Hello everyone my name is Louis Rosario, first let me say that this is my very first blog so I am excited and apprehensive of what I am about to write and release to the general public. Although I use a computer extensively at work and home, emails, IM’s and text are as far as I have gone. I have not yet grasped the idea of the social media and the windows that they open to expose my life outside my immediate inner circle. I do not have Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn accounts. So throwing caution to the wind I proceed into this world of social media. After my enlistment in the military (U.S. Army, Staff Sergeant, Paratroop Infantry Battalion) based in North Carolina, I came back to New York and began a career in Real Estate management. I worked my way up from Porter to Senior Property Manager, managing 27 buildings consisting of 2300 apartment units in Manhattan. Later I moved on to work as a Project Manager for a construction company managing both large and small projects. Currently I work for Consolidated Edison (Con Ed) as a Project Manager, assigned to renovate over a million square feet of office space in the Corporate Headquarters. In my personal life I have two adult children both out of college and on their own; I have a great better half that works as an IT Manager for a Youth Development Center and also loves to watch Criminal Minds any time it’s on and she is at home. After my children graduated from college and the tuitions were paid, I decided to return to school and get my degree. I am currently in my last semester of completing my degree requirements. Once I graduate my better half and I are planning a trip to visit Paris and London. In the meantime, I decided to take a Science fiction course that has me blogging for the first time in my life. I have always been interested in science fiction from the time I read in grammar school “The Rhetoric of Yes”. I am looking to get a lot out of this course and hopefully along the way make some new friends that will introduce me to the world of Social Media.

Hey, my name is Sergio, but I go by Surge. The thing that I am most passionate about is music. I love stringed instruments, especially guitars, violins, pianos, and cellos. My favorite genre of music is Metal, with my my favorite sub-genre being Death Metal. Ironically, I do not listen to a lot of Death Metal bands because most of them are just about being loud, but when Death Metal is good…. IT IS GOOD! When it comes to a favorite band I constantly go back and forth between Dethklok and Arch Enemy. Other than Metal I also listen to various types of Spanish, Classical, Blues, Jazz, Electronica, and even Pop, yes, you read that right, POP! In fact, a guilty pleasure of mine is to hunt down metal covers of pop songs, and some of the best ones I’ve found are covers of: Holding out for a Hero, I Kissed a Girl, Beat it, and Bad Romance. I don’t just listen to music but I play(guitar) as well, but I’m not very good. Aside from listening to music and playing guitar, my other hobbies/interests include gaming, comics, and movies.

As far as my desires go I hope to pursue any a career involving chemistry, maybe a teacher or something in pharmaceutics, I honestly still don’t know what I truly want to do. As far as unimportant desires I hope to eventually meet the people I idolize as guitar gods, such as Michael & Chris Amott, Brendon Small, Buckethead, Dave Mustaine, Jeff Loomis, Chris Broderick, and the list goes on and on. So far I have been able to meet one of my all time favorite musicians being Angel Vivaldi…

Meeting him was so AWESOME! He was a really cool dude, and he actually played with my hair while saying “ I LOVE YOUR HAIR!”. It was one of the greatest moments of my life.

As a writer my strength is that I don’t have to put much effort into any of my writing to earn a good grade. All the essays I did in my last English class were done at the last second, and all of them got A’s. My greatest weakness as a writer is that I don’t know what I’m doing; I do not know anything about the technicalities of writing. All I do is just analyze how others write; I pay attention to there word and punctuation placement and mimic it in my own writing.

My strength as a reader and my weakness as a reader is that I don’t read, haha. I’ve only read a few books in my life with some being the Harry Potter Series, 1984, Animal Farm, and A Street Car Named Desire.

What is Science-Fiction, the greatest of life’s questions. Science-fiction, to me, is a genre of media that uses scientific ideas and themes to tell a story. Sci-fi stories are often cautionary warning individuals/societies of the dangers of their actions and what those actions could mean for the future. Who writes Sci-fi? Any one with a story to tell that wants to involve themes of space, time, and technology. Who consumes Sci-fi? Anybody who enjoys stories that have the ability to be deeply analyzed, and also enjoy hearing another persons opinions/satires about the state of our society.

