I HAVE NO TIME TO WRITE! So read....

Considering the fact that I am a full-time journalism and communications student, I have very little time to write for myself. With this in mind, I've decided to start posting my television critiques and my material that has been/will be published in my college newspaper (The New Paltz Oracle). We'll start with an article I wrote about the Black Studies major at New Paltz (my editor writes my headlines). This article was published on Thursday, February 12th, 2009:

Black Studies Department Breaks Boundaries
by Jesse Ordansky

Students who value an open-minded collegiate experience might find their niche in the Department of Black Studies. Those who pursue this major can benefit from being surrounded by students and faculty who are devoted to academia and embracing unique social perspectives.

The amount of dedication shown in the Black Studies Department at SUNY New Paltz encourages the notion that the college students of today will be the open-minded scholars of tomorrow.

According to the SUNY New Paltz website, the mission of the Black Studies department is to analyze and define the African experience from an African-centered approach. Depending on the discipline, Black Studies classes explore issues through an African-based psychological, legal, political, or humanitarian lens. A lesson about African enslavement, for example, will focus on African perspectives as opposed Euro-centric ideas.

“There would be discussion of what it is that they’re having to give up, what the state of the slave ship was like, how many of them died on the ship, what the conditions were, how they felt... The Euro-centric perspective doesn’t give you any insight into the African mind,” Chair of the Black Studies Department Dr. Wade-Lewis said.

Like students of any discipline, prospective Black Studies majors may wonder: What can I do with this degree? The reality is that an undergraduate degree in Black Studies is just as versatile as any other liberal arts certification. When Black Studies professor Dr. Major Coleman was asked in which fields knowledge in Black Studies might be advantageous, he mentioned “business, which depends more and more on non-European and non-Western countries, social service agencies, the church particularly…” Dr. Coleman also added that in today’s competitive job market “a graduate degree is almost a requirement. “

Although focused and dedicated, the Black Studies Department is not without its problems. Due to its interdisciplinary nature, Black Studies require a broad range of courses. Most of these courses, according to senior and Black Studies major Kathryn Hall, cannot be offered every semester. If these classes were available more frequently, more instructors would be needed. More instructors mean more money and unfortunately, New Paltz does not seem able to employ enough professors to offer the 71 undergraduate courses and the six graduate courses within the Black Studies major.

In contrast, the current professors “really reach out to their students,” Hall said. “They’re very holistic and they understand that it’s not just whatever your academic self is.” Professors in the Department of Black Studies make a conscious effort to reach out to students on a personal level as well as an academic level. They understand that a student’s life can fall apart, or in ideal situations, become defined in their academia.

“The four years you spend at university are some of the most wonderful years of your life. Only a few people in the entire world get to spend four years of their life in their young adulthood simply to study and to learn,” said Dr. Coleman.

Since 1969 Black Studies students at New Paltz have been pursuing knowledge with regard to an African-centered perspective as opposed to learning from Euro-centric ideas. 21-year-old senior Jamiles Lartey describes the fundamental idea behind Black Studies courses: “You have to be willing to open your mind and look at things from a different perspective.”