Monthly Archives: September 2014

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Hi everyone, my name is Andres Jim. Yes, I know it’s weird, but Jim is actually my last name. Each picture in this blog post tells something different about me. Though some of the pictures might seem repetitive, or even contradicting, each shows a different side of me. My first three pictures seem to fall under the same subject, it all has to do with being successful. I know the term “success” has different meanings for each individual but to me it means being financially stable. One word to describe my first picture is “ambitious”. I wasn’t to one day live the lavish lifestyle as shown in the picture. My second picture is of Floyd Mayweather Jr., one of my favorite boxers. I used his picture to describe my determination. I’ve always been a fan of all kinds of martial arts, and to see how successful he has become, I know the best way to describe him, is that he is determined. As a result of my ambitions and determination, hard work comes about. Which is what my third picture shows, a young man behind the desk working hard. All these pictures can seem very cliché, but they really do help to describe who I am, or at least who I think I am. Going back to my slideshow, my fourth picture is without a doubt the most important one. It represents my family. I am extremely close with my family and I really am I product of everything I was thought by them. So by using my family to help describe who I am, does the most justice to the assignment because they are my biggest influence. My last four pictures fall into the category of describing my personality. The first of the four, helps to show that I love to have fun, after my work and responsibilities are done, I’m the first one to look for a good time to be had. The second picture is kind of a contradiction, but it really is just another side to me. I think I’m a quiet person, that’s not to say I don’t like socializing, it just means I’m usually not the first person to break the ice. And my second to last picture, shows that I’m a happy open person. I have a very open mind, I like to see things in different lights. Finally, the last picture shows of a very calm environment, that’s how I see myself, as a calm individual who likes to keep peace. As I said before, a lot of the pictures talk about the same thing, but it all sheds a different light on the subject. These eight pictures are probably the best way to describe myself.

So far, most of the freshman students I have met live in boroughs such as Brooklyn (Kingsborough), Queens, or Staten Island. I have even met several from Manhattan. I am from the Bronx. I was born there, and it’s features have influenced my character greatly. Some of its most important attributes to me is my love of urban art and Hip-Hop. I mostly enjoy listening to Hip-Hop classics rather than more contemporary songs because of their creativity and how they remind me of the neighborhoods from which I am from. This is why I have included two songs of this genre. One is by BDP, a group from the Southern part of the Bronx. This song is titled “Jack of Spades.” The other, is by Run DMC, titled “It’s Tricky.”

I am a percussionist, and through the music I play, a hard worker. Throughout High School I was faced with musical challenges that have molded my personality by influencing me to overcome all forms of challenges. I am always participative in class and work savvy. Two songs I included are contemporary classical pieces titled “American Overture,” by Joseph Willcox Jenkins and “The Hounds Of Spring,” by Alfred Reed. I feel these songs also demonstrate my complex nature; sometimes filled with enthusiasm, and sometimes calm. Also, I love history and classical music.
I am a very proud person who’s unafraid to express my achievements. On my list you can find Aloe Blacc’s song titled “The Man.” This song illustrates my pride. Bob Marley’s “One Love” is also on my list because I am very peaceful and relaxed, except when I’m nervous. I am usually very polite, except on rare occasions. In those very rare occasions I can get pretty crazy. For this reason I have placed an Eminem song titled “Rock Bottom.”

Sometimes I’m filled with unexplained energy. When I am, I’m weird and my behavior changes a part of who people may see me as. So on my playlist I have included Skrillex’ “First of the Year.” Which explains this feelings itself.

Since I am Puerto Rican and have developed many traits of a Hispanic, such as my love for music and food, I have noted two of my favorite, older, salsa songs by Celia Cruz and Oscar De Leon.

My last song is “Mercy,” because I have always enjoyed listening to songs by Kanye West.

http://grooveshark.com/playlist/Elijah+Torres/100769212

Elijah Torres

Defining myself has always been a difficult task. You would think it would be easy but I’m sure my people know that it isn’t. I defining myself for this assignment I chose songs thinking not about how tell people who I am but about the most differing songs on my playlist. The songs I chose for this list each represent exactly  one aspect of myself. They represent my childhood and my culture, my personality and my respect for creativity, and the distinguishing factors between these songs represent my diversity. Hopefully, they will explain what I can’t about who I am.

