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The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Possible Hate Crime Tests New President

Black students’12 demands put pressure on Pollack, six months in

By NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS Sun City Editor

Martha E Pollack, nearing the six-month mark of her presidency, is facing her first major test at Cornell after hundreds of black students, responding to the arrest of a student who may be charged with a hate crime, marched into her office last week and hand-delivered a series of demands

Pollack, who assumed the presidency in April, is now in charge of a campus so on-edge that a rope keeping

Collegetown was mistaken for a noose on Sunday night by students who called police to report it

In her less-tumultuous first few months at Cornell, Pollack made a series of moves that were widely-lauded by students: She cut ties with Nike in July, citing labor standards; decried white supremacistsafter a protester was killed in Charlottesville; reinstated a work-study program

for international students in August; and, this month, pledged to stand with students affected by President Donald Trump’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program Now, following two separate inci-

ion and may lead to hate crime charges against a Cornell sophomore, black students are urging Pollack to respond to their demands faster than the previous administration A “nice email” from Pollack is not enough, one Black Students United co-chair said in the days following the assault of a black student

Hundreds of professors, staff, students and locals took to the Arts Quad on Wednesday to kneel in solidarity with professional athletes and Cornell students who have been protesting brutality against black Americans around the country and in Ithaca

The protest, organized by the Cornell Coalition for Inclusive Democracy, was in part a response to the recent assault of a

black student in Collegetown, who said he was called the Nword multiple times and punched in the face by a group of four or five white men Ithaca Police arrested a white student, John Greenwood ’20, whose lawyer denies he engaged in any physical altercation, and a grand jury may charge him with a hate crime in the next two weeks

The rally, attended by more than 300, was also meant to support professional athletes like former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick who have kneeled

during the national anthem to bring attention to police brutality against black people President Donald Trump this weekend entered into the debate regarding the protest, saying that the NFL should fire or suspend players who refuse to stand for the anthem

Prof Russell Rickford, history, one of the original members of the coalition, said at the protest that symbols, such as kneeling during the national anthem, “ can

New Development Could Bring Closing Time to Nines

sale of the building

For Cornellians, crossing another item off the 161 Things to Do at Cornell list may prove more difficult A Collegetown developer has proposed the demolition of the existing building at 311 College Ave more fondly known to Ithacans and Cornellians as The Nines

C o l l e g e t o w n developer Todd Fox presented his proposal for review at the City of Ithaca Planning and Development Board meeting Tuesday night Fox’s proposal includes a total demolition of the building and the construction of a 45unit, six-story brick commercial rental property in its place, pending a potential

This proposed demolition of the historically significant location does not come without contention from the community, as displayed at Tuesday’s meeting Indeed, the debate over the future of the building

reveals the difficult balance between the need for economic development in Ithaca and the desire to maintain the historical character of the city Against the backdrop of an Ithaca housing shortage

Daybook

Information Session: Engaged Cornell Funding Opportunities

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Institute of Biotechnology Open House

10 a m - 2:30 p m , G10 Biotechnology Building

SEAP Gatty Lecture Series: “The Road Ends Here:

A Small Market Border Town and Thailand’s Future” Noon - 1:30 p m , Kahin Center

Refugees in the Era of Climate Change 12:15 - 1:30 p m , G08 Uris Hall

A One Health / Planetery Health Approach To Issues of Global Nutrition

12:20 - 1:15 p m , 200 Savage Hall

Morphing Matter: Designing Bioinspired Transformative Materials and Interfaces

12:20 - 1:10 p m , G87 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall

Plants in Space: Testing Assumptions About Species Distribution 12:20 - 1:10 p m , 135 Emerson Hall

Current Events and the Middle East: “Sectarianism and Coexistence” 1 - 2 p m , 410 White Hall

(Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love: Gender, Social Media and Aspirational Work 4 p m , 160 Mann Library

Monetary Amnesia: How Regional Science Abandoned Monetary Thought 4:30 p m , 115 W Sibley Hall

No More Nagasakis: Interfaith Action Toward A World Without Nuclear Weapons 4:30 - 6 p m , 120 Physical Sciences Building

Parachuting Scientists Into Policy Making: An Autoethnographic Account of the Role of Science in Government 1:30 - 3 p m , B73 Warren Hall

Hospitality Hackathon 2 - 11 p m , eHub Collegetown

Anthropology Colloquium: “The Wages of Death and the Death of Wages: Gambling on Gold in De-Industrializing South Africa” 3 - 4:30 p m , 215 McGraw Hall

Grandmothering and Human Evolution: The Life History Framework of Our Lives 12:20 p m , 202 Uris Hall

Cornell Classical Chinese Colloquium 3:30 - 5:30 p m , B59 Kroch Library

10-Minute Playfest: Unbound 10:30 p m , Black Box Theatre, Schwartz Center for Performing Arts To

Board of Trustees Chairman Emeritus Dies at 78

By ANNA DELWICHE Sun News Editor

Cornell announced on Wednesday that Peter Meinig ’61, chairman emeritus of the Board of Trustees, died Sept 25 at the age of 78 in Colorado

Meinig served as chairman from 2002 to 2011, overseeing decisions throughout his term such as the creation of the West Campus housing community, increasing financial aid and various leadership transitions in addition to leading the University through the Great Recession

“Pete was a great friend and an incredible mentor, ” Robert Harrison ’76, current chair of t h e B o a rd o f Tr u s t e e s t o l d t h e C o r n e l l

Chronicle “He patiently involved me in decision-making during his last year in office and taught me what it really meant to act only and always in the best interest of the university He led by example, placing his own family and his Cornell family at the forefront of his thoughts and actions ”

In leading the University through the financial crises of the Recession, Meinig provided details to the Board’s strategic planning process to Sun reporters in a March 2010 interview

“Cornell, just as every other research university in the country, is operating in a constrained financial environment, ” Meinig told The Sun “We are the only institution that I’m aware of of our caliber that at the same time we ’ re addressing the financial pressures we are also involved in a serious strategic planning effort ”

Meinig’s term as chairman spanned the terms of three Cornell presidents: Hunter Rawlings III, Jeffrey Lehman ’77 and David Skorton Harrison succeeded Meinig in 2012

“[Meinig] is a capable and experienced board member with a great love for Cornell and an ability to get things done,” said President Hunter R Rawlings III in a University press release after Meinig was announced as chair in 2002, The Sun reported

Meinig received his BME from Cornell in 1962 and an MBA from Harvard University in 1964

The Meinig family has been notable for their donations to Cornell Meinig’s wife Nancy Meinig ’62 served as presidential councillors and co-chaired Cornell’s sesquicentennial celebration in 2015 The Meinigs are recognized as foremost benefactors of Cornell

In 2015, Peter and Nancy Meinig were

Alumni Service Awards, given to alumni for extraordinary service to Cornell

The family provided program support to the Cornell National Scholars Program in 1998 This program was later renamed the Meinig Family National Scholars Program, currently with roughly 240 undergraduates in the program

In 2007, Peter and Nancy Meinig donated $25 million for recognizing faculty life sciences research, establishing the Nancy and Peter Meinig Family Investigatorships in the Life Sciences

“As many of you know, Pete and I were college sweethearts Romanticism is what brings a couple together but

Diversity Initiatives Expand After Assault

friend groups can be by race, ” she said “ That’s just one thing that contributes to the racial and social structure of our campus ”

While recent events involving incidents of bias and discrimination have propelled the University to release plans for “diversity initiatives,” many students are looking for clarification of how diversity training would take shape

Renee Alexander ’74, recently promoted to senior advisor to the dean, provided a clearer vision to The Sun of the University’s plans

Alexander said the University’s diversity i n i t i a t i ve , “ Tow a rd s Ne w De s t i n a t i o n s , ” looks at four critical areas: composition, engagement, inclusion and achievement An in-depth look into these areas distinguishes Cornell’s plan from most diversity initiatives

“Most diversity initiatives start with composition: the structure of the demographic,” she said, “ That’s ver y easy to assess: it’s called enrollment figures How many of whom do we have sitting in our classrooms?”

