2023.02.14 entire issue hi res

News

Gleeful Group

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Sports

| Page 3

| Page 5

| Page 8

Cornell Sweethearts Share Teir Love Stories

By SOFIA RUBINSON Sun News Editor

As Valentine’s Day approaches and love fills the Cornell campus, The Sun interviewed eight Cornell couples about their love stories. Have no fear, current Cornellians: While some married their firstyear crush, for other couples, their love stories were anything but linear.

For Julie Vargo ’82 and Chris Metz ’82, their love story involved marrying other people before rekindling their friendship at a Cornell reunion. For Andy Atwell Ph.D. ’02 and Tina Atwell ’98, M.I.L.R. ’00, this meant taking a break until a long walk brought them back together.

Below you will find the stories of a few successful Cornell relationships. As current Cornell students are finding out their Perfect Match, their stories aim to inspire and serve as a reminder of the joys Cornell has brought to some couples.

As Ms. Vargo said, “I think that everybody probably thinks that their love story is awesome, right?”

Like Father, Like Son Angela Cheng-Cimini ’92 and Michael Cimini ’92 met on the second day of their

freshman orientation. Ms. Cheng-Cimini learned that an old elementary school friend of hers, Todd, was accepted into

Todd is responsible for all of this afterThey started as just friends and

near Collegetown through the woods,” Ms. Cheng-Cimini said. “It wasn’t terribly well-traveled. But the water ran under it and it’s a really beautiful spot. We would often go there just to enjoy the peacefulness.”

Years later, their son, Matthew Cimini ’19, decided to attend Cornell to study engineering, despite the fact that he wanted a different experience than his parents.

“I specifically thought, ‘No way I’m going to go to the same college as both my parents and then do the same dating thing that they did,’” Matthew Cimini said. “I purposely went in with the mindset that that was never going to happen.”

Cornell and reached out to him to reconnect.

“I looked him up, and Michael was his freshman year room mate. Had it not been for my friend Todd, we'd like ly would never have met,” Ms. Cheng-Cimini said. “We ran in very, very different circles. So

TCAT Service Cuts Disrupt Commutes

By JIMMY JORDAN and SOFIA RUBINSON

Voice Reporter and Sun News Editor

Over the last few years, the regular bus passengers of Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit have had to contend with reduced service levels due to the COVID-19 pandemic and staffing challenges that the bus company has faced.

The most impacted populations include people with incomes too low to afford a personal car and students at the local colleges. For many residents of Tompkins County and the City of Ithaca, TCAT buses are the primary mode of transportation, and the availability of a bus route and its frequency can end up determining much more about their life than

who did not want to be identified by her last name, shared with The Ithaca Voice and The Sun that TCAT’s major service cuts in August last year removed later night bus runs she relied on to get to and from work, subsequently forcing her to change jobs.

finally made their relationship official on March 15, 1989, about seven months after they first met. They remember spending good times together around the falls in Ithaca and near Mr.

“We used to like to go to the bridge behind the engineering quad,

But like his parents, Matthew Cimini met his soon-to-be wife, Sarah Dickerman ’19, on one of the first days of his freshman year. They both lived in Clara Dickson Hall and were part of a friend group of 12 people that remained together throughout college.

Four years after graduating from Cornell, the couple is set to get married this May. Within their Dickson friend group, there are two engaged couples and one married couple.

Students Advocate for Disability Aid

By XINYU JOANNE HU Sun Staff Writer

For the first time in Cornell’s history, students participated in Student Empowerment Day on Feb. 8, rallying in New York State’s Legislative Office in Albany and striving for more state funding for college students with disabilities.

Founded in 2021, Student Empowerment Day gathers college students in New York State to advocate for budgetary support to state legislators. Even with $2.0 million being approved for state funding, the event aims to push for another $13.0 million in funding.

Cyrus Hamilton-Ferguson, assistant director of Student Disability Services, led students’ participation and organized the trip to Albany.

According to Hamilton-Ferguson, New York State hasn’t provided state-level funding specifical ly for college students with disabilities, and universities and colleges are respectively responsible for their stu dent's budgetary support. Several organizations and disability advocacy groups, including New York Coalition of Students with Disabilities in Higher Education, New York State Disability Services Council, CUNY Council on Student Disability Issue, and SUNY Student Assembly, founded the annual event to push for more voices to fill in

the gap.

Hamilton-Ferguson said he first heard about the opportunity last October and thought it would be an opportunity that Cornellians definitely should not miss.

“Many [participants], including some of our students, made signs and things like that,” Hamilton-Ferguson said. “One of our students made a sign that said, ‘Disabled, not disposable.’”

With more than 300 people gathering, the size and diverse backgrounds of the participants of the rally impressed HamiltonFerguson.

“Our students, New York State students from two-year colleges, universities, four-year colleges, public schools, private schools [and] indepen dent schools [all participated]… It really matter because this funding affects every single one,”

Hamilton-Ferguson said. “It was amazing to just sort of see them there.”

Along with Hamilton-Ferguson and another Student Disability Services employee, two students joined the rally. As a disabled student, Kate Keresztes ’26 participated in hopes of increasing awareness of disabled people. She felt happy about meeting similar people and celebrating their shared identity,

a community that Cornell greatly lacks, according to Keresztes.

