Dear Uncle Ezra - Questions for Tuesday, March 26, 1996

Dear Uncle Ezra,
I can not find a hotel room for my parents for graduation this year.  I had no idea that people made reservations years in advanced, as if it was Mardi Gras or something.  I keep calling hotels hoping that someone has cancelled.  No such luck. I am calling hotel chains from Syracuse to Binghamton.  Someone told me there is an office at Cornell that has up to date information.  I called Res Life, and I was told that they had no idea of what I was talking about.  Is there an office at Cornell that might know where rooms may be available?
        Also, I've been calling hotel chains that have 1-800 numbers and/or a number listed in the Ithaca yellow pages.  There are though a lot of small towns around that might have local motels--for truckers, local travelers, etc...-- that may not have published numbers or advertise in the yellow pages. Is there a list of such hotels?  Or, is there an association of persons that rent out rooms in private homes, for example, when my sister was in Spain, a local students' association directed her to a lady who was willing to rent out a room for a week. I need economical rates.  And most probably just for the Friday to Monday of graduation weekend, because then my parents plan to visit relatives in NYC that they have not seen in years (We are from Miami).  Can you please just drop a note via e-mail to let me know that an answer has been posted.  I don't always have time to check this column.  If you are unable to answer this, can you please also inform me.
        Thank-you.

                                                            Hobo's lullaby

Dear Hobo's Lullaby,
Mardi Gras is a good analogy for how quickly graduation accommodations disappear.  I'm sure you weren't expecting to get shackled with an extra research project at this point in the semester:  Getting this lodging matter out of the way will be a big relief!
        Although there's no central office which keeps up-to-date information on vacancies (which would be a monumental task), the Information and Referral Center staff (Day Hall lobby; 254-INFO) have extensive listings of hotels and motels in the area.  Also, Deb Sam and Connie Mabry at the Commencement Office (607/255-9541) can give you ideas about where to look at this point in the game.  They hope you received the commencement packet which included guest housing information, but if not, they can send you one.  Your best bet at the moment is to rent dorm rooms, which are very economical at $60 per three-night package per person, including fresh bedding and linens. To reserve rooms, you can go to the Class of '28 Hall on West Campus between 8am and 6pm or to Mary Donlon Hall between 10am and 6pm Monday through Friday.
        Deb also mentions that dinner reservations at many local restaurants fill up far in advance for graduation weekend.  If you plan to eat out at a place that accepts reservations, you'll want to call as soon as possible.  Places which don't take reservations will have long lines, which are usually more bearable if you know in advance to expect them (so that, for instance, you don't arrive ravenous and then sit around for an hour!).  Alternatively -- depending on weather -- you can picnic in the parks, which are gorgeous in May when the sun shines.
        The Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce staff (904 E. Shore Drive; 272-1313) is another helpful resource for finding accommodations in the Finger Lakes region.  If you get a chance, please let me know how things work out for you.

Uncle Ezra

Dear Uncle Ezra,
I am the nephew who asked (3/21/96 Q03) about a possible biblical connection to the snake on a staff being a symbol of the medical community.  Thanks for your answer, but I wasn't thinking of the story of Moses and Aaron in Pharoah's court in Egypt.  I found what I was looking for though, in Numbers 21:5-9.  Essentially the Israelites were ready to rebel against Moses' leadership and God, and God sent out venomous snakes as punishment, upon which the people came to Moses and asked him to ask God to halt the punishment.  At that point, and this is the important part:  "The LORD said to Moses, 'Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.'  So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole.  Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived."  (Numbers 21:8-9) Anyway, that was what I was thinking of as an explanation of the medical symbol of snakes intertwined around a staff.

                                            A six-weeks-left senior nephew

Dear Uncle Ezra,
In reference to Q03 3/21/96, the incident referred to is actually in Numbers 21.

                                                              Bible Reader

Dear Unc,
How do I find the comet? Where should I look to find it?

