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. 

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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.

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The Power of Media in BLM and BPP – Hope Ki

https://youtu.be/zrbL7ywGfsI
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Reflective Essay – Hope Ki

My written reflection on project 3!

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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. 

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What Does Your Hairstyle Say About You?

I have always grown up with pin-straight dark brown hair. One day when I was in the third grade my mom suddenly got tired of my long hair and decided to chop it in the bathtub. Of course, it was uneven, choppy, and awful. However, the haircut itself was not the worst part, it was the fact that I had to go to school the next day. Feeling awful for what she did, my mom allowed me to go to the salon right after school and let me get whatever I wanted. Highlights, bangs, and curls. After that day, I have never trusted anyone with my hair unless it was a salon.

I take great pride in my hair. If my hair does not look good that day, my mood is ruined. I agree with the students in the article, a hairstyle can define you and your personality. You can show off your aesthetic through it by its length, color, and curl. Personally, I style my hair at night. After my shower, I dry my hair and put my face-framing pieces in rollers and the rest of my hair into a bun. The next morning my hair is voluminous.

When I decide that I need a sudden change in my life, I will cut my hair. I can’t wait to cut my hair off after finishing my finals for a fresh new start!

Article link!

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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. 

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Final reflection

Ethan Jusino 

Prof Perry 

Eng 2150 

Going into this semester I feel like I knew what to expect from this course, and to be honest I did get my expectations met that is for sure. When it came down to assignments I definitely did better towards the end of the semester compared to the beginning of the semester. It was just that my work ethic got better when there was more to actually do. During the Black Panther Party project I definitely underdid the work and I saw it when I compared it to the wikipedia project which is just crazy to think about due to the fact that I really enjoyed both projects. I put more effort into the second and third projects compared to the first and my grades reflect that. I got a lower grade on the first project and that sort of motivated me to do better for the last two projects. I did some different techniques and even broke the night a few times to finish the other projects.

I really enjoyed posting my 7 day wikipedia log because it was the most personal thing towards me as it was for everyone else. Seeing all the logs was really nice to look at because it was a unique experience. My peers offered me both their opinions and good critiques. I did enjoy looking at some of the comments that they gave me because I tried to use them in my own work. I did also enjoy giving them their own pieces of advice. Trying to use some of my own techniques and some of my peers has allowed me to improve some things about my work, like instead of going straight to the point I started making it more thorough and giving more details about certain things. 

Lastly , the most challenging assignment was also my favorite one which was the entire women in read project. It was a long process which is why it was the most difficult as well because having pretty much zero information on the internet. Then creating essays and a wikipedia article that ultimately got deleted. I can safely say I had a lot of fun doing this project, even though it pushed me to my limits at night because I wanted to do as much as possible instead of just waiting to do it at the last minute. I know in the future I will not wait more than a day after the assignment is given to start writing something on it.

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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.

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Project 3: Creative Remix Proposal

For the third project, I intend to focus on the first project we worked on. I will be talking about how differently and similarly the Black Panther Party and the Black Lives Matter movement used their resources in order to speak out about what they believed in. Through my podcast, I will be able to give a further in-depth analysis of why each movement used their source of campaign for their time period. I would like to recite some raw sources like newspaper clippings or specific social media posts.

I anticipate the medium will change the message being derived as instead of reading about an article or paper, you will be audibly educated. While conducting this assignment, I will be referencing back to my first project a lot. I believe that while delivering my project, you will be able to find a positive correlation between the two movements and the effects they both had on one another.

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