“At Cornell, we really don't see any campus highlights on disability communities or any [visible] disability community beyond what we make for ourselves,” Keresztes said. “It is really not encouraged by the college that we [are] visible and proud.”

Keresztes noted Syracuse University has better support for

“Syracuse University has a Disability Cultural Center, and their disability studies program goes very far for not only providing the bare minimum route to attend school, but to be able to fully participate in society and to celebrate who we are and be a significant force on campus,” Keresztes said.

According to Keresztes, the extra state funding could be used to raise awareness of the disability community at Cornell.

“[The funding] could really benefit Cornell in the way that we [develop] disabled cultural spaces and places for disabled people to meet and have social interactions outside of medicalization,” Keresztes said.

2023 Grammys Tis year's Grammy Awards provided excitements, disappointments and surprises.

Hockey topped Brown but was unable to beat Yale on Senior Day.

Te Cornell Glee Club hosted a clinic for high schoolers and performed a concert in Sage Chapel.

Ithaca

COURTESTY OF THE INTERVIEWEES

A LISTING OF FREE CAMPUS EVENTS

Scientific Computing Training

9 a.m. - 10 a.m., Virtual Event

Douglass Day 2023 International Transcribe-a-Thon

Noon - 3 p.m., 107 Olin Library

Insights from Indonesia’s Kartu Prakerja Workforce Development Program

With Denni Purbasari, Ph.D.

Noon - 1:30 p.m., G02 Uris Hall

Writing a Data Management and Sharing Plan for Grant Applications

Noon - 1 p.m., 103 Mann Library

Peru, Chile and the Pacific - Toward Collaborative and Parallel Histories

With Joshua Savala, Ph.D.

12:25 p.m. - 1:15 p.m., G08 Uris Hall

Archival Digital Collections and Where to Find Them

3 p.m. - 4 p.m., 106G Olin Library

Publication-Ready Tables Through Coding

3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m., B30B Mann Library

Topics in Public and Ecosystem Health

With Sebastian Heilpern, Ph.D.

4 p.m. - 5 p.m., LH1 Schurman Hall

Bio-Inspired 3D Electronic Microfliers With Jin-Tae Kim, Ph.D.

4 p.m. - 5 p.m., B11 Kimball Hall

Tomorrow

Love Data Week at Cornell Veterinary College

11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., College of Veterinary Medicine Atrium

Cornell University Virtual Spring Career Fair

Noon - 5 p.m., Virtual Event

Building Agricultural Research Ecosystems With Eugenia Saini, Ph.D.

12:25 p.m. - 1:15 p.m., 135 Emerson Hall

Get Ready for the Great Backyard Bird Count Free Q&A Webinar

1 p.m. - 2 p.m., Virtual Event

Putting Generalized Symmetries to Work for Particle Physics With Seth Koren, Ph.D. 2 p.m., Virtual Event

Sustainable Land Use Futures With Alexander Popp, Ph.D.

3 p.m., A106 Corson/Mudd Hall

Can Democracy Exist Without Borders? With Simon Parker, Ph.D.

4:30 p.m. - 6 p.m., G08 Uris Hall

Introduction to Bloomberg

4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., 103 Mann Library

The Great Upheaval With Judith A. Byfield, Ph.D.

4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., 107 Olin Library

Cornell Campus helps Source Love for Alumni

“The love was too pure and too strong,” Ms. ChengCimini said. To which Matthew Cimini said, “I couldn’t resist.”

Lovebirds’ Reunion

Julie Vargo ’82 and Chris Metz ’82 had paths that likely crossed often during freshman year, with both being involved in Greek life and regular patrons of the pubs on North and West Campus. Ms. Vargo worked at the concession stand at the football field, and Mr. Metz was a football player.

They started dating sophomore year and on-and-off their junior year. Ms. Vargo invited Mr. Metz to her sorority formal during junior year, and he turned her down, which she said irritated her.

“About a month or so later, he called and invited me to his fraternity formal, and I stood at the phone, repeated everything he said to me back to him and turned him down the exact same way he turned me down,” Ms. Vargo said. “We hung up the phone and I laughed like crazy. In retrospect we both think that was probably a bad idea.”

Both Ms. Vargo and Mr. Metz then went off to marry the next people they dated. At a 10-year college reunion, Ms. Vargo ran into another Cornell ex-boyfriend.

“[My ex-boyfriend] was fat, bald and obnoxious. So I thought to myself, I am going to make a point never to see Chris Metz ever again, because he was the most beautiful man I had ever dated. That was the extent of it, and then I went on with my life,” Ms. Vargo said.

At their 30-year college reunion, Ms. Vargo’s friends wanted to go to the Statler bar to meet up, but since she knew Mr. Metz would be there, she decided to go watch the President’s lecture in Bailey Hall instead. But then she received a message from Mr. Metz telling her to save him a seat, as her friends had seen him and gave him Ms. Vargo’s phone number.

“[Chris] wasn’t that bald and obnoxious — actually, he’s still a little obnoxious. And I love that,” Ms. Vargo said. “We just rekindled a friendship.”

It wasn’t until years later that the two became partners. Now they have six kids between them, two of which attended Cornell.

“We had eight years back on the Hill, going to these functions and tailgates and parties and football games,” Ms. Vargo said. “Fortunately our kids let us come back and infiltrate. It’s been super fun. And we go back to reunions every year, we just went to our 40th.”

