04-12-13

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The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 129, No. 126

FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2013

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Panama President, Ricardo Martinelli, Speaks at Cornell

COURTESY OF KOETTER KIM & ASSOCIATES

By DARA LEVY Sun Staff Writer

Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli spoke to a packed Call Auditorium in Kennedy Hall Thursday about his economic and educational successes in Panama.

Before winning the presidency in 2009, served as Director of Social Security and as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Panama Canal. Martinelli previously ran for president in 2005, receiving just 5.3 percent of the vote.

Having run as a third party candidate in both 2005 and 2009 to break the pattern of Democrats and Republicans in power, Martinelli said he “wanted to be a ‘Ross Perot’” — the major third-party candidate in the 1992 and 1996 U.S. presidential elections.

Martinelli said, however, that Perot did not experience the same kind of political success that he eventually did.

Martinelli said before he entered politics, Panama was a country of “the have and the have-nots,” with laws primarily benefitting corporations and upper class.

“I went into politics because I thought my country SHAILEE SHAH / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR wasn’t run the propPanamanian politico | er way,” Martinelli President of Panama Ricardo said.

Martinelli speaks in Call Auditorium Thursday for the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs Spring Colloquium.

See PANAMA page 4

Raise the roof | Top: Rendering of Klarman Hall’s proposed interior atrium; Below Left: Looking down into the proposed south court from landscaped area along East Avenue, with Klarman at right and existing Goldwin Smith Hall walls at left; Below Right: Exterior rendering from bus stop across East Avenue.

Construction on Klarman Hall Set to Begin in Summer 2013

By SARAH MEYERS Sun Staff Writer

After much discussion and planning, the construction of Klarman Hall — a 33,250-square-foot addition to Goldwin Smith Hall — is on track to begin this summer and be completely finished by late 2015, according to officials in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Cornell announced it would build Klarman Hall in October 2011. The building will be the first built for the humanities since Goldwin Smith opened in 1905.

According to Susan Robertson, director of communications for the arts college, Klarman Hall will create more space for the college’s admissions, advising and humanities departments.

See KLARMAN page 5

Dean Knuth Took‘Different Path’to Cornell

Former pre-med pursued research in natural resources

By LIZ KUSSMAN Sun Staff Writer

Barbara Knuth, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School, said when she began her college career as a pre-medical student at the Miami University of Ohio, she had no idea what the future had in store for her.

Growing up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Knuth’s interest in the outdoors led her to want to study the sciences — an interest she said she believed would take her to medical school. Instead, she earned degrees in zoology, philosophy and environmental science and pursued research in natural resources.

“When I was in high

school applying to college, I to Cornell as an assistant probelieved that I was going to fessor of natural resources after be pre-med, just like every- receiving her Ph.D. in body else,” Knuth said. Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences “Then I had some experi- from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. She was ences working for promoted to associthe U.S. Forest ate and full-time Service and for the professor, and later National Parks Ser vice, and so I came became the chair of to understand the the department and draw of natural the senior associate resources and naturdean of the College al resource manageof Agriculture and ment, so that set me Life Sciences.

DEAN KNUTH on a different path.”

Since becoming Knuth, who said she likes to dean in 2010, Knuth has hike and canoe in her free started a number of initiatives time, described Ithaca as a to serve graduate students, dream come true. including the Office of InBefore becoming vice clusion and Professional provost and dean of the Development, which offers Graduate school, Knuth came programs that teaches stu-

dents life skills such as personal financial management, how to cultivate positive relationships with faculty and how to raise awareness about job opportunities, according to Knuth.

“Our goal is to support graduate students as whole people,” Knuth said. “We want to consider all the aspects they need for academic success, personal and social success and have a range of programs and opportunities to help support them in different aspects of their lives.”

Knuth’s said her goal for the University is for every entering doctoral student be provided with a fellowship.

See KNUTH page 4

News Fast and Furious

A man began a high-speed chase Tuesday, striking an Ithaca Police Department vehicle following him. | Page 3

Arts My Man Sedaris

David Sedaris is the American Laureate of the eccentric, according to Henry Staley ’16. | Page 8

Sports International Affairs

The track and field teams faced-off against British counterparts Oxford and Cambridge this past weekend. | Page 16

Weather Rainy HIGH: 50 LOW: 37

2 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Friday, April 12, 2013

Today

Friday, April 12, 2013

Daybook

Quotes of the Week

Today

News, “Debate Weighs Pros, Cons of Greek System at Cornell,” Wednesday Speaking about the challenges facing the multicultural Greek community “MGLC fraternities and sororities are much younger. ... Our alumni network is not large enough to permit for them to donate to us directly. [It’s not that] the current Cornell system is discriminating against these chapters. ... The University is always opening up possibilities for funding [for the MGLC].”

Fireside Chat With Jessica Fracassini, Product Manager at Amazon.com 11 a.m. - Noon, Sage Hall Religious Diversity in the Classroom: How to Create a Safe Place for Discussion With the Interfaith Youth Core Noon - 1:15 p.m., 525 King-Shaw Hall Lift Your Spirits! 2013 BBQ Noon - 2 p.m., Arts Quad “We Step into the Light” Art Show 6 - 9 p.m., Garden Room, Willard Straight Hall

Tomorrow $5 Challenge 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Lewis Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall Role of TAs in Cultivating an Inclusive Classroom 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., 143 Plant Sciences Building Rhythms of China 3 - 5 p.m., Bailey Hall

Free Standup Comedy Show!

8 - 10 p.m., Barnes Hall Theater

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Business: For questions regarding advertising, classifieds, subscriptions or delivery problems, please call from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday.

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News, “Students Debate Potential Benefits, Risks of Divestment on Cornell,” Thursday Speaking about the effect of divesting from oil companies “It wouldn’t make a difference on the stock price if you divest; what is important about the divestment movement is raising a public and political discourse about climate change.”

Greg Pitts, an investment advisor

News, “Viewers, Readers Must Look Out for Bias in Media, S.E. Cupp ’01 Says,” Tuesday Speaking about how news consumers should be critical of news organizations “I would say that MSNBC and Fox are less biased than CNN because they are honest about their political leanings. CNN pretends to be in the middle, but it’s really not. When viewers watch Fox, they know what they’re going to get.”

S. E. Cupp ’01, author, co-host of MSNBC's “The Cycle”

Dan Robbins ’13

The Corne¬ Daily Sun Editor in Chief

Juan Carlos Toledo ’13, Tri-Council Liaison

Opinion, “Social life at Cornell: Fixing more than just the Greek system,” Thursday Speaking on the broken social scene at Cornell “With graduation around the corner, I worry that Day Hall is distancing young alumni with its campaign of campus life Whac-A-Mole. Our alma mater is too uniquely wonderful to beget disenchantment. So I ask, will the University help us get more Cornellians excited about Cornell again?”

Pao Bhangra XII 7 p.m., Barton Hall

Rebecca Harris ‘14

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THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Friday, April 12, 2013 3

NEWS

Man Steals Car, Flees Officers, Ithaca Police Say

In rememberance

By AKANE OTANI Sun Managing Editor

A man who reportedly stole a car Thursday set off a highspeed chase through the City of Ithaca, striking the vehicle of police officers pursuing him before being caught by authorities, according to the Ithaca Police Department.

David Manzi, a 53-year-old resident of Syracuse, N.Y., was arrested and arraigned in the Ithaca City Court on two Class D felony charges: grand larceny in the third degree and reckless endangerment in the first degree, according to a press release from the IPD. Police say Manzi may face a litany of other charges, including felony level criminal mischief, felony level unlawfully fleeing of a police officer, driving while ability impaired by drugs and violations of vehicle and traffic laws.

The chase began when, at approximately 12:23 p.m., IPD officers responded to a call about a motor vehicle being stolen from the parking lot of the Hess Gas Station at 366 Elmira Rd., according to IPD. Seeing the stolen vehicle moving through the city, police attempted to stop the vehicle, according to IPD. The driver, however, allegedly refused to pull over.

The driver then moved at a “high rate of speed” through the City of Ithaca, “at times driving the wrong way on a one-

SHAILEE SHAH / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Prof. Ishion Hutchinson, English, reads at a marathon reading of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Thursday to commemorate the author, who died March 21.

way street,” according to IPD. At the intersection of South Corn Street and West Green Street, Manzi allegedly struck an unmarked IPD vehicle, injuring the three officers inside and causing “extensive damage” to the car, according to IPD. Soon after, Manzi abandoned the stolen vehicle behind a residential building in the 600 block of South Albany Street and fled on foot from the scene, police said.

IPD organized a ground search for Manzi, who was subsequently found inside a nearby housing complex, according

to IPD. He was taken into custody without incident.

The three injured police officers were treated at a nearby hospital for minor injuries, including neck and back pain, according to IPD. Manzi, who was remanded to the Tompkins County Jail without bail Thursday, will appear in Ithaca City Court again on April 17, according to IPD. Akane Otani can be reached at managing-editor@cornellsun.com.

