“I wanted to bridge the gap between all the urban life and energy outside the doors of the University and have students go out into the world and reflect on where they are in a larger context,” said Mark Street, associate professor of visual arts, who collaborated with Fordham’s Center for Community Engaged Learning for the class. “The idea was to get them going out as observers, as interactors, and as partners to the community.” 

The students’ observations bloomed into works of art—photos, videos, paintings, songs, drawings, and posters—and culminated in an online gallery show. 

Students first met neighborhood activists and artists over Zoom, from whom they learned about local challenges facing their community, including homelessness, food insecurity, and gentrification. Those discussions were supplemented by readings, videos, and in-class conversations, including a discussion about how a neighborhood can change without abandoning its less wealthy residents. 

Then the students donned masks and explored Hell’s Kitchen with their classmates. Students fanned out across the West Side and recorded city life on their smartphones. In one excursion, they coincidentally met Gwyneth Leech, a local artist who became an impromptu class guest speaker over Zoom. During individual trips, students engaged with community organizations through activities like creating masks for New York City residents, coordinating a sock drive for the homeless, and growing produce for a local food pantry, said Street. 

Most of their classes took place virtually, but when they gathered in person, they tried to make them as safe as possible. 

“We were recalling the day’s image gathering and shouting six feet apart over the roar of the fountain [at Lincoln Center],” Street said, recalling one of their outdoor classes. “You do the best you can in the pandemic.” 

Leeza Richter, a communications and visual arts double major, was inspired to photograph a local rooftop farm after a class discussion with guest speaker Tiffany Triplett Henkel, a pastor and community leader who spoke about the Hell’s Kitchen Farm Project. Richter not only documented the rooftop farm through photos and video, but also helped volunteer farmers care for their crops, which are donated to a food pantry.

“I was really interested in this idea of food being grown here for people here and what that means about the community and everyone who’s a part of this rooftop project,” Richter said. “It was really rewarding to step outside of my own familiarity in Hell’s Kitchen and be able to look at this space that I’m sharing with so many people who have been here much longer than I have, and what this physical plot of land means to them and how they’ve expanded it.” 

Many students documented life in Hell’s Kitchen, but some dove into their own neighborhoods. Jazmin Ali captured Caribbean culture in her native Prospect Lefferts Gardens neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, through intimate portraits of her neighbors and their businesses. 

Valeria Deminova, a student athlete from Russia, recorded scenes in Hell’s Kitchen on camera and then used acrylic paints to recreate moments that had caught her eye, including a homeless man asking for money in a restaurant and a masked policeman on a horse. In another painting, “Familial Bond,” she captured a father walking with his daughters down a street.

“When I saw this frame in one of my videos, I felt a lot of warmth and could feel the father’s care for his daughters,” Deminova wrote in a photo caption. “He carried one of his daughters on his shoulders and carefully held the other with his hand.” After giving her artwork to local community members, she returned to her native Moscow for winter break, where she plans to create a similar project, said Professor Street. 

Evelina Tokareva, a psychology major and visual arts minor who is also originally from Russia, said she has lived on the Upper West Side since age 10. But her class project helped her see Hell’s Kitchen in a new light. After recording several walks through her neighborhood, Tokareva said she became more attuned to things around her, from strangers’ conversations to the ways that local businesses are being affected by gentrification and the pandemic. 

“A lot more places are getting shut down, and it just makes me think, what’s to come after?” said Tokareva, who currently volunteers at Goddard Riverside and works with Socks in the City to distribute clothes to the homeless. “I walked out of this class learning and feeling so much more for my neighborhood.”

The endless selections on streaming services and beyond may be daunting, so Fordham News asked faculty members for a few of their favorite film and book suggestions to help narrow it down and avoid a night of infinite scroll. Hopefully, you’ll find an interesting new piece of media or rediscover an old favorite in the recommendations below.

