Room 122

The Touch of Professionalism

2007-08-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

By: Jean Kapkanoff

Partitions divide Prudential Kafcos Realty, a real estate agency in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx, into a handful of sections comprised mainly of cubicles, all of which are identical, but which also bear the personal touch of each individual agent. Some are adorned with colorful pictures of family members and celebrities, others with the agents’ own artwork. Near the end of the path that leads to the agency’s back room stands a cubicle festooned with notes, signs, folders and paperwork and crowned with a few family pictures that belong to Phyllis Basilone.

Life-long Bronx resident Basilone, 57, has been Prudential Kafcos’s top producing agent for nearly the entire eight years she’s been working there, according to the agency’s broker, Greg Kafcos. Basilone’s clients and co-workers attribute her success to her determination, professionalism, and enthusiasm for her profession. The most significant factor in her success as a real estate agent, however, is perhaps her life-long interest and involvement in the business world.

Originally from the Morris Park section of the Bronx, Basilone was raised in what she describes as a “very Italian family,” where strong emphasis was placed on tradition, morals and values. Since her father’s entire family followed careers in business, Basilone herself developed an interest in business early in life. After finishing high school, she worked several office jobs, but soon found that the office was not the place for her.

“I hated that nine-to-five thing,” declares the tall, slender woman, who is easily identifiable by her fiery red-colored hair. “I knew I always wanted to work with people. I didn’t want to be a secretary or anything; I didn’t like office work.”

So when the owner of a boutique on Westchester Square called The Barn, at which Basilone was a frequent shopper, began looking for a partner to help run the business, she was given the opportunity to fulfill her dream. When the boutique’s owner, whom she remembers only as Felicia, decided to move to Pennsylvania, Basilone took ownership of the store. In addition to learning about the business world and making money, she found that she truly enjoyed what she was doing.

“I loved it. I had a great time,” she says.

After eventually selling The Barn, Basilone worked part-time at a men’s clothing store down the street from The Barn before devoting her time to raising her children, John and Jenna. Upon her daughter’s entrance into high school, Basilone’s love for working with people led her to the real estate business.

Basilone explains that while houses and interior design had always interested her, real estate also allowed her a flexible schedule that she could work around her top priority: her children.

“I needed to be there for my daughter,” she says. “That was the most important thing, that I could still be there for her and make my own hours here.”

Basilone’s background in business has served her particularly well as a real estate agent – her professional attitude, outgoing personality and hard work have made her Prudential Kafcos Realty’s top producing agent. She has received numerous prizes for her work, including the Chairman’s Circle Award – an award given to top producing agents throughout the Prudential network – four years in a row.

“She’s one of the best real estate agents that I know,” says Dawn Kafcos, who works alongside her brother Greg at Prudential Kafcos. “Customer feedback is phenomenal.”

“She’s got what you’d call the gift of gab,” says a fellow agent at Prudential, who cites Basilone’s outgoing and talkative nature as one of the keys to her success.

According to Basilone, what makes someone a successful real estate agent comes largely from within oneself. One must be able to understand a client’s needs, avoid being “pushy,” and keep clients focused on a price range they can afford when looking to buy a house.

“Buying a house is a tremendous investment, and it’s a traumatic experience for people,” she explains, “so you want to make it a happy [experience] for them.”

Mainly, however, the real estate business requires patience, honesty, common sense, and most of all, good listening skills.
“Listen to them,” she says. “Listen to what their needs are. It’s made me do well in this business.”

Aside from her involvement in the real estate business and her commitment to her family, Basilone maintains an interest in crafts such as cooking, cross stitching, and stenciling. However, she states: “Do I have time to do it now? No. This job can command a lot of your time.”

Real estate, however, will be her final career endeavor. Basilone says that after her daughter finishes college, she plans to obtain her real estate license in Florida, where her son lives. From then on, she wants to go back and forth between the two states, selling real estate.

“No,” she says, “I wouldn’t go onto another career. That’s it, I’m done, I’m finished. This is it.”

Mother of Twenty-two

2007-08-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

By: Malisa Dutson

Running a daycare can be very difficult thing. There's noise, mess, children that cant, or just choose not to listen and the best time of the day happens to be nap time. But one woman who has always loved kids thinks differently.

"I always enjoyed the company of children," said Tiffany Anderson, owner of a child care facility in Brooklyn called Sunshine Daycare.

Anderson, 45, has owned a daycare for 16 years. She says that her love of children will keep her running this daycare until the day she dies.

"Ever since I was six years old I wanted to own a daycare," Anderson said. As a child, she would always have a baby doll under her arm. She would set up all he dolls and create a doll daycare and always said that one day those dolls would be people.

Anderson has always felt close to children, even as an adult. Most people create daycares in places separate from their own homes for privacy reasons. But with Anderson it was different. I wanted to create a daycare in an environment I was comfortable in so I could become comfortable with the children Anderson said. So she created her daycare within her own home.

In 1991, when she created this daycare, she thought it was going to be hard to find employees. "I was very fortunate," she said. "I didn't have to find my staff because my staff found me."

When Anderson told her friend of twenty years, Joyce Mason, 57, that she was creating a daycare, Mason was all for it. "From day one I was here," Mason said.

Though she loves her job, Anderson explains that there are good and bad days when running a daycare. "Every time you're taking care of other people's children there's always one who may not agree with how their child is being handled or taken care of," she said.

Anderson works with children as young as three months old, all the way up to five, when they are ready for first grade. She teaches children how to eat on their own, how to write and even how to use the bathroom on their own as well.

"I think the hardest thing to do is to teach a child how to use the bathroom because everything else just sort of comes naturally," she said. "Oh, and of course teaching them how to write and tie their own shoes are hard, as well."

"I never had a problem leaving my child with Mrs. Anderson," said a parent who wished not to give her name. "My child loves coming here and sometimes doesn't even want to come home."

Montague Jones Jr., 35, a very close friend of Anderson, feels that her creating a daycare has made her one of the happiest people in the world. "She's a very good person," he says, "thoughtful, kind, and very generous. I even trust her with my own kids, said Jones, There's no one more caring of children than her."

Mason agrees. "She doesn't have any favorites," she said. "The children are all equal and all loved the same."

Although Anderson has only one child of her own, a son, she feels that with daycare she's a mother of twenty-two.

"I know that no kid is prefect and each one will have their own personality," said Anderson. "But that's the greatest part about being around children because you get to teach them, love them, and also learn form them as they grow.

Maintaining A Positive Outlook On Life

2007-08-08T11:58:00.000-07:00

By: Ashley Dreier

You would never guess by his easy going attitude, or his light-hearted sense of humor that 17 year-old Eddie Fiammetta has a troubled family life that went on for years, and from extreme to extreme.

Fiammetta was born in Pelham Bay, Bronx, on January 25, 1990. He lived with his mother until he was about two, when she disappeared from his life. At age eight, Fiammetta found out that she was working next door to his previous school, P.S.71, the whole time. Fiammetta and his mother conducted secret meetings for about a year. “My father probably wouldn’t have preferred it, so we just did it behind his back for a while,” Fiammetta said. Eventually his father found out, but allowed the meetings to go on anyway. But after about a year Fiammetta’s mother disappeared again – leaving her abusive boyfriend in the process, Fiammetta later learned – and hasn’t contacted her son since.

This incident was just the beginning of Fiammetta’s family problems. He used to have a good relationship with his father, but when a stepmother came into the picture, things changed. All of a sudden there were a lot of arguments, fights, “just things that didn’t make sense,” Fiammetta said. “My father wouldn’t say no to her,” he said. “But he would say no to me. And, you know, he took sides. He took the wrong side at the time.” After a few years Fiammetta just got fed up with everything. He ran.

After running away a few times and once getting kicked out, Fiammetta made up his mind to leave and never go back to his father’s house. “I basically just lived with a couple of friends of mine,” he said.

In May of 2006, Fiammetta and his friends were picked up by the police for cutting school. He was taken back to his parents’, finding out that there was a missing person’s file on him. “The cops thought that it was kind of shady that my parents filed a missing persons report on me about 20 days after I got kicked out,” he said. “My dad, being the stubborn person that he is, argued with the cops, had a smart mouth, and got arrested along with his wife. That’s how I ended up in foster care.”

Fiammetta lived in a group home by Belleview Hospital in Manhattan. He lived there for about a week and a half until they found a foster mother for him. He moved to Southern Boulevard in the Bronx to live with her. “At first it was good,” he said. “During the summer she wasn’t demanding, she let me go out whenever I wanted to; she gave me this allowance, and even allowed my habits of smoking and drinking, so it was pretty good.”

But with the change of seasons, in the winter things got bad for Fiammetta once again. His foster mother began to think of him as worthless and incompetent, he said. She changed completely for reasons unknown to him. “She stopped giving me the allowance that I was supposed to get,” he said. “I never complained about it, never would tell her, ‘Hey, where’s my allowance that you owe me?’ I never would. I just accepted it for what it was.”

That’s basically how that ended. She got fed up with Fiammetta and sent him to Middletown, New York, to live with a new foster family. Fiammetta just couldn’t handle it up there. “I’m a city boy,” he said conclusively. “I can’t stay out of the city and I can’t be a county kid, where, you know, a grocery store is like a mile away from my house. I couldn’t do that.”

After only two days of living upstate, Fiammetta called his father to whom he started talking again while in foster care. “He seemed to understand his mistakes and he was working on it,” Fiammetta Jr. said. His father wired him some money and Eddie returned to the Bronx.

He gave his social worker a call to let her know that he was alright and was sent to live with his friend Max in Harlem. “I didn’t prefer living in Harlem,” he said. “It wasn’t that spacious, the place wasn’t meant for more than four people and it just wasn’t my kind of thing.” Deciding his best option was to go back to his parents, he moved back in with them in their home in Morrison, the Bronx, and that’s where he’s been residing for the past two-and-a-half months.

"It’s had its off moments, but just a few,” Fiammetta said, referring to life with his father and stepmother. “It’s way different now,” he concedes. “They changed for the better, so far.”

Still it’s only a temporary situation until Fiammetta turns 18 next January. He’s not exactly sure what he plans to do with his life, but Fiammetta is sure that he’ll be living on his own.

Even though he’s had a hard childhood, Fiammetta doesn’t let it bring him down. Just like any other teenager, he hangs out with his many friends, plays sports, video games, and just likes to have fun. He drinks, but says it has nothing to do with a “troubled past,” It’s just for fun. Although the smoking, he says, is to deal with all the stress he’s endured over the years, but he plans to quit that one day.

Currently Fiammetta is working at Yankee Stadium, selling food and drinks at a concession stand, but plans to try for his G.E.D again. He says that pure laziness is what stopped him from completing it before, but now “I’ll start fresh,” he decided. “I’ll do better this time and I’ll get it done.”

Unlikely Hero

2007-08-08T11:51:00.000-07:00

By: Aquib Ali

People these days can beat around the bush all they want. They can jump from one career job to another. Yet, one man knows exactly what he wants to accomplish in life. “I want to go back to my country and help out the poor children in the Dominican Republic,” says Ricardo Castillo, 18, an employee at the Apex Center at Lehman College.

Castillo was born in Puerto Rico, but his parents are from the Dominican Republic. He considers himself to be 100 percent Dominican, but in the early years of his life he went to school in Puerto Rico. When he was ten, Castillo and his family came to New York City. He said it was tough for him to adjust to the American system because he didn’t know any English. He struggled in his studies, but eventually got help from his father and quickly turned into a good student. Castillo attended middle school at P.S. 95, and attended high school at Evander Childs. After High School, Castillo decided to stay in the city and attend Lehman College. Castillo is currently a student at Lehman College, and aims to earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration and computer applications.

When he isn’t working on the Lehman College campus, Castillo is helping out his father. His father is a superintendent and Castillo has to help make sure the building is in tip top shape. “I paint, plaster, and clean the building,” he said. He credits his father with helping him become the person he is today. He said his father’s pushed him hard and told him “That this is America, and in America you have to work hard and make your own living, or else you’re going to end up a bum.”
After the speech, his father gave him; Castillo wanted to help people in the Dominican Republic. He said after college he wanted to bring his business and computer smarts to Dominican Republic. “I know I wasn’t born there, but my parents were. Giving back to the poor children in the country would be a great feeling and it would set a good example for the kids. One day I want a kid to say I was their role model, like my father was too me,” said Castillo.

Rap or Religion?

2007-08-08T11:47:00.000-07:00

By: Rosa Mancia

Music is an inspiration, something that can change emotions from happy to sad or sad to happy in a second. It offers a way out for so many emotions and also helps you express yourself, said Rene Valdez a young man who dreams of one day becoming a rapper.

Rap began to emerge in the late 1960's and early 70's in Kingston, Jamaica. During the early 1970's rap was being heard in the South Bronx, New York City. Rapping can be traced back to African roots. Its also known as emceeing, which is very important in the hip-hop culture. One important element in rapping is being able to rhyme. By 1990 rap was being accepted, and it was being heard more widely.

"I listen to rap every day," said Valdez, the charismatic teenager who has been motivated since childhood to become a rapper. He got this motivation and desire to rap from Eminem, a famous rapper, whom he admires. Valdez dreams of working with Eminem and learning from this very successful rapper.

Valdez tries to fit rap into his everyday life and takes the opportunity to practice every chance he gets. If I'm in school and I have nothing to do, I'll rap," said Valdez. When I get home I also rap."

My friends hear me rap all the time, mostly at school," he said. His friends support him in his dream and are always willing to hear his new lyrics.

I am supportive of Rene, said Marvin Espana, 16, a close friend of. Everyone has a dream and everyones dream can be accomplished. Hes a bit insane though. Espana has had the chance to not only hear Valdezs lyrics but hes also rapped with him. Rene is progressing, Espana said.

On the other hand, not everyone is supportive of Valdezs dream. His sister, Maria Valdez, 21, is neither a fan nor a supporter of her brothers dream. I am definitely not supportive, she says. I think its a ridiculous idea and a waste of time. I dont think hell make it because of the fact that he doesnt have the talent.

Part of Marias lack of enthusiasm comes from her religion. The Valdez family are members of the Seventh Day Adventist church. Rene has been attending this church with his family since he was a child, and he knows that the church members wouldnt be pleased with his career aspiration.

I dont see a conflict, but I know that other people will see the problem about me wanting to rap, Rene said. I mean, how do you rap and go to church? Its two different things, and thats the problem, he said, looking rather upset. Even for Valdez there is a fine line between rap music and religion and this line shouldnt be crossed.

It would be very hard for someone in church to want to rap," said Pastor Jorge
Romero, of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. In the church there isn't a space for rapping so that the skill can be developed.

Rapping and religion seem to go back to the idea of respect and disrespect. In a sense rapping can be disrespectful as a career for a Christian," said Pastor Romero. The message in the lyrics goes against the church and rap is mundane. Rap and religion are two things that should be separate and they are opposite to one another, he said.

Id never mix religion with rap, said Valdez. I think that would be very disrespectful and idiotic. So where and how does he leave religion?

"Rene supports and believes what the church says, but he doesn't follow it," said his friend. Espana himself understands the conflict of going to church and wanting to rap. Valdezs sister seems to believe that he hates going to church and only goes because he once made a promise to someone that he wouldnt stop going.

Valdez has a decision to make alone but he is taking his time since he is still attending the church that has seen him grow up for so many years. Im afraid to fail, but mostly Im afraid of letting myself down, said Rene Valdez.

Samuel Spital: Civil Rights Lawyer

2007-08-08T11:44:00.000-07:00

By: Alberto Aquino

Samuel Spital is a young lawyer who gained a new voice and vocation after his astounding experiences at Harvard Law School.

Spital is a Chesterfield Smith Fellow at Holland & Knight, one of the largest law firms in the world. He received his bachelor’s degree in 2000 from Harvard University and his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2004. Spital currently works in a non-profit community service team focused on voting rights, the death penalty work, and prison rights. “The most satisfying part is to feel like, even if it doesn’t work out, you really make a contribution in someone’s life,” Spital said.

“I have a client in Louisiana who in my opinion faces a lot of harassment from prison officials,” said Spital. “There have been small changes and it has made such a difference for him to have someone advocating for him. Obviously, it won’t change that he is in a single cell 22 hours a day, but you get to see the effect it has on him and it is really special.”

Spital grew a love for law during his days in college. “I really liked it,” he said about Harvard. “I liked that it was big, that there was a lot of events and there were lots of speakers.” There, he heard an inspiring lecture by Lani Guinier, the influential civil rights scholar who was once nominated by Bill Clinton for assistant attorney general but withdrawn under pressure from conservative media who painted her as a “reverse racist.” “Afterwards I told her that she inspired me to become a civil rights lawyer.” Spital said.

In college, Spital also met and worked with Laurence Henry Tribe, a constitutional law expert and Supreme Court justice. His training led to clerkships with Harry T. Edwards of the United States Court of Appeals, and John Paul Stevens of the Supreme Court of the United States.

“He's more than his profession or what school he attended,” said Martha Spital, supervising clinical social worker at the Jewish Board of Family and Children Services and mother of Samuel Spital. “He's a great guy not because of his accomplishments but because of whom he is inside and the values he lives by.”

“We had the pleasure to meet one of the federal judges he clerked for and he told us this story,” said Spital’s mother, Martha. “When he saw Sam's resume he wasn't sure he was going to interview him for the highly competitive position. His resume was so stellar he figured Sam would probably not be a nice guy to work with. Sam was in the area so he decided to call this judge to see if he could meet with him. The judge agreed and was so impressed with how personable he is that he offered Sam the job on the spot.”

“I think he is a very good person and he cares about people,” says Dr. Aaron Spital, Elmhurst Hospital Center and father of Samuel Spital. “He believes in doing the right thing and I think that’s his strongest strength.”

All In A Days Work

2007-08-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

By Deidre Thompson

Chaotic and hectic are only a few words that describe the atmosphere in which Marisa M. White works. At first glance the office of Bronx Net Television is a place, in which no one seems to have time, but it is actually the complete opposite. The office is a family and at the center of it is the motherly White, according to Marcelo Mindez, colleague and program manager at the station.

The Intern Coordinator of Bronx Net Television, White was born on September 29, 1966, to a working class family. They lived in the Fordham section of the Bronx. Her love of books and media began with her mother. I think I get my love of the written word and beautiful camera work from her. she said. White initially started as an English major at Iona College, then transferred to Fordham University and began taking media classes. She said that Iona was not very stimulating but that changed as soon as she got to Fordham. It [Fordham University] was just a very studious, very academic [place]. said White about her alma mater.

White also attributes her early love of media and the camera to her uncle, a cameraman, who used to travel to places like New Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and India. Once he asked her to assist him on a video shoot and she fell in love with the medium. From then on there was no turning back. While at Fordham, when she was in a psychology course, the professor asked a question that would change her initial plan to become an English teacher .He asked the class If youve been a teacher for 25 years what do you hope to have accomplished? She replied I wasnt sure if I wanted to be in a classroom for 25 years.

White began in the media business while in college and is quick to call it a tough and demanding business. Though she says its a tough and demanding job she clearly loves what she is doing. I enjoy being around the different kinds of people that T.V. brings. she says.

It is perhaps Whites own enjoyment of her job that makes her co-workers to think of her as the mother of the office. A number of her colleagues cannot pinpoint the bad qualities of Marisa White but one gave an answer. She is not able to go home sometimes. said Marcelo Mendez, laughing. Shes like my aunt or my sister said Daehoon Chung, an accountant at Bronx Net Television. She does all she can basically like a mother does and makes sure that everyone hired does their job. she said and also adds I havent seen any of her bad qualities honestly. said Bharati S. Kemraj, another of Whites colleagues.

Whites life however does not begin and end with her job at Bronx Net. She is also a professor of television production at Lehman College . Marisa comes from a news background and the focus she brings to her job at Bronx Net bridges that production experience with the educating and mentoring that is a part of our mission, said Michael Max Knobbe, executive director of Bronx Net Television. She is an actual mother of two children as well as thirty other interns and students she supervises.

I remember a saying my father had about parenting:" you should hold your child as you do a bar of soap: firmly, but gently. she said

Ruby Nagra- ‘FIYA’ Dancer

2007-08-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

By: Prabjot Kaur

“A lot of people underestimated us,” said Ruby Nagra, sitting back in her car and staring ahead. “They were like, ‘Oh you can’t do it.’ That just drove us even more and that’s how FIYA came to be.”

Nagra is an upcoming junior at Baruch College who has decided to add more spice to her life by becoming co-captain to the Asian dance group, ‘Baruch FIYA.’ The name started off as a joke when someone said that their group was like ‘fire,’ and they stuck with name, but with a little twist.

Born and raised in Queens, N.Y., Nagra grew up in a Punjabi family, and her dances reflect her Indian roots. While attending Baruch, Nagra went to various dance competitions with her friends, and thrived on the energy. One night, while watching yet another performance, she and her friends decided: “We can do that too!” Putting their heads together, her captain and fellow junior at Baruch, Ruthba Tabassum, came up with the concept of an all-girl, 12-member team, which was an unusual idea. With each member contributing to the group, the team’s own ‘fire’ was created.

“I always wanted to join a dance team,” said Nagra. “And when you see success stories, like these people, can do it, you want to do it too.” Nagra’s presence in the group, however, was not only fueled by her desire to dance. It also became a means by which she could shed the stress of college, embrace her rich cultural heritage, and meet different people.

“It just gets your mind off everything when you’re in the moment,” said Nagra, referring to the stage. “To go in front of hundreds of people, and dance, and have the spotlight, and contribute all you have into it. It’s an incredible feeling.” Nagra’s captain, Tabassum, agrees. “I always wanted to get away and to keep my mind off everything,” she said. “It was perfect.”

Nagra, a tall and slender brunette, entered Baruch in 2005 as a marketing major, but after experiencing the field first hand, she decided it wasn’t for her. Her interests turned to finance, and she plans on pursuing a career in investment banking after graduation. Along with academics, Nagra works as a cashier at Rite-Aid in order to help with the bills and school expenses. Considering her hectic schedule, finding time to rehearse and practice is a feat in itself, but she enjoys the challenge. “It’s so fun!” she said.

The dance team first began to make its mark this year and is gaining popularity amongst the CUNY students. The dances range from classical Indian steps to bhangra, a traditional Punjabi art, to moves inspired by Bollywood film songs, and are held at places like Lincoln Center and Hindu Community Centers, which have large auditoriums. The groups plan out the competition themselves, and get sponsors to help them carry out the presentations. The members of ‘FIYA’ all contribute to the choreography, with Nagra and Tabassum in charge of arranging rehearsals, practices, and planning performances. Half of the girls are novices, while the other half is experienced. “It was a real mess the first time we did it,” Nagra said. “But we’ve learned from our mistakes and we’ve moved on.” The group has entered a few competitions, done performances, and has even headlined at weddings, mostly for practice.

“Competitions are nerve-wracking,” Nagra said. “But it’s inspiring to see other dance teams. To see how they’re different from us. You just learn from each other.” From going to countless competitions, and competing as well, Nagra has experienced the dos and don’ts of performing on stage, and feels that the team has grown from them.

Being in a dance group that’s focused on Indian culture has led Nagra to get a better understanding of her heritage. Nagra went to Queens Vocational High School., where the student population is predominantly Hispanic. She really wasn’t in touch with her Indian roots. Except for her family, Nagra didn’t have a lot of contact with other Indians in her age group, increasing her alienation from her culture. “I was never into the Indian thing in high school,” she said, smiling. “But getting into dance, you learn from each other. I was such confused Desi,”- young South Asian-“But nnow I’ve embraced t.”

Others around campus also take pleasure in Indian cultural dancing. “I enjoy watching Indian dancing,” said Navjot Kaur, a senior at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “On TV, all you see all day is American dancing on music videos. It’s nice to see your culture. I mean, you can’t go to your country, but when you see these shows, you get a little taste of India.”

Baruch College welcomes cultural diffusion by sponsoring clubs that emphasize the importance of different cultures. Such clubs include the Asian Cultural Exchange. Another big one is Club India. The people who run the club are part of successful dance teams, one which is ranked third in all intercollegiate Indian dance competitions in the U.S.

