Recent Contributions from Molly OToole

Sarah Palin puts Alaska ‘on the map’

Molly OToole — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0500

On a map of the United States, Alaska has an imposing presence. Yet, it wasn’t until this election season that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin put her state firmly “on the map” of American political and social consciousness.

Part of the challenge of Palin’s campaign has been to present to the average American an accurate view of her home state and also answer the question, ‘what’s important about Alaska?’

“Our strategic location for national defense is often overlooked,” Whitney Cushing ’09 said. Cushing is from Homer, roughly 200 miles south of Anchorage. “The only American place that has been invaded in the last 100 years was the Aleutian Islands during WWII.”

Gun Site Clean Up Standards Raise Concerns

Molly OToole — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:15:31 -0400

Overruling the Community Advisory Group it created, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will back the standards supported by the developers of the Ithaca Gun Factory site for its remediation.

The Ithaca Gun Factory site, located above Ithaca Falls and the Fall Creek Gorge, is contaminated with a range of harmful substances. This past May, the DEC — working with the City of Ithaca, developer Frost Travis and the engineering firm hired by the Travis, O’Brien and Gere — announced a resolution for the site for the demolition, clean up and construction of a public park and residential housing.

In order to also address community concerns, the DEC founded the CAG soon after the announcement of the resolution.

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic Reads Work

Molly OToole — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Yesterday was a day fit for a poet at Cornell – crisp, full of color and feeling like fall. In Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium in Goldwin Smith, a man stood before a packed crowd. He smiled from behind his signature round reading glasses until the long applause faded. He stands for many things — former U.S. Poet Laureate, Pulitzer-Prize winning author, immigrant, American, New England man and professor. The man was Charles Simic.

“Without fanfare, he captures all of 21st century torment in language that shimmers, celebrates, honors, mystifies,” said Prof. Kenneth McClane, English, in his introduction to Simic’s reading.

Patrolling The Streets: A Ride With The CUPD

Molly OToole — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

A squad car rolls up to the sprawling mansion of a fraternity. The beer pong table needs a challenger, and the officers are more than happy to oblige, taking off their hats and rolling up their sleeves before letting the ping-pong ball fly.

Some, especially Cornell students who have found themselves involved with the Cornell University Police Department, wish the above scenario might occur — members of law enforcement in Ithaca remembering what it’s like to be college students.

Riding along with CUPD from roughly 10 p.m. until 1 a.m. on Friday showed much can also be learned from sitting inside the squad car. Reversing roles between the CUPD and Cornell students can enlighten both sides of the story.

On Patrol

Rating the Rankings

Molly OToole — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Another school year begins, and with it the questions: How do I stack up? Where do I fit in? What does he or she think of me? And it’s not only the 3,183 new freshman faces asking. With the release of yet another onslaught of college rankings, ranging from the traditional U.S. News and World Report to the “irreverent” standings of Radar Magazine, concerns expressed by the Cornell community indicate that the University, itself, is asking similar questions.

A little self-reflection is never a bad thing, and inquiry is a founding principle of the quest for wisdom. Yet such annual college rankings, in their myriad forms, often inspire, along with inferiority complexes, self-doubt.

And such concerns are not unfounded.

City of Ithaca Pledges to Overhaul Contaminated Gun Factory Site

Molly OToole — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:35:51 -0400

On May 30, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced a final resolution for the Ithaca Gun Factory Site, closing a long and precarious chapter in the City of Ithaca’s history. However, many Ithacans feel the future of the site may still be up in the air.

The DEC — in cooperation with Mayor Carolyn Peterson, the City of Ithaca, developers Frost Travis, owner Wally Diehl and a previous pledge by the state — has authored a plan to dissolve the old Ithaca Gun Factory, which has been left stagnating above the rushing waters of Ithaca Falls for the past 125 years.

I Don't Know How to Say Goodbye in English

Molly OToole — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

It is an interesting writing environment when you are stranded in Rome and the only thing for you to do is wait and hope for some divine act and ... write your last abroad column?

Yes, well, soldier on mate.

Through life you will have these moments — moments where you are sitting on a sleeping bag on top of a hostel bunk, but you are still concerned about some awful sort of skin disease, moments when you feel abandoned because your mom, sister and guy you were supposed to meet up with yesterday can not figure out there is a reason you are not responding — because you can not — and that they need to call. These are moments where you are numb with doubt.

"Ah, the East End ... Where's That Exactly?"

Molly OToole — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

“Don’t ever go out alone. Ever.”

