Queens College student Mike Strianese and the children of Mitchells Plain, South Africa, bond over their shared love of skateboarding during Strianese\u2019s January 2012 study abroad trip. Undeterred by warnings about visiting the township\u2014which was described as \u201chorrible\u201d and gang-ridden\u2014Strianese instead chose to forge his own connections.<\/strong><\/p>\nOn the plane, Mike Strianese, who had never traveled that far or been alone for that long, realized with a gulp, \u201cI\u2019m going to Africa for a month. I don\u2019t know anybody.\u201d Longing to experience African culture, music, and art, when he realized there was a Winter Session option in South Africa, he knew it was for him. Back home in Oyster Bay, he affirmed, \u201cI had the time of my life. I learned more in that month than in 18 years of living.\u201d<\/p>\n
A sophomore English major, Strianese spent January in Cape Town absorbed in \u201cMemoirs of Life in South Africa.\u201d QC English associate professor Jason Tougaw taught this three-credit class on apartheid, its legacies, and postcolonial identities.\u00a0 During the first week, along with other QC\/CUNY students studying the \u201cHuman\u2013Primate Interface,\u201d he took a one-credit course on South Africa and stayed in a residence hall at the University of Cape Town.<\/p>\n
Strianese is not one to remain indoors for long. \u201cI love nature,\u201d he says. He appreciated the mountains, forests, and class field trips to preserves and other beautiful spots. With several other QC students, he made an \u201carduous\u201d hike up Table Mountain. Passionate about surfing, he took full advantage of the renowned beaches.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s one personal side trip forever imprinted on his mind. On the train to the \u201ccoloured\u201d township of Mitchells Plain, passengers urged Strianese to turn back, warning him of its reputation \u201cas a horrible place,\u201d rife with gangs. He stayed his course to skateboard with new friends with whom he had connected. Dubbed \u201cWhite Mike\u201d for being the first Caucasian to venture into the neighborhood, he says he met \u201csome of the nicest, most kind-hearted people\u201d there. Children flocked around, he recalls; adults got out of their cars to take pictures.<\/p>\n
Strianese finds it hard to believe that \u201cPeople make such crazy judgments on something as uncontrollable as skin color.\u201d Post-apartheid, South Africans \u201care doing a great job in regards to moving on,\u201d he noticed. \u201cIf you look for it, you\u2019ll find the leftover marks, but if you just go down there and open yourself up, you\u2019ll find the people have already transcended it.\u201d They haven\u2019t forgotten, he adds, but they are forgiving, as students learned not only through the readings but also by listening to firsthand accounts.<\/p>\n
Strianese envisions his future shimmering somewhere in the realms of teaching, therapy, charitable work, helping children, and creative writing (the latter \u201cif I\u2019m fortunate enough\u201d). He documented his South African experiences with his first digital camera. He is excited about this summer\u2019s road trip to British Columbia to \u201cWWOOF,\u201d that is, to help harvest crops through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. In the spirit of his troubadour side, he looks forward to many more journeys to harmonize his vacations, vocation, and avocations. As he enthusiastically advises fellow students, \u201cIf you have any inclination to study abroad, drop everything and just do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Music he likes:<\/strong><\/i> Folk, especially the group Beirut (\u201cthey have a great sound that anyone could enjoy\u201d), the Beatles, and indie bands, especially Real Estate and Broken Social Scene\u2014\u201canything that can make me dance and make the people around me dance, so we can groove together.\u201d<\/p>\nFavorite books:<\/strong><\/i> John Steinbeck\u2019s Of Mice and Men <\/i>and The Pearl<\/i>. He notes, \u201cWith every book, you pull a little something out of it.\u201d<\/p>\nLittle-known fact:<\/strong><\/i> He is adding accordion to his guitar and bass repertoire by practicing on the 1960 Gretsch that used to be his father\u2019s.<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Name: Mike StrianeseMajor: English Year: 2014From: North Massapequa, NYWhy QC: Heard great things about the college and its English Department. “If you have any inclination to study abroad, drop everything and just do it.”- Mike Strianese Student Profiles Alumni Profiles Faculty Profiles Staff ProfilesQueens College student Mike Strianese and the children of Mitchells Plain, South […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"page_category":[],"wf_page_folders":[137],"class_list":["post-752","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1988,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/752\/revisions\/1988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"page_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/page_category?post=752"},{"taxonomy":"wf_page_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/communications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_page_folders?post=752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}