Lehman Students Hack Their Way Toward Success
By Zayna Palmer
“We want to hire CUNY grads and undergrads to become full-time interns or employees in the near future,” said Buzzfeed Tech Recruiter Nicolette Nelson, 29. Buzzfeed is just one of the prospective employers that came to Lehman’s fourth annual Hackathon on the lookout for diverse interns among future CUNY grads. Nelson explained that Buzzfeed, which participated in the Hackathon as both mentor and judge, has a mission to offer opportunities to more diverse people and get more women working in top management positions. The goal for this Hackathon, she added, is “to find out what students need from employers and what employers need from students. We’re here to find out how the market is changing for students of diversity.”
The Lehman Hackathon, which was held November 10-11, exists to foster just such opportunities. “We understand that the proximity between job locations and where students live can be quite difficult, so we implement these events for local students to attend and network with sponsors and mentor that can hire students for jobs and internships,” said Rosemarie Encarnacion, a Lehman junior. She is also a help desk analyst and Civic Technology Fellow at Lehman. The National Society of Black Engineers primary mission, she added, is to “make sure that every student in the community has the opportunity to exercise their skills with teammates so they could fully integrate themselves into building product software, hardware, and mobile programs.”
The Hackathon helps disadvantaged students as well as those with disabilities to find the right path towards their careers by providing them with professional advice, assistance and employment opportunities in the tech industry. The event, co-sponsored by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) is open to CUNY and SUNY students. Its focus is to highlight, support and encourage talent from all backgrounds and to help strengthen the community. Encarnacion states that it also aims to “Bring students to an environment where they connect with the sponsors, teams and fellow students with similar and/or different skills to build projects using hardware. The Hackathon is for Blacks and Hispanics, but anyone who is a student or graduate from CUNY schools is invited.”
Rafael Gonzalez, 21, a Lehman mathematics Professor and a participant in this year’s Hackathon, said his mission is to “train and expose students to the industry of computer science and engineering for minority groups for many of our Lehman graduates.” He believes that through it, every student can get the opportunity to be mentored and to network in the industry as well as get internships and full-time jobs in fields they enjoy. Rafael wants every student to have fun and test their skills because the Hackathon is also very competitive. “It is a great way to ask questions and find out what jobs you are looking for” he said. This year, NSBE and SHPE were able to increase diversity to bring in more sponsors for the Hackathon.
Rodney Perez, a full-time technology analyst for JPMorgan Chase, “The challenge is about bringing students in, [to] increase the capabilities and capacity to invent new ideas for the company.” Perez added that the company, which participated in the Hackathon, believes in giving back to the community.
Students agreed that the Hackathon is a good opportunity to network and get projects completed, along with having a team to provide mutual growth, learn technical skills, and build community between employers and students. Daniel Encarnacion a Lehman sophomore studying computer science and Hackathon treasurer said that it is a great chance “to have everyone demo their projects to sponsors that could offer employment in the tech industry and promote a program that speaks on diversity and reach out to those who are disadvantaged.”
Lehman Students Challenge Colorism in the Entertainment Industry
By Deirra Francis
Rutina Wesley speaking at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con International. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Colorism limits opportunities for women of color in film and TV, and Lehman students won’t stand for it. “Roles for younger women of lighter skin tone typecast [them] as this sex symbol,” Lehman student, filmmaker and actress Valerie Baptist told the Meridian, while darker-skinned women, are “strategically” sidelined as “the handy-dandy sidekick, a darker-toned woman dumbed down in her beauty by the makeup artist in order not to outshine.”
Dr. Mark Christian, chair of Africana studies and cultural theorist, agreed. “There is a double standard within the entertainment industry. Black men are sex symbols while black women of darker skin tone aren’t.” On the other hand, he added, “Black women of lighter skin tone are portrayed as the top of the pyramid hierarchy of the group--high-class, sexy and smart.”
“The only way to represent people of color is to have more directors of color.”
- Octavia Maybabk, Lehman sociology major
In the face of this discrimination, Lehman students who aspire to make their careers in the entertainment industry feel frustrated. Denied the opportunity to show their talent on the basis of their skin color, many now aspire to change these double standards.
Christian noted that colorism is nothing new. “The prejudices people have attached to skin tones stem from the deep-rooted racism in our history. On top of the after-effects of slavery, we have been bombarded with images on television and film of this stereotype.”
These racist portrayals date back to the beginning of mass advertising--and they haven’t changed much. In the 1920s, an ad for the N.K. Fairbank Company featured a white child asking a black child, “why doesn’t your mamma wash you with Fairy soap?” Almost a hundred years later, a Dove ad released Oct. 9, 2017 showed a black woman removing her brown shirt to reveal a white woman underneath in a lighter shirt. Likewise, SheaMoisture commercials supposedly celebrate diversity but manage to exclude representation of a big part of their darker-skinned base clientele who have “kinky” hair texture, featuring mainly women with straight or fine hair.
Christian pointed out that within the entertainment industry, this discrimination has privileged women who look “ethnically ambiguous--people with an off-white skin tone who appear to be of mixed race. The more we tune into our favorite shows and movies,” he said, “the more variety of black women we see. However, the ugly face of colorism continues to resurface.”
This shows up in the way that many productions cast ethnically ambiguous women in the role of black women, perpetuating a stereotype. Notoriously, in 2012, Zoe Saldana was casted as Nina Simone in the movie “Nina.” A prosthetic nose and dark makeup were applied to Saldana, but the Latina actress still failed to resemble the appearance of the legend. This distortion shows how black women are excluded even from playing themselves.
In mid-July, the star of the hit TV show “Everybody Hates Chris,” Iman Hakim, tweeted “so I’m not even being considered to audition for a role because I am ‘too dark.’”
This chronic discrimination has drawn widespread demands for a change from viewers and actors alike. Many Lehman students told the Meridian they see a shift in social values taking place. “I definitely think people are talking about it more,” said Lehman alumna Nadia Floyd ’17. “I do think progress is being made, not only in the entertainment industry. On television we’re seeing the emergence of dark-skinned black girls. This discourse is occurring in classrooms even more, not only amongst black students but Latino (non-gender specific) students have spoken up about it as well.” Floyd, who wrote her English honors thesis on colorism and patriarchy, said, “It’s refreshing to see this! We still have a way to go, of course, but yeah, there has been a growing cultural awareness towards colorism.”
