Author Archives: Carmen Smith

Cambodia and China

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Last week’s Rose Cafe was one of the most entertaining to date. The speaker, Dr. Mertha, gave an extremely interesting and enthusiastic talk about Cambodia and his novel. I had very little knowledge of pre-Vietnam War Cambodia before this talk, and Mertha did a fantastic job of extremely briefly summarizing this period. Surprisingly, I was extremely interested in his talk, which was aimed specifically at China’s role in Cambodia at the time; this is surprising because usually, when I do not have knowledge of the topic, these types of discussions can be extremely dry. Mertha used his extensive knowledge on the time period to extract the essential information without boring the audience at all.

It was also very interesting to hear about his experiences in writing his novel and obtaining the information for said book. As he conceded, discussing one’s own novel can be very boring for the audience, but this was not the case for this cafe series. Again, Mertha brought excitement and enthusiasm into this portion of the discussion, bringing up interesting and entertaining points about his journey of gaining knowledge. The book seems very interesting, and perhaps he should consider a career as a book salesman if the professor gig does not work out.

Overall, this talk kept me interested for the entire hour, even though it was a last-minute decision due to unfortunate circumstances. I am extremely glad that I was able to attend this discussion and hope to hear from Dr. Mertha again at some time in the future.

Making the most out of one’s college years

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Tonight’s Cafe series was a preview of professor Daniel Schwarz’s new book, “How to Succeed in College and Beyond.” It was interesting to hear the advice that professor Schwarz had regarding preparations for college admissions and the first year of the college experience. As a junior, I was able to reflect on my experiences and relate them to the new advice that I was receiving. Professor Schwarz seemed to have combined information on the college experience from his own personal knowledge, his students’ experiences, and from research on higher education. It also seems like he was able to use a unique interaction with people leaving comments on his Huffington Post pieces to refine his arguments. The talk also touched upon the positive aspects of tuition and the negative aspects of Greek life (both of which are quite seldom heard on campus); hearing these comments was quite refreshing, as either they resonated with some personal beliefs or simply were new arguments that caused some personal reevaluation of certain beliefs. Overall, this was another interesting talk from professor Schwarz, and now I have one more book for my bookshelf.

The scoop on dirt

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Last week’s Rose cafe event was loosely tied to the talk given by Garrick a few weeks earlier. The end of this event consisted of a discussion involving the production of cheap calcium/phosphorous-rich dirt. The rest of the talk, however, was a brief overview of the study of soil. It was very interesting to hear this overview of a topic that I did not have any knowledge of whatsoever. While I have seen dirt probably every day of my life, I did not even begin to contemplate the complexity of dirt. I thought it was very interesting that the organic and living components are completely intertwined with the inorganic to create such an important feature of this planet. This is especially different for a biological sciences student who is bred to focus on the organic and biological aspects. I found the microscopic modeling of dirt very interesting as well.

The most elite of the elite; tennis in the Ivy League

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Last week’s talk about the tennis team at Cornell was very abnormal for the Rose Cafe series. Whereas most events cover the person’s work in research or their academic interests, this talk covered Cornell’s tennis team, recruitment, and the organisation of college tennis. I thought it was very interesting to hear the differences in outlook of athletic careers in the United States versus the rest of the world. Silviu Tanasoiu mentioned that the American system of collegiate athletics is the most developed in the world, giving athletes an opportunity at higher education that is not seen in other countries. I can imagine it would be difficult to convince international players to attend a university for four years while delaying their opportunities for professional tennis; however, I am sure this task is not as difficult when the education you are promising is from an Ivy League school. According to the head coach, it seems that this is the case, as the team seems to have no shortage of international students. As an extension of the difficulties of recruiting international athletes, the process of finding worthy tennis players in other countries must be incredibly difficult (and Silviu Tanasoiu mentions that they look almost every day for updates on athletes from around the world). It seems so incredible that, with all of the tennis players in the world, the different teams can manage to pick such a small group of athletes to develop the “right” team. Overall, it was very interesting to hear this inside perspective of something that I would have never thought about otherwise.

