Author Archives: Angela

“Good Curling”

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When I first saw the announcement, I thought it was a little weird that there was a learn to curl session near the end of April. I also don’t know when the next time an opportunity like this would come up, so I figured I’d check it out. I don’t think I’ve ever actually watched clips of curling that lasted more than a few seconds, but I’ll definitely be looking out for it during the next Olympics.

We got to the rink and were told to put rubber bands on our sneakers to help with traction. I’m not convinced they actually helped with traction, and I unbeknowingly lost one at some point during the evening. I also ended up completely forgetting that I had rubber bands on my shoes until I saw them when I was putting them on the next morning. GRF Ty had his own pair of actual curling shoes, which was pretty impressive from the beginning. As we were cautiously waddling our way across the ice, he propelled himself with one foot, gliding with balance.

Since there were only three of us from Rose House, another member joined our team. Sue, who also brought a margarita in a thermos, soon became our MVP. We started by learning how to not fall over while delivering the stone. This ended up okay, after I fell the first couple of times. I didn’t realize how big the bruises were until I got home that night to ice them. Yes it hurt a little at the time, but it was definitely worth the experience.

Just pushing off while balanced on that thin PTFE slider was hard enough, but trying to actually delivering the stone based on the skip’s direction was not going well for me. It looked like the other groups were doing more than we were, and before we knew it, we were set to play our first game. We had a very short crash course on how to sweep, but honestly I don’t know how much our sweeping helped. It seemed like either the stone would go at such a speed in which we couldn’t keep up without running after it, in which case sweeping won’t help, or the stone wasn’t going to make it regardless.

I think we were all a bit confused going into the first game exactly what was going on. We watched a video before we got on the ice, where they mentioned things like skip and hammer, but again, since I had never actually watched curling before, I was lost. Our first game started a little slow. None of us were delivering stones just right, and the team we were playing against had a stone in the house. Our skip and MVP, Sue, scored us our only point with the last stone, thus winning us our first ever curling match.

The second round wasn’t our best either. I don’t remember if the skip or vice skip got our only stone in the house, but Jacob knocked out one of the other team’s stones, potentially scoring us a point. In the end, they came back and took the round. The third round was the climax of the night. I was having trouble providing both enough power and good direction to the stone. My first stone fell short, but it went the right direction. My last stone of the night had enough power, but I lost balance after the delivery and ended up just sitting on the ice while it made its way down. From where I was, it looked like it was going to go too far, but it was just near the edge of the house and we were up! The other team delivered a stone, closer to the center, and we were having trouble getting another one closer, but again, MVP Sue knocked it out and won us the game!

The overall experience was definitely fun. Thank you to Sue, Matt, Jacob, and GRF Ty for making it a great first curling experience. I wish them luck in forming a Cornell Curling Club, and if it does happen, hopefully more Rose House residents will try it out. After getting home, I ended up watching the winning Olympic match, and I now have so much more respect for the sport. It’s not easy to dictate the trajectory of a 42-pound stone from Scotland sliding down ice.

Not quite the dairy bar

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Last Saturday, I visited the Cornell Teaching Dairy Barn for the first time. I think a couple Rose Scholars were expecting a trip to the dairy bar, but this was definitely not the same. Isabelle, a CALS alumna and current vet student, showed us around the place. We first entered near the milking station. I didn’t quite play attention to how the cows were placed into their stations, but I thought it was interesting how well-behaved they all seemed to be. She told us about the process of milking, and how someone uses iodine to disinfect before attaching them to the main machine. The RFID tagged cows also have their milking history stored in their system, so they can keep track of how they’re doing.

We then moved along to see where the cows resided when not being milked. Along the way, we saw a cow with a cannula. In the cab ride over, we talked a little bit about what we were hoping to see. One person mentioned wanting to milk a cow, but I had said that it would be an interesting experience to stick my arm into one of those cow holes. We didn’t end up getting to do that, but that’s definitely something I’d be into trying sometime. Isabelle said that the force exerted can actually be quite strong.

She talked about how the area was set up, such that sand and bars were placed so that cows would preferably lay down in a certain position, such that their feces wouldn’t end up in the sand, making clean-up easier. She also said that from experience, their sand beds can be quite comfortable.

