The Corne¬ Daily Sun
Delayed Opening Leaves Students Homeless
Over 50 students wait to enter Fontana Apartments, more than a month after scheduled move-in
By RACHEL WHALEN Sun Staff Writer
The stress of starting a new school year has escalated for residents of Fontana Apartments, with delays causing over 50 students begin the semester without a home
The apartment building, located at 327 Eddy St , has delayed opening its doors five times and plans to finally open on Sept 9, according to a resident of the apartment who requested to remain anonymous
However, the resident expressed doubts about the validity of landlord Steve Fontana’s promised opening date
“Until I am actually holding the keys and standing in my apartment, I’ll just be unsure of it,” the resident said “[Fontana has] promised us so many dates and hasn’t delivered on any of them, so I don’t feel like I can trust anything
they face anxiety and inconvenience as they await its opening Inset: A rendering shows an earlier
version of
Asian Action Group Supports Affrmative Action
By REBECCA EVEN
r e s p o n s e t o a d i s c r i m i n a t i o n c o m p l a i n t l o d g e d a g a i n s t t h e Un i ve r s i t y by t h e A s i a n
A m e r i c a n C o a l i t i o n f o r Ed u c a t i o n “As Asian Americans, we want to voice our strong suppor t for affirmative action,” the statement said “Affirmative action is necessar y in a society that continually expresses racism ”
T h e c o m p l a i n t by A AC E , a l s o f i l e d a g a i n s t
C o l u m b i a Un i ve r s i t y, a c c u s e s b o t h s c h o o l s o f d i s c r i m i n a t i n g a g a i n s t
re j e c t e d f ro m b o t h s c h o o l s l
Student Indicted for Cocaine Possession Accepts Plea
By JOSEPHINE CHU Sun News Editor
Unlike AACE, the Asian Pacific Americans for Action expressed that Asian-American students are among those suffering from discrimination who would benefit from affirmative action
l l e d s u b s t a n c e , a c c o r d i n g t o T h e
It h a c a Vo i c e He w a s o r i g i n a l l y
i g a t i o n b e t w e e n C o r n e l l p o l i c e , I t h a c a p o l i c e a n d t h e To m p k i n s C o u n t y S h e r i f f ’ s O f f i c e It i s c u r r e n t l y u n c l e a r w h e t h e r S c h w a b i s s t i l l a C o r n e l l s t
c h a r g e d w i t h t w o c o u n t s o f t h i r d - d e g r e e c r i m i n a l p o s s e ss i o n o f a c o n t r o l l e d s u b s t a n c e “ I d i d p o s s e s s a r o c k o f c o c a i n e w e i g h i n g a b o u t 1 9 g r a m s i n m y d o r m r o o m , ” S c h w a b s a i d i n c o u r t , T h e Vo i c e r e p o r t e d S c h w a b w a s r e l e a s e d o n h i s o w n r e c o g n i z a n c e i n A p r i l a n d h a s s i n c e c o m p l e t e d l o n g - t e r m i n p a t i e n t t r e a t m e n t a t a F l o r i d a t r e a t m e n t c e n t e r A c c o r d i n g t o t h e p l e a d e a l , S c h w a b h a s b e e n a p p r ov e d f o r j u d i c i a l d i v e r s i o n , T h e Vo i c e s a i d He w i l l b e o n p r o b a t i o n f o r a p p r o x i m a t e l y a y e a r a n d h e m u s t c o m p l e t e f e l o n y d r u g t r e a t m e n t c o u r t Ju d g e Jo s e p h C a s s i d y s a i d t h a t u p o n s u c c e s s f u l c o m p l et i o n o f t h e p r o g r a m , f a c t o r s s u c h a s c r i m i n a l h i s t o r y a n d a g e o f t h e d e f e n d a n t c o u l d b e r e e v a l u a t e d t o r e d u c e t h e f e l o n y c h a r g e t o a C l a s s A m i sd e m e a n o r, T h e Vo i c e r e p o r t e d Po l i c e a r r e s t e d S c h w a b o n D e c 4 , 2 0 1 5 , a f t e r f i n d i n g n e a r l y 2 0 g r a m s o f c o c a i n e i n h i s s u i t e i n H a n s B e t h e Ho u s e o n We s t c a m p u s , T h e Su n p r ev i o u s l y r e p o r t e d
Collegetown conundrum | Over 50 students who signed Fontana Apartments leases starting Aug 1 say
Marina Chang ’19, a member of the Telluride House, speaks
Tour of Telluride
Welcome to Cornell Real Estate Women (CREW) 2:30 - 3:30 p m , 191 Statler Hall Cornell Fitness Center Orientation
4 - 5 p m , Helen Newman Fitness Center
Reception for Fall 2016 Exhibitions
VBMA and AAEP Dr. Christy Cable Equine Business Management Lecture
6 - 7 p m , Lecture Hall 3, College of Veterinary Medicine
and
Experience (#1GXP)
- 7 p m , Dickson/CKB Quads
Finding Well-Being in the Face of Tragedy: Dining With Diverse Minds
- 7 p m , Willard Straight Hall Memorial Room 2016 Poppensiek Lecture 5 - 7 p m , 146 Stocking Hall Fuertes Observatory Open House 8 p m - midnight, Fuertes Observatory
Night under the stars | The Fuertes Observatory will be offering an open house from 8 p m until midnight tomorrow If skies are clear, visitors will be able to view the moon and planets through the building’s
By JULIA GREENBERG Sun Staff Writer
Prof Says Nomadic Lifestyle Infuences Perspective Work
Prof Neema Kudva, city and regional planning, says perspective has been a reoccurring theme in her identity, research and teaching
Kudva recalled a formative exercise as a student at the School of Architecture in Ahmedabad, India, where her professor asked the class to reproduce a mural in the building by imagining it in space
“ We had to reproduce it [the mural] at different scales, using different mediums and we had to do whatever we wanted to tell the stor y we wanted to tell,” she said
Kudva said she was fascinated by the wide range of results her classmates produced
“ When we put up our work for [critiques], you suddenly saw 30 different ways of making space, with 30 different kinds of influences,” she said “ The different ways in which we harnessed what was important to us, the different ways in which we expressed it it was a stunning exercise ”
This exercise with perspective resonated with Kudva throughout her personal and professional life
Born in a small town on the southwestern coast of India, she spent much of her childhood moving to different places throughout the countr y, and has lived in over 11 cities
“Ever y time we moved to these different towns, the state would change, the language would change, the cuisine, the smell, the trees ever ything would change,” Kudva said
“My family came from the south, and the language that we spoke at home was hardly ever spoken by anybody else, so there was always this sort of awareness of being different and somewhat outside,” she said “My house smelled different, we spoke differently, we ate differently ”
She called it a transformative experience to live abroad in Zurich, Switzerland and Seville, Spain for a year
“I am an upper caste, upper class, educated woman in India and the minute I took that airplane, I became brown, oppressed, downtrodden, poor, someone who became invisible on a railway platform,” she said “I think that experience in Spain
By KIMBERLY LEE
Sun Staff Wr ter
T he School of Hotel Administration named Kelly McGuire MMH ’01 Ph D ’07 the recipient of the 2016 Cornell MMH Outstanding
and traveling across Europe really brought up questions of construction of identity, and political construction ”
Upon returning from her trip, Kudva decided she wanted to expand her academic knowledge beyond the world of architecture
After starting an architecture practice with her
cousin in Bangalore a two-woman practice, which was ver y unusual at the time Kudva realized her professional aspirations were changing
“I had to work in certain ways that I was not always comfortable with, and so I decided to start to study planning, which to me seemed like a field that bridged both what I liked about architecture and all these other interests that had developed while I was working on my thesis,” she said
At Cornell, Kudva directs the International Studies in Planning program and is a leader for the Nilgiris Field Learning Center a program that fosters a
partnership with a community in southern India
“ We’re collaborating across disciplines, we ’ re collaborating across the academy and a world of practice, we ’ re collaborating across cultures, we ’ re collaborating across experience, across language,” she said
Nilgiris allows both Cornell students and indigenous community members to develop research skills by exploring issues of land use, infrastructure, health, and community wellness, according to the University
