Natan Edelsburg, a junior in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, got sold on Twitter at the Eden Rock Hotel in Miami, Florida. While exercising on a LifeFitness machine, he sent a tweet to the company: LifeFitness Love your new machine. Within a few minutes he got a thank you and a recommendation for a portable treadmill for his New York City apartment.

Edelsburg, who is interested in new digital media, PR, social media tools, advertising and other forms of marketing, liked the way that Twitter allowed you to pose a question to your followers and hear back immediately. He was also taken by Gregory Galant, the CEO of SawHorse Media, a guest lecturer in his production class. Before his lecture, Galant tweeted to his followers: Going to speak at NYU, what should I speak about? One of the tweets he received from a follower was: Why don’t you talk about how in the future there won’t be a New York Times because their stock is worth less than the Sunday paper?

Edelsburg kept Galant’s business card. He was interested in how the CEO's media company developed Twitter sites to mainstream conversations among niche communities. Higher education was the niche community Edelsburg knew best. He created GlobalQuad, a site that aggregates tweets from colleges and universities, during his internship with SawHorse.

“The site links different schools across the country and the globe, and you really get a sense of those who had been smart enough to venture onto Twitter to try and connect with current and prospective students,” Edelsburg said.

GlobalQuad picks up all tweets from NYU’s official Twitter accounts. At any given moment, a visitor can read a post generated from Steinhardt’s Undergraduate Student Government, NYUAlumni, and even select faculty.

“If you follow NYU's feeds, you'll learn who Jay Rosen is,” Edelsburg said. “Professor Rosen has over 28,000 followers and is constantly ‘mind-casting.’”

Edelsburg notes that GlobalQuad is not only an easy way to see these different conversations, but “it's a fun and exciting portal into the minds of many of the influential people who make up our great university.”

Follow Natan Edesburg on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/twatan.

Posted by debra weinstein on November 6, 2009 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jane Bear-Lehman is an associate professor and chair of Steinhardt's Department of Occupational Therapy. She is a co-investigator in a National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Aging (NIH/NIA) grant studying the cognit ive and physical bases of disablement in adults. A specialist in orthopedic and upper limb rehabilitation, she currently serves on the editorial board for The Journal of Hand Therapy.

In your Ph.D. dissertation you sought to understand emerging “upper limb cumulative trauma disorder’ that plagued early computer users. Talk a little bit about your study and what you learned.

Jane Bear-Lehman: The findings from my dissertation, now over a decade ago, note that the computer keyboarder who expresses upper limb cumulative trauma disorder presents with a collection of painful symptoms in their arms and hands that seem to resolve on weekends when they are not at work. As time continued, the discomfort spread and did not resolve itself when the keyboarder was not at work. The discomfort gradually impeded the quality and quantity of performance for daily life tasks. The control and amelioration of these symptoms was found to related to treatment on a continuous basis. Moreover, this type of problem seems to be analogous with long term, chronic medical conditions where the onset is slow and insidious over time, and the work of the practitioner is to control the patient’s symptoms rather than to treat the ‘disease’ directly.

Have you seen a difference in the type of hand-related repetitive injuries since you wrote your dissertation than you are seeing now? How do you measure these 'injuries?'

Jane Bear-Lehman: Since I completed my doctoral work, there has been a rapid growth in the types of tools used requiring key entering, and all of the tools have become smaller, many mobile. In my study, keyboarding was primarily a desk-related function. This was just before the rapid growth of technology: laptop computers and cell phones were not a common form of communication exchange.

What can an occupation therapist offer someone who has chronic digital media-related pain?

Jane Bear-Lehman: Occupational therapists first assess the problematic or painful regions and seek to calm the symptoms through traditional therapeutic measures. Key to success is to then review the aggravating conditions and to work closely with the individual to develop safe working patterns and conditions to keep the symptoms under control. Thus, the OT will redesign how an activity is performed by changing posture, for example: to abate symptoms when the wrist is bent, the recommendation for handwriting could include the use of an enlarged pen with rubber or foam near the tip and to use an inclined plane to neutralize and de-stress the wrist position for the writer. The individual may be directed to use a knife with an 11-degree angle so that the wrist is in an unstressed position when dicing vegetables. If a change in positioning does not produced symptom control, then the OT will suggest a different type of tool, for example: changing the trackball, type of pen, or encourage the use of a timer for forced rest periods, where the individual might take a walk or do some stretches to work a different group of muscles. If these measures don’t provide relief, an OT may suggest recommend a voice-activated computer or avoiding the ‘painful’ tasks completely.

What is the prognosis for the generation that is born into this technology as we add video game playing controls, Nintendo DS keypad, and even iPod touch finger game playing into the mix?

Jane Bear-Lehman: The rate and severity of discomfort from constant use of computer and hand held-communication devices is interesting to track. The initial injuries tracked in the 1980’s were focused on office workers in workstations as described in Daniel Berman’s book, Death on the Job. The mobility, the varied types of communication, and the myriad of tasks we now perform take the single continuous force that challenged us in the 1980’s to a different level.

Whether injuries are increased or abated has a lot to do with the user and how he or she engages in the tasks and seeks variation in posture, pressure, etc. The younger population also has access to, and a strong desire to engage in some mobile (DS; PSP), or not mobile (XBOX), or physically interactive (Wii) games in addition to communicating on IM, social networks, and the like. Some question whether the increased time game playing and social networking takes away from time on the sports field and run the risk of obesity. Also, we question whether these children are putting their visual systems and fine motor skills at risk as they are over-working their eyes and small muscles groups.

Final thoughts?

Jane Bear-Lehman: Hand- held devices seem innocuous, however continuous, uninterrupted use of them can cause discomfort. The earlier the user takes notices this and modifies how they are engaging with the device by changing posture or pattern, then the sooner long-term problems can be prevented.

Learn how Kevin Weaver, a clinical assistant professor in Steinhardt's Department of Physical Therapy, diagnoses and treats digital media-based hand pain by visiting his Q & A.

To read more about Jane Bear-Lehman's collaborative work with cellist Duo-Lin Peng, visit this blog post.