Prof: Stereotypes Can Pose Threats N. Korea Advances

By ANNIE BUI Sun Staff Writer

certain situations,” Steele said. “To remedy the situation, you cannot have homogeneity; you must have diversity to create excellence and change certain cues so that they won’t send negative messages to people.”

Taylor Brooks ’16, who attended the lecture, said she sees stereotype threat in her daily life.

“Stereotype threat is something that affects everyone. The powerful pressures of both stereotype and social identity threat have been underlying thoughts throughout my life,” Brooks said.

Obi Asiama ’13 echoed Brooks’ sentiments, adding that he found Steele’s lecture “enlightening.”

“As a black male in higher education, the idea of stereotype threat puts a face and a name to [the] many emotions and sentiments I have experienced,” he said.

“I wonder how important it is for us as people to not only recognize the way in which stereotype threat touched our own lives, but to be conscious of those who are facing challenges like our own.”

Thursday’s lecture was part of a series, the Robert L. Harris, Jr. ADVANCEments in Science Lectures, that is geared toward educating the campus community on gender and diversity issues. It was sponsored

by CU-ADVANCE, a program at Cornell dedicated toward diversifying the campus and improving its climate, especially for women faculty in engineering and the sciences, according to its website.

Claude Steele, dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Education, spoke to a packed Alice Statler Auditorium Thursday about his theory of “stereotype threat”: a topic in the field of social psychology.

According to Steele, stereotype threat refers to the frustration or anxiety experienced by individuals who feel pressured to overcome a negative stereotype associated with their group in certain situations.

“For groups whose abilities are negatively stereotyped in broader society, individuals seem to underperform in challenging work, even when they are equally prepared or have the same talents,” Steele said.

Steele demonstrated this phenomenon by drawing from his own findings about the GPAs students at the University of Michigan earned and how they compared to their high school SAT scores.

“I noticed this phenomenon many years ago. …

Usually, kids come in with high SAT scores and earn even higher grades,” Steele said. “However, when looking at ... African-American students, at every level of entering SAT scores, these students were getting lower grades than students [of other races]. They were equally prepared and equally motivated, so what was causing this difference in performance?”

He said this pattern of underperformance could be seen anywhere in society, from Harvard Medical Annie Bui can be reached at School to a third-grade classroom down the street. abui@cornellsun.com.

“There are circumstances where you really wanted to do well in something, but you know that the people who are watching your performance have a sense that ‘you can’t do it’ — that’s stereotype threat,” Steele said.

Steele added that stereotype threat can have adverse affects on the cognitive abilities of people who believe their identity is attached to a negative stereotype.

One of his experiments — which studied the disparities between test performances of black and white students on a non-verbal IQ test — supported the notions of stereotype threat, Steele said.

According to Steele, during a non-verbal IQ test comprised of visual puzzles, black students scored a whole standard deviation lower than white students.

When the students were encouraged to solve the puzzles, just as a fun activity, black students performed exactly the same as white students on the test.

“If you take away the condition where a stereotype might come into play, the differences are less pronounced,” Steele said.

Steele also said that stereotype threat is hard to escape for those affected by it, and that diversity may DIANA MAK / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER help to ameliorate these feelings. “[Stereotype threat] is a chronic feature of life. It is It’s threatening | Claude Steele, spoke in the Alice a contingency of identity and goes along with [one] in Stateler Auditorium Thursday about stereotype threats.

Nuclear Technology

WASHINGTON (AP) — A missile defense ships closer to U.S. intelligence report con- the coast of the Korean peninsucludes that North Korea has la, in part to protect against a advanced its nuclear knowhow potential missile launch aimed at to the point that it could arm a Guam, a U.S. territory in the ballistic missile with a nuclear Pacific. The Pentagon also has warhead, a jarring revelation in announced it will place a more the midst of bellicose threats advanced land-based missile from the unpredictable commu- defense on Guam, and Hagel said in March that he approved nist regime.

President Barack Obama installing 14 additional missile urged calm, calling on interceptors in Alaska to bolster Pyongyang to end its saber-rat- a portion of the missile defense tling while sternly warning that network that is designed to prohe would “take all necessary tect all of U.S. territory.

On Thursday, the Pentagon steps” to protect American citisaid it had zens.

The new North Korea has advanced moved a seabased X-band American its nuclear knowhow to radar — intelligence analysis, dis- the point where it could designed to c l o s e d arm a ballistic missile. track warheads in flight — Thursday at a into position hearing on Capitol Hill, says the Pentagon’s in the Pacific.

Notably absent from that intelligence wing has “moderate confidence” that North Korea unclassified segment of the has nuclear weapons capable of report was any reference to what delivery by ballistic missiles but the DIA believes is the range of a that the weapon was unreliable. missile North Korea could arm Rep. Doug Lamborn, R- with a nuclear warhead. Much Colo., read aloud what he said of its missile arsenal is capable of was an unclassified paragraph reaching South Korea and Japan, from a secret Defense but Kim has threatened to attack Intelligence Agency report that the United States as well.

At the House Armed Services was supplied to some members of Congress. The reading Committee hearing in which he seemed to take Gen. Martin revealed the DIA assessment, Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Lamborn asked Dempsey, Chiefs of Staff, by surprise, who whether he agreed with it. said he hadn’t seen the report Dempsey said he had not seen and declined to answer ques- the report.

“You said it’s not publicly tions about it.

The DIA conclusion was released, so I choose not to comconfirmed by a senior congres- ment on it,” Dempsey said.

But David Wright, a nuclear sional aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because the weapons expert at the Union of Pentagon had not officially Concerned Scientists, said the released the contents. The aide DIA assessment probably does said the report was produced in not change the views of those who closely follow developMarch.

Since the beginning of ments in North Korea’s pursuit March, the Navy has moved two of a nuclear weapon.

4 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Friday, April 12, 2013

NEWS

Martinelli Stresses Power of Education Every Doctoral Student PANAMA

Continued from page 1

“I’m not a regular politician,” he added, citing his business background.

Martinelli said most countries try to promote investment and improve their economies by helping private companies, but he aims to do the complete opposite by creating major infrastructure projects and lowering taxes.

Since his election, Martinelli said, Panama has had “almost no unemployment”; the country has an unemployment rate of approximately 4.4 percent, according to Central Intelligence Agency reports.

Martinelli also said he has been able to lower tax rates, especially for low-income citizens.

Many citizens earning less than $100,000 per year are exempt from paying income taxes, he said.

Martinelli said he has been able to maintain government revenue by eliminating the concept of illegal immigrants.

After 30 days of being in Panama, immigrants are granted permanent residency and therefore must pay taxes.

Easing the process of citizenship was just one of the things Martinelli has done to make Panama “a more appealing country,” he said.

Martinelli said he has also been working to improve the Panamanian education system, both internally and externally by setting up higher education partnership programs with universities in the U.S. and Europe.

He said Panama currently has such a low high school dropout rate that, instead of graduation rates being an issue, there is a problem of overcrowded classrooms.

Martinelli said education accessibility has been an important initiative to him, with widespread free Internet access and tuition at the University of Help us keep watch on Cornell.

Call The Cornell Daily Sun 273-3606

Panama $26.50 per semester.

“Education is the main drive that makes a country go forward,” Martinelli said. “They can never take what you have in here,” he said, pointing at his head.

Martinelli strongly urged the audience to get involved in politics, not just by making donations but also by considering running for office to make changes from within the government.

“This is not the job to send to a dumb cousin; this is a job for bright people like all of you,” he said.

Martinelli encouraged students to maintain balance while moving forward and keeping track of their objectives.

He said he became stronger from the mistakes he made leading to his 2004 loss.

“Do whatever is necessary to achieve the aim you have in life,” he said, attributing his 2009 win to his perseverance.

Martinelli’s speech followed his signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Cornell Institute of Public Affairs to establish a scholarship program for Panamanians to attend the University’s masters programs. Martinelli said the agreement “will change the lives of many Panamanians.”

At the conclusion of his speech, Martinelli received an award from the Cornell Institute of Public Affairs recognizing his efforts to improve education in Panama.

Martinelli’s visit was sponsored by CIPA, the Office of the Vice Provost for International Relations, the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, the Latin American Studies Program and the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.

Dara Levy can be reached at dlevy@cornellsun.com.

Should Be Recipient of Fellowship, Knuth Says KNUTH

Continued from page 1

“Fellowships allow students to explore their intellectual pursuits the way they want to,” Knuth said.

Knuth said she is working with the University’s alumni affairs and development staff to appeal to donors who may have an interest in helping Cornell realize this goal.

“Right now, we have 250 fellowships for roughly 500 students, so we need to essentially double the amount of fellowship funding, she said. “It’s a longterm vision.”

Knuth added that in addition to providing academic freedom, fellowships would allow students to fully work with Cornell’s faculty.

“It would be ideal to provide a fellowship to every student so every student has the opportunity to get to know faculty and see what their interests are before they get linked up with a faculty member,” Knuth said.

Knuth, who still keeps in touch with her Ph.D. advisor, said she urges graduate students to recognize the value of both faculty and fellow students in graduate school.

