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Gag Rule | FAKING THE NEWS WITH "DAILY SHOW" WRITER JASON REICH

oN A DESK IN A DIMLY LIT CORNER of an office on Manhattan's West Side sits Jason Reich's "training Emmy"--a plastic angel hoisting a plaque that reads "Chili Cook-Off."When the writing staff of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" won an Emmy Award in 2001, this was Reich's reward. "The first year we won I wasn't eligible, so this was the consolation that the staff got me," says Reich '98, who joined "The Daily Show" as a writer's assistant in March 1999. Since then, he's earned a promotion to staff writer--and two real Emmys--penning jokes for the popular "fake news" program on the cable network Comedy Central.

Reich earned his comedy wings at Cornell with the Skits-o-Phrenics, a student sketch troupe that specialized in what Reich admits was not especially sophisticated material. "There were a lot of jokes about how hard the engineers had to work, how drunk the frat boys got, and how strange the theatre majors were," says the twenty-nine-year-old, who was a communication major as an undergraduate. He still occasionally performs with other Skits-o-Phrenics alums. "People got into the group because they were strong writers and had good timing and an ear for comedy, and to have these people working together, people really developed as writers. I wrote a lot of garbage while I was in it, but I learned how to write a joke."

A quick peek around the office he shares with fellow staff writer Tim Carvell confirms that this is not your traditional workplace. Reich sits next to a bulletin board covered in "Daily Show" souvenirs: a bag of decorative plastic fruit; a picture of correspondent Stephen Colbert grinning madly in an American flag top hat; a sign once used as a visual on the show that says, "Welcome to North Korea. If You Lived Here, You'd Be Evil Now."

While at Cornell, Reich secured an internship on an HBO comedy called "The High Life," where his greatest daily responsibility was driving to Queens to get the executive producer a pulled-pork sandwich. After graduation he worked as a production assistant on the short-lived Al Franken sitcom "Lateline," reading scripts and learning the inner workings of network TV. He joined "The Daily Show" two months after Jon Stewart took over from Craig Kilborn as host/anchor. "I was communicating among the writers and the other departments on the show to make sure that what the writers had in mind was what wound up on the air," he says. Several months into his tenure, a spot came up that required a quick, jokey leadin to a commercial. The other writers considered it busywork, and a producer suggested that Reich try it. This became a regular assignment for him. His writing duties eventually increased, and he was promoted to staff writer late in 2001.

Writing for the "The Daily Show" is a seat-of-the-pants operation: each episode is largely written from scratch on the day it airs, Reich says. "There are ten writers on staff, plus our head writer, D.J. Javerbaum. We meet at 9:30, and we're expected to be familiar with the headlines and what's going on. We pitch ideas to D.J., there's a lot of stream-of-consciousness conversation, and by 10:15 or 10:30, it's pretty clear what everyone's going to be working on. Then we go back to our desks and just sit and write. It's a very solitary thing." On any given day, Reich may write jokes for the show's opening headlines, a correspondent piece, or one of the recurring segments. "By 1:00, you have a couple of minutes of jokes in your files. Those get assembled into a big packet that goes to Jon and Ben [Karlin, the show's executive producer] and D.J., and they say, 'This is what we like, this is what we want rewritten.' The rest of the afternoon is spent rewriting. At 5:15 they rehearse it, and at 6:00 the audience comes in and they tape it. It happens really fast."

Carvell says that Reich brings a valuable off-kilter sensibility to the task. "He has a real gift for coming up with the skewed angle, or the off-the-wall joke I never would have thought of in a million years," says Carvell, who collaborated with Reich on the Supreme Court chapter of America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, the best-selling textbook spoof the show's writers produced with Stewart last year. He cites one of Reich's gags, a line about how the only way to remove sitting Supreme Court justices is to kill them with a "diamond-tipped bullet from the anvil of Hephaestus."

Working with Stewart, Reich says, is an invaluable comedy education. "Jon is involved in everything--he screens every field piece, reads all the jokes, and he's pitching ideas just like the writers are, so nothing makes it to air without his signing off on it," he says. "He's such a good performer and he's so in tune to audiences. If he drops a punch line or makes a change or does it differently from the way you wrote it, he's pretty much always right, because he's out there and he's the face of it, and he's the one who has to deliver it."

