Author: Violet Doolittle

I sat down to write this entry on Thursday night, anticipating that I’d finish it on Friday afternoon before CPL’s viewing of the Lion King. That is, until three o’clock Friday, when I found myself standing outside Columbia Presbyterian’s Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP) facility. The hallway was my home that day– outside patient rooms, ER wings, lobbies, and CPEP. The hallway left many hours and much space to stand, stare, and think. I watched as patients and scrubs moved down their days. I thought about my friend behind the hallway– and I dreamed of a day where she wouldn’t …

I am a creative writing major. I am also pre-med. I’m often unsure when to add the latter– a necessity around my STEM peers who look at me and ask “then why the hell are you in organic chemistry II?” A fun fact in my English classes where my humanities peers ask, “then why the hell are you an English major?” But a fundamental aspect of my identity as a student. I’ve changed my interests many times. I still have too many hobbies for my own good and too many aspirations for my spare time, but I know I will …

This event came at the perfect time. This winter holiday, as I rewind from the chaos of the fall, I also begin the process of applying to volunteering opportunities, internships, and clinical experiences. I am in my third year, only three semesters away from graduating and applying to medical. As a premedical student, I spend so much of my time thinking about how every grade and every experience I build now will impact my chances of entering medical school. It’s a mindset that’s often draining when combined with the absurdly high standards I set for myself, but one that has …

Mother Smiling with her broken spine as we skipped along the cracks of  suburban cement sidewalks. Her sunlit knuckles and craters down the sides of her hips. “Where we once collided,” She whispered into our three soft rosy ears. “Took three chunks  of my flesh, bones, my eyes.” – We glued her googly eyes to  preschool posters on crispy blue  construction paper. They sung  With each of our steps. Danced circles around our juvenile delirium. We hung them on the fridge with bottle cap magnets and alphabet soup. – But jam coated pinkie fingers reaching for bottles of thick milk …

I’m a girl who’s had too many hobbies for her own good. I’d like to think my next best obsessions are the reason why I’ve changed my mind so many times about “what I want to be,” but I suppose that’s also just a part of growing up. I wanted to be an artist, a fashion designer, a writer, a teacher, a clinical psychologist, a physician’s assistant, and my latest and longest obsession: a doctor. Growing up, I heard the opposite of what you might expect from most parents: “don’t go to medical school.” From a young age, my dad …

At this event, Professor Cathy Davidson and Dr. Christina Katopodis discussed their book, “The New College Classroom–What the latest science of learning tells us about inspiring, effective, and inclusive teaching at the college level.” CUNY Grad Center Provost, Steve Everett, describes their book as “a step-by-step how-to for transformation” fostering students who serve as “the primary active agents of their own growth.” The responsibility for creating active learners not only lies in the students themselves but in the pedagogy of our classrooms and the work of our teachers. But why is this important? Cathy and Christina discuss how we must …