Nagra feels that dance has allowed her to meet a lot of different people whom she normally wouldn’t get a chance to talk to because of the vast swirl of students in the CUNY network. “My team is so diverse, it’s not even funny,” she said, laughing. “You get to meet so many people and really get a great social life. You meet people in different majors and you get connections to everything.” Her team ranges from sophomores to seniors, all from different parts of the school, with different aspirations for the future.

“In college it’s hard to find people of your own nationality,” said Kaur. “It’s hard to meet people in general, but these groups help a lot.” She saw ‘FIYA’ perform at a Hindu Temple in May, and said she loved the way the girls brought new energy to the competition and the way they synchronized their steps so well.

Although Baruch encourages cultural diversity, it does not offer financial support the teams need to perform at various competitions. With so many groups at Baruch, it would be impossible and financially draining to support them all. Nagra and her team fund raise on their own in order to attend competitions. “It’s all about marketing,” she said. “The more you promote, the more people will show up.” Facebook has also been a great help in promoting ‘FIYA,’ reaching the maximum amount of audience in the minimum amount of time.

Her family is very supportive of her dancing. “Like 50 members of my family filled the seats at the first competition,” she joked. Bakshish Nagra, her mother, is especially pleased by Nagra’s accomplishments. “She dances beautifully and I’m full of pride,” she said.

At the moment, Nagra is preparing for her next competition, which will take place on September 8th at the Fashion Institute of Technology. As excited as she is, she can’t help but feel nervous. Her group is going to be belly dancing and ribbon dancing for the first time, and now they are practicing as hard as ever. “The more your team progresses, the more you want a challenge,” she said. “You always want to step it up a notch. You know, you get on stage, you have a whole bunch of people cheering for you, and you’ve worked so hard at something. You just want to present it.”

With so much energy going into the art form, could dance become Nagra’s career aspiration? “I’d rather more focus on my education,” she said. Even though it’s just for fun, she feels that it’s helped in academics as well. Learning new moves and memorizing steps helps to enhance a person’s memory, and in the long run, helps her with exams too, she said.

“When I started dancing, it was something different to do,” said Nagra. “And life just got a little more exciting. Anything you like or passionate about, take it up, ‘cause life gets interesting.”

More to Life

2007-08-07T11:58:00.002-07:00

By JAYNE VARGHESE

Steve Thomas, 28, is a systems specialist and helps schools in Nassau County comply with heath regulations. Though he is described as being “serious, reliable and patient” by his aunt Jessy Chacko, it wasn’t until a serious injury did he learn to take on responsibility. Now aspiring to be a professor in public administration he enjoys hanging out with his family, reading and traveling.

As a kid Thomas tried to get away with a lot of things. “He just left me there,” recalls his brother Stanley Thomas. When the brothers were young Steve was supposed to be watching Stanley when they decided it would be fun to watch a metal spoon melt over the stove. When the tissue around the spoon caught fire and fell to the ground, Steve ran to his father while the linoleum tiles were erupting in flames. Luckily Stanley did not get hurt but he did get blamed for the fire.

When Thomas was in first grade, afraid to show his low graded spelling test to his parents, he decided to forge his mother’s signature. He thought it would be simple, but instead of signing “A. Jacob” he printed “A. Jack.” Not only did he realize how bad his spelling was, he also learned an important lesson: “You can lie, but eventually you’ll get caught, " he said.

Thomas’s college years were filled with even more mischief. He and his friends rearranged dorm furniture to frighten a friend who believed in ghosts. The joke went on for hours until their religious Muslim friend realized that there was no djin (ghost) in his room and that it was just a trick.

“Getting into Stony Brook was one of my best experiences because it made me more independent,” recalls Thomas. Though college was filled with many important changes his accident was the one that had the greatest impact.

“I was playing basketball, running to take a charge. I hyper extended my knee, heard a loud pop, and fell backwards. I had to drive back home (from college) for an hour because I wasn’t sure if I would be covered if I went to a hospital here. The ride home was extremely painful because I felt every single bump in the road. My knee kept getting more swollen. It was terrible.”

After going to the hospital he found out that he tore his meniscus and that surgery had to be preformed. “There was a lot more to life than basketball,” Thomas discovered during his weeks of recovery.

Now life is different for Thomas. “He’s goofy, funny at times, smart and knows a lot about politics,” says his wife, Raimol. He wants to become a professor in public administration. “I think I could teach students very well,” Thomas says. “I was a teacher’s assistant and it was a lot of fun.”

“I would also like to build at least one house with Habitat for humanity. I would like to do something positive, helping people,” says Thomas. “Something local, people always talk about helping in Africa. I would like to help the people of New York. Now I just have to wait for them (Habitat for Humanity) to get back to me about my application”.

Bronx MAN

2007-08-07T11:58:00.001-07:00

By: Mehadi Hassan

Michael Knobbe is a person who loves the Bronx. His interests in the borough’s diverse music and cultures have allowed him to channel the voices of the people from his borough through Bronxnet-the non-profit community television station serving the Bronx.

Knobbe has lived in the Bronx all his life. He is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science (Class of 1987) and completed his undergrad degree in an out of state college but earned his master’s degree at Lehman College. While earning his master’s, Knobbe stumbled upon the subbasement of Carman Hall, which forever changed his life. There, in the basement, he saw a flier advertising for graphic artist for a new TV station-Bronxnet. After applying for the job and becoming Bronxnet’s first graphic, Knobbe saw the station grow over the coming 14 years. Being such a dedicated worker for the station, Knobbe was appointed executive director for Bronxnet in 2002, which fits the love he has for the Bronx and offers him a way to express it.

Doing an on-air job was not Knobbe’s dream, as his passion since childhood had always been for music and art. “I loved art and music,” Knobbe says. “I wanted to do art one way or the other, even before I started working at Bronxnet.” So what changed Knobbe’s mind?

“An epiphany happened when I was asked to produce and edit this performing art series and that’s when I really started to know I loved this medium,” he says. “I came to love editing and shooting and producing.”

“Michael loves what he’s doing and likes for the public voice to be heard,” says Bharati S Kemraj, administrative assistant to Knobbe. “He is the guardian angel of Bronxnet.” Kemraj has worked closely with Knobbe for a couple of years and noted that Knobbe spends all of his time trying to keep Bronxnet on the air because he cares so much about the public voice. “What Michael is doing is giving back as much as he can to the people of the Bronx community,” says Kemraj. “His bad habit is spending every minute he has dedicated to this station.”

Why does Knobbe love the Bronx so much? “It’s a beautiful community,” he says. “I have a passion for this place. I have an affinity for the media in the Bronx. I love what we share in the borough.” Knobbe has been a Bronxite all his life and has been very successful in protecting the voice of his borough. “He’s been a busy, industrious person,” says Shawn Smith, Knobbe’s senior editor. “Since he’s industrious he’s so successful.”

Knobbe’s love for diverse cultures is not limited to the Bronx. “Whenever we get the chance, we connect to the world we shoot it,” says Knobbe. “We sent out cameras to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the Sahara Desert, Morocco.” Knobbe even wears an armband he received from the Sahara desert to show how much he loves diverse cultures.

Knobbe has a passion for the Bronx and wants to keep the public voice of the borough alive. “Michael is the Bronx,” says Smith. “If you say the Bronx, you can say Michael synonymously.”

A Changed Woman

2007-08-07T11:57:00.000-07:00

By: Keisha Ramos

Described as a lovable mother, a caring person, a true friend, by her friends, Aixa Morales has, however lived a life of hurt and hardships.

“Since the day I was born my life was difficult,” Morales said. At the age of one her parents divorced. She and her twin sister were raised by her mother. Morales was born August 26, 1961 , in Bronx , N.Y. Morales and her twin sister lived a “wild life.” “We would act out in the streets, looking for trouble,” she said. While their mother thought they were sleeping, Morales and her sister would go out partying, and getting into trouble.

Morales is tall, with long black curly hair, with the looks of a model. The “wild life” she lived as a child, grew to being the “wild life” she lived as an adult. “I got into relationships with guys that were worth nothing,” she said. A man she described as “one of these guys” was her first husband, with whom she had a daughter. “He used to beat me up everyday and he was using marijuana, and I got into marijuana with him,” she said. As time passed, Morales’ life with her husband got harder and she eventually left him.

What she found instead was a drug dependency. She was sniffing a lot of cocaine, doing really badly. Her best friend, Ivonne Rodriguez, helped her out. “If it wasn’t because of Ivonne, I think I would have been dead right now,” Morales said. “I thank god so much that I’m not.”

But Morales got even deeper into drugs when she met Orlando, her second husband, which whom she had a son and a daughter. Orlando was a popular drug dealer in Puerto Rico . “He was getting really big in that world,” Morales said. Due to that he had a lot of enemies. One night a friend of Orlando ’s came to pick him up. Morales’ son wanted to go with his dad, but something told Morales not to let him. “That was the last time I saw him,” stated Morales, referring to her husband Orlando. “We searched for him the next day everywhere. One night I had a dream to go to some mountain in Puerto Rico.” Police found Orlando murdered, chopped into pieces, and dumped in a trash can in a mountain in Puerto Rico .

“Aixa cried for months,” said Rodriguez. “That was a big impact on her.” That’s when Morales realized she needed to change, she needed to let go of that life. “Now I see Aixa Morales and I say, ‘wow, she has changed a lot, and I’m happy,’” said Rodriguez. “I love her a lot. There’s always a magnet that connects us together.”

Although Morales has many people that love her, such as Rodriguez, her twin sister, her kids, and her last husband, Morales also has enemies. “To tell you the truth, I never liked her, never did, never will,” said her first husband’s sister. “I hate what she did, raising my niece in a horrible atmosphere full of drugs and alcohol.”
“I committed many mistakes in my life,” admits Morales. Many mistakes that make me the person I am today, also a person that is still alive. And now I look up to God and I tell him….thank you.”

Dancing Spirits

2007-08-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

By: Ericka Aguilar

With dance auditions and recitals on her “To-Do” list, Michelle Gonzalez, 17, a student at Cristo Rey New York High School, is dancing her way into performing on Broadway one day.

At the age of seven, when Gonzalez first began taking ballet lessons, she realized that all she wanted to do was dance. She would attend her dance classes in her church’s basement three days a week and also practice at home in her spare time. With all the skills Gonzalez acquired, she was able to participate in more than five recitals, two plays and one solo. So far, she’s won six trophies in competitions, many of which she won first place.

“Many people think that ballet is boring,” Gonzalez said, “To me, ballet is my yoga with the blisters and the pain.” According to Gonzalez, her career is just beginning. As a child, she enjoyed dancing as the fairy in a school play, but now she wants to dance as the fairy in a dramatic musical on Broadway. “I love it,” she said, “but I’m not the only one competing to dance on Broadway.”

Marissa Hunter, 18, another dancer who is also competing to dance on Broadway, says that Gonzalez is a very hard worker. “She is an ambitious person, but I will do whatever it takes to get to Broadway,” she said, “even if I have to knock her out my way.” Hunter notices Gonzalez’s hard work and sometimes she feels that they are both in a race or competition. “She’s very competitive,” she says, “Sometimes I don’t want to get in her way, but it’s showbiz.”

Gonzalez believes that her number one supporter is her mother, Blanca Gonzalez, who has always stood at her side. “Michelle is a very strong person. I’ve seen her fallen so many times, but obviously she learns from her mistakes,” she said. Mrs. Gonzalez says that she attended all of her daughter’s performances and says she’s getting better and better every time.

Gonzalez will be attending her senior year in the fall. She still doesn’t know what college to look forward to, but she is setting high expectations for herself. “I’m just letting the world know to look out for me,” she says, “and to keep an eye out for me in Broadway.”

THE CHRISTIAN CHILD: DEVOTION vs. DENIAL

2007-08-07T11:55:00.000-07:00

By Stacy-Ann Ellis

Every Sunday, Megan Wilkinson sits in the pews of St. John’s United Methodist Church and sings the hymns along with the rest of the congregation, holding the Bible in both hands. Though the majority of the church sees her as the ideal Christian child, the connection between her and the book in her lap could never be more distant.

“She is involved with the youth, involved in the youth choir, and part of the dance ministry,” said Janet Greaves, a member of the Divinity Dancers, the praise dance group within the church. Greaves only mentions a few of the many ways that Wilkinson has been active in her church. Aside from being a praise dancer and a choir member, Wilkinson has volunteered her time in the nursery, watching the children of adults wishing to peacefully enjoy services. Not only does she volunteer her services in church, she also offers to baby-sit the children of the church on her own time. Megan Wilkinson is the pure, innocent, all-around perfect follower of God. “Megan has been a pillar of this church,” said Keith Price, a lay leader for St. John’s United Methodist Church. “She’s one of those who return to give back to God that which God has blessed her with.”

Wilkinson, however, has another take on her relationship with God. “I count myself as a Christian but I don’t believe in the Lord half the time,” confessed Wilkinson. She says being a Christian is “just a title.” In fact, she is skeptical when it comes to faith: “I’m not going to accept the Lord until I see some action.”

Wilkinson is one of the most un-traditional “Christians” you may find in St. John’s. “I think Megan’s freaky,” said Shenley Boyce, a child at St. John’s. With five piercings in her right ear, four on her left, one in her naval, and a tattoo on her foot, Wilkinson definitely stands out among the congregation.

However, her physical features are not the most prominent and puzzling aspect of her life. “‘You can’t honestly call yourself a lesbian and a Christian. They don’t exist.’” These words came from her very own mother, Wilkinson said. She has been sure of her sexuality since she was 12-years-old and battling her parents’ opposition to it. “The fact that I was dating a female was outrageous to them,” she recalls. “‘We didn’t raise you in a lesbian lifestyle. You can’t be a lesbian.’” After her parents finally discovered her lifestyle on Myspace and had a family meeting about it, her father refused to talk to her for “about 4 to 5 months” and her mother wouldn’t even look at her for a while. She had to confide in her aunt, the only family member who could understand her.

Though she is often misread, misinterpreted, as well as both under and overestimated, pseudo-Christian Megan Wilkinson makes sure that she is the only one in control of her life. “I’m a grown child. I know what I am doing. I may act like I’m stupid just to fool you, but mark my words, I know what I’m doing.”

The Man Behind the Scenes: John Driver

2007-08-07T10:31:00.000-07:00

by: Aquib Ali, Carol Fernandez, Tamesh Sukul

People are unique in their own ways and can teach you a lot about life and what it takes to be a successful person. “You can say I was hand picked because there aren’t a lot of people that, I think can teach video production, that have professional experience,” says John Driver, a teacher at the video production, program at College Now.

Since Driver was young, he wanted to be in the field of video production. He enjoyed watching movies and wanted to be an actor. Surprisingly enough his parents supported him in his goals. “My mother was a teacher and so was my father. They always supported me no matter what,” said Driver. His career in the video production industry dates back to when he was involved in soap operas such as, “Search for Tomorrow,” and the “Edge of Night.” “It was a great experience for me, being a part of those soap operas,” said Driver.

Saying Driver is just a teacher at Lehman College would be an understatement. Driver has guest starred in Law and Order a few times, has worked for News 12 the Bronx and is currently working with BronxNet.

At the end of the Lehman College Now program, he wishes to leave twenty students with a sense of how to tell a story through pictures. “I want them to have the professionalism needed to go forward in this business. I want them to understand the time pressures that they’re under, and a little picture of what it’s really like in the real world and doing this on a daily basis,” says Driver.

Sherwood McPhaul- Future Lifesaver

2007-08-07T10:27:00.002-07:00

By: Alberto Aquino and Prabjot Kaur

“I quit my job,” said Sherwood McPhaul, a student majoring in social work at Lehman College. “That’s how much I believe in it.”

McPhaul is a 39-year-old who moved back to the city from Suffolk County, Long Island, to pursue his aspirations of becoming a clinical therapist, serving those who abuse chemical substances and suffer from various mental illnesses. Going back to school “so late in life,” as he puts it, McPhaul found his age to be his biggest obstacle. To fulfill his dreams, he quit his job as a clinical case manager for HIV/AIDS and reentered the academic world. He is majoring in social work and expects to get his master’s degree in that field, “with God as my mentor.”

“I have an altruistic personality,” said McPhaul. “I can’t change the world, but I would just like to possibly help somebody see that there is light; to be able to see a future with hope.” McPhaul believes that medication is not the only solution in helping those who suffer from different psychiatric disorders. Instead, he believes when the medications lose their effect, patients experience loneliness and depression and can only be cured if they find someone to talk to. McPhaul wants to be that person.

His first step in becoming an ear for the depressed was to learn all that he could about psychiatry and social work. Because, as he said, he heard such good things about the social work program at Lehman College, he moved back to the city to attend it. “Right now, I would like to hopefully find a mentor and go to him and be humble, and have some humility, and hope to learn as much as I can learn in order to become an effective therapist,” said McPhaul.

McPhaul has seen the effects of mental illness and substance abuse first hand in his own family, and knows the damage it can do. “America has had a love affair with drugs for a very long time,” he said. “This love affair has gotten to a point where it has blown to astronomical proportions.” “This epidemic,” as he put it, can only end one person at a time. McPhaul’s main objective at this point is to learn as much as he can about the field of social work so that he can reach people through his words and practice.

“It took a lot of soul searching,” said McPhaul. “It took a lot of prayer, and not only prayer, but meditation. You pray for an answer; you meditate to hear it.”

FAMILIA

2007-08-07T10:27:00.001-07:00

By Christina Baerga and Stacy-Ann Ellis

As the saying goes, “the family that plays together stays together.” But what about working together? Long time Lehman College employee, Fausto Ramirez, has something to say about that.

The 44-year-old assistant director of public safety at Lehman College since 1984 has worked with his wife, Sonia, an accounts payable manager at Lehman. They try to travel to and from work together, but keep their distance during work hours. “We try to avoid each other,” said Ramirez. “We’re in separate buildings. It’s better that way.” He avoids his wife at work because he treasures their marriage and wants to keep it strong.

“We’ve been married now for 23 years,” Ramirez said. “She was my high school sweetheart.” The two met each other at age 17 and still love each other dearly to this day.

The Ramirez’s raised two children, both of whom attended college. The eldest daughter recently graduated from St. John’s University with a degree in graphic design. “She’s working for Urban Latino”—a magazine—“and is the junior graphic designer for the company,” said Ramirez. His son, meanwhile, is entering his second year at John Jay College, studying criminal justice, “just like his father.” Ramirez Sr. is proud that his son has not only chosen to attend the same college that he did, but that Ramirez, Jr. is also following the same career path.

Culture remains an integral part of this family’s life. Ramirez was raised in New York in a Puerto Rican family. When his mother was nine months pregnant with him, she left Puerto Rico and came to the States. “You could say I was made in Puerto Rico, but born here,” jokes Ramirez. He tries to visit his retired parents in Puerto Rico as often as he can, but due to his busy work schedule, that ends up being “once every three years.”

As a proud Puerto Rican man, he lives day by day loving his wife and his two children. He treasures the traditional values of his heritage and makes them a part of his household life. “We still keep the same music,” he said. “I even play the old music and now my kids like it too.” “The way my father and mother raised us [was] teaching us to…stay together all the time.”

The Making of a Teacher

2007-08-07T10:26:00.001-07:00

By: Malisa Dutson, Jean Kapkanoff

I never would have been a teacher if not for that, said Jay Gurka, 61, seated in his office at Lehman College .

Retired teacher Gurka is the assistant coordinator of College Now, a program in Lehman College . Before his retirement, Gurka was an assistant principal for guidance at Jane Addams High School , a high school on 2373 East 30th Street, where he often worked with students who were taking College Now courses. But his goal in life wasnt even close to becoming a teacher or even being someone who works with kids.

As a graduate student at Long Island University in the sixties, Gurka studied accounting, business law, and bookkeeping. By 1969, he was working as an accountant. At that time, the United States was involved in the Vietnam War, and Gurka, who was 23 at the time, was classified as 1A, meaning he could be drafted into the armed forces at any time.

I dont believe in war, said Gurka, a pacifist to this day. As teachers were exempt from being drafted in order to avoid a situation that would have completely contradicted his beliefs, Gurka decided to pursue a career in education.

I felt I could do more good by being a teacher than going to war, he said. I would be a terrible solider.

Once the war was over, Gurka found himself in love with teaching, and he never returned to accounting. He has been teaching for over thirty years.
His objection to war did not end with the Vietnam War which was finally concluded in 1975. Gurka became certified in conflict resolution and mediation as part of his training. He feels that many wars could be prevented if people would take the time to listen to one another. According to him, the practice of conflict resolution is not always successful because people are not always willing to resolve their problems peacefully.

People have to be accepting of the process, he says. People dont realize that listening is a skill.

La Música Es Su Vida

2007-08-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

By: Shahida Arabi, Mehadi Hassan, Deidre Thompson

Music pervades Armando Rodríguez's life. An adjunct professor in the department of music at Lehman College, a cornet and trumpet player, and a co-director of the Lehman College Latin Jazz Band, 55 year-old Rodríguez spends his days orchestrating a diverse group of people, all united by their shared love of Latin music.

As co-director, Rodríguez is one of the very few Latinos who are involved in Latin Jazz Band. This band began in 2003, and currently has about 22 members. Ironically, the Latin Band’s membership has what Rodríguez called “a minority of Latinos.” While there are three Latin in the band, there are also musicians who hail from Japan, France, and Canada. Teachers and students alike from Lehman College constitute a majority of the band, allowing for diversity of age as well as ethnicity.

The Latin Jazz Band has not only brought people together, it has enriched Rodríguez's life by allowing him to share his gift with the community. Writing music for the band has been a creative outlet for Rodríguez, who is passionate about the impact Latin music has had on mainstream culture, an effect he calls “international.”

So what makes these people interested in music that is not “their own? Rodríguez says the Latin Jazz Band gives people of different backgrounds and experiences a "way of expressing [themselves] and being creative" in a college setting.

"Just because it's a Latino band doesn't mean you have to be Latino to be in it," as Rodríguez said.

For more information on the Latin Jazz Band at Lehman College, visit: http://lclatinjazzband.blogspot.com

Mini-Profile: Vanessa Cruz

2007-08-07T10:23:00.000-07:00

By: Ashley Dreier and Keisha Ramos

Vanessa Cruz used to be a reckless, unthinking teen. But due to many obstacles she’s had to face, her character has taken on a serious tone.

Cruz now attends Banana Kelly High School, a school for students who are in need of a second chance. But for the first two years of high school, she was home schooled. Statistics shows that students who are home schooled have the highest scholastic achievement; 24.5% are enrolled in classes that are one or more grades above their age level. However, statistics are not something that Cruz cares about.
“It’s definitely not every kid’s dream come true,” she said, referring to the experience of being home schooled. “Especially when you’re a teenage girl and all you want to do is stay away from home.”

Cruz’s mother felt that sending her daughter to high school could have a negative effect on her and her sister. “She didn’t want us to be influenced by any druggies or hang out with the ‘wrong crowd,’” said Cruz. Even though Cruz’s mother had good intentions, home schooling her kids had the opposite effect. “It was a horrible experience,” Vanessa said. “I couldn’t go out and meet new people. “I wasn’t really exposed to the world.”

Because Cruz wasn’t “exposed to the world,” she found herself unprepared to deal with her mother and step-father’s separation. “I cried for nights,” she said. “It was so painful the first few weeks, but now I’m learning to deal with it little by little.”Even though he’s not her father by blood and she doesn’t live with him anymore, Cruz still treats him like her biological dad and frequently visits him.
And ironically, she has now begun to finally appreciate her real father, whom she hated all of her life.

“I visited him after so long and saw that he does care about us. He had pictures of us all over his apartment.” said Jessica Cruz, 18 year old sister. Cruz’s mom told Vanessa and her siblings that their biological father didn’t want anything to do with them, but because of her sister’s recent visit she discovered that’s not true. Being sworn to secrecy, Cruz can’t say anything about this to her mother, so instead she just bottles up her anger of being lied to all these years. “I would love to confront her about the truth,” she said.

Even though Cruz had a bit of a rough childhood, she decided to make that into a positive thing and learn from her parents’ mistakes so she herself could be an ideal parent to her future kids. “They won’t be home schooled, that’s for sure,” she said. “I drove my mother crazy being home all the time; No way are my kids going to do that to me. I want them out!”

