Category Archives: ENG 1101

Lilisbeth Castillo Response to “How Happy Are You? A Census Wants to Know by John Tierney

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In this 2011 article it states how things can hopefully change people’s happiness such as having parks or bike paths or even mass transit but this isn’t always to people’s satisfaction. For example if the metro card fare stays $2.50 people will be happy with that but if the fare goes up to $3.25 no one will be happy about that. I don’t agree that happiness can be measured or promoted because every time something is wrong or people don’t like an idea than the government will have to change it to make people happy. If this is the case than they will always have to change or bring new ideas to satisfy people’s happiness. One thing I don’t agree with the article is how this is a good idea because policies can be changed to make people happier but what if it isn’t such a good policy and the government doesn’t agree with than people won’t be happy.

I don’t agree too much that happiness should be measured or promoted by the government because people are always changing there minds on things. People want things the easy way sometimes and things that will make them real happy. Unless the survey focuses only on specific things that can really make people happy and they don’t change that than maybe people can actually be happy about things for sometime.

Things that can be important to people’s well being can be having opportunities as a child to make things right. Having a place that you feel comfortable to talk about things. Having many options to join something that you might become good at. For the well being of the community I feel that resources and services are always good because people have many places to go to when they have many resources around them such as post offices, supermarkets, school etc. If there are many services to in a community you have help available for you always.

There can possibly be conflict between individual and community well-being because an individual might want something that the community feels is not worth it. Also the community might not listen to just one person’s well being but try and think as a whole.

Article: How Happy Are You? A Census Wants to Know Summary/ Response: Natasha Armas

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On April 30,2011 John Tierney published an article titled “How Happy Are You? A Census Wants to know”. The census in Somerville was different that year then the previous years. That year the census added a new question. The question asked from a scale of one to ten “How happy do you feel right now?” The officials in Somerville wanted to be the first city in the United States to track people’s happiness. Psychologists and economists have wanted to monitor the happiness of citizens, but didn’t know how to do it and whether it was even the right thing for politicians to be promoting.

The census was sent out and about 7,500 people mailed it back. With answers that I don’t think they were pleased with. The article states “some of them clearly not limiting their answers to municipal concerns.” I think they should have expected that. Municipal concerns are basic services that the city provides such as schools, fire departments, ambulance, police, and transportation. Which does help citizens to live better but doesn’t fulfill their happiness. For example, a man in the article was asked the question “How satisfied are you with your life in general?” His answer was “I would like to be three inches taller and speak Quechua fluently.” Just like there must be more people that aren’t pleased with the way they look. Making them unhappy. There are solutions that can be taken for instance talking to a professional to help boost up their self esteem. The government wouldn’t be able to help each and everyone to get help.

Although, some municipal changes can bring happiness to certain people. The article states “Somerville officials say they hope to see how parks and bike paths affect the happiness of people living nearby, or how people’s feelings change when mass transit services are improved.” The bike paths will lower the chances of bikers getting into accidents with cars. In result making bikers and people that have love ones that bike happy.

In my opinion, I don’t think happiness can be measured because what makes one person happy may not make the other person happy. Another reason happiness can’t be measured is because everyone experiences happiness in a different ways some people express their happiness by crying, laughing, or jumping up and down. I don’t think the government should even try to measure the happiness of people because it will be like an invasion of privacy and no one will appreciate that. For the well-being of the community there should be more safety and cleanliness in the streets. The things that are important to me for my well-being are to love, be loved, to have health, be the best I could be, and to appreciate what I have. There is a conflict between individual and community well-being because every individual has its personal likes and dislikes.

With this census it was proven that happiness can’t be measured. While one man answered the question in the census that he wanted to be three inches taller and speak Quechua fluently and rated his happiness a six out of ten. Vanessa Lagerman was pleased with the bike lanes that have been installed. Two different people that don’t share the same concept of happiness. Conor Brennan said “Of course, any survey like this is going to depend on the mood of the person at that moment.” I agree with Brennan because no one is perfect and can’t be happy all the time.

