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Author Archives: ARIEL CANALES BAHENA
Posts: 9 (archived below)
Comments: 12
Final Reflection
Throughout this semester, my body of work has been diverse and expansive. From the first week’s assignment to the present, I have tackled a wide range of topics and engaged in various writing styles. One thing that stands out to me is how much I have learned about adapting my writing to different audiences and purposes. I have realized that I can effectively convey information in a concise and clear manner, as well as craft engaging narratives that captivate readers. My writing has developed in unexpected ways, as I have discovered a newfound love for creative storytelling and the power of persuasive writing. The insights gained in this class have not only influenced my work in other subjects but also enhanced my overall communication skills. I now approach writing as a tool for effective expression and as a means to connect with others. This semester’s work has inspired me to set new goals for my writing in upcoming classes, aiming to further refine my storytelling abilities and explore more advanced writing techniques.
One piece of writing on Blogs@Baruch that I am most proud of was the assignment we had for spring break, where we had to answer a prompt from New York Times, my prompt was: Have You Ever Written Fan Mail? If Not, Would You?. I really was jus scrolling through when the title caught my eye. I was tempted to skip it because I felt that it would be too embarrassing to write about, especially to share it for others to see. But fanfiction has actually been part of my life for quite some time and I suddenly felt the urge to write something about it. Would I say it was the best level of writing ever? No, definitely not. But it was the first time in quite a while that I was excited to write. I was giggling, feeling embarrassment, remember all the emotions I felt when I experienced my first fan mail. I’m still feeling it now writing this. I was in the zone, in tune with I was feeling. I was talking to talk, not to write in a sense. And I as I was doing that, I realized that I feel my type of writing is when I write like how I speak. It makes me feel more connected to the reader, more sincere with my emotions because I’m not worried about how I am going to sound intellectually, but how I sound to them conversationally. I wasn’t expecting anyone to comment, I was still hoping no one would because I was still slightly embarrassed but Yineldi did comment and it made me smile because I felt a slight sense of relief that I wasn’t some weirdo as the author of the prompt felt like. So thank you Yineldi if you’re reading this!
The piece of writing that was particularly challenging for me was the 10 point program. For many, it might have been a relatively simple assignment, stating the somewhat obvious needs to create equality. But I found a deep challenge within it where I wanted to capture everything. In doing so, I was making my work too wordy and not easy to remember. So, I spend time cutting, reviewing, rereading to make sure I was fulfilling the goal of wiring the 10 point program but also that I was happy with it. I think I stressed too much about it, but I feel like it was worth the effort because I can see and remember the care and thought process behind each line. The insight I gained as a result is that when you care a lot about something, it is not bad. It shows that I want to present the very best of me, so I shouldn’t feel like I am overdoing or “doing too much” because it invalidated all the work I put in it. So, it the future, I will take into consideration that when I feel like I are too much, I will use that to better convey my writing to tell others.
Posted in About Us, Final Reflection, Student Opinion, Ten Point Program
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Written Reflection
Ariel Canales
Professor Perry
English 2150
16 May 2023
Writing Reflection
I had a good time during this assignment. My goal did change from the start as I had wanted to do more la a story telling way of advertising to an audience. I felt that if I went in that direction, people would be much more persuaded to follow my lead. For this project I decided to use a mix up of different median forms. That meant that I used videos, photos, and things like news parlerers. When I first did this assignment in project 1, regarding the black panthers , I had written a brief overview of who the black panthers are and how the FBI was involved with it. However, there was only so much I could do without seeming like someone who just kept recycling information.
Instead of that, I wanted to share my knowledge in a way that would grab peoples attention. The only way I knew how was if I did a video of some sort. I had originally wanted to make a sort of documentary but I wanted this video to be more interactive, as if looking into it and forgetting you were watching a video.
Because I had such goals, of doing such video, I knew that I had my work cut for me. Which proved to be difficult when it was time for me to actually put it into practice. First, it was difficult to find an editing website that was free and easy to use. I went about the list we were suggested until I finally reached one. I then spent about a few days working on drafts and going about my way into learning the website. When it came to the discussion between the kids, the voice overs include me, and an AI created voice over for the kids. I switched between the accents to make it appear different kids are talking. When it came from the music, I went to non-copyright of inspiration music to describe the mood I was trying to get. When it came to the images, I used off websites and google search. Since I wanted it to be a bit humorous, I added jokes here and there, with stopping points and sound effects.
