Category: Coffeehouse #1 (Page 1 of 2)

Bilal Rahmani’s Intellectual home consists of place, people and processes. At the beginning of the essay Rahmani talks about how high school demotivated him, he no longer wanted to participate and was disinterested in learning, he went to college barely to show up. By the following semester through transition he had found his intellectual home, at CityTech, in his English class when  a classmate of his, a (dumb) girl who sits next to him and the professor sowed the seed of doubt and then his classmates, they all started discussing ideas from different perspective, it grabbed his attention and he experienced epiphany that made him be more open minded and just like that he was interested “The discussion dragged me in, and I too began to share my ideas, adding to the excitement of the classroom.” In this essay, CityTech, particularly the English class, the girl, professor and the group discussion builds up Rahmani’s Intellectual home “Now, my mind has opened to this college and has been flooded with the thoughts of hundreds of students as eager and ambitious to learn as I am. This public institution of learning, so often looked down upon, has come to shape the person I’ve always wanted to become.”

This is a test.

To be honest, After reading Bihlal Rahmani’s “Chronicles of a Once Pessimistic College Freshman” for the first time, I was struggling to really identify what was Rahmani’s Intellectual home. I was struggling to pinpoint his intellectual home because I was looking for a physical location he ‘d always strive in, and although he was a high scoring student in school he still felt  like his “…first month of college passed in this depressed state.”  Even though he was doing relatively well academically, An intellectual Home should and would never feel depressive as he describes it. What I later then realized as the essay unfolded was that in reality he was in his intellectual home the whole time. He just needed to open his mind up a little bit. The day his mind opened up was when his thoughts that he was smarter and superior to the other students in his class was challenged.  For a second he couldn’t accept the fact that the student he thought was dumb, was actually correct and what he thought was wrong. there was the key. He needed to let go of his ego and start socializing, participating, and connecting with his surroundings. “as a functioning member of this vibrant community, I find myself engaged in my
classes in a way that I never had before” Before he had a mental barrier blocking himself from the world around him and that was what was holding him back from his intellectual home.

Rahmani despite being a straight A student lacked the motivation in all his school work showing this in the early paragraphs of this reading, he stated this when he expressed his emotions towards his first semester “first month of college passed in this depressive state”. I also empathize with that feeling of not finding motivation for my studies, as school can be a depressive cycle of loneliness and stress. After he starts his next semester he is in an english class reading a short story named  “cat in the rain” . He believes that his classmates are simpletons and wouldn’t understand “the enigmatic allegories he presents in his writing” in hand belittling his classmates. Although Rahmani also comes off as an egotistical person when he name calls  his classmate for expressing her point of view, what he later finds out  is that he was wrong for believing that. After being able to discuss and understand his classmates point of view he finds out he is impressed and starts to add onto the conversation. This  is when he finally finds his intellectual home. An intellectual home being a place where he enjoys to learn and doesn’t feel that same depressive cycle he was stuck in the first semester. 

Rahmani’s intellectual home is learning around or with others. When he is learning by himself, he isn’t able to really connect with what he is doing. It seems that when others are around and involved, they are able to able to bring him out and make him think critically and from a different perspective. These interactions with his peers and professors make learning a unique and moving experience for him. While the college is important because gives him a place to connect with others, it is the connections that he makes that really matter. Their input allows him to grow and absorb what the others around him are putting out. From there he is able to process this information, apply it to himself, and it can possibly change him. That way he isn’t just stuck in his ways of thinking. Being around people with the opportunity to discuss, tutor, be taught, whatever it may be, really makes the difference for Rahmani. With his peers he can share and be shared with, that is not something you can do by yourself. It gets him off of his mental island and builds bridges to the minds of others around him. Only then is he really learning.

Rahmani had a real hard time expressing himself creatively, he didn’t feel the need to unlock his thoughts anywhere or to anyone, for no one around him at the moment could improve him, he deserved better so he thought. It seemed that for the most part his intellectual home was his mind alone, In his mind he could judge and guard his thoughts, but being in this ego state he never aloud himself to grow academically for he thought he knew better or enough. This however changed completely when his second semester English class assigned him to read Hemingway, he recognized Hemingway he was smart like that, but what he knew best was how to underestimate others, he let himself think he was the only one to understand the message of “Cat in the Rain”  so to his surprise the girl he labeled dumb taught him that this amazing author he knew was a misogynist. This was the spark he needed to recognize others’s potential, he saw the class expand with wonder so it encouraged him to let his guard down and expand this wonder with them. As he moved forward in this college he finally was inspired to express himself the way he always wanted to and strengthen his thoughts and knowledge to and even higher level. His intellectual home became city tech.

