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Teach for America alums recall ‘trial by fire’ of first days in class

By Zahrea Smith

Dudley, NC

For the first few weeks that Luke Goodwin was teaching for Teach for America, he felt unprepared.

Goodwin, 32, a Princeton alumnus, said the only teaching experience he had was a “bootcamp” given by the national program.

“The first weeks were trial by fire,” he said of teaching history at Felisa Rincon De Gautier Institute for Law and Public Policy in Bronx, New York. “The students were skeptical. I had just graduated and was teaching a couple of 21-year-olds.”

Despite recent controversies surrounding the Teach for America program, such as claims that it’s a resume builder and allegations that TFA teachers are replacing current staff at the schools they serve, two recent participants, including Goodwin, said the program was a positive experience.

Teach for America is a national teaching organization founded in 1989 by Princeton University graduate Wendy Kopp. Frequently dubbed TFA, it’s a program in which students of select colleges or universities can be deployed to underserved and underemployed schools to teach for two years. As a result of the program, Goodwin said he was even inspired to get a Master’s degree in education.

Another participant, Dylan Ackerman, 26, worked at a high school called Mariana Bracetti Academy in Philadelphia, Pa. teaching environmental sciences. Ackerman also coached a sports team at the academy.

Ackerman applied for the program early in his junior year at Princeton and was able to prepare for teaching the next summer. Like most TFA teachers, he completed a five-week training course to prepare for the school year.

“People in TFA being underprepared is neither right or wrong,” he said. “You’re not prepared until you’re in the classroom. We’re as good if not better than other teachers. No teacher is completely ready.”

TFA has more resources, and they make sure their teachers understand the community they’re going to be teaching in beforehand, Ackerman said. “You can’t serve your students adequately if you have no knowledge about underserved kids,” Dylan added.

Another controversial issue surrounding TFA is that there’s sometimes friction between teachers with four-year degrees and TFA teachers. Ackerman said that there are misconceptions surrounding the program, namely that TFA makes it so teachers with four-year degrees get replaced.

“Those who were laid off weren’t replaced by TFA teachers,” Ackerman said. “Once people actually learn something about the program that’s truthful, they think it’s a good program.”

Goodwin, a history major, learned about the program through a TFA recruiter his senior year of college. He said his first semester teaching was “rocky.”

“I feel bad for my first semester students, I was so inexperienced,” he said.

After the first few months, he said he gained a significant amount of confidence which helped his teaching.

Goodwin said that TFA is an organization with the goal of promoting social justice. He said his colleagues at school weren’t dismissive of him, but rather “warm.”

“I wish I could’ve partnered with some of them,” he said.

When asked about the controversies surrounding the program, Goodwin said he felt too disconnected to give accurate feedback.

Instead, Goodwin complimented the program and said that TFA makes sure that grades say something meaningful.

Pappas blasts judicial system in first press conference

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By Annie Phun

Los Angeles, CA

Anthony Pappas, a candidate for Congress, began a press conference on Wednesday with a hypothetical. All the journalists in the room, he said, had been sterilized the second they walked through the door. As he explained sterilization, he wrote a few key terms on the whiteboard behind him: “tubal ligation,” “fallopian tubes,” and “testicles.”

It only got stranger from there.

Pappas is a Republican running against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York’s 14th Congressional District. Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic Socialist who advocates for free college and other socialist ideas, gained massive attention when she beat out 10-term Representative Joe Crowley in July’s Democratic primary. Her chances of winning are high, with the ratio of the 14th district being six-to-one Democrats to Republicans.

Meanwhile, her opponent, a 70-year-old economics professor at St. John’s University, is basically unknown. Local newspapers such as the New York Post have attempted to question the Republican party on Pappas’ campaign, but the GOP has refused to issue a comment.

Pappas, dressed in a button up, sneakers, and khaki pants with holes in them, didn’t focus on Ocasio-Cortez during his press conference, which lasted more than an hour. Instead he discussed the controversial Supreme Court case of Stump v. Sparkman, which expanded the principle of judicial immunity.

“We are being ruled by a judicial dictatorship,” Pappas said.

He spoke at length about the Supreme Court case, which centered on a district judge’s role in approving an involuntary sterilization for a minor. Growing emotional, he described the woman’s inability to have a child and pulled a pink towel from his bag to mourn the loss of the woman’s metaphorical baby.

