Category Archives: Monologue

My name is Sergey Yelizarov. School for me has been very fun. The hardest part is getting up in the morning and commuting every day. Its okay though. I usually sleep in my classes, so its all good. I am from NJ. I am coming to New York because I thought it’d be cool. I guess its kind of fun. Commute is mad annoying. Anyway, what describes me. I am extroverted, annoying and mad crazy. Yeah, I’m insane. Anyway. I don’t have any concerns about college except passing and getting enough sleep. If that counts, then yeah, that’s it. College is so much more free, so its already better than high school. It will probably be very fun. Anyway I think my first year will make me more responsible. And tired.

My name is Henry Kwun. I think the biggest challenge right now is the transition from high school to college. College is a lot harder and more challenging than high school. There’s less homework but more pressure to do good on tests. My favorite thing about college is that you get more freedom to do whatever you want to. There’s less time spent in class so more time to do what you want after school. My least favorite thing about college is English class. I have a problem with being late so I’m always late for English class. Then my professor tells me to see her after class. This happens every time.

One of my favorite things to do is play and watch sports. I’m watching the Cardinals-Rangers world series and I’m hoping that the NBA lockout is going to end soon so I can watch basketball. During the summer, I would play basketball every day but its getting harder since its more colder.

I’m afraid of breaking another bone. I once broke my left wrist. Even though it healed, it still bothers me. Sometimes it would get sore during cold weather.

I haven’t decided a major yet, but I might take a interest in business.

How's your ankles feel?

Who are you? Describe yourself in 3 words. What do you want to do in the future? Oh how I hate these types of questions! I honestly don’t understand why we get asked them so often…perhaps it’s only to get us to start thinking about them? I hope so, because isn’t this the point in our lives where we’re just starting to figure out the answers? I mean come on, we’re only 18; how are we supposed to know what we want to do with the rest of our lives, or who we really are? Nonetheless, although I have yet to figure out who exactly I am, I do know this much:

My names Hannah McFadden and I was born and raised in Queens, NYC. I’m half Irish and half Egyptian…strange mix, I know, but I like it. Being brought up by two people with such contrasting ideals has really taught me a lot; however, it hasn’t exactly been easy. While my mother has always been very supportive of everything I do and everything I strive to do, my father, on the other hand, has in a sense tried to hold me back. His traditional Egyptian cultural worldview in conjunction with his inability to comprehend English well, has led him to misinterpret my character. As his eldest daughter, my sole role is to achieve academic excellence. Extracurricular activities hold no value and are viewed as distractions. Yet, they serve as the very medium for me to become the strong, outgoing woman I aspire to be. However, despite my father’s tenacious desire to have me conform to his strictly academic driven lifestyle, I’ve prevailed. To this day, I remain an exceptionally outgoing and social individual.

Since the age of six, I’ve been engaged in sports and several activities and programs that allowed me to meet and socialize with people of all ages and races. Thus, I’m very athletic and confident. I’ve played practically every sport competitively, however basketball has always been my favorite; I was captain of my both my high school’s varsity team and my travel team, and until the beginning of my junior year I wanted to play in college. But, that would be way too time consuming. Aside from sports, I’ve also always taken part in an array of clubs and activities that my school and community offered, such as student government, yearbook committee, female empowerment group, school newspaper and the Sarah Lawrence writing program, along with multiple community and service projects. I find great importance and joy in holding leadership roles, which is why I was Vice President of my Junior and Senior class in high School. However, even though it’s only been about a couple of months since I graduated High School, a lot had changed…for the worse.

Every day I think about how much I miss High School and therefore, Baruch is just not the college for me. I never intended come here; I was forced to due to the lack of financial aid my other schools offered me, and I think I’m still very resentful of that. The majority of my close friends have gone away to school, and for the first time in my life I feel a little alone. I mean, I still have my group of friends who stayed home, but I just hate living at home. And, unfortunately, I’ve come to realize that my negative attitude towards Baruch is really impacting my grades. I find that I’m not working as hard as I used to, and it’s really depressing. I’m extremely concerned about maintaining a high GPA, especially because I intend to transfer by the end of the year. I know I can do it, I just need to focus more and remind myself that going to a party when I have an essay to write isn’t the best idea. However, I’ve recently been thinking about a career in event planning and if that idea becomes more concrete, I believe I’ll stay at Baruch because it’s an exceptional business school and I would be saving ridiculous amounts of money.

