Spring break in Ithaca

Granddaughter Emalyn with our son Jordan at breakfast in Ithaca, New York.

Earlier this month, I reached the midpoint of the spring semester at WSU Vancouver. Along with a break from classes, this meant the opportunity had finally arrived to travel back east to see our youngest son and his family.

A six-day visit to Ithaca, New York, and its surroundings went by quickly and smoothly. Lori and I got to spend time with Jordan and Jamie, but also with our beautiful, whip-smart granddaughter, Emalyn.

Emmy is a golden-haired, blue-eyed bundle of energy, talking at the top of her voice out of sheer excitement to be alive, awake and in the same room as her Noni Lori or Papa George. She loves books, animals, insects, walking, talking, hiking, playing with dolls or toys, playing make-believe — heck, just about anything.

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  Emmy builds a tower with her Noni

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  A bond like no other.

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  Hard at work without a hard hat.

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  Gotta get it just right.

During our time there, we got hugs and smiles, giggles and belly laughs. Emmy turns 3 in July and it’s wonderful to see her growing up in such a healthy, wholesome home. That’s due to the wonderful parenting of our daughter-in-law Jamie and youngest son Jordan.

They’ve made a lovely home for the three of them in a small but cozy two-bedroom rental in a rural area south of Ithaca, the college town in Central New York that is home to Cornell University, where Jordan is pursuing a Ph.D in microbiology. Ithaca, with about 30,000 residents is about four hours northwest of New York City.

They moved there last summer. Lori and I flew back for a few days to help them move in, and Lori paid a solo return visit in November. The Finger Lakes region of New York is known for its cold climate, so we packed our warmest clothes on this trip, anticipating we might deal with late-season snowfall.

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  Sunrise illuminates a snowpatch.

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  Jax, the sweetest dog you’ll ever meet.

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  Jordan gets the fire going in the morning.

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  Rushing waters on the property.

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  Hiking up a little hill.

The weather gods cut us a break. We had light snow on the first morning after we arrived and brief snow flurries on the day we left. In between, it was mostly temps in the low 30s, dropping into the teens at night; one day, it even warmed up to the high 50s, allowing Emmy and me to take a sunny afternoon walk on the property.

Ithaca is located on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, one of 11 long, narrow, roughly north-south lakes that resemble outstretched fingers. We went into the city a couple times for meals and another time for errands and grocery shopping. On one of those days, we also visited the Sciencenter, a wonderful place to explore for kids and adults.

Otherwise, we hung out at home, warmed by a woodstove fire while trying our best to keep up with Emalyn and enjoying the company of their well-behaved dog, Jax, and their cat, Sage, a gray furball who makes herself at home on any and all laps.

We made time for an outing one day while Jordan was at the lab. It was a half-hour drive to Watkins Glen State Park, a scenic wonder that was still encased in snow. According to the tourism website, “An almost two mile hike will take you past 19 waterfalls and up over 800 stone steps.”

The main Gorge trail was closed but we still had great views of frozen waterfalls and the icy-blue water snaking through the middle of everything.

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  Frozen waterfalls, icy-cold stream.

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  View of Indian Trail from a shelter.

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  Sloshing through the snow toward the trail.

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  Workers sweep up debris from the bridge.

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  Fall meets winter on the trail.

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  Emalyn and Jamie enjoy a daughter-and-mom moment.

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  Thick frost accumulates everywhere in Watkins Glen State Park.

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  Heading back to the car after the hike.

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  Lori, Emalyn and George

Later that day brought unexpected sunshine. I had a choice — get my running gear on to jog along a country road or take a walk with my granddaughter toward a wooded area with a creek and small waterfall. I chose Emmy. She’s a good hiker, very agile and determined to scale a small slope on her own rather than take a helping hand.

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  Jamie & Emalyn at lunch at Moosewood Restaurant.

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  A Rhino Rat Snake from northern Vietnam.

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  Emalyn enjoys an exhibit at the Sciencenter.

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  Concentrating on the task at hand.

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  Rubber ducks get a ride on rushing water.

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  The little scientist.

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  Papa George and Emmy with Cayuga Lake in the distance.

The evening before we left, I picked up Jordan from campus and we had father-son time at the Ithaca Beer Co. brewpub. Two pizzas and a couple of frosty mugs later, it was time to wrap up our conversation and head back to join everyone for some TV.

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  George and Jordan unwind at Ithaca Beer Co.

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  George and Lori at Watkins Glen State Park.

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  Oh, did I forget to mention the wine tasting?

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  George and Lori at Six Mile Creek Vineyard in Ithaca.

