Haider Mahmood

Buzz Feed

English

The slang word “jawn,” originated in Philadelphia around 1990 (according to the dictionary), made its way through different states changing meaning as it traveled, and made its way all the way to the dictionary. The word “jawn, has many different meanings predominantly depending on the context and location where it is being used. In Philadelphia, “jawn” is used to refer to almost anything. It can be used to refer to inanimate objects, and most things that surround people. In New York however, jawn is often used to call someone attractive. In the Oxford dictionary the word “jawn,” is defined as such “Used to refer to a thing, place, person, or event that one need not or can’t give a specific name to.” The dictionary defines the slang word “jawn,” based on its meaning in Philadelphia even though the word holds more than just one definition. The word “jawn” has become more interesting to as I studied its meaning and its origin. At first, I didn’t have any knowledge of its roots, I just heard it be used by my friends. Upon further research I discovered many meanings of this one word which made it interesting. Because the word “jawn” is used to so often in Philadelphia, it fascinates me how people can know what one is talking about when the word refers to anything. As for how it’s used in New York, I believe the word can’t have a better definition because it’s a private way male or females can show interest in someone without feeling uncomfortable.

I interviewed a Brooklyn College sophomore about her knowledge and experience with the word “jawn.”

Haider: Have you ever heard someone use the word jawn or ever used it yourself? Have you heard people use it to refer to an object like they do in philly or to call someone attractive like they do in New York?

Sara: All the time in high school, students in my class would use it mostly to call females attractive because they felt comfortable using slang. I’ve never heard someone use jawn the way they use it in philly which is surprising.

Haider: How do you feel about the word “jawn” starting off as slang and make it into the official dictionary?

Sara: I feel like that’s a great choice because that just shows that even words people create for fun can end up in a great spot.

Haider: What do you think about the definition in philly and New York?

Sara: Its really cool to see that 2 different places can have two meanings.

I also interviewed a Kingsborough senior about her knowledge, and experience with the word “jawn.”

Haider: Have you ever heard someone use the word jawn or ever used it yourself? Have you heard people use it to refer to an object like they do in philly or to call someone attractive like they do in New York?

Jarin: I went to a high school that didn’t really use any slang words. Here at Kingsborough I heard someone say jawn, unfortunately I didn’t know what it meant but now that you explained what it means it makes a lot more sense.

Haider: How do you feel about the word “jawn” starting off as slang and make it into the official dictionary?

Jarin: That’s great! It gives people like me who don’t know much slang a chance to understand what others mean when they use slang.

Haider: What do you think about the definition in philly and New York?

Jarin: That’s really confusing. I thought slang words usually have one definition but if anyone wants to learn both definitions they can.

Citation Page

Weiner, E. S. C., and J. A. Simpson. “The Oxford English Dictionary.” The Oxford English Dictionary”, Clarendon Press 2018.

file:///C:/Users/angel/OneDrive/Documents/English%20Assignments/Bitchhh%20revision1.pdf

“Make it work”: Who says that?

This is an image of Tim Gunn giving critique on Project Runway 

           Every community has its own kind of language. One community that  I relate to is the fashion community. The girls and guys I’ve been able to  grow with in this community are still motivational figures to me due to all the experiences we share. This includes sharing  language such as, “yasss sis”, and the phrase I’d like to focus on the most, “Make it work”. This saying, started by Project Runway’s Tim Gunn, is important. It’s probably used in one way or another at the beginning, middle, and end of every project. “ Make it work”, triggers encouragement, and maybe even a little disappointment  at times depending on how it’s used. If you’ve ever worked so hard on a project that you’ve found yourself running on 2-4 hours of sleep and willpower only to have to tackle one endless obstacle after another, then you can understand what this phrase means. The heart of this phrase stems from working hard to the best of your abilities to  ensure you’ll reach your goals. In short it means that no matter what you have going on in your life get , and keep, your shit together. Especially when there’s a deadline to be made.
       Tim Gunn, the creator of “make it work” has built his brand off of these simple three words. Everything he’s done beforehand helps give this phrase its meaning.  Gunn worked at Parsons for 29 years. While there, he aided in fixing Parsons stale fashion program and turning it into the prestigious atmosphere it is today. He took seven years to revive the pulse of their fashion program. Calling it , “a  tremendous labor of love”(qtd. Tim Gunn). Which goes to show how the father of “make it work” is one who is no stranger to hard work himself or the efforts that go into making one’s own achievements into a reality that touches others.
         I had asked a long time classmate of mine, Neisa, who is one of the people who inspire me to this day,  “what does ‘make it work’ mean to you?” I’ve seen this girl work her behind off through thick and thin to create some of the most beautiful and outstanding garments amongst all of our classmates. Given all the times I got to witness  her success, I knew she was a great person to ask. Her answer was Just as inspirational as I expected, resembling my own in how the phrase provokes a strong and independent attitude towards life. Here’s her response:

