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The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 137, No. 5

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News

Arts

Sports

Weather

Unmasking Science

Blk Voices

Big Leagues

Light Chill and Clouds

A behavioral economist explains the science of risks and refusing to wear masks. | Page 3

Blk Voices showcases the art of Black creatives on campus.

Men’s hockey’s Alex Green signs entry-level National Hockey League deal.

| Page 5

HIGH: 65º LOW: 41º

| Page 8

MICHAEL SUGUITAN / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Black Lives Matter | Cornellians and the greater Ithaca community protest against racist police brutality in a march from Ho Plaza to the Ithaca Police Station on Wednesday, June 2.

Activists Fight for Visibility Student Introduces Caribbean Students Association petitions for new minor

Caribbean students founded CSA, determined to forge their own community and promote education and Caribbean voices.

“The Caribbean community is important to us: Aurora McKenzie ’21 is getting a Caribbean studies minor — even though it doesn’t exist at It’s a big deal for our heritage and our culture and not seeing that at Cornell did upset every single Cornell yet.

Instead, she’s piecing together a curriculum by one of us,” McKenzie said. “So we decided to drawing on classes from Africana, Latin American make it our job to educate on, embrace and share and Latina/o studies, trying to prove that the the Caribbean culture with the Cornell community as a whole, espeprogram is intelleccially connecting tually cohesive the Caribbean and possible community at Cornell. together.”

McKenzie — This semeswho is the ter, the group president and is expanding co-founder of their efforts the Caribbean with a petiStudents tion to compel Association the University — lamented to uphold its the work she’s commitment to had to put in to “any study.” study her culture SABRINA XIE / SUN SENIOR DESIGNER The petition and history.

This semester, there are just five courses that opens with demands about this academic overrelate to Caribbean studies; only three of those sight — a creation of a Caribbean studies minor, reference the Caribbean in their course titles. This the hiring of academic and advising staff members doesn’t just harm the students looking for those who are Caribbeanists in their primary research, classes, but it also means that non-Caribbean stu- increased funding opportunities for Caribbean dents have fewer opportunities to learn about the studies research and a curriculum review.

Someday, CSA hopes to have a fully-fledged region and its culture, according to CSA Director Caribbean studies program and a space of their of External Affairs Matthew Arthur ’21.

“This is just such a clear problem because we’re own, but right now, they are asking for academic Caribbean students and we’re actively searching support and incorporation of Caribbean history for [those classes],” Arthur said. “There are also into the new Anti-Racism Center.

But CSA’s demands are two-fold: Beyond going to be students that aren’t of Caribbean descent who don’t necessarily have this in their academic inclusion, the students are asking for minds — that are not gonna look for the classes recognition and inclusion of their full identities.

The first step is recognizing June as National and they don’t pop up when they’re searching.”

Representing 40 countries and a dynamic cul- Caribbean-American Heritage Month and adding ture, Caribbean students on campus are demand- it to the official University calendar.

“That would be support from the University as ing better for their community, even though the University’s lack of demographic data about a whole,” McKenzie said. “That would be great, Caribbean students challenges their ability to especially for alumni, like looking back and going, ‘Wow, now Cornell is actually seeing that this is organize.

In February 2019, McKenzie and four other See CARIBBEAN page 3

By KATHRYN STAMM Sun News Editor

New WVBR Podcast Of Cornell Activists

By OLIVIA CIPPERMAN Sun Staff Writer

In his first foray into podcasting, Daniel James, II ’22 explored student activism following this summer’s antiBlack violence in an episode called “Policing, Protesting, and Paying Up 4 Black Lives.”

His WVBR show, “Black Voices on the Hill,” hopes to take on discussions of student leadership, activism and experiences within the Black

community at Cornell.

James has been active in student government life since his first semester as a freshman, winning a seat as freshman representative on the School of Industrial and Labor Relations’ student government.

Citing a “passion for public service,” James also works as a mentor for incarcerated youth in the Students for Students organization, serves as vice See PODCAST page 2

COURTESY OF DANIEL JAMES, II

New voices | An engaged Cornellian and activist, Daniel James’, II ’22 latest endeavor is highlighting other’s work on a new podcast.

2 The Cornell Daily Sun | Monday, September 14, 2020

Daybook

Daybook

Monday, September 14, 2020

A LISTING OF FREE CAMPUS EVENTS Today

Tomorrow

A Model for Dramatically Increasing Diversity At the Ph.D. Level in Science and Engingeering 9 -10 a.m., Virtual Event

Purposeful Interdisciplinarity: An Individual Career Path in Plant Pathology 11 a.m. - noon, Virtual Event

Discussion of Cornell University As a Land-Grab University 9:55 - 11:10 a.m., Virtual Event

Incentivizing Behavioral Change: The Role of Time Preferences 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m., Virtual Event

Land and Livelihoods in Kalimpong, West Bengal 11:15 a.m., Virtual Event

Recovery by the Numbers: What to Expect in the Lodging Industry 11:30 a.m., Virtual Event

