Telluride House The Cornell Branch of Telluride Association

You know, this is really an amazing day. The campus has been buzzing with anxiety all day, and professors in all of my classes rambled on for at least 10 minutes at the beginning of each class about the historic nature of this day. Now it’s about 11:00 PM EST, and I’m surrounded by my fellow Housemates in the living room of Telluride house watching streaming ABCNews.com projected onto the wall. Wine, cookies, and sparkling cider have been broken out by one and all, and Ian just took an order for victory cocktails. I haven’t been able to focus on any of my work since 8:00 PM because people have been anxiously pacing around the House…and now John McCain is giving his concession speech. It is an honorable speech. But I didn’t mean to ramble on about the election. What I really want to say is — there isn’t anyone I would rather be watching this historic election with in the world.

Posted under Musings

When I’m not in a meeting discussing our bright and funny future house members or planning the formal Halloween party, I make up useless strategies for convincing house members to buy a new pool table. Step one is to get them addicted to playing pool. Step two is to beg faculty guest members to express their wishes for a new pool table in our guest book. Step three quickly takes me back to square one: playing pool and getting fond of the old mini-golf/pool table, with it’s winding cushions and brick legs.. The picture above shows one of our professors during his PubSpeak at the house. His major and distinguished contribution to establishing the new rules for playing pool shall be remembered as the Austro-Hungarian Rules. The picture below shows the corruptible youth willing to play by the rules.

Posted under Musings

we spent a total of about 16 hours wading through an amazing group of talented applicants to choose who we want to live with next year. The process for me was at times agonizing, at times emotional, at times exhausting, but I came out of it with the feeling that I’ve gotten closer to my fellow housemembers as a result. I felt that even though the process wasn’t perfect, as processes can never be, everyone was generally respectful and thoughtful throughout. And it definitely feels like I have a deeper connection with Telluride House now that I have had a hand in choosing the people I’m going to be living with next year.

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Last weekend was our interview weekend for high school and transfer students who have perviously participated in our affiliated programs to be in the House for next year. It was exhausting doing five one-hour interviews in three days, along with all the socializing that came with it. But it was that kind of exhaustion that was also revitalizing. It was exciting to meet all these wonderful, bright young people who are on the verge of their college careers, trying to figure out what to do with themselves. I was so happy to be able to provide information and advice that I personally didn’t get when I was applying to college. I’m looking forward to having a number of them in the House next year.

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I was excited but also a little bit apprehensive about the work associated with admission season (which we call preferment in Telluride parlance), but I found myself reading all the applications in one long session, followed by the stragglers the next day, so that now I have my list of candidates ready for the meeting next week where we’re going to decide about who to interview. It’s amazing how there are so many applications that just leap off the page, demanding to be considered. There are too many in fact, which I suppose is a good problem to have. There were a number of applications I read and thought, what a fantastic mind to have around, and it’s amazing that I actually have a hand in making the people who have those minds become part of the house.

Posted under Musings

Telluride House is improving its environmental performance. Last year, we switched over to fluorescent bulbs and started composting in a clean, efficient manner. This year, “EnviroCom” is coordinating with a new Green Committee that has the same mission across the Association. We’ll bring in an energy auditor early this week, and we’ll work on material ways to implement recommendations, some of which may involve structural improvements. In the meantime, we’re thinking of smaller things that will be socially, environmentally, and fiscally sound and efficient. The committee kicked a few ideas around last week and will be canvassing Housemembers for their input, as well as encouraging each other to become more mindful about stewardship and habits of use. The energy audit will certainly add new priorities: this is an old house, and despite ongoing renovations, a lot remains to be upgraded.

Posted under Announcements, Musings

Hi, I’m Daniel, a dissertating PhD candidate in Government. I’ve had the privilege of living here at Telluride House for quite some time, and by now, it’s hard for me to think back on my grad school experience at Cornell without also thinking of Telluride. Living here can be intense, and it requires some commitment — but it’s more than worth it, and I wouldn’t give it up for anything. Anyway, I’m co-responsible for organizing the upcoming Open House (on Tuesday, September 16th from 5:00-6:30pm), and I’d like to encourage you to stop by if you think you may be interested in living here. If you can’t make it, or find out about us after the Open House, you can still access the application on this website. Of course, feel free to ask us if you have any questions.

Posted under Events, Introduction, Musings

One of the realities of living in an ongoing democratic experiment is that democracy takes time, which sometimes runs into the need for expediency. Case in point: if you’ve gone to the applications page and not seen the application, it’s because we haven’t finalized it yet. We’re very very close though. It’s going to be there tomorrow. The deadline will either be September 19 or October 3rd for Hill Applicants (that’s what we call Cornell folk, as opposed to applicants who are not at Cornell yet). That’s not a lot of time, but the early deadline ensures that Cornell folks don’t sign leases before we offer them places in the House. Hopefully we’ll do better next year in terms of having the applications ready earlier, which makes me wonder whether there’s such a thing as fast democracy.

Posted under Musings

I’m Jim Hayden, 5th-year Ph.D. student in Entomology and 3rd-year student in Telluride. Besides Meredith, I’m the other person on the computers committee this semester. After two years as a House Treasurer, I rotated into this job in part to learn more about IT. It’s also a great opportunity for communication and group decision-making. Even so, I miss keeping the books… that job was the best way to get a comprehensive view of the House’s functioning, which is fairly complex.

Posted under Musings

Good almost midnight from your webmistress. I was supposed to do Japanese homework tonight but got sucked in with committee work for both C-Czars (C for Computer) and Outreach. Things are pretty much under control though, at least. It’s only my third week at Telluride and already I’m in the thick of things, which is where I generally like to be. I really love being here, even the parts that I expected to not like, such as having less privacy and being around people significantly younger than me (stodgy grad student that I am). Something about being around incredibly precocious undergrads reminds me that there’s something to be said for the bravado of youth. However, my old body is telling me to go to bed so that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

Posted under Musings