Introduction: Natasha Armas

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Hello everyone. My name is Natasha Armas. I am 18 years old turning 19 on December 3rd. I was born in Ecuador and came to Queens, New York at the age of 3. I have an older brother that is 22 years old and a younger sister that is 15 years old. I am the middle child and it sucks! I attended Queens Vocational and Technical High School and majored in cosmetology. Once I take the state board test I will be a licensed cosmetologist. This summer I mostly worked, I also made time to go to the beach, six flags, and mountain creek water park.

On my free time I enjoy listening to music and drawing even-though I am horrible at it. I am not big on reading but once I find a book interesting to me my eyes will be glued to it until in done. I am currently reading The Fault In Our Stars by John Green and I can’t wait to see how it ends. My biggest desire in the world is to travel as much as I can. So far I have traveled to Ecuador, Colombia, Canada, Florida, Boston, and Cancun. Traveling is amazing because there is different cultures to see and different parts of nature that are unbelievably beautiful.

Meanwhile, I am still trying to get used to getting around City Tech. Since Thursday was my first time going up and down floors looking for my classes but, it doesn’t seem too complicated. My expectations for this semester are to gain a lot of knowledge in Human Services and to get good grades in all my classes. My career goal is to help kids with special needs which I have been wanting to do for as long as I can remember. Once this semester is done I am planning on going to Jamaica for a small vacation. I hope everything works out as planned.

My strengths in writing are that I enjoy to do research and I am able to back up my topic. My weaknesses are organizing my ideas and breaking them down. What I enjoy about writing is that there are endless topics to write about and you could express yourself without actually having to talk out loud. Which I find pretty cool. What I dislike about writing is when either I run out of what to say or when I am stuck because then it gets boring and I start to loose interest on the topic. I am not into technology but, I know how to work with it and figure it out when I need it. My sense of happiness is to appreciate the things you have and to be in peace with the life you live. My expectations for this course is that there is going to be a lot of critical thinking and writing. I think I will learn to analyze different perspectives of what others think happiness is. I didn’t know there was “science of happiness” and I am excited to learn what it is.

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How happy are you? A census wants to know. Summary/Response. Mirna Ayala

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In the article, “How happy are you? A census want to know” a town named Somerville has taken the initiative to distribute surveys to its residents in order to learn about their general happiness in their hometown. Residents who decided to participate in the surveys were required to rate their happiness on a scale of 1-10 and answer various questions about their lives based on their surroundings and daily concerns. The surveys even asked personal questions regarding their personality and decision making skills. Several residents didnt mind the questioning and found it refreshing that their happiness was being taken into consideration by the government. In the article, a woman named Vanessa Lagerman states she appreciates the city’s efforts. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve noticed a lot of things the city has been doing, like installing bike lanes” said Vanessa. She agrees with the idea of the surveys and proceeds to say, “I think it’s a good thing, because policies can be changed to make people happier.” The reason behind this attempt is to create a generally content environment. The government wants to see if they have the power and ability to increase the happiness of the people by finding out what exactly they would like to see differently in their town. Throughout the article, different people give their outlook on the surveys and how they think it will affect them. Tara Acker states, “Is there a correlation between happiness and open space or green space? If we see low levels of satisfaction correlated to low levels of income, perhaps we want more programs aimed at low income people.” Basically, the surveys are designed to be the foundation of the government’s new projects. For instance, if a large percentage of the people are unhappy because their isn’t a playground around them for their children to play in, Somerville will begin construction on building a playground for them. What about the smaller percentage that doesn’t need a playground but needs a closer school so they won’t have to travel such far distances for an education? Not all expectations or wants can be met, however the government doesn’t all this to hinder their mission in making all of its citizens happy. 