“It’s really allowed me to articulate a pedagogical structure, a curriculum that speaks to all these many many concerns tr ying to understand various ways in which organizational practices and constructed difference shapes our participation in public life, and in the making of the place and space, ” she said
Kudva’s research focuses on how organizational practices shape planning, particularly in small cities, and on institutional structures for equitable development at the local level
“ Whether I’m looking at Fremont, California and tr ying to understand how city government there responded to becoming the first majority-minority city, or I’m looking at small cities in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu where I now work to see how people generate waste and recycle, I’m always looking at how these different communities and people create certain practices in order to do so, ” she said
Kudva explained that she examines the way power and privilege influence planning, and how constructed social context difference plays a role in the way people build communities
“ There are questions of gender, and caste, and ethnicity, and race, and how they then shape these practices which in turn shape the places we live in and make,” she said
Kudva explained that “all our theorizing is based on large cities Chicago, Paris, Los Angeles, Mumbai, Calcutta,” she said
“I’ve lived there, but I’ve also lived in all these places that are tiny, tiny, tiny where the bulk of people actually live They don’t live in these big places, but our imaginations are captured by big things ”
Julia Greenberg can be reached at jgreenberg@cornellsun com
n
ct i o n
f o r m e d a t t h
Un i ve r s i t y a s we l l “ Im p o r t a n t l y, e ve r y s t e p o f t h e w a y i n m y c a re e r I h a ve b e e n a b l e t o re a c h o u t t o m y g row i n g n e t w o rk o f Ho t e l i e a l u m n i w h o h a ve a d v i s e d m e a n d a d vo c a t e d f o r m e , ” s h e d e s c r i b e d “ Si n c e C o r n e l l , I c a n ’ t t h i n k o f a s i n g l e o p p o r t u n i t y I ’ ve h a d p ro f e s s i o n a l l y t h a t w a s n ’ t i n f l u e n c e d
o o l b e y o n d g r a d u a t i o n , a c c o rd i n g t o a Un i ve r s i t y re l e a s e K a t e Wa l s h , i n t e r i m d e a n a n d E M St a t l e r Pr o f e s s o r a t S H A s a i d t h a t Mc Gu i re “ i s a n e xe m p l a r y g r a d u a t e o f t h e M M H p ro g r a m a n a l u m n a w h o i s m a k i n g a n i m p r i n t o n t h e i n d u s t r y a n d p a s s i o n a t e a b o u t h e l p i n g o u r g r a d u a t e s l a u n c h t h e i r c a re e r p a t h s ” Mc Gu i re s a i d t h a t s h e w a s s u r p r i s e d , d e l i g h t e d , a n d h o n o re d t o re c e i ve t h e a w a rd “ T h e M M H a t t h e Ho t e l S c h o o l w a s s u c h a m e a n i n g f u l e x p e r i e n c e f o r m e , p e r s o n a l l y a n d p ro f e s s i o n a l l y, i t m e a n s a g re a t d e a l t o m e t o re c e i ve t h i s a w a rd , ” s h e s a i d “ In f a c t , t h e re a re s o m a n y i m p re s s i ve a l u m n i o f t h i s p ro g r a m , i t ’ s h u m b l i n g t o b e h o n o re d ” Mc Gu i re s a i d C o r n e l l’s e x p o s u re t o n e w c o n c e p t s a n d i d e a s , t h e va s t n e t w o rk o f c o m m i t t e d a l u m n i , a n d l e a r n i n g f ro m c l a s s m a t e s h e l p e d h e r f i n d h e r p a s s i o n i n re ve n u e m a n a g e m e n t Sh e a t t r i b u t e s a g re a t d e a l o f h e r s u c c e s s t o t h
i n s o m e w a y by a n a l u m n i d i re c t l y, o r by s o m e t h i n g I l e a r n e d f ro m s o m e o n e c o nn e c t e d w i t h C o r n e l l ” A f t e r t h e M M H p ro g r a m , Mc Gu i re w o rk e d i n h o s p i t a l i t y t e c h n o l o g y f o r s e v -
e r a l ye a r s a n d re t u r n e d t o S H A f o r a Ph D i n Re ve n u e Ma n a g e m e n t Si n c e t h e n , Mc G u i r e h a s w o r k e d i n b u s i n e s s a n a l y t i c s , r e v e n u e m a n a g e m e n t , a n d p r i c e o p t i m i z a t i o n a n a l y t i c s f o r S A S Mo s t r e c e n t l y, s h e w o r k s a s t h e v i c e p r e s i d e n t o f a d v a n c e d A n a l y t i c s f o r Wy n d h a m
De s t i n a t i o n Ne t w o rk A f t e r c o m p l e t i n g h e r Ph D , Mc Gu i re w o rk e d i n h o s p i t a l i t y t e c h n o l o g y f o r s e v -
e r a l ye a r s b e f o re re t u r n i n g t o S H A t o r e c e i v e h e r P h D i n R e v e n u e
Ma n a g e m e n t
In a d d i t i o n , Mc Gu i re h a s w r i t t e n t w o
b o o k s o n h o s p i t a l i t y a n a l y t i c s Ho t e l Pr i c i n g i n a S o c i a l Wo rl d a n d T h e An a l y t i c
Ho s p i t a l i t y Exe c u t i ve , w h i c h w a s re l e a s e d
c
ct i c e n e t w o rk i n g , ” s h e s a i d “ Ex p o s u re t o a l l k i n d s o f n e w p e o p l e a n d n e w i d e a s w i l l u l t i m a t e l y h e l p yo u t o d e t e r m i n e w h a t i n s p i re s yo u a n d w h a t yo u w a n t t o d e d i c a t e yo u r c a re e r t o ” She encourages students to keep an open mind in meeting new people, particularly in a small industr y like hospitality “ Yo u n e ve r k n ow w h o yo u w i l l r u n i n t o i n t h e f u t u
l a s t we e k Mc Gu i re a d v i s e s c u r re n t C o r n e l l i a n s t o t a k e a d va n t a g e o f t h e “ n o n - a c a d e m i c ” o p p o r t u n i t i e s t h e Un i v e r s i t y p r ov i d e s t h a t c a n a s s i s t w i t h p ro f e s s i o n a l d e ve l o pm e n t “At t e n d l e c t u re s , m e e t a l u m n i f ro m yo u r f i e l d w h e n t h e y c o
Fontana Residents Call Compensation Insuffcient
APARTMENT
Continued from page 1
he says ” Problems during construction began with an elevator subcon-
caused the first delay, according to emails from Steve Fontana to re
The situation soon worsened when the City of Ithaca
Then there
a Certificate of Occupancy, said that these sorts of delays are “ not that unusual” and was hopeful t h
Friday
“ We have staff there ever y day tr ying to see if it can open, ” he said “I think [Fontana is] doing ever ything he can ” A s c o m p e n s a t i o n , Fo n t a n a promised students $30 for ever y day they are unable to move in, or lodging at the Trip Hotel on Sheraton Ave, by Ithaca Mall A shuttle transports the students to and from the hotel, according to residents
Yet these accommodations are
less than ideal, according to a s e c o n d a n o n y m o u s s t u d e n t whose plans for a family visit were ruined by the living situation
“ The hotel also has horrendous reviews on several online hotel websites, including cases of bed bugs or unlaundered towe l s , ” a s t u d e n t s o u r
“We have staff there every day trying to see if [the apartments] can open.”
“Clearly Steve just found the cheapest place that he could ” Fontana has told his residents in his emails that the situation has made him “sick,” and that he is “fighting ever y hour to get [the residents] in as soon as possible ” However, despite his apologies a n d m
i o n , residents argue that his efforts do not sufficiently ease the situations’ inconveniences
Although the lease was supp o s e d t
n Au g 1 , Fontana is only compensating residents from Aug 21 onward, a
clearly took advantage of the fact
Students Wait for Apartments To Open Over a Month Late
that he was signing with a bunch of young college students in a stressful situation to cover his back Fontana did not respond to The Sun’s repeated requests for comment Denise Thompson, Cornell’s
must be assured “ The health and well-being of our students is my division’s top priority,” she said “Cornell
k
understands how fr ustrating it is and wants the best for [these students] ”
Thompson also added that Cornell has provided students with complimentar y 15-ride bus p
Townhouse laundr y facilities for their inconvenience
said a student who attended the meeting who also signed a lease with Fontana last year “ To be honest, [Fontana] really didn’t trick us into anything He tried his best ”
o f f - c a m p u s l i v i n g m
hosted a meeting on Tuesday for students who were supposed to be living in the currently unfinished Fontana Apar tments The meeting was also attended by c
Niechwiadowicz, who provided students with updates on the building’s progress
“I think the students were
understand what are the minimum health and safety requirements that the building code has, and being armed with that, they can go back and make cert a i n d e m a n d
