I finished off the mystery roll in my Lubitel TLR, and discovered a few gems within, going back several months! Remember my early morning mist shoot back in May?. Well look at this blushing beauty, made all sorts of delicious pinks and reds by cross-processing some Fuji Astia slide film in C41 chemicals! Yay!

A TALE OF TWO WOMEN

Can avatar appearance  have  an

effect on  your Real  Life?

University of Texas Study

Exhibit 1 – can avatar appearance change your real life?

This is partially the tale of two women*. But it is also a story of how avatar appearance can affect one’s experience of  Second Life and  cross-over into Real Life.

I personally know a number of women, both in Second Life and in Real Life,  who have had the experience  I want to talk about.  There are many others who talk in places like  “Hey Girlfriend” about their considerable weight losses since entering Second Life. However, for reasons of anonymity I have combined some features of these women’s lives into the two women I’m discussing. They are  both in their 40s,  highly educated and have executive positions with the organisations they work with.

One, however, although her  Australian organisation is involved in  researching  business uses of virtual worlds, uses  Second Life almost exclusively for social networking, spending two to three hours a day on-line, time which she once spent as a couch potato  in front of the cable television. She now has  what she calls “real friends” from around the world in Second Life. She has been, what she would claim is ” fully immersed” in Second Life for about four years. Her experience there has run the gamut from role playing to building  and doing  most of the things she  could  and does in Real Life.  Her avatar is  slim and very attractive, although not of the barbie-doll favoured by many  users of  Second Life, and it wears high fashion clothes ranging from fairly skimpy to more conservative.  Although she obtains most of her clothing free, she has a staggering number of high-fashion, high quality items in her inventory.

The other, although she was  not press-ganged into visiting a virtual world,  chose  to become part of  Second Life as  part of her work three years ago, although skeptical of the benefits. Outside of  the “immersion”  required for her work  she seldom visits Second Life preferring to spend time  in the evenings working, sitting in front of television  with her husband. Her avatar reflects what she considers her real life; overweight and frumpy with few  attractive features.  Her clothing inventory consists  of a few  real life-style, work related but  serviceable items such as slacks and a sweaters, but nothing which could be even remotely be regarded as fashionable let alone fantasy.

Both were considerably overweight  when they started in virtual worlds.  One could say the first women perceived and still perceives her virtual life  as wish-fulfillment and fantasy, the second woman perceives her’s as  career-enhancing “drudgery.”

But the most interesting thing about these two women for me  – and this  is not a scientific study -  is that:

• In four  years the first woman – the one with the slim, attractive avatar -  has lost about 100 lbs in weight, taken up gym three to four days a week,  started to learn  salsa and tango with her husband,  changed her wardrobe, and through her own efforts gained a number of promotion rungs at her work. Where she was  previously depressed about her future, she is now a livewire and  enthusiastic about her work. She has also long-term cut her calorie intake in half.
• In the three years  since the  second woman entered Second Life – the one  with the overweight, unattractive avatar -  her life  has changed little. She still sits watching television most nights with her husband – he much prefers it that way – and although still ambitious feels  her career in a US academic institution  is  either  depressingly at a standstill, or at a cross roads.  Since joining  Second  Life  her  weight has ballooned – she wont disclose by how much -  she still gets little exercise and obviously has not cut her  calorie intake.

Exhibit 2 – can avatar appearance change your real life?

Of course, there may be many other reasons why these two women’s Second Life experiences may have led to vastly different Real Life  experiences but I was reminded of them by an article in  a fairly  recent issue of    ScienceDaily under the headline,  “Avatars Can Surreptitiously And Negatively Affect User In Video Games, Virtual Worlds.”

Quoting Jorge Peña, assistant professor in the College of Communication at the  University of Texas, at Austin,  the on-line magazine said that although often seen as an inconsequential feature of digital technologies, one’s self-representation, or avatar, in a virtual environment could affect a user’s thoughts. The study was co-written with Cornell University Professor Jeffrey T. Hancock and University of Texas at Austin graduate student Nicholas A. Merola.  It appeared in the December 2009 issue of Communication Research.

The study ” demonstrated that the subtext of an avatar’s appearance could simultaneously prime negative (or anti-social) thoughts and inhibit positive (or pro-social) thoughts inconsistent with the avatar’s appearance even though study participants remained unaware they had been primed,” the article said.

“In two separate experiments, research participants were randomly assigned a dark- or white-cloaked avatar, or to avatars wearing physician or Ku Klux Klan-like uniforms or a transparent avatar. The participants were assigned tasks including writing a story about a picture, or playing a video game on a virtual team and then coming to consensus on how to deal with infractions, ” Science Daily said.

“Consistently, participants represented by an avatar in a dark cloak or a KKK-like uniform demonstrated negative or anti-social behavior in team situations and in individual writing assignments.”

Previous studies, ScienceDaily said, had demonstrated these uniform types to have negative effects on people’s behaviors in face-to-face interactions. For example, Cornell researchers Mark Frank and Tom Gilovich have shown that dark uniforms influence professional sports teams to play more aggressively on the playing field and in the laboratory. Peña’s research has now demonstrated how these effects operate in desktop-based video games, and sheds light on the automatic cognitive processes that explain this effect.

“When you step into a virtual environment, you can potentially become ‘Mario’ or whatever other character you are portraying,” said Peña, who studies how humans think, behave and feel online. “Oftentimes, the connotations of our own virtual character will subtly remind us of common stereotypes, such as ‘bad guys wear black or dress up in hooded robes.’ This association may surreptitiously steer users to think and behave more antisocially, but also inhibit more pro-social thoughts and responses in a virtual environment.”

“By manipulating the appearance of the avatar, you can augment the probability of people thinking and behaving in predictable ways without raising suspicion,” said Peña. “Thus, you can automatically make a virtual encounter more competitive or cooperative by simply changing the connotations of one’s avatar.”

Reading this I wondered about the two women I referred to above.    Has one, the American, inadvertently reinforced the depressingly, negative  image she has of herself by making her avatar appearance worse than  she actually appears in Real Life? And has the other, the Australian,  done the reverse to achieve striking Real Life benefits?

It’s obviously another question for virtual world scientists.
But on the other hand, in my experience,  it doesn’t have quite the same effect on some males.  I haven’t become the 6ft 7in  All American Don Juan that my avatar suggests I  could be and my wishful thinking suggests I should be. My real life  personna and appearance  has remained. I’m still just a little nerd who is boringly ordinary.

I, however, don’t doubt there are men in Second Life who have lost weight too.

* Some details have been altered to protect their identities.

]]> http://andruska.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/announcements-scholarship-and-graduate-conference/ Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:54:47 +0000 Caprescu http://andruska.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/announcements-scholarship-and-graduate-conference/ http://aegroove.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/taking-it-just-a-little-bit-furthur/ Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:57:37 +0000 aegroove http://aegroove.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/taking-it-just-a-little-bit-furthur/

Kate Langenburg/A&E Groove

My own excitement overwhelms me…Furthur has just released their winter tour dates!

Okay, so who the f is Further? Remember the Grateful Dead? Yeah, it’s some of those guys — guitarist Bob Weir and bassist Phil Lesh to be specific. But it’s also John Kadlecik, the guitarist who plays Jerry in Dark Star Orchestra, the number one Grateful Dead cover band. And then there’s Joe Russo, Jay Lane, and Jeff Chimenti, too!