We also got to see a couple of calves that were just a few hours old. We learned that they were separated from their moms by a fence, because cows can step on their young unintentionally. We also learned that cows like to eat placenta, even if it’s from another cow. We then got to see where the older calves stayed. We ended off with learning a little about their feedstock.

The whole experience was definitely interesting. As someone who has never been interested in vet work myself, it was definitely a unique experience for me. One of my hallmates freshmen year was an animal science major who came from a family who raised cows. I remember her having to go to the barn to do overnight shifts wearing her coveralls, so I was at least prepared enough to wear boots on the day of. Overall, I just thought it was a fun experience to see more first-hand what animal science students much more regularly. They get to experience what they’re learning about too, and I’m glad that Cornell provides what I think is a valuable learning experience and that I was able to get a glimpse of what goes on there.

Revisiting Eighth Grade Memories

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I remember vaguely reading Twelve Angry Men as an eighth grader. Despite not fully enjoying my teacher at the time, as I think back, I realize that I actually really enjoyed and appreciate what we read that year, like Macbeth and To Kill a Mockingbird, and much more so than any of my high school English classes. I can’t remember exactly how we read Twelve Angry Men. It could have been out loud or maybe just at home, but I do remember liking the story. I couldn’t tell you off the top of my head exactly what happened, but I did remember the story had to do with a room of jurors eventually changing their mind and I remembered something about how a knife was held.

After not thinking about this for the past several years, I was curious to see if the story I vaguely remembered enjoying would hold up in film form. I think it definitely did. While it would have been helpful in a couple of parts to have subtitles, I think one of the best things about how it’s written is the fact that it’s a simple story that makes sense. While it does jump around a little bit in the description of what happened and how things are presented, but the explanation of the case is laid out for the audience, and a more detailed picture is built over the hour-and-a-half-long film.

One thing I noticed during the film was that no one was ever given a name. We didn’t know the name of the victim, the boy, either witness, or any of the jurors. But the story still works. Another thing I thought was curious during the film was that there was also a women’s bathroom in the jury deliberation room. There’s little setup to the plot, so we don’t know why this jury happens to be all men, but it did make me think. If the only juror who initially voted not guilty was a female in that room of headstrong men, would the same result have been reached? Would she feel as confident as to stand her ground and not be dismissed for being female? Does this happen in modern day cases?

The last time I was in a courthouse, I think it was again in eighth grade, on a civics field trip. We briefly heard a bit of a medical malpractice case, but I think that’s my only in-person experience of a trial. I’ve seen my fair share of TV lawyers and TV judges, but haven’t really been part of the process. That’s not to say I’m not interested. As long as it’s not terribly timed, I think I would really enjoy the experience of serving on a jury.

That being said, after the film ended, there was a little bit of a discussion about jury duty. I’ve never been summoned myself, I believe my dad has been, a couple of times now. I’m not sure if he was ever chosen to actually serve on a jury, but I do think it’s interesting that you could be dismissed for any number of reasons. I like the idea of trial by a jury of your peers, but I also think it can be really flawed. In this story, in particular, if the one juror who had a little bit of doubt was not in the room, an eighteen year-old would have been placed on death row. If the same juror had failed to convince anyone else to agree with him, the eighteen year-old would have been placed on death row. If the public defender had been a little more diligent in creating a case to help his client, regardless of whether he thought he was guilty or not, maybe there would be a different outcome. This story clearly points out some of the issues in the court system, but without a better alternative, at least the system tries to be just.

Confusing to follow

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This was definitely not the movie I was expecting. The description going into the movie was a “romantic drama” with Johnny Depp. Honestly, I didn’t know what exactly to expect, but I definitely wasn’t prepared. Personally, this movie was hard to follow. My extent of historical Cuba knowledge is only peripherally being taught about the Cuban missile crisis in high school, so the historical parts of the movie were confusing at times. The revolution and rebellions kept being mentioned, but I couldn’t tell which was which. At the same time the fairly fast-paced Spanish and captions made it hard to catch the images shown.