Posted by debra weinstein on November 4, 2009 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Finn Brunton is a postdoctoral research fellow in Steinhardt's Department of Media, Culture, and Communication. Brunton earned a BA from UC Berkeley, an MA from the European Graduate School in Switzerland, and a doctorate at the Centre for Modern Thought at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. At NYU/Steinhardt Brunton is studying the history and politics of computing, digital media, and information systems, ‘specifically the history of data mining and obfuscation — how people hide patterns.’ He is currently turning his dissertation, Spam in Action: Social Technology and the History of Unintended Consequences, into a book-length manuscript, and blogging about his dissertation-to-book process at http://finnb.net/spam/.

Talk a little about your scholarship. What do you study, and what is your particular method of inquiry?

Finn Brunton: I work in a zone I like to describe as the social history of technology: how we make our tools and how they make us. Every technology is a collection of metaphors and ideas -- about the future, what we are and what we want to do, how the world works -- but it’s also a bunch of capacities and capabilities for use, and we often take them in unexpected directions. Th at divergence between how a technology is envisioned and how it gets adopted and adapted in practice is the sweet spot for me, because that's where the things I’m interested in become easier to see. So I work a lot on how things fail, break, and get misused, when the invisible "black box" of a technology stops working and makes us ask: How does this work, why, and for whom, and under what circumstances? That's why I wrote my dissertation on spam: spammers expose the complex socio-technical history of the Internet and Web by exploiting the disparities between plan and practice. I came to this approach by a winding road: I was something like a failed architecture student as an undergrad at UC Berkeley, and I became more and more interested in how people interact with the built environment -- how they inhabit, or appropriate, or resist. I ended up writing about radical political movements and the process of seizing cities and buildings for unintended purposes.

When you study the history of technology where do you begin?

Finn Brunton: Lots and lots and lots of research. Because of the particular Internet-centric nature of what I do right now, most of that research is online, in remote corners of big databases. I do a lot of emailing and chatting, too, tracking down leads, trying to get interviews from understandably skittish and busy people. (Matthew Kirschenbaum has just published a book, Mechanisms: New Media and the Forensic Imagination, that superbly describes the problems of doing serious archival research on digital material.)

How would you describe the ‘primitive period” of the Internet?


Finn Brunton: That's a good question. As a matter of convenience and personal taste, I'd put the "primitive period" as running from the formalization of "the Internet" in 1974 -- that's when the wide array of computer networks then in operation were specified as one continuous system with a common protocol -- to the arrival of the Web in the early 1990s. This is very arguable, but it works for me, for now: the text-based world of bulletin-board systems, Usenet, Gopher and so on would probably be unrecognizable as "the Internet" to a young person today. It was full of fascinating things. To take a notion from the designer Matt Webb, the early Internet was like the early solar system, before the planets gathered out of the big loose accretion disk of gas and dust and rocks. Now things are huge and getting huger, with so much of our on-line experience happening on Planet Google, Planet Facebook, Planet Amazon, but once we had many, many little planetesimals with their unique species of conversations, archives, projects, games; you could stumble onto them as though onto the Little Prince's asteroid. I miss it, but I'm not complaining -- the Web has opened up entirely different terrain and for vastly more diverse communities.

Given what you know of past and present, do you think we will see more steady progress or will it taper off?

Finn Brunton: One thing you learn from the history of technology is that predicting the future is a losing game (and that the concept of “progress" hurts more than helps, as it presets the discussion with some implied ideas about how things develop and towards what ends). 
That said, a safe bet: I think the effect of networking our computers is only beginning to be felt, but the glamorous visibility of the Internet will be short-lived. Soon it will be entirely boring, ubiquitous and invisible, and then the changes will really kick in. There was a concept in the 1920s and 30s of "air-mindedness," an evangelical fervor for flight, this utterly modern and thrilling technology that evaporated as flying became increasingly banal -- and increasingly profound in its effects on matters as diverse as commerce and war and migration. The same is true of the prefix "electro-," 
which was very exotic until electricity became a quotidian aspect of most every appliance and home. We can see it happening with "cyber-,"
which has already become rather embarrassing. I'm watching with fascination as the Internet become truly boring as a topic -- saying you "read something online" is as redundant as saying you have an electro-blender -- even as the changes we can make on ourselves and our society through it ramify.

A few off-the-cuff predictions -- I can't resist: the future of networked computing will be mobile, about things and places as much as people, and sensor input as much as human-generated content, and will have some of its most profound and interesting effects on the scale of water and electricity grids, cities, global logistics, and very large crowds. I suspect there will also be interesting bleed-over from gaming culture and user experience design into the structure of daily life, particularly money...but I'm already drifting into science fiction. That's enough from me.

Stay in touch with your academic colleagues: follow Finn Brunton on Twitter http://twitter.com/finnb.

Posted by debra weinstein on October 30, 2009 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, gave Perry Halkitis' new book, Methamphetamine Addiction: Biological Foundations, Psychological Factors, and Social Consequences (APA, 2009) a starred review. G.A Blevins of Governors State University wrote: 'This book is a well-written, well researched, and comprehensive review of the current methamphetamine epidemic that is ravaging the U.S....a timely, useful reference for any health and human services professional or student seeking insight into methamphetamine use and its impact on the users, their associates, and communities.'

Halkitis, professor and associate dean for research and doctoral studies at NYU Steinhardt, is co-editor of Barebacking: Psychosocial and Public Health Approaches (Informa Healthcare, 2006) and HIV+Sex: The Psychosocial and Interpersonal Dynamics of HIV-seriopositive Gay and Bisexual Men's Relationships (APA, 2005). SciTech Book News called Methamphetamine Addiction 'a comprehensive look at the methamphetamine epidemic.'

To learn more about methamphetamine addiction and read an interview with the author visit Steinhardt's Inside Books.

Posted by debra weinstein on October 26, 2009 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Marc Beja (BM ’09) is the recipient of The Chronicle of Higher Education ’s David W. Miller Award for Young Journalists. A graduate student in Steinhardt’s Department of Music and Music Professions, Beja received the award for three articles he wrote for The Chronicle during a summer internship. As an undergraduate student, Beja pursued both music and writing, earning his degree from Steinhardt’s program in music education and the College of Arts and Science’s journalism program.

As a journalist student, Beja worked as an enterprise editor for NYU’s Washington Square News and now serves as a senior editor. In 2008, Beja was an intern at Newsday and continues to write freelance articles for the Long-Island-based newspaper.

