Paul Lee

Even though he is very much in his element, Paul Lee would rather be commanding troops on Empire Total War than learning how to deliver the news stories that he reads constantly.

“I love TV, media, the news and really nerdy geeky stuff, like technology and video games,” he says while looking at a reddit forum for the video game Assassins Creed. Lee isn’t only on reddit for video game assistance. It is his favorite website and facilitates most of his interests. Paul’s various fascinations with weird world news, hilarious exploits of strange politicians, and funny pictures of pets each have a section on reddit. Lee has played guitar for five years, and uses jam session sound cloud files on reddit to work with other musicians when trying not to do homework.

Paul is in his Junior Year at Eugene College and hopes to graduate with a Bachelors Degree in History. Lee is minoring in writing, which is not surprising considering some of his tuition payments came from a prize he won from a contest administered by Random House for writing an original graphic novel. Even though he is an award winning comic book author, he is more interested in history than in writing another graphic novel.

“My family always tells me to never forget where you came from,” says Lee with a proud expression on his face while looking at a page for famous Korean military heroes on his mini PC. Lee was born in Kansas to parents who had previously emigrated from South Korea. While growing up in Kansas, Paul was the only non-white student in his school, which he was in till moving to NY in sixth grade. “If, I hadn’t been taught Korean by my mother in our basement growing up, my cultural identity would be very minimal,” adds Lee.

After Lee moved to Queens, NY he met more Koreans than he ever would have imagined. Paul’s father became the minister at the United Methodist Korean Church in Astoria and his mother worked for the church as a missionary and teacher. She has traveled to Southeast Asia and South America. Lee had previously been a member of the church band, as with most 20 year olds school has to come first. “I would rather write music and tour with a band over anything I’m doing now, but I guess I have realistic or limited expectations for myself,” Lee jokes.

Profile of Kyrra

Profile of Kyrra
By Olivia Tarplin

Don't ever cross Kyrra Lewandowski. You may end up being the antagonist of a very popular novel. "It's a great method for revenge," she says, about creative writing. "If you piss me off, I'll just make you the shit character."

Kyrra sits leisurely, in her leopard print flats and yellow trench coat, and tells me about her passion for writing. "The nice thing about being an author is you can go anywhere." When she was young her first career goal was to be a cashier, "because they get to scan things." Midway through high school she settled on writing because it came so easily to her. "It was kind of a cop out; it's the only thing I'm good at."

She is being modest; Kyrra is also undoubtedly good at adapting. She recently moved from the small rural town of Bridgeville, Delaware, to New York City, now living in Brooklyn. "Bridgeville is always stuck in time. Nothing changes, people don't change," she says, describing her hometown. "I don't want to belittle that, but I wanted to do something bigger." The big city, contrasting her quiet home, is nothing like what she expected.

She has adapted to the new environment, just as she has adapted to an anxiety disorder in the past. Diagnosed at 13, it caused her to switch schools, take the SATs alone, and doubt everything she did. However she's proud to say she has dealt with it amazingly and says being in the big city does not fuel her anxiety in the least. "It's actually good to lose myself in New York City. It keeps me distracted."

Kyrra's ejection from her town also included ejection from her close knit family, who all lived nearby in a small sphere of familiarity. She recalls her childhood with her little sister and her parents, describing her mom as a "a very spiritual new age hippie." She and Kyrra would do laundry together, put the underwear on their heads, and dance around her house.

It was during one of these care-free episodes that her doorbell rang and she opened it, still draped in undergarments, facing her new neighbors. The fact that her new neighbor Lizzie didn't blink at Kyrra's ensemble was a predictor of their 15 year friendship. She and Lizzie have matching knot tattoos on their hands which pay tribute to their bond, which they can only describe as a wistful wish that one of them was a man.

Alex Ackerman

Although Eugene Lang College has a reputation (to those who have heard of it) for being a comparatively small liberal arts school by New York City standards, it probably could not have seemed any less so to Alex Ackerman when she first began her freshman year of college here.

Although Alex, a friendly and refreshingly relaxed sophomore, chose Lang precisely for its small size and liberal values, it was still a far cry from the tiny Quaker school she attended for twelve years throughout elementary school, middle school and high school in her hometown of Virginia Beach.

“My high school had 40 people,” explained Alex, who was dressed simply in a hoodie and jeans, with her blonde shoulder-length hair pulled back neatly in a ponytail. “I wanted somewhere with small classes but still live in a big city.”

But contrary to what she had expected from Lang, Alex, who describes herself as independent and frequently spends time on her own, found it more difficult to make friends and situate herself in the school community than she had in her hometown in Virginia. “My senior class was nine people, so we were all really close.”