These were the parting words of my airport shuttle driver, moments after arriving in London, in reference to my school’s location. Every so often, over the rare drink in the even more rare club in the more posh (read: more touristy) area of central London, I’m asked where I live. After a brief internal investigation of whether said asker is a stalker, I answer, “At Queen Mary.”

Blank stare.

“In Mile End …”

Unconfident nod.

“East London?”

Always Ask What's in the Black Pudding

Molly OToole — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

“I want to know if you can be alone with yourself,
and if you truly like the company
you keep in the empty moments.”

In contrast to the cliché of beginning any harangue with quoted poetry, the poem from which I stole this stanza, “The Invitation,” was introduced to me through a friend’s away message. Fitting with our techno-dependent generation, the poem has snuggled safely on my desktop ever since, with this, its ending, a mini-mantra for my adventures abroad.

This poem made me sputter tea all over my little desk in my little room in London. London is a proper destination in itself, but for the restless its invitation of “one step closer to everywhere else” is impossible to ignore.

Falling in Love in a Foreign Land

Molly OToole — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I am in love.

It came on me, suddenly, without warning, on a London day like any other.

I woke up at 9 a.m. to the warm sound of my various flat mates laughing, soft voices and heavy accents wafting to me from the kitchen with the clank of spoons in cereal bowls. I cannot remember a time before arriving in London when this phenomenon — waking up with a smile — occurred. Similarly, as I look in the mirror, my reflection is strange to me. I do not recognize my face without bags underneath my eyes.

At 1:30 p.m. I threw open my curtains to another sunny day. It was an honest warm day, rather than one of those — brilliantly sunny, but a chill forty degrees — that catch newcomers to London unawares.

“Daddy, Why Do We Always Lose?”

Molly OToole — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

In the spirit of study abroad, let’s get inside the head of an Englishman, which is a scary place, to be honest. Ah, here they are, priorities. Counting down: the Queen, sleep, food, drink, SEX (just teasing, we’ll save that for later) and sport.

The sport that runs in the world’s veins is football — not American, European. We generally don’t even pretend to be part of this community, and just call our sad version soccer. (Note: For the purpose of authenticity I will be calling soccer “football” so try not to get confused.)

Mind the Gap

Molly OToole — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Among the checklist of pre-study abroad worries, you can usually find “homesickness,” “making friends” and even possibly “having enough underwear to not do laundry for at least three weeks.” My list was a little different.

My chief concern with my study abroad choice was that London wasn’t abroad enough.

Sure, some Cornellians are here to spend massive amounts of Daddy’s money booking tables at posh clubs and attempting to catch a glimpse of Prince Harry. Some are here to embrace the educational opportunities offered outside the American ethnocentricity of the Ivy League classroom. Most, I suspect, are searching for that all-elusive “experience of a lifetime,” the kind found by throwing yourself directly in the path of the uncomfortable and unfamiliar.

Clean-up, Construction to Rejuvenate Ithaca Gun Site

Molly OToole — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0500

This article is the third in a series examining the history of the Ithaca Gun Factory.

Carefully climbing a rusty ladder, missing rungs, gives access to the upper roof of the Ithaca Gun Factory. The panoramic view of Cayuga Lake, extending to the horizon, is partially blocked by a smoke stack reading “Ithaca Guns” in white brick. The stack rises above the remains of this Gun Hill area which has been a community landmark since 1880. It may not stand for much longer.

Clean-Up Attempts Leave Contaminants

Molly OToole — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0500

This article is the second in a series examining the history of the Ithaca Gun Factory.

It is not difficult to imagine what lies inside the Ithaca Gun Factory for the homeless seeking shelter from the Ithaca cold, or for the curious student.

Walking the perimeter, the dilapidated fence, vulnerable at multiple sections, shows obvious signs of entry — peeled back chain link and fallen barbed wire. Even the building’s outer appearance is foreboding — rows of shattered windows, heavy, rusty machinery with graffiti scrawlings and overgrowth climbing over the walls.

Gun Factory Building Has Hazardous History

Molly OToole — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0500

This article is the first in a series examining the history of the Ithaca Gun Factory.

Until several weeks ago, on the splintering and graffitied plywood boarding up the door a sign read, “This property is the subject of a Board of Zoning Appeals Hearing on _______________ at _______________ in City Hall at 108 E. Green St. Appeal # _____________. For more information call the City Building Department at 274-6508.” Next to it was another that read, “THIS BUILDING IS UNSAFE and its USE and OCCUPENCY has been PROHIBITED by the BUILDING COMMISSIONER of the CITY OF ITHACA New York. It shall be UNLAWFUL for any person to REMOVE, DEFACE, or DESTROY this notice without permission from the Building Commissioner. Ithaca, NY Aug. 30,2006.”

