Author Archives: MelodiousConquest

Community and Merit

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Last week, I went to hear House Professor Blalock reflect on his time here at Cornell, now that his 6 year term is about to end. Cornell has a policy that they can only hold that position for 6 years before someone new has to be brought in. If it wasn’t for this, I suspect Professor Blalock would stay longer. From his discussion of some of the projects he has helped with over the years, I appreciated his conscientiousness. One of his favorite projects, founding the Rose Scholars Program, was born out of this. He questioned the system of a random number generator determining who could return to Rose House, and thought it should be more merit based. I totally agree with this approach, as it gives students the opportunity to take control if they really enjoy living here.

However, when Professor Blalock asked us about what Rose House means to us, the general consensus seemed to be that it lacks a sense of community. Many of the students don’t really get to know each other, even if they live on the same floor. Professor Blalock explained that they have learned that the architecture of the dorms plays a roll in this, and that the administration will hopefully take this into account when designing the new dorms on North Campus which are to come in the future. However, for the existing dorms, probably the only way to get past this issue is to organize more events for the students to get to know each other. I wouldn’t suggest ice breakers, as most including myself either don’t know them or believe they are ineffective. Instead, I think that just organizing events for each floor would probably be a good way to deal with the issue. This will be something for the next house professor to deal with. But we all greatly appreciate Professor Blalock’s service to the Rose House community, and he will be missed.

12 Angry Men, One Room

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Last weekend, I got to watch 12 Angry Men for the first time! A black and white movie about 12 members of a jury in a single room for the full duration of the film discussing the outcome of a case might seem boring, but it definitely was not. Within that one room were 12 very well scripted characters with various personalities, all consistent throughout. The arguments, debates, and banter made between the jurors was extremely entertaining and at times, even if unintended, comedic which I thoroughly enjoyed. At one and a half hours long, the movie length was also perfect. It made for a very enjoyable time.

The points made about the case were logical and well thought out. It was also great that they highlighted the potential fallacies of eyewitness accounts as well as various other factors which could easily go unchecked. It really made me wonder how many outcomes of cases are falsely judged based on insufficient consideration. Often it is impossible to judge a case with one hundred percent confidence when there are so many facets to consider. In the end, the final decision is really just a guess based on the evidence given. This kind of uncertainty is frightening considering the possible outcomes at stake, such as a life sentence or death penalty. Overall, the film was excellent and I would highly recommend watching it! Since it’s an older film, it also easy to find on YouTube.

Resume/CV Workshop

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Last week, I went to a short resume workshop given by GRF Seema. Going in, I had a resume already which I used for various applications. However, I thought it couldn’t hurt to get some advice to possibly improve it. I appreciated the point that employers or whoever might be reading your application will likely only spend a short amount of time glancing through your CV or resume. Therefore, it’s a good idea to make it easy for that person to see certain points which you want emphasized. It seems the best way to do this is through ordering and choosing which points to describe in detail, but NOT through the use of extensive colors or fonts as GRF Seema warned against. After the workshop, I believe my resume is still fine, but I learned some tips, such as the one mentioned here, that I will definitely keep in mind for the future.

Amazing Architecture Designs and Images

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Last week, I went to hear Noah Demarest give a short presentation on some of his past and present architecture projects with the company he started: STREAM Collaborative. It was neat to learn about some of the renovations and new buildings around college town. For instance, he showed us a couple images of a new apartment being built near college town and spoke about a few challenges he and his company faced when planning for it. It turns out that there is a five-story limit in that area, but they were able to make the most out of the purchased land by  building one floor partially underground and lofting some areas of the top level. Also it had never really occurred to me, but college town is filled with a massive number of power lines crisscrossed in the air. This causes a problem for some architecture projects, which need to be more than 10 feet away from them. The city wants to bury the lines, but that is an expensive process and seems to be a project not in the foreseeable future.

In all of the projects that Mr. Demarest showed us, I was amazed by the preview images generated. Some of them looked like photographs taken in real time, even though the projects had obviously not been completed yet! Mr. Demarest said that he and his company pride themselves on creating images of end products which they can actually deliver. A good example of this was the image of the planned renovations to the Cornell tennis facility. It looked very nice, modern, and exactly as I could imagine it looking in real life. Their planned design for the new GreenStar market looks awesome as well. Overall, I really enjoyed the presentation and was very impressed by STREAM Collaborative’s designs!

Unusual Life Style of Aviation Pilots

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Last week, I went to a talk given by aircraft pilot Mike Comella. I thought it was very cool that he works for Delta Airlines, the company I have often used for flights between campus and home. When you fly on a large commercial plane from one place to another, you may not think too much about what’s going on in the cockpit. But it’s interesting to consider how much responsibility pilots have for keeping passengers safe. This point was emphasized by the discussion on strict schedule guidelines enforced by airline companies to help ensure that pilots are well rested when they are flying. I was also struck by the life style of a commercial airline pilot. They tend to work in about three to four day spurts, often spending time in hotels near different terminals between flights. There are very few other jobs with this sort of schedule. I could definitely see how you wouldn’t mind not being able to settle down at home every night in your home city if you love flying. But even then, I could see why some pilots may not be interested in working for a commercial airline. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why there is a shortage of pilots, and the pay for a starting pilot has practically doubled in the last couple years. One final point I would like to mention is that for some pilots, such as Mr. Comella, flying actually feels safer than driving a car. Statistics even agree with this, so maybe that’s something to consider if you happen to have a fear of flying!

Coco: Music and Family

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Last weekend, I got the opportunity to see Pixar’s Coco for free at the Cornell Cinema! It was a film I had been wanting to see, so I was very excited to watch to it. As a musician myself (pianist, guitarist, and songwriter), I particularly enjoyed the movie! However, you do not have to be a musician to enjoy it. The emphasis on the importance of family, interesting portrayal of the Day of the Dead, and display of love for music (which most of us have in one way or another) gives this movie universal appeal. There are some specifics of the story that I would like to address, but I will not do that to avoid giving any spoilers. But overall, the artwork and animation was beautiful, the story was well thought out, and the music was great. I would definitely suggest to anyone to check it out!

Who’s Got the Best Chili??

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Last weekend, I got the opportunity to check out the Ithaca Chili Cook Off for the first time. We were also given some tickets which could each be redeemed for a sample of chili! They had everything from vegan chili to beef or turkey chili. It all tasted great. The event did not extend quite as far as Apple Fest did, but there were still plenty of options to choose from. Probably my favorite chili that I tried was from a restaurant which is located in the Marriott, Monks on the Commons. Afterwards, I walked over to Life’s So Sweet since they had some free samples. I had never been there before either, and they had plenty of great looking chocolates there! I got some chocolate covered chips and ginger.