11-29-12

INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880

The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 129, No. 68

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2012

News After the Storm

CornellNYC Tech architects are taking precautions against future severe weather at the Roosevelt Island campus. | Page 3

Opinion Stuffed With Stuff

Katerina Athanasiou ’13 describes a nauseating trip to the Cornell Store during the holidays. | Page 7

Arts Re-Kinecting

Liz Camuti ’14 sat down with Kinetics to discuss the new video for his song “Sign Language.” | Page 9

Sports Squashing Columbia

Cornell squash will open its Ivy League season against Columbia on Saturday. | Page 16

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Greek System Faces New Wave of Changes Univ.responds to Skorton’s challenge

By REBECCA HARRIS Sun News Editor

About two years ago, a Cornell student was killed after a fraternity hazing event. On Wednesday, the University announced its most comprehensive response to that death to date.

The University released its final plans for a series of new policies that seek to substantially reform fraternity and sorority pledging in response to President David Skorton’s challenge last year to “end pledging as we know it.”

Among the most signifiSeveral provisions of the plan cant changes that will be will go into effect in time for implemented in some form recruitment this January. over the next three years are a shortened pledge period, University statement extended access for Cornell emergency responders to off-campus chapter houses and, potentially, mandatory live-in advisors, according to the report.

The impending policy changes — outlined in a report titled “Meeting the Challenge: The Evolution of Cornell’s Greek Community” — will be implemented in three phases over the next three recruitment cycles, according to the report. Phase one of the plan, which will go into effect when rush begins this January, involves several immediate changes.

One reform will shorten the new member education period, See GREEK page 5

Holiday spirit

ANDY JOHNSON / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

A TumblTrak | In fall 2006, a student on the Cornell Gymnastics Club became paralyzed after a fall on the TumblTrak in Teagle Gymnasium.

Paralyzed C.U.Gymnast Will Keep Up Legal Fight

By JINJOO LEE Sun Senior Writer

KELLY YANG / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Joyce Zhao, whose husband is a graduate student at Cornell, makes a gingerbread house with her daughter, Stephanie, at a winter crafts event at the Big Red Barn Wednesday.

Randall Duchesneau ’09 was 21 years old and a member of the Cornell Gymnastics Club on Oct. 12, 2006, when his botched attempt to perform a standing backflip in the Teagle Hall Gymnasium caused permanent spinal injuries that rendered him a quadriplegic, wheelchair-bound for life.

But after waging a four-year, multi-million dollar negligence suit against Cornell, Duchesneau was denied compensatory damages when a federal jury ruled Nov. 5 that the University was not legally responsible for the accident.

Duchesneau will appeal the verdict.

Duchesneau, who was a

senior at the time of the accident, sued Cornell University, the Cornell Gymnastics Club and TumblTrak — the company that manufactures the trampoline-like apparatus on which Duchesneau was injured — in October 2008 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, claiming that the University “should have provided supervision, screening and spotting in Teagle Hall Gymnasium during practices conducted by the Cornell Gymnastics Club, an independent student organization,” according to University counsel.

In his complaint, Duchesneau alleged that neither Cornell University, Cornell Gymnastics Club or TumblTrak See LAWSUIT page 4

Cornell Seeks Higher Graduation Rate for Black Male Students

By JINJOO LEE Sun Senior Writer

As part of initiatives designed to increase diversity at the University, Cornell administrators are prioritizing increasing the retention of African-American male students –– a demographic whose graduation rate has lagged far behind those of other groups on campus, according to a University report.

While 92 percent of students vice president for student and entering Cornell in 2003 gradu- academic services, said a ated within six years, only 75 per- University task force is working cent of African-American male students graduated “We are going to start with good within six years, according to the report. research. Good literature.”

Administrators say they Renee Alexander ’74 hope to raise this rate, but that they must conduct further research to deter- to gather data and research ways in which other universities have mine how to do so.

Susan Murphy ’73 Ph.D. ’94, tried to increase the graduation

rates of black male students.

“We are going to start with good research. Good literature.

For example, I’m … visiting [Prof.] Shaun Harper, [education, University of Pennsylvania],” Renee Alexander ’74, associate dean of students and director of intercultural programs, said. “He’s doing some progressive work with college-age

black men.”

Additionally, Alexander said that members of the Division of Student and Academic Services will look through data on Cornell’s student population to devise plans to boost black male graduation rates. “[We need to] take a look at trends. Does any college or school jump out? Are there any See DIVERSITY page 4

2 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, November 29, 2012

Today

DAYBOOK

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Daybook

CORNELL DAILY SUN VIDEOS

Today Mediation Modeling Workshop 12:30 - 2 p.m., 200 Savage Hall Aquavet Informational Session 3 - 4 p.m., S1-123 Schurman Hall A Conversation With Minister Tashkovich 4:45 - 5:45 p.m., 233 Plant Sciences Building Professor Jefferson Cowie’s “Last Lecture” 5 - 6:15 p.m., Call Auditorium, Kennedy Hall “Can College Sports Be Saved?

Should They Be Banned?”

5:30 p.m., Alice Statler Auditorium, Statler Hall

Tomorrow George Frantz Lecture: Planning Disaster Resistant Communities 12:20 - 2 p.m., Milstein Auditorium, Milstein Hall C.U. Music: Composers’ Forum 1:25 - 3 p.m., 316 Lincoln Hall All Nighter 6 p.m. - 2 a.m., Robert Purcell Community Center C.U. Music: Jazz Band with vocalist Tessa Buono 8 - 9:30 p.m., Carriage House Cafe, 305 Stewart Avenue Salsa & Latin Dance Party 9 p.m. - 1 a.m., Big Red Barn

S

Watch at cornellsun.com Afrika Bambaataa made his first appearance on campus as a visiting scholar Wednesday, talking about the origins of hip hop. Bambataa says his inspiration for the name of the genre was the language his peers were using in their music. Bambataa explains, “I said, you know, this is hip, and when you feel that music you’ve got to hop to it.” Bambataa also discusses the international hip hop awareness group he founded, the Universal Zulu Nation, which he says is based on the ideology of peace, unity, love, and having fun.

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THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, November 29, 2012 3

NEWS

After Hurricane Sandy, Roosevelt Island Adapts

By TYLER ALICEA Sun Staff Writer

While the future site of CornellNYC Tech on Roosevelt Island was not damaged by Hurricane Sandy, tech campus officials said provisions are being put in place to protect the campus against future disasters.

Construction of the tech campus is still on track to begin in January 2014 with the demolition of the existing facilities on the island, according to tech campus Vice President Cathy Dove.

“Hurricane Sandy did not impact our timetable,” she said.

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Monday that Hurricane Sandy had caused $19 billion in damages to the city. In order to ensure that the tech campus will withstand the damage caused by any future storms, officials said architects are taking as many precautions as possible in constructing the campus.

To prevent damage from hurricanes and other weatherrelated events, the windows, panels, roofing and other elements that surround buildings will “meet or exceed the lat-

RUTH FREMSON / THE NEW YORK TIMES

Over troubled waters | Passengers ride the tram from Roosevelt Island to Manhattan two days after Hurricane Sandy blew through New York City.

CALS Internship Will Strengthen Ties Between C.U.Students,NYS

By SYLVIA RUSNAK

in.”

The community engagement project will occupy 20 percent, or about eight hours, of the A new internship program for students in the interns’ 40-hour work week and will include College of Agriculture and Life Sciences seeks to weekly, virtual meetings with other interns in the help revitalize the work force in upstate New region.

York and offer students a unique opportunity to Blakely-Armitage said the program will try to affect and connect with the communities in place two to three interns together within a which they will be working, according to CALS smaller region, with one or two working for a forofficials. profit business and the others working for a nonCALS and the Cornell Community and profit.

Regional Developmental Institute, which “By clustering [the interns, they will not only responds to regional development needs through- be doing 32 hours with an internship host, but out the state, are currently recruiting students for 20 percent of time they may be interacting with the CALS NYS Internship each other,” she said.

Program, which will place Although Blakely“A lot of these students in internships Armitage said the project will across three to four regions communities are saying it’s most likely vary from year to of upstate New York this she said this year’s prohard to keep young people.” year, upcoming summer. jects could be continued in “The internship program upcoming years or by other Robin Blakely-Armitage really came out of wanting members of the community to offer CALS students a in that region. strong program with a component attempting to “The community will be left with a project get students engaged in the community,” said that’s been started and hopefully can be mainRobin Blakely-Armitage, CaRDI senior exten- tained and grown by future interns,” she said. sion associate.

The internship will run for 10 weeks and will She added that the interns will also be expect- include a $4,000 stipend and two academic creded to complete an engagement project that will its. One credit will come from a course in the connect the intern’s host company with the com- spring designed to prepare students for their munity. This year’s projects will be focused on internships, and the other will be earned in the generating ideas to attract and retain an educat- fall semester following the internship, when stued, young work force in the region. dents will create a summary presentation of their “Many times with companies around New internships.

York State and in particular upstate, these comSo far, student reaction to the program has panies will hire a new graduate or someone who been positive, according to Blakely-Armitage. has been in the workforce for a few years, put a “Obviously, students are trying to build their lot of investment into training the person, but resumes … but I think another thing that appeals after two or three years that person may move to them — this is what they’re telling us — is that on,” Blakely-Armitage said. it’s not just a solid work experience with great According to Blakely-Armitage, the project companies, [but] that [the] community engagewill aim to help communities build stronger con- ment piece adds another layer and dimension nections between young people in the workforce that makes it more unique,” she said. “It’s someand New York State companies, who often leave thing that will set them apart from peers with their jobs because of their communities. possible employers and graduate schools.”

“A lot of these communities are saying it’s hard to keep young people,” Blakely-Armitage said. “ Sylvia Rusnak can be reached We have trouble attracting [young people] back at srusnak@cornellsun.com.

Sun Staff Writer

est codes,” David Keating, a spokesperson for CornellNYC Tech, said.

