Virtues from Motherhood: Your struggles might save someone else

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Samantha

This past Friday I had the privilege of speaking on a panel with the First Year Programs office. The focus was around preparing high school students for college and why there is such a disconnect. City Tech faculty, as well as some high school educators were in attendance. Professor Jennifer Sears invited me to sit on the panel as the student voice after being her ENG 1101 classes peer mentor this past fall.

I was pretty nervous to join the panel not only because I was the only student but because at one time I was the student that this particular panel was discussing. My own transition to college was difficult to say the least and I wondered if things would have been different for me had there been so many people trying to fix the problem when it was me who was drowning. I was glad though, that I was able to speak up and represent those students who feel like the system fails them and that nobody really cares if they make it or not.

Being asked to speak in a room full of educators is an honor, but it is also nerve-wracking to say the least. It’s an odd space to be in because although I am a student I am also a professional, having worked in my current job for 6 years as a manager. I can identify with the student struggle with the issues I deal with as a CUNY student but I can also identify the red tape and loopholes large organizations present you with that make it hard to reach every single student.

I used to wonder why I ended up walking the path that I did, albeit some of it was my own doing, I still wondered what fate had in store for me. I think I was meant to struggle a little bit longer because I would eventually be able to advocate for others. For those who can’t or are too afraid I was able to sit on that panel and say this is what’s wrong this is what we can do better for them. Every person is not born with an enormous voice or will power, some have to be nurtured and worked with to get to that point, and if my struggles can help someone else get there, I am okay with it.

“He Will Not Divide Us”

Posted on February 2, 2017 by Evans

On January 21, 2017, Shia LaBeouf, Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner launched an art installation in Queens, New York. It’s no irony that it was unveiled on the same day as our new President’s inauguration, because it has everything to do with him. Outside of the Museum of the Moving Image (one of New York’s best museums) stands a wall with a small camera and microphone, and a big mantra on the wall reading “He Will Not Divide Us.” He Will Not Divide Us has allowed everyone in the neighborhood to come together and meditate while repeating the mantra together. It has allowed leftists and rightists to respectfully come together and debate “He,” his policies, and antics, as well as their personal points of view. It has even allowed Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and trolls to come together in person to make jokes, spew hate and eat pizza (all at the same time). All this happens in front of hundreds of thousands of people around the world, watching the livestream from their homes. The project will be recording live 24/7, for the next four years. At any given moment, there’s something happening on the stream. If you tune in at the right time, you might even see me there. I’ve made new friends during my occasional visits, and watchers have even sent me food while on the stream as a thank you for spreading the peace. Despite all the controversies, this stream has united us in a very weird way. He really won’t divide us after all.

people with umbrellas at art installation wall that says "HE WILL NOT DIVIDE"

Shia LaBeouf at his art installation.

people with umbrellas at art installation, in front of wall that says HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US

Youth from the local high school promise to come to the stream every day.

Cheesecakes for Change

Posted on February 2, 2017 by briannavasquez

fresh blueberries on top of a plain cheesecake

Image by: Simon

It is very apparent that I truly have a passion for food in all its forms and how it can be conveyed artistically. I thoroughly enjoy the labor involved to create beautiful desserts, but even more, I am visually captivated by the magnitude of precision included to reach that artistic perfection. As a food blogger, I find that I must utilize my platform in order to share the beautiful opportunities that food offers when presented in the utmost of ways. I am a firm believer that food can be an advocate in aiding many lives which only intensifies my passion.

Because even more so, I love when the production of desserts are utilized to benefit local charities that aim to raise awareness of life-threatening illnesses or to fundraise in order to better financially support the causes in particular. I find that this is a more innovative and beneficial way of baking in terms of the food world. I have so often shared and discussed these ideas with my past posts, such as the expansion of lemonade stands around the world through the participation with Alex’s Lemonade Stand or the charity, Cookies for Kid’s Cancer. Both of which were charitable causes to support the fight against childhood cancer with fundraising practices to afford certain research and benefits for struggling families.

Cheesecakes for Change is another organization which was founded in the beautiful state of New York and is costly stationed in Staten Island. The organization aims to benefit local charities by sponsoring a particular charity each month on a constantly rotating basis. Essentially, for each cheesecake sold, five dollars out of every purchase will be donated to that specific charity. The charities vary each month from a vast spectrum of causes. For the month of February, Cheesecakes for Change is sponsoring Second Chance Rescue NYC which is a nonprofit organization with the sole mission of offering a “second chance” to all animals. In order to better protect them by giving them safer environments to receive the love and care that they require instead of being further subjected to abuse, neglect and homelessness. With the help of many dedicated volunteers, the organization continues to flourish while offering veterinary services and spay/neuter programs. They also aim to be a rehabilitation facility for animals while ensuring that there will not be an overpopulation, as they aim for all of the animals to be adopted. Funds received help to further their outreach by establishing their presence for community support through pet food donations, as well as hopes for an expansion to be able to accommodate a greater number of animals.

The greatest incentive as a customer is to know that value of your charitable contribution…to understand the impact that your purchase has made. Cheesecakes for Change is also very accommodating to everyone’s palate and dietary restrictions. They offer specialize cheesecakes that are dairy-free as well as gluten-free options.

