Ithaca is Gorges

Earlier today, I met up with my friend J’nai for breakfast. The RPCC (Robert Purcell Community Center) usually has a long line of students waiting to get inside, but I was relieved to find out that wasn’t the case this morning. I ate a muffin, banana, and some strawberries for breakfast. The cup of hot chocolate ended up being too sweet to drink. It was an odd combination of food, I know. Still, I’ve learned to love the freedom that comes with being able to eat whatever you want, whenever you want it here in the dining halls at Cornell.

After breakfast was over, the two of us walked over to the Cornell Law School where our class is held. We spoke about climbing the Clock Tower in Ithaca some day. I have thought about it, but the idea of waking up several hours earlier than I normally do to walk up hundreds of steps is agonizing.

The view, I've heard, is supposed to be amazing. Maybe not worth the asthma complications and sleep deprivation, but I most likely will end up following through with the plan to climb this tower regardless. 

I do not want to be the kid that goes home and immediately regrets not participating in as many activities or gaining the experiences that they could have. 

Reading

Today’s class lasted up until 12:30 PM. For the most part, we talked about ways in which International Law is placed into effect domestically. Our discussion revolved around NGO’s and other international organizations’ contributions to the implementation of human rights within states.

Libe Slope

Our textbook states that in order to be a progressive nation, you should have an abundance of local NGOs. I found this interesting and also a bit of a  false generalization. There are many NGO (especially USAID) employees in nations such as Pakistan and Afghanistan that have gotten away with corruption worth millions of dollars. 

Boba Tea!

NGOs (non-governmental organizations) weren’t the only topic that we discussed in class today. Guest speaker, Karen Baer, who is the director of the Tompkins County Office for Human Rights asked us to think hard about ‘justice’ and the ways in which we define that term. Her presentation was inspiring; immediately afterward, I wanted to look into doing the same activist work that she does. Ms. Baer especially brought up Section 8 and the City of Ithaca's inability in the past to deal with landlords who make it practically impossible for people with disabilities and financial problems to have access to housing. The conversation did open me up to considering working for my own city. Then again, that's not exactly what I want to do with my life, but I can still appreciate people who dedicate their lives to the work. 

Robson and I stayed behind after class to ask Ms. Baer questions about her career and contributions. 

Happy to be here

I went back to my dormitory to shower and meet with my RCA (Resident Community Advisor), Angela. She wanted to check in and make sure that the girls on our floor weren't facing any serious emotional/physical problems. Angela is a sweetheart. We get along very well and might be having lunch together sometime soon. I'm relieved that she's an easy person to talk to and interact with. We've told one another about our time at Cornell so far. My personal favorite was her story about students stealing trays from dining halls during the winter time and using them as sleds. It's an awful thing to do and I don't approve of it, but the thought of someone doing that still manages to crack me up. 

Before blogging and sleeping, Robson and I went to College Town to take pretty pictures for the blog. I had to have an “Ithaca is Gorges” shirt and ended up buying it along with a tie-dye Cornell T-shirt for my brother. What’s hilarious is that the cashier thought I was getting the smaller size for myself and told me that it “might not fit.”

We grabbed a boba tea from one of the shops on our way back and took the longer route back to Balch, passing Ezra Cornell’s statue (none of the pictures of the statue turned out great) and the suspension bridge. Sightseeing was a great way to end the day!

New Friends and New Experiences

Today I woke up to get ready a little earlier than usual, dressed comfy because I knew today was going to be a long day and also Cornell is a lot of walking. Something that I have never had any problems with was printing; at home I have my own printer as well as several that are easily accessible at school and even work. I don’t have a printer in my dorm room; as my dad was telling me on the phone I could have taken a portable printer. Last night I asked Sloane, who lives across from me if I could use her printer, which then didn’t work because it was out of ink. I made my trek to RPCC to print my strengths analysis test results for class today. There were surprisingly not many people and I was in there for less than ten minutes; I felt a lot of the stress I was feeling melt away.

