On April 17th, I attended a virtual film screening of the film Nameless Gangster. This film series is run by the Office of International Affairs and Global Engagement. First, we all met in the lobby, watched the film, and then came back to zoom to discuss the movie. There were only a few people, but I found it very enjoyable because they were all so passionate about international film. The movie was made in South Korea, and is about the drug business there. It opened my eyes because I have always heard of the Italian mafia, in fact I took the Italian Mafia movies class here at OSU, and the Japanese Yakuza, but it never occurred to me that South Korea has its own version. The movie focuses on a man named Choi Ik-hyun, who is a customs agent. He is about to lose his job when he comes across a huge shipment of meth. Instead of giving it up, he finds a mob boss and sells it to make a profit. Eventually, he becomes sucked into the lifestyle and becomes close to the boss, Hyung-bae. Eventually things go wrong, and Ik-hyun betrays Hyung-bae and gets off scot-free while Hyung-bae goes to prison. It reminds me quite a bit of the Scorsese gangster movies, especially Goodfellas. You can see the same fall from grace as this man goes from simply being a slightly corrupt customs agent to trying to prevent a gang war. It was a fascinating film that I will recommend to anyone. I believe we should put more of a focus on international film. Yes, it’s slightly annoying to have to read subtitles, but ultimately you can get a very different perspective. We’re starting to see a change in Hollywood, with Parasite, another South Korean film, being the first non-english movie to win best picture at the academy awards. Hopefully more people realize how good international films are and give Nameless Gangster a chance, because it really is a fantastic movie that transcends language.

This past month, Zoe Sikon, Anne Knellinger, and I had the honor of painting another mural at Columbus Global academy. We brightened up both the assistant principal’s office and the hallway. In the hallway, we painted a chalkboard, along with a graphic light bulb design  . The school is going to use the chalkboard to display the colleges some of their soon-to-be graduates will attend. We had a few pictures printed out already, so when school started back on Monday, some of the kids could already see their picture up on the wall. Not only are a lot of the students that attend Columbus Global first-generation Americans, many will be first-generation college students. The school, along with the community, wants to encourage as many students as possible to get a higher education. Personally, I could not understand the absolute mountain that these students have to climb in order to get to the same place that I am today. I have always lived here, and I have always spoken English, and these kids have to learn a new language, a new culture, and balance a normal school and social life on top of that.

In addition, we added some art to the assistant principal’s office. the principal of CGA is a wonderful lady, and cares deeply for her students. Many spend time in her office just to talk to her, however her surroundings reflected neither her, not the school’s spirit. We painted postivie phrases in many of the languages spoken at the school on the wall, along with the school’s mascot, a lion. Hopefully the bright colors will cheer up any students that are having a bad day. It was an honor to paint another mural at CGA, the kids and staff that work there are truly inspiring, and I hope the school continues to thrive.

Columbus Global Academy has changed drastically from the last time Zoe S., Anne K., and I painted a mural there. Now, the school does not only serve the ESL (English as a Second Language) community, one-half of the school now has regular students. The school has an interesting little courtyard where students can relax, however it looked sort of glum. Someone, over a year ago, primed the grand staircase railings and didn’t paint over it. We simply had to paint the railings as well as brighten up the area a bit. Originally, the plan was to also paint a pattern on the back wall, however it rained on one of our workdays, and we were not able to execute our plan.

This time, we had a few grad-student volunteers, but our main group was a large number of young Nepali kids, who meet to practice their language, as well as their traditional dances. The kids wanted to paint a rainbow, so we decided to paint the steps in a rainbow gradient. While the adults were painting over the primer with a light blue to complement the rainbow, the kids were painting the steps. They were very focused upon painting the steps, however they were not focused on not painting everything else. Several children ended up completely covered in paint, and the treads of the steps were turned into a rainbow splatter design as they trod paint up and down while they were walking. Although we had to spend an hour or so cleaning up their mess, ultimately, it was worth it. The kids had a great time, we brightened up the courtyard.

In addition to painting the stairwell, we also painted some of the flower boxes and unpainted floor tiles. Even though it only took a day to do, it really brightened up the space. CRIS is an amazing organization, and I’m glad that I can donate a bit of my time to improve my community. I am going to continue to work with CRIS in mural projects, we already have more lined up for the future. It’s interesting how I got involved with painting these murals because I raised my hand at an IA community meeting, and now we’ve completed 3 with more on the way. I hope some of the kids were inspired to paint after they painted their school!

Me and my roommate Zoe Sikon decided to attend the International Internships panel in the Smith-Steeb glass classroom. Ultimately, I wanted to go to this event because I wish to get an internship in the future, most preferably one overseas. This event seemed like the perfect place to learn how to be competitive and learn about first-hand experiences.

I enjoyed this event for many reasons. The panelists each had a different internship and a different experience with the application process and the actual internship. They varied in location from the USA to France, and in field from scientific to working at the state department. I liked one panelists account of his internship at a Canadian representative’s office in Ottawa. Not only does it look extremely good on a resume, he got valuable experience performing research and writing speeches, and also had it paid for through the department. Some of the other panelists used STEP money, and one had a paid internship, so simply paid for herself. Also the application process varied greatly. A panelist had a contact at a huge scientific project in France, so simply applied and got the job. Another applied to work at the state department, she applied in November and didn’t hear back until April.

