Year: 2019
Photo Essay – Kendrick
Open in Google Docs, its glitched with how it looks currently
Mr. Poetic Justice
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g2JI-Zmi0MigHClpshNarLt_vtMD9gCGxjt6PSlviyc/edit?usp=sharing
REVISION J.COLE
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qxB6t5PM815wxtuYMN-sTfq-6Fwr6OiGhoktIkrraS4/edit
its not letting me paste the assignment on here. so theres the link.
Letter to Video Game Companies (Unit 4)
Dear Video Game companies,
Video games have been around since 1962. Majority of games today still run with the same formula of games as they were in the past. You have your super macho male protagonist while you have a super sexualized female character. This is a misrepresentation of how females actually are. Could it be a possibility that you guys know that they are misrepresented and are exploiting it to gain more money? Characters such as Lara Croft have been portrayed as having really large breasts. This has been the case until 2013’s Tomb Raider which portrayed Lara Croft as more of an average women compared to her portrayal in her earlier games such as Tomb Raider II (1996). This lack of representation of women have been ingrained into gaming culture for a long time, which has led to all sorts of harassments towards women in the gaming industry. As Chella Ramanan quotes “Society doesn’t see technical women enough so it’s assumed that they don’t exist and ‘technology isn’t something women do,” says Anne-Marie Imafidon, co-founder of Stemettes, a group offering free Stem workshops and events for young women”. This means that since the gaming industry is mostly focused around males, it discourages many women from trying to enter fields needed for gaming. I believe this is a great point because if I was a woman and I hopped onto a game and I get hit with responses like you’re bad because you’re a women, I would completely be discouraged in picking up that game and playing it again, let alone try to work in the game creating industry. This “welcoming” will definitely not encourage women in trying to be interested in a field where she’ll only be criticized because of her being a women. As a video game company, wouldn’t it be an interest to make a game that appeals to more people not just males? This could possibly increase revenue and get rid of the negative connotations of women. Another thing companies can do are encouraging more women to join fields that are more male dominated. From the quote I had earlier, Anne-Marie Imafidon is the co-founder of a group which offer free classes that involve Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Giving women access to these classes will encourage them to pursue a major related with video game creation and design. Dr.Richard Wilson found that “80% of the workforce is qualified to degree level or above, but the proportion of women studying subjects such as computer science or games programming courses is low”. Which would mean that not a lot of females have the opportunity to really contribute to the development of a game since there are so few women in computer science and other similar programs.
A potential solution to this is to try to have programs that encourage females to join programs related with gaming and this may further encourage more video game companies to hire female employees. They can then have them work on female leads for the game. This will give a better representation of females in video games. There are some great games that have female leads such as Mirror’s Edge and Uncharted:The Lost Legacy. If more companies made games like those two, then we can have more games with accurate representation of women. This will also reduce the harassment of women when they are playing games online. We can them finally break the cycle of always having a male protagonist that is super masculine and is always rescuing women who have really large breasts and butt. This is an outdated cycle that over sexualizes women and glorifies guys. I hope that any video game company that is reading this will be able to change and create more games that are similar to the ones I mentioned earlier.
From Erik Yan
Triggered
I’ve always wondered
What kind of mother I would be
Would I be strict?
Or would I be carefree?
I’ve always wondered
Would I love you to the moon and back?
Or will I be like my mom and dad
and lack
Certain qualities necessary to love a child?
Hmm.. nah, I never be that wild
Mom and Dad argued so much
When my sister and I came home from school
We never had much luck
I rarely seen them hug and kiss
They were just arguing mules
Days and years going of through this
I might as well have
Sunken myself into a deep abyss
Maybe I’ve said too much? Or maybe not
But you get the gist
In high school I got so many memories
Triggers and flashbacks of what used to be
And it made me act out
Not being the best student I that could be
Not pushing myself and seeing me at my best
My potential was there but I was just a mess
Hanging around the wrong crowd
Not caring about any consequence
But when I all came down,
I was on my own defense
I’ve always wondered
What kind of mother I would be
Would I be scared
because it’s all so new?
