This semester, students will be able to get not only soda and chips from vending machines on campus, but also pharmaceutical products including Plan B, pregnancy tests and condoms. The Cornell Health lobby now hosts a 24/7 pharmaceutical supplies vending machine, which opened on July 21.
By GABRIEL MUÑOZ Sun Assistant News Editor
With thousands of sometimes-unruly students, cyclists who trek unfathomable hills and buses that buzz around half-paved roads, the city of Ithaca can sometimes feel like a circus. But during the first week of September, Ithaca will actually be a circus. Circus troupes from all over the world will make Ithaca their stage, featuring shows, outdoor performances and interactive workshops.
The Hupstate Circus Festival, which runs from Sept. 1 to Sept. 4, started three years ago when three arts groups coincidentally performed in Ithaca at the same time. “I have a lot of love for producing festivals that bring people together. It's fun to be able to do that in this local place,” said Amy Cohen, founder of Ithaca’s Circus Culture and the Hupstate Circus Festival.
Cohen explored the idea of making a bigger, recurring event, allowing one of the headlining shows titled “Stars Above” from Hideaway Circus to return in 2022.
machine includes two QR codes which provide users with information about the different types of emergency contraceptives.
The supplies are available to Cornell students, faculty, staff and visitors. In the near future, Cornell Health plans to also add various self-care products to existing “Vengo” machines located in residential spaces across campus and managed by the Cornell Store.
Prices
Credit cards, debit cards and Apple Pay are all accepted forms of payment for the machine. Product prices range from free to $45.
With a bright smile and a pair of oversized silver scissors, New York State Sen. Lea Webb (D) cut through a purple ribbon outside of her new office in downtown Ithaca on Monday, August 21.
“It has been far too long since the residents of Tompkins County have had local access to their New York State Senate representative,” Webb said at the grand opening. “I am thrilled to open our doors here in Ithaca and look forward to welcoming the community to our office.”
public since January, according to Chief of Staff Stacey Dimas. Alongside her team, Webb has been reachable at community office hours throughout New York’s 52nd district, which includes Tompkins County, Cortland County, and some of Broome County.
rience of the community.”
“24/7 access to self-care supplies, including sexual health products, can help prevent and treat infection and illness and reduce the likelihood of unplanned pregnancy,” Chris Payne, senior director of Cornell Health wrote in an email to The Sun. “Access to care is key in supporting all dimensions of student health and well-being.”
The machine is located just inside the Ho Plaza entrance of Cornell Health and provides 24/7 access to emergency contraception and self-care supplies such as hand sanitizer, tissues and various non-prescription medications. Free COVID-19 antigen tests are also available for students.
A “Read Before You Buy” information sheet posted on the
Each item in the vending machine has been selected based on the likelihood of sale or utilization among the Cornell community, according to the Cornell Health website. Cornell Health offers a survey for community members to offer suggestions or feedback regarding the products available.
At least 39 colleges in 17 states have enacted emergency contraception vending machines on campuses, according to a USA Today report from July 22.
Mary Levy ’24, a member of the Cornell chapter of Planned Parenthood Generation Action at Cornell first got the idea for Plan B vending machines from the machines installed at Boston University.
PPGA decided to advocate for Plan
Located in the Crescent Building at 217 North Aurora St., the new State Senate office is the first in Tompkins County in over a decade, increasing accessibility to constituents in Ithaca.
Webb’s District Office in Binghamton has been open to the
Webb and her team said they hope to bring a similar openness to Ithaca. Staffing the office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, Webb’s constituent team will be available to assist community members with various issues, including unemployment, health insurance, Home Energy Assistance Program, WIC, SNAP and more.
“Having a physical presence in a community as a public servant is a game changer,” said Assemblymember Anna Kelles. “It allows a representative to see firsthand day after day the life and expe-
Kelles further acknowledged Webb’s commitment to community, noting that despite overseeing a large district, Webb still manages to attend events in Ithaca. “She shows up, she listens and she acts on our behalf to fight for the things that we need,” Kelles said.
Other members of the Ithaca community helped celebrate the office’s opening, including City of Ithaca Alderperson Robert Cantelmo.
“The City of Ithaca appreciates Webb as a partner who works with us to improve the lives of those working, learning, and playing in our community," said City of Ithaca alderperson Robert Cantelmo.