I had some time before class began so I grabbed some coffee and a bagel and just walked around campus for a bit because it was a little cold which is one thing I love about the mornings in Ithaca. I arrived to the discussion room where the first part of my class took place and was returning some calls from my friends until a few minutes before 9 a.m. Our discussions keep improving because more students speak up every day, something I try my best to implement is bringing in abstract concepts about the book we are reading as well as various perspectives which is something not many other students have been doing. A girl named Angela, from China, sits with me and is my discussion buddy; she has the most amazing contributions to the class discussions and she says it is because she has so much experience working with underprivileged children teaching them the English language, which is why she is able to bring in multiple points of view as well.

An improvement which could be made in regards to our discussion section of the class is that I feel the TA has been joining in quite a  bit, I understand that he is mediating the conversation but not many students are speaking, so there should be more to allow the introverted leaders to also weigh in on their thoughts and opinions. We also talked about a lengthy strengths analysis quiz we took the night before and what we were most surprised in with the results. Many people were surprised with their weakest points such as focus or determination. But I was surprised with my strength description as listing occupations such as designers and managers because I actually am those things; for me it was very accurate so I would definitely recommend it to anyone, long but worth the wait.   

During the lecture we were taking notes on strength-based leadership and building a common vision. We even watched a Ted Talk with Simon Sinek; he explained the golden circle and the process by which marketers convince us to buy something: typically we see a product and how amazing it is and how it will change our lives forever, then it's asking us if we want to buy it. Other companies such as Apple do it in a different order: first explaining their values and how they build on them by creating innovating products as part of the way they operate, which makes you want to buy it. Something he repeated was, "It's not what you sell, it's why you sell it." It was simple and straight forward and easy to understand so I really enjoyed it, plus I love Ted Talks. 

After class I began talking with a girl from Queens, New York named Khirishana Koomar who is also here on a scholarship through another program called SEO which helps her and other students in her area prepare and have the opportunity to take challenging classes as high school students. I found that very intersting and really felt connected with her. We went to Olin Library which was much less depressing than my dorm room and I was very productive in completing my initial reflection of the class which was due later at night, and we had lunch at the Trillium for the first time, I could see why everyone like it so much better than RPCC because of the lack of buffet style setup. 

We later went back to her dorm which is in Mary Donlon. I had never been there before, and let me say, the hallways are much less creepy compared to South Balch. We talked about our different scholarship opportunities available for college as well as future plans for our careers. She wants to go into medicine and study either Neo-Natal or Pediatrics and her first choice would most definitely be Hopkins. We talked and later had dinner when she invited me to watch some movies in her room, but I had to come back and work because I had to submit my reflection and create an outline for tomorrow's class discussion, which is what I spent the rest of my night doing. 

Law Enforcement, Policy Changing and One Gross Procedure

My second day of classes was great. I got a full night’s sleep, I had class (and it was amazing as always), lunch, then class again (less amazing, but helpful) and finally I had a long talk with my instructor during her office hours and from there I called it a day because I wanted to finish blogging and reading so I can sleep a little before night check. Today I was finding my rhythm; I can tell I am getting use to summer college life and I love every second.

Today I got a late start. I got up around 7:30 which felt amazing because I had a lot of sleep. I edited a 500 word paper I finished the night before and sent it in and I went to breakfast, but I didn’t eat much. I had an apple and a cup of coffee. I met up with two people from my class and we walked to our class.

