So today was the fabulous
inauguration of Cornell's new president, David J. Skorton. I have no idea who this guy in the picture is but obviously someone famous. You can tell because he's carrying a scepter... I happened to walk through the ag quad while all this fanfare was going on; fortuitously I happened to be right by the walkway where all the Important People processed. It really tickled my fancy that the three visiting Quechua men from
Vicos, Peru, were practically at the head of the parade! You can see them at the far right of the photo above! I am going to be giving them a tour of campus tomorrow morning so you can see what an Important Person I am, by association :-). I thought it was really nice that they were honored in this way, but I imagine they got pretty bored during the hour+ of speechifying that followed (which I fortunately missed most of, thanks to a coffee date with some folks from my department). I came back for the last half hour or so, just in time to see the crowd lining up for the free food:
And after that, the live dance performances!!! There was a group of about 10 Asian guys who did an amazing breakdance performance, then a merengue group of 3 couples, and then THIS:
It was the most joyful, lively, athletic thing I've seen since the last time Terry vacuumed the apartment. I am overusing the word amazing, but it was. Too bad these pictures are so bad - basically it was 8 Middle Eastern men dancing Bhangra, in these fantastic costumes. Just marvelous, and totally worth standing in the hot sun for. I do like the statue in the background of this picture,
A. D. White looking on in bemusement. Great contrast.
So today was the fabulous inauguration of Cornell's new president, David J. Skorton. I have no idea who this guy in the picture is but obviously someone famous. You can tell because he's carrying a scepter... I happened to walk through the ag quad while all this fanfare was going on; fortuitously I happened to be right by the walkway where all the Important People processed. It really tickled my fancy that the three visiting Quechua men from Vicos, Peru, were practically at the head of the parade! You can see them at the far right of the photo above! I am going to be giving them a tour of campus tomorrow morning so you can see what an Important Person I am, by association :-). I thought it was really nice that they were honored in this way, but I imagine they got pretty bored during the hour+ of speechifying that followed (which I fortunately missed most of, thanks to a coffee date with some folks from my department). I came back for the last half hour or so, just in time to see the crowd lining up for the free food: 
It was the most joyful, lively, athletic thing I've seen since the last time Terry vacuumed the apartment. I am overusing the word amazing, but it was. Too bad these pictures are so bad - basically it was 8 Middle Eastern men dancing Bhangra, in these fantastic costumes. Just marvelous, and totally worth standing in the hot sun for. I do like the statue in the background of this picture, A. D. White looking on in bemusement. Great contrast.
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