What's the Deal With Homecoming?

By wpengine | October 24, 2003

So, this is supposed to be some special weekend at Cornell. It’s supposed to be the weekend when all those fabulous alums come back to Ithaca, go drinking and consequently get drunk together, and reminisce about their great times on the East Hill. Everything is supposed to be special — the band should play a little bit louder, the football team should play a little bit better, and heck, Jansen’s might even serve something tastier than cube steak.

But you know what? Homecoming’s not special at all — at least it isn’t for Cornell. The student body doesn’t get into it, and only a few alums actually come home. University President Jeffrey S. Lehman ’77 officially came home last week with his inauguration, but even he won’t be here this weekend. I’m sure whatever he’s doing in Oregon is important business, but it does show you how much the University administration cares about this weekend.

How many of you even knew that it’s Homecoming weekend before seeing the Homecoming football supplement? It’s just not that big of a deal. Some writers in The Sun have bemoaned the relative apathy surrounding Homecoming and have urged all Cornellians to go out and support the teams. But come on, we all know that’s not going to happen and all the begging in the world won’t get people out at Schoellkopf Field, Berman Field, or Oxley Equestrian Center. At the end of the day, the loyal fans who regularly attend the sporting events will still be the only ones out there. No more, no less.

To be honest, I’m not bothered by this relative apathy at all. You see, I went to a relatively large high school in San Francisco, Calif. with a student body of over 2,500. I don’t think we ever got more than 200 fans at any of our school sporting events. I remember playing in the band at our Homecoming game during my freshman year. Our band of 70 was joined by about 20 fans. To me, the attendance of 3,000 (or so the Athletic Department claims — you make that up, right?) that go to the football games is a great turnout.

Would it be great to have more fans? Sure. Will it happen? No. We can admire Michigan’s Big House and Duke’s Cameron Crazies all we want. But Cornellians, like those kids at my high school, just aren’t hard-wired for that sort of thing.

This apathy can be traced all the way back to the day we filled out the Big Red Packet that Cornell sent to us during our senior years in high school. It can be traced to the fact that Cornell’s part of the Ivy League. When my friends decided to go to Cal-Berkeley, Stanford, and various other scholarship schools, they immediately starting thinking about getting season basketball and football tickets. When I sent in my forms, I didn’t even know Cornell had basketball and football teams. I’m sure many of you were the same way. I came here for an education, and I’ve gotten a damn good one, just like Cornell promised.

So this weekend, forget the games. Football’s playing a horrible, bottom feeder in Brown, the hockey team’s going to beat up on some minors (isn’t that illegal?), and really, it’s just too cold to go out to Berman Field to watch soccer.

Will I be at the games? Yeah, it’s my job and I get to sit in a nice, warm press box. But I won’t blame you if you don’t go. Ithaca’s just not pleasant this time of year.

So, contrary to what we at the paper and some of those diehards out there want to have happen, Homecoming will be just another weekend. Well, not exactly. If you’re cheap and want some free food and beer, head up to Schoellkopf before the game and grab some grub. After all, those tailgaters made all that food expecting alums (they should know better by now). Make someone happy and eat it. Not watching football — forgivable. Not eating that free food — now that’s a crime.

