Author Archives: bj148001

I do not know what it is, but I always find this workshops interesting. It might be that i actually am a great listener. I love hearing people’s stories; either from family members, friends, and the elders. I found all the workshops interesting in terms of content, but never in terms of willingness to be there. This last workshop was the funnest one out of all because it was a larger audience in a interesting setting, and performed by people of our age, which I like. The actors were talented but not to extremes, which made it look imperfect. I take imperfection as a good thing because it leads to arguments, comments, a more focused visualization of the play. I thought it was well performed and entertainent in a very unique way. Thanks to my peer mentor for all the help and advice, it was of great help for our first semester.

Peace out!

Hello, my name is Brandon Jimenez. I was born in Costa Rica on April 19^th, 1993. I moved to Long Island at age 15. It was my father’s dream to take us to the US back when he married my mom, but he did not live to see it come true. At age 8, my grandparent asked for my mom and her sisters to come to the US, but it did not happen until 7 years later. It was very hard at the beginning because my stepdad had trouble finding a good job; my family was struggling. After a confrontation with my stepdad I moved out and later moved in with my aunt and uncle. I love living with them, and after a couple of months my older sister moved in with us too. I have a 15 year old sister, 11 year old brother, and a 5 year old sister. I loved Southampton High School, it was great. At the beginning it was hard to get used to, but after my second year I started having lots of fun. I decided to come to Baruch because it is highly rank in business and business is my interest. It is cheap, and since I pay for my own tuition it is a plus. I did pretty well in school, so my scholarships really help me pay for it. I take a lot of care about my health and condition. I workout 6 hours a week or more, I play soccer on Fridays, volleyball in the summer, I ride bikes, run, eat very healthy stuff, and just take a lot of care with my physical shape. I love many genres of music, but house music is my absolute favorite. I have a careful eye for clothes and shoes. I love quality materials, and details in everything; I am a perfectionist. I am a speed fanatic, I love cars, bikes, and any type of engine powered vehicle. I like my jobs; I am a Barista at a coffee shop, and sometimes a manager at a gallery owned by my uncle. I want to be a business owner; I am not sure what kind of business. A coffee shop is something that I would like to own.

It was very interesting. When the workshop started it seemed as if it was going to be worse than the workshop we attended before, but it was not. As he developed his presentation, I started to understand where he was going with it. I love reading because it  takes you to places you have not seen. And Brooklyn did that just well. I can connect myself with the plot in Brooklyn because I am also an immigrant that endured hard events; however, with a pretty successful story so far. It was great to see him talking about specific parts of the book because I am currently reading the book, and he mentioned a part that was a page behind my progress. I like fiction books, and his is pretty unique because it is based on a not complete true story. I would like to read a second part to it, it will be interesting.

At the workshop I really paid attention to what the lady was saying. The resources that we have in our hands, the methods of communication, or technological advanced websites, newsletter, videos, radio stations, and more are not 100% guaranteed to satisfy our educational needs. It might not be hard find information, but it is extremely hard to find sources of information that are trustworthy. I really liked the examples she gave us with the videos. If I see a discovery channel report, I am trusting it 100%. People that work for such big documentary channels have to know what they are saying, they have to spend so much time studying their area of work. You dont see me out there in television because I know nothing. So you really put your trust in these people, this channels, these sources. If they are not true, then what is it?

Very interesting workshop. It was in the middle of my lunch time thought. I had 25 mins to have lunch at 2:25pm so It was not the best of times. That distracted me and my classmates a little.

I have been through way too many changes in my life, and music has been a part of it as I grew up. I was born in Costa Rica; Spanish-speaking country of Central America, so I speak perfect Spanish, and Spanish music was around all the time in TV, parties, and any other festivities. As a kid I liked energetic music, I was a very shy kid and dancing was not my thing. At parties I would just sit around and watch other people have fun. I went through many faces in my life, culture wise emotionally, educationally, and physically, and music came attached to it.

