Author Archives: km749

On Torture

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There was a very serious talk that occurred between Nick Cheesman and his research companion last week. We discussed torture broadly and then specifically how it was used in Thailand. The details and gravity of the talk definitely made it the most serious Rose cafe that we had this semester.

I thought how wrong it was that torture was used so broadly in Thailand, but then I realized that the US employed the methods for a long time as well. This shows that between developed and developing countries, torture is too common.

Torture should not occur under any circumstance and neither should the death penalty. Those are both, in my opinion, violations of humanity and the state should not be allowed to make decisions regarding the wellbeing of any individual in that manner. There is just too much room for error and abuse. And there is a danger that people will view torture and executions as acceptable just because it is institutionalized within the state.

Overall, I am grateful for the talk as it forced me to think about these uncomfortable subjects.  I think the work that Nick Cheesman does is very important as torture is an issue that needs more discussion within our society since it is still used in many parts of the world.

Rose Scholars with Dr. Hill

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I found the efforts by Dr. Hill to improve the Rose Scholars program and the overall experience of living on West campus to be truly outstanding. It is inspiring to see someone like him work so hard on behalf of students. I do believe that the Rose Scholars program has improved tremendously over the two semesters that I have been here and I am confident that it will continue to become even better.

One idea that was suggested during the Rose Cafe that I support is having social events that count as events. This is a fun and enjoyable way for students to take some time off from studying and mingle amongst ourselves. Social events are important if we would like to see a community form among the Rose Scholars and this could be later be expanded to West Campus overall. However, to achieve the community that we aspire to be, we need to start small and thus, we should try to at least try to develop some sort of group cohesion among Rose Scholars next semester.

Another improvement that could be made is having more opportunities to volunteer as part of the Rose Scholars program. I believe that many students find volunteering to be an enjoyable and worthwhile experience. Adding volunteering events would be a great way for students to get opportunities to volunteer and become even more ingrained into their communities.

Overall, I believe that the progress that has been made is fantastic and with the leadership of Dr. Hill, I am confident that Rose Scholars will continue to improve. It is nice to see that our feedback is taken seriously and I look forward to seeing the program evolve in the future.

The Long History of a Sports Game

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There is nothing quite like the Transatlantic series as Paul Wilcox explained. The teams on various sides of the Atlantic traveled before there were even flights between the two continents.

I believe the magic of this exchange is not in the actual events, but in the history that is made between the various institutions. The universities chosen are interesting as they represent the top institutions found in both the US and the UK and gives me the impression that the Transatlantic series is very elitist. That caught me off guard during the talk, although Cornell is an Ivy League school, elitism doesn’t usually come to mind.

It was incredible to see Mr. Wilcox and Dr. Hill talk about the transatlantic series. I could tell that both men are very passionate about it and have put a lot of work into making the series successful. Overall, I think that this is good for the institutions involved and helps bridge barriers between institutions across the Atlantic. I hope the schools will find other areas to also collaborate on in the future.

Andre Simores and Brazil

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I found Andre Simores’ talk very interesting. He talked about many facets of Brazil and its education system and gave me a good view of the country.

As a professor there, he provided an accurate description of the educational system found in Brazil. Compared to Brazil, American institutions of high education are much better funded and run. A large part of this was that many American Universities are private while most Brazilian counterparts are public.

The political institutions of Brazil are not as well developed as in the US with corruption plaguing many Brazilian politicians. This means that funding for higher education is not a priority for Brazil. Even in public universities in the US, fundraising is a huge priority with donors providing a significant portion of the money. Since Brazil doesn’t have this luxury, their institutions do not remain well funded.

Simores also focused on the economy in his talk. Brazil has a large agriculture industry like the US, but other parts of its economy are not as well developed. Countries like Brazil who are underdeveloped with rich resources really benefit from a well run and transparent government so their resources do not increase corruption and inequality. An example of this is Nigeria, since oil was discovered, the average Nigerian has actually gotten more poor since most of the profits from its natural resources have only gone to a small number of individuals.

For Brazil to have a better higher education system and more developed economy, the government needs to fundamentally change to become more democratic and more accountable.

New York City

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Sam Beck’s talk taught really altered the way I thought about education. I realized that although I was interested in what I was studying at Cornell, I did not know what I was truly passionate in doing professionally.

And I think that that is something that is important to know, because it is easy to loose motivation if one if just taking classes aimlessly to fulfill graduation and major requirements. Thus I am interested in doing a semester in either New York City or Washington DC during my senior year.

It is fantastic that Cornell can offer these resources to students to let them take classes in these major cities. This change of environment will be good for me, but most importantly, it will allow me to discover what I am truly passionate in. I hope to find interesting internships in my relevant field and work them alongside my classes.