It seems that for their first ride around the country, they’ve decided to hit a lot of large venues…Radio City Music Hall to name one. But not only that, they’ve also booked college campuses, too. I think they’ve figured out where their audiences are! They’re going to colleges like Lehigh University, the University of Delaware, Cornell University, and the University of Massachusetts. Joy!

Well, rather than me just ramble on about how great this all is, let me give you the link to the tour dates page so you can see for yourself: FURTHUR TOUR DATES.

Okay, so what’s going to happen to DSO when John Kadlecik leaves them? According to the band’s website, they will press on. Having gone through quite a few members in the past years, this band has the oomph to keep on going. But good luck finding another “Jerry Garcia” quite as good as Kadlecik.

It’s all for the best, really. Furthur comprises some of the most talented jam musicians in the country. This band is sure to be a hit with Dead fans and jam band fans alike. They will play Grateful Dead songs, of course, but will also venture away into their own material, too. I’m ready for them to take me FURTHUR!

Chris Blattman has linked to an interesting paper on religious identity and economic behavior published a few months ago:

We find that Protestantism increases contributions to public goods, and there is suggestive evidence that it increases employee reciprocity in a labor market with incomplete contracts. Catholicism decreases contributions to public goods, increases employee reciprocity, and decreases risk aversion. Judaism increases labor market reciprocity. There is some evidence that Christianity and Judaism increase employer wage offers. However, we find no evidence that religious identity affects discount rates or purely altruistic generosity.

From November 9 through November 22, 2009, a beta test is being held of Regulation Room, “a pilot project,” sponsored by the Cornell e-Rulemaking Initiative (CeRI) and hosted by Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (LII), “that provides an online environment for people and groups to learn about, discuss, and react to selected rules (regulations) proposed by [U.S.] federal agencies.”

During the beta test, “users can read and respond to daily ‘Have Your Say Posts’” about “a proposed National Highway Transportation Safety Administration rule: Tire Efficiency Consumer Information Program.” “They can also ‘Dig In’ to specific issues in the rule and comment on particular aspects of the agency’s reasoning.” “During the week of Nov. 23, the CERI research team will post a summary of the discussion. Users will then be able to react to that summary.”

HT Georgetown Law Library Blog.

Over 20 years ago, Erik Lehmann founded the Cornell Coalition for the Homeless when he was attending the university. Now, he draws on his personal service and volunteering experiences – as well as the fact that he himself found himself without a home for awhile as a teenager – to talk to others about the importance of service and positive philosophies behind it. Read more about Erik in our previous post about him, and then check out below, his guest blog post about better understanding the people who you are serving when you volunteer.

——————————————————————–

Photo Courtesy of Jyl Dowd & Erik Lehmann

Over the years, people have asked me, “How can I help people living in hunger, poverty, or homelessness?” or “What can I do?” When that question comes up, I usually respond by saying, “I think that the answer may be different for everyone you ask, so why don’t you find a person that you want to help, and ask them?” The truth is, I have spoken with many homeless people, and with every person I talk to, I hear a different story. And every time I make the time to ask for a story, not only do I get a story, but I also get the beginning of a friendship, and as with any friendship, the desire to help that friend get to a better place. To me, this is where any service begins. In truth, all you need is one genuine story to start the wheels turning about how you can make a contribution and what your part of the answer can be.

For me, the story came from a 12 year-old boy named Mikey. He was living in a shelter for adolescent youth on Long Island. I spent a week getting to know him, and each night I fell asleep wondering how it came to pass that he was living at a shelter, so one day I just came out and asked him. Then he shared a story that no one, let alone a 12-year-old boy should ever have to tell. You see, Mikey’s mom was dating this guy, and this guy had an awful smoking habit. It was bad enough that he smoked, but it seemed that this guy had this irreprehensible habit of extinguishing his cigarettes on Mikey’s back. Mikey lifted his T-shirt to reveal what appeared to be a constellation of cigarette burns all over his shoulder blades. That was the moment that I knew that I needed to do something about all the “Mikeys” of the world. If you were to ask Mikey how to help him; he would say that he needed to be in a safe place where others cared for and respected him as a person…and that you shouldn’t smoke around him, because it evokes a sense of fear in him that no one should have to endure.

Mikey’s story was a turning point for me. It left such mark on my heart that I knew I was forever changed from that moment forward. Honestly, I did not have a choice in the matter. When you personally witness such injustice, you are forced to act. I spent the next few years working in different shelters, and many people told me their stories. As a Cornell student, I helped to found the Cornell Coalition for the Homeless to spread awareness and raise funds to help those who may not always have the courage to tell their own story. When the Coalition served in the community, in addition to cooking at Loaves & Fishes, Ithaca’s Community Kitchen, we would also eat with the guests at the dinner. We would ask for stories about their needs. We learned that we could put some of the funds we raised into loans for people, who were literally a security deposit away from getting off the streets. As a student-run volunteer organization, we never knew that we could have had this much impact on our community. All we had to do was ask, and I’m glad we did!

So, if you would take a “penny for your thoughts,” perhaps we can make a Pocketful of Change!

By Melanie Breault ’11

ITHACA, NY—They’re on your pizza. They’re in your beer. They’re even in your medicine. Fungi—this overlooked moldy kingdom has the potential to be a leading force in planet and humanitarian preservation, according to multiple accredited mycologists, or fungal scientists. With huge environmental and medical problems worrying citizens around the world, one small seed, one microscopic spore could be the solution.

Dr. Kathie Hodge, an associate professor of mycology in the Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology at Cornell University, has been studying the benefits of fungi for more than 20 years. Hodge, who is also a taxonomist or classifier of fungal diversity, said that over 90 percent of fungal species have not yet been discovered. Of the species that have been identified and described, some fungi have been used for medicinal purposes including inhibition of tumor growth and improvement of immune-system function.

“Mold is a fungus and a lot of mold is really good for mankind,” Hodge said. “It is used to make penicillin and other medicines that people don’t even realize.”

Hodge referenced the work of a fellow mycologist, Paul Stamets, a scientist who specializes in bioremediation and medicinal mushrooms. Hodge said through bioremediation, people can manipulate the enzymes of fungus to help heal catastrophic environmental problems such as oil spills and horticultural diseases.

“Fungi can be developed to break down really nasty chemicals that we put into the environment, even petroleum products,” Hodge said. “Enzymes from fungi are being looked at to find the most efficient way to use their energy conversion for biofuel production.”

Christine Layton, a graduate student at Cornell has made biofuel production her fungal focus for more than five years. She studies specifically smut fungus, a fungus that attacks the reproductive systems of switchgrass, resulting in the stunting of the plant. Switchgrass has garnered attention as a source for biofuels because of its well adaptive nature to different climates and deep root systems.

“There is a lot of economic and environmental importance for switchgrass because it was becoming very clear that corn was not the solution to producing ethanol in this country,” Layton said. “As we transition into the age of green technologies, switchgrass is not going to be a silver bullet, but we’re going to have to take a multifaceted approach to this kind of production and switchgrass is part of the solution.”

Teresa Pawlowska, a fungal biologist who specializes in mycorrhizal fungi—the symbiotic or mutualistic relationship between plants and fungi—said people should not just pay attention to the benefits of fungi. She said we should address these agricultural and economic concerns, specifically the increase in nitrogen fertilizers—a manmade environmental pollutant.

“These fertilizers are accumulating in the environment and they cause a decline in ectomycorrhizal fungi,” Pawlowska said. “These fungi are important for forest function including mineral uptake of trees, but they are declining because of the nitrogen pollution.”