“The relationship that you will have with your faculty advisor is critical to your success and how you will experience the program,” Knuth said. “But graduate school can be isolating if you’re thinking of coming only to work with a particular faculty member and don’t think about the community you’re engaging in.”

In addition to her responsibilities as vice provost and dean of the graduate school, Knuth serves as the associate director of the Human Dimensions Research unit, which focuses on the study of human behaviors and attitudes towards the environment. Her research focuses on the risk communication, risk perception, risk management of chemical contaminants of fish consumption.

Liz Kussman can be reached at ekussman@cornellsun.com.

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Friday, April 12, 2013 5

NEWS

COURTESY OF KOETTER KIM & ASSOCIATES

Clarifiying Klarman | This architectural plan shows both the existing Goldwin Smith Hall (top and upper sides) and the proposed Klarman Hall (center and below). The Arts Quad would be above, and East Avenue below, this plan orientation.

Klarman Hall to Open in 2015

Will provide new space for humanities departments KLARMAN

Continued from page 1

“It will provide much needed space for the increase in the college’s humanities faculty, which is a result of the college’s success in the faculty renewal hiring initiative, as well as the overall expansion of the humanities at Cornell in the last hundred years,” Robertson said.

Prof. Scott MacDonald ’78 Ph.D. ’86, philosophy, chair of the Sage School of Philosophy, said he thinks Klarman — which will have 124 faculty offices — will “go some way toward alleviating

Aerial view, looking toward East Avenue, of Klarman Hall’s north court.

the space shortage in the College of Arts and Sciences.”

“I don’t think it’ll solve the space problem entirely, but it’s a step in the right direction,” MacDonald added.

A major goal of the building, administrators said, is to increase the visibility and presence of the humanities on campus.

Peter Lepage, dean of the arts college, said in an Oct. 2011 University press release that Klarman Hall “will symbolically and physically welcome the rest of the campus to participate in the humanities and arts at Cornell.”

For instance, Klarman will house the Department of Romance studies — which is currently housed in Morrill Hall — “in order to bring all the literature departments into one building,” Robertson said.

MacDonald said he thinks the building, when completed, will serve as a “nice iconic space for the College of Arts and Sciences.”

“The college needs a space like that,” MacDonald said. “It will be a focal point for not just the humanities but the college in general.”

For instance, MacDonald said, Klarman Hall may redirect traffic “from further up the Hill to the Arts Quad.”

“I think when it’s finished, people will tend to go through Goldwin Smith rather than around it, making Goldwin Smith more of a thoroughfare,” MacDonald said.

Similarly, Robertson said she sees Klarman — and particularly its central atrium — as “a major crossroads for students and faculty from all over campus.”

The $61 million it will cost to build Klarman Hall will be completely funded by philanthropy.

Lindsay Ruth, associate dean of alumni affairs for the College of Arts and Sciences, said the donations to finance Klarman Hall were “a necessity as the University came out of the economic downturn.”

“We are very pleased with the tremendous support that alumni and student families have shown for this building. Without their generosity, this project would not have proceeded,” Ruth said.

MacDonald said Klarman Hall will be an “beautiful” addition to the Arts Quad.

“I think it’ll be a beautiful space, continuing the development of East Avenue — along with the new physical sciences building and the redesign of Lincoln Hall — in a very positive way, so architecturally that’s a good thing,” MacDonald said.

Robertson echoed MacDonald’s sentiment, saying Klarman will act as a “gateway to the Arts Quad from East Avenue.” “[It will] provide an iconic indoor space for faculty and students to gather. Its innovative and sustainable design will be a major architectural addition to the Cornell campus,” Robertson said.

Sarah Meyers can be reached at smeyers@cornellsun.com.

OPINION

David Saunders |

The Corne¬ Daily Sun Independent Since 1880 131ST EDITORIAL BOARD REBECCA HARRIS ’14 Editor in Chief

HANK BAO ’14

AKANE OTANI ’14

LIZ CAMUTI ’14

AUSTIN KANG ’15

Business Manager

Managing Editor

Associate Editor

Advertising Manager

ANDY LEVINE ’14

HALEY VELASCO ’15

Web Editor

Sports Editor

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Blogs Editor

Multimedia Editor

DAVID MARTEN ’14

REBECCA COOMBES ’14

Tech Editor

Design Editor

SHAILEE SHAH ’14

ZACHARY ZAHOS ’15

EMMA COURT ’15

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Photography Editor

Associate Managing Editor

News Editor

City Editor

JINJOO LEE ’14

CAROLINE FLAX ’15

News Editor

News Editor

ARIELLE CRUZ ’15

SAM BROMER ’16

Arts & Entertainment Editor

Arts & Entertainment Editor

SYDNEY RAMSDEN ’14

SARAH COHEN ’15

Dining Editor

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EMILY BERMAN ’16

Associate Multimedia Editor

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the berry patch

TH E S U N [DI S ]C ON N EC T S As journalists, we at The Sun are constantly connected: to sources, to news outlets, to IV drips of caffeine. So when we decided some of our people should participate in CU [dis]connect — a student-run initiative encouraging a threeday hiatus from technology (shudder) — we chose the low men on the totem pole: our berry patch reporters. They’ve grown more creative, albeit also more awkward and unethical, in their pursuit to find and report the next big scoop for our loyal readers.

Talking to Student Assembly reps or members of IFC in person instead of via email can be kind of a drag. But our reporters are willing to go as far as it takes to get a story — and we were surprised to learn that face-to-face interaction has more advantages than we anticipated. There are only so many ways to be sexy over email, and most people are not as turned on by a sophisticated font as we are. Our intrepid (shameless) berry patch reporters have been using their sharp minds (cleavage) to get sources to reveal some juicy story details. To those of you who are wondering whether sexual seduction is an appropriate investigative tool: We say all is fair in war and journalism. (Also, shhhh.)

Since our staff’s inability to use computers prevents us from both posting online and sending newspaper pages to the printer, they’ve had to think outside the box. Or rather, they’ve had to stand on a box — on Ho Plaza, shouting through a rolled-up newspaper. In addition to our News team yelling Extra!

Extra! and calling out the day’s headlines, our Arts and Entertainment editors have been performing in-depth slam poetry readings of article content paired with interpretive dancing. In the Sports section, meanwhile, our editors have taken to standing in for the opponents of Cornell athletes in reenactments of matches. Interestingly, Cornell has been on a stunning winning streak in all sports throughout the [dis]connect challenge.

Here’s to our berry patch reporters, who are as committed to bringing news to the Cornell community as the U.S. Post Office is to mail delivery. It may not get to you in one piece, or in any manner of timeliness, but they won’t stop trying.

And they’ll look damn good doing it. CU [dis]connect: Challenge accepted.

What’s Up Doc?

Has Meditation Gone Mainstream?

Blame Science!

The word ‘meditation’ may invoke any number of images. Perhaps the likeness of the Dalai Lama sitting quiescently in meditative repose, legs crossed, eyes closed, hands resting gently in his lap. Maybe stereotypical meditation paraphernalia such as a singing bowl, a meditation cushion or a Tibetan prayer flag comes to mind. All of these images, and countless more, contribute to and result from pre-conceptions of what meditation is, where it takes place, who does it and why.

I recently took time off from medical school at Weill Cornell to pursue a Ph.D. in religious studies at Emory University, focusing on the renaissance of Buddhist meditative practices taking place in Western Europe and the United States. When I hear the word meditation, different images from the above are brought to mind. I think of meditators — some of whom have practiced for more than 60,000 hours in their lifetime and some of whom have never meditated before; some from indigenous Buddhist countries and others from small-town America — all seated in repose while hooked up to fMRI machines in neuroscience labs.. I think of Thomas, a 15-yearold Atlanta foster care teen that I taught compassion meditation to as part of a research study at Emory, and the tears that welled up in his eyes near the conclusion of one particularly poignant session. I think of Jack, another student of mine, a 7-year-old boy from an elementary school in Atlanta, and how he told me that meditating made him feel like a better, kinder person.

Whether it’s a monk meditating in an MRI, a lonely and scared teen being passed around the foster care system, or an affluent suburban first grader giving the practice a try, meditation, in its myriad forms, is no longer exclusively associated with eastern religious traditions and romantic mountain hermitages. These images should challenge deeply embedded stereotypes concerning the who, what, where and why of meditation, and reflect a shifting socio-cultural landscape in which meditation is trending toward the mainstream.

The scientific study of contemplative meditative practices is the single greatest reason for the explosion of meditation in the West. Since 1982, when the first seminal meditation study was published, we have seen an exponential growth in the number of publications per year. In 1980 there were none, 1990 saw 5 and 2000 saw 21. But in 2005, there were 77, in 2010 there were 353 and this past year, there were 477 studies.

More impressive, these data only pertain to one kind of meditation practice — namely mindfulness — never mind the many other kinds are being studied. This research — some of which has been conducted at Weill Cornell and much of which is funded by the U.S. taxpayer dollars through the National Institutes of Health — is the primary catalyst behind the shifting who, what, where and why of meditation in the U.S. today.

