Author Archives: Alejandra Blanco

The Nature all Around Ithaca

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Sometimes, it can be extremely easy to fall back under the immediate needs of our attention – classes, assignments, our grades, and our friends. We are so caught up in our daily lives that we forget to take a look around our surroundings. We forget to realize that we are living in a unique landscape, with beautiful scenery and historic background. We forget Ithaca and all that it has to offer.

This talk was about the importance of keeping Ithaca’s nature alive, the need to protect its land. As disappointing as it is, the fact is that while we are studying in Ithaca, there are people fighting to preserve its natural landmarks. This is precisely what Andy Zepp, an ILR alumni from Cornell dedicates his time to. He is the Executive Director of Finger Lakes Land Trust, an organization dedicated to the preservation of natural bodies of water, land, and gorges here in Ithaca. This organization allows for owners of historic/scenic land to provide security of that land and to maintain it for future generations to enjoy the land. I had no idea that Ithaca is the home to the greatest number of waterfalls within a 10-mile radius in all of North America. This is something worth fighting for and protecting. Another land that is part of the Finger Lakes Land Trust is the Finger Lakes trails that extends thousands of miles, almost passing through the city and going through the hill country. Not only was this a beautiful trail with the quintessential wildlife that characterizes upstate New York, but it is also a place where I would like to visit during my time at Cornell.

This talk was very valuable to me because little did I know about the conservation efforts that are presently occurring. I consider myself someone who is passionate about preserving our nature, as I do much research on how regulation and new laws can affect our environment, such as the passing of the Keystone Pipeline XL. I admire Andy on his efforts, and I think that attending this event has opened my eyes to the importance of taking an active part in my own community to help preserve the nature that is exposed to risk.

Soil: Foundation of Our Existence

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Soil is something I do not think about. So when I do, it is usually tied with negative connotations, such as dirty and impure. Little have I ever, in my life, stopped to think about the importance of soil, in terms of preserving it to keep our planet healthy and to keep all of the organisms on it alive.

Before attending this talk, I had no idea that 25% of carbon emissions are caused by soil. The amount of carbon stored in soil is up to 4 times more than in the atmosphere or in the vegetation. Soil, little do the majority of people know, has the potential to sequester carbon and become a carbon sink. The key, I learned, is to take the carbon and bury it into the soil.

What scientists today are trying to work on is to design a system which can enhance sustainability and food security. We do not know why carbon is bound in soil, but after finding out about this fact, I felt so much more hopeful. In the world of today, one of the most important issues is global warming and the existence of greenhouse emissions. The fact that soil is one of the key solutions to this problem gave me a much more optimistic view, and it makes me want to learn more about soil. I consider myself somebody who is green conscious and I try to help the environment in the ways that I can, through recycling, reducing waste, reducing meat consumption, etc. I firmly believe that education is key in finding solutions for one of the biggest problems the world is currently facing. This talk was the impetus that I needed to learn more about soil as a carbon vacuum!

A Sunday Afternoon at the Symphony

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It was a beautiful day, mild temperatures and not sunny but not cloudy. After a long, rough week, I subconsciously yearned for an activity that would take my mind away from all of the stressful stimuli. Something that stimulated my senses and that helped me clear my head.

On this Sunday, it just so happened that the Cornell Symphony Orchestra was playing. As I walked there with the Rose Scholars group, I took in the refreshing views of Ithacan Spring, and breathed the fresh air. This was all a great appetizer to what was about to be the entree – the symphony’s performance.

It was exhilarating! As the musicians were preparing, my eyes remained glued to their concentrated faces. It was so impressive, I thought, how these students manage classes and other activities but still manage to come practice with the orchestra to prepare such beautiful, pleasing music.

The first piece was Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet piece. It took my breath away. As I sat in Bailey Hall with my eyes closed, I could see the images rise from the notes that were being played. Every single person on stage was in sync and it truly made seeing their precision entertaining in its own right. I had never been to see solely a symphony orchestra, but after this magnificent experience, I know that this will not be the last time.

The Rise of China and its Bureaucracy

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This was a very interesting event held by Mr. Benny Widyono. He spoke about the growth of China in the last century, and about its relations with countries like Cambodia.