Would I be ecstatic after pushing you out
Enjoying my view?
A couple of my friends are new mothers
And sometimes I ask how it feels
They say it feels different than before
And sometimes they get the chills
One thing I do know
Is that you will be smart
You will not lack common sense
And you will have a heart
You are gonna look just like me
Beautiful eyes and curly hair
Oh, you never know the possibilities
Of what you and your siblings will look like
But one thing I do know
Is that you’ll definitely know how to ride a bike
Happiness was a facade
I still maintained decent grades
All thanks to God
When you want something
You’ll do anything to go after that dream
Nothing will stop you
No matter how hard it may seem
I know you will be a goal-getter
And no matter what
I will be there for the worse or the better
I’ve always wondered
What kind of mother I would be
I want to expand your intellect abundantly
I want to take you places I’ve never been
When I was I was five
Places in which it required you to dive
I want to be there for you
For every step that you take
I’d love you so much
Our bond would never break
What will you become when you grow up?
A doctor, lawyer, or nurse?
It really doesn’t matter
Because I will always put you first
And no matter what ever you become
I know you I won’t run you away from me
Because some things can’t be undone
I’m doing everything I can now
So you don’t have to worry
To you, that is my first vow
High school was complicated
I make some mistakes
I made friends with the wrong crowd
They were nothing but fakes
Mixed with peer pressure
I don’t regret anything in the past
It made me into the person I am today
While I’ll be in first, they’ll be in last
I wouldn’t change a thing
Just in case any one asked
I’ve always wondered
If my parents didn’t split
And I hadn’t been emotionally damaged
Would I have wanted to quit?
As a kid it was cute to act out
But as a teenager
That’s when really I had self-doubt
Could I really finish school?
Ditching classes and fighting
At the time, that’s what I thought was cool
You would be a smart little one
Yes, you would indeed
I believe that you will
Because we are of the same breed
You can do what you want willingly
And be of great success
You will be molded prolifically
And be nothing but the best
While handling grace with simplicity
You’ll be the complete opposite from the rest
Author’s note:
This poem is dedicated to my future child(ren). I include moments where I talk about what I went through as a child, as well as how it impacted me in the future. I explained that my parents did fail me in a way and I would never put that burden on my future children. This is a revision of Unit One, the educational essay. In said essay, I explained how my education and learning was impacted because my parents split when I was about six years old. In this poem, I am promising my future child or children that I won’t let history repeat itself.
The title “Triggered” was inspired by Jhené Aiko’s newest song “Triggered”. On May 7th, 2019, she took to Instagram her feelings on this song. To me, one of her themes is being free and letting all of her feelings out; which is exactly what I wanted to do. Not to mention, she is my favorite singer. I also named the poem “Triggered” because the moments with my parents were a gigantic trigger in my early educational years. It wasn’t easy, as a child, focusing on my school work with this occurrence in my life. This huge trigger bursted into smaller triggers, which is what I experienced throughout high school. By this, I am saying that the big trigger, my parents splitting, lead into smaller problems that expanded from the bigger one, such as cutting class, peer pressure, etc. This was my way of letting go and expressing myself.
Unit 2 (revision)
Brandon Ma
English Composition ll
Finding your own Identity
In the mid-1900s to late ’90s, there was little to no acceptance to individuals who identify as LGBTQ within their communities. Everyone has their own journey in what they want to achieve later in life, and should not be influenced by how others think and act. Here we are in 2019, there is more acceptable compared to the 1900s but it’s hard
for people coming out to society because they may we worried about their safety. People should be able to express themselves freely for who they are without the negative opinions of others that will make individuals feel discriminated.