This was all incredibly difficult for me to do as I had zero experience with video editing but I wanted to try my upmost best for this project. When it came to the search, I mostly followed the same one I had used during my first project. However, I feel that the affect has been completely different because now that I could use emotion through video and sound, my message had change from teaching people about the Black Panther Party, to inspire them to learn about the Black Panther Party.
When it comes to publishing my work for beyond this classroom, it honestly makes me more driven to impress people my work. When it comes to where I would publish it, I would do it through common used sites that are free to use, such as Tiktok and YouTube or through a normal webpage like the New York Times. Since I worked hard to do my best to try to have a non specific targeted group , meaning I wanted to grasp people’s attention, I feel that this is an artwork that is ready to be published.
Posted in Creative Remix, Reflective Essay, Uncategorized
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A video
Hi everyone! Here is my video for this project, hope you enjoy!
Posted in Creative Remix, Project
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The Proposal
Hello! My name is Ariel and I’ll be working on Project 3 individually. For this assignment, I will be focusing on Project 2 to reimagine for a new medium. I will specifically focus on the Black Panther Party and FBI disturbance. This would be showing key moments in the Black Panthers Party era that were hugely impacted by the FBI: Including but not limited to inner-party informants, raiding of headquarters, and the death of Fred Hampton. The modalities that I will be utilizing will be a “mashup”, including voice overs (small clips of podcasts), clips of interviews, images, snips of newspapers, and my own personal creative videos to help capture the story. It is still under revision but it will follow a basic format like:
Hook (Starting scene that will tie back to the BPP) -> Intro of BPP (No more than a few minutes of a brief but educational introduction)-> Major Issues (What Stopped the BPP from being successful?)-> Introducing The FBI (Official Papers)-> Evidence (Video clips, news papers, interviews) + credits at the end
I anticipate that while I conduct this assignment, the usage recreating a previous assignment of the BPP will not only show a deeper understanding of the party but also a way to better grasp the attention of viewers that an essay based paper can’t do. In doing this, rather than just seeming to be gathering information of the BPP, I will actually spreading awareness about the group and how we see it today, which changes completely the message despite me trying to achieve that in Project 1. Not to mention, Project 1 was based on just having one readership, but now, the intended audience will be “publication”, which changes the message because now you have to expand to satisfy as much people as you can. Because I will be doing my own touch for this project to be different from just an essay, I have to stop thinking in the mindset of a documentary or a reporter. I have to think like I’m talking with someone who has no idea what I’m talking about, but that I’m trying to convince into paying attention to this issues without seeming like a “Believe in this conspiracy!” kind of person.
Since I am not very talented in the video editing department, I do anticipate some challenge in trying to find my way around making a video that makes sense and that works the way I want, because it is completely different to think about how I want a video to look vs how it turns out to be. In addition, I want my project to look high end, so I have to prepare high quality evidence that is credited and that is simple to digest, which can be hard for me because I like to include a lot of information. My primary reason for making the choices I will make in terms of medium and prior work to reimagine is because I want to entrain my viewers, I don’t want to make a project that will be seen as boring to my teacher or my classmates, so I definitely want to do something that will be worth my time and theirs. And in doing that, that means trying to stay away from just putting out information everyone knows and rather, make it seem like a entertaining story.
Posted in Creative Remix, Proposal
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STUDENT OPINION
Have You Ever Written Fan Mail? If Not, Would You?
As I was scrolling though the student opinions, this one caught my eye and as I was reading, I definitely knew where the author was coming from.
Have you ever written fan mail — whether an email, a letter or a direct message — to an artist whose work you loved? Why did you want to tell the person what the work meant to you?