My course book

I was there around 9:00 -- about an hour later than the day before. When class started today it was a great class, better than the one before because we went more in depth on how to enforce international law and the organs in the UN that perform that action. We also discussed derogations (in short it is when a state can’t comply with certain provisions in a treaty in times of an emergency) and we discussed a comment of the UK’s Prime Minister Theresa May where she said that in response to terrorism the UK would restrict  freedom of movement, deport suspected terrorists and increases prison sentencing. This really hit me because what she said seemed to me a massive step back for the UK when it comes to their reaction to terror and very counterproductive because America is doing similar things and has done similar things (like mass incarceration to combat crime and drug abuse for example) and it didn’t work and created more problems than it solved. I asked the instructor if she could actually do these things when its proven to be ineffective. She said that it might be brought up by NGOs and treaty monitoring bodies and can be a factor in derogation, but the instructor said that Theresa May would first have to notify the treaty body before she could derogate and then she would have to prove that terrorism is an emergency in the UK and that those certain provisions would have to be derogated in order to combat it. If Theresa May went through all that then she could do the things that she said even if they are proven to be ineffective.

The Security Council

Then we went on to talk about “soft law”. They are decisions by other human rights bodies and court. They are non-binding, but can be used to protect human rights even though they are non-binding and don’t have to be followed. I found it interesting I can draw parallels between domestic law and international law because I thought it would be different, but “soft law” is used in a similar way to case law in a criminal court case, but case law is binding and decisions in courts like the Supreme Court set a precedent for all lower courts when “soft law” doesn’t set any precedent. I thought it was interesting that something that a law a state doesn’t have to follow can greatly influence the decisions a state makes.

We then went over organs of the UN that There are many organs of the UN that enforce human rights. So many law enforcement organs that it would make this blog literally 9,000 words to go over them all or even the ones I found interesting (I found them all equally interesting). 

After that section we talked about symphysiotomy. It is a procedure done in situations where a C-section would normally occur. It is gross, skipping all the gruesome details, it's basically a procedure where the pelvis of a woman is widened by moving and breaking some bones. This was done in Ireland because it was believed that C-sections where a form of birth control, because it was believed you could only have a certain amount of children afterwards or none at all. This procedure, made it impossible for women to enjoy leisure activities such as walking, running or sports, work and it would cause chronic pain long after the procedure. We studied this how this procedure in was done without the woman's consent in Ireland in the early 1900s. Many women found out what happened to them decades later and tried to file for reparations, but it went nowhere and the Irish government took no measures to remedy the situation. When the instructor introduced this topic she gave a paper with questions and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). We had a group talk where we had to find what provisions of CEDAW were violated, apply the law to the facts of the case and we had to consider what treaty bodies we might consider approaching. I was really excited, but we spent the time reading over the convention thoroughly and highlighting, but tomorrow we are going in depth and I took 3 pages of notes, so I am prepared.

I had lunch with Javaria and afterwards she wanted to go to the Cornell store, but it was pouring rain. When I thought that it couldn’t be any stronger, it got stronger -- and then the wind picked up. In short we were soaked and Javaria got her supplies, we found other people from our class and we walked as a group to the hall where we were going to have our TA sessions. We made it to the building again wet from rain, since we had time we decided to see the law school library which was massive. There were shelves upon shelves that lined two sides of the library and continued for a huge distance.

Our TA session was a recap of terms that we learned which was helpful because we learned a massive amount terms. Afterwards I went to my instructor’s office during her office hours. I asked her about all the universities she went to and what she liked and didn’t like. I asked her what made them unique. The universities probably change since when she went, but it was helpful. I also told her about my clubs at school such as the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) and Black Student Union (BSU) and our desire to become more politically active and possibly influence legislation. She gave me a very detailed and articulate answer that was massively helpful. The most helpful advice she gave was to gather support from likeminded organizations that are fighting for the same thing and to talk to as many policy makers and influential people as I can. I found it useful because for some reason I thought I could influence policies with my clubs alone, that sounds silly to me now since she explained to me the entire process behind changing policies because it is long and a large undertaking. My instructor is amazing and I loved talking to her because she was a absolutely huge help in helping me plan what I am going to do next year with my clubs, school and community. I know this is a little cocky among other things, but expect great things.

