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September 2024 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Author Archives: ADAM MAPOY
Posts: 9 (archived below)
Comments: 11
How Much Do You Think It Matters Where You Go to College ?
In this article, Mr. Bruni talks about how college admissions has now devolved into a scholastic version of “The Hunger Games.” I agree with this statement, as college admissions has now turned into a messy hell for students who want to choose where they want to be for the next upcoming four years. There are many factors that come into play, especially factors involving perception of other students. Students may apply to a college based on how prestigious they are in hopes of getting in because it makes them look “good.” In my high school, I saw a lot of this, and I never understood why. Bruni writes that many young people believe that “the luster of the institution they attend, as established by its ranking and its exclusivity, will not only define their place in the world but also determine their professional success and contentment.” This is a true statement, as many young people do think that the more prestigious, the higher chance of success. While that is also true to a certain extent, looking at the rankings of the college should not be viewed as an easy road to success. There have been many successful people in this world who did not go to college, some even high school drop-outs. It is ultimately up to the person if they want to make it in this world, relying solely on a college and its prestige will not get you there if you are not willing to put in the effort for yourself.
If I were to make a college list based on my own criteria, I would rank them based on three things: alumni success rate, student happiness, and price. I would use these three because they are what I personally look for. For obvious reasons, having an alumni success rate could show how well the college sends its graduates into the world. Price is to show how valuable the education is compared to its price. A lot of institutions overcharge and cause for many people wanting to attend but not being able to afford. Other colleges are expensive but have the qualities that match the price. For student happiness, mental health is a big thing. Many students contemplate suicide due to heavy workload and stress. A college that is able to keep their students happy and in good mental shape is a good one. I believe that college rankings and prestige should be based on this criteria, not just on acceptance rate and the name.
Posted in About Us, Student Opinion
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Final Reflection
In the last 15 weeks of this semester, I learned and wrote about many different topics regarding race and feminism. During the first week, I watched videos and learned about Critical Race Theory. I learned the background of Critical Race Theory and why it faces controversy. Through the videos and reading, I was able to form a firm understanding of the topic. I also learned about white privilege and its history in our society. Soon after, I learned about the Black Panther Party, an organization that I did not know much about before these past 15 weeks. This stuck out to me because I knew that the party existed, but I didn’t know exactly what they did or their motives. I then compared them to the Black Lives Matter movement, and how the ideas are roughly the same. This was all leading up to the first paper. After that, I learned a lot about Feminist Theory. I learned about what the theory stood for and the goals of the theory. While learning about the theory, I also made a Wikipedia account which was interesting to me because I haven’t used Wikipedia for educational purposes before, and we specifically learned about gender bias on the website. This was all leading up to the second paper, which was based on those topics. I then had to make a multimedia form based off of either one of those topics, which was for the third paper. I realized that I enjoy writing about topics that I am passionate about, which is all of the topics that we covered in the last 15 weeks. As someone that doesn’t particularly favor writing, I enjoyed writing about these things, and I will now remember this for my future classes.
One piece of writing that I worked on during the last 15 weeks that I was proud of was my first paper. The paper was based on different things, ranging from the Black Panther Party, the Black Lives Matter movement and systematic racism. I was proud of this paper because I believe that I was able to elaborate my ideas on the topic very well, which is something I have been trying to work on. Not only this, but writing this paper made me realize that I am able to elaborate more on topics that I am very interested in because racism has always been a pretty big thing for me. Although I am proud of it, there are always improvements to be made and I don’t believe that this paper reflects my skills as a writer just yet. While writing this paper, I remember being able to write for long periods of time with no break because I was passionate about the topic.
One piece that was challenging for me was the second paper. This paper was based on many different things such as Feminist Theory, Critical Race Theory, and my Woman in Red. The problem with writing this paper was having to piece everything together so the information makes sense. I had to decide which topic to talk about first because each topic flowed into the next in a way. It was also my longest paper of the year, so it took me the longest time. I was able to meet those challenges by starting early and getting my ideas together before it was too late. After reading it, I noticed that toward the end of the paper I was getting a bit sloppy due to being burnt out. In the future, I will remember to keep writing when my brain is fresh and take breaks so my writing is at its best.
