Author Archives: Siddesh

Root of Coffee

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Keith Lemnios, the CEO of Sun Coffee Roasters, visited the Rose Cafe this week and talked about his business and “mission-driven coffee.” It is something that I have not heard of before but it is actually a brilliant idea. Given the relative obscurity for consumers of where exactly we get our food, “mission-driven” products can be something we should try to favor since they specifically go out of their way to give fair conditions to workers and take an active interest in enriching their lives. Lemnios did dedicate a portion of his talk on how coffee was made but the main theme was the vision of his company and what he works for. I appreciated his insight on why companies like Apple were so successful when titans of old failed to succeed where they dominated, e.g., iPod and iPhone. Unlike most, Apple works backwards and establishes their vision and purpose before the actual product. The product they would be selling is the result of their relentless drive and pursuit of that vision and that causes consumers to become attracted to said product if they can see why Apple is doing what it is. Similarly, Lemnios saw that coffee farmers weren’t necessarily getting a fair price for what they were selling and set out to make sure he had a company and supply chain that would allow him to achieve that goal of ensuring fair wages, safe workplace conditions and more.

It was interesting to see how his company affected each part of the typical and well-established coffee manufacturing process in a way that was advantageous to the farmers and the community from which the production of coffee is ensured. He built a preschool for little children so their older siblings could go to school themselves and created opportunities from which the next generation could pursue outside of farming coffee beans. Sustainability was also a key focus according to Lemnios in that parts of the coffee were recycled to serve as fertilizer when combining with earthworms. It was fascinating to hear how a Professor from a university was connected to someone from his coffee farms to collaborate on creating earthworm-based fertilizer and such.

Being an informed buyer was something I took away from this discussion and I appreciated the various things he pointed out I could do to achieve that, such as looking for the Rainforest Alliance logo with a frog. I plan on looking for ways to improve the selection of goods and see if I can’t opt for a product that has guaranteed safe working conditions, fair wages to its workforce and more. Consumers hold a great deal of power in dictating how business is done and favoring products that promote such conditions would inevitably drive the entire industry towards them.

Information from Torture: An Exercise in Futility?

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This past Rose café we had the pleasure of having two people hosting the session. The topic was generally about the use of torture and focused on Myanmar and Southern Thailand. Fortunately in addition to Dr. Nick Cheesman, we also got the opportunity to learn about Southern Thailand from human activist Pornpen Khongkachonkiet. From what I could gleam from our sadly too short discussion was that there seems to be a systemic culture of finding the culprit due to the prevalence of violent crime and drug dealing. It didn’t matter if the accused was actually guilty or merely innocent; having a suspect and confession was far more important and thus led to the use of torture. Under such duress, I don’t think such information is admissible since judgement is impaired. It would be circumstantial at best but I don’t know enough to hold a legal opinion. However, torture is not something that can be eliminated entirely. I personally think it is part of human nature and often driven by desperation. All we can do is mitigate its use and allowing it to be used in court.

Dr. Cheesman brings up a good point that we shouldn’t necessarily be asking is torture effective. Rather we should take a more holistic and upper level approach and ask questions like, “What drives the use of torture?” In other words, what factors might encourage or promote the use of torture as a systemic means of gathering information? This has political and moral implications that question the fabric of the country-or society-itself. Khongkachonkiet offered a contrast in information compared to Dr. Cheesman where the former drew upon her extensive experience with interviewing victims in the ‘Deep South’ to illustrate a picture of how it is living there, for the ordinary citizen, law enforcement and the government. The latter seemed to take a more theoretical approach, giving context and asking questions from the real world experiences that Khongkachonkiet describes. I appreciated the two perspectives as it allowed me to view the issue of torture from multiple angles. Torture is an interesting practice and I maintain that it will never go away but I think steps must be taken to limit its use. Something I wondered if Thailand’s apparent use of gratuitous torture would allow for sanctions. Or perhaps that may be too extreme and not worth risking the delicate balance of power that thrums through our globalized society. Regardless I don’t think it will be easy to change regions like Southern Thailand in their use of martial law, unconstitutionally seizing and exercising their power and torture since it seems systemic, engrained in their culture and is top-down. Major changes, most likely through legislature, and protests will be necessary to fight back. Organizations like Khongkachonkiet’s is key to this kind of movement in my opinion and I hope the UN can also get involved and advise Southern Thailand on a better path.