Also at the grand opening, Ithaca Mayor Laura Lewis commended Webb’s legislative accomplishments. In her first year in office, Webb introduced 54 bills, 32 of which passed through the Senate and 23 of which passed through both houses before arriving on the Governor’s desk, where they await her signature.
Webb serves as the Chair of the Senate’s Committee on Women’s Issues. She is also a member of the Committees on Agriculture, Health, Higher Education, Procurement & Contracts, Mental Health, and Cities.
Webb’s office offers internships for high school, undergraduate and graduate students. Interested students are welcome to apply.
“Accessto care is key in supporting all dimensions of student health and well-being."
Chris Payne
Birds and Blooms
9 a.m. - 10 a.m., Newman Arboretum
Can We Decolonize Southeast Asian Studies?
With Tom Pepinsky
12:20 p.m., 374 Rockefeller Hall
Worlds Within Whorls: Exploring Flowers as Microcosms
With Prof. Robert A. Raguso
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m., A106 Corson/Mudd Hall
Minerology and Synthetic Biology Solutions for the Energy Transition Challenges
With Prof. Esteban Gazel
4 p.m., B11 Kimball Hall
Spirit of Cornell: Spiritual Welcome Fair and Ice Cream
4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., 626 Thurston Ave
CALS Fest 2023
4:30 p.m. - 6 p.m., Ag Quad
Creating a Powerful Resume for Human Ecology and Brooks Students
4:30 p.m. - 5:15 p.m., 1203 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall
Movies on the Arts Quad: Super Mario Bros
7:30 p.m. - 11 p.m., Ag Quad
Professor and William Dawson Scholar in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at McGill University
Computational Narrative Understanding and the Human Desire to Make-Believe
Wednesday, August 30, 2023; 4:20-5:20 PM
Bill & Melinda Gates Hall Room G01
Tour: Seeds of Survival and Celebration: Plants and the Black Experience
Noon - 1 p.m., Nevin Welcome Center
WINE: A New Queuing Identity for Analyzing Scheduling Policies in Multiserver Systems
3:45 p.m. - 4:45 p.m., 655 Frank H. T. Rhodes Hall
Tatkon Block Party 2023
4 p.m. - 6 p.m., CKB Quad
Open House at the Benn Conger Inn
4 p.m. - 6 p.m., 206 W. Cortland St., Groton, NY
New Student Open House at The Cornell Store
4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., The Cornell Store
B vending machines in order to provide access to emergency contraception — which is more effective when taken earlier — on campus at all times since Cornell Health has restricted hours and is not open on weekends.
After conversations with Cornell Health, the PPGA decided to collect survey responses to determine community perspectives surrounding potential vending machines.
Over the fall 2022 semester, the PPGA surveyed over 700 members of the Cornell community and found that 53.3 percent of respondents have previously acquired emergency contraception for themselves or others and that 90.3 percent responded that they would feel “somewhat comfortable” or “very comfortable” obtaining emergency contraception, for themselves or others, at a Cornell Health-operated vending machine.
The PPGA — along with Levy and co-presidents of PPGA Katherine Esterl ’24 and Taisa Strouse ’24 — sponsored Student Assembly Resolution 20 which urged the University to implement multi-unit vending machines with nonprescription health care supplies, including contraception.
The resolution was unanimously passed by the S.A. on Thursday, Feb. 9. The University Assembly passed Resolution 5 and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly passed Resolution 7 as their version of the resolution.
President Martha Pollack approved of Resolution 20 in an email response to the S.A. on March 7.
Esterl ’24 said the resolution was a resounding success due to the collaboration between student groups, the S.A. and Cornell Health.
“When [the idea for the vending machines] began as a conversation a few months ago, [it] was something that seemed like it wasn’t going to be funded very easily,” Esterl said. “But with student advocacy, with [the] Student Assembly and with building relationships with people at Cornell Health, we were able to make it happen. So I think it maybe was a good confirmation for people that working through the Student Assembly can be one way to support positive change for reproductive health care on campus.”
On Feb. 10, President Pollack rejected S.A. Resolution 15 to employ an M.D. gynecologist, arguing that Cornell Health’s primary care clinicians are trained in gyne-
cological services. According to Cornell Health’s website, there are five staffers associated with “GYN/women’s health.”
On May 4, the S.A. unanimously approved Resolution 48, which proposed that Cornell make medicated abortion, or abortion pills, available to students on campus.
