Dear Endower,
Yes, I'm backed up, putting it mildly.  I'd never ignore an offer to help endow a building!  (And of course I try not to ignore anyone, period.)
        According to Laurie Robinson in the Development Office, naming a building after a person is a way of recognizing exceptional generosity to Cornell, material or otherwise. While there is no formula for awarding such recognition, a formal process does take place.
        Naming anything at Cornell, from a footpath to a School, goes through an administrative committee appointed by President Rawlings, the Committee on Memorials and Named Opportunities.  Their recommendations are approved by a trustee group, the Alumni Affairs and Development Committee.
        For financial gifts, Cornell has different guidelines for existing and new buildings.  To name an existing building, the gift should cover half the costs of operating the building.  For a new building, half the cost of building it would usually give the donor a strong chance of having the building named in his or her honor.
        Cornell publishes a book, BUILDERS OF CORNELL, that provides biographical information on our most generous donors.  Balch Residence Hall was endowed by the Balch family in the 1930s with the condition that it be maintained as residence for women only.  Agriculture and Life Sciences Alumni George Slade Jameson provided "generous unrestricted support to the University."  High Rise 5 was named for him to recognize these gifts.
        There's no clear distinction between the terms "endowed" and "named."  However, endowed seems to require more proactive desire or placing of conditions on behalf of the donor than "named" implies.
        Joyce Cima, Assistant Secretary for the Board of Trustees, has provided unrestricted support for questions of this nature (as well as this particular one) since Cornell students first starting writing me.  She's retiring soon, and I want to thank her for her fountain of knowledge and her unstinting generosity in sharing it through "Dear

Uncle Ezra   

Dear To Squeeze or Not to Squeeze,
Pimples on limbs and trunk are not considered acne.  According to Dr. Arthur Coddington of the Tier Acne Clinic (272-2026), they are usually caused by infections of the hair follicles and called "folliculitis."
        Don't squeeze them, please.  If you look at Uncle Ezra posting for 9/29/98, Q01, you'll understand why.  In addition to those reasons, squeezing weakens the tissue around the follicle and gives you a better chance of getting a new infection at the same site. Instead of squeezing, why don't you distract yourself by composing a humorous parody of that old day camp standard, "Funiculi, Funicula," on this subject?
        By the way, Dr. Coddington tells me it takes a month to make a pimple, so the chances are that a combination of stress and diet factors converging on you a month ago caused folliculitis to show up on several sites at once.  My guess is that you are now limb pimple-free again.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Depressed About Food and the Future,
You *do* need to talk to someone, and thank you for thinking of me.  I have some suggestions for helping your mind and heart to deal with and to resolve the problems you raise, and the most important of these is to keep on talking.
        Friends are so important for airing the ups and downs of everyday life, and it sounds like you're in friendships that would allow that, if you let them.  When you can't give yourself the privilege of drawing upon friendships for conversation and venting what's troubling you, then it's time to find a person who is trained to listen and counsel you.
        At Cornell you have lots of choices; I recommend you start with peer counseling through EARS (Empathy, Assistance and Referral Service:  255-3277) or CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services; ground floor Gannett; 255-5208)
        Your letter contains at least four strands of inner turmoil that I'd like to bring into relief here.  First, you report a mix of fine days and weepy-prone days.  Second, you despair of failing to achieve ultimate career success through the example of your current job performance.  Third, you can't visualize yourself in love and have no evidence from your life that you will find love.  Finally, your eating behavior is off in the same way your days are off emotionally.  Some days your hunger can't be satisfied and some days you have none.  That doesn't make sense biologically and so you feel that your physical functioning is awry.
        To get to the heart of things, let's look at the fundamental view of self these seemingly disparate strands reveal.  To enjoy a successful career and have a significant lifelong partner are both long term goals for most of us.  I know these are vital goals for you in the long run, because you say you'd rather be dead than be a failure and alone.  These goals matter to you as much as life itself, yet you're not satisfied with your own movement toward achieving them at this point in time.
        Your moods and appetites reflect a restless and volatile inner life.  To use a metaphor, a lot of energy has built up inside you, accumulating on your fault lines, and seismic activity is beginning to threaten your very foundations.  This is discomfiting for sure, and can be experienced very negatively.  Who wants to find -- much less force -- a crack in their foundation?  Who wants the fortress of their self-image to be ruptured by forces beyond their control?  You sure don't want it; for starters, it scares you.  You begin to enumerate the personal weaknesses that led you to this unpleasant state.  Then you get overwhelmed and feel out of control.
        You say your life is out of control and your eating habits are out of control, and what you want is to regain control.  How about also wanting what you *really* want?  How about wanting a successful career and someone to love?
        First, you need to deal with the energy seething beneath the surface. You can gently ventilate it through the aforementioned talk cure.  You can use it up to exhaustion through cardiovascular workouts, whether it be chasing squirrels on the Arts Quad or taking a daily aerobics class.
        You can also transform the energy by revisiting an immersion-type focusing activity that you once loved, such as origami or playing the viola.  When you lose your appetite for food, switch modalities; try listening to beautiful music.
        I know you're sad, and that you can really benefit from professional help, where the other person just pays attention to you and you need only work on yourself.  However, your sadness is coming from a healthy desire to renegotiate the terms on which you conduct your life.  You're dissatisfied:  Bravo!  Let that unpredictable energy pattern propel you to take a good hard look at your dreams and aspirations, and then find a way with counseling to muster the strength and persistence to head straight toward them.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Mr. White,
The Cornell Concert Commission staff have no information on any upcoming Ice Cube show, so it's probably just a rumor.  If anyone has information to the contrary, please speak up!