This was definitely one of the more interesting sessions that I have gone to because it opens my eyes to a field that I don’t necessarily get the opportunity to learn and discuss in since torture isn’t necessarily something that comes up in conversation or the relevant courses in educational career. I will definitely be looking into more on torture and picking up some of the books Dr. Cheesman mentioned!

Collegiate Unity Across Oceans: The Transatlantic Series

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Mr. Wilcox gave an interesting talk on Track and Field and the transatlantic competitive history that began before my time. Composed of top-tier universities primarily Ivy Leagues and Oxford and Cambridge, the Transatlantic Series is a American-British meet for Track and Field. I didn’t expect this going into the talk because the title of the actual event was attributed to something an athlete in that meet had once said. But his presentation thematically fit it: “Freedom to Look at Life in a Different Way.” I think it is remarkable that these athletes are able to dedicate at least a week of their time to travel across the ocean (traveling was more impressive in the past when boat was the form of transportation) and engage in a competition with their counterparts. Now while it was a fierce series, both sides of the Atlantic winning over the years with a constant shift in victories, Mr. Wilcox highlighted the more social aspect of the experience. After all, it is not often you get to meet foreigners for a continuous period, work hard and sweat alongside them and eat as well. Mr. Wilcox showed pictures of where the participants stayed during the Series and it was a very impressive vacation home. I think it is great that they are able to represent themselves in a sport they clearly love and also bond with others and get a different perspective on life. From what I can tell, the social aspect grew organically and soon became an integral part of the experience. I think it is something valuable, going back to the title of the talk, to not only do what you are given and instead extend beyond. You don’t need to just go there to compete and leave. Instead make friends, socialize and essentially make bonds that could possibly last for a long time. This philosophy could be applied to other parts of life as well.

It was a good talk because he did a fine job of detailing the history of Track and Field, particularly at a collegiate level, giving context. I was only aware of what events the sport involved but nothing totally in depth. The extra information was certainly helpful and interesting to learn. There also a section about the differing cultures and the cultural shock the athletes have when they come over so that was certainly illuminating. I think it is a good thing that this type of event is promoted and facilitated since it allows for collegiate unity across the ocean. I can tell this would quite the experience to go if one had the chance. I am curious if other sports or activities have similar programs in place. It is of course expensive to implement, and I liked learning about how Mr. Wilcox and his fellow colleagues work together to make this event happen, but if it can happen, I don’t think anybody would reject such an opportunity. What would you be interested in if you could get a transatlantic completion of sorts for it?

Don’t Just Study, Seek!

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Professor Beck, a social and cultural Anthropologist, led a Rose Café session that was decidedly atypical, but not bad by any means. It was different in how open-ended it was and it wasn’t necessarily the audience listening to the presenter. Prof. Beck, with the focus on the Urban Semester Program, asked questions to each audience member about what they want to do and tried to give some advice on possible career paths. At the beginning, it was a bit awkward as people didn’t know how to answer but he was very impressive in introducing levity into the room and defusing the apprehension. The major takeaway was how he connected what we were studying at Cornell to what we could do in the future. Often the major is not a determinant of your future career but he did tried to suggest possiblities that each person might like. The Urban Semester Program is an initiative that allows students to take on an internship in any field they feel interested in and also managing the Cornell course load. I think it is easy to get lost in the daily academic requirements at the university but it is important to start exploring and understanding the possiblities for future career paths and trying to obtain internships. Studying and taking exams doesn’t translate to work experience so getting the practical aspect of potential careers is important in my opinion to decide if it is a fit for me. This is the reason why I sought out opportunities to work at clinics and hospitals to understand the atmosphere, the responsibilities involved and interplay between people of various medicine-related professions.

I think this was quite an enlightening talk with Prof. Beck and has inspired to look more closely into the Urban Semester Program and see if I can take advantage of it accordingly. He mentioned that they could connect me to major hospitals and clinics of different specialties that interest me so it is definitely something useful for me; doing it during the semester and juggling the academic workload looks to be difficult but I am sure it would be an unbelievably valuable experience if I decide to do it. I appreciated his talk and loved the reverse format. He mentioned that this learning style was very effective and while he didn’t explicitly mention what it was, I think the style was the Socratic method. If the students arrived at the answer themselves and instead of being told it, then they will be able to understand and reach that answer again in the future since they did it once.