Star gazer

Dear Uncle Ezra,
The local real estate community sponsors an incredibly detailed summary of local school districts and their performance. It is published by the Ithaca Journal some time in March of each year. This year's will be out soon. The writer from 21March96 (Q17; Always worried/caring Mom) might be interested in this. She might be able to pick up last year's from a real estate office, if she's in a real hurry. Why do the real estate sales people do this? It turns out that the perceived quality of the local public schools is the top determinant of where buyers would like to live - even buyers without kids (so they can sell more easily later). Identical homes in Groton, Newfield, Trumansburg and Lansing, equidistant from Ithaca/Cornell would cost very different amounts. I think a child can get a fine education at any of these locations, but guess where we bought our house?

Been There

Dearest Unc-
Got a weird question for you. Last week I was in a car accident (_very_ bad week), and I hit my head on the left side. Went to convenient care and they said I was ok, just "abrasions and contusions." The bruises have mostly gone away, along with the feeling of having been beaten up with a baseball bat. The only thing that's strange is that for the past 3-4 days, I've noticed a VERY persistent muscle tic in my right quad muscle - in fact, it hasn't really stopped for more than a few minutes the whole 4 days. Wondering if you know whether this could be related to the accident, and is it something I should worry about?
Thanks for your great help, as usual

Still Shakin'

Dear Still Shakin',
Wish I could sit down with you in a comfortable spot with your favorite warm drink and talk about how things have been going for you.  Accidents sure do shake you up both physically and emotionally, even when the official diagnosis is just "abrasions and contusions". And during a week that's already lousy, an accident can feel particularly charged, like a reflection of dramatic changes trying to break through to the surface of your life.
        The muscle tic possibly can be related to the accident, according to a Gannett nurse with whom I spoke (255-1991):  If it's bothersome to you, she suggests you have it checked out.  If you're a student, you can consider this problem acute (due to the accident) and use
Gannett's walk-in service, for which there's no charge except when x-rays or lab work are needed (which student insurance will help cover).  If you're a Cornell employee, you can use the Gannett walk-in service for a fee, go back to the Convenient Care center, or see your doctor.  Though I'm sorry about your accident, I'm glad to know that you're taking your body's messages seriously and trying to take care of yourself!

Uncle Ezra

Dear unc Ezra
I am curious: what's the physiological purpose of laughing... Of course I understand what kind of things make people laugh... I am just wondering with what purpose did nature make us to be able to laugh... I guess there should be a reason for everything and especially considering that the evolution theory is valid, are there any theories about what kind of evironmental stimuli influenced the natural selection of species with the ability to laugh?

curious

Dear Curious,
The best description of the positive physiological value of laughter I've read is in Norman Cousins ANATOMY OF AN ILLNESS, in which Cousins recounts his story of overcoming a mysterious, crippling disease.  Recognizing that the will to live plays an important role in recovery from illness, Cousins set about invoking positive emotions, in part by watching amusing "Candid Camera" episodes and old Marx Brothers films.  He writes: "I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep....
        "How scientific was it to believe that laughter -- as well as the positive emotions in general -- was affecting my body chemistry for the better?  If laughter did in fact have a salutary effect on the body's chemistry, it seemed at least theoretically likely that it would enhance the system's ability to fight the inflammation.  So we took sedimentation rate readings [measuring the speed with which red blood cells settle in a test tube; the higher the reading, the more critical the illness] just before as well as several hours after laughter episodes.  Each time, there was a drop of at least five points.  The drop by itself was not substantial, but it held and was cumulative.  I was greatly elated by the discovery that there is a physiologic basis for the ancient theory that laughter is good medicine."
        I haven't heard any theories about natural selection of species who can laugh, but it sure would be a fun topic for a thesis!

