Reading The Hudson Scholar

Today I left my house to get a new sponge since my old one was starting to smell. Yeah, a little detail you might not want to know about. As I left the market, noticing that I had left my house for a 5-minute shopping trip, I wanted to drink something and just sit, observing around me.

 It might be an unfamiliar concept for Americans. Since I am in America, let me explain to them. You just sit in a café shop, most of the time alone. If you have your phone with you, I don’t count it. You sit there, look around, observe people, and just think. Sometimes, read things that you find out about. Well, it was a day like that for me when I found a student-run magazine.

The magazine’s name is The Hudson Scholar. The one I read was their 12^th edition. First, let me congratulate them on their first anniversary of their magazine. I hope the best for them. I will only share one page of the magazine since I don’t want to spoil it for other readers. The magazine was a quick read and a great one for a coffee sitting activity. I really enjoyed their writing. There were some points that I agreed with and some that I didn’t, just like any other magazine. It really fills me with joy to see other countries' young people (saying it like I am not young…) growing themselves being aware of their world and their country. It’s like opening a little window to another part of the world. Even though I grew up with a lot of American media, it still feels different to me, as I am Turkish.

The magazine started with great graffiti from a scene from Toy-story (will not say more to not spoil it). Not to take it from the art itself, but the most interesting part for me was the part where a truck driver came and showed his graduate over seeing a truck as a graffiti on a wall. Being a truck driver in America must be different. This much of a big country, they do really run America with their huge Trucks, and still, there is not much culture having them; there is not much art or songs for them, even as a hip culture. I think they are missing a huge potential there.

As I flipped the pages and came to writings where the writers talk about consumerism and judging the society they lived in, I got reminded of how much of a young country I was in again. I would say that where I disagree came in this part a little. Not that I am a Capitalist supporter, but I am more of the mindset that culture changes the road of a country. As Ibn Haaldun says, “Coğrafya kaderdir” which means “Geography is destiny”. Even though most people think what he means by this is that where you are born changes your fate and there is nothing to do about it, it is more than that. He means that historical and social transformations are shaped by human factors. Social cohesion, sources of livelihood, occupations, traditions, politics, and beliefs determine the behavior and life of societies. (Evkuran, 2024).

We can't ignore the fact that America was built from consumerism. It is the main root of the country. The politics, the history, the culture, and even their version of religion. We can see it from their cults, such as Scientology. Unfortunately, it's not easy to get rid of these roots by just educating the consumers and wishing they would stop. If the culture tells you to buy, you should, or you don’t have a place in here. This does look obvious when it comes to buying Dubai chocolate matcha Labubu shaped crumble cookie, but not talked about enough when its health care or tipping culture. In short, trying to smash ants one by one might work, but the ant house is still carrying the food from you behind your back, and you need a root fix for that.

Anyways. Let me not get too political here. Overall, I really enjoyed the magazine. I was also going to talk about what we “want” in life now that we are in a modern world and what we are working for now, but I think I talked enough. I will leave that to another time and leave you with the question itself.

To add to that, I really enjoyed the poem section. The whole team must be so talented from the looks of it. I hope the best for them again. Feel free to reach out to them.