Archive: Arts & Entertainment

SMART TALK

by Dr. Will S. Sert


MASS EXODUS: At the Center for English as a First Language, we get this redundancy occasionally from our patients. But more often, the staff curses and throws pretzels at the Fowler Lounge's TV when some ignoramus says it. Or just curses when mass exodus appears in the caption of a news photo of refugees.

Does anyone remember what the Exodus was? In the Biblical book of Exodus, which, strangely enough, is about the Exodus, not the Mass Exodus, thousands of Jews escape from slavery in Egypt. An exodus, by definition, refers to a mass, or multitude, of people leaving a place. An exodus from a stadium involves more than just the folks in the upper row.

Saying mass exodus is as silly as any use of the term mass media. The media are (yes, are: medium is just one, such as print journalism; media are all of them, radio, TV, magazines, all media) - anyway, the media are by definition aimed at the masses. A personal message to your sweetheart doesn't count as one of the media, but on line spam might, because it's a medium aiming to reach as many as possible. A mass of people.

Did I belabor the point enough to make it sink in? At least I did it without cursing. I just want people to sound as if English really were their first language.

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As spring storms gathered outside Wednesday evening, members of the Ithaca community settled in for a night of classical music at the Carriage House Cafe. The Ithaca landmark hosted the concert in its historic hayloft as part of the Classic Roots series. Proceeds from the event were split between the Ithaca Public Education Initiative (IPEI), the Ithaca Health Alliance, and Foodnet Meals on Wheels based on votes from the audience.

Six elite students from Ithaca College and Cornell University took the stage in pairs, and performed three Mozart sonatas on period instruments. Performers included Samantha Spena and Jeff Sabo, both juniors at Ithaca College; Benjamin Nosarzewski, a physics major at Cornell; Ji-Young Kim, a musicology candidate at Cornell; Meg Dagon, a senior in music education at Ithaca College; and Mengfei Xu, an international student and nationally recognized pianist studying at Ithaca College.

SMART TALK

by Dr. Verbos Metikulos


EMERGENCY EVENT: As alumni of the Center for English as a First Language know, we spend much of our time treating patients for redundancy use. These patients tend to represent certain professions: litigation, education administration, and law enforcement.

Our friends in law enforcement and their imitators appear to use redundancies to sound self-important, add to the word count of reports, get more air time, or all three. We'll hear at a high rate of speed instead of at a high speed or fast. We know speed is a rate, folks. A car will be blue in color as if we didn't know what blue means.

Now we have "event," a favorite redundancy of the mindless. Stores don't have sales any more; they have sales events. Our founder didn't have a heart attack; he had a cardiac event. Maybe we should break out the balloons and ribbons.

And law enforcement, with their pilot fish, the TV reporters (not to be confused with journalists) speak of an emergency event. If it's not an emergency, should we worry? Watch for a notice beginning In the event of an emergency event...

Sounds festive.

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A whirlwind spoof of ambition, love and the company way, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is just the musical comedy to lift recession-era blues. Ithaca High School’s production, April 19-21 at Kulp Auditorium, is a laugh-filled show the whole family will enjoy.

The acclaimed show won seven Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and has been staged numerous times on Broadway—most recently with Daniel Radcliffe in the lead. Seeing that production inspired co-director Robert Winans to bring “How to Succeed” to Ithaca. “I knew our students would do a fabulous job conveying the show’s humor,” he says. “I can’t wait for the audience to see what these kids can do.”

Roll, Drop, Bounce' features twelve colorful, interactive exhibits designed to engage young scientists and their families in the fun side of physics. This active learning laboratory offers rolling wheels, dropping objects, bouncing balls, and things on-the-move.  In a hands-on way, guests will explore kinetic energy, momentum, Newton’s Law of Motion and other physics principles.

Guests of all ages will think, experiment, and play as they investigate catapults, balancing acts, balls racing on ramps, and more. Experiment with kinetic energy (the energy of motion) to make the ball loop-the-loop. Design and engineer a mini-car, then race it down a ramp to discover which features make it roll the farthest. Test the cause and effect of friction with a puck on an air-levitation table, then experiment with angle to ricochet the puck into the goal. Build the coolest ball roller coaster with funnels, chutes, and tubes.

SMART TALK

by Dr. Perse Nickety




CONTINUAL/CONTINUOUS: At the Center for English as a First Language, Dr. Saber S. Poder and I work with the advanced patients. We help them write and sound clear, concise, and correct at all times. Those three Cs project and inspire the fourth, confidence. That's how we train leaders.

