Columns

BETTEZ | Please Clear the Walkways, Cornell

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In Cornell Police Chief David Honan’s latest email to the Cornell community on Feb. 19, he wrote: “A healthy mindset helps you stay safe and keep on top of your game. Exercise your brain, get outside or take a walk and enjoy some fresh air.” 

While this in itself is true, such advice is far, far easier said than done. Walking anywhere beyond East Avenue will let you see more ice than a trip to Lynah Rink. While I appreciate the relentless work it requires to constantly clear the snow and ice in the midst of relentless snow storms –– let alone in the midst of the coldest period of our pandemic so far — more needs to be done to allow the Cornell community to venture outdoors without fear of a perilous slip.

Columns

KEMPFF | Missing the Stink of Helen Newman

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Over a year into the pandemic, and some of life’s old annoyances are becoming increasingly missed. Helen Newman’s stinky old gym is one gem that Kempff ’23 is missing after not having been in a real gym for months.

Cornell

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Cornell, Honor Your Commencement Promise

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Cornell University promised it’s Class of 2020 an in-person commencement ceremony when the pandemic comes under control. Now the University is walking back that promise in favor of an in-person “alumni event” when it becomes possible. Matthew Ferraro ’20 argues Cornell should hold true to its promise for a proper commencement.

Columns

STELLA | Most of You Suck, There’s No But

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I can say that now with only a few short months left here. To make you feel better, most of you would think the same about me. I’m an ever-forgetting, grammar correcting, vinyl collecting, mirror gawking guy who watches Shrek four times a year. But we find them – the people that see these attributes as endearing, and who we can’t help but want to see everyday. As with any place, we’re going to find people we would enjoy to see slip on black ice in the winter, but so too will we find people that we never want to leave.

Opinion

XOXO, Your Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

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He chuckled at his phone with the sort of strained enthusiasm meant to spur a person’s curiosity. Curiosity spurred, I crawled to the foot of the bed and peered over his broad, tattooed shoulder. I wasn’t exactly eager to stow aside my feminist propensity of ignoring men when they, in typical fashion, summon attention to themselves whilst performing some act wholly unworthy of the attention they summon. But his shoulders were broad, and tattooed. And we had just had some cool sex, so all in all I was feeling benevolent.

Columns

ONONYE | Dear Cornell, Save the Snow Days

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I never experienced a snow day until I came to Cornell, which puts me at a whopping two days. For many Northeastern students, those two days are less than they typically expected in one year of elementary school. On top of that, I have (to my utter embarrassment) spent both of those snow days studying. 

My lack of understanding and participation in “snow day festivities” probably makes me both the best and worst person to write an op-ed urging administrators to keep snow days regardless of Cornell’s COVID-adapted online teaching modalities. My first snow day was the Monday after Thanksgiving, my sophomore year. Having arrived back on that Sunday, I used it as a catch up day on all the work that I had “accidentally chosen” not to do while at home in Southern California.

Columns

GHAZI | Professors: Go To Your Colleagues’ Zoom Classes

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The guinea pigs of Zoom University, the students, get poked and prodded with teaching tactics class after class every day. All professors want is for us to unmute and, for the love god, just learn. Students experience the entire spectrum of creative distance-learning teaching methods. Professors test just one experiment: their own. 

Many undergraduates are now seasoned Zoomers who understand what it takes to make a classroom work because we have experienced what doesn’t. Professors, however, only know what engages a digital classroom in the context of their own courses.

Black History Month

WAITE | “Malcolm & Marie,” during Black History Month!?

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Last week, as a little early Valentine’s day celebration for myself (because who loves me more than me? Evidently no one), I decided to watch the movie “Malcolm & Marie.” Because, come on –– what is a better way to spend a day in February than to simultaneously celebrate the two things this month is revered for: Black people and love. 

Armed with only the information provided by it’s short and enigmatic trailer, I lounged across the 5 pillows on my bed and began the black and white film about Black love. For the most part, I was enjoying myself. The movie’s cinematography is beautiful, the acting is enjoyable, and most of the script, though at a few points tiresome, is engaging. About 50 minutes in, however, I had to hit pause.

Columns

CHEN | Why I Sign Away My Data

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Signing up for a grocery store rewards card, I’m hesitant to enter my real birthday. When asked for my name at Starbucks, I simply say my last name, ‘Chen’, instead of my first name — not just for fear of the mispronunciation. There are instances where using my real name, phone number or birthday feels like leaving my wallet out while going to the bathroom. However, the truth of the matter is that the internet probably already knows everything about me, from my shoe size to my preference in ice cream flavors. Humans are always trying to learn more about ourselves, whether it’s through our personality type or Buzzfeed telling us what kind of condiment we are.