Author Archives: BASAM ALMULAIKI

This semester has passed by so quickly for me and as a result I learned so much from my first semester of college.  As for my writing skills, I believe I have improved drastically. In high school, I wasn’t very good at writing essays and other writings but Professor Sylvor helped me a lot and helped improve in areas I was weak with. I took her feedback from my writings and tried my best to apply it for other writings. I’ve developed more as a writer from the help I got in college and even outside of college. I started to read more from books, novels, articles, school newspaper, and even the feedback I got from the writing center. I started to write differently compared from college and highschool. High school writing for my was just answering questions or the prompt and finding evidence. College writing is different. I would have to not just find evidence to support my claim, but also to do analysis to support and connect it back to whatever the paper is asking us to do. A paper that we worked on this semester that I’m most proud of would have to be the research paper. I learned a lot about what my paper was about which was gentrification and I also learned what to look for in a research paper and what to do with the information. I also learned about Baruch’s Library resources that are available for us to use. They are credible and gives us more information about what to look for and what we can write about. One thing I struggled with in this semester was also the research paper. I struggled with where to begin, what to look for, and where I can find credible sources. However, after I read articles, and sources from the Baruch library, I began writing and helped from the writing center. This semester I’ve grown and learned differently from adjusting from high school to college.   

An identity that I have attached to me from this semester would have to be about people representing themselves and people being represented in the eyes of different people. What I mean by this is from To Kill a Mockingbird and how Tom Robinson was innocent and even when everyone in the south of whites thought he was guilty, there was still a white man, Atticus, who believed him and tried to defend him. Atticus was representing Tom, a black man in the white south and who didn’t have much odds in the case, and was defending what was right and trying to fix what was wrong in the system. Racists people convicting an innocent black man for a crime he didn’t do. Atticus showed that there is still white people in the south who weren’t racists and didn’t just view the world as white. I’m continuing to think about does the racists problem shown in To Kill a Mockingbird still exist today? I haven’t much thought about before we read the book in class but ever since I have. The thought about my own identity is clear but really representing myself isn’t so much clear. I open and represent my identity to very few people in my world. That is because not every relationship we have with people is the same. I act differently with every person I come across and it is up to time when I am able to represent my true identity. To meet the demands of college, I had to sacrifice time and people in order to get to where I am today. I had less time to be with people like friends and family, and I lost contact with people who I was close with in highschool. I think the most difficult part of college life isn’t about college life itself but the transition from highschool to college. I have to admit that I still carry some of my bad habits like procrastination from high school that won’t do me good in college. However, I have improved and will continue to improve so I can have a less stressful college experience. This semester showed me what is yet to come and what I need to do in order to be successful. It is only one of many left and hopefully I change for the better and to help me further my goals throughout the years here in Baruch. 

In my research paper, I will be writing about gentrification. I chose this topic because this affects almost everyone and places will continue to gentrify without us even noticing it. Places have turned completely upside down and changed drastically. In my paper, I will explain what exactly is gentrification and the reason why many people are for it. I will show in my research paper what are the pros and cons of places getting gentrified. The results can surprise us and show the effects of people that have lived there. There has been a lot of arguments from those who favor neighborhoods changing and from those who disapprove it. I have started research but I still have a lot to research into to. I am going to give stats and images of places that have gone through this process and who benefited from it and who lost both in my research paper and presentation. I will gather more resources and articles that talks more about gentrification. Gentrification is a big thing here in New York City especially from where I am from, Queens. There has been a lot of places in Queens where the neighborhood has changed and many people have moved into. I’ve been affected from gentrification because I am one of the people that have moved into a neighborhood that has been gentrified. Queens is so diverse and it is because of gentrification that many people moved in and found jobs that suits them.

A community that I am in and enjoy being in is the SEEK community in Baruch College. Baruch is one of the most recognized schools in the country and it is a  privilege to go to school here. However, a problem that I see here or more so it’s a change and not a problem  is, timing. We spend so much hours here and don’t make our schedule the first year. It’s not a problem but something that can be improved on. We have big hour gaps that we really can’t go anywhere but stay in the city and do whatever. However, I think that that is just something that we need to adapt too. Take advantage of the resources given to us. I greatly  appreciate the community in helping me get a good education in college. At first, I found it annoying about how we had to do all the things we did like in the summer academy, but now I realize how that benefited me in a great way. I just went with it and hoped to the best. I pushed myself more to do the things I needed to do because I really wanted to be in this school. Now I am in one of the best schools. I remember that in one of the info sessions we had for SEEK and David Rosen was there so he told us to look at the summer academy as in investment. Ever since, I use that to motivate me to always keep striving and keep going. SEEK is about giving back and I know for sure I will be giving back to them. Without them I be here today at Baruch. That goes the same with a lot of my classmates. SEEk will always be a community I’m proud of and enjoy being in. Just deal with what comes with it.