We ended the visit Saturday morning with breakfast at a place with a view of Cayuga Lake, said our goodbyes, then headed to the airport. It was a nice visit, long enough to settle in but not long enough to not overstay our welcome. Already looking forward to our next visit.

Mental health: End the stigma

Oregon State student-athletes Taylor Ricci and Nathan Braaten, co-founders of the #DamWorthIt campaign, on the WSUV campus.

When I sat down earlier this year to review plans for this semester’s Sports and the Media class, I knew I’d be raising issues of race, gender, politics, economics and technology. This year I decided to add a new topic: mental health.

After back-to-back classes this week on the subject, highlighted by two student-athletes who came in as guest speakers to deliver a powerful peer-to-peer presentation, I could see the value of adding it to the syllabus. My only regret was not doing it sooner.

Think about it. If you’re a college athlete, you’re trying to balance your academics with the demands of grueling practices, traveling to games, and the expectations of performing at a high level in your sport, in front of screaming crowds and national television audiences. Throw in concerns about injuries and playing time, and that’s a whole lot of pressure on your young shoulders.

Taylor Ricci, a gymnast, and Nathan Braaten, a soccer player, endured those experiences during their athletic careers at Oregon State University. Further motivated by the deaths of teammates who died by suicide 11 months apart, they co-founded a campaign, using the platform of sports, to spark conversation about mental health issues at universities around the country.

Their campaign is called #DamWorthIt — a play on words involving the school’s Beaver mascot — and the Twitter hashtag #EndTheStigma is at the heart of it. Since launching the initiative a little over a year ago, their campaign has received national recognition and the Pac-12 Conference has awarded them a $60,000 grant to take their message — that “It’s OK to not be OK” — to student-athletes and coaching staffs at all the member schools.

On Thursday, the two of them drove up from Corvallis to speak to my students at Washington State University Vancouver. Taylor and Nathan presented a slideshow and a video, and told their individual stories of facing mental health challenges as scholarship athletes and top-tier students expected to maintain a facade of perfection.

Taylor, originally from North Vancouver, British Columbia, began competing at age 4 and committed to Oregon State’s nationally ranked gymnastics team as a 14-year-old, rising to become team captain at OSU. A Kinesiology Pre-Med major, she graduated last spring and is awaiting word on her applications to begin medical school in the fall.

Nathan, from Littleton, Colorado, was recruited to play midfielder. He is a Business and Finance major who interned for Nike last summer and will return to the company as a full-time employee after graduation this spring. Both he and Taylor were named Academic All-Americans.

Needless to say, they stand out as shining examples of smart and successful young people. But there’s the catch. As they note, 1 in 5 U.S. adults experiences mental health illness in a given year — and the proportion is even higher among college students.

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  Taylor Ricci and Nathan Braaten in my Com 225 class.

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  A gift from my guest speakers that I will wear proudly.

Taylor and Nathan spoke with honesty and conviction about their stresses and what drove each of them to see a therapist. The implication was clear for my students. If high achievers like these two can ask for professional help, any of them should feel free to do the same — or, at least, check in with friends who might benefit from similar encouragement.

In three years of teaching at two campuses, I have seen many young adults in my classes struggle with challenges involving family and finances, academics and health, romance and roommates, car troubles and work schedules, as well as incarcerated siblings, and immigrant parents facing deportation. No wonder a good many of them are stressed out or experiencing depression.

The #DamWorthIt campaign launched in January 2018, the same week that Tyler Hilinski, a universally admired WSU quarterback, took his own life on the Pullman campus. Because of that tragic coincidence, our guest speakers said they have felt a special bond with WSU.

On Thursday, it was gratifying to see Taylor and Nathan connect so powerfully with a message designed by students for students.

One student wrote to me later to say: ” (T)his week I made a big step to see a therapist and after my visit I realized that it wasn’t a form of weakness but of strength. The timing of this topic could not have been better.”

Another one said this: “Their presentation made me want to stop and be more present for the people in my life. I know that we all get busy and we carry our own lives, but it is important to be present and in the moment for the people important to you. By being present, we are able to hopefully notice signs of the people in our lives and notice that they might be struggling.”

I am indebted to Taylor Ricci and Nathan Braaten for sharing their stories and bringing light to a subject that’s still shrouded in shame. Had I not noticed a short story on their efforts in a Sports Illustrated article in January, I would not have been aware of their trailblazing efforts to address a hidden epidemic. They responded graciously to my emails inviting them to come up to Vancouver and left having made a lasting impression on my students and me.

#DamWorthIt, all right.