Films

Mark Street, Associate Professor of Visual Arts

La Jetee (1963), directed by Chris Marker
This “cine novel,” which exists in book form too, is the movie upon which Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys is based. The time travel story is told entirely in stills, except for one shot which is moving. In the absence of movement, we can let our imagination roam and contemplate the conceptual richness and audacity of the conceit.
Available on Kanopy

Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), directed by Maya Deren
This brilliant filmmaker pierces the masculinist world of the American avant-garde. This film is about dreams within reveries within dreams; we’re not sure what’s happening, what’s dreamed, what’s imagined. Its fracturing of time reminds me a bit of our current state, where things have slowed down, and we are looking at time in a new way.
Available on Kanopy

Amy (2015), directed by Asif Kapadia
A wrenching examination of Amy Winehouse’s life, including home movie footage and interviews with friends and family. She’s a product of her time in that she was a mediated image from the beginning of her life (as a sonogram of her in her mother’s womb), right up until her death. This very imaging of her led to her struggles with eating disorders and alcoholism.
Available on Kanopy

What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015), directed by Liz Garbus
A good bonus double feature to pair with Amy. Also a product of her time, we see an uncompromising artist from a classically trained prodigy in North Carolina to explosive artist, to righteous, uncompromising activist. She battled mental health issues, racism, and domestic abuse along the way, and her voice is as current and powerful as it ever was.
Available on Netflix

James Jennewein, Senior Lecturer of Communication and Media Studies

The King’s Speech (2010), directed by Tom Hooper
Based on the true story of King George, who was crowned King of England after his older brother abdicated, The King’s Speech is a very moving and inspiring tale of his fight to overcome a serious speech impediment so as to become a more effective king to his people. But deep down it is also the story of one man’s battle with his own inner demons and how his friendship with his speech therapist helps him ultimately to grow as a man.
Available on Netflix

Tootsie (1982), directed by Sydney Pollack
A classic comedy about a driven New York City actor who becomes a soap opera star, dressed as a woman. A brilliant tale of how a sexist learns how to be a better man as he lives out the trials and tribulations of being a woman in society.
Available on Netflix

Television Shows

Lance Strate, Professor of Communication and Media Studies

The Strain
I recently discovered that The Strain, an FX series that originally aired from 2014 to 2017 is steaming, and even though I had watched it in its entirety as it came out, I decided to binge it a second time, something I almost never do. I highly recommend it, if and only if you are fine with the horror genre. Created by acclaimed film director Guillermo del Toro together with Chuck Hogan, the series is set almost entirely in New York City, and makes full use of neighborhood locations in all five boroughs, which makes it a real treat for New Yorkers. The story is an original take on the vampire genre, mixed together with a good amount of the contagion genre, and even a touch of the zombie motif included. At a time when we are experiencing a form of true horror in the real world, you might think it best to stay far away from that sort of storyline, but I found retreat into this fantasy version diverting and in some ways inoculating, and the plot is absolutely gripping.
Available on Hulu

Star Trek: Picard
As someone who often turns to science fiction, I find no shortage of series available on streaming services these days, but one that stands out that recently completed its first season is Star Trek: Picard. As someone who prefers the original Star Trek series to the Next Generation, I reserved judgment on this new series that debuted only a couple of months ago and just wrapped up its first season. I was very impressed with the first new Star Trek series on CBS All Access, Star Trek: Discovery, a prequel to the original series that has been exceptional in its first two seasons, and Star Trek: Picard rival Discovery in regard to overall quality and entertainment value. Star Trek: Picard is a welcome continuation of the Star Trek story, and with Patrick Stewart in the lead, how can you go wrong? Top that off with several new and interesting regular characters and guest appearances from a few old ones, and an intriguing plot line, and Picard stands out easily as my favorite new series of this strange new year. And on the topic of Star Trek, I strongly recommend Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the best of the earlier series, with marvelous characters and a dramatic, continuing story that emerged after the first couple of seasons.
Available on CBS All Access

The Plot Against America
I am currently enjoying The Plot Against America miniseries on HBO, based on the novel by Phillip Roth. Set circa 1940-1941, the story is an alternate history in which Charles Lindbergh, as a Nazi sympathizer running on an antiwar platform, defeats FDR and becomes president. While fascinating for its historical detail regarding life in Newark in this era, and thought provoking as a what-if scenario, the series resonates in many ways with contemporary American society and politics, making it all the more relevant.
Available on HBO

