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I have attended several current event catch up nights hosted by Samantha Zimmerman. However, this past month I was unable to make the live zoom, but I find them so entertaining and informative, that I wanted to watch the recording of the event. I watched the recording a week after it initially happened, on March 21, 2021. I tried to answer the cahoot question before the answer was revealed and only got 1 right, the first one about LGBTQ+ communities under attack in Ghana. This is why I enjoy these events, because as a full time student it can be hard to keep up with all the news in the world. Moving into the presentation I first learned about the Switzerland mask plead. By a very narrow vote, face covering have been band in the country which will increase inequality among Muslims in the country. While there are a very low number of Muslim women who wear facial coverings, I still think this is incredibly wrong and should not be allowed. Secondly, I learned about pre-trail details concerning the case of George Floyd. The city of Minneapolis has given his family $27 million dollars and jury selection is underway with hearing beginning at the end of this month. Next, Samantha discussed the order for arrest of the former interim president of Bolivia, Jeanine Anez, and several other former ministers. This is because when they took power, it was found out they did it in poor ways and not with the good of the country in mind. After this, I heard about the EU struggling to get Covid vaccines to European countires for a number of reasons. Lastly, Samantha talked about Amazon removing a book titled “When Harry became Sally” because they have vouched to not allow material on their website that discriminates the LGBTQ+ community.

I attended the academic event, hosted by Sam Zimmerman, Current Event Night. I haven’t been able to read or watch much of what is going on around the world with my first set on midterms happing recently so I was excited to catch-up on some of what I missed. We began by learning about the Myanmar Coup. Protesters called for the release of people that had been detained by the army and also showed their support for Democracy with the color red and even the Hunger Game 3 finger salute. The military reacted by shutting down the internet after already blocking several sites including facebook, instagram, and twitter, so there was limited ways for protesters to organize or show support. Next we discussed how Russia is expelling Europeans diplomats. These diplomats were expelled because they supported a man who openly spoke out about his opposition against Vladimir Putin. Following the expulsion, there was thousands of protesters in defiance of the actions of the Russian government. We also learned about the bushfires in Perth. I personally has never even heard of bushfire until hearing about this situation. Many people where evacuated and they are expecting more challenges in the future. In France, an Iranian man was found to have a bomb plot for a big rally back in 2018 and was convicted recently to a 20-year jail sentence. In more uplifting news, we ended by learning about how the United States has added almost 50,000 jobs to the economy. While this is good news, our economy and unemployment is nowhere near where it should be. Hopefully as midterms finish up, I will be able to get back into the swing of things and keep up with events around the world.

I attended the reoccurring zoom webinar put on by the Kirwan Institute. The webinar was about “Indigenous Resistance Now: Ongoing Resistance in This Current Moment of Protest” and took place at 11am on November 19th. There were a few speakers that talked about their studies, research, and experiences. Molly Hall-Martin and Dr. Corey Still led the discussions this week. They are both members of small Native American tribes and discussed struggles they have gone through because of their background. One thing Dr. Corey Still said that really stuck with me was that he is resisting all the time just by holding the title he has. American education was not developed to include many people especially indigenous people. Molly shared how her tribe is dealing with the Covid pandemic. She said that they have almost border control right now because they don’t want anyone passing through their tribe. Elderly members of society are regarded as the most wise and hold traditions, and values and they are most at risk with Corona. With this being said, they are doing all they can to protect their most valued members of society even though our government hasn’t done much to help them. They mentioned how with social media and technology how it has become a little easier to organize events and communicate with each other in their given tribes and allies. And now allies can show support by Venmoing money, or joining facebook groups and sharing what they learned with others. This webinar was extremely insightful for me as I don’t know much about current indigenous people and how they live especially with the pandemic occurring. I would like to continue to learn more and show my support through media.

I attended the academic event, Current Events Catch-Up, hosted by Sam Zimmerman from 7-7:40pm on Sunday October 25th. We started off with a kahoot that I did surprisingly well on considering I have been so busy with school work; I haven’t been able to read or watch much of what is going on around the world. Samantha review 6 news stories, they consisted of: a beheading in France, Sars protests in Nigeria, Sesame Street, frogs, the housing market, and the Monarchy in Thailand. I loved that we ended the presentation by talking about the social distance production of sesame street and the production of 200 frogs as they are happy and a much lighter note to end on. The other stories were more brutal and somewhat hard to hear about. I have seen a little of what is going on in Nigeria through social media but it was nice to fully unravel what exactly the hashtag #endSARS meant that I’ve seen a number of times. As for the beheading in France I had no idea about and can’t believe I didn’t. The story was sad to hear about that teacher, but definitely made me understand both sides much better. In the kahoot I guessed that Tailand was a monarchy but really had no idea until tonight. It’s always interesting to learn how other countries governments work because ours is falling apart in my opinion. Overall, I’m very pleased I attended this session because I felt like I gained a lot of knowledge and reminded me how much I’ve fallen out of the news loops and I definitely want to get back to staying updated.

I attended the zoom conference Rise Up: Addressing Systematic Racism” on Thursday September 1oth, at 11:30am. I attended this discussion because it interested me more than several other options and obviously its relavance was important to me too. It’s important to keep up with current events. As this call was set up by the school of pharmacy there was a few ideas mentioned of how racism still exists in the medical field. I know I struggled with this concept because why would you deny someone proper care or not hire the person best fit for the job because of their race, especially when it comes to any kind of medicine. Other than that there was a lot of talk about a lot of events over the past few months that have caused a rise and interest in fighting racism once again. Obviously, IA stands for everyone and is all about inclusion and equality so this was right up the IA ally, and I’m so proud to be apart of a group that is known for doing good. I am a business major and know that racism exists everywhere and especially now more than ever, in the workplace. I would like to find a company to work for or even an internship that I have researched well and know is also in the fight to end racism. I will also continue to do my part in raising awareness and speaking up.

