A Blog on McConnell Center Life

Samantha Roney ('15) By Samantha Roney (Class of 2015) I have a confession to make: I'm not good at slowing down. Everything I do in life is fast. I walk, talk, eat, read, and (to my parents dismay) drive, fast. My typical day would give a NASCAR driver a run for his money. My normal hectic schedule was made even more busy this semester when I decided to take on an internship at a local wealth management firm. You may be thinking, "Wow, this girl is crazy!" or "Do you have time to sleep?" The answer to those questions is an undoubtedly, "yes," I am crazy, and, "no," I don't have much time to sleep. My hectic life never really bothered me until a few months ago when I realized I have no time for myself. Well, actually I have no time by myself. Sitting on the balcony of a resort in Orlando, where my dad and I stayed for the Russell Athletic Bowl, I realized I have no time to think for myself, by myself. On a daily basis I'm su...

Ben Whitlock ('15) By Ben Whitlock (Class of 2015) All in a Day, Part II This blog is a continuation from the Fall of 2013.  To read Part One , click here The boy was low when he left Mr. Mitchell’s home.  In fact, he was below low . . . he felt ignorant. . . He was convinced that he knew nothing!  It was a hard pill to swallow, but his emptiness inside only intensified when he thought of all the things he would have to learn – the books he would have to read, the lectures he would have to attend, the tests he would have to take.  How could he possibly get ahead?  How could he plan his future well enough to be successful?  He was so low and miserable, in fact, that he felt he could no longer hold in his anxieties.  He stomach knotted, a lump came to his throat, and tears welled in his eyes.  He was going nowhere!  “There’s no plan!” he thought.  “What am I going to do about the future?  Where am I going to go?  . . ...

By Cathrine Mountain (Class of 2015) After watching a TED talk by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor entitled, “Stroke of Insight”, I couldn’t resist the urge to write about psychology and brain science, once again. Dr. Bolte Taylor is a Harvard-trained neuroanatomist and obviously knows a tremendous amount about how the brain works. Dr. Bolte Taylor’s talk focuses on how she experienced the process of a stroke as a blood vessel exploded in the left half of her brain. What makes this incredibly traumatic experience so interesting to learn about is the fact that Dr. Bolte Talyor knew exactly what was happening within her brain as the entire event unfolded. As she relives the experience, Dr. Bolte Taylor is able to describe how each hemisphere of her brain is functioning and why certain events take place because of the specialization of each hemisphere.  I would do her presentation a terrible injustice if I tried to explain the entire event as she does because she does so from a very knowledg...

By Andrew Stewart (Class of 2015) This year helped start a new organization on my campus. The process was long and tedious, however it we were relieved when we finally got our RSO approved this past month. Christians United for Israel (CUFI) is an organization around college campuses that expresses support for Israel and creates awareness through advocating pro-Israeli beliefs. In Louisville we have partnered with the Jewish Community Center to help spread pro-Israeli ideas throughout the community of Louisville, starting with the University. Yesterday was our first formal meeting of all the pro-Israel groups on campus, which includes Cards for Israel and Hallel. As a pro-Israeli group we want to advocate peaceful awareness to the students on campus and the community at large with regards to the situation in the Middle East. We understand that Israel is not perfect, and when it comes to peaceful negotiations Israel has made mistakes. However, we believe that it is of extreme im...

By Arsh Haque (Class of 2015)               She would call him just before dinner. It would be a small flat in Calcutta, near Victoria Memorial.             “Daanish, come here.”             He’d wear torn jeans, a Weezer t-shirt, and Phillips headphones that would dangle like a necklace. It would be the mid-1990s. His feet would make a succession of suctioned pops against the tiled floor.             “Yeah, ma? What’s for dinner?”             “Sit down, Daanish.”             She wouldn’t have the energy to tell the story like she’d like to, but she’d try. He would be a late child, twelve years after the first. The first would’ve been a girl, married off to an ...

Jason Jewell (Class of 2017) Since the dawn of time people have fought for the things “they believe in”. I was once an ideological little kid running around wanting to be the President of the United States. I believed in freedom, justice and democracy. To me that was the epitome of being an American; it was a belief I thought we all held. At that time my beliefs were political, it would be many years before I would formulate more personal beliefs. College is considered to be a time of transformation, a time to grow up, a time to gain knowledge both academically and personally.  The freshmen reading assignment this year was a compilation of essays called “This I Believe”. The compilations range from everyday parents to Bill Gates and Ernest Hemmingway. Some of the essays forced me to consider all the things I believe, which by some would be a lot. Elvia Bautista wrote an essay called “Remembering All The Boys” which focuses on a fundamental belief that I truly love. Bautista bel...

Victoria Allen (Class of 2016) As an academic tool, historical memory is an incredibly useful source for not only examining historical attitudes, but understanding the presence they hold in modernity. As a student of history, I am fascinated by not only what history books and firsthand accounts share, but what the people of today have to say about their history. As a southern woman, and a minority, this time of the year presents an interesting look into the collective memory of a specific people. Black History Month, along with setting aside a designated time for the United States to facilitate a national dialogue on race, serves as a rare window into the cooperative psyche of southern Americans, both black and white. This month is more poignant for the American South because there is nowhere else in the United States that fosters such a romanticized and nostalgic historical memory of the Civil War and all of its consequences. That is not to say that the South is the most racist,...

