Cornmazing And Other Vermont Adventures

The key to being unbored in the middle of Nowhere, USA, is to drive around and find things to do that are unabashedly local, and therefore fun. So yesterday, some friends and I decided to take a beautiful fall day and embrace the rolling landscape that is Vermont.

We began our afternoon by going cornmazing in a little town about 20 minutes up route 5 out of Norwich. What is cornmazing you ask? Suffice to say, I hadn't heard of it either when my housemate, Becky, suggested it, saying "I think it's like that Mel Gibson movie, Signs!" After explaining to her that crop circles were not usually made in corn, and mentioning that the concept of a "maze" probably meant it had something to do with a more terrestrial, manmade phenomena, I had a pretty good idea of what it might be when we pulled into a grass parking lot framing a large fenced-in cornfield.

Basically, cornmazing is a giant labyrinth of paths cut into a corn crop, and it's your job to find your way out. It's a cool idea, and I would imagine an easy economic boost for the local farmers. The place we were at was a moderately-sized maze, covering about six acres of corn. The farmers there were really creative with their labyrinth design; each year the paths through the field were part of a mural which was visible from above. They had aerial shots of the past years' designs hanging on the small farmstand next to the maze's entrance, although the current design was kept a secret. Upon entering, all we knew was this:

* This year's theme for the overall design was "America."
* The average time to complete the maze was 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
* 70% of people make it out, but 40% of those cheat.
* There is a bell at the end, and we would get to ring it.

Sounds easy? It isn't.

We entered the cornfield feeling pretty confidant that between three graduate engineering students and one smartass writer, we could find out way out. About 20 minutes later, we weren't so sure. The winding trails through fifteen foot corn stalks began to look very similar very quickly, and only the sound of cars passing by on the road gave us any indication as to where we were relative to where we began. Although there were a ton of other people inside of the maze, we'd go for a half hour without seeing another soul. At one point, an older couple rushed by us out an "emergency exit" yelling, "Thank God! Get me out of here!" We found their actions funny at the time, but as the day wore on and our "put an X at the end of the trail that doesn't work" system began to fall apart, we began to understand their desperation. Katie and I thought about cheating, and even busted through a corn wall at one point, but John was adamant that we play fair, and would kick this maze's ass eventually.

After over an hour of walking in circles, I began to thick it would be more fun to hide in the corn and jump out at people who passed by, yelling, "I've been here for three days, please help me!"

Instead, we decided that what we really should do is come up with a new gameplan. We'd limited the maze's four main paths down to the one that we believed was ultimately correct, and decided to implement the Right Wall Algorithm, in which you always turn right in hopes that probability will allow you to find the correct path before you've covered every section of the maze. So we headed out, walking in a single-file line, always keeping the wall to our right. Although we backtracked a couple of times and hit a few dead ends, soon we were on a path that took us almost into the woods, and which contained dirt that was mossy from an obvious lack of feet treading upon it. We figured we were now on to something.

An hour and half after we'd started, we stumbled upon the bell that marked the maze's end. After a lot of ringing and whooping and "We kicked that maze's ass!" boasting, four very proud grad students exited the labyrinth declaring that they had NOT cheated. Which we hadn't. Also, we got to see this year's aerial photograph of the design, and it was awesome. It had a large American flag with a soldier standing next to it, and words that said, "Support Our Troops" in decorative script. Staring at the photo, we had a blast trying to figure out exactly which parts of the design we had walked down.

Definitely a worthwhile venture.

Basking in the glory of our victory over the cornfield, we decided we were up for some ice cream. We found a cute little farmstand called Udder Delight out by the train tracks which had all sorts of tasty concoctions. It just so happened that today was also the ice cream stand's last business day of the season - lucky us! We also drove around a bit more along some interesting backroads, checking out farmer's markets and letting city girls Becky and Katie get an eyefull of animals.

We then found a farm that still had strawberries ripe for the picking, so we pulled over and set to it.

Finally, we decided to wrap up our day by climbing Gile Mountain near campus. It took us about a half an hour to hike through the woods and one very pretty field to reach the summit, upon which is perched a six story fire tower. We scaled the mental stairs of the tower, and I was met at top by a very cute beagle who was hanging out with her med-student people on the platform. They were really nice, and the seven of us sat and watched the sun sink behind the mountain peaks as the Upper Valley spread out in front of us for miles and miles. I've never seen so much land before; anytime I've ever been up high, I've seen the outer edge of it mapped by the ocean. Even when I was growing up and went skiing a lot, I'd always looked into the heart of the neighboring mountain, not over the peaks like this.

It was magnificent.

