Ithaca, NY, October, 2017

I visited Ithaca, New York. For me this was a return to the scene of my graduate education in Applied Physics at Cornell Universty. The occasion was a weekend symposium to mark 50 years of the Laboratory forPlasma Studies. I arrived a day early so I had time to ride around and look at stuff. I left a day late for the same reason.


Ithaca has lots of waterfalls. Triphammer Falls, a partially engineered waterfall/dam (the dam part is on the right), is the outflow from Beebe Lake on the Cornell University campus. The outflow from the lake is called Fall Creek. I'm only including these details to jog my memory when I read this later.


I rode my bicycle down to Buttermilk Falls State Park, which features beautiful waterfalls and hiking trails. Part of the hiking trail is paved in stone, the work of craftsmen from a bygone era. The depression, to be exact. I see no need to revisit the depression, but I would be in favor of reviving this jobs program. The Civilian Conservation Corps did great work.


Hiking in Buttermilk Falls State Park.


Some of these waterfalls have names, but I didn't take along the hiking map with the names (the hike was pretty simple, so no map needed).








More pretty pictures


I took a picture of some folks who were taking pictures of each other. They returned the favor. I'd prefer not having a waterfall halo, but at least he took 4 pictures, so I could see my face go from self-conscious to smiling and back again. This is "smiling," in case that wasn't clear. Hopefully my photos of them came out OK.


Buttermilk Falls, the namesake of the park. I hiked a two mile loop, with the second mile being down in the gorge, where I took all the photos. This and the previous 8 photos above were captured within 1 mile in one park, an impressive concetration of natural beauty. There are two more such parks within 10 miles of Ithaca.


At the Symposium for the Laboratory of Plasma Studies, celebrating their first 50 years. Three of the four guys (other than myself) that made up what I thought of as my cohort are in this photo. The other couldn't attend. We were all graduated within the space of a year. I recall one evening, back in the day. While working on our dissertations and looking for jobs, Greg (second from left) and I looked in on the local unemployment office, just in case.


In between sessions at the symposium, I got in some bike rides and took some pictures. This is called "Scary places I used to live as a graduate student. 1986." It looks nice on the outside.


Friends of the Library book sale. A massive semi-annual event in intellectual Ithaca. It just happened to occur on this weekend. I remembered this annual book sale from when I was a student, so it was fun to participate. 30 years ago it was less organized.

Years ago, at my first book sale, I came out with some books. My friend Mike came out with the phone number of his future wife. All these years later, I'm still doing it wrong. At least I enjoy reading some of the books.


My friend Mike gives a talk at the LPS@50 symposium. The occasion is the 50th anniversary of the Laboratory of Plasma Studies at Cornell University.


My friend Greg gives a talk at the LPS@50 symposium.


I try to recall events of 30 years ago at the LPS@50 symposium. I don't succeed.

Once again, I learned that memory is unreliable. Specifically, my teeny little brain mashed up memories of two of my grad school friends into memories of only one of them. The one who was left out asked me about it and I apologized for the mistake. I was upset with myself but glad to have my memory jogged. On the plus side, instead of barely remembering one old friend, I now barely remember two old friends. Score!


One of my presentation images.


This is a photo of Greg's wedding at Cornell, shortly before we both graduated. I somehow worked it into my presentation.


My advisor, Charlie, at the LPS@50 symposium. Note the item on the screen, "Crash and rebirth 1985 or so." Completing my disertation in 1986, I participated in the crash. At the time I was told that our funding was cut and that I had just one year to finish my disseration. I was the youngest of my cohort to graduate. Not because I'm the smartest (I'm not), but because the money ran out and they were anxious to get me out the door.

It all worked out in the long run. I got a job doing work sort-of related to my thesis topic (funding cuts killed jobs in fusion energy but I was able to find a job developing new ideas for particle accelerators). The Laboratory for Plasma Studies found new areas of research and went on to support numerous talented graduate students as they became talented scientists. At the time I did not appreciate the stress that my thesis advisor and other mentors were going through. I'm glad I eventually grew up enough to appreciate their efforts.


Enough with the physcis. Time to engage in my favorite tourist activity: riding around on a bicycle and looking at stuff. Black Diamond Trail is a new cinder trail between Ithaca and Taughannock Falls State Park (8 miles). I didn't have time to hike around and see the falls. The trail was easy riding with a pretty tree canopy over most of it.

Over the past 30 years, bicycling in Ithaca has improved quite a bit. In 1981, I moved from bicycle friendly Santa Barbara to Ithaca. I went out and bought a used bicycle because that's what I do when I set up shop at a university. I quickly realized that cycling in Ithaca was (at the time) difficult and unpopular. That was the end of bicycling for me until 2003 (22 years!). Happily there are now bike lanes, multi-use biking/walking trails, and lots of people bicycling in Ithaca.


This is the Johnson Museum of Art on the Cornell campus. One of my favorite places, it was designed by Ian Pei. It is similar, in many respects, to the National Gallery East in Washington, DC, also designed by Pei (the Ithaca version is much smaller). It was here, in the early 1980s, that I learned about "personal politics" and other concepts in art/culture/politics intersectionality. During a lecture, I literally asked an artist what "personal politics" means and she looked at me as if I had just fallen off a turnip truck from planet Mars. Nevertheless, she was kind enough to answer my question. Kindness and patience are (usually) good personal politics.


It's hard to see, but there is a light installation over the open terrace. I didn't take photos of the exhibits, but they were quite interesting, as always.


View from the Johnson Museum of Art. The modern-looking building in the upper right now blocks the view of Clark Hall, where I shared an office with fellow grad students back in the day.


View looking north. In the lower right is the famous suspension bridge, a picturesqe pedestrian bridge.


View to the south showing Libe slope. Libe slope, a steep grassy hill, was popular for sunbathing and the occasional outdoor concert. For many, including me in my first year, it was a barrier to be overcome on the way to class in the morning.


The scupture garden in Cornell Plantations. Amazingly, I didn't visit this out-of-the-way spot until I was nearly ready to leave Ithaca for Washington, DC, and my first job. A friend and I hung out here, late in the evening, while we were both drunkenly celebrating my successful thesis defense. Because I didn't get a good look at it until years later, it is, for me, a dreamscape. We may or may not have climbed on the sculptures.


Another sculpture. Nothing naughty going on here.


A spot on the footpath near Beebe Lake. This place is so beautiful that it's easy to forget what a frozen wasteland it is in the winter (maybe it's a winter wonderland, depending on how much you like ice).


Another view of Triphammer Falls.


"Scary places I used to live as a graduate student. 1981."

This is the first house where I rented a room (I lived in five places in five years). It was cozy, but built close to the ground in a low spot in town; it floodedonce and had sewer issues. While I had a kind roommate, I myself was a new grad student going through culture shock. I was new to the east coast, to graduate school, and to the academic big leagues. At the end of the first semester, I was invited to look for housing elsewhere.


My flight out of town was cancelled, so I kept my rental car and drove it home to Virginia. The upside was that I saw some countryside and some fall colors.

Shortly after taking this photo, I heard someone yell "Stop taking pictures of my property!" Someday we in the USA will learn to despise fear-mongering propaganda instead of each other.

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Ithaca NY October 2017 / Jonathan Krall / revised January 2020