A Lehman panel on “Colorism in Africa and the African Diaspora” that took place on Nov. 9 in the Lovinger Theatre inspired many in the audience to demand change.
Lehman student Erachie Brown pointed out that access to social media can also help anti-racist messages reach millions of people, so the tools now exist to debunk the negative connotations assigned to darker-skinned African-American women. “The knowledge we’ve gained in production helps us to create our own platform of film and series that we are interested in watching,” Brown explained. “Our position is to cast the Taraji P. Hensons, Tiffany Hadishes, Nicole Beharies, and Rutina Wesleys of the world.”
Other Lehman students noted that some directors are already making waves in the entertainment industry with their positive representations of black women, citing Ava Duvernay, Shonda Rhimes, and Issa Raye as examples. Duvernay is the first Black woman both to win the Best Director Prize at the 2012 Sundance for her featured film “Middle of Nowhere” and to be nominated for an Academy Award for the documentary “13th.” She was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for best Director for the movie “Selma” in 2014. Rhimes is best known as the creator, head writer, executive producer for shows like “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Private Practice,” “Scandal,” and “How to Get Away with Murder.” Raye follows in their footsteps as a director, writer, and actress creating the webseries “Awkward Black Girl’ which later turned into the hit HBO show “Insecure.”
Octavia Maybabk, an African sociology student at Lehman said change is needed and a new generation of directors is key. “The only way to represent people of color is to have more directors of color,” she said.
Most Lehman Students Back #TakeaKnee, but Some Call Disrespect
By Jorel Lonesome
Members of the Washington Redskins kneel during national anthem before football game. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
On Sept. 1, 2016, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem before a preseason game against the San Diego Chargers, instead choosing to kneel. Following this, NFL protests gradually began to spread among different football teams and other leagues such as the NBA and MLB, and starting a national controversy. Most Lehman students and staff who spoke to the Meridian voiced support for the protests as part of a necessary conversation about racism in America.
“We need a larger voice,” said Samantha Anglero, 26, theatre major at Lehman. She added, “It’s centered around people of color tired of oppression. It’s a safe way of protesting where athletes are doing the right thing when America fails to do something about its flaws.”
Other Lehman students and staff concurred. “The protest now has nothing to do with Colin. This derived from the police brutality against people of color,” said Christopher Milton, director of pathways to student STEM success at Lehman.
“Racial injustice, most definitely,” agreed David Williams, 27, a junior and recreational therapy student at Lehman.
The Oakland Raiders take a knee. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Kevin Rivera, a graphic designer and part time computer graphics and imaging major at Lehman, views it as a shift in historical perspective, “For one, it’s [about] inequality,” he said. “The pledge was written and took place during a time when it doesn’t apply to us now, especially people of color. More people are starting to see it as a serious issue. It went from pro athletes to people kneeling at work or at school. That is why it’s a mass attack by the whole NFL league.”
Indeed, since the protests took off, the NFL is now considered the least popular sports league in America. According to a zerohedge.com article dated Oct. 8, from the end of August to the end of September, the NFL’s popularity ratings dropped from 57 to 44 percent, and it has the highest unfavorable rating---40 percent---of any big sport, according to the Winston Group survey. The same research found that the attitude of those fans went from 73 percent favorable and 19 percent unfavorable to 42 percent favorable and 47 percent unfavorable, a remarkably sudden turn against the sport.
But while the majority shifted to disapproval, some feel that outright protest is going too far. In particular, a number of army veterans feel disrespected by recent protests.
“I understand that players like Colin Kaepernick is standing up for racial injustice and violence against blacks by the police. I get that, but this is the American flag. They need to understand, you’re disrespecting those that served in the armed forces,” said Jerry Giles, 60-year-old Vietnam War veteran. He added, “We’ve put our lives on the line to protect this country and kneeling sort of feels like a slap in the face.”
“You have young men and young women dying overseas for America,” said Annette Wyss, 21, a marine recruiter. “I don’t think kneeling during the anthem is appropriate.”
However, U.S. Navy veteran Kevin O’Carrol from Queens, New York disagreed and felt it’s okay for people to express their freedom of speech. “As a navy vet, I fought for their rights to protest against racial discrimination and our frustrations of inequality in the U.S.,” he said. “America isn’t perfect like any other country. It needs to be critiqued. There’s more things besides racism that is dividing us, but these are one of those that has lasted for so long and doesn’t seem to die out anytime soon.”
Milton echoed O’Carroll’s stance. “No man or woman has to stand for the flag if they don’t want to, because it’s a free country. I think it’s a travesty. The First Amendment allows us to express freedom of speech here in America, but when people of color do it, and it doesn’t agree with the mainstream, we’re shunned upon for it.”
Anglero agreed. “I think pro athletes should represent their rights for the U.S. constitution to express themselves when they feel they need to,” she said. “It’s not dishonorable at all to kneel or raise your fist when the national anthem plays, if you feel your country does not seem to treat you equally for the color of your skin.”
“This is their right to peaceful protest,” Rivera said. “I think there’s a form of injustice that should be voiced. Colin Kaepernick has been protesting for a while and he’s not on a team now. The NFL says they’ll support the players, but they still aren’t having him play in the games. That just shows us how much they care about colored people.”
For Mouro Sow, 26, entrepreneur and Lehman graduate said, “The protests are necessary and is a conversation that needs to be discussed.” Yes, he said, players are protesting “due to racial divide. But it’s not to disrespect America and the soldiers that have fought for this country. I think you’re even more patriotic by standing up for injustice and police brutality no matter what your skin color or background is.”
Lehman Students Favor Costumes That Go Against Predicted Trends
By Leah Liceaga
Comic book superheroes and villians remain popular Halloween costumes. Photo courtesy of Flickr.
This Halloween, some Lehman students have different---and grimmer---costumes in mind than those trending nationally.
Biology major Francisco Aquino Ramirez, for instance, said that while his favorite costume from past Halloweens is Batman, this year he plans to dress as a Catrin, a male version of the traditional Catrina, a figure associated with Día de los Muertos.
