If the thought of poring through an annual report fills you with dread, take a look at Cornell University Library’s mold-breaking 2007 edition. The 5-by-7 inch, 64-page report, designed by Carla DeMello and written by Ellen Marsh, Chris Philipp and Cornell Chronicle staff, bursts with vivid color and striking imagery. Brief text – another welcome departure from the genre’s often stupefying verbiage – accompanies illustrations, photos and art that suggest the breadth of the Library’s vast holdings. Closing the booklet is a Roz Chast cartoon, in which the New Yorker contributor, as a child, encounters a large selection of cartoon collections in a library at Cornell (which of the Library’s 20 branches is not specified). The report makes the case that the Library is central to the university, its “Mind Body Soul.” Enjoy the report here.

A new Summer Session distance learning course offered this year, “Caribbean Dialogs,” will explore themes such as new world history, colonialism, diaspora, trauma, violence and tourism, while using art from the Caribbean as a case study. The four-credit course grew from a group blog, then a wiki, into a class offered entirely online. Visit Summer Session or call (607) 255-4987.

Gary Scott Schneidkraut – he drops the last name for showbiz purposes – is a Hotel School student who has successfully exploited Internet sites to launch a career as a stand-up comic. He’s even incorporated his comedic interests with his academics, completing an independent study course with Erica Wagner, assistant professor of information systems, and written about how social networking technologies have aided his career. His work with Wagner, he says, “helped me put all of my work and comedy exposure into focus.” Among his self-marketing techniques: Schneidkraut directs comedy club bookers to his YouTube.com clips to land gigs. Once hired, he hits up Facebook friends to populate the audience (he also incorporates criticism from Facebook viewers into his act). To maintain buzz, he includes his YouTube links in his instant messages. Schneidkraut will graduate in December 2008 and go on a comedy tour before beginning a “real job.” See Gary Scott perform here.

Following its April 5 regatta against Georgetown, Cornell’s crew team and a large crowd of spectators celebrated the christening of a new four-seat scull, the “Michael J. Lacasse ’98.”

Lacasse became ill in 1998 after graduating with a B.S. in landscape architecture. He died in 2000 after a two-year battle with lymphoma, shortly before his 24th birthday. The scull was purchased and presented to crew coach Dan Roock by 11 of Lacasse’s crewmates from the classes of 1997 and 1998.

The dedication ceremony featured comments by Roock and Jim Stratton ’98, who led the effort to commemorate his friend; and Mike’s parents, Kathy and Ken Lacasse, who christened the hull with water scooped from the finish line in Cayuga Inlet in the first trophy cup won by the Cornell crew team in 1874.

Left to right: Tom Kowal ’97, Matt Ridgway ’97, Ed Connolly ’97, Bruno Tapia ’98, Jeff Upton ’98, Kathy Lacasse, Dan Roock, Ken Lacasse, Geoff Hoffman ’97, Dana Hooper ’97, Sean Magenis ’99, Jim Stratton ’98, Nick Anderson ’97 and Matt Hutchinson ’98.

At the Cornell University Police’s commissioning and swearing-in ceremony April 23, a canine member of the force retired and a new K-9 recruit was introduced. Sabre (above left), an 8-year-old Labrador Retriever who had served on Cornell’s Canine Explosive Detection Team since 2001 and was the first K-9 on the Cornell force, will retire to the home of his partner in crime fighting, Sgt. Jeffery Montesano. Sabre looked on as fellow lab Reggie, who will work with Officer Kevin Noterfonzo (at right), received a collar reading POLICE from Deputy Chief Kathy Zoner. “Sabre’s retirement was harder than I anticipated it being,” said Montesano. “He was a true partner. It sounds weird, but for the last seven years he and I went to work every day depending on one another. It is still hard for Sabre because every day when I leave for work he is waiting in the same spot, ready to leave. However, Sabre has a new friend at home to play with while I am working. My family adopted a 6-month-old beagle puppy named Rudy, who keeps Sabre very busy.”

Cornell has been selected to host the 2008 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse quarterfinals on Sunday, May 18. After upsetting the No. 8 Big Red on May 10, Ohio State will return to Schoellkopf Field to meet No. 1 Duke at noon. The second contest of the day will feature No. 3 Syracuse vs. No. 6 Notre Dame at 2:30 p.m. Admission covers both games.

Advance tickets are available at or by calling (607) 255-4247, Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The will-call window is located in the Athletic Ticket Office in the Bartels Hall lobby. Cornell Big Red Sports Passes are not valid for the game. Tailgating permits are $5 per vehicle and can be purchased as you enter the Crescent Lot. Charcoal grills and pets are prohibited. Tailgating is not allowed in the parking garage.

When we last left Mr. Popcorn, there was no kernel of doubt there’d be more to his story.

The computer-animated character by student filmmaker Alex Krivicich ’08 has won over film and video festival judges and audiences from Providence to L.A., where “Mr. Popcorn: Episode One” won a Producer’s Prize at the College Emmy Awards in March.

Krivicich and “Mr. Popcorn” also recently won the Best Animation prize from the 2008 Ivy Film Festival at Brown University, and the animation was selected in preliminary judging as a finalist in the Student Academy Awards, to be presented June 7 in Los Angeles.

Krivicich is giving the character further adventures. He debuted “Mr. Popcorn: Episode Two” at the annual Student Films Showcase, May 7 at Cornell’s Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. The screening featured work by seven writer-directors in the Advanced Film & Video Projects course, taught by Marilyn Rivchin.

The tagline for the second episode: “A man running from his past … a kernel – trying to escape his future!”

Cornell University ranks among the best, according to the NCAA Division I Academic Progress Report (APR) ratings for enrollment in the 2003-04 through 2006-07 academic years.

The APR measures records for every team in Division I with regard to team members’ continuing eligibility, retention and progress toward graduation. As a conference, the Ivy League is the top in the nation, sweeping the top six spots and placing all eight schools in the top 20.

Cornell tied for 16th place nationally. The NCAA commended 11 Big Red teams for being in the top 10 percent of their sport: baseball, football, golf, men’s lacrosse, men’s tennis, women’s cross country, women’s soccer, softball, women’s tennis, women’s indoor track and women’s outdoor track.

Writing down your thoughts and experiences each day can be a great way to celebrate successes and work through difficult issues. Studies show there are health benefits associated with putting it down on paper. When you write about good things that happen to you, get specific: identify why each thing happened and why the event was important to you. Document your daily “good things” for at least a week. Studies show that when you think about the high points in your day and express your gratitude, you feel happier. Similarly, research suggests that when you acknowledge and process painful or disappointing events in your writing, you can let go of associated stress more easily. Writing in a journal before going to bed is a good way to bring closure to a day; it allows you to enjoy a more restorative night’s sleep. Visit Gannett for other stress-reduction tips.

The birthday of Florence Nightingale May 12 caps a week of celebration of National Nurses Week. With health care at the top of the agenda in the upcoming presidential election, nurses are on the frontline of health care reform. And yet there is an enormous nursing shortage in the United States that could rise to 1 million unfilled positions by the end of the next decade. Leading the vanguard of reform have been the nurses of California, who have helped pass state laws that establish mandated nurse-to-patient ratios for hospitals across California. These ratios, and the resulting salary increases, have proven to be so effective in reducing nursing shortages that 13 other states are now considering following California’s lead. Yet some hospitals and managed care providers oppose them for financial reasons. The inside story behind the mandates is the subject of the new Cornell University Press title “Safety in Numbers: Nurse-to-Patient Ratios and the Future of Health Care,” co-authored by Suzanne Gordon ’67.