Books

Mary Bly, Professor of English

Mary Bly, professor and English department chair, Shakespeare scholar, and author of popular romance novels under the pen name Eloisa James, offered this list of 20 books from her to-be-read-during-quarantine pile, which has something for everyone:

Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl
Meg and Jo by Virginia Kantra
Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
Magpie Murders by Antony Horowitz
There There by Tommy Orange
The Best American Sci Fi & Fantasy 2019 edited by John Joseph Adams and Carmen Maria Machado
An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard
The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley
American Duchess by Karen Harper
Thicker Than Mud by Jason Morris
New Dramaturgies by Mark Bly
The Pier Falls: And Other Stories by Mark Haddon
The New Life of Hugo Gardner by Louis Begley
Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction by Derek Thompson
Moonglow by Michael Chabon
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain by Bill Bryson
All I Know About Animal Behavior I Learned In Loehmann’s Dressing Room by Erma Bombeck
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
The Lighthouse by P.D. James

Shonni Enelow, Associate Professor of English

Theodor Adorno
I’m actually reading a lot of philosophy (in the 15 minutes when my kid is occupied with something or napping), particularly Theodor Adorno. I’m finding it oddly soothing. 

Afro-Fabulations: The Queer Drama of Black Life by Tavia Nyong’o
I’m also reading Tavia Nyong’o’s new book Afro-Fabulations, which is fantastic. 

Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life by Maurice Sendak
And a lot of Maurice Sendak with my kid. We were just given his not-really-a-kid’s-book Higglety Pigglety Pop, which is like Lewis Carroll by way of Samuel Beckett.

Laura Childs, Emerging Technologies Librarian

The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
First, a warning: these books will consume your life! I love this series because you get completely lost in it—you feel like you’re in the story alongside the characters. You’ll be reading for hours and look up, having no idea where (or when) you are. Great for readers who love historical fiction. It’s also been made into a fantastic show that you can binge watch on Netflix!

11/22/63 by Stephen King
This is probably my favorite Stephen King novel, but it’s not a typical horror story. If you like to get emotionally attached to a book, this is for you. It is thrilling and will also break your heart. Another book you will not be able to stop reading (but it’s over 1,000 pages, so you’ll be occupied for a long time).

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
Any book by this author is an excellent choice if you enjoy drama, mystery, and some humor mixed in. This particular book is a lot of fun because you get to experience the story through the eyes of different characters, each with their own unique voice. This is a fast, entertaining read.

Additional Resources

Mary Bly, Professor of English

The English Department launched a Mighty Networks site when this happened. It’s a one-stop place for all our spring events, for student-run workshops, etc. Last week, for example, we had a creative writing/cooking demonstration by Sarah Gambito (head of Creative Writing), a yoga class, and a lecture by a disability activist.

Shonni Enelow, Associate Professor of English

The visionary downtown theater director Richard Maxwell and his company New York City Players have put up Vimeos of all their shows.

The Wooster Group is posting a new video every week of their shows, which transfer exceptionally well to video.

The playwright Jeremy O. Harris is doing a master class on Monday through New York Theatre Workshop.

Laura Childs, Emerging Technologies Librarian

As for library resources, I’d like to add that there are thousands of e-books available in our collection that students/faculty can access anywhere. They can be found by searching the catalog on our website. We also offer streaming video and movie platforms that students can watch from anywhere, including many new and popular films. Lastly, even though we’re not in the library, we are still here to help with research questions and can be contacted via email, text, and the 24/7 chat service!

New York City, on the other hand, has the Metropolitan Opera, world-class museums, and Shakespeare in the Park. And of course, Rockefeller Center, home of the popular show 30 Rock.

For six Italian exchange students who have been studying at Fordham since August, that’s no small matter. Visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art have allowed them to take in the ways in which a young country like the United States treats items of antiquity, while living in lower Manhattan has brought pop culture of New York City into sharper focus.

“It’s like living a dream, because we’re very obsessed with American culture. We grew up with American culture, movies, and TV series,” said Marco Cataldi, a native of Calabria, Italy.

“When you experience things in person, its completely different because you can actually feel the realness of something. It can be a little overwhelming.”

