Today in class, we watched three short clips from Superman, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. All three clips follow roughly the same basic structure. In the first two, the son is sent away from home by his parents and finds himself in a new and unfamiliar place.  In the third, Kimmy emerges from her captivity into a strange and unfamiliar world.  In all three narratives, the protagonist has to figure out how to manage in a place where he/she does not fit in. Your homework for Tuesday is to find a piece of popular culture that follows this basic “fish out of water” structure. It could be a tv show, movie, song, video, cartoon, etc…. All that the designation “popular culture” means is that is it designed for a mass audience. Once you’ve chosen your “text,” post a short, representative clip from it or a link to it here on the blog, together with a description of the text and an explanation of how you see it conforming to the model we saw in Superman The Fresh Prince, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. If you have any questions about this assignment, please contact me.

Your selection must be posted to the blog (as an independent post) before class on Tuesday in order to receive credit.

My two best friends and I spent a lot of time together during our last year of high school. We didn’t have a lot of classes together, but we still managed to stay close and spend time together almost everyday after school. I enjoyed spending time with them because there was always laughter and we never ran out of things to do and talk about. However, it all started to change when we started college. Since they both go to the same college, I was the one who was separated from them. In the beginning we still communicated in our group chat just like the way we always did. It made me feel better because I still felt like I belonged and that they haven’t forgotten about me. Due to the time differences in our schedules, I barely spent time with them because one of us is always busy with something. However, they spent a lot of time with each other since they had similar schedules and were in the same college with no one else that they knew. Even though we still continued communicating in our group chat, they often talked about stuff they could relate to and about the people they met in their classes. Although they didn’t mean to make me feel left out, I felt displaced because I couldn’t contribute to the conversation or relate to any of it. When we hung out during break, I still felt displaced because they often left me out of the conversation and talked about things that were happening in their college. They even had inside jokes that they would later explain to me. Even though I felt displaced, there are still moments where I felt like I belonged, especially when we bring up high school memories and caught up with each other’s lives.

This is a photograph of a five-year-old boy who survived an airstrike in Aleppo, Syria. He was buried alive and pulled out what was left of his home. He was then left in the back of an ambulance, bloody and confused about what was going on. His name is Omar Daqneesh and as you analyze this video of him after being rescued(Boy in Ambulance Rescue), you will notice how calm and lost he is during the situation and it will just make you sad. This five-year-old boy has nothing to do with the Syrian Civil War, but has to deal with the daily destruction, bombings, and terror that goes on in his country. His family is all scrambled under a home that was bombed and everything around him is a disaster. A war that he has no part in, but is being victimized. His facial expressions and silence just say it all. You cannot help, but think of things that were possibly going through his head.
“Where are my parents?”
“Where are my siblings?”
“What exactly happened?”
“What happened to our home?”…
Omar along with tons of other innocent children and innocent families are displaced and helpless. They are forced to reckon with the current situations of their countries until matters get better. It just makes me realize how fortunate and lucky we all are with our living standards in America. While we are all here continuing to pursue our dreams and receive an education, Omar along with so many innocents are fighting to survive.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/nyregion/cuomos-1-4-billion-plan-in-brooklyn-stirs-fears-of-gentrification.html?_r=0

While reading this article, I realized that this subject of ‘gentrification’, has played a huge role into the theme of displacement. Governor Cuomo plans to fund $1.4 million towards healthcare services and job opportunites in central Brookyln. However, many residents fear that gentrification might occur because of the more healthier resources and jobs.  As many New Yorkers have known, Brooklyn has become the place of gentrification and as a result, many Blacks and Latinos have been forced to move out of the area. More importantly, the culture itself of the “hood”, dies. Looking at the issue more carefully, racism factors into this topic repeatedly. In the article, a resident states “If you want to make it better for the community, why 2017? The community has been the way it has been since the ’70s,” implying that, for years, Brownsville has been ignored and now that gentrifcation is booming, all of a sudden Brooklyn became the place for development. A majority of balcks and latinos mostly reside in this area and because rents will soon rise, due to the housing development, many of them will be forced to move: “But where’s everybody else going to go? Down south? Where are we going to go?” Whenever a large population of minorities are being undermined, especially in this case with the rent issue, their only other option is to move somewhere else where their socioeconomic status benefits them.

