From left: Grace Lichtenstein Salant (’47) and Shirley Schieren Kafker in June 2010. “We met at CCNY and have been good friends for more than 70 years!” says article author Grace.
I read with interest Baruch College Alumni Magazine Spring/Summer 2013, especially the article entitled “The Reporter: Gone, Not Forgotten.” [Published from 1923 to 2002, The Reporter was the City College Downtown/Baruch newspaper by and for evening session students.]
I was one of the fortunate few privileged to be on The Reporter staff. I worked in production, helping get “the paper ready for bed.” Sometimes The Reporter production staff would be visited by leftover Ticker staffers [The Ticker was the newspaper by and for day session students and is still produced]. These students would gleefully boast that their issue was ready for the printer. We didn’t much appreciate their unfriendly input! With scissors, clippings, and glue in hand, we tried to ignore their presence.
To us, The Ticker staffers were “rich” day-session students who did not have the burden of a full-time day job and the responsibility of helping ease their family’s finances. They could graduate cum laude. We, if we did graduate (“if” is appropriate since we were limited to register for 6 credits per semester) would do so “cum mit tzuris” (a Yiddish expression meaning “hardly with trouble”).*
Hours later, when most peoples’ tomorrow had begun, our yesterday had not yet ended. We invaded the printer’s shop downtown on Barrow Street. After more hassling and upheavals, we left assured that the paper would come out fine. It always did!
The trip home to Brooklyn or The Bronx, when trains ran at their decelerated pace, was snooze time, rewind time to get us through the next 24 hours.
Extra! Extra! GIs Count on Receiving The Reporter
During World War II, we mailed more than 1,000 copies of The Reporter to our alumni serving in the military. After classes, two dedicated young ladies stayed until the wee hours of the morning to label, sort, and prepare the newspapers for mailing—a monumental job done with caring and love.
Those two dedicated students were Shirley Schieren (later Kafker) and me. The May 1944 issue of The Reporter ran an editorial describing our task with a plea for additional volunteers. Zero response.
Our Reporter Alumnae: An Update
Shirley Schieren left CCNY/Baruch, married Bill Kafker, and had two children (today both professionals). She is president of a Hadassah chapter and is active in the Brooklyn region. She is widowed and still works part time.
Grace Lichtenstein (’47) earned a BBA cum mit tzuris, married Phil Salant, and had five children (now all professionals). She was widowed early in their marriage and left with five young children and little means of support. She worked two full-time jobs simultaneously and kept the family together. The demanding work-school schedule of CCNY/Baruch was great training for that time and for meeting life’s challenges in general. She is active in many civic and charitable organizations and appeared on TV as “New Yorker of the Week” several years ago.
Through the years, Shirley and Grace have shared many life-cycle happenings, some wonderful, some less so. “We’re still here, each actively doing her own thing,” they say.
Their Life Wisdom: Hard work is rewarding, not ruinous.
*Note: The student population at Grace and Shirley’s time was predominantly children of Yiddish-speaking immigrants. Tony, one of the City College’s elevator operators, would accommodate us late-nighters with shouts of “Aruf! Aruf!” (Yiddish for “Up! Up!”).
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The Reporter, The Evening Session Student Newspaper: Gone, Not Forgotten