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June 2025 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: EVAN RIVERA
Posts: 9 (archived below)
Comments: 12
Final Reflection
The last 15 weeks of my semester I was able to learn and dive deep into several controversial topics of society. It was a major test to our critical thinking skills and helped us develop the bigger picture of said problems. Starting with the Black Panther Party, I had no idea the depth of information that these individuals had in history and writing about them only made me learn even more. Comparing it to modern day movements helped me see the bigger picture, how far we have come in history. When it came to assignments, they were pretty straightforward and just required some reading to understand what needed to be done. During our first project I was definitely still familiarizing myself with the college writing style which took some getting used to. After receiving my first grade I knew I could definitely do much better it just required more work ethic. Writing the second project I made sure to carefully structure it and follow the rubric, it paid off as I received a higher grade than before.
One piece of writing that I am proud of particularly is my second essay pertaining to the Women in Red on Wikipedia. I really enjoyed the whole Wikipedia log and browsing the site examining the small discrepancies here and there. Documenting my findings and using the research I put together writing the essay was much easier than before. This piece taught me how to develop a thesis that wasn’t too broad and incorporate it into my essay to help the readers understand the point that is trying to be made. 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. Trying to use some of my own techniques and some of my peers has allowed me to improve some things about my work like explaining the evidence better. I enjoyed the Wikipedia Journal and the writing piece i feel most proud of.
The biggest change is the topic and tone of the essay changes from focusing on narrative to a more research and academic tone, which is something I am struggling with for a long time. One piece of writing that was particularly challenging for me had to be the Project 1 on BPP and BLM. I found it difficult to draw the comparison between them and find strong pieces of evidence to support my argument. This essay was the roadblock to help me adapt to the writing style of English in college which is probably why I found it so difficult to begin with. In the end I enjoyed this semester even though the class was very early and I struggled to make it on time. The work was straightforward and helped improve my work ethic overall in the end. It was a good run and looking forward to future English classes.
Posted in About Us, Final Reflection
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Creative Remix Reflection
Doing a remix of my old work was something very different, something I could put my own spin on. Now the difference between choosing the between projects was more of the creativity to it based on the information that I have researched and put together. Turn an old piece of writing from an earlier project and make it into something new and more interesting to look at. In the end I decided on doing my creative remix project on the Black Lives Matter Movement, scoping in on the effects such a massive movement had on the press/media of society. BLM’s focus has been less about changing specific laws and more about fighting for a reordering of society wherein Black lives are free from systematic dehumanization. The movement’s measurable impact on the political and legal landscape is undeniable. The BLM movement has succeeded in transforming how Americans talk about, think about, and organize for freedom.
I believe using a presentation on slides or PowerPoint is a more effective method of spreading your information to an audience. Additionally, I want my topic not to feel dry and boring. It is a serious topic and there is a lot of information given that would make people feel overwhelmed at once. Especially college students being one myself I know that they definitely do not want to read a bunch oof words in a presentation and would want to look at their phones instead. With that idea in mind, I opted to go for something that can be more appealing to my younger audience, being videos of past and current events of my topic. I want my audience to realize how impactful the Black Lives Matter movement was so much that it was covered over several news channels and broadcast that contained thousands of protestors rallying together. They say the phrase is a demand for equal treatment and an end to racism – because the lives of black people are just as important as those of others.
Sharing my work with others is the biggest part of the remix project. I am not too great with technology, so I went with a more effective approach of a PowerPoint with slides to demonstrate my knowledge of the topic I chose. Sharing a presentation outside a classroom would prove to be rather difficult but I can use it to spread awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement on social media platforms that are used every single day. Having open platforms to spread awareness is the best way for me to use my remix project to inform the public on my topic. I can only hope it sparks activity in other people to make a change for the better of society and improve the relationship between all races. My research can become someone else’s building blocks to a movement, which is my goal for sharing this project to the public.
Overall, I enjoyed this project and what it had to offer in terms of creativity and design. I was able to return to an old project and dive deeper into a subtopic of my choice and create a new project from it, a remix. Choosing the topic and doing research was not as complicated as my topic had been narrowed down and I knew what I had to focus on. Now choosing how to portray that information was the biggest challenge I faced as my lack of experience with technology began to show. I didn’t know how to go about using a program creating other types of media other than what I was familiar with, PowerPoint. Picking a medium and knowing what I was going to do with it I began to form my presentation to appeal to my audience and hope they take something from it. Black Lives Matter is a very well-known topic, but I always wondered just how much people actually knew about it. I wanted to express how big the movement is and what they are trying to accomplish in the end. I can only hope my presentation can be shown to anyone with creative ideals to turn it into something even bigger for the future and maybe a place in the movement itself.
Posted in Creative Remix, Reflective Essay
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Creative Remix Project
Here is the link to my short presentation for my remix project, thank you and any feedback is appreciated.
Posted in Creative Remix, Project
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Proposal
For this project I have chosen to work independently to reimagine and re create parts of my project one. Using a slideshow with many videos and images pertaining to my essay will help my viewers understand the effects of press and media on a topic. In my essay previously I wrote about how social media impacted the viewership of Black Lives Matter and how quickly it spread. With this new project I will cover how the news sources and several media articles pushed the BLM movement forwarded and created the hashtags and narratives we know today.
Using this as my medium, my essay can incorporate videos and images of protest taking place and riots outside major points all across the country. Since my previous essay was focused on two major topics being the Black Panther Party and Black Lives Matter, further research will needed to be done to help strengthen my essay and give it a more impactful message to my audience. All media outlets spanning from the early stages of the movement to its peak and what it is like today. A major problem that I can encounter is finding sources that contain little bias or take a side on the movement to include in my remix. Making a slideshow can put all my points together in one and help the audience feel connected to the movement in their heads or heart during the peak of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Posted in Creative Remix, Proposal
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How Much Do You Think It Matters Where You Go to College?