 After that I just wanted to do all my reading for my class and finish my blog so I went to my dorm. Today was great. I learned so much and took A LOT of notes. I don’t want my experience at Cornell to end, but I also want to get home now so I can use everything I learned. I can’t wait for tomorrow’s class because we are having a guest speaker come talk about local law enforcement of human rights which exactly what I want to hear about. I just love Cornell.  

Security Councils and Symphysiotomy

Law School Library

In class, we discussed implementation, reservations, and derogations when it comes to international law. Basically, the question for the day was “In what ways do lawyers and human rights organizations enforce an International law, and how are violations dealt with?” Essentially, we found out that the two main ways in which the UN Security Council handles violations are through sanctions and military action. I already knew a lot about military intervention and monetary/commercial sanctions, so I didn’t have to worry about being confused. Still, a lot of our discussions were content heavy and touched on a variety of topics including negative versus positive rights and whether there is a clear distinction between the two. The difference between binding hard law and non-binding soft law and whether they can both be effectively used as evidence in court even if there are officials that don’t recognize the former was another major talking point.

What I found most interesting however was an in-class assignment that we were handed regarding survivors of Symphysiotomy in Ireland.  Symphysiotomy is basically a surgical childbirth procedure that gained popularity in Ireland in the early 1900s. The procedure slowly replaced cesarean sections due to Medical ambition and the Church’s criticism of C-sections for serving as a birth control.

My new journal. I'm saving
the Cornell sticker for
something very important. 

We watched a video in which survivor Rita McCann described the excruciating pain and difficulty that she had experienced during and after giving birth. Because the cartilage of the pubic symphysis is divided to widen the pelvis in Symphysiotomy, lifelong disabilities and trouble walking, playing sports, and going to work isn’t uncommon among the 1500 or so women who were subjected to the torture. The worst part is the majority of them did not in any way agree to the approach and it ended up being a major human rights violation that got cast aside by the Irish Government.

I highly doubt that I would have been taught this incident at El Cerrito High School. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate all of my teachers and believe that they have played a significant role in getting me here in the first place, but we don’t have the resources available to go into depth like in my course here at Cornell. Sure, it’s not fair to compare the two, but I can’t help noticing and being excited about the realization that I’ve learned and challenged myself more in these two days than the entire school year back home. I will gladly be sharing my notes and observations with students in my own community and encouraging them to participate in life changing opportunities such as these.

My course lasts Mondays through Fridays from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays we have additional TA discussion periods from 2:30 PM to 3:00 PM. I will be attending our TA, Diogo’s sessions because my last name falls into the A-L category. Diogo has got a great sense of humor and a way of making students feel comfortable. I thoroughly enjoyed the subjects that we touched on today, whether that was our thoughts on the right to Internet access being human rights or what a right is in the first place.

In between the morning and afternoon classes, I eat at Trillium dining hall. They have plenty of options available. Robson and I usually get the same thing, because we have a hard time deciding. We opted for burritos today, but finished with an hour or two to spare. Luckily, it gave me time to walk to the Cornell Store and purchase school supplies that I hadn’t thought to bring with me. Everything inside the store tempted me, but I knew that I couldn’t and shouldn’t be spending $38 on a pair of shorts while it was pouring outside. The weather here in Ithaca is confusing. It starts raining and getting colder out of nowhere. It was worse today because I hadn't been feeling the best. We were drenched by the time we walked back to the Law School, but I made a friend along the way so it didn’t suck as much. Her name is J’nai, she’s from Brooklyn, NY and we’re taking the same class. We had dinner together at around 5:30 PM and then studied in the Mary Donlon lounge, snacking on sour candies. I’m finding more and more people that I enjoy spending time with, and it’s encouraging me to look forward to the encounters that I have with others. Am I more independent and self-aware? Definitely, and it has only been a few days!

