ENG 2100: The Known and Unknown

Corrido is a traditional Mexican type of music that consists of a narrative on historical events. The purpose behind corridos initially began as a way to simply get news to the people. Throughout time, it started to discuss the struggle against oppression and injustice. In fact, the topics of corridos ranges from the corrupted government to life stories, and many other social problems. Today, many corridos focus on discussing the current issues between the United States and Mexico. According to my mom, this type of music became very popular in the Hispanic community because it shares what many Mexicans and immigrants in general face when they move to the United States. Throughout their journeys, they use these corridors to explain their realities, their search for their own American dream.

Narcocorridos is a branch of the more commonly known corridos. Narcocorridos focuses on the trafficking of drugs between Mexico and the United States. Some songs share the reasons why people become involved in illegal activities, such as being in desperate need for food or shelter or that it’s their last resort. Majority of the corridos and Narcocorridos expose the truth of what many try to keep hidden. The downside is that many corrido artists have faced serious consequences for this music, including being put to death. Ultimately, corridos is a huge part of my culture because it captures many memories of my childhood.

Below is a youtube link to a Mexican Corrido. The second link provides the English lyrics to this song.

https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/Calibre-50/El-Inmigrante/translation/english

I have lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for about 10 years. I lived in Williamsburg when the entirety of the Northern half of WIlliamsburg was: drug dealers, empty lots, and prostitution. The area was very dangerous and this is where I grew up. However, this was my neighborhood. It was a community that came together and culminated together that has slowly become uprooted. We looked out for each other and enjoyed each others company. It was truly a family. I knew my neighbors and they knew me. Slowly the area started to change.

My first instance in which i remember gentrification was in 2007. Across the street from my grandmothers house, there was a newly made condo. Initially, it was a stark contrast to any of the other buildings on the block. It was bright, white, and possessed a modern look. None of the other buildings on the block were like this, it held a different ambiance. The other buildings on the block were aged: they were torn down and the painting in the interior were chipped. The newly-made condo building marked the eventual shift that Williamsburg will go on to become.

Currently, Williamsburg can be considered a piece of Manhattan in Brooklyn. It is extremely expensive. The food, the rent, basic amenities, have all risen in price. The original population can no longer afford to live in Williamsburg. As a result, the poor leave to wherever it is they can afford, often times these areas are dangerous and worse than where they lived originally. A prime example of this occurring is in Canarsie, Brooklyn. As Fausto Tavarez a local in the community once said, “Wages rise at a minuscule level, while the rent soars exponentially.” Welcome to my new neighborhood!

For those who do not know what Bollywood is, it’s the name of the Indian film industry. Bollywood is the Indian version of Hollywood. Some may thing that Bollywood copies a lot of American movies but it’s not true. It actually has a rich history on its own. The B comes from Bombay which was the original name for Mumbai. Mumbai is where all the filming takes place, Basically the Los Angeles of America, (where dreams are made of.)

All Bollywood movies are musicals. It has always been that way, even when the movies were black and white. This still continues to today because that’s what makes Bollywood such a unique industry. Every single movie is a musical, and they all have great songs and they are movies that you can watch with the family. Most movies show the typical Indian family dynamic, where the children are grown up with all the discipline, and manners. They do everything the parents tell them to do, and become very successful. These movies show how to be a great role model, respect others and being a great friend. Some examples of these are, Khabhi Khushi Khabi Gham, Kal Ho Na Ho, and 3 Idiots.

What I really like about Bollywood movies is how dramatic they are because it just shows how dramatic family members can be, especially Indian parents. For example, in this one movie, when the son wanted to become a photographer instead of an engineer after already attending the best engineering institute in the country, his parents flipped out. Especially, the father, who started off by saying that the son was throwing is life a way, and basically emotionally blackmailed the son.

Bollywood is very interesting, I highly recommend watching a few movies. Everything about the plot, the songs, and the dance, and the clothes are just perfect. All the movies are one of a kind and are worth watching.

Handball is a sport which is growing by the years. Some say that New York City is the heart of this ever growing sport. Handball can be seen in all five boroughs of NYC. This includes various local parks which have the accessibility for this sport to be played. It fascinates me to see how much handball is being developed and recognized at a high rate. One of the many wonderful aspects of this sports include tournaments. There are tournaments that are sponsored and many of which include a grand prize for the finalists. An example of a sponsored tournament is the RedBull Slaps tournament. Many pro players participate in this tournament and battle it out for the grand prize. These sponsored tournaments have been held every summer for the past few years. This build recognition towards the sport, as well as the players that participate in it. As a result, handball is a sport of diversity and competitiveness which continues  to unite communities and celebrate the love of the game.

Fun Fact: Abraham Lincoln played handball as he waited for his presidential nomination.

Video: https://www.redbull.com/us-en/history-of-handball-video

Growing up can be easy for some, but difficult for others. This hit me this year when I now have to take my brother to school. My brother has just entered middle school, he was the only one from his class to attend this school. He would talk to me and tell me how he was scared of not making friends and falling behind with his grades. I always talked to him about my experience and said it wasn’t bad as long as you pay attention to what you have to do and try your best.