Both Hodge and Layton use the Cornell Plant Pathology Herbarium for their research. The facility is one of the largest mycological herbariums in North America, holding about 400,000 fungus and plant disease specimens and about 60,000 historical scientific photographs.

Layton said through her research, she understands that fungus cannot heal the entire planet, but a combination of resources can make a difference. She said the real solutions to environmental problems lie in human’s ability to use the tools right in front of them.

“Fungi are very connected to everything on this Earth,” she said. “If we start manipulating them to our will, they can make a huge difference in saving the planet.”

http://melbreault.blogspot.com/2009/11/saving-world-one-fungus-at-time.html

By Victoria Riess

We are all familiar with Kermit the Frog’s famous lyrics, but according to a National Geographic News article, Sesame Street is singing a new song for its 40^th and 41^st two-year season. Appropriately called, “My World is Green and Growing” the new curriculum for the show focuses on habitats and the environment.  First Lady Michelle Obama kicked off the premier episode on November 10th, teaching children about gardening:

The impact of environmental education on the youth is a well-studied phenomena.  According to a 2008 study at Cornell University,

“children who participate in “wild” nature before the age of 11 are very likely to have environmental attitudes and exhibit environmental behaviors as adults.”

Children who participate in “domesticated” nature activities like planting trees and gardening may also adopt similar habits.  That is the goal behind Casey Trees, a Washington DC program that educates children about inner-city gardening and works with local schools to incorporate trees into everyday curriculum.

But Sesame Street is not ready to throw its happy-go-lucky feel to the wind turbines just yet.  In fact, the show’s focus will purposely not include topics like global warming and deforestation. Vice President of Research and Education at the Sesame Workshop Rosemarie Truglio described them as

“adult concepts” that are and “just too scary for children.”

But just because Big Bird and the gang may not be defining the threats of the environmental crisis, that does not mean their message won’t resonate.  Children can still understand the significance of caring for the Earth and the consequences for not even if they can’t define terms like global warming and carbon footprint.  Look to this short interview I captured with my Planet Forward partners for evidence:

Although Rustam may be a bit old for Sesame Street, his words remind us that even though children may not be able to paint the big picture, they can learn to choose the color green.

Washington,  The world won’t be coming to an end on December 21, 2012, as said to be darkly predicted by the Mayan calendar, says an astronomer.

Ann Martin, doctoral candidate in Cornell University astronomy department, points out that the Mayan calendar was designed to be cyclical, so the fact that the long count comes to an end in December 2012 is really of no consequence.

Simply, it is the end of great calendar cycle in Mayan society, much like our modern society celebrated the new millennium. It does not mean that the ‘world will end’, says Martin.

In fact, the Mayan calendar does not end then and there is no evidence to suggest that the Mayans — or anyone for that matter — has knowledge of the world’s demise, says Martin.

For the past three years, Martin has been a volunteer with Cornell’s ‘Curious? Ask an Astronomer’ service, a website founded by astronomy graduate students in 1997, says a varsity release.

Curious? Ask an Astronomer features the answers to over 750 frequently asked astronomy questions, and readers who can’t find their answers there can submit a new question and receive an answer from a graduate student volunteer.

Got this one from my wife’s email inbox. At first, I thought it was just one of those chain letters you won’t hesitate to delete.

The following “speech” has been going the rounds in emails and various blogs in the local internet scene. It was said to be a speech from a young politician who once tried applying in a call center just for fun. But the joke was on him when he wasn’t accepted due to his hilarious accent and politically incorrect English. Since then, he’s been waging a one-man war against BPOs.

Chillax. It’s a joke.

I still do not know the veracity of this speech’s content. It was said to have been delivered last August 17, just a few months ago. I didn’t hear it from the news, though. But it must’ve been disturbing to many call center agents and other BPO workers who have read it because the figures mentioned sounded as if it were taken from one of Arroyo’s SONA speeches.

Here is the controversial speech from Sectoral Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino. You be the judge whether his arguments do hold water or not:

THE CALL OF CALL CENTER AGENTS

Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, I rise on behalf of fellow young Filipinos denied of their dreams and were forced to enter the illusory world of call centers.

The tale of Filipino youths setting aside their childhood dreams to enter the call center industry is fast becoming a common story. More and more young Filipinos are being lured into working in a call center regardless of their educational background. A starting salary of P15,000 on average is indeed attractive, not to mention the signing bonus and incentives for good work performance.
As the global financial crisis sweeps ominously into Asian shores, the Philippine government has continuously promoted and relied on the Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) industry to provide opportunities to millions of jobless Filipinos. The number of jobs generated grew robustly from 99,000 workers in 2004 to 372,000 workers in 2008, most of them in their 20s.

For the government, the BPO sector is a major contributor in terms of revenues and employment generation. From $350 million in 2001, revenues generated from the BPO sector surged to $6 billion in 2008. The government was quick to conclude that the BPO sector is poised to benefit from the global recession.

This has prompted both the administration and the vanguards of globalization to brand the BPO sector as the “sunshine industry.”
But there is a need, Mr. Speaker, to bust the myth surrounding the so-called sunshine industry. For behind the seemingly innocuous statistics and improving figures lie tales of exploitation, false hopes, and dim working conditions inside the call center.

Totoong mas mataas ang tinatanggap na suweldo ng isang call center agent kumpara sa isang regular na manggagawa. In reality, foreign companies are exploiting our cheap labor. The average annual salary of a call center agent in the Philippines is $3,964. This is lower than Thailand’s $4,874, Malaysia’s $5,199, and Singapore’s $16,884. Kung totoong tayo ang binansagang “Offshoring Destination of the Year” noong 2007, bakit kakarampot lamang ang sahod ng call center agents natin kumpara sa ating mga kapitbahay?

Companies in developed countries benefit immensely from this set-up. By taking advantage of highly-skilled and low-value labor in poorer economies such as ours, foreign firms gain an estimated net savings of 20-40 percent on labor costs.

Despite the relatively decent pay and seemingly rich rewards, job tenure in the call center industry, as labor economist Clarence Pascual puts it, is “as transient as the phone calls that agents make or take.”

This is evident in the industry’s high attrition rates or the proportion of the workforce that leaves a company or industry. The Call Center Association of the Philippines pegs the turnover rate in the country at 60-80 percent, the highest in the world.

According to a multi-country survey conducted by Callcentres.net, full-time call center agents stay in a contact center for a brief 22 months, while part-time agents stay for an even shorter 10 months.

This is an international figure, Mr. Speaker. In the Philippines, where most of the call centers are outsourced, offshore and non-unionized, the situation is even worse: 60 percent of call center workers stay in a company for only a year or less.

As more employees leave the industry, the demand for replacements becomes constant. According to an article in Newsbreak magazine, for every employee hired to fill in a new seat, another two employees must be hired to replace the seats vacated by those who left. How apt, Mr. Speaker, that this industry is marked by “hellos” and “goodbyes.”

The culprit: poor quality of jobs at the call center. A survey by the Call Center Project based at Cornell University in New York shows that the high attrition rate is caused by a low job quality in call centers. The study revealed that 67 percent of agents found in 39 percent of call centers work in low to very low quality jobs.

The Call Center Project survey points out that worker turnover and quit rates are higher as job discretion or the agent’s “sense of control” becomes lower and monitoring on the job becomes more intense. Low job discretion and high performance monitoring contribute to employee stress and rapid job burnout.

Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, the job of a call center agent is not that all fancy nor ideal. For it is in the very nature of the call center job to be exploitative.

Call centers-vendors in indsutry parlance-provide services, such as customer service, sales, technical support, on behalf of client companies. They compete for accounts from companies that ousource some of their functions. In this competitive arena, the agent is stuck between two contrasting interests-he or she must keep costs low for the client while ensuring profits for the call center.
In this set-up, quantitative targets are laid down by clients to reduce costs and increase productivity, giving them the upper hand. In the call center industry, everything is measured.

Thus, call center agents work the phones for the entire duration of their work shift. Unlike our jobs, where we have time to read newspapers or chat with our officemates, the job of a call center agent is one of isolation. The calls just keep coming in, and one has no choice but to pick up to phone.

Moreover, one faces punitive measures, such as forced leave, suspension or even termination, for failing to meet productivity targets, which serve as basis for staff assessment and promotions.

To ensure the targets are met, clients even enforce remote monitoring of actual calls. Supervisors track an agent’s use of time, from call handling time to time spent on “after call work” and break time. Recorded calls are scored for quality on a monthly or weekly basis. A low score translates to a corrective action memo, which can cost one’s job. Consequently, monitoring becomes a constant source of anxiety for workers.

Since monitoring and evaluation are done remotely, penalized workers do not have enough opportunity to appeal disciplinary actions. A 22-year old agent says in their company, even tenured workers issued with corrective action memos get terminated.

According to a survey by the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research, only a 10-minute per day period is allowed for personal use, such as going to the restroom. This becomes difficult for the workers since a cold workplace temperature encourages frequent urination. Female agents, thus, usually suffer from urinary tract infection.

Since the United States is the biggest market of BPO industry, this requires call center operations during the evening. The call center sub-sector is changing the nightlife of Manila. Bars, restaurants and convenience stores are open every morning to accommodate the night workers.

But the graveyard shift has become a major source of difficulty and dissatisfaction for a lot of agents as their day-to-day routines are turned upside down. Medical specialists point out that disrupting the body clock can cause manic depression and heart problems.
Weekends and holidays are also rarely off, since the calendar being followed is that of the clients, resulting in very rare family time for married agents. Meanwhile, compulsory overtime or extended time is also prevalent.

The Department of Health has warned against this work schedule, aggravated by an intense and exhaustive workload. DOH warned that persons working in the graveyard shift are vulnerable to various diseases, including hypertension, cardiovascular illnesses, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases. Foreign studies have even shown that graveyard shifts can increase the risk of cancer among women workers.

Noong isang taon, Mr. Speaker, ibinalita sa TV Patrol World ang pagkamatay ng isang call center agent. Siya ay si Dingdong Flores, inatake ng hypertension habang nasa trabaho. Siya ay na-coma bago pa mahatid sa ospital.

The DOLE has made separate studies on health risks associated with call center work. Both studies show high incidence of eyestrains symptoms, muskuloskeletal symptoms, voice disorders, hearing problems.

Since most call centers employ first-time and young workers who are hesitant to complain, these health problems may even be an underestimation of the true state of health among workers.

Such health hazards explain high rates of absenteeism in the industry. Consequently, call centers have adopted punitive attendance policies. In some call centers, eight absences over a six-month period constitute grounds for termination.

While they are entitled to sick leave, workers find difficulty in securing the supervisor’s approval.

BPO employees are also deprived of socialization opportunities with family and friends. Dr. Prandya Kulkarni, who writes for United Press International Asia, adds that young BPO workers, who receive high salaries, do not have the maturity and emotional capability to handle their wealth. This “sudden wealth syndrome” has led to such high-risk behaviors as loose sexual practices, drug addictions and alcohol abuse.

Another alarming reality in the call center industry is the absence of unions. Unionism is covertly and overtly discouraged, if not forbidden. Foreign employees warn that if unions in call centers will be allowed, they will leave the Philippines. Workers’ contracts clearly stipulate that forming or joining a union is prohibited.

Such a repressive practice, Mr. Speaker, is a clear violation of the Philippine Labor Law, where it is stated that every worker has the right to form and join a union. Isn’t it ironic, Mr. Speaker, how our call center workers are rendered voiceless in a voice industry?

Habang inilalahad natin ang mga suliraning ito, habang inihahanda natin ang ating mga sarili sa pagtatapos ng araw na ito, magsisimula pa lamang ang araw ng libu-libo nating manggagawa sa call center. Nawa’y huwag dumating ang panahon na ang isasagot ng ating mga kabataan sa tanong na “What do you want to be when you grow up?” ay maging isang call center agent.

Anong klaseng mga mamamayan ang mahuhubog ng sistemang ito? Anong klase ng kaalaman ang ating ikikintal sa ating mga kabataan, na siyang mamumuno sa ating bayan? Paano nila paglilingkuran ang bayan kung ang tangi nilang alam ay tumugon sa daing ng mga dayuhan?

Nakakabahala, Mr. Speaker, ang kuwento ng isang manggagawa na tatlong taon nang nagtratrabaho sa call center. Ayon sa kaniya, “a plague is raging among the youth working in the call center industry” and that is apathy. Dagdag niya, nabubuhay ang mga call center agent sa isang mundong batbat ng kawalang-pakialam. Ang tangi nilang sinusunod ay ang dikta ng orasan, ang dikta ng makina. Tila hindi na sila kabahagi sa mga isyung panlipunan.

Sa kasalukyan, kinakaharap ng BPO industry ang kakulangan ng skilled workers, ng mga kabataang mahusay mag-Ingles. The government is now tinkering with the educational system to address the needs of the BPO industry. President Arroyo has mandated the use of English language as the medium of instruction in schools.

But such measures can only do so much to address employment problems in the country.

At the minimum, the government should ensure the implementation of our labor code, which aims to protect our workers and guarantee their right to organization and humane working conditions.

Call centers should respect our labor code. Bukod sa pagtuturo ng American accent, dapat ding ipaalam ng mga kumpanyang ito sa ating mga aplikante ang kanilang mga karapatan bilang empleyado.

Ngayong nauuso ang call centers, napapanahong bumuo tayo ng batas na magtitiyak sa kanilang mga karapatan. Sa kagyat, ito ang ating maiiambag sa libu-libong kabataang pinasok at balak pasukin ang BPO industry.

The government should not use the seemingly rosy statistics of the BPO sector to conclude that we have a strong economy. Ultimately, it is dangerous to exaggerate the importance of the BPO industry. The government should put more emphasis on propelling the domestic economy as a whole rather than making public institutions and laws serve the needs of BPO companies.
Thank you Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues.

Related link:
The chain letter containing the above speech acknowledges the below link as its source:
THE CALL OF CALL CENTER AGENTS
Privilege Speech of Rep. Raymond “Mong” Palatino
Delivered on August 17, 2009

Next time you are planning to have an affair through email, be careful!  Dlisted (via Guest Of A Guest) posted the story about the Cornell University employees talking sexy through the internets.  The crazy part is that John X accidentally hit REPLY ALL and the entire school is now reading about this!! (both parties are married to other people). Here is the entire conversation!!  SO embarassing!! O-M-G!!! (p.s:  this material is a little risque and NOT safe for the whole family).

