it all the more delightful when Totoro and the forest’s creatures appear to play with the cast. Similarly, the scene where Mei is missing is scarier to see as an adult, even if I know how it ends. As a child, I always thought her shoe floating in the water was just a detail, but I now realize the implications of it, and I know if it happened to me I would be terrified. Seeing these details in the context of the movie, they serve to draw out the happier moments better.

After watching this again, I’m excited to see it again with the next young child I encounter who needs babysitting. It’s really good storytelling, and it always manages to tell an effective story with the its magical ups and downs.

Asking Experts

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This panel was really informative, and it did wonders for my confidence in applying to internships. As a Junior in college, something I hear a lot is that the internships I secure this year will matter for the rest of my life, so choose wisely.  When family or friends ask about my skillset, it suddenly blurs together, and I don’t have much to say about the years I’ve spent in school; internships are helpful because you can provide examples of things you’ve done, rather than describing what you’re most passionate about to someone else in an abstract sense. Without much context, that can be a frightening thing to try and explain when you’re directing it at professionals you look up to.

For this reason, I appreciate hearing first-hand experience from the panel, who are experts on the topic. They’ve all held multiple positions at various companies and organizations, which isn’t something that comes easily. They described their experiences applying: sometimes you can apply to multiple places and get zero offers, which is unlucky, but unfortunately common. That’s the extent of it, though — bad luck. So if this happens, you can’t let it demoralize you. Rather, you should take a look at your materials, adjust them as necessary, and keep trying for the right position.

It’s also helpful to hear about what, exactly, others are doing at their internships. Some of the work is more hands-on, like analyzing data with a fresh perspective,  but a lot of it involves logistical management. Both of these are options I should be prepared for, going into internships this summer, so I appreciate the advice looking forward.

Our Planet, My Homework

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Watching Our Planet was an excellent de-stressor from the workload of that particular week. The content was mostly animals and rainforest, which was a nice complement to the homework I’d been balancing. The movie was built up of calming tones, with gentle background music and easy narration.

It did spark some comments at the end about the importance of environmental preservation. It’s hard to watch the content of the rainforest go by without sparing a thought to what threatens it. The work I’d had that day was regarding pollinator preservation techniques, which have to get strategic to compensate for the influx of environmental dangers that are brought about by nearly every major industry on Earth. Deforestation is a key component of environmental protections, because of the communities and wildlife that rely on it the forest support. So while the content of Our Planet worked well to mitigate stress, it did help remind me that it’s important to work toward forest protections however possible.

Decolonizing Justice through Film

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This was an interesting weekly film, and I’m really glad I got to see it. I’ve always known that the history of Latino/Chicano people in the United States was vast and rich, but it can be hard to learn about it in academic contexts because the history isn’t documented in the same way it is for many Americans. My experience with Chicano history has always been verbal storytelling from my family, or murals in my neighborhood, neither of which tend to overlap with the content I learned in high school for U.S. history. It can be frustrating to hear these magnificent stories, and then never hear them acknowledged or repeated throughout decades of schooling.

Bad Hombres was a movie that took care to collect some of these stories and repeat them, particularly regarding the historic fight to decolonize justice in the United States. One story I appreciated from the movie was of a young woman, whose neighborhood had been flagged growing up for gang activity. This is something that happens to lots of neighborhoods in the US, particularly with BIPOC inhabitants, and it can be invisible to those who don’t live there. It’s a process in which greater police surveillance is employed in the interest of deterring crime. Oftentimes, the end result of this is greater punishment for what would be minor violations. The woman interviewed in the film did a great job of explaining what that’s like, and how justice can take different forms depending on your background.

Sign Language Fundamentals

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One of my oldest friends is hard of hearing; it doesn’t tend to get in the way of her daily life, because she’s been developing her lip reading for decades, but the pandemic has presented her with new challenges. She’s in her freshman year of college this semester, and with everybody wearing masks, she’s having trouble understanding their words. She’s always known minimal sign language, but has recently decided to accelerate her studies due to the pandemic. I wanted to try and learn alongside her, which is a large part of why I signed up for this week’s sign language seminar.

The seminar was very helpful. I appreciated having experts in ASL to ask questions, because neither me nor my friend know the fundamentals of the language. I was able to ask a question I’ve been wondering for a while: can you speak English alongside ASL? My friend communicates in English every day, but it’s helpful if we’re speaking quickly in public to show the ASL sign alongside the word. If I’m asking my friend whether she’d like to head to the book store or music store, I can ask that easily through signing book and music in different directions.

As it turns out, ASL has different syntax from English in many cases. As an example, the word for driver is generally expressed by signing drive and person in quick succession — and this differs from English, which can make it difficult to speak fluently in both at the same time. This wasn’t something I’d realized, so I appreciated the answer I got from the seminar! ASL is its own language, with its own grammar rules. So if my friend and I would like to modify it for ourselves, we can, but this wouldn’t be ASL as it’s traditionally used.

Zoom Court

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This week, we were able to listen in on an interview with Mike Fontaine and Scott Miller. Scott Miller, who is a judge, detailed the process of court during the pandemic; since in-person meetings have been largely suspended, court sessions are now being held over distanced video calls.

He explained that this process is being held as similarly as possible to a real session, but that a significant change is the use of the mute function. Since callers are dialing in from remote locations, each caller is able to be muted by the Judge, who has full administrative privileges over the call. Court sessions, particularly for families, tend to include fighting to some extent. This tends to escalate to callers talking over each other. Since Zoom isn’t able to transmit as much information as an in-person meeting would about body language and tone, it can be difficult to navigate a court session. This is why, for the first time, court sessions are regularly being held over Zoom, and judges like the Honorable Scott Miller are able to mute those who are speaking up out of turn.