Okay so for the phrase “make it work”. To me it means being able to take whatever was  given to you and turning it into something extravagant! To make it work is to make it YOUR way. Either if it’s something that can be useful, or just pretty to look  at, you took that opportunity and showed it who’s boss. They don’t have the saying of “when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade” for no reason!

       In short she explained “make it work” as a way of describing what it’s like to be the boss of your own life. This is what happens in the mind of a creator. You learn to take what you have, all while knowing what you want and  turn your resources and materials into what you’ve envisioned for them to be. Communities other than just the fashion community are filled with people just like my friend Neisa. If you can label yourself as an artist than the phrase “make it work” may apply to your life. It pays to be stubborn when working on whatever it is you care about. Sometimes the best opportunities are made not given. In this world full of artist we are go getters and  over achievers. Where one lacks confidence or skills they are made through non stop work . When we want to get something done we MAKE IT WORK.

        My learning experiences from high school were all baby steps into understanding what it’s like to be in the fashion world. I can remember the two weeks before our garments were due for evaluation and only two thirds of mine at the time was complete. As it turns out  time flies by fast when you have a lot of work to be done, and tension can build even faster. Especially when you aren’t a seasoned professional of twenty plus years in your craft. I would go over everything I needed to get done in the final days with my instructor.  I would create scrappy list of all the finishing touches needed to keep my final high school  garment from being cut from the line up. My instructor at the time would offered her advice and add the typical motivational cherry on top. Which went somewhere along the lines of this “ here’s where I think you should focus on. you have two weeks, make it work hon” . And with that came the usual call to action. Late nights at school, working in between classes, starting in the morning well into sun down on my garment. I started out with the idea of a bodysuit and somehow landed on a crop top and long pants.   At the end of the day I made sure my work was complete and reflected myself as I wanted it to. That way I could be proud alongside all the rest of my classmates of what I had aloud to walk down that runway because I knew everything that went into completing my garment. All my hard work felt like it was worth it when my garment went down the catwalk.

    There is  a kind of torment that comes from always trying to make each and every project  perfect, especially since there’s always going to be something that you wish you had done better. The  sacrifices to one’s health, such as running on coffee for two weeks, that creators are willing to put themselves through can be a bit much at times. This is the reality that some choose to live. When you intend to put your all into your work you do. The phrase” make it work” caries  some negative energies with it because those who live by it tend to strive for perfection above and beyond their limits. In fact, just the other day I made a joke with another one of my old classmates about how to tell if you’ve truly put enough effort into a task. I had asked, “Have you really worked hard enough if you haven’t been brought to tears a few times yet?’’
      However sometimes the grass is greener on the other side. To make eye catching pieces that feel like a part of yourself, or even just to develop a skill level that seems other worldly compared to where you started takes guts. At times it would be impossible to get to beautiful ending results without a few sleepless nights and a whole lot of obsessing over both large and minor details. The fashion community is built out of people who forced themselves to push through their own personal obstacles and grow themselves as a person and a professional. The results of this mindset is the phrase ‘make it work” where no matter what you start off with you ensure you get to the results you wish to achieve.                                                                                                    

     The question of why people in the fashion community say “make it work” so  often doesn’t have a complicated answer . In an article I read called, 13 Words That Mean Something Different to Fashion People, it is written,” There’s a certain vocabulary you adopt if you belong to any group… If you’re part of the community, there are certain words that act as shibboleths to fashion people”(1). Meaning that every community of people has their own slang and the fashion community is no exception. We certainly  do have a way of speaking that ties us all together even though many different types of people can belong to the same fashion community.