If traditional notions of meditative practice have become antiquated, and science has accelerated this transformation, what exactly has changed? Let us begin with the who: both men and women, the young and the old, people from diverse ethnic backgrounds and varying socioeconomic standing have all been studied in meditation. A brief look at the literature will reveal contemplative practices being studied in cohorts consisting of students of all ages and all disciplines, war veterans, criminals, doctors, nurses, those suffering from debilitating mental illness, completely healthy individuals and many more. With this in mind, the naive — and incorrect — assumption that meditation is something that (male) monks

do in solitary retreat, no longer holds.

If the demographics of meditative practice are changing, what kinds of meditative practices are popular? Some of the main meditations researched and practiced in contemporary America include mindfulness, compassion and loving-kindness meditations. In fact the tapestry of meditative practices flourishing today is considerably more nuanced. Some specific contemplative practices — such as “yoga” — force us to ask important questions about the meaning of the word meditation. In any case, it should be clear that meditation is not one single entity, but rather an umbrella term for a rich variety of practices of the body and mind — dozens of which are being studied in research labs all over the world.

Given such changes, where are people meditating these days? One may wonder what happened to the remote hermitage, but those interested in meditating in remote locations — away from the hyperactivity and hypersociality (think Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) of modern life — can still do so, as there are hundreds of secluded retreat centers across the U.S. and abroad. People are also finding that meditation can be a fruitful activity anywhere: the doctor’s office, at work, in school, on the frontlines and even in prison.

And finally — but most difficult to answer — why are people meditating today?

There is no easy answer to this question. It is certainly the case that there are as many reasons to meditate as there are meditators, and probably more. Some meditate because it makes them feel happier and less anxious; others because they were told by their therapist or doctor that they should; some because they feel like better, kinder people when they meditate; and others still because it was their homework assignment or they volunteered for a research study.

Suffice it to say that science, once again, is the driving force in this regard. With each new study that suggests a potential benefit to meditation — be it prevention of depressive relapse, increase in positive affect, greater pro-social behavior or decrease in serum cortisol secretion — the list of reasons for meditating continues to grow. Science also functions as a gatekeeper, preventing the application of meditative practices to dubious causes, for instance, compound fractures or liver failure. Such claims would never withstand the process of the scientific method and peer review. In this way, science serves a dual role in the development of meditative practices in the West.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the most visible and vociferous advocate for meditative practice in the West, the Dalai Lama, was fascinated with science from a very early age. One of his first projects as a young boy in 1940’s Tibet, was to understand the inner-workings of an automobile engine. Today, his aspirations are considerably more ambitious: to yolk scientific inquiry and meditation together and gain insight into the nature of consciousness.

The Dalai Lama aside, it is evident that the shift of meditative practices from an exotic Eastern phenomenon to a quotidian occurrence in homes, work and schools across America, has been catalyzed by rigorous scientific inquiry. Singing bowls and prayer flags may still come to mind when one thinks about meditation, but MRIs, EEGs and RCTs are soon to follow.

David Saunders is a M.D. student at Weill Cornell Medical College and a Ph.D. student at Emory University. He may be reached at dcs2001@med.cornell.edu. What’s Up Doc? appears alternate Fridays this semester.

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Friday, April 12, 2013 7

OPINION

Nikhita Parandekar | Hoof in Mouth

Encouraging Spaying and Neutering O

ne of the main objectives of the veterinary profession is to encourage the spaying and neutering of cats and dogs whenever possible.

Spaying and neutering is a very large part of a small animal veterinarian’s career, although my view might be a little biased because I’ve recently been spending a lot of time thinking about shelter animals and overpopulation. Regardless, spaying a cat is the first surgery we learn to do in veterinary school, and the importance of this practice is emphasized several times throughout our curriculum. To illustrate how central an animal’s reproductive status is to veterinary medicine, whenever we have to discuss a specific patient, the first thing we’re trained to say about the patient is its “signalment” — the age, gender, reproductive status and breed. For example, I have a six-month-old male, castrated, domestic shorthair cat.

However, I asked a couple of non-veterinary friends if they thought spaying and neutering are one of a veterinarian’s main jobs and they said it isn’t something that usually occurs to them. Thus, the profession still clearly has some work to do in terms of marketing and awareness campaigns. I think that the importance of this practice is so indoctrinated in our

The profession still clearly has some work to do in terms of marketing. education and our lives that we forget that the rest of the world doesn’t have the same exposure to it.

The logic behind spaying and neutering feral animals, which I’ve written about in more detail before, is fairly straightforward: Fixing stray animals so that they cannot reproduce ideally helps to control their numbers so that there are fewer of them living in squalid conditions. Why someone would spay or neuter a domestic pet, however, is often harder for people to understand. Yet, there is compelling medical, behavioral, financial and societal evidence that people should fix their animals. Medically, spaying females reduces the odds of breast cancer and uterine infections, and neutering males reduces the chances of prostatic problems and testicular cancer. Behaviorally, once fixed, the animals are less likely to exhibit mating behaviors that could be considered undesirable to their humans — males marking their territory, females bleeding when in heat, etc. Financially, accidental puppies and kittens can be expensive if the owner wants to give them proper care. The mother needs some extra care while pregnant, and the puppies or kittens need vaccinations and veterinary visits (including spays and neuters of their own eventually) much more frequently than adult animals.

Lastly, socially, we all have a responsibility to try to avoid adding to the pet population while there are still animals in shelters and on the streets that need homes.

People argue that it can be hard to get puppies from shelters in some areas of the country, while people in wealthy regions don’t realize that there are feral dog and cat problems in other parts of the country. To this effect, shelters in wealthier and less animal-saturated areas of the country will ship animals from overpopulated regions and put them up for adoption. While this comes with its own array of problems, in the end, it does keep unwanted animals off the streets.

This is a brief introduction into what we learn about spaying and neutering in vet school. We hear it so many times that we assume that its general knowledge, but I’ve begun to realize that much of the general public does not get the proper exposure to these ideas. So, the next time you go to a friend’s place and see his or her intact male dog or pregnant female cat, ask them to spend some time thinking about some of these topics.

Nikhita Parandekar graduated from Cornell in 2011 and is a secondyear veterinary student in the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine. She may be reached at nparandekar@cornellsun.com. Hoof in Mouth appears alternate Fridays this semester.

Web

Comment of the day “Well put. The University was 54 years old when it built its first student union. It was a few months old when students formed fraternities and a few years old when alumni began building houses. But for fraternities and sororities, Cornell, located in a rural, remote, cold location, would have been a social wasteland ...”

Cornell Greek Guy Re: “LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Social life at Cornell: Fixing more than just the Greek system,” Opinion, published April 11, 2013

Katerina Athanasiou |

Kat’s Cradle

Sentiment City: The Journey Begins S

uddenly, April is here, spring break seems distant and the finish line is in sight. College is always a transitory process, but I’ve never felt that more than I do right now.

As seniors looking to the future, our opportunities seem vast and endless, but also intangible and difficult to visualize, as Skyler Schain ’13 so beautifully articulated a few weeks ago. Leaving college is surreal, exciting and disorienting. Somedays, the everyday challenge of balancing the four pillars of college — school, fun, extracurriculars and health — take over and I forget to put things in perspective. But on the best days, I can enjoy the present while being responsible about my future.

This weekend, I’ll see my roommate perform in her last ever acapella concert. I remember when she got into her group during the fall of our freshman year. I’ve been to nearly every concert since. Still, whenever I hear her sing, I get chills.

I’m excited and proud and without words (for once).

This is perhaps the greatest gift Cornell has given me: supremely wonderful, talented peers and friends.

There is something kind of amazing that happens when you take 20,000 people and put them in “the middle of nowhere” — it becomes the middle of somewhere. That development relies on students investing time and energy into their current location, into themselves and into Cornell.

Whether it’s seeing one of my best friends cook a

meal with her dietetics team for all of West Campus or listening to six inspiring, creative, awesome presentations at the Big Ideas festival last week, the human capital here is bizarre and wonderful.

There are a million bucket lists to be made during the stretch until G-day: trivia at every bar ever established, wine tours, lazy Sundays, picnics on the Arts Quad.

We make these lists to try and comprehend the fact that we are leaving a place

Personally, I’ve been enraged, inspired, challenged and humbled by the people around me.

Those fast feelings have led to a greater sense of self, a widened perception of reality.

In the second grade, I hit a homerun in gym.

This was so unusual that my teacher stopped class so I could receive a standing ovation. He an nounced, “She didn’t actually touch any of the bases, but I think we should let that one count a n y -

So indulge, enjoy, fight, cry, do whatever you please, but do it together. with great meaning and don’t quite know how to.

While some might peddle a specific activity, I simply ask that we embrace one mantra: appreciation of the people around us.

