Author: Hasani (Page 1 of 6)

REFLECTION:

I’ve always had a great talent for writing, however this class in specific has helped me learn so much and essentially grow as a writer. I thought that due to the fact that all of my learning this semester would be online i wouldn’t learn much, however that couldn’t be further from the truth. One of the most important things in reference to my writing that I learned is about how important it is to capture the audience’s attention, and to make the format of your writing digestible enough for readers to understand it. One important example being how to properly put a quote into my text with it not only making sense to me but also to the reader. The format being to build up to the quote, then execute the quote, and finally explain the quote. This was one of the many lessons that resonated with me because I use to feel as though my process of including quotes was awkward. For example in unit 2 during my source entries I sometimes would just place a quote after a sentence and then explain it with no real prior build up which made it seem like it essentially came out of no where. For example in source entry #1 I conclude my paragraph with “In the article it states “There is even some research that suggests that black, working-class families tend to stay in gentrified neighborhoods rather than leave them, and that the economic

benefits of gentrification do indeed reach all residents.’” Now that I am aware

of how to properly input a quote I not only would’ve built up to it prior in

the paragraph but I also would have explained what it meant before concluding

it like that. This is because although it made sense to me, it may not make

sense to others who may read it. I see growth in this department when analyzing my unit three project in the transcript for my podcast. For example I stated “Now this in and of itself isn’t inherently bad however there are plenty of negative effects that follow. One of them being an increase in rent. According to the NYU Furman Center “Percent Change in Average Rent Between 1990 and 2010-2014’ was “23.5%”. Now i don’t know about ya’ll but 23.5% is 23.5% more money that i don’t have (laugh). But now the average rent in Central Harlem has increased 53.2% from 2010 to 2014. Like wow. That’s a lot of money.” The growth i noticed when analyzing this was that i not only built up to my quote but i was able to explain why i utilized it and it’s purpose in a digestible way for my audience (even going far enough to make a realistic joke out of it to match my genre which was the news podcast ).This strengthened my work immensely and helped me to get an overall structure in reference to the input of my quotes, that i can utilize in any class.

Another thing i noticed that i have learned in class to strengthen my writing would that if i’m at a block or don’t know where to start when choosing a topic for class then i should hone in on something specific to talk about. For example during my conference with professor Hall in unit 2, i was told that if i was having a rough starting point with the topic of gentrification then maybe i could focus my paper on something specifically having to do with gentrification. This was helpful information to me due to the fact that we are in a pandemic and if i am struggling with how to start a paper i have to handle that myself. I don’t necessarily have the help of my peers and my professors at all times, so this is a good way to remind myself how to pick and start a topic for my paper. Furthermore i decided to do just that and focus on gentrification specifically in NYC. In my first source entry i stated “Other things i think would help my essay would be to look up instances in specific communities where gentrification became or is becoming a big problem. After reading this text i found out that Bushwick, Brooklyn NY is currently in a big battle with gentrification, and i want to explore other communities too. This text also helped to narrow down my search to gentrified neighborhoods in only New york, where previously i was going to research gentrified neighborhoods in general.” This not only helped me get a good foot on the ground, but i ultimately knew what kind of information i would have to research and how to incorporate it into my writing. Although my first semester wasn’t the typical college experience, it was eventful and gave me key information that others may find common sense but helped me personally in my writing. These are all pieces of information that i will not only keep with me but utilize in other classes to strengthen my writing. Without the guidance of Professor Hall or the help of my classmates i not only wouldn’t have soaked in this information but i would have still been in that same position i was at the beginning of the semester in terms of how i write.

UNIT 3 (UPDATED):

https://youtu.be/WhaZU-UNGeE (Updated Unit

3 project Link)

2-3 SENTENCE INTRO: As i decided to edit unit 3 i chose to specifically focus on making sure that i wasn’t neglecting any arguments the other side could be making. This is because although it is, i don’t want my opinion to sound biased. I want my readers to hear any argument the other side could make and see that there is a rebuttal present for it.

Updated Podcast Transcript:

     Welcome back to the cur-events podcast. I am your host Hasani Wright and today we will be focusing on how gentrification is negatively affecting New York City and it’s residents along with the big question “Does gentrification do more harm than good?”. For those of you listening in at home that missed last week’s segment which covered what gentrification was, count yourself lucky because I’ll be informing you again today and be sure to text 1800-Curevents to leave any of your gentrification horror stories for us to read. Again text 1800-curevents for an opportunity to have your experience with gentrification featured on our podcast. That’s 1800-curevents (spelled).  So to start gentrification is the process in which wealthy upper class citizens (who are usually white) Move into poor communities (that usually inhabit citizens of color). Now this in and of itself isn’t inherently bad however there are plenty of negative effects that follow. One of them being an increase in rent. According to the NYU Furman Center “Percent Change in Average Rent Between 1990 and 2010-2014’ was “23.5%”. Now i don’t know about ya’ll but 23.5% is 23.5% more money that i don’t have (laugh). But now the average rent in Central Harlem has increased 53.2% from 2010 to 2014. Like wow. That’s a lot of money. Now all of that isn’t to say that there aren’t some positive aspects that arise from gentrification. Gentrification is a sign of economic growth and as money flows into these neighborhoods many things change for the better. Buildings are renovated better, more jobs arrive, as the property rate increases so does funding for public schools, and statistics have shown that crime rates also decline in gentrified neighborhoods. These all are wins i agree, but at what cost?  Ooh it appears we have got our first gentrification horror story of the day but before we get to that let’s get to these ads.