I had not thought seriously about these opportunities until after hearing Sam Beck’s talk. He seriously advocated on behalf of them and talked about the potential that they had to elevate the education of each student. For this I am grateful to him for coming.

Complex Fats

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Last week Jonathan Robins enlightened me on the history of fats. I did not know there was so much politics behind fats and foods. For example, tropical fruit fats were attacked as being unhealthy because the US produced more traditional fats such as corn and soybean. In turned, we turned to the usage of trans fat which are the most unhealthy of any fat.

This had made me question the politics that into our foods. For example, we spend billions of dollars every year on subsidies for crops like corn and soybeans in order to feed our livestocks and flood grocery store shelves with these products. This has also encouraged the proliferation of GMO foods because they provide a better yield and are cheaper to produce. Because it’s in the agriculture industry’s best industry, there is very little regulation on these foods. In California, a referendum to label GMO ingredients on food labels was defeated after interests groups spent a large amount of money to campaign against the measure.

We should all pay attention to the politics behind our foods and be wary not to be swayed into making unhealthy food choices in the interest of larger profit motives.

Food During the Great Depression

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Dr. Ziegelman provided valuable insight into food production during the Great Depression and how that is still influencing how we eat today.

I found Cornell’s role in all this very interesting. This school was the birthplace of fortified cereals, something that we still find en masse on the shelves of grocery stores today. It makes me question how valid our current food practices are if we are still using ideas adopted from the 1920s. For example, I know baby formula was invented during that time too to get Americans to consume more diary; now, when mother’s milk is proven to be more healthy for babies, many people around the world still rely on formula because they believe it is superior.

Another interesting point discussed during the cafe was American food culture. Compared to other cultures around the world, we are much less concerned about food and what we put into our bodies and I think that that has a negative effect on our society and health. Too often Americans are eating junk food on the go instead of siting down and have a proper healthy and nutritious meal with family and friends. I believe that this is a reason why so many Americans are overweight. We should think more critically about what we put into our bodies, especially considering the histories of said foods.

Art in the Age of Social Media

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I found the exhibition by Nicholas Carbonaro to be incredibly thought provoking. He challenged the idea of perfectionism on social media by making his attract portraits very unbalanced.

He makes a valid point, when I scroll through Facebook or Instagram all I see are perfect faces with perfect lives. We rarely share our struggles and difficulties on social media, instead we carefully craft out an ideal life we can display to the rest of the world.

This fact leads to all sorts of problems. I find that when I’m sad or feeling down, going on social media will only make me feel worse because I see how happy everyone else is. Social media can be a great and an empowering tool, but we need to change the stigma around sharing not so pleasant posts.

This is why I believe that Nicholas Carbonaro is important in creating dialogue around the content of social media. The artist realizes that no one is that perfect and by displaying his artwork, he is giving users the chance to speak up on social media.

What Matters in Life?

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I found Dr. Hill’s talk enlightening as always. I respect him immensely for all his life experiences, work ethic, and positive outlook on life. He asked us to write about something that was important to each of us.

I can think of one thing to have that will always make life dynamic and exciting and that is curiosity. When we were kids everything seemed interesting to us, and as we got older and learned and took on more and more responsibility, we started to loose some of that curiosity. Especially in higher education, curiosity is crucial; many even assume that it is a given. It makes sense, we are at a place with nearly unlimited resources and are given the task to explore. But too often, we pick a career or major and we tunnel vision ourselves into focusing solely on that and not exploring other interests.

Keeping an open mind towards everything will only serve one good and make life more fruitful. I don’t think the purpose of life is to fulfill a particular goal, more than that it is to explore. Curiosity will allow you to do that.

Shakespeare in Love

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This movie helped me gain a deep respect for Shakespeare while questioning my assumptions about love. Love is a big motivator for many people including Shakespeare who is inspired by Viola to write Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet has always been my favorite play by Shakespeare. I admired their dedication to each other and the power of love, killing themselves over one another in the end is a grand expression of love to me. Thus, I was disappointed in the movie when the two lovers ended up going their separate ways. This may be a lot more realistic, but it was painful for me to watch.

I learned that there are many circumstances that play into love and that those circumstances cannot be avoided in the real world. However, the power of love is not diminished by the movie. We clearly see how a singular woman has inspired a young Shakespeare to write, translating his feelings he felt for Viola into a play. Even in today’s culture, much of our art is inspired by love and stories of love, from music to movies to novels.

Love is an irrational force that makes us all human, learning to channel its powers will help each of us achieve what we want to achieve in life.