Was Trayvon Martin a victim of racial profiling? Was he provoked into a confrontation by George Zimmerman, who was looking for an excuse to harass Martin because he was young and black? Or did Zimmerman shoot and kill Martin out of fear that that his own safety, perhaps even his own life, was being threatened by the Florida teen? Though a jury acquitted Zimmerman of all charges related to Martin's death, the case continues to resonate not only in legal circles (witness the ongoing debate about "Stand Your Ground" laws) but among those who believe that America's most pressing concern in 2014 is finding a way for its citizens to be less suspicious of each other. It's a challenging task, to be sure, made all the more difficult by events, in the news and elsewhere, that suggest a fraying of trust between Americans of different ethnic and racial backgrounds. Tracy Martin, Trayvon's father, is among those who have taken up the challenge of promoting understanding, of eradicating violence and racism, and, as noted in a recent interview, of not letting his son die in vain. Tomorrow (Wed., April 23, 2 p.m.) Martin will speak in NCC's College Center about these issues. His talk, sponsored by the cultural program, is titled "We Are All Trayvon." This won't be the first time Martin has spoken about his son, the circumstances surrounding his death, the Zimmerman trial, and the ongoing debate about violence, racism, and stereotyping that has followed the verdict. In fact, Martin himself has been the subject of countless stories and has been interviewed on numerous occasions. But tomorrow's program will give the NCC community a chance to hear, firsthand, his views about how, as a nation, we might address these important matters. There will also be the opportunity for audience members to ask questions. It's an event that shouldn't be missed. Part of every student's college experience is the opportunity to take part in conversations about the state of the nation and the world and to think seriously about where we've been and where we're going. Martin's talk at NCC will be one of those moments. It is, in a sense, what college is all about. Are we all Trayvon? Maybe, maybe not, depending upon your point of view. But we're all human beings sharing the same piece of terrain and trying to get along with each other. Some would say we need to be doing a better job at the latter. Tomorrow's talk promises to give everyone something to think about--and maybe some ideas about how to keep young lives from being destroyed by fear and ignorance.
David Pogue says it's the next big thing. A wearable computer, attached to eyeglasses of sorts, Google Glass will allow us to be connected 24/7. And best of all, it will be responsive to natural voice commands. No more keyboards, no more fishing in pockets for phones. The world will be right there in our glasses! That's not the only thing on the digital horizon, according to Pogue, a former New York Times' tech columnist who spoke at NCC last week. Driver-less cars are already being tested in some states, with more to follow. While the cars require someone to sit in the driver's seat, the vehicle's sensors and other technologies do the rest. Besides highlighting what's new, Pogue also pointed to some items headed for antiquity. Among them: print newspapers and televisions. While not predicting the demise of journalism or TV programming, Pogue sees computers as being the only way we'll soon read the Daily News, watch the Mets, and keep up with the latest episodes of "Mad Men." And it will happen faster than anyone thinks, he believes. Is all this good? Pogue tended to sidestep this question, preferring to focus on what's ahead and how technology will change life for all of us. Still, it's not hard to see the advantages of cars that will make life easier for non-drivers (or for those who've had a few too many Blue Moons!). Nor can anyone quarrel with technology that will allow us to arrange for a forgotten prescription to be delivered to a sick friend in a faraway city (something Pogue knows from firsthand experience). But what about Google Glass (and similar tech products)? Are there not some potential negatives to having a computer in your face every waking moment? Will it further erode our privacy and attention spans? Will it make crossing busy streets a dangerous activity and--even more unsettling--diminish our ability to relate to human beings sitting next to us in class? Already some are voicing their unhappiness, suggesting that the Google world is too much with us. Recent protests against Google in San Francisco, while extreme and irrational at times, nevertheless suggest some discomfort with a technology that some believe simply won't leave people alone. http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/14/tech/mobile/google-glass-attack/ The key, of course, is not to be simply "for" or "against" technology (including Google Glass), but instead to understand its impact and implications. That seemed to be Pogue's POV in his talk at NCC: Technology isn't going away, so it's up to all of us to understand and think about its impact, for better or worse, on our lives. Navigating the tech world is not for the passive. Perhaps never before has the need to be a clear and critical thinker been so important!
It may not seem very summery these days, but trust me, summertime's just around the bend. So, for that matter, is summer school at Nassau. If you click the "Summer Courses 2014 " link on the NCC homepage (https://www.ncc.edu/admissions/registrar/summer.shtml), you'll find plenty of useful information about summer classes, including a list of everything being offered. If you're just out of high school, you may associate summer school with unhappy kids in hot classrooms being taught by teachers who look like they'd rather be somewhere else. You may even equate summer classes with people unable to get their academic acts together. Not so at NCC. To be sure, some people use summer sessions to repeat classes that haven't gone well during the previous semester. But students also take summer courses for other reasons: to graduate early, to lighten their course load in the coming academic year, to tackle a course best taken by itself, even to get something they're not wild about out of the way. And unlike high school, NCC's summer classes don't take up the entire summer. Summer Session I, for example, starts right after Memorial Day and ends in late June. The second session gets going just before July 4 and finishes on July 31. And the third (and shortest) session runs all of three weeks in August. So it's possible to take a course or two in a summer session and still have most of the summer free for work, vacation, or whatever else is going on. And just in case you're wondering, summer classes are usually held in air-conditioned classrooms--so you won't feel cramped or uncomfortable. You could even have a good time! Is a summer class for you? Depends on work, vacation, and other June/July/August plans. Keep in mind, of course, that summer classes move quickly; you have to leave time to keep up. But if you think it makes sense, for whatever reason, to take classes this summer, now's a good time to speak with an advisor and register. Though NCC's summer offerings are pretty extensive, classes do fill up. You definitely don't want to miss out. Summer's coming. What are your plans?
At tomorrow's Day of Service at NCC, you can plant an organic garden, contribute food to a campus pantry, give future freshmen advice about starting college, make PB&J sandwiches for hungry people at the INN, adopt a U.S. battalion in Afghanistan, donate pet food and supplies to a nearby animal shelter, buy cookies to support multiple sclerosis research, and recycle old cell phones so U.S troops across the globe can call home more easily. You can also donate IPods to nursing home residents, buy a cupcake to support the Ronald McDonald House, collect toiletries and other "life" supplies for survivors of domestic violence, help clean up the Hempstead plains, gather school supplies for kids in Haiti, contribute a brick to a Habitat for Humanity project, send a thank you note to a teacher who's made a difference in your life, and--yes--even be part of a Zumba flash mob. So what should you choose? Your call. But above all, do something. NCC's Day of Service is about extending yourself, about getting out of your comfort zone, and about realizing that the way to make things better is for everyone, including you, to extend a hand. It doesn't matter what form that helping hand takes. It doesn't matter whether you're tending to the environment, to women and children in crisis, to new college students, to senior citizens, to hungry people across town, or to poor schoolkids a nation away. What does matter is your presence and your participation. In a world that's often short on kindness and generosity, do your part tomorrow to make up the deficit. Mark the date and place: Wednesday, April 2, 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m., College Center. See you there.
