#university colloquium

[sophomore-slumpo]

What about GMOs? A Sustainabile Future: University Colloquium, Blog #4

The article, “Science and History of GMOs and Other Food Modification Processes” does a good job explaining what a GMO is and how it connects to pre-existing farming methods. It is a very positive representation of GMOs with scientific explanations and a timeline of the development of the GMO process. “How GMO Crops Impact Our World” is an article that points out how increased resistance to pests means fewer pesticides are used, which I realized means less environmentally-harmful chemical runoff. Foods become more accessible and affordable, countering the issues of food scarcity we’ve previously discussed. “Sustainability: Are GMOs Good or Bad?” is a text that corroborates the FDA’s claims that GMOs are safe. The FDA articles I read focus more on defining and explaining, while this article examines how GMOs fit into the broader topic of sustainability. It also connects to the broader topic of climate change, and specifically addresses flooding; a whole city in Libya was practically destroyed by a recent flood (source: my mom). This article examines the pros and cons of GMOs; cons include economic concerns for small farmers and health concerns stemming (ba dum tsh) from herbicide use, “non-natural” changes to organisms, and possible genetic contamination/transference. “Are GMOs Sustainable?” says GMOs have been around for only a few decades, but the FDA traces its roots (ba dum tsh) back to the beginning of selective breeding and stuff. The article feels very biased against GMOs, despite evidence to the contrary. Sometimes, it even verged on conspiratorial. Further analysis with the CRAAP test would be beneficial; however, I was unable to access the website. “GMOs: Road to sustainable agriculture” seems biased in the opposite direction. Some of the images and quotes it provides don’t have proper sources attributed to them. It lacks cited evidence. It has a condescending tone. Most of this information was not new to me. I have learned some passing information about GMOs. Generally speaking, the information I learned from the reading did not conflict with what I already knew. I think GMOs can play a big role in sustainability. There is evidence to show it can reduce environmental harm the current farming methods cause, as well as make food more accessible, and abundant, and less of it is wasted. When researching my own sources, I did my best to find recent and reliable information. I looked for independent research, avoided sponsored content or content that might otherwise have a conflict of interest, and made sure they cited reliable sources themselves. Changing my search terms would sometimes narrow the focus; one search would be focused on the economic perspective, another on the environment. I thought that some of the more opinionated articles spoke to how everyone on both sides is concerned about health and safety, regardless of whether they are skeptical or accepting of GMOs.

While this blog isn't as interwoven or personable as I would have liked to make it, I think it nonetheless demonstrates my comprehension of the reading material.

[universitycolloquium]

Journal 8: Post-conceptions

In this class, I've learned about how we affect climate change and some of the steps taken to combat this (UN meetings, Pachamama Alliance, ECHO farm, etc.). My perception of the class now mostly stayed the same from the beginning of the semester since we discussed environmentalism and sustainability as expected. However, one thing that changed for me was learning how my industry (healthcare) contributes heavily to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. I underestimated the impact we have on the environment, and it made me feel more passionate about my service-learning project to start a recycling initiative within Lee Health.

I also had to examine my sense of place, which I didn't realize had an impact on the choices I make. I took for granted how Southwest Florida shaped me until Hurricane Ian came through and destroyed my hometown and shook my perceived sense of place. I realize that this area still represents a home for me and that living here makes me more conscientious about promoting sustainability. Living in an area frequented by tourists made me see how poorly they treat our natural areas. Thanks to the information I learned in this class, I have a newfound sense of purpose and can make more intentional decisions to be a better carer of the planet. I also enjoyed our conversations in class about what we read and how it impacted each of us. This class did a good job of reminding me that no matter how different each person is, we can all unite and make our small changes bigger and more impactful.

[the-music-keeper]

Last to-do list of January!

So here's what I learned yesterday. I cannot, under any circumstances, abstain from taking notes in my notebook when I read these readings.

Which means I'm going to need more notebooks. Sigh.

Schumann Seminar

1. Schwartz reading. (Pretty straightforward.)

2. Hallmark reading. (I greatly enjoyed this reading, actually.)

3. Ferris reading. (From a book on the Eichendorff Liederkreis.)

4. Study some assigned poems by Chamisso and Eichendorff. (Our professor was very insistent that we should NOT listen to Schumann's settings yet.)

Baroque History

5. Hill reading. (Okay, so the reading was short, but taking notes took forever.)

6. Strunk reading. (Taking notes wasn't so long.)

7. Bianconi reading. (I'm going to have to figure out a shorthand system.)

8. Score study. (I even found recordings for some of the assignments!)

9. Consider a topic for the final paper. (Found two potential leads!)

Piano Practice

10. Choral rep. (Good thing I got some good practice in over the weekend!)

No adulting on the list because I already did my adulting over the weekend!