The candidate said that he too had been a “victim of the judicial court system.” During his divorce proceedings, his ex-wife accused him of domestic abuse, which he said resulted in the freezing of his accounts. When asked about the alleged domestic abuse, he grew defensive, stating that the judge “hallucinated that [he] committed a major crime.” He claimed that there is a trend of judges “taking advantage of their power,” ruling in favor of the wrong party simply because they can.

“When politicians tell you no one is above the law, they are lying. Information is being suppressed,” Pappas said. “There are good people in each profession, and there are bad people. We should have a system to hold the bad people accountable.”

Pappas also answered questions about policy and his opponent, but he was most eager to discuss his divorce and his proposed reforms to the judiciary.

At one point, Pappas was asked how many press conferences he had done before this one.

“None,” he said.

Small World forges community around coffee

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By Ronell Austin Jr.

Detroit, MI

On the outside of Small World Coffee on Witherspoon Street in Princeton, mint green paint creates a safe haven for customers. Inside, between walls of red brick and shiny wood, calming music plays while patrons sip coffee, eat cookies, and type away on their computers. Despite its status as one of Princeton’s most popular coffee shops, Small World feels like less of a business and more like a community.

That’s exactly what founders Brant Cosaboom and Jessica Durrie intended when they started the cafe, which has two locations in Princeton, general manager Vincent Jule said. On a bulletin board inside the shop, employees post photos of people wearing Small World Coffee merchandise at places around the world, like the Eiffel Tower.

That sense of community is cultivated by Small World’s employees. Jule, 39, started working at Small World in early 2001 when his friends helped him get a job. He has worked at the coffee shop because he feels welcome, and he likes how the business runs. Jule, who even met his wife at Small World, appreciates how Princeton embraces its local coffee shop. “The pride of feeling like you’re a part of something is something that has been a part of Small World from the beginning,” he said.

Another employee, 34-year-old Alexis Lucena, feels a sense of belonging at Small World. “[It’s] really fun because it’s fast-paced,” she said. “It’s about team and family, and being a part of tradition.”

Though there is a Starbucks nearby, Jule believes people choose his cafe because of the community’s support for smaller businesses. “There’s a loyalty there,” he said. “They’re welcomed and appreciated.”

Even the ordering process at Small World is done in a more traditional way. At big chain coffee shops, employees often type orders into a computer. But at Small World, employees still talk directly to each other. When customers order at the register, the cashier calls it out to a barista nearby.

But Small World also stands out for its signature product: coffee. The cafe uses Arabica and Robusta beans sourced from all over the world. Small World also offers a variety of food options, including sandwiches, vegan cookies, and gluten-free desserts. Management tries to avoid copying the competition. “We don’t necessarily respond to trends because the philosophy of the coffee is what’s important,” Jule said. “It’s better to perfect what works instead of expanding on new trends.”

Customers appreciate the sense of connectedness they feel at Small World. Rick Flagg, 56, from Princeton, said the cafe offers a “great environment.” The shop’s charm also draws customers from beyond Princeton. Visiting from Washington, D.C., Patrick Caldwell, 32, chose to have his coffee at Small World over other options. The atmosphere at a place like Starbucks, he believes, is generic—especially compared to the “positive energy” of a safe haven like Small World.

“People are mirrors,” Jule said. “What you put out to people are what you are going to get back.”

The intimacy of Small World

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By Adilene Sandoval

Mattawa, WA

The story begins with two people living in different parts of the world, who shared a desire to create a small place that brought their community together. Jessica Durrie grew up in Rome, Sao Paulo, and Melbourne. Brant Cossaboom spent his youth in Spain and Korea. After meeting while working at an espresso shop in Ann Arbor, Mich., the two strangers fell in love and moved to Princeton. There, they opened their very own cafe near campus, which they named Small World.

People often say “it’s a small world” when describing an unexpected encounter, or when they find something that connects them to other people. Small World Coffee has both. Inside the cafe on Witherspoon Street, conversations blend in with the calm soothing music, while orders are taken. On one wall, the phrase “Small World Around The World” is encircled by photos from people wearing cafe T-shirts in various exotic destinations. When a customer walked in on a Monday afternoon, general manager Vincent Jule greeted her by saying, “Hey, it’s you again.”

The cafe is well known for its philosophy, which spreads in a simple, genuine form—through its own customers—attracting people from all over the world. “Making people feel good, that’s advertising for us,’’ Jule said, in reference to the shop’s advertising tactics. “It’s a welcoming environment for everyone.” People enter to pause their busy lives and enjoy one of life’s simple things—coffee.