Trustees Return to Campus for Weekend Meetings

Molly OToole — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

This weekend brought not only fall colors but also trustees from around the world to Ithaca for the 57th annual Trustee/Council Meeting, a three-day event culminating in the Joint Annual Meeting, where President David Skorton delivered the State of the University Address.

Men’s Harriers Take 11th; X.C. Women Seize Seventh

Molly OToole — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Whether by bus or by plane, the Red’s miles of travel and miles of summer training paid off this past weekend.

The women’s cross country team bussed it to the 34th annual Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. The men’s team flew to South Bend, Ind. to compete at the 52nd Notre Dame Invitational. Though each team faced their strongest competition yet, racing against 47 and 23 teams respectively, the Red returned to Ithaca with its share of success.

In a field of 47 teams and 317 runners, the women’s team placed 7th overall, defeating nationally ranked teams such as Tennessee (28) and Heps rivals Penn and Harvard.

Columbia U. President Fires Questions at Iranian Leader

Molly OToole — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

NEW YORK — The press release issued by Columbia University introducing speakers for the Annual World Leaders Forum mentioned seven leaders, but made no mention of the man whose invitation and presence yesterday at the university incited widespread protest and demanded the attention of most major media outlets in the country, and in the world — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Many present on campus for the talk yesterday said that the intention of the university in inviting Ahmadinejad to speak was unclear. The ambiguity also brought into question the extent of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

Bollinger addressed the ambiguity regarding the Columbia’s intention on inviting Ahmadinejad in his first words.

Housing Subdivision Halted

Molly OToole — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Last Monday the Ithaca Town Board voted unanimously in favor of adopting a 270-day building moratorium for an area in northeast Ithaca adjacent to Sapsucker Woods, effectively freezing the development project Briarwood II. The decision represents a further step toward what may become the final resolution of a six-year disagreement involving neighbors, environmentalists, developers, the local government and the Lab of Ornithology.

Graduate Students Aim for More Unity

Molly OToole — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The top rankings of Cornell’s graduate programs in many fields of study by U.S. News and World Report — 14th in business, 13th in law, 15th in research medicine, 10th in engineering — are well-known. What may be less known are the faces behind the numbers: the students, faculty and family members that make up the graduate and professional community at Cornell. The aim of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly is to bring these people together and help to create an individual, yet integrated, identity for the students — outside the rankings.

Cornell Pitches In to Improve Collegetown

Molly OToole — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The city of Ithaca contributed $75,000 to an urban design study at the Ithaca Common Council meeting Wednesday evening, the first time the city has donated funds to the Collegetown area in a number of years. Cornell collaborated with the city by agreeing to match the donation — dollar for dollar — totaling $150,000 towards the improvement of Collegetown.

The newest resolution is the latest step in what has been an ongoing process to study and recommend improvements for the future development of Collegetown as outlined by the Collegetown Vision Statement, which was presented to the Common Council in February 2006. The statement described how the community envisioned Collegetown in 20 years. The council also established a task force to help manage the project.

University Reorganizes Division of Finance and Administration

Molly OToole — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Student Seats Available For Dalai Lama Event

Molly OToole — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400

"Kip Mile" Draws Top Runners to Ithaca

Molly OToole — Fri, 18 May 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Deckhead:

Olympic track legend gives back to community

Body:

Some spent this Sunday attending church, studying for finals or going out for a Mother’s Day brunch. Others enjoyed the Ithaca summer weather watching a handful of Olympians, collegiate champions and Cornell track alumni, as well as nine sub-four minute milers and a track legend come together at Ithaca High School’s track for the inaugural Kip Keino Fun and Fitness Mile.

Friends, Family Remember Alex Holiat '06

Molly OToole — Mon, 14 May 2007 18:54:28 -0400

This Week in History

Molly OToole — Wed, 02 May 2007 02:27:30 -0400

Article body:

Slope Day, the beloved Cornell tradition celebrating the end of classes, originated in May of 1901 as Spring Day.

The day was described as “The Hill’s springtime carnival-parade-drag fest” in a Sun article documenting the history of the holiday.

This Week in History

Molly OToole — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 02:19:21 -0400

Article body:

On April 29, 2005, eight students, who came to be known as the “Redbud Eight,” shut down Day Hall in protest of a proposed 176-spot parking lot at University Ave., Willard Way and Lake Street, then home to Redbud Woods.