As we have all noticed, all the students in our Sci-fi class are males, but why is that? Well, Sci-fi tends to be labeled as a gender stereotype in our society; therefore, it is easy for any male to express an interest in it, but for females there is a stigma that it is not for them, so even if a girl did like Sci-fi it would be harder to express that interest freely. Females that express an interest in anything that can be classified as a gender stereotype can face a lot of reticule for their public expressions of those likes. For example, some women fear openly expressing themselves as gamers due to issues like Gamergate. Additionally, women also fear being part of male dominant groups as they can often be heavily sexualized. So why is our professor a woman? She, perhaps, never feared any reticule from society for not fitting into societies gender roles, or she might have never actually experienced any of the negative aspects of being a female in a male dominant culture; therefore, she never had a fear of openly expressing her likes.

I am taking this course because I love Sci-fi. Ever since I was a kid I was fascinated with Sci-fi movies and shows. One of my earliest experiences with Sci-fi was Digimon, and to this day I love it and the commentary that the third season has about technology and humanity. As I grew older I became familiar with a lot of the Sci-fi classics and fell in love with them, and it was then that Sci-fi was cemented as my favorite movie genre. As far as some of my favorite movies of the genre are, I absolutely love all of the original Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, Logans Run, Z.P.G (Zero Population Growth), and Gattaca.

Oh, and I have no experience with OpenLab.

What’s up

My name is Zechariah Philippe. My major is Entertainment Technology. I have a bunch of hobbies that can go from photography, beat production, writing poetry and video editing. I desire being a hard worker, traveling and being up for new experiences. Not to long ago i finished part 1 of an internship i was a part of in the summer. At the internship we worked on this project called “Ghettos2Galleries”, Ghettos2Galleries is about the rise of street art and graffiti from back alleys and train cars, into galleries and museums around the world.

Over the winter break I have been completing the training process for joining Sigma Alpha pi for the citytech chapter. I also have been attending executive board meetings for sigma alpha pi because of my new position. I am now the student president of the citytech chapter. For the summer break I aim to reach new experiences and also take part in new internships

One weakness that I face is that I can come up with alot of ideas and in a way have it all planned but when it comes time to type or write it down, it becomes a problem on how to begin and i end up looking like i never had any ideas at all on the topic. What i mostly enjoy about writing is when all is done and i get to go over it ,practice and make improvements. I am also a fan of feedback because it gives me an idea of what i need to work on.

I have no experience using open lab this is the first time i ever herd of it this semester. I have a feeling that i will become better at using it because i have another class that’s also functioning on open lab. My view on science fiction is basically exploring futuristic thoughts. Technology is advancing and science is basically a form of factual documentation of how alot of things come together in many forms. I feel that authors add a twist to it showing an imaginary outcome but at the same time it looks believable because of the science background. Science fiction i feel is for those who want to explore the unknown, also are into a little weirdness and adventure.

I think that every man signed up for this course because of the interest of exploring and having an interest of weird things. I feel that  most woman are kept away from this type of this environment. The professor of the course decided to be different from most woman and explored a field where you might not find other women in. I am taking this course because it fits with my schedule and it is also required. I actually thought the number of people in this course would be less than i expected. Reason i say that is because when enrolling, this class became very hard to find.

I cant remember alot from my encounters with science fiction but i remember being a fan of animorphs and star wars. With this course i expect to visit a part of my past and see what drew me to science fiction. I also hope to be a better reader and writer.

