1. How do murder psychological films represent crime?
2. How has the perspective of mental illness in films changed from the ’70s to today?
3. How do Doomsday’s action movies envoke fear in modern-day time?

The piece of media I chose to discuss is the film “The Day After Tomorrow”.

My recommendation for this class is the movie “Waves”, an A24 film. I love movies in general, all types. If I could, I would recommend more, but chose to stick with one for now. This movie is a masterpiece, in my opinion. Mad underrated and deserves more recognition. The soundtrack, actors, color palette, and storyline were perfect. The first time I watched it was last summer and become obsessed ever since. I can say I watched this movie over 5 times. This is one of my comfort movies. If I ever feel down, this would be one of the movies I will watch. If you enjoyed the tv show “Euphoria” you will like the movie “waves”. I think it is a perfect movie for young adults because it centers on a lot of issues they may face. Set in South Florida, The movie focuses on a journey of a family who undergoes several issues. It deals with death, domestic abuse, drinking, love, and forgiveness. The first part of the movie follows the son, who is a teen wrestler pushed too hard by his father. This leads to him drinking and becoming violent. In the movie he is dating the character Alexis Lopez who is played by Alexa Demie, she is ode pretty. She also plays in “Euphoria”, a popular tv show. In the beginning, I loved their relationship. They had really cute scenes together, especially at the beach. In the end, their relationship goes downhill, but I won’t tell what happens. The second half follows the daughter and her new relationship, as she deals with her emotions. She is played by actor Emily Williams, who is also mad pretty. I enjoyed watching her relationship grow with her boyfriend because it brought out both of their personality. They both helped each other out with their own issues and weren’t toxic like the son’s relationship. This movie is a rollercoaster that goes from good to bad and just repeats itself. The film color palette was amazing because it fit so well and help create the mood for the scenes. It featured neon colors and the shots were just perfect. My favorite part of the movie is the soundtrack. The first time watching the movie I downloaded the whole soundtrack to my playlist immediately after. Artists like Sza, Frank Ocean, Her, Kendrick Lamar had songs in the movie. I discovered my favorite song by Frank Ocean because of this movie. I never enjoyed a movie soundtrack more than any other movie. Overall I have a lot of favorite movies but this is definitely on my top 3. This movie made me feel many emotions and left me thinking after. There were scenes I wished I had experienced because they were created so well, because of the well acting and settings. I normally don’t like movies that deal with romance and drama, but this movie opened my horizon to different genres. I believe whoever reads this should give the movie a try, or at least watch the trailer.

Upon reading and listening to both, Vershawn Young and Jamila Lyscott’s responses on the ways of speaking and writing English were compelling and eye-opening. Both discuss different ways to speak English. For example at home, in the street, and what is considered an appropriate language, whether in a workplace or school. Each of them sounds different but, what makes one applicable and not the others? In Young’s response, she states “but don’t nobody’s language, dialect, or style make them “vulnerable to prejudice” It’s ATTUIDES. It is the way folks with some power perceive other people’s language.” It’s hard to say what is proper English and what isn’t, without being prejudice. people come from all around the world and sometimes English isn’t their first language. It is hard to tackle learning a new language, and even harder to adjust to the “correct” way of the language. Unfortunately, they are looked upon differently because their English doesn’t meet the standards considered worthy. What was eye-opening to me, was that I code mesh all the time. In Young’s response Code meshing is “the new code-switching; it’s mulitdialectalism and plurilingual-ism in one speech act, in one paper.” I observed several times at work, school, and home I code mesh without knowing. I don’t care at most times, but I get annoyed occasionally. At times at work, I code mesh when talking to my managers or co-workers and instantly know I messed up. I look at work as a professional workplace, and that I must be very careful about how I speak around others. Now I don’t mean cursing but slang and phrases, I would use at home and in school. For example, when I went to a job interview, I didn’t want to speak like I was at home, because I was afraid I wouldn’t get the job. But listening to both views of the responders has given me another way to look at it. Youngs states ” Code meshing also be used to add flavor and style…” I learned that I shouldn’t view it as a negative but as a skill. Therefore, English has many different styles. Everybody isn’t going to speak or write it the same. There isn’t such thing as proper English. Any way you use it can come off as respectful or disrespectful. We must embrace the diversity it withholds. It’s unfortunate, society has standards on English.