[beauzos]

When my Honors Colloquium I class ended in 2017, our professor gave us all a copy of his favorite book, Man’s Search for Meaning by Frankl, with personalized messages written in each book. I just realized I never read it. I should change that.

[incomingalbatross]

Seriously considering the Chesterton Conference this summer but very torn.

Pros:

It is significantly closer to me than it COULD be (in the same timezone and everything) so this would be a good year to go

Might be able to get my university to take some of the cost, so ditto

Chesterton!!

It seems like a good event and worth trying

Cons:

EXPENSIVE

I also want to go to the Sacred Music Colloquium and like... how much of my money can I spend in one summer

I'd know MAYBE one other person there. slightly. so there's a real risk I'd spend the whole 2.5 days on the fringe of things and regret it afterward

[diminuel]

I'm struggling to finalize my schedule for this semester (even though it has started today) and maybe I can crowd source some advice on here!

I'm putting it under the read more cut.

As a PhD student I only need to collect a small amount of credits within the 6 semesters the PhD usually lasts. At the same time I have to work part time and generally struggle to organize my time well. (Also, neither autism nor anxiety - for which I'm not getting any help/ therapy at the moment - are making this easier.)

Now... my gut feeling is that, especially now that I'm getting used to university again after 8 years, I should be kind to myself and only take a minimum of courses. I've been my greedy self and put both Icelandic (which I can't get credit points for) and Danish on my time table, knowing well how much time languages courses take...

So... I think, even if it might be fun, I should probably cut one or both of them. Icelandic is happening every autumn term, Danish only every second autumn term...

(Also, there's a 1 credit point colloquium that I don't really understand how it works that I'm not sure if I'm supposed to take as a first semester PhD student. Maybe it's fine to postpone it to later - assuming it will be hosted again, which I'm pretty sure it will - when I'm a bit more settled.)

Ah, the stress. I just feel overwhelmed and like everything sucks and that I have no idea what I'm doing... ;w;

In Swiss German I'd say "es schisst mi ah" which is not the best feeling to have...

[supercantaloupe]

our guest lecturer for colloquium today was

a music history specialist

with a library degree

and an oboist

so i'd like to know exactly the universe thinks it's doing to me today

[ratsonas]

im prettyyyy sure my universitys visiting artist colloquium is open to the public in the first place but if i just walked in with a notebook no one would even notice im not a student 🤔

[universitycolloquium]

Journal 7: Virtual Marine Studies Field Trip

Document one: The first video was a lecture by Jo Hughes, a Fort Myers Beach area resident for over 90 years. She spoke about how much the area has changed since childhood. One point she makes is how the landscape has changed, and the water doesn't flow the way it used to, which causes problems in the long term. Short-term impacts of destroyed marine environments are increased bacteria in the water, the landscape changing (shorelines being pushed out further), and increased presence of dead marine life. Long-term, this can impact water quality, as water can't flow as it used to and doesn't have pollutants filtered out properly. It can also impact tourism, as the increased bacteria in the water can deter people from going in the water or going near the beaches to keep from getting sick.

It's very clear that Mrs. Hughes' sense of place is the Fort Myers Beach/Estero area, and she's had to watch it go through development phases and some places be destroyed in the process. If I were in her position, I would feel forlorn and lost, seeing my sense of place be destroyed in that way. I would be very upset and disappointed that people would support or allow some of the island's development to occur. I would try to arrange and attend protests against the unsustainable destruction of the island and educate people on why it's important to keep the island the way it is and protect marine life in the area.

I don't think we should build on barrier islands because the islands protect us from erosion from the ocean and river. Building on these islands compromises their ability to protect us, and can actually do more harm if the structures on the barrier island are destroyed and the debris moves inland.

[munsons-maiden]

I really want to know this condom story now 😂

Okay here goes, hold on to yer butts brochachos😂

Four years ago, when I was still living with my parents, we were doing project week at university about prevention programs and my project was to develop a sex ed concept which could be used to improve sex ed at schools. For a colloquium of 200 people.

I made 200 flyers, and as a fun little idea I decided to tape a condom to each one.

First of all, imagine the face of the cashier at the supermarket when I was buying 200 condoms.

Second, the flyers were at uni already so I thought if I just went to the uni library veeeeeery early, I could just tape the condoms to the flyers there, so the evening before, I took all 200 condoms out of the cartons so I’d be quicker in taping the single packages to the flyers; and the single packages I just put into my backpack.