     Here’s how the story usually goes for anyone working on a large, and largely creative project . You start out with an idea. Then you get all your materials together and hit the ground running with a new project. Somewhere in the middle you decide that everything is going to hell and have a minor melt down. Finally you reach an aha moment where you make everything fall into place and somehow end up with grand results. You don’t have to live and breathe fashion in order to have moments like these. These kinds of moments are what come to my mind when I think of the phrase “make it work”. So as far as i’m aware if you can continue to make your own success , then you have contributed to giving  “make it work” its meaning just by releasing your ambition into the world.

     Call it tough love or crazy, but at the end of the day “make it work” is here to stay. It is the mindset  that drives creators into always trying to improve their skills. If you know what you want you can make the almost impossible possible. Whenever we use the phrase “make it work”  it is when it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get hands on with our work. Or when we find ourselves working long hours to make sure our projects are completed by a specific timeline. The phrase is also used when things don’t work out the way they were originally intended to, but instead of giving up a solution is made instead. To me “make it work” will always mean to let the best of your abilities shine.

Citation

“Tim Gunn.” Google, Google, 2018, www.google.com/amp/s/www.biography.com/.amp/people/tim-gunn-594086.
US. “13 Words That Mean Something Different To Fashion People.” Google, Google, 12 July 2017, 9:15am, www.google.com/amp/s/www.refinery29.com/amp/en-us/fashion-words.

Amani Nassar

Dr. Hall

English 1101

November 19, 2018

We: The Non Thinkers

We all think of ourselves as unique individuals, but are we really that unique from the next person? We all may not look the same or act exactly the same but for the most part we all comply to the same rules society has implemented on us. Of course we need rules to keep society ordered, though some of those rules form us to be the individuals that society wants, not the individuals we intended to be on our own. These means of conformity come natural to us, and we comply to the conformities to be seen as people who do the right things and to be accepted by society.

As a student taking a sociology course, I’ve come to learn how the principles of sociology serve the perfect explanation for the reasons of conformity. Sociology is the study of social forces that affect our daily lives as well as the way social life is organized and changes throughout time. The society or social forces we speak of can take many forms. The proper definition of society is a population that organizes its life through a specific set of social institutions or a specific culture. This means that society can be any group of individuals from the people you surround yourself with to the workplace, American society or even the internet.

Within a society like the workplace we all have a status, role, and social norms that we must follow. Ones status refers to their social position in society like a professor, student or a cashier. Our roles are a reflection of our status which refers to what an individual has to do because of their status position. For example the role of a student is to learn and participate in class, a professor’s role would be to teach, a cashiers role would be to assist customers by making transactions, and so on. Social norms socially organize our interactions as they are the rules we have to follow throughout our daily lives. To ensure that we fulfill our social norms, sanctions are implemented as a reward or punishment for following our social norms. Society does this to make sure we accomplish the goals of those we work for.

Almost any institution you can think of has a specific goal to achieve. A school’s goal is to educate students, a hospitals goal is to cure sick patients, and a factories goal is to manufacture many of the goods we purchase. Status positions, roles, norms and sanctions explain how we cooperate within institutions to help fulfill their goals, after all if these institutions did not have us to work for them, they could not operate. We of course know what we’re signing up for when we work for these institution. We know that we may put in more work to an institution than what we receive back when we are paid, but there’s not much we can do about it. If we do not work, there is no paycheck, no paycheck means no home, clothes, food and our chances of survival dwindles. Just as Jillian L. Anzalone, peer commenter of “Life Without Conformity Is No Life At All: The Survival Value of Compliance,” argues “Humans live to conform because they must conform to live.” In other words we live our lives through conforming, if we fail to do so we can not live. The structure of institutions within society, reflect the necessity of us conforming to help society continue thriving .

The structure of society makes our lives seem more orderly or in fact more predictable. The predictable lives we have set such a strict routine that our daily lives become repetitive, kind of like a zombies life. We get up, go to school or work, eat a few meals throughout the day, and go back home to repeat it all the next day, we do this all mindlessly just as a zombie would. During a zombie apocalypse it’s not hard to kill a zombie, you shoot them in the head and they’re dead, but there’s always more zombies to come so you shoot the rest of them some more and repeat it all the next day of the zombie apocalypse. We’ve created these fictional characters that reflect our daily lives as we relate to them so much and even act in such a repetitive manner as they do, it’s kind of ironic.

