10 13 16 entire issue hi res

Students Critique Careerism Culture

Say parental expectations, tuition payoff concerns drive professionalism

By ANNA DELWICHE Sun Staff Writer

“You’re a classics major? Oh, it’s your money Well, have fun not having a job ” These are the comments that Erial

By JOSH GIRSKY Sun News Editor

After using disposable plates and utensils for the first seven weeks of classes in an effort to conserve water, Cornell dining halls have turned their dishwashers on again to serve food up on standard plates

Restricting water usage for over a month this fall due to Ithaca’s severe water crisis, Cornell’s Drought Incident Management Team decided this week that the water which has been saved on campus would mitigate increased water usage in dining halls, according to Director of Campus Life Marketing and Communications Karen Brown

However, Brown emphasized that, over the next few

Zheng ’18 has grown accustomed to hearing since she switched from a biology major to classics in her sophomore year With the emergence of the College of Business and Cornell Tech in New York City, many students say they feel an atti-

tude of careerism is growing among Cornell’s undergraduates Some even question if the University is transforming into a vocational school, according to Prof See CAREER page 5

months, the University will continue to work to conserve water She noted that ice machines that used potable water have been eliminated and new lowflow showerheads have been installed across residential facilities on campus

In addition, Cornell Dining will still save water in other ways, such as manually scraping food waste before washing dishes rather than using a constant stream of water

“Cornell Dining and Campus Life continue to do our part to conserve water, ” Brown said “While we’ll be using china and flatware to be washed in our dish machines, we will maintain other processes that we ’ ve put in place to conser ve water ”

Although the decision to use disposable plates and utensils in dining halls saved water, it was costly, both financially and to the environment, according to the

University School officials have recommended that people all over campus campus must continue to consider how they can limit their water usage

Over the summer, the

University stopped watering its lawns and power washing buildings In research labs, reducing the use of materials that need to be cleaned with

water has helped the University reduce usage by 20 percent compared to last year, The Sun previously reported

Students have also been asked to consider how they can save water, such as limiting energy usage and doing laundry less often

“It’s important that ever yone contributes by making small daily changes so we all thrive together,” Cornell’s sustainability communications and integration manager Sarah Br ylinsky previously said “For example, cutting down shower times to five minutes can save up to 25 gallons a day per person, which is a huge contribution

Daybook

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Cornell Plantations Fall Lecture Series: The Class of 1945 Lecture Featuring Wade Davis, Ph D 7:30 p m , Alice Statler Auditorium

Fuertes Observatory Open House 8 - midnight, Fuertes Observatory

SHIPMENT RELEASED TO JOIN

Classifications: Tabriz, Kashan, Kerman, Qum, Isfahan, Bidjar, Long

SUNDAY OCTOBER 23 AT 1:00 P.M. INSPECTION AT 12:30 P.M.

Mental Health Awareness Week Aims to Combat Stigma

With week of events, organizers plan to initiate dialogue, showcase resources and ‘give people pause ’

By EMMA LI Sun Contributor

l e

t o t h e m , ” s a i d M a t t h e w I n d i m i n e ’ 1 8 , S t u d e n t A s s e m b l y e xe c u t i v e v i c e p re s i d e n t a n d o n e o f t h e o r g a -

n i z e r s o f t h e e v e n t T h e t h e m e f o r Me n t a l He a l t h Aw a re n e s s We e k t h i s y e a r i s “ # St o m p O u t St i g m a , ” i n h o p e s t h a t i t w i l l u r g e

s t u d e n t s t o u t i l i z e re s o u r c e s , s e e k h e l p a n d b e w i l l i n g t o o p e n l y d i s c u s s m e n t a l h e a l t h , b o t h a m o n g t h e m s e l v e s a n d w i t h t r a i n e d p r o f e s s i o n a l s , a c c o rd i n g t o Ja n e t

Sh o r t a l l , a s s o c i a t e d e a n o f s t u d e n t s a n d d i re c t o r o f E A R S

Ac c o rd i n g t o Sh o r t a l l , n o t o n l y w i l l t h i s w e e k

“The primary goal of Mental Health Awareness Week is to apprise all students of the resources available to them ”

s e r v e a s a w a y t o p re s e n t t h e d i v e r s e re s o u r c e s a v a i la b l e o n c a m p u s , b u t i t c a n a l s o f u n c t i o n a s a re m i n d e r t h a t e v e r y o n e s h o u l d t a k e t i m e t o a s s e s s h i s o r h e r q u a l i t y o f m e n t a l h e a l t h

M a t t h e w I n d i m i n e ’ 1 8

T h e w e e k w i l l b e g i n w i t h Sp a Ni g h t o n Fr i d a y a t

Wi l l a rd St r a i g h t H a l l a n d f e a t u re a v a r i e t y o f a c t i v i t i e s f o r s t u d e n t s , f r o m p l a n t i n g l u c k y b a m b o o t o re c e i v i n g h e n n a t a t t o o s Ac c o rd i n g t o Sh o r t a l l , Sp a Ni g h t i s a p r o g r a m i n t e n t i o n a l l y d e s i g n e

“There has been a 20 percent increase in students accessing EARS counseling service ”

J a n e t S h o r t a l l

Emma Li can be reached at exl6@cornell edu

By JOSH GIRSKY Sun News Editor

A new Cornell nonprofit offers entrepreneurial students the opportunity to spend their winter break learning programming skills in a startup setting

