Category: Uncategorized

Dear MTA Board Members,

For starters, I would like to thank you all for what you’re doing for public transportation and allowing there to even be an alternative for people to commute. But it’s honestly not enough. As a train rider, I’m speaking on behalf of myself and other passengers I witness who are also fed up with the MTA when I say that train delays have become major issues. Train delays take place during any time the subways are in service. They last from as short as five minutes to as long as forty five minutes based on my experiences. But I’m pretty sure that others have experienced worse. During service hours when a train all of a sudden stops moving, most people boarding the train start sucking their teeth or shaking their heads right before the conductor states, “we’re experiencing delays due to signal malfunctions, we’ll be moving shortly, thank you for your patience.” Do we really end up moving shortly though? No. Sometimes we do but often times we don’t and that is not okay. There is nothing more disappointing than hearing that the train is delayed when you have somewhere you really need to be. It also annoys some passengers that the MTA never explains what signal failures are, why they go wrong, and things that can be done to avoid them. They just stop the train, give an excuse about signals, and expect passengers to comply with it.

I did some research of my own and found out that just like roads, railways have signals which are traffic light devices that inform train drivers if it’s safe to proceed. Signals are positioned at the beginning of each track divided into sections to ensure that trains don’t collide. In a particular section, only one train should be in service. Sometimes these signals breakdown and the signal turns red causing train drivers to stop driving. Signals turn red because of problems with track circuits and axle counters. If anything goes wrong with these devices, its not safe for a train to proceed. And if one train doesn’t proceed, it will hold up the train behind it which will cause train traffic. These devices fail because the proper maintenance that tracks need to function efficiently is not being provided enough. On top of that, the subway uses the same century old technology, more specifically signaling system that was installed years ago. If passengers have to deal with the annoyance of train delays due to signal problems, they should at least know the reasons why these signals fail. The way the system operates hasn’t appropriately changed since it’s establishment. This results in trains being held in stations longer than intended. And if trains don’t proceed on their proper schedules, things could get hectic really quickly. Things such as electrical supply faults, track circuit failures, broken rail joints, blow signal lamps, or train stop faults which are referred to as these signal problems could all be prevented if more track work gets done.

As a suggestion, meetings should be held with railway engineers discussing steps that need to be taken to ensure that proper track maintenance takes place and engineers that actually live within the borough they work for should be the ones being hired. This way they can get to their job destinations quicker and develop solutions to technical problems quicker. New products to enhance track duration should also be open for discussion and development. Rumor has it that the subway fare is going up soon, if this is true people shouldn’t have to pay more for commutes that are twice as long than usual. It’s just simply unfair! Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Ife Ajayi

So far for unit three, I’ve gathered a lot of research on a specific community problem that involves the MTA. To be specific, I found useful information that discusses why trains get delayed and how this problem could possibly be avoided. In my research, I came to a conclusion that signal malfunctions are a huge cause for train delays. With this information, I’ve decided to write an open letter to the board members of the MTA which will go more in depth regarding signal malfunctions and it’s affect on commutes. For better understanding, I read examples of letters written with similar issues so that I could have an idea of what to include in the letter. I started off the letter very briefly and to the point so the members could know that what they’re about to read is serious. Although I struggled with figuring out if I should include some information in the beginning of the letter or not I managed to make a list of what I wanted to include in the beginning, middle, and end of the letter eventually. This allowed me to see where information would sound the most appropriate in terms of the topic I chose. Even though I created this list, I still might have difficulty knowing what to add and what not to add in the letter. For example, I don’t want to be repetitive but maybe that’s what the board needs to see to actually realize that change needs to happen. On the other hand, maybe that’s just what the boards needs to see to not want to read anymore and throw the letter out. I wouldn’t know. But if it was me, I wouldn’t want to read something too repetitive so I’ve decided to add information from the beginning of the letter to the end but in different words. Lastly, for the conclusion of the letter, I’ve also decided to write mainly about the steps that could lead to solutions which for starters involves writing the letter to the board members. I’m not too sure if most of the information I found are steps to solutions or just simply solutions. Most of it just seems like possible solutions. This isn’t too much of a difficulty but it could become confusing because I’m not sure if were supposed to add steps to solutions as well as the solutions or just the steps.

Q1- Who is the speaker? What do we know about this person? How do we know it? Caroline Simone, she is a journalist at USA Today and she wrote an article about black lives matter and how it came to be. Q2- What is the occasion? When or where did it occur? This is a social movement that came to be 5 years ago after the death of Trayvon Martin, a black kid walking to the store who was a victim of a man man with a gun for no reason at all. Q3- Who is the audience? What group of people is he/she speaking for? – The audience in this article is the world, people in all states and continents view USA Today but specifically for this piece i feel as though the black community is who it is directed for. Q4-What is the purpose of this piece?What is the writer trying to accomplish?- The purpose of this piece is so that readers understand what happens in the community and mostly why it is important that black people have a platform to speak their truth so that they can gain their strength in making a change. Q5- What is the tone of this? How can you tell the writers feeling by the words or phrases? The tone of this article is tamed yet influencing and informative. I can tell because all the facts are being stated and how those came to be and she is also very calm in explaining the different perspectives others have on the movement itself. Q6- Other thoughts on this piece? And by the way whats your name? I think the way it is written is entertaining to read and it did let me know why she wrote it and why its so important in our world today. My name is Shauntai Smith.     https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/07/12/black-lives-matter-movement-and-social-media-after-five-years/778779002/

Video:
https://youtu.be/znTbuA6Qjj0

My creative project is gonna be a video on the late artist XXXTentacion, explaining his background and mainly how he inspired me both spiritually and emotionally. I want to make something related to videos we saw in class with Frank Ocean, describing the artist, his actions, and how they impacted me. I figured since I’m currently getting into video editing, this would be a great opportunity to go into detail on how this misunderstood artist was an inspiration to me.

Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, also known as XXXTentacion, a SoundCloud rapper from Miami, Florida, was shot dead in late June of 2018 and was 20 years old. It is truly sad that such an influential artist has passed away. Though we are all aware of what he had done wrong, from his violent history of beating people up to allegations of him beating his pregnant girlfriend. XXXTentacion had always been spreading love and positivity through his movements and messages he sent out to fans, and through his music, and that’s the point I want to make in this creative project.

Later in life he has donated to many different charities and helped a lot of people in need of help. His music inspires people to be creative and do what they want to do. It also helps people with depression and other personal issues feel better. If I had to summarize his music I would say that it is a audio therapy session. The music that he crafts has helped me get through hard times in my life and still does. His music makes your depression kind of fade away.  

X was such an amazing person who had the biggest desire to be a better person. He helped so many people through depression, and texted people helping them through hard times and telling them “ It’s gonna be alright.” I just wish he was right now. He gave his friends, fans, and family advice after advice when they were sad or in a bad state of mind. He was so inspirational and loved to make others laugh. Whenever he smiled he lit up the world. His name with be forever remembered in the pits of this earth. The difference he made and impact he put into the music industry is literally incredible. We all make mistakes and that’s what makes us human. Our flaws just define our differences and we all have them. I was one of his biggest fans and from my point of view everyone who listened to him and knew about him felt like they knew him personally because he was such a selfless, understanding, intelligent, and heart-warming blessing of a human being. He put others before himself, and somehow got everyone and understood how they felt from each part of his heart. He didn’t deserve to die in such a terrible way. He is was my motivation and he will continue to be. Because of X, I am who I am today, and I’m grateful for that. Thank you, Jahseh. Your legacy lives on.

Pavel Nunez

3/14/19

English 1121

Dr. Carrie Hall

Based on the mentor article, what influenced me about it was what looked like a disclaimer said “Before reading the article” and from there it explains what is the event and what’s occurring about it and the effects of it, it basically gives all the important details in the beginning so you have an idea what the rest will be about.

I will probably add this to my essay because the author is aware of what people will think right away so they try to get all the facts out in the beginning before reading the actual article and won’t develop a bia’s of some sort.

What I will try to avoid though is the amount of questions being asked, I don’t want the reader to go off topic trying to answer questions, I want them to focus on the article and summarize it

I will try to engage a normal middle class people audience since that’s the majority of the people here in the U.S. I will try to use statistics and data to engage the audience, like the amount of people killed by drugs(since that is my topic) and also use  a formal type of writing so that it will be easy to understand for everyone.

I see some of the mentor article elements  going into my essay because some of it fits well with the topic that  I’m going to talk about (which is drugs). It also use information from another source and writes it in quotes as evidence to talk about the topic and its impacts, So I’m going to use this in my article as well

My creative project is gonna be a video on the late artist XXXTentacion, explaining his background, going in depth with his controversial lyrics, and mainly, how he inspired me both spiritually and emotionally. I want to make something related to videos we saw in class with Frank Ocean, describing the artist, his actions, and how they impacted me. I figured since I’m currently getting into video editing, this would be a great opportunity to go into detail on how this misunderstood artist was an inspiration to me.
Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, also known as XXXTentacion, a SoundCloud rapper from Miami, Florida, was shot dead in late June of 2018 and was 20 years old. It is truly sad that such an influential artist has passed away. Though we are all aware of what he had done wrong, from his violent history of beating people up to allegations of him beating his pregnant girlfriend. XXXTentacion had always been spreading love and positivity through his movements and messages he sent out to fans, and through his music, and that’s the point I want to make in this creative project.
Later in life he has donated to many different charities and helped a lot of people in need of help. His music inspires people to be creative and do what they want to do. It also helps people with depression and other personal issues feel better. If I had to summarize his music I would say that it is a audio therapy session. The music that he crafts has helped me get through hard times in my life and still does. His music makes your depression kind of fade away.

Hend Elwahwah

Dr. Hall

        While I was reading this mentor article I was surprised because that’s the way I wanted to start my essay as well. Speaking about the artist and how amazing his hits are. How it all started and I chose a specific song meanwhile my article chose a specific album. I focused on J.Coles new hit, “Middle Child.” I focused mainly on the lyrics and the meaning behind them. If you know J.Cole, you know he’s deep. Behind every lyric there’s a meaning to why he said that. This article focused on some of the lyrics and the writing style that author did was similar to what I want to do for my essay. It relates a lot to my essay as well because the Audience that the mentor article was focusing on, is the same audience that I’m focusing on. This generation and era. I also like the way the author went with the flow about drake and his past, how he came up, how he stayed up as well. That’s also what I would like to do in my essay, talk about jcoles come up towards the end and relate it back to the lyrics of “Middle Child.”

I think my idea for my paper is to use evidence to show the disparities between women and men in video games. Based on some evidences given in my mentor article, it brings up how  not a lot of females are encouraged to work in fields such as gaming, which would mean that more males are in that profession. I think some difficulties I might have are getting good evidence that kind of support my point. I think my audience is kind of gaming companies and anyone else who wants to read it. I think I want to use casual language because it doesn’t make it too serious or too boring.