The views expressed in this article are the views of the author.
We all have that friend who manages to get good grades while barely ever studying. Meanwhile, you’re spending hours studying for one test, and you still don’t do as well. You wonder, “Are they naturally gifted? Does the teacher give them an easier time? Do the gods smile down upon them, giving them good fortune?” Maybe they do. It’s more likely that they study more efficiently. Luckily, I have some tips to help you study more efficiently. It’s likely that some of these are obvious, but hopefully, you can gain some insight as to how they can help.
Not only is it more efficient, but it’s also a better way to learn. Instead of having to wade through the endless Google searches trying to find an answer to a question, you can ask the teacher about it during class. Not only do you have an answer to your question but the professor also recognizes you as someone who cares about the lesson. Now, you are more likely to be given extra leeway when something comes up. If you pay attention in class, you don’t need to teach the material to yourself outside of class, giving you more time to study what’s important.
So, you think you understand the material. You’ve studied enough. You did the practice problems. Maybe you might not have done those things, but you think you understand the material well enough to pass the test. Then your friend asks you a question and you have no idea what they’re talking about. You thought you understood everything, but now you realize you barely understood it at all. Teaching someone else is a great way to recognize how much you know. You don’t even need another person, you can just explain it to an imaginary audience.
Teaching someone takes less time than simply memorizing vague ideas, and allows you to retain the information better. Also, you get to teach other people as well, giving them help too.
This is entirely subjective. Some people love studying in quiet locations, some people love studying in public places. Before picking your study environment, think about what you need. Be careful, studying in groups may make it more likely that you and others in your group will plagiarize, since you will be inspired by those around you and also give them help.
My handwriting sucks. Most of the time I can barely read my notes after class. There are arrows, bullet points and drawings of flowers all in the same line. However, this study shows that memory improves when you handwrite notes rather than type them.
However, there are benefits to typing, such as legibility, and sharing them with others. However, if you’re focused on minimizing study time, handwriting is the way to go.
In order to minimize the amount of time you spend studying, you need to think about what you need to study before anything else. Check with the teacher or with other students to see what is actually being covered on the test.
Also, don’t study what you already know; prioritize what you don’t know. It might feel good to reaffirm basic knowledge, and you want to make sure that you know what you think you know. However, it is much more valuable to look over what you don’t know instead.
Keep in mind, this is mostly subjective. What helps you may be completely different. I hope that this helps you study more effectively and spend more time enjoying yourself.
]]>Most people have heard the word entrepreneurship, but what exactly is artrepreneurship? Come to one of our Speaker Series events with Vinita Sud Belani where she will talk about her experience as an entrepreneur in the tech world to where she became an artrepreneur. The event will take place on October 16th from 12-1pm at the University Center room 310.
About the Event
Come listen to serial entrepreneur Vinita Sud Belani talk about how her experience as an entrepreneur in the tech world propelled her to become an artrepreneur. She turned her passion for theatre into a platform for bringing together not just demographically diverse communities, but also the business and the artistic community and the amateur and the professional artists of that community.
Vinita will focus on the importance of clarity and relevance in an organization's mission statement. She will address questions that are just as critical for artrepreneurs as for entrepreneurs to build a successful business.
- How far up the value chain does one need to go to to build a good product?
- Are you selling vitamins or painkillers?
Come learn how to build an organization that is agile enough to incorporate on the ground learnings into a strategic vision without impacting the core mission and vision.
About Vinita
Vinita received a BS and MS in Computer Science at Birla Institute of Technology and Science from India. In addition she has her MBA from Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) from France, and a diploma in french language and culture from France and in German from the Max Mueller Institute from India.
Vinita also comes from a wide range of work experience ranging from SOGETI CapGemini as Vice President, Socketworks International as the founder and CEO, the director for business development at FirstRain, founder and co-CEO at Paguro, and as an IT project manager at ANZ Grindlays Bank.
