Author Archives: Angela Lee

End of the Year Stress

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On April 24th, I took part in a Rose Talk regarding how to better manage end of the semester stress. We each took turns talking about what advice we give to others, what places we enjoy studying at, and what our current strategy for handling stress is.

An interesting topic we spoke about was why is it that we can offer great advice to stressed out friends but have difficulty taking our own advice. As a result of this realization, I’ve been consciously making an effort to take the advice I give others and apply it to myself.

Lastly, we discussed how we feel as though Cornell’s infrastructure isn’t sufficient for the number of students; we shouldn’t be worried about not being able to find a seat at a library during prelims or how it seems as though dining halls can’t handle the influx of people during peak hours without creating long lines. While these problems don’t add an immense amount of stress individually, together they do.

Mobilizing

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On April 17th, I attended the Table Talk regarding the March for Science that occurred on Earth Day, April 22, 2017. Initially, what attracted me to this Rose event is the fact that I’ve become more interested in the environment and studying sustainability, so I thought that the talk would provide me with some knowledge as to what the march was for.

What I learned, however, was more shocking than I expected. While I thought that under the Trump administration, funding for certain research sectors would be reduced, I didn’t realize to what extent those proposed cuts were. The numbers further amplified the importance of the March to me. Additionally, during our talk, we spoke about how individuals could effectively communicate the importance of science to those who are more skeptical; given the nature of such a complex topic, we didn’t come up with a definitive answer but just that when conversing, it’s important to not put down another person’s beliefs because that only then makes them a stronger proponent of their beliefs.

What’s fake

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There’s a fine line between being inspired by another person’s work and intentionally imitating a piece of work. During our table talk, we tried to come up with a definition as to what a ‘fake’ piece of work is.  Ultimately, our definition came down to whether or not the artist’s intentions are to purposely gain credit off of the previous artist. If so, then that is a fake. However, if the artist is inspired by another individual’s work and does not claim to be that original artist in any form, then that is not fake work.

The issue with our definition and why this topic is so interesting is because one’s intensions cannot be truly known. Therefore, we thought that the best way to bring to surface the answer is by looking at previous trends and to what extent how is credit given to the original artist.

Physical & Economic Geography of Brazil

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After hearing Andre speak about how the physical geography of Brazil varies vastly within the country, I was interested in learning more about the huge contrast. The fact that Brazil holds both the Amazon Rainforest and Brazilian Highlands is particularly captivating for those exploring the country. After reading about both the rainforest and Highlands, something interesting I found out is that the Amazon River is home to approx. 1/3 of all known animal species and makes up half of the world’s rainforests. Considering this information and taking into account the Highlands, it can be concluded that Brazil’s topography is pretty diverse, making it interesting to study and visit.

In terms of Brazil’s economic geography, Sao Paulo is responsible for about half of the country’s GDP and 2/3 of manufacturing. Something noteworthy about this topic is the fact that Brazil’s sugar cane production (12% of the world total) is used to create gasohol which powers a portion of Brazilian automobiles. Given the fact that Brazil’s key industry is automobile production, we can see that Brazil is vertically integrating its production, which is an interesting strategy.

Truth About Attica

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On March 7th, I had the opportunity to hear about the Attica Prison uprising. Prior to  the lecture, I had never heard of Attica or the riot. Although I had never known about the situation, at least I was able to learn about the situation with all of its truths. When the uprising occurred, what was told to the public was untrue. The cover-up told to the public back then can still be seen today when we think about the bias news coverage that is presented to us.

 

Furthermore, how hard it was to uncover what actually occurred at the prison makes me question how much of history are we missing today. Heather Thompson spoke about how back then, the governor made the book and information on Attica closed . So, Heather had to get lots of information directly from the people who lived it instead. Thus, we have to think, for the events that occurred long ago that can’t be traced to directly living individuals anymore, how many of those events are we missing/have been told incorrectly?