On the side, Reich also does stand-up comedy and has a two-man sketch troupe with fellow ex-Skits-o-Phrenic Geoff Kirsch '98 called Plants Need Water. And while Reich hopes to be at "The Daily Show" for quite some time, he's also contemplating moving on to more conventional television fare. "Long term, years down the road, I think it would be cool to work in the half-hour sitcom form," he says. "I would love to get a great pilot idea and develop it and run my own show."

--Larry Getlen

Into the Wild | CORNELL OUTDOOR EDUCATION TAKES IT OUTSIDE

iT'S 9:30 ON A SUNDAY MORNING AT the end of February; snow dusts the nearly deserted campus as a halfdozen undergraduates gather at the Lindseth Climbing Wall in Bartels Hall for women's basic rock-climbing, one of fifteen climbing classes offered this spring by Cornell Outdoor Education. Lead instructor Tammy Klock, a computer systems administrator at the Vet college, calls the women into a circle and leads them in a stretching exercise. Once they've limbered up, Klock has them "floor boulder" along the 160-foot-long wall, gripping the hand holds on the artificial rock face. "Use the big red hold for your feet," she says, tapping the red mat that covers the floor, "and work your way along the wall." The exercise lets them practice technique without getting worn out--or falling. If you ignore their feet, solidly planted on terra firma, the students look like Spider-Man without the spandex.

Each year, some 10,000 Cornellians take advantage of Cornell Outdoor Education. It's the largest collegiate outdoor program in the country, with 130 courses of basic instruction in such activities as cross-country skiing, whitewater kayaking, and wilderness first aid. During spring break some classes venture to Arizona, Kentucky, West Virginia, Canada, and Nevada, and a two-week mountaineering and leadership class takes participants to Alaska in June, but most courses are held within an hour of campus. "The University sometimes apologizes for its location as centrally isolated," says Todd Miner, the Lindseth Director of Outdoor Education. "We revel in it. We love this location. We've got world-class mountain biking in Shindagin Hollow right down the road, wonderful ice right here in town for ice climbing, and 550 miles of the Finger Lakes trail."

COE got its start in the 1972 with a sit-in at Teagle Hall staged by a trip leader and a dozen students demanding use of a University van they had reserved. Thirtythree years later, COE owns a fleet of vans and occupies a 5,500-square-foot suite of offices in the windowless basement of Bartels. The million-dollar budget is still lean, with just 15 percent furnished by the University and the rest supplied by student fees, alumni gifts, and income from corporate training programs. Miner, an Alpine mountaineer who refers to himself as "chief bottle washer, troubleshooter, and interference runner," heads a full-time staff of ten that oversees a team of 150 instructors.

Carla Martin, ME '03, has taught basic rock climbing, a teambuilding course called "High Adventure," and a lunchtime wellness course for staff and faculty. "I like teaching and inspiring people--especially people who think they can't do it," says the PhD candidate, who took up rock climbing three years ago at the age of twentyeight. She and Klock both emphasize the grace and elegance of climbing, helping students see that brute force isn't required. "As a female, I tend to have more of a partner relationship with the rock, instead of trying to dominate it," says Klock. "When people watch me climb, they say it looks like dancing."

Besides teaching technical know-how, COE offers valuable interpersonal experience. "Cornell does a great job of giving people incredible skills and knowledge," Miner says, "but there isn't always a place for students to practice them, to understand group dynamics. That's where we come into play."About 80 to 90 percent of classes are taught by instructors who were once COE students themselves. "We put them into a leadership role,"Miner says. "They learn what it's like to be part of a team, to have responsibility, to make potential life-and-death decisions. Those are really powerful learning tools that students don't get elsewhere."

