Graduation from Brooklyn College with M.F.A. in Creative Writing

Today, June 23, 1976, Richard Grayson graduated from Brooklyn College with the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.

Richard Grayson letter in The New York Times: "Sweet 'n Low"

Richard Grayson has a letter in the New York Times today (Sunday, December 14, 1975), about the ingredients of Sweet 'n Low.

Graduation from Richmond College/CUNY with M.A. in English

Today, August 31, 1975, Richard Grayson graduated from Richmond College (later The College of Staten Island), CUNY, with an M.A. in English.

New Writers publishes "Rampant Burping" by Richard Grayson in Volume II, Number 3

New Writers has published Richard Grayson's short story "Rampant Burping" in Volume II, Number 3.

New York Times Publishes Op-Ed Article by Linda Konner, "Owning Isn't Everything"

Today, Friday, April 5, 1974, The New York Times published Linda Konner's op-ed article, "Owning Isn't Everything."

Richmond Times publishes list of Richmond College student candidates, including Richard Grayson for Student Life Committee and University Student Senate

<

Today, Friday, October 26, 1973, the Richmond Times, the student newspaper of Richmond College, published a special student elections issue featuring the candidates in the student elections, including Richard Grayson, running for a seat on the Student Life Committee of the Faculty/-Student Assembly and as the representative to the City University University of New York University Student Senate.

Graduation from Brooklyn College with B.A. in Political Science

Today, June 5, 1973, Richard Grayson graduated magna cum laude from Brooklyn College with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.

Brooklyn College Kingsman publishes Richard Grayson's "Memoirs of a Miami 'Non-Delegate,'" his account of the 1972 Democratic National Convention

The Brooklyn College Kingsman today (Friday, September 15, 1972) featured Richard Grayson's "Memoirs of a Miami 'Non-Delegate,'" his account of experiences at the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach.

May 1971 leaflet calling for Brooklyn College students to rally at Union Square to protest CUNY budget cuts

Using Press-Type stencils, cut-and-paste from a Smith-Corona typewriter, and a mimeograph machine, we created a leaflet for Brooklyn College student government's Mugwump Party calling for BC students to attend a Union Square rally at noon on Thursday, May 8, 1971, to protest proposed budget cuts to the City University of New York by Mayor Lindsay.

Brooklyn College Kingsman publishes ad for The People's Peace Treaty between the U.S., South Viet Nam and North Viet Nam; signatories include Richard Grayson

Today, Friday, March 5, 1971, the Brooklyn College newspaper Kingsman published on page 4 an ad for The People's Peace Treaty between the U.S., South Viet Nam and North Viet Nam; signatories include Richard Grayson.

Richard Grayson reports in The Ol' Spigot on Brooklyn College Student Assembly meeting

The Ol' Spigot today (December 9, 1970) features a report by Richard Grayson on the latest meeting of the Brooklyn College Student Assembly, which voted to approve elections and allot $500 to the bail fund of Larry Sparks, an undergraduate and editor of Third World Edition, who was recently arrested for the attempted murder of a plainclothes policeman.

The Ol' Spigot features exclusive Seattle 8 Interview by Richard Grayson

The Ol' Spigot, the official newspaper of Brooklyn College's CLAS student government, today (Wednesday, December 2, 1970) features Richard Grayson conducting an exclusive interview with the Seattle 8's attorney. In this issue, Grayson also covers the latest Student Assembly meeting.

The Ol' Spigot features Richard Grayson report on Brooklyn College Office of Student Volunteer Resources

The Ol' Spigot, the official faucet of Brooklyn College CLAS student government, today (Friday, September 25, 1970) has a report by Richard Grayson on the creation of the Office of Student Volunteer Resources.

Richard Grayson reports in The Ol' Spigot: Brooklyn College Day Care Center Opens; Beset by Financial Difficulties

The Ol' Spigot today (Friday, September 18, 1970) features a lead story by Richard Grayson about the opening of the Brooklyn College day care center and its financial difficulties.

Letters to Richard Grayson from Brooklyn Congressmen Jack Murphy, Edna Kelly, Emanuel Celler, Bert Podell + Frank Brasco, 1966-1970

Here are letters we received after writing our Brooklyn Congressmen -- Jack Murphy, Edna Kelly, Emanuel Celler, Bert Podell and Frank Brasco -- between 1966 and 1970. (Click on each image a couple of times to see a larger version.)

First is a letter from Jack Murphy, who represented our district, which included all of Staten Island as well as a small slice of Brooklyn, back in the Great Society Congress of 1965-66. We were 14 years old and had written him about the work of the House Special Subcommittee to Investigate Power Failures after the November 1965 Northeast blackout. Murphy ended up in federal prison after the Abscam scandal.

Here is a letter we got in the summer of 1968 after asking Congresswoman Edna F. Kelly to support Eugene McCarthy for President at the August Chicago convention. She was an at-large delegate and mighty pissed at the party bosses because in the June primary, she'd lost her primary with Congressman Emanuel Celler. Reapportionment that created the majority-black district that elected Shirley Chisholm threw the two white members of the Brooklyn delegation into the same district. But Kelly was pretty conservative and supported Hubert Humphrey.

This is a letter we got from Congressman Manny Celler in September 1970, after we'd asked him to support our movement to draft former Attorney General Ramsey Clark as the 1972 Democratic Presidential nominee. Celler, who served in the House for 50 years and was chairman of the Judiciary Committee (and is largely responsible for the immigration act that led to vast changes in our country), was defeated by Liz Holtzman in the 1972 primary, in which we were working on the McGovern campaign. (In Summer in Brooklyn, we include our diary entry about talking to Holtzman in her Junction campaign headquarters the day after the primary.) Anyway, in 1970 Celler said he admired Ramsey Clark.

Here is a July 1968 letter from Congressman Bert Podell. We'd asked him, as we did Kelly, to support Gene McCarthy at the Chicago convention. Podell said he wasn't a delegate and gave us some blah blah blah. In 1974 Podell lost the primary to Steve Solarz, who recently passed away. The same year Podell was convicted of bribery, and like Jack Murphy, ended up in federal prison.

The last letter was from our district's congressman (the lines kept changing constantly, from one election to the next), Frank Brasco, in May 1970. We'd written to him about the war in Southeast Asia following the invasion of Cambodia and the Kent State killings. Brasco told us he was opposed to the war, and he wasn't all that liberal. He didn't run for re-election in 1974. Can you guess why? He was convicted for conspiracy to accept bribes from a reputed Mafia figure and served three months in federal prison.

As a teenager, we were pretty involved with politics and so we tended to write a lot of letters to future felons.

Why members of Congress all used blue typewriter ribbons in those days remains a mystery.