Uncle Ezra

Dear Uncle Ezra,
For the record, how many custodians did the University have to get to clean up the mess the architects made on Dragon day?  I'm referring to the toilet paper, the remains of the dragon (after burning) and to cleaning up all the graffiti that marrs our buildings and side walks. I'd also like to know if these punks can get J.A.'d for vandalism, and if so, why the Cornell Police doesn't keep watch the night before Dragon Day for hooligans that deface our campus.  Can you give me a rough estimate of the amount of money the University spent in order to clean up after Dragon Day this year?  Thanks!

                                                              Consider me,

                                               One more student pissed off

                                                          about Dragon Day

Dear Uncle Ezra,
I am furious.  I cannot believe people at Cornell are so stupid.  I think everyone falsely associates academics with intelligence and the two just aren't correlated if you ask me.  I am talking about the colossal waste of toilet tissue on the Arts quad and all over the place by the architects.  They think it is fun, I guess, to go and vandalize the campus.  Here in Ithaca where we talk about recycling and saving trees and all that crap.  Do they know that trees are cut down to make the stuff they are wasting?  I wish someone would get through to them.  And, not only are trees wasted, but the campus looks terrible.  This would not be a good time for an alum to come back for a visit or a pre-frosh to make a decision about attending this school.  I hear it costs $12,000 to clean the mess up.  Who pays for it?  Me.  Like it or not, college is a business first, and profits will be realized.  When something cuts into the profits, like this kind of non-sense, the cost is passed on to students like me.
        Why does everyone have this, "Someone else will take care of it attitude." These idiot architects go and destroy the campus and won't even clean it up.  When I was growing up, the rule was: You mess up, you clean up.  That seems so simple to me.  The same thing with slope day.  Why won't the administration do something about these things.  I am not saying that students shouldn't have fun. I am trying to say there should be some way they can do it without destruction. And if that is the only way they can have fun, too bad.  We wouldn't let them have fun if all they liked to do is murder people.  Uncle Ezra, please send a message out to all the people that are doing these things. Tell them to stop it.  Tell them why it is important for them to stop doing things like that.  If no one did terrible things, then for the most part terrible things would not happen.
        People talk about Heaven and utopia, etc.  Earth could be our Heaven if we would all do our part.  I don't mean going after people fixing what they have messed up.  I mean not messing up at all, or if you do cleaning up after your own self instead of leaving it like an irrisponsible child.

                                                                   Furious

Dear Uncle Ezra,
My question/comments concern Dragon Day, which has the potentional for being a fun occasion, but which leaves me mostly angry about the destruction of the campus that inevitably accompanies the fun.  In one of your earlier answers (3/12/96 Q01) about Dragon Day, you say that it is a surprise when it will be.  But, everyone seems to know exactly when it will be (at least which day it will be).  Why can't the University post extra security on campus (I'm thinking mostly of the Arts Quad) to keep the vandals from trashing it with the toilet paper?  Or, why can't the students who trash it be required for clean-up duty?  I guess my question is who can I complain to officially about this?  Those of us who have to remain on campus for break have to look at this garbage while the vandals are off free and unbothered by it all.  Thanks for your answer.

                                                        Tired of the Trash

Hi,
Ez.
        I was just wondering why the toilet paper from Dragon Day still hasn't been cleaned up.  I was embarassed when my parents came to visit me this past weekend and said "We're paying $30,000 to a school that doesn't even keep its grounds clean!!!" I'm sure prospective freshmen/transfers who are visiting now also look at the mess that is all over the arts quad and libe slope negatively.
        If you can't afford to have the custodians do it, why not force the architects to?  They're the ones who put it there in the first place (not to be a party pooper...I do like Dragon Day but think that the vandalism, littering and graffiti have to go!)  Thanks, Ez.  I hope you get your campus cleaned up soon!