Following, the two reading’s on writing drafts, both narrators have a different way of writing a draft. For example in “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott, prefers her drafts to be like ” Children drafts”. Her process is to write down whatever she’s thinking, weird or not while remembering no one is going to read it. In “Rethinking the Shitty First Draft” by George Dila, his preferred method is to continually revise throughout his writing. Considering both writing processes, I would describe my writing process as similar to the first narrator. When writing I let my brain do the typing, but not so much. I don’t jabber on my paper too much, where it gets to the point that I have to amend a lot. What works for me when writing is listening to a cafe or Harry Potter background music. I also set goals and breaks for myself during my writing session for motivation. I do struggle with my writing at times, where I feel I have gone off-topic, which leads to me restarting my process. To work on my writing I would try to make several points that focus on my paper’s topic. Then write after to help keep my writing focus.

Upon reading Amy Tan’s essay ” Mother Tongue “,  She discusses to the audience her undergo with her mother’s English language, which shaped her way to becoming a writer as an Asian woman. Her mother’s English is described as “broken” or ” fractured”  in the first half of the essay compared to hers. For Amy, her mother’s English was comprehensible and clear. The relationship between language and identity is very close. Language is associated at times with race, gender, and nationality, which is a part of one identity. The term ” mother tongue ” means to me the language your first taught and grown-up to hear frequently. Being her mother’s English wasn’t understandable to others and not took seriously, it was important for Amy to step up and make sure her mother was heard. For example, disguised as her mother when on the phone.  I believe she used “Mother Tongue” as the title of her essay to enlighten the audience on language issues. Watching her mother being looked down upon has motivated Amy to shine a light on the discrimination non-English speakers face.  She also uses the title to show her welcoming of her mother’s English. Not being embarrassed or shame but proud of her mother that she expressed her thoughts, feelings, and emotion without regret . A moment that stood out to me as a reader was when she explained she spoke in her mother’s English in her essay. It was pleasurable to imagine how accepted and untroubled her mother could feel reading her daughter’s essay clearly.

Following the reading by Edward P. Jones ” The First Day,” my initial response to hearing the narrator say they were ashamed by their mother was surprising and made me ponder on why. The part where her mother explains that she can’t read or write, made me sympathize with her mother, rather than the narrator. With the background knowledge on the mother. I believe that she is just a mother wanting the best for her daughter. As for the daughter being ashamed, I believe she is in the wrong. she should be grateful to have a mother who cares about her education so greatly. Furthermore, after reading about her entrance into school, it was like deja vu. I remember when my mother used to walk me to school every day While Waiting to see all my friends walk with me. An element the narrator utilizes is sensory details. She describes her outfit, her entrance, and the school to help give the audience a better scope on her First Day.

Hi !!!!, my name is Mia. I’m am Trinidadian and from the Bronx, uptown. I was born on October 12, which makes me a libra. I attended Bronx Highschool for Visual Arts. My pronouns are She/her. A hobby of mine is, I collect movie DVDs. I love movies ranging from horror, thriller, crime, comedy, and etc. Some of my favorite movies are ” The Warriors”, “Carrie”, “Waves”, “World War Z”, “Se7en”, and “City of God”. I like way more movies, but that is a lot to continue. My favorite artist is The Weeknd. Some other artists and bands I like are Lil Durk, Lil Baby, and Cigarettes after S**. My favorite holiday is Halloween because I love the horror movies that come with it. For example the “Halloween” series, about Michael Myers, the “Scream” movies, the “Jeepers Creepers” series, and a fun mention “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” series. I also love decorating for Halloween, hanging up lights, props, and lighting fall candles. I enjoy long car rides and going outside for nature. I also love animals and have five cats at this moment, yes I consider myself a crazy cat lady. For this semester at Baruch, my goals are to achieve and grow. I want to grow personally by making new friends, stepping out of my shell. Academically, I want to be a participating and learning student. I want to have better grades than I had in high school and a better relationship with my professors. I plan on working on my work habit and incorporating studying into my schedule. My semester goals are to have A’s and B’s, I say B’s because I don’t stress myself out too much. I would also like to have a time management down pack in a month. Therefore I’m very excited for this class and can’t wait to see what it brings.