Fortunately, or perhaps as a remedy to this problem, it was just around this time that Alex discovered longboarding, a sport she describes as a combination of surfing and skateboarding. “My girlfriend got me into it, and now it was precisely her penchantwe own 11 boards together.”

In her free time on the weekends when she is not studying, playing videogames, or spending time in Long Island with her girlfriend’s family with whom she is close, Alex enjoys longboarding around Central Park, and occasionally out on the roads in Central Islip, Long Island.

Currently she is trying to join a longboarding group called “The Concrete Kings” that meets weekly on Sundays. “Longboarders are really cool,” explained Alex. “They’re very accepting. I guess that’s why I like it.”

For anyone who has spent time with Alex, and is undoubtably familiar with her laid-back demeanor and way of speaking, it would probably come as a shock that she was ever anything but easy-going. But Alex argues otherwise. “I was kind of a deranged child, but I think I’ve mellowed out a little.”

In contrast to her decidedly calm bearing now, it was precisely her penchant for being a wild child as a teenager in Virginia Beach, and emulating the outrageous stunts she saw on Jackass that first attracted to filmmaking — an industry she now hopes to work in after college. “When I was little I used video cameras all the time,” said Alex. “I made videos all mostly of me doing stupid things like flipping off tables.”

Ramon Rodriguez

When Ramon Rodriguez was a little kid, he dreamed of being a baseball player; however, those dreams were smashed as soon as Rodriguez realized that he is bad at sports. Or, perhaps Rodriguez is just bad at team sports; after all, he loves skateboarding, where rules and regulations are thrown out the window. Rodriguez likes to make his own rules, or he at least questions the existing ones.

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19-year-old Rodriguez was born and raised in New York City, which is evident from his love of pizza. Although he lives with his family in Long Island now, Rodriguez commutes to the city almost every day to attend college at Eugene Lang, The New School for Liberal Arts. Now, Lang was not his first choice of schooling, in fact, after attending Xavier, a Jesuit all-boys high school in Manhattan, Rodriguez wanted to go to Emerson College in Boston. But, when he was offered a full ride to join the student body at Lang, how could he pass it up?

Rodriguez, an undergraduate sophomore, usually strolls into a classroom with his skateboard in hand and most likely headphones on. He tends to sit quietly through his classes. Rodriguez may speak up once in a while, but mainly he sits there, just smiling and taking in information. Rodriguez says that he wants to be a writer, but he’s not sure about whether literature or screenwriting is up his alley. Regardless of this predicament, one thing is for sure: Rodriguez gravitates toward comedy. In fact, he has written two comedic plays that have and will take the stage at Eugene Lang. His upcoming play is about how girls behave in the bathroom, specifically the peeing “stand off”, as Rodriguez has called it.

“It’s about how girls don’t like using the bathrooms when other girls are in the stalls,” he said while chuckling, “Is that why girls take so long in there? They’re just waiting each other out.”

This is Ramon’s type of humor, he investigates the weird and overlooked aspects of reality and brings them to attention. He may also pull tricks from time to time, such as making people believe that he’s immortal. In either situation, it is hard not to laugh around Rodriguez because of his easy-going demeanor.

When asked, Ramon Rodriguez would describe himself as being funny, chill, reflective, creative, and friendly, which is not at all far from the truth.

Sample Profile- Jolie Peters

Jolie Peters-Mitnick hails from Woodstock, NY, but now takes residence in Manhattan’s East Village as she pursues her undergraduate psychology degree from Eugene Lang College. Peters is only 19 but has a firm grasp on the direction in which she wishes her future to take. Sitting face to face during an impromptu class interview session, Peters divulges that she wishes to spend her life coming to the aid of others, working with victims of sexual abuse as a counselor, or therapist. “I’ve always been able to read people well,” Peters says, “people have always been comfortable coming to me to talk about their problems – and I love studying the human mind.” On that note, it’s interesting to mention that Peters once played a role on Law & Order SVU, in addition to several other films, and considers her career as a child actress one of her great achievements in life.

Peters attended private ‘hippy’ school, as she describes it, for most her educational career, and it wasn’t until high school that she was mainstreamed. She says the education itself differed a bit, as did the social culture – “I didn’t even know what Hollister was, but all these girls were talking about it” but all in all, her high school years brought many amazing friends into her life. It was also in high school that Peters decided what she wanted to do with her life, and is now following that dream in her secondary education. Interestingly, her initial choice for a college education wasn’t here at the New School; it was at Loyola Marymount, all the way in Los Angeles. Peters says, “at the time, the beach sounded good.” But all in all, she says that she is glad she ended up here because New School is a perfect fit.

