After six eventful years, it’s sadly time to say goodbye to Rose House’s beloved dean and House Professor. You may ask why he’s leaving after only six short years for which I will tell you it’s because they are making him due to a six year term limit. During this final Rose Cafe of the school year Professor Blalock took us for a little trip down memory lane with some of his greatest hits throughout the years. In my opinion, his greatest achievement would have to be the development of the Rose Scholars program with the help and guidance from Dr. Anthony. The backstory behind the program was a lot more interesting that I would have expected. The program was designed to choose the 100 Rose House residents that would be allowed to return to Rose House the following school year. Prior to the scholars program, a lottery system with a random number generator determined the fate of all 380 Rose residents. Professor Blalock knew there was a better way to choose who should remain a member of the Rose community, and boy did he find it. All five years the program has been used, not one student has been denied entry from it. It definitely seems like the 100 students that will remain in Rose House for the following term actually want to be a part of the community that comes with it. If it weren’t for Dr. Anthony though, Professor Blalock would have been getting 100 slips of paper under his door each week! I think the blog is a much better medium to reflect on. Pencil and paper are so old school. I guess it is time to say goodbye to the old. Thank you Professor Blalock for all that you have done for the Rose House community. But as we say goodbye we can also welcome the new so say hello to our new house professor Rosemary Avery! Welcome to our home!
Author Archives: az245
I Got Your Back
As an employee of Cayuga’s Watchers, I am no stranger to the idea of Bystander Intervention. Oddly enough, the night prior to the Intervene seminar I attended a Bystander Intervention workshop run by Cornell’s Consent Ed. Many of the things we talked about in the Intervene workshop were similar to what we discussed at the other workshop. I find it interesting how intervening can vary from a simple question of “Are you okay?” to a complex situation where we are cautious and afraid to step in. The key point I took away from this workshop that differed from previous ones that I’ve attend was that you don’t have to intervene alone. Sometimes it makes it a lot easier and more comfortable for the bystander if they step in with a group of friends. Most of my previous training focused on how I could help on my own. I thought it was really cool how Intervene made a point to say that you don’t have to do it on your own. Hopefully more people take these types of workshops in the future and can prevent the disrespectful and heinous acts that occur we are blind to.
Romance or Fantasy? Why not both?!
It’s crazy the impact that your living place has on your life. In GRF Sara’s case, it brought her to the topic of her dissertation. She claimed that it is important to study a topic that is interesting to others. When we hear the word “romance” today we think of a romantic gesture but would not typically use it to describe our relationships. In past centuries, that wasn’t the case. Romance was a type of literature which had elements of magic, tragedy and adultery. If you look at the impact technology has on our society, it’s as if it forces us to live in a romance whether we want to or not. I thought this was a very interesting thought. Our online experience is tailored for each individual based on our searches and previous internet activity. We see mostly what we want to see. What will new advances in technology do to our society? Virtual reality enables people to escape and enter these mythical lands of adventure. Will our time period take escaping reality to a new level?
On a side note, I just wanted to say how pure and enjoyable it was to see how excited GRF Sara got when another scholar said she was taking a medieval romance course this semester. Thank you for sharing your work with us!
Ride On
Bike sharing is a relatively new concept. It originated in Amsterdam in 1965. There were a lot of vehicle accidents going on and the public started to protest for equal rights for pedestrians and cyclists on the roads. These activists started the first ride sharing system where they painted bikes white and anyone could use them and drop them anywhere in the city. The only issue was, people aren’t as nice as we hope they are. People would steal the bikes or vandalize them. Therefore, the first attempt at ride sharing didn’t last very long. Nowadays, there are millions of bikes being used by many different ride sharing systems. 60% of all systems are found in China, followed by Europe and then the US. With the new age smart technology, it has made ride sharing easier and more structured with tracking on bikes and payment. Seema really knows her bike facts and I was amazed to hear that she was a part of the team that tried to implement the bike sharing system in India! Hopefully one day she’s able to make that a reality!
Infect Me, I Dare You
Vaccines are so much cooler than I thought they were. There are a lot of aspects of bacteria that aren’t very well understood. The basics about our immune system are as follows. White blood cells interact and tract down the “bad guys” aka bacteria. They find the bacteria once they get inside our bodies through cuts, blood, our breath, or spoiled food and then kill them to keep us healthy. GRF Tyler works with bacteria to try and find new ways to vaccinate us. He is trying to replicate the sugars on the outside of bacterium cells and use them on proteins to then put into vaccines to fight against a disease that is very hard to pronounce. It originates from wild rabbits and is very rare but was created in the form of a bio-weapon during World War 2 so the defense agency is funding his research. Vaccines can either use live bacteria in small doses or reengineered bacteria that is less harmful than the live version and injected into our bloodstream to create antibodies that jumpstart the process of making memory cells that our body can use if we come into contact with the actual infection later on. Although his research was way over my head I was fascinated by what he was studying and creating and the advancements in medicine he is a part of. Thank you for your hard work Tyler!
Secret Passage
Did you know there is a tunnel underneath our Rose House kitchen? Yeah neither did I! You can even get down to it from the main house elevator, but I don’t recommend it because then you can’t get back up and you’ll be stuck in the maze of tunnels. And Prof Blalock can hear every word from the tunnel in his downstairs apartment so you have to find another place to trash talk himBefore we went on the tour of the Becker-Rose tunnel system, Prof told us about the history of West Campus. What sets Cornell apart from the other Ivys was Ezra Cornell’s radical idea of having any person doing any study. Ezra also didn’t want to have typical Ivy dorms like Yale that had one room for the student and a smaller room in the suite for their servant. Another radical idea for the 1860’s. When I heard that I was shocked and relieved I chose a much more accepting and progressive university to attend. Thank you Professor Blalock for the informative chat and interesting tour!
Complaints R Us
Everyone complains. Whether it be about their day, their friends or family, or even their dirty bathroom, everyone complains about something. During this cafe I got to hear about the complaints my fellow scholars have with regards to our living conditions. Regardless of how minuscule a problem might seem to us, the buildings manager takes into account all of our complaints. Some things that bother us may go unnoticed by the staff and our service requests are a huge help in addressing these problems. The buildings care team views us as our customers and their primary job is caring for our facilities but their mission is to make us feel at much at ease and safe as possible as if we were at home. I didn’t realize that part of their job is to protect our wellbeing. I feel very comfortable and taken care of knowing that they are looking out for me. Coming home from class to a clean bathroom is a privilege I won’t take for granted ever again. Thank you custodial staff!