t h e y s o choose ”
Thompson said the building hopes to open Friday through a
Te m p o
C
Occupancy, allowing the residents to live in the building even if it is not complete, although f
Many students remain dissatisfied with the uncer tainty of the situation, claiming it has affected their emotional and academic well being
landlord’s uncer tain updates on the housing situation have been fr ustrating “I’m constantly distracted in
nightmare situation and I lie wide awake at night frantically tr ying to think of ways to get out of it,” she said “ These false hopes that Fontana has consistently given us have just constantly played with our emotions ”
e n c e d by s t u d e n t s o f c o l o r It’s
c r i t i c a l f o r u n i ve r s i t i e s t o c o ns i d e r t h e s e r a c i a l b a r r i e r s i n e d u c a t i o n d u r i n g a d m i s s i o n s ” A PA A s a i d t h a t a f f i r m a t i ve a c t i o n i s o n l y o n e p a r t o f a b r o a d e r a d m i s s i o n s p r o c e s s a n d s t re s s e d t h a t e c o n o m i c s t a t u s i s a l s o c o n s i d e re d , c o nt r a r y t o A AC E ’ s a r g u m e n t “A f f i r m a t i ve a c t i o n l o o k s a t w h e t h e r s t u d e n t s h a v e f a c e d r a c i a l o r e t h n i c a d ve r s it y t h i s i s o n e a s p e c t o f a h o l i s t i c a d m i s s i o n s p ro c e s s , ” t h e s t a t e m e n t s a i d “ Ot h e r a s p e c t s o f h o l i s t i c a d m i s s i o n s p r o c e s s e s i n c l u d e l o o k i n g a t w h e t h e r s t u d e n t s a re f i r s t - g e ne r a t i o n o r h a ve e n d u re d p ove rt y ” In a n u n e q u a l s y s t e m , a f f i rm a t i v e a c t i o n i s a n e c e s s a r y p ro c e s s by w h i c h w o rk s t o s u pp o r t m i n o r i t i e s , a c c o rd i n g t o t h e A PA A
“ We n e e d a f f i r m a t i ve a c t i o n , e s p e c i a l l y w h e n y o u c o n s i d e r t h a t t h e s e i n s t i t u t i o n s o f h i g h e r e d u c a t i o n w e re n e v e r c re a t e d f o r p e o p l e o f c o l o r, ” t h e s t a t em e n t
Independent Since 1880 134TH EDITORIAL BOARD
SOFIA HU ’17
Editor in Chief
PHOEBE KELLER 18
Managing Editor
JORDAN EPSTEIN ’18
Advertising Manager
SOPHIA DENG 19
Blogs Editor
BRIAN LAPLACA ’18
Design Editor
JOSEPHINE CHU ’18
News Editor
DIVYANSHA SEHGAL 18
Science Editor
TROY SHERMAN ’18
Arts & Entertainment Editor
STEPHANIE YAN ’18
Assistant News Editor
SHAN DHALIWAL 18
Assistant Sports Editor
ZACHARY SILVER 19
Assistant Sports Editor
BRITTNEY CHEW ’17
Assistant Photography Editor
SIERRA RINALDI ’18
Human Resources Manager
GWENDOLYN AVILES ’17
Senior Editor
MICHAELA BREW 18
Senior Editor
WORKING ON TODAY’S
LOUIS LIU 18
Business Manager
PAULINA GLASS ’18
Associate Editor
RYAN TORRIE ’17
Web Editor
CAMERON POLLACK 18
Photography Editor
MELODY LI ’17
Design Editor
YUN SOO KIM 17
News Editor
JOSH GIRSKY ’19
News Editor
SHAY COLLINS ’18
Arts & Entertainment Editor
MADELINE COHEN 18
Assistant News Editor
JACK KANTOR 19
Assistant Sports Editor
EMILY JONES ’18
Dining Editor
SUZY PARK ’18
Video Editor
MEGAN LEE ’18
Marketing Manager
REBECCA BLAIR ’17
Senior Editor
SLOANE GRINSPOON 17
Senior Editor
SummerDESKER Emily Jones ’17
Letter to the Editor
Addressing male sexual victimization
h e n q u e s t i o n e d a b o u t t h e a b s e n c e : “ [ s e xu a l v i o l e n c e ] p r e d o m i n a n t l y a f f e c t s f e m a l e s , s o w e a d d r e s s t h e f e m a l e i s s u e ” Su c h a d h e r e n c e t o a l o n g - d i s c r e d i t e d “ o n e s i z e f i t s a l l ” a p p r o a c h , o n t h e p a r t o f a n i n d i v i d u a l s p e c i f i c a l l y c h a r g e d w i t h e d u c a t i n g t h e C o r n e l l s t u d e n t b o d y a b o u t t h e d y n a m i c s o f s e x u a l a s s a u l t , i s d i s q u i e t i n g O n l y l a s t s e m e s t e r, i n h e r k e y n o t e a d d r e s s f o r S e x u a l A s s a u l t Aw a r e n e s s Mo n t h , a u t h o r a n d a c t i v i s t K a t e H a r d i n g h e r s e l f a v i c t i m o f c a m p u s r a p e r e m i n d e d t h e a u d i e n c e a t F l o r a R o s e H o u s e o f t h e i m p o r t a n c e o f n o t o v e r l o o k i n g m e n a n d b o y s w h o h a v e s u f f e r e d s e x u a l v i o l e n c e “ W h e n y o u p u t p e o p l e i n t o o n e o f t h e s e ‘ u n r a p e a b l e ’ c a t e g o r i e s , ” s h e s a i d , “ t h a t j u s t c r e a t e s m o r e b a r r i e r s t o [ v i ct i m s ] b e i n g a b l e t o a c c e s s r e s o u r c e s a n d f i n d h e l p , l e t a l o n e f i n d j u s t i c e ” T h i s m e s s a g e h a s c l e a r l y b e e n l o s t o n t h o s e i n c h a r g e o f C o r n e l l ’ s f i r s t - y e a r o r i e n t a t i o n , a n d t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s a r e b o t h o b v i o u s a n d a l a r m i n g A c c o r d i n g t o t h e f e d e r a l g o v e r n m e n t ' s B u r e a u o f Ju s t i c e St a t i s t i c s , 1 7 p e r c e n t o f c a m p u s r a p e s a n d s e x u a l a s s a u l t s n a t i o n w i d e o c c u r t o m a l e v i c t i m s T h e r e i s r e a s o n t o b e l i e v e t h a t a t C o r n e l l , t h e p r o b l e m i s m o r e s e r i o u s y e t T h e 2 0 1 5 C a m p u s C l i m a t e Su r v e y o n S e x u a l A s s a u l t a n d S e x u a l M i s c o n d u c t f o u n d t h a t o n e i n 1 0 m a l e C o r n e l l s e n i o r s m o r e t h a n a f i f t h o f t h e t o t a l v i c t i m p o p u l a t i o n h a d b e e n s u b j e c t e d t o a n o n - c o n s e n s u a l s e x u a l a c t d u r i n g t h e i r f o u r y e a r s i n c o ll e g e No l e s s s i g n i f i c a n t l y, t h e s a m e s u r v e y r e v e a l e d t h a t f e w e r t h a n o n e i n f i v e m a l e s t u d e n t s c o n s i d e r e d t h e m s e l v e s “ v e r y ” o r “ e x t r e m e l y ” k n o w l e d g e a b l e a b o u t h o w s e x u a l v i o l e n c e o r m i s c o n d u c t i s d e f i n e d a t t h e Un i v e r s i t y D e s p i t e w e l c o m e p r o g r e s s i n r e c e n t y e a r s , s e x u a l v i o l e n c e a g a i n s t w o m e n a n d g i r l s r e m a i n s a t p a t h o l o g i c a l l y h i g h l e v e l s It i s n e c e s s a r y a n d a p p r o p r i a t e t h a t t h e m a j o r i t y o f o u r e f f o r t s b e d i r e c t e d t o w a r d c o m b a t t i n g i t B u t t h e n o t i o n t h a t s e x u a l v i o l e n c e a g a i n s t m e n a n d b o y s o r a g a i n s t o t h e r v i c t i m g r o u p s l i k e L G B , t r a n s a n d g e n d e r - n o n c o n f o r m i n g p e o p l e m a y e f f e c t i v e l y b e a d d r e s s e d b y i g n o r i n g i t s e x i s t e n c e i s t o o o b v i o u s l y u n s o
The Road
Equally Traveled
has come to an inevitable end, but conversations about what happened during that time never seem to Aside from internships and jobs, a widely talked about subject that always seems to remain is travel When people come back from trips abroad, it’s not uncommon for me to hear them say, “I’ve changed No one here understands me ” And that’s something I’ve been guilty of numerous times in the past It makes sense: nobody has gone through exactly what you ’ ve been through or felt what you ’ ve uniquely felt An acquaintance of mine who seems to spend more time on a plane than in school went to social media to describe his numerous travel experiences and how wonderful it was how blessed he felt to travel to different countries He explained how he couldn’t stay in the United States, for he knew there was too much to gain abroad And time after time, he would repeat that no one seemed to understand him when he returned home The knowledge he gained by his adventures in various countries, conversations with strangers and immersion in new cultures seemed to make him removed from people when he returned back to America
I know from my travel experiences alone that they can be immensely eye-opening I believe that traveling truly does help us learn about ourselves, others and the world we live in But what do we do with these new views, these changed beliefs and attitudes and these refreshingly new world perspectives? What is the point of saying we ’ ve traveled abroad and “changed” and learned more about ourselves when all we continue to do upon our return is complain that no one else understands us?
