Author Archives: nam95

Virginia in the 1960s

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The main thoughts I got from the movie Loving within the first half an hour is how differing ideas can lead to what seem like unnecessary frustration and suffering.  Richard, a white man, and Mildred, a black woman, drive out of Virginia and get married, since their marriage would be illegal in their home state, and then return to live with their families and assume their new lives with a marriage certificate.  Though when they return, they are still jailed and their matrimony is viewed as illegitimate, as their local sheriff arrests and separates both of  them.  His explanation for the separation is that people of different races were placed in different locations of the Earth, which he viewed as God’s intent for them to not marry and produce offspring together.  And this was the written explanation for the court ruling their marriage illegal.  Despite the work both groom and bride put into starting a new life together and finding a legal loophole, they were still ultimately required to leave the state, which they did together.

The film then shows their life once they’ve moved in such a way that made me appreciate it more as a story about a real relationship and not just about legal injustice.  As the couple raises their children, it is especially clear that Mildred is not happy so far removed from her family back in Virginia.  The burden of loneliness seems to strike her everyday as her husband is constantly working.  While this problem does seem like it would be fixed were they still living in Virginia, and is partially fixed once they move back, seeing the characters deal with stress from their new lives in a new location made them appear even more human on screen.

Even closer to the end of the film, there is still friction between the two in how they deal with the publicity that comes along with their legal case making it to the Supreme Court.  Instead of focusing the entire movie on solely courts, judges, and decisions, the movie’s creators seemed to show multiple sources of conflict that portrayed the relationship and struggles between Richard and Mildred Loving as organic and definitely made for an emotional two hours.

Different Types of Motivation

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Mark Twain once said something along the lines of a classic being something people praise but don’t read.  I sort of had this idea about Citizen Kane going into the movie.  I thought it would be filled by a lot of dialogue that would slowly lull an audience desensitized by the more action-packed films of the 21st century.  While the movie consists of the dialogue between a reporter and the people he interviews who knew Mr. Kane, vivid flashbacks accompany each conversation.  The character of Charles Kane himself is filled with the ambition of finding approval that’s difficult to look away from.  The film is consistently regarded as one of the best of all time, due to its experimental shots, nonlinear storytelling, and other features less common in Hollywood at the time.

While Kane does have charisma and is able to convince people to do risky things, like having an affair with him, his energy and persuasive power seem to stem from the lack of compassion and care he faced as a child.  Early on, the movie shows him being removed from his family at a very young age.  The film did a good job of showing the audience Kane’s interactions with others and why he was liked, but I think it also did a good job of garnering the audience’s pity for the man.  Persistence is an honorable trait and the audience is able to see the dedication Charles Kane invests in his media endeavors, along with the fame those endeavors bring.  The camera also shows a behind the scenes look at how stubborn and controlling Kane is and the price he pays for his success.  Overall, I liked it.

A classic Suspense/Thriller

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I expected North by Northwest to leave me a little more unsettled than it did.  I still liked it, and it was cool to see Hitchcock make his characteristic cameo, as he does in all his films, just a minute or so into the movie, but the film itself wouldn’t come to mind as something to watch on Halloween.

The scenery in different parts of the film include a lavish mansion, crop fields, and Mt. Rushmore, which is an interesting mixture of places if you ask me.  In some ways, the varied scenes contribute the confusing plot of a man who has been mistaken for someone else and is constantly on the run.  The same man is later mistakingly convicted of a murder at a United Nations meeting.  Though being placed in this situation would definitely be unfortunate, Roger Thornhill, the main character played by Cary Grant, is so suave and casual about everything that happens to him it felt more to me like I was watching something along the line of a James Bond movie, without the melodramatic villain.

The ending of the movie was interesting, as I have never seen anybody fight on top of the presidents’ heads at Mt. Rushmore.  Though I would have preferred to watch Psycho or The Birds, given the special occasion, I am glad that I can check another iconic film off my list.

Drawing in Perspective

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I like drawing, though my style is a bit unorthodox.  Typically when drawing a scene, you start out with general shapes and then progressively get more detailed.  This helps you get the proportion of the objects in your scene right, while allowing you a lot of blank space to add details.  For some reason, I always focus on one little thing, like the column of a building, and draw it out in the most detail as I can, then move on the the next object in the scene.

On Saturday, Seema and Sam took me and a few other Rose Scholars out to draw on the Arts Quad.  Seema is getting her Ph. D. in the Department of City and Regional Planning, so naturally her drawing turned out well.  She demonstrated the difference between two point and one point perspective drawings, which seemed particularly applicable when drawing buildings, like those on the Arts Quad.  I drew Goldwin Smith Hall from a one point perspective, with the North side of the building going further back into the page and thus getting a little smaller.

It worked well, but I have to admit I resorted to old habits pretty quickly.  I don’t get to draw very often, so when I do, I am prone to doing it in my usual style.  Next time I’m drawing buildings, I will try to stick to the way Seema introduced, and hopefully my buildings will look more to scale with all the other parts of the scene.  Also, trees.  I really need to work on my trees.