Perhaps that was another reason I didn’t enjoy the movie very much. At times, there would be dialog, but no translation, so I just didn’t know what was going on. At other times, I heard the accented English and read the subtitles, but was still really confused. It wasn’t just the historical parts either. Sometimes, there would be images of perhaps culturally recognizable things, that I had no context for.

What I found most interesting was how large the homosexual community in Cuba was that they portrayed. After the introductory scenes with his grandfather enraged after learning he wrote poetry well, I was surprised to see the sexual openness of the gay community, especially in the 1970s. I don’t really have a gauge on how abnormal or normal it was then, but I would have imagined that people would be much more hesitant to be openly gay.

Overall, it was an interesting movie, but the humanity of the characters was hard to watch at times.  Reinaldo Arenas clearly faced many struggles in life, enough to the point where he self-harmed and planned his own death. Again, I don’t think I can fully appreciate the film due to my lack of context, but it definitely introduced me to things that I hadn’t previously been exposed to.

My poor shoulders

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Last weekend, I was able to take advantage of the massage at Rose. Thinking back, I think this was my first massage by a massage therapist in only four years. The ten minutes went by quickly. I was at the later end of the massage sign-up, so the massage therapist had seen a fair number of people before getting to me. Before she started, she mentioned how most people had tight necks and shoulders. Right after she started, she noted my poor shoulders that felt like they had been weight lifting. When I asked if they were significantly worse than other students that day, she said that they were definitely up there.

The massage went fairly quickly. Before I knew it, I was back to my normal life with all of its stressors, but at least I was able to relax. I left feeling a lot more aware of my shoulders. I realized I never really think about how my shoulders feel unless they’re bothering me. At this point, I’m not even sure what a normal shoulder feels like compared to mine. This massage was definitely appreciated, and the relaxing state it put me in ended with a deserved nap after an busy Saturday morning.

Emotionally overwhelming in a good way

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I can’t remember the last animated children’s movie I saw in theaters. This movie was gorgeous. Before the movie started, there was a quick feature about the animation and design going into a scene, and to see the quality, vibrancy, and composition of it on the big screen was breathtaking. I wouldn’t even be able to comprehend that level of animation when I was a kid. To me, claymation and hand-drawn and painted animated shows and movies were already impressive enough, but you wouldn’t be able to get something quite as beautiful.

That start already put me in a very vulnerable mindset. This movie was very eye opening to me, and I hope the children who’ve watched it realize when they’re older how touching of a movie it is. I had never been into Dia de Muertos. I completely understand traditions about honoring the dead, but the skulls and makeup have always been creepy to me, so I was a little hesitant about how likable some characters would be.

I’m glad that the movie focused on the beauty. The opening story was done in bright papel picado and the practically glowing marigold petals kept the screen comfortable and celebratory. I’m not sure what children take away from this movie – possibly to follow their dreams and passions – but the whole experience was very unexpectedly emotional for me.

I wasn’t expecting such a big impact. It could be a variety of reasons, but the magnitude of death really got to me. I don’t expect that it had quite as large of an impact on the children watching, but when Coco was struggling with recalling memories and calling out for her father, or when souls whose memories hadn’t been passed down and disappeared when forgotten, I cried. As I’m typing this up, I’m tearing up as well. I’ve had a fair number of family members pass and some in critical condition in the past few years, and I didn’t realize how large of an emotional impact this film would have on me. There are so many things I wish I could have asked them about their lives that now I probably will never know, and the futility of life and memories is extremely somber.

By the end of the movie, I was a mess. I ended up sitting there until the end of the credits to wipe my tears and try to collect myself. As parents left with children who had happily seen, what to them could have been a feel good movie, my head was flooded with thoughts, and Coco has left me thinking about it for a week now. Its imagery is still fresh and Remember Me will definitely be on my mind for a while. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, it’s definitely worth watching, and so much more impactful than just a children’s movie.

A Chili Saturday

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Last Saturday, I attended the Annual Great Downtown Ithaca Chili Cook-off in the commons. We were each given several tickets for chili sample, and I tried to make a point to sample unique chilies. I can’t say I’m normally a fan of chili – I’ll eat it, but I don’t particularly like the texture and taste of tomatoes and beans, but I thought that a chili cook-off might make me change my mind.

