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Cole Boyd
The Brooklyn College professors junior Cole Boyd is most excited about taking are the ones he has not even studied with yet. A political science major who recently switched from journalism, Boyd does have praise for his journalism professors. He learned a great deal from Professor Ron Howell, formerly a reporter for Newsday and the New York Daily News, and Adjunct Professor Harry Siegal, editor at The Daily Beast and host of the podcast FAQNYC. However, studying with Professor Gaston Alonso, a political science course on protest and revolution with adjunct professor Nicholas Reynolds, and another course on the "wonky politics of the United States" got Boyd rethinking his path of study. In fall 2018 Boyd switched his major to political science and is looking forward to the chance to study with professors Alex Vitale and Corey Robin. "I heard about them before I even came to Brooklyn," remarks Boyd, with excitement.
Cole Boyd came to Brooklyn College from upstate New York. He had always wanted to live in New York City since visiting cousins who lived here. He applied to all of the senior CUNY colleges, but felt the strongest attraction to Brooklyn College. He soon settled into college and New York City life and got a job for the Park Slope institution Cousin John's Bakery. Boyd did not work there as a server or baker, but rather offered his talent in construction and carpentry. Working for the bakery soon proved to be an excellent conduit to a very different career. As a journalism student and a reporter, Boyd had been hoping to interview Laurie A. Cumbo, councilperson for New York District 35, for a story. She did not reply to his phone calls, but he did get a chance to speak to her when she came in to Cousin John's to pick up a cake order. Boyd soon had the opportunity to write for the online publication, The Indypendent, during summer 2017. His reporting covered a range of topics from worker and tenant rights to public transportation.
On campus and reporting for the college paper the Excelsior, Boyd sought out Donald Trump supporters at Brooklyn College shortly after the 2016 presidential election. The topic of the media came up in his interview with a college sophomore, and came up again when Boyd himself was asked to comment on a ratchetting up of conversations about fake news and even more disturbingly recent attacks on journalists. Boyd does not see media as being totally blameless for the recent climate. He comments: "Americans have pretty good reasons to be frustrated with main network news. The networks are not without fault. They dropped the ball on Trump. They basically ignored the war in Yemen and everything else going on in the world and in the Mideast." Boyd goes on to say that he finds it "frustrating that he United States is refueling and resupplying a coalition [in Yemen] that is hitting school buses." Further, he credits his concerns about worldwide political crises with his decision to switch out of journalism and turn toward political science instead. "I wanted to be educated in something other than writing. I want to pursue organizing. I think it is a better way to effect change." Nonetheless, Boyd is grateful for his journalism classes with helping him to become a better writer.
Classes Boyd took in Arabic at Brooklyn College and a study abroad program at AMIDEAST have been key in launching him well beyond Brooklyn College into the wider world. AMIDEAST has centers in a number of Arab countries and primarily focuses on teaching English to the local population. Boyd spent the spring 2018 semester living with a host family in Amman, Jordan, and taking classes at the AMIDEAST center. These classes focused on the Arabic language, Jordan and its regional context, social policy, and community-based learning. The latter class covered history and politics and examined the nongovernmental organization (NGO) industry in Jordan. Boyd also did an internship with an NGO while in Amman and went on weekend excursions around the country.
After two semesters of learning formal Arabic at Brooklyn College and his four month stay in Jordan where he brushed up on the spoken languages, Boyd continues to study Arabic at Hunter College. He is also now learning an Egyptian dialect and continues to speak the dialect he learned in Amman when he stops at an Arab-owned corner store here in the United States. He also keeps up some of his language skills by texting in Arabic with a friend from his Arabic class at Brooklyn College. Boyd says his interest in Arabic came about from having grown up during the period of U.S. involvement in Iraq. He also found he was growing more political as he got older and knew that language skills would increase his access to more of the world's populations.
When Cole Boyd graduates, he wants to take off a year before attending graduate school. He expects his original major in journalism will serve him well. He hopes to work as a reporter, but most likely not in New York City. As something already of a world traveler, he says he would live anywhere. In fact, what would be best, he says, is to live in a place he knows nothing about and start from scratch. Ideally, this would be a place "where they have few reporters" and he could "be a watchdog for the community." The critical thinking skills he has picked up with his humanities and social sciences studies at Brooklyn College no doubt have prepared him well for the job.
Back to Critical Thinking — April 2019