TAVtech teaches students of all skill levels to

c o d e w h i l e a b ro a d i n Israel Originally comprised of almost exclus i v e l y s t u d e n t s f r o m Har vard and New York University, the organization decided to include Cornell students for this winter’s trip

world ”

Students learn new skills from a curriculum that is taught by instructors who Hayes said can relate to students and remember what it was like to learn the code themselves

In addition, the curriculum includes

“There are so many students who have passionate interests beyond their courses ”

P h i l H a y e s

Cofounder of TAVtech, Phil Hayes, said the program allows people to have a positive impact and learn valuable programming skills that are increasingly relevant in today’s economy

“ There are so many students who have passionate interests beyond their courses They want to have a positive impact in some way, shape or form,” he said “Yet we ’ re also noticing this massive skills gap where students just may not have all the skills necessar y to build in this case software that is so integral now to our economy and how things work in the

like learning iOS and A

usually taught in a four week course

H a y e s a d d e d t h a t Israel is an ideal envir o n m

n g about new companies, pointing out that the countr y has more startups per capita than anywhere else in the world The setting also allows students in the program to meet with other parts of the startup economy, s u c h a s v e n

u p founders and work in startup labs at local universities

“Israel has this unbelievable startup economy It’s been recognized as the startup nation,” he said “It has a really healthy and thriving ecosystem that’s building ver y successful companies that are launching on a global scale ” Hayes said that he believes that being abroad also helps the learning process

One of his personal beliefs is that the greatest learning happens when one is placed in a totally different environment

A l t h o u g h TAV t e c h w a s o r i g i n a l l y geared toward students with little background knowledge in computer science, Hayes said that now the program has expanded and will allow students of all backgrounds to improve their skills While beginner students can learn the basics, the

instructors also have deep knowledge in various advanced areas, such as bitcoin and a

,

m o re advanced students to be engaged as well

While the deadline to apply was originally Oct 10, the deadline has been extended for Cornell students to Oct 17

Josh Girsky can be reached at jgirsky@cornellsun com

Profs Note Growth of Professional Majors

CAREER Continued from page 1

Charles Van Loan, computer science

Even within the College of Arts and Sciences, the liberal arts college, the two most popular majors economics and biological sciences are pre-professional majors, noted Jen Maclaughlin, assistant dean and director for Arts and Sciences career development center

For a growing number of students at Cornell, the undergraduate experience has become defined by attaining a prestigious career after graduation

For Prof Michael Fontaine, classics, however, called the path to academia something he stumbled into, and not a track he consciously planned as an undergraduate Because of the requirements set by his college and a freedom to explore his academic interests, Fontaine chose a class called “Greek Sacrifice,” thinking the class would center on human sacrifice

Although his prior thoughts were incorrect, as the Greeks never actually practiced human sacrifice, Fontaine cites the class as shaping his undergraduate experience a class he had taken simply because of the title and his mild interest for Greek mythology

“I just fell in love with the ideas and the literature I had never read any of that before And at the end of the semester, the professor said ‘If you like this stuff, I’m going to be teaching beginning Greek in the spring,’” he said “I thought ‘why not take Greek ’ I will never forget that ” Fontaine began his undergraduate education considering a pre-medical track, but said he never felt the expectation or obligation to adhere to this course of study, particularly because of the support he received from his parents to follow his interests wherever they led He also credits the culture of the 1990s for his ability to explore, without experiencing the economic pressures that can daunt today’s students

Van Loan agreed with Fontaine, saying the current economy and the effect of the Great Recession greatly impact the way undergraduate students at Cornell view their education

“There’s so much instability in the world now and nervousness about unemployment,” Van Loan said “I think it’s really pronounced now I would say that in my day, we had it much easier than [today’s] generation ”

The cost of a Cornell education certainly plays a role in these economic pressures An emphasis on the return in investment, particularly from parents, often shapes the undergraduate experience

“I’ve had many students sit in that chair and tell me that they would love to study more classics, for example, but their parents won ’ t pay their tuition unless they do engineering or pre-med,” Fontaine said “Or their parents will say you cannot go to Cornell if you ’ re not going to study something practical

”

The combination of parental pressure and the cost of Cornell were both factors compelling Zheng to initially decide to pursue a pre-med track

“I never really went into pre-med because I had this burning desire to be a doctor I can ’ t even stand the sight of my own blood,” she said “I just did it because it was the expectations of my parents and my parents ’ friends and everyone else who was saying ‘I’m doing pre-med,’ so I

thought I had to do pre-med too ” Zheng ultimately left the major after feeling apathy in many of her classes taking required classes to “ get [them] over with” and fueled by concerns about her GPA Since then, she said she “switched to classics and never looked back ”

“Maybe I just don’t have the scientific mind or the medical drive to finish this,” Zheng said “That’s something I’ve accepted for who I am: I am not meant to be a doctor, but it’s ok ”

Arlinda Shehu ’18 also said she understood the profound role parental pressure can play in choosing a major, particularly as an immigrant to the United States

“My parents put all their dreams on me For them, it’s to be able to pick a career or a job that will support not just them later on, but also my sister Something that’s practical,” Shehu said “We didn’t come all the way to the United States just for me to become an artist or for something that’s not as practical: that doesn’t get you a good job ”

