Author Archives: cs120362

Hey guys,

Well now that I’ve finally figured out what my paper is going to be about, the research has begun. But one thing that I did realize is that this paper is due in two months, so I hope everyone is getting their work in!

So I made the center of all my research the Voting Act of 1965 and from there branch out into the social and political climate of that time. Of course we always think about the social movements of the 20th century to be those of civil rights for women and african-americans or the discontent with the Vietnam war. What I did not realize was that these events actually had an influence on getting the Voting Act passed. I sort of had this idea that I would find that the social events of that time to be self-compartmentalized and disassociated from each other but clearly they are not. In a couple of sources that I found, there also seems to be contrasting opinions that either believe that the sixties was a revolutionary period or that that time period was insignificant in American history.

Part of my research paper is also about comparing the 60s into the events that are occuring today. It seems to me also that voter discrimination has been a fluid event since that time, in the sense that periods in the decades that followed, such discrimination can be seen. As I do more research, it will become more evident the strength of those voter discriminations compared to as it is today.

And more on a perceptive level, to compare today to yester-years almost seems contradictory to me. It sort of like how do I take myself out this current period in time and be unbiased when I am living in this moment in time. Its a little psychological and interesting. Its kind of like talking about myself, from my own point of view, and having everyone to accept that point of view, when in reality, its really just self-delusion that is accentuating that point of view.

Hey everyone,

First and foremost, I would like to publicly thank Mariam for helping me with my question. I had an idea in my mind, but couldn’t quite find the words to express it. So thanks Mariam!

As you all know, I really just couldn’t figure out what to write about. I had VOTER ID as the starting off point, but then decided against it. I moved onto child abuse, but then also decided against it. I was then going to move into public health, but also decided to go against that. And I thought about VOTER ID again because it really has been in the news quite often, so I took VOTER ID and spun around with it a bit. What I know about VOTER ID is about what is going on now. But in 1965, the Voting Act was passed to prevent racial discrimination against those that wanted to vote. So with that in mind, I am going to attempt to find how does today’s culture (socially, politically, economically) differ/compare with that of the era prior to the Voting Act of 1965 which required such an act? If voter ID is the new form of discrimination, why now and is it similar to the events that occured five decades ago.

I have begun doing research on this idea, but the difficulty in my research is due to the time period before, during, and after the Voting Act of 1965. Since I am doing a historical investigation, it is quite challenging to find first-hand or primary sources of the events that occured over 5 decades ago. There have been a lot of secondary sources, which is fine, but primary sources really just add more punch into a paper. Bias in these sources seem to be a constant characteristic as well. Of course, in past times, people held more tightly to their convictions, and it comes across on both ends of the spectrum, from those that believed in the necessity, or lack of such a necessity, for the Voting Act of 1965. Lack of the information-storing capabilities also seems to be an issue. Hard-copies were the primary engine for maintaining the accounts of the events that occurred decades ago, which again goes back to the issue of finding enough relevant sources.

In order to somewhat solve these issues, newspapers and magazines are a good starting off point. But like I said, as unbiased these sources seem to be, every source has a specific platform it stands on. I, therefore, must attempt to be unbiased myself. Documentaries, an avenue of research that I have never done before, might also actually help at this point.  Documentaries tend to just recount what events had happened, so that might alleviate or narrow down the scope of what my paper would become.

Hey guys,

So like I said in class, I decided to drop my voter ID topic. It would have been such a torture to research and write about something that I’ve worked on before. I had then decided that I would go into child abuse, specifically, increasing the penalties for parents that abuse their children. The decision to move along with this topic was more of a personal choice.

During the last legislative session working in Albany, I met a child who was abused by his father. Here is a link to an article about www.wgrz.com/news/article/167444/1/Jay-Js-Law-Gets-Big-Push-From-Senate-Majority-Leader . Basically, the JJ was abused by his father as a baby and his family, as well as their supporters, believe that the punishment was too lenient. This year, JJ’s family, with the support of legislative leaders from both the Assembly and Senate, attempted to introduce into law harsher punishment for first time offenders as well as repeat offenders. Unfortunately, it did not pass.

This of course is an isolated case that has motivated the attempt to prevent child abuse and recidivism through legal means. But although isolated, child abuse is a widespread problem. According to  the Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse, in New York in 2005, there were 42,000 proven child abuse cases. But the truly alarming statistic is the fact that in 14.1% of the cases, within 6 months, the children were abused once again.

Although the direction of the paper has not been fully organized, it must be mentioned the psychological state of the abusers. Were they abused themselves as children? Was physical abuse other family members also present in their childhood? And if abuse was present, were there signs in their adulthood, which if were noticed, would have prevented the abuse of their children? There will be more questions that need to be asked as research increases, but for now these are the only ones that have come to mind.

Hey everyone, it’s me. Like I said in class, I’ve been to five colleges, but I am happy that I am about to be atleast done with one degree. One of my friends said that being in school is like having some kind of security or structure to life. I somewhat I agree with that but I just go with the flow of life and I get bored easily. Before I came to Baruch, I had my culinary career going. I was a chef in the city and a private chef in Connecticut.  I worked hard for four years, but when the day it stopped being fun, I stopped it altogether. And besides, I missed the mental challenge and social aspects of school. My mother says that I am a jack of all trades, but master of none solely for the fact that I have changed my career track four times. I do also plan on getting my license as a personal trainer right after I graduate. I don’t really think that I am jack of all trades but more of a renaissance man.