In her new role, Alexander hopes to push these diversity initiatives toward inclusion and engagement In fact, she identifies the main hurdle that students of color face on campus as a lack of feeling included

“Historically, when you take a look at satisfaction with the student experience, students of color do not have the same intensity of warmth,” she said “So, what’s going on in the environment that we need to be working on? It’s that sense of inclusion ”

She hopes to combat this perceived isolation through “authentic forms of engagem e n t , ” a d d re s s i n g t h e i s s u e p r i m a r i l y through new channels of dialogue because “the way to break down barriers is to get people talking to each other,” she said

New-hire Marla Love, set to begin in midOctober as senior associate dean for diversity and equity, echoed Alexander’s sentiment with her plans for increased engagement

“I and others on my team will work closely with students to promote and create third spaces where students, who are not always in the same spaces, can engage honestly to encourage community transformation,” she said

Alexander also pointed to the social divisions between races on campus, identifying this lack of casual communication as a contributor to the problem

“If you look around, you see, what I call the default setting social groups and

She also highlighted biases and prejudices as obstacles that needed to be addressed

“A real component of the work that we need to be doing is finding ways for people to challenge their own preconceived notions,” she said

One such method that can encourage communication and engagement is integration of workshops Cornell Woodson, ILR’s associate director for diversity and inclusion, facilitates and leads many of these workshops

The main goal of the exercises in his workshops, Woodson explained, is to engage people in the conversation

“I am really big on people seeing themselves in diversity,” he said “Most of the time, people don’t want to do training because they don’t see themselves in that conversation ”

So far, the response to his trainings has been over whelmingly positive

“ Yo u h a

n

They’re required to be here They really don’t want to be here, and you can read it all over their body language,” he said “By the time I’m done with my workshop, that same person is laughing and engaging ”

In addition to these workshops, Alexander thinks there needs to be a “ strong educational component, ” suggesting a mandator y firstyear program in the resident halls

Commitment to coalition-building ser ves an equally important role to diversity initiatives, Alexander said This requires making the silent majority speak up

“ The silent majority [on campus] are white students who are appalled by these behaviors I don’t think these behaviors typify the average white student on our campus, ” she said “So, [the question is]: is there a role for you in helping us?”

Alexander believes that this emphasized focus on inclusion and engagement will eventually “lead to achievement ”

“ We are going to find a way to leverage the wonderful, beautiful, extraordinar y diversity of Cornell University,” she said “I hear it all the time, ‘I came to Cornell because of the diversity ’ I want us to live up to those aspirations and expectations ”

realism is what sees them through,” Mrs Meinig said at a trustees dinner in May 2007, after announcing the gift

“Our gift is the product of our romantic attachment to our alma mater as well as a realistic assessment of how much we could stretch to help Cornell remain at the forefront of research and teaching,” she added

In 2015, the Meinigs donated a $50 million endowment gift, creating the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering the largest single philanthropic commitment by individual donors to one of the university’s colleges in Ithaca, according to the University This donation was also made with daughters trustee Anne Meinig Smalling ’87, Kathryn Meinig Geib MBA ’93 and Sally Meinig Snipes

“This gift is an incredible continuation of the Meinig family’s generosity to Cornell and will strengthen the university in countless ways, not the least of which is by enhancing research synergies between Ithaca and Weill Cornell,” Skorton told The Chronicle in 2015 “There is no more important investment the Meinigs could make ” Donations from the Meinig family also established he Meinig Family Professorship of Engineering and the Nancy Schlegel Meinig Professorship of Maternal and Child Nutrition

“[Meinig’s] intimate knowledge of Cornell, from an association that spanned more than a half century, was invaluable during my first months in office I join with his family and many Cornell friends in mourning his loss,” Cornell University President Martha Pollack told The Chronicle

Cornell AppDev Develops Student-Led Design Course

Seeking to fulfill a perceived void in Cornell’s product design curriculum, Cornell App Development has introduced student-developed and studenttaught courses

“While Cornell excels at aspects of design, there was definitely a void with digital product design,” said Sahil Khoja ’19, one of teachers for the course “This course serves as a foundation for product design ”

The course, Introduction to Digital Product Design, aims to impart applicable skills and hands-on experience in digital product design The course was first developed by Nicole Calace ’16 and Andrew Aquino ’17, now product designers at Facebook

CU AppDev the team providing the instructors allows students “ to work in a startup environment and gain practical experience in software development, design, and product management, ” according to their website

To that goal, the course incorporates lectures, assignments and feedback, all developed and taught by students on CU AppDev’s design team

“In the beginning, it’s tough to see people drop the class because of how time-consuming it is, but the class isn’t meant to be an informative design class,” Khoja explained “It’s extremely hands-on, applicable and interactive ”

In the future, Khoja would like to shift focus towards “ more contemporary design topics such as virtual or augmented reality design ”

“I want to prepare students for the future while allowing them to build their digital product design foundations through the class,” he said

With project-work and prototype development assignments from the class, students are able to develop their portfolio to use on their resumes

“Students walk out with the first case study which they can tack onto their portfolio and use for job interviews right after taking the class,” Khoja said

When Tae Kyung Kong ’20 took the class last year, he both developed an Instagram case study and found a passion for information science

To continue reading this story, please visit cornellsun com

Hundreds of Students, Profs Take a Knee

KNEE

Continued from page 1

become genuine resistance ”

“A band of thugs, you know those thugs, battered a black student in Collegetown while hurling racial epithets,” he said “Later,

they described another person as a ‘sand-nigger ’ How well we have learned the lessons of empire The truth is, Cornell is a bastion of white supremacy ”

“Our society is steeped in white supremacy, ” he said “Why should we expect Cornell, an enterprise built on stolen land, to be any different?”

Prof Tracy McNulty, French and comparative literature, is a member of CCID and organized the rally

She said that it was time for faculty members to “ participate in this fight” and actively push for Cornell to enact Black Students United’s 12 demands

“We have to be willing to learn and take a responsibility for the role we play in a campus environment where students of color do not feel valued or even welcome,” she said of faculty “BSU has thrown down a gauntlet, and we need to pick it up ”

“For Trump, the protesting of racism is more offensive, more worthy of condemnation and punishment, than racism itself,” she added

Provost Michael Kotlikoff attended the rally, although he appeared to leave before rally-goers took a knee around 1 p m , and a University photographer snapped pictures of the scene

“The rhetoric of equity and inclusion will not redeem us and kneeling certainly will not redeem us, ” Rickford said “Those boys in Collegetown did not bash that kid because they failed to understand his culture They did so because they believed they could get away with it ”

Rickford led the crowd in chants of “I believe that we will win” and “Free Palestine ”

The event was a moment, professors said, where they could show that they support students who for years have been on the forefront of efforts to make Cornell a so-called sanctuary campus, to implement the demands of black students and more The CCID formed in the week after the election of

Trump in November

Prof Ella Maria Diaz, English and Latina/o studies, an original member of CCID, said it was “fantastic” to see “such a broad crowd” at Wednesday’s rally, adding that she hoped the professors who attended the “Take a Knee” event continue to support and advocate with student groups

“I think the question is, will I see all these folks at the next student rally for undocumented students’ rights or support?” Diaz said in an interview following the rally “Will I see them at the next occupation?”

