Author: jm154124

Sau takes slow, careful steps from the Grand Street train station as more people come pouring out from behind her. There’s an elderly woman selling steamed rice wrapped in bamboo leaves on a newspaper on the ground. Sau moves past her, careful not to knock any over. She walks slowly four blocks over to Open Door Senior Center, on the edge of Chinatown and Little Italy. By the time she makes it to the kitchen at 8 am, she is only the second to arrive. She begins preparing meals for the day.

The 7,000 seniors in Manhattan’s Chinatown navigate their days with incredible independence even though more than half live below the poverty line. Overlooked and ignored by the rapidly changing city around them, they look  to each other for support, and some try to function on their own.

Sau’s back is bent slightly at the middle from decades of leaning over a stovetop or cutting board or sewing machine. Her hands, knobbed and smooth from work, haven’t stopped working since she arrived from Hong Kong in 1975. Her commute from Sheepshead Bay to Chinatown takes an hour each way.

The people she serves at work are not unlike her. The 200 or so seniors spend a majority of their day there taking turns on a karaoke machine, chatting with friends, or playing chinese chess. Some of the more active seniors take advantage of the ping pong table in the back or join the dance group that performs at community events.

Hau is in is early seventies and lives with his wife in a small apartment a few blocks away from Open Doors. He spends most of his days here, in the ping pong room. He’s one of the best players at the center and can beat almost any challenger handedly. He moves lightly on his feet, but never overexerts or moves more than he should. “That’s the good thing about ping pong,” he says. “I’ve been playing for so long, I know exactly what I have to do. Never more, never less.”

One of the lucky seniors, he is retired. After working for a shipping company in Chinatown, he and his wife have saved enough to live comfortably in addition to the help they receive from their two adult children. They have lived in Chinatown since they immigrated in the late seventies. He’s never left because of convenience and his rent-controlled apartment. All of his friends live nearby, and his grocer, butcher, laundromat, and train station are all within a two block radius of his apartment.“There isn’t really a better deal for living in Manhattan,” he says laughing. A bell rings indicating that lunch is ready and his eyes light up.

After cooking and serving meals at Open Door, she and the rest of the kitchen staff take all the pots and pans to be cleaned at another kitchen facility on Chrystie Street. (A younger coworker in his fifties rolls the cart over.) They clean and begin preparing meals for the next day. Sau packs some leftover boiled sweet potatoes and cornbread for herself and takes the train home.

The plight of Chinatown’s seniors isn’t unique to the area– other ethnic enclaves in the city have shown alarming rates of poverty among immigrant groups. In Sunset Park, a densely populated immigrant neighborhood, half of the foreign-born citizens are living in poverty. Flushing is home 52 percent of all Korean seniors living in poverty.

Ethnic enclaves have created a unique situation for many of the immigrant seniors living in New York. Chinatown’s self-sustaining ethos has provided more freedom for it seniors, while at the same time limiting them. While the neighborhood has everything these seniors may need, the language barrier to receive resources outside of the area is extremely difficult to overcome. In addition to this, many seniors who live alone lack any exposure to the resources provided in the community itself.

The Chinese Planning Council started as a grassroots movement in the mid-sixties in response to the rapid influx of Chinese immigrants after the Immigration Reform Act of 1965. It helped provide resources to help families settle into their new homes. Today the organization offers everything from education and training services, child care services, advocacy, and home care attendants. The CPC also helped to establish Open Doors in 1972 as one of the first senior centers catered to the Chinese community.

—

The Father’s Heart Ministries has served hot breakfast in their Alphabet City building since 1997. On any Saturday, the line outside stretches around the block and continues for another. The number of people served each week reaches over 600 and is growing, say Carol Vedral, the Co-founder and executive director of the program. The Father’s Heart sees everyone from homeless, to low income families of all ethnicities. But recently the program has been seeing more elderly Chinese attendees. They’re the earliest to show up on the line though they travel the farthest distance, huddling in bunches in the cold. “For some of these people, this is the only hot meal they’ll have this week,” she says.