Hello everyone,

My name is Josh Namdar. I am 18 years old.

• This is my first year in college. I have few concerns as a freshman here at Baruch College. One of my concerns would be my ability to make my transition from High School to College smoothly. Going to college after 4 years of high school is a big step and it has always been something I thought would be hard to deal with since there is a big difference in the amount of workload and time you receive in high school. A second concern, and biggest fear I have is: maintaining a good enough GPA to make it into the Zicklin School of Business. The business school here at Baruch is the prime reason to why I chose Baruch. If I don’t keep up the grades necessary to get in, then my goal has been shattered. My third concern is whether or not I’ll be able to handle the workload throughout my 4 years here. It is important for me to learn how to manage my time and complete all my work on time. If I can master that, it would make my time here at Baruch much easier.

• So far, one thing that makes my college experience different from my high school experience is the diverse culture in my surroundings. Becoming friends with differently cultured people teaches you a lot about the world we live in and will always be good for you in the future. I’m enjoying being around many of my friends from home as well. I’m also enjoying the campus life. It is always high-spirited and fun to be in the building.

• My current biggest challenge with school is learning to find a balance between leisure time and time for schoolwork. I’ve learned that leaving work till the last minute will indeed hurt me. I must learn that schoolwork has priority.  I think my first year at college will change me in the sense that I will learn to be more responsible as a person and I will learn how to manage my time and work. It will allow me to get a better idea of how to balance personal life issues and school issues.

• As of now, school has been going well for me. Though there is a lot of work, I have started to learn how to manage my time better and better as the weeks go by. School here teaches me how to think and how to express my ideas and thoughts in a better sense. I feel more educated as every day goes by. Not only are the professors great, but also the subjects they teach interest me.

• My favorite hobby is playing basketball. I started playing basketball at a young age. It’s something I’m good at and something I put a lot of work to in my free time. I have been on my community basketball team for 4 years straight, and in the last year I was named captain of the team. We were looked down as underdogs in the beginning of the season, but we pulled together as a team to win our community a championship for the first time in 15 years.

• One thing I really dislike is reading. As crucial as it is, I find it boring and very hard to concentrate when I read

• I identify myself as a smart and funny person. I get along with people and make friends easily. Having friends by your side you whole life is something I think is very important. You never know when you’ll need them.

• One of the key roles in my life is being a good older brother to my siblings. It’s important for them to have some to look up to and come to in times of need. Family is more important than anything for me in my life. My grandparents are the most important people in my life. They are the most influential and heartwarming family in my life. They treat me as if I’m one of their children. They always bring the best out of me and always put a smile on my face.

“Deuces! Match Point! Advantage!” These terms became a constant in my life when I decided to join tennis as a distraction. Who knew that it’d become more than that.
It all started in my junior year of high school. I’ve always wanted to learn how to play tennis. Luckily, my tiny school offered it as a varsity team. Tennis didn’t seem that hard at first, however, that was a huge misconception. It is probably one of the hardest sports to learn. There are so many techniques to it and it require you to be entirely focused and dialed in, which is especailly hard for me since I have the attention span of a fish. I get so easily distracted sometimes.
Regardless of all the dificulties it is liberating. I ended up falling in love with the sport. Granted I didn’t make the line up at first, mainly cause it was my first time playing. But the year after that I did. After the strenuouse journey of trying to get on the line up I finally made it. I would practice everyday before tennis season started and it all paid off. I loved the feeling I’d get before a match, a mixture of excitement and anxiety.

