Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Prestigious Choral Arts Society appoints Cornell’s Scott Tucker artistic director

ITHACA, N.Y. — The Choral Arts Society of Washington, D.C. - one of the most prestigious choirs in the country – has announced the selection of Scott Tucker, Cornell University professor of music, as its new artistic director, effective with the 2012-2013 season.
Tucker has been director of the Cornell Glee Club and University Chorus for the past seventeen years, and was unanimously selected by the Choral Arts Society after a rigorous 12-month international search to replace Norman Scribner, who founded the Choral Arts Society forty-six years ago and has been its director ever since.
“While Cornell will be very sorry to see him go, we’re deeply appreciative of the stature of his new position,” said Steve Pond, Cornell music department chair. “Scott has spent the last decade-and-a-half building an amazingly vibrant choral program at Cornell. He can be proud of his accomplishments here, and has built a strong legacy for future conductors to live up to.”
During his tenure at Cornell, Tucker also oversaw the activities of the Cornell Chorale, Chamber Singers, and Sage Chapel Choir. Under Tucker’s leadership, the Cornell choirs toured nationally and internationally, performed frequently with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra during its operation, prepared major works for several leading conductors, and collaborated with acclaimed artists such as Anonymous 4, Peter Schreier and Garrison Keillor of NPR’s Prairie Home Companion.
In a statement, Scribner said that Tucker’s gifts embrace “an intense natural musicality, a consummate technique, a fabulous ear, and a vast reservoir of knowledge and experience in virtually all periods and styles, together with a clear vision for the future of music in our own time…Scott’s appointment heralds a brilliant new era in the Choral Arts Society’s pursuit of excellence in the choral arts.”
For more information:
www.choralarts.org
Contact Syl Kacapyr for information about Cornell's TV and radio studios.
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Thursday, August 23, 2012

Bridges with Nets

Cornell University will be constructing nets adjacent to five gorge related bridges. The designs and structural configuration are similar to amusement park attractions of the 1880s to the 1910s in which teens and dating couples took their turn in daring each other to jump; the owners collected a lot nickels. And this note of caution is advise about ones expectations; this goes double for Cornell’s administration.




There was some effort in developing preventive modified programs within existing crisis out-reach campus programs. None the less, this is the continuation of administration initiatives through its managed students / scholars services, with little attention towards advancing self-dependent franchise initiative by students / scholars and their leadership,.



The bridge modifications still is dependent focused, and students / scholars actions within the resulting socio-cultural dynamics as a result can not be predicted, and any other opinion should be considered tacky!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Cornell University Pull Down The Fences

Ithaca is no longer gorges.




Ithaca, New York: Bridges with Fences and their negative affects upon the local academic and city wide communities.



Central issue: The Social Contract.



Introduction:



Set very deep in the campus grounds of Cornell University are the some of the most beautiful gorges in the United States. Their natural assets to spark and produce active positive energies in community activism have given both the academic and city - wide communities a sense of Ithaca’s uniqueness when compared with other communities of similar population base, cultural mixtures, and employment base. Up to the summer of 2008 the expression the “ Ithaca is Gorges “ symbolized an area self-acknowledge community pride, and aided in local environmental development.



The economic foundations of the United States were damaged as the growing financial melt down eroded the massive capital foundations which were the support underpinnings of the Wealth of the United States. With each financial failure of major capital base national companies, the national massive financial losses and their central anxiety sent negative shock waves into the very heart of the capital stability of both the academic and city community of Ithaca, New York. This set in motion the second largest set of major budgetary cuts through out the academic core of Cornell University. The first came about as a result of the national spiral of inflation when OPEC increased the price of their crude oil exports at 500 % plus within a time span of less than thirty days; the affects of which still were being felt during 2008 and before. This was the immediate consequences of the 2008 financial melt down. The more disastrous came as result of the second negative financial ripple.



The financial picture of parental cash flow supports, and massive losses in the students independent financial foundation specially developed to pay for their education suffered even harsher financial losses when compared to academia such as Cornell University. Large blocks of students suddenly found that as fast as three days there was no monies. There was an immediate rush to Cornell’s Financial Aid who did their bests. Then it came.



