09-06-12

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The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 129, No. 13

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

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Court: WCMC Beer Flows in Straight as Pub Opens Lied About AIDS Grant

By SYLVIA RUSNAK

Sun Staff Writer

By JEFF STEIN Sun Managing Editor

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College cheated the federal government by misusing, and then lying about, funding intended for HIV/AIDS research, three federal appeals court justices said in a unanimous ruling issued Wednesday.

The University is ordered to pay $855,714 in damages. Coupled with mandated legal fees, Weill could pay more than $1.7 million, said Michael Salmanson, the lawyer for plaintiff Dr. Daniel Feldman.

Feldman, a former Cornell fellow, brought the suit against the University under the False Claims Act. Feldman said that while at a program funded by the National Institute of Health, he and other fellows spent less than half of their research time devoted to studying HIV/AIDS and instead often worked on “medicolegal” cases referred by insurance companies or attorneys in litigation.

Weill’s grant application for the program stated that “‘the majority of [the fellows’] clinical work will be with persons with HIV infection,’” according to Wednesday’s ruling. But, as the court’s decision continues, only three of the 163 patients seen by the fellows were HIV-positive.

“Several fellows testified that much of the research that they performed under the grant program had no relation to HIV or AIDS at all,” the appeal’s court ruling states.

Feldman produced evidence of several wrongdoings — from misappropriating funds to misleading federal officials See WEILL page 5

After two years of planning and waiting for a liquor license, the new student pub, located in the Ivy Room in Willard Straight Hall, opened Wednesday, drawing dozens of excited students.

Operating under a temporary license provided by Cornell Catering, the Bear’s Den offered both wellknown labels, such as Heineken, Michelob and Amstel Lite, and local brews, such as Big Red Ale. “My hope is that it gets used as much as possible,” said Rob Callahan ’14, pub director of the Student Union Board. “I think you’re going to get a different kind of person that comes in here on a Friday night as opposed to going to Collegetown … We’re trying to appeal to the people, who are both 21 and not 21, who

are looking for stuff to do at night.”

Both undergraduate and graduate students who came to the pub’s opening said they were looking forward

to using the space to catch up with friends after work and to relax after classes.

Some also said the Bear’s Den will be a good place for 21-year-olds to spend time

By JACOB GLICK

When the University begins construction on its NYCTech Campus on Roosevelt Island, buildings are not the only new infrastruc-

KELLY YANG / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

at the Bear’s Den pub on its opening night Wednesday in Willard Straight Hall’s Ivy Room.

ture New York City will have to support.

The city is currently conducting a review of Roosevelt Island, the two-mile long landmass situated in New York City’s East River to analyze the environmental

impact of the tech campus, as well as to determine whether there will be adequate transportation to and from the campus, according to tech campus Vice President Cathy Dove.

Roosevelt Island, which has a population of 12,000 people, lies under the Queensboro Bridge and is connected to Manhattan’s mainland by the See TECH page 5

Rooker’09 Leaves City Abruptly

By CHRISTINA NIANIANTUS

When Rooker was elected to the council in 2009, some worried he would follow in the footsteps of his After serving the City of Ithaca for predecessor, Dave Gelinas ’07. After nearly three years, Alderperson Eddie two years representing the 4th Ward Rooker ’09 (D-4th Ward) attended — which includes West Campus, his final Common Council meeting Cascadilla Park and most of Wednesday night. Rooker recently Collegetown — Gelinas stepped announced down from that he would “Career-wise and academically, NYU his post. resign from his At the position on [Law] was a better option.” time, howthe Common Eddie Rooker ’09 e v e r , Council to Rooker attend law rejected his school at New York University. comparison to Gelinas.

Rooker was set to attend Cornell “I don’t have any long term plans Law School this year after being wait- outside being a councilor,” Rooker listed at NYU. But after he was told The Sun in 2009, adding that accepted off of the waitlist, Rooker while some in the past “may have decided to cut his final term on the viewed this position as something to Common Council short. have … I see it as a way to make an “I talked with my academic advi- impact in the community.” sors and people on the city council Now, Rooker is two weeks into his about my options and decided that career-wise and academically, NYU was a better option,” Rooker said.

See ROOKER page 4 Sun Staff Writer

SHAILEE SHAH / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu | Alderperson Eddie Rooker ’09 at his last Common Council meeting.

See PUB page 4

Bottoms up | Anisha Chopra ’13, John Mueller ’13 and Adam Gitlin ’13 drink and socialize

C.U.Tech Campus Found Home; Now,Debating How to Get There Sun Staff Writer

in the evening with their underage peers.

“I feel like when I turn 21, this will be a great place to

News Body Art

Acute Style, a salon in Collegetown, adds tattoo artistry to its menu of cosmetic services to become more competitive. | Page 3

Opinion We Are Young (and Stupid) Christo Eliot ’15 encourages students to enjoy the final four years in which acting “young and stupid” is acceptable.

| Page 7

Dining Southwest Flare

Jared Lifton ’14 gives high praise to Agava, a restaurant with a southwestern-inspired menu opened by the owner of Collegetown Bagels. | Page 8

Arts Low Marks

James Rainis ’14 is a tough critic, giving Animal Collective’s new album, Centipede Hz, a grade of C+. | Page 9

Sports Musical Hoops

Juan Carlos Toledo ’14 compares some of the most prominent teams in the NBA to famous musical groups. | Page 16

Weather Thunderstorms HIGH: 82 LOW: 63

2 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, September 6, 2012

Today

DAYBOOK

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Daybook

Today

The sun is a morning person, you know.

Docent and Volunteer Opportunities at the Johnson Museum 10 a.m. - Noon, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art

Every day while all the other stars

The Origin of Retrograde Hot Jupiters 4 - 5 p.m., 105 Space Sciences Building

are sipping coffee, coughing, moving slow,

Dilmun Hill Work Party 4 - 6 p.m., Dilmun Hill Student Farm

and the moon is waltzing in from late-night bars, he yells across the clouds in red and pink,

Truman Scholarship Session 4:35 p.m., 103 Barnes Hall

"It's morning! I'm here! Wake up sleepy heads!"

America’s Global Competitiveness: Challenges and Opportunities for the Future 4:45 - 5:45 p.m., 233 Plant Sciences Building

The other stars just blink their eyes and think, "Really? Again?" and crawl back in their beds.

Tomorrow

He would make an awful roommate mornings,

Public Reading by Gary Shteyngart 3 - 4:30 p.m., Schwartz Auditorium, Rockefeller Hall

I mean talk about overdoing things.

Bringing Creative Spaces Into Your Science and Research 3 - 4:30 p.m., C2-537 Clinical Programs Center

— Adam Gianforte ʼ15

Dining with Diverse Minds: My Suicide Attempt and Road to Recovery 5:30 - 7:30 p.m., Memorial Room, Willard Straight Hall

cornellians write verse

An Evening With Nate Shinagawa and the Cornell Democrats 7 p.m., 165 McGraw Hall Mad Men at the Museum 8 - 11 p.m., Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art

Students may send poetry submissions to news@cornellsun.com.

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THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, September 6, 2012 3

NEWS

New Tattoo Parlor First in C-Town

Song circle

By TAJWAR MAZHAR Sun Staff Writer

In order to help differentiate itself from other Collegetown salons, Acute Style is now offering tattoos at its Dryden Road locale. The full-service, unisex salon, which provides waxing and hairstyling, is working to compete with the more than four other salons on Dryden alone.

The salon’s owner, Michelle Green, said she hopes that the addition of tattoos and body piercings to the menu of services will draw a larger crowd to the salon, which is located at 147 Dryden Rd. Green said business at Acute Style has been slow, particularly with so few students around during the summer.

“We might get 15 to 20 customers on a very good day.

We’re hoping that changes soon,” Green said. “Students keep coming in and inquiring about tattoos, so we hope it picks up. I think there is a market out there, but it’s not everyone.”

Kenny Smelser, Acute Style’s first and only tattoo artist, has been tattooing for the past 10 years, working in parlors from Rochester, N.Y., to Louisiana.

Since the tattoo parlor opened in July, Smelser has completed tattoos on five customers. He said he has created designs ranging from human hands to shipwrecks to peacocks.

Smelser draws his tattoos freehand, and his skilled portraits display a talent that initially enticed Green to employ him at Acute Style, Green said. She described him as “artistically gifted.”

KELLY YANG / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The Cornell Glee Club and Chorus sing on Ho Plaza on Wednesday in between their rehearsals in Sage Chapel.

Smelser said he enjoys the atmosphere of working in a salon compared to working at a tattoo parlor.

“All the tattoos were [done] in barber shops when they were starting out in America along the Bowery in New York in the 1920s,” Smelser said. “To me that’s kind of cool. A lot of people look at it as kind of different. I think it’s like going back to the roots.”

The average cost of a tattoo is about $40, Smelser said — or about $35 for each hour it takes him to complete the tattoo.

“I work fast and like to give people a deal. The reason I’ve started tattooing is to do good work on people,” he said.

While there are about 20 tattoo artists in downtown Ithaca, Smelser said he believes that Acute Style offers a better deal for college students.

“We’re charging a fair price,” he said. “I believe that if we treat people well, they’ll come back.”

Tajwar Mazhar can be reached at tmazhar@cornellsun.com.

Students’ Stories Many boats, bouys and barnacles later, Hilmer’s ’13 passion for the marine environment lives on

By REBECCA FRIEDMAN Sun Staff Writer

When Alexa Hilmer ’13 was 15 years old, she boarded a public bus to Provincetown, Mass., and road it all the way to the end. At the edge of the old artist town, amid fishing boats and shipping boats, sailboats and charter boats, she found her way aboard a whale watch boat — and into a world that has captivated her imagination ever since.

Hilmer, who still had braces at the time, began working as a volunteer on the 100-ton ship, scouring the northeast shoreline for HILMER ’13 m a j e s t i c whales.