I have always wanted to write fan mail, whether that be commenting on a YouTube video or sending a P.O package. However, the one time I ever wrote fan mail was about 7-8 years ago, when I was about 11 and I was introduced to the world of fanfiction. I had stumbled across a certain story and became deeply captured by it. After reading the whole day, I finished the story only to be taught what the word angst was. It was so impactful that I hurriedly made an account with my mom’s email, and commented on the piece. I was so nervous and I kept rereading it to make sure it didn’t look like it came from an 11-year-old. The next day, I got a response back and although it wasn’t the answer I was hoping (I wrote about the possibility of a character coming back to life after a fatal gun shot, I know, I was asking for a lot), the author was so kind about it, I’ve never regretted commenting on her piece.
If you’ve never written fan mail, what do you think has held you back from doing so? Has Dr. Bedard’s essay persuaded you to reach out more often to the artists and creators whose work you consume — even knowing you might not get a response back? Why or why not?
It’s definitely scary to reach out, especially towards big creators. Despite not me being active in writing fan mails, I do my best in supporting the author the best way I know, such as liking a piece, sharing it, or giving it 5 stars. But seeing that someone else has felt the same way as I do and has sent fan mail despite knowing they won’t get a response, I feel more motivated to do my part, because I really have been moved by some works and it’s still a nice feeling to say it out loud than keeping it to yourself.
Dr. Bedard says that writing fan mail is a cathartic way for her to build intimacy and connection, and “an opportunity to take pleasure” in her passions. What does writing fan mail do for you? Or, if you’ve never written it, what do you imagine it might do for you?
It’s so nerve wracking! I don’t think there’s a possible way to explain it. It’s like hoping, praying, and just wishing that this person, who you suddenly consider to be the greatest person alive, that they are this genius, to notice you. But also not notice you because you don’t feel like you deserve it. And you want to relay your emotions but you don’t want to seem super obsessed or like a creep because fan mail does have its bad rep. But you don’t want to restrict yourself in fear of them not fully understanding how they have impacted you.
What is a book, movie, show, poem, photograph, podcast, song or other piece of art that has had an effect on you? If you were to write fan mail to the creator of that work, what would you say?
I always tell myself to remember the pieces that inspire me for this exact moment but then I just blank out. But recently I’ve come across this author who writes their own version of a tv show called Merlin. And the way they just write is simple utterly and beautifully perfect, and their upload schedule is amazing! Because of their work, I’ve appreciated more life in a sense (I know, it’s crazy). But it does just make me happy thinking of it and it’s something good to pass the time. I haven’t written them a fan mail yet, but I am planning to write on one of their next chapters about how simply wonderful they are for creating those pieces. I could write more here but still kind of want to save face here!
Posted in About Us, Student Opinion
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Seven Day Log: Wikipedia
Day 1: The Set Up
I started creating my wikipedia account, settling for the username “Marrychapelle”. I then completed Wikipedia Adventure, which was definitely a ride, I will have to review it again later on. To finish off the day, I watched Tutorials for Editing Wikipedia Pages.
Day 2: The Red List
Looking at the Red List, I spent the day looking for a potential candidate that I would be focusing on. After 2-3 hours of just clicking or seeing whether I would be able to gain more information on any of them, I took a short break. I was interested in learning about the family members of Jose de San Martin but with the limited information, I resigned my goal. In the end, I chose Guadalupe Vázquez Luna who is a Mexican activist, artisana, and councilman representing the Tzotzil people in the national Indigenous Congress (CNI).
Day 3: Trials
I took the chance to look around wikipedia to try new settings now displayed that based on having an account. I looked into the Talk feature and View History Page. Surprisingly for wikipedia, a lot of things had no discussion forms at all. I felt tempted to just start a discussion and say “Hi” but thought back on it and just thought that there wasn’t a point. I was glad to see that Wikipedia Talk:WikiProject Women in Red was active. People were discussing resources they have gathered or plans to further research women. At the time I finished writing this, two new comments emerged.
Day 4: The Edit & Comparison
You never realize how hard it is to search something until you actually have to do it rather than stumbling across a new word and searching it up. I really had no idea what to look for in order to take the step to edit a page, so I took to tiktok and let the magic happen. Lucky for me, an edit of the Walking Dead came up and I took the initiative to search up my favorite actor: Andrew Lincoln. Pressing the “Edit Source” button, I definitely felt an intense amount of pressure and anxiety come up. I felt like the Wikipedia policy would suddenly ban my account and say “Don’t edit!”. But after maneuvering around the flash of code (Tip: Use the “Preview” to visualize the edits as you go), I did my first edit! It was just a switch of words but I never felt so proud. I wanted to update the image but it was too complex for my first time, I’ll come back to it! Also, I didn’t know that after editing, your edit would go under “pending review”, I thought it was editing and that’s it. Now I’m worried that it won’t be liked.
