GoBuckeye Day

This past Friday, I participated in GoBuckeye day and joined some of my fellow scholars in an informal “info session” in hopes that we could convince a few prospective IA Scholars to join. I decided to partake in this event because it was a great opportunity for me to reflect on my accomplishments and opportunities taken throughout the first two years of college, and because it allowed me the opportunity to effectively communicate these opportunities. Additionally, it gave me the opportunity to to foster the same warm, inviting, and exciting environment that was offered when I attended GoBuckeye Day about two years ago.

I came into the room expecting a more informal session and was embarrassed that I was a few minutes late because I had to load up a few bucks on my BuckID to do laundry, however I hope it wasn’t too much of a disruption. It was great to see that some students chose to attend this event  and additionally that some were from diverse majors, such as engineering! As a non-political/government oriented major, I have never once felt “out of place” within IA, despite my numerous major changes. I wanted to make sure to make this clear to the student who was majoring in engineering, because I can only imagine that it may feel a little daunting to come into IA without knowing that. I also hoped that I made this clear by joining my peers in dialogue that expressed the multiple opportunities that I have come across thanks to my participation in IA scholars.

Additionally, I really enjoyed hearing what my peers are involved in and how these things may tie into IA. I am really grateful to be in a scholars program that is so diverse is every aspect. I continually learn more and more about the “campus happenings” or meaningful things I can get involved in through the vibrant group of friends I have made in IA. Hearing about how their experiences have been so formative to them finding their niche at Ohio State at this event was really great to hear. I truly think that the words of my IA pals truly attests to the unique drive, curiosity, and general dedication of this amazing group when they find something they can truly devote their energy to.  For example, I knew that some of my peers have been involved in USG and STEP, however this meeting really allowed me to hear how their involvement in these programs at OSU had truly impacted their academic and social experience.

All in all, I think this event was very beneficial not only for the prospective scholars, but for me as well. This event really allowed me to look back on all the hard work my fellow IA scholars and I have put into the past ~2 years of not only our education, but holistic experience of being buckeyes. I have no doubt that the warm, inclusive environment fostered by IA has allowed us all to thrive in the unique ways that each and everyone has in the past ~4 semesters, and I have no doubt that it will continue doing so throughout my academic career as a Buckeye and beyond.

 

Current Events 3/4/19

A couple weeks back, I attended Sam Stelnicki’s event on current events- namely those occurring in Kashmir, the elections in Nigeria, and the status of Brexit. I am not super well-versed in current events but attending this event helped me feel a little more informed about the current state of affairs around the world. Additionally, it was very eye opening to hear the opinions of my fellow International Affairs scholars and to hear about the knowledge each and every one of them (who participated) had on these issues. In sum, this was a great experience for me and I hope that many of my peers had an equally great experience.

Initially, we talked about the low voter turnout in the Nigerian election. Although many people talk about the advent of democracy in today’s world, this exemplifies yet another instance in which governments worldwide can make democracy more accessible to people. I don’t remember the exact numbers that Sam told us, but it was low even for someone who lives in the United States (our numbers have not been looking too hot but hopefully people can become more ~politically engaged~!). Although I don’t come from a political science background, I believe that many countries, states, and counties should be doing better to get voters out through a variety of measures. Additionally, governments should be doing better to get citizens fired up about elections, and democracy in general.

After this, we learned about Brexit. Brexit is a tricky issue that has confused me since its conception in 2016? 2017? 2018? 2019? I feel like Theresa May tirelessly introduces this every few months or so. In the event we talked about possible benefits and consequences of Brexit potentially passing. Personally, I believe that it would further alienate the ~British Isles~ from Europe. However, I got a notification today about it failing to pass yet again. I know that this event has sparked a myriad of separatist movements in the context of the European Union, and wonder what might even arise from these past few years of Brexit limbo.

