Gentrification

• Why do people take advantage of low-income communities and drive them away to different places?

Psychological Disorders

• Psychological disorders are interesting because it affects a small percentage of people, but those who’re affected undergo lots of therapy and counseling to try and cure a problem we don’t fully understand. What are the causes of these disorders and what has worked for people?

Mental Health in Sports

• Athletes put themselves at risk every time they play a game. Sports such as football, soccer, and UFC are the main sports that are targeted in term of concussions. Does playing an of these sports cause long-term mental impairment?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cjv7hEAytU&spfreload=10

Tupac is one of the most influential artists in pop culture. Even though he died more than 20 years ago his music is still relevant today. One of his famous songs is “me against the world” and I feel like it captures the essence of displacement. Tupac Shakur grew up in the streets if California. When he rose to fame with his rap career he mostly spoke about the people in poverty will always stay poor, while the rich get richer. This is where Tupac feels displacement because even though he rose to fame and became wealthy he still cared about the people who were destitute. He couldn’t relate with the upper-class people of society because they didn’t care about what happens to those in need. Those in social media and politicians claim to care about the lower-class, but in reality, they don’t care what happens to them. Tupac’s music is aimed towards the people in poverty and makes the people aware of what’s going on in the world.

My experience at this session was really fun and it inspired me to go learn and play the piano. What I found surprising was that Baruch College has a piano room for any who wants to play. The lesson wasn’t complicated at all, the instructor made it easy for everyone to learn how to play a specific rhythm of the blues. She would play on the left side of the piano while myself and others played on the right side. The instructor broke down our parts into five keys and we had to play them in a certain pattern. She would play a chorus, while others would play the melody. I learned that the blues uses the same keys for every song, but it’s all about creating different patterns with them. The piano has 88 keys in total with 44 being white and 44 being black. The pedals at the bottom of the piano allow for a note to last longer without having to hold the key. Under the hood of the piano is a row of strings that are plucked when you press a key, thus creating the sound. She mentioned how people are trying to create new ways to play the piano by plucking the strings from under the hood. This would then create a harp-like style of play mixed with the piano. I learned a lot coming to this session and I will definitely be back.

1.  What’s ZZ Packer trying to tell the audience and who does this message pertain to mostly ?
2. Why does the Dina alienate herself from the world around her and hides? Does it have to do with the color of her skin?
3. As a Yale student, where the majority of the student are Caucasian, does her African American identity play a role in her isolation?

Andre Aciman’s story about his search towards finding a place in New York that resembles his old town Alexandria is a concept that I can relate towards.  When I was younger I use to live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in the southside area until I had to move to a different location. In this new location, I felt out of place and just like Aciman I was trying to find something that resembles my old neighborhood. There’s was a park across the street from my new location called Rudd park and I always enjoyed going there because it resembled Rodney park back in Williamsburg. Although Rudd park wasn’t exactly like Rodney park it still reminds me of my old neighborhood and childhood experiences. Aciman came to the conclusion that he’ll never find a place in New York that resembles Alexandria and I also came to that conclusion, but in my new neighborhood, I can still find remnants of my ideal place which is Williamsburg.