Ralph Mizrahi 1969-12-31 19:00:00

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E.B White’s Here is New York

Analyze E. B.White’s opening line, “On any person who desires such queer prizes, New York will bestow the gift of loneliness and the gift of privacy.”

As Roger Angell expressed in his introduction of E.B White’s work, “It is hard to feel private in the surging daily crowds at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, say, or lonely on a side street packed solid with gridlocked traffic.” (11) Indeed, the opening line of Here is New York seems peculiar when one witnesses the sheer flood of civilization in New York City.  People seem to be swarming the streets of the city,  each with vibrant passion, excitement and enthusiasm. For most, the ’18 inches’ of separation that New York offers its inhabitants from one another offers a dream come true: a “Fragile participation with destiny.” The city provides a front row seat to “…all enormous and violent and wonderful events that are taking place every minute.” (21). However, to those who desire such queer prizes, the enormity and grandeur of New York can make the privacy and loneliness achieved all the more satisfying. As I commute every day to Baruch College, I witness firsthand how the all the commotion, bright lights, and attractions vying for our attention are merely a silent background to most as they race through the agendas of their day. Paradoxically, for those longing for internal quiet, New York is perfect.

Discuss White’s prophecy (final pages of the book) about airplanes in the light of 9/11.

Written in 1949, the scene depicted by E.B White in the final pages of his essay is at once enlightening and startlingly familiar in the aftermath of 9/11. It is important to note that at the time of the writing of the book, the gruesome sights and sounds of war were probably ingrained in the mind of the author after the atrocities of WWII, and of the Holocaust. People around the world saw images of planes flying over civilian neighborhoods in Europe dropping bombs on apartment complexes. It was only natural for White to envision the grand struggle of worldwide conflicting ideologies that would ensue. At the time of the publishing, E.B White witnessed the building of the United Nations on New York soil. There, hundreds of nations would be represented in no other city in the world but Manhattan. Therefore, there is no greater message of hate than to mercilessly attack New York, “the capital of the world” (55) and a symbol of cultural diversity, heterogenous unity, racial brotherhood and freedom. As White states, “Today Liberty shares the role with Death.” (54) Thankfully Mr. White’s prediction of the annihilation of New York City never occurred. Yet, for those of us who experienced the terror attacks of 9/11/01, White’s message rang true. The world must collectively take a stand against acts of hatred and intolerance, and feverishly support the ideals that hold up this great city today.

 

 

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E.B White’s Here is New York

Analyze E. B.White’s opening line, “On any person who desires such queer prizes, New York will bestow the gift of loneliness and the gift of privacy.”

As Roger Angell expressed in his introduction of E.B White’s work, “It is hard to feel private in the surging daily crowds at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, say, or lonely on a side street packed solid with gridlocked traffic.” (11) Indeed, the opening line of Here is New York seems peculiar when one witnesses the sheer flood of civilization in New York City.  People seem to be swarming the streets of the city,  each with vibrant passion, excitement and enthusiasm. For most, the ’18 inches’ of separation that New York offers its inhabitants from one another offers a dream come true: a “Fragile participation with destiny.” The city provides a front row seat to “…all enormous and violent and wonderful events that are taking place every minute.” (21). However, to those who desire such queer prizes, the enormity and grandeur of New York can make the privacy and loneliness achieved all the more satisfying. As I commute every day to Baruch College, I witness firsthand how the all the commotion, bright lights, and attractions vying for our attention are merely a silent background to most as they race through the agendas of their day. Paradoxically, for those longing for internal quiet, New York is perfect.

Discuss White’s prophecy (final pages of the book) about airplanes in the light of 9/11.

Written in 1949, the scene depicted by E.B White in the final pages of his essay is at once enlightening and startlingly familiar in the aftermath of 9/11. It is important to note that at the time of the writing of the book, the gruesome sights and sounds of war were probably ingrained in the mind of the author after the atrocities of WWII, and of the Holocaust. People around the world saw images of planes flying over civilian neighborhoods in Europe dropping bombs on apartment complexes. It was only natural for White to envision the grand struggle of worldwide conflicting ideologies that would ensue. At the time of the publishing, E.B White witnessed the building of the United Nations on New York soil. There, hundreds of nations would be represented in no other city in the world but Manhattan. Therefore, there is no greater message of hate than to mercilessly attack New York, “the capital of the world” (55) and a symbol of cultural diversity, heterogenous unity, racial brotherhood and freedom. As White states, “Today Liberty shares the role with Death.” (54) Thankfully Mr. White’s prediction of the annihilation of New York City never occurred. Yet, for those of us who experienced the terror attacks of 9/11/01, White’s message rang true. The world must collectively take a stand against acts of hatred and intolerance, and feverishly support the ideals that hold up this great city today.

