I attended “Food Insecurity and Mental Health: An Underexplored Global Health Concern” on February 2nd, fulfilling the Academic requirement of IA. Barbara Piperata, an associate professor of Anthropology at Ohio State, gave the presentation; she performed research in Nicaragua and the Brazilian Amazon on food insecurity/security, lactation, and how these affect socioeconomic and cultural notions. Though when first thinking about food insecurity I think of physical harms such as being malnourished, I was astonished when she spoke on the high correlation between food security, anxiety, and depression. Mothers feel that their role in the household isn’t being filled and that in turn they are failing their children. She furthered that women are embarrassed by this, as they feel like they aren’t doing their jobs, and thus don’t reach out to others for help. This starts a trap in which women and their families enter the zone of food insecurity yet cannot lift themselves out because they don’t want to tell anyone about their issue. This topic literally and metaphorically hit home when she spoke on how food insecurity affected Ohioans. In Ohio I was shocked to hear that 14.5% of people experience food insecurity, which amounts to 1 in 4 children. In Franklin County alone, 16.5% of people experience food insecurity. She explained that this leads to a rise in mental and physical health issues throughout Ohio. Overall, while this topic is morose and depressing, it showed me issues in my community I wasn’t aware of and can help alleviate with outreach. 

On January 16th, I attended “A Day in the Life of a Harvard Law Student” which fulfills the Professional Development category of IA requirements. At the meeting, Samantha Harris depicted her experiences so far at Harvard Law School. I found this event to be particularly interesting because she didn’t just speak on classes and studying, but also how her school affects her outside life. She first spoke about how mental health, especially during heavy course loads, is imperative; she bought a St. Bernard just to keep herself from fussing over her life too much. She then branched into substance abuse and how there’s a lot of pressure to drink in law school. Around 76% of lawyers develop a substance abuse problem, a statistic that is rooted in stress and networking events. She explains that Harvard rents out bars and has free bottle service at events so that companies can come drink and network with the students; with that, she said that there’s immense pressure to drink to fit in with the corporate employees. Outside of her social life, she said that law school differs from undergraduate education because the workload and terminology are vastly different; she said it’s like reading books in a language that you learn as you read. Moreover, she said that professors always cold call and some knock your grade if you misspeak a few times. Overall, I learned that while the workload in law school is heavier and different than every other subject, I learned that one’s personal calendar, including self care and a social life, are just as affected as one’s intelligence.