As the doors open, a band plays music to welcome guests that echoes loudly off the high ceilings. The thirty-something volunteers line the walls ushering guests to their seats. The Chinese seniors come in together in pockets sitting at the same table. As soon as they’re seated, volunteer serves start giving each person a plate with eggs, hashbrowns, and a slice of bread. Another server brings bowls of cereal and canned peaches. When seated, they eat quickly, taking multiple servings. Though it’s not allowed per food regulations, some take the hot food home, sliding an egg into a plastic bag under the table.

One table of Chinese seniors take the bread from their plates and make a small pile in the middle. They smile at me when I ask in broken Chinese if they don’t like bread. Each seat in the 200 person dining room is filled. As soon as someone finishes their meal, their place setting is cleared and cleaned by volunteers with pit crew efficiency. The processes is repeated until everyone has eaten. By the time they’re done eating, the table’s pile of bread has grown into a small mountain. Before they get up to leave, two women at the table take the bread and pack it into tupperware containers in their bags.

Many of Chinatown’s seniors are trapped. Unable to leave their community, too prideful to ask for assistance from family, and limited by finances, the seniors in Chinatown are barely scraping by. These “forgotten ones” live quiet, strife-filled lives on their own.

—

Despite the resources available, many seniors in Chinatown still struggle to make ends meet. Either because they don’t know about the resources available (language barriers are often the main cause) or they are too prideful to take help from others. Walking through the Chinatown, you’re bound to see a “canner.” At night, these elderly women dig through trash collecting bottles and cans for recycling. They sort the materials and carry the large bags (or push them in a cart if they’re so lucky) and bring them to a collector who buys the sorted bags off the canners.

 

In a new phenomenon, other seniors pressed to make ends meet will ride one of the many casino busses from Chinatown or Flushing, not to gamble, but the make a few extra bucks. Seniors purchase bus tickets which includes gambling credit from the casino, take the 2 hour bus ride to sell the credit to a casino goer, and return home with $18 in their pockets.

 

In August, The Atlantic covered Kin-Sing Ng, an elderly woman living alone in Chinatown. The mini documentary follows her on a normal night in the winter– digging through the trash at a bakery, looking for bread to eat. She then meets an elderly friend who trades some of her bread for a few dumplings, and later her younger, middle-aged friend give her some soup that she takes home and eats in a cockroach ridden apartment. The video ends saying that sometime after the film was shot, Ng was struck by a car on her regular evening walk. The video shocked many when it was first released and prompted the question– where were her children?

The difficulties of navigating senior care in a Chinese-American context is difficult. These ethnic enclaves formed as a main point of entry for many immigrants. But after going to school and finding higher paying jobs, most of the next generation wants to leave. Seniors are less likely to part ways with their home because of the familiarity with their environment. The level of independence is much greater in Chinatown, than it is in other ethnic enclaves in Queens and Brooklyn.

Culturally, it’s customary for the elderly to live with their children, but in New York, it happens less and less as space and cultural change becomes a major barrier. For the children of immigrants, having their parents live with them isn’t always a viable option, and many times, the parents are comfortable and feel independent in the ethnic enclave. At the same time, this leaves seniors uncared for while their extended families live elsewhere.
Sau comes home to the Brooklyn home she’s lived in since the seventies. When she gets home she warms the sweet potato in the microwave and warms some soup she made last night. She eats and goes to bed early to be well rested for the next day.  Occasionally she gets a call from her only daughter– my mother, to check in on her.

Sau takes slow, careful steps from the Grand Street train station as more people come pouring out from behind her. There’s an elderly woman selling steamed rice wrapped in bamboo leaves on a newspaper on the ground. Sau moves past her, careful not to knock any over. She walks slowly four blocks over to Open Door Senior Center, on the edge of Chinatown and Little Italy. By the time she makes it to the kitchen at 8 am, she is only the second to arrive. She begins preparing meals for the day.