Stopping and Looking

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Artist Nicholas Carbonara hosted an interesting workshop that was centered around the idea of simply observing your surroundings and essentially meditate while drawing. It was an unconventional experience that I didn’t expect and I really enjoyed. He briefly touched on the current societal trend where everyone tries to take pictures of every single event, primarily for archival purposes. It is an interesting cultural habit and I think that is rather problematic because personally I feel that while in certain situations you may want to capture moments, i.e., a baby’s first steps, I would argue that you should rather just experience the event and engage your senses. You may not be able to visually recollect the memory down the road in your mind but certainly the sensations that you felt, like smells and sounds, may be more prominent. When looking back at photos in the future, you lack context and it just becomes a collection of pixels on a screen. Depending on certain sounds or smells, memories from that past with that smell could be triggered spontaneously but you lose this capability if you focus more on taking photos. Do you think people should reprioritize engaging their senses over primarily taking pictures for each new experience?

Regardless, I enjoyed simply staying in a room with relaxing music and a few unique models and enacting different poses and actions. I can’t say I drew anything of substance; it was rather scattered and reflected my shifting attention across the room to different objects and people. There wasn’t really any much thinking going on in that period and it was a wonderful experience. I would love to engage in this type of workshop in the future. Take some time to do some people watching or simply sit on a bench and draw for 15-30 minutes. I think it would surprise you how enjoyable and pleasant the experience will be.

Nuanced Judgement

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Having a conversation with Judge Scott Miller was an amazing experience because I don’t often interact with people who work in the judicial system. Thus, this session was incredibly insightful into how a judge/former defense attorney operates. Television is not exactly a great depiction of real life after all. We discussed a wide variety of topics but one of the main ones was defending a client who you suspect or been told by the client that he or she is guilty. I personally believe that the attorney should always give the client the benefit of the doubt because he or she may not actually be guilty of a crime. There are different types of guilts after all: moral, survivor, legal, etc. Legal guilt is the one that is important that can only be determined in the court of law, not by an attorney. The attorney should merely play his role in the system, defending the client to the best of his or her ability. Judge Miller points out that it is arguably better to not send a guilty person to prison than to send an innocent person to prison. I think it is a good thing that our legal system tilts towards the accused because of that reason. There are consequences to this of course and I admire Judge Miller’s tenacity and will to go through this for so long. Making major decisions or being the “gatekeeper” to a decision that can irrevocably change a person’s life is an awesome and overwhelming power if not handled properly. I also enjoyed hearing him talk about the more theoretical aspects of his job, e.g., judicial elections and the correspondence effect on independence. Judges should be appointed in my opinion because it insulates them from public opinion. If an individual is qualified, then we must give him or her the tools to be successful and allowing them to be independent will be key for a functioning justice system.

I was surprised to hear that New York judges have a bit more discretion in the punishments that they hand out compared to other states but I suppose the concept of discretion makes sense if you think about it. Incarceration is most likely not the answer to all alleged crimes and there are probably more productive ways to channel an individual’s mistakes into something good. For example, they sentence them to community service or something like that. I appreciate the nuance that Judge Miller, and hopefully other judges, has when tackling and rendering a verdict on a case. Of course, the letter of the law is always obeyed, but how that verdict is meted out can differ on case-by-case basis. Being a judge is not an easy job as I discuss earlier and I think it is remarkable that they can do this day in, day out.  This was a wonderful discussion and I really enjoyed my time during the session.

