Seed Money

April 11, 2022

Today I attended a webinar called “Seed Money: Monsanto’s Past and Our Food Future” featuring Bart Elmore, an environmental history professor and author of Seed Money. It was put on by the College of Arts and Sciences and moderated by Nicholas Breyfogle, a history professor at Ohio State. The Monsanto company started by producing the caffeine for Coca-Cola, and then moved onto different pesticides and other chemicals. People didn’t know how dangerous some of these chemicals were and they caused real problems when they got into the food people eat.

I wanted to attend this event because I really enjoyed when Elmore came to speak at a Community Meeting and I wanted to learn more. There is a lot of talk about chemistry and other scientific terms that I don’t understand, but he speaks in a way that makes it accessible to everyone. One part I really liked was when Elmore was talking about John Queeny, the man who started Monsanto in 1901, and his family. He related it to his own family, and really focused throughout the writing of his book on telling all sides of Queeny’s story. This is related to my life because I want to know what chemicals I am ingesting, as much as I can. I’m sure there are dangerous chemicals used in everyday items today that we don’t even know about. I think it’s important that scientists and CEO’s alike are doing the best they can for people with the information that they have at the time.

World Languages in the Real World

March 9, 2022

Today I attended an event called ASC Life Beyond Degree: World Languages in the Real World. It was facilitated by Rebecca Bias and Maggie Kruth, and two OSU alumni Ally Goldman and Kaitlyn Rabe. Rebecca said that cultural competency and language learning are lifelong journeys, and there is no end. This is comforting and also a little scary. One thing Kaitlyn said is that if a language isn’t our mother tongue, there is very little chance we’ll ever be 100% fluent. That helps me feel better about where I’m at with my own Spanish abilities.

I chose to attend this event because I am a Spanish major and I often wonder how my degree will help me after I graduate. I am often told that I’m getting a useless degree, but being able to talk to a whole other group of people and understanding their culture will be beyond helpful in my career. One thing that has already come up in my internship with CRIS and friendships is differences in punctuality and attendance, which Ally brought up. Different cultures have different ideas about these topics, and it’s important to remember that people come from different places. Empathy and humility were really emphasized during this event. Understanding that my way isn’t necessarily the right or only way is going to be very important in my career.

Game Planning for Stress

February 23, 2022

Today I attended a Zoom event by Josh Winn at Buckeye Wellness called “Game Planning for Stress.” Buckeye Wellness had programs for students, faculty, and staff which promote the nine dimensions of wellness. Two that I want to look into in the future are emotional wellness and creative wellness. I chose to attend this event because I am stressed almost all the time and I was looking for solutions or coping skills. The 2018 Harvard study that Winn brought up found that 75% of college students are experiencing one or more stressful life events, and 20% of college students had suicidal thoughts. Over the course of the pandemic, these rates have likely risen.

There are two kinds of stress. Eustress is the good and helpful type, and distress is the kind that derails us. It’s all about having healthy levels of stress and having forms of recovery after feeling stress. Burnout is very real and I believe I have been experiencing it for a long time. I’m currently reading a book called Stress into Strength by Nick Arnett, and he talks about some similar topics. I need to focus on recovery more. I often use time scrolling on my phone to destress, but I don’t think that’s the most healthy option for me. Some recovery ideas that were presented today that I want to try is thinking more positively and being mindful. Those things are easier said than done, but I want to try meditation, working out, and spending time with friends to help me achieve those.

Climate Change, Crisis, and Resilience in The Pre-Modern World

November 19, 2021

Today I attended an event called Climate Change, Crisis, and Resilience in The Pre-Modern World featuring Geoffrey Parker, Andreas Dorpalen Professor of European History at Ohio State, and Adam Izdebski, an Independed Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. This is part of an ongoing series from 2020-2023, and it is put on by The Center of Historical Research at the Ohio State University. They are focusing on the problem of crisis in history, and some of the earlier presentations discussed the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of George Floyd, the 2020 U.S. election, global fires and floods, and more recently the victory of the Taliban in Afghanistan. In today’s program, Parker talked about the book that he wrote called Global Crisis: War, Climate Change & Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century in 2013. He said that while researching for it, he encountered a common problem among historians: new facts are being found faster than people can read about them. There is so much to history that we still don’t know.