Environmental Health and Wild Horses: A Design for the Future Noon, Virtual Event

Regulation of MHC Expression In Equine Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Improved Clincal Use Noon - 1p.m., Virtual Event

Pathogens Found in Ticks Collected On School Grounds and Public Parks 1 p.m., Virtual Event

Perspectives on Prediction in Plant Breeding 12:40 p.m., Virtual Event

Flipping the Switch on Organic Synthesis Using Electrochemistry 4 p.m., Virtual Event

Key Considerations for Agricultural and Food Systems Research in the Pandemic 4 - 5p.m., Virtual Event

Border Environments: Toward a Political Ecology Of the Edges of the World 5 p.m., Virtual Event Dearest Lenny: Letters from Japan and The Making of the World Maestro 4:30 - 6 p.m., Virtual Event

Noncoding RNA Networks 4 - 5 p.m., Virtual Event DANIEL RA / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Distanced desks | Two masked Cornellians sit in the lobby of an empty Physical Sciences Building. With two-thirds of classes and all events held virtually, campus is quieter than usual.

Exploring the Small Farm Dream: Is Farming Right for You? 6 - 7:30 p.m., Virtual Event

New Podcast Talks Black Student Life, Activism PODCAST

of his podcast. “That is why we function in political progress — are bringing you ‘Black Voices without it, public leaders can’t on the Hill.’” access their audiences: “During president of public relations The podcast team has already the time of the pandemic, that’s for the Minority ILR Student recorded its the only place Organization and is a mem- first five epiyou do see ber of pre-law fraternity Kappa sodes, two of “My purpose in this them: in the Alpha Phi. which will feamedia,” James world is to make it a But in his latest endeavor, ture Cornell in said.

James wanted to highlight the Color found- more equitable and just With the voices of other activists on cam- er Lotoya podcast, he place for everybody.” pus.

Francis ’22 wants to reach “I know that whether exacting and Davidson Daniel James, II ’22 a wider audijustice on the Supreme Court or F e l l o w s h i p ence — his being a change agent in city pol- Scholar Cosimo mission is to itics, my purpose in this world Fabrizio ’22. amplify the stories and experiis to make it a more equitable James discusses the media in ences of Black people at Cornell and just place for everybody,” he Fabrizio’s episode. He believes and the greater Ithaca area. said in the introductory trailer that the media serves a vital James teamed up with WVBR, Cornell’s student-run radio station, after they approached him about a podcast opportunity this past mid-summer.

INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880 “We talk about racism, police brutality, colorism, sexism, Greek Editor in Chief Business Manager Maryam Zafar ’21 life, leadership, and white elitism Joybeer Datta Gupta ’21 in the Ivy League,” James said.

Phoning in from Brooklyn, ALL DEPARTMENTS (607) 273-3606 New York, the first episode Business: For questions regarding advertising, classifieds, subscriptions or delivery featured Sherrell Farmer ’22, problems, please call from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday.

News: To report breaking news or story ideas, please call after 5 p.m., Sundayfellow ILR student and co-orThursday. ganizer of Cornell Students 4 SEND A FAX (607) 273-0746 Black Lives — a coalition that raised $118,636 for Black Lives VISIT THE OFFICE 139 W. State Street, Ithaca, N.Y. Matter in June and continues to THE SUN ONLINE www.cornellsun.com educate the Cornell community E-MAIL sunmailbox@cornellsun.com on race and equity.

James and Farmer discussed Postal Information: The Cornell Daily Sun (USPS 132680 ISSN 1095-8169) is published by the frustrating pervasiveness THE CORNELL DAILY SUN, a New York corporation, 139 W. State St., Ithaca, N.Y. 14850. The Sun is of police brutality across time, published Monday, Tuesday and Thursday during the academic year, and every weekday online. Four special institutionalized state violence, issues — one for Cornell Days in April, one for seniors in May, one for alumni in June and one for incoming freshmen in July — make for about 74 print issues per year (but spring term publication dates are now uncerprotests and the difficulties of tain). Subscriptions are: $70.00 for fall term, if paid in advance. Standard postage paid at Ithaca, New York.

COVID-19 for students.

Postmaster: Send address changes to The Cornell Daily Sun, 139 W. State St., Ithaca, N.Y. 14850.

“If the pandemic isn’t killing Continued from page 1

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

us, our community, the police sive action of students, going are,” James said. “It really is a further than just recommending somber topic. Our generation Ibram X. Kendi’s book, “How to be an Antiracist.” has been through a lot.”

“We’re trying to make “How many times can you tell the story, and how many Cornell do more than start a times can you tell it from dif- book club,” she said in the podferent angles, and have the same cast. “They need to do more, end result? We’re literally still and they will do more. If you’re being killed,” Farmer said in the going to truly make your model podcast, recounting the repeated ‘any person, any study,’ your traumatic experiences of Black practices need to reflect that, death in the media. “It’s literally and you need to get to work.” heart wrenching.”