Although their relationship was not linear, Ms. Vargo said it worked out the way it was meant to be.

“I’m really lucky that I got a second chance, and so is he, to have this really amazing relationship,” Ms. Vargo said.

Lucky Genes

Jennifer Leeds ’91 and Rob Hess ’91 became friends in genetics class in the fall of their junior year. Mr. Hess was rushing a fraternity at the time, and he invited Ms. Leeds to go with him to his winter formal.

“He picked me up at a happy hour at my girlfriend’s house. He was really, really nicely dressed and all clean shaven. He had this humongous bouquet of flowers and took me to a nice dinner, which was out of character,” Ms.

Glee Club Performs for High School

By DYLAN JACKAWAY

The Cornell University Glee Club hosted high school students for a day of clinics on Saturday that culminated in a Sage Chapel concert featuring sacred music in a variety of languages and a commissioned piece, “Kanpe La,” by composer Sydney Guillaume.

The Glee Club originally commissioned Guillaume to write the work in 2016. Using a poem written by his father, Gabriel, Guillaume’s work attempts to respond to gun violence, police brutality, oppression and political turmoil in both his native Haiti and the United States. Other pieces in Saturday’s repertoire included Latin and English sacred music.

Rayvon T. J. Moore, assistant professor of music and director of choral studies at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, served as the guest conductor for this performance on invitation from Prof. Joe Lerangis, music, who is also the director of choral music.

“I’ve been working on this music for about a week. I know that some of the other singers have had it for at least a couple of months, to get at least some of the notes and rhythms learned in preparation for this exciting day,” Moore said. “I was just actually telling all of the musicians that the best thing about clinicking and working with choirs and being a guest is that you’re collaborating with folks that you don’t know, and your common language is the music.”

Four of the concert’s pieces also featured visiting high school singers from New York City participating in the New York Lower Voices Sing program. Moore

also served as the guest clinician for this event, working with the Glee Club and the visiting high schoolers as if they were one large choir.

Jason Ling ’23, this year’s Glee Club president, said he enjoyed working with the outreach program.

“I always like NYLVS. The purpose of it is to be this outreach program and to encourage tenors and basses — who largely identify as men — to continue singing in high school and later on in their life, because for some reason there’s a big dropoff once people start college,” Ling said.

Ling also promoted the club’s upcoming events, including Empowerment through Music on March 4 and a collaboration with the Cornell Symphony Orchestra to perform Mozart’s Requiem on April 29.

Hired as a tenure-track professor in September, Lerangis emphasized the effect that music can have on musicians and audience members alike.

“Our audiences are essentially our biggest stakeholders, in that people come into a performance like this to be moved and to think something different or to feel something different,” Lerangis said.” “That’s all that we can really hope to provide, [which] is a moving performance — something that makes somebody take pause in their day and connect with each other.”

To continue reading this article, please visit www. cornellsun.com.

Leeds said. “Normally he was a long haired hippie freak Deadhead and smelled like a fireplace most of the time.”

Over winter break, Mr. Hess went to Jamaica and bought Ms. Leeds a necklace as a souvenir. That Valentine’s Day he cooked her their first meal, and they have been together ever since.

”He lived up on Ridgewood by all the fraternities, and I was in Collegetown, so we would just walk a lot across the whole campus, across the quad and then across the suspension bridge,” Ms. Leeds said. “So we had a whole bunch of romantic dates walking across the suspension bridge.”

After they graduated, they continued to spend a lot of time together on the Ithaca campus, hanging out frequently in Tjaden Hall. When Ms. Leeds found out she was pregnant on Valentine’s Day, the couple decided to name their son after their favorite hall.

”When our son told us he was going to Cornell, we jokingly said, ‘Well, you’re going to meet the love of your life at age 19.’ And he thought we were insane,” Ms. Leeds said. “Then he did. So now he and his partner live in Austin, Texas, after meeting when they were 19 at Cornell.”

Lynah Faithful-ly Wed

Margo Bittner ’80 and Jim Bittner ’80 met on one of their first days of freshman year, while sitting around the lounge of U-Hall 1 getting to know the new students in their dormitory. The first time they officially spent time together was on a double date to a Harry Chapin concert — but they weren’t paired with each other.

See LOVE page 4

Students Rally for Disability Funding

“It is really not encouraged by the college that we [are] visible and proud.”

Keresztes noted Syracuse University has better support for students.

“Syracuse University has a Disability Cultural Center, and their disability studies program goes very far for not only providing the bare minimum route to attend school, but to be able to fully participate in society and to celebrate who we are and be a significant force on campus,” Keresztes said.

According to Keresztes, the extra state funding could be used to raise awareness of the disability community at Cornell.

“[The funding] could really benefit Cornell in the way that we [develop] disabled cultural spaces and places for disabled people to meet and have social interactions outside of medicalization,” Keresztes said. “[The money] could have been impactful [if it is used] to have disabled speakers come and talk about disability studies, host events for disabled students to get together or take us on trips to places of cultural significance.”

Chris Arroyo ’24, another student participant, learned about the event from his class Labor Relations, Law and History 4033: Disability Law. As someone interested in advocating for minority groups, Arroyo thought the rally informed him a lot about how New York State legislation specifically understands disability community support.