It is both surprising and shocking to think that some of the best universities and colleges across the country do not have ROTC programs on their campuses. For those students that are interested in participating, they may do so by commuting to places that offer the programs. Sometimes, those commutes can be as long as two hours, which can prove to be especially problematic when some of the exercises and field trainings take place as early as 6:00am. Every year there is a small amount of students from the Ivy League system that are commissioned as Second Lieutenants upon their graduations. Those young men and women sacrifice an incredible amount of time and effort to complete their training to ultimately get the chance to serve their country as officers. It is interesting to think that there are individuals out there literally fighting for their chance to serve while obtaining a top notch education. Typically, these ROTC cadets have family ties to the military.

The Ivy League ROTC ban brings up a serious issue when it comes to attracting some of the best and brightest into military service. Although military service is by no means for everyone, it seems as if many of the college bound individuals are not that familiar with the opportunities that officership brings. The fact that some of the best universities don’t offer these program on their campuses can be seen as if they don’t believe a career path of an officer is the military as on the same stature as some of the occupations in the civilian world. Even though this may be far from the truth, at first glance it appears that way. This holds especially true for young men and women that don’t take a deeper look into military service.

In a recruiting environment where only about 30% of youth are eligible for military service, (to learn more http://majastevanovich.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/only-30-of-17-24-year-old-eligible-for-military-service/ ) the ROTC ban in some of the finer colleges does not help in attracting the 17-24 demographic to serve as officers. This poses a challenge for the military as they aim to educate youth about the opportunities officership offers. One of the ways has proven to be successful is the use of social media. A big reason why social media is effective is because youth are living in a digital world, they understand and relate to the messaging, and they are used to brands being interactive with them.

To all those ROTC students at schools where there are no programs, thank you for your dedication.

As anyone who doesn’t live under an Ithacan rock knows, Cornell had its much-publicized and anticipated match against Harvard on the ice of Lynah Rink last night. Much to Cornell’s delight, the Big Red skated to an impressive victory over the Crimson, with a final score of 6-3.

I feel like I’m one of a handful of undergrads on this campus who really doesn’t give a damn.

Not that I don’t have respect for athletes at Cornell. I give them by full respect. It’s just that I have never followed sports, with the slight exception of cross country and track back in junior high and high school because I was on the team (and let’s be honest, they’re just not the same when it comes to skill or competitive spirit). I’m content to sit back and watch everyone else get excited, because I’m just disinterested in Cornell sports. I’m never sat all the way through a Cornell game in any sport.

So, unsurprisingly I never mention sports on this blog, unless there’s historical worth to mentioning it. Which I can briefly do now.

Back in the day of the university founding years, the big sport for students to follow was crew, aka rowing. A.D. White was a member of a rowing club during his own collegiate years at Yale (Bishop 33). The first boating clubs formed in 1871, and a regatta was held the following spring (if you could call it that). The first big victory came at Saratoga in 1875, much to the joy of the school and the town (story goes that A.D. White broke into McGraw Hall Tower and rang the chimes himself). Baseball and football were vague diversions, not even intercollegiate until 1874 (Bishop 134). Cornell actually had its own rules of football that no one cared about, so the university didn’t take a substantial interest in football until about 1886. The Cornell Atheltic Association formed in 1889 (296). The first athletic area, built in the same year, was off campus on what is now the site of Ithaca High School, and was called Percy Field after the donor’s son, who was at the time a student athlete at Cornell. Hockey was recognized in 1900, basketball a year later. Lacrosse started up in 1885, but was  like clothing fashions among students, coming back into and going out of style every few years.

Hockey was originally played on Beebe Lake. The idea of bringing it to Cornell came from a professor of engineering named Johnny Parson. Hecne, the establishment of the Johnny Parson Club. When the lake began to melt, the team would use the Ithaca city ice rink. The team won what might be its first intercollegiate championship in 1911 (417).

So, Bishop’s history of Cornell only mentions hockey twice, and was published in 1962, suggesting the sport was still on the periphery of athletics at that time. That was also the same year that underdog Cornell outplayed perennial powerhouse Harvard. Things started to get more interesting when the Harvard/Cornell hockey rivalry started to heat up in 1973 with Harvard’s tossing off a chicken at Cornell goalie Dave Elenbaas, as a knock against the Ag School (of course, nowadays we can depend on our alumni to knock the ag school). So Cornell students responded later that month by throwing fish onto the rink. As the decade wore on and Harvard’s program weakened, the Big Red wasn’t content to let things slide, so the rivalry has been intensified since the incident.

So that’s why Cornell-Harvard tickets can be so expensive, and why this one game is as close as Cornell gets to the storied rivalries of Big Ten schools. Some of us are more into it than others though.  

Always kept in the dark and fed shit!

After 70 long years Shu Chun Teng’s prized mushroom collection has been returned to China. Pass the Soya Sauce because they’ll probably taste like crap!  Teng was a Chinese scholar who was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) because he smuggled his rare collection of mushies out of China by ox cart during World War II. This was seen as a big friggin selling out of Chinese heritage and for his troubles he received beatings and mental mind messing.  The fungi collection was shipped to the US where it was placed into the safe hands of his alma mater at Cornell University.

Psst You can read more about the prized mushroom collection if you feel inclined.

Baby Jen-Jen, don’t eat so many carrots, you will turn orange.

I know you’re already harnessing your payback skills but please DON’T drink half a bottle of Brake Fluid just because your mother won’t let you shoplift some candy.  Play the “i’m going to ignore you game instead.”

Don’t bring your mother’s blue eye shadow and red lipstick to pre-k.  Also don’t paint your friend’s face with said makeup.

Middle school Jennifer, go to that track practice and don’t be afraid running.

Give that bully your purple contacts and let them burn the shit out of her eyes. 

The next time someone asks you if your hair has miraculously grown 5 inches over the weekend, say yes and walk away. 

The next time your supposed friend invites you to their house and prefaces the conversation with, “my parents don’t really like black people but you’re ok,”  tell them “pause” and stay home.

High school Jenn, choose swimming over soccer.

You are beautiful.  I know you think your ugly because these little boys aren’t interested in dating because, “their parents don’t allow interracial dating,” but you are beautiful.  Kudos to you for not settling for the dudes that hid razor blades under their tongue.

Take that opportunity to learn the cello too!

It’s cool to love BSB but you don’t need to hyperventilate every time you hear them on the radio.  You also don’t need to wallpaper your ceilings and walls.

People will be nice to you while your applying to Harvard and they’ll also be nice to you when you get rejected by Harvard.  When you get into Cornell they will be mad and they’ll question your acceptance.  Tell them that you you are in the top 4% of your class, member of countless clubs, you play an instrument, a sport, you work 2 jobs, you volunteer, AND you’re an outstanding writer.  In other words, fuck you and your couch.

College Jenn, treasure the times you are in that Ithaca bubble.

Bump pre-med and bio.  You don’t care about the waggle dance of the honey bee. Figure out how you can major in Africana and minor in PAM.  Also look into that CIPA program pronto.

Study abroad in Paris!  And go for qualification in 2 languages and learn Spanish.

When you’re choosing rooms in Cascadilla, pick the 4th floor if you want vaulted ceilings.

Take Professor Turner’s policy class earlier so that you can take wines.

Don’t even bother dating that “really nice” guy you met at that party.  It is not worth your time. Actually scratch that.  Date him cause that story is really funny to tell.

Slope Day will be a shit-show.  BRING A CAMERA!

Next time you’re passing the architecture building, don’t move stuff.  Concurrently you probably shouldn’t hide stuff in frat houses or try to steal someone’s crutch.