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Unsure,
The colorful TV personality Mr. T is NOT a Cornell alum, but I can tell you how that rumor got started.  According to Matt Laflin, editor of Red Letter Daze in the SUN, listing him as "Mr. T '84" is a joke "that had its genesis last year when we used to run something called 'The Daze List' in which a certain member of the SUN staff would compile a list at random.  One week we couldn't find anyone to complete the list, so we created as composed by Mr. T.  Since we were in the habit of listing the list creator's class year at the bottom, we jokingly added T's as '84, which was around the height of his popularity.  Anyway, people seemed to think it was funny, so we kept the tradition...sorry to disappoint!"
        Thanks, Matt!

Uncle Ezra   

hey,
I'm not the only one and its not weird or atypical of men. Think about it.

                                                                 losing it

Uncle Ezra   

Dear What to Do,
You want to help your friend with his problem, but you think you don't know how.  My advice is that you reconsider your aim to improve your best friend's social life, because nobody can actually make friends for another person.  Recognize that simply being his friend is the best -- and only -- thing you possibly can do.
        If he earnestly and directly asks you for advice, perhaps you ought to have him consider you as the prototypic friend, since you're his *best* one.  Where did he meet you, for example?  And how do you make new friends?
        Remember, however, that helping doesn't necessarily mean offering a stream of suggestions and advice.  To help a friend is to listen, to care, and to be fully present when he's down about any aspect of his personal life.  Encourage him to stick with his quest for meaningful friendship, and remind him of how special it is to have him as a close friend.  The truth is that friendship is quite mystical and non-formulaic; it takes time, effort, and chemistry to form deep, lasting attachments.
        With your affirmation of friendship as a foundation, your friend can face the fact that, while he's not for everybody (who is?), you are confident that there are people out there who will greet him with great enthusiasm and respect, and be proud to claim him as their friend, as you have.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Cathartic,
I hate to have you finish your Cornell years in this blue and regretful state of mind.  I suspect that the depth of your malaise is only beginning to be apparent to you, the tip of the iceberg of regret, so to speak, so I think you ought to keep on with the talking.  Don't worry about rambling.  You have a lot to get off your chest as you finish your college years and head onto other venues.
        It's true that our society has many problems; its materialistic, hedonistic, and self-centered elements are quite prominent, and Cornell is a microcosm of American culture.  But you're seriously tinting your view when you claim that's all Cornell is composed of, because there are a lot of really good people here, and good work going on.
        You sound burned out, defined as a combination of high stress and disillusionment.  There's not a lot happening in your life to be happy about, and maybe you're physically as well as emotionally exhausted. One way to rethink the funk you're in might be to read about the "bored-sick of where I'm at" paradox so many of us face at transitional points in our lives, and some suggestions for releasing yourself.  BEATING THE COLLEGE BLUES, by Cornell's Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Dr. Meilman and Paul Grayson, is a good place to start.  BURNOUT: THE NEW ACADEMIC DISEASE, by Winifred Melendez, is out of print, but available at both Olin and Mann Libraries.  Another way to shake that burdened feeling is to talk with a counselor at Gannett (255-5208) or EARS peer counseling (255-EARS or 255-3277).
        You're not going to feel like this forever.  It's unlikely, however, that you'll stop feeling this way as soon as you leave Cornell.  Why not use the time you have left learning how to overcome your disillusionment, so that the next time life is unfair, you'll have some tricks up your sleeve and a game plan for moving on to a fresh perspective?  That's what personal growth is all about.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Suspicious Mole Seeker,
Even straightforward questions do not alas, have straightforward answers.  Suspicious moles can turn up anywhere.  Melanoma lesions do not necessarily manifest themselves in areas that have EVER had direct sun exposure.
        It is imperative to check parts of the body that have not been directly exposed to the sun -- on the head under a full head of hair, behind the ears, genital areas, between the toes, and anyplace else where there is skin.
        Here are two great cancer information web sites where you can satisfy any follow-up questions you might have: and .

