A Protest Revisited

Before you read this, read my previous post, it will add some context.
As it turns out, the leader of the protest held in our store on saturday was this guy. He came on Friday to lead a concert/protest in the town commons, and then came to our store on Saturday. The really funny thing is that he made the front page of the local paper! I think it is hilarious that my manager was mentioned by name, but also a little sad that they didn't give much context to why the police were called. Let me tell you, this guy is intense. A lot of people in our store, including myself, felt threatened and nervous when they came in. There was no explanation or warning from them, they just grabbed our stuff and started talking.
In some ways, having more context to the event is helpful. I was really disappointed on Saturday to think that this was something put together by locals, because I had thought that I lived in a town that approached this with a lot more class and intelligence. It is encouraging to know that it was somebody from outside of town that came up with this. I won't lie, our store is out of place in a town with this much of a world/environmental/small town/organic conscience, but seems pointless to protest the whole company in a context like this. It seems odd to attack customers, who on a basic level, probably agree with your point, but don't agree with the inflammatory methods. It seems like it will only turn people against your cause.

My final thought: I feel famous to have been in the same cafe as a guy who had a documentary made about him!

A Wii and a Protest

Its time for a random update. As some of you might know, it was my b-day about two weeks ago, I got some cash, and after some prompting from Bri, decided to buy a Wii. It turns out that they are still really hard to get ahold of these days. After a week of searching, I located one on Craigslist and made an offer. The seller accepted and I made arrangements to pick it up. Turns out, the only time he was available was after 10 PM. So, last Wednesday night, Bri and I drove up the hill, and I bought a Wii in a dark parking lot, with cash, from a nerdy college student. The whole drive home Bri and I were laughing at the absurdity of the whole deal. The whole thing was legit, but it felt so shady. Good times.

In other completely random news, the store I work at was protested on Saturday during my shift. About 20-30 people made their way into the store around 2 PM and began picking up chairs, tables, lamps, bottles of water, bags of coffee, and anything else they could get their hands on. At first, they were just reading the labels, or something. Then, the leader began a type of call and response, condemning us for destroying a forest in order to have chairs and tables and the such in the store. The creepy thing was that all the other protesters were calling back Amen! and Hallelujah! The whole thing lasted about 20 minutes, and finally they all filed out of the store as the leader yelled at customers to evaluate where they spend their money. About five minutes after they left, the police finally showed up. Through the whole thing, my store manager was trying to politely request that they at least put the tables, chairs, lamps, etc down and not yell at customers, but he was completely ignored.
I can't say I am surprised. In many ways, this fits the mentality of Ithaca. I will say I was disappointed though. I expected a protest in Ithaca to be better thought out, and more useful. In the end, the protest felt inflammatory and pretty much lacked any sense of tact.

In a completely unrelated side note, I picked up the new Cloud Cult album over the weekend, and it is amazing. I highly recommend it.

Springtime has arrived!

It is about 60 degrees and sunny here, and I have to say, I enjoy spring in Ithaca. Unlike Minneapolis, there is no freak, end of winter/early spring snow storm. Maybe a couple of inches in the end of March, but nothing massive. While everyone kept joking/muttering about being prepared for the winters here, I am beginning to realize that it is simply the complaining of a few people who can't hack it out here.
Anyway, it has been a busy week here. While I still don't have an internship yet, much progress has been made on this front. I started receiving several emails earlier this week in response to the plethora of applications I sent out, and they wanted to interview me this week. So, I have just completed two phone interviews today for internships. I always think that phone interviews are a little weird, you just have to guess what the other person thinks of your response based on their tone of voice or next question. Granted, the pressure level isn't quite the same as an in-person interview (after all, I was sitting in jeans and an old Bethel t-shirt for the phone interviews), but there isn't the immediate satisfaction of: Yes! Good answer! when you get a smile that seems to indicate understanding. I am also looking at setting up an independent executive level internship at a foundation in Minneapolis, so I am going to speak with the director next week about that possibility. Next week will be busy, as it sounds like I will be doing follow up interviews for both internships.
On top of the busy week in terms of internships, it was Cody's birthday on Tuesday, and we decided to celebrate. It wasn't the same as the birthday bbq celebrations of the last few years, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Instead, we got burritos at the Ithaca equivalent of Chipotle and went outside to eat them in the park across the street from our apartment. In the evening we went out to the Chapter House for some drinks and the chance to listen to the Irish music. It was a good day (even if I did pull an all-nighter that night to finish an exam due at noon the next day).
And now off to do some statistics work-- I know you all are jealous!
--brianna

the beginning of the end (of the semester)

So, it has been awhile since we posted last, but that is at least in part because it seems like not much is going on here. Life has been pretty boring-- a very slow and relaxing spring break, and now back into classes for the past couple of weeks. The odd realization now is that at the end of this month, classes will be done. That will be followed by one week for reading week, and a week of finals. Then, I will be on summer vacation! And, hopefully have an internship by then-- I have sent out many applications-- so I am hoping to hear back from at least one of them sometime in the next few weeks. I have no idea where I will be, which is a little scary, but I am sure I will manage.
Now is just the time to start researching my final papers. I am hoping that one of them will be able to tie into my masters thesis (at least a little bit). We will apparently start learning soon about how to write our theses for next year, which I am hoping will be helpful, because I don't have a definitive idea yet. That is about all though. We are looking forward to seeing what the summer will bring!
--brianna