“People have been sounding the alarms for quite some time and it’s up to others now [to decide] if they’re going to hear them,” she said

Prof Linda Nicholson, molecular biology and genetics, said her students are being “hurt” under the University’s current campus climate, and read part of BSU’s statement following the Collegetown assault

“We attend a university where our professors, who are by all accounts scholars in their various fields, undervalue our intellectual contributions to our coursework; where they teach that communities of color have little or nothing to offer than a brief honorable mention on their syllabus,” she read from the statement

“What is considered normal on this campus is not okay,” Nicholson added, calling the BSU statement a “radical act of love” that will help move the University towards justice

Hundreds of rally-goers took a knee during a moment of silence, while others remained standing with their fists raised in the air

Prof Aziz Rana, law, toward the end of the protest, said taking a knee is “meaningless, unless it comes with a commitment that everyone here now is accountable for what it means to impose justice on our community ”

“If we don’t start with an institution like Cornell, what will happen?” he asked

Emma Newburger can be reached at enewburger@cornellsun com Nicholas BogelBurroughs can be reached at nbogel-burroughs@cornellsun com

Nines Could Be Demolished

NINES

Continued from page 1

and a demonstrated need for affordable and quality student housing, Fox’s Visum Development has received approval for multiple new developments including 118, 126 and 201 College Ave , 210 Linden Avenue and 232 Dryden Ave , The Sun previously reported

However, 311 College Ave stands apart from these other Collegetown addresses

Despite lacking an official designation as a historic landmark, The Nines location includes, at its rear, the original 19th-centur y Number 9 Ithaca Fire Station, and, at its front, a 1907 addition to that original station

“[The Number 9 Fire Station] really represents the coming-of-age of the upper East Hill community, now Collegetown, as part of the city,” Mary Tomlan M A ’71, Ithaca city historian, said

Today, The Nines location is one of only four historic buildings that remain in the heart of Collegetown, according to Tomlan Another is the Larkin Building that once housed Ithaca restaurant and Cornellian hub Stella’s, but whose first floor is now vacant Board members, including Mackenzie Jones-Rounds, expressed reservations about what she called an “uninspiring” design that many said showed little recognition of the site’s value to Ithaca history or to the community

“[The proposed building would] replace [The Nines] with something that really has no ties to the long history of that site and to the community,” said Prof Garrick Blalock, applied economics and management, planning and development board member “[The proposal] does not really pay homage to the important legacy of the site ” Graham Kerslick, executive director of Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future and Collegetown representative on the Ithaca City Council, echoed Blalock’s concerns “ The Board’s intent is to encourage exceptional, bold design that recognizes the importance of this site for the community,” Kerslick said “The proposal falls

well short of those expectations ”

One source of contention reiterated throughout the public hearing was the loss of the exterior courtyard in Fox’s new building proposal

This open space a seating area at The Nines is “ one of the few areas [in which] the entire community can gather and spend time together,” Kerslick said

Board member John Schroeder ’74, alumni advisor for the Cornell Daily Sun Alumni Association, also took issue with the proposal’s omission of a plan to either move the existing historic structure to another site in Collegetown or to incorporate the existing building into the new development

He warned that a Collegetown without any reminders of its history would be a “cold, impersonal place ”

“I totally support the transformation of Collegetown,” he said “But we need to preserve some remnants of historic Collegetown, or we ’ re losing its history, we ’ re making it less attractive to tourists, [and] we ’ re removing the context that can inform new design ”

According to Tomlan, a move for The Nines building is possible, and with historical precedent In fact, the wood-frame Number 9 firehouse, originally built on the south side of Dryden Road, was moved to its present Collegetown location in 1905

However, the developer Fox said that a move or incorporation of the old building was simply “ not feasible” due to a “landlocked” site in the dense and urban Collegetown

Ultimately, the board asked Fox to consider moving the historic fire station to another site, incorporating the existing building into a new structure, or designing his proposed new building to better reflect the site’s legacy

“I [am not] opposed under any circumstances to the development of this site [but] I cannot see myself voting to destroy that original 1894 fire station,” Schroeder said The current owners of The Nines could not be reached for comment and were not in attendance for this portion of the meeting Thursday

Juliette Ovadia can be reached at jovadia@cornellsun com

Black Students’ Demands in Hand, Pollack Faces First Major Test

DEMANDS

Continued from page 1

Delmar Fears ’19, the co-chair, hand-delivered six, stapled pages with 12 demands to Pollack on the third floor of Day Hall last week with hundreds of students at her side BSU provided a copy of those demands to The Sun, and they are being published here for the first time

Some of the demands which include calls for mandator y coursework regarding systems of power, training for all employees and members of Greek life, a minority position on the University Assembly, an alternative dispute resolution process, the creation of an anti-racism institute, a permanent presidential task force, a plan to increase the presence of black Americans on campus and more will be easier for Pollack to fulfill than others

While Pollack has not led a university before, she served as the University of Michigan’s No 2 official when, in 2016, students received threats, found racist posters and, in one case, discovered a swastika on the Ann Arbor campus Pollack, while provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Michigan, formed a diversity committee and hosted a rally in support of black students that drew hundreds of faculty members

But the Collegetown assault, in which a black junior said he was punched in the face and called the N-word by a group of white men, has brought national media coverage in a way that the Michigan incidents never did The student was also assaulted in the same month that a resident of the Latino Living Center reported hearing a nearby fraternity member talking about building a wall around the residential center and chanting “build a wall ”

Ithaca Police arrested John Greenwood ’20 and charged him with assault and aggravated harassment, both misdemeanors, in the Collegetown incident A grand jury will decide in the next few weeks whether Greenwood, who is 19, will face hate crime charges Greenwood has apologized for using “unacceptable” language, and his attorney, Ray Schlather J D ’76, said Greenwood did not engage in any physical altercation or commit any crime

Pollack pledged to create a presidential task force to address persistent “bigotry and intolerance” at Cornell and charged the dean of students with creating an alternative dispute process Officials, this week, also announced a host of diversity initiatives, including the hiring of four new clinical staff members in Counseling And Psychological Ser vices, three of whom the officials said “will bring added diversity ”

Pollack also took decisive action regarding Psi Upsilon, a suspended fraternity of which the arrested student may have been an underground member, although officials have declined to release information regarding Greenwood’s status in the unaffiliated fraternity

The president said that, “based on what we know, and pending final investigation, Cornell will not consider Psi Upsilon’s reinstatement as an affiliated fraternity ” Officials have declined to elaborate on what it is Cornell knows The executive director of the fraternity

said the Cornell chapter, which had been suspended since the spring of 2016, was secretly recruiting new members

Many Cornell students’ parents have kept close tabs on the news in recent weeks, some expressing frustrations in University officials’ inboxes and urging their children to be extra careful at night in Ithaca

On Sunday evening, a student called police to report what he thought was a noose hanging from electrical wires on College Avenue

The rope was actually being used to keep the wires together during construction on a nearby corner, Officer Jamie Williamson of IPD told The Sun Authorities cut the rope down later that night

Safety concerns have spurred calls from some students for a ban, or restriction, on “hate speech ”

