This Blog is to share my experience at Cornell. My thoughts about what is happening here.
I came to Cornell to learn a lot of things. Things like how to deal with an actual college class. Learning how to adjust to a rural environment. Dealing with super smart people, who come from high class private schools. Learning how to deal with my money, so I don't spend it all in the one store around the corner. Learning how to keep my room neat, dealing with my laundry, knowing that I really should throw out the trash. Not being afraid to ask my professor questions, putting my own opinions into discussions. Living independently. Another thing that I also learned: how to deal with issues when they came.
I know a lot of people out there may end up viewing teenagers, well, as teenagers. "Kids" who let themselves be a bit too carefree, not really thinking about consequences of their behavior. Living in the moment. During this time, we learn a lot about life. What serve as great consequences, and what does not. In our seminar today, we met an alcoholic who went to jail at the age of 16 for 8 years. How sad is that? 8 years of his life, just taken away from going down the wrong path. That's how we learn. We begin to shape more into our own thoughts, begin to question things around us. Many adults believe that they want to help, that what they say is really the right thing to be heard. Now, that may not be true, but that is my opinion.
I've recently started to gain my own voice. I started to speak out more, let my opinions be heard. If something bothers me, I don't always just want to keep it to myself, because that's just not fair to me. I can't have decisions made about my life anymore, without my consultation. Who's to say that what I'm saying is wrong? That I don't have the right to be heard? I'm growing up. I'm a different person then what I was when I was a freshman. I don't wish to hide beneath my skin, only telling my comments out to my friends.
I wish to speak out. If I think there are other options besides waiting at an airport for four hours, I will say something. If I want to write in this blog, I will. I understand that this blog is a window for those back home to see what we are doing. And I try to fit it in my schedule. But the work does build up. Like I said, I like my opinion to be heard, and here's one way to do it! Just can't do this everyday.
I recently got sent an email that tells me the thoughts about a current op-ed piece I had to turn in for my Psychology class. I started this essay knowing that it was really for my enjoyment, for me to learn from it. And I know this idea wasn't wrong, because my own Professor told me this. And I did enjoy writing my essay. Turns out that my essay was "amateurish". Well...I definitely am no journalist, I will give you that. I try with essays, I do. There have been so many times when I've been made fun of from the way I speak English. Of course I'm not about to write the best essay in English ever! I have parents who didn't grow up in
Another thing: It is VERY easy to change a situation into something more. This happened with the going to the mall incident, how one was blamed a "ring leader". There was no ring leader then, there is no ring leader now. I have a friend; a friend whom I care about, who quickly got caught up in the situation. As I learned in my class, it’s the situation, not the behavior, that deeply affects a person. Times can be overwhelming, and a lot of negative criticism can be thrown in. Another quick lesson: be careful to what you say to parents, because they are likely to tell their kids.
That's my opinion, and that's my thoughts and feelings. I am learning a lot, here at the prestigious
~Yoline Banerjee
This essay was written in 12 pt. size font, the recommended font size from all my teachers.
6 comments:
I'm feeling the same way, in fact I'm so turned off by whats going on, these last few days are going to be hard to bear.
Hey Yoline, I'm glad you are now expressing yourself in a whole new manner and that you have discovered you can be heard and have a voice in your life. Being here at Cornell has taught you so much and I can see it through the blog you posted. Everything you say inspires me and I hope you continue to have your word, and make sure that whenever someone doesn't listen to you, you make your stance clear on the statement being made. I'm so amazed by your words, and keep on finding new qualities you have, and maybe just don't know about them.
Yeah Yoline!!!!
-Ana Garibo
Right on Yoline! You definitely do have a voice and that voice is articulate, clear, and oh so strong! Don't let anyone silence or shame you. I am inspired by your honesty and clarity.
A great posting, Yoline.
I'm sorry that you all are feeling so much angst and even animosity towards some of us. This is the first posting where other Ivy Leaguers have chimed in. If we weren't listening before, this suggests that we had better start listening now.
I hope that while the anger subsides before you get home, that you remember what it was that made you all so angry so you can discuss it with us about it when you return.
Many teenagers are treated as kids because their attitudes, lack of maturity and actions demand that they be treated as kids. When they start to act as you all have these past few weeks, you deserve to be treated as adults.
No matter who you are or what your station in life--and no matter how well you may speak or write in ANY language--your viewpoints are deserving to be listened to and addressed. Just because we've been around a lot longer doesn't mean we've cornered the market on good ideas or solutions to our problems. I've received too much good advice from young people like yourselves to just ignore it because it came from "kids". I've learned a lot of valuable lessons from younger people and appreciate what they bring to the table.
I'm hoping that you've all gathered something from this experience that will be of value to you. I'm sensing, though, that some of the lessons learned are about things that have happened TO you and your thoughts about those are not very positive.
When you return you can keep those thoughts to yourself or share them with other students OR you can take the higher road and share them with the sponsors, promoters, chaperones and other adults who've been working to provide these opportunities. If we've done something you find objectionable, you need to tell us so we can make adjustments so we don't repeat our mistakes. You might even want to listen to our side of the story so you can have a better understanding of what's been going on and why it's happened.
Since you all seemed to have found your voice and know that you can express yourselves, part of that learning process is understanding the dynamics of a situation and the politics surrounding it. You need to hone your skills in being tactful. There are ways to express yourself so what you say will be listened to rather than being rejected outright as the rantings of someone who's just disgruntled. Some adults have mastered this while many more never will. My hope is that you'll all learn about this sooner rather than later.
Thank you, Yoline, for helping us to understand some of your feelings. It sounds like we need to work out some of our own deficiencies so if we pursue the Ivy League Connection for future generations, we don't make their experiences as miserable.
With regards to the issue of the font size, when the essays arrived to us the first we saw, and the one first commented on, was created in Calibri 11 point font. Yours, Yoline, which was received later, was in Times 12 point as were subsequent essays.
Depending on the font style and even whether it's used in italics or as bold face, sometimes different fonts of the same size are actually not the same size. In some of my comments I suggested playing around with font types and sizes to find a good combination that is more easily visible.
An example I used was that my own preferred font type of Garamond, when typed as 14 point is the same size as Times at 12 point.
Calibri 11 point is actually a whopping 16% smaller than Times 12 point. In order for Calibri to be the same size as Times 12 point, you would have to resize it to 13 point (a full 2 points larger). This is the point I was makng with my suggestion to play with the fonts and sizes to maximize your impact.
My suggestion wasn't meant or sent as criticism, Yoline, but merely as constructive commentary as an idea to be considered. I am very sorry that it was received in such a bad light. Experience has taught me some of the things I'm passing on. My hope is that none of you will be reinventing the wheel and making the same mistakes I made.
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