Rite of Spring

Last night after DDE auditions, Mary Chris, Brian, Pavel, Meryl and I attended the Rite of Spring by the Marie Chouinard Company. I had no idea what to expect, other than it was very avant guarde and some of the dancers had been in Cirque du Soliel. It began with stage covered in little yellow curved horns that were sticking out from the floor. Dancers began to emerge, making animal-like movements, to the first "music" piece, which was a recording of someone writing frantically on a chalkboard, then erasing and starting over. This part was conceptually interesting (although the chalkboard noises were unnerving at some points) because it really gave me the sense of life being created in this jungle of horns, of the creator messing up, and beginning again. The movement was unique and captivating, and accentuated by the fact that the dancers, both male and female, were wearing only black shorts and were otherwise naked from the waist up. Interestingly, the nudity made the entire cast appear androgynous; half the time I wasn't always sure who was male and who was female (let's face it, dancers aren't known for their boobs) which added to the animal like state. Also, it gave the audience an unusual view of the human torso which allowed them to fully appreciate the movement. Even when everyone was facing away, lying on the floor, it was awesome to see the individual vertebra snaking down their spines, and watch their ribs expand as they breathed. I also liked, at the end of the first piece, how each dancer proudly presented themselves to the audience, as if to say, "I am a new being, and I'm here, so look at me." I was in the front, row, and was captivated by their eyes in that moment. They were so wide, commanding, and joyous.

The second half was less storylike, performed to "The Rite of Spring" by Stravinsky. I felt that in this piece, the dancers represented the actual sound of the orchestra more, interpreting it almost as a dance version of the movie Fantasia. My opinions on this were mixed; there were individual elements I absolutely loved, and things I felt were useless. For instance, my favorite part occurred during the most famous musical section of Rite, that scary staccato horn part that's in all cartoons. During that, a solo performer danced in a center spot, and in the background a male dancer with long hair thrashed around to the music like the Incredible Hulk. That was awesome. There were also moments that felt emotionally beautiful, in which the music and movement came together in that unspeakable way, such as when the entire company curved downward during a cymbal crash. Also, there was a section were everyone ran in place in a highly stylized manner, as if they were moving cave paintings, which was very effective. Finally, the use of props was beautiful for the most part; they used the horns to make all sorts of amazing images.

However, it wasn't consistently great, nor did it have any sense of build to it. I hated a lot of the random kung-fu like movement; it took me out of the animalistic theme and brought me into a conscious action technique which seemed out of place. I think the movement was much more successful when it remained organic and stylized. Putting in recognizable Jackie Chan moves brought me out of the piece. Also, the horns were used incredibly until they started holding one on their heads and one on their pubic bones, simulating penises. That was way too predictable and easy, in my opinion. They had done some unique representations of carnal sex at other points in the piece which I liked, but that was just dumb. It was like they sat down and thought, "Oh I know! These horns look like dicks!" Well, DUH. If you had given one to a 5 year old that's probably the first thing they would have done with it. I remember kids doing that with hot dogs in the first grade. So that was uninspired. I also thought the entire thing lacked a sense of build which it would have benefited from. It was long, but it cut off and was suddenly over. I know that avant guarde works tend to be non-linear that way, but I think it had the potential to be a really moving piece and it wasn't.

All and all, very cool, and worth seeing from a creative point of view. I think the old people sitting behind me were horrified, but they aren't dancers I guess. Worth checking out if you don't mind not getting it.

Cold Duck Complex

Today, my friend Marissa got back from NYC and had CDs of her friend's band, Cold Duck Complex, to give out. I grabbed one and took some time later to give it a good listen.

The verdict? Excellent.

I appreciate good rap lyrics, and these are wonderful; CDC does some great things with enjambment and in-line gaps that the poet in me loves, paired with some interesting beats and synth music.

Here is an excerpt of lyrics from the song "Wake Up," one of my favorites on their album Figureheads:

WAKE UP:
i remember the confusion, the chaos, the casualties
remember feeling helpless as i stared upon the tragedy
had to be mad at the perpetrators of the violence
felt i had to say something, but instead i stayed silent

all eyes on the television, fixed in fear
rallying round the flag like that'd make the madness disappear
now there's nothing wrong with unity, but from beneath the surface
of the hyperpatriotism came a war without a purpose

remember the cold war?

we gave the Taliban arms
now we drop rations with bombs to keep the pacifists calm
could've sworn we were invincible, land of the egotistical
cry absolute evil, but it ain't that mystical

we wonder why people got beef
when our country's wealth depends on exploiting the middle east
we want peace, but only when peace'll turn a profit
gotta keep that oil flowing, and ain't nothing gonna stop it

now i ain't trying to rain on no one's patriot parade
but the love we take is equal to the hate that we've made
it's the land of the brave, built upon slaves
we filled in the graves to filter the rage

but the guilt'll remain, with the anger and pain
until we realize it's not a simple matter of blame
because for somebody to gain, somebody else has gotta lose
for anything to change, then everybody's gotta choose

to take responsibility for history
and recognize that privilege stems directly from complicity
with a racist, classist, sexist system
where money makes the man and millions make the politician

transmitting lies through your television screen
prisons teem with modern-day slaves, is this the Bush or Byzantine
era? and that's a whole new form of terror
but the evil's always darker on the other side of the mirror

there are those who believe that our direction's divine
and that oppressions of the mind'll be corrected in time
i'm not so sure that's exactly where we're headed, though
and i won't believe it just because some figurehead has said it's so

They're giving out free music on their site, so check them out!