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What’s up guys? I go by the name of Aaron Villalobos. No nickname but that’s okay. Most of them were cliche anyways. I was born in Manhattan, raised and currently reside in Williamsburg Brooklyn. I wish I could say I was born and raised in Brooklyn but things happen (thanks mom). I’m Puerto Rican, and I am 20 years of age. This is my 6th semester here at City Tech and my major is Communications in Graphic Design. I currently work at the Polo store, part time in Times Square. Growing up I’ve always had long hair and loved The Beatles. Both of my parents are very old school, so my dad especially raised me with listening to oldies music like Motown, rock n roll, disco etc. It wasn’t until around 5th grade when I started listening to hip hop more thanks to rapper “50 Cent”. After that, I just sort of stopped listening to old school music (which still until this day my dad hates the fact i switched up on him but he still loves me). I attended high school in 2008 not knowing anyone because all of my friends from Junior High went to a different school. The main reason for attending the High school that I went too was because my dad didn’t want me to take the train to school. I went to a school 10 minutes away from my house. I had really long hair and sat by myself in the lunchroom for half of my freshman year. I was getting tired of the long hair, so I cut it and felt like a new man (my mom wasn’t too happy). Not that I was always shy but after that day, I felt like I became more out going , talkative, and just more confident about my self and how I look. I’ve always been a down to earth, funny, and a caring person. I’ve probably only missed about 8 days of school my whole entire life (my dad didn’t play any games). Never say never, but I have never been into any physical altercation with any one before. I’m not the person to start any problems. I get along with everyone, and I love to make people laugh. Speaking of that, every since Youtube came out, I’ve been making videos. I used to use Windows Movie Maker on my old Desktop and just make foolish videos with stuffed animals or dumb voiceovers with toys. Now of days, I make videos often on Instagram and vine for no reason. It’s all because I love to make people laugh. Lately I’ve been strongly considering getting my self into acting. Many people over the years have been telling me that it would be perfect for me. Even in my yearbook, people wrote that they wouldn’t be surprised if they see me on Tv in the future. Through out high school, I did the talent show every year and I don’t have any fear to perform in front of people. This year I am planning on getting a head shot and maybe taking acting class during the summer. I feel like that would something that I would LOVE to wake up and do every day of my life. I’m considering on using this degree as a plan B. So I can always have something to fall on just in case acting doesn’t work out. I love videos games as well. I play it every day. There are thousands of dollars worth of videos games and systems that are in my room right now. It’s basically a gamestop. Basketball is also another passion that I have. I watch NBA highlights everyday on my spare time and play it every year in the spring , summer or whenever it’s warm. There’s so many things that I can talk about but that would take for ever. When it comes to this semester, I plan on getting all A’s so I can get my GPA up! Thank you to who ever took time out of their day to read this blog. Have a blessed and safe day!

Hi everyone!

My name is Christopher Robledo, but i prefer Chris. Something about being called Christopher brings back memories of my mother calling me when I’ve done something wrong. I am currently in my fourth year at City Tech, but will not be graduating until at least next January. I am actually back in school after 10 years of working as a carpenter. After High school i went straight into the workforce as i was never a school oriented person.Now that I’m older, i know what i want, and focus purely on that. I’ve been basically living on my savings, and doing side jobs here and there to make ends meet. I love to read, with science fiction and fantasy being my favorite genres. I’m currently making my way through the Disc World books, i can’t believe i put off reading these for so long. I love the satirical writing style of Terry Pratchett, and how the stories don’t take themselves seriously.

My favorite hobby is building scale models. I have done cars, tanks, and plane kits, but i mainly enjoy building robots like Gundam, Zoids, etc. I’ve gotten pretty good at it, to the point that i have won contests, and get commission work for my builds. I think my favorite thing at contests is to see the old war veterans who normally hate these kits and call them toys come over and compliment me on my work. This hobby is one of the reasons i got into the major that i am currently in, Computer Engineering Technology. The associate degree for this is Electromechanical Engineering Technology, which is all about building circuits and learning about the internal workings of a computer. I have always been into building things since i was a kid. While most kids had Lego’s, i always preferred playing with my Erector Set. I’ve even helped build props for some student films, often on a budget.

I mainly spent this winter break working on a few kits, and studying up on some online classes, as well as doing some construction side jobs. Another thing i love to do is dance. I know the basics to a few standard dances but i love deep house and used to be on the dance floor every weekend. I really messed up my back last year falling on ice so i can’t do it as much as i used to sadly. This summer i hope to take more dance classes, hopefully my back will be in much better condition.

Here is a picture of me last October at the New York Comicon with some friends who came in from out of state. We’re standing in front of the display case with the entries for the Gunpla Builders World Cup where i won the Best Small Scale category. We all fit some stereotype of the fandom.