Analyzing Feedback: Crafting an Experience

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For this week’s Rose Café, Dr. Cynthia Hill had an interesting approach to her main point, transitioning from feedback from professors to what you want out of college. At the heart of her discussion, it seems that she wants us to wonder about how we want to take advantage of college. While the conversation about the essay feedback from professors was quite useful in deciphering what professors want out of us, my impression was it was a metaphor for continually thinking about what you are doing right now and whether or not that is what you want to do. Feedback will help you revise your essay and similarly, understanding what and why you are doing something at this moment will give you greater insight and context. Obviously my main goal is to do well in classes and learn material that hopefully shapes my skills in the future, even if the content is long forgotten due to rare usage. I often go to my TA or professor to get feedback on my papers because I genuinely want to know what I did wrong because often it is fundamental errors that can be fixed in the future. I don’t have the luxury (might be a good thing though) of writing papers every semester so there is always a bit of “rust” at first but every piece of advice and assimilating critique is useful. Engaging the professor before and after a writing assignment I find to be extremely useful because you can often tailor it to something that you like and enjoy. Aside from that, I want to make sure that I am taking advantage of the large campus, diverse student population and broadening my views. College offers an incredible amount of freedom in opportunity, interest and engaging with people in a “closed environment.” It is sort of a sandbox between adolescence and adulthood. I am constantly trying to go out of my comfort zone and join and do new things because if I seem to fail here, there is no harm. Plus it becomes a sort of a lifestyle because I would be over the initial hump of uncertainty and hesitance, allowing me to do things I probably wouldn’t have considered otherwise once I graduate.

One thing I plan to do is visit the Fuertes Observatory, something I didn’t even realize we had on campus that was close by. Astronomy and stars has always fascinated me so I definitely want to check that out. People often say you should do the “161 things” that a Cornellian should do but I see those as guidelines and modify them for my interests. The point is to not be stuck in a library all day and try to make time to explore Cornell. It is a big place after all. Practicing this balance now is far more beneficial because you can mess up and potentially not be subjected to too much trouble. With this experience, it becomes valuable later on and bolster your decision-making when trying to balance work and life. What do you plan on doing at Cornell that you didn’t consider before?

Introspection and Journaling

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Introspection is an important action that should be performed regularly to provide context to your life, allowing you to understand why you are doing certain things and refresh yourself on your goals, and prioritize what is being done. Prof. Hill framed certain events or milestones in his life as moments where he contemplated what he had done so far and such. Such moments can be done randomly on a Sunday morning while drinking coffee, after a life-altering event, good or bad, or a certain object or experience that triggers such rumination. I have the (mis)fortune of not having any life-altering events yet so I can’t necessarily speak on that front, but there are certain things or settings that cause me to slow down and just think. One of these things is sitting down at a table while I may be doing homework or studying at the library. This moment is enhanced so to speak if I am next to a window as well. It is easy to lose one’s sense of time and awareness when doing some task with utter focus, but if I break that focus, e.g., yawning, needing to stretch, then I often find myself staring out the window for a period of time (hopefully short). This is when I usually reflect what have I done so far this week. If I am not particularly busy, that frame of reference can be extended to a larger period of time. I often think to myself, what is the point of doing this? Am I doing something or not doing something that I may regret in the future due to the loss of opportunity? Or perhaps something completely irrelevant to what I am doing at hand or inane. For example, recently I have been thinking about how I don’t have enough pictures from my time at Cornell. In the future, will my memory of Cornell and what had transpired during then be enough or would I need photos of my favorite spots to relax at or buildings where I spend most of time for lectures and discussions for visual triggers and stimuli? For me, thinking about what I am doing helps me motivate myself or think of ways to improve what I am doing. This period of introspection matters to me and if I have to interrupt working on a major assignment due in 14 hours for this moment of introspection,  I will want to do it. The present moves by too fast to not slow down and not do anything for a short period of time. This seems simple and obvious, but you would be surprised how I have to take steps to ensure it happens.

This leads to my second thing being that writing matters to me. Now this doesn’t mean that I write stories or novels but simply the act of writing, or more accurately, journaling. It could be anything, from a personal TV/movie review, food review or a random idea that I thought of when walking to class. I like to log my experiences because things are ephemeral. The emotions that you feel, the ideas that you come up with, the realizations you come to all don’t last long and certainly don’t stay in your memory for very long. I may have a habit of rewatching movies but watching something for the first time is distinct and may be more valuable than what I might think in subsequent watches; capturing that with pen/paper, or typically digitally, allows me to archive that forever. Journaling allows me to store everything in my brain in a format that I can look back on and reflect upon without losing any fidelity. I encourage others to find a set time everyday during some activity you think you do regularly and just spend a few minutes reflecting. I also encourage others to try and keep a journal. You don’t need to write much or think much, just write something down. I feel that it might make you feel liberated and manifesting your thoughts into actual words can give a different angle to analyze and consider things.