Shehu is currently a philosophy and psychology double major, planning to attend law school after she graduates Although she is interested in becoming a professor, Shehu said she is planning on pursuing something “practical” immediately after she graduates, and possibly chasing a career in academia later in life

Economic pressure has also changed the way students view the very concept of a major Instead of being simply “ your major subject of study,” as Fontaine defines the focus, a major has become a means to employment, an expression of a student’s ultimate career ambition

“There’s the misconception that students are thinking that they have to do the major in order to get the career path,” Maclaughlin said “Any time that you ask employers, they are looking for skill sets, not certain classes ”

These skill sets, which Maclaughlin says can be attained in pursuing a liberal arts education, will serve millennials best in the future, when it is “critical to think about the skills need[ed] in my career not just my job immediately after graduation two, five years out, ” she said

Maclaughlin refers to the fluid nature of the job market and the variable patterns of this generation of students as indicators demonstrating why she values a liberal arts education

“Millennials are switching jobs so much more, ” she said “Babyboomers would start a job and stay in the company for their whole career Millennials are just not doing that ” Van Loan also emphasized the uncertainty and volatility of the job market, urging students to pursue their interests rather than being governed by transient employment trends

“Whatever interests you, just go after it That’s one way of helping to guarantee your success in the job market,” Van Loan said “If you come across as broad, articulate, you know the big picture these things work to your advantage ”

Despite these admonitions of careerism and encouragement urging students to follow their true passions, Fontaine said that unless economic pressures relax, it is unlikely that professional trends will reverse in the near future

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Independent Since 1880 134TH EDITORIAL BOARD

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Nukes and Your Future President

Ithink we often forget just how terrifying nuclear weapons actually are They may be fun to see used in films, but never in re a l i t y T h e t w o b o m b s d ro p p e d Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain the only ever nuclear devices used in warfare and, as anyone who has taken high school history knows, the results were beyond catastrophic Tens of thousands of people died from the blasts alone, with many tens of thousands more dying from radiation years later Exact numbers are uncertain, but estimates state that about 80,000 and 40,000 people were killed by the explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively That’s close to 120,000 people whose lives were destroyed by only two bombs That number does not even take into account the fatalities caused by lingering injuries or radiation poisoning, which about doubled the death toll in Nagasaki Regardless of whether you think the dropping of the bombs was justified, there is no a r g u i n g t h e i r u s e w a s b e yo n d c a t astrophic to the cities and people involved

Editorial

Hillary Clinton For President

THIS ELECTION CYCLE has been bitter and divisive The last debate showcased ugly language and personal attacks that have no place in a presidential forum; a deluge of leaks, ranging from emails to tapes, has shown Americans who their candidates are behind closed doors Both mainstream candidates and third party alternatives have continually been forced to justify gaffes, offensive language and scandals on the campaign trail From the early days of the primary to today, less than a month until Nov 8, this has proved to be an election season like no other

After the nearly constant mudslinging and abundant controversies this past year, we at The Sun believe there is only one candidate capable of serving as our nation’s commander in chief We endorse Hillary Clinton for the presidency We endorse her not only because of a dearth of serious candidates this election cycle, but in acknowledgement of her long history of dedicated, sincere and impactful public service

When it comes to protecting the rights of Americans regardless of race, religion, gender or class, Clinton has demonstrated her commitment to the cause Besides the fact that she would be the country ’ s first female president, she has championed women ’ s rights by advocating for equal pay, and worked as a lawyer and first lady on passing legislation behalf of children Furthermore, she, like Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick ’09, supports embracing refugees In an interview with NBC, Clinton said in her first term as president, she would take in 65,000 refugees, helping to alleviate the worldwide refugee crisis

Clinton’s values stand in sharp contrast to those of the Republican nominee, Donald J Trump, who has repeatedly expressed racist, Islamophobic and misogynist tendencies A vote for the Trump, Gov Mike Pence (R-Ind ) ticket is a vote for legislated hate, targeting substantial portions of the American populace This bigotry has become appallingly apparent in the release of the Trump tape, the candidate’s proposed “ extreme vetting” of Muslims as well as Pence’s abysmal record on social issues as a governor In considering the future of the United States’ Supreme Court, immigration and foreign policy, it becomes increasingly clear that many Americans simply cannot afford to live in Trump’s America

Only one candidate this fall embodies the strong egalitarian and progressive tradition of Cornell University Many students will be participating in their first presidential election this November As voter registration deadlines approach, we at The Sun urge our fellow Cornellians to participate in and preserve our democracy by casting a ballot for Hillary Clinton

not have been able to escape the blast radius in time I think it’s fair to say that the bombs we now possess are at the very least as strong as what was created in the ’60s Whenever we hit an election cycle, this should be considered, because if even one of these weapons were to be deployed in a military engagement, it would plunge the world into utter chaos I can say without a single doubt in my mind that nuclear devices of any sort should never be used again by any nation One of our two candidates (sorry Gary Johnson) will have access to these weapons, and Donald Trump has brought up their use on multiple occasions He has stated that he would not rule using nukes against ISIS and has asked Chris Matthews “Then why are we making them?” with the implicit unsaid of “If we don’t intend to use them?” What’s more, he appears to be fine with the idea of other countries developing their own nuclear weapons, telling Chris

ump’s attitude is, quite frankly, incredibly and naïve It is the attitude of a man who no conception of what these weapons can ally do All Trump sees is a big bomb, not single devices that will wipe out cities and change the course of the world.