The 7,000 seniors in Manhattan’s Chinatown navigate their days with incredible independence even though more than half live below the poverty line. TK- more here summing up the gist of the article

Sau’s back is bent slightly at the middle from decades of leaning over a stovetop or cutting board or sewing machine. Her hands, knobbed and smooth from work, haven’t stopped working since she arrived from Hong Kong in 1975. Her commute from Sheepshead Bay to Chinatown takes an hour each way.

The people she serves at work are not unlike her. The 200 or so seniors spend a majority of their day there taking turns on a karaoke machine, chatting with friends, or playing chinese chess. Some of the more active seniors take advantage of the ping pong table in the back or join the dance group that performs at community events.

Hau is in is early seventies and lives with his wife in a small apartment a few blocks away from Open Doors. He spends most of his days here, in the ping pong room. He’s one of the best players at the center and can beat almost any challenger handedly. He moves lightly on his feet, but never overexerts or moves more than he should. “That’s the good thing about ping pong,” he says. “I’ve been playing for so long, I know exactly what I have to do. Never more, never less.”

One of the lucky seniors, he is retired. After working for a shipping company in Chinatown, he and his wife have saved enough to live comfortably in addition to the help they receive from their two adult children. They have lived in Chinatown since they immigrated in the late seventies. He’s never left because of convenience and his rent-controlled apartment. All of his friends live nearby, and his grocer, butcher, laundromat, and train station are all within a two block radius of his apartment.“There isn’t really a better deal for living in Manhattan,” he says laughing. A bell rings indicating that lunch is ready and his eyes light up.

After cooking and serving meals at Open Door, she and the rest of the kitchen staff take all the pots and pans to be cleaned at another kitchen facility on Chrystie Street. (A younger coworker in his fifties rolls the cart over.) They clean and begin preparing meals for the next day. Sau packs some leftover boiled sweet potatoes and cornbread for herself and takes the train home.

The plight of Chinatown’s seniors isn’t unique to the area– other ethnic enclaves in the city have shown alarming rates of poverty among immigrant groups. In Sunset Park, a densely populated immigrant neighborhood, half of the foreign-born citizens are living in poverty. Flushing is home 52 percent of all Korean seniors living in poverty.

Ethnic enclaves have created a unique situation for many of the immigrant seniors living in New York. Chinatown’s self-sustaining ethos has provided more freedom for it seniors, while at the same time limiting them. While the neighborhood has everything these seniors may need, the language barrier to receive resources outside of the area is extremely difficult to overcome. In addition to this, many seniors who live alone lack any exposure to the resources provided in the community itself.

The Chinese Planning Council started as a grassroots movement in the mid-sixties in response to the rapid influx of Chinese immigrants after the Immigration Reform Act of 1965. It helped provide resources to help families settle into their new homes. Today the organization offers everything from education and training services, child care services, advocacy, and home care attendants. The CPC also helped to establish Open Doors in 1972 as one of the first senior centers catered to the Chinese community.

—

The Father’s Heart Ministries has served hot breakfast in their Alphabet City building since 1997. On any Saturday, the line outside stretches around the block and continues for another. The number of people served each week reaches over 600 and is growing, say Carol Vedral, the Co-founder and executive director of the program. The Father’s Heart sees everyone from homeless, to low income families of all ethnicities. But recently the program has been seeing more elderly Chinese attendees. They’re the earliest to show up on the line though they travel the farthest distance, huddling in bunches in the cold. “For some of these people, this is the only hot meal they’ll have this week,” she says.

As the doors open, a band plays music to welcome guests that echoes loudly off the high ceilings. The thirty-something volunteers line the walls ushering guests to their seats. The Chinese seniors come in together in pockets sitting at the same table. As soon as they’re seated, volunteer serves start giving each person a plate with eggs, hash browns, and a slice of bread. Another server brings bowls of cereal and canned peaches. When seated, they eat quickly, taking multiple servings. Though it’s not allowed per food regulations, some take the hot food home, sliding an egg into a plastic bag under the table.