Some awards and memberships Vinita has includes being a board member at MATRI, where she helps survivors of domestic abuse and domestic violence, along with being a previous board member of SEED, an international education initiative connecting high school students with scientists working on global projects.
]]>Most people have heard the word entrepreneurship, but what exactly is artrepreneurship? Come to one of our Speaker Series events with Vinita Sud Belani where she will talk about her experience as an entrepreneur in the tech world to where she became an artrepreneur. The event will take place on October 16th from 12-1pm at the University Center room 310.
About the Event
Come listen to serial entrepreneur Vinita Sud Belani talk about how her experience as an entrepreneur in the tech world propelled her to become an artrepreneur. She turned her passion for theatre into a platform for bringing together not just demographically diverse communities, but also the business and the artistic community and the amateur and the professional artists of that community.
Vinita will focus on the importance of clarity and relevance in an organization's mission statement. She will address questions that are just as critical for artrepreneurs as for entrepreneurs to build a successful business.
- How far up the value chain does one need to go to to build a good product?
- Are you selling vitamins or painkillers?
Come learn how to build an organization that is agile enough to incorporate on the ground learnings into a strategic vision without impacting the core mission and vision.
About Vinita
Vinita received a BS and MS in Computer Science at Birla Institute of Technology and Science from India. In addition she has her MBA from Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) from France, and a diploma in french language and culture from France and in German from the Max Mueller Institute from India.
Vinita also comes from a wide range of work experience ranging from SOGETI CapGemini as Vice President, Socketworks International as the founder and CEO, the director for business development at FirstRain, founder and co-CEO at Paguro, and as an IT project manager at ANZ Grindlays Bank.
Some awards and memberships Vinita has includes being a board member at MATRI, where she helps survivors of domestic abuse and domestic violence, along with being a previous board member of SEED, an international education initiative connecting high school students with scientists working on global projects.
]]>Every so often, a show comes along that shakes the internet to its very core and all across Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and Reddit, users comment with their over-the-top reactions. This past year, that show seemed to be “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.”
“Demon Slayer” began as a shonen manga by mangaka Koyoharu Gotōge and has been serialized in “Weekly Shonen Jump” since Feb. 15, 2016, so it isn’t a particularly new source material. And for those of you who aren’t in the know, shonen manga are those meant for teenage boys — “Dragon Ball,” “Naruto” and “One Piece” are famous examples.
“Demon Slayer” has a fairly straightforward premise: 13-year-old Tanjiro Kamado returns home from selling firewood one day to find his family dead — all except his little sister, Nezuko Kamado, who has been turned into a demon. Tanjiro makes a promise to cure his sister’s new affliction and joins the Demon Slaying Corps, an organization of skilled warriors trained to kill demons. Along the way, Tanjiro and Nezuko meet various allies, including the noteworthy Zenitsu and Inosuke, Tanjiro’s fellow newbie Demon Slayers, and enemies.
None of these things alone explains the massive amounts of hype surrounding “Demon Slayer.” As a manga, it had a small yet loyal following of fans. The transition from manga to anime made all the difference, as “Demon Slayer” made its presence known to anime fans and non-fans alike in a big way.
Characters that were already surprisingly compelling become even more so when given a voice. The soundtrack doubles down on emotion that was present in Gotōge’s manga. However, there’s one thing in particular that people will remember “Demon Slayer” for, one thing that couldn’t ever have happened were it still just a weekly manga.
Ufotable, a Japanese animation studio known for other shows such as “Kara no Kyōkai” and “Fate/Zero,” was in charge of bringing Gotōge’s manga to the small screen, and they did a fantastic job with it. The art style is reminiscent of old Japanese paintings, and additional 3D imagery is used to enhance what is already present to great effect. The fights are mesmerizing, every movement has a purpose and the choreography is so easy to follow because the animators took their time to make everything as clear as possible.
Even the most cynical of anime skeptics have to acknowledge that Demon Slayer’s animation is absolutely stunning, and is perhaps one of the best things to come out of shonen this year. But is it anime of the year material as many people seem to claim?