About 250 students packed a University Assembly meeting, led by Fears and Traciann Celestin ’19, the BSU co-chairs, and persuaded the U A to task its Codes and Judicial Committee with considering a “hate speech” clause to the Campus Code of Conduct If any clause restricting “hate speech,” however it is defined, is passed by the U A , it would need the approval of President Pollack to go into effect, which seems unlikely

When white supremacist fliers were posted around the Michigan campus about a year ago, Pollack was adamant that the posters were protected by the First Amendment

“They are protected by free speech, as they should be,” The Michigan Daily quoted her as saying in September of 2016

“Not only do we have a constitutional obligation to allow all speech, no matter how heinous, but if you ’ re going to stand by the First Amendment, you ’ re going to stand by the First Amendment,” she said “But what you have to do then is loudly make known your abhorrence of this ”

Michigan is a public university and therefore legally bound to protect students’ freedom of expression on campus, but in May, just two weeks into her presidency at Cornell, which largely functions as a private university, Pollack made it clear that she planned to bring the same reverence for the First Amendment to Ithaca’s East Hill

“As soon as you start suppressing speech, you open the question of who gets to decide,” she said in May, adding that, “historically, that never goes well ”

In her inaugural address on Aug 25, Pollack said there are some limits to freedom of expression, such as words that incite imminent violence, persistent harassment or actions that disrupt University activities

“ The lines are messy, and debate about them is an appropriate and healthy activity for our universities,” she said

While some BSU members were initially frustrated that they were only able to meet, in the 48 hours following the incident, with the dean of students, Fears later said that Pollack appears to be genuinely receptive to the group ’ s demands

Among the demands that would likely take years of sustained efforts to meet are increasing the number of “underrepresented Black students” at Cornell defined by BSU as black Americans whose great-grandparents live or lived in the U S and creating an anti-racism institute to centralize Cornell’s efforts

to educate students “about the horrors of white supremacy ” Joel Malina, vice president for university relations, declined last week to make Pollack available for comment for this article Black Students United also

demanded that the Psi Upsilon fraternity be permanently banned from campus, that all students found to be involved in the crime be expelled and that the Psi Upsilon fraternity house be converted into a cultural center for

people of the African diaspora Drew Musto ’19 contributed to this story

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs can be reached at nbogel-burroughs@cornellsun com

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Jason Jeong | Jeongism

n Memoriam: Youth & Idealism

y favorite book in elementary school was The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke, a chapter book about a ragtag group of orphans merrily pickpocketing their way through Venice á la Oliver Twist Upon finishing the book, I knew there were two certainties in life: first, that I, too, would one day run away from home to join a scheming, yet kind band of thieves, and that Venice was undoubtedly the most beautiful city in the world Although I had never so much as seen a picture of it, I became smitten with the city For class art projects, I would sketch a colorful metropolis completely submerged in water and stick figures rowing their way door-to-door on long gondolas What is important wasn ’ t so much that I was showing symptoms of earlyonset kleptomania (I also enjoyed Ocean’s Eleven a little too much as a kid), but that I was exhibiting a precursor to the romanticism that came to define my adolescence where ideas and feelings held more gravitas than reason and rationality

I’m writing this piece to commemorate the ever-waning existence of idealistic Jason As I finish my first month of junior year, I find myself reminiscing about a time in which I found meaning and emotion from everything around me I told people I was going to be a subway busker when I was older, geeked out with my friends over how deep the lyrics to “Wish You Were Here” were, and pretended to understand Thoreau in English class But now that I’m in college, all that I have to show for is two professional fraternities and 20 credits of economics classes that has never once come close to addressing the “Emersonian spirit” that was once so important to me

I can blame this disillusionment on a number of factors accepting structural Marxism, being tired from walking up the slope ever yday, slowly acquiescing to nihilism but I find myself a bit melancholy thinking back to a time when I had the luxur y of living in a daydream Attached is a segment found in my personal statement applying to college:

“On my first morning in Salzburg, I woke up two hours before breakfast, and

wandered through the cobblestone streets with an empty stomach and a starving curiosity for the novel world around me

The sun was just peeking over the hills, and its ascension colored the landscape with a palette of crimson and orange The town square, which had been teeming with tourists the previous afternoon, was abandoned Without a map and unencumbered by an agenda, every sense and detail was magnified - the warm fragrance of the nearby cafés setting up shop, the beautiful Austrian sunrise and the unadulterated exhilaration of spontaneity ”

When I first wrote this, I remember verbally congratulating myself on how incredible and “ artsy ” it sounded Fast forward three years, I find myself cringing at the 17-year-old kid who read Gatsby for Honors English 3 and thought he was F Scott Fitzgerald But more than that, I find myself fundamentally unable to connect to the awe-inspiring passion that high school Jason was able to attach to what did I call it? “spontaneity and the blissful promise of adventure” (what does that even mean?) Instead, I just look back at a summer in which I spent in Europe without parental supervision, hurling all over the streets of Salzburg because I didn’t know how strong a Vodka Red Bull was The meetings, exams and various commitments of daily college life have diminished the beauty of my youth to the humdrum minutiae of daily life

It’s funny because although I find myself rolling my eyes at the unbearable naivete of my younger self, post-grad Jason will one day read this and mourn the “glory days” of college It’s possible that my childish idealism is the price I have to pay for acceptance into adulthood Or maybe it’s something that will come in waves directly correlated to the number of events on my Google Calendar Or maybe, in the infinite wisdom of idealistic Jason: “things will be okay, dude ”

Jason Jeong is a junior in the college of Arts and Sciences He can be reached at jjeong@cornellsun com Jeongism appears alternate Wednesdays this semester

l e a n - t o w a s t h a t , s l e e p i n g b a g o r n o s l e e p i n g b a g , I ’d w o rk e d m y s e l f i n t o l a s ti n g s l e e p l e s s n e s s A s I ro l l e d a n d f l o p p e d i n i n c e s s a n t a t t e m p t s t o f i n d a c o m f o r t a b l e p o s i t i o n , I r e m e m b e r e d m y f r i e n d f r o m h i g h s c h o o l , a c e r t i f i e d i n s o m n i a c , w h o w o u l d c o m e t o s c h o o l e a c h d a y w i t h t h e s a m e b a g s u n d e r h e r e ye s a n d t h e s a m e d i s a pp o i n t m e n t s o n h e r f a c e b e c a u s e t h e p h r a s e “ t o m o r row i s a n e w d a y ” l o s e s i t s p o t e n c y w h e n e a c h “d a y ” i s n ’ t s e p a r a t e d by a g o o d n i g h t ’ s re s t Sh e d i d n ’ t e x p e c t h e r s e l f t o g e t o n l y a f e w h o u r s o f s h u te ye a we e k f o r m o n t h s a t a t i m e a n d s h e

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Paul Russell is a junior in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations He can be reached at prussell@cornellsun com Russelling Feathers appears alternate Wednesdays this semester A n o r m a l d

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s t o p l i g h t a n d f o r g e t t i n g w h a t e a c h c o l o r m e a n t .