Suicides by jumping off bridges exploded upon the campus scene, and the entire academic and city wide community were completely caught off guard. Still shock ensued and the immediate focus was the physical bridges while the national media looked on with a flurry of reports. Cornell administration placed campus police to patrol the bridges, which was later followed by active student volunteers. Examination of the legal liabilities were placed in motion and the immediate remedy was to place fences of each gorge related bridge.



The Social Contract.



Between 1962 to 1974 each American academic community witnessed the magnificent golden era of research and creative thought. Interactions between the students themselves, academia with the local community, and the magnitude of campus activism created the critical core of cultural warriors needed to struggle for national social, political, and social change. Money flowed and the expectation of each academic administrations looked into their future pictures of development with a degree of awe never since experience for what they saw is America becoming Camelot.



It was during this era in which non drug related suicides went down, and reflected an independent student self-inspired and managed social contract. The strength of which proved its power within the social and cultural core of students / scholars was challenged by the negative affects of OPEC’s increases of the price of the crude reserves. Suicides maintained their tradgic levels, no less or no greater.



The emotional connections within the students / scholars were further facilitated by the admissions innovation of admitting non-traditional students’ this also helped in attracting additional monies. The appearance of non-traditional students was largely contributed by veterans of the Vietnam War and their successes in managing their GI bill of rights The social contract between the students / scholars were further strengthen by the appearance of International Students / Scholars whose presences within academia now represents two - thirds of the Graduated Student Core nation wide. The energy and presences of an increasing diverse students / scholars base created a greater awareness of ones own personal future, and the stepping stones of success by fully comprehending how to managed their studies, available resources and their personal rights. All of which focused in how to authored their resumes.



The impact of greater and self-energized students / scholars triggered the development of increasingly enfranchised student controlled assemblies and the student governments they created. This was necessary as the enlargement of the greater diverse students / scholars base out-stripped the ability of Campus Student Affairs. Moreover, campus administrations who had the smarter lawyers saw the asemblies having the additional legal aspect of being virtually judgement proof’ though token insurances were obtained by the leadership of the students / scholars governments. Those academic institutions were not self-assured — IE. Cornell University — saw such independent student governments as being costs effective, and the condition of timely students / scholars wide vote of approval of mandated student funds were immediately contracted between the students / scholars and the campus administration inolved. This established the political foundation of the Social Contract.



1976 to 1987 saw massive cuts in faculty, staff, and administration personel beginning in the academic year of 1976 - 1987 saw the first ripple affect of the national inflationary rates; the OPEC index became part of administrations financial anxiety. During this time, an aggressive policy with various student services — administration based — issued their own set of additional fees. Not at all once but in about five stages eroded The Social Contract as administration’s fee base grew greater than mandated student activities fees. Leadership within the students / scholars core were confronted with competition with administrations students services individuals As the approach of the academic year of1986 - 1987 several academic institutions lost real contact with their students / scholars base as they became more and more dependent on the advise of management of administrations student services. In most instances American Academia abandoned its Under Graduate Pedagogy. In additional aspects there are academic institutions in which their own Pedagogy has been delayed and not stated at all. Cornell University present unawareness of the loss the Social Contract since 1987 was itself self - facilitated by not focusing upon non - traditional student base as valued clients. The connective emotional, social, and cultural strings which made up the positive networking between each students / scholars were solely vested in becoming responsible for their own lives in order to form more adult relationships and society; this was likewise vested in the students / scholars elected leadership and who having full franchise understood the adult character which their leadership represented.



The single campus wide aspect of the consequences of the 2008 financial melt down was in the speed in which it took hold upon the students / scholars. The OPEC Index took between 1976 to 1987 to take it full affect. Moreover, the inter-personal relationships between the traditional and non - traditional students / scholars base during the 70s were extremely powerful in promoting campus wide self-crises management. The aspect was loss at Cornell University, and further created a dependent students / scholars base instead of an franchised students / scholars base. Those who do make up the non - traditional students / scholars base are International Graduate Students / Scholars who are largely culturally distant within their academic programs.



