Although we introduced ourselves in class briefly, and we’ll introduce ourselves more formally in Project #2, please write an introduction here as a way to help us get to know each other better. Aim to write 250-300 words. This is your chance to say all the things you forgot to say in class, or to say again all the things you crafted and said brilliantly. You might add what your academic interests are, what the highlight of your high school experience was, what you hope to find at City Tech, etc.
If you have successfully created an OpenLab account, log in before you comment so the system can recognize you. Otherwise, fill in the required information and get started!
Check back again and reply to at least 3 of your classmates, asking questions or letting them know about shared interests.
Well, my name is Veronica in case people have forgotten. So far, my first day at City Tech has been good. I have met new people and soon have new friends. I have enjoy all my classes. Things to know more about me is that I like photography, I am a gamer, a humor person who laughs a lot and make jokes, enjoy anime, sports to, energetic and weird. So far I am looking forward to my next classes for this week, and happy to see familiar faces around. I do want to have a career as a photographer and get my bachelor degree.
What are some of the things you like to take pictures of?
I take pictures of buildings, objects, flowers, etc.
Thanks for introducing yourself again, Veronica! It’s nice to meet you on the OpenLab. Would you want to share an image here to give us a sense of your photography aesthetics?
Hi Veronica, what is your favorite anime?
My favorite anime is called,”Bleach.”
Hi! Are there any sports in particular that you enjoy most?
Volleyball
Volleyball. Ignore the other one I forgot I wasn’t log in lol
Have you ever played volleyball in Brooklyn Bridge Park, which is very close to City Tech? Check it out!
what’s your favorite game?
My name is Evelyn my academic interest is around concept design for games. Throughout City tech I hope to develop a skill in animation 2d/3d and to have a better understanding of body proportions/form by the end of my associates degree. My interests as of now revolve around pixel art. I’m reserved and I might tend to have a straight face but once you get to know me I’m pretty fun. A fun fact is that I play PC games as well and I have decent knowledge on console games. I also have social anxiety so please be patient with me.
Hey Evelyn, what kind of PC games do you play?
I have data on multiple mmorpg games but they’re all originally Korean/Japanese hosted. The genre I’m interested in is generally action and side scrolling.
Welcome, Evelyn! Thanks for introducing yourself. There are so many City Tech students interested in gaming that I’m sure you’ll find a group that makes you feel at home. There is a student lounge on the 5th floor where the Library Building meets the General Building where students who like to play congregate before/between/after classes.
Hey, my name is Olando Alexis, And I’m currently enrolled in the Brooklyn city College of technology. I’m currently 18 years old. I would say that I have a more of a lean, tall, skinny, body type. In my spare time I enjoy playing basketball, going to the movies, going out with friends, and watching videos on YouTube mostly interesting things. I am currently in the communication design major. This is something very new to me and I hope to learn a lot. Also, I wish to grow a passion for this program. I wouldn’t say I’m the most creative person, but hopefully this could change. This is something very new to me and I hope to learn a lot. Also, I wish to grow a passion for this program. I wouldn’t say I’m the most creative person, but hopefully this could change. If not then hopefully I find something that can interest my passion. Well, That’s all there is to say about me.
Hi Olando, What’s your favorite basketball team?
why do you not think you’re not creative?
when ever i get stumped on trying to design something, no matter how bad or “stupid” i think it is, i jot it down either way. it’s just a draft. Another thing i do is, when brainstorming an idea, always disregard the first idea that comes to your head, and use your second or third or whichever.
Great ideas, @okay! Olando, something you’ll learn more about in both Design and in Composition is to generate ideas and then review them, iterate on the best few, and figure out which one to continue with. Let your classmates and coursework inspire you to grow and foster your creativity. Welcome to our learning community–it’s an exciting place to find inspiration!
Hi, my name is Sally. Some things I like doing is watching anime, shows and movies. Some genres I like to watch is action, adventure, etc. I also like playing games like Fortnite, League of Legends and many other PC games. I’m a quiet girl but I may talk a lot if it’s about stuff I like. I also enjoy sports like basketball, my favorite team is OKC Thunder. My academic interest is digital design/art, I like to mess around on softwares like Photoshop and paint.NET. After coming to college, I realize it is very different from High school. In high school we wouldn’t be allowed to use elevators. The classes don’t last longer than an hour and we would stay in the same building. Today was a tiring first day, the line for the ID was so long, I had to wait an hour or longer. As for the classes I had so far, they seem interesting. City tech seems like a good college. I’m still not sure about what job I want after graduating, but as time goes by I will figure it out. I hope to meet new people and become friends.