In future episodes, James hopes Discussing club culture at to feature more student governCornell, Farmer noted how ment leaders, entrepreneurs, athcampus political organizations letes and artists. Overall, he wants often silence or tokenize Black to investigate stopping police brumembers, and she called for tality, breaking down white elitist them to challenge this culture systems and organizing effectively by holding more conversations with “We need a way to highlight, amplify, non-Black the good and the excellence that is peers instead happening even in the midst of always relying on their of a pandemic and police mayhem.”

Black members’ labor. In Daniel James, II ’22 order to drive change, she said, equity at the organizational level must be for change.

“We need a way to highlight, achieved.

James agreed that tokeniza- amplify, the good and the exceltion is a problem, noting that lence that is happening even in if students don’t create Black- the midst of a pandemic and designated spaces on commit- police mayhem,” James said. tees and boards, “We won’t be The show can be found represented at all.” on any podcast platform, on James and Farmer dove Instagram and on WVBR. into defunding the police and divesting prisons. They pushed Olivia Cipperman can be reached Cornell to require more progres- at ocipperman@cornellsun.com.

The Cornell Daily Sun | Monday, September 14, 2020 3

News

Worship Moves Online CSA Demands Inclusion of

By LOUIS CHUANG

ally hosts an annual dinner — a threehour event that usually features Indian cuisine and performances — to celebrate Religious organizations at Cornell are the Diwali Festival of Lights.

However, in place of the dinner this working to provide faith-based community support for students’ health and wellbeing, year, the organization is “considering handeven as the pandemic has forced changes to ing out gift bags with things that can help people celebrate at home,” HSC President some long-held traditions.

Facing disruptions to their normal reli- Aashna Brahmbhatt wrote in an email to gious programming, these groups have The Sun. Like other groups, HSC is also moved online for outreach and service — hosting all their meetings and events virrecognizing that many students need com- tually.

Cornell Hillel has also found similar difmunity now more than ever.

“I think a lot of people are thankful to be ficulties accommodating students as a result of the pandemic.

“There is so much in Judaism that is “Usually the first Friday night of the year, we have between 250 and about finding community.”

300 Cornellians join us for Friday night dinner, for Shabbat dinner,” Rabbi Ari Weiss Weiss said.

Now, the kosher dining hall 104 back at Cornell, but also there’s a lot of anx- West! is limited to only 30 students at a iety and students are concerned about their time, and most get their meals to-go — health,” Cornell Hillel Rabbi Ari Weiss said. losing out on some of the community the “For me, that is a place where there’s room Shabbat dinners used to provide. But Hillel for a spiritual dimension. There is so much is still hosting virtual Shabbat services and in Judaism that is about finding community social events to replicate some of what has and supporting one another in response to been lost.

Despite transitioning to all virtual events, an uncertainty, which is especially importreligious groups on campus have not shied ant this year.”

Even though Cornell’s religious groups away from their spiritual missions. For the have mostly turned to Zoom to replace Cornell Catholic Community, that means in-person events, weekly services each week still “focusing on growing in our faith, are still a critical opportunity for the com- building our relationship with God, and munities to meet and worship with each fostering community,” according to Sowa.

For Cornell Hillel, Rabbi Hayley other.

“One of the most important services Goldstein pointed to Jewish history for a that we have always had was celebrating message of hope.

“Something is really powerful about this, Mass on Sundays at Sage Chapel,” Joanna Sowa ’21, president of Cornell Catholic especially in COVID, thinking about [the Community wrote in an email to The Sun. ancient Israelites] in the desert,” Goldstein “However, this semester, instead of in-per- said. “They have no idea what’s going to son Masses, our community continues to happen, there’s a time of uncertainty, just like for many of our students. I find that celebrate through weekly events.”

Public health precautions have also dis- hopeful and just something to hold on to as rupted campus religious groups’ ability to we navigate this desert time.” host ceremonies and meals, events that are often semester mainstays. The Hindu Louis Chuang can be reached at Students Council, for example, tradition- lchuang@cornellsun.com.

Sun Staff Writer

Caribbean Studies, Students CARIBBEAN

Continued from page 1

my people. It is important to them, too, because they don’t just put anything on their calendar.’”

They also want to include “Caribbean” and more country-specific options for ethnicity self-identification during applications to Cornell — to both represent their cultural heritage and as a practical solution.

Because Caribbean students are of all races, there is no way for CSA to get an accurate count on the number of students with Caribbean heritage at Cornell.

“We would like to know how many students on this campus are actually identifying with being Caribbean, because it’s important to us,” McKenzie said. “When [Caribbean] students come on this campus … the hardest thing is that you have to find each other.”

They find that this lack of a concrete number also hurts their efforts to enact change because it’s hard to gauge interest and representation. But they know there are Caribbean students, because the CSA’s numbers are increasing, including alumni who never had a Caribbean community while at Cornell and found the group after graduating.

