Culture

AGORA | Trigger Warnings

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This article represents the first in a hopefully long series of articles which aims to address controversial topics in an open and civil manner here in Sunspots. The name was chosen carefully: the agora, the marketplace of ancient Athens, was at once a place where material goods were exchanged and where ideas and conflicting viewpoints could be expressed in the open air for all to hear and criticize. This is therefore the goal of Agora, a bi-weekly column for which writers in Sunspots meet in person and compose a conversational piece in which they summarize their own take on difficult topics, and contribute to conversations that need to be had. This week, two Sunspots writers turn their attention to the issue of trigger warnings. By now, it has become a staple of online writing, a boldfaced prefix to harrowing subject matter: the cw, content warning, or its functional Doppelgänger, tw, trigger warning.

Ithaca Week

ITHACA WEEK | Ithaca’s Very Own Farmers Market

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April: Amidst the hustle and bustle—the only trace of New York City here in Ithaca—it feels liberating to venture outside every now and then to explore Ithaca and recharge in the loving womb of nature. Don’t let the “there’s nothing to do, Cornell’s in the middle of nowhere” eye-roll mislead you. A welcoming, homey venue with polished rows of autumnal-colored bell peppers, the Ithaca Farmers Market at Steamboat Landing has been beckoning hungry travelers to its diverse selections, ranging from organic honeys to ginormous furnace-baked pizzas, since 1973. April: Follow the adventure of two such hungry girls as they wow at one of the country’s best farmers markets, their eyes drinking in the homemade apple ciders, 5-person-job pizzas, and Thai-flavored ice cream. Mango sticky rice and Thai tea

Grace: For an appetizer, we started off by splitting a mango sticky rice.

Campus

SUNSPOTS | What Would You Add to the “161 Things Every Cornellian Should Do” List?

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The Cornell Daily Sun’s well-known list of “161 Things Every Cornellian Should Do” is very comprehensive and covers most of the essential Big Red experiences, but not all of them. So we asked our writers and our readers to think of some things that they would add to the list. Here’s what we came up with:

Lev Akabas ‘19:
– Drop a class right before the first prelim because you don’t feel like studying for it
– Attempt to take two pieces of fruit from a dining hall without getting caught
– Spend three hours at the Cornell Store poster sale trying to decide whether to get a Dark Knight Rises poster or a Terminator 2 poster, get neither because you’re too cheap
– Go to Spring Rush Week – maybe there isn’t a “fraternity for everyone,” but you shouldn’t rule out the possibility that there’s one for you, and free food is certainly for everyone
– Watch a sunset from Libe Slope and gradually come to terms with the fact that your phone will never come close to capturing its beauty

Gabe Ares ‘19:
– Look outside, open application to transfer
– Hand the Police your fake ID
– Set 6 alarms, sleep through all of them, wake your roommate up each time
– Have an existential crisis in Olin Library
– Have an existential crisis in Uris Library
– Have an existential crisis in Mann Library

Monika Bandi ‘19:
– Watch an eclipse on campus
– Get EMS-ed
– Visit other schools and envy their flat terrain
– Stay up all night talking with your freshman year floormates
– Come back to campus for Fourth of July to watch the fireworks from the slope

Jacqueline Quach ‘19:
– Submit a love poem–poorly written or not–to one of the many literary magazines on campus
– Get lost in Clara Dickson Hall (the biggest dorm in the Ivy League)
– Eat a steak at North Star/Appel on a Thursday night (check the menu!)
– Order something from the secret menu at Louie’s Lunch

April Ye ‘21:
– Pretend to do work at Temple of Zeus while pondering how soon is too soon to get your next cup of coffee
– Plan to party it up on Friday night, highlight of the night becomes post-C-Town deep life talks and applying face masks

Charlie Liao ‘18:
– Attend a BreakFree Hip Hop Dance show (the only sold out dance team at Bailey Hall!)
– Do stadium runs at the football stadium and throw up from exhaustion
– Go to a career fair and collect free things instead of network

Tony Li ‘19: Get +1000 likes on a “Make Cornell Meme Again” post

Yvette Lisa Ndlovu ‘19: Do the co-op crawl on Halloween – it’s like a bar crawl but for co-ops! You get to go to all the co-ops and they leave alcohol out for grabs

Grace Chen ‘21: Relax at the Liberty Hyde Bailey Loop pond! – for those of you who don’t know, there’s a small pond/waterfall a little bit off of Tower Rd.

Freshman Orientation 2017

SUNSPOTS | 10 Things To Do During O-Week While Everyone Else Is Out Partying

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If you’re not one of those people who shows up to Ithaca waaaaay too excited about going to their first college party, have no fear. Your options for activities during O-Week are endless! 1. Make a late-night run to Nasties
Jeremiah Kim: The first few days of O-Week might be the only time that Bear Necessities (Nasties) in RPCC won’t be mobbed by throngs of drunken revelers clamoring to fix their munchies with a Bo Burger or Fried Platter, simply because most freshmen aren’t even aware that such a place exists—yet. Take advantage of this momentary lull in traffic to satisfy your most urgent midnight cravings and enjoy that heavenly burger in sweet, sweet solitude.

Campus

SUNSPOTS | How Would You Spend 300 BRBs in 3 Weeks?

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You did it. After countless, grueling months spent slogging uphill (physically, intellectually and emotionally) in sleet and snow, you’ve finally made it to spring—and oh my god that summer internship is so close you can practically taste it. In fact, the only things standing between you and the sweet release of death graduation/commencement are Slope Day, a few pesky finals… oh, and the fat wad of unused Big Red Bucks sitting in your Cornell dining account. Forget finals, what the hell are you going to do about that? Given that this hypothetical scenario isn’t so hypothetical for lots of Cornell students, we asked our writers and our readers to devise their own “meal plans” based on a simple premise:

If you had three weeks to spend $300 in BRB’s, how would you do it?

Politics

WELCOME TO THE ZOO | References to God in the Government

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With an open mind and two sides of the story, you’re bound to learn something new. Welcome to the zoo! This is a blog where both the Republican and Democratic viewpoints are represented. The blog is not meant to sway you either way necessarily, just to present both sides of the story. You may not agree with the whole article, but hey, you’re likely to agree with half!

Politics

WELCOME TO THE ZOO | The Electoral College

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With an open mind and two sides of the story, you’re bound to learn something new. Welcome to the zoo! This is a blog where both the Republican and Democratic viewpoints are represented. The blog is not meant to sway you either way necessarily, just to present both sides of the story. You may not agree with the whole article, but hey, you’re likely to agree with half!