Archived article by Alex Ip

LSP Appoints Brady Director

By wpengine October 27, 2003

Mary Pat Brady was appointed to the position of Director of the Latino Studies Program over the summer. Brady had previously been an assistant professor of history. The LSP serves as a resource center for students who are researching Latino-related topics. Currently, there are approximately 40 to 50 students concentrating in Latino studies, with about one half of the students being Latino. Brady explained that, “by the time the current class of Cornell seniors are ready to think about retirement, at least one in four people in the U.S. will be Latino.” She said that this vast demographic shift will have an impact on all sects of life in the United States. The Latino population in the United States is now estimated to be more than 35 million people. “These people, who hope to be leaders in all kinds of professions, from hotel management to information technologies, from investment banking to communications, will absolutely have to understand Latino histories, cultures, philosophies, politics,” Brady said. The LSP faculty and students work together to explore the social, political and economic aspects of life in the Latino community. The goals of the program include expanding the course curriculum, increasing the size of the faculty and staff and enhancing the academic environment for Latino students. Brady hopes to increase the knowledge and awareness of the Latino program at Cornell. As director, she plans to expand the program’s course offerings, create new events for the program as well as collaborate with the library system to increase its assortment of Latino collections. “This spring we are hosting a special symposium on U.S.-Dominican practices and identities as well as a two-day conference about queer Latina cultures,” she said. Brady said the LSP is currently looking for two new assistant professors as well. Olin Library, according to Brady, is currently implementing a new Latino Studies Collection. Ida Martinez, the librarian in charge of the collection, has organized the resources and promoted the collection. “Cornell is incredibly fortunate to have such an energetic and knowledgeable librarian at the helm of one of the most crucial aspects of any intellectual effort,” Brady said. Brady replaces Maria Christina Garcia who served as the director of the LSP for three years. “[The LSP] was created in response to the militancy of Latino students in 1990s, but since then, it has become a very exciting program and we are meant to serve not only the Latino students on campus, but all students interested in Latino studies,” Garcia said. Garica noted, “Like most programs on this campus we are here to educate students on particular topics, especially Latino populations of the United States because it is the fastest growing population.” Garcia replied that she automatically knew Mary Pat Brady would be the perfect fit for the new position. “Mary was the natural choice to take over for me once I stepped down. She has lots of energy and ideas, and I look forward to seeing what she does in the next year,” Garcia said. After deciding not to renew her position as director of the LSP, Garcia has resumed to teaching history and Latino studies courses at Cornell. Brady said that the main focus of the LSP this year is to inform Cornell students about the Latino population as a whole. “Fortunately for students here, Cornell has the strongest U.S. Latino studies program in the Ivy League,” Brady said.cult at a place like Cornell and what strategies we need to use.” Koestner began delivering her message against date rape, which she calls the “crime of silence,” after going public with her experience of sexual assault during her first year at the College of William and Mary in 1990. The first part of her address on Wednesday evening was a detailed recollection of the event. Koestner related the details that led up to the incident, which involved another William and Mary freshman. During the assault, she remembered that she “clenched up — closed up. People always ask me why I didn’t do anything, because they expect you to hate it, and you do, but there are many different ways to hate it. I remember trying to will him off of me — but telepathy doesn’t work that well.” During the following week, Koestner wrestled with her options before approaching several levels of authority on campus. She had a difficult time getting support for her case but was finally able to have a hearing with a dean concerning rules of conduct that the assailant, Peter, had broken. In that hearing, Koestner recalled Peter testifying, “She told me no more than a dozen times that night, but eventually stopped, so I figured I changed her mind.” The dean found Peter guilty of several violations and punished him by outlawing him from Koestner’s residence hall. Dissatisfied with William and Mary’s response, Koestner began getting publicity for her situation by calling local newspapers. Before long, she had signed a release to be named the first victim of date rape, a term that did not exist before Koestner’s experience in 1990. She was on many television programs after that, including Oprah, Good Morning America and Larry King Live. She was also featured on the cover of Time magazine’s date rape issue. Koestner earned degrees in public policy and women’s studies. Since then, she has been touring continuously with Campus Outreach Services to spread her message. “I want to work with communities that aren’t addressing this. There are plenty of professors who work with this, but they don’t get into West Point or a small town in Georgia where the football team rules,” Koestner said. To help spread awareness of sexual assault, Koestner has begun working with people like Braxton, who addressed the group about his work in “stopping oppression.” He has experience working with all-male groups as well as mixed-gender groups and has developed exercises to help men understand what role they have traditionally played in society and how that can lead to aggressiveness and oppression. “A lot of gut emotions come out of [all-male] discussion groups. They usually challenge each other — they’re never all defensive,” Braxton said. Braxton began speaking against racial oppression while in high school and then went on to study at the University of Virginia, where he won several awards for his activism. He has since begun to “bridge the gap between the struggles of all oppressed people” and now works mainly in challenging the oppression of women, specifically concerning gender violence. Koestner has recently formed a foundation called The Katie Koestner Initiative for a World Without Rape. Koestner said she hopes the group will grow to be national in the same way that MADD is a national group against drunk driving. Koestner and Braxton concluded their presentation by describing the next step in the battle against sexual aggression. “If ‘no means no,’ when does yes mean yes?” Koestner asked. She said such a determination will be vital to combat sexual aggression, particularly date rape, in the future. Another member of SAGE, Wendy Soref ’04, thought Koestner’s presentation was helpful because “she told her whole story and all the obstacles that she faced in getting justice for what had happened and how many people were opposed to even speaking out about it.” The event was sponsored by Community Development, Balch Hall, Balch Hall Womyn’s Center and the Community Center Councils. Archived article by Allison Markowitz
Meeting Tompkins County's Quilting Guild