Unfortunately, this is where people must acknowledge the clichés that lie within the anime. Beneath the gorgeous animation, “Demon Slayer” is a typical shonen. It follows the tropes commonly seen in the genre without doing too much to differentiate itself, especially in the beginning.
Additionally, there are more than a few pacing problems. While the anime seems to find its footing midway through the season, early episodes move a bit too quickly through events.
The comedy is also quite a hit or miss, particularly for those who may be unfamiliar with the type of humor typically seen in shonen. Decidedly grating is Zenitsu, the main source of comic relief among the main quartet whose screaming and cowardly nature make him occasionally unlikeable.
Despite this, it’s an entertaining watch and people seem to have no regret when it comes to investing their time. The first season of the anime consists of 26-30 minute episodes, and a movie has already been announced and is in the works. Demon Slayer’s popularity seems to be at no risk of flagging anytime soon, and now is as good a time as any to check it out.
“Demon Slayer” can be streamed on Hulu, Crunchyroll and Funimation, and it can be read through the Shonen Jump app.
]]>The views expressed in this article are the views of the author.
America is, essentially, a nation of exiles. Since its inception, this nation has invited people of every lifestyle to join a community that, ideally, celebrates diversity of culture, ideas and nationalities. America strives to become a land of multiculturalism, promoting excellence. America is “a land of opportunity.” A “melting pot” of sorts.
But who is an American?
Primarily, the American identity holds roots within immigration. The core values America believes in must be grounded in a system that fairly assesses who is an American and who can be an American. Values like equality under the law and certain unalienable rights, including Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness are all key to the American identity.
Through our immigration system, we decide what an American is and who can be one. Fundamentally, our immigration system is both an entrance exam to America and a definition of who and what we define as American.
However, all throughout American history, these same values and “self-evident truths” were, and still are, revoked from people deemed unworthy. The powerful have monopolized the definition of an American. They use tactics of fearmongering and race-baiting to exclude others and disseminate hatred. They reinforce their message through anti-immigrant sentiment and legislation. They create harmful stereotypes and caricatures to mock the downtrodden and forgotten. They create systems and institutions to oppress the “other” in the name of Americanism.
People of all races stand abused at the hand of a nation that promised them a better life. All throughout history, minorities were rejected from the national identity, seen only as plagues or, in many cases, subhuman. From black people and the Three-Fifths Compromise of 1787, to the indigenous peoples and Native Americans during the Trail of Tears, to the Irish and “NINA” in the 1860s, to the Japanese and the internment camps during World War II, countless people—whether immigrants, refugees or native-born—stood on the outside looking in, denied the “unalienable rights” promised to them.
Even now, the current President and his administration push a narrative that certain immigrants cannot join the national identity. They reinforce these views with slander through the media. They demonize Latinx immigrants and refugees, capturing them as they plead for asylum. They treat refugees inhumanely. Children are separated from their parents and put in temporary facilities to sleep on the floor with fences, caging them in like animals. They have minimal access to basic hygiene like showers and toothbrushes. Meanwhile, their parents don’t know where they are or if they’re even safe.
Immigration judges are backlogged for months because they are overwhelmed with too many cases. The average wait time to hear the result can last more than 500 days. Approximately two-thirds of all immigration cases result in deportation, and the chances are worse without legal representation. Actions like these rob immigrants of their decency, and the President has successfully sown the seeds of discontent and conflict.
The problem is that we have purposefully ignored the purpose of America. We are witnessing the grand manipulation of both the immigration system and national identity. The current immigration system is a rigged test, designed for those on the outside to never come in.
Under this system, only a certain few can qualify to be American. According to this administration, others are animals, rapists and murderers, or citizens of “shithole countries.” How we see one another controls the identity of this nation. Being American is more than just citizenship, of course, but our immigration invites others to take that first step to become American.