His discourse on Cambodia was specifically eye-opening. He spoke about how Cambodia started to arrest, torture and execute its own people. 1.7 million were killed, and there were pictures of people tortured into confessions – things that made no sense except to the ear of the regime. Horrific things happened in Cambodia during the regime in 1975. China’s role in this was not much of an influence. China had well military bureaucracy but so did Cambodia.

China, however, had dozens of different bureaucracies (factories, design institutes, ministries), but Cambodia did not have coordination on bureaucracies. This says a lot about the different government structures that existed at the time in China and Cambodia, how they contrasted, and how this paved the way for future development in both of these countries.

Additionally, Mr. Benny Widyono mentioned that policy in China is relatively uncoordinated. When I asked him for further clarification, he stated that China’s foreign policy is only as good as the institutions that manage its bureaucracy. The bureaucracy varies over time. Currently, China’s foreign policy is worse than it was back then, because of the lack of coordination that we have today. Where before there was more coordination under a planned economy, now because of local leaders, each area or locality has its autonomy, but this has resulted in unwanted coordination.

This was a talk I thoroughly enjoyed, because I learned a different aspect of China and its government organization; I looked at China from lenses which I had not looked from before. I took 3.5 years of Mandarin lessons, and through history classes, I believed that I had a decent grasp on China’s overall culture and structure. However, through this event I learned about the intricacies of China’s bureaucracy and how it affects its foreign policy. By far, it was so convenient to ask Mr. Benny Widyono exactly what the driving factors were.

On Islam and its significance for all religions

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“Attack on any religion discredits all religion.”

This was the sentence that hit me like a truck. With all of the chaos going on in our world right now, one can get muddled in emotions and allow them to muddle truth and rationale. This was a speech that was highly relevant considering current events. With one of our presidential candidates speaking outright about barring entry of muslim immigrants into the country temporarily, this was a talk that would do a great deal of opening people’s minds.

The media misconstrues so much of our reality. Mix this with catastrophic events whose authors cloak themselves under the other wise peaceful religion of 1.2 billion people, and the result is a toxic animosity towards the general mass of people who call to Allah. However, in this speech we learned that Islam is not in any way anything to do with ISIS. There is a great disconnect within the two entities.

Prior to 9/11, anti-muslim talk would have been the minority. However, now it is a growing sentiment within the American people.

 

The Power of the Mind: Tennis Strategy for Better Results

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If I had to categorize the events that I have attended in order of most liked, this would make the top three easily. Who knew that tennis and the mindset behind it would be so personally relevant to me. Hearing Coach Tanasoiu speak about the challenges that each athlete faces on a daily basis made me realize how much respect I have for student athletes. It is really not easy, and the time commitment of attending an Ivy League University as well as being an athlete is a task that requires a strong and persistent mindset.

This is the kind of mindset that trains and helps a person reach their goals and accomplish their full potential. Being an athlete has much to teach a person about how to work for what they want, and about the true costs of sacrifice. One of the points that the Coach resonated with me most was that the mindset is everything. Without it, one cannot achieve. Part of having a successful mindset is to know how to manage your time. This is something that I think can always improve. In fact, I would say that it is one of the biggest keys to success. The ability to prioritize time is something that I took away from this event, and will apply with much more intensity in both my academics as well as in my personal life. The coach stated that not matter the talent, the students must understand that they are students and have to be willing to devote extensive parts of their time.

The coach also spoke about the recruiting process for athletes. I had no idea how difficult it was to recruit the right fit of athlete for Cornell. He stated that the attitude of the potential student is everything. Once, he saw an athlete who had impeccable talent, but absolute disrespect for his coach. He realized that if he had not respect for those who spent the time helping him reach his goals, then he would have no respect for his new teammates or for the coach.

I did not ever stop to think about all of the things that I could learn from the students around me who partake in sports. I knew that they were hardworking and had good time management, but I have realized that their challenges and struggles and their coping mechanisms could teach the rest of the student population a thing or two.