According to the television show “I am Jazz”, originally a documentary
transitioning into a reality show. This reality show revolves around this transgender child who transitioned from male to female at a premature age. While the show main focus is on Jazz’s life, however, in reality, she is an advocate for transgender rights. This reality
show can target any range of audience who is curious to learn more about the life of a young transgender teen. For example, waking up every day and having gender defining parts of the body that does not associate with their brain. This is one of the many things that people who identify as transgender experience every day, wanted to change very
badly. When people who do not have access to services to support them mentally to combat these feelings will eventually develop symptoms that lead to depression, anxiety, etc. leading to suicide. When you tell your parents you’re transgender, they might think you’re going through a denial stage, especially if you’re very young. For example in Jazz’s situation, ”the moment she was able to speak, she told her parents that she
was transgender”. When telling her parents, two brothers and the rest of her family had everyone speechless. No one knew what to do with Jazz in her attempts to transition at a precocious age and wasn’t accepting at first. Jazz’s parents believed they had nurtured their child in a way that might’ve caused these expressions. While there are some researchers that say its the psychology, and can not be the possibility of these children brainwashed into thinking they are transgender. In my opinion, the individual
should be able to express themselves however they would like even if they are brainwashed as long as things are reversible because everyone should be able to be happy since everybody only lives once in this world. However, not everyone can be happy in this world, in a society that judges everyone in a negative attitude without being sensitive towards the individual.
Not everyone can take negative criticism and be calm about it. Jazz and her
mother decided to confront an anti-trans group that has been targeting their family. In this auditorium, the air was filled with intensity, one of the audience came forward and said: “what bathroom do you use”. Jazz responded with “I use the female bathroom because I am female” and the individual responded with “I believe it’s a sick thing basically”. This show how people are disgusted with what is happening in our society
because these questions weren’t supposed to contain his opinions. There should be boundaries that people should respect when it comes to difficult topics to discuss. These influences can change how a transgender person will come out because of intentional threats they may receive. Some people might ask, “when is it a good time to transition?” because the brain of an infant hasn’t matured to think logically. This controversial topic led to people believing, that these parents are trying to brainwash their child into doing something that changes their psychologically and physiologically.
From the beginning of Trump’s campaign, there has been an increase in violence in our society. Throughout Trump’s term, Trump’s administration has announced a plan to thin out the terms of the biological gender meaning there will be only male and females. This caused the LGBTQ community to question the future. This will be impactful to individuals meaning the removal of some LGBTQ centers that offer treatments
to their patients. People who may not want to be tied down to male or female will unable to express themselves. If the terminology was justified, people of the LGBTQ community would not be safe because of the existing violence against LGBTQ individuals. Any type of violence against an individual identified as LGBTQ would not be considered a hate crime meaning the crime is less severe. There are people who may
not express their identity freely because of the dangers that can be exposed to them. Another action that Trump has done, was everybody who identifies as transgender to resign from the military. This is impactful to individuals because their job is resigned and won’t be able to serve their country. However, according to the Independent, “The administration had also attempted to ban transgender individuals from serving in the US
military but was blocked by several federal judges and opposition from military leaders”(Sampathkumar). This shows Trump revisions into the regulations, however, it is not being enforced by every department of the military. Trump’s action of using his power isn’t being supportive of everyone but for his own advantages.
While not going too deep into my story, my journey is a little different from others. Growing up, my parents had thought I was going through a phase and ignored it. As time continued, my stress and depression had drastically increased until I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Having this feeling constantly come and go like a tide wave became unbearable as time continued. Another problem that I face was not having a consistent therapist that helped me. I always feared to tell my grandparents what I believed in and
worried about their reaction if I tell them. There is still tension with my parents because it is not an easy topic to talk about.
As we move into the future, there are still many people hiding their identity even today to their parents or friends in the fear of unacceptance. Now after Trump has proposed this new identification, people would have to be even more cautious because that shows how our society is moving forward today in our era. However, New York City is a great place to be in such as pushing the rights for a person to use a single-sex bathroom that aligns with their expressed gender identity. Everyone should be able to express themselves such as their gender identity and/or sexual orientation freely
without the negative opinions holding them back.