In her time at New School, Peters has found a second passion: cooking. She even wants to minor in writing – more specifically, food journalism. Peters enjoys cooking and says that ever since she got her Dad’s recipe for homemade spaghetti and meatballs, she has mastered the recipe. But for now, Peter’s does what she needs to make a living, working at Kid’s Closet in the West Village as a sales associate. “Really,” Peters begins, “I needed a job, walked in, they were new and hiring and that was how it happened.”

I think for now, it’s safe to say Jolie Peters is on the path to something great! Her journey has been an involved one, but still close to home and close to her dreams, she seems happy, content and determined.

Sorcha Richardson

Easygoing yet reserved, one would not be able to guess Sorcha Richardson’s talent on mere first impression – however, she’s been doing it for years.

“I’ve always been musical,” Richardson admits, in her lilting Dublin accent. “I actually started with playing the drums when I was 11.” Ten years later, Sorcha is just as passionate about her music and songwriting. Finding her inspiration in overheard conversations on the subway and streets of New York City, Sorcha’s singing truly began in college, when she realized how personal the songs were to her.

“I wasn’t comfortable giving them [to others],” Sorcha said of her songwriting. What emerged from her apprehension has sparked a career goal. A Fiction major at Eugene Lang College, Sorcha hopes to intern for a record label or music magazine, though in a “perfect world” her singing would become a profession.

Richardson intends to stay in New York City for a few years after her graduation, though she calls Ireland home. By her own admittance, Sorcha’s decision to attend university in New York City was impulsive, but for her own best interests.

“I had no definite plans in Ireland,” Richardson says staidly. “Literally the first three weeks [in New York], I was thrown in the deep end.” Sorcha adjusted to living in a new country and new city rather well, though she admits her first two years were a bit out of control.

Her most difficult adjustment came when faced with an unforeseen illness while she was thousands of miles away from her home and family. Earlier in the year, Sorcha was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer. Going alone to doctor’s visits, x-rays and biopsies, Sorcha found her illness the most difficult thing to deal with since moving. Sporting a scar on her neck from surgeries over the summer, Sorcha is now “all clear”.

Living with a close friend from Ireland in a No-Ho apartment, Sorcha does not feel homesickness and is eager for her future in the city. Laughingly, Richardson recounts stories of her experiences in the city, including getting caught drinking in the dorm her freshman year. If anything, these small anecdotes told so warmly, endear one to Richardson, and it is easy to see her making it big – she is definitely star material.

Olivia Tarplin

Sitting in a journalism class in Eugene Lang College was not something Olivia Tarplin dreamed of when growing up.

“I desperately wanted to go to NYU,” she says, one foot on her chair, hugging her knee. “Probably ‘cause Alec Baldwin went there” she jokes. “I had all the paraphernalia; the mugs, caps.”

Olivia was forced to re-plot her plan when NYU turned down her application. A keen photographer, she initially considered studying photography at Parsons, but feared that an academic setting might spoil her hobby. Instead, she enrolled at Lang, and now a Sophomore, and thinks the decision was the right one.

“It had everything I liked about NYU, and none of the things I didn’t like,” she says. “I’m so happy I didn’t get in there,” and her eyes widen in an afterthought of what could have been.

Born in Jersey City, Olivia moved house four or five times throughout her childhood. She went from a small, private middle school to a big public high school – “the same one as Zach Braff” – she points out.

A self-proclaimed feminist, she is yet to declare her major, but says that majoring in global studies and minoring in gender studies is a possibility. It seems a logical choice, as she actively supports organizations including Planned Parenthood and Stand Up For Women. Olivia was involved in “Take Back The Night”, a march geared towards ending domestic violence.

She attributes her enthusiasm for activism to her mother, a “liberal atheist,” with whom she is very close. A few years ago they attended a Planned Parenthood rally together.

“My mom is the smartest person in the world,” Olivia says.

The two live together in Jersey where Olivia works as a waitress. “I’m dating my barista,” she says, grinning.

“I really didn’t want to live at home,” she admits, after her freshman year in dorms, but it didn’t make sense to rent a place with her mother living so close.

“My mum is newly single and I’m in college so its cool,” she says, explaining her parents recent split a year and a half ago. And it seems that Olivia has a way of making things work.

Aged seventeen she went to Barcelona for a month to learn Spanish, but upon arrival discovered the course had been cancelled. Despite being alone in a foreign country, Olivia decided to stay. She was by far the youngest, and one of few females in the hostel where she slept for the month. Befriending Australian and Dutch travelers who came and went, Olivia said it was one of the most important experiences of her life.

“After that, I feel like I can handle anything” she says, and who could have reason to doubt her?