Volume 102, Issue 16 News

The Spectator The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper

Volume CII No. 16

June 12, 2012

By Stanca Iacob and Noah Rosenberg with additional reporting by Dorit Rein On Thursday, May 10, a Memorial Service was held for senior Terence Tsao on the south side of Pier 25. The memorial service, commemorating Tsao’s tragic death in a car accident earlier this year, was intended for Tsao’s family and the Stuyvesant community to pay their respects.

In an email interview, Tsao’s father, Dr. Ting Man Tsao, said his family “wanted to celebrate Terence’s love for nature, and his growing interest in marine biology for the betterment of the earth and people’s lives.”

Last year, Tsao took part in the Hudson River Research Project led by Biology teacher Dr. Jonathan Gastel. Tsao’s connection to the Hudson River was why his family decided to spread his ashes there. “Pier 25, specifically the floating dock there, was the site where Terence and his teammates used to conduct water survey and other environmental research,” Dr. Tsao said.

The event started with Terence’s father reading out some of the lab reports Terence had been working on. This was meant to show Terence’s attention to detail and his dedication to environmental science.

Dr. Tsao spread Terence’s

ashes in the Hudson River.

He took an NYPD boat to the middle of the Hudson River escorted by NYPD officers. He then spoke to many teachers and students who had known Terence from school.

“We think he would like a portion of himself to return to the river, near where he used to have fun and collaborate with his friends and teachers, and flow to where his spirit would take him,” said Dr. Tsao.

Dr. Tsao said that the service gave Terence’s family “some sort of closure because Terence’s ashes had been placed in the funeral home for several months already. [The family] wanted the ceremony to take place in a warmer season by the water and so [they] had waited since mid-December”.

Dr. Tsao said that when he was often cynical about major problems the world has, Terence was always optimistic about finding a solution; often saying “I believe I will come up with a solution.”

Family, friends, and teachers alike appreciated the memorial service. Dr. Tsao was happy with how it turned out. “I didn’t exactly know how to plan or lead this kind of ceremony.

However, it unfolded naturally [because] we could feel the sincerity of the participants,” Dr. Tsao. “Altogether, it was a peaceful and meaningful event to commemorate Terence.”

Philip Shin / The Spectator

William Boericke: Jack of All Trades

Bill Boericke, history teacher.

By Teresa Chen Type “Boericke” into the Stuybash.org search query and quote after quote fills the page. From killing an alligator to having practiced martial arts for 20 years to jumping out of a plane—as one student remarked, “Mr. Boericke, you’ve done like

Arts and Entertainment

everything!” His fame within the school is apparent not only on Stuybash, but also on various Facebook pages. During elective season, seasoned Boericke students recruit prospective ones, encouraging them with statements such as “Mr. Boericke’s an amazing teacher.” Social studies teacher William Boericke teaches Economics and the elective Modern China, and has garnered a huge fan base through his 11 years of teaching.

Teaching is not an easy job, especially teaching in a captivating manner, and even moreso, teaching at Stuyvesant High School, a school where students are prone to dozing off in class because of sleep deprivation. For Boericke, being a teacher is about more than giving lectures. He sees more to teaching than delivering the information that will get students good grades on tests. “I’m more of a truthcontinued on page 4 Article on page #.

Forgotten Film Reel: Movies to (Re)Watch this Summer Four writers pick their favorite movies for the summer.

stuyspectator.com

Stuyvesant Senior Aces International Science Competition

By Coby Goldberg and Isaac Gluck Stuyvesant senior Angela Fan won top honors at the 2012 International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She won first in the Botany category, the Intel Best in Category, and received the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar (SIYSS) award. ISEF, facilitated by Intel Science Talent Search, is the largest international pre-college science competition. Fan was one of more than 1500 students from around the globe competing for monetary prizes and other prestigious forms of recognition.

“It was very interesting,” Fan said, “because the girl next to me was from Saudi Arabia and the boy across from me was from Russia. The girl spoke English but the boy didn’t, so we had to communicate through Google Translate.”

The awards were given to students who placed first, second, third and fourth, as well as the Intel Best in Category within any given scientific category, which was the highest honor in a category, in addition to sponsored awards.

The monetary prizes ranged from $500 for a fourth place finalist to $75,000 for the winner of Gordon E. Moore Award. Fan, along with the two other SIYSS winners, will attend the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden, and will meet with Nobel laureates.