The resolution was inspired by recent New York state legislation requiring all the State University of New York and the City University of New York campuses to provide access to medicated abortions, according to Patrick Kuehl ’24, president of the S.A. The S.A. felt Cornell was part of the SUNY system in some regard and should thus provide similar accessibility, Kuehl said.
President Pollack responded to the resolution by clarifying that although Cornell is
not mandated to adhere to the legislation, Cornell sufficiently meets the standards of the policy by providing information about, and referrals to, authorized providers of medication abortion in Ithaca. The level of specialty care required through the legislation exists at Ithaca’s Planned Parenthood, which is accessible from Cornell through TCAT bus routes.
“President Pollack’s response stated that, yes, Cornell students have access to medication abortions, because they have access to Planned Parenthood, which is downtown,”
To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.
Julia Senzon can be reached at jsenszon@cornellsun.com. Marisa Cefola can be reached at mcefola@cornellsun.com.
Independent candidates can still vie for the Third Ward’s two-year term on the Common Council, even though the primary elections took place June 27. Tompkins County Community College professor Pat Sewell chose to run as an independent on the Community Party line after he missed the deadline for the Democratic primaries.
Sewell said he decided to run for office because he did not think that the current candidates matched the level of commitment that he witnessed from representatives such as Ward 1 representatives Cynthia Brock and George McGonigal, both Democrats. Brock lost the primary to challenger Kayla Matos, while McGonigal is term-limited and cannot run again.
“Brock and McGonigal were dedicated, passionate alderpersons with 20 years of Common Council experience between them,” Sewell wrote in an email to the Ithaca Voice that was obtained by The Sun. “They accomplished a great deal and worked hard to represent their constituents. I had a difficult time envisioning a similar level of commitment from the current candidates.”
Sewell chose the two-year term rather than the four-year term to prevent Democratic nominee Pierre Saint-Perez, who is also running for the Third Ward two-year seat, from winning an uncontested election, saying democracy only flourished with engagement.
“An uncontested election means an unengaged electorate, and there is a lot going on that needs the electorate’s input,” Sewell said in the email.
Sewell, a registered Democrat, told The Sun he also wants to use his independent candidacy to highlight the political monopoly the Democratic Party has in a liberal city like Ithaca,
where the closed primary elections can often decide the general election.
“When that happens, that means that only roughly only about 80 percent of registered voters get to decide who their elected candidate is,” Sewell said, referring to the percentage of Ithaca voters registered as either a member of the Democratic or Republican parties.
Sewell is an environmental ethics and economics professor at Tompkins County Community College and a worker at the GreenStar co-op, both experiences which he said contribute to how he views local governance and community engagement.
“Being community focused, trying to do things specifically for your area,and helping out folks and seeing all the folks in your areas interrelated, interconnected, having a stake in one another — those are the things that I see as valuable, and that I’d like to bring to the Common Council as well,” Sewell said.
Sewell said he will prioritize building a healthy working relationship with Cornell — which is currently negotiating a memorandum of understanding regarding its payments in lieu of taxes to the City of Ithaca — and Ithaca College, saying he would work to find common ground between them and the City and develop a symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship.
“I tend to see that as having more productive outcomes and building longer term relationships that can then be utilized in the future. So with Cornell, for example, I think the city gets a lot of benefit from Cornell, and I think Cornell gets a lot of benefit from the city. I’d like to see them working as mutual partners for a common goal,” Sewell said. “It feels a little unbalanced right now — maybe Cornell’s getting a bit more out than putting in. And so I’d like to rebalance that. But I want to do it in a way that creates a relationship that we can go back to.”
The City of Ithaca and Cornell would not see eye to eye on every aspect of their relationship, Sewell said, but working
towards a common goal would be beneficial for all involved.
“It doesn’t mean that we’re not going to disagree on things — I’m certain that that’s going to be the case,” Sewell said. “But I generally find when you get different stakeholders, different groups, looking for some sort of common goal in working, at least, I don’t know professionally or amicably ends up benefiting both parties longer in the short term.”
Sewell said he got his outlook on negotiations and relationship building from his experiences as the president of the TC3 Adjunct Association, the union representing TC3’s adjunct faculty, and a member of New York State United Teachers, a statewide teachers’ union.
