Blogs

MUKHERJEE | Brace Yourselves… Prelims Are Coming

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By CHANDREYEE MUKHERJEE

Now, let me begin this post with a confession — during the first two weeks of college, I found Cornell easy. I remember sitting in my dorm room and wondering what was so difficult about university that it made everybody crib and complain about the workload and the sleepless nights? I thought that I had some extraordinary powers that gave me the ability to cope with the work and that I was going to skate through college. Boy, oh boy, was I wrong! We are now midway through the semester and I cannot remember the last time I have been able to completely let go and relax.

Blogs

LIBERALLY BLONDE | Movie Ratings and Trigger Warnings

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By KAYLEIGH RUBIN

The familiar green screen and white lettering precede each movie trailer. Before the main attraction can scroll across the screen, the designated rating and following justification first greet the audience. While many viewers choose to ignore the warning, few question its significance. And this makes sense; a second-long movie rating is hardly an inconvenience, yet it presents conscientious viewers with the opportunity to avoid potentially disturbing or inappropriate content. The movie rating is considerate and unobtrusive, constructive and nondescript.

Politics

GROSKAUFMANIS | How Social Media Immortalizes Mistakes

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By JACQUELINE GROSKAUFMANIS

It’s important to make mistakes. I know this from quotes, proverbs, seasoned elders and my own experience. Even in empirical science, we learn that mistake-making is a huge part of adaptive learning. So as humans, we tolerate it, and as we get older we learn to appreciate it in retrospect. However, when the Internet was integrated into the mistake-making process, it forever changed the ways in which we are allowed to explore and fail.

Blogs

STUDY BREAK | Helpful Ways to De-Stress

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By JOYCE LEE

Whether you’re young or old, you’ve probably dealt with stress. Some days, college seems to make my stress level go through the roof. With all the work I have (or know I will have), I almost feel as though I am being irresponsible if I don’t feel stressed out. Other days, I remind myself that stress is not only unnecessary, but that being happy and stress-free actually leads to a more successful academic and personal life. I know – easier said than done.

Blogs

DAVIS | Journalists Against the University

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By ADAM DAVIS

By now, Cornell’s most recent Fox News incident is old news. Jesse Watters and his camera crew came, recorded some ambush interviews of students and cut and pasted a segment together to support their foregone conclusion: that Cornell as an institution is a hotbed of some sort of thought-crushing “liberal indoctrination.”

Many people will also remember Cornell’s last brush with right-wing pseudo-journalism, when an undercover “reporter” from Project Veritas (an organization with less journalistic credibility than Fox News) pulled off his own feat of ambush journalism to make it appear that Cornell would welcome a group which materially supported ISIS. And now Project Veritas has released yet another video, this time portraying Cornell as anti-Constitution. The video follows the same tactics used to obtain the ISIS video: a reporter poses as a student and puts a university employee in an awkward and unrealistic situation; a “gotcha” video is then recorded. Much has been made, especially in the wake of the Fox News incident, of the issues of journalism and what rights the press should have on campus: the journalistic practices were bad, the journalistic practices were bad but the university was wrong for trying to stop the interviews, the university was in the right for following their previously established policy on unannounced campus interviews, etc.

Life

GOOD TASTE ALONE | Please Don’t Read My Blog

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By SARAH CHANDLER

An open letter from myself and my generation as we discover ourselves:

Please don’t read my blog. I’m in the midst of an ill-fated attempt to make a distinctive impact on the digital world and any interference would significantly impede my ability to humble-brag about my accomplishments to middle-aged aunts and uncles who think a blog is something you’re commissioned to produce, like a biography or a portrait. Please don’t read my blog. Or if you do, please don’t say anything about it. My crusade must remain unsung.

Politics

WELCOME TO THE ZOO | English as the National Language

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By KATIE BARLOW and REBECCA SABER

With an open mind and two sides of the story, you’re bound to learn something new. Welcome to the zoo! This is a blog where both the Republican and Democrat viewpoints are represented. The blog is not meant to sway you either way necessarily, just present both sides of the story. You may not agree with the whole article, but hey, you’re likely to agree with half!

Blogs

HERMAN | Failing the Children

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By HEATHER HERMAN

Often when I return from a night teaching at Auburn Correctional Facility, I’m caught raving about my students for their intelligence, wit and insightful comments. This semester, I’m a TA for an English class through CPEP (Cornell Prison Education Program). My adrenaline-fueled excitement near midnight upon returning is generally countered by my parents scoffing over the phone, or friends rolling their eyes and commenting, “Oh yeah? What crime did this one commit?”

This one’s a murderer. That one’s in for armed burglary.

Blogs

GUEST BLOG | Virgins and Ghosts!

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By YVETTE NDLOVU

They say you never forget your first! My experience consisted of waiting in the cold for an hour to get into a Haunted House (shout out to the guy in the line dressed up as the Fox News Reporter: you know, the one who had a lot of nasty stuff to say about Cornell the other day), theatrical make-up, masks, lots of laughter and very few worries about prelims. Though if the Haunted House had prelims, grades and finals jumping out at me, I would have found it a lot scarier! “Trick or Treat!” was an expression I’ve only heard in movies. For some international students, we are Hallo-gins, or Halloween Virgins. This Saturday was my first Halloween.