^^And my entry^^

When it comes to writing, i think i generally have a decent imagination and usually don’t have too much of a problem writing an assignment. I do tend to rush through, so my handwriting gets pretty illegible, and i can make some grammatical mistakes. One of the things i look forward to in this course and using OpenLab, is typing my work as i generally type much faster than i write, and i can flesh my ideas out faster/better.  I think the thing i hate the most about actually writing is the mark that gets left on my middle finger. I tend to grip a pen or pencil (preferably) pretty tightly and i always end up with a red mark. If a topic doesn’t interest me, i do not look forward to writing about it, as its usually twice as hard to put ideas down on paper or the screen.

I have used OpenLab a few times, mainly for some of my classes relevant to my major. Professor Wu and Dr. Reyes always insisted on using it, so i would have to go to each courses site for homework and lecture downloads. I’ve only had to upload a laboratory report once. I’m sure by the end of this course, I’ll be somewhat proficient in using this interface.

When i think of Science fiction, i always remember watching movies as a child. I am an avid fan of most genres, but whenever a science fiction movie is on tv or in theaters, i tend to look forward to it more. For me, science fiction is a genre that takes an idea that is similar to fantasy and melds it with science. It can be about time travel, space and the unknown, virus outbreaks, or even something less radical that is closer to actual reality. I think anyone can write science fiction, but most famous writers have some sort of technical background or do extensive research into some field of science for it to make the most sense. Anyone can be a fan of science fiction. When i was growing up, it generally had a stigma about it where fans were looked down on by normal society. In recent years, being into science and things once considered only for nerds or geeks is the in thing, and its become much easier to let it be known that you are a fan. There are meetups you can actually go to to discuss your favorite shows or books every month in the city now as well.

When i hear the word science, i think of knowledge and logic. Its something i can believe in as most often its based on fact and can be proven. Fiction is anything that can be made up but isn’t based on fact. It can be a lie, or even something as simple as basing it on an event but with an added factor that makes it different than the reality of the situation or story. Science fiction is absolutely considered real literature. Its been around for a long time, and often ideas written in these stories become reality. How many of today’s technologies are inspired by science fiction of the past?

I think our class consists of only male students simply because there are much easier classes out there. Its a very unique subject, something that not everyone will enjoy. I hate to use a stereotype, but maybe some female students know that it is popular among males and don’t wish to be the only female students in the class. Even as i type this, i feel like it is sexist thinking, but stereotypes are generally based on some form of truth. Professor Belli’s main line of research is in utopian societies, something that often occurs within science fiction literature. She seems like a very confidant woman who loves the topic and enjoys sharing her ideas with whoever wants to hear them/learn which is why i believe she chose to teach this course.

As previously mentioned, i love scifi, so i really wanted to take this course. When i was working on my associates degree, i was told that i couldn’t take this yet as it wasn’t part of the curriculum for my degree, but when i switched to my Bachelors, it became available. I won’t lie, all this typing and reading is a bit more than i expected, and i know i’ll probably struggle a little further into the course, as every other class i’m taking involves large projects that will eat up my free time.

Some of my favorite science fiction authors would have to be Frank Herbert, Douglas Adams, Phillip K. Dick, Hideyuki Kekuchi, Daniel Wilson, James S.A. Corey, Earnest Cline.

Some of my favorite science fiction books: A scanner Darkly, The Dune series, Do androids dream of robotic sheep, Robotpocalypse, I Robot, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy books, 1984, Fahrenheit 451. Just a few. If you like to play video games and enjoy trivia from the 80’s and 90’s, check out a book called Ready Player One by Earnest Cline. It being made into a movie, but it really is a great read.

Some movies/tv: Dune, Star Wars, Aliens, the first 2 predator movies, inority Report, Enemy Mine, Robot Jox, Hackers, Serenity/Firefly, Almost Human, Battle Star Galactica, Star Gate, Total Recall, Dredd, and most Giant robot Anime. You name it, i’ve probably watched it. There are some shows that i just can’t get into, like Doctor Who. I’ve tried, and i really don’t understand why everyone likes it, its pretty lame compared to all of the other shows that are out there.