Now c o nsider that the t w o b o m b s d ro p p e d o n Ja p a n a re nothing compared to the ones we now possess The strength of nuclear devices is typically measured in their blast yield, i e how much TNT you would need to replicate the e x p l o s i o n T h e b o m b d ro p p e d o n Hiroshima, dubbed “Little Boy,” had a blast yield of about 15 kilotons of TNT, which is utterly absurd if you think about it That’s 30,000 pounds of worth explosive power

Scary, right? Well, that is absolutely nothing compared to the thermonuclear devices developed after wards While I doubt anyone besides high ranking military officials have the exact numbers on thermonuclear bombs as of now, we can at least estimate from the Soviet Union In 1961 Russia tested something known as the “Tsar Bomb,” the biggest thermonuclear device ever detonated This bomb had a blast yield of 50 megatons of TNT 50 megatons That’s about 3,333 times the blast yield of Little Boy The explosion could be seen from a distance of 100 miles and could be felt even further away And here’s the fun little kicker, the Tsar Bomb carried half the explosive load it was designed for So, all said and done, it could have been a 100 megaton bomb Imagine if that were dropped on a city Incidentally, part of the reason for not detonating the full yield was because the bomber would

Wallace, “It’s not like, gee whiz, nobody else has them ”

I understand that the president has to consider the use of our nuclear capabilities, but I would hope any sane individual would then rule them out as an option Trump’s attitude is, quite frankly, incredibly blasé and naïve It is the attitude of a man who has no conception of what these weapons can actually do All Trump sees is a big bomb, not single devices that will wipe out cities and change the course of the world It’s absurd to think nuclear weapons are a viable option when fighting ISIS The bombs dropped on Japan helped precipitate the end of WWII because we were fighting a nation, not a guerilla army who can move to a different base of operation And that’s not even considering the incalculable the collateral damage to innocent lives a nuclear bomb will cause So, even if you don’t think Trump is racist, misogynist or just an all around terrible person, at least consider these comments and think about whether you want this man in control of something with the world-ending power of the Tsar Bomb

Soren Malpass is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences He can be reached at skm94@cornell edu Sorenity Now appears alternate Thursdays this semester

Dining Guide

By OLIVIA LUTWAK Sun Staff Writer

“Is this vegan?” That was a question I never thought I would be asking, yet here I was, staring expectantly and halfembarrassedly at the Trillium salad employee who let me know that yes, the honey dijon dressing I obsessed over every day was, in fact, vegan

I wouldn’t call myself a meat lover, but I do eat meat on almost every occasion I’m picky about the types of meat I like, and when I can, I try to only eat meat that’s been locally sourced The pretentious Ithacan in me would call myself a locavore; the honest journalist in me would say that I occasionally pretend not to notice the labels on the packaged meat I buy

When I was growing up, I cooked almost entirely vegetarian dishes However, I supplemented my vegetarian-cooking diet with frequent meat-filled lunches and Thai takeout It got me wondering: could I actually survive as a real vegetarian? Would I crave meat too much? Is it even feasible?

What if I took it a step further and went vegan? Living in Ithaca, a town filled with vegans, I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to find vegan food at most places

And thus, the concept of my week of veganism was born To be clear, this is not an article on the morals of going vegan For my purposes, I really don’t care about the ethical background of not eating animal products I care about weighing the costs and benefits and documenting my week-long vegan journey

Monday

Full disclosure: I actually had intended to begin my vegan diet on Sunday, but I couldn’t figure out how to deal with a vegan hungover Sunday brunch I wasn ’ t willing to alter my brunch plans, so I figured that I better start my veganism with an easier challenge

My only food-related plan Monday morning was getting my pre-work coffee I had learned the night before that Starbucks caramel drizzle was not vegan, so I decided against an iced caramel

Your source for good food

Vegan for aWeek

macchiato (my summer favorite)

I sent a text to my occasionallyvegan, nutrition major friend: “Iced soy vanilla latte Vegan?”

You would think that as someone who consumes food on a daily basis and who has a basic understanding of the word “ vegan, ” I would be able to determine for myself whether or not something fell under that category, but you’d be wrong As it turns out, soy milk, vanilla syrup and espresso are all vegan, so I was set with my morning coffee

My go-to campus lunch is a Trillium salad My typical order is light on the vegetables, heavy on the meat, cheese and eggs Overaware of everything I was ordering, I became paranoid Was hummus vegan? Were onions? I was so nervous I would mess up my veganism during my first meal, but I was eventually successful, swapping out my usual chicken for tofu and getting hummus instead of cheese and eggs Overall, the salad tasted almost exactly the

this whole vegan thing after less than 48 hours But I stuck with it, and was actually pleasantly surprised: fried rice with tofu (and no egg) was the most filling thing I had had in my vegan journey thus far It was almost as unhealthy and delicious as the meat-eater ’ s version I considered just eating that for every meal the rest of the week, but I decided that that wouldn’t make for a good story (or a happy bank account)