SARAH MASLIN NIR, “Cuomo’s $1.4 Billion Plan for Brooklyn Stirs Fears Of Gentrification” NYTimes.com 

Most of my closest friends are Latina.  We get along extremely well and I love each of them. We laugh together, cry together and burst into spontaneous musical theater numbers together.  Most of the time I fit right in, and I forget that we come from different ethnicities. Then moments happen like what I experienced during our recent get together. During the middle of tell a story one of my friends said something in Spanish that made everyone in the group laugh, except for me of course because I don’t speak Spanish. As usual, in this situation I just sat, waiting for the laughter to die down and for some one to explain it to me. Whenever this situation arises my connection with my closest friends feels as though it is beginning to shrivel away. I can’t relate to their laughter and instantly feel as though I don’t belong in this friend group. Many times I would hate myself for not learning Spanish in middle and high school, and I would wish that I was born into a Spanish speaking family. In a matter of seconds, I went from feeling like I belonged to feeling so displaced I just wanted to get up and leave (which sometimes I actually did when I first started feeling this displacement). Displacement is a feeling that can come at any moment of life; even when you are surrounded by people you love.

I think I might’ve had the worst transition from high school to college. My first semester at Baruch was definitely rough, but definitely something I learned from. When I began the semester I thought of it as a brand new and fresh start to the next chapter of my life. I wanted to start everything off on the right foot and I actually thought I was. I started to arrive at classes on time, taking advantage of a daily planner and simply began doing things I have never done before which also includes studying. Well at least I thought it was studying, it was more like read and forget, or take notes and never revise. To be quite honest, I actually didn’t know how to study, it was a skill I developed and learned how to do over the course of the semester.

I thought I was starting the semester strong and did really well, but in reality, I had a very slow start to the semester. I did poorly in my first four exams; four exams I thought I studied enough to do well in. It was rocky. I dropped a class because I didn’t have a chance of doing landing a good grade in it. I stuck by another class and ended up finishing the class on a strong note. I took advantage of having no homework and homework that was due at the end of the semester. I didn’t start my MathLab assignments until the last three weeks of the semester, and I got lucky to finish 98% of the homework assignments.

Even though I had a challenging start at Baruch, I think I’ve grown as a student and person in the past semester. The library and basketball court became my home. I started to take advantage of my learning and networking opportunities. I am happy to say that I am nowhere close to the student I used to be in high school. College makes high school seem like a walk in a park and though my transition was rough at first, I am continuing to improve everyday.

Transition from being with my friends everyday,from having to make new friends and spreading away from my same crew from high school was a very different hard experience for me .When I entered Baruch , I was very stubborn and promised myself I would not join anything I would stay to myself and go straight from school and home . I did this for about the first two weeks and I was not happy at all .I would call my friends and explain that this school sucks everyone is about their books and no one is friendly ,but it was really all me.The reason it was hard to make friends or join anything was because I did not want to step out of my comfort zone to know anyone .It felt strange to not be going to the same classes with the same people Monday through Friday .Taking the boat to school by myself,riding the train back by myself I thought it was making me a loner and weak ,but instead it was only making me stronger and I found out more about myself then I ever did within last semester .I realized I am a very social person and love to communicate with others so why not go and start fresh with networking .That is what Baruch is all about networking and meeting new people so that is what I did .It was hard at first because I was shy.As soon as I steeped out of my comfort zone all opportunities began to come my way.I made friends with classmates ,club mates ,and even people in tutoring .Getting out my comfort zone saved me and it allowed me to feel more confident and comfortable with myself although it wasn’t an easy task and beat it even though there were obstacles in the way.Change is not always a bad thing it actually just allows you to view what was actually hidden inside which in my case was opportunity .

