Tag Archive: ENG1101


After Completing Project Number 5, our final project in this semester,  I’ve learned a lot about writing and essay in a different format and perspective. I would have to say that this project was both one of the easiest and hardest projects i had to work on, mainly due to what i said earlier about writing in a different format and perspective. Although writing in a different perspective isn’t too difficult, writing an essay in a form of a Museum catalog was. It was something that i never attempted before, so naturally, i looked more into it and found a source on the internet that helped me organize my ideas when I was writing it. With the help of the outside source, it made the project a little bit more clear and easier. Overall i thought it was a rather interesting experience having to write a essay in such a format, also the fact that the final project was combined with the final project for our Adv1100 course, It has definitely improved my writing skills and showed me something new that was somewhat entertaining to do and think about.

Now that we have reached the end of the semester, i can look back on the writing i did from point A, and compare it to now, seeing that my writing skills have improved one assignment at at time. But there will always be room for improvement in the future, as i continue my route of understanding English writing and its various forms. I have to thank my amazing professor, Ms.Rosen for guiding our class for the first year, helping us understand these new techniques and ideas, along with the rest of the learning community. I really do believe that first year students can learn a lot from her and will move on to succeed in college just like the rest of us.

Building New York, a Humument created by Kevin J. Ayala is a Piece that was inspired by Tom Phillips’s rendering of text from the original Humument. In this Humument, We are shown of Ayala’s expression for New York and  his love for it expressed by this short Humument. Complemented by the drawing of what seems to be an interpretation of New York during a night time setting, it reads, ” I’m Here because i was born here, Building private New York, All worldly possessions in hand, Look: there, the first brick in your city”. The text that Ayala creates this Humument from was from Colson Whitehead’s “City Limits”, a Essay describing people first encounters with New York and how its settings begin to change overtime, but not the person’s Interpretation of “…Their own New York”. The piece was made in Brooklyn, N.Y in December of the year 2014, Being displayed in the Brooklyn Gallery of Art and Poetry.

This piece seems to be made from an actual document (Or a possible copy) that contains a section from Colson’s Whitehead’s essay, “City Limits”. The document was drawin over with what seems to be color pencils, using cool, dark colors to compliment the Night setting of what seems to be drawn as Ayala’s Small interpretation of what New York looks like in a small window, With a Building drawn on the left side of the page, along with a small view of a bridge in the middle, behind the buildings (what seems to be Brooklyn Bridge). The one red rectangle on one of the buildings located above the word “Brick” in the humument really gives diversity into the work, also passing the message of seeing “The first brick in your city”

By Using Whitehead’s Text, Ayala wanted to give a short but meaningful message of experiencing New York for the first time, and what it has to offer to a person’s experience in the area. For all his life, Ayala has lived in Bronx, New York, surrounded by influences and inspiration. To capture those small moments in life, he decided to study in an artistic major. This way, he can draw out those small moments in his mind and be able to transfer that idea in a creative way, either be by poetry or a drawing, painting, etc. For his whole life, he always had a thing with music and drawing, the music part being an influence into poetry. Originally when he created his Humument, it was a project for his freshman year at City Tech College located in Brooklyn, New York.  For his whole English 101 class, the writing that was done was mainly revolved around the [Brooklyn,] New York area and its influences towards the student.

Ayala’s influence to make this humument was once again, his love for the New York state and its appealing moments, areas, etc. The picture drawn for the humument was inspired by the Brooklyn area, and its plentiful buildings along with a sight of the Brooklyn Bridge. The area was new to him during the time and it was something he wanted to explore with his free time, thus came the idea of the picture for the Humument. Ayala was so fascinated and intrigued by the surrounding Brooklyn area, he wanted to capture that scene with both a drawing and a type of poetry. Since his situation fits the theme of Whitehead’s “City Limit”, Ayala thought it would be the perfect essay to use to describe the experience of his first time on Brooklyn when he attended college.

Ayala’s Piece has earned its place in our museum due to its artistic look and excellent use of poetry within a text as a normal Humument would do. He really did capture the meaning of coming to an area for the first time, beginning a new map of your personal New York and your experiences that are to come in the future.

