The Bard Free Press
Writings Winter 2012
by J.p. Lawrence
1. The Mom in Your Math Class: A look at the Bard Return to College Program
"...These students come to Bard to get a second chance, to close a chapter of their careers, to retool their lives..."
2. A look at Bard's bid to reform New Orlean's high schools
"...The goal is to take a Bard liberal arts education, with both its resources and its expectations, and give it to students who typically wouldn’t have access to them..."
3. Bard begins job prep program
"The workshop, “Bard Works,” will put students in a “job mindset...”'
4. Unions Take on Administration in Labor Disputes
"...Bard College and its housekeepers will be taking their contract disputes to arbitration...at issue is the firing of six housekeepers last June..."
5. A Conversation with An-My Lê
"...it does make you question the endeavor of war, the activities of war, and think about the futility of war, because there’s something greater than us that we can’t control in the end..."
6. The Boy Who Lived in His Truck: A Story About Life in Bard’s Backyard
"...There, I find a black, somewhat battered pickup truck, a 1996 Nissan. This has been Gero’s home for the fall semester. I will be his first overnight guest..."
7. A Vigil for Palestine
"...we who have understanding of the beauty of human life should feel bad when any life is lost..."
The Bard Free Press
Writings May-October 2012
by J.p. Lawrence
1. What Happens Next: From Baghdad to Bard
"...But now Ammar is 12, and everyone is afraid. The US military prepares their invasion, and war hangs like a hammer over Baghdad..."
2. Last Year's Seniors Talk About the Job Markets
"...The real world is miserable, Hamza Haya-ud Din ‘11 says. It is seven months after his graduation from Bard College, and Haya-ud is back home with his parents, searching for a job..."
3. Corey Booker Booked for Commencement Address
"...Bard College will hold its 152nd commencement on Saturday, May 26, 2012. The commencement address will be given by Cory A. Booker, mayor of Newark..."
4. A Conversation with Neil Gaiman
"...I want to be able to paint everything, if I’m painting, and I want to be able to write about everything, and I don’t see any reason why, if I want to write a song or a poem, I shouldn’t write a song or a poem..."
5. A Talk with Ralph Nader
"...there should be more occupiers, all around the country. There are not enough students involved..."
6. Chef and activist Alice Waters in talks with Bard
"Botstein said Waters was curious about Bard’s work in public schools and wants to meet about improving the food provided to children..."
The Bard Free Press
Writings from Spring 2011
by J.p. Lawrence
1. Why Students Transfer: Rotten campus culture sows seeds of discontent
"...Bard needs a happier campus, many former students said, a community to match its academics..."
2. Spring cleaning to revitalize: Root Cellar Club hopes clean floors lead to respect for space
"...“We want the Root Cellar to be open at all times,” Stassler said, “but people end up abusing the thing we have...”"
3. Combat Philosophy: Bard Debate Union team gains national recognition
"When the Bard Debate Union Team walks into a room, people notice. Every other debate team dresses in suits and dresses. Polo shirts and khakis, at least. But the Bard team’s duds are jeans, ripped shirts and goofy hats..."
4. Talking Bard, Kony and Art with Teju Cole
"...I insist on African modernity, and that Africa is a space that is contemporaneous with us…
5. Is Off-Campus Really Cheaper?
"...many students think they can simply move into an apartment and have everything fall into place. “It doesn’t work that way,” said Goldstein..."
6. New science journal launches
"...Many scientists don’t know how to write. Many in the humanities don’t understand science. Diana Crow feels there is a gap to be filled..."
7. A Conversation with Bard's Baseball Booster
"...a lot of the students may not understand the value of athletics in a college environment, especially at Bard..."
The Bard Free Press
Writings from Fall 2011
by J.p. Lawrence
1. Lack of space shackles the dance department
“The Dance Department truly had no other space they were able to use...The MPR was their final space option outside of their dance studios.”
2. Meditation in Motion: Sparring with Bard College’s brainiest sport team
"...It’s my first visit with the Bard College fencing team, and I look like a mummy with a microphone head, a white straightjacket cocooned around my body and a mesh metal helmet in a cage around my face..."
3. Bard students participate in international science competition
'“...the two budding Bard science students smile at me as if I just asked them how the sky works...'
4. Bard’s budget reveals a campus in flux: An examination of where the money goes
".. students do not know where their money goes, there is have no easy way to learn, and students – especially if they are unfamiliar with the area – cannot participate in the finances of the college..."
5. Students get interviews in Bard’s new jobs program
"...He knew that a great interview with one of those 15 companies could land him a job before he even finishes his senior year. He knew that the Fall Recruiting Consortium offered him a chance..."
6. The Spirit of Giving: How Bard pulls in its millions
"...for Bard College President Leon Botstein and the rest of school’s fundraising team, the holiday season is just one more beat on a long campaign..."
7. SAAC: Athletes have rights too
"...We also want to make sure we’re happy at Bard, happy and healthy...'"
The Bard Free Press
Writings from Spring 2011
by J.p. Lawrence
1. PC firings frame debate over Bard’s disciplinary system
"...It would end up more than just an average party, however, as before the end of the week, Hamza and two other students would find their peer counselor jobs terminated as a result of it."
2. Aramark workers find cheaper healthcare after a long struggle
"...Like anything in Aramark’s 15-month negotiation with its workers, which included a student strike, threats, mudslinging and rumor-mongering, the end game would be anything but easy..."
3. The story behind KenCooperHasAGun
"It all started as a joke among friends. “You know how inside jokes start – we were just kinda talking..."
4. Battle LA Review
"...The movie, pitched as a military movie that just happens to include aliens, is half video game and half recruiting ad for the Marines..."
5. Conservatory fundraising leads to swank new building
"...after six years of fundraising, begging, schmoozing, the Bard Conservatory will soon have a building to its own..."
6. Bard students to fight leprosy, build library in Nepal
"...The students, each of whom will pay their own way, will be employed as laborers, swinging hammers and pouring concrete under the supervision of a carpenter there..."
7. Working for Free: Are Unpaid Internships a Form of Exploitation?
"...For internship critic Ross Perlin, these long lists of “opportunities” are predatory. He says many internships are unpaid, and may in fact skirt minimum wage laws..."
The Bard Free Press
Writings from Fall 2010
by J.p. Lawrence
1. Why Citizen Science? Bard's push towards math and science
"...'But one thing that I think that has been left unresolved, and I think the president feels very strongly about this, is science general education.'"
2. Wanton Messiness Leads to Free Use Store Closure
"Students at Bard College were given the equivalent of a time out before fall break, when the Free Use Store was temporarily closed due to wanton messiness and neglect..."
3. Labor strife at Bard College brings out the dirt
"...For the last 11 months, strained contract negotiations between Aramark and its workers have festered, leading to last Thursday’s rally, where a contingent of students and Aramark workers gathered at the Campus Center to express their discontent..."
4. Hannukah with Leon Botstein
"...And so I went to the Hanukah meal at Botstein’s house. Botstein came to the door as I entered, found someone he knew, and began to talk classical music with them..."
5. Citizen Science program begins at Bard
"...It’s the third to the last day of Citizen Science, and Derek Fisher stands in front of an audience of ragged survivors, receiving feedback on the program, wincing with each barbed criticism lobbed at the program..."