The possibility of flooding and rising sea levels as a result of climate change are also being taken into consideration, according to Keating.

“For the Roosevelt Island site, our plans have always included provisions to raise the current level of the site and locate sensitive systems high above floodplain levels,” he said.

Central walkways and the ground floor of all buildings will be raised to an elevation of 19 to 21 feet in accordance with various regulations and guidelines, he said.

Officials are still considering how to implement other elements — including “emergency warning systems, security, communications, lighting and other campus systems” — to safeguard the Roosevelt Island campus against natural disasters, Keating said.

Until the Roosevelt Island campus opens in 2017, CornellNYC Tech is operating out of offices in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan that have been provided by Google. After the storm, the Google office space was left without power and heat for about a week, according to tech campus Dean Daniel Huttenlocher.

While the offices were closed, many employees had to work from home, according to Keating.

“Luckily, many of our staff here in NYC were equipped to work from home,” Keating said.

Despite the loss of power, there was no long-term damages to the building — unlike many others in lower Manhattan. The offices reopened Nov. 5, officials said.

“Many people lost their homes and some businesses are still closed, so the impact on the region continues to be significant,” Dove said. “We are grateful that our employees and their families are safe and that our Chelsea campus is fully functional.”

Tyler Alicea can be reached at talicea@cornellsun.com.

After Hurricane Sandy forced Yale University to cancel classes for two days, Yale professors had to adjust their curriculum to the shorter schedule, the Yale Daily News reported. It was the first time Yale canceled classes in 34 years.

A new recycling policy was instituted in Brown University's residence halls to make recycling simpler for students, The Brown Daily Herald reported. The new policy allows all recyclable materials to be deposited in the same bins.

A University of Pennsylvania professor, who helped develop a natural disaster simulation program, hopes it can be used to prepare people for a disasters, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian.

— Compiled by Emma Court

Treats for treatment

JEVAN HUTSON / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Students sell baked goods in Mann Library on Wednesday to raise money for HIV/AIDS education, treatment and prevention in Ecuador.

4 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, November 29, 2012

Don’t be a fool!

Read the comics every day.

NEWS

Paralyzed Alumnus Will Appeal Lost Suit LAWSUIT

Continued from page 1

had provided warnings regarding the hidden dangers of using the TumblTrak, which, Duchesneau’s attorneys claimed, “deceptively lacks the cushioning effects of a trampoline or a crash mat,” according to court documents.

The University countered that Duchesneau had “assumed the risk of using the [TumblTrak] and Cornell had no duty to supervise the use of gymnastic equipment by novices, ” according to court documents. The University said in a statement this week that “while Mr. Duchesneau’s accident was tragic, Cornell did not cause it.”

Duchesneau disagreed, saying Cornell is responsible for the physical suffering, “emotional pain and suffering, disfigurement, depression, anxiety and mental anguish” that forced him and his family to “expend substantial sums of money for medical treatment and medications,” according to court documents.

In addition to the costs resulting from his injuries, Duchesneau also alleged that he has “suffered a severe loss of earnings and impairment of his earning power and capacity” because “his quadriplegia prevents him from performing all or substantially all of his usual and customary activities prior to the October 12, 2006, incident,” according to court documents.

Nonetheless, the jury found in favor of Cornell earlier this month.

Duchesneau returned to Cornell and graduated in 2009, three years later than his planned graduation date. He is currently attending graduate school at Yale University.

Although the November verdict favored Cornell, Duchesneau and is not giving up. His lawyers are currently waiting to hear the result of a motion to declare a mistrial, according to Daniel Jeck, one of Duchesneau’s trial attorneys. Oral arguments on the motion are set to begin Dec. 12.

If the judge denies the request for a mistrial, Duchesneau’s legal team intends to pursue “any and all appellate avenues that are available,” Jeck told The Sun Tuesday.

Rebecca Harris contributed reporting to this article.

Jinjoo Lee can be reached at jinjoolee@cornellsun.com.

Univ.Requests Alumni Support For Boosting Retention Rates DIVERSITY

Continued from page 1

socioeconomic considerations?

Are these first generation students? [These questions] might give us an idea,” she said.

The Division of Student and Academic Services will also collaborate with other colleges and departments in order to increase retention of black males, according to Brendan O’Brien, director of the International Students and Scholars Office.

“I think that’s not a goal that can be accomplished by our division alone. It’s a goal that will require collaboration with a number of different entities on campus, including coordinating with college admission offices and other offices of support,” O’Brien said.

In addition to conducting research, administrators say that they will continue to support Students Working Ambitiously to Graduate, a Cornell mentorship program for black male students.

Members of SWAG said that the University’s research could help their efforts to reach out to students who are most at risk of dropping out of school.

“The problem is people who are in the program are the ones that are graduating. If we reach out, we want to pull in those who are struggling,” said Kendrick Coq ’15, co-chair of SWAG. To boost the retention rates of black males, the University needs more support from not only students but also alumni, said Thaddeus Talbot ’15, co-chair of SWAG.

“The job is never easy. What I think is more effective is a handson approach, particularly more involvement from alumni,” Talbot said. “The administration has been giving us support and we appreciate them, but our work still requires more hands.”

In moving toward its goal of increasing retention rates, the University will also continue to support the New York State Higher Education Opportunity Program. The program helps lowincome students who could not gain admission under the University’s regular standards attend and graduate from Cornell, according to Alexander.

According to A.T. Miller, associate vice provost for academic diversity initiatives, students that are part of HEOP are supported throughout their time at Cornell.

“The HEOP program purchases student course books and provides supplemental workshops,” he said. “In HEOP, the students have what we call intrusive advising, where they must see their advisor every other week in their first year, once a month in their second year and twice a semester after that.”

The support that HEOP lends to its students helps ensure that, ultimately, “they do graduate,” Alexander said.

Murphy acknowledged, however, that increasing graduation rates of black males at Cornell will take time.

“You’re not going to change it in a single year,” she said.

Jinjoo Lee can be reached at jinjoolee@cornellsun.com.

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, November 29, 2012 5

NEWS

New Policies Will Be Shaped Over Time,Leaders Say GREEK

Continued from page 1

which currently lasts up to eight weeks, to no more than six weeks this spring. That period will shrink to four weeks in Spring 2014.

Chapters will also be required to submit a detailed plan, for approval by the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, of the events they plan to hold during that time, according to the report.

“There will be a great deal of vigilance placed around the greek system for those six weeks,” Interfraternity Council President Chris Sanders ’13 said.

The programs will need to offer activities that avoid the inherent “power differential” between brothers and new members, according to Sanders.

“As a conditional member there’s that sense that because you’re trying to prove [yourself] worthy of gaining membership, you’re more willing to subject yourself to things [than] if it was a more balanced relationship,” Sanders said. “We’re trying to get to the sort of model where there is time for new members to learn about the fraternity but … focusing on providing an experience more in tune to personal growth.”

The University will also increase transparency surrounding greek judicial actions: Beginning in the spring, guilty verdicts and their corresponding penalties — handed down by the the Greek Judicial Board, the Fraternity and Sorority Review Board or any of the three council judicial boards — will be posted publicly online, according to Susan Murphy ’73 Ph.D. ’94, vice president for student and academic services.

“The intent is that when a decision is rendered … the violation as well as the sanction would be made known,” Murphy said. Judicial action would only be made public after a final decision was handed down, she said.

Student leaders and administrators said that some of the new policies, particularly the provision of live-in advisors, are only blueprints for continued reform. The second phase of the plan constitutes a “vague framework” that will take

shape over the next two to three years, Sanders said.

For instance, while the plan says an advisor will be placed in “each chapter living in a house,” greek leaders expressed uncertainty over whether the University will ultimately require every fraternity to have one. Whether all chapters or only newly-formed or “at-risk” chapters will be required to have them has not been determined, according to Murphy.

“There are a lot of issues we still have to work out,” she said. “All of the Panhellenic organizations already have live-in advisors. We think it holds great impact and merit, but there’s a lot of discussion left to be had.”

One such discussion will likely be how to pay advisors — details that were not included in the plan released Wednesday. Greek leaders said it was still unclear whether the full cost would fall on the chapters or whether the University would shoulder some of the burden.

Alan Workman ’13, IFC vice president for recruitment, said he predicts the live-in advisor provision will be the most difficult of the new policies to fully implement.

Still, he emphasized that chapters will likely have more opportunities to offer their input as the details are ironed out over the next few years.

“I think it’s going to be a bit of a trial-and-error, seeing on the fly how it would best be implemented — kind of a pilot program,” Workman said. “Off-campus houses keeping some of their rights as independent living units is going to be one of the more delicate balances we’re going to have to keep as we move forward with these recommendations.”

That balance will come into question with another of the report’s policies: increasing University access to off-campus chapter houses for “matters of health and safety.”

In the past, Murphy said, fraternities in off-campus houses have turned away medical help from Cornell EMS responders for fear of repercussions for hosting illegal parties. Increasing access to offcampus houses is a safety measure — not an attempt to increase University control over those chap-

ters, she said.

“We don’t own the houses, we don’t control the houses — but when there’s a member of a recognized student organization in a recognized chapter house who is in medical difficulty, we want to be able to help,” Murphy said.

For the two thirds of chapter houses that are not Cornell-owned, the jurisdiction issue is a complicated one, Workman agreed.

“Cornell EMS can’t really go to those houses. Bangs and others like Cayuga Heights EMS respond to those off-campus houses. For matters of health and safety, extending the ability for Cornell EMS to go to those houses would be a huge step for us — as long as we make sure houses remain out of University control,” he said.

Amid ongoing changes to the system, chapter officers have raised concerns about such a loss of autonomy in various aspects of greek life. The cry for self-governance, though, is a two-way street, Sanders cautioned. Many students fail to acknowledge that “self-governance is a privilege that is granted by the administration and by the trustees,” he said.

“That privilege comes with a sense of responsibility, and I don’t think as a community we’ve lived up to that responsibility.” Sanders said. “If behavior like we saw near the end of this semester continues, we run the risk of further distancing ourselves from that privilege.”