Spring break

So, I'm on spring break this week, although it seems like it just started after working all weekend. It's nice to have a week off to relax and get caught up again. Spring break is definitely a different mindset here than it was back at Bethel. It all started with Dragon Day the Friday before spring break-- a huge parade through campus of a massive dragon the architecture students built, with the rest of the students in the department parading around in risque or questionable costumes. When the dragon has made it all the way though campus, the dragon is lit on fire in the arts quad (the picture is of the arts quad last fall). (If you want to know more, or see pics, just look up dragon day on wikipedia-- it explains the whole tradition.) With the drunkenness and the craziness, it made me realize that while it was kind of funny, it was weird too. It reaffirmed that spring break is nuts out here, and I am totally ok with avoiding the insanity as much as humanly possible.
I'm still working on the internship front-- looking at internships in NYC, Connecticut, Tennessee, Minneapolis, etc. I'm realizing more and more how important connections are to getting your foot in the door-- whether it be for a job, or an internship. I will admit that at times I find this frustrating, but its probably something I just need to accept. Even now though, I am thinking of where we are going to be living after I graduate next May-- of looking for a job wherever that may be, just to be prepared. It makes me realize that maybe I am more of an adult than I want to admit.
Hopefully, the rest of the week will be a good combination of relaxation and work, productive and fun too. I'm definitely looking forward to Easter though, and seeing Cody play in the worship service. I hope you all have a good Easter!

Hallelujah

I have been a bit remiss as of late at posting in general. Even more, I have been extremely remiss in posting anything music related. So, to make amends, I will now link you to a blog that is better at it than I am! My Old Kentucky Blog has created a wonderful post about the great Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah." Most of you probably know the Jeff Buckley version better, I myself didn't realize that Buckley's version was a cover until I read this post. MOKB has posted the Cohen original and a plethora of covers, many of which I have never heard.
I highly recommend the versions by Dave Bazan, Regina Spektor, Beirut and Imogen Heap.
Enjoy!

Hallelujah

Return from the City

So, at approximately 2:00 in the morning on Wednesday, I finally made it back to Ithaca. The time I spent in New York City was great, but definitely made me appreciate my life in Ithaca. Life was insanely busy for the few days that I was there (and on my way down and back). The road trip down was entertaining-- as road trips always seem to be, particularly when you are in a car with four other people, two of whom you have never met. One of the girls had a gps system, which we used to get down to the city. It was great until we reached downtown Manhattan, and would have about three possible right turns, and all the tom tom would tell us was "turn right." As the navigator, leading us down broadway, past madison square garden, it was quite the adventure-- and traffic nightmare on a saturday night.
Eventually we made it to Brooklyn, where I was staying, conveniently in a building that had a subway stop in the basement, so travel was no problem. Saturday night I walked four blocks to the nearest Chipotle, and thoroughly enjoyed the first fajita I had eaten since December. I spent the rest of the night just chilling, as my other friends were all heading to a burlesque show, and I didn't really feel like joining in.
On Sunday I had the chance to spend the afternoon with a friend of mine from childhood who is in grad school in manhattan. We went to go see a play on Broadway that she had gotten student rush tickets to. If any of you ever have the opportunity to see it, I would highly recommend it. The fun/funny part was that we had front row seats, and there were several times when David Morse and Cieran Hinds were literally less than 18 inches away from me. This was followed by dinner at a fun little French restaurant, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
As far as the school aspect of the trip, we spent the day on Monday at the United Nations-- getting a tour and meeting with several different departments about the work they do, and how to get involved. While it was fun to be in the UN, it was a little disappointing, as they pointed out that unless you work for some obscure country, odds are slim to none that you will ever get the chance to work for the UN, as hiring is done by examining which member countries are under-represented, and allowing these people to take the qualifying exam which allows them to be interviewed for jobs. Clearly, the US doesn't have a problem of under-representation.
Monday night was a social networking event of hors-d'oeuvres and drinks. While I made a decent effort, networking is really not my thing. And, unfortunately, most of the people that I met were involved in fields that didn't have much connection to what I am interested in-- most of them were finance people.
Tuesday was spent at the Cornell Club, meeting with various panels of people representing different businesses and groups in the non-profit, public, and private sector. I made some potential interactions here-- which theoretically could lead to some internship possibilities for the summer (which is mandatory for my degree). They would be located in nyc though, which would mean I would be several hours away all summer. But, we will see.
Per road trip usual, our car broke down on Tuesday night around 9 or 10 pm outside of Scranton, PA. We ran out of gas because the gas line went bad and leaked half of a tank while we were driving down the interstate. My friend who was driving (and the owner of the car) is an international student who got his license in August (which I hadn't found out until after we were in the city), and had no idea what to do when encountering car problems. Fortunately, we got it all worked out with AAA, who towed the car all the way to Ithaca (about 100 miles away-- way to go AAA plus!).
I was supposed to the head down to Newark about 36 hours later-- but that simply didn't happen. Given the level of exhaustion I was reaching, I opted out of the trip for the chance to get caught up on my work, as I have two midterms this next week. Good times.
--brianna