Works Cited
Green, Erica L., et al. “’Transgender’ Could Be Defined Out of Existence Under Trump
Administration.” The New York Times , The New York Times, 21 Oct. 2018,
www.nytimes.com/2018/10/21/us/politics/transgender-trump-administration-sex-de
finition.html.
Hobbs, Allegra. “Threat to Roll Back Trans Rights Sparks Action.” Am New York , Am
New York, 23 Oct. 2018,
www.amny.com/news/transgender-rights-nyc-trump-1.22354107.
Sampathkumar, Mythili New York @MythiliSk. “Trump Administration Considers
Elimination of Transgender Recognition.” The Independent , Independent Digital
News and Media, 21
Oct.2018,www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-tr
ansgender-rights-lgbtq-gender-identity-bathrooms-military-education-a8595131.ht
ml.
Stanley Desir 05/14/19
ENG 1121 Dr. Carrie Hall
GTFOH!
Gentrification is one of the many crucial issues in America today. It doesn’t get as much attention just like any other topic involving minorities. Before I was trying to reach political figures such as Mayor De Blasio and his office to try to solve this problem that’s a problem in the NYC Community. Then I thought to myself, they don’t even know what even goes on in the “hood”. Instead of going after the mayor or politicians, I feel as if we need to notify the ones that get affected by it the most because it’s up to us to change it. I live in a building that has been gentrified a lot in the past few years. Also my neighborhood is no stranger to the topic.
In my first interview, I decided to interview my neighbor, Ms. Linda. I wanted to know from her point of view how does the topic of gentrification makes her feel.
Interview #1 : Ms. Linda
Q: Hey Ms. Linda, How long have you been living here at our building?
A: Before you was born Stanley *starts to chuckle*
Q: How do you feel about gentrification?
A: Honestly Stanley, I feel gentrification is an excuse for them rich folks to kick us black folks out this building. Or buy our businesses so they can make their fancy coffee shops. We all pay rent. Did you know they evicted Mr Earl from upstairs for being a “nuisance” to other tenants in the building. It’s insane. And that condo across the street was made because of gentrification and it attracts a lot of upper class citizens. I feel like we cant have anything to ourselves. They always take everything from us.
Q: How can you think we can fix gentrification Ms. Linda?
A: Stanley what we need to do is stop letting them fancy suit guys finesse us for a check. We have to take pride in what we own. If we own a store or an apartment and someone tries to offer us a better position somewhere else, we have to say no. And if they try to kick us out our apartment, they need to give us proper proof and reason for it. I’m sorry for being emotional because it’s just sad seeing everything changing in Brooklyn.
I knew there was a reason I had not seen Mr Earl in a while. The landlord evicted him for no reason. Mr Earl was a peaceful man and did not disturb no one. The condo across the street is very nice. Also Brooklyn has a lot of gentrification because we have such a high mass of transportation options. I live across from the Q train to Manhattan is 20 minute train ride away. A lot of residents who live in Manhattan and work there move to my area because the rent is cheaper compared to Manhattan and they find easy train transportation to work. It’s a win win for them but a lost for us. I wanted my next interviewer to be someone who is not a minority. His name is Peter. Peter is Caucasian and lives on the other side of the building and has lived here with my parents way before I was born so I’m sure he has a lot to say about gentrification.
Interview #2 : Peter
Q: What’s going on Pete? Long time no see.
A: How’s it going Stan?, Yea its been a while, how can I help?
Q: I’m doing a assignment for my class on gentrification going on in our area. What are your thoughts on it?
