Columns

BANKS | To Whom I Owe My Artistic Wanderlust

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No one other than James Baldwin could have ever hoped to deliver a proper eulogy to James Baldwin, but I find it incredibly ironic that my namesake ended up accepting the mantle. Amiri Baraka was an embattled and deeply flawed artist, and in reading his work, I have often found myself rapidly vacillating between vehement disapproval and mesmerized admiration. What he had to say about the man I aspire to be like, though, elicited neither of these responses. “Jimmy Baldwin created [contemporary American speech] so we could speak to each other at unimaginable intensities of feeling, so we could make sense to each other at higher and higher tempos,” wrote Baraka. For most anyone else, words like these would serve as poetic and profound excerpts from a worthy homage.

Arts & Culture

GOULDTHORPE | The Doctor is In: Seuss and his Relationship with Animation

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Walk into any kindergarten classroom in the English-speaking world, and you will find a Dr. Seuss book. I will bet money on it. Theodore “Seuss” Geisel has cast his spell over the world’s children for decades now; his whimsical wordplay, curious characters and surreal settings win over hearts young and old. “But David,” you wonder, “What on earth does this guy have to do with animation?” Well, this year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the classic Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, the perennial holiday favorite that gave us the oft-applied “You’re a Mean One.” The 1966 Grinch is certainly the best-remembered adaptation of Seuss’ work, but it’s not the only one. Let’s delve into the long history of Seuss’ relationship with animation, and see where it’s going in the future.

Blogs

THE E’ER INSCRUTABLE | 1916: Annus Fugae Deorum

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“Nulla è cambiato, la terribilità della tragedia è identica, tutte le apparenze effimere con cui la civiltà maschera e diversifica nei tempi il puro istinto umano sono qui abolite; l’uomo modern, l’uomo del secolo ventesimo, l’uomo che possiede cannoni e torpedini si ricongiunge al suo progenitore selvaggio, al suo antenato remoto armato soltanto del suo rude vigore e del suo coraggio feroce.” -Mario Morasso, writing of the Russo-Japanese War, April 3, 1904

This is my last article during my first year as a student at Cornell. I normally avoid personal pronouns and excessive self-reference in my articles; today, however, calls for a break in that routine, hopefully not to the displeasure of my readership of one and a half. I have a contention to make: 1916 was the year Germany should have won the war. The world would have been a better place if the apish “Mad Brute” of American wartime caricature, if the perpetrator of the Rape of Belgium had carried the day at Verdun and at the Somme. This is, I am aware, as argumentum ex silentio as it gets: bear with me.

Blogs

TALK IS CHIC | Fashion Forward or Fashion Backward

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Cuddling in Eleni’s queen sized bed recounting a fun evening, we began discussing our lack of photo documentation this year.  By the time you reach senior year, is taking a #selfie in your novel mixer costume lame/sad/pathetic/overdone? Or were we having too much fun dancing and twirling? Either way, we’re getting nostalgic and sappy as our time at Cornell comes to an end:

GO:  Won’t we want to look back at pictures of us in our Brandy Melville crop tops and LF chokers, which are likely to be painfully outdated? ET: Or the body contouring, mini dresses that may only be acceptable and flattering in this realm of our lives?

Cornell

LETTER TO THE EDITOR | The Cornell Daily Sun and Cornell History

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To the editors of The Cornell Daily Sun,
History is never finished.  The past is always rediscovered and historical texts revived.  So it is even with Cornell history. We write to right an omission in our recently published Cornell: A History, 1940-2015.  At the center of this revision is The Cornell Daily Sun. In our book we describe President Hunter Rawlings announcing on October 8, 1997, to the surprise of many in the Cornell Community, that he had “mandated that within three years all freshmen be housed on North Campus.”  We gave the impression that this resolution of the vexing perception of a white West Campus and a black North Campus was his idea — and his alone. It was certainly a bold exercise of presidential leadership that would forever change undergraduate life at Cornell, leading eventually to the creation as well of the West Campus House system.  But what we did not know when writing our History was that the idea of an all freshman North and an upper-class House system on West had already been advanced in the Sun by Editor in Chief Hilary Krieger ’98. Three weeks earlier Krieger had published a lengthy editorial entitled “Housing Solution.” In it she wrote:

So what might be a dramatic yet constructive solution?  We offer one.  It is by no means the only viable one, but it signifies the type of thinking and action necessary in order to realize real progress.  In order to link the contrasting cultures of North and West, students must literally come together.  By putting all the freshmen on North campus, all students could interact, live and learn from each other.

engineering

Faculty Gather to Remember Engineering College’s Storied History

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Festivities for Cornell Engineering’s sesquicentennial commenced with a welcoming presentation on its history  Friday, featuring keynote speakers Lance Collins, dean of the engineerng college, Prof. Emeritus Francis Moon, engineering, and Prof. Emeritus John Abel, civil and environmental engineering. The College of Engineering has a rich history at Cornell, according to Moon, who served as the director of the Sibley School of Mechanic Arts from 1987 to 1992. The Morill Land Grant Act of 1862 required the teaching of mechanical engineering, but at the time, there was no model for the curriculum of mechanical technology. Through the joint efforts of leading figures like philanthropist Hiram Sibley and engineer Robert Thurston, the Sibley College paved the way for the education of mechanical engineering. Mechanical, electrical and civil engineering grew in prominence between 1885 and the early 1900s, Moon said.

Uncategorized

History Department Seeks Student Feedback on Major

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As Cornell attempts to “Reimagine” the future of many of its internal functions, the History department has began to re-examine itself. A panel of professors within the history department held an open meeting yesterday in McGraw Hall with students to discuss the future of the major and the department.
“Periodically, we like to revisit the major and take the time to touch base with the students,” Prof. Maria Cristina Garcia, history and American studies, said at the beginning of the discussion. “We like to make sure that the requirements aren’t too onerous or too easy and see what else the students hope to gain from the department.”