Mindless       

Our mindless behavior, or what we call a strict routine, has indeed turned us into monster, walking brainless monsters to be exact. But what makes a monster, a monster? Not all monsters are evil, we’re not entirely evil zombies ourselves; we’re just brainless. Monstrosity is not something we are born with but rather something we learn. Monstrosity can be developed through trauma, its seen in TV, and it even comes from technology. Our reliance on technology makes us the zombies that we are, which is what society wants. Our information comes from technology, the latest trends come from technology, our lives revolve around technology. We’ve become so use to our mindless acts that its normal to us, we have become unaware of how “structured” our lives are, and it’s not even structured because of us. Our routine isn’t just any routine, it’s a mindless one.

Bibliography

“Why We Comply.” Review and Criticisms of Attachment Theory, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2005, www.personalityresearch.org/papers/lumbert.removed.

                                                                                                                                  Muthanna 1

Nagmadeen Muthanna

Carrie Hall

English 1101

18 November 2018

Real Monsters

           Imagine waking up one morning and hearing people scream for their lives. You go outside to check and you notice there’s a zombie attack.You see zombies eating the brains out of people. Would you consider them monsters? I believe that a monster is someone who has the ability to choose good but doesn’t.

           Zombies are always considered a monster. They kill humans to eat there brains. They could either walk toward you or run after you. In his article, My Zombies Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead, Chuck Klosterman maintains that “Zombies are a value stock. they are wordless and oozing and brain dead.” In other words, Klosterman believes that zombies don’t know what they are doing. And I agree with him Klosterman. Zombies have no choice and what they are doing. they are brain dead. All zombies know is to eat the human brain. Which comes back to my main point. Zombies don’t have the ability to choose Good, which does not consider them a monster. 

Travis (Cliff Curtis) in ‘fear the walking dead’ season 3

           What about the other monsters that we all grew up with. The monster that’s hiding under your bed or in your closet. The monster that shows up at night. Is that considered a monster. According to Klosterman “ When we think critically about monsters, we tend to classify them as personifications of what we fear.” Klosterman’s point is that when we fear something,  we turn that fear into a monster. Once again I agree with Klosterman. I feared many things in my life. One example is spiders. But fearing spiders does not make spiders monsters. As a great man once told me ( my father ) “ your fears are not their to scare you, they are their to challenge you.” This is something my dad said that stayed with me until now. Fearing something can prevent you from succeeding in life and you must overcome your fears.

        Finally, Who are the real monsters. Humans are the real monsters. Humans have the ability to choose good and bad. Being in situation where you have to make a choice that will reflect your image on people. The Yemeni president ali Abdullah Saleh was a great leader at first. He ruled Yemen for 33 years before The southside of Yemen wanted another president. He was in favor of the north side and won’t fix anything on the south side. After refusing to leave and tried to murder anyone who tries to kick him out of presidency. He stole up to 60 billion dollars from Yemen and ran away. Him and his army destroyed Yemen and stole all the money that is needed to repair the damage done. This is what a real monster sounds like. Not caring about anybody, killing people for being so selfish. Imagine the education Yemeni people would have got for 60 billion, imagine how Yemen would have looked like if he spent some of that money on fixing Yemen. It crazy what monsters would do and that’s what makes them monsters.

South side of Yemen after Ali Abdullah Saleh and his Army destroyed Aden

         Being in a situation where anything you choose would make you look bad doesn’t make you a monster. Let’s say one day you walk in to the mall and you see a murderer. Let’s just say he asked you to pick between two groups and one group will die. In one group you have your mother and father and in the other you see 6 children under the age of 12. Most people would choose their parents to survive and that doesn’t mean you are a monster for doing so. Some people might call you a monster for choosing this choice but I guarantee you if they were in that position they would choose their parents too.

            In conclusion, people who tend to choose bad over good are considered the real monsters. Zombies and any other fictional monster are challenges in life you will have to face and overcome to become who you are today. Stop looking for monsters under your bed or in your closet because the real monsters are inside of us.