“It was nice to just be around more people who focus on [disability support], tell stories about it and contextualize it for the

legislative audience in New York state,” Arroyo said. “It was really fun to see two main assemblymen and senators focusing on [promoting support for disabled people on a state level.”

From the speeches, HamiltonFerguson and Arroyo both observed the common sentiment that the legislation support disability group out of economic incentive, which emphasizes that educated disabled people can become productive labor force.

Keresztes finds this narrative problematic, pointing out that the name “empowerment day” adopts similar problematic framing.

“I think that we need to challenge this paradigm that [evaluates] the wealth of a person based on your productivity,” Keresztes said. “It is important to support us not because we could be productive citizens for New York State in the future, but because we people and all people in New York State must have equal access and equal right to proper education.”

According to HamiltonFerguson, the exact date of Student Empowerment Day this year was confirmed in late January, which left a small time frame to plan the trip. HamiltonFerguson hopes for a more comprehensive program next year, taking more students and partnering with campus organizations.

“It’s for our students now. It’s also for the students who are still in high school or junior high,” Hamilton-Ferguson said. “Any student who wants an education in New York should be able to get that education.”

The boys | On Feb. 11, the Glee Club hosted New York high school students for concert and clinics in Sage Chapel, performing a day of sacred music in multiple languages.

COURTESY OF THE CORNELL GLEE CLUB

Sun Staff Writer

Xinyu Hu can be reached at xhu@cornellsun.com.

Dylan Jackaway can be reached at djackaway@cornellsun.com.

Service Cuts Frustrate Riders

Reduced service levels and frequent delays cause discontent

She said that she lives in a low-income apartment in the City of Ithaca’s West End and can’t afford a car. While she’s mostly retired, Esse said that she needs to work at least part-time in order to meet her cost of living.

“I’m too old to walk in the dark, and I’m not rich enough to take an Uber,” Esse said.

The administration at TCAT is trying to project hope as service restorations appear possible. TCAT General Manager Scot Vanderpool said that “We are doing everything we can as an organization to try to get to a better place.”

Drivers, mechanics and other workers at TCAT ratified a new labor contract last week and while many members of the bargaining unit had mixed feelings about it, Vanderpool said that it is going to be a key part of making the company a competitive place to work and improve the weakened staffing numbers.

TCAT has seen its driver numbers hover around the mid-50s and lower 60s for over a year now. In 2019, TCAT had over 80 drivers running routes. The newly ratified labor contract creates opportunities for raises among the staff at TCAT. Previously, a driver who worked at TCAT for 20 years would earn the same wage of $23.67 an hour as a driver that had been behind the wheel for two years.

The limiting factor to adding new bus lines and increasing frequency is staff, Vanderpool explained. The cost of restoring service levels, even if riders are slow to return, will be supported by state funding through the New York State Operating Assistance.

TCAT has also seen its underwriters, which include Tompkins County, the City of Ithaca and Cornell University, agree to increase their contributions to the bus company by 5 percent after Cornell University initially declined an 8 percent increase. Under the 5 percent increase, the three underwriters will be contributing $2,983,722 in equal parts to TCAT’s $19.2 million budget. The funds will go towards compensating TCAT’s workers as well as the other rapidly increasing costs that the bus company is grappling with.

Currently, the goal for TCAT is to have 70 drivers on staff by Fall 2023, Vanderpool said.

TCAT delays and service cuts have had an acute impact on the Cornell University community, which claims the most heavily ridden bus routes. Vanderpool said that restoring routes that service Cornell’s campus is among TCAT’s priorities as it works to rebuild its service levels. TCAT’s Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 service cuts concentrated on removing service from parking-scarce Cornell, Vanderpool said, to maintain county-wide service and avoid leaving residents in rural towns like Danby or Newfield “with no options to get where they need to go.”

Cornellians to Lovers

Alumni tell stories of romance on the Hill

LOVE Continued from page 3

They then became good friends, and Ms. Bittner began to reap the benefits of Mr. Bittner’s role as manager of the Cornell hockey team. He was allowed two tickets a game, which he would always allocate to her.

“After the hockey games, we would actually go with the hockey players to some of the different bars. We loved to eat at the Cabbagetown Cafe,” Ms. Bittner said. “We attended a lot of concerts at Barton Hall at that time. In fact, I still have some of the ticket stubs in our scrapbooks.”

They began dating on-andoff by the end of their first year. They made their relationship official when Mr. Bittner visited Ms. Bittner when she was taking classes over the summer on July 23, 1977. The couple married in Anabel Taylor Hall on Aug. 25, 1979 with a wedding party full of Cornellians. They continued to attend classes and live in Cornell’s married student housing on North Campus for another semester.

Two major lines, routes 83 and 92, have been cut from TCAT’s Spring 2023 schedule, and many students have toiled with the disruptive delays and general unreliability of the public transportation service as a result.

Divya Raina ’23 said that she has been particularly devastated by the loss of route 83. Living on West Campus, Raina relied on this route to get to campus every day, which she said was very consistent. As a business major, she needs to get to Warren Hall each morning, a 15-minute walk up the slope.

“This is a service that pretty much everyone I know living on West uses a lot. Pretty much everyone I know on North uses it,” Raina said. “Cornell is very, very hilly. Especially when the weather gets bad, no one wants to be climbing up the slope.

