Author Archives: cam469

Dogs’ Nature V. Nuture

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I am so glad I was able to catch the screening of this documentary. It was very emotional and moving as viewers went along for the ride with 5 pups who were born to be guide dogs for blind people. The predicted outcome of each pup was to be guide dogs, but this was not the case. Out of the 5 pups, only 2 became a guide dog, one a pet dog, another a PTSD dog, and the last a breeder dog. With these outcomes, it raised a question for me on the topic of nature versus nurture. All 5 pups were born on a campus and started off as a guide dog. However, not all dogs followed through on it. In the case of Potomac, his short attention span eliminated him as a guide dog and he went on to be a pet dog. On the other hand, Poppet failed 2 of her tests, but when retested she passed with flying colors. Each journey was different, and it was very heartfelt seeing each pup’s life unfold.

With that, I believe these outcomes are primarily because of the nature of these dogs. Although all may be nurtured and taught to become a guide dog, their innate behavior will ultimately prevail and influence their future.

Chess: All or Nothing

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For Beth, chess is something she invested her whole life in since she discovered and reconnected with it. Beth’s unwavering love for chess is leading down a path of infatuation and destruction. It is no doubt that she is an underdog in the world of chess and her road to becoming a grandmaster is garnering attention from those outside of it. Although it can be considered admirable, I believe her drive to be great is becoming an obsession and this is where the line separating destruction and determination has been crossed. My takeaway from this episode is that, the title “Fork” is symbolic of a split within Beth as she continues to navigate through the channels the chess games take her. Will she succumb to the obsession and continue to destroy herself and relationships or will she be able to set boundaries for herself and not fall victim to her own madness?

Beginner’s Guide to Crochet

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Yesterday afternoon, I spent my time crocheting outside with a friend of mine. Although I am not new to crocheting, it has been awhile since I last did it. In the beginning, I was able to get the slip knot and start my chain, but the real trouble came in when we took it to another level and added rows to it. I think this largely had to do with my first chain being very tight and my constant forgetfulness of the same step over and over.

Despite the difficulties I had, the help I was able to get from my friend and the fact that I was able to sit outside on one of the finer days of Ithaca’s ever-changing weather made up for it! I am definitely confident that with the right amount of practice, my next crochet project will show exponential growth from this one!

For a beginner or someone interested in crochet, my piece of advice is to watch a YouTube video and put on a slower speed (especially if it just so happened to be the video we were watching!), so you can learn more and go at your own pace!

Lettering with Flair

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This Sunday, I attended Part 2 of the Calligraphy Workshop. It is safe to say I am slowly but surely improving on my calligraphy one letter at a time. A general consensus from other attendees was that the upward strokes was difficult, and I wholeheartedly agree. As I was practicing, I ran into trouble with the amount of pressure I would put into each stroke. Transitioning from a thick downward stroke to a thin upward stroke was particularly hard because of the varying pressure I had to put in order for there to be a noticeable difference. For me personally, this added an extra stress on me since I did not want my calligraphy to portray any marks that may show any hesitation.

Moving forward as I embark on my calligraphy journey, one key lesson that I was presented with and will always remember is to add my own personality into it. By this, it can go deeper than the way one may write their calligraphy; it can also be with the emphasis I put on different letters. I may try to make my calligraphy my own by drifting away from cursive calligraphy and trying another font.

“EXCHANGES” Review

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A world without chess for Beth is bland. I have watched this show once through before, but I decided to watch it again to catch anything I may have missed the first time around. In the beginning of this week’s episode of Queen’s Gambit, the lighting that was used while at the orphanage was cool toned, but as Beth makes her return to chess, there is a drastic change in the background’s lighting. You see brighter colors and more sunlight. The audience can make a reasonable assumption that chess is a getaway from real life for Beth, which we see when she visualizes moves on the board on ceilings and become more sociable and like herself when competing against other people. This hobby, which soon becomes the center of her life, is something she can not separate herself from.

With that being said, it made me think about what particular hobbies or activities I take part in that I cannot see myself without. For me, it is dance. In one shape or another, growing up I was in some dance class, whether that be ballet, praise dance, tap, etc. Even now, in college, I am a part of a dance team that I truly enjoy.

Machismo: Toxic Masculinity

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Toxic masculinity is slowly devolving into today’s society with more people getting educated and breaking this kind of trauma. This is something I am familiar with as I am surrounded by men in my life who exhibits traits of it. I also vividly remember seeing examples like these in media. While discussing this topic, it made me remember an episode of Powerpuff Girls where Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup wanted to join a superheroes club, but they were rejected brutally by the all-male club because they were “girls who should be doing what girls do (i.e. cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc.).”

Stepping away from times when I was exposed to toxic masculinity, I sometimes observe the toxic masculinity within my guy friends. They were taught to conceal their feelings and often translate “feminine feelings” like sadness and pain into more “masculine feelings” like anger and fury. In trying to break this habitat by having heartfelt conversations, they were vulnerable and it made me see that toxic masculinity has a strong hold on men and their relationships with themselves and other people.

Finally, what really stunned me was the fact that these ongoing discussions about toxic masculinity is overshadowing the upsides of masculinity itself. One example that was given was protection. A father is seen as the guardians of their family and rescuers.

Writing with Style

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Calligraphy has always been beautiful in my eyes, which is what drew me into this workshop in the first place. I knew handwriting and learning how to make your strokes look a certain way was hard, but I still found myself underestimating how hard it actually was. Before getting started, we watched a video of 5 tips for calligraphy beginners. One tip that really resonated with me was the fact that using smooth paper is the priority and then more expensive and fancier pens are second. This shocked me because I assumed the kind of pen you use was the key to getting thick or thin strokes. After making this point, the narrator proceeded to demonstrate with a Crayola washable marker how she can make calligraphy. Translating this into my calligraphy skills, I attempted to work on my strokes, but it was definitely a struggle! On that note, I am really looking forward to Part 2 of this workshop.

How to Safely Fall in Love

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In this week’s Thursday seminar, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, the topic of safe love was recurring. In this, hearing from experts who are in the Ithaca community and in the Cornell community really helped to solidify that there are resources nearby for everyone, and I would not have to go through something traumatic like sexual assault alone. From personal experience, I feel as though there are times where I would not want to express my discomfort around a male who is making me uncomfortable. In a situation like this, one of the experts brought up an action step of what I can do to combat it: put out a feeler test to gage other people’s feelings toward the same person. This made me reflect on my past, because I have done this before and often times, I am not the only one who feels the same way I do. As a result of this,  it made me feel less crazy and safer to have an ally with me.

The 5 Senses: Sound

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From the guest speaker, Nicholas, our ears create a more vivid world compared to what our eyes can do. Radios can create a whole world that can imagined by the viewers through the diction and tone of the speakers and sound effects. Before the internet and other more recent technology, there was radios that aired shows. Nicholas was able to show us how household items can create appropriate sound effects for some. Two notable examples were shaking a bottle to mimic the sound of a rattlesnake and a bag of rice to imitate the sound of rain. Fast forwarding to today, we see a rise of podcasts that tell a story by touching on different arrays of topics. The hosts of these podcasts can create an intimate bond with their listeners.

Although I am not an active podcast / radio listener, I feel this connection when I listen to music. I go beyond the rhythm and beat of the song and feel a connection to the lyrics. Therefore, when Nicholas said words can carry a movie, I agree with his statement as it is applicable to songs as well.