A Blog on McConnell Center Life

Pericles and Abraham Lincoln presented stirring speeches with strikingly similar themes on democracy and civic duty more than thirteen hundred years apart. Pericles viewed his Funeral Oration as a civic duty, for he said it was the law that he must obey (which, in itself, affirmed Lincoln’s overarching call to action). As a general and politician, it fell to Pericles to offer a patriotic eulogy for those who were killed after the first year of the Peloponnesian War. In it, he spoke earnestly of Athenian greatness, lauding the empire that had “been acquired by men who knew their duty and had the courage to do it.” The speech was so heartening that it almost seemed too positive and patriotic for the occasion, but he solidified the connection to the funeral when he asserted that by “magnifying the city, [he] magnified [the ones who died],” which is practically a reflexive form of the society-is-man-writ-large concept. By establishing this connection, he creates an inextricable bond betwe...

As a Biology major, I’ve noticed that my courses so woefully lack the art of telling stories. Instead, my professors convey ideas through a concise assortment of facts, and I logically process the information while my imagination atrophies. The result is an underwhelming acceptance of the truth, one often robbed of the awe that the universe deserves. The irony is that to explain some scientific phenomena, scientists are increasingly having to incorporate their imagination. In 1911, 29 scientists, 17 of whom later became Nobel Prize winners, met at the first Solvay Conference to discuss the emerging discoveries in physics that clashed with our classic understanding of Newton’s laws. Since then, the way we understand the world has moved away from Materialism, which states that matter gives rise to everything, and towards idealism, which posits that consciousness can actually change the state of matter. Einstein himself, after spending his life trying to explain the world materialis...

In the fall of 2015, I entered the McConnell Scholars Program. In the fall of 2015, I scampered about the University of Louisville seeking to nestle into a cozy little niche. I began to learn how it feels to simultaneously have so little and so much expectation put on me, and that feeling perpetually pressed against my mind. I was used to doing what I thought needed to be done and saying what I thought needed to be said, and that behavior earned me the place I occupy in this world. The marvelous thing is that I did not know I functioned like this, this subconscious evasion of my own inclinations. When a close friend accused me of ignoring my own interests to satisfy the desires of others, for lack of more scholarly verbiage, I was shook. I do not want to tread down a path composed only of other people’s whispered influence. I did not think I was doing that. But you want me to act a certain way, he wants me to be less outgoing, she wants me to keep my life more private, they want me...

I find myself in the occasional religious debate, often trying to help someone to understand why religion should not be pressured on anyone, especially if the fundamental practice of the religion argues against the truth of other beliefs.  This, I find, conflicts with many who believe they are part of the “one true religion.”  No matter where the conversation starts, it leaves off with the person I disagree with feeling assured that their personal bias is justified by their god and that I must not understand.  Surely, they must think, I was never “saved,” never a believer, never had faith like theirs.  In a way, they are right; in another, they are wrong.  This is a story of how I decided where to place my faith. While being raised in a Southern Baptist Church, not far from the Creation Museum, and close enough to the eventual home of the Ark constructed by the same company (so that my father sees the gargantuan attraction every time he drives to work) I wa...

On September 2nd, I began a book that left with me a lot to think about. I had heard good things about American Gods , and it had been on my queue for a while. I had brought it with me in anticipation of the free time I would have during my long weekend. Out on the quiet lake, with the sun beating down on me, I flipped to the first page and began an 18-hour journey. Initially, I was a little put-off by the story. The protagonist’s name, Shadow, seemed a little too corny for me. It felt like the author was trying too hard. Nonetheless, I persisted because I trusted those who had recommended this novel. Easton Depp - Class of 2019 Soon I was drawn in by the conflict depicted in the book. The conflict of these “old gods” of immigrants that depicted the culture and character of a people pitted against the “new gods” of technology posed an interesting juxtaposition that, while trite, left me thinking. Are we sacrificing our culture and community values in worship of these new “...

One of the most interesting parts of studying abroad in Morocco this semester is the unique perspective of my Moroccan professors. They teach international relations, Islamic culture, and Arabic classes - all topics that interact with the "human experience" a little more than my business economics classes at home. These professors have taught all over the world and have an outside view on American culture and an inside perspective on Islamic culture.  One class, Peace and Conflict Resolution, is taught by a professor who Claire Gothard - Class of 2019 studied in London. After taking International Negotiation at UofL, I was interested in the process of negotiating and resolving conflicts. In one of our sessions, we watched a TED Talk by Will Ury. He is a co-author of the influential negotiation book, Getting to Yes , and an all star conflict resolution professional. Ury offered a simple solution to so many of the long-lasting conflicts. "Going to the balcony...