I was drawn to this event because I have a history minor here. I really enjoy learning about the past, the present, and how those both impact the future. I especially like learning about the history of war, so Parker’s book was very interesting. Parker also talked about how there is a connection between science and human affairs. I often think of STEM as separate from humanities, however everything is related to each other. I have one critique of this event. At times this presentation was difficult to follow. I have not attended the previous ones, which may have helped this issue, but the presenters seemed to just use a lot of big words without really saying anything. They are highly accomplished individuals, and I appreciate them putting together this discussion, but it doesn’t seem very accesible.

Suicide and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan

October 25th, 2021

Today I attended an event called “Suicide and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan” featuring Dr. Michiko Ueda, a professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. It was actually 6:30 in the morning on October 26th when she began presenting from Japan. At the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, she recognized that the rates of depression and suicide were going to increase due to the pandemic, so she started surveying people that April. She was right. There was a very large increase in both. Japan already has a very high suicide rate compared to other countries, and the isolation, job loss, and actually contracting COVID-19 only made situations worse. The main takeaways from her webinar included the fact that the most vulnerable groups to be affected by depression and suicide were adolescents, women and girls, and people struggling financially. The other takeaway is that the rates of suicide and depression were worse in 2020 than in 2019, but they are worse in 2021 than they were in 2020. I thought this was interesting because I would have thought that as restrictions were lifted and the pandemic got better, then depression and suicide rates would decrease.

I was interested in this webinar because my mental health also deteriorated due to the pandemic. In March 2020, I was a senior in high school really looking forward to graduation, prom, and all the other memories I was supposed to make. I still haven’t recovered from losing all of that but it is something I am working on daily and in therapy. It was very interesting to hear about the causes and effects of the increase of depression and suicide in Japan in particular. One other part I found very cool was that Japan actually had a Minister of Loneliness from February-October 2021 to talk to the public about loneliness mental health to decrease the stigma surrounding those and help people feel connected. Overall, this event was very informative and Dr. Ueda brought up many thought-provoking topics.

Road to Recovery with Abby Wambach

September 15, 2021

I attended an event put on by OUAB called “Road to Recovery.” It featured retired Olympic soccer player and person in long-term recovery, Abby Wambach. It was about an hour, but it packed her 41 years of experience into what felt like 5 minutes and I could’ve listened to her for much longer. One thing she mentioned was “the truthiest truth,” meaning the true meaning behind an action or emotion. This really spoke to me because there is often something else behind our own or someone else’s actions or words, beyond what is shown on the surface. That’s the part that really matters. Getting and staying sober can be very hard, and Abby had to move to a completely new city in order to start her life over. You have to be willing to turn everything around, and even lose friends or family. As she explained, there is a cost for everything, and you need to know what your priorities are.

I am in recovery from two things that I will not mention here, so this event was helpful, motivational, and very moving. She talked about how games don’t matter in the end. Of course in soccer she was inspirational and doing a lot for women’s rights, but life matters so much more than soccer. This can be applied in other areas than sports, like school or work. I think my degree and career are going to be very important, but they can’t replace relationships with others or myself. Another concept she spoke about is that your image is important, but it can’t be everything. Being on the Women’s National Team led her to hide her alcoholism even more, since she needed to be the face of the team. Image is something I think about very often, and I thought it was everything at one point. She was wonderful to listen to and I love her perspective on life. 

Fun fact: Abby and I have the same birthday.