Building New York, a Humument created by Kevin J. Ayala is a Piece that was inspired by Tom Phillips’s rendering of text from the original Humument. In this Humument, We are shown of Ayala’s expression for New York and  his love for it explained by this short Humument. Complemented by the drawing of what seems to be an interpretation of New York during a night time setting, it reads, ” I’m Here because i was born here, Building private New York, All worldly possessions in hand, Look, there is the first brick in your city”. The text that Ayala creates this Humument from was from Colson Whitehead’s “City Limits”, a Essay describing people first encounters with New York and how its settings begin to change overtime, but not the person’s Interpretation of “Their own New York”. The piece was made in Brooklyn, N.Y in December of the year 2014, Being displayed in the Brooklyn Gallery of Art and Poetry.

This piece seems to be made from an actual document (Or a possible copy) that contains part of Colson’s Whitehead’s essay, “City Limits”. The document was painted over with what seems to be gouache paint, using cool, dark colors to compliment the Night setting of what seems to be drawn as Ayala’s Small interpretation of what New York looks like in a small window, With Buildings Painted on both sides of the page, along with a small view of a bridge in the middle of the buildings (what seems to be Brooklyn Bridge). The one red rectangle on one of the buildings that surrounds the word “Brick” in the humument really gives diversity into the work, also passing the message of seeing “The first brick in your city”

By Using Whitehead’s Text, Ayala wanted to give a short but meaningful message of experiencing New York for the first time, and what it has to offer to that person’s experiences in life. For all his life, Ayala has lived in New York, surrounded by influences and inspiration. To capture those small moments in life, he decided to study in an artistic major. This way, he can draw out those small moments in his mind and be able to transfer that idea in a creative way, either be by poetry or a drawing, painting, etc. For his whole life, he always had a thing with music and drawing, the music part being an influence into poetry. Originally when he created his Humument, it was a project in his freshman year at City Tech College located in Brooklyn, New York.  For his whole English 101 class, the writing that was done was mainly revolved around the New York area and its influences towards the student.

Ayala’s influence to make this humument was once again, his love for the New York state and its appealing moments, areas, etc. The picture drawn for the humument was inspired by the Brooklyn area, and its plentiful buildings along with a sight of the Brooklyn Bridge. The area was new to him during the time and it was something he wanted to explore with his free time, thus came the idea of the picture for the Humument. Ayala was so fascinated and intrigued by the surrounding Brooklyn area, he wanted to capture that scene with both a drawing and a type of poetry. Since his situation fits the theme of Whitehead’s “City Limit”, Ayala thought it would be the perfect essay to use to describe the experience of his first time on Brooklyn when he attended college.

Ayala’s Piece has earned its place in our museum due to its artistic look and excellent use of poetry within a text as a normal Humument would do. He really did capture the meaning of coming to an area for the first time, beginning a new map of your personal New York and your experiences that are to come in the future.

 

 

50 Word Note:

Building New York, a Humument created by Kevin J. Ayala is a Piece that was inspired by Tom Phillips’s rendering of text from the original Humument. With Text Taken from Colson Whiteheads “City Limits”, the Humument shows a single red Brick (Over “Brick”) to show the ” First brick in your city”

Here is a route that i came along from Borough hall to the boardwalk of Manhattan bridge. This route is meat to show the blend of nature and society and how they can fit during times in the season, in this case, Fall would be the best time to take this route. Starting from Borough Hall, you want to walk up Cadman Plaza, going towards the Cadman Plaza Park. during your walk on this route, you will begin to notice how  the tree’s orange and yellow color begin to match the area around it (Picture 1), as the rest of the walk will do as well. Once you arrive at the park, you want to walk into the park, staying on your left as you will turn to walk up Clark Street. Regardless of what time your walking through the park, it will always look pleasant to the eye during your walks through it. Once on Clark Street, you want to continue walking up past the penny bridge till you on the Hicks Street (Or as i like to call it, fruity street due to the fact that the streets that intersect with Hicks Street are named after various types of fruit like Orange and pineapple). Once your on Hicks street, you want to turn right continue on straight until you land on the intersection of Hicks Street and cranberry. Once on Cranberry, you want to Turn left and Walk straight up to your destination. Through Cranberry street is the main point of the walk since it really captures the beauty of nature and society, especially with how the tree’s blend in with the color of the houses (pictures 3 and 4) When you walk straight up from the street, you should then be at your destination at the Boardwalk near Manhattan bridge, which has a very nice view of  the ocean and the rest of the city. If you look slightly to your lest from the city, you can see the statue of liberty from a distance.