Humans have a tendency to care more about their experiences and telling their own stories than listening to others, which makes compassion and understanding difficult to come by Travel should make us kinder to each other We gain appreciation for other cultures, opening our eyes to how people live in different ways across the globe yet maintain the same sense of humanity We interact with others whether other tourists or locals and gain knowledge from these relationships Most of the time, when we come back home, we describe how beautiful another place was, how kind others were, how inspirational a landmark was, how moved we were or how we ’ ve gained a better understanding of the world
With these new experiences behind us, we should come back to the United States and spread what we ’ ve learned It’s important to appreciate the culture and country we come from, yet identify the differences and similarities between ours and others See how
they work and how they don’t Use the kindness and knowledge we ’ ve gained abroad to affect others If we are so immensely moved by what we have been through, there is absolutely no benefit in complaining that we are misunderstood One of the things you realize abroad is that everyone has a story, everyone is a human living their own life and that’s a beautiful and complex thing Then what makes us think that people at home don’t have as much of an individual life and story? So many of us have traveled and gained something by it We are not so grossly unique in that But what differs from one travel to the next is our distinct interactions and experiences; those which can be shared and listened to
Let us not allow the return from our travels to leave us jaded and bitter, hostile to our country and others who haven’t experienced what we have We have the ability to spread what we have learned abroad in a positive light and share stories with people who have not had the chance or ability to do so, or those who similarly have This world is already so divided, we don’t need any more misunderstandings and hostility within our country by those who think they are superior when they return I am not writing this as someone who believes they know all and is thus worthy of dictating the actions of those who travel I have, however, identified the hypocrisies and contradictions within my own travels and realized how worthless it is to believe myself to be so enlightened Those who travel, whether for leisure or for service, often recognize the feeling of solitude and isolation they find themselves in upon returning home It’s a feeling that removes us from people who have moved on with their daily lives in what we find a stagnant and unexciting way
But we do not need more walls we have built enough of those Now more than ever, we need bridges, those that can be construed through experiences with others, a broader understanding of compassion and peace and the underlying notion that we are all humans that, while living in different areas of the world with numerous cultures, backgrounds and beliefs, have a common ground in humanity and a hope for a better world for future generations Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not ” So let’s begin this journey of spreading the beautiful together
Gaby Leung is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences She can be reached at gl376@cornell edu Serendipitous Musings appears alternate Thursdays this semester
Accordingto the Federal Election Commission, there are 1,870 regis- tered candidates in this year ’ s presidential election Needless to say, it’s a lot to talk about For that reason, in this article, I’m only going to talk about one
I want to take a brief movement to talk about Hillary Clinton and why I legitimately believe she is a strong candidate to be our nation’s 45th president It’s too simple, and too lazy, to merely argue against an alternative Further, it isn’t enough If Democrats do not continue to make the positive case for Hillary Clinton, we will likely lose On the brightside, I think this is an easy argument to make
How about we begin with a brief recollection of her lifelong history of public service? Early on in her career, Hillary focused her legal career on the defense of children As First Lady of Arkansas, she pushed to improve unacceptably poor educational outcomes And as First Lady of the United States, she took an unusually active role in fighting for health care for all Americans, taking a noticeably progressive stance even when it was unpopular
Hillary’s qualifications also come from her history of service in the United States Senate, where she repeatedly pushed for the support and protection of the communities that were most affected by the September 11 attacks In addition, despite the fact that her tenure as Secretary of State tends to be the basis for conspiracies and misleading attacks, her overall record at Foggy Bottom was highly successful Secretary Clinton fought for both gender equality and LGBTQ rights around the globe Moreover, she departed from the unilateral decision-making of
IHill, Yes
the Bush administration in favor of an approach that incorporated our closest allies
This new foreign policy orientation allowed her to navigate treacherous diplomatic waters, leading to achievements such as the Iranian nuclear deal
Hillary has a long track record But what, you wonder, does she plan to do in the future? More than any other candidate in recent history, Hillary has gone into substantial detail on her potential policy agenda as president For many of you that are reading this, I suspect there’s a lot to like
Let’s start with the big issue
One of the largest problems that we face is the growing disparity between the rich and the poor, an inequality that violates basic ideals of economic fairness Hillary agrees, and she has a plan The essential cornerstone of her platform is a multitude of policies that are designed to close these gaps of income and wealth
Consider those at the bottom of the economic ladder Hillary Clinton strongly supports an increase of the federal minimum from a distressingly low $7 25 an hour to $12 an hour nationally, with $15 an hour increases in higher-cost states and cities She believes that the government should require employers to offer paid family leave, like every other major economy does Further, in line with her long-term focus on American families, she has put forth an ambitious plan of investment in making childcare affordable
Education, too, is a key focus, with a plan for a universal Pre-K education She has also recognized the crisis in higher education costs, and she has put forth the idea that we must reduce student loan burdens and make tuition free for middle-class families It
should be noted that this latter plan was developed in close consultation with her former primary opponent
And, of course, this economic vision also includes measures designed to prevent Wall Street from wrecking Main Street The regu- lations she has envisioned, including taxes on high frequency trading and oversight of shadowbanking, are quite strict and aim to prevent the riskiest behaviors of the financial industry Hillary Clinton has also indicated that she would be forward-thinking Indeed, she has repeatedly stressed that climate change is a major threat to the United States and the world, and a Clinton presidency would see multi-billion dollar investments in renewable energy This would not only begin the transition away from fossil fuels, but create countless new jobs
Yes, it is crucial to create a better, fairer economy for everyone Still, it is essential to recognize that there are inequities that go beyond economic circumstance There are many other obstacles to consider, including race The Clinton campaign has embraced the growing push for racial justice, including the Mothers of the Movement Hillary herself has discussed “white privilege” and the on-going role of bias in a broken criminal justice system
On issues of immigration, she has defended President Obama’s executive actions, and embraced undocumented activists If elected, immigration reform would be a priority of Hillary Clinton’s administration
With regards to sex and gender, we should not forget the symbolic significance of electing the first woman president For
THROWDOWN
THURSDAYS
A New War on Poverty
n 1964, President Lyndon Johnson launched his famed War on Poverty, declaring: “This Administration, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty ” From the time that Johnson made this declaration, the federal government has spent an estimated $22 trillion on anti-poverty programs and the level of success of these programs is highly debatable
Certainly, Johnson’s war had a major effect on senior citizens, as the poverty rate for the elderly declined nearly 18 percent between 1964 and 2015 However, total poverty rates declined less than three percent between 1964 and 2015 Today, 14 5 percent of Americans (nearly 47 million people) live below the poverty line, while the youth poverty rate has reached a stunning 20 percent
What these numbers do not tell is the story behind America’s poor Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services published a report that stated that those in impoverished urban areas are more likely to be exposed to and involved with violent crime and drug use Similarly, the Wall Street Journal reported that impoverished rural areas are currently experiencing a massive spike in the use of heroin and other deadly drugs But beyond drugs and crime, studies have consistently found that those in poor communities whether rural or urban are less likely to go to college, find long-term employment and remain involved stable nuclear family structures
Some claim that the dark picture of American poverty needs to be fixed by more government intervention and spending
However, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the United States currently spends 29 percent of its GDP (when accounted for taxes) on anti-poverty programs that’s currently the second largest percentage of any country in the developed world (we are only behind France, which stands at 31 percent) Furthermore, when adjusted for inflation, federal spending per person in poverty increased 600 percent between 1970 and 2014 Yet despite the fact that this country spends more than almost every nation on welfare programs and has drastically increased its anti-poverty expenditures, the United States has achieved only marginal success in combating
national poverty rates
In fact, it seems as if even Congress has realized its big-government, big-spending approach to fighting poverty hasn’t worked A recent study by the House Budget Committee stated: “Congress has expanded programs and created new ones with little regard to how these changes fit into the larger effort Rather than provide a roadmap out of poverty, Washington has created a complex web of programs that are often difficult to navigate ”
I firmly believe that if we are to truly tackle poverty, we must wage a new war a war with radically different tactics and a consciousness of budgetary constraints For too long we have thought that we can simply spend our way out of poverty yet the facts tell a drastically different story I propose that we fight a three front war on poverty: we must reform our broken education system, encourage economic growth and strengthen
I firmly believe that if we are to truly tac poverty, we must wage a new war a with radically different tactics and a con ness of budgetary constraints For too lo have thought that we can simply spend our way out of poverty yet the facts tell a drastically different story
family structures
Personally, I believe that a transformation of our education system is the most important step in combating this issue
According to a study by the General Accounting Office, inner city schools, when adjusted for factors such as necessary classroom resources, often spend far less per pupil than suburban schools At the same time, the study also found that “inner city schools generally [have] higher percentages of first-year teachers, higher enrollments, fewer library resources and less inschool parental involvement ”
The issues that inner city schools face show why the war on
issues of LGBTQ rights, Hillary knows that we need to pass a federal employment nondiscrimination law, and that the government must pay special attention to the rights of the transgender community
In large part, this article is only possible because Hillary Clinton has one of the most comprehensive platforms of any candidate for president in modern political history
She has an ambitious view of where America can go, and she has the experience to get it done In fact, the most prominent limit would be continued Republican majorities in Congress, the same force that has impeded President Obama It is vital to give President Hillary Clinton a Democratic majority in both the House and the Senate
But even if not, who has dealt with more opposition than Hillary? I would argue that she is uniquely positioned to manage Washington, regardless of whether she is shepherding progressive legislation, or negotiating with a contentious Congress
To conclude, I am not an unbiased source I am a proud supporter of Hillary Clinton, and I will make that clear to anyone who asks Furthermore, I reject the idea that college students are overwhelmingly hesitant about her candidacy; I am personally involved with an ever-growing movement of students who are passionate about Hillary
For the Hillary supporters at Cornell and around the country, this is not about the lesser evil We are excited, organized and ready to go Why? Because Hillary Clinton will be an excellent president
Kevin Kowalewski is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences He can be reached at krk78@cornell edu Democratic Dialogue appears alternate Thursdays this semester
poverty isn’t being won –– poor students do not have access to the same resources as their wealthier counterparts Here is where the Department of Education must make drastic changes Instead of wasting precious tax dollars on massive bureaucratic projects such as No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, federal educational agencies should direct funding to low income areas These funds should be used to build precollege and vocational training initiatives, improve math and reading programs and encourage teacher retention