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In t h e s e c a s e s , yo u r b r a i n d o e s n ’ t s e n d yo u a m e m o o u t l i n i n g a l l yo u ’ ve f o r g o tt e n ; yo u ’ ve j u s t g o t t a f i g u re i t o u t , l i k e s e a rc h i n g f o r f o u n d a t i o n c r a c k s by j u m pi n g a ro u n d a n d w a i t i n g t o f a l l A n o r m a l d a y m e a n t f o r g e t t i n g a f e w l i f e m o m e n t s o r d r i v i n g t o a s t o p l i g h t a n d f o r g e t t i n g w h a t e a c h c o l o r m e a n t Sh e l o s t d e c a d e s o f b u i l t - u p c o n f i d e n c e a n d h a d t o re l e a r n a f e w e a r l y - l i f e l e s s o n s t o g a i n t h a t c o n f i d e n c e b a c k W h e n yo u c a n ’ t t r u s t yo u r b r a i n t o d o w h a t i t ’ s a l w a y s d o n e , yo u r ve r y i d e n t i t y i s p u t o n h o l d a n d yo u w o n d e r i f yo u w i l l c o n t i nu e t o b e w h o yo u t e l l yo u r s e l f yo u a re My s i s t e r ’ s n ow b a c k t o w h e re s h e w a s b e f o re , b u t s h e ’ s l e a r n e d a b i t a b o u t t h e w a y t h i n g s w o rk i n t h e w o r l d I l i k e t o t h i n k I h a ve t o o , f ro m w a t c h i n g o n t h e o u t s i d e W h e n i t g e t s d ow n t o i t , w h e n m o s t o f u s h e a r t h e w o rd ‘ c h a n g e , ’ we t h i n k o f s o m e t h i n g e x t e r n a l , s o m e t h i n g we a d a p t t o Bu t we o u r s e l ve s c h a n g e t o o , a n d we ’ ve g o t t a b e re a d y f o r o u r ow n b o d i e s a n d m i n d s t o d i s a p p o i n t u s T h e m o r n i n g a f t e r m y l e a n - t o s h i ve r s , I h i k e d b a c k t o a s t o re a t t h e s t a r t o f t h e t r a i l a f e w m i l e s a w a y On t h e w a y, I p a s s e d a yo u n g c o u p l e , a n o l d c o u p l e a n d a f e w h a n d f u l s o f m i d d l e a g e d Fre n c h

CORRECTION

A dropdeck for a Thursday ar ticle, "Ithaca Declares Day for Indigenous People," incorrectly stated that the vote was 8-1 In fact, the vote on the full resolution was passed unanimously 9-0 The 8-1 vote was on the amendments that were discussed

By EMILY JONES Sun Staff Writer

1 6 , s h e b e g a n re c re a t i n g f a m o u s p

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d a t e b a c k t o t h e 1 9 6 0 s w i t h t h e

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In s p i re d by t h e w o rk o f s u c h a r t i s t s Ro s a d o h u n g e re d t o c rea t e h e r ow n Sh e b e g a n m a k i n g a r t o u t o f f o o d i n Ma rc h o f 2 0 1 5 T h e i d e a t o u s e c o r n f l a k e s c a m e t o h e r w h i l e e a t i n g b re a kf a s t o n e m o r n i n g , a n d s h e h a s s i n c e ve n t u re d i n t o o t h e r m e d i -

u m s , l i k e t o a s t , w a t e r m e l o n , a n d

b a r b e c u e s a u c e E a c h p i e c e t a k e s s i x t o n i n e

h o u r s o f w o rk , d e p e n d i n g o n i t s

s i ze a n d l e ve l o f d e t a i l At t h i s p a c e , s h e c a n m a k e t h re e p e r we e k , u s i n g p i n s a n d t we e ze r s t o t r a n s p o r t p i e c e s i n t o p l a c e Fo o d a r t e n t a i l s u n i q u e c o ns i d e r a t i o n s C e re a l m ove s re a d il y, m a k i n g i t e a s y t o w o rk w i t h ; o a t m e a l ’ s l i g h t n e s s r e q u i r e s a c o n s c i o u s n e s s o f b re a t h t o a vo i d

s c a t t e r i n g t h e f l a k e s Cr a v i n g a

c h a l l e n g e , R o s a d o s p e c u l a t e s a b o u t s o m e d a y w o r k i n g w i t h l i q u i d s Fo r Ro s a d o , t h e m o s t c h a l -

l e n g i n g a n d re w a rd i n g p a r t s o f

f o o d a r t a re o n e a n d t h e s a m e

Cu l t i va t i n g s p e c k s o f f o o d i n t o c u t e , f u n n y, re a l i s t i c re p re s e n t a -

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

A Special Evening With Dawes

BY NOAH HARRELSON Sun Contributor COURTESY OF DAWES

When I was younger, I didn’t really like going to concerts I wanted my favorite bands to come in, play all of my favorite songs and get out I wanted their songs to sound just like on the record, and I hated when they jammed Performances, like the one Dawes gave Tuesday night, are the reason I outgrew that opinion

The band, known for its folky, sentimental take on americana, hails from Los Angeles (lead singer Taylor Goldsmith is married to Mandy Moore, for you This Is Us fans) I had listened to some of their music before, on the recommendation of a friend, but I was not prepared for how much fun the concert would be

Being cheap, I had gotten a seat back in the balcony It was not ideal, but it gave me a good view of the band and the crowd State Theater is beautiful, with ornate walls and comfortable, red leather seats, but it seemed more suited for The Nutcracker rather than a rock and roll band Fortunately, Dawes are far from rookies and they quickly filled the place with energy They opened their first set with “Quitter,” an upbeat, funky song from t h e i r n e w a l b u m We’re Al l Go n n a D i e

Though the song (and the album as a whole) diverges a great deal from the band’s nostal-

I’d be lying if I said The Killers didn’t have a massive influence on the music I listen to today I still remember the first time I listened to The Killers, back in the third grade when Guitar Hero III was all the rage and “When You Were Young” by The Killers was in the game Essentially, if it weren ’ t for The Killers and their 2006 album Sam’s Town, y music taste would not be what it is and I know that they have also influenced many other people, especially after “Mr Brightside” became an anthem for sober and drunk karaoke, late night drives and most of all, middle school through high school days However, they had not released an album since Battle Born in 2012, which was not up to par with 2008’s Day and Age Contrastingly, Wonderful Wonderful seems to hold promise Prior to the full album’s release, The Killers had released “The Man,” “Run for Cover,” “ Wonder ful Wonder ful” and “Some Kind of Love” as singles, all which saw success Overall, Wonder ful Wonder ful marks either the ending of a book or the beginning of a new chapter for The Killers It’s almost as if they have grown with their fans and are now a band of retired successful, dads that make amazing

gic folk rock past, its lyrics echo the poeticism and honesty from their four previous albums Despite this new sound, they played a good deal of their earlier music, including the cheeky If I Wanted Someone” and the crowd-pleasing “Right On Time ” To be fair, I was not as familiar with their new album as their old ones, but some of my favorite moments from the night were during their n

Punches,” a spirited, enthusiastic song and my favorite off of the new album

The emotional climax, at least for me, came at the close of the first set, when they played my two favorite songs in succession

The first, “A Little Bit Of Ever ything,” is an e m o t i

m No t h i n g Is Wrong If I have one critique of Dawes, it is that their lyrics sometimes stray towards limp truisms (“things happen, it’s all they ever do”) With this song, however, they really nailed it The crowd felt the same way, and many started to leave their seats and congregate at the front As they played the last song, “ When My Time Comes,” the crowd was more excitement than it had been the whole show The band and the crowd fed off each other’s energy until the last chorus, when Goldsmith swung the mic around towards the crowd and let us sing, which we were more than happy to do I really have to praise Dawes for their set list After a high-energy end to the first set,

music We can still hear their familiar guitar sounds and expressive lyrics However, the more spiritual, “ grown-up ” messages that the lyrics in Wonderful Wonderful convey are what set it apart from Day and Age, Hot Fuss and Sam’s Town Most of Wonderful Wonderful is about front man Brandon Flowers’s wife Tana Flowers and her experiences with complex PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) due to a difficult childhood after her mother abandoned her, a theme that strays from previous albums’ youthful, carefree ones

Without a doubt, the first track “Wonderful Wonderful” is about Tana Flowers’s mental health issues with lyrics such as “Motherless child does, thou believe/ That thine afflictions have caused us to grieve?