Finally, we talked about the hotly contested region of Kashmir. I remember playing with a little interactive globe as a kid and pressing on the region of Kashmir. I remember being confused as to why the globe blurted “NO DATA” to me, but never really thought much of it again until this event. Since the region has been a controversial issue between India and Pakistan for so long, I don’t see much happening in the future. I believe that the vibrant, unique background of this country would make a transition fully into either country difficult and awkward. Additionally, after hearing about the Pakistani military action even after ~70 years of tension, I am less hopeful about a peaceful resolution in the future.

In sum, Sam does a great job of eloquently presenting international current events for us International Affairs scholars and for facilitating an environment for fruitful discussion between us internationally engaged folks. I am glad to have attended this event and hope that my peers who also attended share this same sentiment.

Cookes and Cards for Nationwide Children’s Hospital

On Tuesday, February 12th , my RA, and IA social media chair, Allison Spicer held an event in which our floor and IA students were able to enjoy succulent, warm cookies from Insomnia cookies, and made warm, heartfelt, handmade valentines day cards for children at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, to be given to them on Valentine’s Day.

I don’t know how in depth you want us to get with these, but there is realistically only so much I can write for these reflections without being redundant. Regardless, I will keep on writing as much as I can about this service event to reach the required 500 words, as stated in the International Affairs Scholars handbook that was emailed to us at the beginning of last semester.

Disregarding this, this event was pretty fun and a nice break from the hectic events of midterms! I enjoyed being able to talk to people that live on my floor and first-years in IA, because I don’t get the chance to do that much! I also very much enjoyed a warm cookie from Insomnia. These cookies really do feel like a little hug at the end of a difficult day.

I enjoyed making card for patients at Nationwide Children’s hospital! I really hope it brought some cheer to these individuals on Valentine’s Day.  I ended up looking up card ideas on Pinterest, because of my lack of artistic creativity. My personal favorite was one that said “you’re one in a melon”, because I had the opportunity to draw little watermelon slices with smiley faces. Taking time to make some cute little cards made me feel nice, and I hope that it makes these children feel nice and appreciated as well. If not, I at least hope they appreciate the funny little doodles!

I really appreciate Allison for doing this! Although I know that International Affairs Scholars are sometimes very involved with internationally oriented organizations, I am happy that we are also doing things locally! In the future I feel like doing events like these around Christmas or other holidays would be really neat in the future! I hope that we can do events like this in the future at the wex, or for other hospitals in the area!

I feel that although we are international affairs scholars, I am so glad that we are doing things for the Columbus community. I hope that in the future there will be more service events in which IA students can hold toy drives, go read to patients at hospitals, or other things of the like.

In sum, I really enjoyed partaking in this card-writing event and hope we can do something similar in the future! I also really appreciated the cookies from insomnia. I hope that we can definitely incorporate more of those little circles of goodness and succulent-ness into more events with little artistically designed rectangles of goodness. I have about 20 more words, so I hope that more IA events can have a tangible effect on individuals in the community and elsewhere, like this one did (hopefully!).

 

German Night at German House

On Thursday, I attended Kate’s event on Germany! I did go for that good ol’ non-IA credit, but also because Germany seems like a fascinating country with a rich culture and I wanted to learn more about it. I really enjoyed hearing everyone’s individual connections to Germany and why they were interested in Germany, because I definitely heard Nazis and pretzels much less than I expected to!

I really appreciate the fact that Kate has such a large interest in history, along with her really engaged presentation style! It made the presentation extremely interesting to me. She definitely covered a few interesting tidbits of history I have never heard before, such as the King of Prussia refusing the title of a unifying monarch out of pride. Another thing I especially appreciated as we got through the 20th century history section were the “causes” and “lingering effects” of some of the big historical events, such as the Holocaust and the cold-war era split country situation. I feel that with many of the issues, such as racial/national tensions today in Germany and many other EU countries who take in significant numbers of refugees that remembering these events in history is important and essential to avoiding political, social, and economic mishaps/missteps.

