Margaret Thatcher

By in Political Leaders

“Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s a day you’ve had everything to do and you’ve done it.”

Margaret Thatcher

Tracking Your Colleagues?

By in Uncategorized

Ever wonder what would happen if you google a co-worker or student? Although you may have looked at your own digital footprint, have you thought about learning more about those around you for positive reasons–that is not to snoop into their heartbreak or financial ups and downs but rather to have new reasons to connect with those sitting across from you at meetings and award dinners? Today I enjoyed looking up one of the faculty in Wagner’s business department Prof. Frank DiSimone. I recently had the opportunity while editing a student’s paper for my history course, to hear praise of Frank for teaching his senior business students how to write and research at a very sophisticated level. I also knew that Frank had won an MLK Agent of change award because of his work with students. Now thanks to this assignment on google I learned more. Frank was 2006 Graduate Professor...

An Island in the Blue Sea

By in Uncategorized

The breeze through the palm trees on an Island of the Carribean sea might conjure up dreams of a romance. A painting of such an island, with a fragile paper sailboat in the foreground, can challenge us to consider a different story. What if the Island is the Dominican Republic and the painter hints at a larger perspective, through stormy clouds and the symboilic figure of a man crouching naked and alone, a story of flight, immigration, isolation and the search for a new community? Artists can tell their stories through powerful images that hang in a gallery or increasingly on-line. And yet, we all have stories, stories that others need to hear and that are vital to understanding how community is created. Digital stories can be interviews that we do with those we encounter, which allow us to share the wisdom we learn from others with the wider world.

Honoring World War II Veterans

By in European Immigration, Holocaust

Staten Island in World War II WWII Veteran John Byrnes of Staten Island, New York discusses his dramatic and tragic experiences as a U.S. Navy Gunner in the Pacific Theater, notably the horror of the USS Franklin attack in the Battle of Okinawa. Interview with Lori Weintrob, Wagner College, March 2013 for the Staten Island Holocaust Commemoration and Honoring of WWII Veterans.        

Huguenot Staten Island

By in NYC History, Staten Island History

Vive Staten Island !: Huguenot settlers and other French connections Please do not cite without permission. This is a work in progress.  Further research on the Huguenot history of Staten Island has been commissioned by the New York Geneological and Biographical Society and will be available on their website in late 2013.  A Special thanks to Peter Kerr for his support and encouragement of this research project. Lori R. Weintrob, Professor and Chair, History Department Wagner College, Staten Island LRWeintro@wagner.edu 718-390-3309 Introduction The poet Henry David Thoreau, who lived for a time on Staten Island, wrote imaginatively of the Huguenots’ early settlement two centuries earlier: The hills in the interior of [Staten] Island, though comparatively low, are penetrated in various directions by sloping valleys,…gradually narrowing...