Marilena Simeoni, a native of Avezzano, likewise marveled at how the pace of life in New York is dramatically faster, noting that “every day you have something to do, something to see, to visit.”

Cataldi, Simeoni and four others studying at Fordham this semester are the inaugural cohort of World Cultural Heritage Studies, a three-year long partnership between Fordham and a consortium of six Italian universities that was signed last year by Fordham president Joseph M. McShane, S.J., and Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., Fordham’s late provost.

Next fall and spring, Fordham graduate students studying the humanities will likewise be invited to study at the Università di Bologna, Università di Chieti-Pescara, Università di Roma La Sapienza, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Università di Roma Roma Tre, or Università per Stanieri di Perugia.

Education without Borders

Jo Ann Isaak, Ph.D., Fordham’s John L. Marion Chair of Art History and Music, said the goal is to emulate the European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students  program. Since 1987, ERASMUS, as it is commonly known, has essentially eliminated borders for European students.

“Every year, students freely come and go to other universities and attend classes and have their classes accredited in their home university. This fluidity is so important,” she said.

“I taught classes in Italian universities, and in my classes, I would have students from all over, not just Italian students. So, it’s very familiar for me, and I can clearly see its advantages for American students. We are a little isolated in America, it is good to see how things are done in another country.”

In addition to Isaak’s class Contemporary Art in Exhibition, the Italian students are taking classes such as Urban Film Video Production by Mark Street,, Ph.D., associate professor of visual arts, and Rewriting the Mediterranean by Francesca Parmeggiani, Ph.D., professor of Italian and comparative literature and Making Early Music by Eric Bianchi, Ph.D., associate professor of music.

In August, the Italian exchange students along with Fordham graduates were treated to a two-week long immersion course that included trips to major landmarks and sites like Belmont’s Little Italy. Other Fordham students have also taken them on more informal outings, including one to Governor’s Island.

Simeoni said the Cloisters Museum impressed her because the displays there showed a level of attention to medieval objects that is often lacking in Italy. A visit to the African Burial Ground National Monument in lower Manhattan was also particularly moving, she said.

“It was very shocking, seeing it. We study these things in Italy, but it seems far. Here, I can perceive so much, and see how American people try to remember history in the right way,” she said.

“It’s a difficult thing, because telling history is difficult, and it should be done in the most objective way. I saw that here.”

The students in Isaak’s class worked alongside their American counterparts to put on an exhibition as well, Art for Arctic’s Sake, at the Ildiko Butler Gallery on the Lincoln Center campus. At the show’s opening on Nov. 7, students who’d organized the exhibition, the show’s post card, posters, website, and written the catalogue essays, greeted visitors while wearing buttons that said “Ask me about the art.”

Study in Italy

As part of the exchange, Fordham graduate students will have the opportunity to study for a term in Italy. Isaak encouraged students interested in courses such as Everyday Life in Pompeii, Philosophy of Science and Medicine, Novels as Travel Guides, and Magic in the Middle Ages in Italy to consult with their advisors and the dean’s office of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

“The Italian graduate students have been really fantastic to have in my class, and I’ve been happy with the ways our own students have taken on the role of host and introduced them to New York,” Isaak said.

Some of the posters are iconic, like Robert Redford in The Candidate, or Redford and Dustin Hoffman in All the President’s Men. Warren Beatty makes a couple of appearances as well, once in a poster for the 1998 comedy Bulworth and again in 1974’s The Parallax View. Directors Stanley Kubrick and Robert Altman are there too.

The show, “Politics: Movie Images from Posteritati,” was organized by Mark Street, associate professor of visual arts, and runs through Dec. 1. Street said Posteritati is a SoHo Gallery that sometimes lends out its collection exhibitions—as is the case with the show at Fordham.

“It’s interesting to see real events refracted through spectacular mass culture,” said Street. “In the collection we chose there’s satire, irony, exaggeration, fear, and paranoia. With the benefit of hindsight we can see that a lot of things that were there are in the present elections.”

On a purely visual level, the movie posters are one of mass marketing’s cleanest conveyors of information, he said.

“In the art department, we teach visual literacy,” he said. “More and more we’re in a visual culture, and these posters show that when you telegraph something without words, a short rudimentary graphic is important.”