As I wake up every morning in my house of cards, made of crooked floors and an outdoor staircase, I revel at the idea that I’m literally footsteps away from some of my favorite people. When else in my life will I be surrounded by so many young, talented people that are in one place with the unified goal of learning? Whether it’s late night talks on the CTB patio or enjoying your favorite professor show you Youtube videos of JFK and Marilyn Monroe, this is a time to soak in the people around you.

way!” As a lifelong benchwarmer, I’ve never had an affinity towards sports. But during Oweek freshman year, I met a delightfully kind soul from Tennessee who just happened to be on the men’s basketball team. Always greeting me with a smile and a warm hello, he remained my friend over the years and ended up living in the house across the street from mine this year.

Never in my life did I think I’d be jumping up and down in the bleachers of Newman, cheering on our basketball team in their last home games.

This is the what being a Cornell student means to me: experimenting and trying things I might not naturally. There is no greater joy I can imagine

than seeing the people around you do the things they love and do them well. Whether that means enjoying a band’s concert at the Bear’s Den filled to the brim with rowers supporting their teammates, or seeing the ever-whimsical Pao Bhangra take the stage at Bailey this weekend, we are surrounded by so much raw talent.

Sometimes it means having that long, impromptu three hour heart-to-heart when you have 15 hours of homework, and other times it’s just saying “yes” to the people heckling you on Ho Plaza. Of course, these interactions are not always easy; there will be moments of supreme disagreement — of rage, of disappointment. But branching out of the expected, thinking about what you feel, articulating those emotions, and expressing them effectively will make you better.

What is college for after all? It’s the sharing of experiences and perspectives that makes this time so pivotal in our growth and development into “real people.” So indulge, enjoy, fight, cry, do whatever you please, but do it together. There are few times we’ll be in this situation again, surrounded by a network of friends and strangers, all bopping along.

Katerina Athanasiou is a senior in the College of Art, Architecture and Planning. She may be reacched at kathanasiou@cornellsun.com. Kat’s Cradle appears alternate Thursdays this semester.

A&E

8 | The Corne¬ Daily Sun | Friday, April 12, 2013

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT American Laureate of the Eccentric David Sedaris performs at the State Theatre

KELLY WANG / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

BY HENRY STALEY Sun Staff Writer

David Sedaris is the American Laureate of the Eccentric. On Tuesday, he came to the State Theater to give readings of his new book Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, his New Yorker essay Old Faithful and spoken anecdotes on his travels across the country. His punchy stories told of his regular themes — aberrant relatives, rare animals, miscommunications with strangers and investigations into odd subcultures (i.e. Manhattan’s Taxidermy scene).

The night’s best story told of his near-purchase of a four hundred-year old Peruvian pygmy — an ethnic group hunted for game by colonists. The commodity was a fourteen-year old girl whose body had been preserved in a bag.

Sedaris joked that he was more shocked by the brand of the bag than the severed head the bag contained, and claimed that his annoyance towards fourteen-year-olds he sees on the subway makes him understand the colonist’s cruel practice.

Sedaris’ stories push the audience’s ethics but he and his audiences have such a close relationship that his humor reveals itself as honest rather than incendiary. His essays and books (which some claim are too fictitious to define as ‘non-fiction’) come from his bizarre personal experiences. When You

Are Engulfed in Flames’ last essay tells of his cessation from cigarettes, Santaland Diaries follows his short career as a Macy’s Christmas elf. Given the familiarity his writing breeds, it was no surprise he approached the audience without distance or formality. Coming on stage, he opened, “The answer to the question you’re all asking is twenty two . . . I’ve lost twenty two pounds.”

After losing twenty-two pounds, quitting cigarettes and finding a career outside of Macy’s, Sedaris has turned to an unconquerable misfortune: old age. Sedaris is only fifty-six, but has apparently already acquired the hypochondria that often accompanies late adulthood. Those around him have too: he joked about his sister constantly checking the mirror to see if her nipple’s still aligned and worrying about the lining of her postmenopausal uterus. He confessed that he imagined uterus lining to look and feel like grape paste.

Sedaris is perfectly comfortable with being uncouth and defended the right to use crude material for humor.

When an audience member asked of his opinion on teaching humor writing in elementary schools, he offered that teachers should “let their kids write about ‘shit,’” or whatever crass matter youth enjoy talking about. Such a suggestion explains Sedaris’ appeal.

His books and essays cover the material that often falls beneath literature’s high bar of “acceptable material” and have attracted attention through their accessibility to a wide audience.

Readership has waned in the last half century but Sedaris has reeled readers back in with his relatable and raw stories. Would be non-readers and New Yorker reading intellectuals rejoice in appreciation for his acerbic wit, oddball perspective and boundary probing.

I spoke with Sedaris after the show. He asked my feeling on his use of the word “cunt” twice, breaking the “one ‘cunt’ a speech rule.” Given his benign and self-deprecating posture, the audience did not appear offended. I told him I’d be reviewing the night’s show, he said he wouldn’t read my piece as he doesn’t read opinions on him or his work (doubtful). He did, however, offer his opinion of the performance to readers of this article: “I think I was a good reader. I can’t speak for the content.”

Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls: Essays, Etc. comes out April twenty-third.

Henry Staley is a freshman in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning. He can be reached at hstaley@cornellsun.com.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

FROM

THE

BLOGS:

Have Your Chicken and Eat It,Too “People say when you know you know, but do you really ‘know,’ or do you just decide?” Liz Kussman ’14 lamented this to me recently. Why, you might ask? In what context? Well, gee, if you’ve ever read anything I’ve ever written … ever … you would know that this blog is basically a better-edited version of my mental diary (there’s no real filter up there — be glad I actually read this over). I haven’t written a post since being elected Blogs editor, mainly because I’ve been super busy doing casual things like interviewing Joel McHale and John Legend, but also because I haven’t had any monumental romantic epiphanies. That was, until I gave advice to a friend of mine struggling with the same thing many of us are afraid to face: making a decision.

If I can’t decide what I’m going to buy for lunch at Trillium as I weigh my yen for General Tso’s chicken against my rational thought of getting a salad (I always go for the General Tso’s.

Who am I kidding?), then how am I supposed to decide who I’m going to end up with? Ok. That’s a stretch. Choosing between meal options and men are completely different, right? Except, maybe they’re exactly the same …

One of the options is clearly bad for you, but you want it anyway. Maybe you even want it because it’s the complete opposite of what you need, and that’s what makes it intriguing. The other is healthy, it will benefit you, it will be more satisfying in the long run and it is the option your friends would tell you to go for if they were choosing which is best for you. So maybe you listen to your friends and you choose the salad. But you’ll still always wonder what it would have been like to have the General Tso’s ...

Read the rest of this post here: bit.ly/16QFTa3.

A&E

Friday, Apil 12, 2013 | The Corne¬ Daily Sun | 9

A 21st Century Hitchcock? Not Quite. director was inspired to become a filmmaker after seeing Vertigo and the film’s screenwriter Wentworth Miller (former star of “Just as a flower doesn’t choose its color, Prison Break and Dinotopia) was directly so we don’t choose who we are going to inspired by the Shadow of a Doubt, from be.” This line, spoken by a teenage girl on which he took the character of Uncle the cusp of adulthood, provides the first of Charlie. The film also references Psycho many unsettling moments in Stoker, an with taxidermied birds and shower scenes, uneven tale of macabre murders and even and Birds with a telephone booth trap. At more horrifying family secrets. The speak- first, these references are a treat for savvy er of that line, India Stoker (Mia viewers, but eventually one experiences the Wasikowska), is the only child of wealthy vague sense that just watching Psycho might architect Richard (Dermot Mulroney) and have been a better idea. Park and Miller demure housewife Evelyn (Nicole also tried to translate the dark sexual Kidman). India is like a grown-up undertones in many of Hitchcock’s movies Wednesday Addams, all sullen sarcasm and into their own work. These undertones dark hair, and she lives with her parents in quickly lose their subtlety and their power, a drafty old house not unlike the Addams growing more ludicrous as time goes on. family manse. On For a film so India’s eighteenth steeped in referbirthday her father Stoker ences to dies in a horrible American cineDirected by Park Chan-Wook ma and culture, car accident. A few Starring Mia Wasikowa, days later, at it is a little surRichard’s funeral, prising that the Nicole Kidman mysterious his movie feels so younger brother foreign. Perhaps Charlie shows up it is because Park u n e x p e c t e d l y, didn’t bother to much to the suspiupdate these cion of the town ideas into a gossips, and begins modern setting. It to ingratiate himself with Evelyn. As peo- seems unrealistic that the characters inhabple begin to disappear, India is drawn more it a world filled with Hitchcock references and more to her enigma of an uncle, while and southern gothic atmosphere when they undergoing some dark changes herself. also have cell phones. The high school Stoker is the first English-language film India attends is straight out of Grease.

by South Korean director Park Chan- Girls cluster excitedly to oggle Charlie wook, who is known for his bloody revenge when he arrives at the school, and there’s a films, especially the brutal Oldboy. The pack of football jocks that pick on India for film is immaculately beautiful, and the dressing like a twee Victorian. These are shots Park composes are filled with skewed stock characters only included in the narrasouthern gothic gentility and pristine land- tive to emphasize how different India and scapes. The creepiness comes when Park her family are from other people, and it borrows liberally from Hitchcock. The feels fake.

