Dear Looking to Quote,
I checked back with the person who sent the quotes, who says, "Unfortunately, I collected them before I went nuts about proper attribution."  S/he will post them on the stumpers-list, which has many reference-librarian members who may be familiar with the quotes. Meanwhile, if any readers know the source(s), please chime in!

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Festive Ballet Lover,
The Ithaca Ballet and the Finger Lakes Symphony Orchestra perform the Nutcracker Suite every holiday season in and around Ithaca.  There are several performances for you to choose from:
        *  Sunday, November 30 at the Smith Opera House in Geneva, New York (about an hour from here).  For tickets, call (315)-789-2221.
        *  Friday, December 13 at Homer High School near Cortland, New York.  Tickets went on sale November 10 at Jody's Hallmark in Cortland.
        *  Friday, December 19 through Sunday, December 21 at the State Theatre at 109 State Street in Ithaca.  Tickets went on sale for these Ithaca performances November 1st at Clinton House (on the corner of Cayuga and Seneca Streets downtown), BodyGear Fitness and Dance (101 S.  Cayuga Street), and Micky Roof Jewelers in the Triphammer Mall. Enjoy!

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Curious Consumer,
According to Cornell's Admissions Office, total estimated costs for *one semester* as an undergraduate student enrolled in one of the University's endowed (private) colleges are $15,352.  For a New York State resident attending one of Cornell's statutory (public) colleges, estimated cost per semester is $9,030; and for a non-New York state resident enrolled in one of Cornell's statutory colleges, the cost is $13,344.  These estimates include tuition, housing, and approximate food and book costs.
        University housing costs approximately $7,110 *per year* for an undergraduate.  Undergraduate tuitions are as follows:  For a student attending an endowed college, $21,914 per year; for a New York state resident attending a statutory college, $9,269 per year; and for a non-New York state resident attending a statutory college, $17,897 per year.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear E-mail Addict,
Thank goodness, no:  You can feed your e-mail addiction all you want over Thanksgiving (unless you use e-mail on the mainframe -- for instance, in a remnant of ricemail -- which is rare these days). There will also be a winter-break move, however, which will cause an e-mail outage for some time.  The folks planning the move hope to minimize the time that e-mail will be unavailable.  But it will take more than several hours to backup the servers, disconnect them, move them to the new location, let them warm up after being out in the cold, reconnect all the pieces, and start up the systems.  At most, e-mail will be unavailable for one day, unless there are unexpected problems (e.g. the movers drop the server).  People can check with the Network Operations Center -- (607) 255-9900 -- during this time for status updates.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Hangin' On,
If there's any way to reverse the appeal, your attitude of hope and dedication will certainly help you come back sooner!  You should get in touch with the person in your college who is in charge of presenting petitions to the college committee to try and get a sense of how much success you might have with such a request.  Usually, this person is the college registrar or someone in the undergraduate advising office.  If you don't know the person's name and contact information, you can ask the undergraduate advising staff or call the folks in the Ombudsman's Office (255-4321).
        Committees usually take into account your academic history, whether you've been on warning, how bad the semester was, and your overall record.  If you have extenuating circumstances to report, you should let the committee know what they are.  You should also take into account the nature of your progam:  Some programs (for instance architecture) are structured such that a semester away puts you out of sequence for taking required courses that are offered only in fall or spring.  Then it makes sense to be away for a year.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Captain,
Thanks, I appreciate your compliment!  I checked with the office staff at Okies, and they report that Hsi's hours are 10am-6:30pm Monday through Friday:  That means he works all of lunch and all but the last hour of the dinner period.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear letter-writing niece,
How wonderful that you're taking the time to brighten the spirits of our service people!  You should put domestic first class postage, currently 32 cents, on mail to any APO or FPO address.  For the USS Nimitz carrier group, the mail is actually going to San Diego, and from there is transported to the ships.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Lost Inside,
I appreciate you being so open and honest about how unhappy, torn, and stressed you feel.  Going home and having such a reassuring time certainly did make it harder for you to grapple with your grades and homesickness here.  Yes, telling someone about it can be some relief...  and there's more you can do as well.
        For starters, try asking yourself:  "What is the main challenge I'm facing right now?"  This deceptively simple question, when explored in depth, can help you discover what direction to go in your difficult decision about whether or not to stay at Cornell.  If you feel that your major challenge is to find strength, perseverence, and inner stability, then you need to concentrate on studies, to find a home-away-from-home in your own heart and mind, and to take advantage of those enriching Cornell opportunities you mention.  On the other hand, if you feel that your major challenge is to be kind to yourself, to know when you've reached limits, and to give yourself credit for the family-oriented (and bigger-city-oriented!) person you are, then you need to offer yourself the chance to transfer closer to home. You're in a growth spurt right now (all our problems are growth spurts), and you need to trust your own instincts and wisdom about the nature of that growth.  But once you know the nature of the growth, don't duck the challenges that are sure to come along with it!
        As M. Scott Peck says in THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED:  "What makes life difficult is that the process of confronting and solving problems is a painful one.  Problems, depending upon their nature, evoke in us frustration or grief or sadness or loneliness or guilt or regret or anger or fear or anxiety or anguish or despair.  These are uncomfortable feelings, often very uncomfortable, often as painful as any kind of physical pain, sometimes equaling the very worst kind of physical pain....Yet it is in this process of meeting and solving problems that life has its meaning.  Problems are the cutting edge that distinguishes success from failure.  Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed, they create our courage and our wisdom."  Your homesickness will draw out resources in you that you didn't know you had, and thus your problem becomes less of a terror and more of a teacher.
        I imagine you're talking these issues over with your counselor at Gannett, and I hope that you've also spoken with Vivian Geller (220 Day Hall; 255-0973; vg11@Cornell.edu), the Director of the Internal Transfer Division who often counsels homesick, struggling first-year students and helps them decide what to do about transferring or not. She'll be especially helpful with the issue of how to pull out of a hole of bad grades...this isn't the first time that's happened to a first-year student!  Most professors and administrators at Cornell and any other college recognize that emotions can affect academic work and that a tough first semester in college doesn't mean you've lost your ability to think.
        Since you're also concerned about your physical wellbeing, I want to mention the kind and helpful staff at Gannett medical center.  I called the nurses' station at 255-1991 (which you can call for information from 9am-5:30pm Monday through Friday, anonymously if you wish) and spoke with a nurse about the blood you've passed during bowel movements (I didn't tell her anything else about you).  She says that the most common source of such a problem is hemorrhoids -- itching or painful dilated veins in the anus -- which often accompany stress and can easily be treated.  However, blood accompanying a bowel movement can also be an indication of some very serious, even life-threatening conditions, so it's important for you to see a clinician soon.  You can do so by calling the Health Services appointment line at 255-8457.  Your stress will be less once you know you're okay...or once you know what kind of medical treatment you may need.
        There's a lovely line in Madeleine L'Engle's THE SUMMER OF MY GREAT-GRANDMOTHER:  "It's a good thing to have all the props pulled out from under us occasionally.  It gives us some sense of what is rock beneath our feet, and what is sand."  I hope your confusion will clear enough that you can feel that rock beneath you.  Your passion for learning and your cheerful, loving, caring self have not disappeared.  They just need the right level of security and hope in order to resurface...and if you keep talking to people and being honest with your questions, you're sure to find that.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Garrison Keillor Fan,
Alas, there is no video or audio tape of the show available from Cornell or WSKG in Binghamton.  Your only possibility is to contact the folks at Garrison Keillor's home place:  Minnesota Public Radio, 45 East 7th Street, St. Paul, Minnesota  55101.  It sounds as though this is the place you've already checked, so an individual tape of that particular show may not exist.  I guess some people don't think Ithaca is as special a place as we know it is!

