Recent Contributions from Jessica DiNapoli

Alfa Tomato

Jessica DiNapoli — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Since the mid-80s at the Ithaca Festival parade, a flock of vintage Volvos adorned in tutus — blasting Swan Lake and accompanied by frolicking men and women in tutus — rolls down a downtown Ithaca street.

“It’s pretty special,” said Tom Smith, the sales manager of Ithaca Foreign Car Service, of the Volvo Ballet. “It’s also pretty astounding for a town this size to have the number of Volvos it has.”

Someone told me that Volvos are popular in Ithaca because Volvos are hippie cars. Ithaca is a hippie town — so that’s that, right?

But what about Volvos make them hippie cars? Why are vintage Volvos — pre-1993, rear-wheel drive Volvos, notorious for poor handling in wet weather — so common in a very hilly town often blanketed in lake effect snow?

Alfa Tomato

Jessica DiNapoli — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0500

I work at a restaurant, and every so often the cooks empty the oil out of the deep fryer into 5-gallon jugs. The oil is thick and golden, spotted with black flecks of only what I can call crud.

Yesterday, in Cornell University’s B-parking lot, Gregg Wicken, the founder of VegPower, a mecca for veggie car equipment located in Brooktondale, hoisted a jug of vegetable oil from the backseat of his veggie car.

“This is great; this is golden,” he said, holding the jug up to the sunlight. “You can almost see through it.”

Alfa Tomato

Jessica DiNapoli — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0400

CRV after Cherokee after Pathfinder after the occasional Hummer line the streets of Collegetown. Toss some junkers and a few boring sedans in the mix, and that’s Collegetown’s vehicular landscape. Fine. But the tons and tons of SUVs need to go.

They might be convenient for moving in and out of dorms and apartments, and for carting friends to a party on North or West. But they suck gas down too fast and aren’t exactly sporty, fun and fast — three qualities absolutely necessary for any driving experience.

These three qualities are most often found in, my favorite, sports cars.

Alfa Tomato

Jessica DiNapoli — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Monday of this past week I needed a break from Cornell. A lot of people drink to escape the pressures of Cornell, some people smoke … I opted for an improptu long drive. I set off on Rt. 13 and just went where it looked pretty.

On my drive, I saw rows and rows of small rolling mound-like hills and at one point drove along a road called “Honeypot.” Horses whinnied and neighed inside a fence in a front yard and a sign that read “piglets for sale” was propped near the road by a barn. All the way, I had no idea where I was. But after an hour or so I ended up on Rt. 79 headed back into Ithaca.

Alfa Tomato

Jessica DiNapoli — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Welcome to Alfa Tomato, a column about cars.

The word “scooter” has some less-than-cool connotations. I think “scooter,” and I see senior citizens rolling very, very slowly down the dried fruit aisle of a grocery store. Or I see packs of pubescent boys sailing down sidewalks on their silver Razor scooters, performing tricks and skinning their knees.

The Ithaca version of the scooter is far from dried fruit and bleeding knees; scooters in Ithaca have a trendy, eco-conscious vibe. In fact, a group of scooter enthusiasts, dubbed the “Scooter Commuters,” meet at the Gimme Coffee in Fall Creek most Sundays — and, being true Ithacans, participate in the Ithaca Festival Parade.

Listen and learn

Jessica DiNapoli — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 01:37:05 -0400

Audience members reflect and write at an “Idenity and Politics” writing workshop in the Carol Tatkon Center.

Arts Events Around Upstate NY