Our immigration system has always been a representation of what America could be, at its best. On the Statue of Liberty in Ellis Island, an excerpt from Emma Lazarus’ poem, “The New Colossus,” lives forever in bronze, prominently displayed for the world to see.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
We can still build that nation. It starts by realizing that our diversity makes us stronger. By reforming our immigration system, we reclaim our national identity and truly live out the values we set out to accomplish from the start.
]]>Arbutus, a quaint suburban town featuring the retro Hollywood Theatre and consignment shops, has a small town feel that attracts families and day-trippers alike. Yet many University of Maryland, Baltimore County students have never explored the town that lies just a short walk or bus ride from campus. Community leaders in Arbutus and UMBC hope that OCA Mocha, the UMBC student-led cafe that will house the Office of Community Affairs (OCA), will bridge this divide.
In 2016, businesses in Arbutus noticed “some of the decline in the area happening” and decided to revamp the town, according to Bettina Tebo, the President of the Greater Arbutus Business Association. “The [business association] board got together and decided that we should just start anew and take our energy and collectively come together to make a difference in Arbutus,” said Tebo. Now, “Arbutus is a very hometown kind of place.”
After the local business banded together in 2016, UMBC’s President’s Council took its first tour of Arbutus. “The relationship between UMBC and Arbutus from that point on just continued to develop and grow,” Tebo said. “The businesses in the area have been wanting to embrace UMBC for years.” OCA Mocha has the potential to solidify this relationship between the community and the university.
In addition to increasing options for people in the town, Tebo hopes that the coffee shop will attract students who are not drawn out by the current options. “It helps to change a little bit of the business district,” she said. “I think the people in the town are excited to see something fresh and new come in, and the community will embrace that.”
Vrinda Deshpande, President of the Student Government Association (SGA), echoed Tebo’s hopes that UMBC students will venture out into the town. “I think they’ve [the OCA Mocha team] recognized that the best way to get students out into Arbutus is by showing them that students are already there,” said Deshpande.
The Writing Center at UMBC is the first organization to take advantage of the new space. Professor Elaine MacDougall, Director of the Writing Center, hosted a weekend writing retreat at OCA Mocha this past weekend, Oct. 5 and 6. According to MacDougall, hosting the retreat at the coffee shop “seemed like a win-win situation for both the purposes of the writing retreat and publicity for the space.”
Other organizations will also be able to host events and club meetings at OCA Mocha. “That provides that catalyzing step to bring students out of the loop,” Deshpande said. “I know on SGA’s front, we’d love to host some of our team building and civic engagement programming in OCA Mocha, and I’ve heard from other organizations that there are plans for karaoke, live music, poetry,” she added. “The possibilities are endless.”
However, these plans are all tentative until OCA Mocha announces the new date for its grand opening soon. Originally scheduled to open on the first day of the fall semester, the space has yet to open to the public and closed again after the Writing Center’s retreat.
On Aug. 26, the OCA Mocha team announced that the grand opening of the cafe would be postponed “due to unfortunate delays in construction work,” according to their post on Instagram. Professor Gib Mason, who taught the class from which the idea for OCA Mocha emerged, noted that the opening has been “pushed back approximately 45 days.” If this approximation holds true, students should expect OCA Mocha to open sometime around Oct. 10.
Mason added that “the funding of OCA Mocha was not a significant contributor to the delay in opening.” OCA Mocha began with funding from partners such as the university, the Student Government Association and private donations, Mason elaborated. Now, the funding is “secured through a partnership with a private enterprise.”
Although the OCA Mocha team has faced setbacks in its opening, the project has provided a useful learning experience to the students involved. “Learning has been at the forefront of everything the students have accomplished,” Mason said.
]]>The views expressed in this article are the views of the authors.
There is only one woman visible at the Baltimore Tattoo Museum, and even she is accompanied by a man. The surrounding environment is not that welcoming either, at least not to women. With the persistent buzzing of tattoo needles, hard, deep rap music and of course, an overwhelming male presence that constitutes the majority of the staff workers, it is hard to take a breath.