BY LAURA BOLAND Sun Staff Writer

I

COURTESY OF FOX SEARCHLIGHT

Matthew Goode makes an excellent psychopath whose face is as handsome and indifferent as the beige suit Charlie wears to his brother’s funeral. Goode builds a creepy facade that is still mysterious and inviting, but it is ruined when Charlie finally reveals to India why he came back to the family after all these years. The explanation that he gives her and the audience is just so absurd in so many ways that it spoils Charlie’s character, and neither Goode’s acting nor the plot ever recover from the ridiculousness. Nicole Kidman also has to combat a script that doesn’t give her much room for subtlety. The lost and lonely woman who hides behind old wealth, impeccable manners and flawless French is a dying breed, but it seems the cliché will never die. It is a testament to Kidman’s acting abilities that she can slip some real emotion in when the camera gives her the space.

Yet, couched within this melodramatic slasher is a coming of age story that, despite

the cliches, is still engaging. Wasikowska's India spends too much of the earlier parts of the movie trying to be a female Edward Cullen. When the story opens up a bit more and the mysteries she encounters shock her out of her sullenness, India becomes an interesting character to watch.

Her missteps and triumphs are not typical teenage fare, but they still spring from India's growing determination not to be a child. There is one rather heavy-handed scene in which India exchanges saddles shoes, a poor fashion choice that she has maintained for entire life, for a pair of alligator-skin pumps. Apparently, being a grown woman requires you to risk breaking your ankle. Having survived all this, the India that emerges is cool, polished, and self-assured heroine, a satisfying end to an unsatisfying movie.

Laura Boland is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at ljb259@cornell.edu.

Why I Like Men

f last year’s Season Premiere of Mad Men Season Five taught us anything, it was not to look at a season’s first episode to guess what the remaining twelve episodes will be about. The premiere opened up with a civil rights occupation in Sterling Cooper Draper Price’s lobby, setting the attitude for a season’s conversation on race, but with the hiring of a black secretary (Dawn Chambers) for Don and the release of an “equal opportunity employer” ad, that conversation quieted quickly. However, the mind I’ve always trusted to bring me what I believe to be the greatest show of our generation, Matthew Weiner, has promised that the 90-minute premiere, “The Doorway,” is “really constructed like a film” and will “foreshadow the rest of the season.” I believe it. The episode brought in many new themes and created new motifs for each character that Weiner couldn’t possibly introduce then run away from.

We’ll start with Don, of course. We open up the episode to find him looser, tanner and attune to the times (the episode begins with the end of 1967). In Hawaii, he and Megan smoke a joint. When he returns to SCDP, he writes off the ad artist smoking a joint in the office and says, “smells like creativity,” before going on to say of an advertisement containing a pair of square newlyweds, “anything matrimonial feels Paleolithic [these days].” Afterwards, he gives a speech on his notions of love — “love is like a drug. It’s not domestic, it’s electric” — that sounds like an echo of the “free love” mentality that dominated the preceding summer. By the end of

the episode, we find that Don’s love is hardly matrimonial, domestic or reserved for Megan.

For a show in which almost every line is a comment on the sixties, the characters and the times often mirror each other’s motions.

Timothy Leary claimed that the renaissance of the sixties was motivated by Socrates’ motto “Know Thyself”. Likewise, Don seems to be beginning a period of inner exploration. After Roger’s LSD trips last season, it’s Don’s turn to look inward. While being photographed for office promotion, Don looks confused and glances at a lighter he snagged from a GI in Hawaii that reads: “In life we often have to do things that just are not our bag”. Don pauses, loses his thought then the photographer asks Don to pose and says, “I want you to be your-

Henry Staley Politicizing Art self.” The screen goes black and Don’s purpose for the season is stated. With his waning job performance and fantasy of shedding his suit and responsibilities so that he can begin “jumping off” (as displayed in his ad for Royal Hawaiian Hotel), Don seems to either have a sneaking death wish or a dream of dropping out.

Another character speaks fondly of jumping off — the show’s loveable jester, Roger Sterling. This episode, Roger goes to therapy,

loses his mother and throws a fit at the lavish funeral, further proving himself to be the grown-up Anson Hunter of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Rich Boy”. During the funeral, he declares, “This is my funeral!” a statement that, depending on your interpretation either acknowledges his love for his mother or foreshadows his downfall. In one of his analysis sessions, he says that “he has this ‘invisible parachute’” that allows him to drop off; he foresees that “[what he is] going to be doing from now on is losing everything.”

Several minutes after he tells his analyst “I don’t feel anything,” he breaks down and cries at the sight of his late shoe shiner’s shine kit.

Whether he’s feeling a Memento Mori or loss, Roger’s season will be defined by death.

And then there’s the show’s third primary character: history. After returning from his Back Street Girl downstairs, Don picks up The New York Times with a headline, “World Bids Adieu To a Violent Year; City Gets Snowfall.” If closely examined, the paper also has an article on presidential hopeful and segregationist Governor of Alabama, George C. Wallace (noting both the year’s racial unrest and contentious election) next to an article commenting on the US-backed South Vietnamese Government (acknowledging the war and the resulting anti-war movement).

Weiner will have to couple these four themes with the death of MLK Jr. and RFK; the Chicago ’68 Democratic National Convention; the Tet Offensive and the year in which album sales peaked as the musical stage was set for Woodstock.

Weiner has a lot on his hands historically, but it is clear that he has begun to articulate the show’s conclusion. The episode features three utterances of the notion that ‘bad things

PAIGE KOZAK / SUN STAFF ILLUSTRATOR

produce good outcomes.’ Don’s rival (and I predict Peggy’s future love interest) Ted Chaough tells Peggy, “It always takes a crisis to sell work this good”; Don says, “death has to happen for you to go to heaven”; and a heart surgeon remarks, “people will do anything to get rid of anxiety.” Given that the season takes place in 1968, a notoriously ‘bad year’ for America, these statements could portend the show’s characters descent into anxiety, reliefseeking, work or consumption. Instead, I think it ties into Roger’s doorway analogy.

Roger claims that life is just a bunch of doors or bridges leading to the same obstacles that came before. All the characters and America’s optimistic youth believe that the bad will produce the good, change will occur, oppressions will end, but in a show that is about change, Weiner seems to be arguing that at the decade’s end, at the series’ near-end, not much has changed, not much does.

Henry Staley is a freshman in the College of Art, Architecture and Planning. He can be reached at hstaley@cornellsun.com. Politicizing Art appears alternate Fridays this semester.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

10 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Friday, April 12, 2013

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Least ancient 7 Some TVs 11 This second, briefly 14 Forward, to Fiorello 15 City SW of Buffalo 16 Christian sch. since 1963 17 Extra effort 19 Shoofly __ 20 Skittish NBC show?

21 “That’s rich!” evoker 23 Jellied item in British cuisine 25 “Days of Grace” memoirist 26 Relaxed 27 GRE components 30 Doubter’s question 32 Note promising notes 33 Letter-routing letters 36 Big-eared flier of film 40 Take on responsibility 43 Finish 44 It may be spare 45 “Progress through Technology” automaker 46 “Awesome!”

48 Original Speed Stick maker 50 Awesome, in a way 53 Used to be 56 Giant of note 57 It usually involves rapping 60 Rock’s __ Fighters 63 Maker of SteeL kitchen products 64 Filing option, or what can be found in four long answers?

66 Beret, e.g.

67 __ Accords: 1993 agreement 68 Having trouble 69 Charles V’s domain: Abbr.

70 Light submachine gun 71 Forgetful, maybe

DOWN 1 Murphy’s and Godwin’s, for two 2 Shakespeare’s flower?

3 Carving area 4 It’s bigger than the neg.

5 Unwavering 6 Buster Brown’s dog 7 Causes a stink 8 Collide with 9 Where the slain roll?

10 “I __ beautiful city ...”: Dickens 11 Dad 12 Preserves, in a way 13 Editor’s request 18 Genetic letters 22 Prone to snits 24 Grab a sandwich, perhaps 27 65-Down shade 28 Women 29 __ Miguel: Azores island 31 Suffix with ox34 Like many a brisk 45-minute walk 35 General on a menu

37 View from Tokyo 38 Wished 39 Valhalla chief 41 Reuters competitor 42 “I wonder ...”

47 Breakfast cereal magnate 49 With 50-Down, when modern mammals emerged 50 See 49-Down

51 “Brave” studio 52 “Fingers crossed” 54 Bad sentence 55 Round no.

58 Parts of la cara 59 1978 Booker Prize recipient Murdoch 61 Kind of exam 62 “I got it” 65 Darken in a salon

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Sun Sudoku

By Julian Lim (c)2013 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

Doonesbury

Mr. Gnu

Up to My Nipples

Puzzle #4848683766

Fill in the empty cells, one number in each, so that each column, row, and region contains the numbers 1-9 exactly once.