Scot Vanderpool

“Our main concern right now is just to get the service back to where we were in 2019. I feel like we’ve let down people. It hasn’t been our fault, necessarily, but I just feel bad that we’re in this place,” Vanderpool said.

To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.

Jimmy Jordan can be reached at jjordan@ithacavoice.com.

Sofa Rubinson can be reached at srubinson@cornellsun.com.

“One of the things we started back then was we would buy the same t-shirt and wear the same Cornell shirt,” Ms. Bittner said. “Now we’ve been married 43 years. We just got back from a cruise vacation and we actually buy matching clothing. Still to this day.”

Instant Chemistry

Tonya Engst ’89 and Adam Engst ’89 met one of their first nights as first-year students. Ms. Engst was getting ready for a dance at Noyes Lodge with a group of students that she knew from Ithaca High School. But the large group also swept in some students who weren’t from Ithaca, one of which was Mr. Engst.

“We felt from that very first night that we had seen each other before, you know how sometimes you feel that way with someone? We tried to put it together, but we

never figured it out,” Ms. Engst said. “So maybe it was just a spark.”

Ms. Engst was dating her high school sweetheart at the time, so the two were just friends during their first semester at Cornell. But Ms. Engst knew she had feelings for Mr. Engst when he became closer to one of her friends.

“The first day of chemistry class, he did not sit next to me. He sat next to this friend of mine named Christine. And I was upset about that,” Ms. Engst said. “So we had a conversation, and it became clear that I needed to break up with [my high school sweetheart].”

They have been together ever since. Ms. Engst recalled one of their best dates together at the Cornell Botanic Gardens on an abnormally warm March day. They set up camp outside a large oak tree and decided to stay the night.

“At some point, maybe 3 a.m., we woke up and we were so cold. It was really not summer, and we were just so freaking cold,” Ms. Engst said. “So we walked all the way back to Collegetown to get into his dorm and warm up.”

Ms. Engst now works in the Industrial and Labor Relations School at Cornell, and the couple’s son Tristan graduated from the University in 2021. As Ithaca residents, the Engsts are still very involved on campus, specifically with the Finger Lakes Runners Club.

“Adam is the president of the club, and I’m on the board. So right now we’re on campus every Tuesday night in Barton Hall because we do club track practice there,” Ms. Engst said. “I don’t think we realized just how often we would be at Barton Hall, but that’s our spot.”

Long Walk to Love

Tina Atwell ’98, M.I.L.R. ’00 and Andy Atwell Ph.D. ’02

Although Tina Atwell ’98, M.I.L.R. ’00 completed her undergraduate degree at Cornell, it wasn’t until she was back for her masters that she met her husband, Andy Atwell Ph.D. ’02, at West Hill Community Church.

“I think we were one of four single people from Cornell that went to that church,” Ms. Atwell said. “So that’s where we met.” Ms. Atwell finished her degree before Mr. Atwell, and the couple decided to break up. Nine months later, when Ms. Atwell visited campus for a recruiting event, they met up in a parking garage and walked around campus together, and have been a couple ever since.

In 2003, the Atwells decided to get married in Sage Chapel, where Mr. Atwell frequently sang while pursuing his degree, with their reception in the A.D. White House.

“I’m originally from Missouri, and Tina’s originally from Wyoming, so we have family all over. And she was at the time living in Connecticut. And then I was here in Virginia. So when trying to decide where we would want to get married, someone would be traveling,” Mr. Atwell said. “We just decided that we really like Cornell. And that’s where we met. And we really wanted to just get married at Cornell and then whoever could show up could show up.”

To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.

CASEY MARTIN / THE ITHACA VOICE

“I feel like we’ve let down people. It hasn’t been our fault, necessarily, but I just feel bad that we’re in this place.”

TCAT troubles | Students and Ithacans board the TCAT, whose service cuts have upset community members

ILI PECULLAN STAFF WRITER

The 2023 Grammy Awards were exciting for some, but many music lovers felt underwhelmed and disappointed with the results and the show itself. The Grammys have produced some baffling wins in the last few years and this year’s show was no exception.

Trevor Noah returned to host the show for the third year in a row, this time in Los Angeles after being held in Las Vegas the year prior. Noah has definitely proved himself. The show featured a star studded lineup of presenters, including Jennifer Lopez, Olivia Rodrigo, James Corden and even first lady Jill Biden.

The show opened with a performance by Bad Bunny, whose album Un Verano Sin Ti was the first Spanish language project to be nominated for Album of the Year. Although he did not win, the album did receive Best Música Urbana Album. His performance was a strong open number, with many stars getting out of their seats and dancing along.

&

& Te 2023 Grammy Awards

Going into the night, many expected it to be a celebration of Beyonce, who was nominated for nine awards, including the prestigious Album of the Year award. She was expected to break the record for the most number of Grammy wins held by an individual artist. While she succeeded in doing that, viewers across the country were shocked to see her lose out on the Album of the Year award for Renaissance to

British pop star Harry Styles, who received the award for his third solo album, Harry’s House . Beyonce still managed to bring home four awards: Best Dance/ Electronic Album, Best Dance/Electronic Recording, Best Traditional R&B Performance and Best R&B Song. Although her record number of 32 Grammy wins is still an incredible achievement, it was a shock to see her lose the most prestigious category.