Efforts to eradicate dangerous behavior within the Greek System have been in the works since the

hazing-related death of Sigma Alpha Epsilon brother George Desdunes ’13 in February 2011, which led to Skorton’s mandate and the acceleration of the first round of new restrictions handed down last year.

The latest plan was adapted from recommendations set forth by the RARE committee — or Recruitment, Acceptance, Retention and Education, a task force comprised of students and alumni — and revised with input from student leaders, alumni and the University’s Fraternity and Sorority Advisory Council.

Student leaders and administrators said that keeping the status quo — with high-risk drinking and hazing still critical issues of concern at Cornell — will not be tolerated.

Chapters are going to see changes not only to new member education, but to the judicial process as well, they said.

“When we have documented cases where someone’s health and safety is at risk, I suspect we’re going to up the ante a bit,” Murphy said. “We’ve just got to take a very strong stand and we just can’t have our students being put into situations where they’re at risk.”

Still, the changes announced Wednesday are, she emphasized, “predicated on the desire of preserving the system for all that it can and does provide.”

Rebecca Harris can be reached at rharris@cornellsun.com.

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There’s a Seesaw in The Girl’s Restroom I

didn’t start writing for The Sun for the money, fame and women.

We don’t get paid, and because my readership is limited exclusively to my friends, the gaggle of girls that should be following me around campus admiring my lovely mug in the paper every other Thursday is surprisingly absent. That combined with the fact that finals are looming and Winter Slope Day is tomorrow, my creativity levels are approaching an all time low.

So when I sat down this week to try and write my column I tried to think of something profoundly important to write (like John Stamos, cat videos, burning couches, etc.), I managed to come up with

friends and not tell them. You will then get points for “likes” on a picture, friend requests, wall posts and so on. Have your Facebook friends perform better than your friend’s Facebook friends during a given week and you will walk away from that match up with the win. I can’t offer any financial compensation, but I can talk to you about dinosaurs for a really long time.

• I recently learned that deer hunting is legal on campus. This is a pretty complicated issue in my eyes. On one hand, I saw Bambi, and it was pretty devastating when Bambi’s mother got killed during the opening scene of the film. I don’t want to

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Editorial

To Eliminate Fraternity Hazing, Pledging Must End

OVER THE COURSE OF OUR TIME AT CORNELL, we have seen a full evolution of Cornell’s policy toward fraternities and sororities. While we have previously expressed concern about the overly heavy-handed nature of the University’s response to the Greek system, recent events have made clear to us that the Greek system is incapable of making broad cultural changes on its own.

In the last month, three fraternities were suspended, including one that was accused of holding a hazing event in which two students were hospitalized. It is disturbing that these incidents come only one year after a Cornell sophomore died in a hazing ritual. It is difficult to assign blame when the entire fraternity culture is responsible.

President David Skorton issued a pledge to eliminate fraternity hazing in a column he penned for The New York Times in August 2011. On Wednesday, the University released the proposal to “end pledging as we know it” and to make good on Skorton’s statement.

However, eliminating hazing from the Greek system can only come with broad cultural changes, and these changes can only happen by eliminating pledging entirely.

As part of fulfilling Skorton’s pledge, chapters will be required to seek prior approval for all events for their prospective new members starting in January. The new member education will be shortened to six weeks this year and four weeks next year. Eventually, chapters may be required to let Cornell emergency responders enter their houses and have live-in advisors. While it may seem like these steps will fix the situation, we doubt their efficacy; they will not eliminate the perverse dynamic that leads to hazing in the first place.

Any student joining a house should be immediately initiated. While fraternities will argue that students need this time before membership to learn the rituals and traditions of the house, we see no reason why this cannot happen after these members are formally initiated.

Instead of having the threat of not being accepted looming over students’ heads, there are other ways to incentivize new members’ participation in the valuable parts of fraternities: tradition, bonding and philanthropy. The fact that fraternities must rely on pledging for their members to participate in activities shows a complete lack of creativity.

Changing the culture of fraternities on campus is not something that can be done through the normal judicial process. It is not something that can be altered by tragedy.

Instead, it seems that the only option is eliminating pledging entirely.

nothing. My friend Will Spencer ’12, though, used to write for The Sun and I remember he had a column that was literally just bullet pointed thoughts. Apparently he got the idea from a columnist before him, Corey Brezak ’11. Because my style of writing is much better suited to highly refined mediums (read: Twitter) and I am drained creatively, I am going to borrow (read: steal) this idea for a column from both of these esteemed former columnists and try to crank out a final 800 words before the semester ends.

• Recently I have been asking myself, “Why do girls always go to the bathroom in pairs?” Initially I had no idea. Men don’t go to the bathroom in pairs. We come back safely almost every time. Using the bathroom doesn’t seem like a situation where the buddy system is necessary. But then I started thinking a little more outside the box and realized there must be a seesaw in the girls’ bathroom. A seesaw is no fun by yourself, so if you’re headed to the girls’ bathroom you will definitely need a buddy.

• The suspension bridge is closed which means that the only types of bridges left open on campus are beam bridges, arch bridges and cantilever bridges which are all a little less impressive in terms of engineering. If it bums you out that you can’t marvel at the more impressive bridge, then you and I should hang out.

• I noticed that people generally like attention on Facebook. I also noticed that Fantasy Basketball and Baseball are pretty poor substitutes for Fantasy Football during the eight months a year the NFL isn’t playing.

This leads me to a job prospect for anyone who can write computer code: Fantasy Facebook. You and your league will “draft” mutual

have to see Bambi’s mom getting taken down on a daily basis on the arts quad. Cornell students also have trouble handling any kind of weaponry. If you are skeptical about this just see my most recent column and learn about the time I was assaulted with a ball of socks from a game I wasn’t even playing. I don’t want to know what would happen if the Humans vs. Zombies game had crossbows and deer thrown in.

On the other hand though, I do like the idea of a bunch of Cornell students running around campus dressed like Christopher Walken from the movie Deer Hunter. Or Christopher Walken from Hairspray.

• If you look at the entrance to Goldwin Smith hall, there is a small sticker on the window that says “No rollerblading.” There’s nothing too remarkable about this except for the fact that at one point in time rollerblading in Goldwin Smith was enough of a problem for administrative staff to find it necessary to put up a sticker outlawing it. If any seniors or super seniors have any information about this, please let me know. I am eager to learn more about the days when Cornell was rampant with super gnarly rollerbladers.

• I think the perfect crime is wiping boogers on cats. If you find yourself without a tissue just know that cats lick themselves clean, so it is basically like recycling.

• Today you broke your personal record for most consecutive days being alive. Congratulations! Go for it again tomorrow.

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.

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, November 29, 2012 7

OPINION

What Is All This Crap?

I

babysit a fourth grader every few weeks. He is sharp and sarcastic, almost always an endlessly entertaining, refreshing change of pace. Last week, when his dad came home, he mentioned his disappointment with our school store. I took a visit after Thanksgiving break.

My brief walk through the Cornell Store was somewhat nauseating. I understand and appreciate school spirit, but this is a collection of useless knick knacks and crap — the stuff that creates waste, fills homes and excites packrats — with a Cornell emblem on it. A nutcracker with “CU” on its booties, a stuffed bear with a big red t-shirt, a Cornell gnome.

Alongside the Cornell paraphernalia lies mountains of stuff — jewelry reminiscent of 5th grade holiday shopping days, plaques with inspirational quotes, charm bracelets, pashminas — the list goes on. I could write an article about our school store’s identity crisis — about why a place that is supposed to provide us with books, school supplies and some Cornell gear has become a strange treasure chest of somewhat useless items, but that’s a story for another day. Right now, I want to focus on the much coveted and celebrated holiday season, which is now upon us.

I find this time of year fascinating: We spend one day being grateful and the next trampling neighbors for discounts at big box stores. The dichotomy between appreciation and desire is surely an interesting one. Our stress on stuff — from secret Santa to familial gift giving — is troublesome and our environments, even seemingly innocuous ones like a school store, seem to perpetuate the culture of acquiring more. The giftgiving season is an opportune time for self reflection and contemplation of our ingrained seasonal habits and norms.

Going home for Thanksgiving, I returned to my childhood bedroom, which surprisingly, is still full. In Ithaca, my room contains pretty much everything I need (and more). But then I go home to a museum of stuff from an earlier time: fourth grade t-shirts and high school memorabilia along with books and awards and pictures. The funny thing is that I don’t consider myself to be particularly materialistic or stuffobsessed. I think of myself to be relatively simple: to want and keep things that have utility. And even so, I have countless doohickeys from vacations past along with birthday gifts that sit around — unopened, untouched, useless. This isn’t a new revelation, obviously. We live in a country where an entire business empire is established to give you boxes to keep your

A

crap in (think The Container Store), where we have “professional organizers” and reality series, like TLC’s Clean Sweep about de-cluttering.

As we begin giving things to the people we love, why not consider utility or longevity? Perhaps giving an experience (a massage, an afternoon kayaking, a concert ticket) will prove more meaningful. If you insist on giving something to someone, perhaps ask yourself: What is this and will they actually use it? And this break, if you’re at home, maybe take one day in our six week vacation to excavate your room and purge yourself of all the “extra” things you have. If you haven’t worn that t-shirt in five years, maybe it’s time to give it away. And although Nancy Drew was your favorite in elementary school, maybe some other child could enjoy the beauty of reading.

This is about sustainability, this is about your psyche, this is about having less quantity and more quality. Maybe if we had less stuff overall, we’d treat it with a bit more respect and value.

A New York Times article, “You Probably Have Too Much Stuff” spoke about this very phenomenon. The piece mentioned Andrew Hyde, who began a trip around the world by downsizing his possessions to just 15. On his blog, Hyde explains: “I’m so confused by this.

When we were growing up, didn’t we all have the goal of a huge house full of things? I found a far more quality life by rejecting things as a gauge of success.” It’s not necessarily about downsizing so drastically. But such an example can motivate action from the masses. Have you gone through your closet? What about your desk and your bookshelf? The same Times article recommends asking the question, “Do I have room—physical, emotional, mental—to bring one more thing into my life?”

