I was sitting in Olin Library today, minding my own business, watching the disco-ball destruction to avoid some work. And then it started to hail.
I was reminded of the last time I had watched it hail. I was a freshman, standing in the lobby of Donlon with some friends. It began to rain and then hail, and we all just stood still and watched.
Back then I was dumbfounded, but now I understand it. This virulent change in the weather is Ithaca’s fighting pride, its last attempt to rear its ugly head as it can no longer deny that summer is here.
As college students across the country move into an NYU dorm and become interns (read: slaves) at various companies in Manhattan proper, the summer starts to take on a familiar pace. It may not be the carefree debauchery of gradeschool summer break, but it has its perks:
Summer Readin’
I fully intend to turn my brain off for the summer, and I thought I’d dig right in with Hold My Gold: The White Girl’s Guide to Hip Hop, brought to you by authors (and white girls) Albertina Rizzo and Amanda McCall. This book is hysterical and for all those white girls who, like me, loved Jay-Z’s The Black Album, it is a godsend. Fuck Chicken Soup for the Soul. This book has everything you could ever need to know — just check out the table of contents: history (“Hip-Hop Hiztory”), love yips (“Hot in Herrre”) and even helpful hints on social etiquette (“Drop it Like its Hot!”). How many books do you know that have a “Hip-Hoptionary” (and how useful is that!?) It’s the perfect preparation for Slope Day’s Snoop Dogg/The Game performance. Some useful terms? “Bent: getting intoxicated; inebriated; drunkenness not necessarily related to but possibly included the act of vomiting due to the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Example: ‘Damn, Jill, dat Napa Valley Chardonnay we snuck into the Tori Amos concert got me crazy bent.'” “5-0: Law enforcement official. Example: ‘Yo, Lenny! 5-0! Let’s go say hi!'” Use it well.
Couch Potatoes
As a summer intern of a certain cable television network, I will no doubt be spending boundless hours on the couch watching Sex and the City. A year after the show signed off the air it’s still the best thing on television. I can literally spend hours — nay days — on my couch watching old episodes of Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha. They can’t get you in trouble for watching TV at work if it’s their show, right?
Movie Land
Summer means movie time. An air-conditioned theater is a great way to escape the hot summer heat. This summer has an impressive lineup of films, including the final installment of Star Wars (what, I have a younger brother). Undoubtedly the special effects will be garish and the storyline predictable, but it is the movie event of the summer in some circles. Summa-time is also the perfect time to catch an outdoor flick. Throughout the summer, Bryant Park shows a selection of free films every Monday after work let’s out to the huddled masses who need those paychecks.
Listen Up
Summer is the best time of year for concerts, especially in New York City. This summer everyone from The Killers to the Dave Matthews Band will be performing on or around Manhattan, from Central Park to Randall’s Island.
Of course, I will inevitably reach what I like to call “stage four” of my summer, when the office tech-geek has figured out that I am not using the computer for productive purposes and shuts off my webmail privileges, leaving me no choice but to browse thefacebook.com for my only contact to the outside world, and return to Cornell come fall somehow excited for the hail.
Archived article by Logan Bromer