Author Archive

On Thursday, Ithaca College joined an Occupy Wall Street movement with over 92 other colleges. Close to 200 students, as well as some faculty members, participated in a walkout and rally, one of the most well-attended student protests in the college’s history.

A group of Ithaca protesters in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement met in Dewitt Park on Sunday, where they will continue to meet each week. The meetings are examples of democracy at work.

“We put a lot faith as progressives in leaders, in our elected officials, and in President Obama to get things done, and if there is anything the last two years have taught us, it’s that we cannot put our faith in these leaders. We need to put our faith in ourselves and in this movement.” – Fil Eden

Author speaks about 9/11’s effect on art and literature Amitava Kumar, author and professor of English at Vassar College, spoke at Ithaca College on Sept. 7 about his most recent book, A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb, and how 9/11 has had an effect on art and literature in [...]

Looking into more of the aftermath of the Argentine Dirty War

By Gena Magiaratti (This interview was originally posted on the FLEFF blog) I recently had the opportunity to speak on the phone with Helen De Michiel, who, with fellow filmmaker Sophie Constantinou, produced and directed the Lunch Love Community. According to the film’s website, they call it their “open space documentary project.” The documentary, released [...]

The movement to remove conflict minerals from campus By Gena Mangiaratti It’s hard to imagine how an iPod can be related to a war, but the materials used to make such technology are often from conflict areas.  In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, poor governing in the war-torn eastern region has allowed for armed [...]

Journalists balance access and freedom in war reporting By Gena Mangiaratti When Hart Seely, reporter for the Syracuse Post-Standard, traveled to Iraq in the fall of 2005 as an embedded reporter with the U.S. Army’s 1-71 Cavalry, his days were totally immersed in the lives of the troops. He got up with them, ate with [...]

Independently owned businesses fuel local economy By Gena Mangiaratti With this year’s arrival of new businesses on the Ithaca Commons, occupancy rates in downtown Ithaca have seen notable growth while other cities still cope with growing vacancy rates in the rough economy. The secret? Waffles with ice cream. Or at least hard work, along with [...]

The politics of line-crossing at the School of the Americas By Gena Mangiaratti Carrying a cross with the name of a murdered Latin American woman, Jack Gilroy of Endwell, NY was among a crowd of about 1,700 that, in November 2000, carried a protest past the gates of the Fort Benning Military Reservation, the site [...]