Wednesday

I felt a little more positive about my vegan journey after the fried rice dish I had heard that Synapsis was a good vegan lunch spot, so I decided to try it Synapsis dishes have the option of something called “ vegan cheese ” I had no idea what that was, nor did I really want to find out (for the record, it’s a weird substance made out of soy protein) My options were either to get a pizza covered in vegan cheese, or pasta with a sample size

employee that I couldn’t eat goat cheese, she allowed me to get vegan mozzarella instead I still wasn ’ t sold on the concept of vegan cheese, but it was a decentenough substitute

My friend had a Chipotle gift card, and the quality of vegan Chipotle was obviously something that I needed to assess, so we picked some up for dinner I’m already a picky Chipotle eater I hate beans and their assortment of vegetables so my vegan order was not the giant pile of food most Chipotle consumers are looking for It consisted of rice, sofritas (which I had always wanted to try, and which was actually pretty good), mild salsa and guacamole (which I never get, but my bowl looked so empty that I felt forced to pay the extra money)

Definitely not worth it

Friday

I made the fantastic (and lateto-the-game) discover y that

same as usual Maybe I could do this

I ran into some road bumps with dinner A group of friends and I had planned to go out to dinner that night; however, the consensus was to go to Ithaca’s latest poor excuse for a restaurant, Texas Roadhouse, where even the salads contain chicken and steak I then had to give the fakest-sounding excuse of my life: I had to cancel dinner plans because, starting that day, I was briefly going vegan so I could write about it I’m not sure if anybody believed me

Tue sday

I was already really missing meat and cheese For lunch, I went to Bus Stop Bagels, but I had to forego the best part of any bagel: cream cheese Instead, I got hummus on a Long Island bagel I was starving again before I even finished classes For dinner, I had to do one of the most painful things I’ve ever done: order fried rice from Taste of Thai Express with no egg Egg is the best part of fried rice I put egg in almost everything, but I consider it absolutely essential to rice Typing “ no egg, please!” in the Grubhub request line was almost enough to make me call off

of the fake dairy substitute I went with the latter, getting penne with vegan garlic sauce If I didn’t think too hard about the vegan cheese, I could almost pretend it was real cheese that had just been made incorrectly

That night I decided to actually cook something for dinner I find that cooking vegan is much easier than ordering vegan is I even have a couple of favorite vegan recipe blogs: Minimalist Baker and Thug Kitchen I typically find that curries are the best vegan food to cook because they use coconut milk already, and then you can throw in whatever vegetables or proteins you have on hand I attempted to make sweet potato noodles with a spiralizer and then made a curry to go on top Since I’m used to avoiding raw meat when I cook, it was pretty easy to forget the dish was vegan

Thursday

I decided to tr y Bus Stop Bagels again, armed with the knowledge that vegan cheese exists I ordered one of their signature bagels with olive spread, arugula and goat cheese At first, I was told I couldn’t make any substitutions, but after I told the

update: it’s really good), rice, dumplings, salad and edamame Plum Tree is now my favorite lunch spot in Collegetown, vegan or otherwise

My cousin was in town that weekend, so I took him to Moosewood When I told him I was taking him to an all-vegetarian restaurant, he was extremely apprehensive and so was I, to be honest But I knew that I couldn’t write this article without going to Ithaca’s nationallyrenowned vegetarian restaurant

The menu was really small and featured daily specials I ordered two small plates: tofu wings and a hummus plate I honestly didn’t expect to be blown away, but I was Once again, I completely forgot that what I was eating was vegan, despite my general anger toward anything meatless marketing itself as a “wing ” They were almost (not quite) better than real chicken wings I also ordered the first dessert of my vegan experience: vegan chocolate cake It was a little denser than regular chocolate cake, but I had been missing chocolate so much that I didn’t care

Sunday

By this point, I felt confident enough in my vegan abilities to do hungover br unch I went to Northstar, which is one of my favorite brunch places, expecting them to have at least a few vegan options However, their menu was pretty bare in vegan options I had the option of a veggie burger or huevos rancheros with tofu scramble instead of eggs I went with the latter, but almost cried watching my friends eat cheesy grits and bacon If you can ’ t successfully have Sunday brunch as a vegan, then I really see no point in it

Conclusion

Manndible offers Curr y Bar Fridays, so I was quick to try their tofu curry sans yogurt dressing Curry is easily my favorite food, and it was pretty good for a quick lunch

My friend had been bugging me about getting Italian food for days, so that night we went to Ciao I’m declaring it right now: Ciao is the best non-vegan restaurant for vegans Ciao isn’t known for its vegan dishes, but it has a separate vegan menu that you can ask for upon being seated I got the eggplant manicotti with vegan cheese, and it was so good that I panicked for a minute thinking they had made a mistake and it wasn ’ t actually vegan But it was vegan, it was just really good I realized that up until this point, I had been associating vegan food with bad food, and that doesn’t have to be the case

Saturday

I got lunch at Plum Tree, and once again fell in love with vegan food I ordered their tofu teriyaki lunch box, which is maybe the best deal in all of Collegetown It costs $8 95 and comes with the tofu teriyaki (which I dreamt about for weeks after), vegetarian sushi (I had never had sushi before

This week was a test of will and stamina, but I survived it I think, overall, being vegetarian is doable I had quite a few really good tofu dishes, and continued to eat tofu after my vegan week concluded However, foregoing cheese, milk and eggs is really awful and not something I would wish on my worst enemy