The first song on my list is “Fly away” by Lenny Kravitz. I chose this song because like everyone in my class, I am a 90’s kid. I was born in the  90’s and I grew up listening to Lenny Kravitz, Smash Mouth, Green Day, the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and all those lovely 90’s artists. I Chose Lenny Kravitz’s song specifically because I feel that it represents not only myself but my generation. It’s a song that I’m almost certain everyone from my generation has heard at least once in their lives.

The next song I chose Is Britney Spears’ “Oops I Did it Again.”This song also represents my childhood and in some ways even more so than “Fly Away.” This song (besides Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” ) was my anthem from elementary school to middle school. I had a crazy obsession with Britney Spears that prevented me from liking just about every other artist (including the Backstreet Boys) while is was in elementary school. I still like her music but I really appreciated her in when I was younger and so this song represents myself as a kid.

My next song is “Lose Control” by Missy Elliott. I chose this song not just as a representation of myself but of my best friends. I had three absolute best friends growing up and something that we loved to do was to dance. We made dance routines to songs that we loved all together. I remember this song specifically because we worked on a dance routine throughout the entirety of a two day sleepover at my best friend’s house. It was a lot of work, a lot of fun and the best way we could think of to tire ourselves out.

The fourth song on my list is “End Love” by Ok Go. Unlike the previous three, I found out about this song maybe only two years ago. Though I do like the music, what I like most about this song is the music video. Ok Go is well-known for making fun and creative music videos. Their most popular song, “Here it Goes Again” is performed entirely on running treadmills. I chose this song because I’ve always been an artistic person and I’ve grown up knowing many artistic people. I love the creativity in their music videos and so this song represents my creativity.

Stromae’s “Papaoutai” is a french pop song that I found just a few weeks ago. This song above all my other songs represents my diversity. I like new art, I like foreign art and I like just about every other type of art. I’ve been been asked numerous times, as I’m sure everyone has, “what type of music do you like?” My only response is to say that I like every type of music as long as I think it’s good. I have everything ranging from classical to rap music on my playlist  and I’m always up for listening to something new.

Similarly to “Papaoutai,” Flume’s “Sleepless” is a song I heard about just recently. I get a lot of my music from my brother being that he is involved with film production and is constantly searching for new songs. This song like many others comes from him and so represents the part of me that is influenced by my brother.

“Patria” by Ruben Blades is a south american song that I’ve known since as long as I can remember. “Patria” in English means “homeland” and the song speaks to the meaning of that word. In the song, Blades sings about how a young boy asks him for the meaning of “patria” and he tells the boy that it means “many beautiful things.” Though I’ve never researched Blades’ life or when and why he wrote the song, I feel that this song has always represented the many beautiful things in my life.

The next song is one by my beloved Marc Anthony. The song is called “Preciosa,” which you might already know, means precious. Marc Anthony, like myself, is Puerto Rican and very proud to be. He sings this song about the island of Puerto Rico and about how beautiful and enchanting its history, its people and its culture are. This song represents the part of me that is Puerto Rican. It.It represents my family and my home and my island of Puerto Rico. Marc Anthony sings very passionately about how he “carries the blood of his fathers” and of his pride of being a Puerto Rican and although I can’t sing like he does I understand all too-well what he means.

The ninth song on my list is Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park.” This song from the late 70’s is on this list because I love it because of my dad. My dad who grew up in the 70’s in the south Bronx of New York City, was there for bell bottom pants, disco, punk, hip hop, and he was definitely there for Donna Summer. My dad shared his love for the music of his upbringing with me and so this song represents the part of me that I got from my dad.

The last song on my list is a rap song to which i know almost all the lyrics. “Lose Yourself” by Eminem is my favorite song. I don’t absolutely love Eminem for all of his songs but I have loved this song since its inception in 2003. It’s about not giving up and it is about the struggle to fight against the odds. It’s about what it means to be successful. The message of this song is so real and so relative that I absolutely love it. This song represents me as an individual. It represents my opinion and my person as it is the song that I chose to be my favorite.

Soundtrack: FRO blog 1

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Hi, I’m Lisa. So my first picture is of me. I’m pretty shy and quiet but I can get quite talkative. I was born in China but I’ve lived in New Jersey for basically all of my life. Which brings me to the second picture. It was taken in NJ of the NYC skyline. Since I was little my parents would bring me into the city a lot so I think that sparked my love of it. This is one of the reason’s Baruch was my first choice, the other being that the city is a good place to be if I want to do something in business.

