Author Archives: EMMA PALMER

Travel with Your Mind and Heart

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Throughout my life, I have discovered that the Enlightenment and Romantic Periods introduced new ideas and perspectives that are applicable today. I believe that life should be approached with a scientific mind but an emotional heart. Only obeying one can lead to disasters. One should question everything about life but also accept that humans aren’t simply machines. We are complex with emotions and feelings that allow us to experience life in new ways. But sometimes emotions can get in the way of communicating with one another which is where the Enlightenment view comes in. On top of allowing us to answer questions about the world around us. It allows us to resolve conflict without bias. Society requires us to use both the Enlightenment and Romantic views to better our society.

History is built on the stones of those before us. While that statement is cliche, it is true. The Enlightenment allowed to answer questions about the world around us in an unbiased manner. The Romantic era has influenced art and writing styles even to this day. While we might not agree with everything that these eras brought, they still impact our world to this day. America is not just a jumble of cultures but also a mix of ideas brought about by our ancestors. As we have distanced ourselves from these ideas it is our job to take what made them great and incorporate them into our lives today.

One of the most important takeaways from this class is that our aesthetic experiences make us human. As most of us are STEM majors, we tend to focus more on the scientific aspects of life, questioning everything. Sometimes, we need to learn to appreciate beauty just for itself. While throwing out statistics about how much oxygen plankton shows people how much we need the ocean, one of the most influential ways to save the ocean is just by sharing its beauty and explain how we are losing it. Not knowing the answers to some questions and appreciating wonder allows us to experience life in a whole new way.

A New Challenger

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Image: A camera man films a statue of a girl facing the Wall St. Bull, as part of a campaign by U.S. fund manager State Street to push companies to put women on their boards, in the financial district in New York

In 2017, a new figure appeared on Wall Street. Known as “Fearless Girl” the statue was created to call attention to the lack of women on company boards as well as the pay gap between men and women’s wages. While “Charging Bull”, modeled after the bull market, is supposed to represent the fast moving American economy, “Fearless Girl” gives the bull a whole new meaning, the masculinity of corporations. The girl’s dominant stance, her eyes staring straight at the oncoming bull, and the bravery flowing off of her silhouette beg us to see the issues within our businesses. The courage of this little girl makes us ask ourselves what we can do to change the world around us. The charging bull’s narrowed eyes are full of concentration and determination towards achieving it’s goal of a growing economy, not caring about the child standing in front of it. On the other hand, the girl’s eyes are not just fearless but determined as well, but not determined to run across anything in her path but instead she has determined that the problems we face now will be changed. The girl’s dress and hair being blown back in the wind shows that she knows the trials approaching but yet she still looks ahead, as if she can feel the bull coming towards her. The stance is reminiscent of Wonder Woman with her hands on her hips, a woman of power and strength with the ability to make change. The emotions behind this statue call us to make changes to our world, causing this piece to make society better morally. Will you stand up or will you back down when troubles come?

Time to Make a Change or Not…

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As most of us know, the California Primary Election is just around the corner which means we are all preparing to hear from our various relatives why we should vote for their candidate. Despite the annoyance of being told that “[Our] generation is a bunch of nitwits who are going to drive our economy into bankruptcy with [our] liberal stances”, elections such as these help to promote a healthy government with checks and balances.

One of the complaints made in the Declaration of Independence against the contemporary English Government is that King George III, “…has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries”. Because the king could not be kicked out of office nor could he be replaced through a regular process of voting, he was able to bend the justice system to his will with bribery and threats of expulsion. Instead of justice being the standard and measurement of the courts, the main ruling principle was the king’s bias.

With the election system in place, the President is unable to bribe or threaten the judicial system. If the President is caught doing so, he can be removed from office or, in the rare case that this would not happen, be voted out by the American People/Electoral College. The United States Constitution also allows for the judicial system to decide if executive orders are unconstitutional, placing yet another check on the Executive Branch.

Now some might say that the President still has control over the Judicial Branch as he nominates Supreme Court members. However, even if the President does attempt such a scandalous action, his maximum time in office of 8 years ensures that his control does not last forever.

Does the voting process help create a just judicial system or is the President still able to influence their decisions?

One for Me or All for You?

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While discussing the proper actions one should take to make one’s life meaningful, Kant states that “To assure one’s own happiness is a duty…” (pg.54). This is to prevent the desire from becoming a “…great temptation to transgression of duty“. In the same way, love is another form of duty. Kant is showing that actions following duty and not desire are meaningful and worthwhile but sometimes these duties are our own desires. This becomes even more complicated when one’s happiness infringes on other duties, mostly when they happen to contradict. What duty should one follow when multiple contradict each other? Multiple movies, plays and TV shows revolve around the idea that the best way to love someone is by letting them go, even if it means sacrificing your own happiness. Is this type of self-sacrifice truly worthwhile and morally meaningful? If not, a good portion of the Romance genre can be called into question to determine the rationality behind the decisions made by many of the characters.

One such play, Life is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, depicts the story of Segismundo, a man who was locked in a tower from birth, and his escapades when he receives his freedom (Spoilers!). When a lost woman, Rosaura, stumbles upon his tower, he finds himself falling in love with her not knowing she is already engaged to be married. At the end of the play, and finding himself king over Poland, he decides to let Rosaura marry the man she loves, the one who she was engaged too, and instead marries Estrella, a princess. Even though Segismundo was deeply in love with Rosaura throughout the play, he ends up letting her go and be happy instead of forcing her to be his bride. He acted according to his duty by truly loving her and by marrying a princess as was expected by him of his subjects. In doing so, he does not assure himself of his own happiness. By acting according to two duties, his actions mathematically were moral and valuable as following the two duties outweighed the opposing duty of his happiness. But should his happiness taken the forefront of his actions?

If I’m asleep, don’t let me wake. If this is real, don’t let me dream. ~Pedro Calderón de la Barca

Shakespeare’s Storms

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Hi! My name is Emma Palmer. I’m a second year Ecology, Behavior & Evolution major but I’m also picking up a Marine Bio double major this quarter. My interests include marine parasites, books, video games, and drawing.

My favorite book so far in the HUM sequence would have to be Shakespeare’s Tempest. I’ve grown up reading Shakespeare and the Tempest has always been one of my favorites (second only to The Merchant of Venice). I love the themes in the play and the imagery used through out.

I mostly listen to instrumental music or movie soundtracks. Hope you enjoy it!