In the experiment for which she won the award, Fan developed a method for identifying the genes controlling plant growth.

By identifying these genes she hypothesized that scientists could

Philip Shin / The Spectator

Memorial Service for Terence Tsao

“The Pulse of the Student Body”

Senior Angela Fan received the Stockholm International Youth Science award.

gain the ability to control aspects of plant growth, such as increased root growth. Being able to increase root growth would allow plants to flourish in regions otherwise considered inhospitable to plant growth. “Basically, you could give me a plant and an environment, and using these techniques I could genetically engineer the plant to live in that environment,” she said.

Given the recent explosion of the human population, it is becoming increasingly difficult to provide enough food to feed the planet’s increasing population.

Fan’s project offers a solution to the problem of food scarcity and starvation. “As the world’s population keeps growing, the problem becomes how we can feed the people.

This is a good way to achieve agricultural sustainability,” Fan said.

Fan’s journey to ISEF started as a sophomore in the Biology Intel

Research class at Stuyvesant. With support from her supervisor, biology teacher Jonathan Gastel, Fan applied to more than 60 laboratories. She interviewed with three of the laboratories, and ended up doing her research at New York University with a mentor, Dr. Gloria Coruzzi. After a short trial period, Fan was able to begin her research.

She entered her research analysis into numerous competitions, and on top of her ISEF honors she was an Intel Science Talent Search finalist. In addition to her scientific success, Fan is the captain of the policy debate team and enjoys swimming. Fan will be attending Harvard in the upcoming fall.

“I would definitely continue this type of research in college,” she said. “It’s probably going to have a large commercial application, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to take it there yet.”

Students Protest for Right to Bare Arms

By Elena Milin and Eddie Zilberbrand A picture is worth a thousand words, if the recent outcry over the dress code graphic posted on the Stuyvesant website is anything to go by. The graphic was accompanied by a slight change in the wording of the official dress code— skirts and dresses were now to fall “well past the fingertips with the arms straight at the side,” as opposed to the prior “at or below the fingertips.”

The changes, coupled with warm weather and questionable dress code enforcement, all led to collective outrage from the Stuyvesant student body.

Many were dissatisfied with what they felt was a lack of sensitivity from the administration.

“Besides the incredibly offensive image, extending the rule to ‘well past’ is completely arbitrary and undermines the idea of having a uniform dress code at all,” freshman Isabella Langbecker said.

Others, however, did not find the image to be inappropriate. “The dress code exists for a reason, and the im-

age was taken too seriously,” sophomore Edward Kwan said.

When asked about the graphic, Principal Stanley Teitel stated that he had not seen it. After being shown the image, he added that he had never approved the addition of “well below” into the official wording.

He immediately sent an email to Assistant Principal of Technology Edward Wong, asking that he take down the graphic and delete the phrase “well below” from the statement.

Wong declined to comment on the situation.

Three weeks after the original post, senior Benjamin Koatz organized a student protest titled “Slutty Wednesday,” scheduled for Wednesday, June 6. He had the intention of “pointing out the ridiculousness of the administration’s policies and the way they go about enacting them,” Koatz said. For the Facebook event he created to develop a larger student platform, students were invited to wear clothing that broke the dress code “in a decently normal outfit.”

The New York Times, New York Post and television chanArticle on page 4.

nel NY1 arrived at the school before the first wave of students entered the building.

They interviewed, photographed, and recorded students as they entered the school.

Of the many students breaking the dress code, very few were reprimanded once inside.

“It seemed that the administration didn’t know how to respond to the students or to the media,” sophomore Joseph Koyfman said. “With such few days of school left, the administration has no need to react forcefully.”

In the days following the event, media coverage of the protest reached national and international proportions.

Featured in The New York Times, New York Post, Huffington Post, United Kingdom’s Daily Mail, News Track India, and others, the event was featured prominently in television, print, and paper media.

Most students were pleased with the media coverage, despite the fact that the movement received some backlash over its provocative name. continued on page 2

Features Stuyvesant Catches the Snitch

Stuyvesant’s most magical muggles play Quidditch and dance at the Yule Ball.

