As I walked up to Bartels Hall this week to grab a hockey ticket line number for the last time, I thought back on all of the hockey line procedure changes over the last seven years. Here’s a bit of my retrospective.

2002: My First Time

I stood with several other students outside my Court Hall dorm room. It was roughly 1:00 on a Saturday morning and, although hockey tickets were obviously a hot item, we didn’t really feel much of a sense of urgency — so long as we made it to the Ramin Room several hours before roughly 9:00 a.m. (when, I think I remember, the line was supposed to begin).

I used to watch The Daily Show pretty religiously. But, sometime over the last two years, I lost touch with America’s favorite fake news show, and I’m not exactly sure why.

Two weeks ago, however, at the beginning of the Democratic National Convention, I rediscovered it. And I’m going to make sure I never lose touch with it again.

After watching coverage of both conventions on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News, and then enjoying the Daily Show coverage afterward, I realized something: The Daily Show really isn’t fake news anymore. It’s real news — quite possibly as “real” as it gets.

The more things change, the more they stay the same

Six years ago last Friday I left my house in New Jersey at about 4:00 a.m. in a minivan, my family and my belongings in tow, and began the four-hour drive up to Ithaca. We arrived at Court Hall at roughly 8:00 a.m. to begin the move-in process. I was to be a student in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations — I was beginning my first year at Cornell.

Six days ago, I left my house in New Jersey at about 6:00 a.m., in my car, with my belongings in tow, and I began the four-hour drive up to Ithaca. I arrived at my apartment building at roughly 10:00 a.m., and I started to move my stuff back in. I was already a student in the Law School — and I was beginning my seventh, and final, year at Cornell.

My year as managing editor of The Sun was pretty much an election off-year. Aside from the race between challenger Gwen Wilkinson and the late incumbent George Dentes ’76 for Tompkins County District Attorney (which, for local election buffs and local newspaper editors was actually pretty exciting), there really wasn’t much to follow. As such, there really wasn’t much endorsement controversy among The Sun’s editors. Since we more-or-less supported the Redbud Woods protesters and most of us were Democrats, unless my memory escapes me, The Sun supported Wilkinson in the race.

Raise your hand if you can identify the person who said the following: “Don’t vote for us because you think we’re perfect, don’t vote for us because of what we might be able to do for you only. Vote for the person who shares your ideals, your hopes, your dreams. Vote for the person who most embodies what you believe we need to keep our nation strong and free. And when you have done that, you can go back to Seattle, and Boston, to Miami, to Omaha, to Tulsa and Chicago, and Atlanta with your head held high, and say ‘I am a member of the Democratic Party!’”

You might be thinking Barack Obama. And if you are, you’re wrong.

* * *

I wrote an editorial entitled “FOILed” in a February 2005 issue of The Sun regarding the New York Court of Appeals decision in Alderson v. New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. In that case, the court tackled the question of whether Cornell was required to comply with a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request relating to the research performed in the Ag School, one of Cornell’s statutory colleges.

Brace yourself: a Sun columnist is about to write something complementary about the Student Assembly.

Ready?

You sure?

Ok … here we go…

On October 28, 2007, Elan Greenberg ’08, president of the Student Assembly at the time, penned a letter to the editor in response to David Wittenberg’s Oct. 24 column in which Wittenberg suggested that the Student Assembly be replaced by an open town meeting.

Greenberg’s letter said, in part:

On the night of January 7, when, I would assume, more people than usual watched The Daily Show because it was coming back from its strike-related hiatus, one of Cornell’s own, Industrial and Labor Relations Professor Ron Seeber, was Jon Stewart’s guest on the show.

Unfortunately, Seeber’s appearance created a backlash of epic proportions — opponents are angry because he crossed a picket line when he entered the studio.

I spent three-and-a-half years in the School of Industrial Labor Relations. I took classes on labor history, collective bargaining, labor law, labor economics and arbitration. I’m pro-union. I support the writers in their strike.

But I also support Professor Seeber.

Although the addition of the burrito joint, the eventual opening of the cookie shop and the construction on the old bank building are definitely signs of progress in Collegetown, the many empty storefronts are unfortunate.

Five-and-a-half years ago, there was a Wendy’s (where Collegetown Pizza is now).

Just last year there was a pharmacy. Now it’s a leasing office.

About four years ago there was a Sam Goody. Now it’s a redundant Chinese restaurant.

Not too long ago there was a Smoothie Hut. No more.

We had a diner. Gone.

Kinkos? Kaput.

Does it have to be this way?

I remember the good old days.

You know, the days when you didn’t have to worry about what was written on your wall, how many “friends” you had, what your relationship status was, what was reported on the news feed and what photos your friends decided to tag with your name, among other things.

However, those days are long gone. We’re officially the Facebook generation, and it appears there’s nothing we can do about it.

I don’t spend all that much time on Facebook. In fact, I’m a pretty passive user. I don’t have any of the silly applications on my page, and I usually don’t send out any friend requests or messages, usually choosing instead to wait until someone contacts me.

But I’m on Facebook. Mostly, I guess, because everyone else is.