Speaking of Andrew Lincoln, I decided to take the chance to compare his page with that of Danai Gurira who starred as “Michonne” in the Walking Dead series. Already, I could tell there was a difference distributed to the two actors. Although Andrew Lincoln was admittedly the main protagosnigt of the hit-show, Danai Gurira played a huge part in the development of the plot, gaining much love by fans. That being so, a paragraph of Lincoln’s work in the Walking Dead makes sense, but Gurira’s one phrase of her role in the show does not do her any justice. Not to mention that the rest of her recognition are vague and short. Looking at their tittles, we can also see the differences in how they are introduced. Lincoln has his section named “Early Life” while Gurira had “Early Life and Education”. Lincoln had his education included in his description as well. When it comes to references, Gurira had 80 while Lincoln had 50. Despite the first hiccup, the article for Gurira did tend to be looked at a bit more with descriptions of her career outside of acting and her role in activism compared to Lincoln’s short piece titled “Politics”. I then conclude that the comparison between Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira, may not explicitly be impacted by gender bias.
- As of 3.28.23, the edit is still under review.
Day 5: Research
I took this day to learn more about Guadalupe Vázquez Lun. Using her name in the google search, I was surprised to find quite a bit of basic information about her. Due to her name being in Red, I honestly thought she would be a bit hard to look for, but this only reaffirms the gender inequality in wikipedia where despite information being available, these women activists don’t have their own page. After researching around my “Red Woman ”, I started creating my first wikipedia page (I think it is a page or sandbox might be different). This just consisted of working around the code and playing around with the edits.
Day 6: Documentary
Learning that Guadalupe Vázquez Lun was included in documentary telling of her heritage, I took the time to watch it. It was very interesting and something that I have decided to focus on in her page. If anyone wants to watch it:
Lupita. Que retiemble la tierra
Day 7: Beginning The Process
I continued working on my page, using the video guides on Blackboard as reference. It has proved to be very difficult but bit by bit, I think I am starting to get the hang of it. Working on this, I have to give my gratitude to the Wikipedia writers because this is not easy, it honestly discourages you to write things because it seems too easy to write due to my experience with other websites. Which again brings me to question, why is Wikipedia so complex in making a site? But I’m glad we’re doing this, even though it might not come from professional hands, I believe our sincerity will do good in getting these women’s names out there.
The Ten-Point Program
- We want social and economic benefits for all citizens and non-citizens, regardless of age, race, gender, and ethnicity, in the form of but not limited to: Social security, health care, therapy, self-care, etc.
- We want the fair trial of every case brought to court with the imposing of adequate sentences and representative juries; including punishment of any perpetrator who is impeding such justice regardless of their position.
- We want education to be free and accessible to all, with funding of every school not being in accordance with the income of the residents around it, therefore providing that the school is given proper resources.
- We want childcare to be free and accessible to all; employers should allow accommodation for parents/guardians to be excused within reason.
- We want a raise in the minimum wage, ensuring that it applies to every state and ALL jobs.
- We want the refinement of the tax system, to which the process is handled more efficiently where taxpayers are not subject to figuring out what they owe; earning more does not cut benefits; and the introduction of new taxation on the rich.
- We want to stop all companies, software, and government from collecting personal data that can be sold or intrude on personal liberties.
- We want birth control to be free and accessible for all, with the encouragement of the development of birth control for male individuals so as to be held equally responsible as women.
- We want proper assignation of rent based on the living conditions of the home, meaning but not limited to: if the room allows for an individual to walk freely around each bedroom, if the heater/ac/fire alarm/paint are up to code, if the appliances are up to date, if it allows for up to 2 people to move freely between kitchen and bathroom areas.
- We want the limitation of social devices for individuals in accordance with age to promote the growth of the mind for children and the promotion of human relations for everyone included.