The way I want to come off to people is… not a jerk. Its simple to me: no matter what the circumstance or situation, be nice, be friendly. There’s a lot of mean people out there, even at Baruch. But don’t let them get in the way, man. I guess, in my honest opinion, the point of life is to make money, be happy with your woman or man, raise your kids well, and don’t be an a-hole. But if you think about it, that last part is the most important part! It ties into everything, it makes it all possible. It makes life easy. It makes people around you happy, but come on, who really cares about them? More importantly, it lets you be happy. Don’t be a jerk and others won’t be a jerk to you. Easy! This is how I see it. To make money, get a job. To get a job, be smart, be organized, be… whatever you have to be. But foremost, don’t be an ass. Especially to the guys who are going to pay you. And unless you want to be miserable and lonely at the office every single day, be nice to the guys you work with, too. Make them laugh, bring them coffee, buy them a drink at the pub after work. Pretty soon, word will begin to spread. “Hey, you know that new guy Phil? Yeah, he’s not a jerk. He’s actually a nice guy!” “Oh yeah, I know him! He brought bagels to work last Monday. Really friendly guy, that Phil.” The point of life is to be friendly. To be a nice guy. Or a nice girl. But if you’re a guy, don’t try to be a nice girl. It’s a very difficult process.

I try to play the role of a gentleman. Who doesn’t like a gentleman? I try to show respect to everybody. Sometimes that’s very very very VERY hard. Seriously, some people don’t deserve respect. But you just gotta look them in the eye and squeeze their hand really tight when you shake it and smile at them anyway. To all those jerks out there, I have a message foryou. If you would prefer to be an ass in life, then good luck to you man! I wish you the best. Go ahead and do whatever it is you want to do. Just don’t expect anything from me, dude. I’ve done my fair share of giving up seats on the subway to people who I’m not 100% sure are actually pregnant, helping people up stairs with strollers while theres an elevator five feet away, saying thank you to cashiers who don’t give me enough change, tipping slow delivery people, explaining directions to clueless tourists, recycling when it would be sooooo much easier to just throw it in the damn trash, coming to a complete stop at STOP signs when there’s nobody around, and  yadda yadda yadda. So don’t tire me with your B.S., okay? I’m out to treat people well, so if you’re a jerk, please, and thank you, and get the hell out of my way.

Monologue

For the past month or so, I have been constantly hearing about social justice. At first I saw it as just another cause, another reason to volunteer at a soup kitchen or a nursing home; I assumed it was just an organization’s way of helping out in the community or claiming to do so for their own benefit or ulterior motives. But the idea of social justice left an indelible mark on my mind. What is social justice? Webster’s dictionary defines it as “a state or doctrine of egalitarianism.” But everyone has their own way of defining it. It all depends on your perspective. You might have a completely different meaning of “social justice” when you step into another person’s shoes. I feel like we have been so incredibly blessed in our lives that we take advantage of it. If there were a 100 people in the world, there is only 1 person that has had the opportunity to go to college. Can you imagine that? So you and I are that 1 percent. We’re privileged. The hurricanes, earthquakes, and violence that has been taking place around the world, especially recently, has really opened my eyes to understand that there is absolutely no right for me to complain about my life. All the problems in my life seem extremely small and insignificant in comparison to what others have to go through. But sometimes, the news that we see on TV, or read in the newspaper makes us uncomfortable. We change the channel, or increase the volume of our iPods to tune out the images we see, or the things we hear. Isn’t it just easier to pretend all those things aren’t happening? So we don’t feel the guilt in not doing anything, so it becomes easier to pretend it never existed. How is it that every time I see or hear news like this, I become uncomfortable? So it becomes easier to tune out everything around me and focus on myself. But the truth is, the world doesn’t revolve around me. And if I am too timid to do to make an effort for the betterment of another person’s circumstances or conditions, that would make me an extremely ungrateful person. I have the tendency of waiting around for others to lead so I can follow their lead in doing something for our community, and our people. Forget about going all the way to Africa to build schools. How come I can’t do something right here? There are a lot of things we could do right here, right now. A whole lot of resources or people aren’t really needed. The most important thing that we have to remember is that, if we’re not going to do something, someone else will always take our place. The opportunities are right in front of you. Are you willing to open your eyes so you can see it?

