Samuel Lieberman ’14

Graduated in 2015 from CUNY Graduate School of Journalism with a MA in Journalism. After working as a freelance documentary producer in Hudson, NY Samuel is now pursuing an MA in History at CUNY.

While in graduate school, I freelanced for various publications (including VICE and The Atlantic), writing longer form articles, making short videos, and trying to break into the jungle of media-making. Whatever eye I have for understanding how cultural forces work, finding universal themes in stories, and recognizing telling details — I owe it to studying Anthropology at Purchase. I recently wrote a story for Vice about the railfan community (people who are obsessed with the NYC subway system). I would not have been able to really dig into what threatened their sense of self if not for learning, as an Anthro student, about how communities construct an imagined authenticity.

Being an undergrad is about learning to think. The best storytellers are those that can make the best connections. If I hadn’t spent my undergraduate career thinking about how meth-making relates to capitalism and how cat cafés can represent post-economic bubble alienation in Japan, I would not be able to make the connections to tell a good story. Look at your Facebook feed. Everyone fancies themselves a low-level social scientist. Get the thinking, listening and looking skills while you are in an environment where that is all you have to worry about!

See Samuel’s recent work for VICE and The Atlantic.