 

 

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Journal #3

Coming into Baruch, I never before did any community service with a philanthropic attitude. I had to fill certain requirement in high school to graduate and I volunteered here and there just so I can receive the credit. I had the mindset that community service isn’t for me and I wanted to focus on school and on my job. However, as I grew a little bit older, I realized that helping out others can actually make your own life better. That life has a “what goes around comes around” policy, and focusing only on yourself would actually not yield the results you want.

I am now approaching this community service project as an opportunity to finally give back with the right intentions. We were all given an opportunity to go to school and get an education for free, so I think that it is only right that we somehow give back to those less fortunate than us. Even spending time with a kid and helping him with his homework can easily transform into a stronger bond where the child will look up to us and try to improve. One of my favorite quotes is “If you are not making someone else’s day better, than you are wasting your time” by Will Smith, and I truly believe that now. We are all here to better ourselves but also be responsible for improving our community.

This new attitude really made me reconsider what I want to do with my life. The idea of a non-profit doesn’t sound so foreign and repulsive as it once did, and my favorite class Pub 1250 is also gearing me in that direction. I think in a few years I will take a number of other interesting and life changing courses so that I can decide what I want to major in and how I want to live my life.

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Journal #3

Coming into Baruch, I never before did any community service with a philanthropic attitude. I had to fill certain requirement in high school to graduate and I volunteered here and there just so I can receive the credit. I had the mindset that community service isn’t for me and I wanted to focus on school and on my job. However, as I grew a little bit older, I realized that helping out others can actually make your own life better. That life has a “what goes around comes around” policy, and focusing only on yourself would actually not yield the results you want.

I am now approaching this community service project as an opportunity to finally give back with the right intentions. We were all given an opportunity to go to school and get an education for free, so I think that it is only right that we somehow give back to those less fortunate than us. Even spending time with a kid and helping him with his homework can easily transform into a stronger bond where the child will look up to us and try to improve. One of my favorite quotes is “If you are not making someone else’s day better, than you are wasting your time” by Will Smith, and I truly believe that now. We are all here to better ourselves but also be responsible for improving our community.

This new attitude really made me reconsider what I want to do with my life. The idea of a non-profit doesn’t sound so foreign and repulsive as it once did, and my favorite class Pub 1250 is also gearing me in that direction. I think in a few years I will take a number of other interesting and life changing courses so that I can decide what I want to major in and how I want to live my life.

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Journal #3

The faculty who serve Baruch can have a lot to share if only a student asks them. I agree they can provide a lot of help in certain situations.

For the project, our contact Kate Suhr gave us additional info about God’s Love We Deliver in addition to that posted on their website. As support centers as in help, I haven’t sought any for this project although I may do so if I think it would help me on my assignment in the future.

Since the beginning of this fall semester, I have attended Large groups at Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. It’s probably one of the bigger student run clubs at Baruch and they have fliers out everywhere. On Thursdays during club hours, they usually have something unique every week, such as a guest speaker or a specific issue they want to address that week. I’ve found it to be a welcome break in my busy schedule.

First, having a fuller experience at Baruch can make you feel more at home and more comfortable when needing to request help, for example. Through clubs, you can make a few friends who share the same interests as you obviously and friends who have common interests have the most to talk about which can further increase your knowledge of business at Baruch and in general. As a demonstration, I learned that actuarial science is an area of study that’s really similar to accounting even though the name does not suggest it being a math related major.

Based on the vast number of organizations founded and run much like God’s Love We Deliver, to provide for the poor and handicapped or elderly in New York City, I began to get a sense of how many people want to help when they discover the reality of certain people’s lives.

In the next 3 years I hope I will find my place at Baruch and most importantly, settle on career goals and such because after school is finished in 3 years, work is most likely next in line.

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Journal #3

The faculty who serve Baruch can have a lot to share if only a student asks them. I agree they can provide a lot of help in certain situations.

For the project, our contact Kate Suhr gave us additional info about God’s Love We Deliver in addition to that posted on their website. As support centers as in help, I haven’t sought any for this project although I may do so if I think it would help me on my assignment in the future.

