Today I attended GRF Sam’s Poem in Your Pocket Day event. This was a really fun event celebrating a really cool holiday meant to encourage people to read and talk about poetry. I have a little bit of poetry experience through both my English classes and various campus writing-related organizations that I am part of, but I am by no means a poetry expert. It was interesting to hear about Sam’s experience with the poetry day event. While this event was small, it was nice to be able to talk to others about a mutual interest. I really enjoyed hearing people share some of their favorite poems and read them aloud. There is something really magical about hearing poetry read aloud. While I did not have any specific short poem to share off the top of my head, it was cool hearing what others had to share. I talked about a fascinating poetry book called “Dance Dance Revolution” which I read in my Utopian literature class. Another thing that we did was try to do blackout poetry with one of Shakespeare’s sonnets. If you don’t know, blackout poetry is when you take an existing poem or any type of writing and blackout a bunch of the words, leaving only some words behind that you use to make a new poem. It was really fun to try this, even though my poem didn’t end up making much sense! Overall, this event was a fun break from work where I got to talk about poetry with others!
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A Conversation with Ryan Lombardi and Ken Roberts
Today I attended the most recent recording of Rose Buzz featuring Ryan Lombardi and Professor Ken Roberts. I was very excited for this episode, as I always love hearing from Ryan Lombardi at Rose Scholars events and was interested in learning more about him as well as about Ken Roberts. Their discussion was really interesting and I really appreciated their advice to students. One part of the conversation that stood out was their discussion of student activism. Roberts spoke about this from his point of view of someone who has studied Government and social movements, and Lombardi spoke about this from the point of view of the administration, which is at times is what students are against. It was interesting hearing about this and the importance that they both place on hearing student’s voices. They both really seem to care about students and what they have to say. At the end, they gave some advice to students and talked about what they liked and disliked about the university (they both said they didn’t have a “least favorite” part!). I thought it was really interesting how Lombardi said that he is saddened by how prevalent the idea of impostor syndrome is among students because he sees us all as being very capable and in an amazing position to be at a university such as Cornell in the first place. Hearing this from him was definitely a really good reminder to put things into perspective a bit, and it was nice to hear that he really cares about students.
The Latest Rose Buzz Episode
Today I attended the latest Rose Buzz episode featuring Jason Hungerford and Sean Nicholson. I really enjoyed hearing them talk about their lives and careers and give advice, as it’s always great to meet and learn about new people in the Rose House community through Rose Buzz! I was really fascinated by the interesting work that both the speakers do. For example, it was really inspiring to hear from Jason Hungerford about his volunteer work with the Cancer Resource Center and with LGBTQ activism in Ithaca. I found it interesting that he said he gets more satisfaction out of his volunteer work than his paid job, which is something that I can see myself relating to. I also really loved when he talked about the community in Ithaca and why he chose to move here. It was moving to hear how much he values how people and the government in Ithaca are accepting of others and fighting for equality, especially for the LGBTQ community. I agree that it can be easy to forget that the rest of the country isn’t like Ithaca in that way. I also enjoyed hearing from Professor Sean Nicholson, especially about how he enjoys teaching and his experience with teaching in high schools compared to at a college level. As always, it’s reassuring to find professors at Cornell that really have a passion for teaching and not just research. Overall, this was a really interesting Rose Buzz episode!
The Importance of Diversity in the Arts
Today I went to the fascinating talk by Hassan Mahamdallie about his creative case for diversity in the Arts. It was very interesting to hear him talk about why diversity is so vital to the Arts, as well as hear about his extensive background in theater and as a writer, among many other things. One thing that I found really interesting was when he talked about how linear art history which emphasizes only Western works is a fiction. For a long time, the Arts have supported only Western plays as classics, which completely discounts the Arts from around the world. The most interesting example from his talk was the example of standpoint theory, which he used to show why diversity is not only good but needed in the Arts. Standpoint theory says that, if you consider a bowl, the people on the periphery (people who are marginalized in society) can actually see farther across the bowl than people at the bottom (where power is collected). This is a really fascinating metaphor for thinking about society and illustrates that diversity brings in a wide range of perspectives that may see farther and wider. Wider perspectives are integral to the Arts because on a fundamental level, the arts, no matter what type, are meant to present and analyze life and society through creativity.