Greenberg '08 Discusses S.A. Plans

Molly OToole — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

This Week In History

Molly OToole — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 02:41:36 -0400

Article body:

On April 19, 1969, a group of roughly 100 black students took over the Straight in what a Sun thirty-year commemoration article described as, “The culmination of a series of efforts to assert their presence at Cornell.” About 50 members of Students for a Democratic Society formed and held a picket line is support of the AAS takeover.

Many Students Live, Eat, Play in Collegetown

Molly OToole — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

This Week in History

Molly OToole — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Article body:

The Sun reported on April 4, 1974 that the Ithaca Common Council approved plans for a $1.35 million pedestrian shopping mall. The proposed mall was intended to extend from Aurora St. to Cayuga St. on State St. A section from Seneca St. to State St. on Tioga St. was restricted to pedestrian traffic and was set to include trees and benches.

C.U. Architects Preserve Dragon Day Tradition

Molly OToole — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 01:25:30 -0400

Article body:

It was 1 p.m. the day before spring break, and campus seemed as silent as the steadily falling snow subtly frosting the arts quad. The bells of McGraw tower, glowing green the night before, began to peal, breaking the quiet concentration of the Cornell campus. Their song seemed a calling, as winter jacket, hat and scarf began to emerge from every building, path and corner in greater numbers. What brought these people together, to stand so patiently on a deserted day in the spring snow?

Students React to Darfur Genocide

Molly OToole — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 02:00:00 -0400

Article body:

When searching Cornell’s web pages for information on “student activism” one gets numerous results: the first mentions Day Hall takeovers in the ’60s organized in protest of the Vietnam War and Civil Rights, the second refers to demonstrations in the ’90s over concerns about budget cuts to financial aid programs, and the seventh is a question for Uncle Ezra:

Activist Decries Genocide in Sudan

Molly OToole — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 01:36:46 -0400

Article body:

“It is a great pleasure to be visiting Cornell,” began Peter Takirambudde, executive director for the African Division of Human Rights Watch, during his lecture “Darfur: Crisis and Challenges” last Friday. “Normally I get to talk with politicians and business types, the most cynical classes of this world … To get to spend some time with folks like you is always a wonderful experience.”

C.U. Student Streaks During Prelim

Molly OToole — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 01:49:24 -0500

Article body:

Last Thursday night, an unidentified male — naked as a newborn — streaked through a section of Economics 102 prelim.

The T.A. for the class, Jing Liu grad, claimed it was too late to take a photo by the time shocked onlookers grabbed their cell phones.

read more

C.U. Reﬂects on Darfur Crisis

Molly OToole — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 04:13:17 -0500

Article body:

This article is part one in a series investigating the genocide occuring in Darfur and the role that Cornell chooses to play in the crisis.

Imagine all of Cornell’s students, numbering over 20,000. Now imagine a number 25 times larger — around 500,000 — and not of people, but bodies.

read more

I.C. Promises a More Sustainable Campus

Molly OToole — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 01:50:27 -0500

Deckhead:

President signs climate neutrality pact

Article body:

As the Cornell community continues to debate the possibility of a climate neutral campus, Ithaca College has already taken the first step toward greater sustainability.

Yesterday, Ithaca College President Peggy R. Williams signed a letter of intent to become a participant in the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, a collaboration between the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, Second Nature, and ecoAmerica.

read more

This Week in History

Molly OToole — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 00:54:35 -0500

Article body:

On Feb. 13, 1872, the Board of Trustees accepted a donation of $250,000 from Henry W. Sage. Sage was an avid supporter of gender equality in higher education, and the money was used to build a women’s dormitory, one of the first in the United States.

read more

Task Force Plans for C-Town

Molly OToole — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 01:34:28 -0500

Article body:

Each person’s vision of Collegetown is different. For some, it is a place of natural beauty; for others, a noisy nuisance; for others still, a boozy vision of beer-soaked college nights. Yesterday in the meeting room of the St. Luke Lutheran Church, the Collegetown Vision Task Force presented its goals for Collegetown to the public. The statement is the culmination of a year’s work spent assessing the area’s weaknesses and strengths.

read more

Former Music Major Donates $6.5 Million

Molly OToole — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 01:18:22 -0500

Article body:

$6.5 million dollars is music to anyone’s ears. That is approximately 65 grand pianos, 2,600 oboes, 50,000 elementary violins or 26.4 million kazoos. Sidney T. Cox ’47, M.A ’48, upon his death, has bequeathed a generous gift of this amount — $6.5 million — to the Cornell Department of Music, a sum which would have exceeded $70 million in value the year of the department’s founding in 1930.

