Streamlining Project Health
Project Health, a national undergraduate service organization founded by a Harvard undergraduate 20 years ago, seeks to make good, consistent health care accessible to poorer communities by providing people with knowledge and resources .
Project Health has spread significantly since its birth, establishing sites across the country. The Columbia division is separated into six branches, each with a different focus. Four concentrate on specific diseases or health concerns and teach the patients how to best deal with their illnesses such as sickle cell anemia, HIV/AIDS, Type 1 diabetes, and asthma.
Within the program, each volunteer…
Delta Means Change
the community spirit of a columbia sorority
On January 13, 1913, 22 black Howard University women formed the Delta Sigma Theta sorority with a mission of social action and political engagement. Three months later, they walked together in the Women’s Suffrage March in Washington, DC.
“From the very founding, the sorority has been politically engaged,” explains Tyeisha Chavis, CC ’08, president of the Columbia chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, “Rho.”
The night Chavis speaks with me, along with social chair Glenda Smiley, BC ’09, Rho is screening a documentary about Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman elected to Congress, as part of…
Helping Haiti
gabrielle apollon is a woman on a (charity) mission
Gabrielle Apollon, CC ’09, is multitasking. She is sending out e-mails while speaking with me on a Monday evening. Her mother is here from Montreal and sits at the edge of the bed. Gabrielle is sprawled out as she types. Not coincidentally, these facts all relate to the same topic—the Global Life Focus Network—and despite her other obligations for the evening, Gabrielle is eager to speak about the project.
“I’m sorry to be on my computer while you’re here,” Gabrielle says. “But, I just had to get these written out.”
The work she is doing…
French Connection
why some gallic students say ‘oui, oui’ to columbia
Those with friends who are juniors have certainly gotten used to the many photo albums featuring the Mona Lisa, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and whatever else those studying abroad curiously forget that most people have already seen before their camera has captured it. With all the Parisian flight that is study abroad, Columbia students may seem to forget that some Frenchies actually choose to take the opposite travel route. We spoke to two French students at Columbia to find out how our country’s premier city has been treating them.
Franc-ly Speaking
Youcef Draia came…
Norooz and Neutrality
columbia’s iranian student club talks persian politics, culture
With the media storm that was Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia last fall, you had better believe the Columbia Iranian Students Association was particularly targeted by the press.
“A lot of news sources contacted us, asking us to make a statement about his visit,” says Sogoal Salari, CC ’08, vice president of cisa.
The board understandably felt compelled to issue a statement about the president’s engagement at Columbia. Yet, as cisa is a decidedly nonpolitical club, choosing exactly what to say about the Ahmadinejad visit was a delicate process.
“There was some back-and-forth among…
Hitting the Bhangra
getting down with columbia’s bhangra team
With bright blue and purple vardiyan (the Punjabi word for “costume”), large turbans, and wide smiles, Columbia’s bhangra dance group, cuBHANGRA, always looks like it’s having the most fun on campus. Its fan base extends beyond Morningside Heights, as the group has been scheduled to perform at a number of private events, even J.P. Morgan’s Diwali dinner. It’s obvious the team has been doing something right.
“There is just something about bhangra that everybody loves—I don’t know what it is. You don’t need to know about it or understand it to enjoy it—it’s really accessible. It’s a…
Poetic Justice
slam poet ishmael osekre speaks from the heart
The first time Ishmael Osekre, GS ’09, performed at the Bowery Poetry Club, not everyone was impressed.
“Son,” said the owner of the club, “the next time you want to preach, go find a church.”
Osekre declined the advice and has continued creating and performing his particularly thought-provoking poetry.
Osekre was introduced to slam poetry in high school in Accra, Ghana, after a classmate won a trip to Florida through a slam poetry competition.
Osekre decided to try his hand at the competition, and while it called for short pieces, Osekre…
The Columbia Records
striking a chord with three undergrad bands
CORRECTIONS APPENDED
From mandolins to magic, musical groups on campus are finding inspiration is some interesting places. While one particular group likely comes to mind when thinking of Columbia bands, there’s a fair amount of talented music makers currently here on the campus. They may represent disparate genres, but each of their approaches to music is all similarly the result of their band members’ extraordinary eclectic tastes. The Eye takes a look at three of these Columbia-based bands, Field Diver, the Kitchen Cabinet, and Wizards of the Coast. Play on.
