Author Archives: aa863

All God’s Chillun’s

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Last weekend, I got the opportunity to see the play All God’s Chillun Got Wings. It was set in the 1920s during America’s blatantly racist past. The plot follows an interracial couple that have known each other since childhood. Jim is a black man who is struggling to pass his Bar exam, as he is an aspiring writer. Ella, the woman Jim is madly in love with, is a sought out for woman who ultimately marries Jim. The couple flee to France to escape the hatred against miscegenation that was prevalent at the time in the United States, especially with a white woman. However, when the got to France and were well received, the couple realized the issue was themselves. They were running away from an insecurity, which did not serve in dealing with that insecurity.

Once they returned to the United States, things took a turn for the worse. Ella was feigning insanity in order to keep her husband from passing his Bar exam. She could not be bear the thought of a black man becoming successful in a “white man’s world”. As a result, she did anything to keep Jim from achieving his dream. She oppressed Jim within his own household.

I think this play highlighted the battle of confronting and maintaining stereotypes about ourselves. Today, I doubt there would be that type of power dynamic in a relationship, but I still believe everyone has racial biases. This extreme scenario may have caused some people to confront their’s.

Cambodian Mystery

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Today, Dr. Widyono spoke on Cambodian history as well as its relations with the United States and China. He started off by explaining Cambodian’s geographic location, just in case anyone in the audience was unaware. Cambodia is located in Southeastern Asia, neighbouring countries like Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. “Originally”, Cambodia was a French protectorate, until France installed a Cambodian figurehead. Sihanouk was apparently a well-versed leader, but he was eventually overthrown by his prime minister Long Nol in 1970. Immediately, the United States took action. It invaded Cambodia for 90 days trying to shut down the operation of some Southern Vietnamese working in Cambodia at the time. All this did was cause a Cambodian civil war, and the U.S. dropped an unnecessary amount of bombs on the country of Cambodia. Khmer rouge started working about this time, and it managed to orchestrate the deaths of over millions of people. Many people were forced to give confessions of crimes they never committed, and then executed immediately after their “confessions”. That was Dr. Widyono’s concise history of the recent conflict in Cambodia; he still managed to discuss China’s influence and his travels.

He argues that the conspiracy that China will take over the world is completely false. Widyono believes that a country has to have a good foundation within itself for it to succeed in its relationships with other countries. China, he believes does not have the completely well-functioning government to start making huge moves in the world, at least not now. For example, China tried to gain a foothold on Cambodia, however, Cambodia had a well-coordinated, military bureaucracy so China was not able to make an influence there.

Dr. Widyono was able to visit Cambodia to see the depth of the relationship between Cambodia and China. He was able to go through national archives, and he eventually came across a text of blueprints for war materials. The subject was too dense in Mandarin for him to decipher it, so he took it to some Chinese friends, then Chinese engineering friends, and finally one of his students. The student’s grandmother was able to put Widyono in contact with some people in China who would be able to decode the riddle. His trip was a success because he found people who lived and worked on projects in Cambodia during the time period who were able to translate the text.

College Olympics

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Today, we got to hear from Dr. Schwars and his advice on how to succeed in college and beyond. Before we even started the discussion, he let us know that by attending an elite school, we were already at an advantage for succeeding at college. We have more resources that are available to us when we attend a good school, and we also will receive a highly respectable degree in the end. He then brought up the fact that socioeconomic status is correlated with who are the people attending college. Simply put, those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds tend to send their kids to college more often than people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. One because they are better able to afford higher education, and two because their parents provide a pressure to attend college.

In terms of direct advice, he told us we should have a general plan of what we would like to do, before we even enter college. We are allowed to change that plan, but we must re-plan and make changes along the way. Another tip was to take discussion classes because they equip you with the skill to speak eloquently in order to get your point across, which is a really valuable skill to have. As well as taking discussion classes, he also recommended that students take classes where the professors care about the students in the classes. If the professor does not care about the students he or her teaches Schwars argued, the professor is more likely to be indifferent when you go to him or her about your respective concerns. Lastly, he recommended that practicing interviweing earlier on, whether it be through student clubs or the career center, effective interviewing is a vital skill to have in the job market.