Jackie, a female tattoo artist employed at Baltimore Tattoo Museum, has firsthand experience with discrimination against women in the tattoo industry, “I’ve endured things like ‘We’ll hire you as a counter girl and see where this goes,’” she said. “That’s fine, but I don’t want to do that, I want to learn.” She has also received other comments from professionals like, “Oh, I don’t want to teach a woman.”
This discrimination may lie within the cultural expectation for women to remain ‘pure’ for their entire lives, and tattoos are often viewed as something that stains a person, a form of rebellion or something that makes too much of a political statement. A whopping 60 percent of people find those with tattoos unattractive.
Because tattoos are more geared towards men, it is not surprising that it is difficult for women to enter this art industry, but this uninviting behavior is interesting considering women are readily accepted into the fine art community.
All tattoo artists have different experiences getting into the industry. Whether their tattooing begins as a hobby or a life goal, women still face an unfair exclusion in the tattoo industry, including those who have been working for several years in the city of Baltimore. When mentioning other female tattoo artists in the area, Jackie commented, confused, “There are other lady tattooers in Baltimore? Where are they? I’m glad there are more around.”
Enter Fidelity Tattoo Co. and its artistry staff comprised entirely of women.
The bright colored walls and the welcoming attitude of everyone at the front desk make for a much more comfortable feel in this particular tattoo parlor. But even these women are not immune to the hardships present in their field.
Emily Aitken, one of the tattoo artists employed at Fidelity, admits, “I think sometimes clients don’t initially believe that I’m a tattooer or they just assume I’m not a tattooer at first, occasionally.”
Others are a little more bothered by clients automatically assuming their position is receptionist. And even after realizing that these female tattoo artists are in fact the ones who will be giving the tattoo, some clients still treat women in inappropriate ways. Jayne Steiger, another tattoo artist at Fidelity, recounts, “… I feel like a lot of clients, especially people who walk in and don’t know me, they tend to be pushier with me than they would with a male tattoo artist or hit on me or be disrespectful.”
Not every woman is going to experience the same levels of discrimination as others. Some will have very little exposure, and some will be completely barred from certain parlors. It is difficult to predict what will occur. But the fact that it is even a possibility is distressing.
This brings into question, why exactly has this specific field been deemed masculine? Art is often viewed as feminine, yet tattooing defies this belief with its oversaturation of men and, at times, even the conscious exclusion of prospective female tattoo artists.
Sixty one percent of fine art degrees were awarded to women in 2015, and out of the 21,000 tattoo parlors currently present in the United States, only about one-third of the artists are women. This points to an issue that perhaps has been present since the beginning of tattoos. The early history of tattooing was only afforded to men, as women were often turned away and discouraged to pursue the art form, according to Jackie.
Ashleigh, the owner of Fidelity Tattoo Co., explains, “I know when getting into the industry, women weren’t super prevalent but just kinda start trying to trickle in. I definitely got, don’t wanna say shunned but definitely not if I were a dude coming in with the same portfolio, definitely didn’t get as much respect.” And her entrance into this field was only ten years ago. Given the length of time that tattooing has been around, it may take many more years until the ratio of female to male artists is at least somewhat equal.
At the end of the day, tattoo artistry is founded on the deep passion, respect and appreciation for art. It can be disheartening for prospective female tattoo artists when the industry, overshadowed by long-held gender biases, is unable to recognize this shared interest among everyone.
“It’s either one or the other. You’re either not respected or not taken as seriously because you’re female. Or you’re looked at as a piece of studio candy,” says Ashleigh.
Ceyda Baysal and Jamie Denton contributed to this article.
]]>The views expressed in this article are the views of the author.
Last March, the government of Hong Kong, whose leaders are prescreened by the mainland Chinese government, introduced a bill allowing local law enforcement to detain and subsequently extradite fugitives and people with warrants to countries that Hong Kong does not have extradition treaties with. Fearing that the passage of this bill would allow mainland China to exercise a great deal of punitive power over Hong Kong, protesters have taken to the streets demanding the withdrawal of the bill, an independent inquiry into police brutality, the release of protesters from prison and the resignation of Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive. Facing immense pressure, Lam promised to formally withdraw the bill sometime this month.
