QView #187 | October, 8

As part of QC’s Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM) programming, scholar and curator Margarita Lila Rosa presented Recovering Black Rebellion in the Afro-Latin American Archives on Monday, September 30. Soribel Genao (ECP) made opening remarks. This week’s HHM event, on Wednesday, October 9, 12:15-1:30 pm, in Student Union 301, is a panel discussion, On the Migrant Frontlines of NYC. Irene Lew (senior manager for Research, United Neighborhood Houses), Anahi Viladrich (Sociology; Anthropology; Community Health & Social Sciences, CUNY School of Public Health & Health Policy), and Carla Cordova Farfan (coordinator, QC Immigrant Student Support Initiative) will speak; Jorge Alves (Political Science; Latin American and Latino Studies) will moderate. Register here.

From left: Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Patricia Price, President Frank H. Wu, Jian Xiao (Accounting & Information Systems), Khánh Lê (Linguistics & Communication Disorders), Sebastian Alvarado (Biology), Mathematics and Natural Sciences Dean Daniel Weinstein

President Frank H. Wu met with QC’s Career Success Fellows for academic 2024-25—Khánh Lê (Linguistics and Communication Disorders), William Orchard (English), and Jian Xiao (Accounting and Information Systems)—on Tuesday, October 1, for coffee and cookies. Through the Career Success Fellowship, a program run CUNY’s Office of Transformation, faculty develop ways to embed career-relevant information into their courses and share these insights with colleagues. Sebastian Alvarado (Biology), a member of the previous Career Success cohort, has been serving on a three-person team that will explore ways to implement fellows’ work. Also in attendance: Zavi Gunn, director of the Center for Career Engagement and Internships.

At the Queens College Writing Center’s staff development meeting on Tuesday, October 1, peer tutors shared insights from experiences. The Writing Center offers workshops and individual help to undergraduates and graduate students across disciplines. In-person and virtual sessions are available; for the schedule, visit the center’s website.

Later that day, the Students Gallery in Klapper Hall was the site of a welcome reception for Leekyung Kang (above, right), the first participant in the Thomas Chen Family/Crystal Windows Endowment Queens College Artist-in-Residence, and new MFA in Studio Art graduate students.

During Open House on Sunday, October 6, prospective students and their families toured campus and learned about QC’S offerings, including extensive arts programming. For example: through the CUNY Dance Initiative, CarNYval Dancers, a company founded by alumna Kiara Paige, enjoys access to rehearsal and performance space and works with students.

President Frank H. Wu attended a CarNYval Dancers rehearsal in Rathaus 101A.

Hathaway and Cooke Receive National Attention as Knights Fall Teams Shine

As they enter the heart of their East Coast Conference (ECC) schedules, all of QC’s fall teams had a winning week, with two student-athletes—Madi Hathaway (women’s volleyball) and Harry Cooke (men’s soccer)—garnering national attention.

Women’s Volleyball

In a week when Madi Hathaway was featured on the NCAA website as one of the top freshman in the country, she led the Knights to three more victories: a 3-0 win over Pace on Wednesday, a four-set victory over Daemen University on Saturday, and a five-set triumph against D’Youville University on Sunday. Hathaway leads the country in triple-doubles, and the Knights sit atop the ECC standings with a record of 13-5 overall and 3-0 in the ECC.

Men’s and Women’s Soccer

Men’s and women’s soccer teams both picked up key victories last week. The men’s soccer team cruised to a 4-0 win over University of the District of Columbia last Wednesday and then dominated the College of Staten Island on Saturday by a 6-2 score. Harry Cooke notched five goals across the two matches and became the Knights all-time single-season points leader (29) with seven games remaining on the schedule! As of October 5, Cooke also ranks fourth in the country in points per game (2.90) and fifth in goals per game (1.20).

Women’s soccer also earned an ECC victory over Staten Island by a score of 4-2 to improve to 5-4 overall and 2-1 in the ECC.

Women’s Tennis

The Knights added two more convincing wins last week, defeating Daemen, 6-1, on Friday and D’Youville, 7-0, on Saturday. QC is 3-0 on the young season.

Cross Country

John Ray and Rachel Mow continued their outstanding seasons for their respective teams last week. Rachel Mow placed second out of 145 runners at the Queensborough Cross Country Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park on Sunday. She finished the women’s 5k race in 21:18.60. Ray finished sixth out of 165 runners in the men’s 8k race, with a time of 28:37.00. 