The other big awards in the general field were Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist. Lizzo took home Record of the Year for “About Damn Time” while Bonnie Raitt received Song of the Year for “Just Like That.” Samara Joy was awarded Best New Artist. While the Grammy Awards are known for their spotlight on pop music, hip hop definitely stole the show at this year’s ceremony. The show contained a dedication to the genre titled “50 Years of Hip Hop.” The performance was over 10 minutes long and featured 23 different hip hop artists, including Run-DMC, Missy Elliot and Lil Uzi Vert. Before the performance, LL Cool J presented fellow hip hop artist Dr. Dre with the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award for the many achievements he has had in his multi-decade music career. The ceremony also featured a performance dedicated to those in the music industry that passed away this year. The performance, titled “In Memoriam,” featured tributes to Loretta Lynn, Takeoff and Christine McVie given by Kacey Musgraves, Quavo, Maverick City Music, Sheryl

Crow, Mick Fleetwood and Bonnie Raitt.

Last year, the Grammy Awards were criticized for poorly acknowledging the real world issues that were occurring at the time, such as the war in Ukraine. This year, the show did a bit of a better job, showing that the power of music unites us and is used in social justice movements. However, there was also a lack of representation of women in the 50 Years of Hip Hop performance, which could have included more of the female artists that have shaped the genre in recent years. Dr. Dre’s honor was also criticized due to his history of violence against women.

Although the ceremony won’t return for another year, music fans are already looking forward to what music will be nominated next year. New music such as Taylor Swift’s Midnights was too recent to be included in this year’s nominations, but it is already one of the favorites for next year.

Te Best Rom-Coms for Valentine’s Day

FREYA NANGLE STAFF WRITER

As much as Valentine’s Day might be about going out with a loved one, dressing up and buying a fancy dinner, for many others, it’s also the international holiday for rom-coms. A rom-com — short for romantic comedy — is “a movie or play that deals with love in a light, humorous way,” and I can easily attest that they’re my favorite genre of movie. There’s nothing better than setting in after a long, hard day and putting on my favorite rom-com.

My favorites tend to be from the 90s to early 2000s (because somehow movies were just better back then), so this is my comprehensive list of the best rom-coms to put you in the Valentine’s Day spirit.

10 Things I Hate About You

Starting off strong, this is probably one of my all time favorite movies. Based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, 10 Things I Hate About You features Julia Stiles as Kat Stratford. She is a puppet in her sister Bianca’s plot to get Kat a boyfriend, since their father’s rules say Bianca can’t date until Kat does. Enter Heath Ledger as Patrick Verona, the new

kid who quickly becomes part of Bianca’s scheme. You literally cannot go wrong with this movie — I love it just as much everytime I watch it, and it is the perfect, nottoo-cheesy, high school romance.

Clueless

Starring Alicia Silverstone as Cher, Clueless is based on Emma by Jane Austen. Cher is the typical popular high school girl who thinks of herself as an expert on romance — she sets up two of her teachers, and then befriends new student Tai, turning her into a popular girl. When Tai’s popularity grows, Cher realizes that her efforts to set other people up were actually stopping her from seeing that her ex-stepbrother (Paul Rudd) was actually right for her all along. This is the perfect witty social satire poking fun at the consumerist Beverly Hills society and the rom-com genre itself. Clueless is definitely a romance and comingof-age story, but it is also about becoming a better person, making it a fun Valentine’s Day movie.

13 Going on 30

Following the story of thirteen-year-old Jenna Rink (Jennifer Garner) who is suddenly transformed into a thirty-year-old woman after wishing for a boyfriend and imagining being an adult, 13 Going on 30 is one of the

first rom-coms I remember watching and becoming obsessed with. Seeing Garner play a thirteenyear-old in a thirty-year-old’s body, showing intense emotion without holding back or trying to seem sophisticated, this movie offers the perfect combination of nostalgia for middle school years while also reminding us that we should make the most of what we have now. Jenna Rink soon realizes this herself as she discovers that adulthood isn’t as perfect as it looks, making her miss what — and whom — she had as a thirteen-year-old girl.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Starring Kate Hudson as Andie Anderson, I’m sure most people have heard of this movie by now, especially with its recent TikTok trend. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days tells the story of Andie Anderson, an advice columnist, who decides to write a piece about how to get a man to leave a romantic relationship in ten days. Enter Ben Berry, played by Matthew McConaughey, who made a bet with his coworkers that he could get a woman to fall in love with him in 10 days. When Andie and Ben meet, their plans begin to backfire, making for one of the funniest and cutest rom-coms to date. If you’re looking for a laugh

this Valentine’s Day, this is the perfect movie for you.

Sleepless in Seattle

Culminating in a final romantic scene set on Valentine’s Day, Sleepless in Seattle is a great choice for this holiday. Tom Hanks stars as Sam Baldwin, a man who moves to Seattle with his son Jonah after the death of his wife. Jonah calls a radio talk show in efforts to find a new wife for his dad, who grudgingly gets on the line, causing reporter Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) to fall for him, despite her engagement. She sends Sam a letter asking him to meet her at the Empire State Building on Valentine’s Day. The father-son dynamic, witty dialogue and discussion of fate make this movie one of the best romcom classics.