My name is Kyung Han but most people call me Kye. I went to Susan E. Wagner High School and I currently live in Staten Island. I’ve lived in Staten Island for most of my adolescents’ stage of my life so going to the city everyday has been a real culture shock. Staten Island is a pretty small island, compared to all the rest of the boroughs. You can do much on the island so most kids end up playing sports. I like to play a whole variety of sports, including basketball, volleyball, football, etc. I started getting into sports in middle school and I was one of those un-athletic kids growing up, but thank god that’s not the case anymore. When I was young, my friends and I played basketball in the spring/summer and football in the fall/winter every Friday. This was habitual. The one thing I don’t like is waking up. It is the worst feeling in the world. I’m always half asleep and I tend to zone out a lot. I am definitely not a morning person. I identify myself as just one of the many people fighting to get the competitive jobs. I put a lot of high standards on myself because I like achieving goals that require a lot of effort. I don’t like to listen to or follow people, unless their points are validated. I don’t put any limitations on myself. I am afraid of regret and all the “what ifs” that boggle up my mind, drive in insane. I feel most happy when I know my day was productive. I live everyday planning out how to get the most out of my day. I love learning something new every day. It is in my character to be the best of myself. Being a vegetable all day is not my forte. My goal in Baruch is to get a 4.0 grade point average and my biggest challenges in school are developing study habits and doing my work when it’s first given.  I have accomplished developing my work ethic, and I know how to print paper in the library. I play just as hard as I work. Whenever I need to get away from school, I call up my friends and spend my time with them. A lot of my friends tell me that I get really loud and obnoxious when I’m having fun. I don’t think that’s the case. My type of fun is doing things you know are stupid, but you do it anyway. During my free time, I sleep.

What to write about for my monologue? I don’t even know. The shirt im wearing is gray. Gray is one of my favorite colors.I think I wore gray three times this week. Why do I like gray though? I think it’s because its in the middle, between black and white. I like black and white, but gray stands out to me more. White shirts can be kind of bright and easy to get dirty. Black shirts too, because they get that white stuff on them, lint? A quick look around, and I see manygray things. The computer I’m typing this on is gray, the keyboard is gray,  the chair is gray, even the sky is “gray”. Come to think of it though, there aren’t any gray foods. At least not off the top of my head. Gray also seems to represent a bad mood. When people say the sky is gray, they’re usually bummed because it seems like it’s going to rain. I think the sky looks nice when it’s gray, different from the usual blue. When people have arguements the answer is either black or white, meaning right or wrong. In arguements people are either black or white, taking one side or another. Then there are some who are gray, those who are neutral and don’t take a side, or have their own side. I’ve heard of people who are completely colorblind, so does that mean they only see things in black and white? I’m sure it’s not just that, but a lot of different shades of gray in between. I like gray. The end.

My life motto is “humor is good for the soul.” My close family and friends would say that I am outgoing. I am so outgoing when I
am around people who I feel comfortable with and I love making them laugh. Being sweet and kind isn’t always enough; sometimes humor is what we need. It’s good to just laugh a little every once and a while; why shouldn’t we laugh after all that we have to face in this world.  I have grown up in a very social family where I learned to always be outgoing and talkative; I mean what do you expect when you come from an Italian family? My culture embraces the true meanings of life including family, friends and of course most importantly; food. I love trying new things, going different places and being adventurous. I think I am a little too adventurous for my friends who simply just prefer to sit in a park and relax while I just want to keep going non- stop. I have a weird drive and ambition in me that is so
powerful; sometimes I wonder where it will take me in life.  If I could, I probably would travel the world. We live on a planet full of wondrous sights to see and I feel that I am not living it fully. I guess I am still young and have time for further exploration. Music
is my calm and peace. It is so relaxing no matter what streams through the wires of my headphones. My mind could drift off if to the sound of a super fast guitar solo, to Taylor Swift’s never ending love songs, to Ke$ha’s signature auto tuned voice or even to Eminem’s furious rapping.  Music has inspired me to never let go of my guitar. I go into a different zone when I play my guitar. Even though it doesn’t look like I am heading down the road to being a guitar rock star, I still continue to teach myself without any self doubt. Although it may take me 20 years to have the equivalent guitar skills as someone as simple as Avril Lavigne, I am not giving up. I just will sit back, relax and see where life takes me next.