My friend Max shared a story of his friend’s “study abroad” experience living in the Adirondacks. Before starting the program, participants were given a challenge to bring only 100 items. That’s not a lot. This isn’t a new movement, though. In 2008, Times Magazine ran an article all about the “100 Thing

Challenge.” Personally, I counted the things on my bookshelf and got to almost 100 — and that’s counting folders and their contents as one item. If you think about even college homes, this is a radical concept. Each fork and hanger counts, as do all those other peripheral possessions we don’t even think about or challenge. So perhaps 100 is infeasible for you.

But maybe 1,000 is possible. There are other means: owning only things you use daily, making a timeline of purging.

Another way to look at it is that you should only own what would fit in one carload. Whether you choose to make that a mini Coop or a Hummer is your choice. If you only ride a bicycle or the TCAT, good luck. It’s not really as much about logistics as it is about awareness.

And it’s not just about what’s in your room or house. It’s about how you look at getting new things. So the next time you find yourself with an SAFC form, perhaps consider if you can get that folding table from somewhere else (like a ReUse

Katerina Athanasiou Kat’s Cradle store) or if it’s really integral to your cause to acquire that particular item.

College is a nomadic time. Every six to ten months, we pack up our things to relocate, whether it be from Ithaca to home, or to a new apartment just a few blocks away, or to another hemisphere for a semester. We are in constant motion. We are always moving in to new places and acquiring stuff to make them homes. This might be the ideal time to reconsider what you own and what you actually need.

Katerina Athanasiou is a senior in the College of Art, Architecture, and planning. She may be reacched at kathanasiou@cornellsun.com.

Kat’s Cradle runs alternate Thursdays this semester.

What Cornell Forgot to Tell You

s first semester draws to a close, it is becoming more apparent with each passing day that, no matter how much I deny it, the transition from college to “the real world” is uncomfortably close.

Although I’d like to think that I try to live in the moment (ha!), I can’t help but think about the end of this meaningful chapter of my short life. However, no matter how nostalgic I choose to get, graduation will come and I will be thrown into a world that, whether I like it or not, follows a different rule book than we do here on The Hill. In my contemplations about graduation I have realized — among other things

I pray that graduating means the end of all-nighters. Maybe it’s the silver lining of that-oh-so-dreaded-thing?

DRINKING KEYSTONE LIGHT I don’t mean to be a snob, but I think that it is safe to say that Keystone Light is college beer and college beer only.

DRINKING WINE OUT OF BAGS Franzia, it was fun while it lasted.

SWEAT SUITS/PAJAMAS IN PUBLIC In college, looking disheveled says “I’m tired and stressed, and don’t care enough

Hannah Deixler Shades of Grey — that there are, quite simply, things that I do (and I know you do too) that are entirely unacceptable in any zip code that isn’t 14853. After graduating from an Ivy League university, I will be ready to face the world (or at least so I’m told), so long as I can break a few nasty habits that have become all too normal during my time at Cornell.

I’ve thought about it, and here is a list of college-specific social conventions that, come May, will be entirely unacceptable.

SLEEPING UNTIL NOON … ON A TUESDAY Here’s to hoping I’ll have something to do before 12:00 on Tuesdays.

NOT SLEEPING AT ALL ON A TUESDAY

to put on pants!” In adulthood, looking disheveled says, “Don’t take me seriously.”

I anticipate having to work hardest on this one. It’s too easy to roll out of bed, and I simply dread the days when it will be looked down upon. !!!!SPRING BREAK!!!!

Speaks for itself. Everything about !!!!SPRING BREAK!!!! stays in college.

my run here, but I’m pretty sure A Capella turns into other things in “the real world” (like real bands).

Nope.

PINNEYS

ASKING SOMEONE WHAT OTHER COLLEGES THEY APPLIED TO

I’d argue that this isn’t even okay to do while in college, but since I’ve been asked it so many times I added it to the list. By May I hope we can all move on and think of more creative ways to figure out whether the person you’re talking to is smart.

HIGH SCHOOL VARSITY SWEATSHIRTS The glory days are very much over by now.

SORORITY/FRATERNITY LETTERS Your shirt means nothing in “the real world.” No one cares that you were in a “top tier” frat.

NAPPING IN PUBLIC Now, I’m particularly pro at this (I have favorite spots in every library), but I imagine (again, only speculation) that sprawling out on a couch in the office and taking a quick snooze might be looked down upon. Who knows though?

DRINKING SO MUCH YOU VOMIT OR FALL ASLEEP ON A COUCH OR DON’T REMEMBER ANYTHING

NAPPING MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY See also: “Sleeping until noon … on a Tuesday.” Gone are the days of bizarre sleeping/eating/studying/socializing schedules, unless you’re a freelance artist in which case, rock on.

A CAPELLA I’m a sucker for the stuff, and I’ve been to more concerts than I can count during

THE TERM “BURSAR” The bursar financial administrator is specific to the university system. The term (in all parts of speech) is thrown around loosely among students (“I’ll bursar it.”

Once we hold real jobs I think we’re expected to hold our liquor, too.

“Go to the bursar.” “Use your bursar account”), but will soon mean nothing.

TRIPLES I’ve been there, done that. Living with three people in one room is fun, albeit cozy. While I imagine city living comes in all different shapes and sizes, I think the forced-triple with a bunk bed is unique to the university dorm room.

THINKING 10:10 IS EARLY This will also take a lot of getting used to. By “adult” standards, 10 a.m. is one hour into the workday, and only seven short hours away from happy hour. By college standards, 10:10 is early enough to warrant pajamas in public. And multiple naps in one day … perhaps even in public.

THE 12:35 AM TEXT “WHERE R U ;)?”

The booty call is age blind, no doubt, but I pray that with age comes a sense of subtlety.

THREE DAY WEEKENDS I’ve heard that Fridays are included in the work week elsewhere.

So, I have two choices: Anticipate this change in social norms and alter my behavior accordingly. I can, knowing that the end is near, start to practice looking presentable, teach myself to drink beer from bottles instead of cans and throw away the drawer of sorority apparel I have accumulated over the years. Or, alternatively, I can continue to take it all in and deal with “real life” when it heartlessly slaps me across the face. I think I’ll opt for the former … and take a nap in the meantime.

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, November 29, 2012

DINING GUIDE

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Dining Guide

Your source for good food

Warm Your Heart (and Tastebuds): Ithaca’s Best Winter Comfort Cuisine To children, winter means cold weather, cold weather means snow and snow means no school. Fastforward to college, and such days off due to bad weather are rare (although for Cornellians, they are literally nonexistent). Moreover, considering that the weather gods have decided to take us on a little ride down Global Warming Road, Ithaca has yet to see its usual, infamous snowfall this winter. While the chubby-cheeked child in me mourns the death of everything that made winter great for her, the adult in me is more rational in that I have found ways to deal with the cold temperatures but lack of snow. This coping mechanism is food, and I am going to tell you the best places to go to fill your stomach with warmth and deliciousness to beat those winter blues.

STELLA’S You need not travel far for your comfort food fix. A favorite among many, Stella’s is the best spot in Collegetown to escape the cold of winter. Its dim lighting paired with the ever-changing artwork adorning the walls gives off a slightly eccentric but still relaxed vibe, in which you immediately feel accepted and almost cool, even. I personally prefer the café side of Stella’s, because I can socialize, study and dine. Their menu changes seasonally and incorporates locally produced ingredients; my current new favorite is the flatbread topped with brie blended with mozzarella, fresh arugula, bacon and shallots. It is one of their smaller plates, but it is actually large enough to be shared. If you are looking for something a bit

more substantial, the one-of-akind chicken pot pie is delicious. It comes served inside of a local buttercup squash “bowl” that you can actually eat, and while filling enough for a meal, it does not leave you feeling heavy afterwards.

CIAO For me, Italian cuisine is the ultimate comfort food. The dishes are usually some hearty blend of meat, sauce, cheese and carbs, leaving you warm, happy and satisfied.

Surprisingly, there are not many Italian restaurants in Ithaca with virtually none in Collegetown — CTP does not count — and of these few, Ciao is the best place to go this winter.

Located on Hickory Hollow Lane (or if you are map-illiterate like I am, near the Ithaca Mall), Ciao is known for its wood-fired pizzas. It was opened a year ago by Boatyard Grill co-owner Mark Campagnolo with the goal of serving comfort food. The prices are extremely reasonable and the ambience is similar to that of Olive Garden: Unpretentious, rustic and homey. A great choice that anyone would enjoy is the margherita pizza, a simple combination of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, and garlic. If you are in the mood for something more filling, a personal favorite is the lasagna. Made in the traditional manner without frills or “innovative twists,” this dish is most comforting with its authenticity. You will leave Ciao feeling content after a night of good food and good company.

MAHOGANY GRILL I love going down to the Ithaca Commons during wintertime.

With its eclectic mix of restaurants and specialty stores, the Commons is a fascinating but unpretentious place to explore. It has a slightly

ANDY JOHNSON / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

hipster, small-town feel that makes you feel like you are in an episode of Gilmore Girls, and it reminds you that life does not need to be as stressful as it is on Cornell’s campus.

Mahogany Grill is the first restaurant I went to in the Commons upon coming to Cornell as a freshman, and I have never forgotten how good it was.

The French onion soup, topped with gruyere swiss cheese, instantly warms you up from the inside, out.

If you are in the mood for something richer, the baked mac and cheese is creamy and delectable.

Mini penne is covered with a thick three cheese sauce, topped with sourdough breadcrumbs, and then

E SALE S

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ITHACA’S BEST-KEPT SECRET FOR OVER SEVENTEEN YEARS.

