A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Image by  Angela Yuriko Smith  from  Pixabay   Students witness more than bookings Alex Diaz-Granados Copy Editor Miami Vice it isn't, but criminal justice majors can actually ride in a Metro-Dade patrol car and observe officers as they follow their daily routine. These students will fill out evaluation reports, evaluating what they've seen and turn them in to their professors. Then the reports will be discussed in class. Not only do these student evaluators gain a first-hand look at police work, but they also receive $7 an hour. "Most people get their ideas of what law enforcement officers' work is supposedly like from such television shows as Hill Street Blues and Miami Vice, " said criminal justice professor Ron Stearns. He said people see real police officers when the media get hold of something they did wrong or a heroic act. "An average police officer's day is filled with unexciting duties that the cops on Miami Vice wou...

The author during his days as a journalism student at Miami-Dade Community College, South Campus (now Miami-Dade College, Kendall Campus) Photo Credit: Prof. Peter C. Townsend (Author's collection)  This article was originally published in the March 9, 1989 issue of Catalyst , Miami-Dade Community College, South Campus' student newspaper. It was the author's only Page One - Lead article during his four academic years on staff.  'Satanic Verses' cause students to examine rights Alex Diaz Granados Staff Writer Although British author Salman Rushdie's controversial novel The Satanic Verses has been pulled from most major bookstores' shelves after Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini sentenced the Indian-born writer to death, most students and faculty here say that the book should be available to the public.  Rushdie's novel is the target of violent protests not only in Pakistan and other Islamic countries but also in the United States. As a ...

Photo credit: Professor Peter C. Townsend, Miami Dade Community College Talent show spotlights gifted, unusual acts Catalyst, March 12, 1987 issue Alex Diaz-Granados Diversions Editor If you want to see some of the campus' "class" acts, then you don't want to miss the fifth annual talent show, today at 12:30 in Room 6120. According to Sonia Meistrell, program coordinator of arts, "There will be 12, maybe 13 acts which give us a variety of offerings. This year's show will be a combination of bands, solo singers, a magician and even a classical music act." And it's all students only. "In the past," Meistrell said, "a few faculty members would perform with a group of students, but this year the acts are being done exclusively by students." One of last year's students was Ira Sullivan, a member of Emerald City, which recently played campus. Meistrell said, "We have a few small details to take care of still...

© 1989 Putnam Reviewer's Note: I originally wrote this in August of 1989 for the Miami-Dade Community College - South Campus student newspaper, Catalyst.  Summer, that prime time for readers, may be over, but Tom Clancy's The Cardinal of the Kremlin, the third entry in the Jack Ryan series, is a spy novel for all seasons. Ryan, a CIA analyst introduced in Clancy's first novel, The Hunt for Red October, finds himself in a web of intrigue involving a highly placed "mole" - code-named Cardinal - in the Kremlin, a husband-and-wife CIA team stationed in Moscow, KGB surveillance teams, Afghan rebels and a race between American and Soviet scientists to develop a Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars" system. Although this sounds complex, Cardinal is fast-paced and engrossing. And although there's a lot of gadgetry involved, don't expect Ryan to give you James Bond-style heroics. As in his previous novels ( Red October, Red Storm Rising an...

The cover for the Strike Fleet computer game developed by Lucasfilm Games and Electronic Arts. I had the Apple II version, which had similar artwork. Note: Strike Fleet did not feature an Iowa- class battleship in gameplay. (C) 1987 Lucasfilm Games and Electronic Arts Test your skills on these new simulations  (Originally published in the April 20, 1989 issue of Catalyst ) Alex Diaz-Granados Spectrum Editor Since the advent of the personal computer over a decade ago, millions of PC owners have enjoyed the challenge of computer games and simulations. Although arcade-style programs such as Pac-Man and Galaxian are popular, most computer game aficionados prefer the more complicated "simulations that are increasing in realism, complexity and variety. Datasoft's The Hunt for Red October, based on Tom Clancy's 1984 best-selling novel, is a simulation of a Soviet Typhoon-class nuclear missile sub which is attempting to defect to the United States. Problem i...

Author's Note: This review first appeared in an issue of Catalyst, Miami-Dade Community College, South Campus' student newspaper in  November of 1986.  Star Trek IV - a treat you will enjoy this holiday season Alex Diaz-Granados Copy Editor Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, actor-director Leonard Nimoy's second entry in the continuing saga of Admiral Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest of the crew, is the best film of the series to date. It's a holiday present sure to please. The Voyage Home takes up the story three months after the rescue of Spock from the doomed Genesis planet. Self-exiled on Vulcan with his officers, Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) has saved his friend, but at great cost - his son is dead, his beloved Enterprise destroyed and his career is in jeopardy. Meanwhile, the Klingons are demanding the Federation Council extradite Kirk for his "crimes against galactic peace,"(if stopping a Klingon plot to take Genesis can be called ...