In my opinion I don’t believe happiness can be measured nor promoted. People’s feelings change everyday, there is no way they can keep everyone happy all the time. The government shouldn’t be getting involved with how people feel. I believe it’s an invasion of privacy, the government already monitors and controls everything around us, now the way civilians feel is under surveillance too? If the government really wants to help it’s residents, there are many more services that can benefit them and ensure them long term happiness. Such services as, affordable housing, creating more jobs, improving the school system, putting an end to the school’s budget cuts etc. Those are the things that the government should be devoting their time to. Helping with these issues would contribute to long term happiness opposed to making little changes here and there. The problem with the officials making certain changes based on these surveys is that what may bring happiness to one might take it away from another. If they really want to help and make a difference for the people of Somerville they should make general changes that everyone can benefit from not just a percentage of the people.

Article: How happy are you?… Summary/Response

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According to The New York Times’ 2011 article; “How Happy Are You? A Census Want to Know” by Jon Tierney, Somerville, Mass. started to question, “How happy do you feel right now?,” on their census. Citizens are given a scale of one to ten. Ten meaning really happy. The purpose of this is to become United States’ first city to track people’s happiness and to advertise policies that gain happiness. Somerville wish to see the effects on installing bike paths and how opening new parks is happiness.

However I don’t believe that happiness can be measure the way Somerville did. The Census usually don’t come in every day. Everybody feels different every day or even different time of the day.  The Article also backed me up by stating the a citizen of Somerville, Coner Brennan , “…any survey like this is going to depend on the mood of the person at that moment.”  If I were to fill this census now, I would put a five, but if I would fill the census at a concert wouldn’t I put a ten? Even though I don’t believe in the measuring, I actually don’t mind that question to pop up in every census in the world. This gives the people doing the census to realize how they are feeling. They might do something about it if it was a low number. They might even try to keep up their own happiness if they picked a high number.

I believe that happiness can be promoted, however only to a specific side or group. Fr example, in the article Somerville wanted to promote happiness by installing more bike lanes. Many bikers would be really happy about that, however car drivers might feel that it would produce a lot of traffic and wouldn’t be happy about that at all. In the article, it also mentions that if many low-income people shows a lot of small numbers in the scale of one to ten of ten being the happiest, they might introduce policies of that specific group.

I think many things are important to our well-beings. Which according to Merriam-webster “Well-being” means the state of being happy, healthy or successful. As a New Yorker, the cost of living is high, I really hope the government would lower that cost. It is something that would improve everybody well-beings, not just one side or group. To me myself, doing something that I love is something important to my well-beings. I won’t be happy if I don’t love doing it, like helping others for example. However, there can also be conflict between individual, one group and the community well-beings. One I would be increase the tax for the rich. The community might like the idea but the rich might not.

In Conclusion, measuring citizen’s happiness might not be accurate, but can still help introduce new policies or programs that promote well-beings to the citizens in different groups. I hope to see this question, “How happy do you feel right now?,” to be in every census around the world.

 

Katiria’s Introduction

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Hello Everyone. My name is Katiria altruz. I am 19 years old . I’m Puerto rican. I’m the oldest out of three children .I enjoy writing because I can write down my thoughts and my ideas better on paper and my thoughts goes wild .My way of thinking can never be understood.I love anime and manga so much. I would recommend people to read or watch it . Its pretty amazing .I mean im a very nice person its just that i really don’t  like talking to people a lot , i got use to being alone.

My First experience in city tech was for remedial class in the summer.It was okay But i got lost along the way.I did make one friend at least but thats all i made because i would sit by myself in the back doing my work.I usually try to keep to myself at times.The first being in a college building made me feel so nervous even when the first day of college came it was a struggle for me .City tech so far being there was overall great . Until not i’m still kind of lost but hey i will be able to make it around .

To be honest happiness is whatever you want it to be.Everyone has different point of view on happiness.I want to learn everything about this course .I want to be able to write more about different topics . I really don’t know what is my weakness to be honest.Writing to me is a escape to reality .I am amazed by every word , every thought , everything that is put into writing to get this idea into something amazing.

