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The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/2001/02/22/sweet-mercy/)

February 22, 2001

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Sweet Mercy

By ryan | February 22, 2001

Has anyone else been wondering what Keanu Reeves is still doing in Hollywood? If you are one of the many movie watchers contemplating this question, the answer is a film called Sweet November, and sweet Jesus, is it awful.

Based on a screenplay originally released in 1968 and written by Herman Raucher, Sweet November follows two characters portrayed by Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron. Reeves plays Nelson Moss, the workaholic genius of a high power advertising firm who encounters Sara Deever (Theron), a quirky woman who sets out to “help him” change his unenjoyable lifestyle. Sara’s mode of help requires Nelson to “be her November,” or live with her for one month, away from the arena of corporate America. With all expenses paid and all amenities included, this may seem like a rather dicey set up, until the two predictably fall completely in love. Oh, how sweet

M. L. King Recalled 32 years Later

By ryan February 23, 2001

Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. looked back upon the 36 years following Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination yesterday in Sage Chapel. Citing King’s last published essay, “Where Do We Go From Here: Community or Chaos?” Lawson urged his audience to note the course society has traveled towards chaos. Lawson noted his connection to the Ithaca community before he began his lecture. His father was a minister in Ithaca, and his older sisters were born in upstate New York before the family relocated to Ohio. Lawson began his lecture with a short video called “A Force More Powerful,” which outlined the basic structure of the program that he organized in 1960 to desegregate lunch counters in Nashville, Tenn. The video showed a young Lawson at the forefront of a local campaign that drew attention nationwide for its use of non-violent protest. Lawson said that his intent in showing the video was to indicate that ordinary people can reach extraordinary accomplishments if they adopt pure methods and refuse to keep quiet. Actions by ordinary people was a recurring theme throughout Lawson’s lecture. He indicated that non-violent protest appealed to him, because everyone can participate in the action, including men and women, people old and young. “Sit-in protests became a nationwide campaign, used in every state of the Union,” he said. A commitment to non-violent protest is essential in any struggle, Lawson said, noting that “one cannot create a good society out of bad means.” As a civil rights leader, he learned to apply his form of passive resistance from Mohandas Gandhi while serving as a missionary in India. The protest technique is one of the most important convictions that Lawson shared with King. When speaking about the current state of American society, Lawson said that “we are closer to chaos than ever before.” “Our society has become a culture of violence, a culture of racism, a culture of sexism, a culture of greed and a culture of addiction,” he added. To eliminate the elements he called plagues of society, Lawson said that a common vision is necessary. He intends that vision to replace the current culture with, “a culture of liberty, democracy, justice and community.” Lawson said that King’s legacy was the struggle to achieve the prophesy of the American nation’s founding documents. King strove to fulfill the promise of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. “If Dr. King were alive today, he would be asking, ‘How do we continue to struggle?'” Lawson said. The lecture yesterday was sponsored by Cornell United Religous Works and was the second of two lectures about Martin Luther King this semester. Lawson was introduced by Vice-Provost Robert Harris, who called the speaker “a lion of the human and civil rights struggle.” Lawson is currently the Luce Lecturer at Harvard University.Archived article by Ruthie Wahl
C.U. Receives Mellon Grant

By ryan February 23, 2001

Humanities at Cornell attracted national attention recently, grabbing a $1.4 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grant will be used for postdoctoral fellowships and seminars in the humanities and social sciences. According to Walter Cohen, vice provost and dean of the graduate school, who co-wrote the grant proposal, the money will be used to help fund approximately 24 postdoctoral fellowships over the next five years. “We are advertising for four [postdoctoral fellows] next year,” Cohen said. Many of the fellowships are expected to be in core liberal arts programs of english, history and government. The grant proposal was written by Cohen and Provost Carolyn A. (Biddy) Martin after months of discussion with Cornell administrators beginning last semester. President Hunter R. Rawlings III, Philip E. Lewis, the Harold A. Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Jonathan Culler, senior associate dean of Arts and Sciences were among those involved. The grant will have a number of benefits for both the postdoctoral fellows and the University. According to Cohen, postdoctoral fellows will have a chance to enhance their career by continuing their research, doing more teaching and having intellectual contact with faculty. At the same time, Cohen said that the University will benefit from teaching and the “young bright vitality” of the postdoctoral fellows. “The postdocs might teach a Freshmen Writing Seminar that a professor drops,” Culler said. “[They] might teach a course to make up for it, but not necessarily the same course,” he added. With postdoctoral fellows doing some teaching, professors will then have more time to do research and attend the seminars that are part of the grant proposal. The theme of next year’s seminars will be “Race and Ethnicity in the Study of America,” Cohen said. In subsequent years, the seminars will focus on ethics and visual studies. These seminars will meet weekly and will be attended by postdoctoral fellows, professors and administrators, including Rawlings, Martin and Cohen. About a dozen faculty members from various disciplines will participate in the series each year, Culler noted. “It will certainly be an opportunity for faculty members to learn about new topics. In due course, they [students] will have faculty who will offer courses on new topics,” Lewis said. “This is exactly what students should want,” he added. By combining disciplinary and interdisciplinary thinking, Cohen said that the faculty will also be able to do better research. “If we let them think, we will enhance their skills,” Cohen said. “It’s just a chance to make ourselves better.”Archived article by Luke Hejnar