Author Archives: Mandisa Nickerson

My favorite enrichment workshop would probably have to be the performance of “Baruch Voices.” Actually I’m not even sure if that counts as an enrichment workshop but I enjoyed it. The first time I had heard the Voices performance on convocation day I was so tired that I hardly paid any attention to the readings. The ones I did manage to hear were very funny and very interesting at the same time. They were all very different and when I heard that freshmen had written them, I was even more excited. I wondered if the emotions they felt entering Baruch, I would feel as well. This time around when the Voices performances consisted of my own peers, I enjoyed it even more. This time I paid attention to each and every reading and I loved hearing how although we are all freshmen, the differences between us are the most interesting. From a personal point of view, I feel like sharing yourself with people is one of the hardest things you can do. I really do not have a problem expressing myself but amongst people I really do not know all that well is a little harder. Seeing my fellow freshman peers have the courage to lay themselves out on the table and have someone read their inner most thoughts and feelings to others is very humbling to me. I would have never thought I would have had the courage to write a monologue sharing myself with people. I did it though and my monologue even got chosen to be read amongst the entire freshmen class. Not only did I feel accomplished but I felt inspired. This workshop inspired me to not be afraid to share myself with other people and not to feel anxiety or nervous because most likely we are all going through the same thing. The Voices performance made me realize that being a freshman attending a city university is difficult, but that does not mean that you are the only one feeling that way. From the workshop,  I heard different personalities and that was comforting to know that people are people. I feel like the workshop also summed up my entire freshman seminar experience and although it seemed pointless at first, it turned out to be an enlightening experience to find out the person I am.

Well to start off with this blog post I saw too many funny memes to choose just one so I chose three.

Now although these images are funny, in many ways they are very true. My first three months at Baruch have been a wave of excitement and a bit of a reality check thus far. Although I’ve been in college before, I was out for a semester and I was not use to all the work I was previously putting in. I almost forgot how important time management is and that is the think I struggle most with. Getting back to my experiences though, I think I have a slight advantage since I already know how much work college entails. A lot of the time, students (including myself) have a preconceived notion that college is so hard because that is what we were taught to think. When I arrived and actually became immersed in my classes I realized that as long as you complete the work asked of you, it flows pretty well. I may seem a bit lazy at times but that does not mean I don’t take the work seriously. The memes are a good representation of what almost all students are thinking and doing at college. I mean college is supposed to be some of the best years of your life so why take them so seriously that you miss out on all the fun? The professor meme is one of the truest ones because of course professors expect their students to pay attention and take notes, that is a given. The human hand is only capable of writing so much at a time and especially not if the professor is speaking like an auctioneer. I’ve learned to deal with this by just listen intently and while information is being said, separate the useful information from the useless info. The other picture is probably the most accurate in terms of what people perceive college to be and from what I’ve seen at Baruch. When I walk into the library (and I go everyday, usually 2-3 times) and I go to the computer labs, 60 percent of the students are on a social networking site whether that me Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. I think that it’s good to get away from the work once in a while and there is no harm in goofing off for a while. College does have a purpose and that is to give you the tools to find a career suitable for you but at the same time it is also to find yourself. It is meant to be as hard and as difficult as you want to make it. I take education very seriously but since I’ve been through some of it already, I’ve learned that stressing less is key and if you have to sit back and laugh one day, DO NOT be afraid to do just that. After all, its a business anyway right?

Picture Credit: #1 -http://www.smosh.com/smosh-pit/photos/best-what-people-think-i-dowhat-i-really-do and http://sneakertalk.yuku.com/topic/329617

Picture Credit #2 -http://www.trendyblackguy.com/2012/03/the-ultimate-lazy-college-senior-meme/

Picture Credit #3 – http://www.memestache.com/Unhelpful+High+School+Teacher/tells-you-to-take-notes/255678

I could be a lot of things …

I’m way too tall for a girl I’ve been told

I’m way too skinny for society I’ve been told

I’m way too loud, I sweat too much, my feet are too big, my face is too young….

“You can’t buy a lottery ticket, you aren’t a day over sixteen!”

“You can’t play basketball? What are you, at least 7 feet?”

You dress too much like a boy, you wear too much pink, you look so mean …

“You live in Brooklyn? I feel sorry for you …”

“You’re a dancer? What do they do?”

These sorts of judgements, these silly one dimensional observations. I love them … they keep me young

“Girls don’t know anything about basketball, so how can your favorite team be the Celtics?”

“Why are you 20 and a freshman?”

Why are you always on the phone?”

Why don’t you have a job?”

“I like your hair … is it fake?”

I mean I thought I was pretty average but all these questions make me wonder. To me I am just a tall basketball loving tomboy with an obsession for pink and a sailors mouth. Sounds complicated but really being a 20 year old that looks like a gigantic 12 year old has its pros and cons.

“Why are you worried about voting? Your vote doesn’t even count …”

“I bet you are voting for Obama right?”

You see the excitement? The never ending thrust of questions.

Like I said earlier, they keep me young. Stereotype or not …

I could be a lot of these things, but you know something…you people with the questions, do you know who you are?

– Mandisa Nickerson 🙂

All Little Look Into Who I Am

There are a number of ways how my slideshow depicts me. Some of the pictures to start with are just things that I love. For instance, basketball is very important to me and the Boston Celtics are my favorite team. Anybody that knows me well enough can vouch when I say I am probably the biggest Celtics fan and biggest traitor for rooting for a arch rival team but I don’t care. Even though I don’t play basketball myself, I love to watch it. Another picture in my slideshow is the “Pink Is Life” saying. That picture has a double meaning because not only is Pink my favorite color and I wear it almost everyday but, Love PINK the name brand from Victoria’s Secret is my favorite clothing line. Almost about 90 percent of my clothes are Love PINK and both of these are an adequate representation of who I am. About 3 of the pictures include myself and that is because how could I possible represent myself positively without putting myself in there. My closest friends also have a picture in the slideshow. In large part I have to thank them for the person I am today. They have helped me get through the toughest of times and when I thought life was just too much, they also talked me into calming down and looking at things in a different light. They are a huge part of who I am and I would never forget them as my support system. Two of the pictures are of Dance. Dance was and still is a very important and sacred part of my life. I have been dancing since I was about four years old. Dance to me wasn’t just a hobby but it was a way of life. Even though I don’t dance as often as I’d like now, dance is still essential to who I am. Dance helped me break out of the shy little girl I was and taught me a better and more creative way to express myself. I had a voice when I discovered dance. The last picture is of my two idols, Michelle Obama and Beyonce. Both of these women are phenomenal in their own way. Michelle Obama is a bright and motivated woman whose intelligence has carried her above and beyond. Beyonce embodies a strong fearless woman and even with the media she still manages to keep a steady head. I aspire to be like these two women and I look up to them. All of these pictures represent me in different ways but all come together to explain who I am.