Posted in About Us, Final Reflection
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Written Reflection
Upon making project 3, I took many steps to gather information. The essay that project 3 was based on had been the longest and most detailed piece of writing that I have worked on. In the process of creating project 2, Professor Perry had our class create Wikipedia accounts, which was very new to me because I had never used Wikipedia during school. While getting familiar with Wikipedia, I used it to gather information about gender bias and see it occur with my own eyes. I wanted to see the gender bias myself, and I got what I was searching for. I eventually did research on Feminist Theory and the Patriarchy. I wrote my essay that consisted of 10 pages, using all the information I collected. Professor Perry then talked to the class about the creative mix project. I was intrigued by the assignment due to the fact that I had not done something like it before. The goal of the project was to recreate one of the papers that we wrote and turn it into some sort of multimedia piece. The instructions called for digital remediation, which is “re-mediating” or adapting a message from its current page-based medium to some other medium using digital technology. There were many different ways to do this, such as creating an audio essay or podcast, making a short video, making a visual essay, or creating a mashup/remix of information using pictures and audio to create something unique. I decided to go with a podcast.
Podcasts are audio programmes that one can listen to at any time and provide a person or people talking. They tend to be focused on a topic or theme. A popular podcast I like to listen to is The Joe Rogan Experience. In this podcast, the host Joe Rogan talks about a range of topics and has had guests such as Elon Musk, Neil Degrasse Tyson, and many more. I enjoy listening to his podcasts because they make me think about things in ways that I haven’t thought before. Because of his podcasts and my enjoyment of them, I wanted to create my own for the creative remix project, and it would be centered around gender bias specifically on Wikipedia. When I first learned about gender bias on Wikipedia, I was surprised because it was something that I had not known before. I always knew gender bias existed in this world, but on Wikipedia ? It came as a shock to me. After exploring more about the topic I realized that it is a very big thing, and it is important to spread awareness of it. For the podcast, I asked my girlfriend to be part of it so the viewers and I could hear her opinion of it, and she happily said yes. I told her what the podcast was about and she was glad to be part of it. I told her the topic, but I did not go into much detail about it, as I wanted the podcast to be genuine and not faked. I believe that emotion that is portrayed in the podcast can be translated to the viewers, which can in turn help spread awareness for the problem, and I believe that genuinity can achieve that. If one were to read about the problem, the effect would be there but not as strong as seeing and feeling the emotions that are present. That is also why I wanted to have a guest on the podcast, to show emotions that aren’t coming just from me but also from another person.
In the podcast, my girlfriend and I talked about an example of gender bias in Wikipedia. We took two celebrities, Beyonce and Ryan Gosling and compared their Wikipedia articles. I asked her to take 2 minutes to examine their articles and to spot any differences. Once done, she said that the only difference between the two was that Beyonce’s article had more information than Ryan Gosling’s article. This could’ve actually defeated the argument of gender bias in that example. But then, we took a look at the pictures that were posted for the articles between the two and gender bias was right there in front of our eyes. Beyonce’s pictures had close ups of her cleavage and most of the shots were of her in revealing clothing. Ryan Gosling, on the other hand, had simple headshots of him in suits. After this examination, that was when the emotion was portrayed. The viewers were able to hear the examination of the articles, and were able to hear the emotions afterwards. This, in turn, would help the audience resonate with the topic of the podcast, as they would hear, feel, and be a part of the conversation. An even better way of helping the podcast resonate with the audience is having a camera set up. Since a podcast is just talking, I believe that setting up a camera for the audience to see and hear the people talking could help as they are now able to see the emotions, not just feel them. Sadly, I was not able to do this due to unfavorable circumstances.