I attended the zoom call with Sam Stelnicki discussing current events and headlines concerning Covid-19. The slideshow was extremely interesting and brought up a lot of different emotions for me. With everything going on it’s hard to just keep up with my hometown and state, and even the country. With that being said, I’ve had very little time to see how the rest of the world is dealing with Covid-19, other than like China and Italy and other places that have been all over the news, and having a little summary of smaller countries and specific details was super helpful and educational and I’m going to try to keep up more in international news. The way that counties are dealing with the different aspects of corona is so diverse and interesting. I think the US is doing okay considering our leaders and lack of preparation. On the other hand, I am very proud of how Ohio has delt with Corona and think other places could learn from Governor Mark DeWine and his actions. I think just staying up to date with how people all over the world are dealing with corona is an important part of IA and something I plan to so a little bit more of in the coming days and weeks. As a possible business major, it is interesting and important for me to look at how Covid-19 will affect the economy and business. I’ve been scared honestly to look more into this topic as I’m afraid of what I’ll find out.

I watched the zoom video where there was a Question and Answer session between IA students and Dr. Joyce Chen. What struck me as most interesting about Dr. Chen and her research is that she does almost all of her data collecting and surveying and analysis from Columbus. I had no idea that research on such in depth and complicated topics such as; Migration and climate change, and different impacts of migration, could be done in a different place on the other side of the world. Dr. Chen did say she had a partner on the ground in Bangladesh, and she does also go very once-in-a-while. Also, I don’t know much about research so it was interesting to just learn more about all the processes, and day-to-day activities, and how to get a research job. Dr. Chen’s research abroad is extremely intertwined with IA and things we discuss, stand for, and support. She talked about migration and gender roles/rights in the Q&A and those are topics that hit close to home for IA. We support everyone and are curious about others’ situations around the world. If I was able to attend the event in the present, I would have been curious to ask Dr. Chen about what she hopes to gain through her research in Bangladesh.

I attended the campus event on Disease X on February 3rd from 11-12. The event was in Scott lab and I brought a friend from outside of IA because I thought she would be interested in the subject and enjoy learning more about it. The event was extremely educational and very relevant. The lecture focused on what effects the next pandemic could have on the world. A pandemic routinely comes every 100 years, so we are more than ready for the next one. With the recent Coronavirus, many have been fearing this to be the start of the awaited pandemic. With todays interconnected world, with trade, and traveling, disease X would most likely spread farther and faster than all past pandemics and take an extreme toll on the world population. This was very scary and unsettling to hear, however it was amazing to learn about what steps are being taken to prevent an outbreak once a diseaseX has come to life.

As an IA student, I feel like I know more than the average American teen about the world, whether it be politics, economics, or other conflicts. Knowing more makes the whole idea of disease X very scary as the world today is extremely connected. I learned a little about how diseases have wiped out populations and developed our immune systems in my anthropology class first semester, but this lecture dove much deeper into it. Currently undecided, but thinking about a business major, it’s hard to not see the business opportunities in this. There is so much research and information to be gathered and then used to make products to prevent diseaseX from spreading, that while the topic is scary and complicated, it’s also a money pool for future businesses.

I went to the academic event “Area Studies at University Libraries Global Comic Lecture Series” on Thursday January 30th from 4-5:30. My roommate came with me to the lecture in Thompson Library. This series highlighted author Dr. Jose Alaniz, his works, and his ideas and opinions on disabilities in comic books, specifically from Eastern counties. I had no idea people spent their lives learning the deeper meanings of comics and creating their own with a more educational motive rather than just for entertainment. It was very interesting but upsetting to see of the examples he showed of how poorly the disabled were and still are  treated in Eastern countries. The thing that was hard to grasp was when he showed examples of wheelchair ramps. So many of them were built poorly and couldn’t even be used. Through comics, people have begun to bring light to the situation are working to make a change.

International affairs is more than just cultures and religions and politics, our IA community at school is extremely inclusive of everyone and I believe this is something that not many people even know is a problem and needs a larger backing to help defeat it. IA can help by just getting the conversation started more and more to a widespread audience. I’m currently in a ceramics class and we have talked a lot about how to spend messages and ideas through different medias and the way that Dr. Alaniz is spreading his message through comics is a perfect example of unconventional medias. As an art minor, this event got me thinking about how I want my work to mean more. I want to use art and different medias to express myself through.

I went to the JUROS Undergraduate Research Panel in Lazenby Hall from 5:45-6:45 on Thursday November 21st. While I was obviously in attendance for IA, a decent amount of other students who attended were from the STEP program. I was interested in going to the panel because my older brother who is currently a fourth year, and many of my older friends have done some sort of research throughout their college experience and they have said how rewarding it was for a multitude of reasons. I didn’t really know exactly what “research” meant and what type of work went along with it and the panel was very helpful in answering those basic questions about it. Although the panel touched on how to get a spot working at a lab, I am still slightly confused and could definitely use more guidance in exploring possible research opportunities for my future.

Listening to all the panelists, it only strengthened my already bias opinion on research being extremely useful and knowledgable for all majors and intrests. As I am leaning more and more towards business it was comforting to hear that it is definitely possible for me to still find a research opportunity whether it be business related or another interest of mine. Also, it was mentioned that because research is most common is medical and science fields, other fields are often given more money and flexibility because of a lack of research being done which was also very intriguing to me.