“I was the nerdiest thing with all of these salty sea captains,” she said. “But I fell in love with it.”

The next summer, Hilmer was hired to work on the boat. Living at times with sailors, street performers and other “misfits,” she then spent several summers in Provincetown, despite being from Orleans, Mass.

At 19, she lived with five people in a one-room studio, “a chaos of futons and air mattresses,” she said. One summer, she added, “I was on the water more than I was on the land.”

Hilmer is now a Biological Sciences major with a concentration in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a Marine Biology minor, a stuffy title that she said belies her underlying love of a certain large water mammal. “[My major] sounds super pretentious, but I promise it’s

just a fun way of saying that I like whales,” she said.

“Like,” however, may be a bit of an understatement.

Hilmer’s room is adorned almost entirely with whale-related paraphernalia — magazine collages, photos, stickers. She can tell you that the blue whale is bigger than any dinosaur that ever lived, and that whales spend just 10 percent of their time on the surface of the water.

Her fascination dates back to a family trip to Sea World in Florida and the release of Free Willy, which Hilmer said lured her toward marine biology.

“I fell in love with the whole marine environment and never went back,” she said. “I’m sure my parents thought it was a phase that I would eventually grow out of … And then I didn’t.”

The interest developed quickly into a fantasy.

“I wanted to be the person to figure out how to talk to whales, and I wanted to be the person to figure out what they were doing underneath the ocean and how they were socializing,” she said.

But whether she would be able to pursue this passion at Cornell was not always ensured.

Hilmer worked hard to write letters and apply for scholarships so that her parents do not have to pay at all for her college education. She said her parents are supportive if she ever needs financial assistance, but that she hates asking them for help.

“I like doing it on my own because I’ve sort of been doing it on my own since I was 15,” she said. “I’m used to it and I like maintaining that sense of independence.”

She credited her fellow crewmembers for shaping her maturity and pushing her to continue pursuing studies in

Know someone remarkable? Send your suggestion to managing-editor@cornellsun.com

the sciences.

“They were really proud of me for going to college,” she said, “because a lot of them never went.”

Hilmer currently works with the Elephant Listening Project at Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology as an undergraduate sound analyst, helping with social media and outreach.

Additionally, Hilmer is involved with the Cornell Institute of Biology Teachers, where she makes educational materials for biology teachers in the upstate New York area.

Hilmer said she will often return from the library after most of her friends have already left to go out, but loves to hang out with them in the kitchen when they return, making them food and hearing their stories.

“I’m a big proponent of French toast at 3 a.m., or quesadillas,” she said.

Andrew Simon ’13, a friend and current housemate of Hilmer’s, described her as a mother-like figure to her friends.

“She cleans up our messes, both literally and figuratively,” Simon said.

“And she does it because of a genuine desire to make those around her happy.”

When discussing post-graduate plans, Hilmer said she plans on attending graduate school at some point.

But after four years of being “wrapped up in academic mode” at Cornell, she said she is ready to go back to being a crewmember.

“I kind of just want to find another boat again and go travel around on it,” she said.

Rebecca Friedman can be reached at rfriedman@cornellsun.com.

CHRISTIAN KARAKACHIAN / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Ahoy, matey | Alexa Hilmer ’13 shows off the whale-themed paraphenalia that has adorned each of her rooms at Cornell, including souvenirs she has collected on her travels.

4 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, September 6, 2012

NEWS

Ithaca Common Council Reflects on Tenure of Rooker ’09 ROOKER

Continued from page 1

fall term at NYU and his dueling commitments in New York City and Ithaca have not affected his job performance, according to fellow council member Ellen McCollister (D-3rd Ward).

“He hasn’t missed a meeting and he’s been fully on top of all his council responsibilities to date. That has been a total non-issue,” McCollister said. “His replacement is a different issue.”

This responsibility falls on the 4th Ward’s Democratic Committee, she said.

Council member Graham Kerslick (D-4th Ward) said that the committee, which includes Kerslick and City of Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick ’09, has met and begun the process of searching for interested candidates, Kerslick said.

The Democratic Committee will appoint an interim representative to fill Rooker’s position until elections in November. “I won’t say we’ve endorsed anyone in particular because we haven’t considered the candidates

yet,” Kerslick said. “But I will say we’ve had interest from a number of people.”

Many in the Cornell community hoped Rooker’s election in 2009 would mean greater representation on the Common Council for students living in Collegetown. According to Kerslick, Rooker used his close ties with the University and various community groups to accomplish that goal.

Both Rooker and Graham were adamant in pushing for the creation of a group now known as the Collegetown Neighborhood Council. The council was the result of collaboration between Rooker, Graham and the Student Assembly after students in Collegetown requested a forum at which to voice their questions and concerns to city officials, Kerslick said.

“One of the challenges we face is that students are only here for one or two years, and it’s difficult to make good progress in that time,” he said. “So it’s great to have an ongoing organization that will hopefully contribute to significant change.”

Rooker cited securing the installation of nets under the bridges on Cornell’s campus as another achieve-

ment that was important to him during his tenure on the Common Council.

“This is something that they have been talking about for years, decades even,” Rooker said. “I was at Cornell when we had the cluster of suicides and had the opportunity to weigh in ... I’m excited to see that project moving forward.”

At the Common Council meeting Wednesday, council members voiced their appreciation for Rooker and the work he has done over the past three years.

“It was really fun getting to know [Rooker] and realizing how smart and low key he is — but with a wicked sense of humor,” McCollister said.

Rooker said he will proudly reflect on the things he has accomplished during his time in Ithaca.

“There’s too many things to name over my time here that I will think back on and feel very proud about,” Rooker said. “I will definitely be coming back to Ithaca as much as possible because I’m going to miss it.”

Christina Nianiantus can be reached at cnianiantus@cornellsun.com.

Some Students‘Underwhelmed’ by Bear’s Den Grand Opening PUB

Continued from page 1

catch a beer after dinner, or after classes,” Gregory Braciak ’14 said. “But until then I can still come with my friends who are 21 even when they’re drinking.”

Although the local draught beer and the assortment of beverages caught the attention of many students, others said space in the room that was allotted to the bar was too small.

Braciak added that he found the use of the venue “underwhelming.”

“In my mind, I kind of envisioned a whole bar,” he said. “But with the space

they were provided, I think they did a good job.”

Some students also said Wednesday that they were taken aback that their state IDs were scanned and entered into a database upon entering the pub.

Christine Bakewell ’13 said the ID system may discourage her from returning to the Bear’s Den in the future.

“The school has all of our IDs on file now,” she said. “It just struck me as weird.

I wouldn’t have come if I had known that.”

Stephanie Ellis, dining manager of the Ivy Room and the Bear’s Den, said that the pub scans the front of a student’s state

ID as a safety precaution and records the date and time each student entered the pub. “[The time stamp] does stay in our records, just, for instance, if something were to happen off-campus,” she said.

“So, if [students] were to leave, it does state when they were here and the date they were here.”

The system also ensures that each ID is scanned only once, to prevent students from passing their IDs to friends to use to get a wristband that allows them to purchase alcoholic beverages, Ellis said.

Ellis said the information obtained by the scanner would not be used for any

other purpose.

“It’s nothing bad, it’s just more or less for safety, for double checking of the IDs,” she said. “It’s not like it’s going to the Cornell police or anything. It’s for us.”

Despite gripes over ID scanning and a lack of pub-style food, Bansal said that for the pub’s first night, organizers pulled together an enjoyable evening for students who attended.

“I’m excited to see where they take it,” Bansal said while enjoying a beer.

Sylvia Rusnak can be reached at srusnak@cornellsun.com.

PLEASE RECYCLE PAPER • GLASS • PLASTIC • CARDBOARD • ALUMINUM

NEWS

Schumer Proposes ‘Nerd Bus’ TECH

Continued from page 1

Roosevelt Island Bridge.

“One of the reasons we are so excited about the Roosevelt Island site is its great connectivity to the rest of New York City,” Dove said. “There are a number of modes of transportation that can be used to reach [the campus].”

At least one prominent New Yorker, Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), has advocated the expansion of public transportation around the NYCTech Campus.

This summer, Schumer called on the Metropolitan Transit Authority to improve access between CornellNYC Tech and New York’s tech centers with new public bus routes that he dubbed the “Nerd Bus.” According to a press release issued by Schumer’s office, the senator supports the creation of an express route that would service important points in the New York City technology sector, including neighborhoods in downtown Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Long Island City and Roosevelt Island.

This proposed expansion would create a “tech highway” between students at CornellNYC Tech and technology professionals in the city, according to Schumer’s office.

“You don’t need a Ph.D. to know that connecting these neighborhoods through a ‘Nerd Bus’ is a no-brainer. The only thing separating these neighborhoods in New York City is a lack of transit connections,” Schumer said in a statement. “We need a high-speed rapid transit connection between Roosevelt Island and the Brooklyn Tech Triangle,

with stops at new hubs like Long Island City and the Navy Yard, and residential areas in Greenpoint and Williamsburg.”

Dove detailed a number of options offered by New York City’s MTA to reach the Roosevelt Island campus aside from the use of cars and buses over the Roosevelt Island Bridge.

She pointed out that the F subway train, which runs through New York’s own tech sectors in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens has a stop on Roosevelt Island, enabling easy traffic between students enrolled at NYCTech and their professional counterparts throughout the city.

In addition to the subway, there is a tram that provides direct access from Roosevelt Island to the East side of Manhattan. The tram, along with the F train and the Q102 bus line that passes through Roosevelt Island, can be paid for with a MetroCard — an electronic payment method used for public transportation in the city.

While Dove maintained that there “are a number of great transportation options now,” she also acknowledged that there has been a push to increase public transportation in the area before the tech campus.

“Long before Cornell was selected to construct the applied sciences campus, there has been discussion of extending the East River ferry service to Roosevelt Island,” she said.

Residents of Roosevelt Island have also advocated an additional subway line, as well as a pedestrian and bike elevator off of the Queensboro bridge, Dove said.

