3rd Sethe

Disparity in Power Have you ever heard the phrase: “if we all try, we might make a difference to stop climate change!” This is an example of personal action, like riding a bike to school or becoming vegan by choice. In 2004, British Petroleum (BP), a multinational oil giant, unveiled a new metric to track a “carbon footprint.” Their narrative was that big corporations do not contribute to climate change, but individuals are responsible. You are responsible. By calculating and mitigating your carbon footprint, you can help save the planet. Before that point, “carbon footprint” was virtually unheard of. Still, the PR team at BP thought it would be a great decoy to change peoples’ mindsets from regulating highly destructive corporations to pushing the blame to individuals. This PR campaign was highly effective, and you have probably heard that term many times in your life. Although taking personal action will help battle climate change, the people do not have the power to fix climate chan...

Effective Memorization As someone occasionally burdened by the task of memorizing scripts and monologues for my drama class, I've noticed a few patterns correlating certain memorization methods to more successful results. I've performed three formal scenes so far this semester; one monologue and two partner scripts. And from experience, certain approaches have definitely proven to be more effective than others, which can also apply to studying for other subjects. https://uploads.letters2president.org/1476557314972-Stress.jpg Meeting memorization check deadlines was significantly more difficult for my monologue performance, which consists of only one person. Working with partners has made the process much faster. What would usually take me several days to memorize alone would take only a handful of rehearsals with duo scripts. Memorization by association has been an effective tool, where certain lines would remind me of side conversations I've had with partners in the past. ...

All About Memory For the first blog of the quarter, I was not really sure what to write about. I did not really see a direct connection between memory and power, nor did I see alternate interpretations of either the word “memory” or power in relation to memory. So for this week, I just wanted to establish a base on memory and its benefits.  According to MedlinePlus , memory is “the process of storing and then remembering this information.” They also say that memory doesn’t always work perfectly and worsens as you get older. To be honest, I have a terrible memory, and I don’t consider myself old, so I often wonder why I have such bad memory. So, part of writing this blog is to encourage myself to better my memory skills.  I came upon this article regarding the benefits of a good memory, called “Higher grades and other benefits of a good memory.” Of course, I clicked and read the article, because I want higher grades. In it, bestselling author Eran Katz says that students can b...

Recently my relatives from India came to visit America, and they are pushing me to speak in my mother tongue Kannada. Kannada was the first language I learned when I was little, and I spoke fluently at a young age. However, after attending schools that taught solely English, my fluency slowly slipped away, and I felt I had lost it. My perception of my ability came out to be false when speaking to my relatives as words and phrases in my native language started rolling off my tongue with ease. How could I retain this information that I had not practiced in many years? When researching this topic, I came across a recurring theme: stimulating the mind to a language at a very young age helps one learn the language better. According to Dr. Sandra, a neurobiologist at Carnegie Mellon University, humans have “gatekeeper circuits” which choose “whether or not to rewire the brain” based on an experience (Patterson). When children are younger, they are in the “critical period, " making it ea...

 Riddhika Parmar Week 13 - 3/23/22 Collective Memory  September 11, 2021 marked the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. My parents lived through this tragedy, but we were not born yet so we didn’t personally experience it. Americans vowed “never to forget” the day that our nation was attacked. Commemorating this moment in history every year ensures younger generations will collectively remember its significance. Likewise, if you ask people who were alive at the time, they will tell you exactly where they were when President JFK was shot. Younger Americans didn’t experience this event directly but they feel it deeply by virtue of living in American society and hearing news stories and documentaries with images from that horrific day. Unlike these two events above, the 2020 pandemic is an event that we have experienced personally, and our memories exist in a first person point-of-view. The next generation, though, will not have experienced this event. Collective me...

Carolin Pan 2022 March 23 Chinese Chinese was the language I was first introduced to and the only language I spoke when I first started talking. But now, although my Chinese skills are deteriorating, the language is still engraved in my mind and memories. I remember the daily Chinese lessons at my rigorous after school program and the summers filled with annual trips to China. Though being bilingual can be quite pleasant at times, there are, of course, difficulties accompanying the learning of a language. Perhaps this blog post will just be me unpacking childhood trauma.  Sorry I really could not find any other good pic to use. There are certain things I will never forget as they happen every year I go to China. The rude comments and uncomfortable stares I get from the people in China, regardless of whether I know them or not. They tell me things like how they think I look too tan to be Chinese. (How do I even respond to that?) When I am with my friends or parents, I take less noti...

Brightest Memories      Memories. When I think of memories, several events flood my head. But the clearest one at the moment is certainly my cousin’s wedding. In February this year, I took two weeks of independent study to travel to India in what had been over 2 years. Not only was the wedding one of the greatest experiences and events of my life, but I was able to see and spend time with family that I hadn’t seen in over 2 years.       I ndia started off with a week filled with doing independent study work and spending time with my cousins when they got home from school/college. Even though we had loads of work to do over the course of that week due to the fact that my cousins also took a week off from school for the wedding, we made the best of the free time we had that week by going to malls, movies, and arcades in the evenings. As the wedding approached and there was only one week left, our family started coming to Chennai from all over India. Than...