Don’t get discouraged when you don’t make those dance teams.  They are not the authority on good dancing.  You’re actually not too shabby.

Thank baby jesus that you have the food that you do at Cornell.  You might not realize it at the time, but campus food is amazing!  Take advantage of the travelling restaurants that do guest spots in COM COM [Community Commons people].

Ugh, go to Hockey games on purpose not just on accident after going to the basketball game. 

Go to that Duke – Cornell basketball game.  It will be a slaughter but you’ll get to see Dunleavy and Boozer up close.

Get TAKENOTE as soon as possible!

Although you have amazing writing skills and can write a 10 page paper in 5 hours, perhaps you should cut back on the procrastination so that you can get more sleep.

Venture out in the commons more often.

Invest in some long johns.  I honestly don’t know how you made it 4 years without them.

Utilize your gym membership.

Understand that some people are just assholes.  Don’t let their foolishness affect you or make you blue.

Go to the vineyards and take a wine tour.

I know that first day of rugby seemed kind of scary but you should stick it out and see how it goes.

Fire & Ice, Ice 101, and Blackhaus lead to bad decisions that usually can’t be remembered the next day.  Along the same lines, a pitcher of Long Island Iced Tea, and any drink with pink or panties in the name will not be to your best benefit.

Not sure exactly why, but someone told some college students that it was cool to go out and party then to come home plastered and attempt to write an away message on AIM.  That is not cute.  No one needs to know that you can barely see let alone type out a coherent thought.  If you must go out  and frequent the bar nights, please come home, drink water, and go to bed.

Lock your phone because Nokia phones like to call everybody.  Especially those you don’t want to speak to.

*****************************************************************************

Lastly and probably most importantly, all kidding aside, cherish the time spent with your loved ones, enjoy life and really live.  Each individual is granted  the opportunity to experience, to inspire, to enjoy their time spent on this earth and we need to always remember that.  In a few hours my life went from an unbelievable high anticipating my graduation and starting my grown up life to a sad, angry mix of disbelief over what the future held.   That experience taught me that it’s important to love more, laugh more, appreciate more, and to live each day to the fullest.

Learn from your mistakes and let them guide your future behaviors.  I can’t say that if I had the opportunity to tell myself all of these little tidbits of information that I would because then I wouldn’t be the person that I am today and I’m not gunna lie, I’m pretty fantastic.

Ok maybe i’d mention the long john bit because Ithaca is cold.

Graduation May 2009, the long awaited day had finally come.  Gone were the days of sprint walking across the Ag quad to get to my classes, and gone were the days of making up excuses for my late assignments. Finally, I was going to be a full time aspiring entrepreneur.  I was going to run my own business…and I couldn’t wait.

On July 31st, I packed up all my belongings from 314 University Ave. and drove away from the gorges Ithaca. I was ready to start, Bernales & Goretti, a women’s eco-clothing line.  Constanza (friend and business partner), and I had it all planned, she would be in Peru and work on the production while I would start working on the business end in New York.  We were to launch B&G by September, a date was not determined we just knew sometime in September…so what happened?

We hit a minor bump, a bump that many entrepreneurs hit when starting their business.  We hit the financial wall, we had build good momentum, had a great concept, energy, enthusiasm, passion, a business plan…but just didn’t have all the necessary funding.  As the business end of B&G its my responsibility to ensure that we keep the momentum going, get sales, and build a brand.

So, how do we get sales, momentum and the business moving according to plan?   Like all other entrepreneurs, we will rely on the 3Fs – family, friends and fools, additionally we will apply for loans, grants, and self finance it ourselves. Although we didn’t launch as planned in September we are still moving, we will launch in 2010. In the meantime, Constanza will continue to juggle her various jobs in Peru, while simultaneously working on the brand, and I will venture into the job market.

We will see how it goes.

Caution Children are one of the many bands that characterize Ithaca sound

Nestled in the foothills of the Finger Lakes, right in the heart of wine country, Ithaca is a community secluded from the rest of the world. There are no major interstates that cut an unsightly swath through its downtown; no passenger trains rumbling across the Cayuga Valley.  One could easily assume that if it wasn’t for Cornell University and Ithaca College, Ithaca would have just been another Podunk upstate burg at the edges of the Rust Belt.

Yet this small college city, just over a one-hour drive from Syracuse and a little under five from New York City, is home to one of the country’s most eclectic, powerful, and thriving music scenes.

After all, the ever-elusive “Ithaca Sound” was created here, a fusion of familiar and ethnic music styles, fundamental to the popularity and acceptance of Roots. Acclaimed reggae group John Brown’s Body considers Ithaca home, as do country singer Johnny Dowd and folk singers The Burns Sisters.  College-town venue The Nines has been hosting the Blue Monday jam session for over 29 years. And the local award-winning college radio station WICB carries such programming as “Home Brew,” a weekly show dedicated to local music, while graduates at the School of Music at nearby Ithaca College go on to play with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

“Whenever you have a college town like this, you have a naturally reoccurring base,” says Dan Smalls, a concert promoter who has been part of the Ithaca scene since his freshman year in 1989. “A scene is only as good as the musicians who lived here, and there were always great musicians here. If you continue to do cutting-edge music then you’re going to have a good scene.”

Putting a face to Ithaca’s intricate personality is difficult at best, simply because it has too many faces to represent its storied history:  the veteran blues artist, the bartender at one of the hottest venues on the Cornell hill, the bouncer who’s worked all across town, the respected Visitor’s Bureau promoter, the music writer turning the city inside out, and the students who, in just three years, have carved their place in the scene. Each of them has their own stories about the music and the people, the bands and the bars, and none of them can ignore the impact this scene has had on their own lives.

THE BLUESMAN

Music in Ithaca always changes. The scene flows in four-year waves, rising and ebbing with each incoming and outgoing college class. But there are still some elements of permanence here: take Pete Panek, for example – one of the few, rare constants in a city whose musicians often grow up and move out.

“We’re the old guards,” says the 58-year old guitarist and lead singer of his epynomous band, Pete Panek and the Blue Cats. “We’re constant, we’re here forever.”

A consummate bluesman, Panek can recite a who’s-who of blues legends he has shared the stage with: Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Koko Taylor, Charles Musselwhite. He played with the legendary Bo Diddley as his backup band, twice.  Since moving to Ithaca in October 1982, he’s been jamming at The Nines in Collegetown each week — one of the longest-running open blues jams in America, he’s quick to point out.

“In its heyday in the mid-’80s, right after Robert Cray and Stevie Ray Vaughn came out, it was crazy,” he says. “One night 24 guitars showed up to jam.”

As a forum for students to meet and experiment, Ithaca is fertile ground: Panek estimates that 80% of the bands playing at Ithaca’s major venues are college students, as opposed to out-of-town bands.

Yet it’s retaining these acts that’s the major problem.

Panek acknowledges that bands in Ithaca frequently outgrow their small college-town status. Those that move to Boston or New York to take their chances are rarely heard from again—if they even stay together.

“It could be a case of big fish in a small pond,” he shrugs.

Once band members graduate after being popular for 3 or 4 years, there’s “almost like a scramble” for another band to fill the void. Other times, bands that find success in Ithaca usually stick around, sometimes for a few years, sometimes more.

“There’s always a lot of bands, but the ones that really make it to the top have been together for a while. It takes time to get tight.”

And what works in Ithaca may not always work elsewhere in the country, as Panek points out.