Central Park – Ice Festival

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Amanda

Interested/appreciate ice carving? Well here’s an event for you!

Next week, Saturday, February 11th from 3:00pm – 7:00pm, Central Park will be hosting their sixth annual Ice Festival. Artist from the Okamoto Studio will be present using materials such as electric chain saws, chisels, and “picks” to over six thousand pounds of ice replicating statues around the park!

This event is FREE of cost! That’s right, you get to see artist carving ice live for free.

Fun Facts:

Ice carving originated during the Middle Ages when the wealthy hosted extravagant meals/banquets displayed sculptures made out of not only ice but also fruit.
Ice Sculpting is considered a Cultural Olympiad event in the Olympics!

I look forward to following up and informing you guys on how the event went! If you’re interested in joining me on this adventure let me know!

Source: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20130116-the-origins-of-ice-sculpting

Humans Of City Tech

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Jean-Luc

“Robotic Mannequin: Roboquin (SInce a female robot you can also call it a RoboQueen!!)

It is an interactive robot mannequin initially intended to be used in fashion industry, but later decided on also being used in classrooms especially in a linear algebra course or a computer programming course. The interactive robotic mannequin or Roboquin can be used as a greeter in a shopping mall, can be used to display clothing and jewelry and the customers willing to buy don’t even have to hunt for the price tag or what sizes and colors are available as the Roboquin could be pre-programmed to be able to say all those details as soon as it senses people around it (with the help of motion sensors). This will lead to an enthusiasm among the customers and probably they would go to the stores that has this mannequin initially just to have a look at it, and perhaps end up buying a lot of stuff from there, which is obviously very much beneficial for the store owner and worth buying $200 Roboquin as opposed to the expensive $3000 available in the Japanese and Korean market.

Since it is made out of materials available off the shelf, it is pretty affordable to have them in several multidisciplinary courses. Once we are able to implement the image recognition feature into Roboquin, it can be placed in the classes and perhaps when Roboquin senses students are not paying attention and dozing off in the back benches it might make some noise to wake them up and explain them how was this amazing Roboquin built and tell them if they pay enough attention to the class, they will be able to build something of that sort soon. This will help students to have more interactive classes and infuse a lot of enthusiasm and they will see practical applications of the classes they are taking which might have seemed very abstract and vague to them.”

young woman with glasses and braided hair, standing in front of an academic poster Rumana Hassin Syed

The Big Duck: Part One

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Sabrina Vasquez

For a two-week special edition to my historical architecture theme, I decided to deviate from my initial plans of staying within the boundaries of the five boroughs of New York City. Instead, I have made a crucial decision to focus on a landmark housed practically on the tip of Long Island (near the Hamptons) by name of The Big Duck. This monumental building was very important to modern architecture (which years range from the 1800’s to the early 2000’s) since it possibly could have been the beginning of a major style in the 1980’s, called Post-Modernism. Personally when I think of the beginning of Post-Modernism, I think of the infamous married architectural duo, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott-Brown. This couple was like the Mom and Dad of this movement since they practically created it and were the key figures in making it popular.

There’s an architectural philosophy that many modern architects, as well as in many other professions of the design world, strongly applied to their work, “Less is more…” by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. This is a term commonly used in describing modern architecture since it was more common for structures to be honest and functional, leaving elaborate exterior adornments in the past. Venturi later coined his own term, “Less is a bore…” meaning that we should bring back some of the characteristics that we have already parted with; in a dire attempt to reestablish personality in structures since he thought that every building looked identical and they all took the form of boxes.

After Venturi and Scott-Brown traveled in various parts of America they noticed something, a trend. They found that roadside attraction businesses were something to be studied and analyzed. They found them to be the most honest pieces of architecture since they were not hiding what they were selling or what they truly were. They created their chain of analytics by using a structure called the Big Duck. The Big Duck is a 1930’s house that was built to sell duck influenced items to the driving public. People would drive by this oversized duck and want to pull over since they know what they are selling and what they were expected to purchase. From this Long Island distributor is where most people in 1932-1984 bought the infamous Pekin Duck and specialty items like duck eggs. They appreciated the different form of honesty and started basing their other structures on this billboard building. Others started to formulate their work on this philosophy and it soon became a trend. Which gives us buildings like The Longaberger Company building which literally looks like an oversized basket.

Even if certain parts of these buildings didn’t have any structural or operational reasoning, it was still considered important since it had stylistic necessity.

Tune in next week to see more of the historical side of the Big Duck now that I have explained why I find it so interesting that something so architecturally important is housed in New York.

Virtues from Motherhood: Time is a slippery creature

Posted on January 30, 2017 by Samantha

I talk about time often, how quickly it passes or how it doesn’t stop for any of us, but I come back to this idea because time and time again it’s proven to be so very true. When I was younger I saw my late 20s as this big gaping whole in the vortex of time that marked the end of life as I knew it. I didn’t think life happened after 30 or that you could still chase your goals that long. Well now a few years off of 30 I realize I may have missed the mark. Time is what you make of it, time is what you put into the cause and time is evasive and it hides from us even though we know its there and we feel it moving.