Si la Vez by Franco De Vita

A song that I listened to when I was in Costa Rica. I was probably around 10 and my brother who was like 5 loved this song. I have a Pandora station named “Franco De Vita” until this day. I listen to it when I have long trips or would like to find relaxation or just a better feeling inside of me. His lyrics bring me joy and put me in a better mood if I am going through difficult times.

I don’t Love You by My Chemical Romance

A song that describes my friendships with my best friends in Costa Rica. Every time I listen to MCR or other punk bands that I used to listen to back in CR I always remember my friends and remind me of who I once was.

One by Metallica

Describes who I wanted to be at some point when I touched ground in US. James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammet, and the bass players they had over time were my heores. I dreamed I could have the swagger, the look, the aggressiveness, the skills and I just wanted to be like James, but also like his friend and later rival Dave Mustaine from Megadeth. They are the definition of good guitar players. When I listened to Metal music was when I moved to the US. I found in Metal the energy that I did not have. Metal music pumped me up.

Leave the World Behind You by Swedish House Mafia

Then the big transition to the modern age came into me. My US born older cousin Ansley listened to a lot of Hip-Hop by such artist like Kayne, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and also listened to what he called House Music, electronic music in other word. I didn’t like it at the beginning, then I listened to this song and I was like “hmm this is cool, but effeminate” but the beat was very nice. As a metal listener I had a deep appreciation by music that came from instruments played by the hands of someone. But that was about to change

One by Swedish House Mafia

I was starting to get used to the Hamptons, and the American culture. It was not easy and it came after more than 2 years. To fit in I asked my friend Matias the name of a couple of djs and he named a few of which I followed and made research. I didn’t like it much, it was to calm for what I like in music. But then I remembered “Leave The World Behind You” and looked it up and found the name of the artist looked it up and One came up. A new Brandon was born, one that liked house music. From this point on I had things to talk to people about. They liked me and my music so I started fitting in a bit more. Big big change.

A Milli by Lil Wayne

Crazy playlist huh? I know. Lil Wayne came to me with this song. I hated previous work, though it wasn’t for me, but then this song man, changed it all. What a sick song, “a millioner ima young money millioner tougher than Nigerian hair”. My culture changed in the US. The people around me was not going to change for me, I had to change for them, and for me in order to be accepted and feel confortable.

Miss Me Drake ft. Lil Wayne

Describes the little bit of swagger I developed by listening to Hip-Hop. The song is so hot, now old but really? This song is never old to me “uh s*** m****goddamn, kicking b**** out the condo like pam”. This song really set the mark for what I am now “man I got so many styles, I am a group”. I have changed so much and now I am a blend of everything.

Faded by Tyga

His lyrics are just as disgusting as Lil Wayne’s, but holy beat! The first time I danced in public was in November of 2011, I actually never danced before in my life with anyone. I had a girlfriend that liked to dance and so I had to and I danced to this song. I did really good, she was good enough so I followed what she did and I was fine. I became a well known dancer after that. People thought very good of me at parties, they said things like “I have seen you dance, you are good” and in clubs (don’t ask me how I got in being 18) I asked girls out to dance that were in her 20s. I became very social thanks to it. Girls thought I was hot! Can you imagine? Me, hot? Never before, so I was liking it a lot.

Miami-Chasing Summers by Tiesto

Now I am a very adapted person. And I just want to live life to the extremes. I went through very difficult moments just a couple of months ago. I was not feeling right inside. My heart got really hurt by someone who I loved. After that this song made me realized that I needed to breath new air and so I did. This song as tiesto himself describes is a very happy song with a very nice slow intro and an amazing drop in the middle. That’s what I needed. A slow beginning that would lead me to a better me.

3 Peat by Lil Wayne

“I am on it, uh I am on it, I am so on it, however you want it, you can get it tonight h** and all night h**, I get the beat from Mistro, a f**ing right h**

I might go crazy on this n***** I don’t give a m****

Run up in the n**** house and shoot his grandma m****

WHAT WHAT I DON’T GIVE A M****

This is me now, I care about family and nothing else. I am very self sufficient and I don’t trust many people. But yet I am still a good kid, “I ain’t a killa but don’t push me”