I used to play League of Legends as well so I am familiar with the game mechanics
They added some new stuff to the game, i haven’t been on in a while.
U got any console games Sally?
Nope, i don’t play on console.
Hi Sally, any favorite anime at the moment?
some college advice, if you come late and the line for the elevators are long, go further back towards the G building i think, and take the elevator there. it only takes you as far a 6, but then you can go back to namm take the elevator there.
also you don’t need you ID right away, you can still use your schedule to get in with the guard. if you do it late, like wait a few weeks, its much much easier. when i got mine it took maybe an hour? this might be bad advice, so do whatever you want.
More great advice, @okay! I think the elevators you’re referring to are in the Library Building. The elevators in the General Building haven’t worked for a few semesters, so it would be great if they were working now–it’s a great work-around to take any elevators other than the Namm elevators if you can help it.
Who’s your favorite basketball player?
Thanks for sharing more info about yourself, Sally! Welcome to our learning community–it sounds like you have some overlapping interests with your classmates. Have you ever been to a professional basketball game? Anyone been to Barclay’s for a game? Fun fact: unless plans change, your City Tech graduation will be at Barclay’s!
Hi, my name is Rosa and well…This awkward already haha… Well, this is sort of normal, once I get along with others and tend to share the same interest then I can speak better without being all awkward at least. My first day at Citytech was nice, being honest here I was scared, mainly because I’m was not sure what could have gone wrong or what good things can happen but it was wonderful. The two classes I had was very welcoming and made me feel comfortable enough to stop worrying and overreacting to a new start. Being able to see new faces was fun and I’m really curious about getting to know more about my classmates and make nice memories here. I enjoy drawing both traditional and digital however I currently have more of a liking to digital, usually drawing original characters or fanart/fan characters. I also enjoy writing and creating fanfiction or just an original story, when I an art block or vice-versa, usually open to new ideas for stories or drawings. Along with watching anime as well. I often get misunderstood whether it’d be my actions or form of wording so I apologize in advance. I’m not sure what career I want to truly focus on so hopefully throughout the year I will be able to determine which one to take. Overall I just want to enjoy myself despite any obstacles that will arrive and being able to get used to my future classes and peers, hopefully soon to be friends.
I also draw fanart digitally, what shows/games have you created fanart of?
Well I usually do anime fanart/fan characters, currently I’m trying to work on making fanart for ‘My hero Academia’
How about you?
Good choice good taste. I’ve been swimming in HxH fan art lately. I know it’s old news but it’s still one of my favorite shows that really stuck with me.
Who’s your favorite My hero Academia character?
Welcome, Rosa–I’m glad to know that the classes in this learning community helped ease some starting-college anxiety (you were talking about ENG 1101 and COMD 1100, right?)! It’s great to see that you share interests with your classmates, and that you enjoy both writing and drawing–perfect for this learning community!
Hello, my name is Elliot Vidalon and I’m of course a freshman in city tech. My major is communication design because not just because it’s for fun or a hobby (well… it kinda is) it’s because drawing thing that comes out of my mind or from other references that I like is my strongest ability that I can do and I am looking forward to improve my style of art work and experimenting my potential to see what I can do to make a difference. It is nice to meet all of you guys and I hope we can get to know each other in the near future.
Hey! By improving your style of artwork is there anything, in particular, you want to focus? Or just in general?
what helps a lot with improving your ability to work from observation is routinely doing blind contours. where you look at the subject of your drawing but not down at your page. Its trains your eyes you really look at what you’re drawing, and pay more attention to what you actually see vs. what image you might have in your head.
So many great ideas, @okay! Thanks for sharing your input so openly. This learning community will emphasize observation, description, and interpretation–important aspects as we live up to the name Ways of Seeing.
Thanks for introducing yourself, @elliotvidalon! It’s great when you get to do academically what you enjoy in your free time as well. You’ll be that much more passionate and diligent about learning to develop your design skills. Experimentation is so important to improve and adapt your skills, and our learning community will give you opportunities to make that happen.
Hi, my name is Brianna. It’s been already crazy two days of being a freshman in college but I’m super excited to start working and doing projects. I love to watch movies and random shows (anime, cartoons, mystery…) as long as they’re not reality shows which are super cringey to me. I really enjoy advertising design, like posters or any billboards. Whenever I see an interesting one in the subway or outside, that it really captures my attention I take a picture of it. I also really like reading and writing, even though I wish I did more of it because i do enjoy it. Butttt I dunno what else to say about myself other than I hope to learn a lot more about my classmates and hope you guys have a great time in school too!
