Hello, O readers of Local Yarns. Today I will speak on one of my favorite local topics — myself. I have decided that Cornellians should have a thorough understanding of the enigma that is the local family because they may very well become part of one themselves someday. Therefore, I shall give you a profile of a representative local family: namely, my own.

Part One: Man and woman attend graduate school in Ithaca, NY. In my family, this was both Ithaca College and Cornell University, and then just Ithaca College. My parents met at I.C., where they both got their masters degrees, while looking for ping-pong partners (no joke).

Part Two: Man gets job at Ithaca institution, spouse seeks employment in nearby community. This is true of a great many families in the Ithaca area — people move here because one or both of the parents is/are employed by Cornell or I.C., often after attending one of these institutions. In the case of my family, it is my father who works at I.C. My mother teaches in the Trumansburg school system. This also seems representative. Among many of my local friends, the parent not employed at one of the universities works for one of the local communities. Among my friends’ parents are three other teachers, two local librarians and several small businesspeople (often agriculturally-oriented business), to name a few.

Part Three: Man and woman have children, send them to local schools. My brother and sister and I attended Trumansburg Central School (well, my brother and sister still currently attend). The school is public, slightly redneck and has a great relationship with the nearby universities. Several students every year matriculate (now that is a word I haven’t heard since the old applying-to-college days — this scares me because it means I have to think about how close I am getting to the real world) at Cornell and I.C. Those of us who do are infinitely more familiar with the local landscape than are those who spend only their four college years here. Lansing, where the mall is located, was my high school sports rival. Dryden, where you head for some Greek Peak skiing action, was the site of many a middle school all-county band rehearsal. We were doing State Diner and Wegman’s runs before you even knew what Wegman’s was.

Part Four: Man, woman and children socialize in Ithaca. Us townies are also infinitely more familiar with the culture of this area (or were when we were all freshman). Sure, you joke about the hippie culture, but my friend’s mother is actually named Tree, and my former teachers really do show up at Grassroots bra-less and in altered states-of-mind. We have attended IthacaFest, the Apple Festival, Grassroots, Musefest, Chili Fest and invaded the Farmer’s Market since we were infants. The selling of hemp bracelets was rampant at my school. My Cornell friends came down for Grassroots this summer and loved the music I have been listening to for years — John Brown’s Body, Sim Redmond Band, Thousands of One.

Part Five: Girl goes to Cornell. Surprise, surprise. Turns out the legacy is self-perpetuating. I go to Cornell, despite a much greater familiarity with, and the prospect of free tuition at, I.C. A friend from home, whose father also went to Cornell, came here the year his brother was a senior (at Cornell, just to clarify), and all three have been in the same fraternity. Part Five and a Half: Girl gets to see family. Yes (gasp) I do spend some time at home; I love to. Plus, they let me do laundry and buy me food. I get to watch my brother and sister’s soccer games, which is, by the way, a weirdly nostalgic experience.

Part Six: Girl switches from Arts to CALS, buys Birkenstocks and organic lettuce and realizes she has come to embody, albeit in a somewhat roundabout way, the city (uhh, Ithaca = a city … judges take that?) in which she grew up.

Ok kids, this is what you have to look forward to. You will graduate from Cornell and go away. But one day you will decide that you miss gorge jumping and Lynah Rink, random men with dreads who get bit by rabid bats, the Commons, Grassroots, Wegman’s and even the State Diner, and you will come back. You will get a job here, have kids, raise them here and send them straight back to Cornell. Or I.C. I.C.U. (oh my, observe the brilliance) then, eh?