Motherless Child angels have closed/ Their eyes, thou was thrown away and/ exposed ” However, aside from the fact that the album’s lyrics explore serious themes and conflict, the music is catchy, seamlessly put together and powerful, something that was absent in Battle Bor n However, “ Wonder ful Wonderful” is merely the beginning of Brandon Flower’s heart-

they took full advantage of the crowd’s attention With ever yone congregated in front of the stage, Goldsmith walked out with just a guitar He played a new song, “Crack the Case,” inspired by the political turmoil of the past year It was the first time during the concert that I saw him really slow down; the whole night he had been working the stage, never letting up his momentum In this song, Goldsmith called for a dialogue full of understanding, singing, “I wanna sit with my enemies and say, ‘ we should have done this sooner '” With the lighting down and the audience close together, it was a touching moment, and it displayed the full range of

felt, supportive message to his wife

There are so many emotions present in the album that it’s difficult to pinpoint which track is the densest with feeling However, “Rut” is certainly heavy with raw emotion, history and passion The song opens with Tana’s autotuned voice singing “Don’t give up on me/ ‘Cause I’m just in a rut/ I’m climbing but the walls/ keep stacking up ” Back in 2005, Brandon Flowers canceled shows he was playing as a solo artist and recently revealed that the reason behind this was because Tana was having suicidal thoughts and he wanted to help and care for her Mental illness is never simple to put into words, accept or deal with, and when it comes to a spouse or significant other, a looming question of how much they’re willing to “ put up with” comes into play, which is what “Rut” delves into The song is gentle and reassuring, a perfect, beautiful reminder of unconditional support

Contrastingly, “Run for Cover” is all about politics and Brandon Flowers’s message for the country Flowers originally wrote the song for Day and Age, but did not put it in the album He finished writing it for

emotion that the band could reach After another stripped-down song, I thought they were going to continue that way for the rest of the night, but they soon returned to jamming and kept it up for the rest of the night I will admit that I have not been to many concerts (Mobile, Alabama is not exactly a music hotspot), but Dawes did the best job of any band I have seen in really connecting with the crowd and it made for a really special night

Noah Harrelson is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences He can be reached at nmh65@cornell edu

n e w a n d n o t a b l e m u s i c i n r e v i e w

Wonderful Wonderful, so it therefore refers to both current political issues and those from around 2008 The catchy, distr ustful song also has a music video which follows a couple’s dysfunctional, abusive relationship The woman runs away from the abuse as the man chases after her Eventually, when she appears to be defeated, she throws a Molotov cocktail at his car and watches it burn, which appears to have a deeper meaning given the lyrics and political undertones of the song

Once more straying from Tana and the heavy emotional theme, “The Calling” explores yet another heavy theme: spirituality and The Bible The opening lines of the song are a narration from Matthew 9:10-12 and there are biblical references throughout the song, such as “I walked into town with a message for my old man/ I got the last to chapters of Matthew in my hand” and “His feet still quick when they say they want their money back/ But daddy did you think you could outrun the Holy Ghost? Lie, cheat, steal, hope they fix it all up in post ” The whole song is a reference to the Biblical passage in the beginning in which Jesus says that “’It is not the healthy who

need a doctor, but the sick’ ” The Killers have never shies away from Biblical references For instance, in “This River is Wild,” is full of similar references, but is more focused on the way that spirituality impact one ’ s life, whereas “The Calling” deals with morality

The last track on Wonderful Wonderful, “Have All the Songs Been Written?” features sounds similar to those in “Why Do I Keep Counting,” the penultimate track in Sam’s Town Just as with “Why Do I Keep Counting,” I foresee “Have All the Songs Been Written?” becoming the song on the album that I only listen to past midnight as I stare at the ceiling and drift off to sleep, listening to the exposed vocals and meaningful lyrics

The Killers have per fected their own method to albummaking over the years, but whereas bands tend to rust and let their music lose quality, The Killers only appeared to have fallen into this cycle with Battle Born, only to bounce back with Wonderful Wonderful

Viri Garcia is a sophomore in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences She can be reached at vgarcia@cornellsun com

Absurd, Radical, Fancy: Avant-Gnar and The Way to Move

More than three years after the Vice article which put them on the map (and almost two years after the next Vice article which let everyone know that, yea, they're still hanging around somewhere on that map), skateboarding's least reverent crew, Fancy Lad, released their fourth full-length movie one week ago to much acclaim?

The Fancy Lads are are an amorphous collection of giddily impoverished and moderately talented skate-rats from Boston, whose main schticks include (but God knows are not limited to) inventing vaguely skateboard-related fourwheeled contraptions, not landing their tricks, splicing forgotten VHS clips into their edits, shaky camera-hands and yelling FL4: The Final Chapter, this most recent opus of theirs, brings all of these "techniques" (and so many more) to a sort of inglorious and completely captivating fixation

The movie's "frame story " revolves around a bunch of (literal) Craigslist actors at an audition for FL4 itself, where the lines they (poorly) recite are just variations on the Lads' ad-libs throughout the actual video There's a recurring duo of talking puppets in the shapes of an "F" and an "L," who tell grumpy grandpa jokes about the athletes There's a full segment where "Gnardo," a new crew-member, lands his tricks on his ass more often than on his feet At one point in the movie's first half, there's an interlude in w h i c h a s e n t i e n t b e e rmachine walk-rolls to its death at the hands of one of the Lads, who shotguns a p u n c t u re - w o u n d i n t o i t s chest and leaves it screaming on the ground while some grimy vaporwave beat slowly crescendos (The crew for at least a little bit of explanation lists Narragansett Beer as one of its sponsors )

This is all to say, I guess, that in the Fancy Lad universe, skateboarding is more the medium (or maybe better yet, the excuse) than it is the point The Lads are weirdos first, skateboarders second, filmmakers third and skate-filmmakers, like, twentieth It's why Adult Swim network television's mecca for absurdist humor and stoner comedy wanted to give the crew an opportunity to release a Fancy Lad edit under its auspices, which culminated in 2015's momentous (?) Video History, a seven-minute montage of mind-numbing post-comedic "action" " sports " which still stands as the crown jewel of the Avant-Gnar micromovement

Pegah Moradi

To be a Macklemore fan nowadays is to beget ruthless harassment

Ruthless, but honestly much deserved With his gauche dad-like demeanor, often bluntly unaware lyrics and ostensibly suprawoke politics, Macklemore is undoubtedly the most uncool artist to have ever graced the Billboard Top 100

Maybe it’s because of my proclivity for irony turning into genuine interest, or maybe it’s because of Macklemore’s charming awkwardness, but I’ve stayed a fan since that fateful day that someone sent me the YouTube link to “Thrift Shop ”

Yeah, I said it I like Macklemore Sue me His white guilt is cumbersome and his lyrics are often outrageously basic, but his rich register and storytelling ability more than make up for his inelegant mishaps here and there Macklemore is just, uh, misunderstood Once you really listen to him, you get to know him Once you get to know him, you’ll appreciate him

I thought I had gotten to know Macklemore more than most, but the rapper ’ s latest album, Gemini, is making me reconsider Gemini Macklemore’s first album since his hiatus with long-time partner and producer, Ryan Lewis is a bit of a bizarre mess