Though education is key, economic reforms are also essential A recent Congressional study discovered that job creation not increased federal spending is the most effective tool in combatting poverty Reforms such as increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit, reducing burdensome economic regulations and simplifying the overly complicated tax code would help to grow small and medium-sized businesses and provide good paying jobs in impoverished areas
Finally, we as a society must do everything we can to help strengthen families in our poorest communities In 1965, the Johnson Administration issued a report that stated that a central cause of poverty is the crumbling of family structures In fact, a 2014 study discovered that families headed by a single female were 21 percent more likely to be below the poverty line than two parent households Thus, society must do all that it can to encourage the strengthening of families
Of course, the economic benefits of fighting poverty are innumerable As our rural areas and inner-cities become stronger, our nation’s economy as a whole will grow stronger as well However, I firmly believe that there is an inherent moral component to combating poverty All Americans deserve access to economic opportunity and good education But let me stress this: we cannot fight poverty with the same wasted effort and energy of the past 50 years Instead of simply aggrandizing government power and wealth, we must provide the basic opportunity for all Americans to achieve economic mobility
Michael Glanzel is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences He can be reached at mg786@cornell edu Cornell Shrugged appears alternate Thursdays this semester
Your source for good food
Ithaca hummus launches new flavors
By SHERRY WU Sun Contirbutor
As t h e It h a c a Hu m m u s l a u n c h p a r t y k i c k e d
l e d m y
d e s i r e t o t r y n e w h u m m u s f l a v o r s E n t e r i n g f r o m t h e
b a c k o f L o t 1 0 , I i m m e d i a t e l y s p o t t e d t h e It h a c a
Hu m m u s s i g n a g e a n d m a d e a b e e l i n e f o r t h e k i t c h e n
T h e r e w a s h u m m u s a n d c a r r o t s a n d b e e r t o b e h a d
It h a c a Hu m m u s ’ f l a v o r s , n e w a n d o l d , w e r e s a m -
p l e d w i t h c o n v e n i e n t h u m m u s a n d c a r r o t s n a c k p a c k s o n d i s p l a y I b e g a n w i t h t h e t w o f l a v o r s m a k i n g t h e i r
d e b u t a t t h e e v e n t : L e m o n & B e e t a n d R e d Pe p p e r I
b r i e f l y c o n s i d e r e d m y a v e r s i o n t o b e e t s b e f o r e j u m p -
i n g i n t o t h e R e d Pe p p e r h u m m u s T h i s c l a s s i c f l a v o r, w h i c h d o m i n a t e s t h e h u m m u s m a r k e t , w a s s l i g h t l y
t a n g y a n d a l l o w e d t h e r o a s t e d r e d p e p p e r f l a v o r t o
r i n g t h r o u g h m o r e s o t h a n o t h e r b r a n d s i n w h i c h
t h e r e d p e p p e r g e t s l o s t a m o n g o t h e r i n g r e d i e n t s L a t e r, I w a s i n t r o d u c e d t o t h e f o u n d e r o f It h a c a
Hu m m u s , C h r i s K i r b y ’ 1 5 , a g r a d u a t e o f C o r n e l l ’ s S c h o o l o f Ho t e l A d m i n i s t r a t i o n He e x p l a i n e d t h a t t h e R e d Pe p p e r w a s a n o - b r a i n e r t o i n t r o d u c e t o t h e p r o d u c t l i n e , a s i t i s m o s t h e a v i l y c o n s u m e d b y h u mm u s - l o v e r s I d i d n o t i n i t i a l l y p e g t h e o t h e r n e w f l av o r, L e m o n & B e e t , t o b e m y f a v o r i t e , b u t I w a s p l e a sa n t l y s u r p r i s e d b y t h e c o m b i n a t i o n o f f l a v o r s Mu c h l i k e t h e b a c k d r o p o f t h e e v e n t t h e c r o w d b o t h y o u n g a n d o l d , t h e p l a y l i s t t o g g l i n g f r o m G u c c i M a n e
t o B o n d a x t h e f l a v o r p r o f i l e o f t h i s L e m o n & B e e t h u m m u s w a s w e l l c o n t r a s t e d T h e l e m o n f l a v o r s t o o d o u t i m m e d i a t e l y, p r o v i d i n g a r e f r e s h i n g s e g u e i n t
OF
By OLIVIA LUTWAK Sun Staff Writer
When I heard that a new restaurant was opening in Ithaca, I was ecstatic I get tired of arguing with my friends over where to eat, only to decide on the same restaurant we went to the week before I love the Ithaca classics, but I was ready for something new
The website for Mix made it sound promising; it seemed like the kind of restaurant you would find in a big city rather than the t y p i
“social dining,” with a “multiethnic” menu filled with small plates meant to be shared I’m a huge fan of small plates They allow diners to tr y a variety of options and provide the table with a shared experience The online menu looked promising Many of the dishes contained flavors and ingredients not typically found in other Ithacan restaurants I was a little war y of the fact that the online menu didn’t list prices I’m a big believer of the saying “If you have to ask, you can ’ t afford it” but I figured a restaurant looking to do business in Ithaca wasn ’ t going to be outrageously expensive, so I grabbed a few friends and we went to Mix the first Thursday night of the semester
M i x i s l o c a t e d o n E l m i r a
A t h i r
i g i n a l f l a v o r –L e m o n & G a r l i c w
c h w a s m y f
r i t e , b e f o r e t r y i n g L e m o n & B e e t ( I ’ m o f f i c i a l l y c o n v e r t e d ) , w a s u n a v a i l a b l e f o r t a s t i n g T h e L e m o n & D i l l o f f e r e d a c o o l , s u m m e r y t a s t e t h a t w o u l d p a i r p e r f e c t l y w i t h a l m o s t a n y v e g e t a b l e O f a l l t h e It h a c a Hu m m u s d i p s , t h i s o n e i n p a r t i c u l a r h i g h l i g h t e d t h e f r e s h c o l dp r e s s e d l e m o n j u i c e u s e d i n e a c h o f t h e f l a v o r s C h i p o t l e , o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , d e l i v e r e d a k i c k I l o v e a s p i c y, f l a v o r f u l d i p , b u t t h e C h i p o t l e s u r p r i s e d m e b y b e i n g m o r e s m o k e y t h a n s p i c y T h e s m o l d e r i n g a d o b o - s o a k e d c h i p o t l e p e p p e r s o f f e r e d a l i n g e r i n g s m o k y - s w e e t f l a v o r T h e h o t k i c k c a m e a s a n i c e a f t e rt a s t e A s m u c h a s I e n j o y e d e a t i n g h a l f m y b o d y w e i g h t i n c a r r o t s a n d h u m m u s , t h e l a u n c h p a r t y s e r v e d a n o t h e r
i m p o r t a n t p u r p o s e A f t e r m y i n i t i a l i n t r o d u c t i o n t o C h r i s h e l e d m e t o It h a c a Hu m m u s ’ s e s a m e m i l k T h e c o m p a n y ’ s l a t e s t w o r k - i n - p r o g r e s s w a s t h e i c e c o l d r e f r e s h m e n t I c r a v e d i n t h e l a t e Au g u s t h e a t W i t h a s l i g h t r e s e m b l a n c e t o a l m o n d m i l k , t h e s e s a m e m i l k h a s a c r e a m y, a l m o s t c e r e a l - m i l k t a s t e a n d t e x t u r e , b u t i t w a s f a r l e s s s w e e t C h r i s e x p l a i n e d t h e n u t r i t i o n a l p o w e r o f s e s a m e s e e d s w h i c h a r e a l s o u s e d t o m a k e t h e t a h i n i i n c o r p o r a t e d i n a l l It h a c a Hu m m u s f l a v o r s O n e n e e d n o t b e l a c t o s e i n t o l e r a n t t o r e a l i z e t h e b e ne f i t s o f t h i s d e l i c i o u s d a i r y a
Sherry Wu is a junior in the College of Human Ecology She can be reached at sw652@cornell edu
A Mixed Review
Road not ver y easy to get to for students without a car The outside of the restaurant doesn’t look ver y inviting; in fact, one of the friends I was with said she had avoided it because she had thought it was a strip club Mix’s website boasted pictures of an upscale interior featuring chand e l i e r s a n d m o d e r n d e c o r
Instead, the interior was a conflict between a posh local staple with a few gold accents on the walls and large images of Cornell and Ithaca and a sports bar
There was a television on the wall set to ESPN that proved distracting to our table the entire night There are times when I want to watch TV while eating, but not when I’m at a location that promises “social dining ” The menu also resembled that of a sports bar: a large, laminated sheet with dozens of dishes scattered in clusters of raw bar, pizzas, small plates, salads and large p l a t e s My e y e s d i d n ’ t k n o w where to look, but I did immediately notice the prices For a p l a c e t h a t h a d E S P N t a l k i n g behind me and bad Top 40 hits of the past decade playing overhead, the prices were outrageous Our waitress had recommended each person get either three or four small plates or a large plate and two small plates The large plates ranged from nineteen dollars to more than thirty, which is the upper limit of any of Ithaca’s n i c e s t r e s t a u r a n t s T h e s m a l l
plates averaged around ten or eleven dollars, bordering on as much as I would typically expect to pay for a full entree
Two members of our dining party were vegetarian, while the other two of us ate meat, so we decided to split into partners for sharing plates Deciding on dishes was difficult The menu was loosely organized into main categories, but the plates contained flavors from all over the world and were not listed in any logical order It would be easier for the diner if the plates were categorized by region or flavor to avoid the jumbled mess of “multi-ethnic” dishes on the menu
My d i n i n g p a r t n e r a n d I chose four plates to share, featuring Thai, Spanish, Mexican and It a l i a n f l a v o r s T h e f o o d w a s brought out as it was prepared, and the restaurant seemed mindful to bring both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food out at the same time so that ever yone at the table always had something to eat The size of the dishes was pretty typical for small plates that is to say, they were small but for the price, I was hoping we would get a little more The first things to come out were the crockpot guajillo short rib tacos For around 10 dollars, we got three small tacos with a few pickled vegetables on the side The presentation was nice, but the f l a v o r w a s u n i m p r e s s i v e Yo u could pay the same price at Viva
and get a full meal and better tacos The flavors of some of the other dishes were better The potato goat cheese perogies topped with bacon, red onion m a r m a l a d e a n d t r u f f l e c r è m e fraîche were the best things I had all night The Thai-style purple sticky rice dumplings were unique if not slightly dr y, and the Spanish chorizo hot dogs were spicy but fairly boring overall
Since it was a new restaurant, I expected a few hiccups with the ser vice We had a couple mix-ups with the ser vers, but our cucumber dill water was always filled and our food came out at a reasonable pace However, once we w e r e g i v e n o u r b i l l , w e s a t around for 20 minutes waiting for someone to pick up our credit cards The final ser vice is the last impression you get from a restaurant, and it left me impatient and annoyed
Overall, Mix had a lot of potential but fell flat The actual food didn’t live up to the great menu writing, and the atmosphere didn’t match the prices There were a few flavors that stayed in my mind, but the food generally was forgettable I had to look up the menu again while writing this to remember what I had ordered only a day prior and unimpressive
M i x w o u l d b e n e f i t f r o m choosing a specific direction and
sticking to it, whether that be an upscale restaurant or a casual
s p o r t s b a r I f M i x h o p e s t o attract the majority of Ithaca s t u d e n t s a n d r e s i d e n t s , t h e prices should either be cut in half or the por tions should be doubled Classifying a restaurant as “multi-ethnic” seems like a cop-out for not picking a culinar y direction, so if Mix is going to feature dishes from around the world, they have to do so in an organized, purposeful way Label each dish with a cuisine and group similar plates together instead of throwing ever ything on a laminated sheet of paper and deeming it a cohesive menu I truly do want to give Mix a second chance because I believe that the theme could fill a niche in Ithaca’s culinar y scene, if executed correctly Unfortunately, I cannot currently recommend it to anyone until they get they get their act together and undergo m a j o r r e s t r u c t u r i n g M i x i s l a u n c h i n g a b r u n c h m e n u i n September, which looks ver y p r o m i s i n g Bu t i f m y d i n n e r experience is any indication of what the brunch might bring, I’m getting my hopes up over a great idea, only to be let down by poor execution
Olivia Lutwak is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences She can be reached at olutwak@cornellsun com
PHOTO COURTESY
SHERRY WU / SUN CONTRIBUTOR
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
BY NATHAN CHAZAN Sun Staff Writer
Marty Gross is a man of many hats in the film world Coming to Japanese cinema in the ’70s after spending years studying pottery, Gross has written and directed documentaries, restored and licensed films and archival footage with his company Marty Gross Film Productions, conducted interviews and served as consulting producer on many projects, including Akira Kurosawa’s 1990 film Dreams All the while, Gross has continued to teach art classes in Toronto, teaching creativity to future generations of students (including myself )
More recently, Gross has worked as a freelance consulting producer with the legendary arthouse distributor Janus Films, the parent company of the Criterion collection If you pick up a Criterion release of a Japanese film, there’s a good chance you’ll see Gross’ name in the credits In 2005, Gross’ work for Janus brought him into contact with Seijun Suzuki, one of the most eccentric figures of Japanese film A pop art filmmaker in the truest sense of the term, Suzuki made visually eclectic and politically subversive films under the pretense of genre entertainment, much to his studio’s chagrin With Suzuki’s films Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill screening this week at Cornell Cinema (Thursday and Sunday, respectively for more info go to cinema cornell edu) as part of a Janus Films retrospective, I sat down with Gross to talk about his work and his memories of Seijun Suzuki
TH E SUN: How did you start working with Janus Films?