A few places really succeeded in ser ving vegan food: Ciao and Moosewood were by far the best restaurants I went to You’ll forget that you aren ’ t eating meat and dairy On campus, Trillium salads were still the best, but Synapsis and Manndible had good vegan options as well

Overall, I saw no real health benefits or benefits of any kind, other than being able to say I could do it of going vegan, although granted this experiment only lasted a week While I can ’ t personally endorse giving up dairy, I think the moral of the story is to try something new, branch out and believe that you have the willpower (and will only cry once or twice) to give up some of the best categories of the food pyramid

30 Songs Until Election Day

D C F C , s p o k e a b o u t a p a rt i c u l a r m o m e n t i n Tr u m p ’ s c a m p a i g n t h a t d e e p l y t ro u -

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Not Your Typical Trainwreck

BY GWEN AVILES Sun Staff Writer

Had you said anything negative about Edward Cullen around me circa 2008, you would have been slapped Like many repressed 13-year-old girls, I found Edward to be the perfect embodiment of the male species, a possessive, jealous, sparkling blood-sucker: what more could anyone want?

Admittedly the only obstacle separating us was his fictionality When the realization finally set in that I was obsessed with someone I had never and would never meet, I reached out to my life gurus on Yahoo Answers for guidance How could my heart rest knowing I would be kept from my soulmate forever because we weren ’ t on the same page?

Fiction readers’ allegiances for their favorite characters are something to be marveled at While I was preparing myself for a life of celibacy without Edward, others were busy getting Harry Potter’s face tattooed on their forearms or naming their children after beloved dramatis personae (resulting in Katniss becoming the 14th most popular baby girl’s name in the United States in 2014)

Some may view this behavior as extreme on a generous day, and batshit crazy on a regular one, but as the author Charlie Lovett once said, “ a good book is like a good friend ” In reading, characters become real entities, their stories extensions of our own

If books are our friends, then it makes sense that The Girl on the Train readers don’t want anyone messing with their clique After Friday’s release of the movie based on Paula Hawkins’ 2015 novel, uproarious readers took to Twitter to air their dissatisfaction with director Tate Taylor’s (Pretty Ugly People and The Help) cinematic interpretation of the best-selling thriller Readers’ consensus was that the book did not compare to the movie, with a number of viewers stating that they found the movie so devoid of merit they walked out of it in the middle

Though I am usually of the ideology that “the book is always better than the movie,” The Girl on the Train inspires a different reaction It’s true that the movie does not capture the nuances of the novel Time constraints require fast pacing, and as a result, The Girl on the Train becomes predictable and didactic with a storyline that can no longer be categorized as mystery Viewers know from its outset that Tom Watson ( Justin Theroux) is the murderer, whereas readers of the novel were forced to scurry down a circumspect path to attain this revelation However, the film did not completely tank like Thomas as critics would have you believe Its patent plot allows for greater emphasis on gaping psychological surveys of the victims an ultimately more satisfying focus in a genre that has previously relied on a stagnant “whodunit” schema

The Girl on the Train features a troika of female characters, each played by acting powerhouses Female leads are usually held to some feminine ideal They are perfect, and if they have in fact stumbled somewhere along the way, the journey to recovery is clear What’s different about The Girl on the Train, however, is that it honors its characters’ flaws It is not only concerned with cursory details of female identity, but with exploring the quotidian experiences of women It does not abhor the domestic, it embraces it, and in doing so renders it valid fodder for art

Rachel Watson (Emily Blunt) is a certified mess Crippled with grief over her ex-husband starting a family with another woman, Rachel turns to alcohol to cope While sipping on vodka from a water bottle on her daily commute from Ardsley to New York City, she develops a fixation with Megan (Haley Bennett) and Scott Hipwell (Luke Evans), a couple that resides on the street she lived on before her divorce Rachel idealizes Megan and Scott as the perfect couple, until she spots Megan kissing a man that is not her husband The next day, Megan has gone missing

Blunt’s portrayal of Rachel is a tour de force, equally devastating and frightening Though readers of the book are certain she did not kill Megan, her performance arouses doubt in her innocence nonetheless For the majority of the movie, Blunt is reserved She may shake and slur her speech, two behaviors characteristic of alcoholics, but her ability to function with addiction makes Blunt’s depiction all the more realistic She has normalized her dependence, trivialized getting fired from her job and hanging out in bars

But Blunt doesn’t play to the caricature; her approach to acting as Rachel is holistic Though Rachel is indeed an alcoholic, her characterization is not defined by her addiction: it is defined by self-loathing She is an alcoholic because she’s in pain and she’s in pain because she’s an alcoholic

Haley Bennett as Megan gives an equally formidable performance She appears to be the typical femme fatale, a stock character the audience can ’ t take seriously However, when she reveals to her psychologist that she doesn’t want to have a baby with her husband because her first child died when she was 17, the audience is gripped by her layers of depth Pain manifests itself in different ways For some, like Rachel, it is visible and for others like Megan, it is hidden deep within crevices no one even knew existed Bennett’s candor is a reminder of the limitations of sight