When Harry Met Sally

Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) shared a car ride from Chicago to New York as college graduates in 1977 and spent the whole time arguing about whether or not men and women can ever be strictly friends. They part ways intending to never see each other again, but somehow keep running into each other. They soon struggle to balance the dynamic of enemies, friends and lovers. Constantly reminding the audience that friendship is necessary

for love, When Harry Met Sally is a perfect feel-good movie for Valentine’s Day.

Definitely, Maybe

This movie is lesser known than the others I have listed, but it is definitely worth the watch. Will Hayes, played by Ryan Reynolds, is a father in the middle of a divorce whose daughter (Abigail Breslin) asks him to tell her about how he met her mother. He decides to turn this into a game, flashing back to 1992 and telling her the stories of three different women he fell in love with, changing their names so his daughter can guess which one became her mother. This movie is so good because it is based on recognizing mature truths about love and life, and emphasizes that even if the ending isn’t the one you’d hoped for, that doesn’t mean it can’t still be happy.

I know I didn’t cover everything with this list, but these are some of the best rom-coms that I love to watch every year. Whether it’s to celebrate Valentine’s Day, or to laugh over a feel-good movie, I definitely recommend checking out these classics!

Ili Pecullan is a freshman in the College of Human Ecology. She can be reached at ipecullan@cornellsun.com.

Freya Nangle is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at fnangle@cornellsun. com.

NINA WESTERVELT / NEW YORK TIMES

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Lia Sokol My So-kolled Life

Lia Sokol is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at lbs222@cornell.edu. My So-Kolled Life runs every other Monday this semester.

You’re Old

DE WAARD ’24

KEVIN CHENG ’25

ROSENBERG ’23

Senior Editor

JYOTHSNA BOLLEDDULA ’24

Ifirst decided I was old the day I turned 18. Newly endowed with the ability to buy a lottery ticket and adopt a puppy, I bid farewell to the rosy days of my innocent youth.

In retrospect, that may have been a little melodramatic.

Still, the thought that I’m getting “old” has resurfaced throughout my time in college, echoed by classmates of varying — though all objectively young — ages. It’s always said in jest, but there’s a tinge of nervous honesty between the lines.

With each passing year, Cornell has made me feel like I’m running out of time in a race I didn’t know I signed up for: The four-year dash of trying to figure out my life before I turn 22.

To some extent, the apprehension around growing older is a societal issue. Youth has been idealized for centuries, associated with beauty, energy, romance and bittersweet coming-of-age scenes where teenage characters stumble upon the meaning of life in detention or maybe a very long tunnel.

With the rise of social media and the digital age, it has also become alarmingly easy to discover that a 3-year-old is better at chemistry than I will ever be. Apps like TikTok have reduced the barriers to entry for fame, leading to an increase in pintsized influencers, child prodigies appear to be a dime a dozen. If Mozart were born today, would he have even made it onto Little Big Shots?

age. Many of us may have grown up skipping ahead by a math class or two, being told at age seven that we’re at an 8th-grade reading level or taking college courses in high school. Instead of appreciating all we have already achieved, it’s easy to feel the need to continue standing out.

Class year thus becomes another variable in the endless field of potential insecurities sown across campus. There’s a sense of urgency to do as much in as little time as possible. It’s tempting to abide by the unspoken rules of careerism: Join clubs early so you can get an e-board position, fill up the lines on your resume, get an internship as soon as you can.

I’ve heard freshmen express concern that they don’t have enough experience compared to their peers — clearly, they missed the memo to start a company in the 10th grade.

On top of academic and professional achievements is also the pressure to enjoy ourselves during our fleeting college years. Life will only get harder from here, and who knows when the word “fun” will inevitably be replaced in our vocabulary by something like “taxes” or “Roth IRA.”

I recently realized that I’d unwittingly internalized the belief that the foundation for my life should be set by the time I finished college. These anxieties came to a head as I looked out into the vacuum of time that will confront me after I graduate.

The tangible four-year structure of college is giving way to what I once perceived as a 40-year Faustian contract with a future employer. The pervasive notion that my college years were supposed to be some of the best of my life kept resurfacing too, followed by the recognition that they probably were not.

But I’ve decided to quit the rat race I never wanted to be in.

I don’t want to graduate from Cornell worried that I chose the wrong classes and clubs or didn’t do enough during my time on campus. And I certainly don’t want to groan about my 24th birthday, like a friend of mine did a few months ago, terrified that each year is defined by a step closer to wrinkles rather than to wisdom.

Not only is aging rarely glamorized, it also comes with the socioeconomic realities and responsibilities of being an adult — realities that are increasingly difficult in a fragile, post-pandemic world. The idea that the twenties are a time of self-discovery is being eclipsed by the fact that self-discovery just doesn’t pay the rent.

At a school of high-achievers like Cornell, these societal anxieties around growing older are compounded by the fear of being underaccomplished for our

Cornell can make it feel like you should understand yourself and the world by the time you graduate. Maybe, though, you’ll find that the path to understanding isn’t lined with internships and interviews. And maybe, it’s okay to leave Ithaca feeling like you still don’t understand very much at all.

Billy Joel had the right idea when he said to “Slow down, you’re doing fine.” The truth is, you are doing fine — we all are. I’m no child prodigy, but by my calculations, we’re the youngest we’ll ever be. If we’re lucky, our lives have only just begun.