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THE HEIGHTS

CAFÉ and GRILL Community Corners 903 Hanshaw Road, Ithaca, NY 14850

607-257-4144

Cocktails, Lunch, Dinner • Offering both fixed and a la carte menus Closed Sundays • Reservations suggested Off-premise catering available • www.heightscafe.com

Award of Excellence

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baked. The melding of flavors in the oven results in a dish that leaves you on the verge of a food coma.

MAXIE’S SUPPER CLUB AND OYSTER BAR Truth be told, I was always a little scared of trying out Maxie’s.

Being a creature of comfort, I rarely deviate from my four go-to types of cuisine (American, Korean, Italian and Thai); thus I was reluctant to taste the Southern / Creole / Cajun-inspired menu at Maxie’s. Plus, I was extremely intimidated by the “supper club” part of its name. But after my housemates and I decided that it was time to branch out and try out new places to eat in Ithaca, we ended up at Maxie’s…and it was

O LOBSTER E

By MICHELLE KIM Sun Staff Writer

RESTAURANT

HOME OF THE

Pinesburger 1213 Taughannock Blvd.

(Route 89 - 3 miles north of Cass Park) Ithaca, NY 14850

(607)

273-3709

www.glenwoodpines.com

Voted BEST BU RGER in Ithaca!

– Ithaca Times Readers Choice

amazing.

Maxie’s represents the culture that invented comfort food, and the dish that best proves this is the shrimp and grits, which comes served with a thick tasso sauce with a kick. It comes in a half size in addition to the full one, so choose wisely; my friends have had trouble finishing the half size. For those of you who don’t like grits (like me), the “chicken-fried” chicken is delicious. Served with gravy, mashed potatoes and the vegetable of the day, the chicken is moist and juicy on the inside, and perfectly crispy on the outside.

Michelle Kim can be reached at mkim@cornellsun.com.

A&E

Thursday, November 29, 2012 | The Corne¬ Daily Sun | 9

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT The Sun’s Top 10 Albums of 2012 good kid, m.A.A.d city Kendrick Lamar

2

In a year where most of the best rap music was made available via free mixtapes, Kendrick Lamar flaunted convention by constructing a major label debut whose thematic and narrative cohesion led its star to describe it as a “short film.” Chronicling his Compton upbringing, the dangerous influence of “the homies” and the grounding force of family and religion, good kid is a masterwork that still manages to have its moments of levity. Proof that this is a rap album poised to please anybody: “Backseat Freestyle”’s infamous Eiffel Tower-dick line exists alongside the reflective death meditation “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” and nobody bats an eyelash. good kid is a document that is sonically adventurous, lyrically resonant and compulsively listenable, an album of the year that feels, more than anything, complete.

Attack on Memory Cloud Nothings

In 1909, F.T. Marinetti published the Futurist Manifesto: “We stand on the last promontory of the centuries! Why should we look back, when what we want is to break down the mysterious doors of the Impossible?” If there was a musical version of this, it would be Attack on Memory. Giving up the lo-fi beach pop that the four-piece started out with, Cloud Nothings rejects the past that spelled a dead end for all the other lo-fi bands of summer 2010 to embrace the post-hardcore guttural screeches of bands like Fugazi.

Intensifying only the punk energy from its previous career, Cloud Nothings combine the two to create something just as ambitious: “No nostalgia and no sentiment / We’re over it now and we were over it then.”

5

Swing Lo Magellan Dirty Projectors

Dirty Projectors is better than you. The group is smarter than you, better looking than you, has better music taste and can carry on a conversation better than you on just about any topic. And, on Dirty Projectors’ newest album, Swing Lo Magellan, the group adds a new element to its repertoire of pristine indie pop: Humor. So now you can’t chalk up David Longstreth and the gang’s seamless talents to just being a bunch of art school nerds.

“You’d see a million colors if you really looked,” he sings on “Gun Has No Trigger”, as if looking over your shoulder at your Intro to Modernist Design final project. And, over funk so precious and harmonies so flawless, you know he can’t be wrong. On Swing Lo Magellan, Dirty Projectors flaunts the style and candor of fun and accessible pop, but with the lyrical and musical bona fides to make Vampire Weekend look like 3 Doors Down.

8

The Idler Wheel...

Fiona Apple

After a too-long, seven-year hiatus, Fiona Apple has returned in full-force. The Idler Wheel... is Fiona at her best; she is angry, passionate, romantic and, sometimes, all three at once. The experimental instrumental choices prove wildly effective; never have the strumming of banjos and the clanging of pots and pans sounded so perfect.

“Every Single Night,” the album's lead single, is deep and reflective, while remaining extraordinarily catchy.

And the album's best song, "Werewolf," is courageous and empowering, and a true beast of songwriting and vocal performance. Another fantastic achievement by Fiona Apple, The Idler Wheel... cements the turbulent poetess as the reigning queen of indie-rock.

3

Channel Orange Frank Ocean

Frank Ocean has been called many things over the course of the last year: singer/songwriter, inadvertent activist, visionary. Above all else, Ocean is a storyteller to his very core, weaving into his lyrics an unconventional analysis of the American landscape and its myriad ills. On his debut studio album, Channel Orange, Ocean introduces a colorful cast of characters with every song, delving into their tales of heartache and misfortune to better illuminate the anxieties of the present, whether Ocean’s or our own. Whether mourning love lost in “Thinkin About You” or trapped in a dreamy dialogue with Andre 3000 on “Pink Matter,” Ocean has succeeded in creating an album that doubles as a reflective surface on which to analyze ourselves — every listen reveals some new, previously obscured truth.

6

Celebration Rock Japandroids

For a couple of Canadian guys, Japandroids is a loud band. Its most recent — and most brilliant — release is so raucous and endorphin-packed that the LP should probably have come with a 50ml of Jameson. Yet for all its whisky-chugging bro-jams, Celebration Rock is held together not by youthful apathy, but by frenzied nostalgia. “Remember saying things like 'we'll sleep when we're dead,'” singer and guitarist Brian King reminisces on “Younger Us.” Now caught in the frightening throes of adulthood, the Vancouver duo is clinging frantically to remnants of adolescent recklessness.

Desperation has never sounded so badass.

9

Lonerism Tame Impala

Lonerism will still be categorized as a psychedelic record, but it is more psychedelic in spirit, foregoing simple mimicry like in debut Innerspeaker to embrace the genre’s experimentation and ease of melding with other sounds. The guitars are still swimmy, but now there are pounding, prog-rock basses and piercing drums suited more for a stadium than for headphones.

Frontman Kevin Parker hasn’t changed, but the music recontextualizes his voice into a John Lennon-esque classic rock croon. Most importantly, Parker combines this energy with loneliness and emotional vulnerability, mimicking the best of Joy Division’s live shows — to show just how delicate the human condition is.

4

1

Bloom

Beach House

With celestial album art not unlike Leo Villareal’s LED installation now at the Johnson Museum, Beach House’s second album Bloom collects the sound lush off their debut album Teen Dream and lets it loose in a universe of its own. The changes here are minor: less emphasis on singles — though the towering “Myth” and recursive “Lazuli” may be the group’s greatest yet — and more extravagant production, with more synths on synths and guitars over guitars. The album reaches cosmic levels through such density. You just can’t listen to it: Turn off the lights, sit (or preferably lie) down and absorb it via osmosis.

7

Visions Grimes

Visions, from Montreal-based Claire Boucher, better known as Grimes, is the musical equivalent of cotton candy — bringing a borderline nauseating amount of sweetness to the 2012 music scene.

In an album that is undoubtedly Grimes’ best work thus far, the one-woman project loops, layers and reverbs her voice into a transcendent sort of bliss that novice producers only dream of — she recorded the album alone in her bedroom using GarageBand. While far from structured or predictable, the synth-pop album highlights an ear for melody and command of mood that sets Grimes apart in the busyness of the genre.

10

An Awesome Wave alt-J

The winner of the Mercury Prize, An Awesome Wave yielded hyperbolic praise on the other side of the Atlantic — the term “next Radiohead” was thrown around quite liberally — which resulted in a thrashing amongst American hipness gatekeepers like Pitchfork. But, in their attempt to quash any sort of sacrilege comparisons, these publications missed the point: alt-J, ignoring their stupid name and overwhelming hype, is an inventive folk-pop group that bridges U2 anthemics and modern dubstep rhythms. Lead singer Joe Newman’s distinctive warble delivers downright disturbing, cinema-influenced lyrical turns that reveal that alt-J has more style and spunk than just another Mumford and Sons imitation; “Breezeblocks” alone is worth a spot on this list.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

A&E

10 | The Corne¬ Daily Sun | Thursday, November 29, 2012

BY LIZ CAMUTI Sun City Editor

Cornell alumni Kinetics and One Love, aka Jeremy Dussolliet ’09 and Tim Sommers ’10, recently released a video for their song “Sign Language” — a tearjerker inspired by the suicides at Cornell in 2010. While the duo is best known for penning the chorus of B.o.B’s “Airplanes,” their music has evolved post-Cornell and has lead to performances all over the world.

The Sun spoke with Dussolliet to discuss this new direction and the experiences that continue to resonate and inspire him even after graduation.

THE SUN: Where did the idea for your song “Sign Language” come from?

JEREMY DUSSOLLIET: “Sign Language” was actually the reworking of an older song I had written years before. In the original version, the concept was the same: A teenage boy feels rejected by the girl he’s loved from afar and commits suicide, not knowing that she secretly had feelings for him the whole time. But the production was amateur, the recording quality poor and the lyrics basic, so that version never really went anywhere. Then, during the string of suicides that shook Cornell campus in 2010, I felt the need to readdress the issue in a song. It made sense to resurrect the original version of “Sign Language,” this time with improved vocal performances and cleaner production.

SUN: The song — and video — are certainly tearjerkers. How does the story of Amy and Billy resonate with you personally?

J.D.: A lot of people ask me if the story of Amy and Billy is based on truth or on a personal experience in any way. Thankfully, it’s not. For me, at its core, “Sign Language” is a song about someone who wants someone or something to the point of unhealthy obsession. I think we can all relate to that theme: the feeling of wanting something — whether it’s another person or a lifelong dream or goal — so bad that you want it to death, even if you’re not necessarily suicidal.