Another part of this presentation that was interesting to me was learning about career/internship/study abroad opportunities in Germany! I have Germany on my bucket list but have only been able to visit surrounding countries so far! I would love to study abroad in Germany one day, or maybe do a research internship one day. I especially am interested by the Dresden and Bonn programs that Kate mentioned and plan to look in on those for next year! As a psychology major, I think that having a small grasp of German would be useful as there is a lot of really cool clinical psychology and behavioral neuroscience research going on in Germany, and more largely, the EU! Not to mention, the food sounds especially good, as I’m not a super big vegetable fan. I would also find visiting Germany to be fulfilling because of all the rich history and architecture (especially soviet brutalist architecture in former East Germany!!!) that resides in this country.

I definitely am interested in learning more about German culture now and will be hitting Kate up for the list of movies. I wish that we could have talked more about this in the meeting, but I realize that everyone was more interested in talking about the ~current~ political climate in Germany in lieu of films. All in all, this was a really educational experience and the kind of IA event I get really excited to attend! I like to attend events with a more international focus rather than an “affairs” orientation, and this event definitely catered to it! I have about 30 words left in this reflection so I will just say that the pretzels were absolutely succulent and the hot cocoa was delicious. In conclusion, Germany seems like a pretty cool place and I look forward to visiting one day!

“Democracy in Hiroshima 1945-1968”

Today I attended Dr. Sherif’s talk on art and poetry in post World War II Japan in Hagerty Hall as my Non-IA related event. I really do not have any knowledge on post World War II Japan and feel that a lot of historians focus on the aftermath of WWII in Europe, so this was something new and “refreshing”. Dr. Sherif spoke about her research as a Japanese literature major and now-professor, so it was also interesting to hear a perspective that didn’t come from someone with a historian title. All in all, this was a great presentation that allowed me to learn more about a piece of history that gets glossed over a lot in traditional world history classes.

 

Dr. Sherif began her presentation with an introduction of a cultural literary circle in Hiroshima after the atomic bombs. This literary group sought to raise awareness against the current government in power and against atomic/nuclear weapons in Japan. This literary circle achieved this by making cheap and minimalist posters with simple graphics and a few impactful words that would leave thoughts lingering in the heads of passing pedestrians on the street. Many of these posters evoked feelings of hopelessness under the current government or brought back imagery from the aftermath of the atomic bomb. Authorities, however, were not a fan of these posters and tore them down/prosecuted those responsible whenever they had the chance. Many of the artists who created these posters simply staked out by their posters and tore them down when they saw police approaching , or ran if they did not have enough time to take them down.

One of the artists that Dr. Sherif talked about was Shikoku Gorō, Shikoku was part of the aforementioned literary circle in Hiroshima and was deeply affected by the war in Japan. He himself had spent a few years in a Soviet POW camp, and had lost a brother in the Hiroshima bombing. With the events of his life being bad enough, he was also barred from getting a job  and partially alienated from society due to being “politically tainted” from his time in the Soviet POW camp. He used his experiences to make moving yet simple poetry/illustrations that addressed topics of loss, anger, and moving forward from these events that affected many in Japan, especially in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Dr. Sherif showed us a copy of his book of poetry and let us see the same minimalistic yet deep designs that he used to move his audience. one of the works I found most interesting was a poem with two orphans walking in a field and a Japanese POW watching on. Shikoku was not an apologist for the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and other events during the war, and this work clearly showed that.

All in all, I am glad I attended this presentation. It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting based on the title, bu

CRIS Tree of Hope

On September 25th, I had the opportunity to participate in an event for the Columbus non-profit CRIS, or Community Refugee and Immigration Services. Some other IA members and I decorated colorful welcome cards and notes of encouragement for students at Columbus Global Academy. This was a fun event and I really enjoyed decorating cute little cards in English and Spanish for students, and I hope they enjoy my cards, or at the very least don’t laugh at my lack of artistic ability. The purpose of these cards on the “tree” at the school was to serve as a pick-me-up for students who are feeling down or for students who just need a little extra cheer in their day.

As great as this project sounds, it is sad to hear student’s sadness and negative feelings towards being at the school contributed to the creation of this project. Although a card with a cute pun or uplifting may not change everything, hopefully it can bring a smile to many and let them know how welcome and appreciated they are in Columbus.

