A "Spirit Zone" sign at the University of Albany featured the Great Dane mascot as seen on 1 June 2009
TORONTO, ONTARIO - I had no idea that Scooby Doo was going to become a theme of my latest trip. However, the generation-old cartoon has had quite an influence on regional universities. In the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, each school in the "Five Colleges" consortium is commonly associated with a Scooby Doo character in folklore. Smith College is Velma, Mount Holyoke is Daphne, Amherst is Fred, Hampshire is Shaggy, and of course the University of Massachusetts at Amherst is Scooby himself. Yet, it's the University of Albany (part of the State University of New York system) that actually has a Great Dane that looks much like Scooby Doo as its mascot, as seen above.
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While they may not air cartoons, one of the joys of traveling in United States for me is usually getting to hear local public radio stations. There was little joy in this latest trip, as the public radio stations serving the areas where I spent the most time--WFCR 88.5 FM Amherst (and affiliated WNNZ 640 AM) and WAMC 90.3 FM Albany--were both in fund-raising mode. WFCR's pledge breaks were bad enough, but WAMC's were prolonged and borderline disturbing. WAMC president and CEO Alan Chartock hosts many of the pledge breaks himself, and had no problems making comments like "we've been doing that for the past eight years, not just the past year," and "we criticize Democrats too; you just heard that in the last report." It's statements like that which allow right-wingers to paint public radio as a left-wing atrocity and discredit the balanced programs that do appear on public radio stations such as the major NPR news magazines.
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I ended up listening to a lot of WAMC yesterday when I was in stopped traffic on the Berkshire Extension of the New York Thruway after an accident shut down the westbound lanes near the Canaan, New York tolls for nearly an hour. After about twenty minutes without moving, just about everyone had shut down their engines and I was treated to the surreal experience of listening to birds chirp on an Interstate highway (the eastbound lanes were behind a grove of trees and almost inaudible).
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The incident on the Thruway underscored the misguided nature of a statement I had made to a friend in Albany after the derailment experience on Friday. I claimed that since I would be driving a rental car on Monday, I would be in more control of my schedule. Driving presents only an illusion of control--in reality, one is just as much at the mercy of those around them in a car as in any other form of transportation. Real freedom comes from having choices, instead of having little choice except to drive as is the case in most of North America, and surprisingly even in much of the urban Albany area.
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Bicyclists enjoyed the trails along the Erie Canal near Fairport, New York on 2 June 2009
Farther west, there are locations in which a true multi-modal scene could be seen in New York. The New York Thruway toll road (I-90), the Erie Canal, the bike path along the Erie Canal, and the former New York Central railroad (now CSX) could conceivably be placed in the same frame at many locations between Amsterdam and Syracuse, New York.
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The platforms at Buffalo, New York's Central Terminal, effectively abandoned since 1979, were viewed on 2 June 2009 from Amtrak's detouring Maple Leaf on the Loop Lead
Amtrak's Maple Leaf traverses the old New York Central between New York City and Buffalo, and an unexpected pleasant surprise occurred as the train approached Buffalo today. It turned out that the train was detouring over the CSX Belt Subdivision around Buffalo because of track work. While the detour meant skipping the Exchange Street station and views of the Peace Bridge, it meant rare miles for me and a different view of the derelict Buffalo Central Terminal train station as the train traversed the Loop Lead to enter the Belt Subdivision.
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The ridiculous immigration inspection of the Amtrak Maple Leaf at Syracuse, New York that was taking place last year has apparently ceased. An immigration agent was boarding the train to make sure no illegal aliens were on board the train bound for Canada. (The agent was also supposed to ensure US residents had correct paperwork to enter Canada and re-enter the United States, but never checked my identification and spent a lot of time talking to Hispanic-looking people on the train both in my experience and in other reports.) Exactly why the United States cared was a bit beyond me, and why the inspection occurred in Syracuse and not closer to the border (say, in Buffalo) was really beyond me. The only inspection on the train today was the Canadian inspection upon entry to Canada at Niagara Falls, Ontario.
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