I really hope everyone will enjoy this course .Be happy . I am going to try my hardest to do my best and not to be so hard on myself or stress a lot because I know how hard college is going to be .

Introduction: “Getting To Know Me….” Prof Justine Pawlukewicz

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2013-09-07 20.27.50 Hi Everyone,

A little about me/introduction:

I’ve been at CityTech since 1997. I started as an adjunct. Simultaneously I supervised an addictions outpatient clinic. In 2001 I finished my doctorate, in social work, and the following year I became a full time professor in the Human Services Dept. So, here I am to stay until I retire, which may be never since I am the type of person that needs to be doing something. Not that I can’t relax and chill, but I like to keep my lifestyle diverse.

I was born in Newark, NJ., but was raised in Perth Amboy, NJ. I now live in Bayonne (near the Statue of Liberty). So, I’ve grown up in urban areas all my life. I happen to be a “Jersey Girl’ from a working class family. I’ve learned to make sure to check out the Dollar Store and Shoprite Can Can Sale. (LOL)

I do like to travel, when I can, and I’ve had some nice experiences: Five weeks in Costa Rica with a family that did not know English; Poland-where my grandparents came from-to Ellis Island, Uk, Holland, Germany, Czech Republic, PR, Canada, plenty of islands. My favorite places to return to are St. John’s, in the Caribbean, and Paris. Put them on your ‘Bucket List.”

I hate to exercise, but force myself to bike ride and walk. In Costa Rica I hiked and then jumped off a cliff into a waterfall-NEAT! I felt excited and scared at the same time. When I was younger I water skied, water rafted, canoed, went tubing, camping, zip lining….I’m usually willing to do most things, since I am extroverted.  I’m also Type A personality….meaning I’m organized, dependable, have a good work ethic, need things in order, etc.

I view my social work identity seriously. I try to live what I teach students and clients alike. I feel lucky to be in a profession that asks/requires me to work on myself in terms of always trying to take the ‘high-road.’  For this type of self-awareness opportunity I am blessed.

All the best to you and yours,

Dr. Justine Pawlukewicz (Pav-lou-kev-itch)

 

 

Mirna Ayala

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photoHi everyone, my name is Mirna. I’m 18 and will be turning 19 on January 28. I was born and raised in the Bronx and still currently live there. My family is from the Dominican Republic and Puertorico. I have 3 older siblings which are two brothers and a sister. I enjoy reading because to me it’s like an escape, losing yourself in a good book can do wonders for stress. I also enjoy watching movies, shopping, being with family and sleeping.

It didn’t really feel like my first day of college because I took a remedial summer course so I already had a feel of what college was like. Although I hated the thought of going to school during the summer, I’m glad I did now because it didn’t make it so nerve wrecking to start today. I’m shy so it took some getting used to but it’s easier now that I know what it feels like and know what is expected of me. I know it won’t be a easy semester but i’m hoping to stay on track and make the most of this experience.

My career goal is to become a psychiatrist. I’ve always been a confidant for most of my family and friends and I enjoy listening to people, everyone deserves to have an ear to hear them out. I would like to help others in the way I have helped my loved ones simply by listening to their troubles and possibly giving them helpful feedback. I know the job itself wouldn’t be simple but knowing the difference it could make in an individuals life, is worth it.

My weakness in writing is not knowing how to introduce my topic. I stress out about how to engage my readers into my writing without giving away to much information too early. I hope that with time I can learn how to master this weakness and make it something simple. My strength is supporting my topic. Usually the more my writing unravels it’s easier for me to really go into depth with what ever my topic may be but I try not to ramble. What I enjoy about writing is being able to let your ideas out and onto paper where you can share with everyone else and can always keep so you won’t forget (when it comes to free-writing). What I dislike about writing is when you have to provide a lot of thoughts or information about one topic because eventually you begin to ramble and repeat yourself making it boring for you and your readers.

