I really enjoyed getting to know the Rose house fellows and their experience with/getting to Cornell. I particularly found the story about the “laughing jury” quit interesting. It was something I just never really thought about but found quite entertaining. Another part of the podcast I really enjoyed was when Professor Fontaine was discussing his education and career path. Like he said, college is about discovering yourself and I’m finding myself at this crossroads with myself. I went into college thinking I had this set path but my plan has changed so many times upon coming to Cornell. It was really reassuring knowing that I have time to discover who/what I want to be in the future.

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.

This podcast for the this week about Ancient Politics and contemporary issues. These podcasts are extremely fascinating because you can hear about the life stories of very interesting individuals. It is always especially intriguing to hear how people discovered what they were passionate in and how that translated in a career. The guests were very humorous but also helped me think about a lot of things I hadn’t considered before. Hearing such great words about Cornell really made me happy to be here and excited to form a community here for the next three years.

I really enjoyed the interview with Professor Fontaine and Judge Miller. One of the most interesting parts of the interview was their backgrounds. I thought they were an interesting contrast of one another. Professor Fontaine started out in college with no idea of which direction he was headed and learned that he had an interest in Classics after taking a class with a professor he liked. Judge Miller on the other hand sort of had the goal of law starting very young as he came from an area that had high crime. This really gave me reassurance about my own path. I came to Cornell with certain goals and saw a specific path. I thought I knew where I wanted to end up. However, I also came to Cornell with pressures to study certain things and to focus on a career that could support me in the future. All these pressures sometimes build up, and I often think about what I would have chosen if I came into college with Professor Fontaine’s mindset. A mindset where college is about learning about what you are interested in. Some of my favorite classes have been classes outside my major that have had really passionate professors. Overall, I don’t think one approach is better than the other. There are benefits to both mindsets that are not mutually exclusive and can be taken advantage of.

After attending the Fellow Interview with Mike Fontaine and Scott Miller, I realized how much you can learn about a person in a short 60 minute conversation. Both fellows were very open with us, and shared different aspects of their life story. I really enjoyed being able to learn more about their experiences and how that has shaped who they have become. Professor Fontaine, for example, has studied the classics, and told a story about his experiences publishing his new book “How to Drink” during the Covid pandemic. I found this very neat, as I remember hearing about one of the promotional events he was going to be having for his new book last year just before we closed due to the pandemic. It is amazing how much our world has changed since then, and hearing about his process of trying to promote his book when many events he had planned were cancelled was inspirational. Similarly, Scott Miller shared his experiences of being a judge without a courtroom, as the trials he runs are now via zoom. I had never thought about this before, but the personal impact that being in the same room has on many conversations is really important, especially in a trial setting. Learning about both of their experiences and how they’ve adapted during the pandemic inspires me that we all must be open to change and be able to make the best of any situation.

I attended the interview of Professor Mike Fontaine and Justice Scott Miller. The most interesting topic of the interview was the nature of court proceedings during the pandemic. Hon. Miller talked about his role as a mediator during divorce and custody proceedings. I found these discussions very interesting because my parents are divorced however I was not involved in the process because I was older than 18 at the time of their divorce. It was interesting to hear about how he has to meet with the children to learn their opinions regarding whose custody they want to be placed in after a divorce. I found Hon. Miller very relatable despite holding a powerful position as a judge. I also enjoyed listening to his opinions on the virtual nature of court proceedings during the pandemic. I found it interesting how he emphasized the difference court proceedings have when the people involved are not seen such as through phone in proceedings. I always have seen judges as being very impartial and unaffected by appearance but his admission that it made differences in court proceedings was surprising.

This week (ending 9/20), I attended the fellow interview with Mike Fontaine and Scott Miller, two extraordinary people in their respective fields.  Mike Fontaine is a professor of classics at Cornell, and Scott Miller is a Cornell graduate who now practices as a Tompkins County Court judge.  I enjoyed hearing their personal anecdotes about what inspires and interests them.  Sometimes, it feels as though professors and fellows always need to act professional, so it was nice to engage with these fellows on a more personal level.  Professor Fontaine explained what the study of classics really is, which intrigued me, and talked about his interest in ancient Greek humor, specifically as it relates to Cicero.  Judge Miller spoke on how his personal history inspired him to become a family judge.  Both fellows gave some great advice that I found applicable to my life as well.  For example, Judge Miller talked about a certain case where the defendant first showed up with an inappropriate shirt, emphasizing how important one’s appearance is for first impressions.  The entire event was recorded to be put into a podcast, so I highly recommend anyone who missed it to check it out when it comes out so that they can hear more about our amazing fellows.