The author of The Girl on the Train herself said “There’s no such thing as a 100 percent faithful adaptation of a book to screen ” The mediums call for different tactics and methods to engage their diverse audiences To satisfy a large fan base is nearly impossible, and if we learned anything from Aesop’s Fables, it’s that you can ’ t please everyone But though The Girl on the Train does not exactly mirror its literary counterpart, it encapsulates the spirit of the novel as well as the crux of its tensions perhaps the best readers can hope for when their favorite book finds itself on the wrong side of the tracks

Gwen Aviles is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences She can be reached at gaviles@cornellsun com

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Red’s Offense Unable to Find Groove Over Break

By SHAN DHALIWAL Sun Assistant Sports Editor

The women ’ s soccer team (3-72, 0-2-1) finished fall break winless with a 0-0 tie to Harvard (7-31, 2-0-1) and a 1-0 loss to Colgate (5-6-3) With four games left in the season all against Ivy opponents the Red’s quest for an Ivy championship is still a possibility but is drifting farther and farther out of reach

With just four goals on the season, Cornell offense has been relatively anemic to start this year Against the Crimson it was no different The Red’s offense continued to struggle taking just eight shots against Harvard’s defense

Cornell was able to stay in the game thanks to solid defense throughout the contest Sophomore goalkeeper Meghan Kennedy made six saves and was flawless against a Harvard offense that has 17 goals on the season

“Against Harvard, I think we did really well in just work effort on the field,” said freshman defender Autumn Brown “We were putting in a lot of work, and we won a lot of individual battles which translated into team battles ”

The Red was more aggressive against the Raiders, as the team finished with 20 total shots, but still failed to come away with a goal Cornell’s defense was excellent once again, surrendering just one goal to a potent Raiders offense that has 17 goals on the season

Nevertheless, the women know they must improve the team ’ s offense in order to have any shot at finishing atop the Ivy League, which was a preseason goal

Despite the team ’ s current winless Ivy League record (0-2-1), the season is far from over, and winning the league certainly is not out of question

“Winning the Ivy League has always been our end goal for the season, ” said junior forward Meera Dheer

The last time the Red won the Ivy League was in 1991, and the last time the Red finished in the top half of the league was in 1995 (tied for second)

Cornell has four more Ivy League games, against Yale, Brown, Princeton and Dartmouth, and will have to finish the season 4-0 to have any shot at sitting atop the podium

With such a difficult path to the title, the Red will have to examine its play thus far and figure out a strategy that works in order to put together a four-game win streak

Brown mentioned that the Red has excelled at self-development throughout the course of the season, so, according to her, finding ways to improve should not be a problem

“ Throughout the season, I think the team has done well at working through our problems and identifying what our problems are as a team, and then moving forward from that,” Brown said “By now, a lot of our team goals are focused on being able to perform at our best level in every game and becoming more consistent with that ”

Head coach Patrick Farmer has emphasized the importance of passing throughout the season and knows that this has been one of the team ’ s weaknesses on offense

“For us to be effective we don’t have a lot of real world class stars running around we need to pass the ball and share the ball better,” he said to Cornell Athletics after the team ’ s loss to San Diego State on Sept 11

Improving passing will be essential to the team ’ s offensive improvement throughout the rest of the season

Cornell turns its attention to Yale (5-4-3) this weekend The Red takes on the Bulldogs at 1 p m on Saturday at home

Shan Dhaliwal can be reached at sdhaliwal@cornellsun com

CORNELL V SACRED HEART

HARVARD V HOLY CROSS

YALE V. FORDHAM

DARTMOUTH V TOWSON

COLUMBIA V PENN

PRINCETON V BROWN

V WISCONSIN OLE

V ARKANSAS BROWNS V TITANS JAGUARS V. BEARS

After Harvard Loss, Red Bounces Back to Win

two weeks ago But rather than a hard fought effort that resulted in a loss, this time the team describes the entire game as a disappointment

Fre s h m a n s t r i k e r Br a d y Dickens said Smith was critical of the team ’ s performance against Har vard

“ He w a s v e r y d i s a ppointed in us for both halves of the perfor-

m a n c e , e s p ecially the first half,” Dickens said “[Smith] said that it was apparent that our defense was not ver y organized, we weren ’ t stepping, and that we were always just a yard too late

“[Coach John Smith] said that it was apparent that our defense was not very organized, we weren’t stepping, and that we were always just a yard too late ” B r a d y D i c k e n s

He was just kind of embarrassed that that was the performance that we put out there ” That sentiment was shared by most of the players

In an effort to shine some pos-

itive light on the game, Pedlow admitted that in the second half Cornell was able to create some chances on goal Outside of that, he said there wasn ’ t much to be proud of

“But overall it was a terrible g a m e , ” Pe d l ow a d d e d “ We w e re n ’ t s h u t t i n g d ow n , w e weren ’ t doing what we needed to do individually ” Perhaps the d

ment that sur-

1 0 FINAL 4 0

y what the team needed to lock down its first win of the season

“I have been so ver y proud of our effort in all of our games up until [the Har vard game],” Smith said “[This game] will be the last time we show up to a game with the wrong mindset ” The Red was able to learn from the experience and turn its disappointment into the aggressive tenacity that helped fuel Tuesday night’s victor y “ T h a t ’ s t h e b e a u t y o f t h e game, ” Smith said “ There’s so much potential for growth when things don’t go right and there is an opportunity for us to either fall for ward or backward ” Cornell plays Yale in the third Ivy League match of the season this Sunday at 1 p m on the Red’s own Berman Field

