Arjun Kapur
I was incredibly impressed with Watkinson alum, Arjun Kapur. During our skype call with him, I realized he was incredibly knowledgeable, articulate and a very confident speaker, skills I hope I can learn to sharpen with time to allow me to better express my thoughts and ideas. In his argument, that he had been constructing for years, if the Trump administration instead goes after a symbolic total victory during the current trade war, America may find itself forced to accept an embarrassing defeat. He acknowledges the President’s tariffs on Chinese imports could result in substantive “wins” for the U.S. economy in the form of increased Chinese purchases of American exports, the ban of forced technology transfers and stronger Chinese intellectual property laws. Arjun implements opposing ideas and viewpoints to solidify how his argument is constructed. Arjun’s presentation allowed me to formulate and idea based on the information he shared and that is the United States and China can’t create a win-win solution because both of these world powers are in a zero sum-game. The U.S. dislikes the fact that China’s exports amounted to $419.2 bn in 2018 which has an impact on our economy and infrastructure. The U.S. is the foreign investor in Chinese innovations and technology and simply makes it too hard to cut ties with them.
Like the U.S., China is also at a stand still, both countries are facing their slowest economic growth in almost 30 years, due to the shrinking manufacturing sector, and aging society. China is heavily dependent on foreign consumption, with the U.S. as its main export market. Therefore, when everything is gained or lost by the other party and vice versa, such as it is the case with the U.S.-China trade dispute it proves the fact that both countries are reliant on one another and any major shifts in their agreements would affect both economies which will then affect market growth, manufacturing and employment.
Photo Wonders Forum
The CT Photo Wonders Forum was to "provide the unique opportunity for people to see the world through the eyes of today's most adventurous photographers. The audience will take an experiential journey across the globe as each panelist presents their images of life, nature, art, and war and shares insights about their lives and work as extraordinary photographers".
Bryan Skerry
Pete Souza
Lynsey Addario
At the photo wonders forum there were a list of highly recognized photographers. Each of them promoted awareness on issues they were passionate about; environmental awareness and conservation of our sea animals was one, issues of women's rights in the middle east, and the stresses of being the president of the United States. All in all, I have learned that a photographer through it’s lens can capture, express and convey sometimes more than a lecture can. A picture of a shark caught in plastic netting or one showing a belt cutting through its skin was impactful because it shows the sharks struggle, the pain inflicted by humans who have no regard for their life, the impact to the specie and its ecosystem. Instead, the fisherman just want to make the catch so they can turn it into profit. In the picture of Barack Obama and his girls playing in the snow outside of the White House, depicts him just like an ordinary person, and father enjoying the simple things in life like spending quality time with his family; this rarely seen human side of him that is different from the perceived view of this former president in his public role, politician, and leader of a first world country
Jake Harpen-Journalist
Before listening to Jake, I thought good journalism should be unbiased, it should be factual, if should be all encompassing and non omitting, it should be provoking, it should have us question as well as provide answers, it should be real. After listening to Jake talk to our seminar class, I learned journalism is not suppose to be fair, there are influential people, large corporations, and even our own government who are trying to control portions of our press by controlling how the stories should be told and what information should be made public. I think this control in some ways distorts the truth, influences how the public reacts and what it believes based on the focus of the story.
Jake discussed his article on the police shooting of an African American. He shared the article disclosed very sensitive information and in doing so he had to be sure the shooter himself was ok with it, which wasn’t the case initially. It took many exchanges and sharing what he has writing before he agreed the content of the story. In this process, Jake explained to him that even though he was writing his side of the story he had to expose all aspects of the story in order to give the readers a well balanced story that was not one sided. He explained journalism is used to shine light on the hidden truths that lie in the opposing party views of a particular story.
Watkinson-Social Justice Day
Social Justice Day is a school wide event when students can volunteer to present on a topic of their choosing with the purpose to educate and develop awareness on social issues. For example, I attended the viewing and discussion of the Get Out trailer. It is a social thriller that incorporates comedy and horror. The workshop explored the film's commentary on trauma, objectification, and liberal racism. Throughout the viewing, the film was paused incrementally so we could identify the key ideas of liberal racism. In many scenes there were cases in which there was an expectation of dominant culture to receive affirmation from minority culture (in this case the African Americans) that they are “not racist” or to “use” those in the less privileged position as proof they are not racist. Which was evident throughout the whole trailer. I learned “liberal racism” is prevalent throughout our society in groups of people who use their knowledge and understanding of the struggles of a minority group, or their friendship to such to back up their form of liberal racism.
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