Author Archives: Shantel Ramlo

A Modern Masterpiece

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Whether or not you like Shakespeare, you have to admit the guy was a genius. He wrote plays that somehow transcended time and still stayed relevant to modern audiences, and Hamlet is no different. Out of all the Shakespeare I’ve ever read, this play is easily my favorite. It has everything – tragedy, ghosts, friendship, romance, humor, and some wickedly good insults. Seriously, those comebacks are pure genius.

But with so many different performances over literally centuries, trying to come up with something that’s both engaging to a modern audience and satisfying to the stalwart Shakespearean purist seems virtually impossible. Hamlet is something that seemingly every important British actor has tackled at least once. The character itself is so rich, and the play brings up so many questions that nobody can ever really answer. This production managed to do this justice, and to bring something new to the role of Hamlet. That’s simply amazing to me. The staging brought an almost Gothic horror element to it, with the dark set, reverberating sound effects, and ghostly lighting. This contrasted beautifully with the modern clothing and apocalyptic destruction of the scenery in the second act to bring out the timeless quality of the play. And of course, the cast. The actors and actresses themselves brought the play to life, each with some new insight into their character that made an age-old play a modern masterpiece.

A Thing of the Past?

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At Cornell’s Kroch Library, thousands of rare books and ancient artifacts reside, ready to be studied by visiting academics and Cornell’s own students. Their collection impressed me with its sheer size as well as its diversity – the library holds everything from clay tablets and manuscripts by authors like E.B. White. What struck me the most about the library, though, is its dedication to preserving these artifacts.

In today’s digital world, we find ourselves in a war between the digital and printed mediums, fed by two different kinds of people – those who embrace tablets and e-books, and those who prefer a good old-fashioned book.  I’m not here to argue either way, but my visit to Kroch Library did give an interesting perspective on this debate.

Almost all of the materials in the Cornell Library system, including Kroch, have a digital counterpart. There are e-book versions of the newer academic materials, countless editions and transcriptions of older novels, and photographs of ancient manuscripts and artifacts. For example, it’s not hard to find copies of Old English poems and stories, even if their original exists in highly fragile manuscripts guarded in prestigious collections. And yet, nobody would even think of suggesting that the originals don’t matter anymore. I can read Beowulf from the paperback copy on my bookshelf, but the real thing remains incredibly important.

Of course, the comparison between priceless manuscripts and my tattered paperback probably isn’t the same as the war on e-readers. But it does raise the question – does having a tangible object that you can feel and see somehow make it more important? You decide.

The People’s University

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The Behind the Scenes tour gave an inside perspective of Rose House itself, but it also gave an interesting look into the history behind Cornell University. Especially when compared to the other Ivy League schools, Cornell has its roots deep in the culture of the working people of America. Ezra Cornell earned his fortune by following the American dream, working odd jobs and finally finding his way through hard work and a little bit of luck. He then proceeded to found a university where anyone, not just anyone with a lot of money, could get a good education. I found it interesting that this university, that has so much influence and prestige today, came from such humble roots. And it makes me even prouder to be a student here.

The American Identity

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“This country was built on stolen African labor and stolen Native American land.” – Prof. Eric Cheyfitz

In every history book I’ve ever read, authors define the American cultural identity as a “melting pot” of other cultures. For the most part, though, those cultures come from the European conquerors of this land, with little or no input from the people who originally defined what it meant to be an American. So what really defines the American identity – European conquerors, or the original Native Americans?

I grew up in South Dakota, a place steeped in American Indian culture. We went on field trips to Indian history museums, attended basketball games with the Flandreau Indian School where we listened to both the Star Spangled Banner and a drum circle anthem of the Lakota nation, and every year celebrated Native American Day instead of Columbus Day. But we also lived right next to the reservations, oftentimes driving right through them on the way to grandpa’s house for Christmas dinner. We were forced to see exactly what is happening to modern American Indians on reservations every day, and we did nothing about it.

I attended the cafe this week with every intention of learning a little bit more about the Indian culture I grew up alongside, and also comparing an East Coast academic perspective to my first-hand Midwest memories. And I certainly did. We discussed the federal cases that make the reservations possible, the ignorance so prevalent among politicians and high-profile people who could make a difference, and so many other atrocities committed today. But to me, the worst is the suppression of American Indian culture. Imagine you’re a young child living with people you love  in a place you love. Then one day a faceless foreign official comes in with an army at his back, takes you away from everything you know, and forces you to attend a school that aims only to destroy everything that makes you what you are. This is what happened to so many American Indians, and while this is an extreme case that happened in the past, Indian culture is still being systematically repressed. Without a cultural identity, that culture essentially doesn’t exist anymore. And that is the most horrible thing I could imagine.

So I will go back to South Dakota this winter for Christmas break, an on the way back from the airport I will drive through the reservations, past the historical landmarks describing battles between federal armies and Indian tribes, and I will think about what it means to be American. For me at least, it will always be a combination of everything that built this country – including the American Indian culture and traditions that are so rich in the land that we stand on.

The Business of Nature

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When we think about orchards, and agriculture in general, we usually think of humble farmers working the land to earn their meager salary. And to a point that’s true – farming is hard work with long hours and high risk, especially in the northern climates. However, agricultural practices also require a surprising amount of scientific research and business knowledge to succeed. This leads to research institutions like Cornell Orchards.

At Cornell Orchards, researchers explore the science side of things, with research on different growing techniques, grafting, new apple crosses, and alternative (organic) pesticides and disease control. They even work with other agriculture specialists, like a bee researcher who advocated for allowing wild bees to handle the pollination of the fruit trees. It’s amazing how modern science guides the use of the ancient process of bringing food from the earth.

Possibly even more important, though, is how much business sense goes into growing the apples. For example, researchers are in charge of crossing parent apple breeds to invent new, and oftentimes better, apples, but they don’t just base it on arbitrary ideals of flavor. They have to consider how well an apple will keep over time, where it can successfully be distributed and the preferences of consumers in those areas, where the apple will be grown and whether it can yield enough apples in that climate to make the grower a maximum profit, whether the market is already saturated with a specific flavor of apple, like tart or sweet, etc. Then the researchers have to decide which qualities take preference, since finding an apple that meets all these requirements would be some sort of holy grail apple.

All in all, the apple growing business is strange mish-mash of achieving a maximum profit while discovering new and better apple flavors. It is the nature of the business to make a business out of nature.

Two different varieties of apples – Black Arkansas on the left and Honeycrisp on the right.

The massive cooler room where the Orchard stores their apples throughout the winter.