With each passing year, Cornell has made me feel like I’m running out of time in a race I didn’t know I signed up for: The four-year dash of trying to figure out my life before I turn 22.

NO STRINGS

Fill in the empty cells, one number in each, so that each column, row, and region contains the numbers 1-9 exactly once. Each number in the solution therefore occurs only once in each of the three “directions,” hence the “single numbers” implied by the puzzle’s name.

Schröder östränder

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Women’s Hockey

Women’s Hockey Splits a Pair Te Red beat Brown before

falling to top-ranked Yale in overtime

By GRAYSON RUHL and RUTH ABRAHAM Sun Assistant Sports Editors

Entering this past weekend, No. 14 women’s hockey was in dire need of a win. Despite having clinched a postseason berth, the Red (13-12-2, 10-9-1 ECAC) was in the midst of a four-game losing streak, all against ECAC competition. Sitting at the fifth seed, with Princeton just three points back in the standings, Cornell needed to right the ship. With pressure mounting, the team hosted two crucial games against Brown (8-18-1, 6-14-0 ECAC) on Friday, Feb. 10 and No. 1 Yale (24-2-1, 17-2-1 ECAC) on Saturday, Feb. 11.

The Red kicked off its final homestand of the regular season against the Bears. The two teams previously faced off in Providence on Saturday, Dec. 3, where Cornell won 4-2.

Playing with intensity from the start, Cornell was able to get out to a hot start in the first period. After a defensive battle highlighted the first 11 minutes of play, the Red was able to break through. Controlling the puck in Brown’s defensive end, senior defenseman Paige Kenyon put a pass in from the blue line, which was redirected into the back of the net by senior forward Gillis Frechette.

A minute and a half later, Cornell struck again. Once again putting the pressure on the Bears, senior defenseman Kaitlyn Issac put a shot on goal that was blocked in front of the net, leading to a scramble for control. In the ensuing scrum, it was freshman forward Georgia Schiff who was able to pop the puck up in the air, arcing it over the Brown goalie into the net.

The Red still was not finished in the first period. With just under two minutes remaining, freshman defenseman Alyssa Regalado found freshman forward Caroline Chan with space in front of the net. Chan went top shelf, beating the Brown goaltender glove side to put Cornell ahead, 3-0.

Following a scoreless second period, the Bears began to mount a comeback in the third. Just over halfway through the period, the Red was on a power play, controlling possession in Brown’s defensive end, when sophomore forward Kaitlin Jockims was tripped by a Brown defender.

No penalty was called, and the puck was recovered by Brown’s Jade Iginla. Iginla went coast to coast on her own, scoring a rare short-handed goal to get the Bears on the board.

competitively earlier this season in New Haven, drawing a 4-4 tie. The team played with the same intensity in a back-and-forth contest on Saturday.

The Bulldogs struck first in the opening period, but the Red was quick to respond. Sophomore forward Lily Delianedis got a steal in the Yale defensive end and took it to just outside the circle before beating the Bulldogs’ goalie glove side.

In the second period, it was Delianedis again finding the back of the net to give Cornell the lead. She and junior forward Izzy Daniel worked a fast break two-on-one opportunity to perfection, with Daniel forcing the Yale goalie to commit before finding Delianedis for the score.

The Red did not hold the lead at the end of the period, however, as Yale was able to respond. Taking advantage of a power play with less than three minutes remaining, the Bulldogs needed just 11 seconds of control to knot the game back up at two. Cornell went into the final period tied, 2-2.

Brown kept the pressure on the Red, drawing within one goal a few minutes later. The Bears’ Cameron Sikich took a quick wrist shot from the end of the blue line, and despite no deflections, it snuck past the glove of sophomore goaltender Brynn DuLac. With just over six minutes to play, Cornell’s lead was cut to 3-2.

Refusing to lose the lead, the Red clamped down on defense. The Bears pulled its goalie in the final minutes of the game, but it was not enough to find an equalizer. With just seconds remaining, Frechette notched her second goal of the contest on an empty-netter. Cornell came away with a key win, 4-2.

The Red had little time to enjoy its win against Brown before taking on the top-ranked Bulldogs on Saturday for its senior game. Cornell played Yale

Following a scoreless third period, the Red entered its fourth overtime game of the year. This one was the shortest, as it took the Bulldogs just 28 seconds to win the game. Claire Dalton went five-hole against DuLac for her second goal of the game, and Yale won the tightly contested game, 3-2.

Prior to the senior game, head coach Doug Derraugh ’91 recounted the importance of this year’s seniors on the women’s hockey program. While Frechette serves as one of the three captains, all the seniors, Isaac, Ellie Zweber, Elana Zingas and Kenyon, have all had a profound impact on the team as well.

To continue reading this story, please visit www.cornellsun.com.

LEILANI BURKE / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Senior season | Women’s hockey honored its seniors in their final regular season game at Lynah Rink.

Grayson Ruhl can be reached at gruhl@cornelsun.com. Ruth Abraham can be reached at rabraham@cornellsun.com.

“They’re team players ... they’ve just had the most success [from] on-ice standpoint ... [the seniors], they’ve been a really great team, they do things the right way and they work hard o and off the ice and have good character.”

Head Coach Doug Derraugh ’91