Senior, and English major Mariah Dwyer also wants a scarily powerful costume. “I’m either going to be Poison Ivy or the Red Queen this year,” said Dwyer, who plans to attend Oktoberfest this year and go trick-or-treating. In the past, Dwyer has dressed as a witch, a police officer, and a teacher.
These choices diverge from mainstream tastes, which can be on the lighter side. “Princesses and superheroes are always popular,” said Wayne Baker, owner of Frank Bee Costume Center and Frankie’s Carnival Time, located on 3435 E. Tremont Ave. Baker added that movies create particular interests in costumes. “Captain America, Iron Man. ‘Game of Thrones’...surprisingly a lot of people want to be IT [the clown]. It’s a mix of what’s new in the movies and what’s classic.” Baker also noted that sexy costumes have become popular in the last decade; listing the sexy cop, sexy nurse, and sexy Batgirl.
Traditional Catrina costumes, associated with Día de los Muertos. Photo courtesy of Pixabay.
Jasmine Monserret, an employee at the Party City on White Plains Road, concurred. “Adults costumes, for females it would be something sexy, short skirt, and something to show off their body,” Monserret said. “For males, it would be Michael Myers, Jason, or Freddy Krueger.”
Quartz magazine also predicted that the clown, Pennywise, from “IT,” Belle from “Beauty and the Beast,” and the kid protagonists from “Stranger Things” would be the most popular costumes for Halloween this year. Also on its list were characters from “Game of Thrones” like Jon Snow or Daenerys Targaryen, “Wonder Woman,” and “Beauty and the Beast,” whose live-action films both came out this year.
Yet Lehman students are leaning towards more sinister looks. Stefanie Nolli Gaspar, another Lehman student, with a double major in Latin American and Caribbean studies, and anthropology, said this year she plans to try something new, and dress as a dark angel. Her favorite costume ever, she added, is that of a schoolgirl since she’d never worn a uniform before then.
Michelle Santillan, a senior and English major, plans to take it easier this year and just use face paint, though she hasn’t decided on what to go as yet. “I’ve done the Queen of Hearts, and I’ve done vampires,” she said. “The rest is just hair color change and make-up.”
Baker praised the versatility and diversity of today’s costumes, adding that he likes all costumes, including scary ones. “I like Jason, I like Michael Myers, I like Chuckie. I was a big fan of Freddy Krueger at one time. There’s such a variety today, of costumes, that you can be anything you want to be.”
Students Co-found Intersectional Feminist Club
By Angel Mindanao
The Intersectional Feminist Club logo by Gabriella Walrath.
“In my home growing up, there were stereotypes as to how men and women should act. Feminism is about helping us learn to not think like that.”
— Lehman chemistry professor Grant Akalonu
On Wednesday, Aug. 30, the Intersectional Feminist Club (IFC) made its first appearance at Lehman’s annual Fall Semester Kick-Off!, hosted by the Office of Community Engagement. Pink pins and stickers from Planned Parenthood were laid out on its table as President Rebecca Bialostozky, Vice President Amna Azeem, and Secretary Gabriella Walrath reached out to recruit students. By the end of the event, the first feminist club at Lehman had acquired over two pages of signatures---including that of the author of this article.
The club is overdue considering that as of the 2016-2017 school year, female students comprised 69 percent of Lehman’s population, according to Forbes. Bialostozky, a senior and biochemistry major who transferred to Lehman after deciding to pursue the pre-medical track, said, “I was surprised to learn that Lehman student life was very active, but there was no feminist club.” This lack prompted Bialostozky to start the IFC. She was first inspired in March 2016 after attending the National Young Feminist Leadership Conference in the District of Columbia, which was sponsored by the Feminist Majority Foundation. “Everyone needs feminism,” she said, noting that intersectionality, or the overlapping of social categorizations, “should encompass all social justice because in almost every group, women are oppressed. When we see it from a feminist standpoint, we can really see the intersectionality.”
Walrath, a junior and computer generated imaging major, originally joined as a logo designer. When asked to serve as secretary, she saw it as the perfect opportunity to express her passion for promoting feminism. She has identified as a feminist since age 16, she said, when she was catcalled by a group of men. “Women shouldn't be seen as pieces of meat for men's sexual gratification. We are their equals and deserve to have our bodies respected.”
Pictured (left to right) Amna Azeem, Patricia Calderon, Angel Mindanao, Gabriella Walrath, Rebecca Bialostozky, and Donald Garcia-Dwyer. Photo by Grant Akalonu.
Grant Akalonu, who is an adjunct professor of chemistry at Lehman, hopes to help out as the club’s unofficial faculty advisor. Although he has not experienced the same forms of discrimination the female members of the club have, he wants to support the club as much as possible. He said, “Whenever the club needs a male perspective, I’m always around to give it.” Akalonu was moved after watching “The Mask You Live In,” a documentary about patriarchy and how it affects men and women. “Even though I’m not a woman and it is perceived as a woman’s movement,” he said, “men can benefit just as much as women from feminism. In my home growing up, there were stereotypes as to how men and women should act. Feminism is about helping us learn to not think like that.”
Both Bialostozky and Walrath also stated that they grew up in cultures where gender roles were strictly defined. They want to use their education to spread social justice awareness and create a safe space for feminists in the IFC. Open to all students, the club will meet twice a month and host several events including movie screenings, TED Talks and monthly discussions. “Acknowledgement is the first, and often most difficult step, to combating sexism,” said Bialostozky. “I encourage students at Lehman to become aware of sexism and if they feel safe, speak out when they see it. Once you acknowledge feminism, you no longer have a passive role. It’s a choice.”
From Chicago to the Bronx: Campus Socialists Raise Students’ Political Consciousness
By Zoe Fanzo
A poster seen at Socialism 2017 in Chicago. Photo by Zoe Fanzo.
Lehman’s International Socialist Organization (ISO) is promoting leftist politics on campus, with plans to hold radical discussions every other week building on a summer trip that deepened students’ political awareness. [Full disclosure: the author of this article is an ISO member.]