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Lonely,
Those are wonderful character traits -- loving to sit and talk and be mellow -- but I can understand how you feel you don't fit in if most of the people on your floor love to party.  And it can be hard to find friends when you're under the impression that everyone has already gotten set up in pairs and groups...but I assure you, that's not the case.  Configurations of friendships go through considerable flux over the course of four years, and anyone who shares your interests and temperament (or who compliments them) will be drawn to you even if s/he has other friends.  So staying hopeful and positive is the first thing you can do.
        Here are several other ways you can meet people and work on your shyness:
        1)  Cornell has 466 registered student organizations this semester, and even in the first two pages of the online listings (at http://www.activities/cornell.edu/OrgRegistration/search.html) I see plenty of groups that look enticing yet relatively mellow:  for instance, A Show of Hands, for people interested in learning about American Sign Language and Deaf Culture; the Association for the Study of Buddhism; and ASHA (Sanskrit for "hope"), which raises awareness about poverty and illiteracy in India.  Not knowing your particular interests, I suggest that you hone down the list by talking with the friendly and knowledgeable staff in the Student Activities Office (526 Willard Straight Hall; 255-4311).  They can help you find groups where you'll feel welcome and at ease.
        2)  Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS; ground floor Gannett; 255-5208) is offering several student groups this semester, including one for shy people and one called "Little Fish - Big Pond: Adjusting to Cornell".  You can call the CAPS staff at 255-5208 to see if there's still room in these groups, and, if not, to express your interest in joining one next semester.  You can also ask for a personal counseling session, at which you can discuss ways to meet people.  And you can call or visit EARS, Cornell's peer counseling program (211 WSH; 255-EARS; 3-11pm Sunday through Thursday and 6-10pm Friday and Saturday); the counselors know some practical, solution-oriented techniques for shyness.
        3)  You can ask the Resident Advisor (R.A.) on your floor to call the EARS administrative office (255-3608) and schedule a workshop on shyness or making friends.  If you get into a workshop with some some of the people who strike you as confident and socially adept, you may be surprised to find that they face some of the same problems you do!
        4)  You can look through past postings about shyness in "Dear

Uncle Ezra