Jacob Glick can be reached at jglick@cornellsun.com.

WCMC Admins Defend Program WEILL

Continued from page 1

— that the three justices found credible.

“Several core courses identified in the application were not regularly conducted for fellows, and fellows were not informed that these courses were a required component of the program.

Moreover ... fellows were never evaluated or supervised by the training committee referred to in the grant application,” the ruling states.

In 2010, a lower, district court ruled that Weill and Dr. Wilfred van Gorp — who ran the program

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, September 6, 2012 5

but no longer works at WCMC — falsified claims on three separate occasions from 2001 to 2003.

Cornell appealed the ruling.

“There were some serious mistakes made during the course of the trial, and we continue to believe that this was an excellent training program that did exactly what it was supposed to do,” James Kahn, deputy counsel for WCMC, told The Sun in April 2011.

The appeals justices with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, apparently, disagreed.

Denying the medical college’s appeal,

the justices affirmed both the lower court’s findings and its reasoning.

Neither a representative from Weill nor one from the University returned a request for comment late Wednesday night.

The case could still go to the Supreme Court, though Salmanson said he believes this is unlikely.

“Frankly I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said.

“They’ve been ruled against since 2003.

It’s been nine years.

Today, we were elated.”

Jeff Stein can be reached at jstein@cornellsun.com.

more fun than gooo!

The CorneDaily Sun

A Memorial Service for

Krista Depew ’15 will be held on Monday 10 September 2012 5:00 p.m.

Sage Chapel

OPINION

The Corne¬ Daily Sun Independent Since 1880 130TH EDITORIAL BOARD JUAN FORRER ’13 Editor in Chief

HELENE BEAUCHEMIN ’13

JEFF STEIN ’13

Business Manager

Managing Editor

RUBY PERLMUTTER ’13

JAMES CRITELLI ’13

Associate Editor

Advertising Manager

LAUREN A. RITTER ’13

JOSEPH STAEHLE ’13

Sports Editor

Web Editor

ANN NEWCOMB ’13

ESTHER HOFFMAN ’13

Design Editor

Photography Editor

ELIZA LaJOIE ’13

BRYAN CHAN ’15

ZACHARY ZAHOS ’15

DAVEEN KOH ’14

Multimedia Editor

Blogs Editor

Arts & Entertainment Editor

Arts & Entertainment Editor

ELIZABETH CAMUTI ’14

KATHARINE CLOSE ’14

City Editor

News Editor

AKANE OTANI ’14

REBECCA HARRIS ’14

News Editor

News Editor

ELIZABETH PROEHL ’13

DANIELLE B. ABADA ’14

Associate Multimedia Editor

Assistant Sports Editor

HALEY VELASCO ’15

SCOTT CHIUSANO ’15

Assistant Sports Editor

Assistant Sports Editor

REBECCA COOMBES ’14

AMANDA STEFANIK ’13

NICHOLAS ST. FLEUR ’13

SYDNEY RAMSDEN ’14

Assistant Design Editor

Assistant Design Editor

Science Editor

Dining Editor

JOSEPH VOKT ’14

MAGGIE HENRY ’14

Assistant Web Editor

Outreach Coordinator

SEOJIN LEE ’14

AUSTIN KANG ’15

Marketing Manager

An Alternate Voice: A Perspective On Mental Illness M

ental illness, when covered by the popular media, is generally considered in one of two contexts: stories about violent crime or exposés on the shortcomings of drug company marketing. The American public would be better served by greater consideration of the everyday success stories made possible by the revolution on psychiatric pharmacology.

The emphasis on stories about the criminally insane, however much it may sell tickets to blockbuster movies like Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island,

ting better.

When the story isn’t about some violent and heinous crime, it is often about over the top and possibly irresponsible marketing practices of the pharmaceutical companies. Doubtless, these large companies have taken advantage of their new found power as witnessed by the three billion dollar penalty recently imposed on GlaxoSmithKline. Like the tobacco companies whose products have none of the redeeming qualities, the pharmaceutical companies have been pun-

Assistant Advertising Manager

ERIKA G. WHITESTONE ’15

HANK BAO ’14

Social Media Manager

Josh Greenfield

Online Advertising Manager

JESSICA YANG ’14

KATERINA ATHANASIOU ’13

Human Resources Manager

Senior Editor

DAVID MARTEN ’14

JACOB KOSE ’13

Senior Editor

Senior Editor

JAMES RAINIS ’14

PATRICIO MARTÍNEZ ’13

Senior Editor

Senior Editor

Guest Room

DANIEL ROBBINS ’13 Senior Editor

WORKING ON TODAY ’S SUN DESIGN DESKER PHOTO NIGHT EDITOR NEWS DESKERS SPORTS DESKER ARTS DESKER NEWS NIGHT EDITORS DINING EDITOR

Editorial

Jyant Mukhopadhaya ’15 Megan Zhou ’15 Garrett Ishida ’16 Shailee Shah ’14 Kelly Yang ’15 Liz Camuti ’14 Rebecca Harris ’14 Scott Chiusano ’15 Zachary Zahos ’15 Emma Court ’15 Sylvia Rusnak ’15 Sydney Ramsden ’14

A Broken Contract With Collegetown

IN 2009 COMMON COUNCIL MEMBER (D-4th Ward) Eddie Rooker ’09 was elected to the Ithaca Common Council representing West Campus, Cascadilla Park and most of Collegetown. Prior to Rooker’s election, the seat was held by a mayoral appointee due to the abdication of Dave Gelinas ’07, who quit the post before his four-year term expired.

Like Gelinas before him, Rooker has announced that he is vacating his position before his term expires. The Sun is disappointed in Rooker for abdicating his office.

In 2009, Rooker received considerable support as a candidate largely due to his commitment to serving all four years of his term.

A Sun article at the time reported that Rooker “[found] the comparison between him and Gelinas to be misleading, primarily because Gelinas had only planned to stay two years, whereas Rooker plans to stay all four.”

Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick ’09 who was a member of the Common Council at the time of Rooker’s election, vouched for Rooker’s commitment to the position. Myrick told The Sun, “It’s a big reason why I endorsed him, I believe Eddie is fully committed.”

On the eve of his election, Rooker further testified to his own steadfastness saying, “I don’t have any long term plans outside being a councilor,” and that some councilors in the past “may have viewed this position as something to have. ... I see it as a way to make an impact in the community.”

Rooker is resigning his seat in order to enroll in NYU Law School, which he was admitted to off of the waitlist. He had originally planned on entering Cornell Law School, a position that may have allowed him to maintain his duties in the 4th-Ward. A week after hearing his acceptance to NYU, Rooker announced that he was resigning his position.

Over the past few years, tensions in Collegetown have grown measurably, with a climate of hostility growing between permanent residents, students and landlords.

Permanent residents are upset with the disorder left in the wake of students’ revelries, landlords are frustrated that students are more reckless than ever and students are growing weary of ballooning rent prices. The heated nature of the times calls for bold leadership, something that Rooker promised to provide three years ago.

Instead, Rooker is skipping town, leaving Myrick to find a way to fill the void.

Rooker’s decision to resign his position is reflective of the careless attitude that Collegetown’s permanent residents and landlords have been accusing the student population of exhibiting.

Instead of working with students to disprove those accusations and work toward solutions, Rooker is now exhibit A for Cornell students’ alleged reckless disregard for the Collegetown community.

Rooker ran for the position as a means of making “an impact on the community.” We are deeply saddened that he is choosing to leave that impact for somebody else to make.

has the effect of scaring people who could very well profit from psychotherapy. As a veteran of many years on the proverbial couch I well remember how difficult it was to initially accept the much needed help. This initial resistance came, at least in part, from a fear of the prospect of having to think of myself as “mentally ill.” The classification carried all kinds of terrifying overtones that I wanted to avoid at all costs.

Mental illness was not discussed. It was alien. It was a sign of catastrophic failure. Above all, I did not want to think of myself as one of those people.

The scare factor associated with mental illness leads directly to the fierce taboo against open discussion of what might be considered the most human of chemical and biological problems.

Not only is the person who suffers from one of these deficiencies afraid to reach out for help in the first place, but when they do take the brave step of seeking help, the taboos inevitably leave them feeling isolated and alone. As long as the lead story on the six o’clock news is about the mentally ill man who pushes someone in front of a moving train, the millions of others who quietly make their way to and from their therapist and the pharmacy counter will be left without a voice. For me, it took a brief stay in a psychiatric hospital, the result of abusing lifesaving drugs, to realize that there were others just like myself.

And there are others. Just look at the numbers. Millions of these prescriptions are being filled every year, the vast majority for people who are quietly get-

ished. When, however, these excesses are allowed to overshadow the enormous positive advances in psychiatric pharmacology that have been made in the past 20 years, a disservice is done to us all. Psychiatrists now have at their disposal an arsenal of useful medications to help individuals suffering from debilitating forms of illness. They have learned to use them well and people are getting better.

An alternate story is being written by thousands of recovering writers and filmmakers, individuals who have witnessed the progress of 21st century psychiatry first hand. They are placing their stories of survival and triumph in the hands of self-publishing companies in the form of autobiographical novels and memoirs. This past month a movie was released, OC87, that provides a director’s perspective from behind the camera of decades of illness and recovery. These stories are not as exciting as those that tend to lead the six o’clock news, but they are just as important.

They are the stories of one of the greatest successes of our time, the story of how committed doctors and therapists, assisted by ingenious scientists, have devised ways of curing those willing to face down fearsome societal judgment and undertake the hard work of getting well.

Josh Greenfield is a Cornell alumnus, Class of 1984. He may be reached at joshuagre@aol.com. Guest Room appears periodically this semester.

SUBMIT YOUR LETTERS Continue the conversation by sending a letter to the editor to opinion@cornellsun.com.

Letters should be in response to any recent Sun news article, column, arts piece or editorial. They should be no longer than 250 words in length.