     *AD (Voiced by Krystle Webster). * Ever wondered what comfortable housing feels like, well I’m here to tell you. Hello my name is Elizabeth Mootchii of Mootchi apartment housing in central Harlem. Built right on top of where CH apartments used to stand. What’s the difference you may ask? Well we have brought out and demolished all small businesses that are placed around what is currently Mootchii apartment housing in order to maximize spacing and comfortability. With rent starting at $6,200 we hope to comfortably house an abundant number of people who will enjoy living in one of the most culturally diverse neighborhoods in New York city. Not to mention the amount of stores and corporations nearby meant to amplify that comfortable feeling. Did I even mention the New Starbucks being built on top of where Ronnie’s Bodega used to be? So many opportunities for so little money, with housing once again starting at $6,200. For more information text 444-MoochiHousing and remember we have so mootch to offer!

     Okay back to the cur-events podcast. So our gentrification horror story for the day is a submission from a man named Ray Torodo. According to Mr.Torodo he lived in an apartment complex in East Harlem. He had planned on retiring and living out the rest of his days in his apartment. I mean it was his childhood home, where his mother grew and raised him. To continue essentially his landlord wanted him to move out, they had a whole plan about tearing down the complex and building a new more expensive one. I mean I get it, that’s more money in their pockets but at another person’s expense? I don’t know. Anyways Ray refused to move out, even though all the other tenants had. He was the last holdout, the last man living there. I mean this man’s apartment was falling apart all around him and his water didn’t even work but he still wanted to stay. Now many of you may be thinking, why didn’t Ray just move out when asked if all these things were occurring?Well this was his childhood home, he had been promised this home from since he was living with his mother in it. And he had payed off everything, he had built an entire life around living in this place and he had built his entire life off of what was surrounding this building that he could no longer live in. And it was really hard for him, he didn’t have the facilities to just move out on such short notice and get another apartment. Although many people might say that it would have just been better for him to find a new home you have to think if you were in his position, what would you have done? Would you have fought for your home that you had lived in for over 40 years or would you have just let it be taken from you so that a “Better home” could be placed on top of it? Apparently his landlord didn’t want to pay for the water to get fixed because she just wanted him out, and I guess this was a way to try to make him do so. I don’t know. It seems kind of weird to me. Apparently “The feelings of frustration and marginalization among longtime residents who are displaced by gentrification are magnified as landlords often turn to aggressive and abusive tactics”. Ray even tells us he went to court apparently. To fight for his home. He ended up losing though. He lost the court battle and his home all in the same day for less money than he put into it. Sorry that happened to you Ray. But can you all see now how gentrification negatively affects people? This proves that gentrification does more harm than good. I mean yeah sure more money is made from a larger more expensive apartment being placed on an old one but whose pockets does it go back into? Oh yeah the rich and the white. I mean it leaves people of color homeless and without the comfortability of the neighborhood they’ve made an entire life around.

Oh that’s all for the show today guys. Be sure to tune in next week where we will be cooking with Gordon Ramsey. Until then be sure to keep up with your cur-events!

Artist statement:

     Honestly if you had asked me about gentrification two years ago i would have said that word was too big and would have been uninterested. So when it did become an interesting topic for me I was kind of astonished. I became interested in gentrification and the effects of gentrification when I had initially heard about the term in my drama class. We were doing these 3 minute plays from a book and we focused so heavily on gentrification (as that was the theme). Initially I was confused because it was explained how important it was but it was weird to me that I was just now learning what it was. Not to mention no one told me how negative its effects were. I then focused on gentrification in New York as that is a big problem and whether gentrification did more harm than good for people. I want to present this as a podcast as it is a form of news and I believe that people take information more seriously when it is in a news format. Especially to the rich white people who need to hear this and be affected by this.

     As aforementioned this needs to reach rich white individuals who will never be affected by gentrification. They need to see the effect it has on people, and give them an informational yet human outlook on how gentrification molds its surroundings. I believe that if they do hear the informational aspect of it they’ll understand how increased rent and increased homelessness go hand in hand with gentrification. However as landlords and people of power I’m sure they already know this. So I planned to incorporate a man’s story and the effect gentrification had on him and his livelihood into the paper. Hopefully this will humanize the text and cause them to think the next time they decide to close down a small business and build a Starbucks on top of it or move a family out of their home for the sole purpose of destroying it in order to get more money. Overall the goal is to show them that there are still people hurting under all that money.