Finally, CSA wants to see an agreement between Cornell and the Caribbean Examination Council — a body that administers standardized testing across the region — that will allow students to submit those exams for credit.

“We’re asking basically for them to recognize it’s equivalent to the IB and the AP, because it’s on the same level as those examinations, and they were based off of the GSCEs [General Certificate of Secondary Education] that are accepted by many different schools from Europe,” said CSA Treasurer Leone Farquharson ’22, who grew up and went to high school in

Jamaica. “I had to do those examinations plus the SAT, plus the SAT subject [test], so it’s like I have to double up on what my education system required plus what the U.S. required.”

Some peer institutions, like New York University, already accept the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination, according to Farquharson.

Since launching their petition, CSA focused on meeting with as many department heads and Cornell administration as possible to get their voices heard widely.

According to Arthur, Cornell’s CSA has already received support from various Caribbean interest groups across the country and various faculty members at Cornell, who have acknowledged their demands as “fully legit.”

CSA has big dreams of more courses, visibility, a major, a dedicated building and long-term change, but “the likelihood of this happening is much stronger with students behind it,” Arthur explained.

“The Caribbean is very decentralized on campus,” McKenzie said. “We’re trying to centralize it again, have a space for it, instead of just being away from each other.”

This is the first story from The Sun’s new BIPOC/Related section.

As a newspaper that serves as a fountain of information for the Cornell community –– which champions “any person, any study”–– it is our responsibility to honor the stories of all Cornellians and their communities. The Sun’s BIPOC/Related section is an initiative to improve the consistency of our coverage of the BIPOC community in all of its forms.

Publishing at least three times a week, this section is a space to amplify student experiences and dig deeper into the nuances of identity at Cornell.

Kathryn Stamm can be reached at kstamm@cornellsun.com.

MONEY & BUSINESS

Why People Refuse to Wear Masks, Explained

By ALESSANDRO MARCHESANI

behavior.

The first theory suggests that humans lack the ability to Why are some Cornell accurately assess low-probabilstudents — and a group of ity risks. The idea is that when Americans in general — refusing faced with the possibility of conto wear masks despite evidence tracting COVID-19, individuals that the practice is effective at tend to either under or overreact, curbing the spread of COVID- either by dismissing it altogether or becoming overly fearful.

19?

“Natural selection has not Scientific studies found that wearing masks would given us the ability to deal with save 66,000 American lives by low probability events — those December, yet only 80 percent less than two-tenths of a percent of Americans say they frequently — like contracting COVID-19 wear masks when expected to be and thus we tend to ignore or dismiss the risks,” Schulze said. within six feet of other people.

Humans The Sun cannot accuspoke with “Natural selection has evaluate Prof. William not given us the ability to rately risk, specifSchulze, applied eco- deal with low probability ically when it involves nomics and events.” statistics and management probabiliand co-diProf. William Schulze ties. Research rector of shows that in the Cornell Center of Behavioral Economics times of uncertainty, people lean and Decision Research, to dis- on their social circles or local cuss how behavioral econom- leaders for guidance.

“In order to educate the ics can explain why people are refusing to wear masks during public about mask-wearing and nudge people towards the best the pandemic.

Schulze outlined two eco- combination of behaviors, there nomic theories explaining the needs to be a clear, effective and refusal to wear masks in human unambiguous message delivered Sun Contributor

RUTH FREMSON / THE NEW YORK TIMES

Breath-Taking | A demonstrator wears a face mask with the center removed while protesting a stay-at-home order. by a leader who is well-respected and trusted in the community,” Schulze said.

He pointed to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.), who in his daily briefings, promoted mask wearing by warning that not wearing a mask would endanger others and, in turn, helped educate New Yorkers about public safety guidelines.

Schulze then went on to explain a second theory, which focuses on how framing can

affect whether a decision is viewed as a gain or a loss.

“Mask-wearing can be framed by some people as a means to protect themselves, their loved ones and their communities from this disease, while other people frame mask-wearing as an infringement on their rights and an unnecessary response to the risk,” Schulze said.

In addition, research has shown that people are risk-seeking in losses, more likely to

choose a riskier gamble when faced with two losses; and riskaverse in gains, less likely to choose a riskier gamble when faced with two gains.

“The framing of mask-wearing as a loss of freedom by President Trump and other Republican leaders have made their followers both irrationally risk-seeking, and unwilling to recognize the value of wearing a mask, for fear of not fitting-in,” Schulze said.

At the center of the conflict between those who wear masks and those who refuse to are two mentalities: YOYO’s — You’re On Your Own — and WITT’s — We’re In This Together.

Schulze explained that YOYO’s are people who act in their own self-interest, while WITT’s are people who act in the collective interest of others.

“Wearing masks can help save lives and ensure the public health and safety of a community, but it is only effective if everyone acts with the WITT mentality and does their part,” Schulze said.

Alessandro Marchesani can be reached at am2288@cornell.edu.