The weekend following Independence Day, ISO members Ellie Hamrick, a professor of anthropology, and Carlos Perez, a computer science major, arranged for five Lehman students to attend the annual Socialism Conference in Chicago, where over 2,000 people participated in discussions and plenaries given from a Marxist perspective. With 160 discussion topics to choose from over the weekend, like “The Combahee River Collective and the Black Feminist Tradition” and “Act Up, Fight Back: The AIDS Crisis and the LGBTQ Movement,” attendees were able to engage in discussions that peaked their specific interests.
“History tells us time and time again that it doesn’t matter who is sitting in the White House, but who’s sitting in.”
- Carlos Perez, computer science major
Students left Chicago with a better understanding of their own political identities, as well as a desire to become politically active. Lehman student Aileen Pelegrin, a theatre major, explained, “Throughout my first Socialism Conference, I learned more than I ever did throughout my entire education. I learned about all the injustice that goes on in different job markets. I learned that oppression goes so much further than just a racial issue. The entire country needs help and needs to be modified.”
Lehman student Christian Machuca, a psychology major, decided to become a member of the ISO after his experience in Chicago. He recalled, “The Chicago trip helped me in multiple ways, such as increasing my competence on certain issues and ideas. It allowed me to interact with people who share similar views or enlighten me if their perspectives were different. It was informative, but also fun.”
Lehman students wait for their flight to Chicago. From left to right: Richard Orta, Zoe Fanzo, Aileen Pelegrin, Christian Machuca, Carlos Perez. Photo courtesy of Ellie Hamrick.
ISO members are eager to see leftist politics blossom on campus. The club began on campus last fall, and given the formation of the LGBTQ+ Alliance and the Intersectional Feminist Club within the last few months, it seems leftist politics are having their moment at Lehman. Hamrick, who serves as the Lehman ISO branch coordinator, hopes to see students become politically energized this fall. “I think it is crucial that Lehman students not only understand why the world is the way it is, but how it can be changed, and that we as workers have the power to change it,” said Hamrick. “Capitalism causes untold misery all around the world. If things don’t change very, very soon, not only will human suffering continue, but we may not even have a planet to live on much longer. The left must get organized. I think that’s what students got out of this conference, and I hope they’ll be working to make that perspective a reality on campus this fall.”
ISO Member Carlos Perez echoed the sentiment that student involvement is integral to organizing the left. “Bringing a new layer of students who are politically engaged and see the necessity of an active struggle for a better world was paramount,” Perez noted. “The majority of people have been inculcated with a passive, fatalist conception of politics…which is expressed as the false choice between Democrats or Republicans…My goal with our trip to Socialism was to show students an alternative to these politics, and show them how people and social movements make history, not the custodians of power who often do their best to shut them down.”
The ISO plans to hold a public meeting every other Wednesday of the semester, with each session tackling the Marxist perspective of a relevant issue. Through such events it hopes to continue its mission of spreading political consciousness within the student body, and building solidarity amongst the campus’ leftist organizations.
“History tells us time and time again that it doesn’t matter who is sitting in the White House,” Perez remarked, “but who’s sitting in.”
Money and Location Keep Bronxites out of Gyms
By Jorel Lonesome
The Lehman community utlizing gym facilities in the APEX. Photo by Jorel Lonesome.
The Bronx could be in better shape, and Lehman students know it. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in 2015, nearly 98 percent of Bronx residents had access to exercise---but the borough’s adult obesity rate averages 28 percent, as does physical inactivity. So, what’s causing these unhealthy rates?
Students cite socioeconomic and environmental factors as their biggest impediments to fitness. Several said threats to their physical safety were their prime concern. Lehman sophomore Christina Lopez, 22, said, “Some gym locations in the Bronx are unsafe. The gym will open at 5 or 6 a.m., but that's also the time when criminal activity occurs while everyone is still asleep in their beds.” She also noted that increasing the use of fitness centers would boost the economy, too. “More gyms would bring more businesses relating to health and wellness, which would add more jobs as well.”
A study from citylimits.org confirms this connection between a flagging economy and a lack of gyms. In it, Jarrett Murphy and Katherine Guerrero note that “exercise awareness and participation increases with income, and the Bronx is the city’s poorest borough. Exercise takes time, and Bronxites spend more of their day going to and from work than residents of any other borough: Manhattan residents, on average, have 24 extra minutes each day to hit the gym than people who live in the Bronx.” Their review also pointed out that of eight major gym chains, there were only 23 in the Bronx compared to 71 in Manhattan.
Euriel Murray, a sophomore who plays for the Lehman Lightning baseball team, seconded this. “Better quality gyms aren’t in the Bronx, they’re mostly in the upscale parts of Manhattan. You basically get what you pay for and the equipment is not always the best.”
Lehman biological science professor, Stephen M. Redenti agreed. “I don't think there's enough people attending gyms. There’s not sufficient access to a variety of equipment, especially in less corporate gyms.”
However, Lopez suggested that independent gyms might be better for students because they would be more supportive. “Family oriented gyms like the YMCA, is not only safer, but people begin to know each other over time, to the point they develop a sense of community and friendship.”
Desiree Rosa, 20, a communications major at Lehman, also felt that a strong community would help get her to the gym. With her current work-life pattern, she said, “I get less social bonding. It’s ironic because my major in communications obviously involves interacting with people, but working part time and attending school doesn’t even make me think about going to the gym. Working, then heading to my classes is a workout in itself. I sometimes go for a jog, but not so often.”
One place students can work out close to home is Lehman’s Apex Center, an auxiliary gym. It holds a track, racquetball, basketball and volleyball courts, ballet and aerobic studios, and one of only two 50-meter eight lane swimming pools in greater New York that meet current Olympic swimming and water polo standards. And it is free for students.
“Exercise takes time, and Bronxites spend more of their day going to and from work than residents of any other borough.”
- citylimits.org
Murray argued that education would also help raise community fitness. “We aren’t properly educated about exercise. We should get educated about calculating our calories, vitamins, minerals and learning different types of diets.”
However, some students blamed their lack of fitness on their drive to further their education. Angel Arroyo, 23, a junior and English major at Lehman, said “It’s the pressure to study hard, reading all given material and do well on these assignments” that keeps her from the gym. “I gained five to ten pounds during my first two years at college,” she recalled. “I was in a new environment, so I wasn’t able to keep up the same exercise level I was used to during high school.” But, she added, she has plans to buy a skateboard. “Maybe that will knock off a few pounds,” she said, “when I start riding in skate parks.”