What is an Activist?

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Last Saturday, we discussed what it meant to do activism and also what exactly is an activist. We all agreed that for activism to start, there needs to be clear goals that the organizers are trying to reach. Without a clear set of goals, the movement lacks a direction, which makes it unattractive to join a group when there is no sense of purpose. We also agreed that it was okay to quit activism if one feels that they are physically, emotionally, and or mentally spent from all his or her activist work. Furthermore, being an activist does not necessarily mean that you are or will be the spokesperson of the movement, in fact most of the brunt work is done by people who are not the face. There has to be people behind the scenes, organizing everything otherwise the actual goal of the movement will not be achieved.

However, when it came to the notion that every movement needs a face or spokesperson, I disagreed. There have been many social movements that have been successful without a spokesperson. One prominent one today is the Black Lives’ Matter movement. We know that three black women founded the movement, but they are not the “spokesperson/people or face” of the movement. They work largely more behind the scenes and allow the movements goals to precede any fame they could have. I feel that once you give power to a single person it leaves room for people to either exploit this power and or cause people to hold the spokesperson on a high pedestal. Which is why I think it is important to avoid those circumstances and make it more about getting the message out, such as through many influential people on social media. For example, Beyonce’s Formation music video was a great way to show support for the black lives’ matter movement without making her a spokesperson.

Stress Olympics

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Often times at Cornell or college in general, we stress about different assignments, GPA, life after graduation, personal relationships, etc. During the lecture, I even caught myself a little stressed about a grade that I had received earlier that day. I knew the signs, really well, discomfort in my chest, butterflies in my stomach, increased heart rate, sweaty palms, and the feeling of anxious. All of this over an exam that I was hesitant about seeing my grade. It was really funny how much I could relate to this lecture under that current circumstance. In that moment, I realized that I needed to make some changes to reduce my stress and avoid breakdown. I immediately grabbed two paper calendars provided by the lecturers and utilized their pre-work, routine-strategy before I even started this assignment.

I am really happy that this lecture was provided because it is a little past the middle of the semester, and there are still roughly six weeks of school left. During this time, I usually get unmotivated to do work and I no longer have the strive and determination that I started off the semester with. This can be very problematic if I want to maintain decent grades and avoid stress from my procrastination with assignments, so I was very fortunate for the advice they provided. I think I will definitely take with me their advice on the pre-work, routine strategy and finding a good recharge that is not facebook or any other social media because they tend to worsen your mood, which I have found to be true in my personal experience. One of the ladies also stated that a good nine hours of sleep was recommended for people of the college age group, which was actually really surprising to me. Considering I have always been taught that seven hours was enough, I believed anything more was over-sleeping.

Overall I felt that this was a much-needed lecture that I am sure almost every student at Cornell can relate themselves. with.

 

 

Ball is LIfe

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The tennis coach, Silviu Tanasoiu recently came to Rose hall to speak on his life with tennis and his experience as a coach. His childhood began in Romania where he took played tennis from a small age, played at a junior league, and competed during college. One thing that stood out for me about his teenage years, was the fact that his dad sold the family’s car so that Tanasoiu could buy a plane ticket from Romania to Miami. Tanasoiu needed this ticket so that he could compete in a junior’s tournament in Miami that he had the great acceptance of being qualified for. Hearing about this scenario brought things around full circle, when he discussed the need for adversity on the court and in our lives’. This type of adversity showed him the extent of his parents’ love for him, that they were willing to sell their car to see their son compete for his ultimate dream.

