Political pundits at Rattle believe a few people in Tompkins County (home of Ithaca College and Cornell University) may trickle out to vote for Barack Obama, given that this county was the only county in New York State to choose Obama in the primary on February 5.  There even may be a few voters for another candidate whose running mate is pop star Sarah Palin, but we can't remember the name of the candidate or the party.  Can we afford some fact-checkers around here?  Or even some fact-finders?

Earlier today Rattle reached Steve Seidman, commentator-in-demand on NPR, by e-mail.  Seidman, who will lead a discussion at the Handwerker Gallery on Election Day, argues that business marketing tactics are becoming more important in political campaigns around the world.  These tactics, familiar to marketers for decades, are being used to attract a wider audience to politics.  This development is a detriment to public policy, according to some scholars.  However, Seidman also mentions Pippa Norris and others, who argue that these tactics have not had an adverse effect on cause activism, because younger people are less apathetic than their elders.  He cites examples from the campaigns of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in Britain, Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki in South Africa, and Bill Clinton in the United States.

"The trend is toward an increase in image management, with an emphasis on personality, rather than emphasizing issues," Seidman says.

Event Details:

Steve Seidman
Election Day Salon, "Political Marketing and the 2008 Campaign"
Handwerker Gallery, Gannett Center, Ithaca College campus
Election Day, Tuesday, November 4, 4:00 p.m.

The idiot who edits this blog was supposed to tell you all about how Tom Wolfe was coming to speak last night at Emerson Suites. Said moron was going to enlighten you as to the oeuvre of the man many call "America's only public intellectual," since anyone who saw the film adaptation of Bonfire of the Vanities would have naturally assumed it had been written by a committee conscripted entirely from the head trauma ward.

Alas, as often happens when cold medicine and bile convene, our dimwit-in-chief forgot to actually post the story he wrote in a timely fashion. Thus, we're left with this pitiful post-game analysis. Which, as it happens, is rendered even more pathetic by the fact that none of us actually attended the event in question.

There was an incident with pumpkins -- that's all I'm going to say.

Anyhoo, we'd love to hear what people thought of the Man in the Eternally White Suit, especially since he went all Bushie these past few years. In the meantime, check out this podcast from the New York Times and listen to TW tell all about an ancient and strange time clandestinely known as "the sixties" (we Rattlers prefer "the Great American Weirdness"):

http://readingroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/the-man-in-full/

If you get energy from waking up on a chilly, drizzly morning, pulling on a light jacket, and heading out to do some pruning and mulching, then we have a job for you!  Turns out quite a few Ithaca College students jump at the chance to do this sort of meaningful labor, and even better, they do it for free.  Other volunteers aided local people with cancer, developed strategies to conserve food, and paired off with middle school students to talk with them and their parents about the value of a college education.

It's all part of National Make a Difference Day, which drew 1,200 in Ithaca alone.

The vid clip, slow-going at first, warms up when you see these students are persevering in sweatpants and sweatshirts on a cold, gray day, having fun, and getting good work done.  At least, when the camera was rolling, it wasn't raining.  They deserve credit!

 

We hear a rumor that there's going to be a massive pillow fight at 5:30 p.m. today in the Fitness Center. And that they want 1,000 kids to show up! Truth? Fiction? Who knows? 

We put the Rattle Reseach Team on the case and discovered that the pillow fight world record was once set in nearby Albany when, in 2005, over 3,600 University of Albany students staged one. They even brought the Guinness people into the act.

The following year, a conference in Atlanta claimed to set the record with 10,000 participants:

But, world record or no, we're looking forward to seeing whether this rumor pans out.

If any of our dedicated readers happen to attend and take a photo, send it to cpollock@ithaca.edu and we'll consider publishing it here. We've seen our share of strange workouts at the Fitness Center, but nothing like a thousand kids smacking the stuffing out of each other.

When Congress approved the $700 billion rescue plan, it also passed what Time magazine calls one of the most significant mental-health bills in U.S. history — the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.

The bill requires insurers to provide the same coverage for people with mental illness, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and substance addiction, as they do for bodily ailments.  (What? Do you keep your brain in a bell jar beside your bed?)

I asked Cheryl Freer, director of Benefits in the Office of Human Resources, how this law might affect Ithaca College employees.  She says the College soon will begin looking at the medical plan designs to ensure compliance with the new regulations.  "Although our maximum number of visits [for mental health care and substance abuse treatment] is currently quite generous, the new plan design will take away any barrier to ensuring members get the treatment they need covered under the medical plan regardless of time frame. The College is self-insured, however, I don't expect a large increase in cost to the College due to the new regulations because, as I said, the current number of visits is already quite generous."

Deborah Harper, director of the Counseling Center at the Hammond Health Center, says this law is an important piece of legislation for the country.  "If it works as intended, it will have a great impact on people with mental illness and the many people who live with them and love them."  She added that Ithaca College students have access, without charge, to psychological services at the Counseling Center.  "For students who need or choose treatment off-campus, insurance should cover more of those costs or cover more services.  Many of our students, who can receive counseling for free, worry about family members who need but cannot access services or afford to pay for them.  This legislation will bring some relief.  For faculty, staff, and their families, access to treatment, at least for financial reasons, should improve."