HIGH SCHOOL HABITS NEVER DIE

2007-07-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

By: Shahida Arabi, Mehadi Hassan, Deidre Thompson

Students carry their bad high school habits to college when they cheat and plagiarize, studies say. The percentage of students who cheat in high school compared to college differs by a mere 5%,according to U.S. News and World Report, while the percentage of students who plagiarize differs by 2% from high school to college, according to statistics from plagiarism.org. Students can gain access to websites that do their work for them, such as customwritings.com, which charges $10
per page for high school students and $12 a page for college students, for essays.

In high school, cheating and plagiarism are more common than they are in college. "I give about thirteen exams during the whole year, and I'd say we'd have at least one to three cheaters for every exam," said Charles McCanna, a biology teacher at Truman High School.Instances of cheating range from surreptitiously looking over a classmate's exam to copying whole lab assignments. McCanna once discovered one of his best students copying lab assignments. "It doesn't really have to do with the caliber of the students, it's just: 'Oh wait, I didn't prepare, I've got to make up somehow," said McCanna. "I'll pull them aside and say,'What's up with you looking at so-and-so's paper; What's up with the answers on your hands?'" McCanna thinks the best prevention against cheating or plagiarizing is to give students incentives for doing their own school work."You just gotta relate [the lessons] to their life," he said.

As for college students,“ they use resources such as sparknotes.com for their plagiarizing purposes. "College students are more 'sophisticated'," said Akilah Smith, a senior at Lehman College. She said that while high school students plagiarize ineffectually, college students are quite adept at eluding suspicion.

"In college, you're an adult -“ no-one's going to run you down
and spank you," she said.

How to Pay for College

2007-07-30T11:34:00.000-07:00

By: Aquib Ali, Tamesh Sukul

Bronx, July 26- While struggling to make ends meet, college students have to find ways to make enough money to pay for college and keep an extra something in their pockets. The search for the perfect part-time job can be rigorous, but it has its benefits.

Typically, a student working on campus can look forward to working 10-12 hours per week. "There's a job in the bookstore, tutoring, and a job in the library," says Kiran Abdur, a freshman at Lehman College."There's always something to do."

A student who is working in the vicinity of those hours can expect to earn 1,500-2,000 in an academic year.

Students working for the University are paid weekly, because students are part-time employees, they do not receive the luxury benefits such as paid holidays, vacations, and sick leave, but they are covered under Workers Compensation.

College costs are steadily rising and students are looking for part-time jobs to help lessen their expenses. Most students find it easier to
work jobs on their campuses.

So, do part-time jobs on campus come with extra benefits? "I sat in my office and got to do my homework," says Samantha Chan, a student in the teaching program at Lehman College.

Students who have part-time jobs outside campus will be more likely to work longer hours and not have enough time for themselves, or for their schoolwork.

Besides the benefits of a campus job, off-campus jobs pay more. "I definitely would take less than what I'm getting paid now at my job," says Matthew Oviedo, a student at Lehman College. He works at Levi's and gets paid $9.50 an hour. "Its good money," he says, "and helps pay for tuition."

RACISM- THE REASON FOR UNSUCCESSFUL URBAN BLACK AND HISPANIC MEN

2007-07-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

By: Elira Brucaj & Rosa Mancia

BRONX, July 26 - Due to the alarmingly low number of black and Hispanic males in New York’ city colleges, the Black Male Initiative Program is recruiting black and Hispanic males to increase their presence in city universities in New York. It has been found that racism is the primary cause of the men’s lack of opportunity and academic success in New York City.

The Black Male Initiative is a program that succeeds in helping black and Hispanic men graduate from college, change their mindset and also aid them to succeed in life, in general. Although the program targets young black and Hispanic men, anyone else, male or female, is welcome to apply to the program.

“We [have] serious issues when it comes to racism in America,” says associate director Rasheem Rooke. He strongly believes that the reason why many black and Hispanic men are not succeeding academically is racism. There is a “lack of opportunity for black and Latino men,” he says.

Although many believe that racism was dealt with long ago in America, there are still many cases of unfair treatment against African-Americans and Hispanics. Stereotypes that have long been in society contribute to the problems facing the average urban male, says James Jervis, associate professor of African American Studies at Lehman
College. “There is a low level of expectations for the black male, the Latino male,” he says. “The attraction is to be cool.”

Family structures have also been a part of the problem and continue to influence the African-American and Hispanic communities in urban society. The lack of a father figure in many black and Latino families contributes to the slow academic progress of their children. “You have these youngsters growing up with no males around,” said Jervis.

“If [the] mother is not doing well, nine times out of ten the child won’t be doing well,” says Rooke. “And that creates a cycle.”

The cultural, economic and social gap between white and black lives in America is regarded by many sociologists and scholars as huge. “A white male with a criminal record is more likely to get a job than a black male without a criminal record,” Jervis said. He says that society has a “low expectation of the black male.” In most correctional facilities across the nation, more than 50% of prisoners are black and Hispanic. “A black male commits a crime,” said Jervis. “He has the worst mug shot.”

Although these are all factors against to the urban black or Latino man, progress and hope for a better future still exist for African-American and Hispanic men. The Black Male Initiative Program is doing well to enable black and Hispanic men to graduate from college.

“Today’s pain is tomorrow’s glory,” says Rooke.

Another Watergate?

2007-07-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

By: Alberto Aquino and Prabjot Kaur

“Politicians go to college to be gangsters,” said Michael Watkins, a City College graduate. “They learn how to push the papers, shake the hands and kiss the babies.”

Along with Watkins, New Yorkers around the city are exclaiming their frustration over the scandal involving Governor Spitzer that was exposed yesterday. “I think it’s tarnishing what people think about the government,” said Watkins.

It was uncovered that Governor Spitzer’s aides, along with one of his top advisors, were unlawfully using the State Police to collect information about the governor’s principal rival, State Senate majority leader Joseph L. Bruno. They were looking for important information that would damage Bruno’s political reputation and career, according to a report by the attorney general’s office.

“My first perception of him was that he was someone who will bring more change,” said Jose Negroni, a Summer Youth teacher at Lehman College. “But I think what has been going on gives you more doubt again if it’s just all talk.”

“It’s like a second part to modify Watergate,” said Kyria Perez, a graduate student and math teacher at Lehman College.

The state government’s actions yesterday reminded New Yorkers of the infamous Watergate Scandal involving former President Nixon in which he used his top officials to gain information on the Democratic National Committee illegally. However, although the similarities are present,many feel that this latest scandal does not compare much to Watergate.

“I don’t think it’s as serious as Watergate. It seems more like a petty rivalry,” said Lavern Rhynie, a student at Lehman College. Although the similarities between the two scandals are minimal, they both succeed in hurting citizens’ trust in their government. Other scandals have been revealed in recent years; one involving the former NJ governor, James E. McGreevy, and his subsequent resignation from office.“Nothing surprises me about the politicians and their ways,” said Perez. “If you want to be a public servant, you need to have integrity for the people.”

FARE HIKES STRAIN BRONX COMMUTERS

2007-07-26T10:52:00.000-07:00

Amanda Yuan and Jayne Varghese

BEDFORD PARK-LEHMAN COLLEGE STATION, July 24 – Strong responses from
the city’s straphangers are expected tomorrow, when the Metropolitan Transit Authority reveals its 2008 financial plan, which includes a fare hike.

“It’s not fair to the kids; it’s not fair to the elderly; it’s not fair to the people that work and pay their taxes here,” said Leslie (last name withheld), a subway commuter. “I try to avoid riding the train as much as possible because I feel like I’m being robbed.”

The Independent Budget Office conducted a review that estimated atleast a 20% increase in fares to meet rising debt due to transit improvements. Loans for transit improvements are estimated to leave the MTA $32 billion in debt by 2010.

“Things are so expensive to keep the tracks running and everything,they should raise it but not so high,” said Alberto Rivera, a straphanger.

The fare hike will be the most straining to working class subway riders. “It is two dollars back and forth that’s four dollars,” said Sohiara Martinez, a Bronxite. “People are not making so much money and it’s hard to survive. That’s why people are moving out [of New York]. Common folks can’t survive in New York.”

The Dog Story

2007-07-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

by: Ericka Aguilar, Carol Fernandez, Eric Pagan

Walking down the streets of the Bronx you will always find a pet owner walking their dog. But it is hard to believe the contrast in the treatment these owners give their dogs. While some dogs live in the lap of luxury and enjoy visits to pet boarding centers, others, like Maximus, a pit bull, are in a living hell. On July 12, Maximus was tied to a tree by his owner, Derick Phanord, and set on fire.

Although dog owners continue to spend large amounts of cash on their pets, others are putting lost of energy into mistreating them. Last year, over 150 cases were filed against dog owners poisoning, beating,and neglecting their animals. According to LookSmart.com, the pet industry has continued to increase, doubling in the last 10 years. While 84 percent of owners treat their pets as well as family members, what
happens to the 16 percent that does not?

Animal cruelty is something that should not happen, said T.Catanno, a clerk at the A&K Pet Store. Believing that animal cruelty is inexcusable, he states that if he ever were to witness animal cruelty, he would make himself responsible for calling authorities.

So, do people spend too much money on their dogs? “I don’t think they spend enough!” said, Mary Tirado, a client at the Animal Hospital on Kingsbridge Road. “I’ve seen people punch their dogs, and I go up to them and tell them how would you feel if that was you?” she said.

Rap Influences

2007-07-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

By Ashley Dreier and Keisha Ramos

Guns, violence, money, drugs, and sexually explicit content are what most people think of when they hear the word “rapper.”

Famous rap artist Remy Ma was arrested Saturday, July 21, for attempted murder after she shot a friend following a verbal dispute at a Meatpacking District night spot. Other famous faces like Ja Rule and Li’l Wayne were also arrested on Sunday night. When Ja Rule was stopped for speeding, police officers found a .40 caliber pistol in his car. Within an hour, Li’l Wayne’s tour bus was stopped and cops dispatched to the scene smelled marijuana and discovered a .40 caliber pistol. With these and other indiscretions, are today’s rappers good or bad role models for their many fans?

“I respect them as artists, but I don’t always like their material,” says Eileen Kleinman, 54, a Bronxite.“They can be negative [because of] the language they use in some of their songs.” Although unsure about the message that rappers send through their music,she still allows her three children to listen to hip hop, hoping they
don’t act on any possibly negative influences.

Jean Ibara, an 18 year-old teenager from Westchester Square, thinks it boils down to a matter of dollar bills. “They got money,” she says.“If they got money, they gonna do things like that.”

Louis Sojo, 35, a sergeant and supervisor of the New York Police Department, believes everyone is an individual and doesn’t put all rap artists in one category.“Everyone who is in the spotlight should be conscious of what their doing, because everyone is a role model,” he says.

Will Price Hike Drive Caffeine Cravers Away?

2007-07-26T10:19:00.001-07:00

By Stacy-Ann Ellis and Christine Baerga

A recent announcement of an upcoming increase in Starbucks Coffee
prices has sparked mixed reactions from New York’s dedicated coffee
drinkers.

On Tuesday, July 24, Starbucks Coffee announced that the company would raise its prices in the United States and Canada by 10 cents per product, starting next week. This will be Starbuck’s first consumer price hike in North America since August, 2000. The company feels that this price hike is necessary due to the mounting costs of coffee beans and sugar, which have increased by 36% and 39% accordingly.

Though there might be some opposition to the company and their price
hike, Starbucks still has its loyal customers.

“They are very popular, you know?” said Nancy Paris, a customer at Lehman College’s cafeteria. “Everybody goes [to Starbucks] but I think if the prices go up, eventually they will lose business.” Paris feels very strongly about the price increase. “Well I am upset, so I am sure a lot of New Yorkers are upset.”

With Starbucks being such a popular company, the price hike will affect more than just customers; it might have repercussions for the business, as well. “I really believe that Dunkin Donuts is giving them a run for their money,” said Elizabeth Sanchez, a prospective Lehman College student.

“It depends on how much money is in their pocket,” said Steve Sellas, a Bronx resident, sitting at a local Bronx coffee shop. “I don’t give a damn if it goes up $2. If I gotta buy a cup of coffee, I’m gonna buy a cup of coffee.”

Why Hasn’t the United States Intervened in Darfur?

2007-07-26T09:00:00.001-07:00

By: Malisa Dutson, Jean Kapkanoff

As the European Union considers sending troops to Chad to protect
refugees fleeing from the ongoing genocide conflict in Darfur, Bronx
residents aware of Darfur’s tragedy think it’s about time for the world to
take action.

“It’s never too late to intervene because there’s suffering going on,” said Ruth, who refused to give her last name. “With the many deaths that have occurred I don’t understand why we haven’t done anything sooner.”

During a meeting with French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday,
European Union (E.U.) Policy Chief Javier Solana concluded that the E.U.
may provide military aid to refugees in Chad until the arrival of U.N.
and African Union forces.

So far, little has been done by the international community to curb the
genocide in Darfur. With an estimated 200,000 dead and 2.5 million in
refugee camps, many Americans remain uninformed.

“I’m only aware of this because I am connected to the U.N.” said
Ismael Betancourt, president of the Bronx-based Multicultural Business
Institute and a former candidate for city government.

Some attribute the United States’ lack of involvement in Darfur to
imperialistic interest in other areas, such as Iraq. “They intervened
in Iraq. It would be better to have intervened in Darfur,” said Betancourt.

“It’s a capitalist country and it’s all down to the best way we can make a buck,” says Steve Hayes, a student at Lehman College.Many people feel that the United States believes there’s no need to intervene in Darfur because there would be no returns. However, although the United States would not benefit economically, innocent people in Darfur are dieing.

“Any country that we have something to gain from we are more likely to intervene in,” said high school teacher Sara Miraldi. “I would like to think they’d intervene to save lives, not for our own economic interest.”

Bronxites Don’t Put Much Trust in Food

2007-07-26T08:58:00.001-07:00

By ELIRA BRUCAJ & ROSA MANCIA

BRONX, July 24 - Many Bronx locals are becoming concerned about their health due to the increasing outbreaks of food poisoning, which has led to the loss of trust in the products they buy.

Recently, an outbreak of botulism was discovered in hot dog chili sauce in food brands such as Castleberry’s, Kroger’s, and Austex.Botulism usually results from bacteria, developing in canned goods, such as canned vegetables and meats. Earlier, an outbreak of a form of salmonella, which is a bacterium that results from ineffective sanitation and improper food preparation, was found in the popular children’s snack,Veggie Booty.

The Food and Drug Association (FDA) is responsible for protecting the public’s health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, and cosmetics. Andrea P. Boyar, associate professor in the department of health at Lehman College, feels that the FDA is an understaffed, “overburdened agency.”

“This is damaging the trust [in consumer products] because we are finding out all sorts of problems that are cropping up,” she said.Andre Perez, a 15-year-old student in the pre-med program at Lehman College, has no faith in the FDA. “The FDA tries to hide everything and they approve some stuff that’s, like, hazardous and [they] want to give you a heart attack and diabetes,” he said.

Many locals are refusing to eat at fast-food restaurants. Worried about their health, they choose alternatives to the popular fast-food chains. “Basically, I don’t eat at fast-food chains at all,” said a 17-year-old student who chose to remain anonymous.

Consumers do not put much trust in the products that they buy, locals say. They are aware of the labels but are more concerned about quality and taste. “I don’t think they put much trust in it [consumer products] at all, because usually, if it looks good, they’ll eat it,”the student said. “That’s all that matters to them.”

Fay Koufalis, manager and co-owner of the Bedford Café and Restaurant, does not believe the outbreaks are affecting her customers or her business. Serving everything from hamburgers to fish to soups,Koufalis trusts her staff and the way their food is prepared and handled. “I know what I’m doing,” she says.

Fast food or not, people are still aware of the fact that eating out is still risky. A police officer at Walton High School trusts in what he buys, but is still skeptical about eating out. “I ate boneless ribs,” he said, “the next day I was sick as a dog.”

The FDA is taking steps to protect public health by notifying the public about what they should and shouldn’t eat. “All you can do is hope that they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” the police officer said. “You just have to trust it, you know?”

SEX: A Personal Choice

2007-07-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

By: Alberto Aquino, Elira Brucaj, Carol Fernandez, Prabjot Kaur

Abstinence programs in public schools encourage teenagers to abstain
from sex as the only effective method to prevent sexually transmitted
diseases (STD), sexually transmitted infections (STI), and teenage
pregnancy. “They [students] should know that it’s okay not to have sex,” said Ann Utke, a pre-med teacher at Lehman College.
New laws passed by state legislatures in Iowa and Colorado are presenting obstacles for abstinence programs in public schools. It requires that such programs should be based on science or research, which is just another method to lecture on safer sex rather than abstinence. Some students and experts believe that these programs are futile because they have little effect in stopping students from having sex. “Just saying don’t do it, won’t stop them,” said Utke.
Abstinence programs are ways to provide choices to public high school
students, not to gear them in one direction, says Utke.
These programs, however, are threatened by state legislatures
plans to stop them from being carried out public schools. Trends suggest that children who take part in such programs are just as likely to engage in sex at the same age as children who don’t, according to a study published in Medical News Today. State governments in places like Texas have decided to no longer finance abstinence programs because they do not appear to be effective.
“That’s a shame,” says Cindy Kreisberg, health director at
Lehman College. She believes that these programs offer students knowledge and choices about sex.
School administrations use sex education and condom distribution to promote safe sex among high school students. The message schools send to their students by handing out free condoms is a controversial one. While some believe that it encourages safe sex, others believe that it is promoting casual sex.
“It’s natural to have sex, but if they’re going to have sex,
they should be protected from getting infected by STIs and STDs,” said
Christine Chan, a 17 year old high school student who is currently in
the Pre-Med Health Program at Lehman College.

The Bronx “Bombers”

2007-07-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

After a rough start, the New York Yankees have made their way
to an unexpected winning streak, following their victory at Yankee
Stadium on July 17, 2007 against the Toronto Blue Jays. But how long can this streak last?

“They suck!” said Melissa Tiep, a student at Lehman College.“They only won by luck.” Most still have faith. “They are getting hot,” says Luis Espada, a true Yankee fan. He thinks that the Yankees are going to make it all the way even though they’ve had a bumpy first half of this season. Just when it looks like they’re going to break out of a slump like they did on June 14th, 2007 by wining 9 straight games, they start losing. Even though Alex Rodriguez, the current home run and RBI leader in Major League Baseball, is having a phenomenal season, what happened to the rest of the team?

They lack “team chemistry” said Fabio Sanchez, a student at Lehman
College. This is crucial for the Yankees, since A-Rod has almost double
the number of home runs and RBI’s as the rest of his team members.

These facts show that the Bronx Bombers aren’t what they used to be,
or are or who knows? “The team is playing well now but it’s up to
them to decide their future,” said Lehman student, Jaelen Wilder.

Got Pride?

2007-07-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

Reported By: Ashley Dreier, Mehadi Hassan, Eric Pagan

For most Bronx residents the New York Yankees are a symbol of Bronx
pride. Although most New Yorkers wouldn’t be able to name players
other than Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, they still consider themselves true Yankee fans.
“New Yorkers want the Yankees to do well,” said Ivan
Obregon, a Bronxite. But others feel that the Yankees are not keeping their good name. Ali Jorge thinks the Yankees have too many good players not to have won a World Series in seven years.
In the past seven years the Yankees have acquired players such as A-Rod and Roger Clemens and have paid them over $10 million a year. The Yankees have the most sizable payroll in Major League Baseball, totaling over $195 million dollars a year, not because they’re hitting homeruns, but because they represent the Bronx. This may be why most Bronx residents support the Yankees even though the team isn’t at the top of its game, literally.
But ironically, Bronx residents might begin to lose their pride once the new Yankee stadium is built. Steve Trimboli, for example, feels that the new stadium will have a negative effect on the borough: fewer Bronxites will attend due to higher prices for tickets.

BRAZILIAN PLANE CRASH IN A POST-9/11 WORLD

2007-07-24T10:10:00.000-07:00

By: Shahida Arabi, Stacy-Ann Ellis, Keisha Ramos, Deidre Thompson

A recent plane crash in Brazil has ignited controversy over
whether other aviation disasters will spark fear in New Yorkers in
their post-9/11 world. Last night an Airbus 320 crashed into an office
building and gas station in Sao Paulo, Brazil, resulting in a
conflagration reminiscent of the September 11 terrorist attacks. There is a definite similarity between September 11 and the Brazilian plane crash: both involved plane collisions and subsequent conflagration. Yet, would the scene of rubble and civilian casualties renew tensions for New Yorkers?
This event could trigger memories for those struggling with
post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the attacks of September
11, 2001, said Tanjida Afroz, a psychology major and recent graduate of
Hunter College. Post-traumatic stress disorder can involve flashbacks,
emotional repression, and social isolation. It often occurs after a
traumatic event such as 9/11, according to Medline Plus Medical
Encyclopedia.
However, psychologists from Lehman College feel that the
recent incident in Brazil would not have such a strong impact on New
Yorkers. “September 11 was a planned and deliberate attack,” said
psychology professor Martha Lequerica, and this was just an accident.”
John McDonald, an associate professor, refused to comment on the
controversial issue, asserting that his outlook may be considered too
"radical."
Lequerica said that New Yorkers would more likely be upset
by mishaps at local airports than by an "accident" occurring
approximately 4,000 miles away.
Still, New Yorkers have become what assistant professor of
psychology Anne Reid calls, “resilient when it comes to flying.”
Events like the September 11 terrorist attack have caused some Americans to be alarmed but have not shaken the majority of the country, she said. She said that events like these affect people differently, and those that do not fly frequently are not as susceptible to fear.
“The further away, the less direct [the] impact,” as
Reid said.

YELLOW JOURNALISM IN A POST- 9/11 WORLD

2007-07-24T10:06:00.001-07:00

By: Shahida Arabi, Stacy-Ann Ellis, Keisha Ramos, Deidre Thompson

After the Brazilian plane crash last Tuesday and
Thursday’s steam pipe explosion, memories of 9/11 are bound to resurface. The news plays an integral role in the fear that most New Yorkers may feel when they hear about such incidents.
“The news wants you to have that fear,” said Mavi Penzo, a 22 year-old New Yorker who has lived here all her life. When asked about the impact that 9/11 had on her, she responded that she would not let the paranoia overwhelm her. “Paranoia is ignorance,” she said.
“Things are going to happen regardless,” said Christine
Herrera, a Lehman College student, referring to news reports about 9/11 stirring fear and concern over future terrorist attacks.
The news sensationalizes the threat of terrorism in order to gain a wider readership, says Abdul Malik, a Puerto Rican Muslim convert. “It
has nothing to do with what is right or who is wrong,” he said.
“It’s about money, oil, and Israel.”
When asked whether he fears the threat of another terrorist
attack, Malik stated that the news was mere “yellow journalism.”
“I don’t fear any terrorist attack, nor should anyone
else. Live your life the way you want to live it.”

David Beckham: The Savior of Major League Soccer?

2007-07-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

By: Aquib Ali, Ericka Aguilar, Tamesh Sukul, Jean Kapkanoff

Bronx, July 19 - Despite recent media focus on American soccer -which David Beckham’s summer 2007 debut as a player for the L.A. Galaxy helped to generate - the game itself still seems to be lost on most
American sports fans.
In this country, soccer has is as popular as tube socks.
Soccer ratings are abysmal. Even the game of poker enjoys more exposure; ESPN has been airing the world series of poker over soccer. The highest rating for a soccer game was recorded at an astonishing 0.25 percent and 215,242 households: a Metrostars-Fire game on June 22, 2007. To put this in perspective, one-tenth of the Bronx were viewers of this game. Unless it’s the World Cup, nobody is really interested, said Omar Morton, who grew up with the sport in Ghana. However, statistics show that even after last year’s World Cup, held in Germany, people in America are not big fans of the world’s most popular sport.
Everyone has his own perception of the game, but few have
even basic knowledge of it. When asked how many players are on each
team, “20?” and “8?” were answers students Justin Rosario and Carol
Fernandez gave.
Jay Gurka, a soccer referee, believes that David
Beckham’s arrival in the U.S. is “a positive step for American soccer.” Gurka stated that there aren’t many personalities in soccer and that’s probably why soccer isn’t popular. It’s hard to focus on
soccer when you have baseball, basketball, and hockey,” Gurka said.
Fernandez said she would rather watch and play baseball. “I remember
something about a red card,” Fernandez said, making it clear that she
had no further knowledge of the sport.
Whether or not Americans will become more interested
in soccer as a major sport depends on several factors, as John Cicero, a security guard for the Lehman College campus, points out. Cicero asserts that older
people who grew up fans of more traditional American sports like baseball and football, will probably not develop much interest in soccer. Younger sports fans,
however, may be more open to watching, and even playing, soccer. When asked if he would be interested in attending a soccer game, Cicero said, “No, I’m not
a soccer fan. I’d rather have Yankee tickets.”

