Last week, I went to go see the movie Patriot’s Day. This movie was about the Boston Marathon bombing. Some parts of the movie were heartbreaking, but in the end one of the bombers got caught and the other was killed. I still don’t understand how someone could do such terrible and atrocious things. One thing that really stood out to me was the guy who they kidnapped and whose car they stole. In the end he got away and helped the police, but I’m sure he must have been terrified. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I was in his place, but I really wonder if I would’ve been strong enough to escape. Would I have just shut down and accepted the fact that I was going to die? He was just a regular guy going about his day one minute, and the next he was kidnapped. It’s really scary to think that this could’ve happened to anyone. Either way, I’m glad that the bombers were caught.
Author Archives: Gauri
Would you Change the Future?
Last Friday, I saw the movie Arrival. It was an interesting movie. In the end, we find out that the main character, Louise, can see the future. She sees that she’ll marry her colleague, Ian, and that they’ll have a daughter. Unfortunately, her daughter will get a disease and will pass away and Ian will leave them. Even though she knows this, she still chooses to be with Ian. I understand why she does this, but I don’t think that I would be strong enough to do the same thing. I can imagine that losing a child and a husband would be a terrible thing, and I just wouldn’t want to go through that. In a way, her choice is also selfish. She doesn’t tell her husband about this until it’s too late, and so, in a way, she makes the choice for him. He might not have made the same choice that she did, but he did not get that option. But this is an impossible situation. Since she can see the future, she saw how happy her family was while they were still together, and she might have felt that that happiness was worth the eventual sadness. Since Ian can’t see the future, he can’t see the happiness, and therefore even if she had told Ian about what was going to happen, he never would’ve been able to understand the entire situation. Louise was very strong to make the choice that she did, but I don’t think that I would’ve done the same thing.
Why Compete in the Barkley Marathon
Yesterday I watched a movie about the Barkley Marathon. The Barkley Marathon is not like a normal marathon. For one, its existence is a “secret”. Despite this, the organizers get a lot of applications from people all over the world wanting to compete in it. I believe that what draws participants to this marathon are its unique quirks. For example, once applicants are selected, the organizers ask them to bring things like state license plates and shirts as payment. Every year, they also select an unqualified applicant to compete in the race, calling him or her the “human sacrifice”. These quirks make people want to apply, but what makes them want to actually finish the race despite the grueling conditions?
For a lot of the runners, this race is about proving something. While many of us have never competed in a marathon, I think that we can relate with the motives of the runners. They want to achieve something that they think is nearly impossible. I think all of us have goals like that, from getting into that dream grad school, or getting that dream job that you think is nearly impossible. I applaud all of these athletes for all the effort that put into training and competing. Lots of them had bruises and cuts all over after running in the marathon, and I think that it must take a lot of endurance and perseverance to continue on despite the pain.
Toxic Water?