The Knights will have another busy week ahead as each team continues to push for the ECC playoffs. This week’s full schedule is available on the QC athletics website.

QC Turns 87

Wearing its age gracefully, Queens College celebrates its 87th birthday on October 11. Classes began on that date in 1937. Visiting campus about two weeks later, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia told the assembled faculty, staff, and students to “keep your buildings low and your ideals high.” Given that Kiely is the tallest structure on campus in a city of skyscrapers, QC has complied. The college’s history is summarized in this video produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing.

Mobile Medical Unit Stops on Campus

Project Street Beat—Planned Parenthood’s mobile medical unit—will make its monthly visit to campus on Wednesday, October 9, from 9 am to 4 pm. Look for the unit in the Student Union parking lot.

Project Street Beat provides confidential, nonjudgmental care to people of all genders regardless of immigration status or ability to pay. Services include HIV testing and counseling, screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, birth control and emergency contraception, Narcan and overdose prevention counseling, and health insurance enrollment.

Coming Out Among Friends

Queens College Admissions and LaGuardia Community College Admissions joined the CUNY LGBTQIA+ Consortium, LGBTQIAA+ Programs at Queens College, and the Queens College Pride Team on September, September 28, at the second annual National Coming Out Day Street Fair in Astoria, sponsored by the LGBT Network. Festivities included drag performances and Latin dance demonstrations. The CUNY contingent gave out T-shirts, Pride flags, and celebrated being Out & Proud! 

QC will hold its own annual National Coming Out Day celebration on Wednesday, October 16, at free hour in Klapper Circle (rain location: main Dining Hall). Students, faculty, and staff are invited to share their stories and show support. Also on the agenda: a fun activity planned by the Queens College Gender, Love and Sexuality Alliance, and giveaways. If you would like to be a featured speaker, contact JC Carlson at jc.carlson@qc.cuny.edu. Free tickets National Coming Out Day at Queens College Tickets, Wed, Oct 16, 2024 at 12:15 PM | Eventbrite suggested but not required.

NCOD Astoria Photos and Flyers

NCOD Astoria Instagram Post

Ed Perratore ’85 Pursued His Passion for Writing

Ed Perratore ’85 earned an English degree from Queens College and went on to a career as a writer and editor for several prominent magazines, but it was only recently that he achieved his true dream—to publish a book. Several books, in fact.

Perratore grew up in Flushing in the backyard of Queens College and graduated from high school in 1977. Not knowing what career he wanted to pursue, he enlisted in the Coast Guard, where he served for four years, including a 14-month stint in Guam. His service in the Coast Guard was a formative time for him and helped him decide which career path he wanted to take: He wanted to be a writer. 

In January 1982, Perratore enrolled at Queens College because many of his close friends attended QC and they had great things to say about it. He also really liked the campus, having visited it many times, and he was impressed by the English program.

During his time at QC, Perratore learned from many great professors, including his favorite, Judith Summerfield, who taught a creative writing class that Perratore said he “absolutely loved” and had a profound impact on him.

After graduation, Perratore was hired for an internship at a trade magazine in the summer of 1985 thanks to a connection made while he was at QC. After a few months at the internship, he was offered a full-time job as an editor. He worked there for a couple of years and eventually went to work at several prominent publications such as PC Magazine and Consumer Reports. He spent 16 years at Consumer Reports, writing reviews on electronics, appliances, power equipment, appliances, and home improvement.

While juggling his career and raising two young children, Perratore still found time to do some writing of his own and pursue his dream of writing a book. Through the 1990s and early 2000s, he penned three books—two novels and one nonfiction book.

“I knew from early on after I left Queens, even though I was in magazine journalism, mostly what I wanted to do was creative writing and make books,” Perratore said.

But with all the demands of life, Perratore was never able to dedicate the time necessary to get his books published. So his dream was put on the backburner for many years.

In 2021—when COVID was rampant, and his kids were grown up—Perratore suddenly had plenty of time to kill. He had left Consumer Reports a few years earlier and had been freelancing. But those opportunities dried up during the pandemic, so he used that year to revise and refresh all three of his books. He published each book that year, just a few months apart. 

His two novels, The Coven Tree and Hindred Spirts, are horror books inspired by the many scary movies and television shows he watched growing up.

“I’ve been a horror fan from way back,” noted Perratore. “I was the youngest of six kids, and I never got to choose what was on television. It was often something scary on, whether it was horror, sci-fi, or psychological horror. I have the nightmares to prove it because I was very little watching these things. I grew up that way and appreciated it and enjoyed it very much.”