The problem with making the podcast was having to squeeze it into just a couple of minutes. A podcast regarding a topic like this requires a deep dive and analysis of the problem. Because I had to make the podcast short, I decided to take a simple route and simply state what the problem is, explain it, show an example, and talk about ways to combat it. That way, the viewers could get a gist of and attain somewhat of an understanding of the problem and know that it exists and that efforts must be made to stop it. If I were to show this podcast to the rest of the world and broadcast it for the public to view, I would make the podcast longer and talk more about the problem, using the important aspects of relevant information and emotion. That way, the public would hear about the problem and awareness would be spread greater, ultimately helping the problem end in the long run.
Posted in Creative Remix, Reflective Essay
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Creative Remix Proposal
For the Creative Remix Project, I will be choosing my project 2. In this essay, I wrote about gender bias on Wikipedia and about my Woman in Red. I will also add elements of Feminist Theory and the Patriarchy, as they were mentioned in my essay. I will be doing a podcast, roughly 8-10 minutes long, and I will be having a guest speaker. I will make the podcast a simple conversation between two people. I am planning on diving deep into reasons for gender bias and want to incorporate ways to combat it.
I believe that the change of medium from an essay to a podcast will make the topics more impactful. With a podcast, viewers are hearing, rather reading, the information. The use of voices could impact the emotional aspect, as when a person on the podcast may exclaim shock, the viewer may exclaim shock as well. This would add to the impactfullness of the information being given. Since the podcast will only be a couple minutes long, I think it would make sense to speak about the most important topics about the essay, and in this instance, it would be gender bias on Wikipedia. I will be taking sources into account. The hard part will be squeezing the information to make it only a couple minutes, which is why we will only be mentioning the most important parts of the essay. I decided to choose a podcast because it is something that I have never done before, and doing it would be fun.
Posted in Creative Remix, Proposal
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7 Day Log
Day 1
Starting out Professor Perry proposed the Wikipedia project and the 7 day log journal. I started out by creating an account that goes by the name of CoolPickle. I chose this name not because I enjoy pickles, I actually dislike them, but because I was too indecisive and went on a random username generator site to find a username. It was interesting because I had not had a Wikipedia account before this project, and so the process of creating an account was interesting.
Day 2
On day two, I logged on to Wikipedia, which was a piece of cake. It had an option that asked if you’d like to be logged on and not asked to enter in information for up to one year. Wikipedia was always bashed in every school that I attended, and I never understood why. Seeing that absolutely anybody can create an account and edit anything to their liking is what made me realize why it is not a reliable source. During this day, I did a lot of scrolling and saw a wide range of featured articles, news, trivia facts, and featured pictures. I thought that was interesting because I did not know that Wikipedia could actually be an interesting platform that had a page that displayed different things.
Day 3
On this day, I decided to check out the current events tab that lays to the left of the home page. I read about the Yemen Civil War, along with the Philippine Drug War. I found these to be informative and I was concerned about the Philippine Drug War because I myself am Filipino. My prayers go out to all countries with internal conflicts.
Day 4
On this day, I went and took a look at Wikimedia Commons, which was displayed to the right of the home page. I had no idea what it was, and so I did not know what to expect. What I saw was a page with random media that anybody is able to post. I thought that was cool because it functioned like a social media platform, except without the social part. I viewed many videos and pictures that I thought were informative and entertaining.
Day 5
On this day, I took a look at the Women in Red project. There was a very long list, with many different names that were in red. Professor Perry assigned us to find a women activist, and so I was in search of one that I was the most interested about so I could learn more about them. I wanted to find an activist from outside the U.S. so I could learn about what their efforts were in their home country. On the list, there were a lot of names that had no other information filled up, such as there being no place of birth, no birthday, so and so. The large number of options made it hard to decide.
Day 6
On day 6, I finally decided. Although my original plan was to choose an activist outside of the U.S., I stumbled across a woman named Sarah Grossman. Next to her name stated that she was a BLM activist, and so that’s who I decided to pick. BLM is something I fully support, and so that was my reasoning on why I chose her. I proceeded to put my wikipedia name along with the name Sarah Grossman on the Excel sheet that was provided for us.
