Dear Student,

I can hear how worried you are, but I also see that you are facing your concerns and have a great desire to get things straightened out.  First, go to office hours and talk to the professor,  Review what you did poorly on, as preparation for the next exam.  Evaluate what happened.  Did you study enough, did you study the right material, did you focus on the important information, did you understand the directions or make stupid mistakes? Did you have enough time to finish the exam? When you discover what went wrong you might benefit from going to the Learning Strategies Center, http://lsc.sas.cornell.edu/.

The Learning Strategies Center is the central academic support unit at Cornell University that provides undergraduate students with tutoring and supplemental courses in Biology, Chemistry, Economics, Mathematics and Physics. Assistance in improving general study skills is available through semester long courses, workshops, individual consultations, and web site resources.

Please visit the LSC at 420 CCC or call 255-6310.
Monday - Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Friday until 4:00 p.m.

It is also important to discover whether your terrible grade is within the mean, which can be 40 in some courses. Another option that you have is to check with the fine folks in your college's Academic Advising Office.  They may know of other resources in your college to help you learn the material in order to raise that grade.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Tram Tramp,

Your Uncle will go even further (and farther), taking trolley passengers and other weary hill-climbers back to the glory days of the Ithaca Street Railway and Lighting Company (late 1880s through early 1930s), when there weren’t so many autos all over the place. 

You could step off a passenger train  (perhaps the Black Diamond Express, “Handsomest Train in the World”) at the West End Ithaca depot; hop on a trolley (careful with that valise, kid!); clatter up State Street (the Ithaca Commons wasn’t in the way then); veer toward campus on Eddy Street (stepping off if a student-friendly rooming house caught your fancy); cross Cascadilla  gorge  (on what is now the pedestrian bridge from Collegetown); go to class (always a good idea, even then}; depart campus via the Thurston Ave bridge  over Fall Creek (marveling at the  views on either side);  tootle  through the  Cornell Heights neighborhood (including The Knoll);  catch “gorges” views of the valley from the Steward Ave bridge over Ithaca Falls; and return downtown to buy another hat (early trolleys were wide-open, breezy affairs).

Ithaca was only the third city in the state (after Brooklyn and Binghamton) to have an electric trolley system.  Nowadays, we can trace many of the hilly trolley routes aboard TCAT buses (with bike racks, hooray!), noting that trolleys also served Cayuga Heights, Cayuga Lake waterfront, and East Ithaca for a while. 

That TCAT trolley-look-alike was nicer when its engine ran on natural gas (boo, diesel!) and the wooden seats are kinda hard on the derrière.  Ask the operator to let you ring the old-time trolley bell.  Close your eyes and imagine public transit way back when. Open the window and let the breeze take your hat away. Repeat as necessary.  

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Loves Cornell,

There is really no need for a list, since there are no actual "Lost and Found" sites throughout campus, except for the main repository in Barton.  If it has been a recent loss, you might check in the facilities office in the building that you kow you lost your item in, because it might sit there for a day before it is transferred.

The reason for the central location is that most often the loser doesn't know where the loss took place.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Observant,

Although Cornell lost two particularly notable alumni recently (Helen "Happy" Reichert '25 at 109 years old, and pacemaker inventor Wilson Greatbatch '50), the black and gold flag on Lyon Hall has a much less somber meaning. Can you keep a secret?

The flag indicates that the Quill & Dagger Senior Honor Society has tapped its newest members. Quill & Dagger seeks to recognize outstanding leaders in the senior class who have contributed to the Cornell community, and the upper floors of Lyon Hall are used by the society and its members. Keep an eye on The Cornell Daily Sun in the near future and you'll probably see a list of the newest members.

Uncle Ezra   

dear Wide-awake,

Thanks for the great info!

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Reader,

I'm unaware of any book or website with these college crests available, but perhaps the staff of the Rare & Manuscript Archives in Kroch Library could help you in your quest.

Variations of these symbols representing each college appear on stone shields at the Willard Straight Hall entrance and on the banners hanging in the Memorial Room. The eight shields at the entrance represent (from left to right) Architecture, Engineering, Law, Graduate School, Arts & Sciences, Medicine, Agriculture, and Veterinary Medicine

The banners inside, replaced in 2009 by the Sigma Phi Society (http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Sept09/CollegeBanners.html), represent thirteen colleges, adding Hotel Administration, Industrial & Labor Relations, Human Ecology, Johnson Graduate School of Management, and Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. A small placard in the room indicates which banners represent each college.

These college symbols can also be seen at Commencement each year, carried on banners in front of each college's group of graduates.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Wondering,

The last hour bell of the evening chimes as 10:45pm and then they resume ringing at 7am to be consistent with the quiet hours in many of the residence halls.  The only exception is the annual Chimes Halloween concert when the clock strikes 13!

Boooo!

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Working Out,

The Cornell Fitness Centers are very busy during most of the year.  There are over 13,000 CFC members on campus trying to workout at any given moment of the day and each of these members needs different pieces of equipment.  There are also several PE classes utilizing parts of the fitness centers on different days at different times and these change each semester.  So what may seem like a busy time for a person wanting to use a treadmill, is possibly not a busy time for the person wanting to lift weights and ride a bike.  In general, there are less people working out right away when the fitness centers open.  Even though it may take some time, each person has to be willing to try the different fitness center locations at various times during the week until they find the right fit for them.  If you absolutely have to workout in one specific location because of your various needs, then getting up early in the morning and being one of the first to arrive is your best strategy.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Google Earthling,

Those rectangular blocks were graduate and professional student (aka family or married) housing units dating back to WW II (or before).  The barracks-like homes were torn down to reconfigure North Campus for first-year students— a part of then-President Hunter Rawlings’ Residential Initiative that subsequently rebuilt West Campus for upperclassmen. That’s when the residence halls (Court, Mews, Kay, and Bauer) and the dining-recreation hall (Appel Commons) were built.

The Residential Initiative (rather controversial at the time) was designed “to provide a common living-and-learning environment that would bring first-year students together as a group, ease transition into university life, and encourage interaction among students and with faculty who lived in residence there with their families.” 

If you like the way things worked out, you might thank President Emeritus Rawlings the next time you see that really tall gent around campus. He still teaches in the Classics Department, and he did receive official gratitude in 2004 when Rawlings Green (the circular space between the dorms and Appel) was named in his honor.  But it’s always nice to hear from the students, too.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Trousers Tailor,

Checking with Barnaby Knoll at the Risley Residential College for the Creative and Performing Arts, the following is learned:

“Risley Hall does have a few sewing machines. Students who live in Risley get free access to the Risley Shops but people who do not live there will have to become Out of House members. Out of House memberships are $50 per semester. If people are interested in becoming Out of House members, please have them contact Barnaby Knoll at bk424@cornell.edu for an application.” 

Uncle Ezra