And There Goes the Fire Alarm

Today was very interesting, I woke up actually feeling cold; the first I have felt cold since I left California. It felt great when I walked down to RPCC because I felt cool air which I have been missing dearly. I wasn't in the mood for too much of a breakfast so a lot of the morning was talking with my friends about the courses they are taking and what types of assignments they have. Sloan and Trinity are taking Veterinary Medicine and had a lab today for chest, neck, and head which I thought was such a fun thing to do on just the second day. And Bella has been telling me about how her psych class asks challenging questioning which involve may serious topics like death or money, allowing the opinionated side of her peers to come out. It's interesting to learn about what else Cornell offers and the different impact it has on the students.

I got a little lost on my way to class only because I could not really see the names of the hall since it was covered by trees and I am not very tall, I arrived at Goldwin Smith Hall which is where the discussion room is, that is where we have our class discussions about the reading with our two TA's. Nick, our other TA, was here today because yesterday his brother was getting married. He was a firefighter and has led many search and rescue missions which is where he has demonstrated his leadership skills.

We all did introductions so he could know us more before beginning the discussion of last night's reading, Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box. This is the book I picked up yesterday and during the discussion I contributed some different perspectives such as how 'the box' would represented as a visual; I envision it as a glass cube with one way mirrors, so the person inside would see themselves as they would in their mind, so they wouldn't be aware if they were doing something wrong. The person outside would be looking in at them and would be able to pick out how they have a problem yet fail to recognize it. I tried my best to contribute while some students did not speak at all.

In class, the instructor touched on introverted leaders, how they can also be good leaders and sometimes even the best, giving us a preview of next week. As well as how we can talk in class or outside of class, or even email either Mark, Josh, or Nick to talk about something in the book we found interesting, basically emphasizing the importance of engaging ourselves in what we are learning since we gain as much as we put into this program.

We were given a list of values and asked to select twenty, then narrow it down to ten, then five, and finally three. I feel like the instructor could sense how much we all despised him for making this such a challenge. Then we ranked our top three values and wrote about them. I was the first one who volunteered to share my values and explain them (which is usually not like me at all). So I gathered myself and stood in front of the class to talk about opportunity, which I had ranked first. I briefly explained opportunity as being as being something you come across or work to chase, either way it is something you earn as a result of the potential you hold for success. It is what takes you new places to give you new experiences; of course I was speaking from my own personal experience which is also an important part of the course.

I got out of class a bit late because I wanted to grab a hard copy of our essay rubric which we have due later this week, I went to the Cornell Store to grab some school supplies like sticky notes and even saw the cutest pencil case which made me very excited. I of course also eyed some things I knew I would buy and stuff my suitcase with before I left. I also grabbed some food and caffeine before walking though the rain with my trusty umbrella to my room. Yesterday I actually noticed that none of my outlets were working because my laptop would not charge, I called my RCA and she told me to submit a maintenance request form which I did. So I was greeted by a little orange sign on my door letting me know that my service had been completed. Whoever did the maintenance even plugged my computer in so it was fully charged and I was able to do my work on it, greatly appreciated!

I began to outline what work I needed to do when the fire alarm started going off, since it's right outside my room it was blaring especially when you I opened my door. It honestly gave me a little heart attack because I did not expect it at all. I grabbed my purse and keys and stepped outside my room; because everyone on my floor was in class or getting lunch, it was just me. A guy came up to me before I even locked my door and told me not to worry because this was a drill and that I should go back inside. I spent the next fifteen minutes eating my sandwich with that as the lovely background, really, the perfect ambiance for getting work done.

I went over to Miffy's room and talked to her about her day, and a group of us went over a girl named Sara's room because she invited us over for kabobs. Pakistani kabobs! It was a taste of home which was really great and we had a lot of fun eating and talking about our schools and the different books we read. But we all had actual reading assignments to complete for homework so we went back to our rooms to, for me, blog, and also do my reading in preparation for tomorrow morning's discussion. As well as go over the notes from today's class lecture. After dinner, I bought some snacks and was basically doing some more reading and studying to prepare for the next day.