Political Introspection

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It was a treat to be part of a conversation with Prof. Peter Enns at the previous week’s Rose Café. The topic was based on the current political climate and it couldn’t be anymore pertinent considering the rather unstable nature of our government and interplay between our institutions. We discussed many different things and policy decisions, such as the immigration ban and such but we also delved into more social aspects, such as appropriate ways of interacting with people who support President Trump. There were quite a few instances where we delved into psychology amusingly enough but I found it valuable nonetheless. When talking to someone about a controversial topic like politics, it is important to have an open mindset. One should not approach the situation to “win” or to change the other person’s mind because it only causes them to entrench in even further. Prof, Enns mentioned that changing people’s mind is often quite subtle and originates from small seeds planted from a productive conversation, not a combative one. Prof. Enns also talked about a struggle or conflict that he was trying to reconcile in seeing if his point of view and opinions about the topic at hand were “factually correct” or a product of bias. It is an interesting concept and something every one should try to think about on their own time.

Bias is inevitable but personally, if I can find enough facts that is objective and independent enough to support my claim, then I feel confident in it. It is tricky trying to make sense of the world, especially when it seems the world and worse the media at times seem to have an agenda. The staircase phobia that Pres. Trump supposedly had was widely spread by major news organization before there was a call for skepticism. It is not easy trying to discern what is stated as fact in an article, e.g., a quote, and an interpretation of the information that may not be substantiated with sources. Reading once or twice more and taking things with a pinch of salt is a healthy approach to consuming news. This is especially relevant considering the phenomenon of “fake news.” While articles can be improperly sourced or certain opinions are incorrectly passed as truth, I find it ludicrous to consider everything “fake news,” especially if it is from a publication that may not align with your political ideology. Claiming every negative poll or critical news story as “fake news” is dubious at best. Mentioning false events as facts is another problem as well. Prof. Enns talked about whether Presidents should have to tell the truth all the time and I don’t think he or she would have to on the basis of being a human but they should make an effort to not to. Additionally, even if they got something wrong, they should provide a correction or retraction with the same amount of import and attention as the original statement. If the latter is not achieved, then lying or saying incorrect things to the public is inexcusable. Elected officials have a duty to guide and serve the people, not mislead them. Luckily, we are imbued with options to push for more competent governing. Political action has never been more relevant since it is important to protect the rights we care about and allow for the United States to progress and not regress. How do you view the presidency so far and the current political climate?

Home Economics: An Early Vanguard of Women Education

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Ms. Keating, an archivist for the College of Human Ecology, gave an interesting talk about a certain aspect of Cornell history regarding Flora Rose and Martha Van Rensselaer and the College of Home Economics. It was quite fascinating to learn how much they contributed to empowering women and expanding opportunities to farmer wives. It is evident that Cornell has been quite progressive in the role of women at the educational institute and New York at large; in comparison, many comparable universities didn’t even admit female students. Flora Rose was a pioneer in  academia for home economics. One of the more impactful things she did was send out a bulletin for Farmer wives on how to improve their QoL, tips for a more efficient household and more. I saw the pamphlet and it was quite impressive. The College of Home Economics was an impressive endeavor and really enriched the lives of women because it allowed for easy access to higher education in applied sciences, child rearing and more, especially with no tuition costs! Rose and Rensselaer had connections to many famous women, particularly Eleanor Roosevelt, budding from their interactions when FDR was governor of NY.  Rose even had a international role when she went to Belgium to organize food relief efforts there.

History is always important to know and it was certainly a treat to learn about the dorm that I am staying in. I was astounded when Ms. Keating mentioned just how large and extensive our record collections is at Cornell, especially from an international perspective. This fact was driven home when Prof. Blalock mentioned how he brought colleagues from Indonesia and was able to show them documents that were quite old and were something the Indonesians had never seen nor had back at their historical collections. I am now seriously interested in spending a day at these collections and learn about history! Aside from that, I am proud Cornell played a fundamental role in improving women education at a time when it wasn’t the norm. Flora Rose and Martha Van Rensselaer were certainly quite influential and crucial to the development of the university!