For this course, i’m hoping to learn a bit more about the background and themes of science fiction. Maybe improve my writing skills when it comes to using more technical jargon.

I went a bit long with this post, but figured its best to be thorough.

Hello my name is Jonathan Stampfl and this is my second semester at city tech. I enjoy playing video games (Xbox one to be more specific) and watching a bunch of TV shows and movies. I like to watch movies and observe how they are made and what is the story or message behind something. I also really like to watch movies that are books and then compare the two for similarities and differences. I am a huge wrestling fan because I grew up with that in my house and now I am a die hard fan. I am also a huge doctor who fan I just got in to it last summer and I am really in to it. I recently just quit my job i was working in my high school as a T.A. helping students of there film projects because i went to a film high school. I quit though because it got to a point where school became more important then work. I want to work in the film and TV industry one day as a gaffer, which is the head of the lighting department. I am fascinated by lighting and when i watch films i specifically look to see how it is used. I just relaxed over winter break and hung out with my friends and i will be working for a summer camp when summer comes around.

I cosplayed as the eleventh doctor when i went to comic con this year.

I think as writer my strength is that once i know how i want to write something I am good to go and it ties in the my thinking because i usually like to think outside the box and that gets incorporated in to my writing. One weakness for writing is my grammar is not always on point and for reading i am not really a big fan of reading because i can never stay intrigued in a book. I would always choose to write over reading because when i have to write i can express my thought or beliefs on something, but i can’t get that same feeling when trying to enjoy reading. I have used open lab for two classes prior but not as in depth as we are going to be with it. when i think science fiction i think of something that pertains to space and time and how they connect with one another. science in my mind is proving something or giving information on something like how old is the earth? or what is made of? is there aliens on other planets? etc…… When i think fiction i think of the impossible becoming the possible in reality to a point where its normal. I think highly intelligent and creative people write science fiction like Steven Moffat, George Lucas, Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg. Again i believe the people who consume science fiction tend to be intelligent or creative, so they understand what is being presented to them. I think there are only men in the course because men are more interested in science fiction because of how males are usually raised in society and because men are some what smarter then females. I think a woman is teaching it to show that its not just a stereotype that only men are in to science fiction. I am taking this course because i needed another English class and i have been in to science fiction since i was a kid. yes i believe that most forms of science fiction begin as literature. I am a fan of doctor who, star wars, 2001 a space odyssey, planet of the apes, alien, back to the future. I am expecting to learn more about science fiction in general an how i can observe it and compare different books and films to see the common connections.

I’m an Assistant Professor of English at New York City College of Technology, CUNY (City University of New York) and Co-Director of OpenLab, the college’s open-source digital platform for teaching, learning, and collaborating. I’m also a founding member of the Writing Studies Tree, an online, open-access, interactive academic genealogy for the field of writing studies, and serve on the Steering Committee, the Teaching Committee, and as the web developer for the North American Society for Utopian Studies (utopias/dystopias overlap quite a bit with science fiction, an intersection we’ll be discussing throughout the semester!).

That’s me, a few winters ago, in front of a big ol’ rubber ducky (part of an art installation for a big festival) in Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia!

I earned my Ph.D. from The Graduate Center, CUNY, and my current research interests are in utopian studies, happiness studies/positive psychology, composition and rhetoric, digital humanities, American studies, and the scholarship of teaching and learning (feel free to ask me what any of these areas are!).

I played ice hockey in college (right wing), and have played the violin since I was two years old (and currently play in the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra … though I’m taking a little time off right now to focus more on work). I practice yoga pretty regularly, love Thai food (the spicier the better!), kale, & tzatziki, and adore watching old sitcoms from the 70s and 80s (some of my favorites are Maude, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, Soap, All in the Family, The Golden Girls, The Facts of Life, & Family Ties)!

I also really enjoy travelling: this past summer I spent five weeks wandering abroad, in Russia, Finland, Czech Republic, and Switzerland (some of it was for conferences/work, some for vacation/fun)!

I look forward your reading your Introductions and getting to know you, first virtually and then in person, as the semester progresses