The focus on building interpersonal skills and team dynamics runs though many COE efforts, such as Wilderness Reflections, an undergraduate-run program that takes small groups of students on short camping trips during freshman pre-orientation. Similarly, Cornell Team building provides programming for P.E. classes and corporate clients along with gear rental services for all of the organization's activities. Last summer, President Jeffrey Lehman '77 (who signed up under his middle name--Sean--in an effort to remain anonymous) joined his son Ben in Outdoor Thrills & Skills, an annual crossgenerational teambuilding program cosponsored by Cornell's Adult University and led by COE founder Dave Moriah '72 and his daughter Kira '03. The five-day program features rappelling down the side of Schoellkopf stadium, climbing at the Lindseth Wall, a hike in Coy Glen, and a day at the Hoffman Challenge Course a few minutes from campus. This spring, COE provided equipment and safety oversight for urban ecology professor Tom Whitlow, whose science writing students take tree corings and create a botanical inventory of the gorges.

Former climbing instructor Tina Jeoh, PhD '04, says COE participants fall into two categories--those who have already caught the outdoors bug and neophytes looking to fulfill the University's mandatory physical education requirement. Natural resources grad student Lynn Vaccaro was already an experienced hiker and backpacker when she arrived at Cornell; through COE, she's expanded her repertoire with classes on kayak rolling and telemark skiing, and met local outdoor enthusiasts in the process. "When I first moved here I didn't know anyone who skied, or how to get equipment," says Vaccaro. "It was a good introduction to the resources and the community." Jeoh, now a research scientist at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colorado, also relied on COE to connect with the local outdoor community. "It puts you in a position to take care of yourself and learn a lot about yourself in the process," she says. A mountain biker, skiier, and trail runner, Jeoh taught several basic rock climbing classes and traveled with COE to Nevada's Red Rocks for additional training. "Some people can't deal with it and some people, given the opportunity, realize they want to spend more time putting themselves in challenging situations. That's an addictive feeling."

-- Sharon Tregaskis '95

Valley of the Dolls | FOR ENTREPRENEUR ALLEN, CLOSING THE GENDER GAP IS CHILD'S PLAY

fROM GRADE SCHOOL TO GLASS ceiling, boys still outperform girls in many high-achievement fields. There's no shortage of debate on the issue, as Harvard president Lawrence Summers learned in January when he suggested that "issues of intrinsic aptitude" explained the lack of women in the sciences. Randy Hallstead Allen '68 has a different answer: toys for girls don't inspire them to dream.

In June 2003, Allen, a former executive vice president for strategic planning at Kmart and a consultant-in-residence at the Johnson School, founded Girls Explore, a toy company that produces a line of twelve-inch, bendable dolls modeled after famous women past and present, each accompanied by a hardcover biography and a kid-sized accessory. The inspiration came while trying to buy toys for her preteen nieces; Allen was frustrated by the lack of appropriate role models. "I want girls to understand that they can do or be anything they want to be," she says. "It might take determination and hard work, but really anything is possible."

On the windowsill of her third-floor office in Sage Hall, Allen displays the full Girls Explore roster. "Harriet Tubman and Amelia Earhart were obvious choices," she says. Joining them are American Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt, naturalist Anna Botsford Comstock 1885, international aviatrix Bessie Coleman, golf pioneer Babe Didrikson Zaharias, and softball star/orthopedic surgeon Dot Richardson. The Earhart set includes a compass; Tubman comes with a satchel like one the famous abolitionist might have carried, while a "Pilot's Log" diary accompanies the Coleman doll.Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and anthropologist Margaret Mead are in the works, and Allen says she won't be happy until the inventory includes an astronaut. Her top picks include Sally Ride and Mae Jemison, MD '81.

The dolls are grouped into five categories-- science and exploration, the humanities, the arts, sports, and business and professional--and Allen hopes to eventually offer at least five dolls in each, including politicians such as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Allen's wish list also includes Oprah Winfrey and primatologist Jane Goodall. Contemporary figures were difficult to include in the initial offerings, says Allen, in part because of the challenges in obtaining permission to use their likenesses. "It's hard when you can't show them what the doll will look like." With their lifelike features and period clothing, the dolls bear little resemblance to Barbie or the larger and determinedly cute American Girl dolls. Allen says she's gotten a few e-mails complaining that the dolls aren't pretty or feminine enough, but most feedback has been positive. "They have a lot of inner beauty," she says. "And they accomplished so much."