“With my union, I try to [negotiate] from a more cooperative aspect than a zero-sum game,” Sewell said. “Realistically, you can’t do that sometimes. Maybe you have to play a bit more hardball. But initially, certainly I would like to try to go in and see if there can be something that both sides can find amenable.”
Sewell also hopes to use his union background to serve as the city’s liaison to its workers and help rebuild the relationship between them and the City of Ithaca, particularly as the public workers are seeking help from NYSUT.
“I think I could be beneficial in helping to make sure that workers feel appreciated and that they get the best contract that the city can provide while also maintaining their fiduciary responsibility to the city,” Sewell said.
On the topic of housing, Sewell supports owner-occupancy requirements for accessory dwelling units in neighborhoods like his native South Hill and Belle Sherman — where the housing market has faced pressure from both Ithaca College and Cornell’s student housing demands — to retain the character of these neighborhoods.
“Belle Sherman and South Hill have a very nice overlap, and we have these pockets of areas where there’s single family housing,” Sewell said. “We both experience a lot of pressure from student development. A single family house that goes on the market, and an outside company comes in, purchases the house, splits it up into six single units, and rents it to students. It just changes the character of the neighborhood.…You lose a lot when that happens.”
Sewell expressed his hope to build a cooperative, welcoming and friendly atmosphere throughout Ithaca.
“Every year it’s a new batch of folks, some leave and some go. And so it’s a relationship that you have to keep working on compassionately,” Sewell said. “So that’s why I think it’s important to maintain good relationships overall, because you have to continue working on them. It’s not just like a one time thing.”
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Cohen said it was so well-received that she decided to expand the festival for this third edition.
With over 10 years of experience organizing festivals as executive director of the American Youth Circus Festival, Cohen said she is excited to bring that experience to Ithaca.
Earlier this year, Cohen released an international open call for circus artists, which received 75 submissions. Around 12 to 15 shows featuring artists from Ecuador, Canada, Ireland, Ithaca, Rochester, Boston, Chicago, Vermont and more will perform at a variety of Ithaca venues including The Hangar Theatre and Cherry Artspace.
Cohen stressed the importance of building support for the festival for its return this year. She told The Sun that the organizers received funding from the Fairgame Grant, Hotel Ithaca, a Tompkins County Tourism Program grant, a Audience Building Project grant and many more local organizations who pitched in to ensure that the circus can thrive here in Ithaca. Ticket sales and donations also help fund the festival.
However, putting together a circus festival has its challenges. Cohen said there is also an advocacy component to the organizing of the event, from funding to advertising.
“Circus is an art form, but not always understood as an art form, especially in the United States … and so there’s also a lot of
advocacy that we do,” Cohen said. “A lot of our funding partners and the city have seen what we do, and they are just increasingly supportive.”
Of the several shows slated for September, two will be by local performers from Circus Culture. A group based out of Boston called Cirque US will be giving a free performance at the festival.
Founded in 2016, Cirque US has stopped in Ithaca during their tours four times. Doug Steward, founder of the group, also expressed how the sense of community he found in Ithaca brings his group back to the city.
“It feels like we’re performing for our hometown crowd. We perform for the same people year after year after year,” Steward said. “It’s really exciting because people have seen how our shows have grown. They’ve seen how we’ve gotten better. They’ve seen how we’ve added artists to our roster. And it’s really cool to see how our artists and audiences have grown.”
Cirque US’s upcoming act, “Circus Stories,” centers on storytelling.
“Our story is really trying to teach young audience members that you can be whoever you want to be — that you have the power to write your own story.” Steward said, “And so through circus, dance, comedy and aerials, we really try to inspire the audience that you can do whatever you want and no dream is too big.”
In collaboration with the Hupstate Circus Festival, the Cornell Juggling Club will be hosting the Big Red Juggle Fest on campus during that weekend. The festival is returning after a long hiatus and will offer free workshops, performances and talks.
As organizers of the festival, the Cornell Juggling Club seeks to showcase variety and innovation in juggling, which is often not seen by the general public.
“Juggling isn’t just one pattern [of] throwing balls — we have so many different props,” said Cornell Juggling Club president Eliza Hong grad in an interview with The Sun. “People will be able to try out different props during the festival that other people bring in [and] share patterns and different methods for learning new things. So it’s a creative collaboration too.”
Prof. Allen Knutson, mathematics, who has researched the math of juggling, will be hosting a talk on Sept. 1. On Sept. 1 through Sept. 3 there will also be open juggling sessions at Barton Hall open to the public.