By wpengine October 27, 2003

Last weekend, the Tompkins County Quilting Guild hosted its fourteenth biennial quilting show, “Traditions and Beyond 2003.” The overwhelming positive response to the show — which garnered over 1300 visitors — is only an indicator of the popularity and influence of the guild in the community. The guild, founded in 1974 by Jeanne Greene, has seen tremendous growth since its inception. Starting with twenty members who met weekly, it has grown to 140 members who are involved in events ranging from quilting workshops to ABC Quilts for at-risk babies. The guild now meets semimonthly at the Women’s Community Building on 100 W. Seneca St. Here, the guild members meet and share techniques, patterns and stories. The first meeting is generally a lecture or workshop, while the second focuses on personal projects and community service. “We may have a guest speaker, work on ABC Quilts, special workshops, visit a museum — anything that the committee can find for us that is interesting to see or do that relates to quilting,” explains guild member Kristin Thompson. Equally important at these meetings is the social aspect. “At every meeting we have show and tell,” Barbara Dimock told The Sun. Here, members show their finished quilts or works in progress, and offer others advice and critique. “It’s a real sharing and caring community,” Dimock added. Members of all levels and interest are invited to share, learn and contribute. With the guild’s ambitious service record, the openness to contributors doesn’t hurt. The guild makes and auctions quilts to raise money for charities such as Habitat for Humanity and the Ithaca Breast Cancer Alliance. “It is a lot of fun to use quilting, something that we love, as a way to help others in the community,” explained Thompson. “One of the biggest fund raisers we have done has been in support of IBCA. I think we raised over $40,000 with two separate small quilt auctions.” In addition to monetary support, the guild makes a direct difference by donating thousands of quilts to the ABC Quilt program, which matches children of teen pregnancies and AIDs mothers with quilts. The guild has annual quilting bees which draw upon the entire Tompkins County community to help with these programs. Funding these various workshops, meetings and service events is the guild’s biennial show. This year’s show, the fourteenth put on by the guild, featured over 250 quilts and saw more than 50 small quilts auctioned off to cover the guild’s expenses. “The planning starts a year ahead of time,” Dimock said. Well before the show, advertising, floor layout and logistics are devised and discussed by the committee. Also at this time, the show’s centerpiece quilt is begun. At each show, a large quilt is raffled to guild members. The quilt is a showcase of the guild’s various styles and techniques with approximately thirty individuals working on it. Work begins a year before the show and ends just prior to the show’s opening — an example of the tremendous amount of effort and time that go into a quilt. This year’s raffle quilt, entitled “Even Flowers Get the Blues,” involved a mixture of machined and hand-quilting to apply the complex flower designs to the fabric. “It was a real combination of techniques,” Dimock said. Most of the quilts auctioned off are smaller, submitted by both local members and quilters outside of the guild. All, however, involved a lot of time and dedication to their creation. This year’s theme, “Tradition and Beyond 2003,” emphasized quilting’s long tradition and recent evolutions. “Quilting is a very old skill, coming to Europe from the East, probably central Asia,” explained Prof. Charlotte Jirousek, textiles and apparel. But because of quilting’s close ties with the American frontier “preserving and making use of what you had,” quilting has become “the most unique and well-defined American craft,” she added. According to Jirousek, as quilting moved from frontier necessity to becoming an artistic and social activity, elaborations on the basic patterns arose. In the 19th century, “Crazy Quilts” came into vogue, using silk fabric with fine embroidery. Soon after, however, a renewed interest in quilting’s humble origins focused on the quilting of poor peoples, especially the rural South, Jirousek said. Whatever the guise, however, quilts and quilting is now a firmly American art. “America has become the world model for this craft. England has a long tradition [in quilting], but they often emulate America,” Jirousek said. She also made a distinction between quilting, which involves sandwiching layers of cloth and fabric, and simple patchwork, which is simply putting various pieces of fabric together. Although the two crafts share a fair amount of cross-over, there is a distinct difference. With growing interest in quilting and a large turnout, this year’s show was certainly a success in spreading the history and joy of quilting to the area. “There’s something very warm and drawing about quilts, I think that’s what gets people involved,” Dimock said. “Ithaca has grown into a quilting nexus.” That nexus is a far cry from the 20 quilters the guild started with. Archived article by Michael Morisy