Image 1: Cadman Plaza

Image 1: Cadman Plaza

Image 2: Cadman Park Plaza

Image 2: Cadman Park Plaza

Image 3 : Cranberry Street

Image 3 : Cranberry Street

Image 4: Better view of the tree's blending with the buildings

Image 4: Better view of the tree’s blending with the buildings

Image 5: View of the citi from Boardwalk

Image 5: View of the citi from Boardwalk

Image 6: The left side from the view of the city

Image 6: The left side from the view of the city

During our field trip to the Brooklyn Historical Society, we paid a visit to their library to analyze and study a few maps about Brooklyn and how its maps and streets came to be. There were several maps that were spread out, weather they be Subway maps, maps of some areas of Brooklyn, or all of New York state, they all kinda told a small story of the past. during my research, i noticed how back then they used maps a a type of advertisement for companies and what not. the map below is an older map of the brand new subway transit system, before the number and letter system came to be later on. Not only does this map have old subway routes, but it also told you a little about how the economy back then as seen by the 25 cent advertisement in one of the pictures below. also in the back of the map, i found an advertisement to the company who made the maps, also mean that the company who made this subway map has made other maps, perhaps even more of Brooklyn.

Subway map from 1940's

Subway map from 1940’s

Subway Advertisement

Subway Advertisement

The comapny information i found on the back

The company information i found on the back

From what i can gather, the wonder exhibit is a compilation of photographs taken by City tech students in a near by graveyard in which i cannot remember the name of. The exhibit was full of beautifully taken pictures from the surrounding area. some pictures were about the gravestones, or the scenery around the graveyard such as the houses, ponds, and statues. Out of all the pictures in the gallery, my favorite one has to be the one below because its just so vibrant and just  gives the area a sense of  age and atmosphere. the Hue around the building  just pops out and gives the picture a pretty broad look. I just love the design of the building and its structure, the person who took this picture does a great job displaying this. Overall, its a beautiful picture and i think its the best of all of the others that are displayed in the exhibit.

 

IMG_0368[1]IMG_0365[1]

Reading Lucy, by Jennifer Egan is a essay that’s based on a research novel about a woman named Lucille Kolkin who worked for the Brooklyn Navy yard during World War II as a mechanic for about two years. The author begins to create a bond with her as she continues to interview Lucy, not only learning about what she does and her studies as an engineer, but more of her personal life as well. Lucy then tells her about how she met a man named Alfred Kolkin and how they would send letters to each other as often as they could. Through this, they both began to create a close bond to each other as readers can clearly see that they both care about each other very much. But overtime, they began to drift apart, the only thing keeping them together was through the letters they sent. The author could tell that there bond was strong through the letters that they wrote to each other from time to time, discussing their current situations and developments. around the end when Alfred moves to a new Navy yard in California, They discuss things about a possible future with kids and a house and other things that an average married couple would do. The author soon finds out that Lucy dies years ago and is a bit crushed by the fact, but through reading her letters to Alfred along with a few online articles she found, she knows that she died doing what she wanted. In the end, she feels a bit of a reflection towards herself through reading Lucy’s letters and begins to question her future. but in the end, she concludes that you just have to live it out to the fullest.

From what i can learn about this essay is that people should live life to the fullest till the day they pass on. The author further implements this message through Lucy’s letters and the choices that she made throughout her time talking to the man of her dreams. I think its a rather personal thing that the reader can relate to with the story, for the soul fact that Lucy made the decisions that she did to be happy with herself and live life. It’s something sadly not alot of people think about now a days, people are so focused on the future, that they barley even worry about what makes them happy and what they want to do later on in that future time.

What if you Could Choose Between the Fastest Route and the Most Beautiful, by Lex Berko, Is a article that explains how nowadays with Mobile navigation apps, they only take you from point A, to point B in the shortest way possible. Berko explains that this current use of a mobile app becomes boring and non – enthusiastic. Berko wants to make a way that you can get to your location, while also being able to enjoy your walk and its scenery. He conducts an experiment with some people, showing them alternate routes and its scenery and asks them, which route would you rather take and which one looks more pleasant. After gathering the results, it was clear that most people do want to enjoy a peaceful or beautiful scenery as they are walking from point A to point B.

After reading the article, i have to agree with Berko’s experiment and say it is more lively to walk a path that has a more appealing scenary surrounding the area. It get boring going through the same path over and over again, with the same old, boring look. I would rather try and find another route that i can walk through and be able to smile at the appealing scenery that surrounds the area. I feel others should support this as well, since now adays, we live in a more depressing time. Little things like this can do alot to brighten up a persons day in their life.