Inasmuch as The Heist guided me through my own unfortunate adolescence, Gemini is doing the same for Macklemore

The album is reminiscent of that episode plot from almost every Disney Channel sit-

This term "Avant-Gnar" coined by "CEO" Nick Murray to describe the loosely coagulated handful of crews (Fancy Lad, Beez, Golden Egg) which were releasing leftfield edits around the turn of this past decade is as much a joke as it is a fitting descriptor It's a joke, obviously, because none of these guys take themselves seriously enough to be on the progressive end of anything, let alone a $5 billion industry with close to 12 million worldwide constituents; but it fits because as utterly strange as it seems they are on its vanguard

It's no coincidence that the Lads first made it big with a segment on Adult Swim, or that they've drawn comparisons to the likes of such anti-humorists as Neil Hamburger; with their awkward jump cuts, found-footage ethos, imperfect overdubs and, um, singular deployment of a green screen, they're cut pretty obviously from the same cloth But as with their late-night cartoon(ish) counterparts, the Lads art doesn ' t exist in a vacuum it suffers from a complex and seldom-acknowledged anxiety of influence, whether anyone would like to admit it or not The humor in the comedy of, say, Tim and Eric (perhaps the closest of the Lads' creative relatives) is the result of a classically unholy coupling of smart and dumb, high(brow) and low(brow), praised and forgotten it's conceptual art built up from the mass-mediaturned-rubble of 80s and 90s sitcoms and music videos, the form and function of an infomercial or crummy home movie with the mentality and methods of a postmodernist Like practitioners of early video art, today's best comedians of the absurd among whom you'd better believe I'm placing the Lads make meaning and unmeaning weave in and out of each other by nurturing bizarre associations, visual and otherwise, that are willfully paradoxical and obscure

Where an Adult Swim creation breaks off or rather goes beyond is in the incongruous imposition of narrative onto stuff that will just never make any sense; the humor of Tim and Eric, for example, derives from an always-already fruitless anti-attempt to make the unreadable readable, to inject sense into the willfully nonsensical The only difference with the Lads, then, is that instead of using 80s television as their raw material, they use the sport of skateboarding itself: Give Paul McCarthy's Painter a pair of Etnies and put

com where a main character’s friend leaves and said character spends the entire episode trying to find out who they really are by donning various outfits and trying out a few wild hairstyles

The only difference, though, is that 20 minutes into the Disney Channel show, the character learns that who they are is something they’ve known deep down all along; in Gemini, Macklemore doesn’t get the same idealistic resolution

Gemini features Macklemore testing out a different sounds like one would hats at a department store In “Firebreather” he raps over a numbing, ceaseless rock-and-roll beat, while in How to Play the Flute” the trap beats and riffs are almost indistinguishable from those of a Future track (While we ’ re at it, “diamond, diamond, diamond” sounds way too much like “Jumpman, jumpman, jumpman”) The “Corner Store” trumpets are too close to Chance the Rapper and The Social Experiment for comfort In Marmalade,” Macklemore seemingly gives up; it’s Lil Yachty’s track now Macklemore’s sound-hopping is more than just a series of nods and allusions to other artists: It often feels like sheer confusion as a result of creative bankruptcy “Intentions,” which resembles “old Macklemore” more than most tracks on the album, gives off an aura of helplessness in the midst of uncertainty As Dan Caplen croons in the chorus, “All my little problems keep on buildin’ up, and buildin’ up / All my good

him on food stamps, and you ' ve got yourself a Fancy Lad

To this tune, the Lads' supreme innovation lies in deconstructing what it means to do or play a sport, and presenting us at least with a rubric for something new As it stands in the athletics of today, it seems as though one can either play to win or else work towards making oneself the best you that you can be Neither the former with its glaringly masculinist overtones and "FOOTBALL!"-ish imbrication within broader and not-so-innocuous economies of winners and losers nor the latter wherein going on a run almost physically feels like some Michelle Obama-type figure urging the homines economici in all of us to get up and Move™ leaves much if any room for creative expression outside of an appeal to buy more of your team ' s merchandise and watch them win on your hi-def TV this Sunday

This isn't to say, though, that the sport of skateboarding were it even to drop all associations with the hypercommercialized competitions about which so many polemicists have cried wolf isn't itself caught up more than most of its practitioners would like to admit in a mentality closely not all that unrelated to some other more "mainstream sports " Skaters don't have much grounds for critiquing the shallowness of a baseball game when 99 percent of the sports media we consume is officially sanctioned by this or that company, and it's hard to make fun of those joggers over there in their short-shorts when, in hour eleven of practicing your switch tre, you look down at your G-Shock Watch to realize that you only have five minutes before you have to leave if you want to pick up a Soylent on the way home in time to pre-order the limited edition signed Chris Joslin promodel deck off of The Berrics' website, or whatever

So the genius of Fancy Lad isn't in their creation of new tricks, nor does it necessarily have to do with their irreverence towards skate-culture conventions That's part of it, for sure, but I think their critique of the game gives us more than a wacko alternative to Street League When the Lads miss more tricks than they land, they give us some third option, a way to interact with the concrete world(s) around us in ways that don't entirely depend on getting better, scoring sponsors or even making the trick The point, if we listen to what Fancy Lad is saying, is more about making those unwitting associations with the sidewalks and stair-sets we walk down every day, regardless of whether they're the same ones seen by everyone else

Troy Sherman is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences He can be reached at tsherman@cornellsun com

Pegah Moradi is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences O O O O O O O O O O O O T E S T S P I N S

intentions just ain’t good enough ” Macklemore has good reason to be as confused as he is for a good portion of this album Since gaining international fame, the rapper has been mostly known for two things: Starting out without a label and brashly supporting aggressively mainstream liberal politics But as Macklemore has stated himself, he wanted to divorce himself from politics and the genre ’ s expectations for him to just create the stuff he wants

This admission is notably disingenuous, as Macklemore tries to fit to mainstream rap and trap so much in Gemini that he loses himself in the process Gemini isn’t an attempt at dismantling external expectations, but rather a live confrontation between Macklemore and a life that looks a lot different than it did in 2005, when he dropped the silly and headstrong debut, The Language of my World

Now, Macklemore is a father He’s achieved success that’s a big jump from where he was ten years ago, as celebrated in “Victory Lap” and “Can’t Hold Us,” but not much different from where he was last year when he and Lewis released the impassioned

This Unruly Mess I’ve Made His transition from rugged, earthy youth to goofball to heavy-handed advocate and finally to all-ofthe-above-plus-wholesome-father has been clumsy, to say the least

The result of what I have wildly speculated to be Macklemore’s existential crisis is a slightly sloppy album that feels mostly like

background music, or something you feel like you should like but don’t quite Despite being largely unsatisfactory, Gemini beats the odds here and there

Macklemore thrives most when he dives deeply and carefully into a single subject, whether it’s a 1995 Mariners game, trying to use a fake ID or a fictionalized attempt to defame Jimmy Iovine by breaking into his office and stealing a contract Macklemore’s expertise is specific, clear storytelling, which comes out in tracks like “Zara” and “Corner Store ”

Where the stories are weaker, the features just barely offer much-needed balance Ke$ha and Dan Caplen both offer an everso-rough silkiness that sounds like it tastes like crunchy peanut butter Eric Nelly’s voice is pushed to its limits in the album’s beefy opener, “Ain’t Gonna Die Tonight ” Dave B and Travis Thompson take “Corner Store” from a fun track to a total bop