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, September 6, 2012 7

OPINION

Couches of Fire

M

y friend Colin asked me one day if I wanted to set a couch on fire. (Side note: If you get a chance to set a couch on fire … do it. Honestly, I cannot recommend it enough). Being the adrenaline junkie that I am, I obviously leapt at the opportunity.

Colin’s two favorite hobbies, however contradictory it may sound, are youth ministry and causing mischief. All in the course of one evening, he turned a discarded propane tank into a rocket that he then sent flying down the street; used a baseball bat to knock over dozens of cones in a construction zone; and launched a junkyard commode he had found out of a car window, popping two police cruisers’ tires.

When he made his town’s local newspaper for the “toilet smashing” incident, the community rallied behind him in a John Hughes-ian “Save Colin” fashion. The lead singer of Smash Mouth once cussed him out in front of a packed audience because he stood in the front row screaming to hear “All Star” all night. He won the student body vice presidential election at his school of four thousand students with the speech: “I didn’t prepare a speech because I thought I was running unopposed.”

Neither part of that speech was true. He is probably the only kid in the world who has been cuffed in the back of a squad car that your parents would definitely like better than you, if they ever got the chance to meet him.

When Colin proposed the idea to me, I thought, like a lot of you probably would in the same situation, that setting a couch on fire sounded like a terrible idea. And you would be perfectly justified in thinking it is a bad idea. Is it safe? Realistically, no. In fact, in all likelihood, it is pretty risky. There is no way that lighting a rather large piece of furniture on fire is anything but dangerous.

There is, though, some sense of satisfaction you get from setting a bunch of upholstery ablaze that you just are not able to get from your schoolwork. And, in my mind, as

long as you are able to find a couch that no one will really miss, it would make less sense not to bust out those matches and lighter fluid.

What else would you be doing with this derelict piece of furniture anyway? If setting it on fire is actually considered an option, the couch is probably disgusting — maybe even a health hazard. I have been at college for all of thirteen months and have seen multiple couches urinated on and sullied with plenty of vomit / yak / puke, whatever you want to call it. Apparently when some kids get enough alcohol flowing through their veins, their bodies decide to call a fire drill, and everything must get out.

What is the worst thing that could happen anyway?

An out-of-control wildfire?

Pretty serious burns?

Incarceration? Yeah … maybe on second thought lighting that couch ablaze was one of the stupider decisions I have made.

I don’t regret it at all though. How often have you heard an adult use the excuse “Oh I was just young and stupid,” to justify a bad decision they made in the past? I hear it on an almost daily basis. (I love to ask elderly ladies why they ever got lower back tattoos). We are in college. As far as I am concerned, I am in the prime of my ”young and stupid” life, and you can bet your sweet bippy that I am embracing it.

With career fairs, independent leases and the highly intellectual conversations had on a nightly basis at places like Dunbar’s and Pixel, it is easy to think we are adults here. Some of us probably are pretty grown-up, but it is important to remember that our college years are among

our last to truly be “young and stupid.” That thirty-threeyear-old who goes to a landfill with his friend and finds a couch to set on fire isn’t young and stupid. He is just stupid.

Maybe I wouldn’t recommend lighting a couch on fire and dancing around it like the kids from Lord of the Flies (I would), but it is important to remember every now and then that it is okay for us to not take ourselves so seriously. With the stresses of classes and prelims and jobs weighing on us day after day, finding time to be a “dumb college kid” every now and then is healthy. Our opportu-

Christo Eliot The Tale of the Dingo At Midnight nities for using the “young and stupid” excuse are waning.

I am going to cling on to it for as long as I can — just like I cling onto every other good excuse I know. (That’s right professor. The dog didn’t actually eat my math problem set last spring.) But I know that can’t last forever. One day I am going to have to wise up, but until then I am going to channel my inner Colin and set as many couches on fire as I can.

Christo Eliot is a sophomore in the College of Engineering. He may be reached at celiot@cornellsun.com. The Tale of the Dingo at Midnight appears alternate Thursdays this semester.

Uncle Ezra, Bring Back the Frat A

s I sat in the library this weekend before realizing it was far too beautiful outside to waste my time pretending to do homework indoors, I scrolled through photo after photo of my peers at Big 10 schools (covertly, of course, as I’ve mastered the how-to-be-sketchy-without-anyone-knowing-library-Facebook-stalk).

They were painted in school colors tailgating what was the first college

have some fun, meet new people and get excited about their school. In fact, some might even call this “school spirit,” although this seems to be totally taboo in Ithaca.

While I would love to preach rahrah Go Big Red spirit, I believe that we are far from tailgating every weekend and even further from filling our football stadium for games. Instead, I am going to stand up in defense of fun. Yes,

Hannah Deixler Shades of Grey

football “game day” of the season. I spent a solid 20 minutes admiring the blue and yellow outfits at University of Michigan, the beer pong tournaments at University of Wisconsin and the outdoor dance parties at University of California Berkeley. I then looked around Olin at my studious peers, who, swimming through their orgo textbooks at 10 o’clock on Saturday morning, looked stressed, already pale, hardly oozing with the school spirit that my Big 10 peers seemed to have.

I’ll admit it: I wish we had game days. I wish we could dip into that pool of rah-rah college life every so often. It looks fun. Really fun. Fun for everyone involved — frat bros, athletes and merit scholars alike. Beer drinking aside, football games (and the tailgates that precede them) force students at big universities to get out of the library and

fun. And, while many will contest my definition of “fun,” I am going to preach the gospel that is the good ole’ frat party, an institution that has, in the last year, been laid to rest on this campus.

Looking back on my early days at Cornell, I think fondly of the nights spent in frat basements, sweaty, dancing with new friends, drinking Keystone Light, sometimes in costume — but only if I had been patient enough to wait in the long line outside. Open parties, or fraternity parties that are open to any member of the community, were one of the only sources of organized “fun” I enjoyed during my first weekends at Cornell.

And I wasn’t alone. Hundreds of students moved from frat house to frat house (often in large conspicuous groups), and, I’ll say it, I know they enjoyed themselves.

American pop culture gives us high expectations for college: We will learn a lot, be prepared for the job market, find an intellectual passion and, oh ya, have so much fun that you never have to think about all of those things.

However, Cornell freshmen today are meeting a harsh reality. They have very little to do on the weekends when they don’t want to be in the library. New rules in the TriCouncil have banned freshmen from attending open parties, arguing that they encourage binge drinking. However, last weekend as I sat in my friend’s apartment in Collegetown and three freshmen girls stumbled in entirely unsure of where they were, what I had always assumed was true quickly became crystal clear: Open parties and organized events that yes, involve drinking, are the safest option for this campus. These girls had chugged a lot of hard alcohol in a short period of time in their room in Donlon before leaving for a night out of aimless wandering. Had they been at an open party, they would have been in a space monitored by University officials, drinking only beer.

I am intimately involved in the Greek system. Without a doubt, some parts of the culture are deplorable.

However, it’s not all binge drinking and vomiting. In fact, most Cornellians drink moderately or not at all. Beyond that, open parties are undeniably the safest events (short of philanthropy bake sales, perhaps) for any freshman to attend. It is nonsensical to outlaw them.

When deciding where to attend college, I opted to leave Los Angeles and trek to a big school in Ithaca, New York (to me, and many, the cold middle of nowhere) because I was under the impression that the prestigious university was academically rigorous, but also

a lot of … fun.

And I was right — kind of. Cornell is fun, but not in the body-paint and ice luge kind of way. And that’s good.

We do not devote an entire day of each week to binge drinking and I like that. Hell, I cherish productive Saturdays spent in the library. As a community, we are, for the most part, responsible, driven and intelligent adults. However, it is unfortunate that the University prohibits freshmen from the safest Greek life events on campus.

In the good ole’ days, Friday nights in frat basements provided me a breath of fresh air (I use the term loosely), and a way to have fun in a safe and controlled way. Without open parties, many Cornell freshmen (like the girls I met this weekend, though they may not remember) are looking for something to do, some place to go, some way to take a break. Without any structure, they have to figure it out on their own, which only ends badly.

Study after study shows that Cornell students are stressed. If the University insists on prohibiting freshmen from attending Greek events (even the safe ones), it is imperative that they provide new outlets for students to take a break, meet new people and maybe even dance. And no, I don’t believe adding one concert to the Cornell Concert Commission’s lineup is sufficient. Until then, I will think fondly of my embarrassing yet innocent freshman D.F.M.O.’s (dance floor make outs) past and only hope that no pregames in Donlon end badly for the wandering freshmen of today.

Hannah Deixler is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She may be reached at hdeixler@cornellsun.com. Shades of Grey appears alternate Thursdays this semester.

8 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursdsay, September 6, 2012

DINING GUIDE

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Dining Guide

Your source for good food

From Bagels to Ceviche: CTB Mastermind’s Agava Amazes

By JACOB LIFTON Sun Staff Writer

Gregar Brous, proud owner of the maniacally popular Collegetown Bagels, knows how to do business. With a knack for transforming fairly simple ideas — such as a bagel shop — into fullyfledged, elegant conceptions, he and his family have been comfortably presiding over the Ithaca food scene since their acquisition of CTB and Ithaca Bakery in the ’80s. It’s natural, then, for the man to want to branch out. Indeed, in April of this year, Brous ventured away from baked goods and introduced us to his own style of casual fine dining with the southwesterninspired restaurant Agava, and, as expected, the same sense of elegant simplicity remains apparent.

I don’t think there’s a better way to put this: This restaurant is really cool. Located in the old East Ithaca Train Station, contracted in 1876

by Ezra Cornell, Agava proudly displays the location’s history; black-and-white photos from

Ithaca’s past adorn the walls, and much of the original train depot is woven seamlessly into the building’s chic, rustic restorations. A desert landscape straight out of a classic Western is painted on one wall, producing the sensation of being both home and far away at the same time. The ceiling and walls are lined with wooden beams and planks, and the glow of a wood-fire oven gently leaks out of the kitchen. There’s a nice, warm feeling to it all.