After being in a meeting about an interview with Mike Fontaine and Scott Miller, Tompkins county judge Scott Miller has really changed my views about county judges, or even judges in general. One of the more fascinating things that I have taken from this interview is a little story about one of the cases that Judge Miller had. In the case, the defendant, a teenage boy, came into a public courtroom a little late, wearing a shirt that was not suitable for the occasion. As a matter of fact, the shirt read some words that encouraged breaking the law, ironic enough to bring to the courtroom. After being scolded by Judge Miller, in the boy’s next trial he came into the courtroom late, saying he was busy changing in order to be appropriate for the occasion. The boy came into the room with a t-shirt that illustrated a tuxedo and Judge Miller thought he was being mocked by the boy. But what really grabbed me was the fact that this little joke the boy had with the judge, influenced the judge to not plead him guilty after all, as Judge Miller himself said in the interview that connections with the Judge or the Jury definitely have an impact on your trial. This story had a significant impression on me in that the courtroom doesn’t really have to be so tense as it seems and that people can sometimes get away with small crimes as long as they take advantage of the situation.

This week, I was fortunate to be able to attend a talk with Rose House Fellows Mike Fontaine and Scott Miller. It was very interesting getting to know more about their professions, their personal lives, and what led them to their current careers. Professor Fontaine studies classics and is also the Associate Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education. I really enjoyed hearing about how he found his passion through classics through various courses and study abroad programs. Listening to him talk motivates me to take more classes in random subjects in the future because I never know what might fascinate me. I also wasn’t thinking about studying abroad before this talk, but Professor Fontaine’s experiences are making me more seriously consider studying abroad post-pandemic. Judge Miller is a Tompkins County Court judge who did his undergraduate and law degrees at Cornell. I was inspired by his story of why he chose to study law and eventually become a family court judge. Being one of only three judges to serve 120,000 residents is no small feat, and I hope to emulate his diligence in my life. He also talked about how the justice system has changed during the pandemic and how he needed to develop more patience during this time. Hearing him say that also makes me want to develop more patience so that I can better deal with the challenges of the pandemic. Professor Fontaine’s book tour was canceled due to COVID, as well, which was disappointing for him. I admire the tenacity of both fellows during these times.

Attending the Rose Scholars sit down with Judge Scott Miller was one of the highlights of my week. Going in, I wondered what I could expect to hear from a judge for an hour. Rather than simply rattling off information or other uninteresting aspects of his job or the court system, Judge Miller took the interview in a different direction and incited several emotions in me that I didn’t expect to feel last night.

First, he did make some jokes and showed us the 9 and ¾ decal on his inner chambers’ door and how he used it once to connect to a child that he had to make a custody determination on in a bench trial. Considering I want to be a lawyer in the future, it makes me hopeful I can also break the stereotypes of law being boring and uninteresting.

Then Judge Miller explained his life story and how he got into the legal field at such a young age and how he has a connection to many of the children he makes determinations on. I empathize with the fact that Judge Miller explained that Cornell was the first stable community he had growing up when he attended college here. I also grew up in a divorced family and never lived in one place consistently during my childhood until I arrived on campus. I hope that everyone else who attended or viewed the recording enjoys it as much as I did.

Today I attended the fellow interview of Professor Mike Fontaine and Judge Scott Miller. Professor Fontaine has been at Cornell for 17 years, he started as a Professor in the classic department, specializing on Greek and Latin languages, and he later became the Associate Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education. Professor Fontaine’s story really stuck with me because he explained his struggles over the years of first attempting to become a tenured professor, especially after being hired at such a young age. Then, the difficulties and responsibilities, attributed with taking over as Associate Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education at such short notice and stepping in to fill that role. All in all, it was a very exhilarating process for Professor Fontaine, and this really stuck with me because as I enter my adult life, I will be faced with things thrown my way all the time, and I applaud Professor Fontaine for handling his life events so gracefully. Judge Miller serves as one of three county court judge for Tompkins County. Judge Miller deals primarily with felony criminal cases and family court custody cases. It was very touching to hear about how personal the family court custody cases are. There can be screaming and fighting involved, and Judge Miller plays a very crucial and personal role in this process. Judge Miller explained how doing his job virtually has been very stressful because it is difficult to perform such a personal role without actually getting to see the person you are conversing with. This made me realize the extent of impact that COVID-19 has had on the entire world, and while society is acting accordingly on how to combat it, there are some aspects that truly suffered as a result. This experience taught Judge Miller to learn to become more patient, as I feel we can all resonate with today during COVID-19. I admire the resiliency of Professor Fontaine and Judge Miller through these unprecedented times, and it only empowers me to fight harder as I enter my adult life.