The Coven Tree imagines a modern-day Trojan horse with a terrifying twist. It tells the story of a family who purchases an elegant highboy dresser from a peculiar old man at an antique shop. Once the dresser is placed in their home, strange things begin to happen: visitors witness terrifying scenes, mysterious deaths occur without explanation, and slowly the dresser begins to ravage every aspect of the family’s life.

Hindred Spirits tells the story of a young girl whose spirit has the ability to exit her body and return at a later time as a way to escape her abusive father. When she gets trapped in the spirit world with no way to return to her body, she is willing to do whatever it takes to make a friend.

Perratore’s nonfiction book, One Man’s Journey: A Walk on the Croton Aqueduct Trail, takes a much different tone. It is a reflective and often humorous account of hikes he took on the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail, which extends 26 miles from Croton-on-Hudson in Westchester County to the Bronx border. The book explores the trail’s history, offers interesting details about the bordering towns, and reveals Perratore’s deeply personal thoughts while he walked the entire trail.

“The themes I dwell on in the book are universal—home, family, workplace,” explained Perratore. “All the things that everyone thinks about.”

Perratore continues to market his three books, and he has a fourth in the works, which he hopes to release soon. His books can be found on Amazon, where they have been well received, and in select bookstores in Westchester County. You can find out more information about his works on his website.

Marc Pilisuk '55

Marc Pilisuk, professor emeritus of the University of California system, passed away on August 20. He was 90.

Born in the Bronx, raised in Brooklyn, educated at Stuyvesant High School and Queens College, Pilisuk lived or studied in four of New York City’s five boroughs. Subsequently he earned a PhD in clinical and social psychology at the University of Michigan, where, Berkeleyside reports, he helped organize one of the first teach-ins against the Vietnam War. He taught briefly at Purdue University before moving to California, teaching first at UC-Berkeley and then at UC-Davis, chairing what was then its applied behavioral science department.

A founder of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, a member of the council of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, a former president of the Society for the Study of Peace Conflict and Violence, Pilisuk wrote or edited 10 books and some 150 publications. 

Predeceased by his wife of 62 years, whom he met at QC, Pilisuk is survived by his two children and their spouses, grandchildren, nieces, nephew, and sister-in-law.

Barbara Morris Wood ’41

Barbara Morris Wood, a member of QC’s first graduating class, died on September 9, a few days after turning 102.

Wood majored in education at her parents’ behest but had no interest in teaching. She was holding an office job when, on impulse, she sought employment with Pan Am by visiting its counter at LaGuardia Airport; the airline promptly placed her in human resources. A WWII veteran she hired eventually became her fiancé.

Upon marriage, Wood left her position, traveling to Europe and back to New York with her husband and growing family, which settled in Wantagh. As empty nesters, the couple moved to Providence, Rhode Island. In both locations, Wood was an active volunteer with PEO International, a philanthropic organization that promotes women’s education.

Predeceased by her husband of 62 years, Wood is survived by her children, grandchildren and their spouses, as well as great-grandchildren.

Anna Bounds (Sociology) has published Urban Preppers and the Pandemic in New York City: Class, Resilience and Sheltering in Place . . . . Paul Simon ’63 played a rare concert at the SoHo Sessions on September 23 to raise awareness for the Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss. Simon became deaf in his left ear while recording his latest album, Seven Psalms; he has since recovered some of his hearing. The audience included comic and actress Whoopi Goldberg, former New York Yankee Bernie Williams, and someone who needs no introduction to QC readers: Jerry Seinfeld ’76 . . . . Shinjoung Yeo (Media Studies) is the co-author of “Academic Libraries in Class Society,” published in Information Observatory . . . . The Aaron Copland School of Music and the Louis Armstrong House Museum were among the partners involved in WQXR’s most recent Classical Kids Fair at Queens Theatre on Sunday, October 6. Featured performers included QC musicians Chloé Dickens, Sara Juneau, and Ricky Moreira. The fairs, presented by WQXR 105.9 FM and https://www.wqxr.org/, introduce children to classical music . . . . The Future is Now, opening in Klapper Hall Student Gallery (Room 470) on October 8, features works by alumni Esperanza Cortes, Vickie Byron, Marie Roberts, Tina Seligman, Maria Bonilla, Meg Emerson, and Celeste Balducci, who curated the show. The Future is Now will be on view through Friday, October 25. Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 12-3 pm, except holidays.