My friends and I opted for the equally cozy back patio, a beautiful space for a calm summer evening.

Christmas lights line the picket fences, and an awning stretches itself between the waning sunlight and the diners. The sun finally did set behind our table, echoing the pinks and purples of the painting inside.

The menu was about as vaguely defined as the term “southwesterninspired,” but certainly not to any disadvantage. We had the choice among all sorts of tacos, flatbreads, sandwiches, salads, meat entrees

Agava’s Lone Ranger Tacos

PHOTOS BY RYAN LANDVATER / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

and everything in between. If you’re a sharer, you can order small platters of mussels, scallops, Mexican “Street Corn” or choose from a variety of other tapasinspired dishes from the Share section of the menu. I was fortunate

enough to go with a larger group, and we were smart enough not to pass that opportunity up.

We started off by sharing a unique ceviche-of-the-day — fish, sweet potato, corn, beans and habañero peppers — followed by some perfectly fire-roasted garlic cauliflower, gazpacho and Mexican Street Corn (a hearty cob lathered with chipotle mayo, cheese, lime and chili powder). All of these smaller dishes were excellent, in particular the corn, which launched an all-out flavor assault on our palettes — not in a spicy way, but rather in a limey, buttery way. Anyway, I suppose what matters, and what I realized halfway through my refreshing bowl of gazpacho, is that this Share menu was actually getting me excited about my food, and in ways that most restaurants in Ithaca can’t — there were simply too many attractive

options, and I wanted them all!

And at such reasonable prices, I well could have had them.

My roommate is from Baja, Mexico, and he likes to consider himself somewhat of an expert in authentic Mexican cuisine, particularly tacos. So, after dinner I brought him home a trio of steak tacos just to see what his authoritative taste buds would declare: “They’re really good,” he told me.

Well, there you have it folks. Agava is a wonderful new eatery, boasting a warm, trendy atmosphere and a menu of local food that both feels authentic and original. Please, go check it out — don’t be intimidated by the five-minute cab ride.

And in the meantime, be thankful; we are truly lucky to have Gregar Brous in our Ithacan midst.

Jacob Lifton can be reached at jlifton@cornellsun.com.

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A&E

Thursday, September 6, 2012 | The Corne¬ Daily Sun | 9

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT David Byrne & St. Vincent Love This Giant 4AD, Todo Mundo

AKai Sam Ng Remember that awful Lou Reed and Metallica album last year that no one wants to talk about anymore? Lulu served as the perfect example for what happens when two artists with domineering personalities try to share the same stage. Lulu’s droning spoken word paired with mediocre riffs got music critics laughing and scratching their heads at the same time.

Such a combination meant that, in theory, the collaboration between two other eccentric musicians, David Byrne and St. Vincent (real name Annie Clark), should be pretty bad too (okay, not as bad as Lulu). But Love This Giant isn’t even close to Lulu: It recalls the best works from both artists’ pasts while sounding fresh, and more importantly, like nothing either had done before. Love This Giant (streaming now on NPR) manages both because Byrne and Clark share key ground in their specific aesthetic. Both make music that teeters between joy and insanity, both sing between extremes of crooning and yelping and both manage to make weird so outrageous that it looks cool.

It is this compatibility that makes the album one of Byrne’s better collaborative efforts. Even though the albums that Byrne has released with other huge names like Brian Eno and Fatboy Slim are great by their own merits, they often seem too much like a forced effort by Byrne to move from his Talking Heads discography. (See his alternative dadrock song “Like Humans Do,” in the sample music folder of every Windows XP installation). With Love This Giant, Byrne keeps the same funk that made Talking Heads so great

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while evolving in a more organic manner.

While Love This Giant gives Byrne a chance to move on, it gives Clark an opportunity to put her old work into context. Last year’s Strange Mercy still had the same guitar screeches and the demented beats that characterize Clark’s music, but they were so overpowering that it would have been impossible for even Byrne’s distinctive voice to be heard. Clark has not yet given up on the guitars or the drum machine, but here we see a less bombastic Clark willing to pull back to allow space for Byrne’s distinctive voice to shine.

Byrne and Clark recognize that restraint is as vital a component to their success as the lyrics, notes and rhythms they write. Never is there a point where they blend their aesthetics together, and we rarely hear both sing at the same time.

At best, they are stacked and layered upon each other, coexisting peacefully but as distinct entities. As Clark told Pitchfork, the album is a “straight-down-the-middle-thing … I’ve never been that closely entwined in the songwriting, arranging, singing and lyric-writing process with anyone.”

Both artists make compromises, not concessions.

Byrne and Clark deliver these compromises with a very prominent horn section. This is smart because brass is already featured prominently in their music with St. Vincent’s “Cruel” and Talking Heads’ “Life During Wartime.” But it is hard to really point out any specific songs in the album where this really shines — whereas the horns in Byrne and Clark’s previous work were relegated to choruses and refrains, there is hardly a second in any of the

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songs where a horn isn’t tooting away. Despite increasing the novelty’s lifespan with multiple layers and increasingly complex melodies, the horns get boring very quickly towards the second half of the album.

While the horns may be a little too consistent, the other instrumentation on the album varies considerably to prevent the album from collapsing. Towards the second half of the album, Byrne gives Clark ample breathing room for her to sound more like herself: “Lazarus” features a drum machine with steady big beats, occasional breaks and little horn. In classic St. Vincent fashion, a scratchy guitar flutters in “Optimist,” assembling a calm, lulling environment along with some synth backdrops not unlike that in Strange Mercy’s “Northern Lights.”

Even though it’s her first full-album collaborative effort, Clark already knows a good thing when she sees it. “I think I’ve reached the pinnacle of who I want to work with,” she told Pitchfork, and it’s not hard to see why. From weirdness to talent, this is a rare moment where two prodigious, musical whizzes have found themselves in each other, deciding to cooperate equitably instead of jamming separately in the same studio or telling another exactly what to play. Hopefully both artists think of revisiting this relationship in the future, if not to make new music, but to show others how collaboration is really done.

Kai Sam Ng is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be contacted at kng@cornellsun.com.

Animal Collective Centipede Hz Domino

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James Rainis COURTESY OF ANIMAL COLLECTIVE

In 2009, Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion changed the game for the Baltimore indie group in a lot of ways. Before its release, Animal Collective was a bunch of fringe-pop noisemakers known for its occasional flirtations with flawless songcraft (Feels’ “Purple Bottle,” Strawberry Jam’s “Fireworks” and Sung Tongs’ short-but-sweet “College” are just a few examples) amid more out-there psychedelic experimentation. It was obtuse and likely to challenge convention — a critics’ band through-and-through.

Merriweather changed all of that. Effectively combining the dense orchestrations and vocal harmonies of The Beach Boys’ masterpiece Pet Sounds with their more exploratory sonic production, Merriweather Post Pavilion was a capital-S Statement, loaded with modern anthems like “My Girls,” “Summertime Clothes” and “Brothersport.” It was a record that established the quartet as a genuine force in the music world, and Animal Collective’s post-Merriweather output — the gorgeous Fall Be Kind EP, impressive solo outings from Panda Bear and Avey Tare and even a well-received installation in the MOMA — bore well for them to inherit the mantle of “world’s most important band.” After years of merely being considered experimental, the band was one record away from establishing themselves, instead, as groundbreaking.

Centipede Hz is not that record. It’s undeniably

messier; from opener “Moonjock” onward, one gets the feeling that too much is going on. The restraint that characterized Merriweather’s more plaintive moments (“Almost Frightened” and “Bluish,” in particular) is missed. Instead, we are treated to the familiar gurgling synths and Avey Tare vocal freakouts that marked earlier releases. While these stylistic regressions are not altogether unwelcome — after all, many felt that Merriweather’s pop sheen took away Animal Collective’s more captivating tendencies — it’s a mild letdown to be listening to what is merely an expansion of Strawberry Jam’s psychfolk soundscapes rather than a proper sequel to one of the most compelling releases of the 21st century.

All gripes aside, not being groundbreaking does not mean you can’t be good. And for those who tempered their expectations, Centipede Hz is, at points, pretty good.

Songs like “Rosie Oh” have melodies that border on being downright goofy but provide the heavy-handed beats with a little much-needed buoyancy. While “Applesauce” and the Deakin-sung “Wide-Eyed” are stretched-out beyond their welcome, lead single “Today’s Supernatural” is a chaotic, joyful track that climbs to a satisfying climax during its syncopated chorus (complete with lilting vocals from the inimitable Avey Tare). It even admits that “sometimes you gotta get mad,” an altogether new message from the typically cheerful goofballs. There are other highlights: “Monkey Riches” expertly layers sound on

until the point of implosion, before returning to its glitchy ostinato. “Pulleys” avoids the confrontational approach of the other songs by bubbling into existence rather than crashing. Unfortunately, it’s the rare moments that either stray from Centipede Hz’s beaten path or effectively utilize the jittery wall-of-sound approach that end up standing out from the rest of the record.

Lots of people who listen to Animal Collective for the first time joke that you must need to take drugs to get it.

It’s experimental and expansive in a way that the Grateful Dead were, so it’s an expected and clichéd joke. But in a live setting, Animal Collective has definitely taken after the jam band legends, extending songs well into the tens of minutes and embarking on sonic adventures that, from time-to-time, are known to meander and appeal most to the crowd’s less, ahem, inhibited participants. Centipede Hz comes off as just that: extended jams drawn out far past their welcome. While Animal Collective gets by on its own compositional know-how enough to put out something that bears listening to, it all feels very haphazard and unedited. With no gooey pop crossover to get excited about and not very much new sonic ground being broken, Centipede Hz underwhelms.