Subway Sadness

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While I thoroughly enjoyed Nicholas’ work, I was particularly drawn to the portraits on the subway portion. I couldn’t help but notice how all of the faces seemed to portray every unhappy emotion. Like great art does, this brought me back to a few months ago when I was riding the NJ Transit at 7am on a weekday. I found myself surrounded by individuals with headphones in. I couldn’t figure out if it was just the time or if, in general, subway rides are filled with individuals giving off unhappy signals. While I obviously don’t expect to be having a social on the subway, I also don’t see people smiling at individuals when eye contact is made or just observing and being present in the moment instead of staring at a phone. During my 7am ride, I felt down thinking about how these individuals are on this train every morning, M-F; I started to question whether or not this is what I wanted in my future.

All of this thinking came from the time I spent looking at Nicholas’ subway portraits. Across all of his work, I found myself recalling scenarios from the emotions I felt looking at his pieces. I also enjoyed the fairly large painting he did portraying his feelings while recovering from surgery. When he was describing how he felt during recovery, I could see those feelings in the piece itself.

Sanctuary Movement: Where do we go from here?

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Prior to the Table Talk on Feb. 13, I had very little knowledge about the sanctuary movement, specifically at Cornell and in Ithaca. What I learned, however, was both inspiring and upsetting. I found out that Ithaca was declared a sanctuary city a while back, which I never knew and feel like should be known. While this seems promising, the question moving forward is what exactly is a sanctuary city and how does the area implement what it says in writing.

Now, this leads me the movement on campus. While President Rawlings has said that the University will ‘support and defend’ undocumented students, I found out that within the fine print of the email sent out to all of campus, the ‘supporting and defending’ is not what one would expect when hearing those words, as there are a lot of contingencies upon the extent to which Cornell will protect undocumented students. This was incredibly sad to learn, but at the same time, only increases the urgency for students and residents of Ithaca to learn more about the movement, what’s actually occurring, and what their rights are.

We discussed that one of the most important factors to creating a successful movement is getting people to mobilize. This is particularly difficult in this context, as this situation involves finding individuals who can be trusted to know private information about students who are potentially in danger. Personally, I believe the best way to get more students involved and aware is by promoting related events and spreading awareness by word of mouth in the hopes of capturing and garnering recognition for this topic on campus so that if an incident were to occur where individuals would be needed to protest/stand against something or someone, there would be enough awareness  on campus that individuals would want to do participate.

Towards a Greener Future

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On Feb. 11th, I had the opportunity to attend a tour of SewGreen, located in the Commons. This store is especially interesting to me, as I plan on combining my major in AEM with my minor in Environmental and Sustainability Sciences. The founder spoke to us about how the store was created based on need. With her environmentally conscious mindset, she fulfilled the need of people wanting to learn to sew by starting a store that allowed individuals to donate their sewing materials for others to use instead of disposing of it. The store then sells the materials at a discounted rate in order to promote the use of recycled materials.

 

During part of the conversation, the owner asked all of us what we are studying and how we can use our interests and knowledge to contribute to a more sustainable world. With a broad range of majors represented from CS to chemistry, it was really awesome to hear everyone talk about how they can help move us towards a greener future. Additionally, we spoke about fast fashion vs. sustainable clothing brands, which was a good reminder for me to be more conscious of where I buy my clothes from considering how easy it is to forget about where clothes come from. Overall, the trip to SewGreen reminded me of how excited I am to combine my academic interests.

Marketing + Football

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On Feb. 5, I attended “Football, Marketing, and Money.” The group conversation was particularly insightful for me personally, as I don’t follow football. So, although I knew about Fantasy Football, I didn’t realize how big the business actually is. Fantasy Football was brought up as a possible contributing factor in the decline of football viewership. Someone made a very interesting point about how maybe another reason viewership is declining is because culture is changing – the communal aspect, particularly. As a result, in general, maybe  people aren’t really gathering in big groups anymore, as humans tend to seem more isolated (physically) because of technology.

 

Personally, I don’t watch football because I never grew up around it. So, as viewership continues to decline, I wonder how that will impact the future growth of the NFL. Additionally, it’s going to be interesting to see how the NFL combats the issue of declining viewership through marketing. Because, in the long run, if revenue decreases, salary of players may decrease, possibly influencing the talent that comes in, as some athletes may be turned off by football and pursue other sports.