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In this second IA meeting on Feb.3 we had the guest speaker Logan Ward who presented “Learning About Other Through Art: The Case of Korea”. Logan has a BA in Arts management and Korean he works at the East Asian studies center here at OSU.

I really liked this presentation because it was very interactive with polls and a lot of interactive art. I also love history and art so this presentation was right up my alley. We learned how to observe, describe, interpret, and prove. Firstly, we looked at an art piece of a tiger, discussed it in break out rooms, and then shared our observations . This part of the presentation was great because I noticed that you get so many different perspectives on an art piece when you talk with others about it. The people in my break out room and in the main room shared observations and interpretations that I had not noticed nor thought of. I really liked this because I have never been apart of an interactive art discussion and it was much more enjoyable then observing art on my own.

This presentation was very enjoyable and I learned lots of new things about art that I have never even thought about. I learned that I enjoy discussions about art and how it can completely change your view of a piece. I will seek out other events like this in the future because it has been one of my favorites so far.

In this Current Event night, we started by talking about the massive hurricanes that hit Latin America. These have been very devastating especially to Guatemala’s central region. Hurricane Eta killed 200 people earlier this month and the next hurricane that’s about to be hit is warned to cause massive landslides. The next event we discussed was the Diwali celebration. This celebration is a festival of light for the victory of good over evil. This is a large celebration in India and Nepal which raised concerns about COVID spread. Going on to a more serious event we shifted to talking about the Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan Agreement. This was a very negative experience for the Azerbijan President but did it to stop the bloodshed on certain territories. Russia has been the middle man to try and compromise and a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. On a happier note, we talked about Turkmenistan’s golden dog. This is a statue of a dog made of gold as a symbol of national pride in the authoritarian nation. Dogs are seen as a part of the national heritage and are used as herders with a population of six million.

We then talked about the Sudan Coup. There are many aspects playing into this situation like raising living costs, loss of oil revenue, and an economic collapse. There was a non-violent protest met by violent government response. Their leader was put under house arrest for his crimes against the people. Lastly, we finished up by talking about the unemployment crisis in the United States the is starting to shrink. The unemployment rates are at an all-time high but the numbers continue to decrease. The economy is not producing at the full outcome and will result in a higher price level eventually.

I really enjoyed this Current Event night I feel more informed and educated about what is going on in the world.

I watched the recording of the current events catch up with Sam Zimmerman. The first event that was discussed was a beheading that happen in France. A school teacher had been beheaded after showing controversial political cartoons of the prophet Muhammed during class. The person who committed the beheading was shot dead soon after. Protests have been taking place all over France to support freedom of speech in the country after this event. The idea of Islamaphobia becoming worse in France was brought because of this event.

The next event discussed were protests in Bangkok. These were student led revolts against the military influence in classrooms, along with the deep rooted social and economic issues. The third event brought up was also about protest but in Nigeria. These are anti-police brutality protests that are shaking those in power. The hashtag ENDSARS has gone viral in support of Nigeria. An interesting fact is that 60% of Nigeria’s 200 million population in under the age of 24.

I find all three of these events very fascinating due to the current protests happening in the United States. I think that all of these protests that are happening in different countries all over the world at the same time is a thing to take notice at. A common theme through out all three of these protest is that they’re against the government and tarted by young people. The protests in the US, Nigeria, and Bangkok are all against the police force of the respective countries and their over use of power. Did these protest influence each other? And how will each country handle these protests?

At the International Affairs and Humanities Scholars Community meeting we had a special guest speaker, Harry Kashdan. Mr.Kashdan is a researcher on the Global Mediterranean in the Department of French and Italian. During his time with us he presented his work on his latest project on The Quarantine Cookbook: Documenting Migrant Food Networks Under COVID-19.

I found his presentation to be very intriguing because I had never given much thought to the role of food in our current pandemic. The Quarantine Cookbook is a collection of recipes and their stories during our current pandemic. All of the recipes and writing pieces come from a multitude of different people with different jobs and cultural back rounds. Some of the people mentioned in his presentation who will contributing are writers, chefs, restaurant owners, artists, cooks and local families in Columbus, Ohio, and around the country.

My favorite story Kashdan shared was of a how a father during the pandemic started sharing the family recipes to his son and it brought back memories of when his mother taught him the recipes. He also mentioned how the father noticed that each generation made the recipes a little bit different. I loved this story because it reminds me of when my mother taught me family recipes when I was little. A heartwarming story of cultural preservation through food during the pandemic is a great addition to the cookbook. This cookbook is a brilliant way to document the current crisis through food, people, and culture.

In this current event night by Samantha Zimmerman I learned about new world news developments. The first one we went over was France increasing their paternity leave. This increase was mandated by the EU and was also applied to same sex couples. I think this is a great move and more countries should follow suit. The second news story we went over was the death of hundreds of elephants in Botswana because of toxins. It is speculated that farmers might have used a pesticides and it got into a water source. This theory doesn’t answer why elephants were the only animal affect. As a group we discussed that it might have been reckless endangerment by humans through the use of pesticides. The third story we talked about is Australia’s economic recession. This is Australia’s first recession in nearly three decades due to the COVID pandemic and the Australian wildfires. Our fourth news story was the change in leadership Mali, Bah Ndaw, after a coup. Sanctions were imposed by West African regional group, Ecowas. The officials of Ecowas said the sanctions would not be lifted until a civilian prime minister was also appointed. The last story we covered was the United States new sanctions against arm sales in Iran. We talked about about why the US would impose this sanction.

Overall I really enjoyed this Current Event Night. It was very informative and covered current events that I had not yet heard about. I will definitely try and attend the next one because I love to stay informed and educated on global events. I think that this type of education is very important for all US citizens because we’re so removed from most countries geographically it can tend to remove us from being educated on what happening in those countries.

In this presentation I learned that Career Counseling services and support services at OSU is a great resource for figuring out your next step in your education or career path. Careers are ordered and disordered because the world will change and you will change. Always think how you can help the person you are networking with. A point that really stuck out to me personally is to stop falling into the Imposter Syndrome. I always find my self as seeing my self as the lesser in a group and that my position is a mistake. This can be really harmful when it comes to quality of my work. I learned that it’s very important to take risks and to fail because that’s how you grow as a person. Networking is career exploration and advancement. I need to remember the hidden job market is about 80% of jobs and know there is a job out there for me. Linked In is a great source for networking. In an informational interview, don’t ask for anything concrete because this can cause the relationship to end early.

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