Forty-one people were arrested March 24 in front of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s New York City office during a protest over proposed cuts to CUNY. Those arrested included students, faculty, staff and Councilmembers Inez Barron and I. Daneek Miller. They participated in a die-in, a tactic used by protesters in which they lie down on the ground and act dead. New York Police Department officers warned the protesters to not block the sidewalk before arresting them. The protest, organized by the Professional Staff Congress, the union representing more than 25,000 professors and staff, happened just before the April 1 deadline for a new budget from lawmakers in Albany. Governor Cuomo, in…
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Iraqi Jew reads from memoir about struggles in 1960s
Dr. Cynthia Kaplan Shamash, who was one of the last remaining Jews in Iraq, read a section of her memoir that explained how her people were brutally treated during the 1960s. She read from “The Strangers We Became: Lessons in Exile From One of Iraq’s Last Jews” on March 3 in the Benjamin Rosenthal Library, with support from the Center for Jewish Studies. Most of the Jews in Iraq left after World War II. Before that, Baghdad had a flourishing Jewish population. Back in the 1920s, 20 percent of the population was Jewish. In ancient times, Babylonia was home to many Jews, including Biblical prophets. But in modern times there…
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The next big music craze at QC
Trebel, a music app, is being introduced to Queens College. It allows the user to listen, download and play music offline, with no data charges, for free. According to the Nielsen Company, a global information company, 66 million millennials listen to 44 hours of music per month each and 73 percent of listening happens outside. QC was picked to access the app before the general population because the campus is a hub for activity. Trebel is currently at 3,000 colleges and universities and 25,000 high schools across the country. “Trebel has changed the way I listen to music. Free music doesn’t hurt either,” freshman Lauren Pianko said. Trebel’s musical database…
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British spy thriller less than thrilling
Whether it be Ali G, Borat or Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen’s movies are defined by their characters. The main character of “The Brothers Grimsby,” a 2016 film directed by Louis Leterrier, is Nobby, played by Cohen, a potbellied, working-class buffoon who lives the poor Englishman’s dream with his nine rowdy kids, with names such as Skeletor, Django Unchained and Stella Artois, and his lovely wife. Nobby is disgusting, rowdy and irresponsible yet loving and good intentioned. He might be “low class,” but he is very human. The idea of this character had the potential to be great, but the film does not take sufficient satirical risks as Cohen’s other films…
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Veteran seeks to ease transition for fellow vets
Dennis Torres served with the Marine Corps Reserves in Fallujah, Iraq, during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Today, he is the Veteran Outreach Specialist at Queens College. Born in Jamaica, NY in 1985, Torres is the youngest of three siblings. His parents were from Ecuador and his father was part of U.S. special forces near the end of the Vietnam War to gain citizenship. “I grew up hearing stories of camaraderie. [My father] went to Cambodia for a little bit, and, hearing his stories, [it] made me want to experience it,” Torres said. Inspired by his father’s tales, Torres enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserves after graduating from St. Mary’s High School…