New Muppet Julia Raises Autism Awareness
By Leonel Henriquez
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
On April 10, a new red-haired muppet named Julia made her debut on Sesame Street. Although she is just four years old, it took PBS and Sesame Street over five years to create her, in consultation with more than 250 organizations and experts. Julia, the result of these efforts, is autistic, and Sesame Street is hoping her presence on the show will increase awareness about autism. They also hope she will provide the opportunity to educate others on how to positively interact with friends and family who have been diagnosed with the disorder which, according to the Center for Disease Control, is 1 out of every 68 children in the United States.
Julia exhibits several traits typical of many autistic kids: she doesn’t like to shake hands, doesn’t always immediately respond to questions, waves her arms over her head when feeling anxious, and covers her ears when sounds are unpleasant to her.
Parents and educators are responding enthusiastically to Julia. Mabel Concepcion, a mother of three school age children, likes the new character. She thinks it is a great way to not only talk to your children about a sensitive topic but also provide them with an example on how to interact. “I think parents should talk to their kids about other kids with disabilities so that they are aware, so that they know how to act,” she said. “Kids don’t know how to act when they see something the first time.” She added that as a mother, “you want [your kids] to learn to get along with everyone.” Concepcion also believes parents can also learn from Julia. “It is just as important for one parent to recognize when another parent in a restaurant or movie might be dealing with a child that is having a difficult moment and offer help or support.”
Many share the hope that awareness will translate to inclusion, and believe that people with autism and other disabilities live somewhat segregated lives just because others just don’t know how to constructively interact with them. “Sesame Street is taking a step towards an inclusive culture for all students with disabilities,” said Jen Flinn-Knizeski, a special educator with the NYC Department of Education for ten years. “I love that the script explains autism as ‘what autism for Julia is,’ because it is a subtlety that is so important for our children to understand. For one child, the blender may really bother them, but for another child it may be the most soothing noise to them.”
The hope is that children will be able to recognize certain behaviors in their classmates and be able to interact accordingly. “I think exposing preschool students to Julia will help them understand more about how people communicate and play in different ways. They understand social cues from their friends and when given guidance, like Elmo gives guidance about Julia, they will understand how to be patient with children with autism. Indirectly, they may learn how to be patient with others and themselves,” said Flinn-Knizeski, a special educator trained in Therapeutic Crisis Intervention.
Elise Saldana, assistant chair of the Department of Early Childhood and Childhood Education at Lehman, expressed a similar opinion. “Yes, I think that young children are very capable of adapting and accepting the different behaviors, personalities, and situations that they see in each other, without prejudice, because they are not to presumptuous at this age,” she said. When asked if she thought if children ages four to five would be able to recognize similar traits in their classmates she replied, “I do think that young children can make associations and recognize similar behavior in others because they are open-minded and conscience regarding their world, and all that is in it and around it. When trying to mainstream or integrate children, I would think that it is best to highlight our similarities, rather than our differences.”
To learn more you can read Julia’s back story at www.sesamestreet.org.
Lehman Student Wins Prestigious Watson Fellowship
By Mairin Cahill
Victoria Smith, winner of a Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship. Photo courtesy of Victoria Smith.
Lehman freshman Victoria Smith won a Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship this April. The fellowship gives freshmen and sophomores selected from 12 partner institutions in New York City access to a rigorous program intended to help them flourish in their undergraduate careers via stipends, internships, cultural events, and mentoring.
Of the 16 Lehman students invited to an interview before a panel of college faculty, four were selected to represent the college before fellowship board, with Smith selected as the sole winner from Lehman.
Smith says she hopes the guidance provided by the fellowship, coupled with the experience of being a Lehman and Macaulay Honors College student, will be instrumental to her growth as a student. Though Smith has not yet declared a minor, she anticipates her Watson internships will help her find her educational and career paths. Her passion for social justice issues has led her to consider majors in Africana studies or psychology, but she said that could all change, depending on how the next three years as a Watson Fellow shape her. She added that her undergraduate career is an opportunity to transition from being identified solely as a female drummer, as she was in high school, to a more comprehensive identity. “I’m open to a lot of different options” she said, regarding the future.
For her first internship this summer, Victoria will be working at the Thyroid, Head, and Neck Cancer Foundation. Though at first unsure if it would be a good fit, her impression soon changed. “I loved the environment! I wouldn’t just be in a lab coat breaking down molecules, this would be a research internship where I would be learning about what goes into a successful research project and I would learn how to work with people in many different areas of concentration, and study a very broad topic such as cancer.”
Hillary Frank, a Lehman junior majoring in chemistry, is currently flourishing as a Watson Fellow. During her Freshman year, she began working in a research lab on campus, where faculty mentors encouraged her to explore other areas of science, and prompting her to apply for a Watson fellowship. For her first internship with the program she was able to do just that. As a Digital Learning Fellow at the Museum of Natural History, she was moved out of the lab, and into a science-teaching position in which she was creating curriculum, and coordinating science programs for children over the summer.
Hillary is looking forward to her internship this summer working with the Smithsonian Institute Research Center on their Waterland Biochemistry Project near Edgewater, Maryland. There she’ll be working with researchers to measure chemicals in water and on the surface of trees. “We’ll be looking at chemicals related to methane in the water, and trying to determine how it connects and contributes to global warming,” said Frank.
The Watson Fellowship has exposed her to many scientific sub-fields, including public policy, education, and lab work. “I don’t have any concrete ideas about what I would like to do [for a career], but this program is exposing me to different areas that will help me decide,” said Hillary.
Sophomore Helina Owusu, one of the four finalists, also feels that the application process pushed her to grow. Owusu, a first-generation immigrant from Ghana, is driven to make a difference by becoming a pediatric or family practice physician.
Helina Owusu, a Lehman finalist for the Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship. Photo courtesy of Helina Owusu.
“My goal is to help that kid get better and help them get back to school,” she explained. “I’ve had the opportunity to meet new students through the application process, and we encourage each other throughout the process. I’ve been able to build myself professionally through the mock interviews. Going forward I’m going to use all those skills I learned through this process.”