As a Steinhardt undergraduate, Beja worked as director and music director on two student productions. He was also student teacher at Manhattan New School and LaGuardia High School.

The Chronicle praised Beja for his “investigative drive, detailed reporting, and strong writing.”

Posted by debra weinstein on October 23, 2009 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute (INDI) has named Aoife Ryan Research Dietitian of the Year. Ryan, an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, received the award for her study in the Annals of Surgery demonstrating the benefits of omega-3 enriched nutrition for surgical cancer patients. (Read more about this study in Steinhardt's Research News blog.)

The Irish Nutrition & Dietetic Institute (INDI) is the national organization for clinical nutritionists/dietitians in Ireland. INDI's mission is to encourage, foster and maintain the highest possible standards in the science and practice of human nutrition and dietetics, to positively influence the nutrition status and health of the individual and the population in general.

Photo: Aoife Ryan received the Research Dietitian of the Year award at the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute’s Annual Research Conference in October. Pictured from left to right : Aine Brady, Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Aoife Ryan, and Sinead Duggan, chair of the research interest group of the INDI.

Posted by debra weinstein on October 23, 2009 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kevin Weaver is an clinical assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at New York University. He is a certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist (OCS) by the American Board of Physical Therapy, and is certified in ergonomics by the Board of Certified Professional Ergonomists (CEA) and the Oxford Institute (CIE). Weaver owns and practices at Academy Physical Therapy and Employee Wellness Solutions.

In you practice as a physical therapist what kind of computer related injuries have you seen recently?

Kevin Weaver: The increased use of the computer in the workplace has lead to a number of musculoskeletal repetitive strain issues (RSI). The most common being neck and back pain which can be attributed to prolonged sitting, poor posture, an employees not adjusting an ergonomic chair correctly, and/or awkward keyboard, mouse, and monitor placement.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is commonly cited as a problem for computer users, but the incidence is a just fraction of neck and back pain incidence. Other arm and hand RSI’s include tunnel compression at the forearm and elbow. Epicondylitis on the inside (aka Golfer’s elbow) and outside (aka Tennis elbow) can also be the cause of symptoms at the elbow. The arm RSI’s can often be attributed to repetitive action of the forearm and wrist in an awkward wrist or elbow posture while using keyboards or mice. De’Quervain’s syndrome is a tendonitis at the base of the thumb into the forearm and is o ften the cause of mouse use that combines awkward wrist postures with repetition.

What wrecks more havoc on the hand -- computer keyboards, track pads, mice, or text messaging?

Kevin Weaver: Mouse use has increased over the years and is often the main culprit of problems in people’s dominant hand and arm when using the computer.

Text messaging is presently poses the most risk to the hand because the size of the keypads on the various smart phones requires increased precision for typing. And typing on a smaller keypad requires people to use more muscle contraction and increased flexed postures in the fingers – especially the thumb.

Keyboards were given a lot of negative press in the 90’s but the newer ergonomic designs and the increase in mouse use for software input and web surfing have lead – in my opinion – the keyboard to be the less likely culprit vs. the mouse.

I perceive the trackpad to be the least likely culprit of hand pain. I often recommend a movable trackpad in lieu of a mouse for people with RSI because you can use it on either arm with a little practice, which will help decrease ergonomic risk factors.

How does a physical therapist help cure these injuries -- by brace, by exercise, by recommending getting off the computer?

Kevin Weaver: The main focus of physical therapy with any of the discussed RSI’s, neck and back pain is patient education. The patient/client must understand the ergonomic risk factors that have contributed to their symptomatology. These can include repetition, awkward postures, and force of muscle contraction in the forearm and hand. The literature cites the combination of two of these factors is often what causes people to be symptomatic. When clients are educated they are often able to make most of the changes to their existing workstation with the equipment that they already have. The physical therapist may then recommend additional equiptment, breaks and/or stretching exercises to further reduce the effects of the risk factors.

Bracing during sleep is an excellent way to reduce awkward postures at the thumb, wrist, and elbow that can often contribute tosymptoms. Patients need to know what they do in their leisure activities, hobbies, and during the rest of their day outside work activities can contribute to their problems. Bracing during work activities is controversial. Some people can often increase force on symptomatic tendons and muscles by “fighting” the brace so they must brace at work with caution and be aware of any problems that may arise with the introduction of the brace.

Exercises are necessary and stretching at work may reduce the effects of repetition that may otherwise be unavoidable. Ultimately people need to strengthen the muscles around the involved structure but this may stress the injury further in the beginning of intervention. Rest from any symptomatic activity is an important step. Inflammation reduction with ice is a simple and important step in the beginning of symptoms. When people begin to reduce their symptoms they need to begin strengthening the muscles directly related to the involved area. But you can often begin strengthening weakened postural muscles in the shoulder and neck without stressing any symptomatic structure. Most people with upper extremity RSI do not realize that these areas of their body are weak and contributing to their ergonomic risk factors of poor postural habits.

What can a physical therapist offer someone who has chronic computer-related pain?

Kevin Weaver: Chronic symptoms are usually more difficult to deal with regardless of the source of symptoms. If someone is dealing with an upper extremity RSI lasting longer than several months the inflamed tendon (tendonitis) usually begins to turn to a degenerated and scarred state of tendonosis. In most cases of arm RSI the focus should be strengthening the muscle group that attaches to the tendon. This will promote proper healing and reduce the degenerative effects.

Tell me one thing I don't know about computer-related pain.

Kevin Weaver: Many people with RSI, neck and back pain present with trigger points in the involved muscles. Trigger points are what many people describe as a “knot” in the muscle and can often be a secondary or primary cause of symptoms.

Many of the same ergonomic risk factors that may cause an upper extremity RSI can cause a trigger point in the surrounding muscles. These trigger points can be successfully addressed with ergonomic risk factor reduction, stretching and deep tissue massage as well as patient instruction in self-stretching and massage at home.

Learn how Jane Bear-Lehman , associate professor and chair of Steinhardt's Department of Occupation Therapy, diagnoses and treats digital media-based hand pain by visiting this blog post.

Posted by debra weinstein on October 21, 2009 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Steinhardt Dean Mary Brabeck has announced fall 2009 promotion and tenure decisions. "These are faculty members who excel in research and teaching and contribute in important ways to their professions, the NYU and Steinhardt communities, as well as our local and global society," Brabeck said.