The loss the Social Contract is the single most negative aspect which damaged the socal emotional connective element within the students / scholars base in which once there existed greater positive daily social campus interactions improved the mental health of each of its members. The presence of non -traditional students / scholars provides proxy family structure to emerge within the campus social dynamic. At Cornell this was slowly being lost since 1987.



The cause and affect of the Suicides following the 2008 is based upon the already weaken condition of The Social Contract - one of the affects of the OPEC Index. Moreover, it was after 1987 in which Cornell University abandoned its pedagogic mission to its under-graduate student core. This came about as a result of the desperate need for additional funding and this led to placing greater priorities of developing campus wide department research programs facilitate by Cornell University dependency on a dedicated International Graduate Students / Scholars, and management of administrations students services.



This paper is an introduction to additional supportive research papers which deals with the critical issue.



Pull Down the Fences and Invest in establishing The Social Contract. Two additional notes

of extreme caution.



One. Peoples will still jump off the bridges when the fences are pulled down.



Two: The redeveloping The Social Contract will take at lease four years, and must also be developed along side in a program of academic excellence to inspire additional funding by private sources into campus wide undergraduate programs.



Roger M. Christian email trifalcondove@hotmail.com

Friday, February 8, 2008

The Heroic Generation





The Heroic Generation:


At the cutting edge of Du Avant Garde, is that a civilization's development rest solely on the socio - cultural processes of how it nurtures it's youth. Thus it should be to everyone surprise that something happened previous to the year of 2000. What has happen, is the development of The Heroic Generation of American youth who are now entering the 16 to 18 years of age, as of June, 2006 - when this article was published.

Why?

The Critical aspect of this is based on the clear observation that as the American civilization has became more complex, there has been increasing equal complex burdens of sociocultrual and sociopolitical adaptions being made in childrearing techniques by both the parents and children of each family since about 1982 till the present. The forms of these adaptations have magnified the self - perceptions of diversity of the emerging core of youth even more, than their parents own development in their own childhoods'; the present impetus of greater self - discoveries as a result.

The newer aspect....
Then the physical impact of hours and hours being spent at home computers and access to the Internet by children as early as 2 1/2 has likewise created further expansion of the depth of the child's development of their audio and visual perceptions, increasing their range of needed additional information, and emotional needs during all the years afterwards; their growing dependencies upon the Internet.

As of now:
Their resulting increased visual and intellect range [ what is still not yet been measure by present early childhood reseachers - conclusively, and maybe by their present research skills unmeasureable ] is far different than their parents. This component has likewise appeared in experiences of increasing fustrations in their dealings and learning with their primary and secondary school teachers - who in most instances are unaware of their emerging student traits. This is the additional impact of computer usage and its ability to influence their own innate drives - while most of their parents being totally unaware. Furthermore, those who families have home acccess to the Internet have triggered a unique struggle for this generation of Internet users to find common idenity; this has created the basis for a different more complex cultural society to emerge within America's mulit - cultural mosaic.

Most amazing is the increasing and voluntary, they are not being forced to commit in using the Internet by their parents, interdiction of the internet experiences into radicalizing their abstractual intellegence, and near fantasy visual ranges in conjunction with the mental impacted sociocultural sphere of influences of present early childhood ( per - 12s ) sensory developments by their parent's sociocultural, socioeconomic, and sociospiritual childrearing efforts [ What the parents are passing on and the advance technique they likewise have used from the radical 1970's. ]. Moreover, their developmental causal extrapolations of rapid access and installation of competant and more highly advanced usage of computer soft wear technologies, and internet prowless has impacted new adaptations after 12 YO ( and at a critical developmental stage Piget/Erickson); thereby creating new unkown emotional structures which has their further generated biological resultant imprints on this population's innate drives. There is no research known within this area either.

Part conclusion...