A&E

4 | The Corne¬ Daily Sun | Monday, September 14, 2020

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT T

Alberto Caeiro and the Art of Seeing

hat Fernando Pessoa’s surname means “person” in Portuguese might seriously challenge a proponent of nominative determinism: In his writing, Pessoa was anything but a singular, static “person.” Born in Lisbon in 1888, Pessoa created the first of his approximately 75 alter egos at the age of six. These so-called “heteronyms” were far more than pen names — each had a distinct biography, style of writing, physical appearance and even horoscope, which was used to determine its personality.

Though Pessoa is best known for The Book of Disquiet, ascribed to the semi-heteronym Bernardo Soares, he (and his major invented characters) considered their “Master” to be Alberto Caeiro. Born in 1889, the heteronym Caeiro was envisioned as an uneducated, humble man who spent most of his life in the countryside, writing poetry spontaneously and with no apparent effort. But as the editors of The Complete Works of Alberto Caeiro’s new English translation, Jerónimo Pizarro and Patricio Ferrari, point out, Caeiro also embodies art’s artifice, not just nature’s artlessness. Despite the simple, straightforward and unadorned nature of his verse, we can only take Caeiro seriously by suspending the knowledge that he is a fabricated persona rather than a real person.

On the surface, Caeiro’s seems to be poetry without poetics.

His verses denounce the artificiality of rhyme and meter and self-consciously posit him in opposition to the literary tradition. In the poem that begins The Keeper of Sheep, he writes, “Being a poet is not my ambition. / It’s my way of being alone.” In another, he elaborates, “I keep writing my verses almost without thinking, / As if writing were not something made of gestures, / As if writing were a thing that happened to me / As if it were my own inner sun.”

One wonders, if Caeiro were writing today, whether the accessibility of his verse might have gotten him some traction on Instagram. But the simplicity of these poems works only because they are not simpleminded; that is, they are backed by great intellectual and emotional complexity. Although the language is plain, the philosophy that emerges from the poems is fresh, bold and surprising. Caeiro does not feed us the worn-out commonplaces and hackneyed clichés that may be expected of truly simple poetry but constantly keeps us on our toes. In doing so, he compels us to challenge not only our own notions about poetry but also how we see and pay attention to the world.

Indeed, attention — really seeing the world as opposed to just thinking or knowing about it — is the chief subject here.

“Thinking is a sickness of the eyes,” Caeiro writes. Thinking clouds our vision, unnecessarily forces us to make complicated what is in reality simple. Moreover, thinking (and projecting our thoughts onto what lies external to us) makes us solipsistic and narrow-minded. Caeiro makes an important caveat to Decartes’ cogito: “I look, and things exist. / I think, and only I exist.” He further expounds on the importance of not thinking:

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

“The essential thing is knowing how to see, / Knowing how to see without thinking, / Knowing how to see when you see.”

Seeing, then, is not merely an act of looking, of turning your gaze towards something, but a process of undoing the anxious mental habits of overthinking and overanalyzing. “But this (alas for those of us whose soul wears clothes!), / This requires long study.”

Like all great writers, Caeiro deftly fits form to function, craft to content. His philosophy of writing (“Let’s abandon analogies, metaphors, similes. / Comparing one thing with another means forgetting the first thing”) embodies his philosophy of life. He abandons the advice that many writing teachers give to students — to be specific in one’s nouns and verbs. For him, trees are always “trees,” never holm oaks or common alders or Mediterranean cypresses. There are no marigolds, morning glories or blinking black-eyed Susans, just “flowers.” Nothing about the natural world evoked in these poems is Romantic; indeed, Caeiro would probably agree with Holden Caulfield that “poets are always taking the weather so personally … sticking their emotions in things that have no emotions.”

However, inasmuch as he attempts to see the world without the rose-colored lenses of sentimentality or overdetermined comparison, Caeiro finds himself falling reflexively into figurative language, as if recourse to simile and metaphor is almost necessary in order to capture the world “as it really is.” Describing a winter scene, he writes, “The snow has thrown a crumpled cloth over the table of all things.” In The Shepherd in Love, similes, metaphors and religious references (“I love Nature / The way a serene monk loves the Virgin Mary”; “The whole of reality stares at me Ramya’s like a sunflower with her face in the Rambles center.”) are used to reproduce the strong emotions of an unrequited love and suggest the abstract, shifting nature of love in contrast to the stability of a stone or tree. In one especially beautiful poem, Caeiro first personifies spring as a woman, then reconsiders: “But spring isn’t even a thing: / It’s a manner of speaking.”

Still, Caeiro’s materialist philosophy (though he rejects the label “materialist,” since he rejects philosophy altogether) has its pitfalls. In one of the last poems of the collection, he recounts an incident in which a man spoke to him “of the injustice of some having money / And of others going hungry.” The poem’s speaker comments, “How stupid not to know that the unhappiness of others is theirs alone, / Unhappiness can’t be cured from the outside.” At a time when so many are suffering under a system that allows some to hoard vast amounts of wealth while others go hungry, when Black, Latino, indigenous and low-income members of the community are being disproportionately affected by COVID-19, it’s difficult not to disagree.