Inside Out, In and Out

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All I had heard raves. everyone considered it great work. They said, despite it being marketed for kids, you will not be able to hold back the tears. My expectations for Inside Out were very high. The movie is relatable, funny, and endearing. It held such a unique perspective on how the works works according to our emotions. Sometimes we don’t give a second thought as to why we think, say and do what we do. Set in a pre-teenaged girl’s mind, we see many of the struggles that she endures due to moving across the country. As someone who has taken a couple of courses on psychology, it was very interesting and easy to follow along the way that the film explained how memories are processed, and their trip from short-term memory into long-term memory.

When Riley loses all emotion, and feels nothing at all, I got the feeling that she was feeling depression. And this made me stop and reflect on what depression really is. Often times we think that it is a prolonged state of profound sadness, but it is actually just the opposite. It is when it hurts so much to feel, that the mind just chooses not to feel at all. Everything loses its luster, and there is no longer any incentive. When moviegoers watch this film, it can truly open their eyes to what it feels like to have depression, albeit a large majority of the population already knows. However, this film is so commendable for demonstrating that even children can experience depression. The idea that we are not alone and that we are all susceptible to the claws of depression make Inside Out a must see.

Melancholy – The Beauty and the Madness

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In this seminar we learned that one of the  main differences between sadness and melancholy is that melancholy is rather a state a being, than a fleeting emotion. Throughout modern history, there have been several things that are associated with melancholy, such as black bile, earthiness, madness, genius, and words. This is especially true in the Elizabethan era, where it was common belief that people had humors and that black bile was a symptom of melancholy. Melancholy seems to have been a major idea in Elizabethan times, when looking at Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This play is renown for its intricate weaving in and out of madness and melancholy. Hamlet has been struck with melancholy after his father’s death, and the state in which he finds himself is past sadness, it is a state which seems to be never ending, it is melancholy. Due to his state, Hamlet acts and speaks sometimes irrationally, but at times the irrational words that he says are perfectly sensible, given his state.

This made me wonder, within the state of melancholy, is madness something that makes sense? Sara said that sometimes melancholy is so extreme that it is interpreted as fake. To what extent are our suspicions right? Melancholy seems to be so mysterious. One of the biggest takeaways from the discussion was that it’s about how we’re melancholy, not whether we are.This seems to hold true in the excerpts from the movie Vertigo, where we saw how the main character manifested melancholy after he saw his friend die. His melancholy manifests itself by him falling in love with Madeline, and through her, he is curing his melancholy.

This gives melancholy a positive aspect, for it is curable. Scotty’s melancholy is cured by breaking the fantasy of the thing he had lost. That could be the case with all of us. We may be in a state of melancholy, but it is reassuring to know that it can be cured.

Living a Life In Ithaca

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Ithaca to me seems like only an effervescent locality in my life, a land where after four years I will not be stepping on. In my schema, when I think of Ithaca I think of Collegetown, the gorges, and Cornell Campus. Other than that I can only think of the New England style houses. I seldom gave thought to Ithaca the city, the place where many people call home.

During this talk I learned that Ithaca is a city that draws more than commuters from more than 14 different surrounding counties. I learned that Ithaca is actually a magnet for both workers as well as people who would like to call it their permanent home. However, there is a problem for the city in terms of allocating new housing in the city, where it is already reaching its maximum capacity and has little to no room left. This makes the cost of living very high, and so naturally the percentage of people in Tompkins county who live in Ithaca has decreased from 50% to 30%. The city needs to make Ithaca an attractive place to live.

Part of the solution to attraction is to make room for housing near the plazas where Wegmans is. This would allow more people to move into Ithaca. Another factor to consider is the makeover of this plaza, transforming it from a not-so-aesthetic place to a more attractive plaza. This brings me to the point that in Collegetown, the cost of living has been rising because of high rent. This is something that affects the rest of Ithaca. This is something that shapes the landscape of Ithaca. I had not realized how much we constantly need to adjust for the changes in infrastructure.

My awareness has grown so much since I attended this event. I have realized that Ithaca is always and constantly changing. We must accommodate for all of the incomers who want to enjoy the city with the highest number of waterfalls in a ten mile radius.