"When we provide adequate and appropriate services to those in need, the community is less fearful and can be healthier," Harper said.  "When people feel safe and cared for, then they are able to concentrate on work, study, and productivity, and make useful contributions to society."

Rattle knows not everyone could make it home for break (for that matter, we also know some of you would rather chew off your own ears than ride an ever-ripening bus for six miserable hours to hear another chorus of "those pants are horrible -- what were you thinking?"). We feel your pain.

There's not much action on campus this weekend, but Billy Bragg will be at the State Theatre Saturday night, which pretty much makes up for missing out on a weekend spent having awkward moments at Starbucks with your high school ex.

We're pretty spoiled for choice here in Ithaca, with some of the best indie, soul, rock, and world music year-round. But Billy Bragg is special. He's the post-punk folky love child of Woody Guthrie and Joe Strummer, and for the last 25 years he's made some of the best music you'll ever hear. His Mermaid Avenue collaborations with Wilco were epic, and his solo records bite and snarl like two pitbulls in a bird cage. Countless pop-punk and emo bands would kill to sound this tough, and Billy tends to do most of it alone with just his guitar and his guts. The pre-Madonna Guy-Ritchie-thug-movie/soccer 'ooligan accent probably doesn't hurt.

There are so many killer songs, but if you don't know Billy's stuff, you should start at the beginning with "A New England." Just don't hold the 1983 haircut against him -- different times, me pups.

Get your tickets here. If you shoot any pics at the show, send us a link with your comments and we'll flaunt your shutterbug magic.

In any other town the image below would be pretty easy to interpret.

Is it an end-of-season camping goods sale? An encampment of newly unemployed Wall Street traders? Scalpers drooling over themselves in anticipation of tickets for the oft-rumored Led Zeppelin reunion? The latest solution to dorm overcrowding?

Not in Ithaca, baby. That there is a queue for buying used books. The diehards sleep rough for days to get the best $1 copies of Ulysses and Horton Hears a Who.

The Friends of the Library Book Sale begins tomorrow. You simply will not qualify as an Ithacan until you've witnessed the spectacle.

Read all about it.

Hey, it's Thursday! Must be time for a little controversy.

The Ithaca College Theatre main stage season kicks off tonight with The Exonerated, Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen’s play based on the true stories of six people wrongfully accused of capital crimes and eventually released from death row.

So, probably not one for Date Night or an evening's frolic with the young'uns. But certainly worth seeing.

http://www.ithaca.edu/hs/depts/theatre/main/

One of the subjects of the authors' research, Kerry Max Cook, will be giving a free talk this Friday (Oct. 10) at 3:30 p.m. in Textor 102. Wrongly convicted of murder and rape, Cook spent two decades on death row until a series of retrials unearthed enough evidence of police misconduct to grant him a reprieve. Subsequent DNA evidence cleared him completely, though he still has yet to be officially pardoned.

And you thought you had it tough with mid-terms.

Cook will sign copies of his book, Chasing Justice, at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 11, in the lobby of Dillingham Center before the 2:00 p.m. matinee of The Exonerated. The evening of October 11, Cook is also participating in a talk-back at 9:45 p.m. in the Clark Theatre at Dillingham Center, immediately following the 8:00 p.m. performance.

Capital punishment isn't one of those fence-sitter issues; most people have pretty strong opinions one way or the other. Check out the show, talk with Kerry, and let us know if it changed your mind. Or if you liked the play, for that matter.

For whatever reason I'm terribly sentimental about the "golden age" of television (which ended about half an hour before I returned my cable box in disgust last year). I love those grainy shots of Edward R. Murrow, chain smoking while propped on the edge of his desk, telling us how we were pretty much doomed. I love the one where Lucy and Ethel get the job in the chocolate factory, or the fact that the woman chosen for the Westinghouse appliance TV ad campaign became a sex symbol in an age of nearly Victorian social repression. There's a certain kitschy "ye olde" quality to television in the 50s, possibly because I wasn't actually there to endure it in real time.

We have in our midst a treasure from that age, and it shows no signs of slowing down. ICTV went on the air March 3, 1958, which makes it the oldest student-run television station in the state.

In the country.

In the western hemisphere.

In the world, people -- the world!

Even the Sputnik-era Soviet edu-factories couldn't top the mighty Ithaca College. My pobedim! (We will prevail!)

Anyway, on Oct. 18 ICTV is putting on an all-day shindig, complete with tailgating BBQ, studio tours, cocktails, and more. Watch some football, eat some grub, and if you're lucky, watch some REALLY old student TV.

Read all about it: http://www.ithaca.edu/rhp/community/ictv50/

Oh, if you're an alumni planning to attend, you might want to sign up today. October 8 is in fact the deadline for registration.

Marianne is a sophomore and a DJ at WICB.

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