A: To be honest, I like change in every aspect but when it comes to gentrification, it’s all wrong. I lived in Brooklyn my whole life. Always loved this building and a few years ago when I started seeing developmental changes in our neighborhood which attracted resident from the city to come and live here, it kind of annoyed me because a green piece of paper could change the aspect of everything. People would think as a white man I wouldn’t care but a majority of this building are filled with families from the Caribbean such as yours and it’s not right for you guys to be treated like this. Also, a lot of residents in this building who are on section 8/welfare stay here for free. The government funds their rent so the government at any point can relocate them somewhere else and let the upper class residents from Manhattan move in. That’s why gentrification really hits hard for Blacks and Latinos.
I really just learned something after that interview with Peter. I believe that it’s not our fault this happens but we play a specific role in it. I’m not going to lie a lot of people on welfare are very lazy and don’t feel like working to pay rent so the government pays it for them. I feel if we get off our let me excuse my french “Ass” and make an effort and get a job pay our rent they can’t relocate us nowhere. Like I said in the beginning it starts off with us and it ends with us. I hope after these two interviews our people can see what we have to do. With all the gentrification going on in my neighborhood there even trying to give the area a name. There calling it “Ditmas Park” so it could attract residents. I feel like they believe “Flatbush” is going to put the notion in buyers heads that it’s a dangerous area.
Here is a project there trying to develop a few blocks away from my home. The link to that article is attached right here. https://bklyner.com/development-boom-brings-hundreds-families-crowding-flatbushditmaskensington-map/
Above is a church a few blocks away that they want to demolish so they can make a nine story building filled with 76 apartments. The link to the article is attached right here. https://ny.curbed.com/2018/4/5/17202020/ditmas-park-church-demolition-cortelyou-road
Unit 4
New York College Of Technology
Haider Mahmood
May 14, 2019
Dr.Carrie Hall
NBA YOUNGBOY
Coming home after one of the worst days in your life. You experienced disloyalty for the first time from someone who you did everything for. You’re in so much shock that you feel like you’re about to break but you keep your composure. You feel like you can’t trust anyone anymore so you don’t even want to talk to anyone. You do the one thing that is in your comfort zone and that is listening to music. You grab your headphones and turn on the radio, the song playing talks about the exact way you are feeling right now. you look at your phone and see your favorite artist NBA YOUNGBOY and his new song Genie. NBA Youngboy’s real name is Kentrell Gaulden but his rap name stands for NEVER BROKE AGAIN YOUNGBOY, he was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The reason why I listen to his songs a lot is because it describes certain pain that most rappers don’t show
Kentrell starts of the song by saying “Too many problems (yeah) Thinking how I’m gone solve it (yeah)” and just this one line has gotten me already hooked. While listening to this song I was at a very rough point of my life. I had multiple problems where I addicted to a drug, couldn’t really trust any of my friends, lost a lot of money into repairing car that I accidently crashed. Its situations like these you never expect yourself to be in. Everyone is there through the good times when you have the drugs they’ll take it with you and tell you it’s not bad and when you get that new car they’ll be happy to get it as long as it benefits them and they will help you spend that money as long as you spend some on them too. No one is ready to help you with your problems and therefore I was stuck in life not knowing what was the solution. Scared to end this toxic relationship with my friends just because I’ve known these guys for my whole life.
Kentrell continues the song by saying “So much pain in my body (yeah) They selling lies and I bought it (yeah)”. Which has a general meaning which meant that my friends would saying they’re my bro and they have my back through any bad point of life but whenever I was there they were never there. One of the most important lines Kentrell says that is “I been giving all my love, tell me do you feel it”. Which describes my point of view of the friendship. I would do anything to make my friends happy. If I see that they wanted something that would make them happy I would get that thing no matter what I had to do. If I see that they need financial help I would reach into my pocket with no hesitation. Situations like these happened every day and all this love I was showing meant nothing and I was never getting any love but I don’t know why I was fine with that. Part of that is because I was blind to see the fact they were using me, I guess I never really believed people like that existed.