To my knowledge, CRIS and IA are both closely connected. I actually became a CRIS mentor last semester because I heard about it in an IA meeting and was interested. At first I was really reluctant about my aptitude for mentoring, however I really have been enjoying it as of lately. Over the course of about ~10 months, my involvement in the organization has led me to be a mentor, be on their community connectors board, and most of all has led for me to develop an interest in working with people and volunteering in similar organizations. CRIS has been something I have been so grateful to be involved in, as it has taught me a lot about Columbus’ vibrant and diverse population and how much the amazing communities CRIS interacts with can contribute to our lives, Columbus, and more largely this country.

CRIS and IA have inspired me to branch out and look for more opportunities to be a companion and resource for others in my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Previous to coming to OSU, I did some volunteering in predominantly Latino communities because I felt like I could be of most assistance due to my (almost)fluency in Spanish. However, after spending a year at OSU, I have felt inspired to break out of that little bubble and look for other communities to volunteer in. I actually spent seven weeks towards the end of the summer at a non profit called The Refugee Education Center in Grand Rapids and I loved it. Although I was a tiny bit scared to be a teaching assistant in a first grade classroom, I ended up loving it. I intend to return there next summer and be surrounded by the most energetic group of k-12 kids, hopefully with a little more knowledge of Swahili and with better jumprope turning techniques this time around. All in all, I never would have had such a great experience if CRIS hadn’t given me the tools and confidence that I was competent to do this. I also would not have been able to do this without the fresh perspective both CRIS and IA have given me in the last year.

Venezuelan Economic Crisis Event

For my first academic event of the year, I attended Sam’s talk on the Venezuelan economic crisis in the smith steeb glass classroom on August 26th. Coming in, I didn’t have much knowledge about economics, world crises, or even about Venezuela as a country. However, through the knowledge of others and through a couple of helpful videos, I came out of the meeting feeling a little more informed and aware of the crisis that seems to be having a ripple effect across the country, South America, and even the world in some aspects. This event’s relation to international affairs is prominent, as we all engaged in fruitful discussion and got educated on an event that has repercussions affecting diplomatic relations between Venezuela and other countries, and that has turned into a humanitarian crisis.

First, we learned about the history behind Venezuela’s current political and economic system that has led to the current state of affairs. We learned about Hugo Chavez assuming office and implementing a populist regime in Venezuela. We then learned about how the dependence and pricing of Venezuela’s single strongest export, oil, and many other mistakes such as overspending caused inflation and shortages of consumer goods. We then talked about how these conditions have worsened under Maduro and how these difficulties affect the everyday lives of citizens.

In this event we learned about the hardships that civilians are enduring under the current regime. These interruptions to daily life include but are not limited to: housing shortages, food shortages, and virtually no access to medical care and supplies. Venezuela currently has extremely high infant mortality rates due to the extremely low quality of care afforded in the hospitals. This difficult quality of life for many Venezuelans has led to protests, which are violently put down by the regime, or to leave, which is economically and legally unfeasible for most citizens.

Currently, Venezuela is experiencing record levels of inflation. I also learned how the Venezuelan government stopped even recording inflation levels into 2018 and how their new currency (Bolivar) is worth 1 Bolivar for 100,000 old Bolivars.  All this information might seem like common knowledge to those who are updated on international (economic) affairs but I really found the numbers shared at this meeting to be astonishing. I am a psychology major and tend to read literature that focuses more on behavioral sciences, so this meeting was definitely out of my knowledge zone. It was interesting to learn about something I would have never thought about looking into otherwise.

This talk inspired me to read more into international crises in areas that I usually would not read about, and to look for possible relations to other fields. I can only imagine all the other implications of the economic crisis that affect daily life, and Venezuelan life in the long-term. Unfortunately, it saddened me to learn that the United States is not helping ameliorate the situation. Trump has apparently included Venezuela as a country in his travel ban, which proves disastrous to many citizens trying to escape the situation in their country. Hopefully time will change things and the situation will improve, on a national scale for Venezuelans, and on a diplomatic scale worldwide.

About Me

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Year in Review

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