The Spectator ● June 12, 2012

Page 2

News • Civil Law and Social Studies teacher Linda Weissman invited Dawn Fuentes of the NYC Civilain Complaint Review Board to speak to her students. She discussed the controversial “Stop & Frisk” policy. Weissman also brought attorney Craig Hanlon of the NYC County Law Association to her classes.

He discussed career paths and urban legal issues.

• Six Stuyvesant students received awards for their project submissions to the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

A Stuyvesant senior was named the Grand Prize Winner in the Plant Sciences area of this competition.

• Sophomores Sweyn Venderbush, Eugenia Sanchez, Jack Cahn, and David Cahn won first place in the Junior Achievement of New York Business Plan Competition.

They each received $3,000 in cash prizes and were invited to ring the closing bell at Nasdaq.

• Stuyvesant students did well in the National Language Examination. In the Spanish category, 20 students received the gold medal, 19 the silver medal, 10 the bronze medal, and 13 honorable mention awards.

In the Latin category, 26 received the gold medal and 26 the silver medal. Thirty students also received other awards. In the Japanese category, 17 students won the gold medal and 25 won the silver.

• Three Stuyvesant students won top prizes in the Jewish Heritage Essay Writing contests and were honored by Department of Education Chancellor Dennis Walcott.

Students Protest for Right to Bare Arms continued from page 1

Some were displeased that the name of the event had garnered such negative outcry.

“I made the Slutty Wednesday page, which is kind of an ironic name because it wasn’t actually meant to be slutty.”

Koatz said. “If I had known that we were going to get all this press attention and things like that, I might have changed the name.”

After Wednesday, many students were concerned that the event did not receive accurate coverage from certain news sources. There were numerous complaints that the

“It seemed that the administration didn’t know how to respond to the students or to the media.”

—Joseph Koyfman, sophomore number of participants had not been correctly reported and that the purpose behind the event — to protest the uneven enforcement of the dress code — was misconstrued.

Despite the coverage, several alumni spoke out in support of the protest, both by disseminating coverage via social media and by defending their former schoolmates in their

comments in select articles.

Stuyvesant students had various opinions on how the protest went. An anonymous sophomore said, “People emailed the media asking them to come over. They wanted media awareness. While that brings about change, it doesn’t bring about change the right way.”

He cited New York Post’s article, which featured an image of two Stuyvesant freshmen, Lauren Sobota and Lucy Greider, posed under the slogan “Tramping Out,” as an example of negative media attention garnered by the protest. “[The media] purposely picked out quotes... that made the school look worse. After that happened, everyone was saying, ‘why did you call the media?’ They started blaming each other,” the anonymous sophomore said.

“People have the right idea, but I think they’re not going about it the right way. Just because you’re wearing shortshorts and a tank top doesn’t mean Ms. Damesek’s going to be like, ‘Oh my god! Dress code has to be changed!’” Senior Okori McBurney said. “I understand that a lot of girls are getting bothered by the administration and things like that; I think that’s more of the problem than wearing tank tops and short shorts and things like that.”

“I feel that the students here don’t have as much of a problem with the dress code as much as they do with the enforcement of the code,” sophomore Nicole Sanchez said. “Some people get caught. Other people don’t.”

Since the administration has taken no significant punitive action against protesters, it appears that there are no plans to interfere with future protests. There has been no indication that any changes to the dress code can be expected in the school year’s final days.

Andrew Fischer / The Spectator

Newsbeat

Courtesy of Frank Bruni

Frank Bruni Speaks to Freshman Composition Classes

Frank Bruni came to Stuyvesant High School to speak about his memoir, Born Round, on Tuesday, May 15.

By Aimee Lee and Elvin Shoyfer Writing about the most relevant, controversial topics to the readers of one of the largest newspapers in the world is no easy feat. A group of Stuyvesant freshmen heard it first hand from Frank Bruni, who recently became a columnist for the New York Times, when he visited Stuyvesant High School on Tuesday, February 15. During

periods eight and nine, Bruni spoke in the Murray Kahn Theater to students from the freshman composition classes of English teachers English teachers Holly Schechter and Eric Ferencz, as well as those students who had free periods.

Prior to being an Op-Ed columnist, Bruni worked as the chief New York restaurant critic for five years, and the Rome bureau chief for three. In addition, Bruni wrote “Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater”, a memoir about his life in which he describes his lifelong struggle with overeating and bulimia, dating back to his childhood. In his blurb for the book, he described it as “an overeater’s story... [unusual in that] the overeater winds up making food the focus of his professional life.”