James Rainis is a junior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He can be reached at jrainis@cornellsun.com.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

10 | The Corne¬ Daily Sun | Thursday, September 6, 2012

A&E

Two Door Cinema Club Beacon Kitsuné

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Brian Gordon COURTESY OF TWODOORCINEMACLUB.COM

While Two Door Cinema Club’s first album may have been titled Tourist History, listen to the acclaimed debut album and it doesn’t appear that the rising electro-alternative trio traveled far beyond their hometown grammar school when composing chart-invading hits like “Something Good Can Work” and “Undercover Martyn.” Tourist History was lithe, funky and any other bubbly adjectives you can conjure up, with lyrics and chords reminiscent of kiddie love at a house party.

Worldly, it was not. In Beacon, the group’s second fulllength album, the pride of Northern Ireland has both literally and musically left their hometown of Bangor, where they met as teenagers. Beacon’s instrumentals are more mature and more processed (mostly in a good way) than the ultra-snappy basslines of its popular predecessor, while its lyrics mirror the experience the band has gained from touring around the world. Add that the album was recorded in Los Angeles and we have lyrics that evoke distance and drip with homesickness for a love in a faraway land. But while some songs look at the melancholies of a transatlantic gap, the guitar and bass lines of Beacon are still mostly upbeat, coated with California sunshine.

One through 12, Beacon’s track list is more complete than TDCC’s first album. The caffeinated “Wake Up”

will take you running around Beebe Lake in the morning while the tranquil “Settle” will glide you to sleep at night. Beacon’s best songs cannot match their earlier Tourist History counterparts in terms of energy or instant appeal, but Beacon’s expansive hooks, spearheaded by lead singer Alex Trimble, result in a more constant, settled feel, rid of the teenage angst that permeates the group’s earlier work. With sweeping momentum-gaining choruses straight out of The Killers post-Hot Fuss playbook, “Next Year” and the album’s lead single “Sleep Alone” display Trimble channeling his inner-Brandon Flowers to produce a vast sound unknown to past TDCC sounds.

Pairing Trimble’s crooning with an equally delicate female vocalist in the form of London’s Valentina is an excellent decision that promotes “The World is Watching” from forgettable to worth remembering.

Aging brings about the more prevalent role of women into the lives of young men. Handing the reins to an outside female singer is a further sign that Trimble and Co. are making the transition from oldest adolescence to young 20-something adulthood.

Where TDCC successfully blitzed its way through simpler riff lines in the past, “Handshake,” the album’s best song, has several layers, with the trio methodically

What Says a Lot

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oday, I had a relationship with my burrito. I mean I literally grew emotional over my burrito. And I looked over the table, to this girl also deeply engrossed in her burrito. As we silently communicated our intense admiration for this newborn, infant-sized sack of meat and cheese, I realized we could be really good friends. I don’t know — I always find it’s the little things like that that communicate so much about the type of person you are. Whether you dog-ear pages in a book. How much you pack for a trip. If you enjoy spicy food. I didn’t make these rules, but I abide by them. Here are some things that inexplicably say a lot about what kind of person you are:

IF YOU WILLINGLY WAKE UP BEFORE 11 A.M. We can’t be friends. I’m not even totally sure time exists before then. Waking up causes me both physical and psychological pain. On days when my 10:10 makes me aware of the world’s existence before noon, I become unfathomably angry at all “morning people.” Those mutants.

But then again, this is coming from a girl who once said, “Six o’clock? There’s one of those in the morning too?” in all seriousness, so take from this what you will.

IF YOU DRINK TEA It’s like a hug from the inside! The tea you choose also matters. Basic Lipton vs. loose leaf dragon rooibos? It’s quite a comprehensive spectrum. I can dig a man who enjoys a good earl grey but not one who drinks chamomile.

There’s a difference between a man who can be vulnerable every once in awhile and a man who has a vagina.

IF YOUR FAVORITE BOOK IS THE DA VINCI CODE Oh, and you love Dave Matthews Band, too? Shocker. You also probably extol the genius of Jodi Picoult.

And the last book you volunteered to read, not counting 50 Shades of Grey which you skimmed beachside, was The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. You genuinely enjoy daytime television, and may or may not have ingested a Lean Cuisine within the last 72 hours. You assume Pitchfork is a website for farm tools.

IF YOU DISLIKE TOM HANKS What — do you also dislike laughter and fun?

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

working through the track, resulting in a heavily synthesized sound teeming with tapered energy.

Beacon is not without its shortcomings. “Sleep Alone” does not live up to lead single status, while the backend of the album includes one too many slow ballads. The album’s title track in particular could do with a shot of Five-Hour Energy. Beacon lacks degrees of ambition in its message as well, with the album rarely addressing themes beyond a little longing for home.

While Beacon might be missing the widespread hits, Two Door Cinema Club has most certainly dodged the dreaded sophomore slump with a top-to-bottom solid record. Beacon is not innovative. The group is not going for profound symbolism or commentary. It’s going for its brand of patented fun, with a lyrical nod to the distances the trio has traveled since first forming back in grammar school. The lyrics might have a hint of glum and gloom, but for most of Beacon, the original, electro-alternative riffs will have your body bopping and your head nodding as you spring about your dorm room, musically intoxicated.

Brian Gordon is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at bgordon@cornellsun.com.

ZANDER ABRANOWICZ / SUN STAFF ILLUSTRATOR

Seriously, what kind of disturbed human being would ever insult Tom Hanks. When Tom Hanks speaks, the clouds part and an angel gets its wings.

When Tom Hanks speaks, Daniel Radcliffe weeps softly against a windowpane. When Tom Hanks speaks, Homer writes an epic poem about it.

Disliking Tom Hanks is on par with disliking Jack Nicholson’s work or Meryl Streep’s performances. There’s just no apology profound enough to come back from that. All other forthcoming opinions from you are automatically invalidated.

IF YOUR FINGERNAILS ARE CLEAN And hands in general. If you have long dragon lady nails, you’re either from the ’80s or truly ghetto. Cleaned and trimmed fingernails have long been a universal sign of fastidiousness. My parents, who grew up in Communist China, used to get their fingernails checked by their teachers in school as often as we recited the pledge of allegiance. If they weren’t clean enough, they would literally get spanked and sent home, but I’ve never quite paralleled their level of anal retentiveness in that arena. I’m not asking for the American Psycho level of Patrick Bateman’s manicured tips with biweekly applications of nail enamel strengthener, but not looking like a hobo is generally a good thing, I think.

HOW YOU TREAT THE WAIT STAFF If the bill is less than $200, and you do not leave at least a solid 15-percent, I Profanity take serious issue.

This topic’s personalPrayers ly a little touchy considering my parents own restaurants in which I’ve gotten to know the immigrant wait staff — people for which tips comprise their entire livelihood. But honestly, stinginess is just not attractive. How a person treats the wait staff, or any person in a subordinate or service industry position, says a lot about their character regardless of their own socioeconomic posi-

Alice Wang

tion. If the service is actually spotty though, which I quantify as asking more than thrice for water refills or similar requests, then I concede to some subtractions. Admittedly, I once received so many unanswered breadsticks refills at Olive Garden (the sole reason for going there,), that I left the waitress with an infographic depicting the directly inverse relationship between “time spent waiting for service” and “amount tip” written in mustard on the table top.

I swear, I’m not a needy restaurant-goer, I just don’t believe it counts as “endless soup, salad, and breadsticks” if they only approach your table twice in two hours.

IF YOU EVER FORGET TO EAT What, did you forget to breathe too? Forgetting to eat is like forgetting a limb. Except for warm puppies, which are own my personal heaven, there’s nothing I like more than food. Literally. I take food very seriously, as you can probably tell by my sultry relationship with my aforementioned newborn burrito baby. Dirty talk to me includes the whispers of sweet “Philly cheese steak” in my ear. If you ever give me a cupcake, I must not be held liable for possibly falling in love with you. My spirit animal is a red velvet cake. I am a fatass and I make no apologies.

Alice Wang is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences.

She can be reached at awang@cornellsun.com. Profanity Prayers appears alternate Thursdays this semester.

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, September 6, 2012 11

It’s up to us. reduce reuse conserve protect recycle

12 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, September 6, 2012

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

ACROSS 1 Home to the Ibsen Museum 5 Online auction payment, say 10 Animation 14 Part of a Clue guess 15 Salsa holder 16 Political pal 17 *Saw 19 1997 Peter Fonda role 20 Like some stadiums 21 Drove (on) 22 *Head 26 Like prison windows 30 Doesn’t mention 31 Toe the line 32 Peach pit 33 Close, as a windbreaker 36 *Come 40 Glamour VIPs 41 Denmark’s __ Islands 42 Suffix with tip or trick 43 Erin of “Happy Days” 44 Mathematician Pascal 46 *Board 49 Decree 50 Tummy soother 55 One in a fourpart harmony 56 *Do 59 Gubernatorial turndown 60 Cassette half 61 Prefix missing from the starred clues 62 Composer Satie 63 __ once in a while 64 Like Broadway’s Yankees DOWN 1 Inexact words 2 Gazpacho, e.g.