The Queen’s Gambit Part 4: New Challenges
This episode of The Queen’s Gambit saw a lot of interesting new challenges for Beth that threaten her mental health and her chess-playing ability. The episode follows her as she travels to Mexico for a chess competition and faces talented new players and a lot of emotional turmoil. It was interesting to see Beth at this age in her life starting to think about her future and consider if there is a life outside of chess. Multiple times, her mother tells her to relax and she is told by other people that chess is her whole life, such as when she hears the Russian players talking in the elevator about her. It was interesting to see how these statements really get to her and she begins to question this too, such as when she asks the young player she goes against what he will do with his life after he plans to become World Champion at age 16. This struck me as a really important moment where Beth begins to become more aware of her situation. It also shows how she is questioning her own ability and strategy, which ends up being to her detriment. Another thing that I found really moving about this episode was the ending, where Beth gets hit with another traumatic, emotional event that takes a really rough toll on her mental health. Watching this episode was both really interesting but also quite sad, though I definitely will keep watching!
The Queen’s Gambit Episode 2: Chess and Her Teen Years
This week, we watched and discussed the second episode of “The Queen’s Gambit,” which followed Beth as she gets adopted at age 13 and enters a chess tournament. Like the first episode, the second episode was a targeted flashback of her life that followed her at a specific time in her life; for this epidode, what was when she leaves the orphanage and begins going to highschool. It was interesting to see this change in Beth’s life and see how her prior experiences affected the way she navigated highschool. As chess becomes her priority, she stops focusing on school or developing a social life. It was interesting to see how she reacted to typical teenager events, such as school, bullies, and getting her period for the first time, as well seeing how she pursuses the very non-traditional (at the time) path of becoming a chess master. This episode did a good job of showing the viewer life through Beth’s perspective as she struggles through her young teen years. While some of the obstacles that she faces can seem to be a highschool cliché, such as dealing with bullies, the show remains interesting by focusing on chess and how Beth uses it to cope with her situation and take control of her own life. Overall, I thought that the characterization and plot in this episode were really well done and made for an intruiging show!
Hearing from Mary Opperman and Angela Cornell
Yesterday I attended this week’s episode of Rose Buzz, featuring Mary Opperman and Angela Cornell. Hearing from them was very interesting for me, as I have no experience in, and little knowledge of, Human Resources and law. It was really interesting to hear about their career paths and their jobs, which are very different from what I curretly study. While I do not plan to go into those fields, it was really eye-opening to learn what they are about. Surprisingly, I found a lot of their career advice to be really helpful and applicable. For example, Mary Opperman discussed the importance of good leadership skills and of listening and learning from those you lead, which I think is really important. Another aspect of the talk which I found fascinating was when they shared their experiences of how their work changed when the pandemic hit. Mary Opperman talked about how she had to deal with budget cuts and worked to keep people employed even if they weren’t actually working. She also described how she had to make tough descisions. Hearing about that from her perspective was in a way comforting, as it’s easy to think of the university administration as one whole unit that does not care much about individuals.
The Queen’s Gambit, from someone watching it for the first time
Tonight I got the opportunity to watch the first episode of “The Queen’s Gambit” with the other Rose Scholars. Despite all the hype surrounding this show, I somehow have never watched it, so I was very excited about this event. Going into this, I knew little about the show’s plot other than the general premise. Upon watching, I was surprised about the intense themes that it dealt with, in addition to how well done it was in terms of storyline and general cinematography. While I was not expecting the entire first episode to be a flashback to her childhood, it did not seem forced but instead was really illuminating in understanding her character. It was also crazy to see that an orphanage was getting children addicted to pills, and just to see the general bad environment that she was forced into. In terms of plot, while there were some clichés with the “gifted child is taught by reluctant teacher” trope, I really enjoyed seeing her character development. I also loved how the episode was put together, from the music, to the alternating shots between action and flashback, to the visualization of chess pieces on the ceiling. This all came together to make it a really immersive and interesting first episode, and now I will definitely watch more!
The Importance of Teaching
Yesterday I attended the Fellow interview with Professors Shirley Samuels and Daniel Schwarz. Listening to them talk about their extensive careers and experiences in academia was really inspiring. What stood out to me the most about their interview was how much they emphasized their love of teaching as what kept them in academia for so long. Professor Schwarz talked about how he is passionate about teaching and learning from students and creating a learning community in his classes. I found this really inspiring and good to hear, as it often feels like many professors at Cornell only care about research and do not put as much value in teaching. They both talked about how they enjoy staying in touch with students over the years and talking to them about their experiences. Another thing that really stood out to me was when Professor Schwarz talked about teaching on Zoom and emphasized that if a professor is a good teacher, they should find a way to make Zoom teaching a fulfilling learning experience for students. I loved his assertion that too many people complain about teaching on Zoom and that if teachers can’t teach on Zoom, they were probably bad teachers before to begin with. For me, I can definetly tell which professors go the extra mile to make their Zoom classes as engaging as possible, and I really appreciate that. Overall, it was really inspiring and reassuring to hear from these accomplished professors about the importance of good teaching.