“An embarrassment and an affront to the American people,” is how Time political correspondent Joe Klein describes the field of Republican candidates in the 2012 presidential primary race. Longtime Washington and New York journalist and author of the novel Primary Colors, Klein joined Ben Smith of Politico and Peter Beinart of CUNY Graduate School of Journalism to discuss perspectives on the 2012 election.
Well-known for his best-selling works, often described as historical fiction, the author of Ragtime and Billy Bathgate resists the labeling of his writing. “There is something diminishing about the word ‘historical’ as applied to a novel,” says E.L. Doctorow, who spoke at the fourth annual Leon Levy Conference at the Graduate Center. “A work relegated to a genre, somehow feels less relevant than the here and now,” says Doctorow, the award-winning author of 11 novels, who delivered the conference lecture, “Biography in Fiction.”
Public meeting of the Board of Trustees, April 30, 2012.
The new legislative lines for Senate and Assembly voting districts will disenfranchise African Americans and other minority communities, according to civil rights attorney Esmeralda Simmons. “Communities of color, particularly blacks and Latinos, have been cracked and split up to disempower them as voters,” says Simmons, executive director of the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College. “Because of this [action], many people have challenged the new Senate district maps in court as being unconstitutional and in violation of the Voting Rights Act.” Simmons discussed her role at the Center, which she founded in 1985 as a community-based, racial justice organization, in a lawsuit over the legislative lines.
Before Baseball Hall of Famer Tom Seaver began his legendary career, his father was worried that the young Seaver lacked seriousness. “I really didn’t care about anything that didn’t have a baseball involved,” says Seaver. His father suggested that he join the Marines, and Seaver listened. “The United States Marine Corps changed my life,” Seaver tells Veterans Corner’s Don Buzney, and was a key factor in his development as a major league pitcher. “I don’t believe it would have been done without the Marines.” In 1963, he left active duty and enrolled in community college, and by 1967 he was a New York Met and the National League Rookie of the Year.
New York City managed to survive the Great Recession largely intact and in roughly half the time it took the rest of the country to recover, thanks to its diversified economy combined with a bailout on Wall Street, according to Greg David, director of the Business and Economics Reporting Program at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. “The city has changed a lot — and manufacturing is no longer important,” says David. “Manufacturing is also cyclical — and the biggest sectors by jobs now are education and health, and they are not cyclical.” Formerly a business editor of Crain’s New York, David discussed his newly published book, Modern New York: The Life and Economics of a City.
Since the November 2010 elections, more than a dozen states have passed legislation requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls. Republicans argue it helps protect against voter fraud, but according to Dale Ho, assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Fund, these tactics have been tried in the past. “This ‘new’ assault on voting rights in the 21st century is nothing new,” said Dale at a labor forum sponsored by CUNY’s Murphy Institute titled, “Who Gets to Vote? The 2012 Election & Voting Rights Restrictions.”
When Peter Gelb took the helm of the Metropolitan Opera, he was determined to re-energize America’s premier opera house, even at the risk of upsetting the establishment. “It’s a mistake for any cultural institution — or any institution that is older — to think that change isn’t necessary,” said Geld to an audience at the CUNY Graduate Center. “That’s a recipe for stagnation or demise.” Since being named general manager in 2006, Gelb has launched a number of initiatives including staging new productions by directors from the film and theater industries and the popular, live high-definition transmissions of broadcasts to movie theaters. Gelb appeared with Bill Kelly, president of the Graduate Center, as part of the Extraordinary Lives Series.
Mercury — a complex environmental pollutant — is still on the rise. Indeed, it’s the only pollutant in the U.S. and around the globe for which advisories continue to increase, according to Anthony Carpi, professor of environmental toxicology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. When Mercury from natural or manmade causes, such coal-fired plants, leaves the atmosphere it “undergoes this hopscotching effect,” says Carpi, who recently led a team of researchers through the Amazon to study mercury mobility, “where a source in China could impact water resources in northern Canada.” The winner of the 2011 U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, Capri’s talk focused on mercury levels in the Amazon, as part of the Serving Science Cafe lecture series.
Standing committee meeting of the Board of Trustees, Committee on Student Affairs and Special Programs, April 2, 2012.