One table of Chinese seniors take the bread from their plates and make a small pile in the middle. They smile at me when I ask in broken Chinese if they don’t like bread. Each seat in the 200 person dining room is filled. As soon as someone finishes their meal, their place setting is cleared and cleaned by volunteers with pit crew efficiency. The processes is repeated until everyone has eaten. By the time they’re done eating, the table’s pile of bread has grown into a small mountain. Before they get up to leave, two women at the table take the bread and pack it into tupperware containers in their bags.

—

Despite the resources available, many seniors in Chinatown still struggle to make ends meet. Either because they don’t know about the resources available (language barriers are often the main cause) or they are too prideful to take help from others. Walking through the Chinatown, you’re bound to see a “canner.” At night, these elderly women dig through trash collecting bottles and cans for recycling. They sort the materials and carry the large bags (or push them in a cart if they’re so lucky) and bring them to a collector who buys the sorted bags off the canners.

In a new phenomenon, other seniors pressed to make ends meet will ride one of the many casino busses from Chinatown or Flushing, not to gamble, but the make a few extra bucks. Seniors purchase bus tickets which includes gambling credit from the casino, take the 2 hour bus ride to sell the credit to a casino goer, and return home with $18 in their pockets.

In August, The Atlantic covered Kin-Sing Ng, an elderly woman living alone in Chinatown. The mini documentary follows her on a normal night in the winter– digging through the trash at a bakery, looking for bread to eat. She then meets an elderly friend who trades some of her bread for a few dumplings, and later her younger, middle-aged friend give her some soup that she takes home and eats in a cockroach ridden apartment. The video ends saying that sometime after the film was shot, Ng was struck by a car on her regular evening walk. The video shocked many when it was first released and prompted the question– where were her children?

The difficulties of navigating senior care in a Chinese-American context is difficult. These ethnic enclaves formed as a main point of entry for many immigrants. But after going to school and finding higher paying jobs, most of the next generation wants to leave. Seniors are less likely to part ways with their home because of the familiarity with their environment. The level of independence is much greater in Chinatown, than it is in other ethnic enclaves in Queens and Brooklyn.

Culturally, it’s customary for the elderly to live with their children, but in New York, it happens less and less as space and cultural change becomes a major barrier. For the children of immigrants, having their parents live with them isn’t always a viable option, and many times, the parents are comfortable and feel independent in the ethnic enclave. At the same time, this leaves seniors uncared for while their extended families live elsewhere.

Sau comes home to the Brooklyn home she’s lived in since the seventies. When she gets home she warms the sweet potato in the microwave and warms some soup she made last night. She eats and goes to bed early to be well rested for the next day.  Occasionally she gets a call from her only daughter– my mother, to check in on her.

This long form news feature by Gene Weingarten is a really great example of powerful storytelling. He tells multiple stories of parents leaving their children in cars, a topic people see in headlines and shake their head in disgust and disbelief, and shows how easily a mistake like this can be made.

The story was very well told and though he breaks it up through multiple sub stories, the narrative is still very fluid and tells a complete story. Through the vivid detail and powerful images Weingarten paints, he manages to keep the reader hooked to the very end of this 8,000+ word story.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html

 

Why Media Matters

Luke Cage has made headlines this fall for tackling cultural issues that are facing our country. The Harlem hoodie-clad, bulletproof superhero looks to save his neighborhood from corruption and crime. The Netflix series has also had some critics- about the lack of diversity. Some people found the predominately black cast “unsettling.”

The national reaction to a predominately black cast for a show set in a predominately black neighborhood is indicative of the media landscape of this country. This is shown even more by the deeply divided result of the presidential election as to why media representation matters. Being open to the stories and experiences of everyone in the country is extremely important.

This year we learned the impact of ignoring groups and not acknowledging their stories and experiences. Perhaps more so than ever we understand how volatile this lack of communication between groups can be. Media representation is much more than having a token people of culture in media, but embracing differences and understanding stories different from our own.