The poems’ apparent contradictions and shortcomings are qualified by the prose section that follows. This includes a selection of interviews with Caeiro, as well unpublished reviews of his work written by Pessoa and some of Pessoa’s heteronyms.

Ramya Yandava

Pessoa and the heteronyms disagree with Caeiro’s views, debate over them and defend their own diverging perspectives. Reading these prose works, it’s easy to forget that what we’re actually seeing is Pessoa in conversation with himself, or rather, his selves.

Able to put on different hats at will and see the world through points of view often at odds with one another, he, like Caeiro, illustrates the importance of constantly challenging and redefining how we see things. For Pessoa, writing through these various fabricated identities was neither deceptive nor false. Rather, it was his way of actualizing what Keats called negative capability, what he himself called “depersonalization.”

Both Caeiro and Pessoa, despite the attempts of one of the heteronyms to preclude comparisons of Caeiro with Walt Whitman, would likely agree with Whitman’s famous lines, “Do I contradict myself? / Very well then I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” Writing in voices that at times “troubled and repelled” him, Pessoa demonstrates the power of the imagination and its ability to extend us past limitations it reveals to be, in the end, artificial. How much more empathy, how much more understanding might we have, Caeiro and Pessoa suggest, if we could — through diligent attention, a willingness to change and challenge how we see the world — escape the ego.

Ramya Yandava is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at ryandava@cornellsun.com. Ramya’s Rambles runs alternate Mondays this semester.

A&E

Monday, September 14, 2020 | The Corne¬ Daily Sun | 5

Blk Voices: Student Spotlight

“blk voices” is a space to pay homage to Black creatives. From critical work to imaginative pieces, this weekly column will highlight and record the perspective of Black students during their time at Cornell. Basirat Owe ’21 curated this collection.

The Preamble (as of 06/10)

by Clementina Ojie We the Blacks of the United States, in Partnership with earnest Allies worldwide, in order to form a more Equitable Union, establish Unbiased Justice, insure Acceptance of each individual by their neighbor, provide for the common defense— not just against International Enemies, but against Homegrown Racists— promote our general Welfare without Hegemony, and secure the Blessings of Liberty and Safety to Ourselves, our Children, and our Posterity, do ordain and establish the Peaceful but Fervent Protests of 2020 until a new Social Constitution is constructed that demolishes the Monuments of Enslavement, Bigotry and Prejudice past and present.

New School Patriotism (as of 06/10)

by Toni’s Daughter “Oh, say, can you see? By the dawn’s early light, what so proudly we hailed, at the twilight’s last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, over the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.”

“O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave Over the land of the free and the home of the brave?

I have never heard such beautiful hypocrisy.

The notion of tyranny, justified.

Oh, say, can you see?

Well, I can try.

I can try to look beyond The tunnel of the american dream To focus on the scheme at work.

The puppeteer at hand.

The glorified Man. The Myth. The Legend.

The mastermind, perfectly enshrined lie of our country.

To the “Land of the free and home of the brave” I ask, oh say can you hear?

Can you hear our cries?

Our children’s cries.

Our women’s cries.

Our country’s cries.

Silenced cries.

The cries we kill, the lives we steal.

Can you hear our newfound apathy?

To the “Land of the free and home of the brave” I ask, can you still feel?

Because, lately, I can’t tell.

You go to War on ‘Terror’ But not true terror Because that battle is at home In my brothers’ and sisters’ hearts.

The terror that threatens: Livelihoods, mentalities, and families, The terror that your true issue is us.

So, I refuse to pledge allegiance to a flag of hypocrisy.

To the Republic, Which used to stand for asylum and welcome.

To an indivisible nation, Strengthened by racism and only reassured by Tear gas and rubber bullets.

While knowing that our version of liberty and justice Is only available to the few that can afford it, Or as a dream to the many who fight towards it.

To “the land of the free and home of the brave”, I hope you realize that “the rockets’ red glare, [and] the bombs bursting in air” Aren’t a glorified history, but our disgusting present.

The bombs are our own.

The violence is our doing.

And in the dawn’s early light, We aren’t “the land of the free and home of the brave” anymore.

In the twilight’s last gleaming, Our fear becomes our suffering.

Our loss of talent in the streets.

Our reality of disparate freedoms And opportunities.

There will be proof through this night, that beauty is found in tearing down walls.

It’s in our protests.

It’s in our unified voices.

When we show that these are our streets.

When we show that Black Lives Matter.

There is beauty in our unity.

There is beauty in our compassion.

And there will be beauty in our outrage.

A Bad Dream

by Toni’s Daughter Sometimes being black feels like a bad dream A piece of obscene fiction Written with the wrong diction and tone A tone blown way out of proportion Melanin distorted. A distortion of beauty.

