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The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/2004/04/14/softball-plays-today/)

April 14, 2004

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Softball Plays Today

By | April 14, 2004

A softball team is a finely tuned machine, in need of constant adjustments to stay sharp. Cornell’s squad will get the opportunity to polish up its skills today against St. Bonaventure in preparation for this weekend’s crucial Ivy League match-ups against Harvard and Dartmouth.

Animal Rights Author Condemns 'Holocaust'

By April 15, 2004

Charles Patterson, author of Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust, spoke yesterday at Goldwin Smith Kaufman Auditorium concerning his book and the contemporary attitudes towards the treatment of animals. In an event sponsored by the Cornell Coalition for Animal Defense, Patterson drew a parallel between the treatment of Jewish prisoners throughout the Holocaust and the domestication and treatment of animals. Patterson argued that the degrading means by which people treat animals is carried over in the practices implemented in human persecution, as seen in the Holocaust. Patterson’s thesis of his book and lecture is that the way people deal with animals has colored and shaped how we treat each other. “The way you treat animals in the backyard permeates your attitude and how you treat other human beings in the front yard,” said Patterson. Patterson stated that the the concept of human supremacy has driven humans to command animals since the “Agricultural Revolution.” Humans began, and continue, to take animals captive and control their lifestyle, breeding, and future. In many cases, this future leads to the gathering of products such as milk and the subsequent slaughtering to obtain meat. Patterson argued that the Nazis applied the same theory of “might over right” when controlling the Jews and commanding most of Europe. The way the Jews were gathered and herded into concentration camps is similar to the collection and containing of animals, such as cows. “Once we do things to animals, we get the idea that this can be done to other living beings – including human beings,” said Patterson. Patterson described that the way the Jews were gathered — herded nakedly into large chambers and shower rooms — is similar to the gathering of animals today. Patterson explained that the Nazis treated their captives this way because it was a dehumanizing and uniform process that eased guilt attributed to the controlling Nazi commanders and soldiers. In fact, Rudolph Hoess, a commander at Auzchwitz, had agricultural experience which was directly reflected in his herding of and treatment of prisoners. Patterson also described how the Nazis adopted the eugenics movement, which was initially applied to the breeding of animals, to humans. The eugenics movement is the idea that by breeding only the healthy, strong, and successful individual species, a population can increase its productivity and overall status. Just as farmers breed strong, potent animals in hopes to achieve a superior race and society, the Nazis did so by terminating what they viewed as the weak and inferior species — Jews. As Patterson spoke, protesters gathered outside the lecture to voice their disagreement with his views. The protesters’ main objection was that they disagreed that Patterson condemned the slaughter and consumption of meat and other animal products. “We’re just a bunch of kids who don’t want to be called Nazis for eating meat,” said Paul Ibrahim ’06. Patterson shrugged off objections to his cause saying that anything involving animal defense and the Holocaust would be controversial. Instead, Patterson promoted the advancement of animal rights and a decrease in the slaughtering of animals. In addition, Patterson is an advocate of organic farming and the adoption of a vegetarian or vegan diet. Regarding the current treatment of animals, Patterson quoted the view held by scholar Theodore Adorno, saying, “Auschwitz begins wherever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks: they’re only animals.” Archived article by Carl MenzelSun Contributor
Rules of Verse

By April 15, 2004

Lou Reed has played many parts over the years, but he’s always been best, and most convincing, playing himself — a teacher and a tease. Animal Serenade, his latest live album, opens with the most welcome sound in rock: the first chords of “Sweet Jane.” The crowd is cheering, and you’re sitting at home with that stupid grin the song always gives you plastered across your face, and just when you’ve started to murmur “standing on the corner” … he stops playing. That bastard. Then he says: “this is for anyone who’s ever wondered how you could make a career out of three chords.” And demonstrates the ultra-secret fourth chord. Just like that, everyone knows this is going to be good. The secret of Animal’s success — and Lou’s — is that, after all these years, he plays like he just wrote the notes, treats the audience like some guys he met in a bar, and sings like he means every word. There’s still all that brilliant sarcasm and too-cool-for-school delivery, but there’s no distance and no ironic posturing. This is no Vegas Elvis schlock; this is a real concert, which means there’s still risk. “Smalltown,” with lyrics that are only funny because Lou’s survived to write them, provides a strong opener complete with some spoken observations about L.A. and New York that Woody Allen would be proud to have written. “Men of Good Fortune” remains a great philosophy of history wrapped in sneeringly sincere vocals. On disc one the newer songs gain new life from the band’s commitment. Surprisingly, the one real disappointment is a bloated, 10- minute “Venus In Furs” which starts off sexy, exhausted, and predatory as ever and ends up as dull monotonous kink. Fortunately the second disc recovers with a wonderfully messy “Dirt Blvd.” which somehow manages to combine perfectly phrased lyrics with a tangled, sloppy guitar-led full band attack. The double gift of “Sunday Morning” and “All Tomorrow’s Parties” is seriously weakened by the instrumentation of the former, which can only be described as twee. The band is verging on Lite-FM here, and this awful mistake is only thrown into harsher relief by the ravage of Reed’s voice, which almost approaches Nico-like proportions. The decision to deconstruct “Parties” works a lot better, with Lou’s delivery free and soulful. Lou’s disarming, self-deprecating introduction of his reworking of Poe (“The Raven”) is so charming that you actually give the song a chance, and the minimal strings reveal a good song hidden behind the studied lack of pretension. But Lou’s still at his best with his first great song. This version of “Heroin” perfectly captures the song’s frenzied, despairing paralysis. The quick insert of “I’ll be your mirror” expresses the void of loneliness gaping under the acoustic guitars. By the end, Lou’s gasping out “I guess I just don’t know” like it’s an awesome effort just to speak, and we understand the exact attraction of putting a spike right in a vein. The album ends with the swirl of strings wrapping the audience in a junkie lullaby at least as comforting as it is terrifying. Archived article by Erica SteinRed Letter Daze Staff Writer