T

SUN: What is the moral of the song to you? What do you want listeners to take away?

J.D.: In the song, Billy is obsessed with Amy, so much so that the slightest sign of rejection sends him spiraling out of control.

She may have been deaf, but Billy is equally as disabled — blind to the poems and confessions of love Amy had been leaving him all along. We can become completely consumed by our obsessions that we beat ourselves up at the first hint of rejection or failure. We lose sight of all the signs around us that may be confirming that we’re actually doing the right thing. That’s why the last line in Amy’s final poem is, “No matter what I do, you can’t see the signs.” Hence, the song’s title.

Reconnecting With Jeremy ‘Kinetics’ Dussolliet ’09

SUN: How was working with Wynter Gordon?

J.D.: I had been a fan of Wynter’s ever since I first heard her dance hit “Dirty Talk” in ‘09. So, naturally, I was super excited when Atlantic linked us up. Working with her is always incredible. That’s our girl. When One Love and I first signed our pub deal with Warner/Chappell in 2010, Wynter was the first singer-songwriter we were thrown into a session with, our intro to the world of songwriting for a major label. I was immediately impressed. In that first session, in one night, she cut hooks for both “Sign Language” and the Cornell “Graduation Song.”

LOWELL GEORGE / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

SUN: How has the video been received thus far?

J.D.: The reception has been great. We got favorable reviews on some hip-hop sites like The Source as well as placement on a bunch of music blogs. MTV loves it too and will be airing it soon.

SUN: What was it like for you being at Cornell during the string of suicides — personally and for the attitude of campus in general?

J.D.: I didn’t know any of the victims personally. But Cornell has always had such a strong sense of community, at least for me, that you can’t help but feel connected to a

tragedy like that. Those events put a dark pall on the entire campus that everyone felt. “I walked that same bridge everyday, I took those classes.” It was hard to feel removed from the situation, even if you didn’t know the victims personally.

SUN: The last time you were interviewed

by The Sun was 2010 when “Airplanes” was released. Where is your music going now?

How have you changed since your time at Cornell? How is that reflected in your music?

J.D.: Since graduating, One Love and I have released three mixtapes and one fulllength album, a project entitled You Are Not Alone that we released earlier this year. We’ve also written for a variety of artists across multiple genres, from commercial pop to urban, country, dance and indie synth pop. And we’ve toured both coasts, playing shows and doing sessions in cities I hadn’t seen until now. We even played a show and shot a music video in China. Those experiences alone have really shaped my perspectives on the world and influenced my writing style. Of course, I’m grateful for the influence Cornell had on my songwriting, learning about such a broad range of issues and having a well of stimulating topics to address rather than making the

same brainless references on every track. But, to be honest, it was only after graduating and moving back to New York, writing with so many different people and visiting so many different places, that my music really started to improve. I needed to be in both environments before my perspective could come full circle and I could write with a level of maturity I’m now comfortable with.

SUN: Do you still draw inspiration from your time at Cornell?

J.D.: Of course. This school made me the writer I am today. Drawing from everything I’ve learned at Cornell, both socially and academically, I wrote my first few socially conscious songs that have set the tone for the rest of my career, up until today. I wrote one of the biggest songs of my career at Cornell, and that was inspired by the experiences of two confused freshmen wandering around Collegetown at 3:00 a.m. in the snow. A song that went six times platinum around the world. I’d be stupid not to return to that place of inspiration.

Liz Camuti is a junior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She can be reached at news-editor@cornellsun.com.

Mediocre Music Before the Apocalypse

he Mayans predicted that the end of the world would occur in December of this year. If there is any modicum of truth to that prediction, this has been an entirely underwhelming final year for music: Kanye West still has yet to come out of the closet, Bieber is eons away from releasing his own Thriller (though “Boyfriend” was a step in the right direction) and, to the surprise of absolutely no one, The Smiths still have not reunited. However, this is not to say that 2012 was devoid of any intriguing musical developments. As in every year, there were trends, trials, tribulations and thinkpieces that will permanently be associated with these past 12 months. In my ever-finite wisdom, I will do my best to boil this year down to its essence.

THE BREAK-UP ALBUM IS ALIVE AND WELL After Taylor Swift released Red to widespread critical acclaim and Rihanna released her relationship-centric Unapologetic, let it be known: The breakup album is still a viable artistic vehicle. For these two, it helps that their beaus in question are the headline-grabbing sorts. Perhaps, as cultural voyeurism peaks with our reality television generation, we want the same celebrity spotting in our music. Red is almost a concept album about the celebrity breakup. Culture critics from TMZ to New York Magazine speculated widely about which song was about who, and, following Swift’s recent breakup with Conor Kennedy, we can expect her to exploit this formula for years to come.

For those of you who prefer a breakup album minus the Perez Hilton speculation, Jens

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Lekman’s I Know What Love Isn’t is this year’s finest. While (heart-breakingly) excluded from The Sun’s Album of the Year list, it’s a delectable stroke of beautifully orchestrated indie pop injected with Lekman’s pointed observational lyrics and descriptive storytelling. Though he wallows in his own misery, Lekman helpfully reminds us “the end of the world is bigger than love.” A breakup record with a sense of perspective, I Know What Love Isn’t is a welcome juxtaposition to Swift’s tabloid-ready opus.

MIXTAPES > TRADITIONAL L.P.S Aside from the stellar good kid, m.A.A.d. city (see opposite), El-P’s Cancer 4 Cure and Killer Mike’s R.A.P. Music, 2012 featured a staggering paucity of quality label-released hip-hop records. But a brief survey of what mixtapes you could have downloaded for free — Joey Bada$$’s 1999, Heems’ Wildwater Kingdom, Death Grips’ NO LOVE DEEP WEB, Kitty Pryde’s Haha, I’m Sorry and Action Bronson’s Blue Chips — indicate that a possible sea change is upon us. As the

James Rainis Getting Heinous conservative talking heads famously feared following the reelection of Obama, people are realizing that free shit is awesome. Hackneyed political jokes aside, free mixtapes are a veritable playground for up-and-coming rappers: You can recycle beats, experiment with new ideas and get

your name out in the Twitterverse without the pressures and obstacles of a full-out release. Not to get all Howard Hughes on you, but, since I already collect jars of my own urine, here it goes: It’s the way of the future.

EDM IS THE NEW DISCO In a recent interview with Spin, Deadmau5 controversially gave us this statement: “EDM is, like ... Event-Driven Marketing, I think, is the acronym there. It reminds me a lot of disco.”

I’m not prone to listening to men with mouse helmets, but Joel Zimmerman may have a point there. Like disco, EDM has been co-opted by mainstream artists in awkward ways (Taylor Swift, Flo Rida and Muse have all made uneasy attempts at replicating the genre), is often criticized for its lackluster lyrics and is associated with garish modes of dress. Its artistic merit notwithstanding (it’s all hit-or-miss for me), 20 years from now all our kids will be looking at our photos from Ultra and wondering what the hell was wrong with us.

POST-HARDCORE, OF ALL THINGS, IS HAVING A COMEBACK ’90s-style indie-rock — the kind with roots more in the skuzzy basements of the Midwest than in Williamsburg — is having quite the revival. On the opposite page, you’ll see Japandroids and Cloud Nothings represented, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg: Riot-grrl throwbacks Swearin’, the shred-happy Screaming Females, psychedelic Husker Duworshippers The Men and Toronto hellraisers METZ all released throwbacks to the era of guitar-slingers who pulled their influences from Our Band Could Be Your Life. The glory of the basement show moshpit can still be experienced, if you dig a little deeper into the annals

of the interwebs.

PATRICE WILSON, THE MAN BEHIND ARK MUSIC FACTORY, IS SURELY GOING TO HELL When he produced and wrote Rebecca Black’s abominably popular “Friday,” we all had reasonable doubt. Perhaps Mr. Wilson — a grown man who rapped a verse about passing a damn school bus while driving — was just trying to make a quick buck. We’ve all been there.

How was he to know, then, that he would ruin Rebecca Black’s life, turning her into a living, breathing meme that was forced to drop out of school due to incessant teasing?

But then “It’s Thanksgiving” happened.

Nicole Westbrook sang into a turkey leg. There were fake fireworks. There were way too many croutons in that stuffing. And, all along, Patrice Wilson, wearing a goddamn turkey helmet, was smiling and rapping his way to legendary mediocrity once again. He may wear a crucifix in the “It’s Thanksgiving” music video, but he is no man of God. If ever there was a sign that the Mayans were right, it’s the fact that this man is exploiting delusional 12-year-old girls — yes, exploiting them — for the sake of Internet celebrity.

Mr. Wilson, if you’re reading this: These music videos are some of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever seen. At no point in these rambling, incoherent works were you even close to anything that could be considered an enjoyable song. Everyone on the Internet is now dumber for having listened to them. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

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

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, November 29, 2012 11

COMICS AND PUZZLES

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

ACROSS 1 Early sunscreen ingredient 5 “Let’s get goin’!”

9 Put __ act 13 Tater 14 Hard to believe 15 Wine quality 16 Campground sound #1 19 Devilish toon 20 Maine-et-Loire mate 21 In-crowds 23 Campground sound #2 27 Curt refusal 29 Hot time in Maine-et-Loire 30 Renaissance painter __ Angelico 31 Like a spot in “Macbeth” 33 Pac-12 team 35 “Pretty Woman” co-songwriter 37 Some comedy sketches 42 Nov. voting time 44 Streaker in a shower 45 Remote power sources 48 City near Yorba Linda 50 Track contests 51 Campground sound #3 55 “Honor Thy Father” author 56 Sargasso Sea spawner 57 Forest’s 2006 Oscar-winning role 60 Campground sound #4 64 “__ baby!”