Adversity, life mentioned above, is a way to push people to strive for their best and also bring out new heights in people, as Tanasoiu explains. He also strives to bring people that can not only handle adversity, but people who strive for success on and off the court, whether it be in an academic setting or during a tennis match. When recruiting, he tries to determine who will be the right fit for the Cornell men’s tennis team. Obviously he cannot get an actual genuine analysis of the person without pending years around a person, but he tries by getting to know each person in the life of the recruit. Everyone who is involved in the recruits life, from the coach to the mom, has an influence on the decision he makes about playing tennis for a specific school. It is also important to get to know these people and see these recruits in different settings so that they you get a picture of what their overall character is like. Tanasoiu wants people who will uplift the team, not be disrespectful towards the opportunity to play college tennis at Cornell.

Overall I really enjoyed the experience and hope to watch the men’s team compete in the future.

The Dreamer Narrative

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The Dream Act was basically an initiative to relieve education for alien minors. That they would be able to achieve higher education if they so chose. They are exactly defined as undocumented youth with a GED or high school diploma, under the age of 30, good moral standing, and have been in the U.S. for five consecutive years. The term doca and dreamer which are often used to characterize undocumented youth come from pieces of legislation or policy. However, some dreamers reject the narrative that the Dream Act pushed because they feel that it is a narrow depiction of their experience and who they are. Furthermore, it also attributes blame to their parents, and of course criminalizing their parents would definitely be a cause for concern for the undocumented youth. The Dream Act eventually failed in 2010, and Doca was a policy put in place that gave undocumented youth marginal rights, such as a work permit.

An interesting point that was brought up was the connections between the Civil Rights struggle and the undocumented youth struggle. The undocumented youth draw many parallels and often follow the strategies and organizing of those used during the Civil Rights Era. This point relates back to what I am learning in class in Intro to Asian American Studies, a lot of the protests of other minority groups have adopted the model African-Americans initiated. And it is interesting to see that the Civil Rights Era had such an impact on all minority groups as a whole, and not just African-Americans.

 

The Cookie

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I never actually take the time to focus on my vagina, just like the story of the old woman who had to “discover” her vagina after years of unfamiliarity. It is just something that I know is there, and I was timid about talking about the in and outs of the region. The Vagina Monologues provided the type of female empowerment that seems to be missing or that is in the forefront with demolishing double standards. For example, right now, Amber Rose is a noteworthy individual who is for the cause of female sexual empowerment. Just like Amber Rose’s efforts, the event made it a safe space to explore female sexuality and for women to be comfortable in their sexuality.

The show showed the female sexuality goes beyond pleasing a partner, and should and also be about getting pleasure oneself. And we should feel comfortable in our bodies, all parts including those that we are taught to hide and keep a secret. What I got from the show is that if we as women need to learn to undue the damage that society has had us believe about our sexual experiences with the opposite and the same sex. I think it is very important to address these issues because they go hand in hand with self-esteem, confidence, and self-image.

Lastly, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite performances. I really appreciated the scene with the different types of moans. The actresses made comments about how they felt the need to deter the moaning, particularly with the opposite sex. So to get the audience comfortable with the act of moaning and get us to believe that moaning, is in fact a normal effect that comes with great pleasure. It should not be fake, and should just be a sound that comes out comfortably.

Poetry

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We usually think of have concrete or conditional forms of love when asked what is the meaning of love. It is hard to get past the notion that love can be more than romantic, and can be seen in plenty of other forms. For example, there is platonic love, familial love, simmered down love(after the initial in love phase has calmed down), etc. Our speaker argued that love “should” be an unconditional type of emotion that we have for other people. It should mean supporting others, being happy, helping others, and overall just wanting the betterment of another individual. However, he made an argument that even groups working on promoting love and acceptance of themselves to the rest of the world, such as LGBTQ, civil rights, and environmental activists are also devoid of love sometimes as well. They argue and criticize each other, instead of seeking the upliftment of the individual that would eventually filter down to the entirety of the organization. Many feminists of color believe that placing love in our goals is the predictor of them becoming fruitful. Things fueled by hate they argue will only end in dysfunction.

The speaker read us a few poetry pieces that touched him and us alike. Although I could not relate to the places and the types of love referred to in the pieces, there was emotion and passion behind his words that I’m sure most people good relate to. Overall it was a nice event that allowed me to see a different way at looking at life.