Since the beginning of this fall semester, I have attended Large groups at Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. It’s probably one of the bigger student run clubs at Baruch and they have fliers out everywhere. On Thursdays during club hours, they usually have something unique every week, such as a guest speaker or a specific issue they want to address that week. I’ve found it to be a welcome break in my busy schedule.

First, having a fuller experience at Baruch can make you feel more at home and more comfortable when needing to request help, for example. Through clubs, you can make a few friends who share the same interests as you obviously and friends who have common interests have the most to talk about which can further increase your knowledge of business at Baruch and in general. As a demonstration, I learned that actuarial science is an area of study that’s really similar to accounting even though the name does not suggest it being a math related major.

Based on the vast number of organizations founded and run much like God’s Love We Deliver, to provide for the poor and handicapped or elderly in New York City, I began to get a sense of how many people want to help when they discover the reality of certain people’s lives.

In the next 3 years I hope I will find my place at Baruch and most importantly, settle on career goals and such because after school is finished in 3 years, work is most likely next in line.

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Blog Post 3

It is not unknown to people that community services holds many benefits, not only externally to those we have helped, but also internally to ourselves by building our character. It has taught me to not only be dependent on my own sources, but to also draw from the experiences of the heads of these charitable organizations and how as a team we can work to help the community in need. I am not sure if community service will exactly help me perform better in my courses, but I do feel that the effort I put into my academia intertwined with my effort of service will help me become someone who is not only idealistically intelligent, but also has the capability to put those ideas into action. I have not yet joined a club in Baruch, but I do plan on joining the Drama Club in the spring. I personally feel very confident with speaking out and presenting myself in front of large audiences, so I feel this is a niche where I can work on that ability and use it to help me in future situations. This project has showed me that community service is more than just picking up trash at the park. There are so many more aspects to it, and that there are difficulties in many people’s lives that we don’t even realize because we take them for granted. In the next three years, I see myself a senior in college who has not only developed an intellectual, tolerant, creative mind through vigorous scholarly work, but also a developed soul willing to do the extra work with no physical reward, just the reward of knowing myself that I have made a difference in the world for the better, and ability top handle anything life throws at me.

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Blog Post 3

It is not unknown to people that community services holds many benefits, not only externally to those we have helped, but also internally to ourselves by building our character. It has taught me to not only be dependent on my own sources, but to also draw from the experiences of the heads of these charitable organizations and how as a team we can work to help the community in need. I am not sure if community service will exactly help me perform better in my courses, but I do feel that the effort I put into my academia intertwined with my effort of service will help me become someone who is not only idealistically intelligent, but also has the capability to put those ideas into action. I have not yet joined a club in Baruch, but I do plan on joining the Drama Club in the spring. I personally feel very confident with speaking out and presenting myself in front of large audiences, so I feel this is a niche where I can work on that ability and use it to help me in future situations. This project has showed me that community service is more than just picking up trash at the park. There are so many more aspects to it, and that there are difficulties in many people’s lives that we don’t even realize because we take them for granted. In the next three years, I see myself a senior in college who has not only developed an intellectual, tolerant, creative mind through vigorous scholarly work, but also a developed soul willing to do the extra work with no physical reward, just the reward of knowing myself that I have made a difference in the world for the better, and ability top handle anything life throws at me.

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My next steps

Having learned the value of community service and the importance of being involved in the community, whether it be Baruch or Staten Island or New York, I recognize that my next steps are extremely important. My involvement in the Unity Games for many years has started this process, but I plan to incorporate my assistance into as many programs as I can manage, whether they benefit me or another person that I may not even know. My involvement in the Freshman Seminar class has taught me the importance of teamwork and getting things done in a timely manner, despite the irony of the time of this post as I posted the wrong assignment previously. I have learned the repercussions of actions and the road to success. How I will utilize what I have learned will make me, well, me.

I plan on joining either BAP (Beta alpha psi) or PES (Phi Eta Sigma) to attain an honor roll status in a renowned organization. This will not only increase my chances at a future of successful business partners and friends, but open me up to a world of opportunities. Noting that I want to major in accounting, BAP has been the favored choice. As for non-profits, I am looking to join Team Baruch and/or Baruch Ambassadors. I’ve been inspired not only by Sam Shivraj, but also by Juan, a fellow classmate that was my tour guide when I was planning to come to this school. The program seems to be right up my alley, allowing myself to be a part of the Baruch community and give back to the school that has, after only one semester, instilled a sense of purpose in me.

These next three years at Baruch are the years that I will cherish and remember. They may fly by, or they may seem slow and endless. All I know is that I will make the most of them. I MUST make the most of them.

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