The freshman English classes had been looking forward to Bruni’s visit for several weeks, and Schechter and Ferencz incorporated preparation for his visit into their class discussions, asking students to formulate questions to ask him in advance. Many students were excited when they first heard that the author of the memoir they enjoyed reading was coming

to visit. “I wanted to meet this man who I had read so much about, one that I felt I knew so well,” freshman Daniel Zabari

“I wanted to meet this man who I had read so much about, one that I felt I knew so well.”

—Daniel Zabari, freshman said. Bruni began his lecture by discussing the book’s contents as well as its production. He spoke of his experiences with his illnesses, as well as his life

as a journalist. He finished his talk by opening the room up to questions from the audience.

Question topics varied and were about many aspects about Bruni’s life and career, including his memoir, his time spent as a restaurant critic, particular articles, his opinions on dieting, and his favorite places to eat in New York City.

Many of the attending freshmen said they felt that Bruni’s visit had been and enriching and informative experience. “I thought we were all very lucky to be able to talk to such a distinguished journalist in the field. He was very open and took the time to answer any questions that the students had,” freshman Rebecca Chang said.

Freshman Caroline Kim agreed, saying that his answers could help students with their own writing. “I thought he gave interesting tips on writing and experiences as an editor,” Kim said.

When the question and answer portion came to a close, Schechter took to the podium and explained to the audience that her long-time correspondence with Bruni had culminated in his visit because of one particular email describ-

ing the effect his memoir had had on her classes. Schechter was grateful that he took the time to visit Stuyvesant Schecter and Ferencz, along

“I thought he gave interesting tips on writing and experiences as an editor,” —Caroline Kim, freshman with many of their students were so captivated by Bruni, that they remained after the lecture to continue to ask questions, until Bruni finally had to leave.

The Spectator ● June 12, 2012

Page 3

News SU and ARISTA Collaborate on Student Scavenger Hunt

By Julia Mendelsohn and Noah Rosenberg More than a hundred students raced through Stuyvesant’s hallways on Friday afternoon, May 11, in pursuit of prizes as part of Stuyvesant’s first annual Photo Scavenger Hunt. The event, organized by the Student Union (SU) and ARISTA, the Stuyvesant chapter of the National Honors Society, involved searching for and photographing various items in Stuyvesant based on clues. During the scavenger hunt, participants used a list of clues given to them by the organizers to try and find the corresponding cubes in the hallways.

The cubes, which are a staple of the current Stuyvesant building, contain a diverse range of items, ranging from scientific specimens to artifacts to memorabilia from every Stuyvesant graduating class.

The items often correspond with the subject primarily taught on that floor. The clues, organized roughly by floor, included trivia, riddles, puzzles and other types of questions which hinted at the location and contents of each cube. “There were also activity clues which were

fun things we needed to do like make a human pyramid or do the moonwalk,” junior Norine Chan said, “my team really enjoyed the haiku clues.” Chan won second place in the scavenger hunt.

The hunt was free of charge for all students to participate. “We made this event open to everyone... we just wanted to generate student interest because there’s been rumors that the SU isn’t really doing much for events,” said junior and ARISTA President of Special Events Patrick Loi. The SU and ARISTA also intended to increase student awareness of the school’s background.

“The hunt gave students the opportunity to learn more about the history and culture of Stuyvesant,” the SU Coordinator of Special Events Calvin Ng said. “Every cube has its own story.” Many of the participating students found the Scavenger Hunt to be a valuable experience as well. “It made me pay more attention to what the cubes actually have inside and what years are written on them,” Chan said.

Both the Student Union and ARISTA had been planning separate photo scavenger hunts for sev-

eral months prior to the event. The SU had been interested in an event for the entire student body, whereas an ARISTA event would have been exclusive to its members. However, around the end of February, the SU and ARISTA learned of each other’s plan, and they decided to collaborate and focus their efforts on organizing a single event open to all.

Several participants in the Scavenger Hunt who performed well and finished early with many solved clues won prizes. The most common prizes were gift cards to Terry’s Gourmet Deli, a popular hangout spot for Stuyvesant students. These were given out to all members of winning groups.