So far, Girls Explore has sold close to 300 dolls at $65 each, but there's more than money at stake, Allen says. "There's a social part: helping girls understand that they can do anything or be anything. There are so many things girls get hit with--how you look, instead of what you can do." Last fall, the Home Educator's Family Times, a newsletter for homeschooling parents, recommended Girls Explore as an antidote to Britney Spears and "the youth-culture's slide into vulgar indecency." Allen calls the dolls "wholesome," but acknowledges the real-life controversy associated with the women they depict. "Babe was very brash and bragged about what she was going to do. Of course, she did it all. Frida was the same way. She is controversial, but she overcame a huge amount, accomplished a huge amount, and gave back."

Allen, who studied physics as an undergrad and now teaches two classes each semester at the Johnson School, relied heavily on Cornell resources for the Girls Explore launch.Her son, science and technology major Scott Meehan '05, manages the website (www.girls-explore.com), while textiles and apparel majors Jessica Melendez '06 and Wendi Kane '04 designed the costumes. Three MBAs-intraining provided a business plan and market research, and another--fluent in Spanish--has spearheaded negotiations with the Kahlo estate. The Big Red Incubator provided initial legal services, and for manufacturing, Allen chose Hong Kong-based Forward Winsome Industries, whose chairman, L.T. Lam, has two Cornellian grandchildren. "This is a great place to start a company," says Allen, "because there are so many talented resources."

A third-generation Cornellian and the second chair of the President's Council of Cornell Women, Allen attributes much of her success to the constant, subtle messages of possibility that came with growing up in Ithaca. "Nobody ever said 'you can't do this' or 'you can't do that,' " she recalls. "I always went for what I wanted." Allen attended the nursery school on campus and lived with her divorced mother in a one-bedroom Collegetown apartment near Johnny's Big Red Grill. The family didn't have a TV until she was in eighth grade, and Allen spent much of her early childhood playing not with dolls but with toy soldiers. "I was the biggest tomboy," she says.

Nevertheless, Allen hopes her own line of dolls will give today's girls some of the same benefits of her 1950s college-town childhood. "This isn't about feminism, this is about possibilities," she says. "It's about getting kids to dream."

-- Sharon Tregaskis

Diamonds in the Rough | BIG RED BALLPLAYERS ASPIRE TO MAJOR LEAGUES

oVER THE YEARS, "BIG RED" HAS not often translated to "big league." With the exception of pitcher Charles Nagy '89, who had a fourteen- year major league baseball career but spent only a semester on the Hill, no Cornell alumnus has played in the majors since Frank Whitman '40 went hitless in six at-bats for the 1948 Chicago White Sox. Just a dozen Cornellians have had as much as a cup of coffee in major league history, and only two were pitchers, which makes it all the more remarkable that three former Big Red ballplayers--Erik Rico '02, Chris Schutt '04, and Dan Baysinger '04--are currently throwing from the mound in the minor leagues.

Granted, it's still a long way from the big time. Last year, the trio donned uniforms in places like Charleston,West Virginia, and Davenport, Iowa.And while it may have said "Cardinals" on Baysinger's jersey, his team was based not in St. Louis but New Jersey. "It's definitely not 'the show,' " says Schutt. "You realize that when you're on a six-hour bus ride to your game."

Indeed, this isn't the world of chartered flights, catered clubhouse spreads, luxury hotels, and seven-figure salaries. First-year minor leaguers earn about $850 a month. The typical pre-game meal, says Rico, is peanut butter and jelly. And post-game? "We go to Wendy's," says the Hotel school graduate in a phone call from the Doral Golf Resort and Spa in his hometown of Miami. Rico is spending the off-season there--working as a doorman.