We always have this duty to protect and preserve.

I’m tired of those with the nerve to attack us Like being us ain’t enough.

Like being tough ain’t a bluff.

Like being black ain’t rough Like … this s*it kinda sucks.

I mean, sometimes I feel like being black feels like a bad dream And let’s not take it to extremes.

No one reigns supreme.

But if we had to compare cultural influence on modern society, We’d see black bodies defiantly and silently leading the wave.

To no credit of our own.

We show everyone what it means to be on a throne.

To go off the dome To comb through adversity after adversity Like celebrating anniversaries that don’t even apply to us But we swallow it down with a million other tough pills Including the state’s right to kill.

Through water or bullets, our wallets or lack of insu ance I mean, sometimes being black feels like a bad dream.

I can’t seem to shake it. Or wake up and break out.

All the time, I want to shout: “To be black and relatively conscious in this country is to be in a rage almost all the time.”

Mr. Baldwin, you read my mind.

I don’t want to be the kind of girl that recounts her blackness.

To renounce my blackness. I would never.

But, I just wish it were better.

A Black Girl Catch 22

by Toni’s Daughter They say you realize your strength when being strong is your only option but, what if being strong ain’t a option no more? what if I can’t take no more? what if my store is empty? will this end me?

I feel enmity everyone is an enemy.

Even she. flesh of my flesh. bone of my bone. her words stone, crushing me. and I’m no soft thing either.

Soft is a luxury I was never afforded.

I could never afford it. always a few cents short, so I kind of contorted myself into a shell. a shield. to protect and defend. to amend the ills of this world. to pick up the pieces. to pull it together. to weather the storm.

But, what if being strong ain’t an option no more?

Dear Black Girl

by Sherell Farmer ’22 Does your soul hurt?

No, no, no actually, what I mean is: Does your body hurt?

From holding up the bodies of dead and living black men? black men who won’t even say your name?

Black girl, it is okay to admit your pain I know they don’t love you like they should I know they don’t love you like you love them It is hard to be a black girl Even though our bodies have birthed entire nations Even though every single thing that is beautiful in this world in some way, has been touched, has molded by a black women I, who have nourished white women and white men and black men and other black women I, who have never been nourished myself I, who cries at night time – if I am lucky enough to live to night time / After all, black girls go missing and are almost never given the honor of being looked of We are killed with justice seldom attached, names never remembered and rarely said When will we be mourned?

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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Shame Won’t Keep Cornell Open

ornell University is the only Ivy League school that is allowing all students to return to campus this fall. As part of its efforts to minimize the spread of the coronavirus, the University has mandated that every returning student abide by a behavioral compact and has invited students to report classmates who violate it. The University is surely well-meaning and simply trying to ensure compliance, but after only a few weeks it’s become apparent that asking students to inform on each other has fed into unhealthy social impulses and may even encourage students to socially organize themselves according to how seriously they take the compact’s restrictions.

In late August, a group of students calling themselves the Concerned Cornell Students Coalition started a petition demanding Cornell “[d]e-densify Cornell’s Ithaca Campus” by “rescinding the admission” of Jessica Zhang ’24.

Zhang, a minor TikTok celebrity, flaunted that she was attending forbidden social gatherings and mocked those concerned with safety. She has since apologized and explained that she wrongly believed the gathering was safe because everyone present had tested negative. Her actions were against the compact and could have spread the coronavirus. There should be, and surely were, consequences.

But expulsion for this offense — committed by someone in her first week of college — is so overly punitive it is shocking that students themselves would call for it. Does anyone really believe that nothing short of expulsion could get Zhang to change her behavior? Suspension? Being banished from campus? What about being banned from school events when life returns to normal?

In all probability just the threat of any of these things would be enough to ensure that she’d never do it again. Appearing at a disciplinary hearing within the first month of school is not on most freshmen’s bucket list. Demanding the harshest punishment may make some students feel virtuous, but there is certainly no virtue in trying to ruin an 18-year old’s life for one reckless act. (It makes one wonder whether the cruelty is the point, after all?) All of us remember our first weeks at Cornell and should feel sympathy for freshmen who are being deprived of that experience. They are going through a life transition under abnormal circumstances, and any disciplinary action should be tailored to encourage compliance — not make examples out of people.

I wish this were an isolated incident, but it seems more than a few students have taken it upon themselves to police their fellow students. There is now an Instagram account called “cornellaccountability.” The account describes itself as a “community-based accountability system” and solicits photos and

videos of compact violations. One of its posts even encourages students to call the police on students who host illicit gatherings. Apparently, Tuesdays are for calling for the CUPD to be defunded and Wednesdays are for calling them on your classmates.

The account claims that it is not intended to “harm persons/groups/orgs,” but it is difficult to see what else its posts accomplish. It intends to shame, embarrass and sic the proverbial online mob on those who it believes are acting improperly. In deputizing the entire student body to enforce these restrictions, efforts like these create a culture of mistrust and suspicion. Far from encouraging compliance, these actions encourage students to go to increasingly extreme lengths to keep their gatherings secret.