Awarded Tenure     

Susan A. Kirch (Department of Teaching and Learning) is a science educator and a biologist whose research includes: investigations of teaching and learning science in urban elementary schools and studies of teacher learning in the areas of science and inclusion. Kirch, an associate professor, has participated in a variety of initiatives designed to bring teachers, K-12 students, educational researchers and scientists together to study access to science and the nature of scientific inquiry. She has published chapters and articles on school funding, inclusion, feminist pedagogy, co-teaching, and discourse in elementary school classrooms in journals such as Science Education, School Science and Mathematics, Cultural Studies of Science Education, and the Journal of Science Teacher Education. Kirch is currently the principal Investigator of ‘The Scientific Thinker Project, an exploratory study of teaching and learning the nature of scientific evidence in elementary school, which is funded by the National Science Foundation Discovery Research, K-12 program.

Promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure     

Sarah Beck (Department of Teaching and Learning) studies the literacy development of adolescents in school contexts.  Her research investigates how school contexts support adolescents' purposeful, engaged learning about reading and writing.   Beck's work has been supported by grants from the Spencer Foundation as well as from the New York University and Steinhardt School's Research Challenge Funds.   She has published her findings in many journals, including Research in the Teaching of English, Educational Researcher, and the Journal of Literacy Research.  Beck is the co-editor (with Leslie Nabors Olah) of Perspectives on Language & Literacy:  Beyond the Here & Now (Harvard Educational Review, 2001).

Charlton McIlwain (Department of Media, Culture, and Communication) studies issues related to the language and imagery of racial discourse in American political life, including how political candidates produce and deploy race-based persuasive appeals, how voters are affected by them, and how the news media frame their reporting of minority candidates and racial issues. McIlwain is co-author of the forthcoming book Race Appeal: The Prevalence, Purposes & Political Implications of Racial Discourse in American Politics (Temple, 2010), and co-editor of the forthcoming, Routledge Companion to Race & Ethnicity (Routledge, 2010). His work has also been published in the International Journal of Press/Politics, Semiotica, Journal of Black Studies, TAMARA Journal of Critical Postmodern Organizational Science, American Behavioral Scientist, and Communication Quarterly.

Christine McWayne (Department of Applied Psychology) studies how children's early skills, parenting, family involvement, and neighborhood can affect low-income children's social and academic competencies. Her community-based research has taken place in Head Start programs in New York City and Philadelphia, and her research has been published in many journals including, Developmental Psychology, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Journal of Educational Psychology, American Journal of Community Psychology, and the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. McWayne has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Administration for Children and Families (USDHHS), and the Society for the Study of School Psychology to conduct research on parenting, family involvement, and low-income children's school readiness.

Lisa Stulberg (Department of Humanities and Social Sciences in the Professions) 
researches the politics of urban schooling, race and education policy, affirmative action in higher education, and school choice policy and politics. Stulberg is the author of Race, Schools, and Hope: African Americans and School Choice after Brown (Teachers College Press, 2008) and the co-editor (with Eric Rofes) of The Emancipator Promise of Charter Schools: Toward a Progressive Politics of School Choice (SUNY Press, 2004). She is also co-editor (with Sharon L. Weinberg) of the forthcoming Diversity in American Higher Education: Toward a More Comprehensive Approach (Routledge, 2011).

Promotion to Professor

Ricki Goldman (Department of Administration, Leadership, and Technology) is a media and learning theorist, digital video ethnographer, and software inventor, whose research focuses on student learning in technology-rich learning environments. Goldman pioneered the field of Digital Video Ethnography, a method she uses to create rich video exemplars of children’s thinking. She is author of Points of Viewing Children’s Thinking: A Digital Ethnographer’s Journey (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,1998), editor of Video Research in the Learning Sciences (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007) with co-editors with Roy Pea, Brigid Barron, and Sharon Derry). For more than two decades Goldman has studied how children learn when immersed in mediated mathematics and science cultures. Goldman has been published online, as well as in print journals including Cambridge Journal of Education and JCT: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Curriculum Studies.

C. Cybele Raver (Department of Applied Psychology) directs NYU's Institute of Human Development and Social Change. Her research focuses on young children and families facing economic hardship, and examines the mechanisms that support children's positive outcomes in the policy contexts of welfare reform and early intervention. Raver and her research team currently conduct the Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP), a federally funded RCT intervention. The Chicago School Readiness Project tests the impact of comprehensive teacher training and mental health consultation services on Head Start classroom processes, on young children's self-regulation, and on their academic achievement later on in kindergarten and first grade. Raver has received a William T. Grant Faculty Scholar award as well as support from the Spencer Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation.  

Posted by debra weinstein on October 16, 2009 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Duo-Lin Peng, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Music and Music Professions, is an award-winning musician, who plays the cello and French horn. He began his musical training at the age of five at the KuanJen School for the Musically Talented in Taiwan. During his college years Peng developed wrist pain, and like many young musicians, he ignored it and continued to play until his symptoms got so severe that he had to stop. Jane Bear-Lehman , associate professor, chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy, and a member of Peng's dissertation committee, is a specialist in orthopedic and upper limb rehabilitation. She currently serves on the editorial board for The Journal of Hand Therapy.

Debra Weinstein spoke to them about Peng’s dissertation proposal, which also draws on the expertise of Marilyn Nonken, Steinhardt’s director of piano studies, and Sherri Weiser-Horowitz, research a ssistant professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at NYU’s Langone Medical Center.

Tell us about your proposal.

Duo-Lin Peng: The title of my dissertation is “The Unpublished Manuscripts of Cellist and Teacher Luigi Silva: Implications of The Vademecum for String Playing.” Silva was an Italian-born cellist who is also known as a performer and teacher. Early on, when Silva’s was studying cello, most of his teachers suggested that he consider another instrument because his hands were too small. For this reason he spent a lot of time exploring studies of the human body and movement. Silva’s philosophies and methods toward string playing saved me from abandoning cello playing, which has always been a major part of my life. The purpose of my research is not only to investigate, restore, and interpret Silva’s unpublished manuscript, The Vademecum, but also to explore his playing methods and philosophies, and the implications of his theories on the contemporary string community.

What is your role in Duo-Lin’s dissertation study?