“I’ve never seen any other hobby that is so collaborative and creative at the same time. And it’s like you’re creating something together when you juggle with other people,” said Cornell Juggling Club treasurer Orion
Smedley grad. “This is art that you make together with other people in real time.”
The circus community in Ithaca is coming together during a weekend to entertain all of Ithaca’s residents, an effort which Cohen described as an aspiration to bring bigger events to a small city like Ithaca.
“To feel like we can create a festival that should exist in Rochester or Philly … is something that I think a lot of locals really crave,” Cohen said. “A lot of students come [to Ithaca] from literally all over the world. A lot of people come from bigger cities with expectations of more stuff to do. We really want to try to make [them] feel like that cool thing is happening here.”
“Circus is an art form, but not always understood as an art form.”
Amy Cohen
When people think of college food, they immediately think of dining halls. They picture trays stacked with food, each containing offerings from the various salad bars and stir-fry stations from diverse ethnic backgrounds. At Cornell’s 10 dining halls, unique menus complete with customizable entrees, sides, vegan, vegetarian, kosher and halal options constantly rotate. This offers students a variety of exciting options that prevents any flavor fatigue, keeps plates visually appealing and exposes students to new foods.
On top of this, the convenience factor of dining halls cannot be beaten, as busy students can quickly grab food cooked by experienced dining staff without worrying about planning, buying or cooking themselves. Meals on the go are even more common across many of the cafes and convenience stores which offer “grab-n-go” sandwiches, wraps and bowls along with the option of using Cornell’s Eco-takeout reusable containers.
However, it is uncommon for students to have the unlimited dining plan (besides being required to have one as a first-year student or West Campus resident ) due to cost, apartment living, being able to have more control over meals and personal preference. Being able to cook for yourself – or, having culinary autonomy – is a significant step toward independence and preparing for life outside of college.
While some may see cooking as a chore, others may see it as a calming medium of self-expression and personal touch. Regardless, the big step of moving away from dining halls and into kitchens to cook is approaching for many, and this article is intended to shed
more light on how and where to get groceries to cook for yourself.
For those with bus passes and cars, Walmart, Wegmans and Target are popular grocery and shopping locations. To take the TCAT bus to Walmart and Wegmans, route 32 changes to route 15 at the East Seneca Street bus stop in the Ithaca Commons. Staying on the
nell. Closer to campus, Anabel’s Grocery, GreenStar and the Cornell Food Pantry offer additional shopping options for students and can be particularly convenient for those located in Collegetown.
Kitchens located in common areas of dorm rooms enable students to cook their own foods and are often equipped with stove tops, sinks and a common fridge and freezer. These can be a great way for students without a meal plan or on a limited meal plan to cook in the convenience of their own dorm building. Reusable cooking containers can be great ways to organize, store and prepare pre-made meals by saving time through cooking in batches.
These containers can be brought onto campus and microwaved in the various communal microwaves across campus. Recipes found online can be a great place to start learning and experimenting. They can also be a great way to bond with family members and continue on family recipes and traditions.
While culinary autonomy may seem daunting, unpleasant and inconvenient to many, the realities of having to cook for yourself are creeping ever closer as students get older and prepare for their lives after Cornell. Fortunately, Ithaca has many popular shopping destinations accessible by bus for those without cars.
bus, route 15 will then go directly to the Wegmans bus stop and then the Walmart Supercenter bus stop four stops later.
The route 15 bus to return to campus usually arrives one hour later. For Target, route 30 will go directly to the Cayuga Mall bus stop, upon which Target can be entered from inside the mall. The route 30 bus returns multiple times within an hour to take you back to Cor-
Convenient kitchens located in dorms offer accessible ways to cook and store groceries off campus. So if you’re heavily debating not getting a meal plan in the future or are unsure of your cooking ability, you never know how much you might enjoy the invigorating feeling of culinary autonomy!
Kyle Roth is a sophomore in the College of Human Ecology. He can be reached at ksr73@cornell.edu.