Based on Bilal Rahmani’s “Chronicles of a Once Pessimistic College Freshman”, his intellectual home is associated with his college. Because he realized that college was the place for him to grow, learn, and shape himself into the person he had always wanted to be. This realization did not happen straight away; there were some certain activities that led him to this. In the beginning, he cultivated the thought that everyone was apathetic just like him, and the institution was not good enough. Though he was a smart kid, he was also self-centered and prejudiced. During the English lecture, while they were discussing “Cat in the Rain,” by Ernest Hemingway, he believed his interpretation was the smartest, despite listening to everyone else’s. Then his peers started sharing their ideas, which were also as logical as his. That hit him, and he realized he was in an ocean of ideas and wisdom. He was beginning to retract his opinion about the educational institution as he understood its true values. Finally, he became more involved not only in-class activities but also in other extracurricular activities. He feels the adventure and the knowledge he is acquiring here will shape him into the person he has always wanted to be. That is why I believe that his college is his intellectual home.

After having read Rahmani’s Chronicles of a Once Pessimistic College Freshman, I believe Rahmani’s intellectual home is in fact, CityTech. After all, Rahmani had his entire wall of perception obliterated at CityTech. He once thought that he was an intelligent, model student. However, after one particular English class, he had been reformed. He had come to understand different viewpoints to the same content (e.g. believing that in no possible way could Hemingway be sexist because he was a great author, only to be proven wrong by facts and logic). As he states in his anecdote, “The classroom became ink, penetrating the water, which was my mind, adding new colors, creating something new, something I alone could never hope to create.” At this moment, Rahmani admits that he is not the one with exceedingly superior intellect in the classroom, but all minds in said classroom come together to become the exceedingly superior intellect. This is why I believe CityTech is Rahmani’s intellectual home, as it allows Rahmani to break free from his own ego and discover what it means to share ideas in a melting pot.

In the reading “Chronicles of a Once Pessimistic College Freshmen.” by Bilal Rahmani we are met with examples that show us a clear representation of what ended up being Rahmani’s intellectual  chosen home. His intellectual home was the college. Rahmani ended up going to City Tech and at first he wasn’t a fan of the idea of him going to the school. Rahmani thought the school environment was a depressing place, felt as though the school didn’t have anything going for it self nor would have anything for him and it was clear he wasn’t interested to be apart of the community. There was a time in college where Rahmani was humbled by his own peers and he realized that the students here are actually interesting, possibly more interesting than him. It was a discussion about Hemingway and that the moment where he had a change in perspective about the environment he was in. Rahmani had entered the school not interested in being apart of the community and didn’t think anyone in the school would interest him enough to change his opinions on the school but after experiencing discussions with other students it was a clear change and how he wanted to attend the school from moving forward. Rahmani entered clubs that he thought he never would before he was more engaged in what he was being taught, he ended up feeling comfortable in his environment. 

In the reading of Bilal Rahmani’s essay “Chronicles of a Once Pessimistic College Freshman” I think the intellectual home for author Bilal Rahmani consists of books, classmates, class, and the school. Actually, though, he doesn’t seem to like school at all and was filled with hatred, because Bilal Rahmani experienced that he was so dissatisfied and irritated at being rejected at the school he chose and expected, and studied in a very ordinary high school specialized at Healthy Professions and Human Services on the East low side.  Even during his first semester at CityTech College, because during the first semester, he doesn’t feel he is part of life on the campus and he doesn’t have any target or pursue. However, in his second-semester class discussing Hemingway’s short story“Cat in the Rain ”, He thought he was the smartest person and that he would be the only person to explain a perfect answer. He was confident that there was no one who could give or interpret the short story, and when he unconsciously heard many fantastic and unusual ideas from the ‘‘clumsy” female classmate next to him and others, he suddenly changed his arrogant, indifferent mind to modesty. Towards the end of the story, Bilal Rahmani truly felt he perspective in the CityTech college was wrong.  To sum up everything that I’ve started so far, I think every person, mesmerized place, the book you are interested in, or process could be your intellectual home if you’re really interested and what it is.

In Bilal Rahmani’s essay “Chronicles of a Once Pessimistic College Freshman,” I think his intellectual home consists of the story “Cat in the Rain,” his classmates, his English class, and City Tech College. Actually, though, he didn’t seem to like his high school at all and was filled with frustration because Rahmani was rejected by his first middle school choice and was forced into Health Profession and Human Services High School, a school he didn’t select. He didn’t feel he was a part of Citytech’s campus throughout his first semester and the beginning of his second semester. The special reason for that circumstance was that he wasn’t interested in any courses with his guidance counselor selected for him. Once, he was with classmates discussing the short story, “Cat in the Rain.” He thought he was the smartest and most confident person. The only one who understood the enigmatic allegories and would be there to give a perfect interpretation. The only person who would be there to give a perfect interpretation. But when he unconsciously heard an unusual idea from the “dumb” female classmate next to him, he was still sure my interpretation was smarter and more creative than hers anyway. But, when he heard from his other classmates’ ideas and that all made so much sense, his prejudices crashed, his wall, the egoistic wall crashed and vanished. Towards the end of the story, Rahmani truly felt he had perspectives on City Tech College at the beginning. At that moment, he started to enjoy his classmates, English class, and school. To sum up, in everything that I’ve started so far, I think every enthusiastic person, the place you are attracted to, the book you are interested in, or the process could be your intellectual home as long as you’re interested in it.