Con Edison: In Over Its Head?

2007-07-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

By: Malisa Dutson, Rosa Mancia, Jayne Varghese, Amanda Yuan

During last Wednesday’s inclement weather, a steam explosion in midtown Manhattan left one New Yorker dead, more than 30 injured and many, many more questioning Con Edison’s ability to protect the city from severe environmental conditions.

Severe weather conditions have caused many problems with New York City’s ancient infrastructure, problems which Con Edison is having a hard time dealing with.

Antagonism has been building against Con Edison ever since last year’s 10-day outage in Queens. Just the day before the steam pipe explosion, communities in Queens held a flashlight march demanding that Con Edison stop its impending rate hike- the most substantial in history- demanding a 17% rate hike for residents and 10.5% for business owners. “If Con Edison is doing a poor job, why should they get paid more?” said Rmil Amin.

Coincidently, the explosion in midtown the following day accentuated the protesters’ concerns. The explosion also revealed the flaws in New York City’s infrastructure as Mayor Bloomberg had stressed in a speech the previous evening.

“I don’t think we can prevent something even though we plan things. I hope they learn from this unfortunate incident and make the area around the pipes more secure,” said Angela Knight.

[2007] Journalist Profiles

2007-07-12T10:20:00.000-07:00

Aquib Ali
Age: 16
School: DeWitt Clinton
A passionate Mets fan, Aquib Ali is a humorous 16-year-old with ambitious goals for the future. Aquib is currently attending DeWitt Clinton High School and will graduate in June, 2008, after which he plans to continue his education at the University of Buffalo, where he hopes to delve deeper into the world of journalism. This sports fanatic loves to play a variety of games, especially baseball. Aquib aspires to be a sports journalist and create his own sports show. He hopes to follow in the footsteps of accomplished sportscasters such as Gary Cohen, Al Michaels, and Chris Berman, because he admires how dedicated they are to their profession and how well they report sports news, events and issues. Aquib knows the road ahead for him will be long and arduous, but he is determined to accomplish his goal no matter what obstacles come his way. And regardless of the level of success and fame he achieves, Aquib promises never to forsake his home country of Pakistan. “Even though I have been living in America all my life,” Aquib says, “I will never forget my Pakistani roots.”
-
Tamesh Sukul

Name: Ericka Aguilar
Age: 17
School: DeWitt Clinton High School

If you look at 17-year-old Ericka Aguilar, you would see a future journalist for a well-known magazine. Aguilar hopes to work for publications like the famous CosmoGirl! magazine. After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School as a proud part of the class of 2008, she looks forward to a promising four years at the College of Manhattan, where she hopes to take part in a specialized course focusing on magazine publishing. Aguilar enjoys spending her spare time reading, writing, and swimming. Her favorite book happens to be Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret, by Judy Blume. “I felt like the main character related to me because of all the troubles she was going through at the time. She reminded me of myself,” says Aguilar about the book. She also enjoys watching movies with her friends. Comedies are her preferred type of movie, especially the popular film starring the Wayans brothers, White Chicks. With an open mind towards important issues and a true passion for journalism, we can see that Ericka Aguilar is a girl who will pursue and achieve her dreams.
--- Stacy-Ann Ellis

Name: Alberto Aquino
Age: 17
School: Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy
Captain of his school’s soccer and wrestling teams, as well as right fielder for its baseball team, Alberto Aquino, 17, is very involved in extra curricular activities. A senior at the Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy High School, Alberto also covers current events and politics for the academy’s newspaper, “The Gazette.” Alberto is a lover of politics and journalism and wants to continue these studies throughout college by majoring in either political science or international affairs. Since New York is very appealing to Alberto, he plans to attend a nearby college such as SUNY-Albany or SUNY-Binghamton. Alberto idolizes Barack Obama for his success as an African American and how he made it to the U.S. Senate, and maybe beyond, even though the odds were stacked against him as a man of color. Like Obama, Alberto aspires to help people, by either becoming involved in politics himself or becoming a journalist and notifying people of political developments. “I want to be able to help as many people as I can and change the world,” says Alberto.
-- Mehadi Hassan

Name: Shahida Arabi
Age: 16
School: DeWitt Clinton

Upon meeting Shahida Arabi, one might think her an overachieving perfectionist. The truth is, she is an overachieving perfectionist. But that’s just a part of her and it does not entirely define her. This native of Bangladesh describes herself as “versatile and philosophical” and given some time spent with her, it is easy to see why. Her favorite books are the ever popular “Harry Potter” series and when asked if she had the opportunity to live during any time period other than the present she says it would be during the United States Suffrage Movement. She lives her life by the famous Eleanor Roosevelt saying, “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Arabi also loves the book The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde. She relates her own life to this book, in that she approaches the world with wonder, acknowledging that as she gets older, she will begin to lose her innocence and see the world for what it really is.
-- Deidre Thompson

Name: Christine Baerga
Age: 17
School: DeWitt Clinton High School
Christine Baerga is 17-years-old and currently attending DeWitt Clinton High School. She likes to take risks and is a very outgoing person. Christine hopes to become a fashion or sports journalist one day. Two things she fears most are death and failure. Her favorite quote is “Pain is weakness leaving the body.” Her interests are playing softball and hanging out with friends. She loves to travel and has visited Puerto Rico, Aruba, Spain, Africa, Venezuela, California, and Florida. Christine Baerga: World Traveler!
-- Eric Pagan, Jr.

Name: Elira Brucaj
Age: 16
High School: Lehman High School

Confidence is the first thing you notice about 16-year-old Elira Brucaj. It’s evident the minute she opens her mouth. She gives off the impression that she knows exactly what she wants out of life. But she says that it has taken her a little while to reach this level of self-assurance. She had to overcome her self-esteem issues. “I just stopped caring what people think about me,” said Elira. “It enabled me to push forward and it didn’t hold me back from doing things in front of people.” Now she feels really proud of herself. Elira’s display of confidence shows that she has the potential to do whatever it is she sets her mind to, which, by the way, are two choices that could not be more different from one another: becoming a magazine writer or a dentist.
-- Rosa Mancia

Name: Ashley K. Dreier
Age: 17
School: Herbert H. Lehman High School

Throughout people’s lifetime they experience tragic events. Ashley K. Dreier’s uncle died in 2002. This was something very difficult for her to handle as an 11-year-old. At the time, she had not seen him since her previous birthday, but still felt very close to him. Ashley does not know why her father did not attend his brother’s (her uncle’s) funeral, but she was very hurt by it. She felt like her family never really said goodbye to him.
Many people have different opinions as to who would be the hardest person to lose in one’s life, but to Ashley, it would be her boyfriend. They have been together for only seven months but this has been enough time for her to fall in love with him. The reason that Dreier believes he would be the hardest person for her to lose is not just because he is her boyfriend, but also because of the fact that she believes that a spouse dying is the most tragic thing for someone to endure. When someone close to you dies, you have your partner or spouse there to turn to for support and comfort, but if that is the person to go, your strongest, closest source of support goes too. You may have other people to turn to, but as Ashley says, “it’s not the same.”
Despite her early exposure to loss, Ashley’s life is filled with many joys and fond memories. The fact that she can’t pick a specific one shows that she has a lot of happiness in and around her. It is a combination of her joyous memories and upsetting times that have made her the person she is today: a young lady on the verge and in search of her career.
Keisha Ramos

Name: Malisa Dutson
Age: 16
School: Herbert H. Lehman High School

During this past semester at Herbert H. Lehman High School, Malisa Dutson wrote for the school newspaper, Voice of Lehman. She has always been aware of her passion for writing and her involvement with the Voice helped her to realize it fully. Aside from writing, Malisa also enjoys drawing and listening to a diverse variety of music. “I listen to everything,” she says. “From Arabic to heavy metal. Everything.”
After attending college, Dutson hopes to write for a living and publish a book of poetry. She values substance and emotion in her poetry far more than rhyme and structure. Her ultimate goal is to be respected as an author whose work deeply touches her readers.
-- Jean Kapkanoff

Name: Stacy -Ann Ellis
Age: 17
School: Bronx High School of Science

Born and raised in Flushing, Queens, Stacy-Ann Ellis currently attends Bronx High School of Science. With her easy-going personality and love of writing, Stacy-Ann hopes to work at a magazine after graduating from college. She is surely a driven person. During the school year, Stacy-Ann wakes up in the morning and begins getting prepared for a day of classes at 5:30 a.m. in order to be on her bus to school by 6:15. “My school is very competitive,” she says, explaining her early start and long daily commute. Even with all the stress of classes Stacy-Ann does find time extracurricular activities; she is active in the Black Organization for Student Strength/ West Indian Society(BOSS/WIS), and also practices cheerleading and step. “I love to dance, and have been dancing for the past 11 years,” says Stacy-Ann. With her outgoing personality she also doesn’t feel shy about public speaking – in fact, she is a natural at it!
-- Carol Fernandez

Name: Carol Fernandez
Age: 17
School: Dewitt Clinton High School

Carol Fernandez is a 17 year-old student at Dewitt Clinton High School. In the start of fall ’07, Fernandez will enter her senior year and she will also be the editor in chief of the school’s newspaper. Fernandez has her sights on a career in journalism. Another goal in her life is to make a huge impact on the world! She believes that by making differences in the lives of others, she will feel better about herself. Fernandez says her inspiration for becoming a journalist was her idol the book “El Alquimista” by Paulo Coelho. Fernandez had to read the book for class; now, it’s her favorite piece of literature. “After reading the book, I knew that I wanted to become a journalist,” Fernandez stated.
-- Ericka Aguilar

Name: Mehadi Hassan
Age: 17
School: Bronx High School of Science

Mehadi Hassan is an incoming senior at Bronx Science with a promising future. He plans to attend CUNY Honors College and major in computer science or physics. He already has enough credits to enter his first day in college with at least a semester already completed. But he will not be resting during his last year in high school. Mehadi is planning to take three more AP classes next year and will be continuing his participation in the high school track and fencing teams. Even with his heavy workload and many extracurricular activities he was able to get through his junior year with a high average. By 2008 he will graduate high school with credit for four AP courses and with two “College Now” courses. Mehadi has dreams of someday working for NASA and is interested in someday becoming a surgeon. Although Mehadi works very hard in school he takes advantage of his free time. On the weekends he enjoys sleeping for long hours, playing video games and hanging out with his friends.
Mehadi was born October 29, 1990 in Bangladesh. When he was eight years old his family moved to New York in pursuit of better economic and educational opportunities. He came to the United States not knowing anyone or any English. “Nothing is impossible in life if you work at it” says Mehadi. With hard work and dedication he was able to learn the language. If Mehadi continues to have the same motivation and drive that he has had so far, he will surely go very far in life.
-- Alberto Aquino

Name: Jean Kapkanoff
Age: 16
High school: Herbert H. Lehman High school

Jean Kapkanoff is proud to say that some of her role models are authors of books she enjoys reading. Her genres of choice is fiction. Stephen King, Christopher Rice, and Anne Rice are amongst her favorite authors. Their books have had a very strong effect on her; after reading them, all she can think is “How did they do that?”, because the writers have found ever new ways to amaze her. The books inspire Jean in her own writings. Besides writing, in her spare time Jean enjoys drawing. What she likes to draw most are eyes. The human eyes shape and expressions are what fascinate her most, says Jean.
-- Malisa Dutson

Prabjot Kaur
Age: 16
Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy

This wondrous child, blessed by her parents, opened her eyes to the world on December 16, 1990. Prabjot Kaur, “Jodie” for short, is a wishful soul who has big dreams of becoming independent and one day occupying a seat at the United Nations as a diplomat. She lives in the borough of the Bronx with her “Crazy Indian Family.” She says her mom is the craziest, which is why she looks to her mom when in need of wisdom and help. She also admires the words of Elie Wiesel, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and author of the Holocaust memoir “Night.”

Jodie attends Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy, taking several A.P. classes, and is well on her way to realizing her dreams. She enjoys doing things like graffiti art (“Not on private property,” she says, “that I consider vandalism.”), playing basketball, studying history, and tutoring kids in math and English for community service. With her straight forward personality, outspokenness and determined attitude, she is Jodie, the future United Nations diplomat.
Adam Mohan

Name: Rosa Mancia
Age: 17
High School: High School of Fashion Industries

Rosa Mancia is a charismatic 17-year-old girl who likes reading, shopping, and hanging out with her friends. Her mother is from Guatemala and her father from El Salvador. She is not afraid to try new things and is always finding original ways in which to express herself. Rosa’s favorite subject in school is English. Her interest has led her to participate in Lehman College’s College Now program for journalism. She considers herself reliable, independent, and a good listener, all qualities perfect for a career as a journalist. Rosa also depends on her unique personality and open-mindedness to set herself apart from the rest of the world.
-- Elira Brucaj

Name: Eric Pagan, Jr.
Age: 17
School: Aldai Stevenson High School

Eric Pagan, Jr., a Bronx native, took his first breath on July 31st, 1990 at Mt. Sinai Hospital. He was raised by both his parents, Carmen and Eric, Sr., to whom he remains very close. He expects to graduate from Stevenson High in the summer of 2008 and move on to become an accounting major at Hunter College. Eric aspires to own his own company one day. A fan of boxing, he goes to a gym every day and trains at building stamina to excel at this grueling, but thrilling sport. Boxing accounts for one source of Eric’s enthusiastic spirit – his friends and family another: “I can’t be around boring people,” Eric says. “I like to surround myself with people who are hype.”
-- Christine Baerga

Name: Keisha Ramos
Age: 17
School: Herbert H. Lehman High School

Keisha Ramos, a 17-year-old student at Herbert H. Lehman High School, was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on January 9, 1990. After living in Puerto Rico for the first eight years of her life, Keisha’s family decided to move to New York in May of 1998. Although sad about leaving her hometown, Keisha was excited about the move and thought of it as a new adventure. Currently she lives in the Bronx with her mother and two brothers.
Being a person who likes to have fun, Ramos is rarely found at home. If she could, she would be outside all day and night. A passion of hers is dancing. She has taken mambo lessons for the past three years and recently finished up her last year at Starlight dance studio. She still loves to dance, but discontinued her classes solely because of the useless drama with the people there. “The drama was unnecessary and just took all the fun out of dancing,” she says. “I’ll still dance with my friends and have fun with it, but no more mambo classes for me.” Besides dancing, Ramos’ hobbies include reading, writing, listening to music, talking on the phone, hanging out with friends, “the basic girl stuff,” as she puts it.

There are a lot of things that make up Keisha Ramos. All and all, she is a kind person, someone who grows from her bad experiences, and a smart girl who is now focusing on her studies in order to pursue a writing career.
-- Ashley Dreier

Tamesh Sukul
Age:16
School: Dewitt Clinton high school

Tamesh Sukul is a shy, yet outgoing 16-year-old from the Bronx. Tamesh is entering his senior year at Dewitt Clinton High School, after which he hopes to attend college and pursue his dream of becoming a journalist. Some of the activities he enjoys are playing basketball, and hanging out with his friends and family. Tamesh is a car enthusiast and collects Slam and Dub magazines. He has fond memories of visiting his uncle in Guyana a few years ago. His uncle took him all around Guyana and helped enhance

Tamesh’s knowledge of his country of origin. He cherishes this moment because it was his last memory of his uncle, who passed away shortly after. “Anytime life is getting me down, I just think about the time I spent that hot summer in Guyana with my uncle,” said Tamesh.
-- Aquib Ali

Deidre Thompson
Age: 16
School: DeWitt Clinton High School

At first sight, it is easy to stereotype Deidre as the typical honors student. And often this is what people tend to do. Yet Thompson is more than just her "Honor Student" façade. "They see the glasses and the big book-bag and they think I am a goody-two-shoes," Thompson says, refuting the commonly held misconceptions. "They think I go to church every Sunday, but I curse a lot, and I only go to church once a year...on Easter!" Thompson does genuinely enjoy pursuing intellectual endeavors such as mathematics and history, the latter of which will soon be her major at college. Yet whether it be her admiration for the counterculture and activism of the 1960's or her facility with the quadratic formula, it is evident that Thompson's analytical, honest and practical outlook on life is what will make her a viable intellectual asset to today's society.
Shahida Arabi

Name: Jayne Varghese
Age: 16
School: Bronx High School of Science

Jayne Varghese is a charming and charismatic 16-year old student who attends the Bronx High School of Science. She was raised in a very close-knit Christian Orthodox family, which has contributed to her tenacious attitude. Although Jayne has accomplished a lot during her time at Bronx Science, including attending Key Club and Nasha, an Indian-pride club, she modestly brushes off compliments on her achievements. Instead, she says, “I’m pretty lazy. I could do much better in school and there are other students much smarter and more motivated than I am.” Jayne is keeping an open mind about her aspirations and hopes to attend Binghamton for college.
-- Amanda Yuan

Amanda Yuan
Age: 16
High School: The Bronx High School of Science
Amanda Yuan lives with her mom, dad, and older sister in Middle Village, Queens. She will be a junior next year and plays on the junior varsity volleyball and junior varsity softball teams at Bronx Science. Amanda is very excited about participating in the College Now Journalism class because it will help her prepare for the honors journalism class that she’ll be taking next year. After high school, Amanda would like to attend either M.I.T. or Cooper Union. She is considering becoming an architect because she excels in both math and art. Even with all this planned out, she says, "I'm still open about my choices."
-- Jayne Varghese

2005-08-09T07:45:00.000-07:00

Trace, Spin and Feel the Vibe of Journalism
By Ana Figuereo, Taryn Mclean, Arthur Sanders, Kristen Wallace, and Michelle Yakobson

On August 2nd, the College Now Journalism class took a fieldtrip to the headquarters of Spin, Vibe and Trace magazines.

The first stop was to the Spin/Vibe building in Midtown Manhattan, where the tall building and tight security hardly reflects the laid-back atmosphere inside the offices. Upon entering the waiting room, the class was welcomed by an intern who was making phone calls, and then the smiling Lynne D. Johnson, general manager of the online component of Spin/Vibe. Johnson led them to what looked like a hybrid of a conference room and a room from which editorial assistants fetch their bosses’ lunches like well-trained Dobermans. The class sat down to a chat with Johnson, during which she described herself, her role at Spin/Vibe, and the cutthroat world of journalism. This Bronx native described how she just “fell into [journalism],” even though she “did not know [she] wanted to be a journalist.”

Johnson started out by majoring in computer science. Midpoint in her education, she decided that she wanted to become a writer. At the time, a frequent to college newspapers as a tutor of sorts -- “I was writing people’s papers and getting paid for it” – Johnson decided that she might as well turn her various investments in writing into a career in journalism. But, she wasn’t exactly ecstatic about the schedule involved. “Reporting is daily, it’s exact…you have to make deadlines,” Johnson said. “And you’ve got to get those stories in.”

After writing for a publication funded by students of SUNY New Paltz and SUNY Albany, Johnson chose to pursue an occupation in magazine writing because “with magazines you have more freedom.”

Editorial Assistant Kyle Anderson, 23, was our next speaker. Anderson works for the print version of Spin magazine. Starting out as a theatre student at NYU, Kyle woke up one morning in the middle of his sophomore year and realized he hated what he was doing. He finished up his classes as soon as he could, and switched to journalism. With an amiable, humorous and slightly sarcastic tone, Kyle proudly proclaimed, “I get to talk to washed up rock stars.”

“You name them,” said Kyle, “if they’re not relevant, then I’ve talked to them.”
Over at Spin’s sister magazine, Vibe, Editor-in-Chief Mimi Valdés spoke to us about her passion for journalism and her decade-long dedication to the profession. Valdés explained how she has been in “the game” for so long that she has developed personal relationships with various celebrities in the music industry.

“If the publicist is taking too long to get Kanye West…I can call him up and get [a quote] from him,” Mimi said. The reason Valdés is so successful, she told the class of aspiring journalists, is that since high school, she immersed herself in the world of hip-hop and urban culture, the editorial content at Vibe. She read magazines and watched music videos religiously, because at the time, those were her only means of acquiring information about her favorite recording artists. This was a time before Vibe magazine even existed. Valdés realized that in order to thrive in this industry, “you have to immerse yourself totally in the field that interests you.” Basically, one has to “do their homework” to make it as a journalist, she said.

The last stop on our fieldtrip was Trace magazine, located in a humble loft in SoHo. There was a very family-like atmosphere, one in which the staff shared inside jokes and even bickered playfully at times. They’ve been working with each other for years, said publisher Amy Andrieux. Founded and operated for many years in London, England, Trace switched continents to New York in 1998. Now, its readership spans the globe. Trace prides itself on being a “classic” magazine that focuses on “transculturalism.” They define “transculturalism” as a way of embracing different cultures by exploring their music and fashion trends. Trace considers itself separate from other magazines because its editors consider each issue a “collectible.” The magazine itself is meant to be a precious item that its readers will want to keep for years to come. And unlike magazines such as Vibe, which follow the mainstream, Trace focuses on the underground and underrated artists whom they feel deserve attention.
As the class concluded its day of site visits to magazines around town, some students said they felt encouraged by the excitement of a journalism career, while others were discouraged by the competitive nature of the field. Overall, the class found the trip to be very informative. It was a wake-up call for aspiring journalists to commit themselves to what they truly love.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Students Say Graphic Design Class “A Success”
By: Abu Ali, Brian Choi, Angeline Deschamps, Ana Figuereo and Samantha Seodas

The Graphic Design class has been hard at work, but still it manages to maintain a fun atmosphere. They have come a long way and learned about many digital techniques, using programs such as Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Flash.
As the program draws to an end, all the students are putting their finishing touches on their final projects. There are seven different groups working on digital projects, including video games, flash animation, skits and individual websites.

Victor de la Cruz, the teacher’s assistant, has been on high demand. “I just wanted to help people with digital media,” Victor said. The students often need his help when it comes to coding systems, programming and troubleshooting.

“Victor is [a] clutch; he comes through when we need him,” Matthew Gordon said. Gordon is working on a game called “Clean Up,” where players try to catch falling garbage. The final project is so complicated. We only have three days left to finish it, but we’ll get the job done with Victor’s help,” Gordon said. Gordon’s partner, David Haiman, says the game “promotes cleaning after yourself. It’s environmentally friendly.”

Dennis Martinez and Abraham Balde are creating a different video game, based on boxing. “It’s easy to create the characters, but the hard part is creating their actions,” Martinez said.
The very funny Melvin and Marvin Parasram, Jesse Flores, Eric Ayende and camera girl Rocio Gonzalez are doing skits. The group has been editing and adding music, which makes the skits entertaining. Gonzalez records the boys doing odd things around campus, such as falling and rolling on the grass.

Room 122 got an exclusive preview of some of these skits and highly recommends visiting the site when it is completed. Or, better yet, attend the Arts Festival dinner on Wednesday, August 10th and Thursday, August 11th.

Geoffrey Wong and Cora Wu are working on a flash animation. They based their animation on a cartoon they enjoy, “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.” They work cooperatively together. “I would still be on the first frame without him,” Wu said. They both give much credit to their Professor Mari Fetzer and TA Victor. “They teach well, act like us, and are comfortable to be with. They’re practically teenagers,” Wu said.

Laura Santos is excited about the class. “I really like this program. I like learning about Photoshop and Flash because it’s very interesting,” Santos said. She and her partner, Kavita Arjoon, made a final project on flash animation as well. Laura is also working on the playbill for the upcoming play “Kids Don’t Come with Instruction Manuals,” to be performed at the Summer Arts Festival gala by students in the Theatre Arts class taught by Professor Brian Doyle. The bill has personal bios of the students involved in the play. Santos really enjoys the College Now program. If she had a chance, she would do it all year, she told Room 122.
“It’s a very good introduction class for computer artwork,” Michelle Tait said. Tait is busy at work on a personal website as her final project.

Leah Sukenick’s final project is a front page for the upcoming play and for the College Now program. She is merging and enhancing pictures to create new ones.