" Similar to design technology functions invested in computer advance technologies and rapid streaming of mass information within the growing massive information insourcing spiders of the Internet ( here before never used by previous generations ) have had a radical impact which are largely the additional unknowns confronted by todays parents and unfortunately and similarly by present University educators as well. They, " you " [ if " you " fall into this generation ] are now the outsourcing resultants"
Now, historically, now, this process has created new emotional and intellectual structures and have been observed to be firmly inserted into this generations' overall personality traits which is generated by every single successful experience during time durations [ after an unknown quanity of time expended ] related computer access obtained by the child user. In dealing with present forms of how children are integrated into society this has created a separate intellect, nonetheless, and thus forming new resultant and yet unkown " impacted innate intellectual drives which are increasingly creating emotional technocentered more adpated " new corridors."

Presently this has been recently touched on, largely in their emerging emotional fields, by Presidential Canidate Barack Obama. [ Comment edited to this article June 2008 ] His campaign use of the Internet and who, the users, he has been getting his political message to, and likewise his contributions from.

Part conclusion ....
Simply the causal resultant of increased usage and depth of range of their nervous systems has result in a different intellectual population.

It is what is contained within in this new corridor is their main future focus of unity. How internet experiences have impacted their own personal, and individual bio - spheres, and the resultant increased locations and more diverse usage of their brain stimulus is still even the greater unknown - even to themselves.

Thus and unlike Gertude Stein quote about the " Lost Generation " We now have the " Heroic Generation. " In a historic review we have had Heroic Generations born in 1745, 1832, 1876, 1919, 1946, and then 1982.

What is even more surprising is that they have caught upon certain indenity ethos which is in its initial stages of social and cultural evolution - development; and are just now being defined by themselves, while others outsiders are in the dark. Moreover, the socio-spirituality of this genertion is their special gifts.

The result in art, music, and others is just now appearing at their other edges....

This is leading us to the....

The impact of which will be felt culturally around the year 2016. Politically is the greater unknown, can Barack Obama tap into it? No one knows...


Pax Fidelis!

Monday, February 4, 2008

The Ithaca Downtown Partnership


The Ithaca Commons WebSite and The Ithaca Urban Entertainment Center and Construction Directory WebPage was generate as a supplement to Ithaca Night Life ( NightLife ), NY. This is part of a promotional process in which to attract more tourist to the local scene and thereby creating an additional economic reality locally by tourism.


The singificant factor in promoting centers, IE. the Ithaca Commons is that it draws [ There are less parking problems now - a - days too ! ] people into a central area in which to be seen and at times meet friends all the while shopping at exotic shops. Recently, several downtown merchants have been doing complete face lifts on their stores facades and thus with the additional construction and new mass traniset stations Ithaca is about to be - renewed.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

East Coast Asian American Student Union Conference


Cornell University will host the 2008 East Coast Asian American Student Union Conference (ECAASU), Feb. 15-17, 2008, on its Ithaca campus. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of America's largest and oldest Asian American student forum, students from more than 100 universities and colleges will attend the three-day conference.


Founded in 1977, ECAASU has brought together more than 1,000 Asian American students annually across the East Coast to promote the unity of all who share Asian heritage and empower people of color through education and coalition building.


This year's theme, "Push Forward," will provide students with opportunities to review the changes and challenges Asian Americans have experienced, collectively and individually, and discuss issues critical today to the Asian American community as a whole.


In addition to networking, there will be various workshops and talks by keynote speakers, including Yul Kwon, the winner of a CBS reality television series Survivor Cook Island; Becky Lee, founder of Becky's Fund; and Jeff Chang, author of Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation. Performers, including Sri-Lankan-American word artist D'Lo and hip hop music duo Blue Scholars, will provide entertainment.


For online registration and information on programming schedule, lodging and transportation, visithttp://www.ecaasu2008.org/. Early registration is encouraged as the fee will increase after Jan. 5, 2008, from $45 to $55 for non-Cornell students; $15 for Cornell students; and $65 for all walk-ins.
Contact: Sabina Lee