Neutron Stars, A Cosmic Gift

Picture taken by my Momma of me in mid-speak.

The lady that introduced Victoria Kaspi

If a neutron star were to be brought to Earth and placed in..Montreal? If this were actually possible, it would not be good for any of us because of the extremely powerful pull of the neutron star. We would be sucked in and compressed really quick.

The super talented Victoria Kaspi and her passion, a neutron star.

These are my notes on the lecture.

This past Wednesday, I went to a public event at SAIC about Neutron Stars. It was pretty awesome. Much of the things that Victoria Kaspi spoke about, were things I had just learned in my Astronomy, Cosmology, Metaphysics, and Epistemology. I really enjoyed the presentation she gave. I went with my Mom and we both laughed so many times because Kaspi had included jokes into her slides and was generally a very good presenter. She was knowledgeable and entertaining. I learned some cool facts that I had not read about in my textbook and saw pictures of some HUGE satellites that are used to detect Pulsars. Pulsars are very impressive. They are the most accurate 'clocks', even more than our best atomic clocks.

Women's Assembly, Public Event.

A couple Saturdays ago, on October 18th, I attended a Chicago Women’s Assembly where groups were set to focus on specific topics, draft a paragraph stating the issue, why it is important, and what needs to change. Then the many paragraphs written were compiled together, edited, merged, and titled as the Women’s Agenda. The agenda was meant to reflect the thinking of a broad cross-section of Chicago women about domestic issues and policies and ways to take action to address them. I generally think this was accomplished. I attended the event with a friend, Katherine, and we both stuck together. Before arriving, I expected there to be a decent amount of young females present and I was surprised by the lack of young women there. It was my impression that most of the women there were for the most part, 40 plus years old. The few younger women I saw where college students who were conducting interviews for Global Girl Media about the event and about women empowerment. The group I was a part of for the drafting of the paragraph, discussed economic independence, opportunity and empowerment. Despite the age difference and different levels experience between the people in my group, we all contributed a lot. I felt encouraged by the women to speak freely, ask questions, and contribute to what was written. I left the event feeling involved and passionate about women's rights. I also left feeling pretty cool because Katherine and I were interviewed by Global Girl Media. The question that stood out to me most was regarding Feminism. They asked me if I considered myself one. I said of course, and mentioned the quote by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in Beyonce song, Flawless, that says "Feminist: a person who believes in the social political and economic equality of the sexes." And then went on a rant about what that meant to me and why I was surprised by the lack of women who embraced that word. Their follow-up question stunned me, "do I hate on men? Why do I think there is such a bad connotation with the word Feminist?" I was unsure whether they were trying to trick me or....? Of course, I told them, NO. I do not hate men, and proceeded to explain the misconception I see on media about what feminism is about.
Attending the Chicago Women's Assembly made me a more conscious female. I realized there are still so many things that need to be tweaked a bit, or changed completely, in order for us to have a more just and equal position in society.
Here is a picture of Katherine and I at the event:

Fieldwork Day

Civic Engagement is useful and necessary. Contrary to popular belief, its not just about getting hours and doing 'community service', its about actually learning about a topic and then finding a way to take action. This course calls for a more direct approach, it calls for the individual to become engaged with themes in society, identifying issues, and coming up with ways to deal with them. This fieldwork day made me realize the importance of history. Despite having lived in Chicago for most of my life, I never really thought about the city as a whole. I have come to the realization that my view and knowledge of Chicago is extremely limited to the spaces i frequent: home and school. Its a sad fact that the south side of Chicago is virtually unknown to me. My group visited Auburn area and were kindly hosted by Carlos Nelson who is a part of the Auburn-Gresham Community Development Corporation. The presentation we were given was eye-opening. Previous to it, I had never put much thought into the importance of community development, from the creation of open spaces to after-school programs, and house restoration, its all crucial in the maintenance of safety in a neighborhood. Carlos took us on a walk around the neighborhood and showed us some of the houses that had been restored and saved from foreclosure/demolishment. The majority of the houses were bungalows, a historic type of house in the city of Chicago. He showed us traditional bungalows, grand bungalows, and two flats. I found the passion the organization possessed regarding their neighborhood to be inspiring and extremely moving. It feels good to know that there are people out there that care about the spaces we inhabit and are constantly working hard to make us feel safe and at ease. I learned a lot about what goes into this sort of work. There was a lady at the organization who had retired and then come out of retirement for the sole reason that she felt the work she did was necessary. Actually, Carlos Nelson was the one who convinced her out of retirement. The lady is the one in charge of contacting the city officials such as the state reps, senate reps, and alderman about things like budgeting and programs.