THE ARCHIVE

So it all comes down to this. Five years at Cornell, ten design studios, countless exams, and one tightly rolled piece of parchment with my name on it. Done and done!

(my housemates: benn, travis, & jamie)

Eons ago, it seemed like I’d be at Cornell for eons. Then five years passed and the grand finale shot off in a blur. Life at Cornell as I had known it sputtered to an end and I finally felt prepared to move on. Classes done, parties thrown, pictures taken, and car packed to the brim with the nuclear fallout of college life. It was all finally over.

Graduation is not an end in itself; it is more of a transition. Many of us have no idea where we are headed, but the family pictures, long goodbyes, and funny hats remind us that we must be going somewhere.

Like an engaged couple whose first challenge together is planning their wedding, I was given the responsibility of orchestrating my own graduation weekend. Several relatives announced their intention to come to Ithaca for the festivities and I set out to find them adequate food and shelter. Four years as a campus tour guide and I thought I’d be prepared for this challenge, but the task of organizing one’s own family can never be underestimated. Keys, maps, schedules — all prepared neatly for their arrival, all somehow misplaced or discarded within hours. Four generations of Liddells roamed around campus — running up hills and darting between receptions without rhyme or reason.

On Saturday afternoon, the architecture department hosted a classy reception at the AD White house with enough wine on hand for conversation go down smoothly. Parents and professors confronted each other for the first time and swapped stories — hoping, perhaps, that their combined insight might paint an accurate portrait of their graduate.

A reception for campus tour guides followed shortly afterward, and I was impressed once again by the noise and energy generated by multiple tour guides in a single room. Volume must be an inherited trait, because the parents in attendance were no less boisterous than their offspring.

On Saturday evening, we retreated from the mayhem of campus to a beautiful enclave at the bottom of Cascadilla Gorge. The Director of the Rome program (a friend and Italian speaking-companion over the past couple years) opened her home to us and prepared an Italian meal with her husband for the entire group. The garden, the food, and the company couldn’t have been better.

Sunday morning finally arrived. I pulled on my newly acquired cap and gown and joined the pilgrimage of strangely clad graduates onto central campus. The architects huddled together in a small group on the Arts Quad in preparation for the big parade into Scholkopf stadium. I must have been nervous because I chomped down an entire box of Wheat Thins and moved onto a bag of Entenmann’s cookies (both purchased at the school store minutes before).

Students retrofit their mortar boards with colors and creatures while Beth Kunz, our fearless leader, draped purple stoles over our shoulders in recognition of the B.Arch (professional) degree. The Dean of our college, impressed by a multicolor boa on one girl’s head, found some feathers for himself and attached them to his hat — where they remained all day.

The ceremony went smoothly with thoughtful remarks by president Skorton, much applause from parents, and conferring of degrees by the deans. Our Dean joked that his boa flew in the face of hundreds of years of academic tradition; but he may not have expected it to blow into his own face during the ceremony. As he invited us to stand to receive our degrees, the strands of colorful feathers blew forward, obscuring his script and forcing him to pause to sheepishly readjust.

(at my best …and worst… with dean kleinman)

Shortly after the University event ended, the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning held its own ceremony in a big tent on the Arts Quad. We listened to a few more comments from our administrators, then scampered across the stage as our names were announced. As I recieved my hard-earned diploma from Dean Kleinman, he said cheerfully, “I’m glad to see that you’ve stayed out of trouble Tim” — an apparent reference to my run in with the law last spring. I wonder if he knew that by handing me that diploma, he officially cleared my disciplinary record at Cornell. In any case, the diploma and handshake were appreciated.

In short order, family and friends dispersed across the country and I returned home to unpack, unwind, and start the next phase of life as a college-educated adult. Thanks to all who made it possible for me to go to Cornell, and all who made it painful to leave. It has been an incredible five years on the hill and I’m going to miss it.

Classes complete, thesis book submitted, and graduation around the corner: there’s no time to catch one’s breath around here. I’ve got commencement this weekend in Ithaca, my fifth year high school reunion next week in New Hampshire, then two weeks on an excavation in Italy, and my best friend’s wedding down in Richmond, Viriginia.

After that, a bit of peaceful unemployment? The prospects don’t look good; I think I’m heading back to Ithaca at the end of June to teach Summer College. A full report of activities will follow…

If I were to describe my stress level right now using the Homeland Security color code, I’d say bright red. The severity of the situation is mostly due to my thesis project, which must be completed before the final presentations on May 11^th. If the next three weeks aren’t miraculously productive, my five year tenure at Cornell will be extended to six, and a serious damper will be placed on the impending graduation festivities.