Luke Cage’s critics are now feeling what people of color, women, and members of the LGBTQIA community have been feeling for years. Hollywood’s history of whitewashing, appropriating, and twisting culture has marginalized them for decades. There have been more white actors and actresses who have won Oscars in yellow face than Oscars awarded to Asians.

Media representation has made big headlines in 2016. From the #OscarsSoWhite and the many other issues with the Oscars themselves (the seemingly knee-jerk reaction of having Chris Rock host, parading out asian children to be the butt of a joke by the host, lack of any black actor or actress nominations despite the multiple critically acclaimed films they were in, etc.) to the casting of Scarlett Johansen as the main character in the movie adaptation of a popular Japanese manga, the year has been full of criticism.

However, there are signs of positive change. As the media landscape is changing, new media makers like Amazon and Netflix have moved into creating content versus simply distributing it. Popular shows like Orange is the New Black, Luke Cage, The Get Down, and Transparent feature casts filled with diverse casts. Having shows on these platforms allow scripts to push the envelope in terms of issues they can tackle.

Orange is the New Black features a predominately female cast with people of all races, ages, and sexual orientations. The characters, mostly female inmates at fictional Litchfield Prison, tackle issues from crushes and unrequited love to addiction to opiates and assault and rape by guards.  The series is easily one of Netflix’s biggest hits and helped to establish the platform as a serious contender in changing the TV landscape. It’s garnered national attention for its tackling of major issues like the way transgendered people are treated, racism, and corruption in the US prison system. Most notably, this past season ended with a major character with a guard’s knee to her back. Her last words were “I can’t breathe.”

The success of stories being told by Netflix and Amazon haven’t gone unnoticed by major TV networks. As the demographics of their audience change, “big tv” is making strides to address the diversity issue in primetime television. New popular shows like Black-ish and Fresh Off the Boat highlight black and and asian families and their experiences living in the States. At its peak, Black-ish amassed 7.2 million viewers compared to 6.2 million viewers for Orange is the New Black. However, even both of these are dwarfed by The Big Bang Theory’s 12 million viewers. The predominantly white cast has a token Indian scientist, played by Kunal Nayyar, a UK native who dons an Indian accent for the role.

Multiple studies on the impact of media on audiences show how large the impact can be. American children spend more time watching television and surfing the web than they do in the classroom according to a study done by the Pediatric Child’s Health Institute. The impact of media on their psychosocial development is linked strongly. Even for adults, the link is strong. Ideals for beauty, gender/ethnic stereotypes, and more impact our expectations in real life. Some studies have even linked media portrayals to the lowered life expectancy of Black men in America.

In media today, East Asians are depicted as passive, nerdy, math wizards who might also be good at martial arts. South Asians almost always have accents (a issue tackled by Aziz Ansari in his Netflix series Master of None). Even worse, black men and women in media more often than not play stereotypes of inner-city thugs. Hispanics are depicted as drug users. Women of color groups are hyper sexualized. The problem runs deep- especially when multiple studies show that these media representations affect our perception of these groups in real life.

The emergence of diversity and issues faced by certain groups in the US has continued to incite debate and split our country. From schools and workplaces to the media that we consume, changing demographics have felt backlash. Culminated in this year’s presidential election, many conservatives have been pushing back against these changes.

Our country is deeply divided in a way we haven’t seen since the North battled the South. As new forms of media continue to challenge the norms, we have to encourage open discussion to why representation matters. 

For my final project, I want to cover the aging population in New York City’s Chinatown. This invisible community is often overlooked. As members of a close-knit ethnic enclave, their resources are limited. Many have families that have moved out of Manhattan and are uncared for. Unable to speak English, many don’t reach out for government assistance. The result is a supportive community that has learned to adapt.

In addition to profiling some members of this community, I also hope to explore their impact on the changing demographics and gentrification of Chinatown, the cultural impact on elderly care, government assistance, and survival in New York City.