MA RT Y G ROSS: I knew about Janus for many years everyone did, anyone who was a filmgoer knew Janus I’d worked with New Cinema, the Canadian agent for Janus, and through them I met one of the founders, Saul Turrell Much later I helped acquire some of their films for Canadian television, and I met them a few times in New York But it never really crossed my mind that I could do any work for them, until Donald Richie [a very influential writer on Japanese cinema], who had been consulting for Criterion, recommended me At some point around the last six or eight years of his life, he wrote very kindly to the chief producer at Criterion that I was the only person who could handle the creation of documentation and features for a Kurosawa film they were working on at the time So we met with Peter Becker, the president of Janus, and we figured out I could do the kind of work they needed, and one thing led to another I do not have any formal agreement with Criterion, they just call me when they need me There are times when they’re releasing more Japanese films, there are times when they’re releasing less, but whenever they’re releasing a Japanese film they always seem to have something for me to do interviews, documentation, rights
SUN: Tell me about a typical project for Janus What kind of work do you find yourself doing?
M G : The process starts when one of the Criterion producers contacts me and asks me if I have any documentation related to the film they’re working on They may ask if I know anybody who could be interviewed, and if I know about that person ’ s health, their age and if I know about any other documentary materials For example, I recently worked on [the Criterion edition of ] Dreams I had worked on the film myself in the late 1980s and knew many of the people involved in it I knew about two documentaries that had been made about Dreams, one by my friend Catherine Cadou in France, and one by the great Japanese director Nobuhiko Obayashi, so I licensed those films on Criterion’s behalf
So, I sometimes license films for Criterion, documentaries and features, and I also supply them with information that they may need for their Japanese releases Right now we ’ re doing Tampopo, so I went to the museum dedicated to [the director] Juzo Itami, and I spent three days scanning photos, stills, booklets and flyers So I just help them with things in Japan
When it’s time for interviews, I start off by contacting people by phone many of these people are very elderly Sometimes I have to call several times, often at all hours given the time difference, other times I might ask for an introduction from somebody Then we make a plan to interview The Criterion producers write the questions because they feel (I think quite correctly) that they know best what their audience is interested in knowing about After that, we translate the questions in my office, and print them out with large spaces in between the questions so the interviewees can write their replies I transmit these to people by fax [still common
in Japan] or by post In the case of Seijun Suzuki, I was already in Japan when we finished the questions, but Suzuki lived on the other side of Tokyo He was very anxious to see the questions, so he asked me to fax them So I go to the office in Tokyo and stand by the fax machine, and the fax doesn’t go through, and doesn’t go through, and so on It turns out Suzuki didn’t know how to turn on his fax machine He needed us to wait for his wife to come home and turn on the machine for him!
After setting up the interview, I then have to find a location The space needs to be quiet Tokyo has a problem with noise, it’s a massive city with a lot of traffic and most Japanese offices and apartments only have single pane glass, so if there’s noise, there’s noise We also need a large space we usually can ’ t film at people’s homes because people’s homes are always too small I shoot with a regular crew that’s been working with me since day one
The first interview we ever did was with Tatsuya Nakadai in 1995, and we ’ ve kept working together ever since They’re very loyal and they’re very good We started out on Betacam, then we moved on to HD, and now we ’ re delivering the films on hard drive
a much younger wife, a fan of his work, who was able to help us a great deal with the set-up and arrangements for the interview
SUN: How did your meeting with Suzuki go? What did you think of the man?
As I listen during these interviews, I always think about what material Criterion’s going to need for inserts If, say, Seijun Suzuki mentions Nikkatsu Studios, I need to make sure I have a picture of Nikkatsu Studios, if he mentions his art director, I need a picture of the art director I try to anticipate what kind of documents we ’ re going to need, and I ask people to bring memorabilia from the productions all the time still photographs, snapshots of themselves working on the set, annotated scripts We figure it’s more valuable to the viewer to see pictures of, say, actors taking a cigarette break than excerpts from the movie they’ve just seen So, when we finish the interview, we film or scan documents that relate to the subject Not everyone keeps things, but usually they have at least a script with their annotations Some directors sketch in their scripts, do storyboards, some don’t, it varies After that the producer at Criterion takes over and edits the interview at their office, and a company in California handles the translation Sometimes they consult me, but I’m only involved in checking for accuracy at that point, spelling of names and credits, that sort of thing
S UN: What was your first encounter with Seijun Suzuki’s films? What was your initial impression?
M G : I’d actually never seen Suzuki’s films before I worked on the Criterion editions of them, but I had a very strong impression of him even before then he’s an iconoclast in filmmaking and a political iconoclast Watching his films for the first time was a sort of confirmation Suzuki’s films are very much like the man himself quick, skillful, without hesitation Part of it was the studio system he worked under Nikkatsu liked to churn out movies fast but he always finds ways to work in individual quirks and idiosyncrasies All of his movies have a tremendous energy, and nothing is wasted: Every shot means something, every shot is beautifully composed It’s really classical studio filmmaking but with a personal stamp
S UN: For the 2011 Criterion editions of Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill, you interviewed Suzuki, one of the last interviews he has done to date How did that come about?
M G : In 2005, I had interviewed Suzuki in a producer’s office for Story of a Prostitute and Gate of Flesh In the interim I had spoken to him after he had been awarded the Kawakita prize, and he was very friendly So Suzuki remembered me, which made the later interview easier to set up For Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill we interviewed Suzuki in his apartment with the assistance of Masami Kuzuu, the art director of Branded to Kill We also interviewed Kuzuu and Jo Shishido, the star of Branded to Kill We had some difficulties Suzuki’s a very old man, he was hooked up to an oxygen tank, and we were supposed to interview him on a muggy summer day in a tiny room Fortunately, Suzuki has
M G : Suzuki’s a very pithy man, very direct He’s not impatient, but he prefers to keep his answers simple For example, we asked Suzuki about the color choices in Tokyo Drifter, why one scene ’ s in black and white while the rest of the movie’s in such vivid color, and Suzuki replied “I thought the audiences would like to see a movie in color ” For Story of a Prostitute, we asked him why he made that film after Gate of Flesh, and he said simply “That film was an adaptation, and Nikkatsu gave me the book and said ‘This is the next one ’” Criterion wants filmmakers to talk about the philosophy behind their work, and Suzuki would always skirt around that in such a way that you can ’ t ask the question again It’s not that he’s necessarily modest, I think he knows his place in film history He’s a professional, and not much willing to talk film aesthetics Akira Kurosawa is very much the same way in his interviews I remember when I was at Suzuki’s apartment I asked him if I could borrow the original scripts of the films to scan for source material to include in the feature He hands me the scripts without hesitation, and I told him I’d have them sent back in two days by courier In the end I needed an extra day with the scripts and I forgot to let him know, and later that day I got a phone call from him He announced himself very formally, in his distinctive voice “This is Film Director Suzuki Seijun! I would like my scripts to be returned” and I told him I’d have them sent the next day The following morning I get another call from him with the same introduction “This is Film Director Suzuki Seijun! Have you sent me the scripts?” I said I had, and teased him, “You know, you don’t have to tell me you ’ re a filmmaker every time you call, I’m aware that you make movies!” He laughed
SUN: Is there anything in particular our readers should look for when they go see Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill?
M G : Well, as I said before they’re very energetic films, very lively films, but you should also watch for political subtext in the films The 1960s in Japan was still the postwar period, a time of rebuilding For the first time there were all these popular influences everywhere jazz, American movies The use of 16mm projection within the film in Branded to Kill is very inventive I don’t think I’ve seen anything else like that in that period of Japanese film So Suzuki’s films exemplify the 1960s, the most lively period in Japanese history, and attitudes that have largely been aged out of the culture today
SUN: To close out this interview, are there any exciting projects you ’ re working on at the moment you’d be able to tell us about?
