Author Archives: Ivan

Combining the beaten and unbeaten path

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For my Rose cafe, I attended Laura’s talk on how to pursue passions as a career. First off, I’d like to commend Laura for working in such a difficult field where you are liable to take on a lot emotional baggage everyday.

Laura’s path was first gaining a world class education. Then after working in a corporate setting for one year, she moved to her current field of social work.

She offered a view that working in her field didn’t mean she had to sacrifice an exciting career. She talked a lot about all the places she has traveled through her work and all the initiatives she has been a part of.

Another thing she discussed is how education has contributed to her success now. I think this is an important point for anyone attending a university. It might seem like you are destined for a very straight path to some large company or maybe a smaller startup. However, you want to be directly helping people in need. Right now you have the opportunity to gain skills that would greatly benefit those in need. The more educated you become the more valuable every hour you spend helping becomes.

That was the overarching theme that you can leverage your education to help fulfill your passions.

Afternoon out to the Orchestra

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The Orchestra performance was a great way to relax before the start of finals. Mr. Sung and the entire Cornell Orchestra did an amazing job. I enjoyed all three of the pieces.

The first piece was relatively short, but featured a broad range of sounds. The second piece was a famous piece by Tchaikovsky. Some of the parts were easily recognizable from films and shows I’ve seen over the years. The last piece was by far the longest, and the story behind it is quite interesting. In the program pamphlet, it discussed the significance of the piece to the Finnish people when they were striving for independence. It is an important remainder of how music is interwoven into society, and that historical pieces offer good reflections of the people that lived then and the things they experienced. Although it may have been written a hundred, two hundred, or five hundred years ago, music is common bond shared through out the ages. It might be hard to imagine the day to day lives of our ancestors, but it isn’t as hard to imagine them enjoying music as we still do.

Overall, it was great to see a performance put on by such talented individuals.

Quick guide to survival in college

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For this cafe, Professor Schwarz gave a talk on his book about moving from high school to college and the few years post college.

Schwarz assessment of the senior year in high school and first few months in college really resonated with me. The frenzy of college admissions from the test scores to the actual application process was a fairly accurate portrayal of my experience. More importantly, he discussion of the first months in college made me wish I heard his talk a two years ago. The first few months at Cornell are so full of different obligations and opportunities that it is very easy to get overwhelmed. It is important to teach freshmen to take it slow and to not fear getting lost in the process.

Another topic I enjoyed was his defense of the American higher educational system. The system is often criticized, but such a large system will of course have places for improvement. However, it is important to recognize what is being done correctly. Moreover, the critiques can often be contradictory. “Allow more access to college, but also limit college debt” or “Increase mental health services, but also decrease tuition costs”.  People want goals that go against each other to be completed.

 

Different parts of activism

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The event was focused on the many different parts that are involved in activism. The open dialogue brought out a lot of interesting ideas from people who see themselves as activists and from people who aren’t yet ready to accept that label.

The first interesting topic we discussed is whether people are obligated to be activists. Esmeralda brought up Alice Walker’s quote, ” Activism is my rent for living on the planet” which certainly summarizes a potential viewpoint on this question. Walker argues that activism is more an obligation than a choice. The idea has merit, but I don’t support it fully. The inverse of the quote is that a lack activism somehow means you are freeloading. This feeds into a false dichotomy that all activism is good and working from within the system is bad.

Then, we talked about the idea of protests having a figurehead. There were arguments from both sides. People asserted that a figurehead makes the movement more sympathetic and easier for the general public to associate themselves with the movement. Others worried that a figurehead can lead to one person having too much power to dictate an entire movement’s agenda. I would make the case that a figurehead is useful because it allows a movement to most effectively control its message and pr. The downside is that certain people and ideas in the movement, particularity the more radical, will be marginalized and shunned. However, I think this is the price you pay since you can’t have a successful movement that has moving goal posts.

Overall, the morning discussion was very useful and allowed me insight on how others at Cornell view activism.

The keys of soil

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Professor Solomon came to Rose house to emphasize the importance of soil. Usually the importance of soil is talked about in relation to agriculture. A often discussed topic is how soil erosion is a threat to food security especially in poorer regions of the world.  Solomon connected the issue of soil and global warming.

I had no idea how large of a contribution soil disruption is to the release of carbon dioxide. In general, the release of all this carbon is a major contributor to the crisis faced now by the entire world. Thus, it is in the interest of everyone to help improve soil’s ability to hold carbon. The preservation of carbon within the ground will not only increase crop yields, but also help decrease the amount of carbon held in the atmosphere.

Another cool part of the cafe was being able to look at the fertilizer produced by Solomon and Garrett’s research group which is being sold in Ethiopia. The usage of bone in the fertilizer allows it have similar benefits to the most potent fertilizers used in the West while allowing the fertilizer to be affordable for people in Ethiopia.