My third picture is of my friends and me. We’re a little crazy and not too good at taking group pictures as you can see. It’s weird not being able to see them everyday but we still keep in touch and not all of my friends went away/far away for college.

The next picture is one that I took at the Bronx zoo (go in the winter!) I go to the zoo a lot, which is probably weird but I really like animals and taking picture of them. I grew up watching a lot of animal planet and having pets so I guess that’s where that comes from.

My fifth picture happens to also be an animal but I choose it to show my interest in photography. Maybe I should have chosen a landscape photo instead. Well I took the rest of the photos so all of them could work for this. Anyways, I got into photography in 2008 after I went to Disney World and actually got a digital camera. I thought it was really fun and I liked being able to see the pictures right away as opposed to film cameras. For a while I thought I wanted to be a photographer, but I think for me it’s better to have as a hobby.

My sixth picture is a picture of a dessert I once had. I can’t really remember what was in the jar but it was good. I’m a generally picky eater but I will try any dessert. Another way that I can be adventurous is shown in the next picture. I took it while going to L.A. this summer. I like being on planes because I get to go explore a new place far from home. Traveling is something I haven’t done that much of, but it’s something I really want to do.

My last photo was taken at a Panic! at the Disco concert. They’re probably my favorite band and I saw them this summer at MSG. I like all different types of music but I generally lean towards alternative music. I also wish that I had taken up an instrument when I was younger.

Playlist: http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/Blah/100703121

To start off, I’m really shy when I first meet new people. However, as time goes on, I tend to blend in with the environment and my peers. Soon I’ll be more of an extrovert than an introvert. I’m usually happy, easy-going and sometimes, even carefree. A big part of me is persistence and stubbornness.

I listen to a wide range of music, including, hip hop, pop, techno. The songs listed here portray some aspects of my personality. The songs may also reflect upon my erratic behaviors. I can be really calm on some days and lack the energy to do anything. But on other days, I may be the hype-man for my “squad” of friends. By this I mean that it’s usually me who’s really talkative and throwing jokes in my clique. I’m just really there to entertain them and myself. I’m there to keep them good company.

1. Fix You – Coldplay

I’d hate to give up and I always find ways to motivate myself to keep moving forward. However, if I do fail to succeed; I’d tend to look back on what I did wrong. I call it “reflecting” on my actions.

2. Berzerk – Eminem

I’m really wild sometimes and like to party a lot.

3. Lose Yourself – Eminem

Whatever I do, I would always want to give my best so that I can make sure to succeed. Once you dedicate yourself to whatever you’re doing, you lose consciousness of your surroundings. I immense myself into things I want to succeed on.

4. N*ggas in Paris – Jay Z & Kanye West

I’m also a huge basketball fan and I love to play basketball myself. I would say I’m a sports person, but I’m really scrawny to call myself athletic. I follow the New York Knicks. I usually play a lot of pick-up games with friends and I hope to try out the new gyms at Baruch.

5. Thrift Shop – Macklemore

I guess I like to spend money while saving. This reminds me of what I’ve been doing at Baruch lately: buying $1 pizzas for lunch. I’m also the guy who would show up on holiday sales to catch the cheap deals. Four t-shirts for 10$ each are the best deals.

6. Worst Behavior – Drake

There are times where I just think about whom I am connected to in society and who I am related to.

7. Work Hard Play Hard – Wiz Khalifa

I’m a hard worker and student. But education is not the only thing in life. While studying and working hard, I also relax and chill a lot.

8. What I’ve Done – Linkin Park

There are times where I’m really clumsy and I cause a huge screw-up. I really did wish I could just erase myself and escape from reality for a moment to take a breath.

9. Remember the Name – Fort Minor

I guess I know myself in and out, including my strengths and weaknesses. There is a time to give it all in and there is also a time to cut back the losses.

10. Til Collaspe – Eminem

I’m a really persistent, patient and obstinate guy. I won’t stop until I reach my goals.

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At the end of the day, I believe that life is simple. However, there are many people and experiences that helped me become the young man I am today.