Posted in Rhetorical Analysis, Ten Point Program
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Film Review of: The Man Who Armed the Panthers
As I was watching the video “The Man Who Armed the Panthers”, I was genuinely surprised to see the face of the man who supplied such an iconic representation of black power. I hadn’t thought about how the guns came to be, maybe the guns suddenly appeared, or they were from an underground market. But in actuality, they were given by a man named Richard Aoki who also happened to have been an undercover FBI informant. He was of Japanese descent, whose family came during World War II. He grew up in an impoverished black neighborhood, he was in a gang, he was a political leader who joined associations for social justice, and was in the army.
So the genuine question is how can someone with such a complex story play on both teams? Maybe it was a strategy, to gain insight from both sides. However, its truly sad that we will never hear any of these details, from either the FBI who supposedly say they have no intel on him, to the Black Panthers who refuse to comment on him and Aoki himself as he, unfortunately, took his life in 2009, leaving two pressed uniforms in his room: an army uniform and a black panther uniform. Aoki close friends have never know about his two lives, stating that he was a mystery man. Despite this, we should give our respects to a man who did his best, and who joined a revolution that has changed time. Knowing we will never know the full story reminds me of how suddenly everything can disappear, that everything is so finite, such as all the history we will never know from the past, the legends, the myths, the hundreds of files in the library of Alexandria. I hope that for any future events, everything gets recorded because this is History and History should be remembered by us, not the oppressors.
Judas and the Black Messiah: Film Review
Like many others who are often focused with trivial life things like school, work, enjoying time with family and friends, we forgot for a while about the complete social injustice there is. And then when we see it being retold, again and again: a police man shot a black man, families being kicked out of homes, racism in healthcare and impoverished communities, we snap back. I experienced such things when watching documentaries about group struggles or movies like “The Pursuit of Happiness”. So “Judas and the Black Messiah” was no exception to that, I was infuriated and completed disgusted with the legal system. But I was also completely heartbroken to see that every time we take a step forward, someone always pulls the rug and we drop and hurt bad. I wanted to shout and repeat each statement.
And the ending? It left me with disbelief but also expectation, an expectation that I learned real young, that power is for some and not for the many. The film did teach me a lot, especially about how simple life can be taken. And often then not, how simple it is to fabricate stories. But despite that, the BPP did their best with what they did. They didn’t want one group to be better than the other, they wanted everyone to be on the same page and it really showed towards the end with The Crowns who were sworn enemies with the BPP, offered a sum of money so that Fred could escape. Ultimately, there was only one idea that you can sum up of the BPP after reading and watching and learning all there is, there were for the people more than government was and ever will be. And they showed that when action is not being taken, you have to step on it and make your move. Their actions might have been very infamous especially with their use of violence, but the sentiment was still there that power is with the people: where their is power, there is people.
Posted in Film Review, Rhetorical Analysis
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Interview Questions
Hi everyone! My name is Ariel. If I could do whatever I wanted, I would be a dictator. But in a good way, definitely not like those we have seen in history, unfortunately. If I was a dictator, I would immediately tax the rich, to create a fund pool where I can distribute the money towards need based assistance programs and education. I would put a cap on medical exploitation, meaning no more private insurance or private medical companies. I would fix the MTA trains, remodeling infrastructure, the homeless, and the millions of rodents confining the city. I would also make it illegal to raise the prices of neighborhoods/apartments past 1.5k when the apartment is barely functional or not big enough for a single person’s belongings. I have plenty more, especially regarding child care and crime rates. Learning about politics has told us that many individuals that influence the President’s laws, many of whom are biased. So if I could do anything I wanted, I would do everything just right, for the people. Thanks!
For our class icebreaker, I had Yineldi. I asked her if she could commit any crime and get away with it, what would it be? Yineldi responded that “at this point, I would rob any bank” because she wants money, which I completely resonated with.
I also asked her a second question on what kind of superpower she would like to have. Yineldi said that it would be teleportation, because if she had that, she would have used it for this class. When I asked how, she very hilariously pointed out that she could have just opened her eyes, teleported, and been right there in that seat instead of waking up at 5am and coming here. Thanks Yineldi for the funny responses!
Posted in About Us, Interview Questions
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