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Cornellian’s Cancer Research Earns Award

Molly OToole — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 01:56:00 -0500

Article body:

Thomas J. Bardos left the rubble of his home country, Hungary, after WWII to start again in the United States. After earning a Ph.D in chemistry from the University of Notre Dame, Bardos made his home at the State University of New York at Buffalo where he earned a professorship lasting 33 years until 1993. For his dedication to the future of cancer research, the American Association for Cancer Research has awarded 19 undergraduates from all over the country with the AACR-Thomas J. Bardos Science Education Award for the past two years. This year, one winner is Cornell’s own Erin M. Dauchy ’08.

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C.U. Celebrates Ezra's Birthday

Molly OToole — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 01:07:09 -0500

Article body:

Jan. 11th was a winter day like any other in Ithaca — a blustery wind whipped leaves around a deserted quad, and the statues of A.D. White and Ezra Cornell looked out over the quiet campus while students were enjoying their last precious days of winter break. A chimes concert broke the peace — the McGraw Tower bells were pealing “Happy Birthday.” Inside the sleeping giant of Olin Library, a crowd of Cornell alumni, faculty, staff and friends filled Libe Café. It was not just any day, but the 200th birthday of University founder Ezra Cornell.

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Ex-Death Row Inmate Krone Speaks to The Sun

Molly OToole — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 01:00:06 -0500

Article body:

The Sun interviewed Ray Krone, who was released from the Arizona state prison in 2002, after being wrongly convicted of sexual assault and murder. Krone was brought to Ithaca last week by the Cornell Death Penalty Project, to speak at the law school.

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Former Death Row Inmate Tells Story

Molly OToole — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 03:30:08 -0500

Article body:

If ten years of your life — 315,360,000 seconds, 5,256,000 minutes, 87,600 hours or 3,650 days — were taken from you, what would you do? What if those ten years were taken from you by someone you trusted with your life?

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Cornell Law Profs Welcome Former Death Row Inmate

Molly OToole — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 02:44:23 -0500

Article body:

From flyers around campus, in dorms, dining halls, and other various buildings, the face of Ray Krone can be seen. If the flyer just contained the picture of this man — grey suit, tan and maroon tie, mustache — it would seem like nothing more than simply that — a flyer with a man’s picture. But there is more. The fliers read, “Innocence and the Death Penalty.” Ray Krone is not just any man — he is a former death row inmate, wrongfully convicted, and the 100th innocent set free.

read more

Protest Focuses on Sapsucker Woods

Molly OToole — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 02:02:07 -0400

Article body:

Almost one hundred years ago, Louis Agassiz Fuertes, a native Ithacan, in a bit of wood he knew so well, made a discovery. This discovery was the first Yellow-bellied Sapsucker nest ever found in the Cayuga land basin. Fuertes went on to become one of the most famous and influential bird artists of the century, and the bit of woods in Northeast Ithaca thereafter became known as “Sapsucker Woods”. Recognizing their value, Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology adopted part of the land in the ’50s as a sanctuary.

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Publications Display C.U. Student Talent

Molly OToole — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 03:20:00 -0400

Article body:

In a previous article, The Sun featured StudPubs, the umbrella organization for student publications at Cornell, and surveyed political and subject-specific publications, from science to law, on campus.

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Group Encourages Student Publishers

Molly OToole — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 01:46:46 -0400

Article body:

Do you find yourself wondering if there is something more to this life?

Something more than waking up, eating, going to class, eating, going to more class, eating, doing homework, sleeping (optional), then doing it all again? Is there something more to life than athletics, fraternities, Super Smash Brothers or poker?

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C.U. Swashbucklers Gather at 'Pirate Night'

Molly OToole — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 01:14:19 -0400

Article body:

Ahoy, matey! Last night a crew of swashbuckling students dressed as pirates swaggered late night around campus. Their destination? Not to a ship set to sail the seven seas, but to the Johnson Museum of Art.

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It’s a Wet Ithaca Summer

Molly OToole — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 10:46:31 -0400

Deckhead:

Excessive rain linked to crop, road and mood problems

Article body:

The start of the school year is a bittersweet time for Cornellians. As memories of exotic vacations, endless days of doing absolutely nothing and tans begin to fade, a pleasant, painless transition seems little to ask for. Alas, it is not in the forecast. All that is in the forecast is rain, rain and more rain.

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