Jane Bear-Lehman: My passion and my area of specialization in occupational therapy is hand therapy. I supervise many students in research at the master’s and doctoral level in hand assessment. My own dissertation sought to understand emerging upper limb cumulative trauma disorder that plagued early computer users. Duo-Lin is studying the effect of the technique for cello playing put forth by Luigi Silva. As Duo-Lin explained when we first met that Silva’s great talent rested in his amazing ability to teach young people, and he had a very special interest and contribution to make in developing the left-hand technique for cello playing. Duo-Lin sought me out for my ability to help him interpret the actual biomechanical use of both hands for cello playing.

What have you learned from Dr. Bear-Lehman that and will inform your future work?

Duo-Lin Peng: If Silva’s works sustained my playing career, then studying with Dr. Bear-Lehman widened my vision toward cello playing. By reviewing Silva’s manuscripts and other related string literatures, many terms regarding body parts and movement often are inconsistent or ambiguous. Wrist movements, for instance, were referring to bending inward or outward, but Dr. Bear-Lehman advised me that it would be cleared described as extension or flexion. The also helped me to know my body parts and how they move in relation to my specific requirements as a musician. This is actually the fundamental requirement of rational learning in string playing.

Over time, musicians who have practiced without proper physical movement suited for their bodies have suffered injury. Professional athletes have world-class training to enhance and protect their asset. Instrument players should not only consider themselves musicians, but athletes as well.  

What have you learned from Duo-Lin, and how do you think your collaboration will help others?

Jane Bear-Lehman: I was intrigued when I learned from Duo-Lin that Silva had small hands. I was also amazed to learn that in playing cello the right hand and the left hand have different roles, and that the musician’s dominant hand is not a consideration when playing. The role and function for the right and left hand is distinct for all musicians regardless of hand dominance of preference. I learned about how the changes in design, in particular, the advent of the endpin to rest the cello on the floor, significantly altered the position of the cello against the player and how the role and function of the lower limbs decreased as they were no longer needed to support the cello. By following the technique recommended by Silva, Duo-Lin tells me that he can hear whether his students are using the correct biomechanical alignment and movement patterns while playing. He hears a distinct difference in sound caused by posture and motor control. For an occupational therapist, it is very interesting to apply a usual and customary activity analysis to understand how posture and motor control patterns create music, and then express in that evaluation for those in the world of music to understand!

Duo-Lin Peng: I cannot stress enough the importance of this kind cross-department research project. Not every musician and instrument player has the kind of opportunity we have here at NYU. We can conduct research beyond our own discipline and expand the horizon into a different dimension. And the best part is that I can play the cello with greater body movement and biomechanics understanding and I won’t need painkillers for a while!   

Photo: (Left to Right). Cellist, Duo Lin Peng, and hand specialist, Jane Bear-Lehman

Posted by debra weinstein on October 13, 2009 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Carolyn Graham and Lixing (Frank) Tang of Steinhardt's TESOL program wrote the words. Dave Schroeder, director of the jazz studies program, composed the music. The result is China Chants II: Practicing the Rhythm of American English (Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2008). The book and CD have become a popular learning tool for English as a second language instructors.

The interactive jazz background tracks created by Schroeder for China Chants II were used to give rhythm and cadence to the short English poems and chants that Graham, an adjunct instructor, and Tang, director of the TESOL program, wrote together for recitation by Chinese learners. The tracks were produced and played by Schroeder and Combo Nuvo,  the NYU Jazz Faculty Artist Ensemble in Residence.

This "seemingly odd collaboration" between two TESOL faculty members and a jazz musician has been rewarding for the authors.

“It was this element of surprise throughout the project that was most fulfilling,” Schroeder said. “Each of us was forced to work outside of our comfort zones, where in the end, we discovered our creative connection.”

Posted by debra weinstein on October 9, 2009 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last spring when Niyati Parekh, an assistant professor in Steinhardt's program in public health, and Christina Marin, an assistant professor in educational theatre, were having lunch, they began to wonder what it would be like for students studying world hunger to experience it firsthand rather than reading about it.

Marin explained to Parekh that in educational theatre courses the students often take 'experiential journeys' where they step into roles and explore another set of experiences. Parekh wondered if the 'role play' approach could work in her Introduction to Public Health Nutrition class, and the two came up with an exercise that combined in-class fasting with a discussion on international nutrition and public policy.

Parekh's students were divided into groups. There were students who fasted overnight and arrived in the classroom hungry and those that came to class fed and ready to participate in a surprise activity. All students were assigned roles as conference attendees, and were provided with information about major nutrition issues facing their country as well as background information about the country's culture, language, religion, and gross domestic product. In addition, students played the role of leaders and representatives from developing, as well as affluent nations, who had come together to discuss policies and strategies to combat hunger.

To further simulate the experience of hunger, fasters found a buffet of food in their classroom with prices that far exceeded the allowance of paper money they received when they arrived. They had enough money to buy a small portion of rice, but they did have unlimited supply of free brown water to drink.

World leaders debated the most effective policies for eradicating hunger.

"Each country came up with strategies and there were arguments and fights," Parekh said. "There were some furious discussions that lasted until we ended the session."

After the exercise the students reflected on what they had learned, and both Parekh and Marin saw a deepened understanding of hunger and poverty, as well as heightened empathy for those who live in developing nations.

Students who fasted understood on a visceral level what it means to be hungry. Students also saw how challenging it could be to engage in a productive discourse about solving world hunger when there are political, cultural, economic, and language barriers to consider.

“Through the exercise, we absolutely took the students out of their learning comfort zone. I believe this made for a very powerful experience," Marin said.

Photos: Students experienced hunger first hand in Steinhardt Assistant Professor Niyati Parekh's class when they had a limited supply of paper money to pay for food.

(Pictured left to right) Christina Marin and Niyati Parekh.

Posted by debra weinstein on October 7, 2009 4:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave opening remarks at the First Annual Disabilities Summit held at NYU's Kimmel Center this past summer. The event brought together key decision makers in New York City government and policy, as well as representatives from organizations serving people with disabilities to establish a citywide policy agenda to address the need for increased accessibility.

Sponsored by the Fund for the City of New York and Disabilities Network of New York City, in affiliation with the NYU Council for the Study of Disability, panelists discussed strategies for improving access to transportation and ways of providing safe, affordable, and accessible housing to ensure the full participation of people with disabilities in the economic life of New York City and its surrounding boroughs.