On Feb. 15, 2023, Anabel’s Grocery opened for the first time this year. A student-run nonprofit, Anabel’s concentrates on not only providing affordable groceries to Cornellians, but also building a community around food justice. Undergrads who are taking or have graduated from AEM 3385 are constantly planning events and starting initiatives that benefit customers. From collaboration with charitable organizations downtown to cooking lessons, there is always more happening here beyond food sales unlike your typical grocery store, making Anabel’s a unique social enterprise on campus. With multiple projects underway, we can only look forward to what the staff is working on for the rest of this semester.
Within the first month of opening, many successes have already been celebrated at Anabel’s. On Mar. 5, the Collaborative Education committee held Toast-AThon, a community brunch with Prisoner Express at the Durland Alternatives Library. Prisoner Express is an organization that spreads hope amongst incarcerated people through poetry, art and writing programs. Those who attended sent letters and book packages to those in need while enjoying bread provided by Wide Awake, a local Ithaca bakery centered around sustainability and fostering community.
Another event held by the Anabel’s staff was a cooking demonstration on the afternoon of Saturday, Mar. 11. Taking place at 660 Stewart Avenue, staff members taught attendees how to prepare a vegetable lentil coconut curry using only ingredients sourced from the store. More free demos can be expected in the future. RSVP links to these events are posted on the Anabel’s Instagram page
In addition to lessons, there are other ways to learn cooking skills right within the shop. Weekly recipes are printed out and available to all around the register while they are also posted to the Anabel’s website. From overnight oats to vegan mac and cheese, there is
so much to learn while all ingredients are stocked right here. Also available in the store are weekly meal-kits; bundled produce helps encourage students to incorporate new dishes into their lives while working towards more balanced diets. Brand new meals will be featured each Wednesday.
With a plethora of new students added to staff this semester, an increasing number of events is also uniting the Anabel’s community further. A volunteer at both Prisoner Express and the store, Elinor Belhman ’26 reflects on her time with the enterprise so far: “I’ve loved getting to know everyone who works at Anabel’s. It’s definitely a place that brings people together and there’s a strong sense of community there.”
Elinor said. Meanwhile, staff member Ishani Chopra ’24 appreciates the hours she’s spent working in the store: “It’s interesting to see how well Anabel’s functions without a hierarchy. It takes effort and communication from everyone, and we collectively strive to improve Anabel’s for customers and for future students who work there,” Ishani said.
Ishani along with many others define Anabel’s by its unique environment and tightly knit group of volunteers. Operating from 12-7 P.M. on Wednesday and Fridays, 12 - 3 P.M. on Saturdays, the store can be found at Anabel Taylor Hall. Dr. Anke Wessels, who both teaches the Anabel’s class and leads the staff, is thrilled with the store’s progress so far: “Anabel’s is off to a great start this semester! We have served over 1700 customers since we opened on Feb. 15th, 500 more than last year in the same time period. The number of transactions using SNAP/EBT has tripled since last year. The most popular items sold are eggs, Wide Awake Bakery bread, and a variety of fruits and vegetables that are all priced quite low. We are a valuable resource to all Cornell students, making it easier for them to pick up basic groceries by saving both time and money.”
Beyond the resources and opportunities this orga-
nization creates, Anabel’s Grocery is appreciated for the bonds it builds between students. I think senior Lauren Mukaigawa ’24 says it best when she describes her Anabel’s experience so far: “Working at Anabel’s has opened my eyes to the impact it has beyond the store itself. It is exciting to see the relationships we are developing with local co-ops, vendors, and campus organizations.” It’s exciting to imagine what surprises the Anabel’s staff has for Cornell. Again and again, the group continues to unite the university under the common goal of distributing good quality affordable food.
Kira Walter is a sophomore in the College of Agricultural & Life Sciences. She can be reached at kjw242@cornell. edu
Beingabletocookfor yourself–or,having culinaryautonomy–isasignificantsteptoward independenceand preparingforlifeoutsideof college.
Rebecca Sparaacio is a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences. Her fortnightly column Te Space Between focuses on student life, culture and community. She can be reached at rsp36@cornell.edu
The spaces that were once empty are now full. They are so full. The freshmen are living in “quintuplets” , a striking contrast to my own freshman-year living situation where I was the lone resident of a triple and occupied a suite alone. It was a lonely introduction to Cornell, and perhaps one that will never be fully shared or understood. That is something for the better.