My grandmother works as a cook in one of Chinatown’s major senior citizen centers, so I hope to be able to interview some members of the administration as well as regular attendees. Also, I plan on going to major community centers, aid centers, and meeting places (Columbus Park, bakeries, and places of worship) and interviewing seniors there with the help of a translator.

“Its equal parts boring and stressful,” Katherine said of her part-time job at Topshop on 5th Avenue. “I don’t think there’s a retail job out that that isn’t headache inducing.”

She works in the shoe department where “its more of a one-on-one kind of thing. You get to have conversations with people.”

“You always get those customers that ask you to tie their shoe for them, or zip up the boot for them,” she said wryly. “Its always a response that’s between ‘oh okay’, and ‘I’m not your slave person…'”

By Nicole, Marcello, Cole, and Joeleen

Airbnb is an online market that allows property owners to rent out their space to travelers looking for a place to stay. The company operates in 192 countries, but in New York City it has run into many issues. The website has become a great way for property owners to make extra income by renting out rooms or whole apartments while out of town. In just 2 years, it’s valued at $30 billion.

A bill has been signed by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to restrict the breaking of house regulations by prohibiting the rental of a space for under 30 days while the host of the home is not present. Fines will cost up to $7,500 for an illegal property listing.

In an attempt to regulate housing and protect full-time residents, the city of New York is taking away a significant source of income for residents who use the site to generate an extra income.

Though it is difficult to determine who’s taking over these apartment buildings to make so-called “illegal hotels”, it is insulting to take from the people and give to the government’s special interests.

The bill has not sat well with those who represent Airbnb, as many of their executives believe that the city of New York is violating their right to freedom of speech and due process. Actor Ashton Kutcher (who owns a notable stake in Airbnb) along with Facebook and Paypal co-founders have come together to urge Cuomo to veto the bill as it would impose harsh fines on Airbnb hosts.

The San Francisco-based company has always had a soft spot for New York. As one of its biggest markets in the US, the company is heavily invested in making sure it’s able to operate in the area. But beyond that, the company has shown genuine interest for the city’s culture and housing. After Hurricane Sandy, the company partnered with the city to provide free temporary housing to those affected by the storm.

Advocates for affordable housing in New York and around the globe however, are worried about the repercussions that come with the company allowing tourist to use entire apartments for short periods of time. These “illegal hotels” have taken up units that could be used for the residents of the cities instead of raising the rents of the area’s around them.

Those who back the bill believe that AirBnb’s proclamation that the new laws step over the line is bogus. “The Bill says: you can’t advertise an illegal activity” says Assembly member Deborah Glick, “I don’t know what the big confusion is.” She is not the only one who feels this way, as a group of New Yorker’s who call themselves “ShareBetter”, have urged Cuomo to sign the bill as it would prove to be a viable way to block illegal depletion of housing in New York.

Recent papers revealed “Share Better” is directly linked to the Hotel Trades Council, which has a vested interest in seeing Airbnb fail. The group has met with De Blasio 4 times. Another hotel interest group also donated $400,000 to the campaign to re-elect the mayor.

Airbnb has struck back against the possible bill by presenting a lawsuit in the Federal District Court in New York’s Southern district on October 21st. It was filed against Mayor Bill de Blasio, state attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, and the City of New York.

 

Report that anti-Airbnb campaign was funded by hotels has some residents upset

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/22/technology/new-york-passes-law-airbnb.html?_r=0

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/airbnb-new-york-illegal-lawsuit/

Hallways at Baruch College are littered with bright flyers advertising anything from used textbooks for sale, French tutoring, and new clubs on campus. The rainbow of colors can be overwhelming with so many flyers vying for attention.

This semester, though, there is a noticeable change in the color scheme.  Two new clubs are riding a wave of political conversation happening around the presidential election. Presidents of the Right Wings (Baruch’s Republicans club), and the Baruch College Democrats vie for attention every week at Baruch in hopes of gaining new members.