The History of Cascadilla Gorge

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One of Cornell’s richest features is its history. So much has happened in the past century and a half that it is easy to forget events before that. Though the university wasn’t founded until 1865, the land it sits on has been changing for hundreds of millions of years. On the hike of the Cascadilla Gorge, Todd Bittner, our tour guide, told us how sediment layers formed in the gorge over time during the Devonian period. You can see vertically stacked layers in the gorge’s walls, each holding its own piece of history in the form of different fossils and remnants.

Even changes within the past hundred years can be seen. Mr. Bittner held up a picture from around 1900 of the waterfall that rushes under College Avenue and asked us to point out the differences between it and what we were looking at. One of the differences that stuck out to me was the addition of a sidewalk on the bridge that College Avenue passes. Back in the day when only horses and buggies traversed the dirt roads, a sidewalk wasn’t really necessary. The sidewalk is just one example of changes that have been made over time to improve the gorge and the areas around it. In 2008, Mr. Bittner and others were tasked with greatly increasing the durability and safety of the gorge and the walkways placed through it. Gathering about 2.8 million dollars from the university, they added natural looking reinforcements to the walkways to prevent them from being so easily damaged by floodwater. Walking through Cascadilla gorge, it’s easy to forget the work, both natural and manmade, that has been put into making it such a charming place.

Bertie the Bold

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I am not a fan of public speaking, and I can only imagine the anxiety of having to speak in front of a quarter of the world with a stammer. Unluckily for King George VI, or Bertie as he is sometimes called, he was placed in this exact situation. A line that stuck out to me in the movie “The King’s Speech” is when Bertie’s father, King George V, says something to the effect that all kings had to do, prior to the invention of the microphone and radio, is look nice and not fall off their horses. But with modern day innovation, the responsibility now fell on the king to provide a voice to and representative of his people.

To cope with the severity of his impediment, Bertie tries speech therapy with just about every accredited doctor in London. Nobody supplies him with the results he is looking for, and some even give what seems to be counterproductive advice like smoking cigarettes to calm the throat. It is not until the eventual king’s devoted and wonderful wife, Elizabeth, solicits the help of a speech therapist that the soon to be king begins making notable progress.

It is difficult to be vulnerable and admit weaknesses to others, which is why it was so refreshing to see the weaknesses of a prominent historical figure. I can’t help but think Bertie’s time of birth was destiny. It seems like fate forced the king to face his biggest fear, and seeing him muster up courage to give his speeches word by word was inspiring.

Plants and Much More

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The greater Cornell Botanic Gardens is composed of 4,300 acres of nature. Last Saturday, we looked at a small portion of that land in great depth. As soon as our group of Rose Scholars arrived at the gardens, the tour guide’s first objective was to explain the architecture behind its welcome center. The Nevin Welcome Center is a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building. As testament to this credential, our tour guide explained how the building was strategically placed with respect to the sun so that it needed minimal cooling in the summer and minimal heating in the winter. The rest of our tour was more focused on the actual plants of the Botanic Garden. Our tour guide had been giving tours for twenty years, and she had a wide range of subjects to talk about. One tidbit of information that specifically stood out to me was about a small portion of the Botanic Gardens filled with evergreen trees. Our tour guide told us that this section was dedicated to providing greenery for students year round, especially during the winter months when deciduous trees become barren and scenery can become dreary.

Another interesting story she told us was about the language of flowers. As a social norm, English suitors and their romantic interests were discouraged from direct communication during the Victorian era. To still express their feelings, they would send flowers to one another. A certain color of rose, for example would correspond to sending a message of friendship, while another color could tell the recipient that the sender suspects infidelity. Many of these different colored flowers were laid out before us.

The Botanic Gardens is a great place to aimlessly walk around if you have any free time on your hands. If you’re more interested in the stories intertwined with the garden’s history, then a tour guide is a better option. Going on the tour made me see the dedication Cornell invests in preserving a multitude of plant life, from the keeping of the plants themselves, to the emphasis on environmentally friendly buildings.

A Nationally Popular Farmer’s Market

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All vendors at the Ithaca Farmers Market reap and create their goods within thirty miles of the Steamboat Landing, the market’s location. The market helps local businesses, consolidating over 160 vendors into an inviting, large wooden pavilion and giving consumers a varied selection that ranges from food to jewelry to freshly crafted soap. The diversity and quality of the products consistently draw not only locals, but also travelers from afar. The market was ranked as one of the 101 Best Farmers Markets in America, so it’s no surprise that word has gotten out.

 

What’s interesting to me is that, as I walked across the wooden deck looking for something to eat, the space felt crowded but not touristy. Smiles from the welcoming staff, along with relaxing live music infect tourists with a kind of small town charm. Every time I go, it’s almost like I can feel my blood pressure start to lower and I am reminded of Ithaca’s splendor. The gyros and fried plantains I have had there are incredible and if I had more desk space, I would have probably already bought one of the wooden art pieces I have seen on display. Even though there is much to see and explore in the market, everyone seemed to be walking at a leisurely pace, able to put aside the workweek’s rush and preoccupations for a Sunday morning.