So far, things are not going very well. Let me list for you some of the set-backs that I have experienced during the past two weeks.

1. I walked into my first job interview and managed to catch the interviewer off guard. He literally jumped out of his chair in surprise when I entered the room. Talk about first impressions!
2. Our college hosted an alumni career forum and I showed up before my classmates to sign up for an open interview. I got the time slot I wanted and stuck around for a couple hours to listed to the panel discussion. To my dismay, the people at Career Services had made a serious error; they posted two identical sign-up sheets and ended up with twice as many names as they could accept. They discarded the sheet that had my name on it.
3. I told my parents over the phone that I am looking forward to a healthy period of unemployment and the line went silent.
4. I woke up on Friday evening and couldn’t find my car in the parking lot behind our house. Apparently I drove it to campus on Wednesday, forgot about it, and walked home with friends. I finally found it with two days of tickets on the windshield; luckily it had not been towed.
5. As noted in #4, I have become nocturnal. I wake up between 8pm and 10pm and work until the following afternoon.
6. I gave a campus tour on Saturday and a girl asked me how I pull it off. How do I manage all the work at Cornell? I almost admitted to her that I was nocturnal and hadn’t slept for 26 hours, but realized that it wouldn’t go over well with the moms. So I spoke about academic advising and time management, admitting only that “I lead a strange life.”
7. Today I deposited birthday money from my grandparents and mailed a check to Commuter and Parking services, suffering a net birthday-week loss of $10.  Sorry Grandma.

Three weeks down and only eleven more to go in the spring semester! Or if I extend that count to include my entire Cornell career, I could say “129 weeks down, and only 11 more to go as an undergraduate!”

That is a frightening statistic. Somehow nine semesters have slipped by in the blink of an eye and I am expected to wrap up this entire collegiate affair in a matter of weeks. While my parents consider graduation a foregone conclusion, I am beginning to realize just how many hoops I need to jump through before landing myself in Schoelkopf stadium on May 30^th.

It might be difficult getting into Cornell, but try getting out! Here’s a quick list of “graduation errands” that I have had to perform in the past two weeks:

ENROLL IN REQUIRED COURSES:  Although I have accumulated a good number of credits over the years, I still need to complete my tenth studio design course (“thesis”) and a visual representation course. Including these, I am en route to graduate with 194 academic credits and 6 PE credits. Four-year students at Cornell are generally required to complete 120 credits and architects must do 176. Realizing that I overshot the mark by a bit, I asked the registrar “can I sell some credits back?” She laughed. I think the answer is “no.”

APPLY TO GRADUATE:  I thought my intention to graduate was clear when I first set foot in Ithaca, but formalities apparently cannot be overlooked. In the depths of Sibley Hall, I reviewed my academic record with the college registrar and filled out some paperwork. One question asked for a phonetic spelling of my name. Leed-dell, little, lyd-ull – graduation is hardly fun without creative pronunciations of simple names. I left the question blank to keep things interesting.

TAKE YEARBOOK PHOTO:  Upon my mother’s request, I signed up for the very last day of yearbook photos conducted at Willard Straight Hall. The experience was surreal, not merely because I dressed up in graduation regalia before earning a degree, but because the gown was cut off like a salon bib and the mortar board was held in position with a clothes pin and tape.  I didn’t know whether to feel like a rebel or a fraud. Adding to the sense of unease, the photographer asked me repeatedly to lift my chin, tilt my head, and look off to the side. Since age five, I have harbored a belief that school photographers conspire to make me look like a dork. I retain this belief.

FIND BEDS FOR FAMILY: Plans are underway for the family entourage to descend upon Ithaca in May, but more punctual family units already laid claim to every hotel room within a hundred mile radius of Ithaca. Not to be outdone, I went on a scouting mission for bed and breakfasts in the area and found a great place for some, if not all, of my family members. I’m hoping graduation will be a fun weekend for everyone and it would be a shame if the majority of it were spent in a car.

DON’T FAIL OUT:  Having tackled several tasks on the path to commencement, my attention has shifted to the more important and challenging endeavor off passing all my courses this semester.  This is no easy feat considering the size and scope of an architectural thesis project, but I’m trying to proceed with confidence. The first 129 weeks of my Cornell experience went relatively well; let’s hope the next 11 continue the trend.