WANDERLUST:
Ithaca, New York
(1994)

Street Cred

  • Lived in Ithaca from 1989-1994.
  • Lived in Risley Residential College for three years.
  • Lived downtown on State Street for one year.
  • Lived on West Campus for one year.
  • Attended Cornell University for four years.
  • Worked at Cornell Math & Engineering Libraries.
  • Worked at Collegetown Video/Housing Solutions/Takenote.
  • Worked at Comics for Collectors on the Commons.

Memories:

  • ABC Cafe (308 Stewart Avenue) - Vegetarian food in Collegetown. Garlicky nachos & tasty lagers.

  • Aladdin's Natural Eaterey (100 Dryden Avenue) - Middle-eastern food in Collegetown & full-bar service.

  • Buttermilk Falls - South Ithaca Not as large as Taughannock Falls, but more fun to explore. You can climb up the waterfall and follow the path to the top. Your reward is a camping ground, wheat fields and, if you're not careful, stinging nettles. Great place for a day trip.

  • Chapter House (400 Stewart Avenue) - Dark wood paneling, pints of ale or cider and all the popcorn you can eat. Multiple Guiness taps. Comfortable, fun bar to hang out at.

  • Collegetown Video/Housing Solutions/TakeNote (103 Dryden Road) - I worked at Housing Solutions as the database administrator for a year, with intermittant work at Collegetown Video & TakeNote (same building/same company). Learned Filemaker Pro backwards and forwards, and delighted in denying videos that were on the store monitors to obnoxious patrons. Spent many, many hours in the funky, artsy metal building at 103 Dryden.

  • Comics for Collectors (207 North Aurora Street) - I started working here when this shop was on Ithaca Commons, then later helped move it to Aurora. Fun place to work (I got a 15% discount on the merchandise), especially those illicit midnight anime parties, but completely awful for trying to make a living. Much better place to shop than work.

  • Cornell University - My alma mader; home of the clock tower, statues that meet and greet each other at night, Dragon Day and some of the best college dining halls in existence (Oakenshields, Ivy Room, Risley, RPU).

  • Cornell University Libraries - I worked at the Mathematics Library for three years (and one summer), eventually ending up as the Billings & Collections Supervisor. There's something exciting and dangerous in hitting your professors up for overdue fines. I also spent one semester working at the Engineering Library.

  • Fool on the Hill (Matt Ruff) - The Boneyards, Risley College, Zeta Psi, Carl Sagan & Tolkien. What more could you want from a novel?

  • Louie's Lunch - Mozzarella sticks with marinara sauce; bags of tasty, greasy fries and a fantastic Italian Mix sub. Special note to all you college students: Adding a shot of rum to Louie's chocolate milkshakes perks them right up.

  • Moosewood Restaurant (215 N. Cayuga Street) - Cheese borek, salad and red wine with John and Donna

  • The Nines (311 College Avenue) - Deep-dish pizza, buffalo wings with blue-cheese dressing & pints of beer; orders and food through dumbwaiter in ceiling.

  • Risley Residential College ( Cornell University) - Is it possible to fall in love with a dorm? I have an on-again/off-again love affair with Risley, where I was an ill-prepared residential advisor for a semester.

  • Risley Theatre (Cornell University) - Or where I spent a goodly portion of my leisure time. I was the General Manager of Risley Theatre from 1991-1993 and worked on ten productions there (mostly backstage as stage manager). Painted the theatre black one summer, to the strains of the Rolling Stone's "Paint It Black" (appropriately enough). Jason Ardizzone-West's Design Page Whistling Shrimp

  • Taughannock Falls (Trumansberg Ulysses, NY) - It's a bit of a trip, but Taughannock is a fun park to hike around. Enormous, with gorgeous falls. Buttermilk is closer and friendlier, though.

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