                                                                     -Issy

Uncle Ezra

Dear Uncle Ezra,
Regarding "Perplexed" and "Still Perplexed," who was "more than happy to see a man that shared my view on waiting for sex," and asked (3/19/96 Q04), "So, is there a place to meet men like him?":  I once read the results of a survey that religious young people were less likely to be sexually active, drug-users, and so on.  Uncle Ezra, by no means do I mean to say that this is a standard, or that people who aren't religious are promiscuous drug addicts.  That would be absolutely wrong.  However, this particular study found that for the most part, religious young people don't take part in such activities. I don't know if it's true or not, but I'm sure it could be accurate. I hope this might help "Still Perplexed."

                                                  Not Out For Constant Sex

                                             (or any sex, for that matter)

Dear Uncle Ezra,
I have been here for 3 years now and I always here about Susan H. Murphy, the Vice President for Student and Academic Services. However, I never hear about the PRESIDENT.  Who is the President and why do we hear about Ms. Murphy and her opinions, etc. and never from the President?

                                                                Interested

dear uncle ezra
not be to be disrespectful or anything, but what does the president do exactly?

                                                            just wondering p.s. how do you find all the answers to people's questions?

Dear Interested and Wondering,
I forwarded your letters to Hank Dullea, Vice President for University Relations (HND1@Cornell.edu; 255-9029), who responds:
        "Thanks for your questions concerning the visibility of Susan Murphy, the Vice President for Student and Academic Services, and your expression of concern that you seem to hear little about the President of the University.
        "It's probably not surprising that you should hear regularly about Vice President Murphy.  When you were admitted to Cornell three years ago, she was the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, so her name was probably one of the first that you would have encountered as you became a Cornellian.
        "In her new role as Vice President for Student and Academic Services, which she assumed in the summer of 1994, Dr. Murphy (Cornell '73 and Ph.D. '93) is responsible for many of the on-campus activities that have a direct bearing on student life -- ranging from dining and residence halls to athletics and the Gannett Health Service.  In addition, she is also responsible for many programs that affect the lives of undergraduate students and that cut across the boundaries of the individual colleges.  Examples include the Public Service Center, the Career Center, and the Dean of Students Office.
        "When questions arise concerning issues in one or another unit of the University, members of the press generally turn to the appropriate dean or vice president for detailed replies.  That's probably why you've become accustomed to seeing Susan Murphy's name associated with many of the topics in which you are interested.
        "Cornell's president is Dr. Hunter R. Rawlings III.  President Rawlings took office on July 1, 1995, succeeding Frank H.T. Rhodes who had served as Cornell's ninth president for the previous 18 years. President Rawlings is a well-known classicist, who previously served for seven years as the president of the University of Iowa.  He did his undergraduate work at Haverford College, received his Ph.D. from Princeton, and taught for many years at the University of Colorado.
        "The president of a world-class university such as Cornell deals with an extraordinary array of constituencies on a daily basis.  He interacts regularly with the faculty, students, and staff of the University, not only here on the Ithaca campus but also at the Cornell University Medical College in New York City.  He must be in frequent contact with the many friends and alumni of the University, and his public role in support of higher education generally and Cornell in particular is increasingly important in Washington and Albany.
        "Over the last nine months, President Rawlings has been a regular presence in student settings, ranging from university-wide town hall meetings to informal dinners in dormitories and Collegetown apartments.  He particularly enjoyed the opportunity to participate in a freshman seminar offered by the Classics Department and will undoubtedly be repeating that role in the future.
        "I hope you'll have a chance to meet the President personally during your time at Cornell.  I'm sure you'd enjoy the experience."
        Thanks, Hank!
        My image at the moment for finding answers to your questions is that it's like being a tour bus guide.  While the guide's knowledge may astound the tourists, it's become second-nature to the guide by virtue of day-in-and-day-out experience.  Also, I've got friends all over the place (you'll see their names sprinkled throughout the column) who help answer questions and/or figure out WHO to ask for particularly baffling ones.  High on that list of friends and helpers are you, resourceful and curious Uncle Ezra readers.

Uncle Ezra