Conservation Impacts on the Global Scale

I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Chipembere's talk yesterday. Like the presenters, I wasn't sure in which direction he would go, as he could discuss his activism in permaculture, musical career, work to better communities in Malawi, or even experience at Poly. The most resounding idea that came from his presentation was his description of continued effort to be a global citizen. Mr. Chipembere was open and honest about his experiences to getting to know his heritage, which I could totally relate to. He was born to Malawian nationals and grew up in LA without having learned much of his heritage. I myself have not been able to explore China much and even though I've grown up in a Chinese household, learned the language, and talked to immigrant relatives, I still feel a separation from my roots, so to speak. Mr. Chipembere told an intensely personal story of his path towards global scholarship, which he described as a process. He wasn't afraid to discuss his failings in the proces...

I haven't finished Disturbed in Their Nests yet, but I'm really enjoying this book! Alepho's look at the world is fascinating, as well as how this book was written. From what I know, Disturbed in their Nests is a sequel of sorts to They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky, another book written in part by Alepho Deng, covering his adaptation to San Diego. This is something I haven't seen before: in books that covered relocation such as Never Fall Down and First they Killed my Father , albeit in different conditions, talk little about life in America and its contrast to Cambodia. Disturbed in their Nests discusses thoroughly the perspective of a refugee or a foreigner, more broadly, and their adaptation to a new life in San Diego. This is something I felt was missing from other global-oriented books to read, not just the details of a struggle for survival, but the struggle for adaptation. Another interesting narrative choice taken by Alepho and Judy Bernstein was the cho...

Attending the screening of Brave Girl Rising was truly a distinct experience from the other GIP events I've attended, including Kalyanee Mam's screening of her documentary. Martha Adams described her efforts to create a film as something different from a documentary, and after watching her film, I certainly agree with her. Brave Girl Rising is framed through poetry and through visuals, the latter of which may not be as immediately apparent.                   I found it an interesting creative decision to use a verbal medium to describe visuals, but I can see the value behind the poetic language used to describe the setting and the experiences of Nasro, the focus of the film. As someone interested in art and by extension how it's used in the story-telling process, I paid attention to the environment that Brave Girl Rising was filmed in, which I remember being described in text as "not quite beautiful," yet I feel that creative efforts were...

I've been looking at another idea for a Capstone Project that right now, seems a lot more viable. I'd like to organize a panel discussion based on sustainability which would draw on researchers from the Resnick Institute at Caltech. I'm interested in inviting 3-4 speakers who would potentially talk about reducing waste in the way of transportation, the electrical grid, and electricity storage. Currently, I'm in touch with Dr. Neil Fromer, the executive director of the Resnick Institute to find potential speakers for this event. I'm excited about this idea and I'll keep the blog up to date on later developments on this projects.

I'm still working on what it is exactly I want to do for my Capstone Project. Right now, I'm interested in researching the mental health side of global health. I feel in comparison to infectious diseases, mental health issues such as schizophrenia and depression don't get as much coverage or aren't seen as significant when they have massive impact from the standpoint of quality of life. Health is defined as a well-being of both body and mind: not just getting the right nutrition and exercise, but also being mentally stable and happy. The question then lies in how we can perhaps address these issues of mental health, which is something I'm interested in looking into. I've been doing research on the present studies on depression and the epigenetics behind mental health and think I would like to pursue a discussion with a depression researcher for a public event, publish articles on the Paw Print, or even make a podcast episode (though I can't say I have the ed...

During my trip to Vietnam and Cambodia (which you can read about in my previous blog posts,) I had some time to read and think about what I had learned the past school year. One book that I had brought along with me was Advice for a Young Investigator, or Reglas y consejos sobre investigacion cientifica, by Santiago Ramon y Cajal, a Spanish biologist. As I was reading, I took note of how Ramon y Cajal saw Spain in a negative light pertaining to its research and development, illustrated by the quotes below. Pero cuando, por dificultades insuperables, sea ello irrealizable (según ocurre desgraciadamente en España, donde las Universidades carecen de libros modernos extranjeros y las Academias no tienen recursos para suscribirse a las revistas científicas más importantes), no debemos, por monografía de más o de menos, dejar de acudir al laboratorio... But when this is not feasible due to insuperable difficulties (which unfortunately occur in Spain, where the universities lack r...

Hello everyone, I wanted to talk a bit about the books I've read over the summer that have relevance to being educated about global issues. This will be a working document for a bit, as the books on the list of books I am working on will steadily migrate to the "Books I've Read" list. Also, reviews for books I have read will get steadily added. Without further ado, let's get to it! Cambodia Never Fall Down This book was recommended to our travel group to Cambodia as a means of seeing what Arn Chorn Pond had experienced under the Khmer Rouge regime. The account that Arn provides is full of detail concerning the regime and details his harrowing experience as a young musician trying to survive. I read it in a single night. I just couldn't put down the book. The account of Cambodia at that time period is so unlike anything that I have experienced or either that I am familiar with at all, and contains brutal imagery and anecdotes. However, where this book...