Mary Rose Kennedy (Class of 2014) As graduation approaches and as I reflect on my time as a McConnell Scholar, I cherish the memory of an unexpected friend made during the Oxford Society’s trip to England in May 2012.   Fellow McConnell Scholar Zach Barnes and I hoped to find a little adventure when we jumped on a bus leaving Oxford with fares to a randomly selected town located in the Cotswolds, but we never expected this day-trip to shape our life journeys.   Zach and I arrived in Chipping Norton, and immediately set out to admire the market town’s gorgeous stone homes and to wander along its public footpaths (i.e. open fields of sheep).   By the end of the afternoon, we settled into the corner of a crowded pub before ordering a couple of beers and opening up our journals.   Suddenly, two huge black Labrador Retrievers jumped on my lap.   “Whhoooappp! Get down you two!” A man yanked on the dogs’ leashes with his right hand whi...

Mary Rose Kennedy (Class of 2016) In my last blog I outlined not only the ways in which the world’s growing refugee population is constructed by aid regimes and states, but also the problems with such constructions.   Today there are over fifteen million refugees worldwide, yet aid regimes and states tend to clump all of these people (which total more than the combined populations of New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago) into a single understanding of what it means to be a refugee.   My internship with Kentucky Refugee Ministries has helped me realize that no two refugee experiences are alike, and every individual’s story (i.e. their construction of their experience – not that of aid regimes or states) reflects the way in which a refugee has drawn meaning from their experience as each is forced to actively choose which parts of the experience that are worth telling. Here is the story of one very remarkable woman and her family: Like many refuge...

Mary Rose Kennedy (Class of 2014)               The construction of the “refugee” is a relatively recent phenomena as modern warfare in the twentieth century displaced hundreds of thousands of people.  Between the first and second world wars, the League of Nations created the office of High Commissioner for Refugees to address the issue of displaced populations from the Russian Revolution, Armenian genocide, and other European conflicts.  After World War II, the newly created United Nations sought to develop a definition for the “refugee.”  Thus, the 1951 Convention defined refugee as the following: “a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country...

By Janna Imel, Class of 2014 (Note: This list is in no special order.) 1. Friends I think this bullet point goes without saying.  Friends truly become your family at college.  They are who you laugh with, cry with and study with.  They get you to stay up until 3am your first semester (on a week night) playing Mario Party in the lobby of your dorm.  They remind you to be carefree and stop stressing all the time.  They introduce you to Netflix series during finals because they are just mean!  But really, friends are who you share you best memories of college with.  After four years, one of you might move across the country, possibly even to the other side of the world.  It is important to strengthen those bonds and make memories in the limited time you have. 2. Travel TRAVEL!  Seriously, do it.  You can meet people of all different backgrounds, cultures and areas.  I could talk to you for a month and still not be able t...

By Cathrine Mountain Although I have never had much interest in political cartoons, attending the “Annual Lecture and Exhibition of Political Cartoons Banned in Malaysia”, made me see the art in a new light. The lecture was hosted by the University of Louisville’s Center for Asian Democracy and featured Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, otherwise known as Zunar, as their guest of honor. Zunar spoke with us about the situation ofpolitical affairs in Malaysia and put the level of political corruption into context. In the Global Financial Integrity report of 2013, Malaysia ranked second among 150 countries in terms of the amount of taxpayers’ money lost through bribery and political corruption. Among the issues discussed were Zunar’s personal experiences with the government banning his books of cartoons, his commentary on the Prime Minister and his wife’s excessive use of public tax money, and a few well-known scandals throughout Malaysia. While the lecture was very informative and entertaining,...

By Katie Cambron I believe in being Kentucky Proud.  Born and raised, I am a Kentucky girl through and through.  Central Kentucky will always be home, no matter where life takes me.  When I’m sad I want to be home.  When I’m happy I want to be home.  There is no grander place on Earth than My Old Kentucky Home. I believe in the generations of farmers who have sustained agriculture in this state for more than two centuries.  The men who work tirelessly in the hot sun to not only put food on their tables, but on the tables of millions of others.  I believe in the Southern women, like my grandmother, who prepare those meals.  The meal we eat at noon is “dinner” not “lunch”, and the iced tea is always sweet.  I believe in the work ethic and hospitality that are equated with Kentucky farm life.  Everyone has a role on the farm, from working cattle to cutting tobacco to canning garden vegetables.  And you better be familiar with the...

By Jay Bonet At the McConnell Center, we had the honor to have lunch with Federal Judge Van Tatenhove. He talked to us about his life and the path he took and just gave us great insight and advice. This is a man who is not only intelligent but has great perseverance and tenacity and was just so uplifting. This seminar came just in time for me as I am approaching graduation and law school. Judge Van Tatenhove shared with us something his mother told him; "Be open to reinventing yourself and doing many different things." I want to continue my education but I know that law school is not a set path. Although I do plan on being a lawyer, I do not HAVE to be one and after hearing that quote, I do not want to be one for my entire life. I like the word choice: reinventing. In this generation, you will have multiple jobs and I see this as an opportunity to reinvent myself every time that happens. This is my last semester and I am definitely looking forward to the things to come. ...