———

Vincent Gangemi’s glasses hide a furrowed brow every time he listens for a question. He speaks confidently and eloquently, belying his status as a junior. A Macaulay Honors Scholar and native Staten Islander, Vincent was “born and raised right” in one of the more red districts in New York City. Growing up, he was surrounded by what he describes as RINOS (Republicans In Name Only) and “Hardcore Republicans.”

“That environment made me understand what it meant to be a Republican,” he says.

He’s well versed in conflict and testing ideas. For him, the party of “Lincoln and Reagan” is all about bringing the old ideals of their time to the new political landscape today and testing to see if they can work in the current political and cultural environment.

The Right Wings are  in their first semester of being officially chartered by Baruch. Club members’ stances are all across the Republican spectrum and meetings typically consist of 20 people. In total the club’s membership is around 50–an impressive number for a new club on campus. Vincent started out as the club’s marketing director last year when the club first  launched, and took the reins last summer when the previous president graduated.

Vincent wants to educate and inform the Baruch community about the Republican platform, inspire healthy debate, and increase political activism at Baruch. Noticing an increase in political activity at Baruch this election cycle, he wants to use it to help grow membership.

Events consist of presentations, debates, and breakdowns of political speeches. Every week, there’s a newsletter sent out to a large and growing mailing list, highlighting important events and volunteer opportunities, breaking down buzzwords, and reaching out to Baruch.

Familiar with young peoples’ political apathy towards politics, Vincent is trying to use the Right Wings to increase activism and knowledge at Baruch. Whether it’s at the local, state, or national level, everything counts. “We really just want to get people involved,” he says.

———

Mia McDonald’s first foray into politics was in 2008 in her hometown of Houston, Texas. Her parents are liberals living in a famously conservative state and canvass the neighborhood, hoping to raise support for a senator from Chicago. Mia remembers her father telling her that the cause was extremely important, and that they had to get involved. Now a senior and a Public Affairs major, her love for politics hasn’t diminished.

Originally a Bernie supporter, she’s now “all in for Hillary.” For Mia, the social issues are the main focus of the election. With so many diverse students at CUNY, and so much talk about the LGBTQ community, immigrants, and people of color this election cycle, she hopes this will be a catalyst for change in the level of activism  at Baruch.

“Especially when one of the candidates is talking about building a wall,” she says.

As a transfer student to Baruch College from St. John’s, Mia wanted to make an impact on Baruch in her last year. Shocked by the campus’ apathy for politics, she started the Baruch College Democrats (a chapter of a national organization under the DNC) around the same time The Right Wings were forming. Similarly to The Right Wings, Mia wants this club to focus around political advocacy. For her, it doesn’t make sense how apathetic students are.

“It’s important for CUNY to get involved because of the diversity of students, and because of CUNY politics,” she says.

After she graduates this spring, Mia wants to see the College Democrats flourish. At the moment, the College Democrats boast a similar membership size as The Right Wing, which she partly attributes to enthusiasm generated by the current political climate.

“People have strong opinions about this election,” she says.

She plans to harness that into a strong membership base to continue into the next few years that aren’t centered around a presidential election. Beyond that, she also wants students to realize the impact of local politics—especially for CUNY students.

“Local elections are important too,” she says. “Local politics may not be as sexy, but they have more of an impact on your life than the national elections do.”

———

Vincent and Mia speak highly—albeit carefully—of each other. The two just met this semester as presidents and hope to work together  to hold debates mirroring the presidential election. During Baruch’s Undergraduate Student Government event to register voters in September, the two clubs had tables next to each other. In October, the two clubs will faced off in a debate on campus (following the presidential debate the night before). The highlight event of the semester for both clubs, the presidents will continue to speak in a series of other events to continue the dialogue from the current political climate.

Looking at the election, it seems the two parties on campus should be at odds as polar opposites, but both are surprisingly similar in their goals. Vincent and Mia are shaping Baruch through political activism.

Hallways at Baruch College are littered with bright flyers advertising anything from used textbooks for sale, French tutoring, and new clubs on campus. The rainbow of colors can be overwhelming with so many flyers vying for attention. This semester though, there is a noticeable change in the color scheme as two new clubs are riding a wave of political conversation happening around the presidential election.