65 Swimmer with pups 66 POTUS backup 67 Hightail it 68 Pays (for) 69 West Point team

4 Log shaper 5 Mount Everest?

6 Capital on the island of Luzon 7 Texter’s “Holy cow!”

8 Mario Brothers console 9 16 oz.

10 Jordin Sparks/Chris Brown song covered on “Glee” 11 Desires from 12 “Iliad” wise man 17 Blood typing, e.g.

18 Wrestling pair 22 Calypso offshoot 24 Years in old Rome 25 Chit 26 Crunch source 27 Promise before a parson 28 Hawk’s cause 32 British travel feature, in the past?

34 Clean and then some 36 Philip __: 16thcentury Italian saint

38 __-Tass 39 Pass target 40 Fair-hiring abbr.

41 Many AARP mems.

43 Rep. counterpart 45 Play a part, or play part 46 Genesis mountain 47 Heel-click follower

49 Dating stumbling block, perhaps 52 Jai alai basket 53 Pollux or Arcturus, to an astronomer 54 Brings down 58 Judge 59 Cosby/Culp TV series 61 www access 62 Revivalist’s prefix 63 Actress Gardner

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

xwordeditor@aol.com

DOWN 1 Subtle “Over here ...”

2 Polynesian capital 3 WWII German

By James Sajdak missile nickname (c)2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

Doonesbury

11/29/12

Sun Sudoku Puzzle #35 Anniversary of Pong

CLASSIFIED AD RATES Ads are accepted at The Sun‘s office at 139 W. State Street downtown, by phone or e-mail.

Deadline: 3:30 p.m. at The Sun‘s office on the day preceding publication. Monday’s deadline: Friday, 3:30 p.m. at The Sun office.

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)

3

6 1

4

8

8 9

2

6

1

4

2

7

5

8 4

8

4 2

3 8

Commercial Rate: $5.20 per day for first 15 words, 33 cents per day per word thereafter. 5 or more consecutive insertions, $5.00 per day for first 15 words, 31 cents per day per word thereafter.

The Sun is responsible for only one day make good on ads.

273-3606

9

6

Standard Rate: $3.40 per day for first 15 words, 32 cents per day per word thereafter. 5 or more consecutive insertions, $3.15 per day for first 15 words, 30 cents per day per word thereafter.

9

6 C

3

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SPORTS

Forming a Community Through Love of Sports TOLEDO

Continued from page 16

Those guys are my peers, and in a much greater sense our peers.

What I’m really trying to say is that we’re all Cornellians. Whether we suit up for varsity athletics or not, we’re all representatives of the same institution. It is therefore imperative that we not only coexist, but that we support each other.

In an environment that has been plagued of late by bias-related and sexual assault incidents, the word “community” has been thrown around a lot regarding Cornell as a whole. The community on this campus — or lack thereof — is something that we are all a part of, simply by attending this university. In order to coexist, move forward amicably and constructively, we must be willing to support one another.

What this means is that when the football team is playing, Schoellkopf should be packed with a sea of red. When the basketball team is playing, Bartels should be packed. When the track and field team has a home meet during the indoor season, Barton

should be packed. Whenever any Big Red sports team is playing, all of us Cornellians should be there cheering them on.

I’m not saying that athletics are going to necessarily remedy the major problems that are present in our society and on our campus.

That would be naïve of me to suggest. However, sports do offer a common interest to people who may be from different walks of life. I’m sure that if you’re interested in basketball, you have not met every other person at Cornell who also is. Cornell athletics can present opportunities to meet new people, interact with them, and join with them to lend your support to a team of athletes that represents the same university you all attend.

Coming together to support athletics is something that we should all be willing and able to do. Although it won’t solve all the issues we face everyday, at least it’s a start.

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

Butler Recognizes Freshmen As Integral to Team’s Success SQUASH

Continued from page 16

lot of the older seniors, and [sophomore] Aditya [Jagtap].

It’s those freshmen, like Graham Dietz and Abhijit Malik, who both stepped up the past couple weekends and definitely need to step up this weekend too. If they get the wins for us, we can take down a lot of teams.”

This weekend will serve as the first official away match for the freshmen, which Butler acknowledged is sometimes a difficult transition. At the same time, he asserted that the Red is ready and determined to earn a

win against the Lions.

“I think it’s tough playing any road matches, so for the young guys it’s nice getting some experience playing on the road and playing on courts that they’re not used to,” Butler said.

“Other than that, apart from getting experience, we just mainly want to win. We want to pound them into the ground.

These guys aren’t going to be too easy, so if we come out there with a confident attitude, we should beat them, for sure.”

Olivia Wittels can be reached at owittels@cornellsun.com.

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, November 29, 2012 13

14 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, November 29, 2012

SPORTS

Hoffman Explains Bias Towards Skinny Horses HOFFMAN

Continued from page 16

forte, I really like singing and I awkwardly know a lot of song lyrics in that regard.

That’s a good skill to have.

I hope so. Hopefully I’ll get a job because of it.

6. What are your thoughts on Charlie Sheen?

I think he’s an interesting life model and he owns it.

Were you ever inspired by any of his angrier or more outlandish tendencies?

Was I inspired by his jumping on things? Yeah. I like to jump on things, so the couch jumping is totally something I would love to do. I wouldn’t be screaming at the same time, though.

Can you explain to me the following quote: “If Ali isn’t happy, no one is happy.”

It’s pretty self-explanatory.

For the fellas at the barn, can you elaborate on what irritates you and what does not?

Where does the list start? I like having fun. I think they think that I’m not a fun person. I like to make sure we get out of practice at a reasonable time and I think that that is a reasonable request, so it irritates me when they’re not doing work and we can’t get out on time. Honestly, I think it’s just them running around and being idiots with each other that irritates me the most. I can deal with it most other times but during practice I like them to get done in a timely fashion so I can get out and go do my work.

7. Are you picky about the horses that you ride?

Yes. I don’t like fat horses.

How did that start? [laughs] I don’t know, I just really don’t like riding the fat ones. They have their benefits because they’re the bigger ones and can sort of steamroll the other horses over. I know that I’m probably being biased about this, but I think that there’s just

too much of them. It’s too hard to keep your legs around them and keep them going and get them to do what you want.

They tend to disappoint you.

I was told that you enjoy clipping the horses as part of your barn responsibilities, and will help out some of the lazier guys on the team. What is your price for doing the full body clippings?

Interesting trades. My motto is “interesting trades are always accepted” and the boys pay me very well to do their dirty work for them.

8. So you do some of the commentary for the men’s games, right?

Yeah, very colorful commentary. Freshman year when I got redshirted coach decided that I could be more useful than sitting on the side and yelling during the game so he put my delicate vocals to the test. Turns out I was actually pretty good so I’ve become a player and a bit of a sportscaster at the same time.

I’ve been told by people on the

sidelines, and not necessarily people that are related to me, that I definitely have a future in broadcasting if I want to.

Would you consider that?

Absolutely. I think it’d be fun. I might be a little too spazzy for TV but if it was for the radio it’d probably work out pretty well.

Have you ever received any complaints for being too colorful in your commentary?

Oh yeah. Sometimes I get glances shot at me from the powers that be saying to cool it.

I have a tendency to shout out instructions, especially if our men’s team is playing, over the speaker. The polo world’s pretty small so we have a lot of friends on different teams, and sometimes I’ll start calling a foul if a guy on the other team starts to do something not-so-nice. I forget that I’m actually announcing so it’s a bit of an issue.

9. How do you take part in the men’s team’s tradition of “pulling their brains out”?

You might want to ask [senior] Connor Pardell about his trip to Texas and his recreational activities if you want more background on that one. I don’t think that’s mine to divulge.

Who on the team gives you the hardest time for not doing Adopt a Pony and showing up to work crews, but is still one of your favorite people?

This is a very weighted question. If I could say all of them I would. Honestly, [senior Justin Schick] is the worst about it.

If you could mount the most eligible bachelor on the team with one of your Phi sisters, who would it be?

Also a very loaded question. I wouldn’t go near any of them with a 10-foot pole.

10. Where did you get the nickname “The Closer”?

The guys used to bring me to Wings Over Ithaca with them to help polish off the platters of wings they would order. I’d always finish.

If someone on the team were to take you on a date there, who would it be, what would you order, and what flavors would you want for the wings?

It would be Connor Pardell.

We would order a two-pounder version of wings, probably bone in. We like honey BBQ, golden BBQ, jet fuel, and the boys sometimes like Cajun. It would be a combination of two from those four but one of them has to be BBQ and one of them has to be buffalo. And we’d probably knock in a couple of barley sandwiches with that as well.

Reena Gilani can be reached at rgilani@cornellsun.com.

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THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Thursday, November 29, 2012 15

SPORTS

WITH

T E N

Q U E S T I O N S

A L I

Ten Questions Columnist Reena Gilani caught up with women’s polo player Ali Hoffman to discuss her travels around the world, her prized game belt and her distaste for chubby horses.

1. How did you get involved in polo?

My mom got me involved in it when I was in seventh grade. My school had a team in Maryland and I was already riding horses at the time so she thought since I was kind of a rough and tumble kind of kid rather than a ballerina — even though I wanted to be, I was in dance class — that I should probably just stick to horses and stick to polo.

Did you ever try any other sports?

I tried basketball and I guess at 5-4 I didn’t really fit the bill for that. At one point when I got to campus they tried to get me to be a coxswain for crew but I didn’t actually go through with that.

I’ve pretty much done everything … nothing really stuck with me except for the horse stuff.

2. Can you tell me about Camp Seafarer?

I could go on about Camp Seafarer for hours but I think everyone would kill me. I worked there for five summers and I ran the sailing program down there; it’s this huge camp in North Carolina. I love it. It’s taught me everything I know, and I got my captain’s license out of it.

Have you ever sailed anywhere exotic?

No, I wish. But I did get the senior superlative in high school: “most likely to sail around the world”.

What about places you’ve traveled in general?

I went to South Africa and worked at the winery there for my international experience abroad for my major, international agriculture and rural development. I kind of worked the system in my favor. Most people go and do something that’s socially beneficial,

H O F F M A N WOMEN’S

like work at an orphanage. My take on it was to go work at a winery and get some experience in agriculture in a foreign country that way. It was really fun; I was there for about five and a half weeks over last winter break and it was great.