Scrolling through the articles I was looking for something I can personally connect to. A topic I can go in depth and give an opinion on. I know talking about college applications are a topic everyone goes for, but you don’t know how much it matters until the time comes. The so called “college experience” seems to take over a student’s mind and they only search for the highest ranked or prestigious colleges hoping to fulfill their dreams. I always firmly believed a student should reflect deeply on what sort of experience they truly want, factor in what is financially realistic for them and consider those colleges first rather than simply assemble a wish list of colleges based on their rankings alone. Going to a college far away from home or abroad is a major change and often really expensive without a scholarship, but even so the search for the perfect college experience doesn’t end there.
Do you agree with Mr. Bruni that, for many Americans, the process of applying to colleges has “devolved into a scholastic version of ‘The Hunger Games’”? Have you seen that at your school?
This classification can be very relatable as the drive for a chance at a successful career and nothing else can change someone. At my high school our guidance counselors really pushed us to apply almost forcing it upon us at times. As well as applying for schools that seemed fit for us which often felt reflected off of our grades. I believed in searching for a college that was within my financial range and relatively close by. In the end we as students shouldn’t be defined by our college status and don’t get so caught up in the “experience”. We should sit and reflect on how our choice will affect us in the long run.
Seven Day Log
Day 1;
The project was first introduced, and I began brainstorming what I was going to research. I opened up Wikipedia to see what the page looks like and familiarize myself with what I was going to be working with.
Day 2:
I haven’t created an account on Wikipedia yet, finding difficulty as it is blocking my IP and preventing me from creating my account at all. Trying with 3 different emails I have come to the conclusion it is the school internet is the problem. The Baruch College I.P. and public library I.P. was both bans by from creating a Wikipedia account, I was faced with a major problem.
Day 3:
I opted to borrow a friends Wikipedia account and begun my adventure learning how to navigate through the site. I opened Wikipedia adventure to scroll through the tutorials and finished relatively quickly. After a scan through the list of Women in red, I was struggling to pick a woman in red to do research on.
Day 4:
I began to narrow down my search and wanted to pick an activist specifically from the United States. I looked into the Talk feature and View History Page. Surprisingly for Wikipedia, a lot of things had no discussion forms at all for some reason.
Day 5:
After my account is finally created username “HeGotThatDogInHim”, I was looking at what Wikipedia wanted to show me. It was showing me what I can do, where to find what and editing. Later I started the editing tutorial it shows me how Wikipedia works, and I was just following the instruction.
Day 6:
I decided on a US activist her name being Karen Tramontano and when I clicked on her name it was to my surprise there were no articles pertaining to her at all. I began searching for information about where she lived and her origin. The link Karen A. Tramontano – Blue Star Strategies LLC is a quick background of Karen and how her organization became to be.
Day 7:
I have begun drafting my page and this has to be the challenging part of this project. I haven’t quite figured out what I am going to add and how i should go about writing my page. I have the woman I am researching and some creditable links, I will continue to spend the next few days working on my page.
Ten Point Program
Yelianni, Raymundo, Evan
- We want to minimize inflation on the many goods that your average citizen relies on.
- Political inequality – We want to reduce the amount of absolute political impact government officials hold over our individual vote.
- We want quality health care for all even those who cannot afford it regardless of being poor or rich.
- We want to reduce easy access to weapons and implement gun training to decrease gun violence
- We want stable rent regulations that provides affordable housing to minorities to reduce gentrification
- We want to regulate abortion laws so that women are able to make their own choices when it comes to their bodies
- We want more enforced laws and bigger consequence for a Domestic violence
- We want better police training to prevent police brutality against minorities
- We want the refinement of the tax system, to which the process is handled more efficiently and tax evasion is severely cut down.
- We demand more funding for homeless shelters and to provide general basic needs for them.
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Film Review
The New York Time’s Black Panthers Revisited was very informative and covers the entire background of the Black Panthers. It was an important reminder of the past goals of the Black Panther Party and the many that are still addressed today. They aimed only to eliminate all violence against African Americans from the people of power. But today, unlike in the 1960s, there are no shootouts between any protesters and police. The film helped me draw a comparison of how the movements are vastly different from what they used to be. There are no organized groups calling for armed a revolution to take place to overthrow the authorities. The increased interest in these issues have shaken black communities to the core. The main question I was wondering during the film was whether police departments and elected officials will be any more responsive to demands for change and accountability than they were 50 years ago.
Posted in Film Review, Rhetorical Analysis
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Interview Questions- Evan
Hello, My name is Evan Rivera and I am a freshman at Baruch College. I am here to explain why I get along with people. For the most part I like to believe I have a very likable personality, someone who you can have fun with all the time and forget about the things that worry you the most throughout the day. I love to joke around and find out what interests people to use that as a way for us to have a great time. I thought for a while if I was socially awkward and it drove me insane. I slowly began to realize that I just have to put myself out there to get people to know me for who I am just as much as I get to know them.
I interviewed Brendan he told me many things about himself. He really likes music and loves to hang out. He really expressed his love for partying and going out with his friends on a weekend. I then asked him if he could have one superpower what would it be, he replied with the ability to read minds and I’d have to agree with that one. A very useful and unique superpower to have and Id definitely choose that one too. I really enjoyed my conversation with him and look forward to more in the future with everyone else in the class.
Posted in About Us, Interview Questions
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