Even though everyone is having fun, they are going to miss the class after it’s
over.

2005-08-09T07:42:00.000-07:00

Access Granted
By Zorana Kesar, Joshua Brooks, Gallia Kassiano, Rachel Sanchez

“Hope”
“Promise”
“See Me”
“Survive”
“Kids”
These were the bright and powerful words that stood out against the black background of the stage. They came alive as each actor delivered his or her monologue in the Lovinger Theatre. The monologues, which touch upon real teenager issues, such as drugs, pregnancy, poverty, and violence, went hand-in-hand with the words graffitied on the stage; each was an aspiration for which the kids were striving.

The young actors’ confidence was very apparent even when mini-crises, such as forgotten lines and raspy voices, arose. While most amateurs would quickly run off stage or stand still and stammer, these kids, who have little or no acting experience, brushed off their mistakes and kept performing.

The director, Professor Brian Doyle, contributed to the flow of the monologue performances by giving suggestions on how to move about the stage and interact with fellow actors. Laid-back, Professor Doyle observed the performances from a distance, giving the occasional instruction, “Pick it up where you left off.”

One of the things that enhanced the monologues, giving them flair, was the simple yet authentic stage design. Props included a cell phone, CD player, and handbag – necessities that teens today can’t seem to live without. For these troubled characters, these gadgets are often the only source of comfort.

The cultural diversity amongst the actors appeals to a wide audience, one that is not only black and white, but everything in-between. The body language, the range of accents, and wild hand gestures grab the audience’s attention.

Even with an empty theatre, dimmed lights, and no make up, the monologue performances showcased the actors’ talents. We can only expect that the opening night on August 10th will be a packed house with a standing ovation.

__________________________________________________________________

The Director’s Cut

By Zorana Kesar, Joshua Brooks, Gallia Kassiano, Rachel Sanchez

From throwing newspapers onto front lawns, to grading papers for his theatre class, Brian Doyle, professor of theatre at Lehman College and director of the upcoming play “Kids Don’t Come with Instruction Manuals,” written and performed by College Now students, has come a long way from his small hometown in Wisconsin.

Growing up in a close knit environment, Professor Doyle enjoyed a great deal of personal freedom. But someone was always keeping an eye out for him, even if it were just the neighbors calling his mother to say, “Brian is throwing rocks at the church windows.”

In his adolescence, Professor Doyle aspired to be a poet, but quickly gave that up because “There aren’t a lot of nine-to-five jobs in poetry and so I got into theatre.” Doyle described himself as a shy person who took advantage of the drama class to meet girls. What came out of this experience was a newfound passion for theatre and directing.

Professor Doyle went on to graduate from the University of Wisconsin at Plattville, the name of which he jokingly spelled out when interviewed. He then attended the University of Utah at Salt Lake City for his graduate degree. It was here that he met Dr. David Jones, a very gifted and passionate teacher, who taught Doyle that “the words we say have an impact not only on other people, but on ourselves also.”

Professor Doyle’s first teaching experience also came about during his graduate school years. He remembers being “sort of a smart aleck about it.” He sat down in the classroom amongst the students, waited for everyone to get there, and then introduced himself. Reflecting on his overzealous attitude at the moment, Professor Doyle said, “It was probably a dumb thing to do, but it broke the ice…it made them realize that I was learning too.”

After teaching at Marymount College in Tarrytown for several years, Professor Doyle made his way to Lehman College. Over the years at Lehman, Doyle has directed different dramatic genres, but finds that he “has a flair for comedy.” The last work he directed was a night of Shakespeare last summer with the College Now Program, for which he expressed great joy.

As for the College Now Program, in which he has taught for four years, Doyle says teaching high school students has proved to be a different experience. Unlike some of his college students, high school students “tend to be very disciplined about their work.” Slightly grinning, Professor Doyle commented on the fact that college students often hand in assignments late due to their busy schedules.

“I mostly enjoy my job,” Professor Doyle said. “There are no obstacles, only opportunities,” he said jokingly, but he does acknowledge that there are various obstacles to overcome globally. “I don’t think enough money is being spent for education and I think there’s a great expectation for teachers to do more with less.”

The typical day for Professor Doyle, he says, can be summed up in five words: “there is no typical day.” But a daily routine begins with making coffee, preparing a class lesson and feeding his cats – two white Persians named Jasper and Juniper. He then goes to teache a class and might direct a play until the late afternoon or early evening. His hobbies include gardening, bicycling and reading, but “I don’t work with power tools.”

The future holds new events for Professor Doyle. He hopes to gain tenure at Lehman College and in order to do so, he is in the process of getting published. He wants to “branch out” in writing and directing. His final words to a group of reporters, delivered in his characteristically comedic manner, were, “Well, I hope you’ll come and see the show!”

_________________________________________________________________

Behind the Scenes

August 4, 2005 Lehman college- It’s nearly 11:00 a.m. and members of the Visual Elements class of the College Now program seem both calm and restless as their classmates present their projects. The students have created collages that represent the costumes and personalities of the characters in the production of “Kids Don’t Come with Instruction Manuals” a play that will be performed by the students of the Theatre class. The presentations seem to drag on and one student is even sleeping in the back of the class.

CUT! Let’s fast forward to the afternoon session of the class. The students sit in the Lovinger Theatre and watch as the actors do a run-through of the performance. The students have been told to make mental notes of how certain characters should be dressed, how their make-up should look, and flaws in the run-through.

All summer and this is all they are doing?? The truth is that the students have actually been experimenting with make-up and design all summer, creating burns, scars, bruises, and learning the basics of stage make-up, practicing applying the make up on each other and on the actors. However, as the production draws closer, their main focus has been to incorporate all of their work and practice with the Theatre class and its production.

In the Visual Elements class, many students found themselves learning things that they did not realize were considered a part of make-up in theater. Throughout the weeks of the program, the class has learned how make-up is more than lipstick and powder. “We learned how to use stage make-up, how we can create different things like making masks and using blood, doing burns and bruises, scars and all that and we learned how to, like, use it on the actors,” said one student.

The class has been very hands-on. They’ve spent most of the time practicing, as opposed to studying. “Make-up is acquired by applying it and playing with it,” says Professor Osnat Greenbaum. “By doing it again and again not by me standing in front of you and talking about it. That is obvious to everybody.”

Along with learning the mechanical skills needed for the visual elements, such as creating burns and masks, the students also learned that patience is needed as well, and that in theater, acting is not the biggest part.

“I learned that theater is not just for actors there’s a lot of people that work for the production as well like make up people, the writing people and a whole bunch of stuff,” says Ana, a girl from the class.

The Visual Arts class has changed a lot, especially with their feelings about the class. Jermain Cameron, the only boy in the class, said earlier in an interview that he had taken this class since he did not want to really do any hard work. Now, when asked how he felt about the whole experience, he said “Well I feel like I have gained more information about make-up, I don’t feel funny putting it on my face and its natural and it’s not only for girls.”

“It’s a lot of work,” another student added. “I never thought it was so much work, it’s a lot of work you got to do research, you got to make sure everything is perfect to the detail, you have to know not just your own work but everyone else’s, in case they are not there. Its just too much. You just have to have lot of patience for that.”

“I learned that theater is not just for actors, there are a lot of people who work for the production as well as make-up people, the writing people and a whole bunch of stuff,” said Anna, another member of the class.

Over the summer, the Visual Elements class has been working in coordination with the Theater class on the upcoming production of “Kids Don’t Come with Instruction Manuals” for the Summer Arts Festival. They read the script and observed the manner in which the actors will be performing, so they can have a better understanding of characters for visual purposes. Visual Elements students have been practicing diligently and they’re looking forward to testing their newfound skills in the big show. The show, which will be the first of such for many of these youngsters, should be a night to remember for these teens for years to come.

2005-08-09T07:39:00.000-07:00

Lights, Camera, Action!
By: Stephanie Sanchez, Darah Phillip, and Merlys Alberto.

The lights in the Make-Up room are shining brightly, making the room hot and stuffy. But the heat and glaring lights don’t seem to bother the woman sitting in the middle of it all – Osnat Greenbaum,48. It almost seems as if she is at ease and comfortable in this kind of environment. She sits there basking in the lights, dressed casually, with hair casually pulled back into a simple ponytail, and funky charm bracelets dangling from her wrists. She’s laid back seems herself to be glowing.

Greenbaum is a mother, actress, teacher, director, and make-up artist. During the day, she is the professor for the Visual Elements of Theater class in the College Now program at Lehman College of the City of New York. At night, she is an actress and director for The Absinthe-Minded Theater Company. And when she is not teaching, directing, or acting, Greenbaum is the loving mother to two children. Oh, yeah, and she is also enrolled in Hunter College of the City University of New York, where she is receiving her masters in Theater. As you can see she can multitask.

“A lot of aspects in my life are great; I’m not complaining,” Greenbaum told a group of reporters. Greenbaum is a very distinctive person. She was born, raised, and educated in Israel, arriving in the United States at the age of 20. Unlike her, her husband and two kids where born in the U.S.

Greenbaum didn't aspire to be a teacher when she was a child. However, she admits that she feels good when imparting information to others. "I look at it with great reverence," she says, regarding her teaching. Her goal is not only to teach her students. "My aim is not to teach, but to spark," she says. She wants to get her students interested in what she is most interested in: theater. She draws many parallels between teaching and being in theater, saying that each class is like a performance. Also, it can very tedious and you need to get everyone on the same page.
When Greenbaum is not teaching or on stage, she enjoys hobbies like ballet, cooking, and traveling. When asked what she would do if she weren’t teaching, she said, “I’d probably be tanning in the Hamptons. But don’t write that!”

Greenbaum is a polyglot, speaking Hebrew and English fluently and being proficient in Italian and French. “Theater is like a foreign language,” she offered. “You have a lot to learn about it.”
As for retiring, Greenbaum says she hasn’t really given it much thought. “I’ll probably read a lot, do theater as much as I can,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what form it is – gardening, a lot of crosswords, and traveling. I just want to be healthy.”

"At the end of it everyone is working like a well-oiled machine," Greenbaum concluded.

2005-08-09T07:37:00.000-07:00

Who is Dr. Martin Zwiren?

Dr. Martin Zwiren is the athletic director at Lehman College. We interviewed him at the conference room in the APEX building at Lehman College.

Q. How many years have you been here at Lehman College?
I have been here about 11 years. I came here to open the APEX building.

Q. What does APEX stand for?
It stands for Athletic and Physical Education Complex and I take ownership of that name. (Answers the question very proudly)

Q. What school did you go to?
I went to the University of Dayton, Ohio, where I got my undergraduate degree. I went to Temple University at Philadelphia for my master’s. I got my doctorate degree at Fordham University. (Questions us whether we have heard of Fordham University. We reply yes of course.)

Q. Are you yourself an athlete?
I played football in high school and I ran the track but I wasn’t that good for college level so I just concentrated on my studies.

Q. What did you major in college?
I majored in physical education. I got my master’s degree and doctorate in school administration and supervision.

Q. Where did you work before you came to Lehman?
I worked at Fordham University as an assistant athletic director.

Q. What does your current job currently entail as an athletic director?
I am the athletic director, which means I am responsible for all the 17 varsity teams, all of the 35 coaches, and for managing this facility.

Q. What types of sports do these coaches coach?
We have eight women sports, seven men sports, and cheerleading.

Q. Speaking of women, what do you feel of women in sports?
Women over the last 20 years have really made tremendous strides in sports. They have some very good women athletes. (His face is very straightforward)

Q. What do you like most about your job?
I like the interaction with people. I like seeing things that you have as a dream come to reality. I like managing this building and the income production of the building. I like people coming from the outside and seeing what a beautiful facility we have and coming back every year. The most rewarding thing of my job is the interaction with people, managing this building, and overseeing the varsity teams.

Q. If you weren’t here, where would you be right now?
(Thinks for a moment and with a laugh answers…)I would probably be out on my boat in Arizona. I don’t know. If I wasn’t here I would be enjoying myself. I would probably be in Dominican Republic.

Q. Why doesn’t Lehman College have a football team? (Everyone in the room laughs.)
Well…it’s not Lehman College. It’s the City University of New York. None of the city universities have football as a sport.

Q. What do you feel about this?
I feel this is the right decision. Football is very expensive. There are over 70 kids on the roster. A single helmet will cost over $250. A lot of players get hurt and we would have to pay for that. There are no fields and/or stadiums for it.

Q. Is there any activity or sport that you think should be added to the APEX?
I would like to have women’s soccer and I think that would be a great addition. However we need the women at Lehman to come and say that we want a women’s soccer team.

Q. So how come you don’t put it out there so that the girls can…(interrupted by the director)?
We do! We put it out there and the students have to go out there and get their fellow students to play. We have the field for it.

Q. What are the most popular sports teams here?
The most popular sports teams here are the women’s and men’s basketball teams.
That’s the two sports where we get the spectator attendance.

Q. Is the basketball team “division one”?
No, we are division three. Lehman College and all the other city university are NCAA division three.

Q. What does that mean?
That means no scholarships for sports.

Q. Why is that?
Those are the rules of the NCAA.

Q. What is the NCAA?
The National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Q. Did you ever have to face any obstacles as the athletic director here?
Well, the main thing is always the budget, budget, and where is the budget? That is the main obstacle here. You want the teams to succeed. You want the coaches to succeed. You want the people to get paid, travel, and have good clothes and uniforms and all of this takes money. Sometimes Lehman doesn’t have the money but we try to do the best we can.
End of interview.
Dr. Martin Zwiren was interviwed by Stephanie Sanhcez, Pratik Shah, Darah Phillip, Merlys Alberto, Chris Chalmers, Gallia Kassiano, and Rachel Sanhchez.

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Public Safety, Safe or Not

By: Abu Ali, Brian Choi, Angeline Deschamps and Atanu Roy

“The campus here is an open campus,” said Mr. Fausto Ramirez, assistant director of the public safety unit at Lehman College in the Bronx. “Anybody can walk in and out of here.” It’s very possible for just anyone to come in on campus and start making trouble. Are the public safety officers ready to take control of any outrageous situation that might arise?

Ramirez explained how the public safety department works during times of emergency. There is a coordinator for each building and a specific coordinator for each floor, both of whom respond to urgent situations and alerts from other officers. The coordinators carry safety kits that contain a respirator, a flashlight, water, a blanket and a nightlight. To prevent false alarms, “We check [the contents] first before we evacuate,” Ramirez said.

How did a mild-mannered gentleman come to be the Man in Charge of such a high-stress department? Ramirez had his share of unusual jobs, beginning with his first, which was at McDonald’s. He became interested in public safety due to the influences of his family and friends. His brother is an officer in the New York Police Department, as are a couple of his friends.
“Before I got this position, I was in a position where I could have gone to NYPD,” Ramirez said. “As a matter of fact, I started off as a regular patrol officer. I just worked my way up the ranks.”
Ramirez attended John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Upon graduation, he worked at a company called Burns International as a security guard. Eventually, he made his way to Lehman and the public safety division.

The most memorable incident on campus that Mr. Ramirez recalls is one in which a girl claimed to have been sexually assaulted. The case was treated very seriously. After many investigations, the girl confessed that she made the incident up. It turned out that the girl “had a mental illness.”
More routine disturbances included officers making arrests for weapons’ possession. But, despite the seemingly harrowing tales, Ramirez insists that the campus is safe for the public.

After work, Ramirez likes to cook. If he were not in the public safety field, he would have become a chef, he says. On his spare time, he coaches a little league team and considers himself, very sarcastically, “the only Mets fan in the Bronx.” Mr. Ramirez also likes biking and dogs. He’s married with children. The oldest, following in his father’s footsteps, wants to attend John Jay.

Ramirez is satisfied with his position as assistant director, but the ambitious Nuyorican aspires to direct his own security unit one day. He would do well to take his own advice, given to those who want to enter the public safety field: “Do it, just do it,” Ramirez says.
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Where does Bias Begin and End?
By Kristen Wallace

Control Room, directed by Jehane Noujaim, is a documentary that illustrates the perspective Iraqi news channel, Al Jazeera, has on the war in Iraq. Control Room makes the point that depending on where a news channel is located, the news is going to be portrayed with even the slightest bit of bias.

Americans are given a somewhat romanticized view of the war in Iraq. American news channels tend to portray America as the great liberator of the Iraqi people and the war as a virtuous and necessary evil. On the other hand, Al Jazeera depicts the war as a cruel, corrupt, and unnecessary exercise in American bullying. During the news on this Arab channel, which is the most popular in the Middle East, clips are shown of innocent civilians killed or injured by American troops.

Control Room shows that not only American news channels are biased. Over recent years FOX news has been mocked for its biased view on the war, but when watching the film the viewer realizes that AL Jazeera is biased in its perspective on the war as well.

Overall, Control Room was an enlightening film. It is interesting to see the scenes from the war that American news stations won’t show, though they are heartrending and sometimes difficult to watch. The American population should watch a film like Control Room so that they will have a clearer idea of the unromanticized view of the war.
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Review of Control Room
By Ana Figuereo

This simple documentary directed by Jehane Nouijaim has opened the eyes of many to the world of journalism, specifically that which is practiced in the Arab world. Control Room did a great job of showing how the “other side” coversthe war. The Untied States showed American soldiers being heroic, suggesting to the American public that the soldiers indeed had a duty to be in Iraq. While Al Jazeera, the most popular news channel in the Arab world, showed the images and stories that the United States didn’t want the world to see. They were bold enough to show gruesome images of their injured and outraged civilians. These strong images made the film at times uncomfortable, but they are the reality of what was happening at the time that made your eyes not want to blink. Jehane Nouijaim did a good job of representing both views without becoming biased. It’s a great documentary that makes people more aware of what they are watching.

On the Outs

2005-08-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

Judy Marte (Oz), Paola Mendoza (Marisol), and Anny Mariano (Suzette) are three young women at risk in the film “On the Outs.”

2005-08-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what happens in a crime infested neighborhood? Or, better yet, how an average substance abuser goes through the day? In the movie, "On the Outs," there are all kinds of mishaps that take place. As an average movie, you will probably look for a good old fashioned ending. But "On the outs" will definitely leave the ending up to you. It's unpredictable and catches your attention straight from the beginning.

-- Arthur Sanders

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Movie Review: “On the Outs”

By Arthur Sanders

I never really watched a movie that didn’t have a great ending, or reminded me of my life. A couple of days ago, I got the chance to see a great movie which was called “On the Outs.” The movie basically was about a trio of teenage girls from New Jersey. The teenage girls went in and out of trouble. It was like I was actually there with the teenage girls. That’s how realistic the movie seemed to me. “On The Outs” isn’t your average movie. The movie took me from watching how a substance abuser lives their life to seeing how a drug dealer functions throughout the day.

The movie also showed scenes in which the girls featured in the movie were being held in prison for three different crimes. One girl was charged with possession of a fire arm, the next girl was being charged with having illegal drugs on her, and the last girl was being charged with distribution. Viewers also got the chance to see how the girls carried on with their lives after prison. You would think the girls got the message from spending time in jail, but that’s only for fairy tales. All of the girls went back to where they left off prior to being arrested.

Sometimes when a person has every intention of starting a new life, better than their old one, it can be kind of hard. From my point of view, drugs can be very powerful at times. For example, one of the teenage girls that was locked up for having illegal drugs on her, also had a daughter. While she was in jail, her daughter got taken by the state for better care. In the process, the mother was supposed to stay clean of drugs for at least a year. Being that she was so addicted to drugs, stopping became the hardest thing for her to do. Drugs proved to be more important then her daughter.

Toward the end of the movie, the brother of one of the girls passes away. On top of that, her mother, who was supposed to have checked herself into a rehab, decided she wasn’t going to anymore. I guess due to all these mishaps, the teenage girl just got tired of drugs and throws all her drugs into the ocean – drugs she would otherwise have sold to other people like herself.

“On the Outs” is a great movie. It kept me on the edge of my sit and I’m sure it will do the same for you.

-Arthur Sanders

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"On The Outs" of Jersey City Streets

By Taryn McLean

"On The Outs," directed by Micheal Skolnik, is a movie portrayed in real terms. There's no Cinderella ending. These teenage girls were what you can call “products of their environment.” Raised on the drug-infested streets of Jersey City, N.J., Oz, Suzette and Marisol were put in the same predicaments many young girls of our society face today. Oz came from a broken family. She and her younger mentally ill brother (Chewy) were raised by their grandmother. Since there was no father figure and their mother had a bad drug habit, Oz got caught up in the streets, going in and out of juvenile detention centers. She later learned to leave the streets alone after her mental breakdown from her brother's fatal asthma attack and her mother's refusal to go to drug rehab.

Suzette is the typical teenager who went to high school and is into boys. Like the saying goes, “moms always know best.” Suzette opposes this saying. She is involved with a much older guy who is a drug dealer and is somewhat manipulating her. Refusing to listen to her mother and break it off with Terrell, she later finds herself locked up in a detention center, facing a gun charge because she did Terrell a favor and held his gun which he previously used to shoot and kill a "stickup kid." To top it off, she becomes pregnant with his baby. When she is released and put on house arrest, she stubbornly leaves the house to look for Terrell. This results in Suzette getting locked up again for violating house arrest. Finally, she realizes all along that her mom was right, Terrell wasn't the guy she thought he was.

Marisol, meanwhile, is a crack-addicted teenage mother who doesn’t care about her life or that of her daughter. Along with the other two girls – who Marisol meets in the detention center – she is locked up for drug abuse. Marisol never learns her lesson, even after being locked up, having her daughter put in a foster home and seeing her grandmother put in the Intensive Care Unit after suffering a stroke. When she is released from detention, Marisol’s cravings for crack kick in again, and she goes in pursuit of the drug.

Micheal Skolnik did a great job of depicting the daily struggles of some young women of color. He showed that everyone’s life doesn't always have a happy ending and how lucky some kids are to have supportive families.

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On the Outs is in the Real World

By Michelle Yakobson

On the Outs is a striking film portraying the lives of three Jersey City girls who fall victim to drugs, unprotected sex, and some pretty bad life decisions. Directed by Michael Skolnik and Lori Silverbush, On the Outs uses local, on-the-street filming to capture the raw reality of life in a poor and coke-infested neighborhood. Despite an occasional cheesy scene or two, Skolnik’s film is biting and unembellished— a pleasant break from mislabeled depictions of drama in urban slums.

Co-Creator/Actress Paola Mendoza, along with co-stars Judy Marte and Anny Mariano, play three young women named Marisol, Oz, and Suzette, respectively. Marisol is a crack-cocaine addict, whose sickly great-aunt watches over Marisol’s young toddler while Marisol walks around the streets in search of a fix. When Marisol gets put in prison one time too many, a social worker takes her daughter, Autumn, away from her and explains that Autumn’s only options are temporary foster care or permanent adoption. Oz’s role in the drug world are somewhat different. She is a street corner drug dealer, whose experiences in jail finally help her realize the suffering she and her cellmates inflict upon their loved ones. Her doped-up mother almost joins a support group, but falls back to her dope when her mentally ill son passes away from an asthma attack. Finally, Suzette is a 15-year-old who becomes easily charmed by a local drug dealer. Pregnant and desperate, Suzette runs away and ends up under house arrest upon her return. Her desperation to see her “boyfriend” puts her in jail for the second time. The movie ends with all of these women’s stories unresolved and unexplained.

The movie itself is decently acted, though there are several unconvincing moments. Because the language is so stereotypical, there is a slight sense of Silverbush trying too hard to make her point—after all, it could not be clearer that this film is about life on the streets and its hardships. In that sense, however, the fact that this film was actually shot entirely on the streets and not in some random Hollywood set adds to the realism and authenticity of the film. In addition, the sparse use of makeup on the actors takes away the glitzy, airbrushed quality of so many contemporary films. Overall, On the Outs is worth the few dollars, which will ultimately go toward the financing of more realistic movies about real, living and breathing people.

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ON THE OUTS a story of the society

By Atanu Roy

Three young girls from the same neighborhood of Jersey City meets together at the juvenile jail, but didn’t know that they are the victim of the same society, where drugs, sex, gunshot and death are the parts of the lives. The movie ON THE OUTS shows how these girls struggle with the hills and valleys of their lives but turns into frustration again and again.

