A Blog on McConnell Center Life

Christian Bush Class of 2018 Throughout history, few men have been more prominent and more hotly debated than Alexander the Great. The crux of this debate centers on Alexander’s character. For some, Alexander was a conqueror and ruthless pragmatist. Others more recently have lauded his magnanimity in victory and union of east and west in a “brotherhood of mankind”. After studying the story behind one of the most complicated men in history, I have a newfound respect for the young king.  After being elevated to the throne following his father’s assassination, Alexander took command of his father’s campaign to invade the Persian Empire. However, he first had to contend with rebellions in the Greek mainland. In the city-state of Thebes, Alexander burned the city to the ground and sold 30,000 of its inhabitants into slavery. While his actions are not particularly unique in terms of contemporary military campaigns, Alexander at times also showed great mercy. After defeated the ...

Sean Southard and Jacob Abrahamson Class of 2015 and Class of 2017 "Have you ever wanted to know what it’s like to be a Senator? Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the dedication of the bipartisan Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in Boston, Massachusetts.  Soon, students across the nation will travel to the institute to participate in immersive programs that imitate the US Senate. The Institute features a full-scale replica of the United States Senate chambers, down to the desks, walls, and carpet.  The major difference between the Senate chambers in Washington, D.C. and the replica in Boston is that the Kennedy Institute is fully equipped with the latest smart technology.  Students visiting the chambers are given a touchpad with the identity of a Senator (either real or imaginary) and a piece of legislation that they will work on.  The students then participate in a mock Senate program that follows the legislative proces...

Philip Moore Class of 2016 Communism. Cold War. Castro. Cuban Missile Crisis. Bay of Pigs. Human Rights Violations. State Sponsor of Terrorism. These are a few of the terms that might come to mind when a friend, if a friend, asks you about Cuba. You also might just be a foodie and think of your favorite Cuban restaurant, Havana Rumba.  When I ask people my age about their thoughts on Cuba, I get a lot of those types of responses, and it becomes even more interesting when I ask them why. For the sake of simplicity, I am going to throw out the responses from those interested in politics, international relations and history and from those who just have a prior background with Cuba, and these are the types of explanations that are left, “Castro is a crazy lunatic.” “Castro hates Americans, so we hate him.” “Communism is horrible, and it steals your freedom.” “The Cuban Missile Crisis was when our parents would hide under tables with their lunch trays over their heads.” “Cuba i...

X'Zashea Lawson-Mayes Class of 2018 Reason is the gateway to making the right decisions through finding and holding beliefs. In order to obtain reason, C.S. Lewis describes in Abolition of Man that one must possess a head, chest, and stomach. With the head comes intellect—knowledge of the things around you. With the chest comes heart—passions and drive to discern right from wrong to find truth. With the stomach comes an instinct—natural tendencies and abilities. However, in Abolition of Man , Lewis talks much about how certain authors and books negatively affect young boys and how to aid in making a better man for society. As a woman, this does not offend me due to my knowledge of women’s importance throughout history. In fact, in 1943 when this book was published, many women had just as much, if not more, reason than most men. Lynne Olsen explained this in her book, which she discussed in a lecture at the McConnell Center, titled Freedom’s Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of...

Ocey Holland Class of 2018 As a natural and social science student at the University of Louisville, I have been given the opportunity to appreciate the connections and respect the functions of the two. I have learned that everyone has become accustom to some form of relationship in his or her life. Whether it is with a person, an animal, or an object; we all have a sense of what relationships mean to us. What we fail to realize, however, is that relationships also apply to the world we live in. Relations can stretch from one inanimate object to another or from one belief to a full-blown religion.  These bonds we have become blind to, follow us daily as we turn on our televisions, and as we take our dogs out for a walk. This year has allowed me to grasp the concept that relationships stem from many facets of intellectual disciplines such as: social sciences’ interactions between social behavior and criminology, humanities’ expressive culture between visual arts and performing a...

Kyle Hilbrecht Class of 2018 We are always running away from the great beast that is death. We can smell it. We can feel it in our bones because it is coming for us. It’s out for blood and we are the blood, and it wants to swallow us up and drink the whole world.  So we’d better go. We’d better wake up and realize that we lie in the sandy quagmire of time and we are on our backs and sinking. It is up and around our ears, dulling our brain and pulling our skin ever downward. Let us open our eyes now. Let us open our eyes and be blinded by the sun. Let us stand up and walk out of the sand now. We will not have the strength if we wait.  Today we are in our salad days, our youth, and we will forever watch as they skip away leaving us to stretch arms out and into the past after them. Our marble youth is being chipped away by God’s hammer and oxygen, and forming our thing into what it will be forever. We must realize that there is no time. We only have one chance befor...

Robert Gassman Class of 2018 An important facet of the first year of my college experience has been the reevaluation of some of my presuppositions. I have had the opportunity to do just that through a course in environmental history. This course evaluates humanity’s interaction with the environment and posits the most impactful interaction to be agriculture. The development of agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution had dire consequences for the long-term sustenance of Earth’s environment. Man cleared vast expanses of forest which were vital to ecosystems, providing a protein buffer and protection from soil erosion.  As human population grew larger, a vicious cycle of unsustainable resource extraction ensued. More land was required for agricultural production to support the urban commercial centers. Complex irrigation systems diverted water supplies, and caused salinization, which in turn required more lands and larger irrigation projects to maintain food pro...

Jacob Abrahamson Class of 2017 The next time someone pokes fun at the University of Louisville, I’ll tell them that going here gave me the opportunity to be in the same room as the President of the United States twice in one week. That it happened twice may have been coincidence because, in my second opportunity, I was covering his visit to a Louisville tech company for U of L’s student newspaper, but I still can claim this all the same. The first time I was with him was a culmination of almost an entire academic year of working on a Senate simulation for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. Six McConnell Scholars developed a simulation in which middle and high school students will go to the EMK Institute, become a Senator, sit in a replica of the Senate chambers, and debate on the Patriot Act.  The EMK Institute will have other simulation topics like immigration and the Compromise of 1850, but we wanted to combine a historical example with ...

Jason Jewell Class of 2017 College is about learning skills for your future career, it’s about acquiring knowledge, reading textbooks, and doing research. We have been told over and over from young ages that we have to go to college to get a good paying job, that’s our motivation to stay in school. Maybe we have it all wrong. Maybe college isn’t about all of those career goals or all of that studying. What if College is about those friendships made and the things you learn about yourself when the only thing standing in between you and an A is the self discipline not to go to a party this weekend. College for many is called the most fun times of their lives, and it is pretty easy to see why they would say that. There are few instances in life where you will have as much freedom and as little responsibility as your college years. The mindset of many young adults, make it hard to see the great days that are college. College isn’t easy because it can be so painful, the amount of l...

Landon Lauder Class of 2017 What’s down there? Do I have time to go down it and see what is there? Am I able to get out of it? What even is a rabbit hole? Perhaps your mind immediately gravitates towards Alice in Wonderland or maybe a bad childhood experience where you may have actually gotten your foot stuck in such a hidden gap and tore your ankle. Think of something in between that. That’s college. The original questions I posed fit quite nicely with students who have reached the intersection between doing what they have been coached to do their entire lives or to explore something new. Some people (and poor souls they may be) never get to this point and are always playing on the grassy fields and never stumble upon a rabbit hole either intentionally or accidentally. What’s this class about? Will I be able to change majors and still graduate? Am I able to switch back or even get a job afterwards? These are questions that float around near the front of many (...