By Emily Giegerich

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright discussed the need for international education in the changing world and praised Elon University as well as President Barack Obama for taking positive strides toward filling this need.

Albright was the featured speaker for Elon University’s Spring Convocation for Honors in Alumni Gym Tuesday afternoon.

As Albright discussed her college experience in the late 1950s, the drastic social, political and economic changes that have occurred in the past 60 years became extremely evident.

“The world then was different; the pace not so fast,” Albright said. “[It] was a time of relative innocence.  The world was divided in ways that everyone understood.”

Albright said that in her days there were clear distinctions between good and bad, political leaders were respected, people had faith in the future and there was a strong belief things could only get better.  Most would agree that today, she said, such beliefs are far-gone.

Albright said she credits these changing perceptions, as well as the weakening of the United Nations and other multilateral organizations and the tarnished credibility of the United States, to the lack of international education.  Albright said she believes that without a place in education for international matters, the changing world is struggling.

Although Albright praised Elon for being a great example of the good that education can do, she said she believes that Elon may be an exception because in certain cases education is playing a negative role.

“Many young people are taught to see the modern world as hostile to their values and dangerous to their faith,” Albright said. “[They] believe that honor can only be won be re-fighting old battles and that the globe is divided between ‘us and them.’ Many millions more are barely educated at all.”

Even though Albright acknowledged the undeniable strides the United States has made in mathematics and the sciences, in regards to global politics she’s “not sure we are any smarter now than we have ever been.”

To increase a broader knowledge of politics, Albright said she believes international learning is key, yet it is more absent in the U.S. government than one may imagine.

“When I was secretary of state, I encountered members of Congress who boasted that they did not own a passport and never ventured outside the United States,” Albright said. “The chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations at the time said there was nothing to be learned from traveling overseas.”

Albright said she strongly disagrees with this sentiment.   During her years in government she made it a point to promote awareness of international relations in public schools and applauded Elon for the encouragement the university gives to study abroad programs.

“The university knows that graduates will be in a far better position to compete in the global economy if they are comfortable in the international setting,” she said.

Albright also said she believes President Obama is helping fill the absence of international education within the government despite the great perils he has inherited – perils such as the economic crisis, th

e wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, confrontation with al Qaeda, the presence of nuclear weapons, genocide in Darfur, energy and pollution concerns and overall evils such as poverty, ignorance and disease.

“The president has only been in office for 10 weeks but I think he has already done several smart things,” Albright said.

Albright praised Obama for four major steps he has taken thus far: assembling a strong and experienced national security team, offering an open hand to every country while maintaining tough policies where required, sending top diplomats across the globe to listen, learn and find opportunities and taking steps to restore America’s environmental and international reputation, all while being careful not to raise American expectations too high.

Although she has managed to reconnect with one of the ideals of her time – optimism about the future – Albright said it is important to be aware that international education is the solution to every problem.

“It will not abolish war, cure climate change, or enable our economy to rise like a phoenix overnight,” Albright said. “But it will help us all to learn more about those with whom we share life on this fragile globe.”

            By Emily Giegerich

            Situations of astronomical measure occur on the earth’s surface every day, but the science of astronomy is concerned with situations far detached from the earth’s surface.

            Robert Kirshner, a Harvard University astronomer, discussed the basics of astronomy and the evidence that suggests the universe is expanding at an accelerated rate in LaRose Digital Theatre Wednesday night.  Nearly every seat was occupied for Kirshner’s visually interactive presentation. 

            To begin, Kirshner asked the audience to look at the big picture. 

            “Our galaxy is one of a hundred billion galaxies that make up the universe,” Kirshner said.

            Kirshner discussed the traditional theories of astronomy, all the way back to Einstein’s era – theories such as general relativity and cosmological concepts – as well as the initial research that proved that the universe is expanding, which is accredited to Henrietta Leavitt.  Leavitt was a female astronomer who noticed that the brightness of stars denoted distance, Kirshner explained.

            Kirshner said that another renowned astronomer, Edward Hubble, expanded on Leavitt’s findings.  It was an accepted truth that the universe was expanding, but Hubble wanted to know at what rate the expansion was occurring.  His telescope, the Hubble telescope, provided the initial evidence of whether the universe was speeding up or slowing down.   

            “Hubble determined that by measuring the apparent brightness of objects at a given regimen, we ought to be able to figure out whether the universe is speeding up or speeding down,” Kirshner said. 