The portrayal of a DREAMer

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Last week’s cafe series event regarded a topic that is very different from those in weeks past. The description of illustrations of undocumented immigrants was very intriguing, as there was a very complex interaction between different images and portrayals of these people. From students to families, images created with different goals in mind were incredibly different in their depictions. This event could have passed as an introductory discussion on advertising, which is scary when the images are depicting real people and affect the welfare of real people. While I do not agree that the experience of being undocumented is a direct parallel to the experiences of African Americans, I do think life for these people is much too difficult. I think understanding the life of undocumented immigrants is essential before anyone can make a decision about legislation that should be in place. It is very interesting that there would be, potentially, an economic downside to legislation that documents these undocumented immigrants; I find it strange, but not surprising, that something as complex as the situation of immigration would have complex layers of political implications.

Cook stoves; changing an unhealthy or dangerous lifestyle

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Last week, Garrick spoke at the Rose Cafe series event. I found this cafe event very interesting, as he emphasized the significance of unhealthy cooking practices that are used daily around the world. So many people are dying from diseases related to something that seems so easily fixable; however, this rings true in many situations (not wearing seat belts, texting and driving, not getting vaccines, smoking, etc.). Most of these situations parallel the open flame as a method of cooking in that knowledge and information is not necessarily the key to getting people to change their ways. There are many aspects at play (unfortunately, this includes financial reasons for cooking tools) that lead to people endangering themselves and others by not changing lifestyles. Hopefully Garrick can soon develop a reasonable and functional replacement to the unhealthy cook stoves that are used around the world!

The present and future of Cornell Tech

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Last week, the subject of the Rose cafe was the development of the new tech school that Cornell is building in New York City. Adam Shwartz confidently discussed the current plans and successes of the school and the steps that the school is taking to develop itself in the immediate future. I asked what he pictured of the school in ten, twenty years. Interestingly, he gave a solid but empty response. He claimed that the future of the tech industry cannot be predicted, and the industry evolves too quickly to effectively plan for that far in the future. While other institutions may have a concrete ten-year plan, Cornell tech is taking a different approach, and I find it very interesting. His views of the institution include allowing the school to co-evolve with the ever-changing tech industry, which I personally think is the most important aspect of a tech school. By staying a relatively small institution with the backing of a large, wealthy university, Cornell tech seems to have the potential to effectively evolve with the tech industry to eventually become a leader in the field.

New Ithaca, New York

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The Rose Cafe series last week focused on urban development in the city of Ithaca. Lisa Nicholas discussed past projects and future plans for construction in Ithaca, focusing mostly on the Commons. The renovation of the Commons was an interesting topic, as she mentioned that the pedestrian block is an uncommon feature in many towns. The only other one that I am aware of is in Boulder, Colorado. While I think the new Commons project was very successful and the project was very well done, I still do not think it is perfect; although the design itself is fantastic, I think the shops along the pedestrian block do not perfectly reflect the atmosphere of the new project. I think some small, unique restaurants and a high-quality pub would do very well in place of some of the stores that sit on this newly renovated walkway. I can concede that these might take away from the original feel of the Commons, but I do not think it would be an enormous change on top of the changes that have already been implemented. Also, with the construction of new hotels at the end of the block (no matter how small and cozy), the face of the Commons is, in fact, changing. These changes to the Commons have already been so drastic, they could warrant a new nickname for the area: New Ithaca.

Economic Development in Africa

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As an Animal Science major, I rarely encounter discussions regarding economics and economic development. It was very interesting–and a little harsh–to hear the continent of Africa being described as a bad economic investment compared to southeast Asia. Although I understand that history supports the claim, it still seemed slightly harsh to hear. The discussion was interesting, given my lack of extensive knowledge on the subject. I wish we had gone into deeper detail regarding the occupancy of countries in the past and its relationship to current economic situations. The brief mention of the economic success and then failure of the francophone countries seemed intriguing, but this was not touched upon much more. The sample size of unoccupied countries is small, but Ethiopia seems to be pretty successful in terms of economic growth, which I find very interesting. This was a very different experience for me, but the knowledge gained in this discussion definitely increased my interest in global economic development.