Cornell!

Once upon a time....I looked at Cornell University as a hopeful soon-to-be undergrad (disenchanted by both the expense and the expanse however), applied as a graduate student (turned down; no funding), but now, finally, they are paying me to go there. So I do get to be a part of that ivy league community on the hill in the valley of wine and Moosewood! A Research Technician am I, in the sustainable cropping systems lab.

This was one of those jobs that did not exist, but I met the professor heading the lab this fall; he knew of my background and research interests in cover crops and weeds, and I told him I'd cited his papers all throughout my thesis. "So tell me what you like to do and what you don't like to do," he told me, "we'd like to create a position for you." 

And so I got a job I never applied for.

I say that is pretty great indeed.

I showed up to My First Day At Work yesterday, and was presented with a typed list: "Sandra Wayman's Responsibilities" all numbered out. I appreciated this straight-forward organization, and the items on the list will be challenging without being insurmountable, fun for an agricultural plant nerd like me, and capped neatly at 40 hours per week. None of this working 8pm on a Friday for me, thank you.

What is maybe most exciting is that I will be managing a project on perennial grains. Perennial grains are one of our greatest oppurtunities to really feed this hungry and burgeoning population: most of the world's diet is grain, and having to plow and plant each crop annually is hugely taxing on our agricultural resources. So working on a crop that only needs to be planted every 5 years or so will be tremendous for conserveration.


While this project is nifty and exciting, the building I am working in is not unfortunately: a towering fortress with no windows (save for two sets at hallway end). One could be in this tall tomb all day, not knowing whether it was sunny or snowing. Having finished a season of work in the field, where I was intimately entwined with whether (weather) it was sunny or snowing, I feel like part of my soul is being scorned not being able to see the sky. (call me sensitive; ok, fine: so I'm a plant)  But! In the little alcove by the rare and token windows are a collection of plants, not mild-mannered plants either, and a seat. This is my Plants & Sky Office and my coworkers will just have to look for me there working away on my laptop while I am filling my quota.

My coworkers are mostly graduate students, in plaid shirts and hardy jeans, nerdy (but not the Chemistry Nerdy, the Farmy Nerdy) and sincere plant people and I like them already.

While I wait for my dreamy apartment in Ithaca to become free, I am living with Aunt Singing and Uncle Bass in a nearby town, and their dogs Big Dog, Bigger Dog, and Engaging Cat (see Figure 1). I like this cat very much. Cat and I did yoga together last night, me in downward dog and Cat in flopping cat below. And there was purring. Then Cat leapt, in that effortless grace known only to Olympic competitors and cats, to my dresser and played Knock Things Over.

Aunt and Uncle are being exceptionally kind and letting me stay in their large, beautiful, and very warm house. Oh! If one must have winter, there is no better house in which to have it...  I also am enjoying the contrast of my aunt's kitchen cupboards with my mothers. Aunt gave me a tour of the kitchen, opening doors and featuring the contents, "here's some...stuff. And here's some more...stuff." The canned tomatoes by the plastic bags and its all fine because you don't have to spend time sorting, just as long as it is all visible when you open the doors. Her Tupperware cabinet was my favorite: an act of balanced entropy, the Medium Square resting inscrutably across a Tall Round and you lift it out, and there tips a Small Triangle to fill it's place. You close the door swiftly with a hand to block gravitational forces and go on with life.

My mother's cabinet is a completely different matter. The Tupperware are sets of Matrushka dolls in military rank formation, organized by size and structure: to get at Square Medium you must heft out the Square Smalls and Square Larges--the veritable entire battalian of squares--and then replace everybody. It is an Entropy Free Zone.  I love both woman and their cabinets.

Figure 1. Me and Engaging Cat, whose real name is Bubbles.