Munier’s Blog Review

14 05 2010

To be perfectly honest, I was sincerely flattered when he first emailed me asking if we could meet and do an interview for the article. I’ve actually known Munier since freshman year so it really wasn’t awkward at all. Munier very quickly noted that I was the person who wrote this blog, and posted it on my facebook page (which I very promptly deleted). That was maybe a month or so after I started writing.

One of the first things Munier asked was if I wanted to include my name. It’s kinda peculiar, I suppose. I don’t really discuss the blog in person, and I’ve learned the hard way that what you write can bring a lot of negative attention if it comes across the wrong way. I said no thanks. Munier then pointed out the bald truth – most people who read the blog are aware that I’m the one who writes it. My response was that I preferred that it was implicitly acknowledged.

Regarding the whole Slope Media thing, I really don’t take them seriously. The one thing I’ll always remember about Slope Media is this one egocentric article I read in their magazine a year or so ago. It was about all the tools at Cornell. Namely, the collar-popping, board-short wearing tools. Then I noticed the author’s name, a guy who I worked with in labs during freshman year. He was from a Greek house notorious for fitting the very stereotype he was mocking. He acts exactly as those he criticizes. It remains the biggest case of personal hypocrisy I’ve been during my time at Cornell.

Going back to Munier’s review, it’s given a new-found appreciation for the word “sumptuous”. The damnedest thing is, when that was published I was paranoid of one of my friends coming up to me and make a big deal out of it, which I would’ve hated. I managed to avoid that, and it gets even better. On Slope Day, one of the freshmen in my fraternity started drunkenly talking to one of our fraternity brothers who is a senior in CALS (a pledgebrother of mine in AEM), and he was absolutely convinced that this guy wrote the blog. I’m standing five feet away, coughing into my drink in surprise.  Some wonders never cease.

Lastly comes the subject of continuing this blog after graduation. Munier brought it up, and it’s not the first time this has crossed my mind. I think that some of the things I write about are never-ending, like the construction. However, comments on campus news will be curtailed considerably. I’ll be in grad school and my concerns will lie elsewhere. So, I think this blog will keep running, but on a decreased capacity. For how long exactly, I don’t know. I’ll quit when I feel like it.


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The Cornell Daily Sun

21 10 2009

100_1899

 

So, I first thought about writing an entry on the Sun because of fortuitous circumstances. I happen to write in some small capacity for the Sun, but with the exception of one person (to my knowledge; most everyone else couldn’t care less), no one at the Sun knows that I write this blog. Occasionally, someone will ask “when was Mann Library built?” or “when is Milstein Hall supposed to finish construction”, and it’s really tempting to put in my two cents, but  for the most part I focus on my work and leave when I’m done.

Regarding the Sun itself, the newspaper is based out of the former Elks Lodge building on the 100 block of West State Street, a block west of the Commons. The building itself dates from 1916, and the Sun renovated the building and moved into the 7,000 sq. ft. building during 2003 (prior to that, thsun rented space around the corner on Cayuga Street). The Sun is totally independent of the university, which is great because the school paper of the university I worked at this summer was nothing more than a mouthpiece for the administration and its cultish president, but I digress. The original Cornell newspaper was The Cornell Era, which was founded in 1868 and named as such because it marked the beginning of a great new era. Much to the Era’s chagrin, the Sun appeared on September 16, 1880, in the format of a four-page pamphlet-sized newspaper (Bishop 206).  The Era eventually became more of a literary magazine and shut down permanently in the late 1940s. The Sun has operated continuously since its founding.

The building itself is an interesting place ot visit. The main work area on the first floor has private offices, and a general work areas for contributors and writers filled with newspapers and article drafts from previous days. The upstairs has a spacious and stately wood-trimmed great room, which I suspect was probably used as a cermeonial/banquet room back when it was the Elks Lodge. I’ve never felt compelled to take photos inside the building, mostly because of the stares I would probably get.

Bishop, Morris. A History of Cornell. New York, New York: Cornell University Press, 1962. ISBN 0-8014-0036-8


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Categories : Cornell, cornell history, factoids, ithaca