Each number in the solution therefore occurs only once in each of the three “directions,” hence the “single numbers” implied by the puzzle’s name.

(Rules from wikipedia.org/wiki /Sudoku)

The Lawn xwordeditor@aol.com

COMICS AND PUZZLES

by Liz Popolo ’08

We’ll keep you updated as each day blooms

04/12/13

04/12/13

by Garry Trudeau

Travis Dandro

by William Moore ’12 and Jesse Simons grad

The CorneDaily Sun

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Friday, April 12, 2013 11

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“ Cornell University Police Lost & Found Auction with Peggy Haine Friday 04/19/2013 at 7:00Pm Barton Hall – Gymnasium viewing start at 6:30PM. iPod, bicycle, calculators, watch, and more if you would like to see list of items send request to lostandfound@cornell.edu

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12 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Friday, April 12, 2013

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THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Friday, April 12, 2013 13

SPORTS

March Madness Concludes With ‘Ideal’ Game NEWCOMB

Continued from page 16

half, but he was a definite spark in the early goings for the Wolverines.

Despite seeing his team squander a 12point lead to only a one-point advantage heading into halftime, Michigan’s head coach, John Beilein delivered a wonderful and motivating halftime speech to his players. There was no yelling, there was no blaming, there were no chairs thrown. He was encouraging and proud, like a head coach should be of a team in the national championship game. After the game, he continued to praise his players while graciously crediting Louisville’s performance, demonstrating great class.

On the other side — the winning side — is Louisville. The Cardinals were lead by their lone senior player, Peyton Siva. His story is absolutely incredible. Growing up in a troubled neighborhood in Seattle, Siva found an escape through sports from the drug and gang activity surrounding him both at home and at school. Even more

impressive, though, is that as he found his outlet in sports throughout high school, he allowed other friends and teammates to stay at his house on weekends to serve as a safehouse to help others avoid drugs and gang activity.

He turned out an incredible championship game, which was topped off by a backdoor dunk with 6:25 remaining to seemingly put the game away. As Stacey King would say, “Big time players make big time plays.”

Luke Hancock, the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, comes off of Louisville’s bench. That’s right. He’s not even a starter. He completely took over the game at a point when Michigan held a 12point lead with three minutes remaining in the first half after draining a three point field goal. He went on to score 14 straight points to finish out the first half and give Louisville the energy they needed to start the second half. He played 30 minutes in the game and scored 22 points.

Finally, on the Louisville side, I’d like to mention Kevin Ware. He snapped his tibia

in the regional championship game against Duke in what was undoubtedly one of the most gruesome sports injuries I have ever seen. Thanks to the horrors of the Internet, people have been able to slow down the replay enough to capture a shot of his leg bent at a 90 degree angle just before snapping. The most gross.

I understand that this is not an unheard of occurrence, but unlike football, where pads help to hide some of the more traumatic injuries, Ware’s leg seemingly broke in half. Players started crying, passing out and throwing up. That’s not a normal event.

So, the fact that Ware was able to attend Monday night’s game after a successful surgery to motivate his team was an uplifting story. Despite his crutches, the net was lowered so that Ware could make the final cut to bring down the championship net. A true storybook ending to the game.

Overall, this was an incredibly fascinating game to watch. From the individual storylines to the momentum shifts in the game itself, it was ideal. It was a perfect

w

w w.c o r ne l l s u n.c om

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championship game, in my opinion (minus the refs, but that is to be expected).

Finally, one last element of perfection to this championship game, and it’s almost too perfect to even share: the winning entry on ESPN’s Tournament Challenge — which had 8.15 million entries this year — was composed by a gentleman named Craig Gilmore. The name of his bracket? Lennay Kekua’s Entry. Per my column earlier this semester, “Notre Shame,” you should know that this is the name of the fictitious girlfriend of Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o.

Mr. Gilmore, you have done a wonderful thing. As D.J. Gallo of ESPN said, “I feel like I’ve now been alive to witness a human achievement as triumphant as Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. Thank you, Mr. Gilmore. And thank you, too, Ms. Kekua; your fiction made this reality possible.”

All around, this NCAA tournament was truly one for the ages.

Annie Newcomb can be reached at anewcomb@cornellsun.com.

14 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Friday, April 12, 2013

SPORTS

Red Heads to Bucknell For Next Competition TRACK & FIELD

Continued from page 16

Roig winning the 400m and senior J. D. Adarquah winning the 100m.

With a little over three weeks remaining before the outdoor Heps finals hosted by Princeton, both the men and women’s teams are heading to the Bucknell Invite this weekend. The men’s team is also sending a smaller squad to compete at George Mason.

“This Bucknell meet is going to be exciting,” Bowman said. “It’s usually one of our highlight meets. We’ve got our whole team competing. We’ll see some really good teams — there’ll be probably eight to 10 really good teams there.”

Taylor said that as the season progresses, the men’s team looks to compete against stronger competition to prepare for the championship part of the season.

“It’s a bigger meet,” he said. “All of the stuff we do during the regular season is designed to build towards the Heps and the rest of the championship part of the season. I think some of the events will be really competitive. The men are sending a team of about a dozen to George Mason to see some different competition. We’re looking for a little bit more competition all of the time.”

Bowman also said he and his staff tell the athletes that the season is about development.

“The whole season is a process,” he said. “If they follow the process, they’ll arrive at the end successfully. It would help a lot if we could be outdoors more often, but we’re happy to have Barton Hall.”

Taylor added that upcoming meet will help the team prepare for the championship portion of the season. “[The Bucknell Invite] turns up the heat a little bit,” he said. “It turns up the focus and the competition. For us, going against better and better teams gives us a better sense of the possibilities of what we can do.”

Juan Carlos Toledo can be reached at jtoledo@cornellsun.com.

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THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Friday, April 12, 2013 15

SPORTS

SOFTBALL

Red Heads to Columbia For Four-Game Series

By SCOTT ECKL Sun Staff Writer

The Cornell softball team will take its talents to the Big Apple this weekend for a four-game series against rival Columbia. The Red (14-16, 4-4) will play back-toback doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday in a pivotal matchup of Southern Division teams. The Lions (15-16, 4-4) are tied with Cornell at the bottom of the division, looking up to Penn at 7-1.

“This series against Columbia is very important for our stance in the Southern Division,” senior catcher Kristen Towne said. “We didn’t do as well as we hoped against the North Division, so we have some ground to make up in the South.”

Against a mediocre North Division (Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, Brown), the Red only managed a .500 record. The top team in that division is Dartmouth, although the Green actually has a worse record overall than the Red. Cornell begins its play against the South division Saturday.

Kristen Towne “Going into this series, we’re trying to take it one game at a time instead of looking at the whole weekend,” Towne said. “Each person needs to perform when they have a chance, so we’re just focusing on taking each opportunity as it comes.”

Cornell will enter play having not competed since its five-inning, 11-2, loss to Harvard last week. The team had two scheduled games at Syracuse this week, but was not able to play due to inclement weather.

“Against Columbia, we need to focus on letting up as few runs as possible and making our defensive game as tight as possible,” Towne said. “We have been hitting well, but our losses have come from mental lapses on defense and not getting the job done there.”

Towne’s emphasis on the team’s mentality during games reflects the way the season has gone for Cornell. The team is second in the Ivy League in batting average with 0.308 and second in runs with 147, but it has the second-worst ERA in the league at 4.78 and just the fifth ranked defense with a .960 fielding percentage.

Columbia, on the other hand, is second-best among Ivy League teams in ERA at 2.62. The Lions are also just behind Cornell for team batting and have the second worst defense with a .952 fielding percentage.

“We’re just focusing on taking each opportunity as it comes.”

TINA CHOU / SUN FILE PHOTO

Brain game | Catcher Kristen Towne attributes part of the Red’s struggles this season to mental lapses.

Although the Red ranks second in the Ivy League in batting average and runs, it has the second-worst ERA.

Scott Eckl can be reached at seckl@cornellsun.com.

EQUESTRIAN

Meyer’16 Qualifies for Nationals With First-Place Zones Finish

By ARIEL COOPER Sun Assistant Sports Editor

As the equestrian team’s post-season begins to wind down, one rider is still in the running for a national title, as freshman Meridith Meyer is moving on to nationals after receiving a blue ribbon in open flat.

The Red sent four riders to the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association’s Zone Finals this weekend. Although the Red did not make it to zones as a team, four riders had strong results at regionals and were able to advance. In addition to her first place finish in open flat, Meyers placed eighth in open fences. Sophomores Madeleine Breen and Georgiana de Rham placed fifth in novice flat and open fences respectively, while junior Amanda Sevcik came in sixth place for novice fences.

“I feel extremely blessed to have made it all the way to IHSA Nationals as a freshman,” Meyer said. “It is a once-ina-lifetime opportunity to go to Nationals and I am so excited to have made it.”

Last year, Zone Finals was held at Skidmore. The Thoroughbreds are a highly competitive team and formerly the Red’s biggest regional rival until the ISHA restructured the regions about two years ago. This year, the competition was hosted at C.W. Post’s North Shore Equestrian Center.

