Tuesday ((SOT)) - I scream, you scream, we all scream for...

Life is like an ice-cream cone, you have to lick it one day at a time. 
-Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts cartoonist

The Frosty Cow Ice Cream Shop in Dryden, NY.

Summer is winding down, and I feel like I’ve only had a few days to enjoy it with the transition back to stateside living, and working at Newhouse. However, one joy I’m glad to say I’ve been able to reconnect with…frequently…are America’s homemade ice cream spots.

There’s truly nothing like the wonderful feeling you get when you bite into in a batch of homemade concoctions like moose-tracks, peppermint stick, or my most recent gambit in the village of Dryden, NY, a flavor called bull dog crunch (a mix of vanilla ice cream, pecans, and liquid praline). Even research agrees with me, saying ice cream has natural components that can fight depression.

Collage of the Frosty Cow's smallest visitors.

But the other great thing about homemade ice cream is the people. For a small town, the local ice cream stand is like the watering hole for families. Local people come back again and again to indulge themselves and the rest of their family in the flavors of summer.

It’s just one of the little things of American culture that I missed while abroad over the last year, and I have savored every frozen opportunity since coming back.

And who says I’ll stop at the summer, nothing like taking a little ice cream home on a cold winter’s night!

Saturday ((SOT)): Man on Water

"Water flows humbly to the lowest level.
Nothing is weaker than water,
Yet for overcoming what is hard and strong,
Nothing surpasses it."
-Lao Tzu, Chinese Philosopher

A Buddhist man takes in the water at Ithaca Falls in Ithaca,NY.

I'll begin this post with four words: "Don't try this yourself."

But one man, Soutchay Insinxiengmay (in-sing-may), is brave (and maybe just crazy enough) to climb the face of a rushing waterfall.

"I just felt like I was apart of the waterfall, like, I wasn’t scared or tepid or anything," said Insinxiengmay, "You just go up there and feel it."

Thailand-born, Insinxiengmay came to New York to study at Binghamton University. He now lives in Binghamton working as a market researcher. But during the summer, he becomes a sort-of water monk, sitting amidst gallons of rushing water pounding him without flinching or even taking off his glasses.



"It was like a spiritual experience for me," he said still drenched in water, "I just wanted to let anything that was negative just flow, and take in all the good positive energy that the waterfull generated."

Insinxiengmay said he started climbing waterfalls this summer when he came to Ithaca and saw all of the falls it had to offer. He said he’s already lost count on how many falls he’s climbed. He plans to keep climbing as long as he lives in the area.

“I think God put it [the falls] here, and it’s amazing,” Insinxiengmay said.



Insinxiengmay identifies himself as a Buddhist. While he carefully traversed the side of the falls, he said he chanted prayers for family and friends. At times, he sat so still amidst the splashing water as if locked in a trance.

Insinxiengmay said the activity is not easy, and he is extremely careful.

Ithaca’s waterfalls and gorges are the site of numerous accidents each year. Climbing gorges and waterfalls when signs restrict it can carry heavy fines.

Sunday ((SOT)): Snakes on the beach

Every now and then go away and have a little relaxation. To remain constantly at work will diminish your judgment. 
-Leonardo DaVinci


Today, I got to view my side of the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in over a year.  Although the shockingly blue Mediterranean was a wonderful sight, I enjoyed the smell and the sounds of the waters on my favorite New Hampshire beach, Hampton.  My family and I have been visiting the beach since I was young, and my mother visited with her family when she was young.  

Two men and their snakes hit the beach.

 

 

But yet, the beach still surprises me.  Today, it was when I saw two men carrying enormous pythons around their necks.  One of them had the snake tucked under his shirt and he actually had to pull it out for the photo.  The snakes are still growing, they are less than a year old according to the owners.  For now, they eat rats, but they say they'll be eating rabbits as the snakes grow.


This blog will be quiet for the next few days as I take the time off from Syracuse to be with family back home in Boston. But, if things happen or I come across interesting things, you might just see a post.  You can expect my regular reports to return in a week.
 

Wednesday ((SOT)): Rumi on Ramadan

There's hidden sweetness in the stomach's emptiness.
-Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, Islamic philosopher 

Muslims in the U.S., and everywhere else in the world, begin a 30 day fast for their holy season of Ramadan.  During the season, devout Muslims do not consume anything into the body including food and water during daylight hours.  Many also abstain from sexual relations and make other life style changes during this time. 

During Ramadan, you may see Muslim residents eating big meals like this around sundown.

At sundown, Muslims break their fast.  These are known as Iftar dinners.  Fasting is usually broken with a date if possible, as that is how Muslims understand the Prophet Muhammed broke his fasts.  

Muslims I spoke to in Turkey said they fasted in order to purify their soul.  

The Rumi poem where today's SOT comes from says sacrifice and emptying the body refreshes the human spirit.

Lastly, July saw a lot of debate over the building of new mosques across the country, particularly over the mosque being planned two blocks from ground zero.   Opponents say building the mosque is an affront to victims of the September 11 tragedies, and some say the mosque will be a source of fundamentalism, not tolerance.  


"Those Islamists and their apologists who argue for "religious toleration" are arrogantly dishonest. They ignore the fact that more than 100 mosques already exist in New York City," Newt Gingrich wrote on his blog, "There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia.


On the other side, Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the Islamic center saying our first amendment freedom of religion makes the United States special.


"We would be untrue to the best part of ourselves and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans if we said no to a mosque in lower Manhattan," Bloomberg said in a speech made in front of the Statue of Liberty.


In fact, when I lived in Turkey, a country of 99 percent Muslims, Turks who spent time in the US said they admired America "for its love of religion" and that Muslims could practice their religion more freely than Islamic countries.


For example, in Turkey, the government closely regulates Islam and has had a history of banning certain practices and sects including the followers of Rumi for a time.

Ramadan will end on September 10th in the United States with a holiday known as Eid-Al-Fitr.