Dear au Courant,

The University’s central Events Calendar http://events.cornell.edu/ is always worth checking— for university-wide events of general interest, and some small-audience ones you might be surprised to find yourself enjoying— but announcements from some of the 800 student organizations don’t always appear on the “official” calendar.

Sidewalk chalkings can be hard to scan this time of year (but grow more useful as the weather improves) and quarter-sheet fliers at lunchtime in Ho Plaza are catch-as-catch-can (albeit good insulation in your coat pockets).

Of course you have also heard of Denice Cassaro and her wonderful e-list.  She sends out weekly reminders of the many things to do on campus.  Ask her to add you to the list, dac11.

The Student Activities Office Web calendar is a little outdated (apologies: too few people, too much to do) but that office does send out a calendar of student-organization notices — for all the registered student organizations.  To get on that list, send a request to rme4@cornell.edu. 

If you already know what you’re interested in, some of the publicity-minded student organizations make announcements via their web sites and Facebook. And some of them simply post recipes (like the Cornell Gourmet Club’s golden-gooey “Papa’s Mac and Cheese”) which could be an event in itself.  There’s not much to announce at the Cornell Chapter, Association of Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians, and that’s oddly reassuring.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Hermione or Harry,

Your Uncle asked his finest Director of Witchcraft and Wizardry (actually Risley’s Residence Hall Director Lauren Elan) who reports:

“Because of the increased interest in this annual program, we have decided to do things a little different in Risley this year.  A Night at Hogwarts will be a 2 day event.  We have changed things up a bit this year and are going to pre-sell tickets according to our capacity and how many people dining can feed.  Thus we are going to allow 750 people to attend the dinner program.  We have created a second event the following night entitled, Yule Ball where guests will get to view all of the decorations without the meal.  Instead, they will be able to dance the night away Harry Potter style in the Great Hall and participate in contests!  Please look up these events on facebook for more information.  So here are the details:

1.        A Night at Hogwarts (Traditional dinner)

Date:  Friday, April 8^th

Time: 5pm-8:00pm

Location: Risley

Tickets must be purchased in advance.

2.        Hogwarts Yule Ball

Date: Saturday, April 9^th

Time:  4pm-6pm

Location: Risley’s Great Hall

Tickets must be purchased in advance.”

Thanks, Lauren, for that update.  Save a tankard of butterbeer for you know who.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Kinda Interested in English or Anthropology,

Maybe the learned professors of English and Anthropology think their fields are far too major to be crammed into one tiny minor? 

That would be Your Uncle’s guess, but a much more useful answer will come your college’s advising office. Advising-center counselors know the rules, how the rules can be bent sometimes, and with whom— in the English and/or Anthropology departments—you might negotiate. Before you start, familiarize yourself with the standard offerings (for majors, minors, dual degrees, and so forth) such as the Arts College’s, which is here http://as.cornell.edu/academics/major-minor/index.cfm.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Budding Costermonger,

Congratulations on coming up with this great idea (and good luck with your job interviews).  Your Uncle won’t even ask specifics about your entrepreneurial scheme—not illegal or morally reprehensible, yet Cornell students eagerly pay street vendors for this much needed whatever?  Curious, indeed.

But you will be asked for details when you get to the next step—with Mike Powers ffp1@cornell.edu in University Communications Operations, 255-1573, who offers to “walk you through the process.” 

Please note that “the process” might require auditioning your traditional London costermonger’s song, while weaving your pushcart through the noon crowds at Ho Plaza —so good luck with that part, too. 

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Proud,

The academically elite Ivy League (a.k.a. Ancient Eight) was first (if not foremost) an intercollegiate athletics league of East Coast schools that enjoyed engaging in sports competition with one another —and with others, not so much.  The Army and Naval academies were among that athletically “elite” group early in the 20^th Century, but they somehow fell by the wayside —although we’re still keen to engage them in a ballgame now and then. 

By 1936 (but still lacking an official designation of an  “Ivy League”) Cornell’s athletics director, Romeyn Berry  (a poet and Daily Sun-honed wordsmith) issued these words:  “ . . . toward a closer bond of confidence and cooperation and toward the formation of a common front against the threat of a breakdown in the ideals of amateur sport in the interests of supposed expediency . . . “ 

Only schools smart enough to parse Romeyn Berry-babble were allowed to join the Ivy League.  So here we are.    

