The Park’s and Ithaca

During my exploration of Ithaca throughout this semester, I noticed that Roy and Dorothy Park have their name on more than just the School of Communications I attend at Ithaca College. The couple also has their name on the Ithaca Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the new Center for Sustainable Enterprise at Ithaca College. There’s also a building downtown in the Commons named after Roy.

It’s odd that the Parks have their names on so many buildings in Ithaca considering neither of them pursued higher education here. Following his collegiate career at North Carolina State, Roy arrived in 1942 when he was offered a position at an advertising agency. Using his entrepreneurial skills, he teamed up with Duncan Hines to created Hines-Park foods, which produced cake mixes and icing. The company was eventually bought out by Proctor and Gamble, so Roy returned south and acquired more radio stations, television stations, newspapers and other print publications in his native North Carolina.

While Roy passed away in 1993, Dorothy lives on as his widow. She is in charge of the Park Foundation, which benefits Ithaca and NC State. The Alumni Center at NC State is also named after them. I’d love to meet her someday and give her my Dean’s Host sweatshirt with the Park logo on it.

Breach of Journalism Ethics in Sports Coverage

According to a New York Times Article, the Asbury Park Press let a New Jersey Devils employee, Hollis Towns, cover the hockey team.

SPJ issued a response to the issue as well.

Ithaca Living Up to Its ‘Gorges’ Title

The unseasonably warm weather this past week gave many Ithaca residents, including myself, spring fever. For the first time since our three day Labor Day weekend, my friends and I headed to Treman Park for an afternoon barbecue. The backdrop of all the gorges below a cloudless blue sky and beaming sun was a welcoming sight following another long bitterly cold winter. We were able to enjoy the nice weather that we do not experience nearly enough. Since most students are not here for the months of May, June and July and do not come to campus until late August, they do not realize how naturally beautiful Ithaca can be.

Keep the Charm of the Commons

Plans to redesign Ithaca’s most beloved section were approved in December when the City of Ithaca Common Council approved a conceptual redesign of the Commons. The City Council approved a redesign of the Commons in August 2008. There are three possible plans in the works. One involves simply rerouting the utility system that was put in place way back in 1903. The second option is more asymmetric, and will transform the bank alley into a central square and move the performance venue forward. This plan also includes an interactive water feature. A third option is to create a new play area in the bank alley, lay down new pavement with diagonal designs and set up poleless lighting and removable seating.

When residents of the Ithaca community need directions, they use the Commons as a starting point. It is a place where they can shop, eat and socialize with Ithaca’s diverse community. It is the site of many events, including Applefest in the fall and the upcoming Chili Cookoff.

While the Commons are clearly in need of a face lift, some of the original aspects must be maintained in order to keep the charm alive, which is why I would go with the first plan of “minimal” construction.

Ithaca as a City of Trade

A view of the Cayuga Lake from Ithaca College's Butterfield Stadium

Being a student at Ithaca College, I’ve always enjoyed the magnificent view of the Cayuga Lake. Its many inlets provide many opportunities for sailors, who can sail as far as the Eerie Canal or anchor their boats outside venues like Castaways to listen to the variety of bands that make up the local music scene. But who would have thought that Ithaca was once a major city of trade along the canal in the early 1820s? The strategic location of this small liberal town in upstate New York with universities on both its south and east hills was able to flourish due to the boat and lumberyards involved with the network of waterways linked by the Cayuga-Seneca Canal. I stumbled across this plaque below at one of the bridges on the west side of town. It’s amazing what you can find in Ithaca by getting lost.

Simeon’s: More Than Just a Bar

Last week I posted an entry on the Cornell Barbershop. This week I had the pleasure of eating at the restaurant above the barbershop, Simeon’s. I always thought the large bar with row upon row of hard liquor stacked against the back wall attracted people to the place on The Commons’ corner. I was incredulous that I was actually meeting some administration there to interview a candidate for the position of Dean, already a somewhat awkward position for a 20-year-old college student.

To my amazement, the hostess led us into a more formal back room that I never knew existed. Eight immaculate set tables filled the room including the one for 10 where we sat. I tried to get a spot near the end where I could look out the window and get a view of Aurora St. at the north-south division. Many people walked right by the window and looked in, surprised by this new, more formal extension of the restaurant. I even noticed a former professor walking by at one point.

As I skimmed the first page of the menu, normally skipped by customers, I noticed that the building was a soda shop beginning in the early 20th century up until the 1960s when it was turned in to a men’s clothing store. It eventually went back to being a soda shop before it became a restaurant in the late 1980s.

I didn’t know what size portions to expect, but the Shepherd’s Pie definitely did not disappoint. Along with the quiet ambiance, formal atmosphere and exceptional view of Aurora St. my overall experience at Simeon’s encouraged me to explore more Ithaca eateries outside of delivery or fast food joints. If I can afford it that is.

Great Sports Ledes

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/sports/olympics/01ceremony.html?ref=sports

http://archives.nd.edu/research/texts/rice.htm

Cornell Barbershop

Last week I went to the local favorite Cornell Barbershop for the first time. In the past I had gone to Big Time Barbershop to get my hair cut, but since they were closed the day I was in town I decided to check out a different place. I was skeptical at first, having never seen the inside of the shop since customers have to enter by going down a flight of stairs. The barbershop was like a museum, holding relics from Cornell, Ithaca and Cortland among the rows of chairs, mirrors and bureaus filled with barber equipment. Football helmets from past Cortaca Jug games adorned the walls and a transistor radio played music from the local Ithaca radio station WVBR. Old maps of Ithaca showed the progression of the town to its current layout.

Matt, the owner of the shop, did not seem impressed by all of the mementos the shop had collected over the years, although some artifacts had been dated back three generations ago from when his grandfather started the business. It is one of the town’s few original barbershops in that they still use a straight razor and shaving cream to shave the back of the neck.

The barbershop still keeps its community charm, being a forum of discussion among Ithaca gentlemen. Topics of choice are usually sports, family life and, in my case, life as a college student. Being a customer there, you’re like a member of the larger Ithaca fraternal community.

The Roots of Reporting

CBS News reporter Steve Hartman goes global in his reporting. Check out his unique newsgathering method.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6228921n

Observation of Squash Practice

The popping sound of rubber colliding with a hollow wood floor fills the air in the Belkin International Squash Courts at the Reis Tennis Center. In all six courts slim athletes sprint with legs the width of tree trunks, reach with gangly arms and flick their wrists as if they were made of elastic in order to get their opponent to chase the ball into a narrow corner. With their eyes wide open like a child on Christmas morning, they fixate on the black rubber ball no larger than a walnut as it bounces off all four walls like a pinball. Both players remain inside the court, which looks like a cardboard box with the top cut off, after several volleys. The punctuated grunts that escape their throats continue after each precise hit, as do the heavy gasps of air. A piercing shout escapes the throat of a player and echoes off the walls after the ball bounces twice inside their square, earning the foe a point.

But a few feet outside the seven foot glass doors that provide entry to the court sit nine other athletes, sweat staining their white tee shirts and dripping from their athletic shorts. The pungent aroma of various deodorants they’ve used to mask their body odor fills the bleachers and slowly wafts over into the court. They talk amongst each other with wide open eyes and a straight expression like critics, debating the proper techniques of the feet, arms and wrist, the three most heavily utilized body parts in the sport of squash. Their jaws hang open for half a minute after the final volley as they watch the opponents shake hands, one with a smile that escapes their mouth and lights up their eyes. The losing player feels defeated with his head down and hands on his knees. He has lost the battle that concludes the last contest of squash practice for Tuesday night.