“To be honest with you, a lot of times the bands that are really popular locally for a while, don’t leave town for a reason. Because they’ll get their asses kicked.  Some of the bands are pretty good for Ithaca, but if they leave town they’ll get burnt to death. All of a sudden, they’re a little lightweight. It’s a problem.”

But with the talent from the music schools, Panek knows that Ithaca won’t come up short for new and diverse bands anytime soon, and especially now.

“The music is good, the bands are as good as ever, and getting better,” says Panek, keeping an eye on how the current school year is progressing. “It remains to be seen. This semester’s so young.”

THE BARTENDER

Talk to enough people in town about good venues for live music, and a few names will emerge from the riffraff: The Nines. Castaways. Felicia’s Atomic Lounge. The Shop.

Ask John Peterson his favorite venue, and he’ll surely tell you the Haunt Bar and Grille, which he owned until 1996.

Originally, Peterson had intended to stay in Ithaca only for one summer after graduating Cornell. He took up a bartender job at The Haunt in 1972, back when the venue featured one or two local bands covering the Allman Brothers every week. Peterson didn’t stand for it.

“I knew exactly what the college kids wanted,” says Peterson. “It was later in the 70s, between 1976 and 1977 that we started bringing live entertainment back. Strictly original bands. No bands that played covers. I wanted bands that played original music.”

More original bands started to filter in, playing original reggae and blues.  And eventually, Peterson became a partner and stayed in Ithaca to steer The Haunt towards becoming the institution it is now.

In those initial years Peterson took a trendsetting approach to booking, oftentimes bucking the trend on mainstream music. For him, working at The Haunt was a “labor of love.”

“Having a nightclub was just a cool thing and I was very enthused about bringing these bands in,” he said.  “I would promote them really hard, and as opposed to bringing in what people really wanted, I brought in bands I thought I could develop a market for.”

Those acts included the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughn, who Peterson paid $250 for in 1981 — the same Stevie Ray Vaughn who went on to record Texas Flood and cement his reputation as one of the most acclaimed guitarists of this generation.

“I used to let the bands stay at my house back then,” recalls Peterson, “and Stevie was leaving kind of late after the act. He planned to stay in their van, but he stayed at my place for four to five nights. With his guitar.”

After being in town for so long, someone like Peterson starts to notice trends. Jam bands are on their way out, he says, a sentiment he shares with Panek. Heavy metal struggles to find a thriving audience. Soul and funk are currently crowd-pleasers, as well as African-inspired roots music mixed with good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll.

“The thing that makes me happy about Ithaca now is that it’s known as a town that really supports alternative ethnic music,” Peterson said. “People in Ithaca have a broad taste of music. It’s that kind of community… there’s a definite vibe in Ithaca that makes creative type people stick around that will help keep the scene alive.”

THE BOUNCER

Tim Mavros may be a self-proclaimed metalhead, but his job takes him all across town and across all different genres of music. He’s a bouncer who’s worked almost every major club in Ithaca and tossed drunks and underage kids out of most of them, but he is a man who enjoys the crowd too much to be confrontational.

Working directly with the shows also means that he’s seen the scene change from time to time and knows which venues he enjoys working with (Dark Star Orchestra are among the most entertaining of the “hippie shows”) and which ones may give him trouble (the nascent hip-hop scene isn’t his cup of tea). He enjoys the crowd, he enjoys the glimpses of the show he catches from the door, and he clearly enjoys his job.

He’s also felt the sting of the economic recession, which threatens to pull the carpet out from under the entire scene.

“The prices of everything went up,” he explains. “New York State wants to raise the liquor taxes. So you’re forcing the venues to up their prices, and it deters them from buying what they would usually buy.”

Venue owners rely on college students’ billion-dollar-strong disposable income to survive and thrive. When the recession hit, club owners were worried that their crowds would disappear, and reacted by reducing shows during the slow weekday stretches. But mercifully, the crowds haven’t disappeared altogether, the talent hasn’t vanished like the money has, and musicians are simply requesting more free gigs.

And the love-hate relationship between the permanent residents of Ithaca and the rowdy students on the Hill makes for an interesting dynamic.

“Townies don’t like the students,” explains Mavros, “but they know they bring the jobs. Even mine.”

THE PROMOTER

Fortunately for Bruce Stoff, this summer’s tourism season shook off the worst effects of the recession. A 10-year Ithaca resident, Stoff is the communications manager of the Ithaca/Tompkins County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. His job entails drawing visitors to hike along Ithaca’s famous gorges, tour the wineries on the nation’s first wine trail, kayak down Cayuga Lake, go swimming at Buttermilk Falls, and do some shopping in the newly refurbished downtown Ithaca Commons.

And, while they’re in town, maybe catch a show or two.

“We just love the local music scene here, it’s fun. And we love getting all the national acts coming through,” says Stoff. “But from a tourism perspective, from the visitor’s bureau we just like to spread the word that people can come here and catch a good show.”

Stoff has been involved with the annual GrassRoots Festival for years — the “festival of music and dance,” featuring performers like Donna the Buffalo, has become a staple for folk fans across the country. And it’s one of the many promotions Stoff has worked on during his tenure here.

“We did a CD of local Ithaca music,” explains Stoff, “featuring some of the bands that are popular here. And we inserted it into 12-packs of Ithaca beer that were sold throughout the Northeast. And that was cool, just putting local music out with beer and letting people know there’s a fun music scene here.”

Additional projects target nearby metropolitan areas such as Philadelphia, whose NPR station is working with Stoff to bring Lyle Lovett to town for an interview on the program “World Café.”

And the Chamber of Commerce does what it can to help out small and new businesses, says Stoff. Finding sources of funding for clubs, with their razor-thin profit margins, can be difficult, but when they become successful these businesses are a boon to tourism. That’s why local nightclub Felicia’s Atomic Lounge was recently picked by the Chamber as the Best New Business of the Year.

“You don’t expect a chamber to pick a bar or a club as the Best Business of the Year,” says Stoff. “That’s how they try to bring attention to it.”

Seventy to 80 percent of the 750,000 visitors to Ithaca are in town primarily for the waterfalls and the downtown attractions. And after that, the remaining tourists are evenly split between the restaurants, the water sports, and the wine. To them, the music scene almost feels like an afterthought—a testament to Ithaca’s relative isolation on the national stage.

“It’s a little hard to get on the national radar like that,” says Stoff. “But there’s a really strong contingent of national performers who live here, especially with the roots scene.”

It’s a challenge for Stoff, who acknowledges that while student musicians develop their talents in Ithaca, they make their professional impacts in major cities like New York.

“The biggest stumbling block is, how do you keep the talent here long enough to really develop a name for the location? As soon as they start getting really good and popular, they move on to where they can get big shows and media attention.”

THE JOURNALIST

Or perhaps there are those in town who wouldn’t want Ithaca to become huge and corporatized, like the faceless record conglomerates in Los Angeles. Jim Catalano has been covering the scene since 1992, when he wrote a weekly music column entitled “Soundoff” for the Ithaca Journal. Despite being laid off in June 2009, he plans to continue covering music.

Being a music journalist means that he caught a lot of shows, including Dread Zeppelin, Soul Asylum, Buddy Guy and Jeff Buckley. When he first moved to town The Haunt was located downtown instead of by the waterfront, Castaways was a metal bar called Max’s, and locals could earn a good living not only by playing clubs but also fraternities, hotels, and college dorms. The scene ebbs and flows, he says, “but that’s mainly due to the types of venues in town and the local promoters, rather than the musicians themselves.”

