Author: Daniella Garcia (Page 4 of 5)

Standing tall like a statue at an outright 4 foot 11 inches, with long black hair like coal, and vast honey eyes that can tell the tell the future– would keep anyone wonder where I’m from.

They use to ask when I moved to the suburbs of Levittown, Long Island– they would ask all the time, “why do you talk like you do? why is your hair so dark?”.  Oh yes, someone else would be offended by such question. I mean where I’m from you would get the stank face like “Excuse me?” but I would entertain them. Would they know where Ecuador was on the map? or maybe if I told them Bushwick Brooklyn would they have a clue? You know Myrtle Avenue next to the M train line? I doubt it.

Where I’m from, you knew what time it was when you looked at the M train– “Next stop St. Nicholas Avenue, Watch out for the closing doors!” when you were having a conversations, “Wait, wait, the train is coming!” just give it a minute and continue about your ways. I felt bad for my grandmother because she was so used to the quite in Ecuador “Ya estoy cansada de este train, me voy pa mi casa” (“I am tired of that train, I can not wait to go to my house”)  she had one foot over here and one foot over there, it is like the best of both worlds next door from me.

Where I am from, You didn’t have to travel far to get the best of every world. A little bit of Puerto Rico with flags as part of their appeal, the Dominican’s dancing in the bodegas, the Haitis hanging out playing cards in from their apartment.

So why I talk how I do? and why I stand tall and proud? Sprinkled with flavor that I am just shaking around wherever I go, it is because where I’m from. I take proud and I carry it on my shelf.

The main idea of Professor Helman’s Article ‘In defense of the classroom” is basically everyone’s point of view how our old normal was taken advantage of and now it is gone. Paper books, hand outs, chalk boards, and basic face to face are now replaced with screens with links. As he describes “Namm 522, one of the older classroom at City tech was not glamorous” but it sure something that is missed the most. Being able to met all kinds of people from all over is now gone and teachers are greeted with black squares with names on them. Even though we are not together in a classroom I feel that we are doing this together online we should be closer because it is easier for us. Our phones are always charged and our laptops are always open. Building a online community is at the tip of our fingers– exchanging numbers, emails, and/or  social medias. My classmates for Psychology 101 made a group chat and we are always there to help, a lot of them say that no other class wants to do that but its great, I’ve met so many people in the time it took to type “@”.