Transitioning from high school to college was very different and I noticed many changes.  During high school, I had a totally different mindset. I would do homework whenever I want to, not pay attention in class, and wing every quiz/exam. I didn’t care about school that much and I just wanted to pass to get things over with. When I received an acceptance letter from Baruch, I was very happy and fortunate because I thought that I would get rejected. I also didn’t think I would get in since I slacked a lot in high school. The program that helped me the most is SEEK during the summer. The mentors and professors prepared me and gave an insight of how college is going to be. They prepared me by assigning college level assignments to do at home and in class. Without the help from SEEK, I would never have gotten where I want to be. Ever since freshman year started, I gave it my all and I was determined to do my best to achieve a high GPA. I studied, passed all my exams, and eventually received the GPA that I deserved. I’m no longer the same person as I was back in high school. I realized it was my last chance to become successful and I can’t allow myself to ruin this opportunity.  Although, some classes were difficult, I still managed to pull through and get a decent grade for those classes. I believe that hard work and dedication can get where you want to be and achieve anything you want. Ultimately, the transition from high school to college changed who I am as a person and allowed me to overcome any obstacle.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/19/nyregion/cuny-remedial-programs.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fnyregion&action=click&contentCollection=nyregion&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=search&contentPlacement=14&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

When entering into the CUNY system around a year ago I was completely oblivious of how CUNY worked. I was so nervous when I actually received the later that scheduled the date for me to take the CUNY Assessment. From my high school, my teachers always said that doing well on that exam is very important even though, it does not directly affect my GPA in college. However, many of my teachers explained to me that the CUNY assessment was very important because it determined my college classes and doing good on the exam could save me time and money. It really made me nervous can one test, on one day can predetermine the foundation of my college career.

The day I had to take the test I was so replaced. Baruch was huge. I did not know where I was going the minute I got off the 6 train. By the time I found the right Baruch building I did not know how I was supposed to get in or where I go for this exam. Everything seemed impossible at the moment. Baruch seemed like a far reach and it did not even seem like an environment where I would be able to spend my college experience. After around 10 minutes of looking for the right floor and room I started the exam on the computer and once I started I said to myself sarcastically “Here’s to college!” Although, I did fairly good not the CUNY Assessment the anticipation and pressure on the exam when it predetermines if I’ll waste my time and money taking remedial courses. The exam just did not seem fair or just to determine my college career since I worked so hard during my high school year to build myself to show to colleges through my GPA.

When I saw this article it really reminded me not too long ago when I was worried about the CUNY Assessment. I believe the efforts for change will benefit other prospective CUNY students to have a better shot at staying in college and enjoying their time even from the time they start freshmen year till senior year. I believe building and pushing oneself can be beneficial and be an authentic college experience. Taking remedial classes can feel so pointless since all the handwork put in is not accounted for. I believe for the ultimate college experience independent studying, hard work, sleepless nights, and  challenging ourselves is all part of the college experience that can be translated into adulthood and real life. This article was comforting to know that although, I was once displaced in my pre-Baruch days it may be better for future CUNY students with this consideration for change in the CUNY system.

Transitions were never a big deal for me during my early childhood, elementary and middle school, because I never really had to do them. In elementary school, most students stayed and went to the middle school that was a part of the elementary school. Even though this made my early childhood easy, it made the later part of it very difficult. First when I went to a newly built high school I felt very nervous because I didn’t know whether I would have a friendly high school experience or not. However, it was very difficult to join groups that had already been made, all the high school students came from the same middle school because the high school was an extension of the middle school. Then, I started complying to the bullies demands so that I wouldn’t have to deal with to much trouble. To them I probably looked indifferent or emotionless on the outside, however, on the inside I felt very afraid and ashamed of myself for giving in. There were times where I just wanted to give up and stop going to school because I was annoyed at the bullies and at myself. The workload and content of the classes weren’t difficult for me, so I was able to get by without putting in much effort. When I started to fight back, physically, I was proud of myself for standing up for myself. However, once the consequences came afterwards, suspension, I started getting furious and disappointed in myself for acting so quickly. My unassertiveness and low self esteem made it really difficult to ever feel “at home” in my high school, so I ended up feeling displace the whole four years.

Transition into college wasn’t as negative as my transition into high school. I felt nervous and still do feel nervous about being in another new environment. However, since it takes a very long time for me to get used to an environment, I don’t think I can ever belong to a place. Another reason why I feel displaced at college is because I feel pressure to perform as well as all the top students. It is difficult for me to do that because most of my life I was able to get by with little effort. I thought that college was only to require just a bit more effort than high school, but not to much, to do well. Having those bad expectations and hopes, did not benefit me. It is still very early to tell if I will feel displaced all the four years at this college, but I still think that every transition has some feeling of displacement behind it.