The three central characters of the movies are Oz (Judy Marte), Marisol (Paola Mendoza) and Suzette (Anny Mariano). Oz is a 17- years-old drug dealer who owns her corner of the street, as well as the respect of her followers, although she is a girl. Her mother had a record of taking drugs, which resulted the mental deficiency and asthma of her brother. But Oz tries to support her brother and keep her family together; despite of the cold behavior she gets from her mother and grandmother. Often she has to go to the juvenile jail, where her frequent presence established a status for her. At the end her brother dies and that affects the family members differently, her mother starts taking drugs again, but Oz decides to give up drug dealing.

Another character Marisol, a teenaged single mother, fights her way to deal with her drug addiction and maintain her family. Her dependence on drugs is so strong that she had to give away the food she bought with her last quarters for her child in change of drugs. Her going to the juvenile put her child Autumn (Autumn Collier) in foster care and Marisol cannot take the custody of her child until the court is satisfied with her life style. She becomes frustrated when she comes to know that no matter how hard she tries, she cannot have her child back within several years and she went back to drugs.

Suzette, 15, on the other hand, came from a family with love and care. But her teenage crush on a drug dealer led her first to an unexpected pregnancy, then run-away from home with him, experiencing a life of uncertainty and at last in the juvenile for carrying her boyfriend’s gun. She came home, but was locked at home by a devise fixed in her leg. But her hope about her boyfriend did dye yet. She cut off the device and went to look for him, only to find him having sex with others in change of drugs. She came back and hand herself over to the juvenile.

The story of these girls is one of the most common, but neglected scenes of our society. Director Michael Skolnik and his colleague Lori Silverbush with the co-creator Paola Mendoza (who also played the role of Marisol in the movie) tried to reveal this situation in front of our eyes. The life story of these inner-city girls makes an appeal to the viewers to think about these problems, to prevent these abuses and to ensure the safety of the future generation.

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Looking in at On The Outs

By Rachel Sanchez

I had my doubts about the movie On The Outs. I was terribly afraid that it was going to be another story about a “good girl gone crazy” (or in this case, three good girls gone crazy). However, I realized just minutes into the movie that I would be proven wrong. Immediately, I was sucked into the rough streets of Jersey City as we were introduced to three unforgettable characters.

The film begins with Suzette (Anny Mariano), a 15-year-old girl who falls in love with and eventually gets pregnant by Tyrell, a drug dealer. Suzette runs away after her mother wants her to get an abortion and goes to live with Tyrell. One day, Tyrell accidentally shoots a young boy and leaves Suzette literally holding the gun. She is caught by the police and taken to jail for possession of a weapon. Suzette eventually gets released, but is required to wear a monitoring device at all times that would alert the police whenever Suzette went out without permission. The streets are still a temptation and Suzette goes out to look for Tyrell, ripping off her monitoring device. The police catch her and Suzette is sent to jail again for a second time.

Marisol (Paola Mendoza) is a single mother who seems to love her young daughter, Autumn, very much. Yet, Marisol is a drug addict who is always looking for more drugs to get high on. One of the saddest scenes in the movie happens when Marisol gets some rice and beans for Autumn to eat. As Marisol is coming out of the restaurant, she spots drug dealers and tragically trades her daughter’s food for more drugs. She is so distraught by what she did that she gets hit by a car. Although she is alright, the police at the scene of the accident notice that Marisol is high and take her to jail. While in prison, Marisol learns that her daughter has been taken away and placed into foster care. The only way to get Autumn back is to stay off drugs for a long period of time. Marisol desperately tries to stop, but becomes so stressed by her situation that she ends up using drugs again.

Oz (Judy Marte) is a 17-year-old drug dealer who is released from jail. She gives the impression that she is a very tough, in-your-face person. However, we quickly see her soft side when she is around her mentally ill brother, Chuey. Most of the poignant scenes in the film are built around the loving and tender relationship between Oz and Chuey. Oz tries to handle a mother addicted to drugs, her brother and drug dealing all at the same time. And just like the other girls, Oz gets caught by the police while struggling to survive and is sent to prison. There, she encounters Suzette and Marisol.

The real climax of the entire movie happens after Oz comes out of prison and spends some time with Chuey on the streets. Oz sticks up for her brother during a street brawl and makes Chuey run home. All the action has caused Chuey to have a severe asthma attack without his pump ready at hand. During this heart wrenching scene, we hear Chuey gasping for air and then suddenly stop. We see darkness until Oz runs in to find her beloved brother dead. After this dramatic turning point, Oz begins to reevaluate herself. The final scene of the movie shows Oz looking at a sunrise over the New York City skyline. She reaches into her pocket and throws away her bags of drugs, symbolically burying her tragic past lifestyle. But whatever happens to these three girls is completely up to us; the ending leaves plenty of room for discussion.

Overall, the movie is beautifully shot and directed. With little music and real footage of the Jersey City streets and people, the film could easily pass as a documentary. What made this movie even more extraordinary is that it’s wretchedly real. Directors Lori Silverbush and Michael Skolnik spent time with teenagers in prison and on the streets, getting their life stories and weaving them together to create On The Outs. Each teen they talked to believed she or he had nothing to offer. But Skolnik believes that everybody has a unique story to tell and making a movie like this one helps share those exceptional stories.

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A Classic Story

By: Kristen Wallace

On the Outs, directed by Lori Silverbush and Michael Skolnik, is an independent film that depicts the life of three troubled teenage girls who live in the ghetto of Jersey City.

The girls, Suzette, Marisol, and Oz, live what some may call the typical ghetto life. Suzette is impregnated by a drug dealer and then runs away from home to be with him. Marisol is a teenage mother with a nasty cocaine habit. Oz is a drug dealer who is repeatedly incarcerated. Throughout the film, the girls suffer life altering and devastating experiences that either guide them to a new path where their old lifestyle is no longer appealing or lead them back to their old habits.

The directors do not want you to experience just one emotion when watching this film. There are scenes during the film when the audience sympathizes with the characters, scenes when the audience laughs, and scenes when the audience may want to throw something at the movie screen in anger or disappointment.

“I feel that sometimes [when we watch films] we are bullshitted or fed on a silver spoon on how we’re supposed to feel” said Skolnik.

To make the stories of the three girls more authentic, the directors talked to incarcerated teens from the Hudson County Detention Center. They asked the girls of Hudson County to tell their life stories growing up in Jersey City. They then adapted their stories to the film. In fact, On the Outs is so authentic that all three main characters (and some of the supporting actors) actually exist and the whole movie was shot in Jersey City.

Unlike other films where there seems to be an underlying moral, On the Outs simply wants to tell the story of three inner city girls.

“All my films are about people who don’t get the chance to tell their own story,” said Skolnik. “This story’s a classic story…”
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Girls gone wild
By: Stephanie Sanchez

On the outs directed by Lori Silverbush and Michael Skolnik is a dramatic narrative based on the actual stories of three girls from the streets. Suzette (Anny Mariano), Marisol (Paola Mendoza), and Oz (Judy Marte), all come from the mean streets of Jersey City and at one point all of their paths cross when they all wind up in a juvenile penitentiary. Watching these girls in “juvie” you would probably consider them all the same, but they all have incredible stories you would never even think of.

The film introduces the character of Suzette first. Suzette, while at first portrayed as the innocent, sheltered, 15-year-old, is soon lured into a life of drug dealing and crime by her older boyfriend, Terrell. Once Suzette finds out that she is pregnant with Terrell’s child, she runs away from home and is forced to jump from house to house with her boyfriend and unborn child. When Suzette is told by Terrell to hold a gun for him, it is then that she is “busted” for gun possession, ending up in her being sent straight to “juvie.”

There is where she encounters Oz and Marisol. Oz is a strong, respected, drug dealer on her street corner. Oz becomes a regular in juvie and gains a strong reputation. But drugs are not the only thing that Oz deals. She must also deal with a mentally retarded brother, a crackhead mother, and christian grandmother who has something to say about everything. Oz tries hard to keep her hustle flowing and keep her family together, but both seem to repeatedly fail her and juvie becomes her second home.

Marisol is the next victim of the streets who is introduced to the audience. At first glance, Marisol seems a loving mother to her young daughter, singing her songs and playing in the playground with her. However once Marisol knows that her daughter is safe with her aunt, she goes on a mission to get high. Marisol begs drug dealers regularly to get her daily hits, and at one point stoops to more degrading levels to get her hits. However, getting sent to juvie gives Marisol an immediate wake-up call, especially when she finds out that her daughter may be sent away to foster care, or even worse, adoption.

Silverbush and Skolnik do an excellent job of portraying the true feelings and emotions of these distressed young girls. The film has the look and feel of a documentary, just with a narrative. There’s no fancy make-up, no proper hairstyles, no high fashion clothes. The characters wear clothes that real people in the “ghetto” wear: Baby Phat, Pepe, Ecko-red. These characters ARE the streets. Silverbush and Skolnik also do a great job of using the scenery around them. The film uses no sets, just streets. What you see in the film is the real thing and that vibe that the scenery gives off adds more authenticity to the film. Even Skolnik said “the community embraced us.” As if the characters and scenery didn’t do their best in portraying the authenticity, the title itself came from a phrase that the young girls in juvie actually used. The girls in the penitentiary used the phrase “on the outs” to refer to life outside of their four walls. “The girls would tell me ‘Yo, could you say hi to ma boy ‘on the outs’ for me?’” said Skolnik.
On the outs brings the true stories and true emotions of these three girls to the screen in a way that no film has ever done.

2005-08-03T11:56:00.000-07:00

ROOM 122 Responds to a Visit from Gloria Altieri, subject of a July 26th article by David Gonzales in the New York Times.Read Gonzales’ article.

Clearer Outlook

By Rachel Sanchez

Often, after reading an article in a newspaper or magazine, we’re
left with several questions and doubts. I know I have wondered why a
writer wrote this instead of that, or why the writer even bothered to
include certain facts and details at all.

After reading David Gonzales’ article in the New York Times about
healthcare in the Bronx, there were many questions and comments floating around amongst us. Luckily, Gloria Altieri, featured in the article, came to speak to us and answer anything we asked her. I felt that Ms. Altieri’s visit was very helpful and made certain parts of the article much clearer.

Many of us believed that it was a little weird for Mr. Gonzales to
focus so much on Ms. Altieri when it was supposed to be about healthcare
services. It should have instead discussed more about her injured
employee, Yvonne Pagan. To my surprise, Ms. Altieri felt the same. “I was a little taken aback by the article. I had wished it would focus more on Yvonne,” Ms. Altieri said.

Ms. Altieri also thought it was strange for Mr. Gonzales to drop in
the comment about other workers referring to Ms. Pagan as “bullethead.”
This was also another line that raised a little red flag for me. It gave
a light-hearted tone to a very serious issue and I was relieved to know
that Ms. Altieri felt the same.

But the article has motivated Ms. Altieri to keep on working for Bronx
patients’ rights. She will get help from the Bronx District Attorney to
further push this case into the spotlight. Ms. Altieri knows it’s a
complicated issue but she knows that anything is possible if you work hard
to achieve it.

Although Ms. Altieri has faced a few challenges in the Bronx, she
refuses to leave. She lovingly describes the Bronx as a place where you can find “people who take care of each other and support each other. It’s
so special. Why would you want to leave that?”

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New York City Healthcare

By: Kristen Wallace

On June 28, 2005, Gloria Altieri came to speak to my College Now class to speak about poor healthcare in the Bronx. Due to distressing incidents that her friends and co-workers experienced, she believed that healthcare in the Bronx is inferior to healthcare received in other boroughs, especially in Manhattan. Having never personally experienced unsatisfying healthcare of any kind in the city I wondered if healthcare in the Bronx was really that appalling or if poor healthcare was a citywide problem. To answer my question I interviewed my mother, a registered nurse who works in Manhattan, about New York City healthcare.

Q: Do you believe New York City healthcare is inadequate?
A: As it is nationwide, poor people, people without health insurance, and the elderly living on social security, are at a disadvantage in New York City.

Q: So you believe that inadequate healthcare is not only a problem in New York City, but throughout the United States as well?
A: Yes. For a developed country, America’s healthcare sucks. There are health indicators that determine how well a country’s healthcare is doing. Compared to other developed countries, America is rated the lowest in most of them.

Q: What are some of those indicators in which America is rated the lowest?
A: They include infant mortality rates, the amount of patients that go to the Emergency Room for non-emergency illnesses, and life expectancy. This makes no sense, since America spends the most money on healthcare. What I want to know is where this money goes.

Q: Do you believe that healthcare in the Bronx is more inadequate than healthcare received in Manhattan?
A: Yes, especially in the South Bronx where the poorest people and the wide majority of the underprivileged live.

Q: Why?
A: It’s a vicious cycle in this area. A lot of people have little or no insurance so you find them going to the Emergency Room for non-emergency care because that’s the only way they can get healthcare.

Q: What do you believe might be the cause of poor healthcare in the Bronx?
A: One thing that causes all of this is the nursing shortage [in New York City]. Sometimes there’s an assembly line thing going on where you can’t meet the patient at a humanistic level. There you have a decrease in quality of care. Also, although you have this threat of pain and suffering lawsuits, [hospitals] don’t see these poor people [that live in the Bronx] as a threat. Another problem is that in the Emergency Room people are being asked in a subtle way if they have health insurance and in a way this affects their healthcare. [If they do not have health insurance] hospital staff won’t give them proper care because they don’t want to get fired.

Q: So do you think that national free healthcare would solve this problem?
A: Yes, but American politicians don’t want to take the risk in providing national healthcare by pushing out all these big name insurance companies.

Q: So what would be another solution?
A: Hospitals are [currently] getting grants for their employees to have mandatory in-services on cultural competence and “customer service.” These are geared towards improving the quality of healthcare in order to eliminate healthcare disparity.

2005-08-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

The Story That Wasn’t Told

By Zorana Kesar

Bronx, July 28 – Gloria Altieri, education director at Easter Seals Child Development Center, a social service organization in the South Bronx,stood in front of the journalism class at the LehmanCollege Now Program, ready for questions and eager totell her story. The woman who at first glance seemedto have a tough exterior quickly proved she was asoft-hearted and caring individual. Her story was farmore intriguing than a news article about her that appeared the NewYork Times would suggest. There was so much more to Ms.Altieri thatthe New York Times reporter, David Gonzales, failed toreport. The more she talked about her life at EasterSeals, the more the students understood thefrustration Ms.Altieri feels with Bronx healthcare andthe treatment her friends receive at the hand of healthcare providers and administrators.

Ms.Altieri was quick to express her love for theBronx and all the people in it. “Being here is absolute heaven,” she said. The men and women she met in theBronx are, in her opinion, “amazing.” Ms. Altieri also mentioned that the loyalty she’s witnessed amongst thewomen in the Bronx, “doesn’t happen anywhere.”

As the conversation, which included comments from the students as well as Ms. Altieri’s, went along, the students got a more detailed description of what Easter Seals was all about and what made this program so dearto Ms. Altieri’s heart. Working as the educationdirector at this program, she gets to play, learn, andteach “autistic” babies between the ages of 18 months to3 year olds.

The smile on Ms. Altieri’s face warmed myheart because it showed how much these babies meant to her. It was a meeting that gave us, thestudents, an insight into Ms. Altieri’s life and thestruggles she faces on a daily basis. I’ve learned alot about her personality and who she is as a person.The passion she has for her work and helping herfriends is obvious just by listening to the way shespeaks about those subjects. The meeting with Ms.Altieri finished with success and she told everyone,“Come and visit sometime.”
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For Social Workers, Bronx is Home

By Michelle Yakobson

Education Director Gloria Altieri, a social worker at the Easter Seals Child Development Center on 167th Street, paid a visit to the College Now journalism class at Lehman College on Thursday, July 28th to respond to an article by David Gonzalez of the New York Times called “In Bronx, a Fight for Health and Dignity.”

Gloria describes working with special education students as her “biggest joy,” and traces back her motivation to the learning problems endured by her eldest son— who now works in Hollywood and collaborated with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on the movies Ray and Collateral Damage. The dream-come-true of recovery displayed by Gloria’s son inspired her to work with babies who come from abusive backgrounds, right here in the Boogie-down Bronx.

“Services in the Bronx,” Gloria said, “are not up to par.” Why, then, do Gloria and other reputable social workers, choose to work in a borough that has less-than-perfect standards?

“I work here because of the people,” Gloria said with a smile. She describes her coworkers as a great support system that she “would never leave.” Gloria has met men and women who have changed her life, including her coworker, Yvonne Pagan. Ms. Pagan, who was shot in her neighborhood and thus suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, encountered despicable behavior when seeking help at a Bronx hospital. The drawn-out waiting time and apathy at Lincoln Medical Center were “big problems” in the eyes of Ms. Altieri.

Pagan is certainly not the only Bronxite to suffer from unfair treatment during a time of crisis. At the end of April this year, my mother was crossing a street during a green light in her favor, bringing a shopping cart full of groceries home. As she crossed, my mother saw a sanitation truck headed in her direction, but before she could move away, it drove straight into her shopping cart. The impact caused her to fall onto her shoulder and roll down the pavement, while the life-saving cart was crushed under the vehicle. She quickly stood up and asked the driver if she could call my father, but he curtly said he would compensate for the damages with twenty dollars and nobody would have to know what happened. Of course, my mother found a pay-phone and phoned my father. In turn, he called 9-1-1 and the EMT quickly arrived on the scene. Following her drop-off at the hospital, my mother was notified that nothing but inflammation was detectable at the time, and an MRI would be necessary to assess any sort of serious damage. She hastily filled out the forms for insurance purposes, hoping that her pain could be eased as soon as possible. Three weeks later, after going for a checkup, my mother accidentally saw the untouched forms still lying in her medical folder.

When she complained to the secretary of the office about total lack of regard for her dire situation, the secretary kept replying with a shrug and a “this isn’t my job” excuse. There was not a single receptionist who would speak to my mother about what occurred, and every person just referred her to another indifferent individual. Finally, my mother saw her doctor and explained the situation; without an apology, he threw the quickly-scribbled-on forms on her lap and quickly escorted her out of his office. Because of the protracted response time of the New York City Department of Health, my mother’s MRI was conducted only last week. She had to wait an absurd three months to find out if she might have a very serious medical condition.

Like Ms. Altieri, my entire family was incredibly disappointed with the inattention of the healthcare providers in our local Bronx hospital. However, we are very dedicated to local institutions and their improvement. Like Ms. Altieri, my sister is a social worker who practices in the distressed South Bronx. And for the same reason as Altieri, too— the people and the experience. “There is nothing more fulfilling,” my sister said with a grin, “than knowing you changed someone’s life for the better. Especially when that person has a hard time coming across someone who will.”

2005-08-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

Gloria Altieri’s Visit
By: Angeline Deschamps

Recently, the New York Times posted an article about bad health care in the Bronx. Gloria Altieri was the main focus of the article, although that's not how she wished the piece was written.

Ms. Altieri confessed that she had an agreement as to what was going to be in the article and who it was going to be about. Apparently, David Gonzales had other views about the article. Ms. Altieri wanted the main focus to be Yvonne Pagan, the woman who got shot by a stray bullet and received poor medical assistance at Lincoln Hospital. No one cleaned her wound; the nurses told Ms. Altieri that that “was not their job.” Yvonne got shampoo and giant rolls of paper towels from a nurse and told to take a shower herself.

Another issue that bothered Ms. Altieri was that none of the positive aspects of her job or the parents and children she works with were discussed in the article. She said that every one at Easter Seals takes care of each other. What hurt Ms. Altieri was to see how races – Latinos and African Americans – treat their own with disrespect and no compassion as illustrated in the incident at Lincoln Hospital.

A few readers agree that the article was missing elements that the article promises. The article was written to talk about health care problems in the Bronx and it ended telling us about the downs of Ms. Altieri's job. There was no further analysis on the health care topic; in fact the only valuable example given was Yvonne's situation.

Personally, I think that Ms. Altieri could try harder to fight for health care in the Bronx because in the article she said that she has to take her people to hospitals in Manhattan. Why is she taking people out of the Bronx instead of helping the Bronx?

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The Truth Behind Gloria Altieri
By: Darah Phillip

Our meeting with Gloria Altieri the afternoon of the 28th showed me that journalists don’t always write to please the subject of the article, but often to achieve their own goals. Ms. Altieri revealed that when she saw the article, she was surprised and not completely pleased. She had hoped the article would be more about Yvonne Pagan, who was shot in the head, instead of being a confusing piece about her and others that she knew. Although everything in the article was true, it was presented in a way that did not justify Altieri’s desire for an article to be written.

Speaking with Ms. Altieri, we got the chance to further understand her situation. She gave more reasons for why she would stay in the Bronx, saying that it’s because of the people and “the life lessons I have learned here.” After speaking with her, it was much easier to understand her situation since the article did not make it clear. She explained how she runs a special-ed preschool in the South Bronx, and how difficult it is for many of the parents since they have to deal with rudeness when they go to doctors or social care offices. She also explained the appeal of working in the South Bronx, which is often about women helping women. The positive attitude of her workplace, Eastern Seals Child Development Center, keeps her coming back, day after day, despite the challenges.

This meeting proved that stories often get twisted, and the only way to know the complete truth is to get it from the source itself.
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Is it racism, or simple stupidity?
By Abu Ali

A bullet wound to the head would most likely kill a person. But not Yvonne Pagan, who was
shot near her house by a stray bullet. Gloria Altieri, who runs a child development center in the Bronx, tried to seek proper help for Pagan, but to no avail, and later claimed that if Pagan had been white, she would be treated humanely. Altieri loves the children in her development center. She says that they are, "the sweetest" kids she knows. Altieri said that she learned lessons from these kids that she wouldn't have learned elsewhere.

"I'm not questioning the medical care that she got, I'm questioning the care that she got," Altieri said. Altieri believes that the fact that Pagan was of Hispanic descent caused her to be treated poorly. "All the nurses and doctors were white," said Altieri, and she believes that that issue was the cause of Pagan's poor treatment. Altieri is trying to deliver fair treatments for all people in Bronx hospitals. However this will be a long process that in the end will benefit everyone in the city.

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“The Real Deal With Gloria” Altieri
By: Cris Chalmers

By no means did The New York Times article do justice to the head of Easter
Seals Child Development Center founder Gloria Altieri. In a group interview with Ms.
Altieri, we found out the real deal. Ms. Gloria Altieri, 52, is a Puerto Rican Bronx native. She is the head of the Easter Seals Child Development Center on Rev. James A. Polite avenue in the Bronx. The kids in the center are split into three groups according to age: from 18 months to three years, three to five years, and special education teenagers in the afternoons. Children
are not the only people Ms. Altieri is trying to help though. According to her, the hospitals need help too.

When an assistant to Ms. Altieri named Yvonne Pagan was shot outside her building one night, Pagan was taken to Lincoln Hospital. It was there that Ms. Pagan got some very lack-luster treatment. “They didn’t even clean the wound,” said Ms. Altieri. The hospital did not treat Ms. Pagan properly. This led Ms. Altieri to try and get hospital policies changed. Ms. Altieri soon found that her friend Yvonne was only one of her many employees to be treated in the same way at Bronx hospitals. Ms. Altieri, now on top of running the Easter Seals Child Development Center, is taking on the hospitals in hopes of getting Bronxites better treatment at the places where they need it most.

To do this Ms. Altieri sought out David Gonzales of the New York Times. She figured some exposure of the hospitals’ malpractice might lead to change and maybe it could have, had the
reporter reported the story. Instead, he talked about Ms. Altieri. Then, in the article, he touched on the hospitals for a little, then about her employees stories of nicknames and over-the-counter beatings. Had he done things how Ms. Altieri intended, maybe there would have at least been an investigation. Gloria Altieri is a woman who just wants to do right by her borough and her friends.

She is a truly kind person.

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July 28,2005-Gloria wonders anxiously why an article she wanted to be about her friend turned out to be an article about herself. The whole purpose of Gloria's interview with the New York Times was to show how her friend was shot in the back of the head and subsequently received poor medical treatment because, Altieri asserts, she was a low-income Bronx resident.
Altieri was born in the Bronx . She now runs a pre-school for kids with mental health issues. Gloria enjoys working with the children. She is very interested in making other people's lives better than her own. For example, her friend, Yvonne Pagan, who was shot in the back of the head. Gloria is now fighting to get Pagan moved out of the building in front of which she had gotten shot.

