Thursday, June 29, 2017

7.3 Mile Mark

Evacuated for the Fire Alarm going off
Today turned out to be pretty long and exhausting, but also extremely rewarding. I woke up earlier than I thought I would and caught up on homework that I hadn’t had the chance to finish the night before. The International Human Rights course that I’m taking requires a lot of reading. Usually, I have it done the night before, but yesterday my body decided that it was going to sleep earlier.

The fire alarm went off again this morning. I was inside my room when it happened, and although I assumed that it might be a drill (not recommended), the screeching did startle me. Because it had been set off in South Balch Hall, all of us girls made our way outside into the courtyard. Some people were still in their pajamas; others had their toothbrush in their mouths. One of my greatest fears is being in the bathroom while one of these drills go off. After all, there were girls wearing bathrobes with towels wrapped around their heads amongst the crowd.

Progressively, the day became more and more eventful. In class, we talked about universality and cultural relativism. The reasoning behind the debate on whether or not Universal Human Rights can be achieved on a global scale in today’s diverse world was captivating. International Organizations’ history as viewing other cultural groups as inferior and in need of salvation was the main issue that I had with the work. Learning both sides to that argument has made it easier for me to explain my thoughts and feelings in a rational, articulate way.

Spot the wolf in sheep's clothing
Hint: It's not me
What I found even more interesting was a scenario that one of our classmates, Lassan, came up with to argue both sides, for and against freedom to practice religion when it’s used to discriminate against others. In the situation, a Muslim baker doesn't want to offer a gay couple a cake for their wedding. How does international and domestic law go about securing the rights of both of those actors and why isn’t there any consensus on this issue within judicial systems? I don’t know and that is why I found the topic to so interesting. 

On one hand, I totally agree that you can’t disregard the rights of a group of people and deny them service based on your religious beliefs. I also agree that lgbtq+ rights should be respected and granted more protection. Still, as irrational and horrible as it is, there isn’t any way in which you can effectively force someone to complete an action that goes against their morals and beliefs. 
So many books at the Olin Library!
I want to check some out sometime soon.





All in all, the discussion was fulfilling. So was the “make your own” pasta that I had at Trillium for lunch. A group of us classmates went down to the dining hall and chatted as we ate. It was nice getting to know my fellow students better. They are a diverse group of people, not just in terms of background and nationality, but thought process as well. We will be spending a great majority of these three weeks together finding potential remedies to world issues. It’s important that we know each other's stories and can understand each other's perspectives. 

The afternoon session for our class started at 2:00 PM. Our guest speaker for the day was Sharon Hickey, research and advocacy director for the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide and Former Women and Justice Fellow at the Cornell Center for Women and Justice. Ms. Hickey is an incredibly talented and intelligent woman who has accomplished a lot for the international community. Her thoughts on military sexual assault, working with victims, and the extent to which it's a problem in the US  was eye opening.

I never knew that Military cases couldn’t be tried in normal courts. Today was the first day I realized this and it fully changed my perspective on the matter. It’s absurd that these women and men are not provided with the resources that they need to successfully combat assault and rape. 

After class, a group stayed behind to talk to Ms. Hickey. I wanted to know what her stance on the death penalty was, and as I expected, she didn't condone the practice. Ms. Hickey also encouraged us to reach out and email her if we ever had any other questions or concerns. 

These past few days we have learned in class that most if not all International Law is implied and cannot be enforced in any ways other than international pressure. This has discouraged me just a little bit. What is the purpose of an International organization if it can't technically bring about any change? 

I have found out since that there are many other ways in which they accomplish these goals (through conventions, soft law, etc.). Ms. Hickey, however, had an entirely different way of thinking about the process. She said that looking back and observing history itself gives her hope and allows her to appreciate the amount of social progress that we have made during her lifetime alone. 

For office hours, a group of fellow students including Robson and I engaged in conversation with our professor about the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar. We also asked for her thoughts on questions relating to our reading that we had forgotten or not thought about in class.


Afterward, our little friend group consisting of Pooja, Sultana, Robson, Eunji, and I decided to take a long walk in the wrong direction. Although I had my map with me in my backpack, Pooja seemed to know where she was going, so we let her lead the way. It turned out that we were walking downhill in the wrong direction, approaching downtown Ithaca instead of the gorge we desperately wanted to see. The walk back up was not fun, but it I guess it was great exercise and brought us closer together. 

I had dinner at the RPCC around 7 PM and then Pooja, Sultana, Robson, Marian (who we'd met in the dining hall), and I spent the rest of the day at Olin Library and the Libe Slope (perfect spot to take in the view) watching the sunset and laughing the night away. On our way home, we made sure to play on the ball structures located outside of the Architectural building. I had a blast!

Back in my dorm room, I checked the application on my phone that tracks the number of miles I've walked each day. Today, I made it 7.3 miles! 


It was definitely one of the better days I have spent here in Ithaca. 

3 comments:

  1. Seems like an awful lot of fire drills in the first week. Are they all drills or do they think that a student my be acting juvenile?

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    1. I don't know, I'll have to ask. I was told that if you leave the main doors to some of the buildings open for a while, the alarm goes off automatically. That might be the case.

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  2. I love the still unanswered "How do you **make** someone/some gov't do something?" Whether it's International, National, or even just local sectionalism--I think it comes back to the adage "convinced a man against his will, is of the same opinion still."

    Even if we "make" them do what we think they're supposed to do--and even if such though is universal--we still have to deal with divergent opinions.

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