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September 22, 2005

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Test Spin: Antigone Rising

By | September 22, 2005

If you love latte’s and vocal-based acoustic rock music, make your way over to Starbucks and pick up Antigone Rising’s unplugged album called, From the Ground Up. Cassidy (lead vocalist), sisters Cathy and Kristen (guitarists), Dena (drums) and Jen (bass guitarist) produce an alternative pop/rock yet folk-oriented sound that can be compared to the Dixie Chicks, Indigo Girls and Led Zeppelin. Cassidy’s brawny vocals sound like a mix between Janis Joplin and Melissa Etheridge and her lyrics include stories of unrequited love, one-night stands, a fight with a roommate and how to find your inner diamond. Antigone Rising is a blend of country, pop and rock that has formed a large fan base from touring around the country. Formed in 1999 and having started out in small coffee shops, Antigone Rising, is now signed with Lava Records and their album is being sold in one of the largest coffee shop chains in the world. Their sound and unique style will have you begging for more.

Archived article by Megan Altman
Sun Contributor

Related

Windows of the World

By September 23, 2005

As he coined the term “organic architecture” and designed an array of buildings ranging from Manhattan’s Guggenheim Museum to small-scale residential homes, Frank Lloyd Wright’s influence on American architecture is unprecedented today. His work was uniquely centered on the combination of his own technique known as the Prairie style and a more European avant-garde design. Wright’s architecture “proceeds, persists and creates according to the nature of man and his circumstances,” as he, himself described. His buildings, many of which were built from the late 1800s to the 1950s, scatter the country today. Wright’s talent, however, did not end with the sketching and structural planning of the buildings. He branched into the field of interior design, including the making of stained glass windows. By incorporating works of stained glass into the architecture, he reinforced the overarching unifying objectives portrayed both aesthetically and structurally in his work. Wright placed these windows in the houses that typified his own Prairie style, characterized by low-pitched roofs and extended horizontal lines that came together with the intention of blending the houses into their surrounding environments. The Prairie house design was also organized around the idea of a crucifix “L” or “T” form. The Johnson Museum is currently displaying two of Wright’s esteemed glass windows commonly referred to as “light screens.” The windows are from the Darwin D. Martin House Complex in Buffalo, NY. The complex, which consists of a number of different residential structures that were linked to form a whole, was designed and built between 1903 and 1905. The house is significant because it displays Wright’s undeniable talent to create harmony between his buildings and the surrounding environment. The windows are arranged in a peaceful, geometric layout using tinted panes that are green, brown, yellow and off-white. The panes are cut into various sizes and shapes, but all mesh with undeniable perfection resulting in a special arrangement that pleases and challenges the eye. The “Tree of Life” window, located on the side of the Johnson Museum facing Oliver Tjaden Hall, features three distinct Cyprus trees all originating from a base pot with a central axis. The diagonal brass mold distinctively forms the image of branches originating from the trunk while the smaller squares surrounding the diagonals signify leaves. Wright uses the elements of thick and thin lines to separate the different parts of the window while creating unification among the entire work. There are a number of different “Tree of Life” windows that were placed around the Martin House. Each consists of hundreds of pieces of glass. The Johnson Museum is also featuring panels of the pier cluster casements of the Martin House. These casements, found on the side of the museum facing West Campus, are decorative features that were spread around the Martin House. They would be placed between two rooms, allowing light to flow from one to the next while serving decorative purposes. The casements were in keeping with the organic architecture that Wright developed – they created a source of indirect lighting that would permit light to flow uniformly, bringing together all spaces of the house. The exhibit will be on display at the Johnson Museum through November 13. The Museum is open 10am-5pm Tuesday-Sunday.Archived article by Sarah Singer Sun Contributor
C.U. Files Brief Against Solomon Amendment

By September 23, 2005

Cornell has filed an amicus curiae or “friend of the court” brief in support of law school professors and administrators who are challenging the constitutionality of the Solomon Amendment in an upcoming Supreme Court case. The University joins Yale, Columbia, Harvard, New York University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Chicago in signing the 30-page document, which calls the amendment “an unconstitutional condition on federal funding.” Cornell announced its involvement in the brief on Wednesday. Passed in 1995, the Solomon legislation mandates that schools give military recruiters the same access to students and resources as they would for other employers, although the military’s policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” is at odds with institutional non-discrimination policies. Universities that do not comply risk losing their federal funding. “The government … incorrectly presumes that universities that do not wish to comply with funding conditions may simply decline federal assistance. In fact, rejection of federal funds is not a real choice for modern research universities,” the brief states. “Viewed in context … the law is a command rather than an inducement,” the seven universities argued in the document. They continued that “… the conditions it imposes on receipt of a broad array of federal grants and contracts bear no relationship to that funding.” The amendment also threatens federal funding of academic research and academic freedom, which lie at the cornerstones of the nation’s economy, security and democratic society, the schools asserted. “Whether or not a particular school would choose to deliver … a message [critical of the military’s hiring policy], the government’s contention that it may use the coercive power of federal funding to prevent a school from doing so should be rejected,” the document states. The Supreme Court will consider the arguments presented in the amicus brief in ruling on whether or not the Solomon Amendment violates First Amendment principles of free speech and expression. The amicus brief aids The Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR), the coalition of law schools that will be contesting the amendment in the upcoming Supreme Court case on Dec. 6. In November last year, FAIR won its case in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. The court later stated that it would not put the ruling into effect but instead await a decision from the Supreme Court.Archived article by Xiaowei Cathy TangSun Senior Editor