Owusu and Smith, along with sophomores Amna Azeem and Natori Beckford, the other finalists from Lehman College, were all assisted by Professor Alice Michelle Augustine, faculty member and facilitator for the Office of Prestigious Awards which includes the Beyond the Bachelor’s Program and the Emerging Scholars Program. As an undergraduate student at Lehman College, Augustine herself was a Watson Fellow, which led her to internships at the State Supreme Court, the New York City Council, and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice in Ghana.
Augustine said that Smith was committed to the application process since first hearing about the award last year. “She stayed on top of it, and was very invested,” said Augustine. “She asked for a lot of feedback and did what she needed to do to be a really competitive candidate.”
Lehman Alum Addresses Hood Education
By Leonel Henriquez
Dr. Christopher Emdin and educator Janice Johnson perform cypher at NYCWP conference. Photo by Leonel Henriquez.
At the New York City Writing Project’s (NYCWP) 19th annual Teacher-to- Teacher conference, held at Lehman on March 18, its keynote address was delivered by Dr. Christopher Emdin, a Lehman alumnus and author of the New York Times bestseller, “For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood...and the Rest of Y’all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education.”
The NYCWP models itself on the belief that teachers bring knowledge, expertise and leadership to their profession and that teachers are the best teachers of one another because they bring experience gained from working in actual classrooms. The conference consisted of 25 workshops and panel sessions, all conducted by educators, on topics including literacy, communication, cultural interpretation, writing, math, ethnomusicology, common core standards, and activism.
For Jane Higgins, director of the NYCWP, having Emdin deliver the keynote speech brings her journey in education full circle. Higgins was a high school English teacher, and Emdin, “was one of my students,” she recalled. “Chris Emdin gave me language to talk about what I tried to do in the classroom.”
Emdin’s rousing and charismatic speech was titled, “Teaching to Get Woke: the Teacher, the Preacher, the Healer.” In it, he emphasized that in order to teach effectively in “the hood,” i.e. in urban centers, there must be a different level of comprehension of the hood culture where the school is located, and a better understanding of the responses required of the students that live in the area. White educators, Emdin believes, cannot come to teach in the hood with the idea that they are coming to save the hood. Educators need to better comprehend what the students are saying in response to how and what they are being taught, he said, and better communication between teacher and student fosters better learning relationships.
“Over half the suspensions in public schools as they relate to men of color or boys of color in those schools is a function of a teacher confronting a child head on and creating the dynamic that ushers that you have to respond,”he explained.“Hood rules dictate that when someone calls you out, you have to respond. When a student responds in a manner that is consistent with what his environment has taught him this paints him as a disciplinary problem and sours the student’s taste for learning.”
“The government talks about weapons of mass destruction. We have weapons of mass distraction” he said. Those distractions are things like budget cuts to after school meal programs. Emdin pointed out that some kids go to a home with little or no food and are concerned with the fact they are hungry and don’t think about doing homework. Other distractions he addresses are the debates over funding for charter and public schools. This debate, he said, distracts educators and parents, while many kids continue to go to a school without enough resources.
“I have his book and I was just inspired by him and everything he represents,” said Janice Johnson who joined Emdin in a hip-hop cypher during his address. She is a teacher at P.S. 531 in the Bronx and is earning her Masters through Lehman Teaching Fellows. She said, “I think it’s important being a woman of color teaching in the Bronx and being from the South Bronx that you have to have some kind of knowledge of who you are teaching.”
Billy Green, a teacher at the Frederick Douglass Academy III in the South Bronx, and a former student of Emdin’s concurred. “I came here today because one of the things I learned is that Chris Emdin has given us that platform, that language for us educators who like I said embrace the hood, the rules of the hood,” he said. “This book brings it all together in order for us teachers in urban centers to do our work, and for white educators like Miss Higgins who have to face a lot of backlash” he said.
The NYCWP also sponsors other events throughout the year, including a Spring Writing Marathon at Poets House, a Spring Writers’ Residency from April 20-June 8, two Summer Open Institutes for new K-12 teachers, and an Invitational Leadership Institute both from July 10 to 20, at Lehman.
Those interested can visit nycwritingproject.org.
How Lehman Students Cope without Mom on Mother’s Day
By Keidy Gómez
Photos courtesy of Kimberley Aguirre, Biancania Romero, and Shareida Spencer (respectively).
Mother’s Day presents a special challenge for Lehman students who can’t always celebrate the holiday with their mothers. These students have to struggle to fill the void of her absence and recreate the bond they miss. In doing so, though, they creatively keep the memory alive by giving all the love that wasn’t provided to them. While this can be difficult, in some cases, they find themselves blessed with another created family of their own.
“Due to both of my parents having personal issues, I was placed in foster care from the age of one till five,” said Lehman senior Kimberley Aguirre, 26. Aguirre, an English major, explained, “Throughout the years I've spent sporadic time together where [my biological mother] tried to buy my love with toys and clothes. After a fight at the age of ten over tickets to my graduation, she walked out my life.” Aguirre admits that wanting to have your mother in your life and not having her there is hard, but she herself embraces motherhood vigorously so she can foster a bond with her own daughter. “What I've learned from this is to focus on my daughter and no matter what happens to be there for her always.”
For Lehman students who grew up in foster care, Mother’s Day has brought about feelings of loneliness, sadness and grief, because they have been hurt before, or they are waiting to see their mothers again. “In foster care days, you can’t just sit there and buy things, you have to wait for visitation,” recalled Shareida Spencer, a 25-year-old Lehman sophomore majoring in social work. We get into a group and if all [the biological mother’s] kids are in the same foster care we get one big card and put flowers in it.” She added that for someone who has been separated for so long from her mother, it is difficult to feel close to her. “I’ve haven’t been with her all my life, so there’s lots of Mother’s Days I’ve missed,” said Spencer, who had to deal with the fact that on Mother’s Day she either had to wait to see her mother or celebrate it with strangers. Spencer hasn’t forgotten her mother, whom she cares for deeply. “I would love to get her...a house. She’s been talking about it ever since I was born, that’s 25 years, and she’s never had one. If my life was to get right and things go the way they are supposed to, I would get her a house,” said Spencer.