Day 7
Today, here I am typing this final log. I went on Wikipedia and researched Sarah Grossman. What came up was a list of police brutality incidents that occurred during the protests. It was interesting because although a lot is unknown about Sarah Grossman, she had her own story just like everyone in this world, and she helped make a difference by being an activist for BLM.
Ten Point Program
Adam Mapoy
1. We want mental care and health institutions for the homeless.
2. We want to get rid of hostile/anti-homeless architecture.
3. We want cops to protect our people in high danger areas.
4. We want equal job opportunities for all people, regardless of who they are.
5. We want everlasting peace between all nations.
6. We want more funding for public schools.
7. We want our teachers and professors to be paid more for what they do.
8. We want more diversity in feminism.
9, We want to take measures to protect and save our Earth.
10. We want to get rid of implicit bias regarding race and other factors in the healthcare system.
Posted in Rhetorical Analysis, Ten Point Program
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Truth about The Black Panthers and the KKK
For my review, I watched “Truth about The Black Panthers and the KKK.” In this video, it compares the Black Panthers and the KKK because there is an on-going idea that the two groups are the same and serve the same hateful purpose. The first half of the video shows the Black Panthers, and I learned that they armed themselves with guns and knowledge. They would follow police around and took action when they saw police act in a harmful way. The Black Panthers did this as a way to protect themselves and defend others from brutality and racism. The second half of the video shows the Ku Klux Klan, and showed their rituals along with their values. The KKK pushes for “white power” and believes that white should be separated from any other race, especially blacks. The group was created in the 1800s and was solely made to be a hate group. The Black Panthers and the KKK are not the same, as the Black Panther’s purpose was to protect the people and the KKK’s purpose was to terrorize non-white people.
Judas and the Black Messiah Review
Before watching Judas and the Black Messiah, I was very intrigued because I knew about the BPP and its history and seeing it on film made it more impactful. The film felt very powerful to me, and moved me the whole way through. From seeing the actions and beliefs of Fred Hampton, it really made me feel for his death. I can’t imagine the anger and pain of what the people and the chapter felt when he was assassinated. Seeing Bill O’Neal, be taken under the FBI’s wing and aiding them with the assassination of Hampton filled me with anger. This film also did a good job with explaining and depicting socialism vs. capitalism. The Black Panthers fought against police brutality and overall harm against people of color. They fought for the protection of not just black people, but all people suffering from the horrors of police brutality.
Posted in Film Review, Rhetorical Analysis
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Adam Mapoy Interview Question
Tell me about an important friend that you no longer have contact with.
My name is Adam Mapoy and I am a first-year student at Baruch College majoring in finance. I will be talking about a close friend of mine who played a big part in my childhood who moved away a couple years ago.
When I was in 2nd grade, I met a kid who had the same exact interests as me. Growing up, we played basketball at recess every day, stayed up all night playing video games, shared a love for sneakers, and we even had dreams of one day playing in the NBA together. He was my closest friend growing up. There was only one problem. My friend didn’t have the best family life back at home, and so there was always something going on behind the scenes that I was blind to. As time went on, the weight of his problems got heavier, and eventually the weight was too heavy to carry. He was getting in trouble at school a whole lot and slipped into a depression. I always wondered why the world had to give such problems to that happy little kid that I was best friends with at 7 years old. He eventually got the help he needed, and moved away to Florida to live with his cousins. This was about 3 years ago. He decided to cut off all contact and focus on himself and what he wants for his future. Every now and then, he’ll give me a call and catch up on everything, and from what I’ve been hearing, he has been doing pretty well. This serves as a reminder that not everyone has a perfect life, and we should never judge based off of how a person acts because you never truly know what someone is going through.
In our last class, I spoke to Joe Bello. I didn’t ask him any of the interview questions, but I did ask him a few personal question to get to know him. We talked about how he played baseball, and how it has always been a big part of his life. Through this I found out that we are similar, as basketball used to be a big part of my life, although I stopped playing once I got to college. I found it interesting how we were able to connect easily through our love of the sport we played for the majority of our lives.
Posted in About Us, Interview Questions
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