Monthly Archive for September, 2006

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Treman State Park and Lucifer Falls

Published on 17 September 2006 in Journal. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , .
Given another fantastic day like last Saturday, some of us decided, again, to spend part of the afternoon hiking. This time Joe, Jon, and I headed over to Robert H. Treman State Park, which is perhaps fifteen minutes by car from downtown Ithaca. There we hiked the Gorge Trail up to Lucifer Falls and took the Rim Trail back down. Lucifer Falls In the end, we hiked close to five miles from the mid-afternoon to the early evening. It was pretty up and down, and I imagine that I'm really going to feel it tomorrow, not being accustomed to such things anymore. The views were definitely worth it, though--as with some other things around here, I was reminded of some of the places my family used to hike in the Ozarks when I was younger. In the Forest Of course, the Ozarks haven't got waterfalls like Ithaca. Along the hike today, I commented on how I was going to have entire photo albums full of waterfall pictures by the time I leave here in five years. Then it occurred to me that there's a certain irony in that, seeing that I came here to get a PhD studying fluid mechanics. This led to the declaration that I must, somehow, manage to fit a picture of one of the waterfalls near Ithaca into my thesis. More pictures from this afternoon's adventure are in the gallery. That will do for me for the moment, since it's now past midnight. Must get some sleep or I won't make it through fluids tomorrow morning.

Little Things

Published on 12 September 2006 in Asides. 3 Comments Tags: , , .
I love days like this one where I walk home from class and the sky is sunny and clear so that when I reach the edge of my landlord's property, I can look out over the buildings and see the ridges in the distance beyond them. It reminds me of Arkansas in the very best way.

Remembering 9/11/2001

Published on 11 September 2006 in Journal and Memorable. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .
I've asked myself several times what it is I should say and feel today. I could look on the media's sentimentality with distaste, or I could mourn the freedoms America has lost in the last five years, or I could mourn all those who lost their lives on 9/11 and those who have lost life and limb since in conflicts both justified and unjustified. But when I look back on that September day five years ago and I remember what I felt that day and in the days that followed, I do not simply remember fear. Yes, I was afraid--the U.S. border had closed behind my classmates and I on our field trip to Stratford, Ontario, and we didn't know what was going to happen or when we would see our families again. But overwhelmingly, what I felt that day and in the weeks afterwards was a sense of togetherness. Across America and around the world, people were united then. While my classmates and I gathered around televisions to hear the latest news, the Canadians around us offered us food and shelter while we couldn't get home. In New York City, firefighters and police officers and emergency workers showed a kind of courage I could barely imagine when they rushed to Ground Zero to help the survivors. It didn't matter what color you were or where you lived or what language you spoke or what God you worshipped that day. We just helped one another. It seems to me that, five years later, what we should do is not publicly mourn those we didn't know, nor should we simply mourn what it is that we have become since then in the name of so-called security. What we should do today is take a moment to celebrate what it is that we did that day, when we were a nation undivided by color, race, or religion and united in caring for our fellow human beings.