The weather was pleasantly cooperative that day. There were a couple of showers, but at least it wasn’t freezing outside. Before I used any of my tickets, I walked around to check out all of the booths. Among the chilies, there were other samples for things like wine and sauces. After seeing the variety the cook-off had to offer, I started off with a chili that included peanut butter. I thought maybe it’d be pad thai-esque? It tasted weird. Not bad weird, but the texture and flavors didn’t immediately scream chili, but as the first warm sample I had, it was fine.

Next, I got a spicier sample, I can’t remember exactly what was in it, but there was an added maybe sweet corn chip part that was an interesting contrast. Again, it was just a different flavor combination. The sweetness really cut through the spiciness and was the predominant flavor I remember from that. I then tried a pork and turkey chili. Since I generally prefer pork and turkey over beef, I was hoping that I’d really enjoy it. To be honest, I couldn’t really taste the meat in it – my sample didn’t seem to have any visible chunks of meat, and the flavor was also off. If I remember correctly, the color was much less red than a typical chili and more watery. Sadly, this was the only sample I didn’t finish eating.

I then tried a chili calzone. I think this was the only vegetarian chili I tried. Honestly, it felt underfilled, so most of the taste was really the outside rather than the chili. Overall it was okay, but I probably will stick to calzones stuffed with cheese in the future. The next chili I chose was pretty much solely due to the toppings. I can’t remember exactly what was in it, but it was topped with a sprinkling of cheese, scallions, and an avocado crema. I don’t think I could particularly make out the avocado crema taste, but overall it looked and tasted good. My last chili sample of the day was, what I would call, a pretty standard chili. Mostly I just got it because it came with a warm buttered up roll, but the chili was also decent.

I don’t think this experience really changed my mind about chili. It was mainly enjoyable as a warm thing to eat on a winter day, but I’m still not sold on the generic flavors. The experience, though, was definitely interesting. The whole time, there were people selling cornbread to help fund healthy snacks in local schools and also people with voter registration forms and upcoming candidate information. I would encourage people to attend future chili cook-offs to see what it’s all about, even if you’re not that into chili.

High School Football

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This was definitely not a movie I would normally choose to watch. I’ve never really been into football, especially not high school football. My school was infamously mediocre at football. We never expected to win and the homecoming dance was always more well-attended compared to the game. There were know star football players; I can only think of about five people I knew about who played football, but couldn’t begin to guess what positions, and one of them only played their freshman year.

Thus, Friday Night Lights portrayed a significantly different high school football experience. For one, none of the football players at my high school looked anything like the football players in this film. First, there’s a good chunk of freshman and sophomore boys who still look fairly prepubescent. Second, they tended to be somewhat taller and more athletically built than the average student, but it was too a much less degree. The bleachers for our field were also significantly smaller and dinkier.

I don’t know if I’ll ever fully understand the degree of fandom people place on football. The whole town demanding the state-wide victory of a small-town team seems kind of ridiculous. People often talk about peaking in high school, and that’s what the whole town kind of feels like. They still wear their state championship rings well into adulthood, and undoubtedly still obsess over it. Their need for this high school team to win at football is definitely unhealthy. When Boobie Miles tears his ACL, Coach Gaines knows about it, but when his uncle tells him that the doctor says its fine and Gaines knows he’s a central player to the team, he lets him play. Boobie also has the mindset that everyone in Midland is out to win by any means necessary, even a doctor showing him an objective x-ray of his knee. I don’t agree with how it was done, because it definitely ruined Boobie’s football career opportunities, but Coach Gaines puts him in and he expectedly gets hurt again. It’s only after that second injury on the field that Boobie actually reflects on how his life has bene changed.

Also, I can’t fathom why the amount of physical damage football causes its players has only become a hot-topic discussion recently. Some more violent parts were hard to watch. Of course there’s going to be some degree of physical strain on any type of athlete, but the degree of damage directly caused by other players is mindblowing. I get that this was probably overplayed in the movie, but this is a part of football I just don’t get.

Honestly, this movie was a lot more emotional than I had anticipated. It really touched on the negative lives of certain small-town families like mothers suffering from mental illness and abusive and alcoholic fathers. There were definitely character-driven emotional parts of the movie that were poignant.