Category Archives: Class notes

Project 4 draft outline

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-introduction about the new routes and how it can change a mood or a mentality of a person throughout the day (thesis statement)

-journey on experiment used multiple days on new route to Citytech to the old route and how different it is compared to one another (the music, smells, sounds, scenery, space, ect.)

-results to the experiment and how it improved overall mood at mornings  and how i spent time enjoying the silence and surroundings of my walk compared to old walk commute results

-show source to provide evidence on thesis statement or if its a counterpoint to my thesis

-show another outside source to provide evidence on thesis statement or if its a counterpoint to my thesis

-conclude essay with how such a little change in ones route can make a big impact to someones mood or mentality for the rest of the evening.

Overlapping Brooklyns

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Looking at the photograph from Brooklyn Historical Society, we observe:

African-American family in the foreground

  • wearing casual clothing
  • helps us date the photograph
  • child petting cat
  • broken railing
  • graffiti
  • screens
  • curtains

Orthodox Jewish family in the background:

  • formal attire
  • air conditioning
  • blinds in the windows
  • fallout shelter (do all buildings have this?)

Overlaps:

  • racial/ethnic/religious overlaps
  • socioeconomic overlap
  • new vs old home technologies/outfittings
  • recreation vs. not
  • ornamentation vs. worn-down buildings

Thesis statement:

  • Despite their location next to each other on the block,
  • Although both houses have similar architecture,
  • The two families differ in their appearance and activity, yet they both

Organization:

  • block format
    • all about one
    • all about the other
    • comparison
    • or
    • all about one
    • all about the other with comparison to the first
  • point-by-point
    • one element and comparison
    • another element and comparison
    • another element and comparison etc
  • a combination of the two

Including quotations

  • introduce it
  • quote it (and cite it)
  • interpret it: “In other words…”
  • analyze it
  • apply it back to your thesis

Presentations and more!

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Focused freewrite

We’ll begin class today with the question:

If you could take a class in anything in college, what would it be and why? You might want to think back to Project #1 and how you described yourself, your interests and passions, and your philosophy or aesthetic sensibility.

Next,

Imagine college went away for a while–or you went away from it. You’re all caught up with chores and responsibilities. What would you spend your time doing? Imagine limitless possibilities or resources if that helps you free yourself of reality.

Finally,

What would a course in your preferred activity (from above) be?

For our brainstorming presentations:

  • What is the overlap that relates to my interest?
  • What passage(s) might it relate to?
  • What is the next step?
  • What argument might you make in your project?

Or, if you want to do what was originally assigned:

  • show the photograph
  • identify the location
  • identify what you claim is the overlap
  • what are some points of comparison or contrast?
  • 1 passage and how it relates
  • a draft of your thesis statement.

Presentations:

SS: Interest in trains and the experience of seeing them for the first time as a teenager. Where to see them? The transit museum? Better to go to the Manhattan Bridge overpass. Overlap: train in its environment. Maybe the area when the train is there and when it’s not. OR maybe on the train vs. on the ground? OR train at different times of day, different demographics. Whitehead on 1 train, McGrath on Brooklyn Bridge. SS will revisit the site.

KL: walk over Jay St to the Manhattan Bridge  to Canal St to Chinatown. Gentrification is pushing Chinese people out of Chinatown. Now there’s a cafe, not Chinese shops. Thesis: NY is home to a lot of good overlap, but there are some areas where one is pushing out another through gentrification. Think about Whitehead on what was there before being more real, etc

DL: New City Tech building compared to Namm. Even though they’re both designed to educate, they have different approaches. Namm as old, chalkboards, etc. New building: glass, modern, changing society, different educational experience? Buildings starting to represent how we live in society, esp technology. Whitehead: attachment to buildings. KL: more light, taller ceilings can lead to greater productivity

MM: Barclay’s Center and what the neighborhood was before. More lively than the depressed area. More traffic and more events (concerts, graduation). Whitehead: 8 million naked city

BC: DUMBO, old factory building contrasting with a skyscraper building in Manhattan: changing skyline, a piece of history overlapped with a new modern building. Whitehead, changing NY

JF: Fulton and DeKalb: Dime Savings Bank turning into apartments, cafes, etc.; plus broken-down stores. Changing from Forever 21, Century 21. Think about McGrath on poverty

Reading a visual text

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Read the following visual texts:

Steinberg, Saul. “View of the World from 9th Avenue.” The New Yorker, March 29, 1976.

