A Blog on McConnell Center Life

By Connor Tracy Class of 2016 As I sat in my hotel room in Shanghai with the television off, my phone locked, and my thumbs twiddling, I began to realize how large of a role technology plays in my everyday life. For the duration of our trip, our group did not have access to social media, Netflix, or even Google, as they are blocked by the Chinese government. After reading that sentence some Facebook or Netflix addicts may now believe that China is secretly a dystopia full of miserable, lost, and wandering empty souls who work nonstop to fuel their enormous economy. Although it may be hard to accept, that’s not entirely the case. (It is important for me to clarify that I am writing from an American’s perspective, and strongly believe that the Chinese people should have access to open communication with the world through social media, and believe that we, Americans, take this freedom for granted.) As the days passed, I began to realize that television and social media had become “...

By Diana Lalata Class of 2017 As I eagerly awaited the cast to bring the stage to life, I could not contain the excitement running through my restless legs as I stood as a groundling in the grandeur of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. I was prepared to stand for three hours straight and fully document both this accomplishment and monumental moment in my life—the moment I have been dreaming of ever since I was first introduced to theatre. I raised my phone to take multiple pictures of the stage, the tall timber structures and thatched roofs above the audience members sitting in the galleries, and even the annoyed face of the Globe theatre assistant who stood about three feet in front of me. As I focused my camera on the stage’s beautifully painted ceiling, I was captured by the rhythmic sound of bongo drums playing and then interrupted by a large hand covering the camera lens. The elderly man guarding the stage informed me that no cameras were allowed during the actual performance ...

By Alicia Humphrey Class of 2017 If you were to guess the five most popular tourist destinations in Europe, Scotland would probably not be on your list. In fact, I would venture to say that it would most likely be absent even from most lists of the top ten. Undoubtedly among the first to be named would be England, Spain, Italy, France and Germany; it is doubtful that Scotland would be among these ranks. Why? This isn’t due to any fault of Scotland’s other than perhaps its comparatively out-of-the-limelight status. I myself used to believe, as many others undoubtedly still do, that other European countries simply have more exciting attractions to offer, are richer in history, boast more beautiful landscapes, are more brimming with culture and are simply more interesting. Therefore, the surprise I was often met with when I would tell others I would be traveling to Scotland for a week with a group of my fellow McConnell Scholars before venturing to England did not perplex me. “I kno...

By Mary Elizabeth Young Class of 2016 Whether it is discussing agricultural reform with the Secretary of Agriculture, immigration with a Florida Senator, dystopian literature with renowned professors or the elfish hymns in Lord of the Rings with a professional musician, one of the greatest opportunities the McConnell Scholars Program has to offer are the seminars.  About once a week, we are given the opportunity to gather with our peers and a McConnell Center guest--who range from national and international professors and scholars to professionals and politicians-- to discuss a topic within literature, history, philosophy or politics (and many times it is a happy mixture of several).  The seminars spark ideas and conversations. They stimulate you intellectually; they can change your way of seeing something or they can validate a previously held conviction.  However, one of the most incredible aspects of these seminars is that oftentimes the discussion continues...

By Travis Wilson Class of 2016 Among the few comforts of home that I had during the trip was listening to Marty Brennaman calling Cincinnati Reds games in the early morning hours.  It was a way to feel connected with the normalcy of home while experiencing a completely foreign environment.  To pass the time and to get some exercise during our free-time, Connor and I would often take our baseball gloves and a ball out to the nearest open field to play catch. Such a simple pastime in America was a strange sight in China.   While baseball games from Japan are occasionally televised, the sport has not yet gained significant popularity in China; countless onlookers seemed to have never before seen such a thing in person. There are plenty of photos and videos taken by spectators trying to capture this unusual activity.  I am still unsure why anyone would want to keep a record of a couple amateurs simply tossing a baseball but regardless, we would often humor t...

By Kevin Grout Class of 2016 This summer, I had the privilege to spend two weeks studying in the United Kingdom with a group of the McConnell Scholars and Dr. Gregg.  We explored Edinburgh, Oxford and London.  In our time there, we were also fortunate enough to observe the U.K.’s parliamentary election.  I don’t know if the trip was planned around the election season, but it gave a room full of political scientists much to talk about!  For anyone who watched the news in May and already knows the results, stay with me.  As an American in a foreign land, it took me some time to acclimate to the differences.  Although they were significant, we were able to quickly overcome the challenges and watched the results pour in.  Here are my five thoughts on British elections! 1.   They have more parties than Americans do Although the Brits still observe a “first past the post” system, they have far more parties stand in their elections. ...

By Natalie Smith Class of 2016 You could say that the Oxford Fellowship was lucky—not only because we had the opportunity to visit some extraordinary places in Edinburgh, Oxford, and London, but also because the timing of our trip could not have been any better. 2015 is already a historic year for the nation, but the two weeks in which we visited were particularly so. We happened to be in the U.K. at the same time as several milestones: the birth of the new royal baby, the eight-hundredth anniversary of the Magna Carta, a history-making general election, and the seventieth anniversary of VE Day. The extra sense of history gained from these happenings enhanced our experiences greatly.  The eight-hundredth anniversary of the Magna Carta was certainly enriching to our experience. We had the chance to visit a special exhibit in the British Library in honor of the anniversary, and to be in the same room as the document that has influenced Britain’s political and c...

By Sean Southard Class of 2015 “What shows that [the Fellowship of the Ring is] myth, not allegory, is that there are no pointers to a specifically theological, or political, or psychological application.  A myth points, for each reader, to the realm he lives in most. It is a master key; use it on what door you like.”  – C.S. Lewis, “The Gods Return to Earth” In The Fellowship of the Ring , J.R.R. Tolkien’s hobbits stumble into the Prancing Pony, a fictional pub in the town of Bree.  Last week, a group of McConnell Scholars stumbled into The Eagle and Child, a very real pub in Oxford where Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and notable literary figures shared food, ale, and stories.  This experience caused me to reflect upon the majesty of the Lord of the Rings and one of the central lessons I learned from it – and the liberal arts education provided by the McConnell Center. One can look at the characters in Lord of the Rings and see a wide spectrum of virtu...

