My group chose healthy foods as our topic because obesity is a huge problem in the world today. If more people knew about the benefits of eating healthy, this might not be such a big problem. The articles that we chose all applied to our topic because they all discussed the benefits of having a healthy diet and how different public figures go about advocating the importance of eating healthy food.

Our group chose cloning as our New York Times project topic because it is a scientific innovation which intrigues the human race.  With the ability to clone comes the ability to play “God” and recreate structures of living organisms to further scientific knowledge. The ethics of cloning is covered in “The Wisdom of Repugnance” as well as “Europe’s Ethics Panel Says Cloning Harms Animals” as scientists and the public reflect on the human capability and implications of cloning. We further expand on the ability to play “God” in the article “Beloved Pets Everlasting?” as the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in South Korea was able to replicate Missy – a collie-husky mix.

The ability to clone has also opened up hope as well as new ways of coping with diseases – but with it a high wave of controversy. We cover this section in the article “The Anti-Cloning Conundrum”. For many pro-life advocates, the ability to clone is very controversial – however, cloning has helped push the field for stem cell research which could potentially cure Alzheimer’s, and cancer (just to name a few).

Hey so my groups NYT project was based on food because we all love food and we wanted to do anything that had to do with food because it is the one thing that brings everyone together. It is also is a way to see the differences between culture and people. The articles related to the topic because it was all about food from different types, places, and forms on how food can be enhanced or influential.

To be honest, we chose cloning as our topic for the NY Times project because the first thing we saw was Dolly The Sheep (the first successful clone of a sheep). That’s not to say that the topic wasn’t an interesting one because it was without a doubt a very intriguing topic. If it hadn’t been a worthy topic we probably would’ve moved on from it so I suppose we got lucky. The reason I liked the cloning topic was because I thought it would really get people to think about both the science behind it and the ethics of cloning as a whole. It’s an extremely controversial topic that easily strikes conversation. I’m glad we chose the topic that we did because if we hadn’t, I wouldn’t know what I know now about cloning.

When you are working as a group, it is important to consider the opinions of your peers. In my group, fashion was chosen without my awful viewpoint about it. However, I understand the fundamentals of social dynamics and so decided to avoid avoid argumentation and simply comply.  Consequently, I learned that fashion is all around us and it dictate who we are. What you wear represents your beliefs, that is a big deal.

I enjoyed the New York Times project because it was really interesting to learn about different topics that the groups presented. My group chose fashion as our topic because we really wanted to explore the different views of fashion all over the world especially in New York City. We also assumed that this topic would be interesting to the whole class. From this project, we were able to successfully learn ourselves and show the class about the interesting things that we learned about fashion and different designers. Our articles related to our topic because they were all about different designers and up and coming fashion trends. We also had articles from New York Fashion Week which really showed how important fashion is in our modern society. Fashion is important all over the world and our group felt that it would be a perfect topic to write about and share with the class.

-Joann Varghese

Dear readers,

I am beyond grateful for our learning community; you guys make waking up for our 8:15 classes a little less unbearable. Let’s actually organize something for Halloween please!

(Anywho…) I’m quite eclectic; my appearance and personality contrast so strikingly I feel like one big surprise! There’s nothing I won’t try at least once, and so it goes for my taste in music…it just happens to be that I feel quite nostalgic tonight, so my playlist isn’t as accurate a portrayal of who I am as I’d like it to be.

1. One Summers Day-Spirited Away soundtrack

2. Bootylicious- Beyonce

3. Mermaid-Yuna

4. Landslide-Fleetwood Mac

5. Nature Boy-Nat King Cole

6. Holocene-Bon Iver

7. River- Emeli Sande

8. Crooked-GD

9. Sunshine-John Denver

10. Ms. Jackson-Panic! at the Disco

1.Icona Pop- I love it

2. Maroon 5- Love somebody

3.Macklemore- Same love

4.School boy q-  Collard greens

5.Etta james- I rather go Blind

6.Cold play- Paradise

7.Konshens- Fete

8.Emali sande ft Labrinth- Beneath your Beautiful

9.Kanye west- Through the wire

10.Darwin hobbs- He’s Able

The first song speaks to the side of me that really does not care and like to do what I want because its me. The second and third song speaks to the side of me that really just has a good heart and loves people unconditionally. The  4th song speaks to the side of me that thinks everything is twisted or has it own meaning in a way. The fifth songs speaks to how i feel emotionally towards people i hold dear in my heart. The 6th songs speaks to how happy I am all the time and that i feel paradise everywhere I go even when I’m down. The 7th song because I love to party and I’m Caribbean. The 8th song because it speaks about the beauty within oneself. The 9th song because i never give up even through the wire or the limits. The last song because I am very religious and have belief in a higher power.

Hello everybody! Below please find the playlist that I have created. As you can see they are songs that you hear every day on the radio. I have no specific type of music or genre that I prefer. To me, music only serves as an activity to kill time on the train or while driving. That is why most of them are pieces created no longer than a year or two ago. However when I look these songs up at home and read their lyrics, I always try to connect them to a certain experience I had in my recent past. So again, below are some of the songs I enjoy re-listening to after I hear them on the radio. They help me relax and make studying for many of my classes more enjoyable. I hope you enjoy my choices and hope to get to know you guys better.

Andras Roth

Wake me up- Avicii

Blurred lines- Robin Thicke

Clarity- Zedd

Can’t hold us- Macklemore

Safe and sound- Capital cities

Blurred lines- T.I.

Danza Kuduro- Don Omar

Take over control- Afrojack

This is what it feels like- Armin van Buuren

Get Lucky-Daft Punk

Music, is often said to be a form of expression. It is also often said that one’s taste in music explains much about them as a person. In order to exhibit my own characteristics or qualities; i decided to put together a 10 song playlist filled with songs that i feel, may help you all to understand me better as a person.

1. Who Is – Bruno Mars
2. Time of Your Life – Green Day
3. Today My Life Begins – Bruno Mars
4. Pursuit of Happiness – Kid Cudi
5. Ordinary People – John Legend
6. Never Change – J. Han ft. Sam Ock
7. Memories (Part 2) – Big Sean ft. John Legend
8. The Man Who Never Lied – Maroon 5
9. Hall of Fame – The Script ft. Will.I.Am
10.  The Fighter – Gym Class Heroes ft. Ryan Tedder

So I’m not really gonna go and explain why the songs apply to me. Instead I guess you could kind of infer things about me straight off the songs. Besides that I have bias, so if anything, you guys should get to know me yourselves, at a personal level perhaps.