—. “View of the World from 9th Avenue.” Saul Steinberg Foundation. 1976.

Make two columns: observations and interpretations.

Start adding details to the observations column.

Observations:

NY looks well developed

tall buildings (not very) 12 stories?

cars: are they 1970s models?

streets crowded with people, cars: or gives the impression, even though not high #s

NY is he biggest area

traffic light at 9th Ave

no traffic light at 10th Avenue

West Side Highway

somewhere above Houston and below 59th St

Avenue numbers indicated on streets

 

 

elsewhere: not well developed, lack of detail

everything is next to each other

Hudson and Pacific (labeled) not far apart

other side of the world seems closer

Across Hudson from NY: Jersey

Jersey just seems like dirt–beige or brown

west coast of North America is yellow (sand?)

different areas are different colors

country borders labeled

US drawn as rectangular in perspective

map not drawn to scale

drawn with colored pencils

using the conventions of maps: labels, colors, borders

what is labeled? Hudson River, Jersey, Canada, Chicago, Washington, DC, Kansas City, Nebraska, Las Vegas, Utah, Texas, Los Angeles, Mexico, Pacific Ocean, Russia, Japan, China–“Jersey”=lack of respect

aerial view

Magazine: The New Yorker. Read by NYers, others, cultural studies magazine, elitist appealing to well educated readers who have exposure to cultural events and arts.

March 29, 1976, 75 cents.

Steinberg (Saul Steinberg)

Message or thesis statement of this text: New York is more detailed compared to the more spaced-out locations included in the image because according to Steinberg, it’s more lively (exciting, dynamic, unique, popular) than anywhere else that seems mundane, non-descript.

NY is more crowded than everywhere else?

 

One-Sentence Summaries of “A Literary Visitor Strolls in from the Airport”

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One-Sentence Summaries of “A Literary Visitor Strolls in from the Airport”

According to Will Self,

 

Mr. Self, an author and psychogeologist, takes a 20-mile walk and analyzes neighborhood “interfaces” for how NY’s geographical layout affects the livelihoods of those who inhabit the city.

a recovering addict who uses walking instead of drugs now

 

Colson Whitehead “City Limits”

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Colson Whitehead claims New York City to be the best city and it makes every other hometown ,city, town,country look drab and tiny. In this article Colson’s talks about his passion towards New York City. He also describes how he views New York city. As well as his thoughts about and towards New York city. He talks about how people been here for a while get hit with flash blacks while walking down their block how that used to be and this used to be. He also says how New York has a bunch of history behind it Someone people see building this way while other call it this and other call it the way it is. He also speaks about how New York is also the place for opportunities.

Project #2 Peer Review

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Answer for your peer review partner(s):

Thesis Statements

  • Is my thesis statement clear?
  • do you know where I’m going from reading my thesis statement?
  • How can my thesis statement be clearer?
  • can you put my thesis statement in your own words?

Support

  • do I write about criteria to support my thesis statement?
  • am I specific enough? too general?
  • have I convinced you?
  • have I chosen evidence from articles that supports my argument?
  • is there better evidence to include?

Requirements

  • did I do everything I need to do?
  • is this long enough?
  • does it have a thesis statement?
  • does it include criteria
  • does it cite sources?
  • does it have a Works Cited list? is it in alphabetical order according to the first letter of each citation?
  • is it proofread? (at the end)