The NYU Council works to inform teaching, increase disability awareness, and identify priorities and partnerships for research that address the concerns of people with disabilities locally, nationally, and abroad. The Council is co-chaired by Ann Goerdt, clinical assistant professor of Steinhardt's Department of Physical Therapy, and Faye Ginsburg, David B. Kriser Professor of Anthropology from the NYU Faculty of Arts and Science Department of Anthropology.

Photos: Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke at the First Annual Disabilities Summit held at NYU.

Panelist from left to right: Mary McCormick, president of the Fund for the City of New York. Steinhardt Dean Mary Brabeck, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Mathew Sapolin, commissioner pf the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities

Posted by debra weinstein on October 5, 2009 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Student lined up outside Steinhart's Pless Hall (and around the block), for free flu vaccines at NYU’s Annual Wellness Expo in October. The event, sponsored by the Student Health Center and Steinhardt’s Office of the Associate Dean for Student Affairs, offered a chance for students to shake hands with the NYU’s Bobcat, learn about health topics, play Wii Fit, and get seasonal flu shots, massages, healthy snacks, health screenings, t-shirts, and reusable totes bags.

“This year we administered 1,250 flu vaccines – a record for us, up from 550 vaccines from last year,” said Kathy Gunkel, NYU’s director of nursing and quality management. Both undergraduate and graduate students took advantage of the free flu vaccine program.

Posted by debra weinstein on October 2, 2009 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fabienne Doucet, assistant professor of education in Steinhardt's Department of Teaching and Learning, has received The Taylor and Francis Annual Award for Distinguished Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education (JECTE) Article of the Year Award. Her article, 'How African American Parents Understand Their and Teachers' Roles in Children's Schooling and What This Means for Preparing Preservice Teachers,' was selected as the outstanding article published in JECTE during 2008. Each year, the refereed journal’s editorial board reviews its four issues, and its publisher, Taylor and Francis, provides a $1,000 prize for an exceptional article.

Doucet studies family, school, and community partnerships, parental values and beliefs about education, and the schooling experiences of immigrant and U.S.-born children of color. In 2003, she was awarded a National Academy of Education/Spencer Fellowship to work on a book manuscript based on her study on how values and beliefs about academic achievement are communicated between Haitian immigrant parents and their children.

Posted by debra weinstein on September 18, 2009 3:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Next year NYU Steinhardt will launch an undergraduate program (B.S.) in public health, one of the first of its kind in the country. The program will prepare students for careers in local and state health departments, health care organizations, and human service agencies.

Students will study statistics, epidemiology, public health nutrition, and global issues. The program provides a broad overview of the field and enables students to explore particular health conditions, such as HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, and obesity. It culminates in a semester long internship in one of the many national and international organizations involved in public health in New York City.

“Our new public health program builds on the enormous strengths that NYU and New York City have to offer,” said Diana Silver, assistant professor of public health and director of the program. “Given the set of public health challenges facing us all, and the need for a sophisticated, talented, and well-prepared workforce, I can think of no better place to explore the field.”

Public health is rapidly becoming one of the top five new undergraduate majors in the country. The Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development in collaboration with NYU's Wagner School of Public Service, currently offers a public health and policy minor for undergraduate students, as well as an Master's of Public Health (MPH) degree.

To learn more about the program and its admissions policies, visit the NYU Steinhardt website at http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/nutrition/public_health/bs/.

Photo: Diana Silver, director of the new undergraduate program in public health.

Posted by debra weinstein on September 16, 2009 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Past and current recipients of grants from the Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women (JFEW) came together for the first annual JFEW reunion at the Steinhardt School in June. The New York City-based foundation is dedicated to enabling women with financial need, regardless of their religious affiliation, to meet their education and career goals through scholarships, as well as creating a community of women who are able to fulfill their educational aspirations and contribute to society.

“One of the key ingredients to JFEW’s success is its commitment to effective collaboration with colleges, universities and community-based organizations to create programs jointly, undertake evaluation, and ensure the best possible outcomes for its recipients,” said Sharon L. Weinberg, Steinhardt professor, and current president of JFEW. “I am particularly proud of JFEW’s partnership with NYU’s Steinhardt School, the Silver School of Social Work, and the Wagner School of Public Service. Through these affiliations , JFEW is able to continue its work supporting talented women who choose to study for professions that are of great social value, but often not highly remunerative. I am keenly aware of the impact such a scholarship can have on the pursuit of a women’s life goals.”

Weinberg, along with Steinhardt Associate Dean Beth Weitzman, and Debra Weinstein, At a Glance writer and editor, are also former recipients of JFEW scholarships.

Photo (left to right) Catherine Milne, Steinhardt assistant professor of science education, stands with Naomi Nwosu, a high school science teacher who completed a masters degree in science education with the help of a JFEW scholarship.

Posted by debra weinstein on September 15, 2009 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jonathan Nosan, an actor and contortionist, broke through the boundary between audience and speaker at a seminar on postmodernism, lecturing on French acrobatic performer Jules Léotard (1842­1870), while standing on his hands.

The seminar was part of a summer curriculum for eighteen Fulbright scholars, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. Its purpose is to promote research and teaching about the United States at foreign universities. The American Embassy in the U.K sponsored a similar program for a group of ten British academics.

Stacy Pies, professor at the Gallatin School moderated the panel that included Steinhart professor of humanities and arts education, Joy Boyum, and Tisch associate professor of drama, Bob Vorlicky.

Philip M. Hosay, professor and director of Steinhardt’'s Multinational Institute of American Studies, has run similar programs since 1983, receiving more than $6,500,000 in funding from the United States Information Agency, the U.S. Department of State, the National Endowment of the Humanities, and various Fulbright commissions.

(Pictured from left to right): Stacy Pies, Johathan Nosan, Joy Boyum, Philip M. Hosay, and Bob Vorlicky.

Posted by debra weinstein on September 11, 2009 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This fall, undergraduate students entering the Steinhardt School will receive a copy of the book, Triangle by Katherine Weber. The book is a generous gift from Trish and Eric Lobenfeld. Triangle, required reading for all new students, is a historical fiction about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which occurred inside the Asch Building, now NYU’s Brown building, across the street from Pless Hall.