3 Easy run 4 Hint of things to come 5 Begrudged 6 Meaningful pile of stones

7 Bldg. coolers 8 “Steady as __ goes” 9 Mason’s tray 10 Comic’s rewards 11 “Any volunteers?” reply 12 Sails force?

13 Scrutinized 18 Award two stars to, say 21 Glyceride, for one 23 Improper 24 Start of a parliamentary proposal 25 Math ratio 26 Hint of things to come 27 Not yet stirring 28 Game callers 29 Caraway-seeded bread, often 32 Comic Silverman 33 Tubular pasta 34 Urban addition 35 Ceremonial pile 37 In progress, to Sherlock 38 Causing puckers

39 Fed. benefits agency 43 N. Zealand’s highest peak 44 “Deep penetrating pain relief” brand 45 Subject to a penalty fee, maybe 46 Thumb twiddler 47 Capone henchman

48 More wise 49 Roof overhang 51 2007 A.L. MVP 52 Vena __ 53 Gossip column couple 54 “Coming Home” actor 56 Language suffix 57 Letters for Louis Quatorze 58 Lemony quencher

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

xwordeditor@aol.com

By Mel Rosen (c)2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

Doonesbury

Mr. Gnu

Piled Higher and Deeper

Sun Sudoku

COMICS AND PUZZLES

Puzzle #81802

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)

09/05/12

09/05/12

by Garry Trudeau

Travis Dandro

by Jorge Cham

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, September 6, 2012 13

SPORTS

When Love of Good Music Meets Passion for Sports TOLEDO

Continued from page 16

influences from all sorts of genres. The Chicago Bulls are a team that has done something that few others have been able to achieve. In the modern NBA, the Bulls dominated during the 1990’s with Michael Jordan at the helm. Jordan is to the Bulls what the albums “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” and “Californication” were to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The Bulls first gained major success in the early 1990s with a threepeat led by MJ, until he decided to leave basketball to pursue a career in baseball. The Red Hot Chili Peppers gained major success with “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” until in the wake of its success guitarist John Frusciante left the band. With Jordan and Frusciante gone, the immediate future of the group they had left seemed unsure. With both men back in the lineup just years later, the Bulls went on to have another three-peat and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ comeback album “Californication” cemented their legacy in history.

Notables who miss my list are Rebecca Black, or the Charlotte Bobcats, and of course Justin Bieber, or the Los Angeles Clippers. I don’t think explanations are necessary for either; if you think they are, well then that’s too bad for you.

What’s at the core of what I’m saying is that like with music, don’t fixate yourself on one genre or artist. Branch out and see what else there is to listen to and I promise you’ll be able to appreciate other music without sacrificing what you hold closest to yourself.

Appreciate other teams for what they have to offer, beyond just the team you love. Trust me, it’ll only serve to enrich your taste in any given sport.

Juan Carlos Toledo can be reached at jtoledo@cornellsun.com. Showtime at the Forum appears alternate weeks this semester.

Vanjak Describes Life Of A Foreign Athlete at C.U. VANJAK

Continued from page 15

That is my favorite drink. It’s like Gatorade. Nina and I consume it in kilos … Or I guess pounds since we are in America. You can’t buy it in the states so whenever someone visits us from Croatia, that’s the one thing they have to bring.

10. Which other Cornell team do you like to hang out with the most?

I love the whole athletic community. And I have some really good friends on a lot of teams, but I would have to say the men’s club volleyball team is definitely one of my favorites.

Is there anything else you would like readers to know about you?

I’d just like to give a shout out to Michael and the gals. And everyone should come out and support us!

Katie Schubauer can be reached at kschubauer@cornellsun.com.

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The Corne¬ Daily Sun

14 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, September 6, 2012

SPORTS

Roddick Makes Bittersweet Exit From His Final U.S.Open

NEW YORK (AP) — More than an hour after hitting one last shot as a professional tennis player, then delivering one last, voice-wavering speech to an adoring U.S. Open audience, Andy Roddick exited the locker room one last time.

Accompanied by his wife and other family members, a black baseball cap tugged low over his eyes, Roddick slung a racket bag off his aching right shoulder — the one responsible for so many high-speed aces, violent forehands and the most recent Grand Slam title by an American man — and tossed the equipment in the back of a waiting van.

Won't need that any longer.

Serenaded by choruses of "Let's go, Andy!" that rang through Arthur Ashe Stadium in the closing moments of his career, the 2003 U.S. Open champion headed into retirement with a 6-7 (1), 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4 loss to 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday.

"If we do badly, then it costs us something; if we do well, we get great things. This was about something bigger. It wasn't about ranking points or paychecks or anything else," Roddick said. "This week I felt like I was 12 years old, playing in a park. It was extremely innocent. That was fun.

I enjoyed it."

It was a bittersweet goodbye, for the fans who gave him a standing ovation at the end — del Potro joined in, rising from his changeover chair to applaud — and for Roddick himself.

He covered his face with a white towel while seated on the sideline after sailing a running forehand long with the final swing of his racket.

Earlier, he appeared to be trying to avoid crying while serving in the nextto-last game; in the stands, his wife, model-actress Brooklyn Decker, stuck a finger underneath her dark sunglasses to wipe away her tears.

"Playing the last five games was pretty hard. Once I got down a break, I could barely look at my (guest) box," Roddick said during a news conference sprinkled with the sort of witty one-liners he quickly came to be known for after turning pro in 2000. "I don't know what the emotions are. I'm a little overwhelmed right now. I normally feel like I can grasp things pretty quickly and clearly. I certainly don't feel that way right now."

During an on-court address to the crowd, Roddick got choked up, particularly when making a reference to his longtime agent, Ken Meyerson, who died last year.

When handed a microphone, Roddick began by saying: "Oh, wow.

For the first time in my career, I'm not sure what to say."

"Since I was a kid, I've been coming to this tournament. I felt lucky just to sit where all of you are sitting today, to watch this game, to see the champions that have come and gone," Roddick told the fans in a moment reminiscent of Andre Agassi's farewell speech at the 2006 U.S. Open after his final match. "I've loved every minute of it."

It was appropriate that Roddick would leave tennis at Flushing Meadows, which is why he surprisingly announced last Thursday, his 30th birthday, that the U.S. Open would be his final tournament. A perfect bookend: He visited the hard-court Grand Slam tournament at age 9, a trip his parents gave him as a birthday present.

He would go on to win a junior title in New York, then the 2003 men's trophy at age 21, allowing him to end that season No. 1 in the ATP rankings. He later participated in four other major finals — one at the U.S. Open, three at Wimbledon — and lost each to Roger Federer, including a 16-14 fifth set at the All England Club in 2009.

"In my mind," Federer said last week, "he is a Wimbledon champion."

Roddick finished with a record of 612-213 (a winning percentage of .742). He won 32 tournament titles, led the United States to the 2007 Davis Cup championship, and injected a say-what-you-think personality into his sport.

"People always try to beat him up: 'You should have won more.' No, he got the maximum out of his game," said Roddick's coach, Larry Stefanki. "He's a man of his word. A phenomenal competitor. He got all the hard work in. He prepared. He was a true professional. And he learned a lot over the years. He did it the right way. He's a first-vote Hall of Famer, no doubt in my mind. He can downplay that all he wants, but it's not even close, in my opinion."

Del Potro's quarterfinal opponent will be defending champion Novak Djokovic, who advanced when No. 18 Stanislas Wawrinka stopped playing Wednesday because of illness and fatigue while trailing 6-4, 6-1, 3-1.

That match, like Roddick's against del Potro, was suspended by rain in the first set Tuesday, and Djokovic took a jab at organizers of a tournament that has finished on Monday instead of the scheduled Sunday the past four years because of uncooperative weather.

Essentially, Djokovic wants to know why the U.S. Open doesn't pull tarps over the courts when it rains (the way Wimbledon does) or have at least one court with a roof (the way Wimbledon does).

"I'm sure that they are already thinking about several solutions for upcoming years," Djokovic said, "but obviously (a) roof is something that would help the players, the tournament, everybody."

Djokovic's Serbian Davis Cup teammate, No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic, finished his rain-interrupted 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory over No. 19 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, and gets No. 4 David Ferrer of Spain in the quarterfinals.

Olympic champion Andy Murray was the first man into the semifinals, turning things around after being a point from a two-set hole against 12th-seeded Marin Cilic and winning 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-0. Next for Murray will be a match against 17-time major champion Federer — the man the Brit lost to in the Wimbledon final in July, then beat for a gold medal at the Summer Games in August — or No. 6 Tomas Berdych.

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, September 6, 2012 15

SPORTS

WITH

T E N

Q U E S T I O N S

A N A

For this week’s edition of Ten Questions, Katie Schubauer caught up with senior middle blocker Ana Vanjak to discuss her unique experiences of transitioning to life, language and even driving in America.

1. Ana, you are a senior on the women’s volleyball team. What has Cornell volleyball meant to you over the course of your career?

Volleyball has always been really important to me. I grew up with it. I played in Croatia and in Germany, and I basically chose to come to America to be able to continue my volleyball career. In Europe you either go professional or you can go to University and here, you can combine both at a really high level. Volleyball is the biggest part of my decision to come to the states.

Who is your favorite teammate?

I love all of my teammates, but [senior] Lucy Zheng and I have had a weird connection since day one. She was one of the few people who was patient enough with me to go through my cultural adjustment. She lived in the townhouse next to me freshmen year, and no matter what it was — even if I was running to her in the middle of the night freaking out and begging her to help me with an essay — she was always there ready to help. She has been a really great teammate and friend.

2. Having grown up in Croatia, what is it like going to school in the United States?

It was definitely a really big change.

I’m not going to lie; I was completely lost in the beginning. The whole cultural adjustment was just not so funny for me but hilarious for everyone else.

That goes for the language adjustment, too. There are a lot of things that are totally different from where I’m from.

Things that might be normal to people

V A N J A K VOLLEYBALL

here are completely strange to me …

And the other way around, of course, too. Like at first, whenever I would see someone [I knew], I would give them two kisses on the cheek. I completely freaked people out with that. I eventually stopped doing that because everyone was just wondering, “What’s up with the foreign girl walking around kissing everyone?” when I was just trying to say hello.

Your friend Lizzie Calvert tells us about your “introduction to American culture” that she gave you. Can you describe what that was like?

She basically taught me the basics of American culture. Stuff like you have to eat ketchup with everything. She forced me to try sushi, which I didn’t like in the beginning, but I guess now I’m getting used to it. She introduced me to peanut butter, which I absolutely hate still.

3. In addition to your “introduction to American culture,” you were also given driving lessons by some of your teammates. Is that true?

(Laughing) Yeah, well Lizzie was the only person crazy enough to let me try driving because I am terrible at it. I can operate a boat but not a car. First I think I prayed for like 20 minutes because I was so scared. I also drove on the wrong side of the road. It was definitely an experience; I don’t think I’ve ever been that scared in my life.