I believe happiness depends on the person therefore it can have a different meaning for different people. In my opinion happiness involves things that make you feel good and forget about the troubles you may be facing at the moment. My happiness is my family and friends. In this course I hope to learn what is the true meaning of happiness and if one definition can really apply to a variety of different peoples outlook on happiness.

Getting to know Professor Belli …

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Jill Belli, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of English at New York City College of Technology, CUNY (City University of New York) and Co-Director of OpenLab, the college’s open-source digital platform for teaching, learning, and collaborating. She is a founding member of the Writing Studies Tree, an online, open-access, interactive academic genealogy for the field of writing studies, and she serves on the Steering Committee, the Teaching Committee, and as the web developer for the North American Society for Utopian Studies.

That’s me, a few winters ago, in front of a big ol’ rubber ducky (part of an art installation for a big festival) in Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia!

That’s me, a few winters ago, in front of a big ol’ rubber ducky (part of an art installation for a big festival) in Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia!

I did my doctoral work at The Graduate Center, CUNY, and my current research interests are in utopian studies, happiness studies/positive psychology, composition and rhetoric, digital humanities, American studies, and the scholarship of teaching and learning (feel free to ask me what any of these areas are!).

I played ice hockey in college (right wing), and have played the violin since I was two years old (and currently play in the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra). I practice yoga pretty regularly, love Thai food (the spicier the better!), kale, & tzatziki, and adore watching old sitcoms from the 70s and 80s (some of my favorites are Maude, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, Soap, All in the Family, The Golden Girls, The Facts of Life, & Family Ties)!

I also really enjoy travelling: this summer I spent five weeks wandering abroad, in Russia, Finland, Czech Republic, and Switzerland (some of it was for conferences/work, some for vacation/fun)!

I look forward your reading your Introductions and getting to know you, first virtually and then in person, as the semester progresses :)

Creating your “Introduction” Post

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“Introduction” Posts (HW for M 9/1)
In order to start exploring the site, getting comfortable with posting/adding media (blogging), practicing reflective writing, and getting to know one another, please make sure to create an initial post that introduces yourself to the class.

*This Introductory Post is due no later than the night before our next class on Tu 9/2 (so no later than Monday night), but I encourage you make this initial post as soon as possible to become comfortable with OpenLab and to give others a chance to learn a bit about you).

Content of Posts
Tell us a bit about yourself … what are your interests, hobbies, desires? Your expectations for/first experiences of City Tech? Career goals? What you did over summer break? What do you plan to do this semester/winter? Share some photos of you (you can either pull a photo from the web if you have one up there, upload one from your computer, or … you can even take one with photoshop right now!) and your family, friends, neighborhood, etc. Practice adding a link and maybe even a video to your post too.

At the end of your post, please address (in at least a paragraph) the following questions (not necessarily in this order):

  • What your strengths/weaknesses as a writer in general?
  • What do you enjoy/dislike most about writing (in general)?
  • What is your background with using technology (it’s OK if you don’t have any!)?
  • What is your sense of happiness/well-being (what does happiness mean, or involve, anyway?)? Don’t do any research for this … just state what you think it is, prior to entering the course.
  • What are your expectations for this course and for the learning community (what you think you will learn and what you hope you will learn)? Any questions?

Categorizing/Commenting on Posts
Don’t forget to categorize your post as “Introductions” (and uncheck “Uncategorized” if it is checked already by default). If you forget to do so before you “publish” you post, you can go back and edit/update it after the fact.

I made an Introductory post about myself (if I’m asking you to share some of your personality/background with the class, it’s only fair that I do the same!), and Professor Pawlukewicz will soon, so you can get to know us a bit better as well and also so you get a sense of what this type of post might look like/include.  Browse through everyone’s posts (if you choose the “Introductions” category for the right side of the homepage, you will be taken to all of these posts) and drop comments to get some conversation going!