For other students, illness has separated them from their mother on Mother’s Day, and fear instead of celebration becomes heart-wrenching. “The worst Mother’s Day, I would say was back in 2014, when my mom had open heart surgery months before and I was taking care of her until she was better,” recalled Biancania Romero, a 20-year-old junior, majoring in speech pathology. However, the experience taught her an important lesson, she added. “I think that Mother’s Day was the day I realized I had to appreciate my mom the most because of everything she’s done for me since I was born. My mother is truly the person who always had my back no matter what.”
Ultimately, many students found that growing up without a mother can actually strengthen their own love and shape them to choose to be there for their mothers even when they hadn’t done the same. “If I have a break, I’ll visit [my mother]” Spencer said, “and we’ll cook and sit there and have conversations.” For Aguirre, the experience has made her into a mother that creates a stronger bond with their children. Now, she said, “Mother’s Day is a day for my love as a parent to be recognized. Although my daughter is only two and a half, I tell her every morning and night that I love her, and give her a hug and a kiss. All a child needs is to be reminded that they are loved.”
Lehman Students Want an Updated Canon
By Shivani Boodhoo
Updating the canon is a good idea according to Lehman students. Photo from Creative Commons.
The English canon, or books considered to be classics, consists mainly of books written by dead white European men. To this set of classics a few writers of color have been added. In 2017, in a globalized world full of writers of different ethnicities and faiths, many students believe the canon should be revised to introduce more writers that aren’t white and male. At Yale University, for instance, students have started a petition to revise the courses. According to The Daily Beast, the petition states, “It is unacceptable that a Yale student considering studying English literature might read only white male authors.” This inclusivity is important because as Mark Lilla, a Professor of political philosophy and religion, wrote in The New York Times, “What Americans yearn for in literature is self-recognition.”
Several Lehman students cite Junot Diaz as an author that gives them this sense of self-recognition, and concur that the canon should be expanded. Edgenis Abreu, a senior, and environmental science major, loves Diaz because “when he speaks about certain Dominican traits or cultural things, I can see how true they are.” For example, he explained, Diaz talks about how sexist guys are, which Edgenis agrees is a very big thing in Dominican culture. Having started off with Diaz’s novel “Drown” and liking it, Edgenis continued to read other books by Diaz, loving the way his characters speak. “It’s in tune to the way we speak other than an old-fashioned story. It’s more relatable to our age than other books might be.” Abreu believes is important to have authors like Diaz in whose work students can see themselves through characters that are minority or POC.
Other Lehman students would also like to see the traditional canon adjusted. Jose Lazo, a bookworm and Lehman alum, believes that the classics are relevant today, and that we should update, not replace, the canon. “I think it hasn’t been updated because literature doesn’t get as much attention and people don’t read as much as they used to. Students only read because they have to,” he said, adding that it’s rare in his social groups. He doesn’t think race plays a factor in the chosen classics. When he reads, he said, he doesn’t look at the author and think of color, he hardly even notices the author, just judging the book on whether or not it is a good read.
Lehman junior Ndeye Fatou Coundoul, an English Literature major, thinks the classics are great, but also overrated. “We are learning from the old traditional stories and plays, but at the same time we are readers who as students are missing a lot of other great books,” she said. “I think we should most definitely update the classics. There are authors who have been set aside due to societal standards, class, and race and that takes a lot from the overall learning and understanding differences through literature.” Coundoul doesn’t want people to give up on trying to expand the canon, but feels it is difficult to even try to talk about it. She added, “It almost feels like no one is listening.”
Several of Lehman’s faculty members agreed that the canon should be more diverse. J. Bret Maney---a professor of English who teaches courses in American literature, critical theory, and composition---said, “The literary canon, or set of ‘classic’ texts we read, reread, and teach, should definitely present a rich diversity of perspectives, which can be broken down by race and ethnicity, faith traditions, gender and sexuality, class, and other pertinent categories.”
Maney also explained that historically, DWEMs, or Dead White European Males, made up the majority of the canon, and that in the 1970s and 80s, feminists, African Americans, and Latinos fought for the canon to be expanded so that it would represent accurately the diversity of the human experience. This, he believes, led to the Latin American, Latino, and Puerto Rican, as well as the African and Africana Studies Departments at CUNY.
Another English Professor, Phil Mirabelli, who specializes in English Renaissance literature and culture, echoed Maney. He holds that the canon wars have calmed down now and that the canon has been expanded in different ways because, “Many teachers and editors of anthologies have taken a wider view of what we mean by literature.” Mirabelli said, “I think it’s important to study not only our own culture and society but also other cultures from around the world and through history. It seems to me to restrict our students from studying any type of literature, media, theory, criticism, and culture, either historical classics or more recent classics, including those from all cultures and subcultures, would be impoverishing our education.”
A Lehman Student’s First Day in Seoul
By Yara Palin
Some of the treats that can be found on the streets near Sungshin Women’s University. All photos by Yara Palin.
On the cold, wet evening of Feb. 22, after a 14-hour non-stop flight, I arrived in Seoul, South Korea, where I am spending the semester through the Lehman-Sungshin Exchange Program. The local time was around 6 p.m., but in New York it was 3 a.m., and after a one- hour bus ride to my dorm I was ready to turn in. I would soon find out that while some things here work just like in New York City, others are a world apart.
My adventure began the next morning, when I woke refreshed and energized to explore the city. More populous than New York City, Seoul is home to 10 million people, compared to New York’s 8 million, and the main streets are always bustling. While there are many businesses known to Americans such as Subway, McDonald’s, and KFC, you cannot come to Korea and not try the street food.
However, if you’re craving a taste of home you still can’t go wrong with going into a more familiar establishment. Most of the food tastes the same, and there are even additions made to the menu that feel more Korean. A lot of people may understand what you’re saying but not all employees will speak English so keep that in mind while ordering and be prepared to point A LOT.
The nightlife in Seoul is “can’t miss.” First stop was Hongdae, and of course, I would have to take the Seoul Metro to get there. Seoul’s equivalent to New York City’s MetroCard is the T-money card which works the same way but is way cooler. If you purchase a T-money card at a convenience store, you can ask the clerk to give you a card with your favorite K-pop idol. Or if you’re like me, you can purchase your card at a kiosk at any train station. This option does not offer customization.
