English 2100 Fall 2023:  What Goes Unsaid?

Blog Entry Post: NYC Congestion Pricing


I would like to take this opportunity for me to draw all of our attention to something that might have otherwise gone unnoticed to us New York City citizens. An absurd new ruling has been given the green light and thumbs up from the federal government side of things and it has been approved for being put into motion and practiced. There is something abysmal called congestion pricing and it has plagued its way into our beautiful, beloved New York City. Congestion pricing is basically another additional tax grab from the city which is aimed at people that want to enter Manhattan. If you want to enter Manhattan at south of 61st the amount of the tolls are yet to be determined but as of right now look to be about anywhere from $10-$15. The FDR, West Side highways are exempt, car owners living in the zone, and low income individuals who make under $60,000. The goal is supposedly to use the billions of dollars that would be raised to improve and invest in the ancient, deteriorating subway system. But the Metropolitan Transit Authority has done this before and relatively recently hiked up fare prices in efforts to somehow better their public transportation systems. They already have a lot of capital which means they can make significant changes with if they chose or choose to do so but there has been no positive differences in quality; it appears that the government just wants to keep increasing the cost of living along with everything else literally make it impossible for people to function without providing them the products and services that the government proposes that they are charging you for. People that are paying for the public transportation provided by the Metropolitan Transit Authority are getting a setting that is vandalized with graffiti, polluted with bad air, litter all around, alcohol, drugs, drug addicted people, feces, urine, dead animals, infested with disease spreading rats, an extremely crime filled dangerous environment for our vulnerable, no safety when it comes to the vehicles that MTA allows to operate themselves, robberies, and much much more bad things. A lot of people need to commute in and out of the city for either their jobs, school, work etc. If there are drivers that are trying to make their livelihoods from driving how will they survive with constantly having to pay a certainly bogus fee. There will also be increased surveillance because cameras will be mounted with license plate identifiers/readers where the government is invading even more and more of its civilians private lives. Public transportation is not even where it is at or should be for people to commute using it, the timing is awful. The New York City government needs to remember the roots of this amazing country as a land that would not stand for what it has somehow gone backwards in time to, taxation without representation. American need to remain firm with their previous principles that made us who we are.

https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2023/12/06/congestion-pricing-new-york-city-next-phase-mta-board-vote

Blog Entry Post: How to Catch a Cheater IRL Edition

I wanted to take this opportunity to share an issue that might have otherwise gone unnoticed which has been on my mind and the idea of it happening is beyond crazy. All of our lives we have heard of cheating scandals and infidelity as an extremely common concept amongst celebrities, family, friends, media, peers etc. But how about an authoritative figure who is supposed to be serving in the department of law enforcement and protecting civilians throwing this duty aside and engaging in this very abysmal act that can be and is in some cases rightfully argued to be a crime. A Police Officer located in Maryland that is actively on duty chooses to do exactly just that. The married cop named Franceso Marlett who is 34 years old was making out with his mistress Virginia Pinto in broad daylight outside a children’s park in the parking lot during peak playtime with children roaming around the area. To make matters worse they were also in the vicinity of a highschool. As if this wasn’t bad enough already that a married cop who is currently on the job is seen behaving so unprofessionally near a setting with children around, the officer then chooses to get in the back of the squad patrol vehicle and engage in sexual intercourse. This can and does lead to an average person facing sexual offense charges and being registered as sex offenders in order to keep the community safe; but even though there is body cam footage and plenty of secondary evidence from the footage supplied by bystanders and witnesses at the scene of the crime the officer was just given a slap on the wrist by by being suspended but still getting paid. The officer’s mistress Virginia Pinto is also a member of service as a former veteran which speaks volumes of how some people completely disrespect the enormous obligations that a serious post in these career fields require. The cop’s wife Paula and mistress Pinto have been beefing on social media sharing the most insane blows to each other. The former veteran now mistress Pinto takes pride in proudly claiming that she and Marlett have been doing this for years and they are truly in love with each other going as far as to say that they have not been hooking up but rather they are in a relationship. In the past, Marlett has been awarded with a bronze medal of honor for his heroic actions but more significant than this is the fact that he has been suspended several times with serious cases against him which he was not correctly punished for. The Police Department themselves have come out with their own outrageous statements. All in all, this case begs the question of how privileged some races can be avoiding any accountability and awakens everybody to the degree of character within the people who are supposed to behave to the extent of the best role models and utmost citizens of the community. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12496965/Maryland-officer-Francesco-Marlett-cheating-Virginia-Pinto-seen-scorned-wife.html#:~:text=75%20shares-,EXCLUSIVE%3A%20Maryland%20officer%20Francesco%20Marlett%20who%20was%20caught%20cheating%20with,mistress%20to%20%27hash%20it%20out%27&text=The%20cheating%20Maryland%20cop%20who,his%20scorned%20wife%20looking%20distressed.

Introductory Post

Yoo what’s good  y’all, my name is Daiyan Khondaker. But you can call me either Daiyan or by my nickname Daiyu pronounced (die-you) if you’d like. I prefer this nickname because it is an adorable one given to me by my mom. My preferred pronouns are he/him/his. I have a bunch of other nicknames which I would like to share just for entertainment purposes, most of  them coming from my last name. Dai pronounced (Die) from my first name and the following from my last name: Candy car, K Honda car, Khondy, Khorn baiter, Khorn cater, Khorn dator, Khorn gator, Khorn later, Khorn hater, Khorn mater, Khorn skater, Khorn Tater, Khorn Darth Vader, and Klondike bar just to name a few. I have loved business and entrepreneurship ever since I was a little boy old enough to understand these things. My love for business and entrepreneurship comes from a lot of different reasons, one of them being my faith. I believe in  Islam and I am a devout muslim. I learned early on from my family and life experiences especially one of my biggest inspirations and role models which  is my paternal grandfather that you do not necessarily need college and or formal education in order to do business and or entrepreneurship which is why I did not necessarily want to attend college but it was my parent’s wishes for me to at least earn a bachelor’s degree which is why I am here now. I figured the best college for me to go to is Baruch in order for me to have the lowest cost but the highest return in order to get the best business education out of the best business school in New york City. I like business and entrepreneurship so much that I legit wrote my whole college essay about it. A few of my hobbies and interests are animals, cars, cats, driving all kinds of vehicles, exercising/fitness/health/working out, fashion, futbol (Soccer), motorcycles, music, nature, all sorts of sports in general, traveling, vehicles, hanging out with my beloved close friends and family. I love to help people and make people laugh/smile and just make people happy. Below is an image of myself that represents and captures the essence of me and how I would dress and the car I would drive as a successful businessman/entrepreneur which speaks to me and reflects my identity.   

“Learning to Read”

My reaction to the text was impressed and interested. I observed how Malcolm X was annoyed at the inconvenience of not being able to effectively communicate. Details from the text that made a strong impression on me were the details about how he educated himself all by himself without the use of any teachers or classical, formal, normal old styles of education. Another item that made a strong impression on me was how he spent his time in prison so productively instead of being bitter and wasting his life inside there doing useless things that would be of no benefit to him. The author’s description of “a homemade education” is learning from reading as many books as he can. Also, he copied and wrote down definitions of words from the dictionary in order to expand his vocabulary to greater depths. I can identify with the elements of this narrative such as the author’s fascination with being an obsessive reader along with being intrigued in increasing my vocabulary.