Author Archives: ricardo.rivadeneira

I attended the workshop “Small Talk: It’s a Big Deal! Part 2” hosted by the STARR program and I have to say it wasn’t at all very informative. It didn’t tell me anything that I did not already know. In this workshop we discussed the importance and prevalence of small talk. The first thing that the proctor discussed is the definition of what small talk actually was; he defined small talk as informal conversation between two people, or a group of people. I knew the definition of small talk and too me it was something that I did every single day. Small talk is used to pass time and get to know people and sometimes make them like you. I use small talk in my everyday life; I used small talk to score discounts in a store and even to make friends in order to get certain benefits.

The proctor then moved on to speak about how body language affects the mood of a conversation and how it gives the listener hints on how you are feeling. Again, this is knowledge that by this point in our lives we should probably already have. The body language that we give up is extremely important to those who are listening to us. It expresses our openness, respect and even our interest with the subject at hand.  If we give off a particularly negative body language the person that is speaking might feel intimidated or might feel that you have no interest in what they are speaking about. This of course, affects small talk because when making conversation with people that you do not know, your body language is there main idea of you. If you give off a negative body language then they are going to feel negative about you.

The one thing that I found extremely interesting and insightful is the suggestion that we keep up with daily news and information because this will give us more to talk about during small talk. Now, I am not one to keep up with the main media or politics but I do tend to hear the important stuff that happens; which will hopefully give me something to talk about during an important interview. I’m not the type of person to make small talk but I do know a lot about it; we have exercise at my high school to improve or small talking skills and spontaneity, weird right?  Of course, since I lack the confidence to actually go up to a random person and start small talk, I’ll never actually be able to use all my vast knowledge on the subject. Guess I just got to hope that people come up to me and just start talking away. I mean there is a huge difference between talking to a person at the store over clothes, or at a restaurant over the food but a random person about the weather? It just seems like i wouldn’t be very good at it, and probably end up having that awkward silence for a while. Lucky for me i go to seminars that will help me improve these skills, yay me.

I attended the workshop “Small Talk: It’s a Big Deal! Part 2” hosted by the STARR program and I have to say it wasn’t at all very informative. It didn’t tell me anything that I did not already know. In this workshop we discussed the importance and prevalence of small talk. The first thing that the proctor discussed is the definition of what small talk actually was; he defined small talk as informal conversation between two people, or a group of people. I knew the definition of small talk and too me it was something that I did every single day. Small talk is used to pass time and get to know people and sometimes make them like you. I use small talk in my everyday life; I used small talk to score discounts in a store and even to make friends in order to get certain benefits.

The proctor then moved on to speak about how body language affects the mood of a conversation and how it gives the listener hints on how you are feeling. Again, this is knowledge that by this point in our lives we should probably already have. The body language that we give up is extremely important to those who are listening to us. It expresses our openness, respect and even our interest with the subject at hand.  If we give off a particularly negative body language the person that is speaking might feel intimidated or might feel that you have no interest in what they are speaking about. This of course, affects small talk because when making conversation with people that you do not know, your body language is there main idea of you. If you give off a negative body language then they are going to feel negative about you.

The one thing that I found extremely interesting and insightful is the suggestion that we keep up with daily news and information because this will give us more to talk about during small talk. Now, I am not one to keep up with the main media or politics but I do tend to hear the important stuff that happens; which will hopefully give me something to talk about during an important interview. I’m not the type of person to make small talk but I do know a lot about it; we have exercise at my high school to improve or small talking skills and spontaneity, weird right?  Of course, since I lack the confidence to actually go up to a random person and start small talk, I’ll never actually be able to use all my vast knowledge on the subject. Guess I just got to hope that people come up to me and just start talking away. I mean there is a huge difference between talking to a person at the store over clothes, or at a restaurant over the food but a random person about the weather? It just seems like i wouldn’t be very good at it, and probably end up having that awkward silence for a while. Lucky for me i go to seminars that will help me improve these skills, yay me.

My friends Sophia and Sasana Han and I dressed up for a Sprit day at our High-School.

I chose this picture to put on my blog, because this is a part of me that doesn’t come out very often. For a better part of my life i was raised to be this perfect son, perfect composure, smart, obedient, and I would be reprimanded if I did other wise. I was kept from a lot of things and constantly judged and modeled by my family, so when my parents divorced I was physically and mentally set free. I’ve always been withdrawn and reserved but always longed to be someone who had the courage, personality and charm to be who I am, and not give a shit about what others think of me.