Walking around campus, I realized that most of my peers are younger than me. I’m about to turn 21, though I’m holding on to 20 in a way that suggests I’m not ready to let go of it. On Aug. 7, what began as an inside joke on a Washington D.C. side street became a personal movement: "20 days of 20” (and subsequently an idea for an article that my wonderful friend and editor can publish on the first week of classes). The premise of this idea was to do something “new” each day until I turned 21. I cut my hair and pierced my ears again, things that I’ve always wanted to do but never brought forth into action.
Once I got to Cornell my “20 days of 20” took on a different meaning. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I brought special attention to the passage of time during my senior year — as youth seems to be slipping away. After my summer internship and an impending job search, I’ve begun to feel that I have one foot in the “real world” and one foot on campus. For years, attending school has given shape to life — classes, sports, schedules — and I stand on the brink of a shapelessness that perhaps characterizes real life.
EDITOR
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What you begin to realize when paying attention to a particular stretch of time, is just how fleeting time is. Everyone makes jokes about freshmen and as a senior, I sense a little bit of envy in that joke: for getting a fresh start, for having every pathway open to you, arriving at a place unknown, undeclared and undefined. Every adult dotingly comments that they would do anything to “switch places” with you when you’re a freshman.
on campus. The owner of this dog, who attended Cornell in the 1960s, was both an English major and on the editorial board of The Cornell Daily Sun. I did not ask his name. I just went about my day.
You start to see how everyone fills in the space of what came before. Freshmen become sophomores, sophomores become juniors, juniors become seniors; 18 year old’s turn 19 and 19 year old’s turn 20 and 20 year old’s turn 21. That is the most unwise and obvious conclusion you could possibly draw, but acknowledging that there comes a point where you grow and need to move on is likely a truth we all fear.
For my last first column of the year, I’ve decided to write on a topic that has already been written by a senior in the past. In fact, I’ve read many iterations of this column. Every year I’ve read it, I’ve found it sappy and cliché. It usually follows a similar structure to mine. It has
We can’t ever turn back the clock and that’s what freshmen remind us, as they walk through campus wide-eyed and chatty. Though funny enough, I still sometimes feel like a freshman and even though I’m going to be 21 I still feel 16.
After my haircut and my ear piercing, I began to run out of ideas and started to count a variety of experiences as part of my twenty days of twenty. I took a walk and for the first time asked to pet a dog
a nostalgic tone. It reminisces on the past and it inspires everyone to take part in everything that Cornell and Ithaca have to offer.
Yet I can’t stop myself from writing it. In these 20 days of 20, I have actually for once taken the advice of this column. I cherished the sun and the scenes, I took long walks and stayed up late chatting with my roommates, I went to the farmers market and took a bunch of pictures and sent them to the people I know, I got moshed in the mosh pit of a College Town party and people watched while I sat outside at CTB. It turns out that my “20 days of 20” is more about my final year at Cornell than my age.
Now I’m taking the place of what — and who — came before. Everything that I’ve written in this column has already been written, just as everything I’ve thought has been thought before and what was becomes what is, and what is what was.
Despite this broad collective notion, we each inhabit our own worlds and carry with us our own subjectivities. After all, this is my senior year because I am in it and my classmates are in it with me, and this is my last first column for the freshmen, the sophomores, the juniors and the seniors alike.
While we are in different years and different stretches of life, there truly is no space between us.
You start to see how everyone fills in the space of what came before.
While we are in different years and different stretches of life, there truly is no space between us.
Amazing Comic 1
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.
W W W
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C O R N E L L S U N . C O M
By JONATHAN MONG Sun News Editor NICK COTE / THE NEW YORK TIMES
The Perseid meteor shower — often considered one of the best meteor showers of the year — reached its pinnacle in both visibility and frequency for Northeast observers during the night of Aug. 12 to Aug. 13, including in Tompkins County.
According to a report from Space.com — as documented by the experts at the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada — the shower was at its strongest around 4 a.m. that night, where viewers had the potential to witness up to 60 meteors per hour.
Unlike the previous year, where the Perseid shower’s visibility was notably obstructed by the intense moonlight, this year’s lunar situation was much more favorable.
This August, the moon was only eight percent illuminated and just a mere three days away from a new moon phase while the meteor showers were visible.
These circumstances resulted in significantly diminished
light pollution in the night sky, allowing the chance for a much clearer viewing than in the past.
The Perseid meteor shower takes place annually, reaching
its zenith, or apex, in early to mid-August as the Earth passes through the Perseid meteoroid stream.