Anti-Asian Racism After Atlanta

April 15, 2021

Today I attended an event put on by the Asian American Studies Program called “Anti-Asian Racism After Atlanta: Assessing the Moment” featuring Joey Kim, PhD.; Arun Venugopal; Joe Ponce, PhD.; and Molly Jasina. Doctor Kim spoke about how the media “suddenly” switching to cover anti-Asian hate crimes suggests the false idea that such events are new. They are “built-in to the country’s culture,” she argued. Anti-Asian hate is not new at all and the wide spectrum of Asian stereotypes in the U.S. only add to the hate. Ohio State student Molly Jasina added her experience of being adopted from China into a white family and how she didn’t have meaningful conversations about race until she got to college. Her words really spoke to me since we are similar ages.

This event made me think about my white privilege and how the discrimination the Asian community faces are often downplayed because they are seen as the model minority. I often feel like I am not the right person to talk about anti-racism or current racially-charged events, because I don’t think I have the right words or knowledge for it. Even Dr. Kim acknowledged that marginalized voices, especially queer Asian women, are still silenced, and I don’t want to add to the silencing. Attending events like these allow me to learn about how the people affected by these events feel, while I am learning how to share information while not speaking over others.

Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Mary Rodriguez

April 7, 2021

In this Faculty Spotlight, Dr. Mary Rodriguez spoke about her research, travel experiences, and her journey to becoming a professor of agriculture at Ohio State. She went to college in Texas and Florida, and travelled to Cameroon through the Peace Corps. All of her work was focused on agriculture, but she always put a “gender lens” on everything she did. Women, agriculture, and food security are connected through a concept called time poverty. Women are often in charge of keeping a family and a household running, and their time is very important. Finding faster ways to gather water or prepare food is essential to their families’ quality of life.

I really enjoyed listening to Dr. Rodriguez talked about her experiences. She is very passionate and her talk really inspired me to travel. I already planned on studying abroad in South America and Europe, but I am considering taking a gap year before going to law school. I loved how she has combined her passions of women’s empowerment, food security, and teaching into one career. One message I learned from Dr. Rodriguez is that you are only young once and you should take advantage of all the opportunities presented to you.

U.S. Support for LGBTI Rights Abroad from Obama to Trump

March 25, 2021

Today I attended a Zoom event called “U.S. Support for LGBTI Rights Abroad from Obama to Trump.” Dr. Cynthia Burack, a feminist political theory and sexuality studies professor at OSU, shared information about LGBTI rights and how support for the group has changed over time. I was surprised to hear that when Trump took over office, the U.S. did not pull out of international agreement to have and protect SOGI rights. I also didn’t know what SOGI rights were prior to this event, and I learned that they are “laws that ban disagreement on LGBT issues by enforcing a sexual orthodoxy and treat reasonable actions as discriminatory.” I would have expected Trump to disagree with these rights based on his religious views, but there was actually more stability than change in this area during his presidency.

As someone in this group, I felt a little hopeful after this event. I liked how Burack noted the stability here from president to president. Of course, while Obama was president gay marriage was legalized and Trump’s views seemed very opposite, so learning there was more similarities than I thought was shocking but slightly comforting. Overall this was an interesting topic that I now know a little more about. I will use this knowledge in my study of further laws in this area, and other areas as I continue preparing for law school.

Our Country is Full: Roots and Consequences of America’s 1921 Immigration Act 100 Years Later

February 23, 2021

Today I attended a webinar titled “Our Country is Full: Roots and Consequences of America’s 1921 Immigration Act 100 Years Later.” The panel included Ashley Johnson Bavery, Eastern Michigan University; Linda Gordon, New York University; and Alexandra Minna Stern, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. They focused on the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the 1924 Immigration Act, and the effects they still have today. One example of this that Gordon explained was the similarities between the Ku Klux Klan and modern white nationalists. There has always been an anti-immigrant voice in the United States. It has fluctuated between quiet and loud throughout the years but it is still there. I think this comparison is accurate and is something I often see in social media. Bavery talked about how Border Patrol used to protect the northern border and most Americans were strongly against it. It brought up questions about how to protect our borders, and whether we need protection there at all. These questions are still being asked today.

I really enjoyed this event, especially what Bavery said about the formation of the Border Patrol. I felt it was informational and still engaging. I still plan on becoming an immigration attorney, and learning about the history of immigration in the United States is important for my education.