36 hours in ithaca

And then, that hour the star rose up, the clearest, brightest star, that always heralds the newborn light of day, the deep-sea-going ship made landfall on the island . . . Ithaca, at last.
-Homer, The Odyssey

Taking a page from The New York Times travel section, I bring you my weekend in Ithaca, New York. The town ordered up some wonderful weather for my visit: 75 degrees and sunny, unheard-of conditions for this area of the country in November. (In fact, it was a hell of a lot colder here at the end of April, when I last visited.) And the leaves were in full color, bright reds and golden yellows, just for me. I walked around Cornell's campus a bit and kept remarking that one vista or another was "gorgeous," much to my companion's amusement. (I like this one, too.) I am also a huge fan of the lovely, classical-inspired place names in Ithaca and its environs: Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Romulus, Pompey, Apulia, Fabius, Delphi Falls, Lake Seneca, Pharsalia, Marathon, and Cincinnatus, plus Courtland, Dryden, Auburn, and Byron, some of the more famous translators of Homer.

Friday
7:30 pm. Pyramid Mall Regal Cinemas. I took in a movie, something I almost never do. I wasn't thrilled with my choices--I really wanted to see Capote or Good Luck, and Good Night--but I had in spite of myself gotten excited about the concept of going to the movies. So I picked Jarhead, the story of Anthony Swofford's tour of duty with the Marines in Desert Storm, based on his book of the same name. It was excellent. Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, and Jamie Foxx star in this very interesting account of the modern American military experience; its release is very timely, I think, as it speaks to the current conflict in Iraq in its assessment of the earlier. In the background, haunting the protagonist and his peers, is the spectre of other American wars that all seem, if not more purposeful, then at least more action-filled. At one point, The Doors' "Break on Through"--Vietnam's anthem--blasts though Swofford's camp in the desert. He kvetches, "Can't they play something else? That's their song, not ours." The film is a sympathetic look at the military's effects on the psyche of one Marine and treats the subject with a nice mix of humor and gravity. Plus, Kanye West's "Jesus Walks," the theme song of the previews, plays at the credits. I just love that song.

(N.B. 11/09/05: The Federal Diarist just alerted me to the controversy surrounding the movie.)


Saturday
1:00 pm. Speech by Drug Policy Alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann. In town for the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy's symposium, "The Latest Developments in the War on Drugs," Nadelmann gave a rousing and inspiring talk about his vision for a rational, compassionate, harm-reductive national drug policy. One of his more striking observations involved a comparison of alcohol and drug prohibition periods in the States. The former was repealed when people still could remember the time before prohibition; however, no one knows what it is like to live with a drug policy other than the current. Our problem, then, is one of imagination--we just can't conceive of anything else, and we naturally prefer the devil we know.

6:30 pm. Dinner at Renee's, considered to be one of the best restaurants in Ithaca. The location is unconventional, the first floor of an rundown office complex, so you have to be buzzed into the building and walk through several hallways of harsh lighting and bad art to get to a beautiful, softly-lit, wood-paneled room. I enjoyed quite a few glasses of Gavi, a light, fruity Italian white, along with a green salad, fettuccine, and my favorite of the evening, pumpkin crème brûlée. The company and conversation were equally engaging, with topics ranging from kashrut laws concerning monkfish to race riots in France.

10:00 pm. Drinks at the Chanticleer. Old friends, good music, decent beer, and fiery whiskey!

Sunday
1:00 pm. Brunch at Stella's, the fancy place in Collegetown, with the best liquor selection (but no SoCo) and decent beer choices. I enjoyed an excellent omelette with brie, tomatoes, and onions, served with home fries and wheat toast, and a side helping of the Sunday Times. It really doesn't get any better than a highly-caffeinated brunch, the sports section, and the book review.

3:30 pm. Downtown shopping at American Crafts by Robbie Dein. Beautiful glass and original jewelry, including a wonderful selection of Judaica. I got a new necklace!