LC 12

These past few days the word “creativity” has been on my mind a lot. I want to creative.No doubt the digital essay will give me the chance to be creative and so i am eagerly anticipating it and looking forward to it.However, one problem I encountered was that i find it extremely hard to grasp and connect to poems. I read many selectios from Audre Lorde and Gertrude Stein but still did not like any of them.Ithought of reading a poem about something I like. Prof Kaufman provided a link to poets.org and so i decided to checked it out. I was amazed at how it immensely helped me in my quest of creativity.I searched for a poem on a subject i like “the gym”.Fortunately I found a poem entitled “At the Gym” by modern American poet, Mark Doty. At a first glance at the poem, it looks like the Doty is talking about his general bobservations at the gym. However, a careful look at it shows that he is talking about people’s quest for perfect beauty. He writes:

Power over beauty,
power over power!
Though there’s something more

tender, beneath our vanity,
our will to become objects
of desire: we sweat the mark
of our presence onto the cloth.
here is a video of my favorite exercise at the gym

My first semester at Baruch College has been nothing but ups and downs. Initially entering college with the mindset of transferring as soon as possible, I’ve grown to settle into the environment with no working escalators. Despite what others say, being at a CUNY definitely has its difficulties and I’ve come to realize that good grades aren’t that easy to come by anymore. I dropped Calculus this semester which kind of set me back a little and surprised me for the most part. But because of this, I think I’ll be able to get my game together for next semester. The transition to college from an amazing high experience is hard, but it’s not impossible. For the most part, Baruch has given me a valuable perspective on what college is like. I would also like to point out that it’s so easy to meet new people throughout the college. Dorming at the Ludlow building has given me a lot of chances to talk to familiar faces that I see outside of school. I would even go as far as to say that it’s given me an edge above other commuting students. But above all, my first semester at Baruch was fulfilling and whether or not it was a success will be determined in the next two weeks of finals.

I really liked the Rubin Museum. I went with some other kids from LC12 and we had a really nice time. Personally, I am very interested in art and I love eastern religions so the first few floors especially interested me. I have always been really big into eastern religions and have many statues of them in my room. The statues we saw were absolutely stunning and the prayer room took my breath away. If I could I would have that room in my house. I really enjoyed the museum and I think Baruch would benefit it’s students by having more art related things like that mandatory for students.

Well, some other people didn’t enjoy this semester and have decided to transfer. In the beginning I was considering that but as the semester continued I decided I really like it here. My grades are pretty good and I enjoyed my experience with the LC12 group and my professors. Baruch has definitely lived up to my expectations. I haven’t met as many people as I would have hoped to but I know that will come with time. The only disappointment for me is that fact that I didn’t do my homework in math and it’s going to affect my grade most likely. If I could change one thing it would have been that. Also I should have joined a club. I’ll do that next semester. I think my first semester has made me a lot more positive. I was a bit of a downer when I got here, but living on my own and independently going to school has made me a lot happier. I feel really good about the rest of my college experience. :]

The Rubin Museum of Art, to me was just like most of the other museums that I have attended. But this is probably due to my approach to them and lack of sentimentality about history. Yes, the exhibits were varied and interesting to an extent but in that sense, most museums are interesting. I guess I’m happy that it was large enough to hold such a collection unlike such museums as the MoCADA in Brooklyn which is terribly small in both size and variety.

– Kendon Marshall

The career exploration session was another seminar that I felt was pointless. Don’t get me wrong, the information itself was useful. But it was flawed in two major ways. One, all that she did was basically tour the website through a power point presentation. She went on explaining minute details that would be obvious to even the casual browser and thus ripped a bit of substance from the presentation. The second flaw was that the topics that she discussed would all have been better managed on a personal level. She talked about many of the one on one counseling and assistance offered by the SACC center but we don’t get to experience that unless we take the initiative to visit. I feel that these things could have easily been covered in a Freshman seminar session rather than an outside event.

– Kendon Marshall

We were mandated to visit a panel consisting of Charles N. Li, some Baruch professors and a woman from a Museum. Honestly, it was pretty boring. They all said the same things and they were all the types of stories and phrases that you expected to hear from people speaking at a school. Charles Li was pretty chill for an old dude and was pretty entertaining. Was it a nice experience? Yes, i guess. Was it worth it? No, not in my opinion. But it didn’t hurt to hear a little wisdom from older people so I don’t resent going.

– Kendon Marshall

So I’ve been going to Baruch college, you may have heard of it. It’s a college like any other I guess and given my lack of expectations, i guess there was nothing to exceed. To be honest, I didn’t do that well in most of my classes and ended up dropping calculus. I suppose that dedicated study time and better prioritizing could result in an increase in academic performance.  Attending Baruch has made me more aware of the prospect of failure. I actually have to kind of try in order to reach mediocrity which is a drastic change from high school. But I guess trying harder is all that i can hope to do at this point. that was kind of sad.. :'(

– Kendon Marshall

The Rubin Museum of Art was an enlightening experience, in that I now know what sort of museum I have very little interest in. I’m not sure what it was about the museum that turned me off initially, but I found myself uninterested at the very beginning of the visit. However, the one thing that I was intrigued by was the shrine room that they had on the second floor. That was the one part of the museum that I enjoyed because it felt surreal, as if I were surrounded by large speakers of monks murmuring rituals. I experienced something similar to this during a visit to China but I was never able to control the situation as well as I could here. I sat in the room for about 10 minutes looking for the loops in the audio track. It felt really different to be in that sort of environment even for 10 minutes. But, besides that, I found very little interest in the statues that were at the museum mainly because I wasn’t able to touch or relate to any of them. It was a good experience nonetheless.

.

Beginning College at Baruch was a great opportunity for me and did live up to my expectations. At first I was very proud of myself that I had made it into a very good school yet I still had some reservations. I was wondering if I could get good grades in a very competitive environment. Right now my grades are OK.They as splendid as I would like them to be but I am still proud of what I have achieved here.

      The only disappointment or negative I take with me this semester, is the fact that I had to drop calculus in my first semester. I hope I can ace it next semester. I have met many new people here who become dear friends to me it is something I appreciate very much. I guess I could have done better academically if Ihad taken my classes seriously from the start. I am determined to do that next semester. Baruch has really opened my eyes to the world. Icame into Baruch thinking at the end of four years, I will become an accountant but now I see that i have more options. I do not necessary have to go into business.

        After taking different classes, I have seen that i also have valuable skills in other areas that i can pursue.This is something I appreciate very much. I might transfer to a school closer to me and not entirely focused on business after next semester but that decision has been higly influenced by my time here at Baruch. This is a place i will never forget. Before  I  forget, the gym has been a very relaxing and stess releasing place for me. I loved going there everyday especially before giving my speeches to release my nervousness.

      I feel like Baruch has trasformed me into a new person, a better person, a more responsible and determined person. It has made me stronger that I could overcome any obstacles that may come my way that nothing can stop me from achieving my goals.