The window of opportunity for reaching the majors is often narrow. At twentyfive, Rico is already older than most of his Class A teammates. The 2002 Ivy League Player of the Year, he was picked by the Toronto Blue Jays in the twenty-second round (out of fifty rounds) of the amateur baseball draft. He was taken as an outfielder and hit a respectable .275 in 122 minor league games in 2002–03--but the Blue Jays organization was loaded with outfield prospects. So Rico, who had done spot duty as a fourth starter for the Big Red, found himself on the mound with the Class A Charleston Alley Cats last year. He began as a relief pitcher but got a lucky break of sorts when one of the starters broke his hand. In eight appearances (including four starts) for Charleston, he went 3-1 with a 1.75 earned run average.

Schutt, on the other hand, has been a highly touted hurler from the beginning. After an All-Ivy junior season, the 6-foot- 1 righthander emerged as perhaps the top college prospect in New York. He decided to forego his senior year after being drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the seventh round. In 2003, Schutt suited up for the Elizabethton Twins in eastern Tennessee, where he led the Appalachian League in strikeouts and earned a promotion to the Class A team in Davenport, Iowa--a squad known as the Swing of the Quad Cities.He struggled at the beginning of the 2004 season but recovered admirably, earning the organization's Pitcher of the Month honors in June and finishing with a 7-9 record and 4.03 ERA.

As for Baysinger, he's just getting started. Although the 6-foot-3 righthander wasn't drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals until the thirty-first round, he is confident that the only numbers that really matter are the ones produced between the white lines. "Once you get there, everybody's got a uniform," he says. "You're all on equal ground, and it's all about performance." Last year, after being farmed out to the Cardinals' Class A New York-Penn League team in New Jersey, Baysinger tore a hamstring at the beginning of the season. He was able to return to the roster in late summer, making eight appearances.

Heading into spring training, none of the three knew exactly where they would be spending the summer. Baysinger was hoping for a chance to play where Schutt pitched last year, for the Quad Cities club, which is now affiliated with the Cardinals. Schutt and Rico, meanwhile, were counting on promotions to the more competitive Class A Florida State League.

Regardless of where they play, the former Big Red stars realize that thousands of other prospects are vying for the same handful of spots on major league rosters, a daunting challenge to be sure. But it's a dream they intend to hang onto for as long as they can. Rico says that his grandfather, a professional player in the Negro Leagues, would have relished such a chance:"He's pretty much my inspiration, because it's an opportunity he didn't get."

-- Brad Herzog '90

Clearing Cultural Dissonance | NEW CAREER STRATEGIES FOR ASIAN-AMERICANS

at her first job after graduation, Jane Hyun '90 relied on the strong work ethic and long hours of solo study that had propelled her to success at Cornell--an approach instilled in her by her South Korean parents, she says. "Education and hard work are considered of paramount importance in most Asian cultures, versus discourse and socializing."

So she was mystified by a colleague who was spending thirty minutes each week simply chatting with their boss, she recalls. "I remember thinking, 'Why is she wasting her time at that? She could be getting more work done.' " It didn't take her long to realize that workplace socializing wasn't a luxury; it was a career necessity. "Carving out time to have lunch with your colleagues, you think that you don't have time for that," Hyun says. "But it may help you in the long run as you try to make new relationships in your career."

That type of cultural dissonance may be keeping Asian Americans from advancing in their careers, says Hyun, a former vice president of human resources at JP Morgan and a recruiter for Deloitte & Touche Resources Connection. Now an executive coach and diversity strategist, she addresses the problem in Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: Career Strategies for Asians.

Although 44 percent of Asian Americans over the age of twenty-five graduate from college, they are glaringly absent from corporate leadership, making up only 1 percent of boards. Hyun says that's because traditional Asian values--such as modesty and deference to elders--sometimes clash with the assertiveness needed to get ahead in corporate America.

Hyun, who was born in South Korea and immigrated to the U.S. when she was eight, emphasizes that Asian Americans are a remarkably diverse group and that not everything in her book applies to them all. Nonetheless, she has often seen Asians struggle with selling and presentation skills, managing their bosses, and navigating workplace politics.

Improving those abilities doesn't require a cultural makeover, Hyun says. "I encourage Asian professionals to learn the skills that they need to succeed, without compromising who they are, and not giving up the best of their cultural values."

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