First Day of Class

It was bright and early when I woke up for my first class of the course today. I had found out from Robson the night before that International Human Rights wasn’t offered in Uris Hall after all. Instead, we were supposed to be at Myron Taylor ready to work at 9:30 AM. Thanks to the personal sink, getting ready was a breeze and I arrived at the RPCC for breakfast in no time.

The line stretched out all the way from the door down two floors and out the entrance of the building, so I didn’t bother with eating at the dining hall. Instead, I bought a few granola bars at the community center and gave Robson a call because we had made plans to walk to class together. It turns out that he was so nervous about getting lost on the way to Myron Taylor; he decided to show up an hour and a half earlier than required.  I admit I found this hilarious, it sounded a lot like something I would do.

Myron Taylor Hall is a tall gray-brown gothic style building down on Central Avenue. It’s about an 18-minute walk from South Balch. The hall is home to Cornell Law School, one of the best law schools in the nation. I was ecstatic about stepping foot in the place. It’s crazy to think that distinguished, renowned individuals such as the first female President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen have spent time learning in these facilities and so am I.

The area surrounding Beebe lake is picture
perfect.

The class hadn’t officially begun but we found the lecture hall. There was only one other person there, seated towards the front facing the chalkboard. Robson and I sat down as close to the professor and front of the room as we could. We still had a good 30 minutes to talk and make ourselves comfortable.  

In that time, I met Stephanie. She’s originally from NY and here on a scholarship as well, but it’s actually her second time at Summer College in Cornell. We expressed our love for Ithaca and then talked about the consequences of attending public schools in somewhat underdeveloped areas. As racially, nationally, and ethnically diverse as the people here are, most of them fall into the same category economically. It was nice being able to address those differences openly. I hope that we share many more conversations of the sort.

In the blink of an eye, the first day of class was over. Our professor, Elizabeth Brundige is a phenomenal human being. She’s done so much for the international community, and I look up to her already. Listening to Professor Brundige address the time she has spent at The Hague, Global Gender Justice Clinic, Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and Constitutional Court of South Africa was more than inspiring. After all, this is the same person who was awarded the Khosla Memorial Human Dignity Prize at Yale Law School for her human rights work. These three weeks, I want to be able to learn as much as I possibly can from her, and if that requires me going to office hours regularly then so be it.

At Cornell Law School with Robson 

For the International Human Rights course, there are two TAs. Diogo and Naffa. They had the chance to introduce themselves, as did the rest of us.  On a whole, there were many accomplished students present who had their own reasons for joining the class. They all had one thing in common and that was the desire to learn more about International Human Rights and how they are applied in the real world. We avidly listened and took down notes as our instructor taught us a variety of topics including the foundations of International Law (general principle, customary law, and conventions), the distinction between positive and negative rights, and resolutions and objections. I was gaining insight and worthwhile knowledge in that period of time and as intellectually challenging as some of it was, I’m ecstatic to finally be stepping outside of my comfort zone and into the state of not knowing things but having to learn them.

I still feel awkward asking people
for pictures, so it's just me for now.

After class was over, I found Julia at Trillium and we had lunch together. It was my first time at Trillium. I usually go to RPCC, the buffet-style hall near my dormitory for food, but the quality and variety offered at Trillium was much better. My only concern ended up making sure the food was less than $10.69 (the limit).

Julia had to leave for a lab, so Robson and I decided to take a walk along Beebe Lake after Lunch. The lake was beautiful. I feel as if I am running out of ways to describe the scenery around campus because my words don’t do it any justice. We did, however, take advantage of the background and made sure to take lots of pictures for the blog.

Deven checked in briefly with Noor, Robson, and I before Dinner. 

The rest of the day, I spent in my dorm room doing homework, studying, and speaking with family members. Tomorrow is another full day and I plan on doing some more exploring because I've officially fallen in love with the campus!