How do they compare to wineries around here?

They’re a lot fancier. The people that visit wineries in South Africa, especially during the winter months, are incredibly wealthy and spend pretty much all day doing wine tours. Take about the typical wine tour and then scale it up with some limousines and some very nice clothing.

What kinds of things do you personally wear?

I monogram everything; it’s kind of my signature. People at first I think were surprised by how many monogrammed items of clothing I have — sweatshirts, hats. For a while I was wearing those giant bows in my hair but I finally outgrew those at the age of 21.

3. Would you consider yourself to be superstitious?

Somewhat, yes.

Can you tell me about your game belt?

I have this belt that my mom took about five years to needlepoint for me and I love it. It has little polo players on it and she tried to make it look like me in some of them. In high school I had this Lilly Pulitzer pink helmet and she needlepointed these little helmets on the belt. When she finally gave it to me for Christmas one year, she told me that if I didn’t wear it she would pretty much kill me because she had spent so much time working on it. I started wearing it pretty much religiously to games — it was a really cute belt too — and it became my signature thing to wear to games. I couldn’t find it right before the National championship

CONNOR ARCHARD / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Very superstitious | Senior captain Ali Hoffman wears a belt that her mother made for her to every game she plays in, almost losing it before the team’s National Championship game.

game last year and I had a bit of a meltdown about it. I kept saying, “I can’t play without it. I need it, I need it,” and we had people running all around the barn looking for it.

Did you find it before the game?

Yeah, turns out I had stuffed it into the toe of one of my boots for safekeeping and I totally forgot about it. I found it probably two minutes before I had to get on the horse. I put it on and I was like hyperventilating in the corner.

What is the thing that you always carry with you in your purse, whether it is to a polo match or to Alpha Phi formal?

Sometimes I carry a pocketknife with me, but I’m not going to say the answer [my teammates] are looking for.

4. How did your interest in Honey Boo Boo develop?

I love the show Toddlers & Tiaras, I’m just going to put that out there. It’s creepy for me to say that, but I get a lot of enjoyment from watching the parents because they’re so incredibly psychotic. The things that they make these kids do; it’s such a foreign world to me that I just find it so interesting. I’m not going to lie; I like the sparkly dresses and probably would have loved that as a little kid. That’s a draw too and I guess I’m sort of living vicariously through them. Anyway, I obviously watched the episode when Honey Boo Boo first appeared on the stage and it killed me. I thought it was the funniest thing. I thought the mannerisms of her mom, June, are just hilarious. So I’ve been watching since that.

I’m told you “show belly” after games, what does that mean?

It’s a weird mannerism of June.

When she’s on stage, she tells her to show belly. June is a rather large woman and she grabs herself around the middle and starts rubbing herself. I did it only once as a joke and [junior

POLO teammate] Elizabeth LeBow likes to make it seem like I do it all the time. I think that’s a little excessive.

Speaking of showing things to people, can you tell me about showing bruises on your butt to other people?v My philosophy on life is that clothes could potentially be optional.

Sometimes when I follow that I forget that other people don’t necessarily do that as well. I’m a little shameless in that sense in that I don’t really get embarrassed by much. I actually got this really huge bruise on my behind during one of the games, I don’t know what had happened, but it was gigantic. I couldn’t quite pinpoint the location of it and I thought it was higher up and closer to my tailbone than it was. I tried to inch down my pants a little bit and show it off but it just happened that they came down all the way and the bruise was actually a lot lower and more forward. There was a lot more exposure than I intended for that one, but no shame. And to clarify I didn’t do this in the middle of the barn, but more behind the lockers.

5. What kind of music do you like?

I kind of like everything. The only type of music that I’m not really into is gospel-y, religious music. I’m fine with everything else … I’m not a huge hiphop person but I’ll deal with it. I really like rap, though. That’s how I became good friends with my roommate Schuyler. I was in the basement of a house in Collegetown one night a couple of years ago and we both knew the words to Shaggy’s “Wasn’t Me”. She and I met and our eyes locked across the room because we were both sitting there, belting out the lyrics to that song. We came together in unison and realized we both really liked 90s rap and 90s pop music. It’s kind of my See HOFFMAN page 14

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Sports TINA CHOU / SUN FILE PHOTO

Sizing up the opponent | The Red men and women are both ranked higher than Columbia, but are not underestimating the competitive Lions.

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 29, 2012

16

SQUASH

Ivy Play Kicks Off Versus Columbia

By OLIVIA WITTELS

The men’s team did not play against Columbia at Ivy scrimmages — It faced Penn, Harvard and Princeton — but the Red did have a chance to watch Cornell squash opens its Ivy League season this its opponents, who also rank below the squad. Though weekend in New York City, with the men and women Cornell’s No. 4 national seeding should give them an traveling downstate to face Columbia University on edge over the tenth-seeded Lions, senior co-captain December 2nd. Three weekends ago, the women hand- Owen Butler stressed the importance of staying focused ily defeated the Lions, 8-1, at Ivy League scrimmages, in order to maintain the upper hand. and are hoping for a similar outcome on Saturday.

“We have a target now on our back — they’re “We’ll definitely have some confidence coming off behind us, and they’re coming after us,” he said. “At the of our win at Ivy scrimmages, same time, we have to stay confident. but they’re still in the Ivy League “We have a target on our We’re a better team … so we have to and a top team,” said senior co- back, they’re behind us and go in there with a positive attitude captain Maggie Remsen. “We’re and mindset, knowing that we can going to go out there and give it they’re coming after us.” take them down and we can beat our best.” them. There’s a reason why we’re Playing against a lower Owen Butler ranked ahead of them.” ranked opponent can be difficult In order to ensure a win this week— the Lions are ranked No. 13 nationally, while end, Butler mentioned that the squad’s newest memCornell holds the No. 6 spot — but Remsen is certain bers will have to continue to perform like they did at that if the Red maintains the same level of play it did at the Cornell Round Robin two weekends ago.

Ivy scrimmages and at the Cornell Round Robin, the “I think we’re definitely going to have to win in the squad should come out on top. middle and have good, strong performances from our “I think the team just has to play well, [but be aware freshmen. They played ridiculously well over our past that you’re] playing a different game than your own matches against Western, and they just need to keep up when you’re playing a lower ranked team,” Remsen that strong performance,” Butler said. “I think we’re said. “As long as everyone sticks to their game plan and pretty confident with the guys we have up top, with a the way they play normally, just playing consistently… we’ll be fine.”

See SQUASH page 13

Sun Staff Writer

Big Red Takeover

I

t seems only appropriate that my last column of the semester be about something Big Red related.

Aside from spending some quality time with some great friends of mine in New York City this Thanksgiving break, I made sure to buy my ticket to watch the Red play the Michigan Wolverines at Madison Square Garden for The Frozen Apple.

This will definitely go down as one of the best sports experiences of my life. Not only did I get to go to MSG for the first time, I

As a senior, I’ve begun to give a lot of thought to what Cornell means to me, and how special this place is to me. Hearing what appeared to be a sea of red in MSG chanting, “GO BIG RED, GO BIG RED!” over and over again was amazing, and it almost felt as if time stood still.

As I sat there, slightly inebriated, I began to realize how much I love Cornell. Let’s all face it, unless you’re one of those annoying kids who complains about everything — like when someone else’s vegetable ends up in your

Juan Carlos Toledo Showtime at the Forum also got to spend it with some awesome friends and fellow Cornellians while watching the Red smack Michigan, 5-1.

The Red took it to Michigan the entire game, carrying a 3-0 lead into the 3rd period. Cornell scored again to take a 4-0 lead before Michigan finally got on the board — still down 4-1 though.

While at the Garden, I had the opportunity to see and interact with Cornellians of all ages, across multiple generations. I sat next to a couple that attended Cornell in the 60s. All around me were other alumni, from various different graduating classes. Even after so many years away from the hill, all of them were at the game cheering on the Red, showing their Cornell pride.

At one point during the game, I started to feel very sentimental.

Haber Named Semifinalist for Hermann Trophy, Top Award in Collegiate Soccer After leading his team to its first Ivy League title since 1995 and an NCAA tournament home game, junior forward Daniel Haber has continued to pile on accolades.

Earlier this month he became the first Cornell men’s soccer player ever to be named Ivy League Player of the Year. His 18 goals and seven assists for 43 total points on the season leads the nation. Haber was also named Ivy League Player of the Week five times, the most in conference history.

Most recently, though, Haber was named a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy Award — college soccer’s highest individual honor. The trophy has been awarded annually since 1967 and was founded by Robert Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League to recognize the top men’s collegiate soccer player.

At the beginning of the collegiate soccer

season, a nominating committee creates a list of potential nominees for the award.

Towards the end of the season, 15 top performers from throughout the season are chosen. Haber is one of these 15 semifinalists for the award, the only Ivy League player on the esteemed list. This group will be cut down to three finalists in December, and the final winner will be announced in January.

To help Haber move on to the final round, go to http://machermanntrphy.lockerdome.com/ and click on his name under MAC-Hermann Trophy to vote. As of last night, Haber was in third place in the vote behind Steve Neumann of Georgetown and Carlos Alvarez of Connecticut.

— Compiled by Scott Chiusano

mongo at RPCC — we have to love this place. Although we get stressed out, and sometimes we feel like we’re going crazy, there is no denying how much this place should mean to us now, and especially in the long run.

As I listened to the names being called out by the stadium announcer, and saw the faces on the jumbotron, I began to realize that the guys representing Cornell on the ice in MSG were the same guys we see everyday on campus.

They’re the guys in our classes, the guys in our dorms.

I found myself cheering them on not just because of the fact that they represent the university I love so much, but also because they were Cornellians, just like I am.

See TOLEDO page 13

TINA CHOU / SUN FILE PHOTO

Haber mania | Senior forward Daniel Haber continues his already impressive career with the Red, earning a nomination as the top male college soccer player.