Despite it being the first ever Photo Scavenger Hunt, the SU and ARISTA considered the event to be a success. According to the SU, about one hundred students participated in the event. “As anticipated, we were able to attract a larger audience by pooling together our resources,” Ng said.

“I had a lot of fun [at the scavenger hunt]. It was interesting to learn about the school history, but it was also fun to solve the clues and win prizes,” Chan said.

Writing On The Journal

By Nancy Chen and Sharon Cho pick up your bottle of gin, throw back the bag of bones and bread, life and limbs, and leave. silently. without warning.

Sound familiar? This is an excerpt from Writing on the Wall’s June Piece of the Month, “Wanderlust Bones,” a poem by freshman Eda Tse. Writing on the Wall (WotW), the group that posts one student-written poem or prose piece around the school each month, is publishing a black-and-white journal with both featured pieces and other submissions. Through this journal, the group’s heads, juniors David Kurkovskiy and Rachel Heineman, hope to draw more attention to WotW. “We’re the first year in a while to have a piece up every month,” Heineman said. “Submission has been great this year. We’ve gotten around 10 submissions every month, and we’re nearing 80 total submissions.”

In addition to posting pieces around the school,WotW posts pieces deemed “honorable mention” on its Web site, writeonstuy.com.

“Basically, [Heineman and I] discuss the piece. We see which ones we like. We also put into consideration what grades we’ve featured before, or what kind of writing we’ve featured before. We try to show variety in writing, and how people have very good abilities, albeit in different forms,” Kurkovskiy said.

Unfortunately, due to the limited number of students who can be featured, WotW cannot publish all submissions.

“The Writing on the Wall journal really came out of a desire to advertise, and also to be able to showcase a lot of the pieces we haven’t been able to feature. We also want to raise awareness of Stuy writing in the general student body, and really create a powerful testament to Writing on the Wall, and create a relic that will keep us memorable,” Kurkovskiy said in an e-mail interview.

The journal is also a means of advertisement for Caliper.

Next year, sophomores Elena Milin and Shannon Daniels will oversee WotW, while Heineman, Kurkovskiy, and junior Jacob Soiffer will be editors of Caliper.

Heineman and Kurkovskiy spoke to WotW faculty advisor and English teacher Holly Schechter, Caliper editors, and Caliper fac-

ulty advisor and English teacher Emily Moore to get the new journal approved. Some were worried that the journal would interfere with the Caliper publication, but “since ours is basically a teaser and an archive and free, we’re not too worried,” Kurkovskiy said.

“Writing on the Wall has always been shaped by student initiative and excitement about writing, and this year’s new directions are totally in keeping with that spirit,” Moore said. “By placing student work around the building, through their web presence, and now through this new outlet, the Writing on the Wall organizers help spotlight some of the wonderful, creative work Stuy students do.”

Kurkovskiy and Heineman had hoped to distribute the journals, which feature 15 pieces, on Friday, June 1 at the last Open Mic of the year. However, due to a delay in shipment, the journals arrived on Monday, June 4. As a result, the journals will be distributed to English classes known for their interests in creative writing by the week of Monday, June 11. WotW also plans to hand out journals to freshman English classes, and keep copies available in the English office for whomever is interested.

Bushman Receives Opportunity to Teach in Sri Lanka

By Lindsay Bu and Edric Huang At every corner, streams of rickshaws, pedestrians, and rowdy buses flood the streets.

Marketplaces full of dancing street performers and stalls selling fresh fruit add cultural flair to the colonial and modern elements of the city. Away from the ornate Buddhist temples and glass skyscrapers, vast parks and a beautiful coastline provide places to relax and admire a brilliant sunset.

History teacher Clarissa Bushman will be able to enjoy such scenery as she travels to Colombo, Sri Lanka, this upcoming July with the opportunity of teaching economics and finance at Sri Lanka’s Nalanda College.

The opportunity was first established when three men from the Nalanda College Junior Old Boys Association, the school’s alumni association, talked to Principal Stanley Teitel and requested that one of Stuyvesant’s teachers teach economics and finance at Sri Lanka this summer. Initially, the prospect was offered to history teacher George Kennedy, but due to certain circumstances he was unable to accept and replaced by Bushman.

“Of course I’m excited about the opportunity to gain more teaching experience in an amazing place like Sri Lanka, but I’m also excited to simply be there and experience the new culture itself,” Bushman said.

