italian-ice

Between September 2018 and May 2019, six migrant children died in Border Patrol custody. In July of that same year, the New York Times reported on horrendous conditions at a Border Patrol detention facility in Texas: overcrowding; unsanitary conditions; children forced to sleep on concrete floors; parentless babies being cared for by migrant teens; and heartbreaking stories of children hearing their family members’ voices on the phone for the first time in months. This September, a whistle-blower report alleged that multiple women in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Irwin County Detention Center—operated by LaSalle Corrections, a private company—were pressured into invasive surgeries without proper consent. As recently as October, the country learned that ICE had lost track of the parents of over 500 migrant children. Despite its short history, ICE has managed to amass a significant record of human rights violations. In addition to the abuses detailed above, sexual abuse, violence, and family separation run rampant within the agency.

It’s a couple of months into the start of a new school year, and sections of New York City are starting to turn bright red and orange. Looking around Van Cortlandt Park, fall has arrived, painting the park in a stream of colorful hues. Trees and grass aside, the park is eerily empty. On a weekend when visitors would typically see flying disks streaking through the sky, college teams from around the tri-state area dotting the fields, and a steady stream of high school cross country runners grinding through their 5K races, you can only spot one woman taking her dog out on a morning stroll.

I lied on my first day of Music Humanities class. Our ice breaker included sharing the music we’d been listening to lately or music that we enjoy.

In the middle of its best season in five years, the Columbia club ice hockey team had only ever drawn a handful of people to the rink for its games. But this time, as it suffered a disappointing loss to St. Thomas Aquinas College, the team skated to the sounds of cheers, trumpets, and the banging of a “wet floor” sign from dozens of fans and Columbia University Marching Band members in the arena.

Some nights, Bruce Baker is lucky to get to bed by 2 a.m. The Columbia men’s ice hockey coach does not set this bedtime by choice; rather, the Lions can only afford ice time from 10:30 to 11:45 p.m and most games end after midnight.

As she sits across the table from a portrait of Lorenzo Da Ponte, the first professor of Italian at Columbia University, Barbara Faedda prepares to change the direction of the Italian department with her new seminar, Introduction to Fashion Studies.

Italian artist Caravaggio’s painting “The Incredulity of St. Thomas” features his characteristic use of chiaroscuro, or the dramatic use of light and shadow. But what is most remarkable about the image is not only the artist’s rendering of the scene but also the subject matter itself: St. Thomas leans towards Christ, poking at his flesh in disbelief of Christ’s resurrection.

The ornate ceiling and dramatic red curtains framed the auditorium screen that displayed the return of the Obelisk of Axum to Ethiopia. Museum of Modern Art curator Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi spoke of the importance of the obelisk’s physical return, as well as its cultural implications, while the audience watched the airplane to Ethiopia take off onscreen.

At Thursday’s opening of the Italian Academy’s new exhibition, photographs told the story of how an Italian entrepreneur bridged the gap between the Italian and American fashion markets.

On the corner of Columbus and 109th Street, new restaurant Ortomare is bringing authentic Italian cuisine across the sea to the piccolo metropolis of Morningside Heights. “Ortomare” comes from the English translation of the Italian phrase, “orto e mare,” meaning “the vegetable garden and the sea.”