Gloria feels that if she had to start over she wouldn't change anything. There are two reasons Gloria stated that she wouldn't change. One of them was that Gloria is used to “people who don't have and are happy.” The second reason is her job at the pre-school she runs. Gloria said she totally fell in love with the kids that she works with.

She also says "how can you leave when there's still so much to do.” Gloria doesn't plan to retire from her job at the pre-school that she been running since 1992 any time soon. She still lives in the Bronx and doesn’t plan on leaving any time soon either.
-Arthur Sanders

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Gloria Altieri loves the Bronx. As a matter of fact, she wouldn't want to live anywhere else. ''I've been here for so long that it makes me want to stay here longer,'' Ms. Altieri said. She is thinking specifically of the parents and children that she comes in contact with every day at Easter Seals Child Development Center down in the South Bronx. “It's because of the people that I stay here. They're special,” she said.

However, Ms.Altieri does not have the same feelings about the healthcare provided in Bronx medical facilities.

Lack of compassion, Altieri says, is the problem plaguing Bronx medical facilities, not the actual healthcare. She feels that the attitudes that are displayed are improper and have no business being expressed in hospitals.

Ms. Altieri is particularly perplexed by the fact that it is members of her own race (she is Hispanic) that are showing this lack of care towards each other. She believes that we should all help each other out instead of thinking that we are much better than one another. ''What makes us that much different from each other? We are all just human beings and we should be treated like one,” she said.

Her response to the Bronx medical facilities health care was simple: we should all try and help each other and display positive attitudes.
-Joshua Brooks

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Ms. Gloria Altieri, Fighting for the betterment of our borough, the Bronx
By Atanu Roy

If you have ever had an awful experience in the hospitals of the Bronx, you are not the only one. The question of health and dignity in the medical system of this borough is not new for us. But how many of us are actually trying to make this situation better instead of just complaining about it? Ms. Gloria Altieri is one of the people who not only realizes the problems, but also tries her best to solve them.

On her visit to Lehman College on July 28, Altieri discussed her experiences and the difficulties of her job.

“I am used to people who don’t have, and think they are happy.” Ms. Altieri said. She runs the Easter Seals Child Development Center on the Rev. James A. Polite Avenue at the South Bronx. The recent accident of Yvonne Pagan, one of her teaching assistants, brought her face-to-face with the terrible reality of the Bronx healthcare system. Ms. Pagan was hit in the head by a stray bullet outside an apartment building last month. She went to the Lincoln Medical Center in Bronx for treatment, but eventually had to move to a Manhattan hospital. Ms. Altieri was with her throughout the ordeal, experiencing the horrifying reality of the medical system in the Bronx.

“I am not questioning the medical care she got,” she said. “I am questioning the attitude. The New York Times journalist David Gonzalez put Altieri in the limelight when his article, “In Bronx, a Fight for Health and Dignity,” was published on July 26 in the Metro section of the New York Times Altieri started her career as a teacher. She now works with Easter Seals Child Development Center, helping children to grow with all the facilities they should have. Overall, Ms. Altieri is trying to make our society a better place, not only for the present, but for the future.
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07-31-05

Gloria Altieri has been working with children who have special needs and their parents for the past 13 years. The children are autistic, or have birth defects because their mothers were alcoholics or drug abusers during pregnancy. Altieri’s main job is to help these kids relax and face their common, everyday fears. Altieri is not troubled by her job because it’s one of the enjoyable things in her life. But she is deeply disturbed by the treatment her students and their parents receive from the health profession.

On July 28th, when Altieri spoke to students in the journalism class that I am taking at Lehman College, she shared her opinions about the heath profession. She has a problem with healthcare in the Bronx, due to a personal experience. Her friend and client was treated poorly at a hospital to which she was taken after being hit by a stray bullet outside her apartment building. Her friend survived the horrible incident, but received poor treatment at the hospital. Altieri was incensed by her friend’s experience and sought to do something about it. She contacted the hospital officials and received the same treatment as her friend. She then decided to contact a reporter so that her friend’s story could be read by everyone.

In the process of recounting the events and her reaction to them, Altieri managed to offend one of the students in the class by making a biased comment. She said that if a person were white, she would receive proper treatment. The student, who is white, was offended because she too had a personal experience in which a family member received poor treatment from heath professionals, regardless of her race or color. After hearing the student’s story, Altieri defended her statement by saying that she was disappointed that people of color (the people involved in the incident were Hispanic) did not treat each other with respect.

Altieri’s meeting with the class was interesting in many ways, from the methods she used with her students, to her views of the health profession, to her opinions of who gets treated better by healthcare workers and why.

-- Samantha Seodas
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BRONX, July 28 – Education director Gloria Altieri of Easter Seas Child Development Center, a Bronx facility dedicated to helping people with disabilities, visited Lehman College to express her feelings on a recent New York Times article. The article, written by David Gonzales, was reported when Altieri felt that Yvonne Pagan, her close friend and co-worker, was neglected
during a recent emergency visit to Lincoln Medical Center. Pagan had been hit by a stray bullet near her home in the South Bronx. With her hair soaking with blood, none of the nurses helped wash Pagan. Instead, she was given shampoo and towels to wash her hair on her own.

"I'm not questioning the medical care that she got. I'm questioning
the care that she got," Altieri said.

Altieri says the negligence that exists in hospitals in New York City, primarily in the Bronx, is frustrating. However, she felt that Gonzales’ article focused more on her own job than on what happened to her friend.

Gonzales missed the mark on the article’s main point, she said. Instead of focusing on her, Gonzales should have exposed what was going on in New York City hospitals. But, even though she was disappointed by the outcome of the article, Altieri was quick to point out that nothing Gonzales wrote was a misrepresentation. “As much as I didn't like it,” Altieri said. “It didn’t misrepresent.”

Brian Choi
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Come to think of it
by Ana Figuereo

I felt my heart beat slowly and heavily as I opened my eyes from the slumber I was in. I was met with people scurrying about me, pumping my chest and counting to five. I felt fear creep up from the tips of my toes to my brain. Something was wrong. Soon the doctors stopped pumping and I was fully awake. I went into cardiac arrest after receiving the wrong dosage of Morphine, a drug used to dull pain. My mother was hysterical and I at the time didn’t understand, since I couldn’t remember what had just happened.

People say that they change after having a near death experience. I have not changed my outlook on life, but I have changed my view on Bronx Hospitals. Now I am always on alert and it’s scary to think that a person can’t truly rely on their hospital when they are in need.

I and my fellow classmates were lucky to engage in a discussion with Gloria Altieri who was mentioned in the New York Times article “In Bronx, a fight for health and dignity” by David Gonzalez.

Gloria works at Easter Seals Child Development Center in the Bronx. Her oldest child, now a successful producer in Hollywood, suffered from developmental problems growing up, and that is why Altieri chose to work with special education children. She loves working with the children and has also taught high school and college.

Altieri admits that it’s not the quality of Bronx hospitals that she questions; it’s the attitude the staff dishes out to patients. And I agree. Unfortunately, most of the staff of these hospitals are black and Hispanic. “It breaks my heart,” Gloria, who is Hispanic, said when she referred to the way visitors were treated by healthcare workers and attendants of their same race or ethnicity. The staff seems to put their own people down. I think this is the true definition of betrayal. There are immigrants in the Bronx who need help in adjusting to their surroundings and these hospitals should be the first place where they can find some solace.

I may not have experienced any attitude, but I have seen it happen. Most of the time, hospital staff seem impatient and irritated. They sometimes roll their eyes and suck their teeth when someone asks a simple question. It’s like they don’t want to help at all. It’s a shame that the hospital hires these.

“But what about her dignity?” Gloria asked when she talked about the time she tried to get help from hospital staff to clean her friend’s head wound. She talked about how her friend was given large paper towels to dry herself after her shower in the hospital bathroom. Gloria knew that “services are not up to par,” but a clean towel would have been preferred. A person’s dignity can be easily diminished in situations like these.

Dignity is what every person has and no one should feel like it’s being walked all over just because they asked a simple question or because they don’t know any English. Gloria wants everyone, especially those who think that whoever is in charge knows best, to stand up for themselves. She said that Bronxites needed to ask questions and be more aware.

Now that I think about what happened to me three years ago, I can’t help but think if I indeed needed to wake up. Would my mother have spoken against the hospital if I had died? Or would they just mark me as another notch on their bloopers belt?
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Human Rights and Medical Negligence
By Pratik Shah

There are numerous accounts of people being mistreated at hospitals in the Bronx. Personally, I think it is a crime to ignore a patient or to refuse a patient his or her rights.

Yvonne Pagan, a teaching assistant in the Bronx, was hit in the head by a stray bullet outside an apartment building on 163rd Street and Prospect Avenue on the night of June 8th while she was relaxing with her friends. She was taken to Lincoln Medical Center for treatment. Her hair was unwashed, matted, and bloody. The doctors didn’t even bother to clean her wound. When the nurse was asked to wash her hair she said that it “wasn’t her job” to do so.

The next day was hardly better for Ms. Pagan. The doctors said they didn’t want to operate on her head because they thought that the bullet fragment was difficult to reach. Doctors said it would be better to leave the bullet lodged in Pagan’s head.
Pagan was released. But her suffering had just begun.

Yvette Martinez, Pagan’s sister, is still worried about how Pagan is dealing with the emotional effects of the shooting. Martinez had to help her sister on July 4th, when fireworks led Ms. Pagan to hit the floor in panic.

And then there was the shoddy treatment Pagan received from Lincoln Medical Center. Martinez claims that she had asked the hospital to refer her sister for trauma counseling, but said that the hospital made no attempts to follow through. "It's almost like she should have been used to being shot," Ms. Martinez told David Gonzales of The New York Times. "Their attitude was so cavalier. Not the main doctor, because she was good and explained stuff. But her staff was lacking."

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation said in a statement that Ms. Pagan received referrals and information regarding social services that she requested. Ms. Pagan is just one case of patient dissatisfaction with hospital care in the Bronx. Here in our borough, there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of cases similar to hers. Instead of prioritizing patient care, hospitals are more concerned with their profit margins. Compounding the problem is the fact that those responsible for informing citizens of their rights – the mass media – have also made profits their primary goal, above civic duty. I hope that one day both of these industries will come back to their primary objectives of helping people.

In Bronx, a Fight for Health and Dignity

2005-07-27T11:44:00.000-07:00

July 26, 2005
In Bronx, a Fight for Health and Dignity
By DAVID GONZALEZ

Gloria Altieri believes in the Bronx, especially in those neighborhoods that many of her contemporaries revisit only in memory, never in person. It is a mere detail that Ms. Altieri, born in Mott Haven 52 years ago and raised in Soundview, sleeps just over the border in Mount Vernon, since she has dedicated her most productive waking hours to the borough as an educator.

She could work elsewhere. But she won't. Instead, she runs a child development center inside a public school turned community resource center on the Rev. James A. Polite Avenue. Her commitment dates to the years when this Morrisania street was called Stebbins Avenue. At the time, she decided that the South Bronx was made better when those who got ahead came back to share their talents.

"I'm always going around saying we need to stay in the Bronx," she said. "People want to stay here."

This is not an easy time to have those sentiments. Last month, when Yvonne Pagan, one of her teaching assistants, was hit in the head by a stray bullet outside an apartment building. Their disappointment with the ensuing treatment at Lincoln Medical Center left Ms. Altieri with no alternative but to set up Ms. Pagan with a doctor and trauma counselor in Manhattan. The month before, Ms. Altieri took another employee to a Manhattan hospital when a local doctor was slow to diagnose a breast tumor.

"The frustrating part of this is, I chose to stay in the Bronx," she said. "I could be working somewhere else. It frustrates me to see the services provided to the people around here."
The bullet that hit Ms. Pagan is still in her. She can speak and walk, and she is doing both and then some. The night of June 8, she was relaxing with a girlfriend on the stoop of her apartment on 163rd Street and Prospect Avenue when she heard a quick "pop." She knew what it was and started to get up and run, when she heard another "pop" from a gunshot.

"I hit the street like I was hit with a bat going upside my head," she said. "One of them aluminum bats. I ran into my building and told my girlfriend, 'I'm shot!' She was like, 'No, you're not.' Yes, I was. I got a bullet on the side of my head."

Am ambulance took her to Lincoln, where Ms. Altieri met her the next day. Ms. Pagan's hair was unwashed, matted and bloody.

"The doctor came in and I said, 'Shouldn't somebody clean her wound?' " Ms. Altieri said. "And the doctor said, 'I guess so.' When I asked the nurse could somebody clean her up, she said it was not her job."

The next day was hardly better, the women said. Doctors decided against operating on what turned out to be a bullet fragment that was lodged in Ms. Pagan's skull. One doctor told her it would grow out and discharged her, Ms. Pagan said. During a follow-up visit, Ms. Pagan said another doctor told her that they would just leave it alone, advising her to come back if she had any headaches.

Dr. Ramanathan Raju, the medical director at Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn, said there are times that, in the absence of complications, it is advisable to leave a fragment alone. "In certain areas of the skull they can remain there forever without producing any problems," said Dr. Raju, who previously directed a trauma center.

Yvette Martinez, Ms. Pagan's sister, is still worried about how she is dealing with the emotional effects of the shooting. She had to help her after the July 4 holiday, when the nonstop fireworks led Ms. Pagan to hit the floor in panic. Ms. Martinez had asked the hospital to refer her sister for trauma counseling, but said there was no follow-through.

"It's almost like she should have been used to being shot," Ms. Martinez said. "Their attitude was so cavalier. Not the main doctor, because she was good and explained stuff. But her staff was lacking."

The city's Health and Hospitals Corporation issued a statement yesterday that said confidentiality rules prevented a detailed comment about a patient without Ms. Pagan's permission. But the statement noted: "Her record indicates that her treating physician provided the patient an explanation of her diagnosis and prognosis. At the time of her discharge, Ms. Pagan received referrals and information regarding the social services that she requested, as well as on crime victims services. Counseling is provided on site or patients may be referred to other agencies through their health plans."

Ms. Altieri said she complained to the patient relations office but got no response. When she tried calling the hospital director's office, she said an assistant told her the director was busy and that she should put her complaint in writing.

"I believe they should treat anyone who walks through their doors with dignity," Ms. Altieri said. "I cannot question their medical expertise. But I know about dignity."

Indeed, she arranged for Ms. Pagan to see a neurologist as well as a trauma counselor at a Manhattan hospital, all covered by their employer, Easter Seals.

Last week, both women were at the Bronx center, where new parents were visiting to learn how to help their children develop language skills. Ms. Pagan, whose co-workers affectionately dubbed her "Bullet-head," was taking a group of youngsters to a park to play. Ms. Altieri was showing parents how to improvise low-cost arts and crafts games to develop young minds and bodies.

"Take away the television," she said in a calm mix of Spanish and English. "Give them a spray bottle or these clothespins. These are the muscles they are going to use one day for writing."
The center is roomy, clean and bright. Ms. Altieri made sure a tray of sandwiches and pastries had been laid out for the parents. This is not, some said, an unusual touch here. Yet they contrast the attention lavished on them here with the indifference they encounter outside.
"Other than here, it's difficult communicating with people or getting them to listen," said Lisa Rivera, whose twin daughters just graduated from the center. "Either that, or they do not have the time or - excuse me for saying this - they're just ignorant."

Ms. Rivera had an unpleasant experience recently at the Lincoln hospital, as have many of the parents at the Bronx center. But that was nothing compared with what happened at a social services office when she sought help in sorting out aid payments for her handicapped son.
"The caseworker there said, 'It's not my fault you had a retarded kid,' " Ms. Rivera recalled. "I went over the desk and hit her. You're supposed to be professional. How can you talk to somebody like that?"

Ms. Rivera was at the center to help Ms. Altieri orient the new parents. She urged them to speak up for themselves, to not settle for quick explanations from counselors or therapists when their children move to public schools. And yes, she said later that it was always important to stay cool. Hitting is not an option.

Ms. Altieri said women like Ms. Rivera have supported her in ways they may never imagine. Each of them, in their little battles, has affirmed her decision to stay put in the Bronx. She recalled vividly the look on Ms. Rivera's face when Delenn, one of her 4-year-olds, participated in last year's Christmas pageant.

"Delenn stood on stage, not saying anything, but not crying," Ms. Altieri said in a voice that mixed quiet wonder with admiration. "Lisa was so proud of her. The tears just rolled down Lisa's face, just because she stood there. I was not even looking at Delenn. I was looking at her."
Sometimes, staying put is a very good thing.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

2005-07-27T11:31:00.000-07:00

Health Hazard

By Stephanie Sanchez

Standing by my window in my 5th floor apartment on Pelham Parkway in the Bronx, on the night of July 25, 2005, I watch as a man lay stranded in the middle of the street with his motorcycle crushing his legs. The car that has hit him stops to call 9-1-1 and help the man release himself from the deadly crush of the motorcycle. In no less than 5 minutes, an ambulance is there to pick the man up and take him to the hospital.

The next morning, as I stand waiting for the bus, I watch as an elderly woman is helped into a special van sent to pick her up every morning by a hospital to take her to her destination for the day. The chauffeur is very nice with the woman and even buckles her seat belt for her. So how can it be that that same morning I read an article in The New York Times about lacking health care in the Bronx? The answer is simple: money and location.

David Gonzalez’s article “In Bronx, a fight for health and dignity” describes the experiences of people seeking help and health care in the South Bronx. Gonzalez describes how a Ms. Yvonne Pagan was shot in the head and when sent to the hospital her injury was simply treated as a splinter in the finger might be treated. Gonzalez then goes on to describe Ms. Pagan’s co-worker, Gloria Altieri, as Ms. Pagan’s hero. Ms. Altieri even goes on to describe herself as a kind of savior to the rest of the Bronx. However throughout the entire article, nothing mentions how Altieri actually did anything or made any actions to allow the South Bronx to have better health care. The article describes Altieri’s failed attempts to find decent health care for Ms. Pagan, and then she just gives up and then seeks health care for Pagan in Manhattan instead.

Is this what a real Bronx hero would do? Instead of just trying to help just one person and giving up on health care in the Bronx, wouldn’t a real hero try to find a way to fix the situation?
The South Bronx is hardly known for its “superior” health care, and I am sure that Ms. Altieri is well aware of that since she has lived there almost all her life. However instead of trying to change the poor health situation her neighborhood is in, all she does is simply complain about it in Gonzalez article. Gonzalez refers to Ms. Altieri as one who “got ahead” in life, meaning that she was a very successful woman, but not once did Altieri donate, or fundraise, or fight for better health care for the South Bronx. Gonzalez’ article clearly states that it frustrates Altieri to see the deficient services provided to people in the South Bronx, and goes on to complain about the lacking health care. It seems as if Altieri wants to stay in the South Bronx to watch the people suffer and do nothing about it. Altieri could easily move to another part of the Bronx, or even another county, but for some odd reason she chooses to stay in the Bronx. Why?
Gonzalez’ article simply points out the obvious: that various parts of the Bronx are not as on task with their health care as other parts may be. I myself know that particular parts of the Bronx are weatlhier than others, giving the people of those areas faster, more reliable health care. However in areas such as the South Bronx, where shoot-outs are an everyday norm, many of the people can’t even afford to pay their own rent, let alone give money for decent health care. However Ms. Altieri makes it sound as if this is some new trend going on, and worse yet, it seems like she is just standing there watching it happen. If Ms. Altieri knows and has known for a long time now that health care is lacking in the South Bronx, why does she complain about it instead of doing something to help?

Unhealthy Problems

2005-07-27T11:26:00.000-07:00

Unhealthy Problems

by: Rachel Sanchez

Five years ago, I was coming up from band class when I held the door
for somebody. They did not say “thank you.” I was so annoyed that I did
not notice that my finger had gotten caught in the heavy metal door.

The next thing I remember was being taken to the emergency room at
North Central Bronx Hospital with a broken finger. I arrived at the
hospital at 3:00 in the afternoon and went up to the nurse. She took one
glance at my finger, told me to sit down and wait until the doctor was
ready to see me.

The next time we saw a doctor or a nurse coming my way was at 10:00
PM, seven hours after I had first arrived. And all the doctor did was put my
finger in a cast and give me an appointment for a later date.

Going to the emergency room is no vacation for anyone, but we imagine
being treated well as soon as possible. However, this is not the case
in several Bronx hospitals. Patients are not getting adequate treatment
and care, which can lead to further grave consequences.

The New York Times ran an article on Tuesday, July 26th, titled “In
Bronx, a Fight for Health and Dignity” that focuses on this very issue.
Yvonne Pagan was shot by a stray bullet and taken to Lincoln Hospital.
There, doctors and nurses did not do much to her wound, even telling her
that the bullet in her head would eventually come out. Healthcare officials
even refused to provide counseling to Ms. Pagan, who became emotionally
unstable after her incident.

Frankly, this is a very large embarrassment to New York City. How can we explain to anybody that Bronx hospitals let people with bullets embedded in their skulls walk away with just a band-aid over them? How do we justify the unfair actions of healthcare workers in the Bronx?

The answer is quite simple: we can’t. But what we can do is to bring this issue into the public eye. This year we have a special advantage: Mayor Bloomberg has begun his run for reelection. Instead of heavily campaigning for a new stadium for a sports team, he should be focusing on the health and status of people living throughout the city’s boroughs. It won’t be possible for Bronx residents to vote for Bloomberg if they’re, well, dead.

The city prides itself on cracking down on “corrupt” issues such as making sure the Mr. Softee ice cream trucks don’t overuse their familiar little jingle and people don’t take up two seats on the subway.

Maybe if the city also cracked down on lax Bronx hospitals and enforced fines and punishment on these institutions, doctors and nurses, we would avoid further lapses in our health care system. That way, the city can shine brightly again, knowing that all its citizens are being watched over.
________________________________________________________________

The Transformation
By Cris Chalmers

Some people would say that losing over 70 pounds in three months isn't healthy. Not
Charit Louis. Charit Louis, a student at Lehman College, is a slim, healthy-looking young woman. You would never guess that she once was overweight.

"I wouldn't say I was obese, but I was overweight." says the 20-year-old student. Charit grew up in the Bronx, the borough which has become known as the "fat" borough. The Bronx's obesity rate has been rising for the past 10 years, according to Mayor Bloomberg. Louis says it's easier to get fat in the Bronx than in any other borough because there's a deli stocking unhealthy junk food on every corner. "You could get a mega cinnabun for 25 cents," she said.

Louis was going on and off diets for some time before she stumbled upon the Vegan
Diet. The Vegan Diet is a diet in which the user can eat nothing that comes from animals. A
lot of soy products are consumed in one of the few diets tougher than vegetarian. "I ate soy ice
cream" Louis said with a laugh.

Along with the diet, Louis did a lot of exercise. "I exercised almost every day."Maintaining this diet and exercising helped Louis lose over 70 pounds in three months. "My
mom thought I had a eating disorder," she said.

In order to maintain her newfound form, Louis eats in controlled proportions, trying not to over do it Today she is a happy, healthy young woman who is in shape and has never felt
better. "I'm happy the way I am now."

_________________________________________________________________

Extreme Makeover
By: Merlys Alberto

If you see Charit Louis, 20, you wouldn’t think much of her weight. But in the past year Louis has surprised her family and friends by losing more than 70 pounds. As America strives for perfection you see more and more reality shows based on appearance and self-image. In our society everyone wants the perfect body, not the most healthy body. Louis started her journey to losing weight not only because she wanted a new appearance, but because she wanted to stay healthy.

“I never wanted to be like everyone else,” she says. “I wanted to be healthy and comfortable.”
During the past three years, Louis always began diets but was never determined enough to actually finish one. One day while surfing the web, she came across an ad describing a diet from a website called http://www.ediets.com/. Charit chose the Vegan diet, which meant no food from any type of animal; that meant no meat, eggs, cheese, or any of the other wonderful things she had loved to eat before.

Louis began her diet in September, 2004. She admits that the first couple of weeks where the hardest. Being 19 and a senior in college, she had times where she wanted to break the diet, but she was determined to complete her goal. She followed her diet and tried to work out as much as she could. Charit weighed 198 when she started her challenge and by the end of three months she had lost 70 pounds, with all her determination and self-confidence.