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Anonymous,

The railroad Your Uncle invested in (around two million, which was some serious money in the late 1860s) had a station in East Ithaca (Maple Avenue area) and briefly had track across campus to what is now Engineering’s Bard Hall (when Engineering was on the Arts Quad).  From there (East Ithaca station) you could get to Cortland, Newfield, West Danby, Spencer, Van Etten, and the whole wide world beyond (in the early 1870s) although some said Freeville boasted better train service than Ithaca had at the time.

Those were the days. Now all the passenger trains are gone from Ithaca. Toward the end, the East Ithaca line carried coal (from Pennsylvania) to the University’s heating plant near Maple Avenue.  Now the University heats with gas (steam heat) and makes a lot of its own electricity in the process.   

A few miles of Your Uncle’s railroad have been turned into a lovely rails-to-trails project by the Town of Ithaca.  Even the trolleys are gone now, although trolley tracks occasionally reappear during street repairs. With some imagination —and the luck to get TCAT’s crypto-trolley bus on Route 10 —you can approximate one of the old trolley routes that connected campus with downtown.  Ask the driver to let you clang the bell. 

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Loving Niece,

Oh you grads—you sure know how to bring a tear of happiness to your sentimental Uncle’s eye.  What a sweet story: You really stepped off the plane in little old Ithaca, New York, USA, and married (subsequently) the first person you saw? That’s so much more romantic than finding a mate on the Internet, and should do wonders for the Ithaca Airport’s reputation on the dating scene. 

You also win this week’s prize for Most Creative Use of the Ho Plaza Live Cam (students usually phone home to Mom, wave, and display the empty insides of their wallets).

While writing this, Your Uncle is fiddling with the Live Cam controls and . . . darn, another snowy day on campus! Occasionally a down-coated figure struggles through the snowstorm like some character from “Doctor Zhivago.”  Same for the webcams at the Milstein Hall construction site (hope they get the roof on soon), the Engineering Quad, and the Statler Hall cam.  Snow, snow, more snow. 

But what’s this? The Department of Horticulture’s Greenhouse Cam is showing a beautiful field (actually a big table) of golden daffodils. A short-sleeved attendant strolls amongst the spring flowers, basking in the (admittedly artificial) sunlight. 

Yes, definitely come back to campus to relive the good times. Walk around Beebe Lake holding hands. Just check the Live Cam weather before making  travel plans.    

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Possibly,

Your Uncle checked with the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering school director’s office in Olin Hall to inquire: What are the chances? “Not happening,” is the answer. And picnicking atop Rhodes Hall? A tall building, looming over a deep gorge?  You can guess the answer:  Totally not happening.

Instead, please permit Your Uncle to recommend any of the almost-as-lofty picnic venues— the numerous outdoor terraces strategically and solarly located around campus to catch the first Vitamin D-generating rays of Spring.  And to get some serious face time as passing friends and new ones stop by to join the fun.  Terraces at campus crossroads like Willard Straight and Mann Library come immediately to mind.  Soon you’ll find a favorite.  The WHS Terrrace has a spectacular view of downtown, Cayuga Lake and the surrounding hills.

Campus terraces feature amenities, like seats and tables, even umbrellas.  Many rooftops hereabouts feature vent stacks from a million laboratory fume hoods down below. Not ideal places to picnic (although Olin Hall’s reason for refusal is its fragile roof – a rubber membrane type, to be chemically technical— and no biomolecular beings are allowed to walk up there for any reason. Enjoy Spring on a terrace.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Videographer,

So what’s outdated? The Library’s online list of computing and equipment loans http://www.library.cornell.edu/svcs/equipment/other  (it wasn’t working recently, but seems to be okay now)?  Or the video cameras for loan at places like the ACCEL lab upstairs from the Engineering Library in Carpenter Hall (not HD, 3-D, Vitamin D)?  Your Uncle can’t vouch for the up-to-datedness of the equipment —ask the staff of the Library branch where the gear is housed— but the Library’s computing and equipment loan program is still a pretty good deal.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Photog,

At this University, photography is taught in the Department of Art in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning http://www.aap.cornell.edu/ where the answer to your question is a qualified no.  You would not minor in photography — but you would learn a lot about photography by doing it in a dual degree program, together with some other subject.  Details about dual degrees are at the web site, above.

Uncle Ezra