            Kirshner presented photographs, charts and graphs that gave evidence to a decelerated universe. 

             “The universe started with a Big Bang, the expansion had started slowing down through gravity and the expansion went on for a long time,” Kirshner said. 

            The extensive research conducted by Einstein, Leavitt, Hubble and many other historic astronomers provided Kirshner and his team of researchers with a base of information that led to their own personal developments.  

            “What we found is something very similar to what Henrietta Leavitt found,” Kirshner said. “The ones [stars] that get bright and dim the fastest turn out to be intrinsically dim, and the ones that get bright and dim the slowest turn out to be intrinsically bright.”

            Kirshner said that as a result, distances between space and time could be measured more accurately.   His team continued to do more experiments and in 1998 one of Kirshner’s graduate students discovered what Science Magazine called the “science breakthrough of the year.”

            Adam Reiss, a graduate of M.I.T., found that the mass of the universe was negative.  Kirshner said that after initially doubting his students’ findings, Reiss’ mathematics were indeed accurate. 

             “This proved that the universe was not just expanding, but the expansion was speeding up,” Kirshner said. 

            What does such an important scientific breakthrough as this mean for the universe and its inhabitants? 

            “The universe could have an acceleration without end,” Kirshner said. “Or it could have a collapse in the future, or something much worse.”

            In response to the possible outcomes, Kirshner discussed two main steps that will be undertaken: the space telescope will be repaired and a telescope similar to the Hubble, but capable of taking infrared measurements, may be built.    

            The in-depth conversation that included a wide range of complex astronomical issues may or may not have gone (literally) over the heads of some non-science students in the audience, but Kirshner said his purpose for the science of astronomy is much simpler than those terms denote.   

            “People want to know where we came from, what is the universe and what is gonna happen in the future,” Kirshner said. “This kind of science is worth doing for the joy of finding out how the world works.”

Enjoy and let me know what you think! 

Can’t believe DMA is over.. its been a long, hard, semester.. but we made it!

ps – while taking photos, i met the #5 “geocatcher” in the state of Wisconsin, and #100 in the entire world! He approached on where I was taking pictures because I was standing near his “secret treasure.”  Go to www.geocaching.com in order to understand what I’m talking about.. I can’t explain it very well! It was very interesting, and pretty weird.

When I began, I was thinking about how night photography isn’t very interesting because there aren’t any people or objects around to really incite action, reaction or interaction.  However, at the same time, that means there is nothing obtrusive that could intrude a photograph.  

The photos didn’t really come out too great and don’t really incite much feeling in me but that’s okay ’cause now I’ve tried, and I learned a few things.. 

1) There are a lot more people around Elon at 4am on a monday night than you’d expect…

2) Geese and swans go to sleep! Well I figured they sleep but I never really think about when/how animals sleep. The swans had their heads under the water, and the geese were on the land. I accidentally woke all of the geese up and I was very afraid they were going to attack me…

3) The performing arts building makes frightening noises. 

4) Elon is extremely well lit at night. 

5) Nothing wants to go right for me today because as I type this my camera refuses to upload the photos…

I’m not exactly sure if this blog is supposed to be updated by class time or by 5pm Tues but I’d rather be safe..plus I need to study for the final anyways. This may be my first college all nighter – Congrats J! 

I think they’re still sleeping there but they may have been arising! 

The arrow made a relatively dull pic a little more interesting 

Nothing too interesting about this one but I liked the simplicity 

The lights at the performing arts building created really cool reflections on the water. 

It’s hard to see but I liked the effect my shadow has on the mood of the pic.  

I liked the patterns in the water. 

I will definitely update with titles and descriptions tomorrow! Goodnight/morning.

Here’s a preview..

Our assignment was only to post three pictures, but I took way more than three so I figured I’d post a few more.  My favorite three are full size, click the smaller ones for full resolution! 

Joy

Joy. Her happiness speaks for itself in this photo.  

Hope

Hope. I really like this photo because her expression is so thoughtful.  Smiles surround her in the background, and she has a slight smirk that is reminiscent of the beginning of hope for her as an individual, and for America as a country. 

Curiosity

Curiosity. This girl was probably around 10 years old, but she was listening extremely intently and at this point she was asking her mother a question about something President Obama had just said.  I liked how her eyes are basically the only thing somewhat in focus, because her eyes alone say so much.