He took this advice, but somehow he didn’t feel the same way I did. I knew something was wrong because as days passed he was sad, he would cry,  I asked him what was going on and he said everything was fine. I knew something was wrong so I told him to be honest with me, because I am there to help him. He said that he missed my mom, and was afraid of the older kids. I understood him with being scared of the kids because he came from being the oldest in his whole school, to one of the youngest in his new school. He was also used to having my mom wake him up, and take him to school, but because my mom is now working she can only see him afterschool. I didn’t understand why he missed her if these whole years he’s been going to school fine without any worries.

When talking to my grandma one day, she mentioned the fact that when I was little my mom always worked so I didn’t get to see her as much, and I grew closer to my grandma. However for my brother it was different, he was raised by mom, and then having to adapt to not seeing her in the mornings can cause a feeling of loneliness. This is when it became clear to me that growing up is different for everyone even if you have been together your whole lives.

“…Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend…”

This small piece of a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye, 1952 named Kindness, could simply be interpreted as one of the of the aspects needed for life and to be able to live. As well as how in order to experience kindness you must feel the bad things such as sorrow. After you have felt all the bad things kindness will take over the person you are and will follow you everywhere you go.

I personally believe we are constantly going through both. Kindness and sorrow. Reason being that nothing is perfect in life and once we feel sorrow we forget about the good things and when we are kind something always happens that simply makes us feel sorrow. Again it works both ways. I believe not everyone is aware of what is needed to live life fully. I also believe college students should keep this in mind due to all the stress we are exposed to. We forget what is needed to actually live.

The beautiful game can be traced back about 20 centuries ago. Soccer is a popular sport played by about 200 countries around the world and played by millions of people. Soccer has always been a sport that unites everyone around the world regardless of gender, race, or nationality. For many years till’ now, millions of people are able to share the same passion with each other with the touch of a ball. Diversity and equality are something that soccer has had the power to distribute in the game. Every 4 years we get to experience a world cup that consists of different countries playing against each other for the big trophy. It is a time of the year where nothing else matters but the beautiful game. It is a time we get to experience something new with the people around us. Experiencing many feelings while watching a game is very breathtaking, to know that the beautiful games connects all of us and makes us feel different emotions is very compelling. Personally, soccer has been something I grew up with and got the chance to make a hobby. I was fortunate enough to make new relationships that I am now able to call family. “Fútbol” is something I am very passionate about and something I am looking forward to doing the rest of my life.

– Derick Juca

As teenagers and young adults, we have the mentally of YOLO (you only live once), I’m young, I don’t care or owe any explanations as if we were living on a permanent vacation. When we get older and have many responsibilities, we’d give anything for a minute back. The best part of being young is you make a mess you never have to clean it up, right? We think this is true until it comes back to bite us in the butt years later. So now with this in mind, if you could go back into the past, would you change anything? Many of us wouldn’t think about it too much and would be quick to answer YES!!! The question that follows this, is, what would you change? The majority of the people would think about this on a relatively small scale or something that has happened within the last 24 hours. Maybe, it is to go back to A’s that exam you just bombed, or redo an interview for that job or internship you really wanted, or even possibly go back and win the lottery. But, have you ever thought about how a tiny insignificant event that you wish to change would affect your entire future and the environment that surrounds you? Project Almanac is a movie discusses this very same idea. The movie is about teenagers jumping at the opportunity to manipulate time in their favor, but soon come to realize their joy is short-lived when they begin to discover the consequences of their action. You know, it’s crazy to think that something you can immediately benefit from could subsequently lead you to your end. So, instead of going about our life so freely and regent it years later, maybe we should live our lives meaningful and without any regrets.

You might be interested in this Stanford University professor’s research.  It demonstrates the value of metacognition.  In this case, students improved their grades significantly by spending time thinking about how best to prepare for a particular test.   How else can we apply this lesson?

https://qz.com/978273/a-stanford-professors-15-minute-study-hack-improves-test-grades-by-a-third-of-a-grade/

Not all of us are quite lucky enough to know from the start what we want to do for the rest of our life. Wouldn’t it just be easier to provide cryptic answers to the honest questions that aim at stripping our outer shells? In Good Will Hunting, main character Will Hunting does just that. He is a twenty-year-old self taught intellect that carries the burdens of being an orphan and possesses the scars of a once abused child. Residing in South Boston, Will chooses the path of being a janitor at MIT. His genius nature is discovered by Professor Gerald Lambeau of MIT when Will solves a graduate level math problem, and from here on, Professor Gerald resolves to aid the troubled juvenile to use his intelligence to his advantage. Throughout the course of the movie we see a shift in Will’s personality and get to understand him better through the persistence and understanding of his therapist, Sean Maguire. Sean Maguire presented the idea that sure it is beneficial to have knowledge by the books, but it is better to hold experiences for yourself and pave your own path instead of one that others expect of you, because that will not make you happy. Doing the things that you desire instead of saying “I wish I had … when I was younger” will leave you with no regrets. Sean opened Will’s mind to self-love and to not push away the people around him because he’s fearful of the uncertainties that the future might hold. This movie is a personal favorite of mine because of its message and I recommend it to all because I feel as though everyone can relate to it, one way or the other.