Americans have made reality shows like, Extreme Makeover and Dr.90210, which show a rapid increase of people going under the knife to have their ideal body type. Our society bases beauty on weight alone. What people don’t realize is that two out of three adult Americans, or 60 percent, are overweight or obese of America, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Obesity begins at an early age. Over the past couple of years, even children have become over weight and progressed to becoming obese. Obesity is rapidly becoming an epidemic in our society.

“I wasn’t obese, I was just overweight,” Louis said. After she began to lose weight, her family and friends began to react. Louis’ mother became very worried and thought that her daughter was becoming very sick and was battling an eating disorder. Her friends were mainly supportive, and her guy friends were amazed by her transformation. Many people confronted her with negativity about her change, but Louis was happy at what she had accomplished.
Louis now feels healthy and is comfortable with her weight. She has gone thought a change but not for what she thought society wanted, for what she wanted.

“I never wanted to starve myself. I love food, but I never want to go back to how I was before.”

__________________________________________________________________

Miracle Weight Loss
By Darah Phillip

Many Americans today would be extremely eager to lose 70 pounds in three months. This is what Charit Louis did when she started college and decided to shed the pounds. Her story does not include diet pills, surgery, or eating disorders. It is simply an amazing story of achievement for this 20-year-old Manhattan resident that should inspire the multitudes hoping to lose weight.
At the start of the school year in 2004, Louis’ weight ranged from 189 to 200 pounds, which she attributes to “a lot of hamburger specials.” She had been trying to lose weight and diet on and off without success; her motivation was always short-lived and her attempts at dieting lasted only as long as a week. Plagued with heart problems and a range of good reasons to lose weight, Louis decided that it was time to become serious about her weight and health.
“I got fed up so I decided that I needed to do it,” Louis said.

Her story begins with a trip to ivillage.com, where she saw a link about a free weight-loss challenge provided by the Discovery Channel and ediets.com. Ready to do anything that was free, Louis visited the website and in doing so, took the first steps to living a healthier life.
“It was hard in the beginning,” Louis said. The ediet.com method forced Louis to drastically change her eating habits and become a vegan. This was very hard for her, being part Dominican, since she would be unable to eat much of the food prepared for her by her family, which she regularly enjoyed.

“I was on a really strict caloric diet,” she said. She also exercised at least five days a week. Although it was a struggle, the hard work paid off and today Louis is 70 pounds lighter than she was less than a year ago.Some advice she would give to dieters: “keep going to the gym because the second you don’t, you get lazy.”

Many of Louis’ peers and family weren’t completely comfortable with the speedy weight loss. Her mother even said that she looked sick, and tried to start “an intervention,” as if Louis were suffering from an eating disorder, such as anorexia nervosa. Anything but the truth. “I never want to starve myself,” she said. “I love food.”

________________________________________________________________

Taking the Will for the Deed
By Pratik Shah

There are many interesting facts about the Bronx. Out of New York City’s five boroughs, the Bronx is the only one that is connected to the mainland. The Bronx is also the fattest borough. There are more fat people in the Bronx than in any borough. The problem of obesity is very critical and serious at the same time. Fast food chains, easy transportation, and lack of information contribute to this problem. Many people who face or have faced the problem of obesity try to address the issue and hopefully solve the problem. Meet Charit Louis, a college student at Lehman College. At 19, she was teetering between 189 and 200 pounds.

Louis was your average girl who, as most people do, excessively ate at fast food chains. She loved the hamburger specials and mozzarella sticks. “It’s cheaper to go to McDonald’s and get something on the dollar menu than to go the supermarket,” Louis said. As time went on, she began experiencing heart problems and difficulty breathing. She also became aware of her self-image and decided to do something about it. While visiting ivillage.com, she stumbled upon a popup in which she found out about an online weight loss challenge that was free. It required that she convert to a complete vegan diet. This, of course, meant that she had to stop eating fast food.

The once carefree eater, Louis had to begin watching her calorie intake and daily exercise regimen. “Keeping a vegan diet was hard and costly,” Louis said. However, in three months she lost about 70 pounds. Her friends and family were shocked. Her mother thought that Louis had acquired an eating disorder, as many young girls do when they enter college because they become very self-conscience of their images. Losing 70 pounds in three pounds was a rapid change.

Thanks to the weight loss, Louis was able to again breathe easier, get more in tuned with herself, and be recognized in a new way by her friends and family. Boys she’d known for years but who had never paid her much attention romantically now started to ask her out. She says that she was able to achieve this almost impossible task since she believes that “If you stick with it, you can obviously do it.”

Louis still goes to the gym to exercise. She still watches her diet and strongly believes that other people use her example as a model to accomplish such goals. “You just have to be persistent. It doesn’t happen over night,” Louis said. As an old saying goes “When there is a will, there is a way.”
__________________________________________________________________

Livin’ Large
By Stephanie Sanchez

July 25, 2005, Lehman college- Looking at Charit Louis, 20, you would never know that she once shared the same problem that over 30% of Hispanic children now face in New York city today, that less than a year ago, she was considerably overweight.

Louis, now a Lehman college student residing in Manhattan, was once an overweight teen with poor health and self-image issues. Her decision to shed the excess weight would boost her health and morale. It would also prove to overweight and obese people that weight loss, hard as it is, is very possible.

“I lost weight to be healthier and feel better about myself,” Louis said. She claims that she began to gain most of her weight in high school. “I had a long term boyfriend and we would always eat together and just chill.” Louis said that she became less active and the pounds began to creep onto the scale. Eventually, her weight became too much for her body to handle, causing her to have severe heart problems. Along with Louis’ heart problems, came insecurity about her image and weight.

Entering the college semester in the fall of 2004, Louis made a serious decision to lose the weight that had taken up residence in her body, as a result of her long-term high school relationship. She knew that this could not be like all the rest of her failed attempts to work out and eat less.

“I would go to the gym for about a week and then just stop,” Louis said.
She knew that this time she had to be serious, so she did some research. Browsing the web one day, Louis came across a special program sponsored by the Discovery Channel, which made meal plans, offered health tips, and special diets. She knew this would be it and her living large days would be over.

Louis went on a strict caloric vegan diet, a diet that meant she could not eat anything originated from animals, and everything she did eat had to have its calories counted.

“The vegan diet is hard core; being a vegetarian is easier to deal with,” Louis said. She said that it was a hard thing to do, especially for the first week. Being half-Dominican, Louis said that it was hard resisting temptation to eat all of the Dominican meals her mother would prepare. “It was a battle not to eat all of that food,” she said. Louis was forced to eat dairy and meat substitutes, along with a lot of fruits and vegetables.

“I was eating a lot of synthetic, fake tasting food, and it was expensive.” She said that it was definitely a challenge, but after three months of the vegan diet and daily trips to the gym she lost 70 pounds.

“I worked out like every single day,” she said.
After losing the weight and feeling a lot more confident about herself, Louis was ready to face the world. But the responses she would get were not exactly the best. After seeing her physical transformation, many of Louis’ friends thought she had an eating disorder.

“I wasn’t starving myself. I never wanted to starve myself. I love food!” she said.
Some thought Louis’ new look was great, while others thought she looked sickly. Louis said that she also began to get a lot of unwanted attention from her male friends. Many of them began to look at her like more than just a friend.

“I was the chick they all hung out with, and then I lost the weight and…”
Louis’ family especially did not like her new look, “My mother and father didn’t like that I lost the weight, they felt that I looked fine the way I was and didn’t need to lose the weight,” Louis recalled.

She also got a negative response from her sister, who at the time had gained a lot of weight from a pregnancy. “She is such a hater,” Louis said, joking. She said her sister’s negative response came from her own jealousy. The ambivalent sister, Louis said, would tell her that she looked too skinny or too sick, but there were also times when her sister would also give her recognition for her progress.

So what has Louis learned from her experiences and what does she have to say to the rest of fat America? “I learned that I was capable of sticking with something, and in the end the benefits will outweigh the sacrifices made.”

As for everyone else enslaved to the obesity epidemic, sure it would be way cheaper and easier to just drive through to McDonald’s or go to the corner store than to actually get something healthy to eat, but Louis had some enlightening advice.

“You have to battle with it for a while, but then there’s a breakthrough. You just have to be persistent with it. When you come to the end of it, it’s all worth it.”

Bronx Healthcare Still in the Stone Age

2005-07-27T11:14:00.000-07:00

By Gallia Kassiano

Don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not some kind of Star Trek-y who believes in flying saucers and little green men with unusually large heads, but I’m starting to believe that the Bronx is stuck in some kind of time warp. Compared to the other boroughs, the Bronx is still in the Stone Age. How else would you explain our dangerously snail-like progress? In what aspects are we slow, you ask?

Well, there is plenty I could go off on. To fully answer that question, I would need to take up days, perhaps even weeks, of your attention. But alas I am on a deadline and must resort to sticking to only one topic, damn. It is nevertheless a very important topic. Ready? Dum duh dum dum: Healthcare.

Why healthcare? We are, after all, the most polluted borough, not to mention, the heaviest. I could have chosen either of those subjects to discuss and had ample evidence to support my case. The New York Times ran an article today however which addressed health care in the Bronx and well, how crappy it is. And surprise, surprise, it got me thinking.

Although I have two health insurance plans, and most of the doctors under both plans have their offices in Manhattan, where I enjoy empty waiting rooms, a large assortment of magazines to keep me entertained on the rare occasion that I am indeed forced to wait for my doctor, and in some places vibrating massage chairs, I am not in the dark when it comes to the strange and unusual treatment Bronx residents receive in Bronx hospitals. During my sophomore year in high school my family was hit with the news that my mother had developed a tumor near her ovaries the size of an orange. Luckily, it was benign, but she still had to undergo an operation to remove the tumor or face further health complications. Since it was a fairly delicate operation she was required to stay a few nights in the hospital, which is when the problems ensued. Not only was she forced to share a room with a complete stranger when we had specifically asked for a private room, but the hospital blankets she was provided with had holes in them. Yes, holes big enough for your head to go through (it seems funny now, but it was upsetting at the time).

Security in the hospital wasn’t the greatest either. Anyone could have waltzed into a patient’s room. My father, on the other hand, who had undergone minor surgery a year before, had been given a room to himself, with a, dare I say it, working TV, an extra small bed for visitors, and attentive personnel. The difference? Although both operations ran along the same price range, my father’s treatment was at Lenox hospital in Manhattan, while my mother’s took place in Our Lady of Mercy Hospital, located in, you guessed it, the Bronx.

The question that arises then is: “Why isn’t the treatment in Bronx hospitals at the same standard as those in New York City’s other boroughs?”

I don’t believe it is medical expertise, or the lack thereof. It might be an issue of a lack of funds, or maybe just a lack of caring. Whatever the reason, it is time that we put a halt to it. Maybe then we can push the Bronx out of the Stone Age and bring it into to the 21st century.

Bronx Hospitals: A New Analysis

2005-07-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

By: Joshua Brooks

On July 26th there was an interesting article in The New York Times. This article appeared under the New York region part of the Times and it was entitled “In Bronx, a Fight for Health and Dignity.” While reading this article, all sorts of feelings were aroused in me.

This article is basically about the crappy healthcare that is associated with Bronx hospitals.
Gloria Altieri, who runs a child development center in a public school, is the focus of this story, along with people that she has come in contact with that have been mistreated in Bronx medical facilities.

Preposterous. If I was to describe in one word the type of misuse and mistreatment that is described throughout the article, I think that is the word that I would use. I mean, at one point a patient went to seek help for aid payments for her handicapped son and she was told by a disgruntled administrator, ''It is not my fault you had a retarded kid.” Is this the type of attitude that is being shown to people who are in need of help in the Bronx? People go to the hospital for help, not so they can be abused and insulted.

I think that this adds to the already diminishing image of the Bronx. We are already known as the most polluted and unhealthy borough. Do we want to be known as the get-mistreated-and insulted-when-you-go-to-the-hospital borough? No, being a Bronx resident all my life, I feel that the Bronx has much more to offer than those potential stereotypes.

Reading this article reminds me of the movie John Q. John Q relates to the issues of health care mistreatment and maltreatment at medical facilities that are supposed to help you. Perhaps, the director of John Q had the Bronx in mind when he wrote that movie

2005-07-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

Thirteen: The Movie That Reflects the Age

By: Atanu Roy

As the movie begins, two thirteen-year-old girls are sitting, facing each other, taking drugs and hitting each other in the face. Not a common start for movies, but the start, as well as the name, gives a clear idea about the subject of the movie, Thirteen.

Based on a true story, Thirteen shows the life of a girl named Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood), who comes from a broken family. As she tries to keep up with the so-called modern girls, she becomes a drug addict, starts hanging around with gangs, and eventually becomes a “bad girl.”
Tracy was a good student in school. She had good friends. But she was not as normal as she appeared. She had a tendency of hurting herself by cutting her wrist. As she starts to hang around with the “hot girls” in the school, she starts to change. She leaves her old friends, starts smoking and using drugs, and pierces her tongue and belly button. Her new friend, Evie (Nikkie Reed), introduces her to all this and eventually comes to live in her home. Tracy becomes more and more impatient with her family, especially with her mother who tries really hard to keep everything together. Her father doesn’t live with them, but still tries to help her. But she goes to far to be easily retrieved.

The movie Thirteen is a great work by director Catherine Hardwicke. Overall, the movie talks about our society. But it also poses out one big question: Are our teenagers really this bad off?

Not Another Teen Movie

2005-07-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

By Michelle Yakobson

Sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll are every parent’s worst nightmare, and this nightmare comes true in Thirteen, a moving and poignant drama about the perils of teen angst and conformity. The film stars Evan Rachel Wood as Tracy, a seventh grader who still enjoys Barbies, goofy socks and science projects. As she walks to school on the first day, Tracy must endure the sneers of the popular clique led by Evie Zamora, played by co-author Nikki Reed. Thirteen is the story of how Tracy revamps herself to be just like Evie, whom she venerates and worships until she realizes that Evie is too manipulative to trust.

Evie is the typical poster-child for rebellion. She introduces, and thus involves, her newfound sidekick Tracy into a world of marijuana, robbery, and body piercings. Tracy gives up both her friends and half her bed for Evie, who quickly becomes a regular in Tracy’s home. Tracy’s mother, Mel, becomes the mom that Evie never had and further intensifies the rift between Tracy and Mel, who constantly argue over Mel’s on-again-off-again boyfriend and half-price haircuts.

Director Catherine Hardwicke does a superb job of portraying the emotional turmoil inflicted upon Tracy and her family. The in-your-face camera angles, sharp, white lighting and nearly black-and-white coloring intensify the scenes of pain and hopelessness. In one scene, Mel runs out of the shower to find her boyfriend, Brady, packing his clothes to run off yet again. She stands there stark naked, her hair straggly, the shadows casting over her face and body. Like she does in many other scenes, Hardwicke uses film techniques to portray Mel’s helplessness and isolation.

Although somewhat stereotypical, Thirteen is brilliantly acted. Wood, Reed, and their costars give heart-wrenching performances that many other films of our time sorely lack. Added to the realism is the writing input by Reed, whose life this story is based on. This movie raises many questions of what it means to be thirteen, how the media influences today’s youth, and the importance of individuality to American teenagers.

[2005] Journalist Profiles

2005-07-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

Name: Merlys Alberto
Age: 15
High School: Astor Collegiate Academy (inside Christopher Columbus High School)

I was born in New York City. I am an 80% averagestudent at Astor Collegiate Academy in Columbus High School. I’m a cheerleader and enjoy having fun andbeing myself. In the future I would like to be a crimeinvestigator or a lawyer. I also want to have myown business, and become my own boss.

NAME: Abubeker Ali
AGE: 16
HIGH SCHOOL: Bronx Science

Most people call me Abu, but others call me Booboo or even Anthony sometimes. I love to play with cell phones ALL THE TIME, even though my father took my cellie away. I have a big family of 10 siblings, so I have to share all the time, even though I hate it

Name: Joshua Brooks
Age: 17
High School: John F. Kennedy

Hey everyone, my name is Joshua Brooks Jr. and i am a seventeen years old. I am currently attending John F. Kennedy High School and i am going into my last year. I am on the boys’ varsity football team where i spend most of my time working out and running getting ready for my final season. I have been living in the Bronx all my life and i would’nt have it any other way. When i am not playing football, i enjoy playing the piano, listening to music, watching t.v. and hanging out with my friends. I have hopes to be a lawyer in the future and i plan on attending Penn State University. If i was to describe myself in one word it would be “nonchalant.” I feel that people are always going to try and test you so you have to be ready and you have to prove to others that you are who you are, which brings me to my favorite quote: "I’d rather be hated for who I an than to be loved for who I'm not.''

Name: Cris Chalmers
Age: 17
High School: Astor Collegiate Academy

My full name is Cristopher Kenneth Chalmers, but people just call me Cris. I am a student at Astor Collegiate Academy. I play fullback on the football team. I am 17-years-old. Some of my favorite activities are playing football, video games, and meeting girls. I joined the College Now program for the credits as well as the journalism experience. My goal is to be a professional football player.

Some of my artwork:

Name: Angeline Deschamps
Age: 16
High School: Astor Collegiate

My name is Angeline Deschamps. I go to Astor Collegiate academy in Columbus High School. I'm 16 years old and I was born in the Dominican Republic. My dream job is to be a fashion designer and hopefully work with Giorgio Armani or Ralph Lauren. Well in the real work i would like a career in business management or accounting, but that's not for sure I know that it has many possibilities of changing with time.

Name: Ana Figuereo
Age: 18
High school: DeWitt Clinton

I think being able to go out and die for my country and not being able to drink is just sunflowers and candy! But enough of my “political rants.” I come from a Hispanic home, Dominican to be specific. I live with my mother and I have two older sisters. Creative writing is something that I use as my outlet to relieve stress. The idea of creating poems and short stories to me is quite personal. It's like my blood flows in every piece of writing and that's how they are related to me. I also love to play video games, specifically horror survivor games like Silent Hill and Devil May Cry.

Name: Gallia Kassiano
Age: 16
High School: Dewitt Clinton

I guess I could start off by telling you where I was born and what my childhood was like, but quite frankly I don’t feel like going into it, not to mention that I would probably only succeed in boring you. Instead I’m going to focus on the type of person I am, and since I’m not the type of person that likes to “beat around the bush,” I’ll try to do it in a nutshell, or as you would say in the world of journalism, in a nutgraf. Well, I'm an insomniac, a feminist, a health nut, a rabid procrastinator, an idealist or a pessimist (I can be a half full or a half empty glass type of person, it depends on the mood I’m in). I’m one of those freaks that walks in the rain without an umbrella, dances in their underwear whether it be to heavy metal or disco, reads the back of ingredient labels, and has conversations with their cat. As to my likes and dislikes, they're a mesh of 80’s movies, 50’s rock music, 40’s clothing, 70’s dancing, and 60’s flower power. I guess what it really boils down to is that I’m certainly not your average 21st century teenager, in fact you can call me everything from abnormal to zesty, but don’t call me average.

Name: Zorana Kesar
Age: 17
High School: DeWitt Clinton

I remember waking up to the sound of a rooster, and having to feed chickens in the afternoon, working in the garden with my grandma, and playing hopscotch on the side of the road with my friends. That's what my life used to be like as a young girl growing up in Yugoslavia. Then one day, at the age of 9, my whole world changed when my mother said, "We're going to America." Life has been full of ups and downs ever since. I'm seventeen-years -ld and living in the city that never sleeps, and more specifically in The Bronx. I've learned that you have to work hard to get what you want and then work even harder to keep it. I am so many things. I am a daughter, a sister, a girlfriend, a friend, a dancer, a writer, a great advice giver, and so much more. My passion has always been acting, but from my disapointments emerged a love of writing that I didn’t even know existed. As for the future, who knows what will happen next?

Name: Taryn Mclean
Age: 17
High School: Lehman H.S.
I'm the average 17-year-old. I'm mostly interested in shopping, school and boys.(lol) Although the College Now program only relates to one of my interests (school),it's a good program. Not only do you earn college credits (lol) but you get a taste of the college life being on campus!

Name: Darah Phillip
Age: 15
High School: Bronx HS of Science

I was born in New York. In my free time I like to do lots of activities, such as playing sports in the park, reading books, and listening to music. I like listening to lots of types of music, including Japanese music, which I frequently listen to. I like watching television as well, and two of my favorite shows are That 70s Show and America’s Next Top Model.

Name: Atanu Roy
Age: 18
High School: DeWitt Clinton

My name is Atanu Roy. I am 18 years old. I am actually from Bangladesh and living in the Bronx, as well as in USA for the last 10 months. Currently I am studying in DeWitt Clinton High School. I play volleyball on the school team and also like to play guitar. My aim in life is to be an architect. Under the College Now program, I am taking the journalism class this summer, which, I believe, is helping me to improve my writing skills and giving me a better view on society.

Name: Rachel Sanchez
Age: 16
High School: DeWitt Clinton High School

I’m from Honduras, Central America, but I was born and raised in the Bronx. Generally, I’m quiet and shy, but people that get to know me find out that I’m a fun, crazy yet dependable person. In my spare time, I love reading, watching movies, listening to music (classical and rock are my favorites) and making paper cranes. My goals include going to college to study United States History and traveling to the United Kingdom.

Name: Stephanie Maria Sanchez
Age: 16
High School: HS of American studies @ Lehman College

I was born and been raised in the Bronx. I like to eat, go shopping, sing in my shower, and dance in front of my mirror. My dreams for the future are to one day have my own magazine for teenagers, something along the lines of Seventeen magazine.

Name: Arthur Sanders
Age: 16
High School: S.C.R.L.(School for Community Research and Learning)

I like reading books, hanging with my friends and rapping. I tend to do well in all of my subjects in school. I am currently attending the College Now program. On my spare time I play basketball and video games. Sometimes I can be a very nice poet, depending on the topic. I also like going to very nice restaurants, even if I'm by myself. I work at McDonald’s and at times I can be a hard worker.

Samantha Seodas
Age: 18
High school: F.L.A.G.S.

In my life, I have had many experiences, bad and enjoyable moments, all of which have helped me prepare for the future. My life has not been a bad ride so far, because I have a lot of people who have been playing an active role in my life. Without my family and friends I don’t think I would manage to survive or be the playful, crazy girl that I am. I’m a very cheerful girl and very talkative amongst the people I know really well.
But I try to live up to the reputation of being a “good girl,” so I try to stay out of trouble most of the time, but its hard to resist getting in trouble. Another thing I really work hard on doing is maintaining a good grade point average. The only reason I work so hard on my grade point average is that I want to get into a good college.
I also try not to spend all my time on academics. I try to do other activities that can help my community and activities that can help me relax. Every Friday I do community service for four hours at a soup kitchen. At the soup kitchen we give food away and we serve a hot meal to everyone that shows up. The soup kitchen is named Vive La Pan. Also, for my own personal relaxation, I hang out with my friend and my sisters.

Name: Pratik Shah
Age: 16
High School: Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy
Interests: History; Political Science; Law; Tennis; Chess
Motto: You make your own fate.

I was born here in America. My parents are from India. I love Eminem’s songs. I love to play tennis and chess. I don’t believe in hell or heaven. However, I believe we the people can make Earth hell or heaven according to our decisions.

Name: Kristen Wallace
Age: 16
High School: High School of American Studies at Lehman College

I was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and immigrated to the United States when I was two-years-old. I enjoy reading, watching obsessive amounts of television, eating, sleeping, going out, and writing. For the first time in my life I have no clue what I want to be when I’m older, but there are occupations that I am considering. I’d like to own and create my own magazine, make documentaries, or, if I ever become brave enough, become an author. My biggest fear is to grow up and not feel fulfilled, but hopefully if I relax, everything will fall into place as it should.

Name: Michelle Yakobson
Age: 17
High School: Hunter College High School

“Look at the hate we're breeding Look at the fear we're feeding
Look at the lives we're leading
The way we've always done before

My hands are tied
The billions shift from side to side
And the wars go on with brainwashed pride
For the love of God and our human rights
And all these things are swept aside
By bloody hands time can't deny
And are washed away by your genocide
And history hides the lies of our civil wars”

~Civil War by Guns N’ Roses

Mission Statement

2005-07-25T08:01:00.000-07:00

We are journalists. Our mission is to deliver news and views to our readers. In Room 122, there are reporters and editors working together to find and deliver up-to-minute, newsworthy information. We hope that we will accomplish our goal of informing and entertaining you.