Today, Catalano believes the scene is poised for another upswing. With talented and dedicated promoters who understand the scene well, and two newly refurbished venues set to open, “I think it will continue to be bright,” says Catalano.

He believes underground shows like Popcorn Youth, the Ithaca Underground, and Cornell University’s Fanclub Collective are shaping the contemporary scene today. Local bands such as the Sim Redmond Band, J-san & the Analogue Sons, and John Brown’s Body are also putting out new music that, no matter how large or small the crowd is, will manage to draw an audience.

And mercifully for his career, Catalano always finds something to write about.

“I’ve had people ask me how I could possibly write a weekly music column for 17 years,” he saoid. “I usually tell them that between the strong local scene, the number of cool national touring acts that visit, and the variety of regional concerts in the summer, when it’s easier to travel, there’s almost always something worthwhile to write about.”

THE YOUNG BLOOD

Worthwhile new acts, in fact, lie no further than Ithaca’s South Hill, home to the music-intensive Ithaca College and dozens of young student acts.

The six beard-toting, flannel-wearing members of Caution Children spent their junior year in a house on South Hill, drinking Utica Club, recording demo tracks for Myspace and playing gigs on and off campus when they had the time.  Though they’ve since moved into separate houses, they’ve still become something of a fixture on the college scene — so much so, in fact, that they seem to open, headline or otherwise involve themselves in every show that IC puts on.

But for keyboardist and IC senior Aaron Terkel, at least, Caution Children are more a band from Ithaca than a band from Ithaca College.  It’s an atmosphere that he and other college acts say is very hospitable to young bands, largely because the local scene itself is so vibrant.

“There’s a lot of music in this town,” Terkel said by e-mail.  “It has been said that there are more musicians (or at least, musically inclined people) per capita in Ithaca than anywhere else in upstate NY… Local music will always be present and be a big driving force behind what keeps people going in this town.”

Caution Children originally formed in 2007, after an open mic night at IC’s Campus Center.  The band began as a kind of free-spirited collective, sitting on a rainbow parachute and jamming out on toy instruments.  As they began practicing more regularly and playing actual songs, they gained a small following and a reputation for spirited, often riotous, live shows, complete with the token parachute and the “pistols in the sky” hand gesture that have become something of a calling card.

Last year, they opened for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart at Cornell University.  This month, they’ll play an IC homecoming event.  And over the upcoming winter break, the band intends to record their debut album with Sixteen Sixteen, an artist label and collective started by frontman Steve Burton’s high school friend Chris Ploss and home to fellow IC acts Radio the Ape, Kites in Space and Dandy Little Lions.

But Caution Children are a part of the four-year cycle that Pete Panek and other scene vets cite as critical to Ithaca’s music scene: most of the band’s six are not native to Central New York, and though they groan — literally — at the mention of post-graduation plans, it doesn’t seem that they’re likely to stay in the area.  Few college bands do, said CJ Knowles, a 2008 IC grad and the former frontman of now-defunct folk-pop act the Tundra Toes.

“College bands are in a lot of ways flashes in the pan doomed to fizzle out once everyone graduates,” he wrote in an e-mail interview. “But each one definitely leaves behind some influence, particularly on the administration’s support for college music and the local venues’ ideas of its worth.”

Knowles said that Jack Bauer and Stanley and the Livingstons were critical in paving the way for his band, while Tundra Toes went on to clear the way for Caution Children.  There’s a lot of crossover between the three bands: Caution Children’s saxophonist, Reece Lazarus, used to play with Tundra Toes, while Knowles once played with Stanley and the Livingstons.

Caution Children also share their bassist, Mike Grippi, with Dandy Little Lions, a noise-driven electro act that went on hiatus when keyboardist Jake Forney and drummer Nick Carr graduated last spring.  Forney has since relocated to Brooklyn, while Carr lives in Rhode Island.  There’s no word on if or when the Dandy Little Lions will return.

But that isn’t the case for every college band playing Castaways and The Nines these days.  Nick Bullock, Jason Pratt and Devon Reehl met in the IC dorms in 2000 — nearly 10 years and two line-up changes later, Revision remains a staple of the funk/jazz scene.

Keyboardist Jonathan Petronzio said that it’s a scene on the brink — a fact that explains why Revisions, at least, have never left.

“I’ve often wondered why and how Ithaca isn’t viewed as the Nashville of the Northeast,” he said.  “I compare Ithaca’s music to the likeness of a Carnival quarter machine where all of the quarters are lined up teetering on the edge, and ready to fall at any time… We only need one band to break.”

When all is said and done, the future of the Ithaca music scene appears as strong as ever, in spite of the recent recession, changes to the scene and changes to the industry overall.  The trendsetters of contemporary music are still here, coming and going every four years: these kids know what they want and they are ready to reshape this weird and beautiful town in their own ever-changing image.

“So do what you want, don’t follow trends, make your own trends,” Panek advised newcomers to Ithaca’s music scene.  “And then let them follow you, wherever that may be.”

– story by Blake Rong and Caitlin Dewey
– additional reporting by Donata Lockett and Jamie Miles

Last week I explained that this year the Ithaca College chapter of Habitat for Humanity, the national organization that strives for more accessible low-income housing, has added an additional goal to its sights: advocacy to end homelessness. At the latest IC Habitat meeting, I met the man who provoked this change: Erik Lehmann, who spoke last April at the on-campus “Act. Speak. Build.” week camp-out on the quad. Erik founded the Cornell Coalition for the Homeless when he was a student at Cornell University nearly 20 years ago. You see, after a long-term tension and dispute with his mother, Erik found himself kicked out of his home and living in a homeless shelter at the age of 17. After about a month, his best friend’s parents took him in, adopted him, and became his new parents, paying for his college, so he started the on-campus homelessness awareness organization as a way of “paying it forward” from his parents on to other people in difficult situations. He later went on to speak on behalf of the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Erik understands what it means to be homeless, even more so now, after years of researching and interacting with people living in poverty. Now, in his budding partnership with IC Habitat, he is challenging other young people to really consider the reasons that they are volunteering or participating in community service. This way, he reasons, more people will build an understanding of why people are in difficult economic situations and, eventually, we can reach a global solution.

IC Habitat is a unique aid organization because at builds, people who will ultimately benefit from Habitat by moving into one of these volunteer-constructed homes work right alongside other volunteers. This, Erik says, is an incredible opportunity to speak with and learn from the experiences of people who are suffering financially.

He said, “Housing is one part of the plight of the homeless, but there are other things you need to explore. Challenge yourself to ask the questions of the people who you’re serving with. Start looking at someone eye-to-eye, and that’s when you’ll start changing someone’s world.”

Erik’s new relationship with IC Habitat looks certain to help the campus chapter develop a greater collective understanding of the work that Habitat members do. His passion for poverty and homeless relief is infectious and admirable, and perhaps this will move current students to do something amazing with their individual talents.

Keep your eye out for a guest blog post from Erik! And check back for updates as I prepare to make the trek (well…drive) to Washington, D.C. for an IC Habitat winter break trip to build homes in the community there!

(Note: 3 seconds of pad at top; four on bottom)

WASHINGTON — Some experts say the cap and trade bill making its way through Congress will cause energy prices to skyrocket.  But, two Cornell professors think it will actually help New York’s farmers.  So they took to Capitol Hill to make their case to Congress.  Our Washington Correspondent Solomon Syed has the story…