I think we’re all worried about running out of time and we’re not totally incorrect because time is not infinite but we need to stop watching the clock and start living the hours on it. The past decade of my life has been eventful to say the least and there are instances now where I wish I’d made better use of my time in the past, but I’m making up for that now.

Every single one of us gets the same amount of hours, the same hands on the clock, yet some of us seem to struggle with getting a handle on the days, months and years. Though we can’t touch time we can make it work for us, make it count, make it valuable. 2016 to me feels like a year of elusive and wasted hours, hours I spent preoccupied and distraught over things I knew how to overcome. So I challenge my readers this, what thing did you waste the most time on in 2016 and what will you do to fix it in 2017?

Academic-Self Discovery: Programs, Clubs and More

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Emmanuela.M

“Everything you want is on the other side of fear”- Jack Canfield.

I’ve touched on this subject before but fear is something that can often cause miss opportunities. It might hold one back and make them doubt themselves and/or their goals. When it comes to me, I get really anxious and start talking myself out of things I will want do, however what I have found helps me to combat fear is taking those chances anyway. Some of the ways I do this is by joining and taking part in things that spark my interest, for example writing.

Writing makes me realize that the experience gained when not letting fear get in the way is greater than letting those chances go by. Writing is a great form of expression for me and it is a way of connecting, so finding out about cool events or projects (Literary Arts Festival, Seek Ink and The Buzz) that deal with writing, I knew I had to put myself out tbere. To which I endes up glad that I did because they helped me challenge my craft and encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone.

The possibilities of exhibiting your skills are endless. There are opportunities in schools and online. If one were to prefer starting with something less out there, I would suggest joining clubs or workshops at their school. This works well because it allows the output of creativity as well as learning and sharing from their fellow club members. While if someone is more comfortable with the thought of participating locally, looking online for projects, contests or residencies could be the way to go. There are a myriad of sites that have programs one can apply for. This can be a stepping stone for their career or be something that looks great on their resume.

Here are some sites you can check out-

Artist Residency Program

https://www.freelancewriting.com
http://here.org/programs/harp/

I think it is important for someone to take a chance and put themselves out there, despite fears and doubts. The outcome will do more to benefit them in the long run.

NYC Women’s March

Posted on January 26, 2017 by Evans

The NYC Women’s March of 2017 was one of the most powerful, inspirational, and emotional events I’ve ever been a part of. I was one in a crowd of about 300,000 women, men, and children, which was only a small fraction of the millions simultaneously marching around the world. From young children holding powerful signs to grown women wearing hand-made uterus hats, this march was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. People were angry, but amongst all the marching and yelling, it was very peaceful, and even more prideful. History was made, voices were unapologetically heard, and I was lucky enough to capture some moments. This weekend was so mentally and emotionally taxing that I had to turn my phone off for a couple of days to decompress (I’m an introvert). Here are some of the photos.

Sen. Chuck Schumer in the trenches.

NYC Restaurant Week

Posted on January 26, 2017 by briannavasquez

Image by: André Lelis Gonçalves

Have you ever wanted to dine in an expensive restaurant…a Michelin star restaurant? Have you ever wanted to eat like royalty? Have you ever wanted to eat at a fine dining restaurant for a reduced price? Well, now’s the time that you can because it officially Restaurant Week in New York City. Restaurant Week has become a phenomenon for both mid-summer and mid-winter in New York in which it captivates the culinary world to share the inexpensive costs of normally financially exuberant meals. The entirely of Restaurant Week is to enable restaurants to create better sales for their business by offering more affordable prices in order to encourage more customers to dine at their restaurants. It helps restaurants to evoke their culinary skills to customers that under other conditions would not be able to purchase these gourmet meals. It also helps to increase foot traffic when it is a slow time of year for business.

It is nationwide event that takes place all over America but is widely appreciated in New York for its constant expansion of food. Restaurant Week in New York has already begun on January 23rd and will run until February 10th. It is being offered in over thirty-five neighborhoods with over three hundred eighty-five. There are so many restaurants that are a part of this special culinary-inspired week that the options are endless. With a vast variety of cuisines and culinary styles, there are so many choices to decide to dine. The discounts are eligible only on weekdays excluding Saturdays, although certain restaurants will include their discounts on Sundays. It works based on a prix-fixe menu which is usually a three-course meal that is set a fixed price with a few options. The three courses consist of an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert. The reduced prices apply for both lunch and dinner; the lunch prix-fixe menu costs only $29 while the dinner prix-fixe menu costs only $42.

You can make reservations on OpenTable and on NYCGo as well as browse the restaurants that are participating in Restaurant Week. There is also a chance to win a $50 gift card to go towards your next meal for any of the participating restaurants when you snap photographs of your prix-fixe meal and post it to Instagram with the hashtag, #NYCRestaurantWeek, daily through the entirety of Restaurant Week.

Comment below if you would be interested in dining at any of the participating restaurants for New York City’s Restaurant Week or if you have in the past.

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