The look of the cafe has changed since it was founded in 1993, but Jule said Small World’s philosophy has stayed the same: First, provide people with a cup of coffee. Then, influence their lives. He encourages his employees to be genuine with customers, project positive vibes, and remember the regulars’ names—and their orders. According Alexis Lucena, who has worked at Small World for the past four years, the job is all about starting peoples’ days off right. “We have more in common than we think,” Lucena said.

“It makes me the happiest when people who have moved away come back,” Jule said. He explained that people are drawn back not only by coffee, but also because Small World remembers them, and people like being remembered. Today, Small World stands as a reminder that it is indeed a small world after all.

Nominee seen as threat to abortion rights

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By Myrna Moreno

Phoenix, AZ

After Anthony Kennedy announced in June that he was retiring from the Supreme Court, President Donald Trump made good on his promise to appoint a justice who would uphold conservative values, nominating D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

Republicans are thrilled with the opportunity to appoint another conservative justice to the highest court; Democrats, meanwhile, are fearful that Kennedy’s replacement would lean further to the right. But Princeton University politics professors Charles Cameron and Keith Whittington say they do not expect much to change with Kavanaugh on the court.

“The shift in the median is very tiny,” Cameron said. Like four other justices on the court, Kavanaugh is a conservative, originalist judge. Whittington agreed: Observers should not expect huge changes, he said, because the court is exchanging a conservative for another conservative.

Although Kennedy was appointed by a Republican president, he sometimes diverged from the court’s conservative wing, becoming a crucial swing vote. He voted with liberal justices on cases about gay rights, abortion, the death penalty and affirmative action.

Kavanaugh, 53, is more reliably conservative, which means that there will likely be more conservative court decisions. Liberals fear his confirmation could change the balance of the court—tilting it even further to the right—for a generation.

But Whittington said things won’t change too much. Kavanaugh, he said, is very careful with cases that are very controversial, taking “small steps rather than big steps.”

Because conservatives will continue to dominate the Supreme Court, abortion-rights supporters are concerned that Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that cemented a woman’s right to get an abortion, might be overturned. Both Cameron and Whittington predict the court will never completely overturn Roe v. Wade, but they both concede the conservative justices could chip away at abortion rights in other ways. Cameron believes that the court might allow greater restrictions on abortion, while Whittington said the justices could undermine the ruling by “nibbling away on the margins.”

Ultimately, Cameron said he doesn’t “think Trump gives a damn about the Supreme Court,” crediting the Federalist Society, which grooms reliably conservative judges and pushes for their installation on the court, with his selection.

Cameron said Kavanaugh is thoughtful, humorous, and articulate. But politically, his appointment fulfills a major conservative priority.

“Kavanaugh,” he said, “is the perfect candidate for Republicans.”

Small World wins fans with each sip

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By Christina Maldonado

Gallup, NM

The cool air inside Small World Coffee invites Princeton locals and visitors into a different world.

The outside walls and a small portion of the entrance is mint green, sandwiched between brown brick walls. The menu is not displayed on television screens, but rather on a black chalkboard with round letters and small doodles of coffee cups. The left side has a bulletin board with posters pinned up for various community events, while T-shirts hang on one wall. The area is filled with people sitting and holding engaged conversations.

General manager Vincent Jule, 39, first started working at the Small World Coffee on Witherspoon Street in 2001. In college, Jule saw the cafe as just a “good job to pay the bills,” but it soon became a core part of his life. Jule knew the previous owners, Jessica Durrie and her husband Brant Cossaboom, so he feels committed to carry on the native atmosphere of the cafe, which opened in 1993.

Jule is invested not only with the business model of the cafe, but also the ethics. Small World tries to pay its employees well, offering a rate significantly above minimum wage, plus vacation time. The team has become invested in the lives of their customers, and a place where people routinely start their day.

Alexis Lucena, a Small World barista, sat on a small brown bench on the right side of the main Small World entrance. Lucena, who will celebrate her fourth anniversary on the job next week, describes her job as “fast-paced” and “fun.” To Lucena, Small World provides a sense of teamwork, family and community. Customers keep coming back because they’ve made memories in the cafe.

Back inside, the majority of customers are having conversations among each other, it’s thunderous from the talking. Footsteps echo through the space, baristas shout orders, customers talk over one another, and the entrance swings open and closed. Austin Hounsel, 23 and a grad student at Princeton who is originally from Texas, is sitting near the stairs with his laptop out. Hounsel said he comes to Small World “seven days a week.” He said the cafe is a cozy environment, so it’s a great place for both being with friends and getting work done.