Named for its apparent origin within the Perseus con -
passes through these debris trails, the comet fragments collide with the Earth’s atmosphere at high speeds, incinerating in the process as they reach temperatures of over 1600 degrees Celsius.
They leave behind the trails of electrified, ionized air that streak light and color across the late summer night sky.
Alongside December’s Geminids, the Perseid meteor shower stands as one of the two most consistently observable and robust meteor showers each year.
In clear skies, Cornell students and local Ithaca residents had the opportunity to witness the shower by seeking out a dark area with an unobstructed view of the celestial expanse and waiting patiently. Any presence of moonlight, obstructions including cloud cover, or light pollution would have diminished the visibility of the meteor display.
stellation, the Perseid shower is the visible result of small debris, no larger than pebbles, originating from the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle.
Every year, when Earth
After a recent outbreak last May, it’s estimated that 40 percent of people diagnosed with the monkeypox virus in the United States also have HIV.
With the spread of a novel antiviral medication, Tecovirimat, Weill Cornell and Columbia University Irving Medical Center co-published a study this past May investigating the effects of the drug on patients with mpox and HIV. The study found no significant differences in outcomes for patients with or without HIV when treated with Tecovirimat, suggesting that the drug does did not pose any substantial risk to the HIV population.
Mpox is a virus from the same family as smallpox with symptoms including painful rashes, fever and enlarged lymph nodes. The disease gained global attention in May of last year when cases were first reported in the United Kingdom. Subsequent cases were reported in the United States, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency in August 2022.
Tecovirimat is a drug that is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat smallpox, but it was also approved to treat mpox on May 5 through the expanded access protocol under the CDC. The protocol gives patients at risk of life-threatening health conditions access to investigative drugs when no other treatments are available.
Co-senior author Dr. Marshall Glesby, infectious diseases and medicine, described how the team worked hard to meet the increasing demand for treatment during the 2022 outbreak.
“We were able to get this protocol up and running quickly within 24 hours
of being contacted about the first person deemed to be eligible for the treatment,” Glesby said.
The team began to investigate the effects of Tecovirimat on patients with HIV compared to those without the virus due to the more severe mpox symptoms that HIV patients often experience.
With the combined data from New York-Presbyterian and Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Glesby and his team looked at how the 154 study participants treated with Tecovirimat responded, specifically looking at whether there was a difference in outcome for patients with or without HIV.
The results showed that Tecovirimat did not cause adverse effects in patients with HIV, and outcomes were similar to
those of patients without HIV. Only four patients experienced adverse effects, which was concluded to be from factors unrelated to the drug. Improvement in monkeypox symptoms following administration of Tecovirimat was also similar between the two groups.
Despite these results, Glesby cautioned against concluding that Tecovirimat was the safest, most effective treatment for mpox patients with HIV. There were certain limitations to the study, including patient management of HIV and the lack of a control group of mpox patients treated without Tecovirimat.
Most patients in the study had well-managed HIV, whereas patients in the later stages of HIV were often more severely affected by mpox. Thus, the study could not extend
their results on the effects of Tecovirimat for patients with more advanced HIV. Additionally, without a control group of patients who did not receive Tecovirimat, the study could not draw conclusions on whether Tecovirimat was solely responsible for the resolution of symptoms in mpox patients.
In patients with HIV that is more advanced, Glesby suggested that tecovirimat alone may not be sufficient or could be used in combination with other treatments — however, data on this hypothesis remains scarce.
Due to the observational nature of the study, clinical trials would be needed to fully determine the safety and efficacy of Tecovirimat. The Study of Tecovirimat for Human Monkeypox Virus trial led by Glesby’s colleague Dr. Timothy Wilkin, medicine, is one such study. After recruiting test subjects, they hope to test Tecovirimat’s safety and efficacy by randomly assigning participants with either a placebo or the drug for the course of 14 days.
Comparing the virus to COVID-19, Glesby noted how vaccines can help prevent mpox infection and suggested vaccination and education as a way of mitigating another potential outbreak.
“Although the [mpox] virus itself is not analogous to SARS-COV-2, the idea that vaccination may attenuate the disease, even if it doesn’t prevent it 100 percent as immunity wanes, is analogous. I think vaccination is a key strategy,” Dr. Glesby said. “Education about which behaviors are higher risk and, more importantly, vaccination, would be the keys to [mitigating] resurgence.”