Kentrell continues by saying “They keep begging me to change. Talked to Future the other day and he say I need to change lanes (yeah)”. I remember when I started to talk to people about what happened they told me I need to change my life. Focus more on making legal money and focusing on school more so I can have a career. I need to put all this anger into changing my life and doing something positive and that exactly what I did. I started asking god for a better life from here on because I believe that’s one of the only people who will always want the best for me. Kentrell continues by saying “Said I changed on you, but I feel that you changed on me. I say my prayers and you gon’ sow just what you reap (yeah)”. This is an important line because although I never treated people in a bad way those who treat people in a bad way will get their punishment by karma. Kentrell ends the song by saying “Don’t tell me that you love me, if you ain’t going to die for me (oh). You can stay to fuck from round me.” Which overall means if you don’t value my life then stay away from me.
In conclusion NBA Youngboy (Kentrell) is a hip hop artist who writes songs explaining his pain. His song really described my emotions from a previous situation. Nba youngboy is one of the only rappers who doesn’t rap for money, he does it for his 5 kids .
Unit 4( Community Problems)
Pavel Nunez
5/15/19
Dr Carrie Hall
English 1121
Sexual Harassment in the MTA
For years, the MTA has been dealing with problems that people are unhappy about. To name a few are: Train Delays, Broken Signals, Smell on the stops, but one thing people don’t really is
Sexual Assault/ Sexual Misconduct. To begin Sexual Harassment /Sexual Misconduct of sexually harassing someone “because of that person’s sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation is prohibited on the MTA bus, subway and commuter railroad network. Improper sexual conduct can take many forms and anyone can be a victim of it or witness it. It can include misconduct involving the actual or threatened use of physical contact or force, including rape, assault, unwanted touching, and other forms of physical sexual misconduct. At other times, however, improper sexual conduct does not involve physical contact or force. Some examples of improper sexual conduct that does not include physical contact or force are verbal harassment, threats, intimidation, and peeping into or under a person’s clothing”(“Improper Sexual Conduct.” Mta.info, web.mta.info/sexual_misconduct/#misconduct.),so it’s not just physical, but also visually. So you get the idea based on the MTA’s version of defining this problem. But what do they do to tackle this, by far from what I’ve seen they only show a voice message that a ”crowded place is no excuse for an improper touch”. But they should really add more information like how to prevent it and what to do if it happens. Now I’m going to explain the following things that I think they should add based what Natasha Noman said but in simple terms Being able to contact the police while in the train in the middle of the journey to a stop with an aggressive or otherwise threatening person could stop an assault before it begins or actually send a photo of the offender and the location so the police would respond right away. Also I think the MTA should add cameras to its subway trains and having signs/posters that says that passengers they are being recorded so they won’t think about doing anything inappropriately or else they will get caught and receive punishments. But to cope with this, you should reach out for support because some people experienced depression,anxiety etc because they are too embarrassed to reach out on being sexually assaulted because they will probably think that it they are lying and that nobody will believe them which is not true at all. Just remember It’s not your fault. You may be feeling a lot of different emotions from what happened to you, but whatever you feel, know that what happened was not your fault at al. It was 100% their fault. Don’t blame yourself for anything you did or didn’t do because that it will only hurt you more mentally. Also lastly, Think about talking to the police. Sexual assault is a crime and you have the right to report it to the police and press charges against the person who has assaulted you— if you want to. You can call the police yourself or get someone you trust do it for you.. But the decision to call the police or not is yours to make, and not everyone decides calling the police is right for them, Alternatively, another solution is to please contact 1-800-656-4673.(It’s a real number)
Noman, Natasha. “After I Was Sexually Harassed on the Subway, I Came Up With 7 Simple Ways to Stop It.” Mic, 7 May 2019, www.mic.com/articles/120898/7-simple-ways-to-stop-sexual-harassment-on-the-nyc-subway.
“Improper Sexual Conduct.” Mta.info, web.mta.info/sexual_misconduct/#misconduct.