Trish Lobenfeld (MA, ’99), who received a master’s degree in food studies and served as an adjunct instructor for nine years, contributed the books to acknowledge the many gifts she received as a student at NYU.

“I attended a number of colleges over the years as a part-time transfer student, moving to different cities, and always felt like an outsider until I went to NYU,” she said. “It was a wonderfully inclusive experience academically, socially, and professionally. I feel strong ties to the University and especially the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, and I want to promote that experience for others.”

Posted by debra weinstein on September 11, 2009 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Global interest in the Nordoff-Robbins approach to music therapy is on display as students from the United States, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Chile gather around a piano as they begin their education at Steinhardt's Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy. The Nordoff-Robbins Center is renown for its community service programs in music therapy for children, adolescents and adults, and has an advanced training program that attracts music therapy students and professional music therapists from around the world. In addition, the center is engaged in pioneering research to measure the effectiveness of music therapy treatment for children who have autism spectrum disorder.

From left to right, Mall Kiil, Jill Argue, Hae-Yoon Ju, Robin Mitchell, Hye Yeon Moon, Stacy Wen Chang, Christina Sterrett, Yoomi Park, and Mariana Chamorro.

Posted by debra weinstein on September 10, 2009 2:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With generous gifts from the Dean's Council, alumni, parents, and friends, the Steinhardt School raised $1,059,466 for its Annual Fund during the 2008-09 academic year. This marks the first time that the Steinhardt Annual Fund has broken the $1 million mark, placing Steinhardt in an elite group of NYU schools that includes Arts & Science, Dentistry, Law, Medicine, Stern, and Tisch.

Annual Fund gifts support Steinhardt's greatest needs: maintaining facilities, providing scholarships, and supporting faculty research and public service activities in schools, hospitals, and community centers in NYC and beyond. This year, the Fund was particularly strengthened by the creation of a Dean’s Emergency Fund, which provides dedicated support for students who would otherwise leave Steinhardt because of the global economic crisis.

If you are interested in supporting the Annual Fund or the Dean’s Emergency Fund, please contact Assistant Dean Steve Sagner at 212-998-6755 or email stephen.sagner@nyu.edu.

Posted by debra weinstein on September 8, 2009 5:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sheila Lukins, renowned cook book author and an alumna of the Steinhardt School (Art Education, BS ’70), died on August 30, 2009.The cause was brain cancer.

Lukins, who was honored at Steinhardt’s 2008 Baccalaureate Ceremony with a Distinguished Alumnae Award, was a chef, food writing, and cooking teacher whose book, The Silver Palate Cookbook, was one of the top ten bestselling cookbooks of all times. Among her seven books are, The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook, Celebrate!, All Around the World Cookbook, and USA Cookbook. There are more than 6.5 million copies of her books in print.

Since 1986, Lukins served as the food editor of Parade magazine, which has a circulation of more than 83 million people each month. She lectured and demonstrated cooking throughout the United States, appeared on national television many times, and was a contributor to all major food publications.

In her address to Steinhardt graduates in 2008, Lukins described an education that began in challenging times, the 1970s’ student riots. “Because I was in the art department, I was asked to sew a tattered flag which flew over the school.” She used her artistic savvy and the skills she honed in her own kitchen to carve a striking place for herself in the culinary world. In 1992, Lukins was inducted into the James Beard Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America, and The Silver Palate Cookbook was named to the James Beard Foundation's Cookbook Hall of Fame. She also received the New York Association of Cooking Teachers Life Achievement Award.

"It's hard to explain how important her contribution was to American cooking, but Sheila is right up there with the greatest," said Marion Nestle, noted food authority and Steinhardt's Paulette Goddard Professor Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health. "Sheila showed us how easy it was to make interesting and great food, and quickly. She was quirky and funny and a great character. I will miss her."

Posted by debra weinstein on September 1, 2009 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This fall, the Steinhardt School will have new leadership in three of its department.

Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor of educational history, has been appointed chair of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. Zimmerman, who served as director of the department’s History of Education Program, also holds an appointment in the Department of History of NYU's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. A former Peace Corps volunteer and high school teacher, Zimmerman is the author of Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory (Icons of America) (Yale, 2009). Innocents Abroad: American Teachers in the American Century (Harvard, 2006), Whose America? Culture Wars in the Public Schools (Harvard, 2002), and Distilling Democracy: Alcohol Education in America's Public Schools, 1880-1925 (Kansas, 1999). Hiss articles have appeared in the Journal of American History, the Teachers College Record, and History of Education Quarterly. Zimmerman is also a frequent op-ed contributor to the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Republic, and other popular newspapers and magazines. Zimmerman succeeds Associate Professor of Educational Philosophy, Rene Arcilla, who serves as department chair for five years.

Marita Sturken's, a professor culture and communication, has been named chair of the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication.   Sturken, who has served as a co-director of Steinhardt’s Visual Culture Program, has taught courses in visual culture, cultural studies, cultural memory, and consumerism. She is the author of several books, including Tangled Memories: The Vietnam War, the AIDS Epidemic, and the Politics of Remembering (University of California, 1997) and Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture (with Lisa Cartwright, Oxford University Press, 2001, Second Edition 2009). Her most recent book is Tourists of History: Memory, Kitsch, and Consumerism From Oklahoma City to Ground Zero (Duke University Press, 2007).

Robert Rowe, a professor of the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions, has been named its vice chair. Rowe, who has served as director of Steinhardt’s music composition program, is artistic director of the biannual Interactive Arts Performance Series which unites computers, video, music, and other arts in live performance. Rowe’s music is performed throughout North America, Europe, and Japan and is available on compact discs from New World, Romeo, Quindecim, Harmonia Mundi and the International Computer Music Association. The MIT Press has published his two book/CD-ROM projects : Interactive Music Systems (1993), and Machine Musicianship (2001). Currently he is at work on new pieces for Sofia Asuncion Claro (harp) and Mark Hetzler (trombone).

Posted by debra weinstein on August 6, 2009 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

W. Michael Reed, a Steinhardt professor of educational communications and technology from 1997 until 2007, died on July 30, 2009. During his tenure at NYU, Reed was director of the program in educational communication and technology, and in that position served as a mentor for doctoral students and faculty, and played a significant role in the reorganization of the program’s curriculum and the development of its core courses. A leader in his field, Reed’s 25-year career as a researcher, teacher, and journal editor included appointments at three universities. His work focused on hypermedia/multimedia development and developers' learning styles, problem-solving and authoring, integrating technology in teacher education, and cognition and hypermedia.