One issue I had was the question of whether this fertilizer will actually curb global warming in the short term. The usage of fertilizer to maintain soil year in and year out is most certainly a positive for the people of Africa who still face the possibility of food scarcity. However, a boom in crop output will most likely lead to a continued population boom which will increase carbon production in the multitude of way, at least in the short them.

Touring Cornell’s Ornithology Lab

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This week we went to visit Cornell’s Ornithology Lab on a Saturday morning. We were able to take a hike through the woods and a tour through the facilities. The hike was a pleasant break from being cooped in and studying for prelims. We got to see quite a few bird species that live in Tompkins county. The songs sung by the birds were definitely more prominent than their physical appearance. Our two tour guides were extremely knowledgeable about the field. It provided me with a lot of exposure to a topic I had never been introduced to before.

After the hike, we went for a tour of the facility which is sponsored by grants and private donations. One of the highlights of the trip was seeing all the unique art that had been donated to the lab. In particular, they had a giant wall mural of the world filled with a representative from each family of birds. The level of detail for each bird was amazing. We also got to see preserved specimens of some really cool species. From the skeleton of a platypus to some really odd Australian birds.  In addition, they had framed the skeleton of a 26 foot python from an expedition in 1915.

The experience allowed a brief view in a very fun field that is still discovering and learning a lot of new things.

Difficulties of advocating technological adoption

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The cafe hosted by Professor Garrick delved into a few interesting topics. We started in a some what roundabout way by examining the US car market. We looked at what mechanisms allow people to feel comfortable making such a large purchase. From test drives to access to internet/reference books, there are a multitude of things that provide a consumer the chance to explore his/her options without feeling that they are buying in the dark while insurance and warranty allow the consumer to feel secure in his/her financial investment.

Then we got to see this method applied through Garrick’s research. His project focused on the adoption of cleaner burning stoves in Africa. The current stoves cause issues that result in millions of deaths. Garrick walked us through the challenges they faced, and how they tried to overcome them. Even though they utilized a lot of things learned from the US car market, they were very unsuccessful in getting the native populations to adopt the newer stoves.

Ultimately, this is a reflection of how hard it is to change people’s behaviors. Smoking in the US is not the perfect parallel, but it does have some strikingly similarities. The US government poured countless millions into health initiatives to discourage smoking, and it took decades to have an effect. People were very reluctant to change despite knowing the health risks of smoking. Even now, it is questionable how large an effect those media campaigns had on the older generation, and whether the decrease in smoking is coming from the younger generation.

Garrick and his team didn’t face big tobacco, but they had a myriad of challenges. A more limited budget coupled with cultural differences lead to a very low rate of conversion to new stoves.

Policy with blurred objectives

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The first cafe of the year was one of the most interesting ones I’ve been too. I enjoyed Professor Nicolas van de Walle’s discussion at the start of how we ended up at our current policy about foreign aid to Africa. It was surprising to hear about all the failed approaches. From an economic statement, the approaches that had failed in previous decades all seem very sound. From adding capital to the country to spur growth of new businesses, helping fund large public projects, and finally trying to create a base of educated professionals. All these ideas have great merit.

Walle hit on what he believes is hindering the economic growth of different African states. Widespread corruption among government officials. I agree with him that such an atmosphere  isn’t beneficial to growth. People are less likely to take risks if they think that the field is tilted against them.

One success story that was discussed was Ethiopia, and the reason given  was the strong government leadership that helped remove a lot of corruption. This hits on Walle’s point that he believes the correct path is to displace bad leadership. This is, of course, easier said than done as it has been shown time and time again that outside forces changing a country’s leadership rarely lead to positive results. In the end, the changes must come from inside the country from bold leadership and a sense of national unity. This leaves the USA, and the rest of the world, with a murky policy on how to speed up Africa’s development.

Great acting with fantastic pacing

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The general buzz around Straight Outta Compton online was very positive so I was excited to go watch the movie on my first weekend back. I wanted to see how well the movie managed an ensemble cast of characters while keeping the plot moving.

The introduction to the characters was a little rough as it was hard to distinguish important characters, and their motivations. However, the movie quickly recovered as the lead characters united and started their journey. The performance by Jason Mitchell, Eazy-E, was more or less  the center piece of the story. As you got to see his rise with the rest of the group, and ultimately his fall as his friends abandoned him due to the embezzling manager. The portrays of Ice Cube and Dre were also strong. It is rare to have such a large cast and have so many successful performances.

Another strong point was how the story was kept moving and never stayed in one spot too long. Of course, it stayed in few parts for too little of a time. It would’ve been fun to see more screen time of the beginning of the group; however, that would’ve detracted from the ending.

One of my favorite things was the movie showed us glimpses in the personal lives of Dre, Ice Cube, and Eazy-E which helped highlight their growth through out the story. Overall, I really enjoyed the story itself, but moreover the acting and directing. It is not often that a movie gets so many little things right.