So, this year's Brown Symposium sucked...

I attended two sessions of this year's Brown Symposium, both on Thursday. The first talk I attended was entitled, "Are we Rome...Really?" which attempted to draw parallels between the United States and Rome. Me and history aren't exactly the best of friends, thus I didn't get a whole lot out of the talk, but after talking about it with one of my friends who was also in attendance, I gained an understanding of the basic parallels that were drawn in the session. One of the more notable parts of the session is the parallel that was drawn between the religious tolerance of both Ancient Rome and the United States. The speaker used this parallel to illustrate how both societies have used the presence of religious tolerance to accumulate great power, or that it is in fact the very variable that allowed them to do so. My friend isn't religious and living in Texas, she feels that religious tolerance and "separation of church and state" play a smaller role in local and state issues and she pointed this out as what she thinks will be the eventual downfall of the United States. I am a bit more optimistic as I can see good things happening right now in society, even if politics are not following along at an equal pace. So many of my peers (even those who identify as politically conservative) are socially progressive and accepting that I feel the tide of intolerance is changing in the United States and hopefully, the rest of the world.

The other session that I attended was entitled, "Consummate Empires: Ancient Rome and Imperial America, c. 1900." If possible, it was even more boring than the first session. It was about the migration of architectural styles reminiscent of Ancient Rome to the United States at the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century. The presenter focused much of her presentation on the World's Fair that was held in Chicago in 1893. She spoke about the "White City" that the city constructed and which composed more than 200 buildings. The Beaux Arts movement as well as the European Classical style heavily influenced this “city’s” architectural style. She also spoke about how Chicago's desire to be perceived as a grand and well-planned city mirrored that of the rest of the United States. She spoke about how the construction of such a grand "city" for the world to see compared with the city of Rome's role as the crown jewel of the Roman Empire.

For me, this year's Brown Symposium was a huge snoozefest, especially in comparison to last year's controversial and relative topic. Maybe when I am old and have nothing better to do I will enjoy sitting through a Powerpoint presentation about the similarities between Rome and America, but by that time, we will probably also be comparing the similarities between the downfall of the American Empire and that of the Roman Empire.

I hope this blog did not strike too critical or disinterested of a note, because I very much value the intended goals of the Brown Symposium. I only wanted to express my disappointment in the finished product that was presented last week.

Yours,

Brady