Which looks exactly like my dad’s backpack.

And when my dad left for work that morning, he took the wrong backpack with him.

Which he realized when he was at Starbucks to grab his morning coffee, he opened the backpack to grab his wallet, and 200 condoms flooded the Starbucks cash register.

And I got a very funny whatsapp message saying “HOW MANY ORGIES DO YOU PLAN TO ATTEND?!“ (my dad’s super chill so at least it wasn’t embarassing for me) 😂

[the-music-keeper]

And Objective #14 is done! I have to say, I'm very curious about what sort of musicological analysis can be done with this software.

[4gravitons]

What Referees Are For

This week, we had a colloquium talk by the managing editor of the Open Journal of Astrophysics. The Open Journal of Astrophysics is an example of an arXiv overlay journal. In the old days, journals shouldered the difficult task of compiling scientists’ work into a readable format and sending them to university libraries all over the world so people could stay up to date with the work of distant…

[ao3feed-everlark]

The Hunger Games: Epilogue Revamped

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/wcS12NC

by ayoitsbri

03-02-2023: I entirely refute the epilogue that is written for Mockingjay, and therefore made my own and pretend its canon. I wrote it for a colloquium class freshman year but wanted to put it out there for people to enjoy as The Hunger Games has been gaining traction again.

- brianna

Words: 1272, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Characters: Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, Finnick Odair, Annie Cresta, Annie Cresta and Finnick Odair's Son, Beetee Latier, Johanna Mason, Primrose Everdeen, Gale Hawthorne, Odair Family (Hunger Games)

Relationships: Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark, Katniss Everdeen & Peeta Mellark

Additional Tags: Hunger Games, Inspired by The Hunger Games, Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, District 12 (Hunger Games), Hunger Games References, The Capitol (Hunger Games), POV Katniss Everdeen, Katniss Everdeen Needs a Hug, Finnick Odair Deserved Better, Finnick Odair - Freeform, Annie - Freeform

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/wcS12NC

[ryanthedemiboy]

What in the fresh hell is saneism 😭 stop making up new discourse buzzwords there's already so many

Here's a handful of resources, the newest of which is from 2013. I've only included ones with sanism or saneism in the title.

Perlin, Michael L. (1993). "ADA and Persons with Mental Disabilities: Can Sanist Attitudes Be Undone?". Journal of Law and Health.

Perlin, Michael L. (October 2013). "Sanism and the Law". Virtual Mentor. 15 (10): 878–885. doi:10.1001/virtualmentor.2013.15.10.msoc1-1310. PMID 24152781

Perlin, Michael L. (2003). "Sanism in Clinical Teaching". Clinical Law Review. 9: 683–730.

(And several more by Perlin including the word sanism)

Poole, Jennifer M.; Ward, Jennifer (2013). ""Breaking open the bone": Storying, Sanism, and Mad Grief". In LeFrancois, B.; Menzies, R.; Reaume, G. (eds.). Mad Matters: A Critical Reader in Canadian Mad Studies. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press.

Ingram, Richard (May 2011). Sanism in Theory and Practice (PDF). Second Annual Critical Inquiries Workshop. Vancouver, Canada: Centre for the Study of Gender, Social Inequities and Mental Health. Simon Fraser University.

Fraser, Susan (November 2008). Sanism and the Legal Profession: Why Mad People Should Be Angry (PDF). Eleventh Colloquium on the Legal Profession: Professionalism and Serving Communities. Law Society of Upper Canada.

Large, Matthew; Ryan, Christopher (November 2012). "Sanism, stigma and the belief in dangerousness". Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.

Wolframe, PhebeAnn M. (2013). "The Madwoman in the Academy, or, Revealing the Invisible Straightjacket: Theorizing and Teaching Saneism and Sane Privilege". Disability Studies Quarterly.

[100secondegyptology]

Dissertation logs

Dissertation is... ongoing. At least, I have acquired the skill of reading fast and reading a lot; which is what I spend most of my evenings with. Working full-time means that I can't exactly put in as many hours as I would like, so I have to be as efficient as possible.

Since I'm not enrolled in a formal programme, I also have to actively seek out other people I can talk to. Thankfully this has not been hard at all. The university I am registered with has a few groups that meet up (semi-)regularly and my supervisors organize a colloquium each.

As a P.S. I have looked at the "Queens of Egypt" and remembered why I stopped posting - Nefertiti is up next and the choice of topic is rather difficult. For anyone who wants something on her, I recommend reading "Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth" by Naguib Mahfouz who has written one of the most interesting takes on remembering history after the fact.