Inauguration 2009

Inauguration 2009. While some people gathered with a large audience in McKinnon hall to watch the Inauguration, others, such as this man, sat alone in quieter places to appreciate the moment by themselves.  

Cheers

Cheers. Claps and Cheers erupted when Obama took the stage. 

Strength

 Strength. “Our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.”  Unfortunately this also isn’t entirely in focus – it would be a great photo if it were. But still… her face says it all. 

Mellow Yellow

 Mellow Yellow. 

“When brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead man and when white would embrace what is right.

Nurture

Nurture. I know this one is out of focus, and the composition isn’t great, but I still like it.  Maybe because as I was taking it, Obamas words echoed through the room,

“It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.  It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.”  

It was really amazing to look around the room at people of every race, gender, ethnicity, religion, age, etc., and see one common emotion.  Hope.  It was emerged within other emotions – some fearful, some triumphant, some weary, some uncertain.  But no matter how hidden, hope existed to some extent in every single person’s eyes. With change will always come hope. 

www.pandora.com

I listen to music during mostly everything that I do.  However, often when I’m doing work for certain classes, such as for dmA, I’m not at my computer because I don’t have the right programs.  Since I don’t have my own music to listen to (ignoring the invention of the  iPod..I’m a forgetful person and usually forget to bring it to places other than a gym), Pandora is a great way to solve this problem.  I even commonly prefer using Pandora to my own iTunes, because I have discovered so many great artists.  

www.PianoFiles.com

As a pianist, I really like this website for a lot of reasons.  Before I stumbled upon this website, if there was a song I wanted to learn, I had to either teach myself by ear, or buy an overpriced book of all the artists music.  However, on this website I can search and browse any song – even if it is uncommon.  Most often than not, a user has submitted the song I was looking for. In order to get the music however, I have to e-mail the user.  When I first started using the site, I thought this method would prove to be inefficient because I assumed people wouldn’t answer me – but I have been proven incorrect! I have gotten a response to every e-mail I sent, and the sheet music to every song I have ever requested.  I can also submit my own sheet music so I can help others out there who may want to play something I have.

www.postsecret.com

I really like the creative concept of PostSecret.com.  The fact that it’s entire existence stemmed from such a simple website is really amazing. There is nothing flashy or exciting about the website – the focus is on the secrets and that’s exactly how it should be. I look forward to reading the new secrets every Sunday, and consider this website to be my reward after a hard week of dmA.   

www.youtube.com

YouTube is a great place for almost every type of media. I really like it for the obvious reason – it gives ordinary people the chance to really get their stuff out there for both serious purposes as well as for entertainment.  It’s insane how some people have actually gotten famous off of YouTube (Ex: one of my favorites, Bo Burnham).  I often search humorous things (and a lot comes up..), but I have also used it to find examples of artistic and creative work.  Also, after our conversation about Logos, I notice now that YouTubes logo, although simple, is extremely memorable and familiar, and I’m sure  it has helped the company market itself.  

www.weather.com

I wouldn’t necessarily say weather.com is my FAVORITE website, but I certainly do go to it a lot – probably a lot more than I should, ’cause the weather doesn’t really change THAT much within an hour. This website uses a lot of tables and columns, but I actually feel like it may be in need of being redesigned maybe? But it gets the job done, and is usually quite accurate!

That’s all for now!

(ps – updated my ever-neglected flickr account with new/old photos!)

Unseen

Unseen. I purposely made the man out of focus for this picture and the branches in focus because the man in this picture was entirely alone – and most likely not wanting to be seen by anyone. Even though I saw him, I wanted to keep the feeling of solitude intact by “hiding” behind the branches.  

Simplicity

Simplicity. I liked this because it was so simple yet the colors added a sense of elegance, and the elegance was found in an uncommon place – a college bathroom! 

Go.

Go. The lanterns glow a green reminiscent of a traffic light.  I felt like this person was walking/running just to go and let go. 

Reality

Reality. I liked this picture because it’s candidness captured a very real moment. It reminded me of a “Need a Minute?” Campaign by Twix or whatever company that is. 

The Little Thing

The Little Things. I’m not exactly sure why I liked this pic. Their similar stances and hair color made me feel the two women could be sisters.  Regardless, they seemed to be enjoying each others company in a very simple way – shopping at Target.  

Silence

Silence. I chose the title “Silence” because it sums up the entire photograph and other adjectives that could be attached to it – desolate, abandonment, etc.  I also liked the colors and felt that the rain added a reflective feel to the photo.