Incidentally, my partner has an appropriate name for the job, as it happens. Saber es poder is Spanish for "knowledge is power." Her name could have overburdened her, but instead, she exemplifies it.

Dr. Poder continually sets an example for our patients. That means she does it virtually every day. When we visit a city, we hate the continual intrusion of car alarms. That means car alarms go off frequently.

If the sound of a car alarm were continuous, it would have to run without end, amen, for hours or days. We give our patients a mnemonic device, telling them that continuous ends in S for steady. The continuous hum of fluorescent lights can drive me crazier than a patient who says nucular.

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Running to Places is expanding its  programming to include summer workshops and year-long classes in all aspects of theater arts, for students entering fifth grade to those leaving twelfth grade.  The vocal, dance, and theater arts workshops will include things like theater games and exploration of different acting styles and methods as well as audition preparation. Some intensive master classes are also being planned for high school students ready for more advanced training.

“I’m definitely going to arrange my summer around R2P’s workshops,” says an enthusiastic Elisheva Glaser, a ninth-grader. “I love how R2P makes learning fun. This is an incredible opportunity and my friends and I are really excited.”

The Wells College Theater and Dance Department is pleased to present the annual faculty dance concert, titled “The Paths We Take.” This concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 19 and 20, in Phipps Auditorium of Macmillan Hall on the Wells College campus. The eclectic production features choreography in a range of styles from Wells College faculty members Jeanne Goddard and Elizabeth Wilmot-Bishop, performed by students of the Wells College Dance Ensemble. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

“The Paths We Take” offers audiences a captivating collection of dances ranging in style from comedy to drama to abstraction and features music as diverse as African-American spirituals, the lush orchestral sounds of Ernesto Lecuona, the songs of Josh Groban and the minimalism of Philip Glass.

SMART TALK

by Dr. Dot Pilcrow




FEWER/LESS: Most of the staff of the Center for English as a First Language shops for groceries out of town. We like to support local businesses, but the Need2Feed here in Underbelly has a register for "12 ITEMS OR LESS," which, of course, violates the language and frustrates the work we do. We go down the road to Los Libidos, where the Hagman's grocery's express register says 12 ITEMS OR FEWER. We hope to give the Need2Feed a financial incentive to use English as if it were their first language.

Some folks just never grasped the fact that less refers to quantity, not numbers. You use more or less fuel, not fewer fuel, depending upon your speed.

But when you can actually count something, you use more or fewer. A smaller car might seat one person fewer, not one less person. Less time is fewer hours. Less distance is fewer miles.

That's why we shop at Hagman's, in spite of the distance and higher prices. We have our self respect.

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The first time you see Mrs. Hughes you might think, “She could be my neighbor.” She’s just about the last person you’d expect to see in a night club, so the fact that she is performing in one might startle you at first.  Hughes will perform at the Auburn Public Theater April 13 at 8pm.

Carol Hughes began her comedy career when she was forty.

“Years ago I heard Merv Griffin interview Phyllis Diller, and she said she started doing comedy when she was thirty-nine," Hughes says. "I remember saying to myself, ‘I could do that.’  Later, I met comedienne Candy Carr at Weight Watchers and she said ‘Write five funny minutes and go to the Improv.’ I already had five funny minutes, so I went. It was terrific! I remember the MC saying, ‘Go for it Mama! You’re funny!’ I got a huge ovation and I was hooked.”

SMART TALK

by Dr. Perse Nickety



CEMENT vs. CONCRETE: Sometimes we have the pleasure of working with advanced patients at the Center for English as a First Language. English really is their first language; they just need a little polishing. These patients usually come to me, and we work on lapses such as not knowing the difference between that and which, or between cement and concrete.

Here's one of those advanced lessons.

Cement is the powder it all starts with. Limestone gets baked and ground to a powder with some other minerals. It reacts when you add water, and it turns back to stone.

Concrete is the mixture that comes in those big trucks. A basic concrete recipe is one part cement, two parts sand, and three parts gravel. What is any cement? It's glue. It sticks the sand and gravel together much as the sugar syrup does to the puffed rice in Rice Krispie treats.

A cement wall would be much more expensive than a concrete wall. All that filler of sand, gravel, and rock saves on cement. And money.

We tell our advanced patients to visit Johnson's Hardware and Mercantile in downtown Underbelly and notice the price difference between cement and concrete in those ready-to-mix bags. Sometimes that drives the lesson home.

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