On Oct. 1, the 70th anniversary of Communist rule in China, violent confrontations between protesters and police erupted. A live bullet hit one protester after allegedly attacking a police officer. The protestor is set to be charged for rioting. Elsewhere, others use improvised bombs and acid to challenge the police bullets and tear gas. What led up to this sudden escalation?
The British empire wrested Hong Kong from the Chinese at the conclusion of the First Opium War in 1842. In 1898, the British agreed to lease Hong Kong for a period of 99 years, after which the island would be returned to Chinese rule. In the meantime, Hong Kong adopted Western-style institutions that promoted constitutionalism, rule of law and popular sovereignty via a parliament that modeled the British system. At the end of the lease agreement in 1997, Hong Kong was restored to Chinese rule. But, by the conditions of the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984, China promised to preserve the economic and political system of Hong Kong for an additional 50 years. Accordingly, China adopted a “one country, two systems” policy, which meant that Hong Kong would be treated as a “special administrative region” maintained by the Basic Law. This guarantees Hong Kong’s political autonomy and its freedom of speech and assembly until 2047.
In 2014, the government of Hong Kong introduced reforms that severely damaged the integrity of the Basic Law — a special committee that would nominate the chief executive who would then be approved by the mainland government. A massive wave of youth protests emerged for the first time in Hong Kong’s history, demanding the popular election of government officials as outlined under the Basic Law. In November these protesters carried yellow umbrellas, thus dubbing the protests the “Umbrella Revolution.” Although the protests were largely a failure as the demand for universal suffrage went unrealized, it awoke Hong Kong’s youth political consciousness.
We need to question how the Hong Kong protests are portrayed in media. It is no secret that news outlets curate their coverage for their audiences. For example, Bloomberg reported on the stability of Hong Kong’s property values in spite of the protests. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, published an article that in part denounced the use of violence by both government forces and protesters as equally demonstrative of their common disregard for the rule of law, and China Daily, the Communist Party of China’s official English-language news publication, has delegitimized the grievances of the protesters, claiming that they are merely rioters (other Chinese media outlets have failed to recognize the protests at all); and so on.
What we must recognize is that there is no such thing as a “view from nowhere.” All media is mediated by a consciousness (the writer’s mind) that carefully chooses evidence to construct a coherent narrative and then present it to others as fact. However, this is not to say we are irredeemably “biased” or forever divorced from the truth. Instead, what this means is that objectivity itself is conditional. And what might be one of these conditions?
Chiefly, consider the motivation or disposition of the writer: Does the writer write with the intention of deliberately misinforming their audience? And if the writer deliberately misinforms their audience, what is the purpose of that misinformation?
Asking these two questions separately allows the reader to make two important categorical distinctions. By asking the first question, the reader can make the distinction between simple coverage of an event and an opinion article. By asking the second question, the reader can make a distinction between satire like The Onion or the Babylon Bee and fake news. When both of these questions are considered together, we are forced to conclude that the most trustworthy news media is written by those who value objectivity itself.
The honest writer is motivated by objectivity and thus delivers the best possible product within the understanding of their own shortcomings, prejudices and interests. Accordingly, the truth is then facilitated through the condition that a subjective mind mediates. Thus, if an honest writer gets something wrong or their opinion is unreasonable, they cannot be faulted because they understood the nature of the medium in which they were writing. Conversely, the dishonest writer, the author of fake news, tries to do precisely the opposite.
Yes, there are indeed no protests in Hong Kong: The light that illuminates the kaleidoscope of perspectives is a concentrated effort by a government to eliminate, by its law or its weapons, any threat to its power. It profits in the continuation of its governance, and it loses human lives. That is all to say, such a government has nothing to lose at all.
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