Saturdays Excepted

Of Sea Monsters And Stupidity

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

On Tuesday, someone installed a sea monster outside my apartment building.

Yes, you read that right — a sea monster.

Over the last couple of weeks, construction crews built what can only be described now as an octagon-shaped concrete nest for the large metal creature that was, as I said above, installed on Tuesday.

Well, come to think of it, maybe it’s not a sea monster. Maybe it’s just a large fish.

Could be a barracuda.

Should we name it? What could we name it?

Let’s name it Sarah. Sarah Barracuda — in honor of our long lost vice presidential candidate.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Sarah.

Now go away.

* * *

Let's Keep it Civil: An Election Post-mortem

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I had a couple of other column ideas for this week, but I came across a column in Friday’s Yale Daily News by a Yale senior named Elizabeth Moore (entitled “You made a big mistake, America”), which, in the context of the mostly feel-good nature of American politics last week, was too astonishing to ignore.

It’s not that she doesn’t have the right to say and believe what she wants; she certainly does. It’s just that if what she says is completely ridiculous, we all (Democrats and Republicans) have the right to point and laugh at it.

I’m no political columnist, but below are excerpts of the column with some comments interjected.

“Thank you, America, for making the biggest mistake of your life.”

Has WVBR Learned Its Lesson?

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Journalists make mistakes sometimes. Especially college journalists. It’s for that reason that newspapers generally run corrections — and The Sun certainly ran its fair share when I was the managing editor.

But, sometimes a correction really just isn’t good enough. And it’s at those times that we, as consumers of the news, have to hope that the news organization in question learns its lesson and moves forward in a more responsible and intelligent manner.

For WVBR, Wednesday Oct. 8 was one of those times.

***

If you go to the WVBR website, go to the “News/Sports” drop down menu, and click on “WVBR NewsLine” you’ll be presented with a couple of recent stories and a list of older stories at the bottom of the page.

Shea-ing Goodbye, One Last Time

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Ow!

What the hell?

Ow! Seriously — what’s going on here?

Ow! Jeez! Are you pulling out my seats? Ripping out my home run wall too? And my bathrooms? You’re gutting my bathrooms?

Really? So soon? The last game was a week ago YESTERDAY! The end of the season hasn’t even sunk in yet, and you’re pulling me apart? Just like that? Ripping me limb from limb?

Sigh. Alas, such is life for the “other” stadium in New York, I suppose.

I’m not long for this world, but everyone’ll miss me when I’m gone. I’m positive of that.

The Line: A Short Retrospective

Eric Finkelstein — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

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).

Commentary We Can Believe In

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

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.

Year Seven

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0400

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.

Penn's Uncommon Endorsement

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

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.

Let's (West) Wing It

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

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.

* * *

FOILed Again

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

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.

Change We Can Believe In

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

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:

Picket Sense

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

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.

This Space is for Rent

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 00:01:00 -0500

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?

The Last Straw for Facebook?

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0500

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.

Reboot (Again)

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

When I decided in the spring of 2006 that I wanted to become a Sun columnist after I determined that I was sticking around for law school, I did so with the best of intentions.

I figured that since I had spent so much time following (and sometimes editing) each and every thing that happened on The Hill (and because I was never able to give my opinion on anything) that it would be a fun, exciting and enriching experience.

And it has.

Only, I’m not really sure that I’ve actually accomplished what I set out to accomplish.

So, let’s look back at my first column, entitled “Reboot,” which was printed Aug. 20, 2006. In that column, I wrote:

An Inconvenient Ruling

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

I saw An Inconvenient Truth.

It was boring.

I might have even fallen asleep during a portion of it. But that’s not really surprising because I saw it late at night downtown at Cinemapolis, and well, who could really be enthused about watching a slideshow on a Friday or Saturday night? It was sort of like going to class.

Irregularities at Irvine

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Unless you are in law school, are planning to go to law school or are from Southern California, you probably don’t know or care about the controversy that erupted last week at the University of California, Irvine.

But you should know and care about it because it concerns academic freedom. And, you should know and care about it because of its similarity to a certain controversy that occurred on The Hill just a few short years ago.

Hello Motto.

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 01:00:00 -0400

A Greek Tragedy

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 01:00:00 -0400

Deckhead:

Saturdays Excepted

Body:

When it comes to its outwardly-expressed views on the Greek system, Cornell has recently been broken into two groups (which I exaggerate a bit for effect):

Group 1: “Fraternities and sororities are the spawn of Satan and should be destroyed. Their members deserve to be expelled immediately and marooned on a deserted island never to be heard from again.”

Pulling the Ranks

Eric Finkelstein — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 01:36:29 -0400

Body:

In September, after Harvard ceremoniously decided to eliminate its early action program, I wrote a column that disparaged the idea of Cornell abolishing its early decision program. Among the reasons for my position was the fact that eliminating early decision would harm Cornell’s U.S. News and World Report ranking and that the ranking system “is an extremely important factor in attracting the … best and brightest.”