Costing about $3, the card can be reloaded with any amount that you choose, and can also be used to pay for some taxis and in certain convenience stores. Thankfully, the vending machines that sell these cards have English language capabilities.
Once my T-Money card was loaded I was ready to board the train. The main difference between the train stations in Seoul and New York City is how much cleaner they are here. Although trash cans are practically nonexistent in the train stations---and pretty much everywhere else---there is zero garbage on the floor. At the edge of the platform is a sliding door that only opens when the train arrives, to prevent people from falling onto the tracks.
An entire platter of chicken comes out to 10,000 Korean won, which is less than $10 and a pint of draft beer was only $2.
Once you’re on the train, show time is over. That’s right, you won’t find any performers or anyone asking for money on the trains in Seoul because it’s considered impolite to be loud on all forms of public transportation. Anything louder than a whisper can draw stares and side eye. There are also seats on each end of the car for pregnant women, the elderly, or the disabled. Do not even think of sitting there. Hongdae is a college town near Hongik University known for its urban arts and indie music culture, clubs and entertainment scene. The one thing everyone kept recommending was Chimaek (치맥). This is a compound word formed from chicken and maekju, the Korean word for beer. An entire platter of chicken comes out to 10,000 Korean won, which is less than $10 and a pint of draft beer was only $2.
My friends and I had one more surprise lesson about the train system. We were shocked to be ejected from the train exactly one stop before the Sungshin Women’s University Station. It turns out that the trains in Seoul stop running at midnight sharp, so we were forced to hail a cab home. After a good twenty minutes of waving our arms helplessly into the night, we caught the attention of a cab driver willing to drive us back to our dorm for the reasonable fee of around $3!
So ended my first day and night on the town in Seoul. As I looked out my window and saw the famous Namsan Tower, I went to sleep excited for what the next day had in store for me.
Sungshin Women’s University Station.
Hungry Students Put Price First, Health and Taste Second
By Keidy Gómez
Carman Hall Café, where friends are made. Jerlisa Ware, Daisy DeJesus, Courtne Comrie. Photo by Keidy Gomez.
When the food we’re eating is good, we want to continue savoring the moment. Unfortunately for many Lehman students on tight budgets, that happens only once in a blue moon. Even with a new program to cut food costs, most students we talked to said that they choose food that is convenient and affordable over what they actually want to eat, which means they don’t always make healthy choices when it comes to eating on campus.
“I like to go for healthier foods, I don’t like to eat junk food, but, sometimes I go for a pizza,” said Courtne Comrie, a 24-year-old Lehman sophomore who’s majoring in creative writing.
“When I feel naughty, I eat greasy pizza,” said Jerlisa Ware, a 25-year- old Lehman senior, also majoring in creative writing and minoring in education. “When I’m hungry, I eat whatever is available.” Ware often goes to the taco truck on Goulden Avenue outside campus, when she wants something quick to eat and is on the go, but when she feels like having a food adventure she eats halal.
“When I feel naughty, I eat greasy pizza.”
- Jerlisa Ware, Lehman Senior and creative writing major
Students like Ware and Comrie don’t usually savor their food experiences as much on campus, where food is relatively expensive. A soda from Carman Hall Café costs $1.91, while in a bodega it costs only $1.25. Plain pizza costs $2, and a full meal can cost $8 to 10 including a drink and tax. So rather than splurging for taste, more often than not, students on a budget just eat for sustenance.
To help students cut costs a bit, last semester Lehman began offering Dining Dollars, a program that lets students use their student ID card to pay for food. Students can put $25 dollars on their student ID card and they don’t pay tax. If they add $50 dollars they get $2.50 back. The funds, however, expire at the end of every spring semester. Daisy DeJesus, the cashier at the Carman Hall Café, explains it as “a debit card that you can add money [to] and have savings.”
DeJesus herself goes above and beyond to help out students who are trying to make ends meet. “Some students leave their money in the classroom and forget to bring it. I take their name and number and let them pay me later,” she said. “If a friend of mine is hungry and can’t pay, I pay out of pocket for them. I know how hard it is when you are hungry and broke.”
Lehman Students Don’t Get a Break this Spring
By Shivani Boodhoo
Tana Cambrelen gets ready for spring break 2017.
Mariah Dwyer enjoys break at Wave Hill Gardens.
In movies like “Spring Breakers,” “National Lampoon’s Spring Break,” and “22 Jump Street,” spring break is portrayed as a wild time when college students go on drinking binges and do lots of thrilling, and illegal, activities. However, in real life, many Lehman students have a much tamer experience due to a backlog of school work and lack of funds.
Edgenis Abreu, 22, an environmental science major, laments, “Having time to yourself without having to think about school is always great, but every year it seems like I have either a project or a final to worry about after the break is over.”
Mariah Dwyer, 21-year-old English major focusing on creative writing and minoring in professional communication, is also tied down by academic obligations. This year, she doesn’t have concrete plans, but said, “Normally if I’m not given an essay or reading to do for spring break, I try to do future assignments.” So, she keeps her break local, and plans to hang out with friends picnicking in Central Park. “If I’m not doing any of those things,” she added, “I’d be binge watching a TV show on Netflix.”
Tana Cambrelen, 20, another creative writing major and Netflix addict, agrees that “Spring break is a tease.” She isn’t that excited about it because she is not going on vacation---she too will be doing schoolwork. “I don’t get assigned any spring break homework, but I always end up getting ahead on work that’s due because I feel guilty just sitting around.” She appreciates the time off, but having to go back to school “is always the hardest because I got a little taste of freedom.” However, she decided not to pick up more shifts at her job during the break because she wanted time to relax.
Since she can’t legally drink, Cambrelen adds “I’ve never been on a spring break vacation since I’m not 21 yet. Next year should be exciting.”
For other students keeping their breaks local, the Bronx Zoo offers free admission for CUNY students. The New York Botanical Garden’s annual Orchid Show is ongoing as well, and the Tribeca Film Festival will run from April 19-30 in Manhattan. Whatever you choose to do, you’d better enjoy it, because once April is over, finals seem to hit worse than a hurricane.