One of the most prestigious all-boys schools in the country, Nalanda College is a Buddhist public school located in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Since its establishment in 1925, the school has offered education from grades one to thirteenth, (the equivalent of Kindergarten to 12th grade in the United States). Classes in Sri Lanka, however, are very much like college lectures due largely in part to their immense size.

“I’m really interested to see how classes are run in Sri Lan-

ka, especially because class-sizes are so large,” Bushman said.

“The school has more students that Stuyvesant has, and at first they asked me to teach a class of 200 students. That would be overwhelming for me since I’m only used to teaching 30or-so students here, and so it was then decided that I would teach 2 classes of 40 instead.”

While the educational system may prove to be an interesting experience for both her and the Sri Lankan students, Bushman has one major concern: the language barrier. “The students do know English, but I’m not sure how fluent they are and so I do need to figure out how I will teach accordingly,” Bushman said. “I plan on having notes on a Smart board or handouts for them at all times so they can read along as I speak. I also think it’s important that there is student participation, so as a teacher I know what part of the material they fully comprehend and what they don’t.”

Nevertheless, many of the details have yet to be finalized.

Bushman plans to read up on the Sri Lankan economy and devise lesson plans that will engage students, but it is still undecided whether or not she will be teaching about specifically the Sri Lankan market or American economics. “This is the first time that a relationship between a school in Sri Lanka and Stuyvesant is being made. As a result, nothing is completely planned yet and it’s more of a work-in-progress,” Bushman said. “Hopefully all goes well and the relationship will continue so that maybe, in the future, Stuyvesant can continue to have teachers at Sri Lanka and vice versa.”

Overall, Bushman is looking forward excitedly to teaching at Sri Lanka. “I am very fortunate and really look forward to the great adventure.

I’m hoping to bring something new to Sri Lanka as an American teacher, and also to bring back what I’ve experienced in Nalanda to Stuyvesant.”

Carolyn Kang / The Spectator

News-in-Brief: A Great Honor for Two Teachers

Social studies teacher Robert Sandler and English teacher Sophie Oberfield (not pictured) were honored by the Academy of Teachers.

By Andrew Wallace English teacher Sophie Oberfield and history teacher

Robert Sandler were nominated as New York Library Fellows to special colloquiums offered by the Academy of Teachers, a program partnered with the New York Public Library (NYPL) in mid-April. According to the email from the Library, the nomination is for “honors excellence in teaching. Fellows are chosen by the virtue of their passion for their subject, creativity in the classrooms and devotion to the profession.”

NYPL sent a letter to Principal Stanley Teitel notifying him of the two nominations, and Oberfield and Sandler were consequently informed. It is unknown by whom they were nominated.

Sandler, along with 14 other social studies teachers across the city, attended the lecture with renowned Yale professor David Blight on Thursday, June 7 to talk about Frederick

“I really got that feel that I knew Frederick Douglass by the time I was done with all eight hours of discussing him.”

—Robert Sandler, history teacher

Douglas. Blight is an authority on slavery during the civil war and on Fredrick Douglass, and he discussed how to teach Frederick Douglass’s autobiography. Sandler was asked to give a PowerPoint presentation on different methods of teaching on Douglass.

“We talked about different strategies [on] how to make it interesting for students. I met teachers who deal with all different students in the city with different levels of literacy, so that was interesting to see. How do you teach when there are kids at different levels in the class?

That’s something we don’t have at Stuyvesant,” Sandler said.

Sandler also received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant at Columbia University to attend a class under Professor Kenneth Jackson in mid-July. It will be a weeklong seminar focusing on New

York City history, starting from the Gilded Age up until 9/11.

In total, 40 teachers nationwide were picked to attend. They will visit important sites around the city, such as Ground Zero, Harlem, and the Lower East Side.

Sandler, who applied for the grant personally, teaches the New York City History course at Stuyvesant and hopes that the seminar will help him to improve his class.

All in all, Sandler thought the Blight Lecture was a memorable experience. “We discussed Frederick Douglass’s life all day, inside the beautiful, old, historic New York Public Library on 42nd St, near Bryant Park. It was amazing,” Sandler said. “I really got that feel that I knew Frederick Douglass by the time I was done with all eight hours of discussing him.”