The cafe has pictures on the wall with the caption, “small world around the world.” The exhibit shows photos of customers wearing Small World T-shirts in front of buildings and monuments all around the world. Customers who bring in a photo earn a free coffee. Yet the people in the pictures all return to this cafe in Princeton because the environment is warm and, in the words of one regular quoted on the wall, “You made me feel like I never left.”

Trump picks Kavanaugh, conservative favorite

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By Evelyn Moradian

Glendale, CA

The nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court by President Donald Trump looks like another major victory for the right. If confirmed, Kavanaugh could dramatically affect how the court rules on contentious issues such as abortion, religious liberty, and separation of powers.

During his campaign, Trump promised to nominate conservative judges, and he delivered last year with Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. After swing vote Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement in June, Trump again narrowed his list of possible nominees to several strong conservatives before choosing Kavanaugh, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Charles Cameron, a Princeton University professor of politics and public affairs, said he doesn’t “think Trump gives a damn about the Supreme Court,” but he believes Kavanaugh is the “perfect” Republican candidate, fulfilling everything the party desires. From abortion to labor unions, Kavanaugh’s views are in line with mainstream conservatism. Cameron chalks up Trump’s selection of Kavanaugh to the Federalist Society, an organization of conservative lawyers, judges, and scholars that has helped Republicans staff the judiciary.

Cameron believes Kavanaugh will be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate barring a scandal—a “smoking gun” that discredits the judge. Likewise, Princeton professor Keith Whittington said he’d be “shocked” if Kavanaugh is not confirmed. Whittington, a conservative who opposed Trump in 2016, found Kavanaugh’s nomination to be a “pleasant surprise,” though he doesn’t believe Kavanaugh will significantly change the direction of the Supreme Court. Despite Whittington’s skepticism of Trump’s commitment to conservatism during the campaign, the professor supports Trump’s handling of judicial nominations.

If Kavanaugh is confirmed, Democrats fear that the Supreme Court will reverse several important decisions—notably Roe v. Wade, which established a woman’s right to an abortion. But both professors argued that the Supreme Court will not overturn that decision outright. Rather, Whittington believes that the court will instead limit abortion by “nibbling away on the margins,” while Cameron said the court will let “the exceptions to the rule destroy the rule.” In other words, although the case may not be overturned, it can be stripped to the point of nothingness.

Roe isn’t the only precedent at risk. Kavanaugh’s nomination could also change how the court approaches presidential power, voting rights, labor, and a host of other issues. But while the nomination fight over Kavanaugh will be heated, Cameron believes it’s only part of a larger picture of polarization.

President draws mixed reviews

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By Oswaldo Vazquez and Matea Toolie

Los Angeles, CA and Savoonga, AK

A crowded night in Princeton served as the perfect setting to gather diverse perspectives on one of the most talked-about Americans today: President Donald Trump. On August 3, reporters from The Princeton Summer Journal asked Princeton residents to name one positive and one negative thing about the president. Some were enthusiastic to give their thoughts, others were uninterested—and their opinions varied.

“Trump is ruining the country. He is an embarrassment,” said Chris Michie when asked his views about the president. Michie, a middle-aged Democrat, thinks that the president’s current policies are “destroying decades of hard work from his predecessors. … He has no respect for the people and is a liar.” When asked if he could identify a positive aspect of Trump, he answered with an emphatic, “no!”

Cornelia O’Grady, a former Republican who no longer supports any party, said she did not quite like Trump, but she appreciated his ability to unite people. She said that Trump “is bringing people together—the people who would not normally be together. He unifies the middle.” She is concerned, however, about the president’s financial conflicts and the corruption in his administration. “He is making money off this country,” she said. “There is evidence that he is selling us out to the Russians. An example of that would be the cyber attacks” on Democrats.

It wasn’t just Americans who had opinions about the president. “He is brave for being a 70-year-old man. Probably one thing I like,” said Cici Zhan, who was visiting from China.

Perplexed, indifferent, or annoyed by the journalists’ questions—or perhaps a combination of all three—a man named Rene Saiguro said frankly: “I don’t know about the politics today. I don’t think anything of it.” As soon as the interview was done, Saiguro was on his way.

Rob and Kristen Holly, two registered Republicans, had positive things to say about Trump. Both commented on the “brave and fearless speeches” the president has given to the public since the start of his political campaign. The couple still had some concerns. “I wish he was not socially awkward. I would like to see a more eloquent president,” said Rob Holly.

