National Book Award winning author E.L. Doctorow discussed how he came up with the idea for his most recent novel, “Andrew’s Brain,” on Feb.25 as part of Queens College’s Evening Readings. “I knew a man years ago who had the troubles Andrew had. He was a good man, but had a history of disaster. I never forgot that; that a person could be good and kind and be responsible for disaster that happened to people around them,” E.L. Doctorow said. Andrew, who is a cognitive scientist, is the main character of the book. “He is very smart and very funny. He has a lot on his mind and he’s self-critical.…
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Report shows students take longer to finish college
According to a 2012 National Student Clearinghouse Research Center report, 60.5 percent of students who started at four-year public institutions completed college within six years. The report titled “Completing College: A National View of Student Attainment Rates,” incorporated more than 3,500 schools and studied almost 2.4 million records of students as they transferred among schools. Queens College alumni Carlisle Vaughn was one of many students who had the daunting task of juggling school and work. “I worked three part time jobs and went to school full-time,” Vaughn said. The sociology major graduated last semester with a 3.1 grade point average and currently holds two part-time jobs: one, as a security…
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DREAM Team advocates for the DREAM Act
Many young people in the United States face unique challenges in the classroom, but for Queens College student Lorena Carino, her problems seem to follow her wherever she goes. Carino, a 19-year-old sophomore, represents one of the millions of undocumented immigrants who enter the U.S. with the hopes of gaining an education and finding a job to make a living for themselves. “My parents came to the U.S. because — like everyone, they wanted a better life for my sister and I. Since in Mexico it was hard to have a good life economically — everything is more expensive and harder to work for in my country,” the…
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Musical addresses a taboo topic
Queens College students, guest artists and a 30-piece orchestra brought Goldstein Theatre to life on Nov. 7 with a production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “South Pacific.” The musical was presented by the QC theatre department and directed by theatre professor Charles Repole. The story is based on James Michener’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book “Tales of the South Pacific,” combining elements of several of the stories that can be found in the tale. The original Broadway production of “South Pacific” was very successful at the box office and was the second longest running Broadway musical after its debut in 1949. The musical hit featured Ezio Pinza and Marty Martin as the…
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Attack near Queens College prompts questions about campus safety
On her way home from a Halloween party, a 24-year-old QC student was attacked and sexually assaulted near 152nd St. and Melbourne Ave. According to a memo from the Office of Public Safety, the student had just exited the bus on Jewel Avenue and was walking to her apartment near campus when she was approached by a white male who punched her in the face and threw her to the ground. “He was saying ‘stop fighting before you die,’” the victim’s roommate, Su Wei said. While on top of her, the attacker began to tear off her clothes, but he stopped and fled when a man in a nearby apartment…