M G : Well, Dreams is done now and I am currently working on Janus Films’ theatrical release of Tampopo Over the summer I interviewed the Japanese swordplay master Yoshimitsu Katsuse for the Lone Wolf and Cub collection That was an interesting project because he’s not involved in filmmaking himself, but the art he practices is very unique and he brought a different understanding of Japanese swordsmanship as displayed in the films Aside from all this, I’m producing my own work, The Film Compendium on the Japanese Folk Craft (Mingei) Movement right now, and I’ve been travelling to all sorts of different places to gather information and materials for it I’ll be working on another project with Criterion for later this year as well, but I can ’ t talk about it yet because they haven’t officially announced it I have a great deal of respect for Criterion and the work that they do, and I’m proud to be a contributor
Nathan Chazan is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences He can be reacehd at ndc39@cornell edu
COURTESY OF MARTY GROSS F LM PRODUCTIONS
b o u g h t Sk y r i m f o r P C i n t h e s u mm e r o f 2 0 1 3 T h e f i r s t t h i n g I re m e m b e r d o i n g i n t h e g a m e , a f t e r t h e o p e n i n g - s c e n e d r a g o n a t t a c k , i s t r yi n g t o k i l l a b l a c k s m i t h w h o w a s h o s ti n g m e i n h i s h o m e , a n d t h e n f r a n t i c a ll y r u n n i n g a w a y f ro m t h e t ow n , a c ro s s a h u g e p l a i n a n d i n t o s n ow y m o u n t a i n s a s t h e s u n s e t Ma n y f a n s o f “ o p e n - w o r l d” g a m e s p ro b a b l y h a ve s i m i l a r e x p e r i e n c e s t h e
r s t t i m e t h e y p l a y Op e n - w o r l d g a m e s p u r p o r t t o g i ve t h e p l a ye r t o t a l f re ed o m ; t h e p re m i s e i s t h a t a n y d e c i s i o n t h a t t h e p l a ye r m a k e s c a n b e s u p p o r t e d
t h e g a m e , a n d m a k e s e n s e w i t h i n i t s w o r l d Yo u c a n p l a y a s a h e ro , a n a n t ih e ro , a v i l l a i n o r s i m p l y c o m m i t r a n -
d o m a c t s o f v i o l e n c e a n d k i n d n e s s a s yo u s e e f i t , a n d i n a p e r f e c t l y - e xe c u t e d
g a m e a n y o f t h e s e d e c i s i o n s w o u l d h a ve r a m i f i c a t i o n s o n t h e p ro g re s s o f t h e n a r r a t i ve Be c a u s e o f t h i s , i t ’ s i n c re d i b l y t e m p t i n g a t t h e b e g i n n i n g t o t e s t t h e b o u n d a r i e s o f yo u r f re e d o m
I d i d t h i s by, a b o u t 1 0 m i n u t e s i n t o
t h e g a m e , c h o o s i n g t o m u rd e r a c h a r a c -
t e r w h o h a d g e n e ro u s l y o f f e re d m y
c h a r a c t e r a p l a c e t o s l e e p a n d f o o d ( n o t a s b i g a d e a l a s i t s o u n d s yo u r c h a r -
a c t e r d o e s n ’ t h a ve t o e a t t o s u r v i ve i n Sk y r i m , m i r ro r i n g h ow, w h e n p l a y i n g t h e g a m e , yo u’l l f o r g e t t h a t yo u n e e d t o e a t t o s u r v i ve t o o ) I h a ve m y v i c t i m ’ s c h a r a c t e r s h e e t o p e n a t t h e m o m e n t o n e l d e r s c ro l l s w i k i a c o m , w h i c h i s a c t u a l -
l y o n e o f s e ve r a l d i f f e re n t w i k i p a g e s d e vo t e d e n t i re l y t o t h e w o r l d o f Sk y r i m
Hi s n a m e i s A l vo r, a n d h e w o rk s a s a b l a c k s m i t h i n R i ve r w o o d He h a s a w i f e , Si g r i d , a d a u g h t e r,
Do r t h e . He a n d h i s w i f e p ro b a b l y l ove t h e i r d a u g ht e r ve r y m u c h ; a t l e a s t , “ If
Do r t h e i s a t t a c k e d , b o t h p a re n t s b e c o m e h o s t i l e t o d e f e n d h e r ” Ju s t l i k e re a l
l i f e !
Of c o u r s e , n o n e o f t h i s f a c t o re d i n t o m y d e c i s i o n t o k i l l A l vo r ; I j u s t w a n t e d
t o s e e w h a t w o u l d h a p p e n a f t e r w a rd s I w a n t e d t o s e e
h ow m u c h o f a re a l w o r l d
Sk y r i m w a s Un f o r t u n a t e l y, i t t u r n e d o u t A l vo r i s o n e o f t h e c h a r a c t e r s m a rk e d
“ e s s e n t i a l” b y t h e g a m e , w h i c h b a s i c a l l y m e a n s yo u c a n ’ t k i l l h i m I n s t e a d , a f t e r I h a d h a c k e d a t h i m , h e t o o k a k n e e o n t h e f l o o r w i t h h i s h a n d c l u t c h i n g h i s s i d e , c r a w l e d a ro u n d f o r h a l f a m i n u t e , a n d t h e n s t o o d b a c k u p a n d s a i d
s o m e t h i n g c o m p l e t e l y i l l o g i c a l l i k e , “A i n ’ t e ve r y d a y w e g e t v i s i t o r s i n R i ve r w o o d ” T h a t w a s h ow I l e a r n e d t h a t t h e g a m e d i d n ’ t o f f e r t o t a l p l a ye r f re e d o m ; i t w a s m o re c o m p l i c a t e d t h a n t h a t I c o u l d s e e t h e r e w e r e b a s i c a l l y t w o s t r a t e g i e s o f p l a yi n g I c o u l d p l a y t h e “f r e e ” w a y ( l i k e a m a n i a c ) , a t t a c k i n g p e o p l e a t r a n d o m a n d i g n o r i n g t h e s t o r y l i n e , b u t t h i s w o u l d m a k e t h e g a m e r e v e a l t h e b o u n d a r i e s o f t h e f re e d o m i t o f f e re d , a n d w o u l d i ro n i c a l l y m a k e t h e e x p e r ie n c e m o re a b o u t c o n s t r a i n t s t h a n a b o u t f re e d o m Or I c o u l d t r y t o u n d e r s t a n d h ow t h e g a m e w o rk e d , a n d t h e n t r y t o a l i g n m y c h a r a c t e r ’ s c h o i c e s a n d a c t i o n s w i t h t h e l o g i c o f t h e g a
d
Ma n y o f t h e s e p u r p o s e f u l l y m a k e t h e g a m e h a rd e r, o r s i m p l y m a k e i t l e s s p l a y a n d m o re w o rk Fo r i n s t a n c e , o n e o f t h e m o s t p o p u l a r m o d s , Fr o s t f a l l , a l l ow s yo u t o f re e ze t o d e a t h i n t h e s n ow y n o r t h e r n p a r t s o f t h e c o u n t r y o r i n f r i g i d w a t e r W h i l e i n t h e o r i g i n a l g a m e yo u c a n g a l l o p a c ro s s t h e t u n d r a w i l l y - n i l l y o r e ve n f a s t - t r a ve l o n t h e
f e w m i n u t e s s i t t i n g by i t t o w a r m u p b e f o re c o n t i n u i n g o n T h e f a c t t h a t t h i s m i n d - a n d - c h a r a c t e r - n u m b i n g a d d i t i o n
m a p, w i t h Fro s t f a l l i n s t a l l e d yo u r i d e e ve r y w h e re o n a h o r s e t h a t s l ow s d ow n w h e n i t g e t s t o o c o l d , a n d yo u a re f o rc e d w h e n t r a ve l l i n g i n t h e c o l d t o s t o p a t i n t e r va l s , b u i l d a f i re a n d t a k e a
t o t h e g a m e a c t u a l l y e xc i t e d m e b e c a u s e o f t h e i n c re a s e d “ i m m e r s i o n ” i t o f f e re d s a y s s o m e t h i n g a b o u t h ow d e e p d ow n i n t h e r a b b i t h o l e I w a s A s yo u c o n t i n u e t o p l a y a n o p e nw o r l d g a m e , t h e t h i n g s t h a t a re a t f i r s t e xc i t i n g b e c a u s e o f t h e i r s e e m i n g r a nd o m n e s s i n Sk y r i m , f o r i n s t a n c e , a s s a s s i n s c a n b e s e n t a f t e r yo u , h i g hw a y m e n w i l l t r y t o ro b yo u a n d d r a go n s w i l l c o m e f l y i n g o u t o f n ow h e re , s c re e c h i n g re ve a l t h e m s e l ve s t o b e s i m p l y p a r t o f t h e g a m e ’ s e n o r m o u s a l g o r i t h m s A l l o f t h e s e e ve n t s m a y re m a i n u n p re d i c t a b l e , b u t t h e y s t o p b e i n g s u r p r i s i n g a f t e r yo u ’ ve s e e n t h e m e n o u g h t i m e s B a s i c a l l y, t h e i n i t i a l a t t r a c t i o n o f a f u l l w o r l d o f c h a r a c t e r s a n d c re a t u re s re ve a l s i t s e l f t o b e o n l y f o c u s s e d o n s e r v i n g yo u , t h e p l a ye r, w h i c h i s a h u g e s t e p d ow n f ro m p rov i di n g a w o r l d o f c h a r a c t e r s t h a t a c t u a l l y i n t e r a c t w i t h a n d re a c t t o e a c h o t h e r T h i s m a y m a k e yo u f e e l l i k e a g o d , b u t a f t e r y o u ’ v e b e c o m e t h e Dr a g o n b o r n a n d t h e l e a d e r o f t h e T h i e ve s Gu i l d a n d t h e h e a d m a g e o f t h e C o l l e g e o f Wi n
l i k e t h e s e c a n o n l y e ve r f a i l i n t h e a t t e m p t , a n d t h e n b e m e a s u re d by t h e d e g re e o
Olympian Injured in Car Crash C.U. Set for Slate of Tournament Games
By ZACH SILVER Sun Assistant Sports Editor
Fresh off an impressive showing in the 2016 Rio Olympics, Spanish sprinter Bruno Hortelano-Roig ’14 has been hospitalized after he was in an alcohol-related car crash just outside of Madrid early Monday morning, suffering a “catastrophic hand injur y ” to his right hand
Hortelano-Roig was travelling with his cousin who driving under the influence at more than twice the legal alcohol limit at the time of the crash According to AS English, his cousin had an alcohol level of 0 53 milligrams per liter; the legal limit is 0 25
Hortelano-Roig was a passenger when the car flipped over onto its top He suffered a serious injur y
to his right hand, according to his agent Alberto Armas He was then admitted to the 12 de Octubre Hospital in Madrid where he has been treated for hand and head injuries
“ The hand was the most affected area and it has been reconstructed,” Armas told reporters “ The little finger is the only one that hasn’t been fully reconstructed It’s too early to make a full evaluation but he is in good spirits The important thing now is that his hand does not get infected ”
Although it was also reported that there were “ catastrophic hand injuries with a risk of amputation,” at this moment, Hortelano-Roig is reportedly in “good spirits” and doing well after reconstructive surger y
Red Begins Season With Invitational
quent development
whom, “have demonstrated a great deal of composure and consistency so far this season in their training,”
he said