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Pillsbury Pumpkin Ponderer,
The folks in the Food Science Department think that the pumpkin is a form that comes off an extruder (a special tool for imparting a desired shape).  The design flows onto the top of the cookie and gets cut off horizontally, so it doesn't permeate the dough to an extent that would cause spreading.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Jeffrey,
Thanks for the tip!

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Glen,
That's great to know...thanks!

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Niece,
I passed your complaint along to Peggy, who replies:  "We try very hard to keep price increases to a minimum.  In fact, the recent $.10 increase in Snapple at Trillium is the only increase we have passed on to students in the past seven years.
        "We are brainstorming ideas for new meal plans and hope to address the concern about cash-op limits as we roll out new plans for next year.  Thanks for the feedback."

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Incredulous,
"42" does indeed answer everything, but what would it mean to people without the zaniness of Douglas Adams' HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE to back it up?  Give my best to the dolphins if you see them.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Classically Jazzy,
According to the Compact Disk Connection at , some of the suite is available on Three Suites Sony SON46825.  I don't know if this is complete, but it's at least a start.
        I saw this note on the Ellington list:  "He did an arrangement of Tschaikovsky's Nutcracker that is real exciting.  He changes Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy to Sugar Rum Cherry and puts a West Indian beat on it, and makes it a low sax duet.  There is nothing corny.  In fact,
Duke had apprehensions about doing this piece.  He ran into Tschaikovsky at the Riviera Hotel in Vegas, and got his approval."

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Insured,
Thanks for mentioning this option, which will appeal to people who like having the assurance that they can recoup possessions lost to fire and other disasters.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Kate,
Thanks for your helpful suggestions!

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Giftless,
Hope you found something just right!  You wrote after Thursday's posting and before Tuesday's posting, with no e-mail return address, so it was logistically impossible for me to get a reply to you before Monday.  If you haven't made up your mind yet, I highly recommend the crafts stores down on the Commons -- 15 Steps, Handworks, and People's Pottery -- for appealing gifts.  And if you can give your friends something of personal value -- a scrapbook of memories, a framed photo that means something to the three of you, an offer to cook them a romantic dinner one night soon -- all the better.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Hopeful Swimmer,
Pools are the perfect antitode to our regret over seeing summer fade.  Swimming is free for all registered students with a valid Cornell ID.  Just give your ID to the issue room attendant in either Helen Newman Hall or Teagle Hall in exchange for a pool tag.  You must wear the tag while you swim.
        The pool hours (open for lap swimming) are listed on the Athletic Department web page (www.athletics.cornell.edu) under "Recreation." If you're more fond of phones than screens, you can call 255-4261 for Helen Newman pool hours and 255-1318 for Teagle pool hours.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Wondering,
If you want to take less than 12 hours in your senior semester and not pay the full tuition, there is a new process for doing this. It involves petitioning the college for reduced credit enrollment. Visit Lisa Ryan (255-2257) or one of the other CALS student advisors in 140 Roberts Hall for help with the petitioning process (which also needs the approval of the University Registrar in Day Hall) and general direction with your questions.
        To get academic credit for an internship, you need to enroll in one of the course listings for this purpose.  Every department has a 499 independent-study option through which you can receive credit.

Uncle Ezra