Something that I love is my favorite all-time Tv show The Blacklist. This show has always been my favorite and nothing can come close to it in my opinion. It always starts off with a great hook and leaves the ending on a cliff hanger. It keeps me interested throughout the whole show and even seasons. The way it keeps me interested cannot be found anywhere else. The show is basically about how the most wanted man in America turns himself in and starts working with them. There is so much more in a it and much complex. To understand the whole thing and what the main character is about, one must start watching it from the very first episode. There is always something added to each opposite and will always leave me wondering what will happen next. The show always have unexpected twists and primary one of the main reason why I watch it. It is easy to follow if you watch it from the first episode. The main character, Reddington, always have ways to get what he wants and shows how he is untouchable. No one has the power he has. Not the FBI, government, and even president. He has connections all over and always wins. Although he does some bad stuff, he does a lot of great things like taking down the bad guys. Bad guys in which the FBI didn’t even know about. He has access to a lot of resources and gets things done within a phone call. This show never lets me down. Always makes me wondering “what happens next?” or ” That makes sense now”. The twists in this show is beyond great. Anyone who watches it can agree with me. Can’t find another show that has its’ audience engaged as this. I highly recommend everyone to watch the show.

A blog post that really interested me was Elizabeth’s because she related it to mostly everyone I can think about in my life. Whether it is a job or school, we all need a break for our health. Having holidays off isn’t just enough especially students. College I feel like hits at a different level if anxiety and stress. College is the main education where it can decide how you may live. There is a lot of things that gets into consideration in college. It is the time of anyones’ life where they decide what they wanna do for the rest of their life. The workload is also a lot to handle for a lot of people. Although it is primary peoples’ decisions to go to college and get a degree, having a health day off is needed to cope with what school can give students. Students, no matter what grade, are being forced to take classes where doesn’t relate to what gives them joy and doesn’t relate to they field of interest. I think that part, forcing students to take classes where it gives them no interests, actually drains us. It tests us on our limits but that is why having those health days off is important. One thing I read from the article Elizabeth shared with us was from a comment a student made about how well taking a break can benefit her. Taking a break is like a recharge button that we need. It helps us do better and can maximize our effectiveness to do better in our tasks. I personally, need that. I think that days we have off isn’t enough for us to do so much work in such little time. Especially for transitioning students, having health days off is vital to how we can do better in our tasks and adapt to the life changing moments in our lives.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/deadly-mass-shootings-month-2019/story?id=63449799

Mass shootings in the United States have become an issue at its peak with nothing changing because of it. Many people have lost their lives because of these shootings and all anyone can really do is “pray” for those who lost their lives. Praying isn’t just enough. Change is needed in order for these shootings to stop. I chose this topic because it’s something that can happen anytime and anywhere. Especially living in NYC, we are targeted almost everyday and is vulnerable for things like this to happen. It only takes a couple of minutes to kill many people. According to the article, so far we’ve had 19 mass shootings so far in the United States. Almost averaging a mass shooting every 2 weeks. Change in laws and gun license is needed in order for things like this to stop.

My approach to writing would have to be agreeing with  Lamott. Writing everything down, all of my thoughts and revising later. This method is the best one I think because it puts all your thinking caps on and shows what and how you think. Like she said, maybe what you’d wanna write about comes in the 6th page of your draft. I feel like just revising everything as soon as you write down slows you down and doesn’t show what you really wanna write about and makes it easier for you to lose your thoughts throughout the paper.

I never really thought about being dead but death is constantly on my mind. Recently, however, me being dead is starting to hit me and realizing that we really don’t have that much time. A year ago, a close family-friend of mine died in a car crash. He wasn’t speeding or anything reckless, but just unlucky to get involved in a horrific crash. He was on his way to pick up his kids from his mother’s house when all of a sudden he was in an accident. He still had a long life ahead of him and was only in his early thirties. What still gives me goosebumps is that he has 4 very young children and a wife that he left behind. 

The way how death can come unexpected can leave me thinking for hours. Death is going to come to every single living thing on earth. Death is the end of us so that’s why it’s important to make our time living, worth living. In my opinion, time is the most essential component of life. You can’t take back time in anyways once it’s passed so that we have to live happily and do whatever we want. Achieve what we want. Time being alive is a countdown to death. We may never want it to end but unfortunately it will. 

I believe that time is really about what we make of our time being alive. Time can either be a meaningful thing or a horrible thing. I’m trying to live as best as I can and to achieve whatever I want to achieve. Also, spreading positivity is one thing I love doing and well always do. Even when I may have negative thoughts, I always try to not let affect me to the point where I spread it around. Passing positivity forward is one thing I admire anyone who does. 

In my picture, you see me holding my highschool diploma with a smile. A smile that was worth waiting for for 4 years. In the picture, you don’t see the struggle, anxiousness, and what I had to go through. I spent many nights studying, sacrificing parties, and even losing some friends. I felt disconnected at times with the world but I know it was all worth it. If it wasn’t for that kind of sacrifice, I wouldn’t be here in Baruch College.

Basam Almulaiki