Under the shadow of the giants of the Presidential election, two micro figures may represent this election year better than the candidates themselves. Presidents of The Right Wings, Baruch’s Republican Club, and Baruch College Democrats plaster up red, white, and blue flyers every week at Baruch in hopes of gaining new members.

Vincent Gangemi’s glasses hide a furrowed brow everytime he listens for a question. He speaks confidently and eloquently beyond his status as a Junior. A Macaulay Honors Scholar and native Staten Islander, Vincent was “born and raised Right” in one of the more red districts in New York City. Growing up, he was surrounded by what he describes as rinos (Republicans In Name Only) and “Hardcore Republicans.” “That environment made me understand what it meant to be a Republican.”

He’s well versed in conflict and testing ideas. For him, the party of “Lincoln and Reagan” is all about bringing the old ideals of their time, to the new political landscape today and testing.

The Right Wings is in its first semester of being officially chartered by Baruch. Club members stances are all across Republican spectrum and meetings typically consist of 20 people. In total the club’s membership is around 50– an impressive number for a new club on campus. Vincent started out as the club’s marketing director last year when the club first started, and took the reins last summer when the previous president graduated.

Vincent wants to educate and inform the Baruch community about the Republican platform, inspire healthy debate, and increase political activism at Baruch. Noticing an increase in political activity at Baruch this election cycle, he wants to use it to help grow membership. Events consist of presentations, debates, and breakdowns of political speeches. Every week, there’s a newsletter sent out to a large and growing mailing list, highlighting important events and volunteer opportunities, breaking down buzzwords, and reaching out the Baruch. “We really just want to get people involved,” he says, when speaking about local, state, and national politics.

Mia McDonald’s first foray into politics was in 2008 in her hometown, Houston, Texas. Mr. and Ms. McDonald are liberals living in a famously conservative state and canvass the neighborhood, hoping to raise support for a Senator from Chicago. Mia remembers her father telling her that the cause was extremely important, and that they had to get involved. Now a senior and Public Affairs major, her love for politics hasn’t diminished.

Originally a Bernie supporter, she’s now “all in for Hillary.” For Mia, the social issues are the main focus of the election. With so many diverse students at CUNY, and so much talk about the LGBTQ community, immigrants, and people of color this election cycle, she hopes this will be a catalyst for change in the level of activism  at Baruch. “Especially when one of the candidates is talking about building a wall.”

As a transfer student to Baruch College, Mia wanted to make an impact on Baruch in her last year. Shocked by the campus’ apathy for politics, she started the Baruch College Democrats (a chapter of a national organization under the DNC) around the same time The Right Wings were forming. Similarly to The Right Wings, Mia wants this club to focus around political advocacy. For her, it doesn’t make sense how apathetic students are. “It’s important for CUNY to get involved because of the diversity of students, and because of CUNY politics.” The College Democrats boast a similar membership size as The Right Wings.

After she graduates this Spring, Mia wants to see the College Democrats flourish. “People have strong opinions about this election.” She plans to harness that into a strong membership base to continue into the next few years that aren’t centered around a presidential election. Beyond that, she also wants students to realize the impact of local politics- especially for CUNY students. “Local elections are important too… local politics may not be as sexy, but they have more of an impact on your life than the national elections do.”

Vincent and Mia speak highly (albeit carefully) of each other. The two just met this semester as Presidents and hope to work together for debates mirroring the presidential election. During Baruch’s Undergraduate Student Government event to register voters in September, the two clubs had tables next to each other. On October, the two clubs will face off in a debate on campus (following the presidential debate the night before). Looking at the election, it seems the two parties on campus should be at odds as polar opposites, but upon closer look it seems like the two may not be so different after all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/17/opinion/our-feuding-founding-fathers.html?ref=opinion

This piece discusses the polarization of US politics throughout history. I thought it was extremely effective in communicating its message while being informative. It did a great job at pointing to how interpretation Constitution was largely debated then and now.