Reed relocated to the Virginia area in 2007, and at the time of his death, was serving as an administrator for the Institutional Review Board at Radford University.

Posted by debra weinstein on August 4, 2009 5:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Beth Weitzman, Ph.D., has been named the Steinhardt School's Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. A respected member of the NYU community, Dr. Weitzman joined the Wagner faculty in 1987 and was promoted to Professor of Health and Public Policy in 2003, and will continue to hold that title in the Steinhardt School within the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health.

A widely published scholar, Dr. Weitzman's research focuses on urban policie saffecting poor families, and she has evaluated a range of programs aimed at meeting the health, social service, housing, and educational needs of these families and their children. She is currently the principal investigator of a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Her research has also been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, as well as by private philanthropy. At the Wagner School, Dr. Weitzman served as director of doctoral studies and as director of the Program in Health Policy and Management, one of the most highly ranked programs of its kind.

Dr. Weitzman is a long-standing member of the American Public Health Association, where she chaired the Caucus on Homelessness and the Association of Pubic Policy and Management; she serves on the editorial board of the American Journal of Evaluation. As associate dean, Dr. Weitzman's responsibilities will include working closely with faculty, administrators, and students to further enhance Steinhardt's academic goals in undergraduate, master‚s, and doctoral programs.

"Dr. Weitzman's commitment to working with colleagues across fields and professions has been evident throughout her career," said Steinhardt dean, Mary Brabeck. "Her research has underscored the importance of eliminating the gulfs that separate sectors and services to better address significant social problems. This approach will serve her well in Steinhardt's unique, interdisciplinary community."

Dr. Weitzman succeeds Ron Robin, who has served as Steinhardt associate dean since July 2006, and is moving into a new role as NYU's Senior Vice Provost for Planning.

Posted by debra weinstein on August 4, 2009 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(This article originally appeared in NYU Today: A Newspaper for the NYU Community, VOL. II NO. 10, page 8, April 16, 1998.)

School of Education honors alumnus McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes

By Debra Weinstein

It is 1948, and a young man stands on the deck of a ship heading for America. Behind him is an impoverished childhood in Limerick, Ireland. What is before him: military service, an education at New York University, 11,000 public school students, and a memoir.

The man is Frank McCourt and the memoir, Angela’s Ashes, has garnered nearly every literary prize in the United States, including the Pulitzer Prize, that National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. Since its publication, Angela’s Ashes has been at the top of bestseller lists across the country, making McCourt an instant celebrity. He was named one of People Magazine’s Most Intriguing People of 1997, a distinction he shared with President Clinton and Princess Diana.

In February McCourt returned to New York University to read from his memoir and to receive the School of Education’s 1998 Creative Leaership Award. In a ceremony attended by alumni, faculty, and students McCourt, a 1957 graduate of the School of Education, was presented with a gold embossed citation.

“The purpose of this award is to recognize those who have made an important contribution to the life of our community and our culture,” said Ann Marcus, dean of the school. “Frank McCourt has influenced two generations of students. He is an educator and a writer who has brought us the most penetrating and moving experience of poverty and family that we have known.”

Accepting the awrd, McCourt said that he had come full circle, gaining closure on an important chapter in his life. “Finding New York University was a miraculous moment in my life,” he said.

In the 1957 School of Education yearbook, McCourt’s angelic expression is framed by hair that “sticks out in all directions,” as he described it in Angela’s Ashes. His transcript says that he was admitted to NYU “on the basis of foreign credentials,” but McCourt, who did not graduate from high school, credits an eloquent speech to an admissions officer and a “tightly scrawled, almost indecipherable letter” from the headmaster of Leahmy National (Elementary) School as his entry into the University.

His grades at NYU were mixed partly because McCourt spent nearly all his free time supporting himself in a series of odd jobs. He worked in warehouses, on the docks, and in the personal loan department in a bank, where he stamped everything “ACCEPTED.”

Stubbornness got him through his undergraduate years, but it had its price. McCourt remembers himself “a-less-than-mediocre student, a zombie,” who was late with papers and late to class. “I was always falling asleep,” he says. “I would go to the library and fall asleep. I slept on benches in Washington Square Park. I was like a bum – cops constantly rapping me on the soles of my shoes.”

Then there was a turning point in McCourt’s education when his sense of himself was altered and the seeds of Angela’s Ashes were planted. In a composition class with adjunct faculty member and novelist Charles J. Calitri, McCourt got an assignment: “write about a concrete object from your childhood.”

As McCourt recalls, “I wrote about the bed I occupied in Limerick with my brothers. The bed was miserable. It was a half-acre of disaster, no blankets. We just had overcoats – no sheets or anything like that – and it was broken in the middle, and we would all fall into it. Calitri gave me an A+, and said it was very vivid and pungent. ‘Pungent’ because it described the smell of piss. He wanted me to read it to the class. I wouldn’t because I was ashamed of it – ashamed of the poverty and the sordidness of it all. But that stuck in my head and gave me permission, in a sense, to write about those circumstances.”

McCourt also credits Calitri with modeling his professional life. “Calitri was also an English teacher at Benjamin Franklin High School, a very top school,” McCourt says. “And he was one of those rare exceptions, a man who taught high school and yet was still able to go home and write.”

A teacher for 27 years in the New York City Public Schools, 17 of them at highly selective Stuyvesant High School, McCourt had to wait until his retirement to write Angela’s Ashes. The book took two years to write, and he remembers the work as “sometimes torturous. “There were bad days, especially when I had to write about my father and mother,” he says. “I didn’t want to do it at all. Sometimes I thought, why don’t I go and get a job as an elevator operator?”

Fortunately, he didn’t. He is now working on ‘Tis, a memoir about his education in and out of the classroom and “the parallel domestic life,” which he says “is going to be very delicate.”

So how does one survive the miserable childhood? McCourt’s Irish brogue is gentle, lulling: “Dreaming, stubborn dreaming. Dreaming, desperate and knowing that you’re going to get out of there someday.”

Posted by debra weinstein on July 19, 2009 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)