Citation

• Klosterman, Chuck. “My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 3 Dec. 2010,  www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/arts/television/05zombies.html.

Hi! To post your papers for this class, you will do so by adding a post to the website. I’ve made a quick video explaining how to do this HERE. Below, there are also links that explain the same process if my video doesn’t make sense to you. MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE YOURSELF SOME TIME TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO POST YOUR PAPER PROPERLY!!!

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING SURE THIS WORKED! LOOK ON THE WEBSITE TO MAKE SURE YOUR POST WAS ACTUALLY PUBLISHED!!

If you want to write a Word Document with images and publish that, you may do so, but you will need to save it as a Pdf and upload it the same way you add an image in “add media.”  It may not initially look like you’ve uploaded the pdf properly on the draft if you choose this option. Publish it and check the website before you panic that it’s not working! Gifs and videos will not actually move if you choose this option! 

• ALL PAPERS MUST:
• Be posted on this website BEFORE CLASS BEGINS ON MONDAY. After that, they will be considered late.
• Include at least two images (gifs or videos count)
• Have proper in-text citation (look up “in-text citation MLA” on the Purdue OWL.) AND have a works cited page, which you can easily make on easybib.com
• Have at least 30% new material.
• It must be clear (preferrably at the top) what publication you’re writing for.
• For all other guidelines, see the actual assignment sheet (posted below.)

Here are the Open Lab instructions for writing a post and attaching images.

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/blog/help/writing-a-post/

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/blog/help/adding-images-to-your-site/

HERE IS THE ASSIGNMENT SHEET AGAIN, IN CASE YOU MISPLACED YOURS:

Hi everyone! Remember that revisions are due MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19TH!! In preparation for those revisions, everyone will be meeting with me in one-on-one conferences in my office in Namm 525. To get there, get off the elevator on the 5th floor. You’ll see some vending machines, past which is a small hallway. Go through that small hallway and take a left, where you will find…DR. CARRIE HALL!!!

Please come prepared– know which essay you intend to revise and fill out ThisWorksheet. Bring this worksheet, along with ALL major essays with my comments to the conference.

Please note: the closer to the day of the revision it is, the further along you ought to be on your revision!

THERE WILL BE NO CLASSES ON WEDS, NOV 14TH TO MAKE TIME FOR CONFERENCES!  BE A FEW MINUTES EARLY! Do not miss your conference. These are required and I have over 40 of them. I literally cannot reschedule, and you missing it is a real hassle for me and will bring your grade down (and you won’t know what it is I’m looking for.)

• ---

  Wednesday

• 10:00 Giovanni
• 10:20 Brad
• 10:40 Muhammad Abdullah
• 11:00 Jonathan
• 11:20 Kelvin
• 12:00 Angelica
• 12:20 Andy
• 12:40 Nagm

• ---

  Thursday

• 10:00 (open)
• 10:20 Sonia
• 10:40 Lashira
• 11:00 Cloyde
• 12:00 Albert
• 12:20 Ignito
• 2:20 Carlton
• 2:40 Hadassah
• 3:00 (open)
• 3:20 (open)
• 3:40 (open)
• 4:00 (open)
• 4:20 (open)

Hi! For Monday, please print out, read and annotate  ONEREVISION and TWOREVISION. For each paper, please answer (in writing– on annother piece of paper or  the back of the paper,) the following questions:

1. What do you think would be a good magazine to publish this article in? Who are the readers of this magazine and why is this topic important to them?
2. What is the “so what?” of this paper? Do you think the writer could deepen the “so what?” I’m basically asking, do you wish there was more to their main argument? If so, what?
3. What are they doing really well?
4. What are your (respectful) suggestions for revision?

Hi! For Weds, first find a “mentor article.” This is, I’d like you to find an article in a publication you’d like to write for in a tone you like.  You will not have to write exactly like this article at all– you’re just looking for something to be inspired by.  This definitely does not have to be about the same topic that you think your revision will be about. Look for a writer who is writing in a way you admire.

Read the article and then, print and fill out the worksheet below . (You can also just answer the questions.) Please do it thoroughly– at least 3-4 sentences per answer!

RevisionArticleAssignment18