The Hollys ultimately agreed that Trump still has a long way to go to become the “ideal president,” further criticizing his colleagues in the White House who don’t have the political experience to run the country properly.

Affirmative action debate requires nuance

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By Jessica Fan

Oakland, CA

This fall, millions of seniors across the country will decide which colleges to apply to and await the letters that will decide their fate. However, for some students, college-related stress goes beyond just SAT scores and GPA.

One of the biggest stories this application season is the affirmative action controversy at Harvard College over Asian-American students. The college has been accused in a lawsuit of incorporating anti-Asian policies, and court proceedings are due to begin in October. In response to the accusations, Harvard has accused the organizers of the lawsuit, the Students for Fair Admissions, of being complicit in an effort to repeal affirmative action altogether.

Whether or not the allegations against Harvard are true, Asian-American students are right to be concerned about admissions policies. As an Asian-American who comes from a low-income background, I believe that affirmative action policies are important. But when it comes to college admissions, we need to treat racial categories with greater nuance.

Affirmative action policies that benefit students of color facilitate more diverse educational experiences for everyone and ensure that voices that have long been buried by elitist admission processes can finally be seen and heard. Higher education is the foundation of a successful career, and communities of color—especially Black and Latino communities —have historically been denied that opportunity. Affirmative action provides people of color with a fair chance at education.

One of the biggest problems with affirmative action policies, though, is the broad grouping of Asian-Americans. Within the Asian diaspora, there are different cultures and ethnicities that lead to very distinct experiences. You can’t compare the experiences of a third-generation Japanese-American whose family lived through internment camps to a first-generation Filipino immigrant who graduated almost illiterate in an underfunded school.

Disappointingly, the focus of the affirmative action debate has been dominated by the voices of wealthy Asian-Americans. Groups like The Orange Club, which was founded in Irvine, Calif., by a group of Chinese-Americans, rally the support of their community behind one single goal: to end affirmative action. The often-fractured community is banding together for the chance to support local Republican candidates who vow to overturn affirmative action. They fail to recognize the obstacles faced by non-Asian minority groups, and they fail at addressing the systemic problems within other parts of the Asian community—such as the extremely low graduation rate among low-income Filipino high school students or the large number of under-resourced schools in California with high populations of Asian students.

But wealthy Asians are not the only ones at fault in this situation. Institutional supporters of affirmative action need to take into account a broad range of diversity, and devise new ways to ensure that their policies are upheld within the Asian community, perhaps going so far as to dissolve the “Asian” category altogether in favor for a more complex breakdown of what it means to be Asian.

Trump finds few fans in Princeton

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By Ikra Islam

Brooklyn, NY

President Trump’s name is so intertwined with controversy that even in largely liberal Princeton, few are willing to attach their names to a statement about him. But on a recent Friday evening, several residents felt the need to vocalize their frustration with the president and his policies.

Cynthia Parker, a Princeton local, said Trump’s choice to appoint Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court last year pushed her to become more vocal and politically active. Before the election, she rarely paid attention to local politics—but that changed when the reality of Trump’s victory set in.

At first, it was hard for Parker to accept Trump as her president. Parker recalled she would exercise during the 2016 election to distract herself from the news. She continued to exercise to distract herself after Trump took office, swimming an extra hour every day, but she also started channeling her energy into activism.

Parker and a group of friends wrote a letter to Vice President Mike Pence, like them a graduate of Hanover College. The group voiced their concerns about Trump’s rhetoric and accused him of failing to empathize with the concerns of Americans. They also criticized the selection of Gorsuch as a Supreme Court justice. After sending the letter, she began attending rallies and protests, demonstrating against the administration’s policies and championing local politicians she hopes will help bring change.

Unlike Parker, Rajesh Shah, an IT engineer from Mumbai, India, sees some positive in Trump. “He’s bringing back jobs by lowering taxes, which is not a solution, but it definitely seems to be helping,” he said.

But Shah is also critical of the administration. Shah disagrees with Trump’s emphasis on coal, arguing that trying to revive the coal industry doesn’t make sense. He believes America needs to become more fuel efficient, though he also said the government should take care of coal miners who might lose work as the American economy continues to evolve.

Jennifer Robinson, a librarian at Princeton Library, is particularly distraught by President Trump’s immigration policies. She’s concerned that the legacy of his administration—the damage, in her view—will long outlive his presidency.

“I know it’s temporary,” she said. “But it breaks my heart because it’s going to be years before his influence is gone.”