Columns

BEARD | Men at Work 

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Like many off campus Cornellians, I began my senior year with the ritual of moving: leaving my home of the previous academic year and relocating to greener pastures. Or at least, I thought they would be greener pastures. In truth, while I love my new house, what I’ve moved into is hardly a home in a neighborhood and more like a waystation on the frontlines of Collegetown’s incessant expansion. 

I live in what is essentially a construction site. I share parking with heavy machinery, wake up to the sounds of jack hammering and my neighbors wear hard hats and work vests everyday. I’m not typically one to complain; I get up early anyways and the workers are nice enough neighbors. I usually can even catch a stray “good morning” or two from them (which is more than I can say for some of my actual neighbors). If the minor inconvenience ended here, it would probably be the end of the conversation and I would be out of a topic for this week’s column. But it doesn’t. As I’ve settled in for the year, I’ve noticed the constant, nagging presence of construction all across Collegetown and campus as a whole.