By Aaron Vance Class of 2017 As a student of political science, an aspiring law student, and hopeful politico, this trip to the United Kingdom was nothing short of what I believed it could have been. In David Hume and Adam Smith’s Edinburgh, we explored the home of free market capitalism, and what some might consider the epicenter of the Western world. And in Oxford we travelled through the annals of English history and placed ourselves in the same setting as two of the greatest thinkers of the 20 th century, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. While recounting how all of these places and people, how everywhere and everyone between Edinburgh and London, some small, some big, some new, and some familiar, piqued my interest and supplemented my knowledge and own political thinking, a couple things not even planned seemed to create the biggest impact.  While I noted that I am aspiring to obtain a degree in political science, I am also working on a minor in Anthropology, a disci...

By Philip Moore Class of 2016 Many of the blogs that my class has written focused on either the similarities or differences of China and the United States. While culturally China is vastly different, many of the things we do each day have a resemblance to our lives in the US. However, yesterday, I felt as if China was an alternate reality. We went to Tiananmen Square and were ambushed by Chinese men trying to sell us trinkets like watches, cards, and fans, which is a pretty common activity at tourist sites. This location was different though; each of these items featured Mao. When we looked over at the Forbidden City, the focal point of the Square, we saw a portrait of Mao, and when we turned in the opposite direction, we faced Mao’s mausoleum. This day presented a great contrast to my previous experience of China. During the first few weeks, I was repeatedly surprised by how open China was. When we were in class, we were encouraged to ask the Chinese students questions, and t...

By Mary Elizabeth Young Class of 2016 We sat in terminal 5, with our bottles of water and the snacks we had bought for the trip in hand, anticipating the sleeper train like children anticipating their first plane ride or roller coaster. With movies like  North by Northwest  and  Harry Potter  in mind, we entertained notions of glamorous sleeping cabins or a trolly lady selling chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans.  Once aboard, we discovered these movie sets were not exactly representative of the train in which we  would be traveling. While the Z92 train from Shanghai to Xi'an was not quite as glamorous as Cary Grant's quarters aboard the train in  North by Northwest , there may have been a bit of glamour in the complimentary slippers we got aboard the train. And while the young man and cart carrying noodles and soda was not quite as magical as the trolly lady aboard the Hogwarts Express toting chocolate frogs and Bertie...

By Gary Gregg Director, McConnell Center Mitch McConnell Chair in Leadership Ten McConnell Scholars and I just returned from 10 days of traveling in the United Kingdom. The trek was the culmination of a nine-month study of the ways Great Britain has influenced American history and culture. We studied Scottish Enlightenment figures like David Hume and Adam Smith. We explored Scottish writers like Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott. We studied the influence of Scots-Irish immigration on the United States. We read more contemporary writers like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. And, we studied English history, especially the history of the Magna Carta. The "Great Charter" itself turns 800 years old this year and the McConnell Scholars were able to study its legacy not only here in America, but in a classroom in Oxford and in the British Library where we were able to look upon four original versions that had never before been assembled in one location. It was all an extr...

By Connor Tracy Class of 2016 While staying in Xi’an, our group of McConnell Scholars visited one of the most notable attractions of the region, the Terracotta Warriors. Discovered in 1974, the figures of warriors and horses were created during the Qing Dynasty under the future emperor Qin Shi Huang around 200 B.C. Today it is one of the largest tourist attractions in all of China, with millions of visitors each year, including President Clinton in 1998. After learning the history of these figures, I began to wonder about the value of one’s legacy, and what legacy I would like to leave behind.  Before considering the concept of a legacy, it is important to have a basic understanding of the history of the Terracotta warriors. Qin Shi Huang ascended to the throne at age 13, and soon began to consider the afterlife. This caused him to begin construction on his mausoleum and the warriors. He would later unify China at age 38, becoming Emperor. His main focus was strength a...

By Kevin Grout Class of 2016 This week, the McConnell Scholars in China attended a series of lectures at the Xi’an International Studies University.  One of these lectures focused on the new Chinese initiative to revive the Silk Road, which historically connected the Middle Kingdom with Central Asia and Europe.  This idea, known as One Belt, One Road, was announced by President Xi Jinping in October of 2013.  Since then, it has continued to take shape and move towards reality.  According to business leaders in China, the People’s Republic of China plans to invest approximately 10 trillion USD to connect the economies of nearly 62 countries in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.  Although I consider myself an adept follower of national and international events, I had never heard news of this move by the Chinese.  In fact, none of the McConnell Scholars knew about the plans for the One Belt, One Road.  With little to no media attention, we only learn...

Victoria Allen Class of 2016 As the sole member of the Class of 2016 that is an only child, perhaps I have a better or just more personal insight into the lives of some of our Chinese classmates. After all, China’s infamous One Child policy has directly influenced this group of millennials, a generation of citizens that have grown up without siblings, whose children will most likely not benefit from an extended web of first cousins, aunts, and uncles. While my immediate familial unit is what one may call petite, consisting of just my mother and me – Hey, Jennifer! – I grew up surrounded by a much larger tribe of aunts, uncles, cousins of different degrees, and other family members that reared me in a veritable village. After speaking to some of the students who participated in class with us in Xi’an, my lackadaisical attitude towards my childhood feels irreverent, almost like a slight to the ones whose parents were coerced into giving them this upbringing. During a lunch ...