“ There are always jitters and ner ves when anyone does anything for the first time but if they approach the race the way they’ve handled the first few weeks of practice I don’t anticipate anything that will get in their way, ” Smith said
While they hope for and expect a positive performance, the team is also ready for some soft spots to show up when all is said and done According to the coach, this is an integral part of early season meets and the team ’ s subse-
“I hope that we will discover things we’ll need to work on after we look back on this weekend’s race, ” Smith stated “At the same time, finding good achievements to celebrate will be fun, but we also look for ward to finding the things to work on ”
That said, rigorous offseason
results in last year ’ s track season point to a successful start to the 2016 campaign Sm i t h w o u l d n o t g o i n t o specifics regarding results for the meet, but it appears his expectations are high However, he did continue to stress the multitude of meets this season so as to not get overly caught up with each week’s results
“I expect a good start because the start to our training has been terrific,” Smith said “But it is important to remember that all the races are important and we measure our success in each race (first or last) based on the effort we put out ” Smith concluded, “If our group goes out and competes to the best of their ability right now we’ll have a successful weekend and will be setting the stage for exciting things i n o u r m e e t s t o c o m e We couldn’t ask for a better opportunity to get started than with the meet this weekend ” Action gets under way at 10 a m Saturday
be
VOLLEYBALL
Continued from page 16
“I look forward to seeing us each improve individually and as a team and then coming home with three more wins,” said junior Kit McCarty
The Red has a 1-0 all-time record against UMKC while this is the squad’s first meeting with Bradley and NebraskaOmaha Because of the team ’ s unfamiliarity with the opponents, Cornell is going into this weekend prepared for anything
“We need to serve a bit more aggressively but other than that, just keep learning, working hard and getting better every day,” Vande Berg said
The women find strength in the camaraderie that they have developed over the years to give them the extra edge they need
“We are all very competitive athletes, so I know the desire to win is always present, ” Sganderlla said “No matter if we do win or if we lose, there is a camaraderie like no other team I have been a part of between us ”
McCarty agreed that the bonds between women on the team are incredibly important
“My favorite part of being on Big Red Volleyball is getting to compete alongside my best friends, my teammates, ” McCarty said
This weekend will prove to be a weekend in which the women can establish their footing and propel forward
“I think we are just getting used to playing with each other and we will only get better and better each game, ” McCarty said The junior was named to the Cornell Invitational AllTournament Team last weekend along with junior Emily Wemhoff
“I'm really looking forward to getting back out on the court and having a successful weekend with my teammates, ” Sganderlla said “I know that we all enjoy playing in competitive matches with teams that will challenge us ”
Achindra Krishna can be reached at akrishna@cornellsun com
Brittany Biggs can be reached at bbiggs@cornellsun com
Zach Silver can be reached at zsilver@cornellsun com
Red Travels to Midwest for Two -Day Tournament
Following second place fnish last weekend, Cornell heads to Missouri for Kangaroo Klassic
By BRITTANY BIGGS and ACHINDRA KRISHNA Sun Staff Writers
Almost 1,000 miles from Ithaca, Cornell’s volleyball team will compete in the Midwest this weekend to take part in the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Kangaroo Klassic The Red will take on the host school, as well as Bradley and Nebraska at Omaha over a two-day event The Red, currently sitting at 2-1, is looking to make a statement at the tournament
“I’m really looking forward to getting to play teams from another region so far away, ” said senior blocker Macey Wilson “Getting to play those teams will challenge our team in a whole new way ”
Head coach Trudy Vande Berg similarly said she was looking forward to the opportunity to go against a different group of colleges than the schools the team usually plays
“It is exciting to see what we can do against teams from a different part of the country, ” Vande Berg said “I’m also very excited to get a few of our players closer to home so they can play in front of family and friends ” Tournaments give the team a wide array of different opponents and can help get the Red on track for the
Sganderlla
“Playing in tournaments with various teams always ends up being exciting and competitive,” Sganderlla said “Tournaments give us the opportunity to find our rhythm as a team which is important when we have six new players this year ”
On the road trip, the team will be facing a competitive group, but are confident in their prospects, much like last weekend when the team was able to secure a second place
finish in the 2016 Cornell Invitational
The weekend began with a 3-1 win over Colgate, followed by a tough 0-3 loss to James Madison The women then went on to beat Marist in a solid victory to cap off the weekend
The season opener proved to be a thriller, with the first set itself going to 27-25 Set scores were 27-25, 18-25, 2518, 25-21 According to Vande Berg, it is always important to start off on the right foot, and it was no different here
“It was huge,” Vande Berg said “We had trouble closing last season so our ability to fight for the win against Colgate in that first set shows how far we have come ”
The Red went on to drop the next set before coming back strong and winning two back-to-back Cornell as a whole outperformed Colgate in nearly all statistical metrics, but there was one player who stood out: freshman Jenna Phelps
“[ Jenna] had an incredible debut against Colgate and for the entire weekend,” Vande Berg said “Having a middle that can score efficiently opens things up for our pin hitters ”
Phelps had a perfect game with zero errors and tacked on nine kills
The next day started off on a lower note, as the girls fell to James Madison, 0-3 in the morning Set scores were 1725, 16-25 and 18-25 Cornell struggled with its offense, only connecting on around 17 percent of the hits
Later that evening, the women avenged their loss with a triumphant win over Marist Following a closely contested first set, the tone was set for a tight competition Cornell edged out a 2-0 set advantage before giving up the third set Marist was able to keep the momentum going taking a commanding 18-9 lead in the fourth set, before Cornell came back and sealed the victory in a win-by-two situation
Vande Berg cited this as another example of the team ’ s improved ability to close out tight games this season Despite the loss, she said she saw positives in the defeat
“No real lows [against James Madison],” she said “We did a great job of fighting and adjusting throughout each of the matches James Madison is a very good team and I think we played well against them, even in the loss ”
The Red hopes to continue the strong play at this weekend’s tournament
Cornell Opens Season With Penn State Invitational
By CHARLES COTTON Sun Staff Writer
For more than a decade, the cross country season began with a dual meet against the militar y academy at West Point an opportunity for Cornell to knock the rust off from the offseason before some of the more competitive meets
But this year is different In just a few days, the majority of
C o r n e l l’s 4 7 - m e m b e r w o m e n ’ s c ro s s c o u n t r y t e a m w i l l h e a d down to State College, P A for an ultra-competitive invite hosted by Penn State
T h e Ha r r y Grove s Sp i k e d
Sh o e In v i t a t i o n a l w i l l f e a t u re seven Division I schools four of which are ranked in the top 25 nationally and will provide an early test for the Red, unlike first contests in previous years
Still, the team is not shying away from the opportunity and is looking forward to the test
“ Ou r t e a m i s ve r y e xc i t e d
about this,” said head coach Artie Smith “The meet this weekend at Penn State will be an excellent opportunity to get our feet wet right away by competing against a good sized field of roughly seven Division I schools that includes several nationally ranked women ’ s teams ” Cornell will compete against No 1 5 Sy r a c u s e , No 1 9 Ge o r g e t ow n , No 3 8 We s t Virginia, No 23 Princeton, St Jo s e p h’s a n d h o s t Pe n n St a t e , ranked 13th A s t h e t e a m p re p a re s f o r Saturday, each member must be ready to compete both physically and mentally, and the mindset for real competition is markedly different from that of practice runs “One of the hard things at this time of year is transitioning from a training mentality to a racing mentality [competing] does take a different type of mindset,” Smith said “Callousing oneself to the grind of racing and getting used to the decisions and effort
that go into competing are skills that need honing ” Oftentimes a team ’ s first meet means added pressure on the athletes to perform at their highest levels, but Smith does not seem worried by this Instead, he views it like any other week “I would hope there is not added pressure, ” Smith said “All I ask is that each woman on the team gives their very best effort Whether that is the first meet of
Championships, that best effort is all we expect and all they can expect of themselves ” Smith is also confident is his newest class of freshmen, all of
On the rise | Following a second place finish in last weekend’s Cornell Invitational, junior Emily Wenhoff and the Red will travel almost 1,000 miles to play in another tournament