Most unfortunately, even well-intentioned students are finding themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place.

As The Sun reported last week, a student anonymously reported that her housemates were violating the compact. The University, however, said it would not pursue the case unless she identified herself. Caught between enforcing the compact or causing a rift with her roommates, she chose to remain anonymous. This system inevitably puts students in a no win situation. They face three bad options: Report their friends, not hang out with their friends or remain silent in the face of behavior they know is dangerous. The University has no right to place such a burden on its students.

When Cornell decided to open, surely its “epidemiological modeling” contemplated that some students would break the rules. There are over 14,000 undergraduates and it runs against the nature of 20-year-olds to let things get in the way of having fun. If the actions of a few rule-breakers are enough to unravel Cornell’s reopening, perhaps it should have remained closed. It is irresponsible and unfair to reopen, knowing that some students will break the rules, and then place the responsibility for remaining open –– or the blame for having to shut down –– on the entire student body.

Students should be appreciative of the work Cornell put in to reopen, given that most schools took the easy way out of a remote semester. But adherence to the behavioral compact must result from a genuine desire to follow it, not constant fear that your friends will report you.

Over the past few days, the number of new cases has been relatively low and there’s reason to think Cornell’s bold experiment might succeed. But in the event it doesn’t, resist the temptation to blame your classmates or even the University. Everyone went above and beyond to make this semester possible. Sometimes, that is simply not good enough.

Comics and Puzzles

Sundoku Fill in the empty cells, one number in each, so that each column, row, and region contains the numbers 1-9 exactly once. Each number in the solution therefore occurs only once in each of the three “directions,” hence the “single numbers” implied by the puzzle’s name.

(Rules from wikipedia.org/wiki/ Sudoku)

The Cornell Daily Sun | Monday, September 14, 2020 7

Puzzle 1224

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MONDAY SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

8

MEN’S HOCKEY

Senior Green Signs With NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning BORIS TSANG / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Onward and southward | Alex Green is done playing hockey in Ithaca after signing a two-year deal with Tampa Bay.

By CHRISTINA BULKELEY Sun Sports Editor

The National Hockey League’s Tampa Bay Lightning announced Tuesday afternoon that they signed Cornell senior defenseman Alex Green to a two-year, entry-level contract. The Lightning selected Green in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, with the 121st pick in the fourth round.

Green, who played in all 29 games with the Red last season, was honored as the ECAC’s Best Defensive Defenseman in March. Over three years, the blueliner accumulated playing time in 78 contests.

Green’s 2019-20 season marked a comeback following a sophomore campaign in which he missed 16 games due to a concussion sustained in the third game of the year.

The Lightning selected Green in his third year of draft eligibility, following an impressive freshman campaign in which he posted a plus-nine rating — his junior season saw him playing an even larger role, posting a plus-20 rating that was tied for best on the Red. “This is definitely an exciting Green’s seven goals last moment for me my family,” season were the most of and Green told the Sun after getting any defenseman on last drafted. “Tampa season’s No. 1 was one of the teams I had talkCornell squad. ed to during the course of the season, so I thought there was maybe a chance of going to them.”

His seven goals were also the most of any defenseman on last season’s nationally-ranked No. 1 squad.

“Congratulations to Alex,” head coach Mike Schafer ’86 told Cornell Athletics on Tuesday. “This is great for

him, and we wish him nothing but success with Tampa Bay.” Green’s departure is the second from the Class of 2021, after forward Morgan Barron signed with the New York Rangers last month.

“I think that what sets [Green] apart from a lot of other people is his ability to get around the ice,” Schafer told the Sun after Green was drafted in 2018.

Though the Ivy League announced over the summer that there would be no varsity competition for the

“[Getting drafted was] definitely an exciting moment for me and my family.

Tampa was one of the teams I had talked to during [my freshman] season.”

Alex Green duration of the fall semester, the door was left open for sports to resume after the conclusion of final exams for the semester. While the possibility of Cornell hockey this season remains, neither Green nor Barron will play another game with the Red. The Lightning are currently in playoff contention in the NHL bubble in Toronto. After eliminating the Boston Bruins on Aug. 31, the No. 2-seeded Lightning advanced to the conference finals. The team is now up 3-1 in a series against the New York Islanders, after a 4-1 win Sunday evening.

Other NHL draftees currently playing with Cornell are freshmen forwards Jack Malone (Vancouver Canucks) and Matt Stienburg (Colorado Avalanche), junior defenseman Misha Song (New York Islanders) and senior defenseman Matt Cairns (Edmonton Oilers). They all remain slated to join the Red for the 2020-21 season, should it come to fruition.

BORIS TSANG / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Christina Bulkeley can be reached at cbulkeley@cornellsun.com.

Third time’s a charm | Green went undrafted in his first two years of eligibility before the Lightning snagged him in his last year in the NHL Entry Draft.