Red Knocks Off Raiders to Earn First Season Win

By ANNIE TAYLOR Sun Staff Writer

At the kickoff of the second half of its Tuesday night game, the Cornell men ’ s soccer team (1-9-2) (0-0-2 Ivy) was down 1-0 to the Colgate Raiders (8-4-0) and had not even taken a single shot

The outlook seemed grim Before Tuesday night, the Raiders had failed to lose a match when they scored first this season The Red was coming off two consecutive Ivy League losses and seemed to be losing momentum

But during the second half, something suddenly clicked

Junior standout striker Jonathan Cullom took two tenacious chances on goal in the first 10 minutes before assisting sophomore Ryan Watters with the equalizing goal

After three minutes of play in the second half, Cullom scored the Red’s second goal, catching the rebound of a shot from freshman George Pedlow

Right when it seemed like Cornell had stolen all the momentum, the Raiders brought the game back up to a tie after about a minute of play

Spor ts

The next 20 minutes of the game were incredibly tense

After three yellow cards, 11 fouls and five Colgate substitutions, the sloppiness eventually spilled over into the Raider’s goal box

The Red was awarded a penalty kick that ended the match in Cornell’s favor

After 11 winless games, the outcome came as both a relief and a confidence booster for the Red, according to Pedlow

“Coach [ John Smith] was very happy with our performance,” Pedlow said “[He] feels we deserved a win ” The success against Colgate immediately follows what

freshman midfielder Christophe Gerlach described as a “low point” in the Red’s season

This past weekend, the Red suffered an embarrassing defeat in its second round of Ivy League competition against Harvard The Crimson finished the match with a 4-0 shutout, one of most dramatic losses Cornell has seen this season

“It will go down as the one game this year where I would say we simply did not show up to play,” Smith said “We made Harvard look like Barcelona ”

It was the exact same outcome the Red suffered at the hands of one of the nation’s top-ranked teams, UVA, just

Cornell Defeats Penn, Binghamton Over Fall Break

By BRITTANY BIGGS Sun Staff Writer

While many Cornellians used fall break to catch up on home work or spend time back home, the volleyball team was hard at work competing in a string of matches

O v e r t h e w e e k e n d , t h e t e a m

dueled with Ivy League competitors Princeton and Penn and the ended the competition-filled break against Binghamton on Tuesday

Cornell topped the Quakers to earn its first Ivy League win of the season on Friday

“ The thing I am the proudest of is how hard the team works,” said junior Kiley McPeek, who had a

m a t c h - h i g h 2 1 d i g s i n t h e w i n

“Ever yone on the team is working towards the same goal and works to get better ever y day to get one step closer to reaching these goals,”

Head coach Tr udy Vande Berg acknowledged that team is nearly unbeatable when playing at its best

“I think the team knows and feels like we can beat anyone if we play as a team and stick to our game, ” Vande Berg said “ They recognize when we aren ’ t being disciplined as why we aren ’ t being successful in the end ”

On Saturday, the team stumbled in its battle against Princeton The Tigers are currently in the top spot of the Ivy League, improving to 113 in their 3-0 victor y over the Red

Despite the loss, the team had strong per formances from athletes

like junior Kit McCar thy, who lead the team with six kills

D e s p i t e t h e l o s s , s o p h o m o r e Carla Sganderlla lauded the team ’ s mental preparation for the game

“ We definitely worked on being mentally tough as a team throughout practice the past week and a half in order to prepare ourselves for u p c o m i n g m

a said “By putting ourselves in a position in practice where we need to be mentally tough it helps us in a game when the score is close We have learned to keep our composure as a team and not become frantic when the game is close ” The women of the team showed that mental toughness when they were able to regroup and eek out a close win over Binghamton, closing out their non-conference matches The five-set victor y saw double digit k i l l s f r o m t h r e e C o r n e l l i a n s :

Mc

Emily Wemhoff

“I think we learned that we can stick with teams and that have we what it takes,” McPeek said,” “but we need to figure out how to close out those tight matches This is something we will really be focusing o n p l a y i n g t h e t e a m s a s e c o n d time ” Vande Berg mentioned that the team will be focusing on maintaining its aggression in the upcoming games “ We have to stay aggressive in pressure situations,” the coach said “Being careful rarely works in our

favor ”

Ivy League competition rolls on for the Red, as Cornell will square off against Dar tmouth and Har vard this weekend Har vard is currently tied for four th in the Ivy League, while Dar tmouth is in the back of the pack, still looking to secure its first conference win

“If we continue to stay disciplined and focused and fight until the last point we should have a succ e s s f u l w e e k

some physical players but I feel that we match up nicely with them ”

Two more conference games represent a chance for the Red to make a statement in the league

“I think Har vard and Dar tmouth give our team an exciting oppor tunity to show the Ivy League how good our team can be,” McPeek s a

champions last year so it will be fun to be able to play them again ” Regardless of the road ahead, the team is proud of its ability to sustain a united front through it all

“I am most proud of the team ’

whole season, ” Sganderlla said “I know that all my teammates and I are on the same page when it comes to the season, which is to win the Ivy League We as a team always put in the work and effor t in order to get better ”