     There were many things that did not become the final product, and my work grew as I did. Initially I wanted to do a news video as that’s the genre. However I couldn’t find a way to professionally portray this. I also did not want to do a news article as I feel like the audience I am trying to reach wouldn’t have time to read it. I wanted it to be immersive and interesting, so after talking it through with Professor Hall I decided to do a podcast. This led to little to no problems as i was already in the process of writing a script, and tweaking it into podcast form wasn’t that difficult. I learned how to utilize tone and music to set a mood for specific talking points as that is important for a podcast. Your face and body can’t be shown so all you have is sound to kind of set a mood and tell a story which I found really interesting and different as I had never done anything like it before.

UNIT 1 (UPDATED):

2-3 SENTENCE INTRO: I decided to fix my conclusion and a few minor details in the text. However the conclusion was the main thing i worked on, this is because it had been explained to me that my conclusion excluded the fact that there are autistic people, dyslexic people, and individuals who are just bored with the content and that that is what prohibited them from learning. I didn’t mean to look over this and make it seem as though if the way you’re taught doesn’t cater to you then “oh well”, because that isn’t the case and i believe that educators should try and teach all students in a way that’s comfortable to them.

I had always assumed that the education system was perfect, i mean it’s used to help mold the brains of billions of kids around the globe. As a kid, school holds a sort of authority over your life, it’s not really something you question. You assume everything is put into place to perfectly educate your peers and you, it’s a system you are taught to trust. However the older i got, the more i noticed instances that refute the previous mindset that had been put in my head for years.

An incident in specific that changed my view on education would have to be in the 11th grade. The summer before school started, I had been emailed my schedule for the school year. I remember reviewing my schedule, deeply focused on what classes i would have for the year. Wondering which of my friends would be in which period, and how many periods i had before lunch. I was pleased to see that i was accepted into my first AP class, computer science. Of course i was prepared for it to be difficult, not only because it was an AP course but because computer science involves a lot of math (which isn’t a strength of mine). Fast forward about 2-3 months into the school year, something unexpected yet great happened to me. I was understanding and doing the work easily, even the math. This is because i work better with hands on work, opposed to other forms of learning. A lot of the material had been hands on up to that point, and it really made me more confident in my work and in my self. However i also realized that other kids were struggling either because 1. thats not how they were use to working or 2. because that’s not how they worked best. This led me to the conclusion that even tho this may work well for me and others, that doesn’t mean that it’s what works best for everyone.

At the end of every unit our teacher would do a survey just to get an understanding of where her class was at. I remember sitting at my desk typing on those cold MacBooks. Feeling like these surveys were unnecessary and a waste of time as i assumed the teacher wouldn’t even consider anyone’s ideas (none the less read all of them). The aforementioned survey would ask various questions such as “What was your favorite topic this unit”, “what do you want to see next unit”, and “Are there any lingering questions”. Another question being “what do you want to see changed next unit?”. Of course i put the usual such as “less homework” or “more extra credit” as i was doing fairly well with how she was teaching up till that point. However i’m guessing multiple of my classmates asked for less hands on experiences, because as soon as the new unit took place that’s exactly what happened. My teacher opted for less hands on work and for more written assignments and lecture type class periods. I then found myself struggling and frustrated that i couldn’t work, i found myself exactly where i feared i’d be the summer before school started. This took a toll on not only my grades, but also my confidence in that course. Needless to say, some kids thrived in this new work environment and did a complete 180 in terms of grades.

That’s when i realized that the way we’re educated isn’t perfect, you can’t cater to every kids way of learning and you definitely can’t please every student. However as an educator and you have to find out what works for the majority, as the education system isn’t an exact science. That isn’t to say that others should be left to the wayside if they don’t fit the general way of learning. I believe that every students needs should be catered to so that they are learning and soaking up information. In saying that education isn’t perfect, i’m saying that it wasn’t made to perfectly resonate with every single kids way of learning. Some might have to work harder to grasp a concept than others, and although it isn’t fair it’s how the education system works. There are alternatives you can take on situations such as the one i was in. There’s lunch lessons, one on one talks, office hours, etc. Which is exactly what i did, i stayed after school a lot that year and even asked my teacher at the time for alternative ways of learning. My after school would include doing the same problem over and over until i understood, coming home drained from the work, and even more practice after that. This however doesn’t exempt educators from excluding students who may need more help than others. They are just as important as any other student who can typically learn a topic. Although at the time i looked at it as unfair that i had to work harder than others in order to grasp a concept, i quickly realized that just a few months ago other students were in my place. There are instances in which students may be autistic, dyslexic, or just simply bored with the work which is prohibiting them from being engaged enough to learn. My teacher of course would not change how she taught the course to spite me, but she needed to do what was best for the majority. Although we assume the best in the school system and other authorities in our lives, it is important to take a notice to this flow of value type trust. I made the observation that the education system wasn’t perfect, and it changed my mind about education from there on out. I learned to rely on myself to understand things, because some educators ways of learning may not help me.