It was very valuable to me to learn about various types of internships, their application processes, and how to pay for them. The university always pushes these things, but it is much easier to understand when it’s explained by someone who went through the process and enjoyed their experience. I believe that in the future I will definitely apply for an internship. Hopefully I can get one that has to do with my field, but at this point, any experience is valuable. Internships are competitive, but I learned that there are ones out there that almost anyone can apply and be accepted to. Maybe this summer will see me in Germany or France doing something I enjoy!

On the 5th, Zoe Sikon and I attended the Climate Change and Environmental Issues Panel. It featured Colin O’Brien and Scott Weaver, who represented Earth Justice and AEP respectively. It was a very interesting talk about power generation vs. the future of our environment. Both speakers had interesting perspectives to bring to the conversation. Colin Ob’Brien comes from California, which is obviously a very different political climate and climate in general, and he works as a lawyer defending environmental cases. Scott Weaver works as the environmental advocate for one of the largest power companies here in Ohio. One of the most interesting things that they spoke about was the difference in the constituents they served. There have been efforts to make Ohio’s power generation greener, especially by the power companies, however the people are often resistant to these changes. They could be more expensive, or the wind turbines and solar panels could simply be in a place that people don’t want them. In California, the effects of climate change have already taken a toll. The recent fires changed a lot of people’s minds about green energy and climate change. So as Colin was saying, the government has made a huge commitment to make California use 100% green energy within a specific timeline. Overall, even though both Colin anf Scott came from different places in terms of work, they were in agreement about the need for green energy. I thought it was interesting that the power companies are actually putting in a lot of effort to convert to green energy, but legislation and people have been resisting and slowing them down. It’s fair to say that there’s been a misconception amoung people I know that it’s the power companies who are the major problem, and not people or government. The panel caused my perspective to shift a bit. It’s also interesting that a lot of the push towards green energy is coming from local and state governments and not the federal government. Colin commented on how this is most likely because climate change has become such a partisan issue on the national stage that it’s hard to get effective legislation passed without major resistance from one of the two main parties. Overall, I thought the panel was really informative, and it’s caused meto want to be more involved in getting policies enacted on a local level to deal with climate change and green energy.

Recently, Kate Greer, a self-proclaimed Germany aficionado held a session talking about German culture and possible study abroad opportunities at the German House. There was plenty of pretzels and hot chocolate, as well as many people who are passionate about Germany and its history and culture. My family is from Germany, I don’t speak much German, but I can sing several Wagner and Mozart arias. I found it nice to be around other people who care a lot about the history of the country I feel connected with. Kate did a fantastic job, clearly she is passionate about the country. I thought the presentation she gave on German history and study abroad opportunities was fantastic. Although I was pretty familiar with German history, I found that she presented it in a way that was educational and entertaining. In addition, I found the resources provided about study abroad opportunities to be really helpful. I want to do a study abroad, but I really don’t know if I can fit it into my studies. Also, I wouldn’t know where to go. Germany would be a great place for me to go, because it is a center of academia in Europe. In conclusion, I thought this even was really fun and educational. It was a great way to spend a cold winter’s night.

In the past, me Zoe Sikon, and Anne Knellinger had painted a mural outside of the library at Columbus Global Academy. At the very beginning of the semester Jeremy Hollon, the director of Community Refugee and Immigrant Services (CRIS) asked us to come back and design another mural, this one was to be much larger in a room next to the large gym. The school wished to turn this room into the Global Gym, a place where students could come to do yoga, exercise, and generally just calm down. Many of the students at CGA come from very difficult situations, they may be suffering from PTSD or other problems. The Global Gym is a space where they can just calm down and spend time in. This space was much larger than the previous mural did, and we spent an entire weekend perfecting it, while the other was completed in a day. The Romophos sophomore society sent several volunteers, and a graduate student organization also had some people come. It was definitely different from the last mural, us three freshman went from directing out peers in IA to directing people who we didn’t know and were much older than us. It was definitely nerve racking, but it went super smoothly. I am glad that we completed a smaller mural before moving on to this gigantic one, it gave us valuable experience on how to direct people, mix colors, and generally just how to paint a mural. This mural also went more smoothly because we were able to complete it over three 6-8 hour days, instead of one 12 hour montage.

Since the space was suposed to be calming, I suggested doing a seascape scene. That seascape turned into a day/night mural, with a giant octopus in one corner, a castle in the other, a map on one wall, and a village on another. The only request the school made was they wanted the painting to be very colorful, and we obliged. The other mural we did outside the library was full of symbolism and meaning, however this one was just more for the kids to enjoy on a surface level. Personally, I spent most of time on the castle and the moon and sun. I am happy to report that the kids there seem to love it, and despite the freezing temperatures we had recently after it was completed, the kids wanted to spend time in the frigid room to look at the painting we made. I am so happy that I could help these kids by adding some beauty to their school. I hope that they continue to enjoy our mural for many years to come. I have attached some of my favorite pictures of our mural.

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