I went to a Rose Cafe today where we talked to the head of the Finger Lakes Land Trust. This was a really interesting conversation because we talked about environmental problems, especially in relation to the Cayuga Lake and the growth of toxic cyanobacteria. One big problem is fertilizer runoff that contaminates the lake with phosphorous and allows harmful bacteria to grow. Fertilizer is a great tool for modern farming because it allows the world to feed its inhabitants but I’ve never thought about the fact that it can also be damaging to the environment. A potential solution might be to mandate that farmers only use “green” fertilizer which doesn’t have an excess of phosphorous, but this might come at a financial cost. Another potential problem is the salt that we use during the winter times. Even though this isn’t a huge problem due to the size of Cayuga lake, it definitely has a negative impact. Salting our roads seems essential in the wintertime but there are other options. A couple years ago, I went to Alaska over the summer. We learned that during the harsh winters, a lot of places use gravel to generate traction for cars and make wintertime travel possible. This might be a solution that we should consider, but again, this might generate its own problems like damaging cars or the road itself. As we discussed, we can also plant more trees to hold the soil down. Even though this will come at a financial cost, it will also have the added benefit of making our planet greener. All of these measures would be to ensure that cyanobacteria don’t grow to an extreme level. With other species, we can usually introduce natural predators to curb the population if need be, but we can’t do that with bacteria. All we can do is ensure that the conditions are such that they find it very challenging to grow. Today’s talk mentioned a lot of the problems that climate change causes. Not only does it mess with the weather and makes the planet warmer as a whole, it also impacts individual species and does damage to the environment that way. We should do whatever we can to combat climate change before it’s too late
The Safety of Air Travel
Last week I went to a cafe where we got the opportunity to speak with a pilot. It was really interesting. One thing that really struck me was when we were talking about safety and how traveling by plane is safer than traveling by car. I was reminded of the time when the plane that I was on had make an “emergency landing”. I was in high school, and I was traveling with my parents to go on college visits. We had just taken off when the pilot came on and told us that one of the engines wasn’t working and we had to go back to the airport. Those 15 minutes until we landed were some of the most terrifying moments of my life. Thankfully, we landed safely at the airport and everyone was fine. I noticed as we were landing that there were firetrucks and ambulances waiting in case the landing did not go as planned. Even though this was a scary experience, this really reinforced how safe air travel is. The plane was fine and able to land even though one of its engines wasn’t working. There are redundancies to make sure that such a malfunction isn’t catastrophic.
The Hidden Parts of West
Last week I went to a Rose Cafe where we took a tour of the hidden parts of West Campus. This was really interesting because we got to go to the tunnels and see the path that our food takes as it makes its way up to campus. We even got to see the huge refrigerators and the hidden parts of the kitchens. I didn’t really realize how big of an undertaking it is feeding students and taking care of West Campus until I went on this tour. Whenever we go to a dining hall, we just see the food loaded up on trays and we don’t really think about how it gets there. It must take a lot of workers to make sure that all of us are fed, and it really made me feel more appreciative of the work that gets put in in ensuring that all of us on West are taken care of.
We also got to talk with Professor Blalock and learn more about his role in Rose House. One of the things that we mentioned was that he was the one who helped put the barriers on Gothic Way. Though this does make things harder whenever we’re going to and coming back from break, I’m really glad that they’re there. West Campus has its own unique beauty, and part of that is that there are no cars going through it. It’s really nice to be able to walk around with friends, or with earphones in and looking at your phone, without having to worry about getting hit by random cars.
Facilities Staff at Rose
Last week I went to a cafe where we talked about the facilities staff. It was very interesting because I learned that the maintenance crew has almost no time to get all of the rooms ready between after students move out for the guests that are coming to stay in the dorm. I definitely think that they should have more time to prepare because cleaning a building as big as Rose can take a while! We also talked about we can always call facilities if we feel that the bathrooms aren’t clean enough etc. I think that one reason that I personally don’t do so is that I don’t want to bother anyone. I know that the bathroom will get cleaned/restocked eventually, and so it seems almost silly to call someone. I think that this is something that I’ll try to work on because it was mentioned at the talk that the maintenance staff is more than happy to respond to our concerns. Living in Founders last year wasn’t ideal, partly because of the bathrooms, and I wished that I had called and done something about our situation.
Are People Really Born Evil?
Last week I went to a Rose Cafe where we got the opportunity to speak with Judge Miller. One interesting comment that he made is that nobody is born evil. This is something that we all know, but find hard to apply. For example, when you hear about someone murdering or hurting another person, that concept is not necessarily the first thought that pops into your head. Instead, we think that the criminal has to be a terrible person. One reason for that is that we have to believe, for our own mental wellbeing, that only an evil person could commit such a horrible crime. The thought that a regular person could do something so awful is pretty terrifying because it makes the world seem random and unpredictable. But if we could move past our mental blocks, maybe we could find a way to reduce these tragedies. For example, maybe we could support more programs to mentor at-risk youth. I know that a lot of these programs already exist, but we could certainly expand them.