Have you driven since then?

No, definitely not. It was a one-time thing.

4. Most of your teammates have said your English has improved significantly over the past three years. Did you ever make any funny mistakes when you were learning?

Yeah, well one time I ordered “toxic water” instead of “tonic water.” I said in

CONOR ARCHARD / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Lost in translation | Life in America took some adjusting for senior Ana Vanjak, originally from Croatia, but her teammates and friends have helped to make the transition smooth.

front of my coach, “I can’t wait to pass away,” where I actually just meant, “pass out” because I was super tired.

Stuff like that happens a lot. It’s kind of embarrassing, but I guess I am getting better.

Was it hard having to speak English in class?

A little, yes. Actually, I really like when my professors have accents because I can understand them better.

It’s the slang that was hard for me because half the stuff you guys say isn’t even in the dictionary. So my teammates actually bought me a slang dictionary. I used to carry it around so I could figure out what people were talking about. I still have it.

5. How often do you speak Croatian at Cornell?

My roommate, Nina, is actually from Croatia so I speak Croatian to her all the time. I don’t know how our other roommate lives with us because there is just so much Croatian going on in our apartment.

You two are obviously very close. Did you know each other before?

No. We met on her official visit. She plays tennis, and I begged her to come here. It’s really nice to have a fellow Croatian at Cornell. We are really close.

I am really lucky to have her.

She claims you two spend 80 percent of your time together. Is that true?

Actually that’s false. I would say like 95 percent. Our favorite song is “I Follow You” because we are inseparable.

Maybe it freaks people out that we are together all the time. I don’t know.

Some of your teammates claim that you sometimes curse in Croatian when you get upset on the court. Is that true?

(Laughing) Um … Well … No, no, no. I actually only say really nice things

in Croatian. Really encouraging things — never anything bad.

6. Can you describe your spring break trip to Miami last year?

Oh, wow. I don’t think there are words to describe that. It was absolutely amazing. We went to Miami without a plan. We were just going to see what it was like. Then we ended up in the VIP section with David Guetta and Skrillex.

How did that happen?

Just a group of tall girls with accents — I guess that helped. We just got into any place we wanted. It was amazing.

7. Why are you obsessed with the movie Pride and Prejudice?

It’s a really, really good movie! I’m a romantic and I love it. I love old movies like that. You might want to also ask [my friend] Deveney Pula about that.

We’ve watched it so many times together. Her obsession with that movie might be worse than mine.

8. Some of your teammates have mentioned some interesting nicknames for you. Can you describe how you got some of them?

Well, my roommates call me “Handy Momma.” Basically, that was created when we were trying to build a closet. I am kind of the momma in the apartment. I take care of everything, and I cook, and I can use tools pretty well. My dad is a civil engineer so I may have gotten that from him. I’m good with machines and tools and things.

People at home call me “Ana Americana” because I have gotten Americanized over the past couple of years ... Or at least, I am trying to get there.

9. What is cedevita?

See VANJAK page 13

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Sports

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

16

VOLLEYBALL

Red Looks to Bounce Back at Fordham Hill Classic

By DANI ABADA Sun Assistant Sports Editor

This weekend, the Red (0-3) travels down to New York for the Fordham Rose Hill Classic. The volleyball team will compete in two matches on Friday and another two on Saturday.

“Right now I think it’s a quality tournament,” said head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose. “I think all of our opponents are kind of at the same level — there’s not one over the other. We definitely will have to come ready and be prepared to play everybody.”

Cornell begins play on Friday at 11:30 am, taking on host team Fordham. Later that day, at 4:30 pm, the Red will face

the Bucknell Bisons. On Saturday at 9:00 am Cornell is slated against the Stony Brook Sea Wolves, and will close out the weekend at 2:00 pm against NJIT. The four teams Cornell will be facing this weekend are all from different leagues — the Atlantic 10, the Patriot League, the American East and the Great West, respectively.

“Our expectations are more just at this point in the preseason, working through our different lineups … I think we are really just focused on the process and doing the little things as far as winning the passing and serving game and doing those little bits of that will feed a lot of success there,” BatieSmoose said.

The Red holds an all-time record of 11-1 against the

Bisons and a 3-0 record against the Sea Wolves, while Sunday marks the first ever meeting between the Red and NJIT. “Were just going to go out there and bring our best,” said sophomore setter and tri-captain Kelly Reinke. “We’re just really excited to be back on the court and showing what we are working for.”

The Red opened the season last week at the Omni Hotels Colorado Volleyball Classic hosted by the University of Colorado Tournament. There, Cornell faced Pac-10 opponents and lost in straight sets to Fresno State, Colorado and Northern Arizona.

“I think after last weekend [where] we came back from the West coast playing high level conferences bigger and stronger athletes … That will help us going into this weekend,” BatieSmoose said. “Just playing that higher level of competition will help us for this weekend a lot.”

Reinke echoed these sentiments and expressed optimism for the Fordham tournament ahead.

“I think coming off of last weekend we are learning a lot as a team and the preseason is the time to grow and hope we get better every game,” she said. “We are really excited to get into this weekend.”

The Red has seen some significant changes from last season, including four new freshmen and a new head coach.

“I think it’s a really good atmosphere this year,” Reinke said. “We have a new head coach and one assistant is new too.

They are bringing a lot to the team — It’s been a lot more competitive. It has been fun getting to know everyone and playing as a team.”

The new team is already hard at work.

“We’ve been working a lot on serving and passing and a lot of ball control,” Reinke said. “Hopefully that will all come together for this weekend.”

Batie-Smoose also has specific areas she wants to work on with her new team.

“Our focus is to the scoring system and being really aggressive with that,” she said. “Another focus of ours is scoring points on the end line and serving. [Hopefully] the rest will take care of itself.”

Next week, on Sept. 15, Cornell will play at the Temple Tournament in Philadelphia, Pa. — the Red’s last tournament of the season.

TINA CHOU / SUN FILE PHOTO

Block party | Junior middle blocker Rachel D’Epagnier had eleven total blocks in last weekend’s competition, helping her to be named to the Omni Hotel Colorado Volleyball Classic All-Tournament Team.

A Soundtrack to Professional Basketball achieved over the course of the history of professional basketball.

By virtue of the freedom I have as a writer, I would like to lay out what my NBA playlist consists of by likening the NBA franchises I enjoy watching to the music that I find myself able to listen to time and time again.

I would be remiss if I did not begin where my heart as a sports fan lies, and that is in Los Angeles at the Staples Center where my Lakers reside. There exist two dominant basketball franchises in the history of the NBA — the Los Angeles Lakers with 16 NBA championships and the Boston Celtics Showtime at the Forum with 17. Let us consider these two degree weather. I know I do. I bleed teams to be The Beatles and The Rolling Laker purple and gold. I will always root Stones. The distinction between who is for the Los Angeles Lakers no matter better and who has a greater and longerwhere I am. While I am a die-hard lasting impact on basketball or music is Lakers fan, I also consider myself a die- very subjective and for each individual to determine based on what their tastes hard music fan.

Like many people who love their are.

Since I prefer The Beatles, for me, music, I don’t listen to the same song or artist over and over again. I don’t watch the Lakers are The Beatles in my NBA the same teams play over and over again. playlist — coming out of obscurity Like music lovers who appreciate all from a foreign land, in our case the fortypes of musical genres and artists, I too eign and alien land of Minnesota (no have an appreciation for several different offense to you Golden Gophers out NBA franchises and what they have there), and making what I consider the We all have that one musical artist or group that we could listen to until the day we die. Whether it is the music that you grew up with, or the music you play, or the music that changed your life, there is always one genre or individual that you listen to no matter what you are feeling at the time.

For sports fans, we have our teams that we will support until the day we’re buried in the ground. We have the colors that we would be willing to paint on our face and chest and rock out in 20-

Juan Carlos Toledo

largest impact on what has become the modern NBA and in a larger sense basketball today. And of course, we all have our favorite albums by our favorite artists, the albums we would save in a burning building if we could only take one. In my case, Kobe Bryant, who I would liken to “Abbey Road,” is the one “album” of the Lakers that I would never want to be destroyed or forgotten.

Respect, of course, has to be given to their biggest rival — the Boston Celtics, who I would consider The Rolling Stones. Songs like “Paint it Black” and “Gimme Shelter” are songs that I would never want to lose. The Boston Celtics dominated the NBA in the 1960’s and with the help of players throughout their history — such as Bill Russell and Larry Bird — have made their impact on the NBA today. Although I still consider the impact of the Lakers greater than that of the Celtics, I give respect to The Rolling Stones even though I prefer The Beatles.

Influenced by artists who came before them, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are a genre all to themselves, and no one else has ever done what they have done or sounded like they sound. This is a band that puts on a live show that few can compare to and will blow you away with the diversity of their sounds and See TOLEDO page 13

Dani Abada can be reached at dabada@cornellsun.com.

Women’s Tennis Welcomes New Assistant Coach, Zane Smith Mike Stevens, the Carl H. Meinig ’31 Head Coach of Women’s Tennis, announced on Wednesday that Zane Smith had been named as the assistant coach for the 2012-13 season.

SMITH Smith comes to the Red directly from Ball State University, where he graduated in May with a degree in Business Administration.

Originally an Indiana native, Smith made a name for himself on the men’s tennis courts.

He began his collegiate career as a walk-on to the team and finished at the top of the pack, sharing time at the No. 1 singles position.

Smith helped the Cardinals claim a MidAmerican Conference regular-season title, as well as a tournament title, during his time at Ball State. He also posted a career singles record of 31-24 and career doubles record of 48-36. Smith also earned recognition by being named a Milwaukee Tennis Classic Sportsmanship Award winner, Mid-American Conference champion and member of the Athletic Academic Honor Roll.

— Compiled by Lauren Ritter