Playing the Field
…
Philosophy on the Fly
group introspection with columbia’s philosophy magazine
By the end of his first year here, Mike Roberto, CC ’09, couldn’t help thinking something was missing from his undergraduate experience. And though “fun” might be an informed guess (this is Columbia, after all), Roberto’s deficiency was of a slightly different nature.
In fact, it was the nature of things.
“Aside from the Philosophy Forum, there was nowhere to get involved with philosophy outside of the major as an undergrad,” Roberto says, recounting what he perceived as a dearth in opportunities for philosophical discourse outside the classroom.
In the fall of 2006…
Green Peak
New trends in the Columbia environmental movement
Here at Columbia, green is the new light blue.
The environmental movement has been steadily taking over the nation for quite some time, and Columbia students and administrators are also participating in this waste-wary wave.
Last semester, Ariel Zucker, CC ’09, earned a $500 grant to make campus composting a reality. The grant was received from Americans for Informed Democracy, a nonpartisan organization which seeks to form “globally conscious leaders” through programming and funding. Fifteen Columbia students are currently using worms to convert their waste instead of the other option—letting it rot…
The March Mystique
putting a modern spin on women’s history month
It’s ladies night. Continually for the next 25 days.
This past Saturday, March 1, was the official starting date of Women’s History Month, a federally-recognized holiday in the United States. And while the inception of this female festivity falls on a weekend, the celebration did not truly get underway until Monday night at Columbia.
The evening before the committee’s opening reception, co-chairs Beth Anne Macaluso, BC ’09, and Ruhi Shamim, CC ’09, were still scrambling to get the word out.
“We’ve been advertising, Facebooking. Our advisors got us on e-mail…
Dirt on the Dirty
checking out new york’s neglected stepsister
An overheard dialogue from every crook of the Columbia social scene:
“Where are you from?”
“New Jersey.”
“Oh… I’m… sorry.”
It’s known as “the Jerz,” “the Dirty,” and even “the armpit of America”: the state of New Jersey.
“I wish we could just find a way to take a knife and carve it out of the U.S.,” jokes native New Yorker David Cooper, CC ’09.
While New Jersey is one the most fiercely criticized states in the union, it is one of Columbia’s most represented states in…
Postsecret
exploring columbia’s unmapped music venue
On Saturday nights, while some students can be found roaming frat row or bar hopping in Brooklyn, others are going to church. St. Paul’s Chapel, to be exact.
Every Friday and Saturday from 9 p.m. to midnight, a humble yet charming room in the basement of Columbia’s St. Paul’s Chapel is bustling. Postcrypt Coffeehouse, an acoustic performance venue that features mostly local musicians, opens its doors on weekends to students and locals looking for good music and good company.
“Postcrypt gets a great mix of musicians, we have all these local guys…
Lights Out
the new energy challenge for columbia dorms
You wake up at 3 a.m. unable to ignore the call of nature any longer. “I knew I shouldn’t have chugged that 20-ounce bubble tea before bed,” you think to yourself grudgingly as you trudge down the hall. On your way to the can, you pass your floor’s common room—lights on, late infomercials for the latest thigh-shaper gimmick beckoning—yet there’s not a single person to be found inside. Does this scenario sound familiar? To the green community at Columbia it does.
The Columbia University EcoReps, paid students who address Columbia’s day-to-day environmental needs, and…
Coasting
bridging the land gap between columbia and california
Winter has finally hit us full force—it’s currently in the low 40s in New York, and the taxis are actually driving slowly for once to avoid sliding on the fresh snow. But while we Columbia students trudge to class, our heads bent low against the wind, my brother in California is surfing without a wet suit.
There’s something about the mere mention of the word “California” that strikes a mythic chord. Not only does it represent the last American frontier and serve as an emblem of opportunity, it is the state with the highest…