The Long Island barn is one that most of the upstate N.Y. schools are largely unfamiliar with.

“It was really great,” head coach Todd Karn said of the facility. “The ring was beautiful. ... The ring was big, [and] the courses were really really nice. I thought it was interesting because all the schools ended up there not knowing the horses really, and it made everything pretty fair, I thought.”

In the ISHA, the teams use the horses provided to them by the host school rather than transporting their own horses to every competition. As a result, the host school usually has the advantage of competing on the horses that they normally practice on.

Like Meyer, de Rham also made it to nationals as a freshman. Despite the fact that she was unable to repeat last year’s performance, de Rham said she was still pleased with her ride.

“I got really positive feedback from Todd which is what matters to me,” she said. “I think Todd was surprised with

where I placed in the class, but I am content with it. ...

Riding is such a humbling pursuit. Honestly, I was quite nervous, and I am glad I kept my head together and put in a solid round. I am happy with how I rode.”

Since equitation is such a subjective sport, it can be very difficult to determine the winner of each competition. Karn, who has years of experience both competing in and judging horse shows himself, said an extra judge may improve the quality of the results.

“I’ve actually suggested in the future that with such a subjective [sport] like equitation where it’s just one person’s opinion and [with] the zones [competition] being so important ... that they have two judges and do an average [of their scores],” he said.

Although the riders were all competing as individuals, team spirit remained strong both before and during the show.

“Even though noncollegiate riding is an ‘individual’ sport, in reality, all equestrian competition at any level involves a team effort — the preparation involved in getting horse and rider to the ring includes and relies upon numerous individuals,” de Rham said. “For Zones, I relied not only on the other Zone qualifiers but on the other girls who came to help with chores at our smaller practices, our captains who supported us, [sophomore] Mary Beth [Hannon], [sophomore] Sofia [Steinberger], [freshman] Jennifer [Slaughter] who came to watch and the barn crew at the Oxley who encouraged us; the list goes on and on.”

There is one last team competition left for the Red. Each year, the Ivy League holds a horse show exclusively for the eight Ivy League colleges. Last year, Cornell placed second behind rival Brown. The show is the final opportunity for most of the riders to compete this season. A total of 23 girls are competing and 25 are making the trip to Hanover, N.H., for the competition, which will be hosted by Dartmouth.

Brown and Dartmouth are typically Cornell’s biggest competitors at Ivies.

“A lot of people are going, but there are three or four that are going but not competing because they’re girls that we added at the middle of the year, and we want them to go and use this as an opportunity to see a show before next season when they might have to compete,” senior tri-captain Emily Kowalchik said.

The team is ready to go and is hoping to bring the Ivy League trophy back home to Ithaca.

“We haven’t really let off the gas pedal since the regular season shows stopped. We’ve been continuing to practice and get ready,” Kowalchik said. “We’re really ready to take back the trophy this year.”

Ariel Cooper can be reached at acooper@cornellsun.com.

ESTHER HOFFMAN / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

In the zone | The four riders representing the Red at Zones finished strongly, although freshman Meridith Meyer was the only rider to advance.

Sports

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

FRIDAY APRIL 12, 2013

16

MEN’S LACROSSE

Laxers Fall to Syracuse After Late Orange Offensive Surge

By SKYLER DALE Sun Staff Writer

With just 22 seconds remaining in a game that had gone back and forth for nearly 60 minutes, Cornell senior midfielder Connor English beat his defender, drew back his stick and fired the ball at the Syracuse goal — only to have the shot deflect off the cross-bar, preventing the Red from tying up the match and ending Wednesday’s game in a 1312 loss to the Orange.

No. 2 Cornell (10-2, 4-0 Ivy) entered the contest on a four-game winning streak that included successes over Ivy League rivals Harvard, Penn and Dartmouth.

Wednesday’s game against No. 8 Syracuse began in Cornell’s favor with an assisted goal by Max Van Bourgondien, followed by goals from Steve Mock, John Hogan and Connor Buczek, each assisted by redshirt senior attackman Rob Pannell.

After the Red’s strong start, the Orange responded by scoring four of the next six goals to cut the Red’s lead in half at the end of the first quarter, 6-4.

According to Pannell, the Red missed the chance to secure a comfortable lead.

“We had a number of opportunities both offensively and defensively ... to put Syracuse away and extend our lead to four or five goals,” he said. “But [we] didn’t capitalize and allowed Syracuse to hang around.”

The Red had another chance to jump out to a big lead with three straight goals — two at the end of the second and one in the beginning of the third from Buczek — to give the Red a 9-6 advantage.

The Red was again unable to contain a Syracuse comeback, however, and by the end of the third, the

Cornell lead was down to just one.

The Orange took its first lead with just over six minutes left in the fourth period and then extended that lead to two goals with five minutes to play.

The Red fought back with an unassisted goal from English to cut the lead to 13-12, but was unable to score for the next four minutes and suffered its second defeat of the season when English’s shot to tie the game fell short.

“Connor had a good match up and we couldn’t have asked for a better look at the cage, but sometimes the ball just doesn’t bounce your way,” Pannell said. “That one play doesn’t determine the outcome of the game, though.”

The Red defense, which allows just eight goals a game, was unable to hold Syracuse’s offensive ability and prowess at the midfielder position.

“I think our defense was lacking tonight in a major way,” head coach Ben DeLuca said in a statement after the game. “We had a lot of unforced errors on our end and Syracuse — like all good teams do — took advantage.”

Despite the loss, the Red sits atop the Ivy League, and, according to Pannell, the team can use the game as a learning experience moving forward.

“We learned that we can be as good as we want to be or bad as we want to be, and that we are our own worst enemy,” he said. “We lost ourselves that game by making a number of mistakes. [We] need to learn from them and limit them as we move forward in facing a tough opponent in Brown next Saturday.”

MICHELLE FELDMAN / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Skyler Dale can be reached at sdale@cornellsun.com.

Still on top | Although the Red suffered its second loss of the season Wednesday, the team remains in first place in the Ivy League.

TRACK AND FIELD

Oxford, Cambridge Challenge Red

By JUAN CARLOS TOLEDO Sun Staff Writer

The Red was back in action this past weekend,

hosting athletes from Oxford, Cambridge and Penn as part of the traditional Transatlantic Series between these schools.

ENOCH NEWKIRK / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

American spear-it | Wins such as Victoria Imbesi’s in the javelin helped propel the American women to a 15-4 victory.

The Red teamed up with Woolley won the 400m Penn to take on the Brits hurdles in a time of 61.67. at the Robert J. Kane Men’s head coach Sports Complex, and the Nathan Taylor said he was combined American team pleased with the match, came out victorious on commenting on the degree both sides, with a 15-4 of competitiveness he saw victory for the women from his team. and 14-5 win for the “In general, I thought men. there were a lot of great W o individual men’s head perfor“Anytime in the Ivy c o a c h mances,” League when you talk he R i c h said. “I about traditions, it gets w a s Bowman noted how people more excited.” p l e a s e d easy it was with how Rich Bowman to get his competiteam excittive everyed to compete in this meet. one was in the face of less “Anytime in the Ivy than ideal weather. It was League when you can talk great. It was nice to see about traditions, it gets [junior] Peter Roach do people more excited,” he well.” said. “This is part of our Roach, who sat out the history. They were ready to indoor season with a high go; they were excited for it.” ankle sprain, won the pole Senior co-captain vault clearing 16’8.75.”

Victoria Imbesi was one of Also performing well for the top performers, netting the Red was junior three events wins in the Montez Blair, who took shotput, javelin and discus. the high jump clearing Freshman Claire DeVoe 7’.25,” junior Steven Bell won the 3K steeplechase in with a win in the long jump, 10:31.51, junior senior Bruno HortelanoEbolutalese Airewele won the 200m in a time of See TRACK & FIELD page 14 24.80 and junior Ryan

One for the Ages

T

his year’s NCAA tournament was one full of surprises, as it is almost every year (with the exception being 2008, in which all the #1 seeds made the Final Four, which no one predicted anyway because it never happens).

In a fitting end to an exciting season, this year’s championship game between Louisville and Michigan did not disappoint. For the first time in a long time, I was not cheering against a team that I hate, which was a wonderful relief. Yes, I’m looking at you, Kentucky.

Annie Newcomb Sucks to Suck I wanted to touch on a few of the elements that contributed to the overall story of this year’s championship game. While any of these individuals merit their own column, I will merely make you aware of their excellence to encourage further investigation.

I’ll start with the team that was not the victor, Michigan. Sadly, this was not the year that the Big Ten would win its first championship since the Michigan State Spartans won it all back in 2000.

However, there were still some positive aspects to relish in their loss.

First and foremost, Spike Albrecht. Incredible name, and incredible first half for this freshman. He seemingly came out of nowhere to score 17 points in the first 20 minutes and help catapult Michigan to their early lead in this game after coming off the bench. Unfortunately, he went cold in the second See NEWCOMB page 13