Brown Symposium 2010…yikes

The purpose of this blog is to be completely honest. That being said I would like to state that I had no intention of going to the brown symposium. The topic did not interest me in the least bit, I’m usually very open and eager to learning new things, but when I heard the titles of the lectures I was truly thankful all my classes were being held (not a fan of missing classes, even if it’s excused). I then realized I HAD to go to two lectures so that I could write this blog. Sad day in my book. So my plan was to find the two lectures that seemed somewhat interesting, sit through them, scribble notes and be on with my day. Then more tragedy, I received emails from two of my professors saying they cancelled class so that we can attend the symposium, oh and we will be quizzed on material covered in those lectures. Well great, on one hand I no longer had to decide which two to go to but, on the other hand, I have to comprehend the material (usually I just analyze presenters when more in depth information then I have is needed to understand an analyzes). The first lecture I went to was Consummate Empires: Ancient Rome and Imperial America c. 1900 presented by Margart Malamnd. She talked about how Roman architecture was inspiration for American architecture. She mainly focused her lecture on New York City buildings, pointing out Dewey Arch built in 1899 in celebration of America’s victory and the Low Library at Columbia University in 1894. Another fun fact is that New York had baths much like they did in Rome. At the baths there were steam rooms and messages and for the elite a fancy Restaurant was available for dining. The baths served as social centers as well as hygiene centers. When the people went to the baths they “Lived as the Romans did”. This is interesting from a human behavior perspective. I think it is interesting that people view foreign ideas such as these baths or in today’s market clothing for example as valuable luxury items. They are willing to pay more than what they can afford to live like someone that lives on a different continent. (that is the only analyzing I could accomplish from the lecture, so I’ll move on to my experience)
I found some of my friends, one in which loves history to a great extent. I thought if I sat with them the talk would be bearable. I don’t know if it was my less then enthusiastic attitude but I defiantly did not enjoy this talk at all. It started out well, the speaker made a few jokes, I hoped that the humor would continue into the talk but it faded as soon as she picked up her paper. I felt as if she was just reading a paper not giving a speech. She spitted out fact after fact and when I tried to comprehend one fact she was already on a different topic. I think my knowledge of history was not up to par for this lecture. After failing at following along with the topic I moved to my analysis of the presentation. The presenter was very energetic and I could tell from the authority in her voice that she knew what she was talking about. However, reading to an audience is not the best mode of grabbing the attention of the audience. I noticed many people drifting, looking around, searching through pockets etc. Not until the middle of the presentation when pictures where projected did people begin to perk up, myself included. In fact, the only time I learned an interesting fact was when a picture was on the screen (Probably not a coincidence). I feel disappointed and slightly embarrassed that I found the talk rather dull and unbearable but to my delight I found others with the same opinion. I haven’t been to many non-science based talks (I do believe I’ve been to enough) but I think regardless of the field presenting a topic is a universal skill.
So needless to repeat but I will anyways, the first talk scared me to a point in which I did not want to go to another. But once again I had to. Much to my delight this experience was completely different then the first. I went to the talk titled Imperial Power in 21st century Rome by Alexander Stille. The lecture was streamed on the projector via webcam due to travel complications. The lecture related the impact of media on politics and power. I actually really enjoyed this lecture and learned a lot. My favorite line was that politics were like reality tv, the goal is to maintain ratings rather then accomplish anything. Stille gave many examples to make points clear and kept a sense of humor alive through out the presentation. I am actually tempted to pick up one of his books to read more.
I am glad I was forced to go to the lectures because I did learn some valuable information. From one I learned how not to present and the other made me view politics more as a popularity contest. I am not going to lie and say Brown Symposium was an enlightening experience and I hope I don’t offend anyone by stating I did not enjoy it. Maybe I liked the second more because my physics professor seemed slightly more enthusiastic about us going to learn something new ,where as, my ecology professor seemed to just use it as another cope out to actually teaching us something himself. Or maybe it was just the topics. The first one seemed a little drier, focusing more on facts then opinions. Either way, I tried with an open mind.