While Macklemore’s team is marketing Gemini as pure, electric impulse, it comes out more like creative cardboard The listener can ’ t help but compare the album’s dull pop imitations to the Macklemore-Lewis duo’s previous deliciously crude pop-underground hybrids That said, we all go through puberty, I guess, whether physical or artistic I can only hope, then, that Gemini is the means to a fiercer and more rousing end

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Despite Another Victory, Soccer Still Expects More

“Anytime where you don’t feel like you played well and yet you win, you are obviously doing something right ”

e , s t a r t i n g w i t h t h e i r a b i l i t y t o c re a t e c h a n c e s

a f t e r b e i n g d ow n a g o a l t o St Fr a n c i s l a s t Fr i d a y, a g a m e

“We got rattled a little bit, but we maintained our composure as a whole, and we put the game away ”

w h i c h C o r n e l l w o n , 2 - 1

“A n y t i m e w h e re yo u d o n ’ t f e

After 2 Blowout Losses, Cornell Readies for Colgate

Pat Afriyie, senior defensive lineman who was selected as the Pa t r i o t L e a g u e Pr e s e

De

Afriyie posted 10 sacks and 21 tackles-for-loss last year, ranking four th nationally in both categ o r i e s , b u t h i s s t a

Saturday is uncer tain Colgate opened the season on the West coast, traveling to thenNo 23 Cal Poly After coming into the four th quar ter with a commanding lead, Colgate held on for a 20-14 upset victor y But since then, Colgate has been on a skid, dropping its next three games and giving up an average of just under 33 points a

game, including 45 to Furman last week

In both of the Cornell’s losses, it has been a tale of two halves an abysmal opening b u t

i n s t Delaware, and a crisp star t but c

Yale

Combining the second half of Delaware and the first half Yale,

the team was only slightly outper formed, being outscored 2824 Combining the other two halves, however, puts the Red at a minus-48 point differential, being outscored 62-14

“ That’s definitely been a big emphasis this week [on] being able to put together a full game, ” s a i d s e n i o r c a p t a i n a n d l i n ebacker Kur t Frimel “ The coache s a r e e m p h a s i z i n g f i n i s h i n g ever ything we do, finishing all the way through ” And for Cornell, both sides of the ball share a por tion of the blame On offense, troubles have stemmed from a young offensive line that has not been able to protect the offense as well as the team would have hoped

R e i g n i n g f i r s t - t e a m A l l - Iv y

r unning back Chris Walker has only r ushed for 49 yards in the two games combined, averaging just 2 6 yards a carr y And while

again comes back to finishing

“I don’t think the str uggles are about experience I have a ton of faith in these guys on the line and I think ever yone has stepped up to the plate,” he said “I think putting it together and f i n i s h i n g t h ro u g h i s t h e n e x t step we have the talent to win games, just need to see it come together ” On the defensive side, the stor y is even simpler a glaring inability to stop the r un Cornell has given up a whopping 283 5 y a r d s o f r u s h i n g p e r g a m e , including a 300 yard second half against Yale And things will not get much easier with Colgate coming into town, a r un-first offense that averages less than 120 through the air but nearly 150 yards on the ground on the backs of two strong tailbacks

A l e x M a t t h e w s a n d Ja m e s Holland

“We have the talent to win games, [we] just need to see it come together ” H e a d C o a c h D a v i d A r c h e r ’ 0 5

freshman Harold Coles has 112 yards under his name, 90 of those came on one play against Yale that went for a touchdown

In addition, opposing defenses have found junior quar terback Dalton Banks repeatedly, as he has been sacked nine times in the past two games, for a total l o s s o f 6 2 y a r d s B a n k s w a s banged up enough in the Yale game that he had to leave early Archer is confident he will be in t h e l i n e u p c o m e S a t u r d a y, though “ He’s o u t h e r e r u n n i n g around today, he was out here r u n n i n g a r o u n d y e s t e rd a y, s o [he’s good to go] for all indications,” Archer said

While junior offensive lineman Henr y Stillwell, the lone

r e t u r n i n g s t a r t e r o n t h e l i n e from last season acknowledged that the offensive line has not played to its potential, he is not worried about the group ’ s overall youth Rather, the message once

“ That’s our number one focus this week, we ’ ve got to stop the r un That’s all they do,” Frimel said “ They r un the ball, then they tr y to beat you deep on the play-action-pass, so that’s the big focus this week, stop the r un with our front seven ”

It could be easy for a team to get over whelmed by such earlyseason str uggles, but for Archer, the message to his team is clear: take a step back and simplify things

“Sometimes, when you have an older group, you have a tendency to put more in,” Archer said, adding the message to his coordinators is that “If [we] need to pull back [some plays], if there’s too much in, pull back ” Kickoff is set for 1:30 on Saturday in the first of Cornell’s r a r e f o u r c o n s e c u t i v e h o m e games

Jamil Rahman can be reached at jrahman@cornellsun com

CORNELL V

DARTMOUTH V PENN COLUMBIA V.

V

Spor ts

Strikers Extend Win Streak to 3

By JACK BRONSKY Sun Contributor

Red Seeking 1st Win Against Colgate

By JAMIL RAHMAN Sun Assistant Sports Editor

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President Donald Trump laced the NFL with discord this weekend after statements he made to an Alabama crowd Friday night regarding the decision by some players to kneel during the national anthem before games

To be quite honest, it pains me to even have to write this column The fact that the words “President Trump” and “football” could even be in the same sentence is evidence of an issue in itself I could sit here and write cheeky attacks such as, “the president should stick to his busy schedule of grabbing pussies and insulting war heroes,” but I will do my best to hold back on that front

Instead, let us take a measured look at the president’s comments and the implications of this weekend’s events for the NFL and the country

Taken at face value, what the president said on Friday raises a lot of questions Are people exercising their constitutional rights by kneeling? Is their message of racial

injustice an important one to send? These questions are very significant, and their answers have heavy implications But they are conversations for another time, and are better answered by a writer in The Sun’s opinion section

What is important to me here is the use of football, a sport that is near and dear to my heart, as a political tool The president has a brand of divisiveness; he has a well documented history as a polarizing figure that need not be detailed in this column But in weaponizing football for political gain, Trump has caused the NFL community to unite in opposition Even the president’s own friend Bob Kraft, the New England Patriots owner who gave the president a Super Bowl ring at the White House last month, condemned his comments as unnecessarily divisive

The statements from Kraft and other owners, both in press releases and on the field this weekend, essentially all amount to the same thing: mind your own business Football is a force for good in communities around the country, and nothing the president can say will ever change that So with a pretty universal response from the league in opposition, it begs the question, why did the president say what he said?

It seems that Trump’s goal here is two-fold First, to galvanize his base around an issue with which they largely agree: People should stand for the national anthem At its core, this is a statement that does not sound so crazy If he had said it that way, I might have even agreed Yes, people probably should stand for the national anthem in general

Trump’s second goal is easier: bait the media into sensationalizing what he says And, like the other two or three dozen times this has happened, it worked like a charm CNN and others like them went to town on Trump for saying something crazy What the media heard was “ get that son of a bitch off the field!” What his base heard was “people should stand for the national anthem ” It does not matter to them that he said a whole lot more than that And therein lies the problem that the president has created

The owners are right Football is a great thing for this countr y And the fact that the president would make such vicious statements about the NFL is evidence that the contentious discourse in this countr y has gone too far Even here, on this campus, it seems that the divisiveness has trickled down to ever y facet of the community Perhaps we can all use football and sports in general as an example in uniting against that ver y idea