Hi! My name is Ricardo Rivadeneira. At first glace you probably wont care too much about me, I’m a bit reserved and not really the life of the party, but I can assure you! I’m pretty dam interesting. So pay attention.  I was born in Ecuador and legally came here when I was around 4 years old. I never absorbed too much of the Hispanic culture so I’m pretty Americanized in almost every sense, which, I guess is how I identify myself. I mean I don’t identify myself as any specific thing or with any specific quality but more of an array of different aspects that come together to form Ricardo.

I assume plenty of roles in my everyday life: I am a son, a brother, a lover, a peacemaker, ex-gymnast, a future lawyer, and at one point in life a home-wrecker. These roles don’t exactly make up whom I am but they paint a very decent picture.  I feel that I have changed so much through out my life that it’s pretty difficult to get a super clear picture of who I am.

I went through a lot of phases in life, In a small recap of my high-school career I probably went through a few different social scenarios, I mean I don’t want to make it seem like I believe in labeling or anything but for the sake of argument: I think I went from dressing and acting like a “want to be” rapper to like a hardcore rocker, emo dude. I guess really took the whole teen searching for an identity thing very seriously and it all leads to the person standing in front of you.

The person standing in front of you also already managed to make a total fool out of himself during his first few weeks of college. The revolving door entrance, to the vertical campus, you know the one in front of the library, yea they spin pretty darn fast for some reason whenever I have to go through them. So, within the first week of being at Baruch college I someone how manage to get my book bag strap stuck in the revolving doors, backing up like 20 people and embarrassing myself. I had to push the doors back, so I could get my strap loose and then continue on forwards, I just ran jetted out, never looked back. Other than that, classes are going great and I’ve met really awesome people who I hope to remain friends with.

Coming to Baruch College was a decision that I made because of financial reasons and of course because Baruch is a really good College but one of the factors that also led me to choosing Baruch College is my overall happiness. I wanted to stay close to the people that I loved and cared about, they make me very happy each and every day and are apart of who I am and who I want to be. My mother and sister are the best part of my life and the only people in the world that I would give up anything for.

Who I want to be isn’t very difficult to understand, like the rest of me. Right now I am very focused and determined in continuing a business career at Baruch College and eventually taking that career into law, and thus becoming a corporate lawyer.

Who am I? Well, to be strictly honest I have no idea who I am. There are many aspects of my being that constitute my personality and make up Ricardo Rivadeneira, which by the way is who I am. Oh look, I answered the question; I am Ricardo Rivadeneira: Son, brother, seventeen year old, shower philosopher, English and history nerd, LGBT member, theater buff, assistant teacher, aspiring lawyer, closeted poet; if all these things make up who I am, then I am very proud of myself. I was born in Ecuador on the wonderful day of October 2^nd 1993. I immigrated here when I was about four or five, I can’t exactly remember. I come from a pretty prosperous family and so I had a pretty decent upbringing and amazing private education up until seventh grade where I hit a nun, yes a nun. Another aspect of who I am; Rebellious! I am tenacious; I don’t allow other people to impose their values or beliefs on me, a calm persuasive conversation would suffice. Then again, in all fairness, she hit me first!

My main question about my freshman year at Baruch College was: how is Ricardo going to integrate himself into Baruch culture? I mean despite having a tincture of an anti-social disposition, not in the psychological sense but in the college kid sense, I was never good at making friends.  I was concerned that I would have no friends and possibly have the most excruciating college experience ever. Of course, this did not happen, I made friends and even joined a few clubs!  I also have this inherent vexation for the overly fastidious eye, especially when it was looking at me. Judgment, how it annoying it was in high school, not being able to act a certain way for fear of reproach. I never took concern with everyone else’s judgment, but after a while it crumbles you down. I was troubled with the idea that Baruch might be the same, but fortunately it wasn’t the case.

High School was extremely easy, even the A.P classes were simple enough: study and you will get high grades. I am not entirely sure how difficult classes in Baruch will be, so far I’ve been doing very well but there is still a long way to go. I’m not sure how my first year at college will change me or even if it will, but I am certain that College as a whole will change me, I mean it has to, it’s college. Maybe become more outgoing, enthusiastic about everything, and possibly, just possibly my first year of college will save me from my anti-socialness.