Welcome, Brianna! It’s great to keep a catalogue of images (or images with text, even better) that appeal to you so you can draw inspiration from them. Do you see a pattern to what appeals to you? about reading and writing–the more you do it, the more you want to do it, but when you don’t immerse yourself, it’s so difficult to get into it and want to keep going. This learning community presents a great opportunity for you to get you to read and write more!
i’m Sam, i draw whenever i find time to, i’m always looking to improve on my work and challenge myself. Art is pretty much all i do, some of my my main inspirations are David Lynch, Jim Henson, and currently Henry Darger. i also like folk music and rock.
recently i spent a month working with kids at a summer camp, it was okay.
Welcome, Sam! What kind of art do you do when you say art is pretty much all you do? I’m curious because those are three really different inspirations! I’m looking forward to seeing their influences on your art as you work on your Glossument project. Thanks for sharing your advice in this introductions thread!
Welcome to everyone! I’ve loved reading your comments and getting to know you all better. I’m glad we’re all getting to know each other in class and here online, and to see your shared interests. So many of you expressed your interest in languages, the arts, in gaming, in reading, and in a myriad of other things. All of these interests will contribute to our class community, either in the work you do or in the passion and creativity you’ll bring with you.
Hopefully you’ve gotten to know me a little bit just from our first class and from the syllabus and other materials on this site–our writing style says a lot about us–but allow me to introduce myself more fully. I’m a native New Yorker, and have lived in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island–and though I’ve never lived in Queens, it holds a big place in my heart (any guesses why? I reveal it below). I’m an associate professor in the English Department at City Tech, with a Ph.D. in English and a certificate in Women’s Studies from the CUNY Graduate Center in midtown Manhattan. My undergraduate degree from Brown University is in both English and Biology. As a college student, this combination often confused people, and they would ask “What are you going to do, write science textbooks?” No, that was never an interest of mine. I do use a lot of science terminology and metaphors in my writing, both in my creative writing and in my scholarly work.
Here at City Tech, I’m involved in a number of interesting projects. I won’t list them all, but I’ve been one of the OpenLab co-directors since it launched in 2011, and am conducting research on interactive technology use in education. My scholarly work focuses on narrative theory, gender and sexuality studies, and literature of the 20th century. I’m active on the Undergraduate Research Committee, so let’s talk if you’re interested in conducting research.
Outside of work–if we can ever really separate the things we do into work and non-work categories–I love to knit and crochet when I have time. I’ve been known to quilt. I love to cook. I want to learn how to use a letterpress. As you can see, I like to make things! It’s so satisfying to see a project through from start to finish, and to have a tangible object to show for it. I like to bring my love of making things into the classroom, creating projects that don’t just ask students to do what they’re used to doing (eg write papers) but to experience things, have a tactile encounter with our surroundings, and to make things, too.
I love to look at old maps and photographs of New York, and often incorporate them into my courses. Although I’m an amateur and don’t have fancy equipment, I am always amazed by how much better my photographs look when I get a new phone with an even-better camera. I love to take photographs when I travel, whether to far-off places like Amsterdam and Iceland or here in New York while commuting. I have plans to travel to Montreal for work this semester, and I’m excited to see it and to capture some of it in photos. Sometimes, though, I’ve passed on the opportunity to take photos while riding the Staten Island Ferry or walking across the Brooklyn Bridge in favor of enjoying the view.
And I’m a bleed-blue-and-orange Mets fan (that’s my strongest connection to Queens!) even when things get tough–like all of this season!
Hey, my name is Garence. Let me tell you a little about myself. My favorite color is black. Currently, my activities include watching anime, binge watching shows, watching movies, playing video games, and of course, drawing. I also love to hang out with my friends. I love to eat burgers. I have a twin sister and a little brother. So far college has been a crazy and yet great experience. Finding my way around campus has been tricky but with the help of fellow students and the staff, I get around fine and on time. I major in communication design. I hope to maybe pursue a career in graphic design or maybe advertising design. I’m looking forward to making many new friends and learning many things about the designing process.
Thanks for introducing yourself, Gary! It’s great to see you have so much in common with your classmates. You’re the first one here to mention food (or did I miss that elsewhere? If so, sorry!)–do you have a favorite burger place? Any around City Tech? (and if not, now’s your chance to find one!) Welcome!