Blogs

My Wired Community:Laura Greenfield

Post by: Laura Greenfield
 
As undergraduates, we look for opportunities that will ground us in a university that we applied to go to, but had no idea how vast, deep, and wide it was until we moved in. As scholars, we look for ideas that we can apply to our own studies. Everyone else who works on UK's campus is looking for something different as it applies to their own work. But, when we peel away the labels of undergraduates, graduates, faculty, scholars, etc., we are humans. And, as humans, we look for connections to others. We look for the support and inspiration of others. We look for a community. The way I see it, A&S Wired, part of the powerhouse Living Learning Programs on campus, provides such a community by bringing together majors from many colleges and bringing in community speakers. 
 
Similar majors is one thing that all A&S Wired participants don't share. All throughout my freshman year in Wired, it was an excuse for a quick excited dance whenever I met another International Studies major in the dorm. My roommate was Psychology, my friends' majors ranged from ISC to Computer Science to Finance to some sort of Engineering to Classics. It was all over the board.

My Wired Community: Blake Goodman

Post by: Blake Goodman

My time in A&S Wired was one I will cherish forever. I enjoyed my time in the Wired program, not because of the free iPad. The friends that I made through the Wired program will be friends that I will have forever. Some of the guys I met will become best men at my wedding. I still see the majority of these friends everyday and some are in all of my classes. While some have moved off campus and into apartments, we still see each other every single day. The ones that have moved into an apartment this year still wish they could come back to the Wired program. Out of state, first generation, and even up and coming college students who live in the Lexington area should join Wired.

I myself am out of state and a first generation college student. I knew absolutely no one when I moved to campus and into the Wired program. That changed quickly with K week and the Wired program’s need to get people involved. When I say need it’s because the directors of Wired honestly want all students involved in Wired. I met so many new people. The Wired program was about half the size of my high school graduating class. The Wired program made me know almost everyone in the first few weeks. This was crazy considering that I had 12 years to learn my class.

My Wired Community: Nigel Taylor

Post by: Nigel Taylor
 
This is my second year being in the Wired program and I could not imagine having a better living experience at University of Kentucky. The best way to describe how the A&S Wired program has impacted my life is by describing where I am from. I am from Boston, Massachusetts and I came to the University of Kentucky knowing absolutely no one. There was a University of Kentucky Class of 2016 Facebook group and I was trying to meet people on that; however, the group was so large that it was hard to connect with people. 
 
My mother was looking more into the Living Learning Communities because she received an email from UK where she came across the A&S Wired Community. She instantly wanted me to sign up for it and mentioned the free iPad I would receive if I were accepted. I wasn't sure that this was something I was interested in. I  still had final papers and exams I was studying for or writing. Eventually, I applied and was accepted to the program. To my surprise, I fell in love with the Wired Program.
 
The Wired Program was incredible to me because it gave me a sense of belonging in a smaller community.

A guide to Día de los muertos celebrations in Lexington

It’s a good weekend to be a hispanista in Lexington. Granted we’ve had a great fall; from the Lexington Latino Festival to the many activities surrounding the Arts and Sciences Passport ¡Viva México! program, those of us who love the Spanish language and Hispanic culture have been busy. Still, this Friday and Saturday are special. 

This weekend we celebrate Día de los muertos, or Day of the Dead, a well-known holiday that has become increasingly popular in the US. On November 1st and 2nd, families throughout Latin America (but especially in Mexico) build altars and visit cemeteries to remember loved ones who have passed away. The holiday is joyous, despite the macabre theme. Día de los muertos is a time to laugh with death, to accept the fact that we’re all headed that way eventually, and to give those we have lost a place at our table for the night. Here are some suggestions for how you can celebrate this weekend, just follow the hyperlinks to more information about and directions to the events. ¡Qué vivan los muertos!

Preparations

My Wired Community: Tara Bray

Post by: Tara Bray

As a high school student, the thought of college always seemed overwhelming. I was scared to leave my home, my friends, and everything that was familiar to me in my life. I didn’t know if I would make the transition to college smoothly, if I would succeed, or crash and burn. Little did I know at the time, by applying for the A&S Wired Residential community I was taking a step that would help me succeed during my first year at UK. Being in Wired provided me with the first step in making friends and creating a familiar environment, which are two crucial aspects in succeeding during your freshman year. Not only has Wired offered me opportunities for leadership development, such as becoming a peer mentor in the program, but it has also allowed me to form bonds with both faculty and my peers that might not have happened.

Crossroads

While going through Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" I noticed in Act 3, Scene2  this little speech from Robin Goodfellow:

My fairy lord, this must be done with haste,

For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,

And yonder shine's Aurora's harbinger,

At whose approach, ghosts wand'ring here and there

Troop home to churchyards. Damned spirits all,

That in crossways and floods have burial.

The play is supposed to be set in ancient Athens, but, of course, it's not. It's interesting that Shakespeare has knowledge of the practice of burying suicides in crossroads. Crossroads as liminal areas, places betwixt and between, places of filth and dirt, have a long, long history.

Images courtesy of Martin Liebermann: 

www.martin-liebermann.de".

 

 

 

US Domestic Surveillance is Enough to Make China Blush

The revelations this past weekend concerning the extent of the NSA's abilities have been disturbing to say the least (ProPublica, The Guardian, NY Times). On top of its ability to record massive amounts of internet traffic for its own review, new reports indicate the government has, for at least the past decade, paid companies covertly for privileged "backdoor access" into their systems and encryption standards. In practice, this means secure communications with banks, email, and other websites are all likely easily readable by the NSA, and many or all commercial encryption products do not protect against government eyes. While this possibility has been known for some time and asserted by many conspiracy theorists, these reports present credible evidence that the NSA actually engages in this behavior.