My first picture is a picture of my family in Canada by the Niagara Falls. On the left is my older sister, Swapna. If it wasn’t for her, I probably wouldn’t be in school right now. She’s always there when I need a helping hand and she is teaching me how to be an independent adult like she is. Next to her is my mother, Suma. My mother is the sweetest lady in the world. She treats me like a baby and I can proudly say that I am a mommy’s boy. Leaving her is definitely one of the hardest parts of living away from home. Then there is my father, George, on my left.  He is by far the hardest working mailman in Brooklyn and I am amazed on how he keeps the house running daily.

Did you guys know that ball is life? The second picture is myself in the black jersey with the number two on my back and a red Superman Underarmour. I have an unhealthy obsession with all things Superman by the way. This picture was taken at my last high school basketball tournament and I am guarding my best friend, Jeff, who is also wearing number two. This was also my first year as captain of my church team and although this tournament didn’t end in our favors, our next tournament in January looks to be promising.

The third picture is one of my favorite memories in all of my high school life. This was taken at my school’s International Festival prior to my last Indian dance performance. International Festival has been a staple of my high school for over a decade now and this year’s Indian dance may of been in the top five performances of all time/ However, I may be biased.

I believe today is transformation Thursday so in honor of that, my fourth picture is of my best friends, Joel and Jeff, both at our eighth grade graduation and our high school graduation. I literally knew these two since I was a baby since our parents both live close together and work together. For the first time in eighteen years, we went to different schools. However, it only took us a day of separation to start visiting each other. Joel and Jeff are the closest things I have to for brothers.

If you look closely, you can spot me in the middle with a green shirt. My fifth picture is a GoPro selfie taken in California. I went to California this summer for a church leadership camp. At this camp, I was forced to actually celebrate my religion and without sounding too cliche, my life has been changed. It was truly powerful to see so many people come together for the glory of God.

My sixth picture was taken about three weeks ago. My car was fully packed and ready to go for my move in date at the Residence Housing in Upper East Side. Moving in that Sunday meant not always being in Staten Island and with my family, my church, my friends, and have some independence as long as some responsibility. So far, my new chapter is life has been going swell and I’m looking forward to more city adventures.

The second to last picture for my blog post is a picture of me squishing my beautiful girlfriend’s cheeks. She doesn’t like it as you can tell. Jackie and I have been in the same church since we were both born, despite the fact she lives in New Jersey. However it took us until a church dance performance where she was my dance partner in 2012 to actually talk to each other and we haven’t stopped talking since. She is now a senior in high school and she’s most lovely girl I ever met and not being with her at least once a week is going to be tough but not impossible. We’ve been through worse. This picture was taken the Monday after I moved in a diner in Times Square so that makes her officially my first visitor.

Before I go on and on about my relationship, which by the way has to be hidden from the adults of my church, her parents, and my mother, I’d like to flashback to my kindergarten graduation. I can remember this moment clearly. That hat was on too tight with string around my neck. My tie was a clip-on. The picture was taken by Joel’s dad in the most vintage camera known to man. However, I love this picture and not just because I was so cute. This picture humbles me and reminds me no matter what life throws at you, life is simple and you are never given too much you can’t handle.

I often sit in my classes and I do not really talk to anyone besides a few people. Not that many people know that I am more than just the quiet, possibly meek, guy in the back of Freshman Seminar-and all the other classes we may share. But how would they know more than that? I mean all I really do is walk in, sit down and do what the teachers tell me to do. I might take some notes, maybe make some small talk with whoever may be seated next to me, but when class ends, that’s pretty much it. 

It’s doubtful that anyone in Freshman Seminar would know that I can actually be pretty funny and weird. I probably have a serious, maybe even spaced out look on my face in every class I’m in. Therefore, it would be hard for someone to know that I have a sense of humor; I mean I used Britney Spears as the subject for all the pictures in my slideshow. (Just a side-note: I obviously used her for a reason since she is probably my favorite entertainer of all time and I have been a diehard fan since elementary school. To be honest, I’m not even the slightest bit shy about it.) 

Anyhow, I didn’t use these pictures of Britney for just fun. Each photo aims to convey the feelings I have felt throughout these first couple days here at Baruch and possibly some of the faces I have made throughout this first week. Walking in, I was extremely skeptical of everything about everything and anything associated with the school. I had never really imagined myself here and I thought I wasn’t going to enjoy it. I didn’t think I would like a majority of the students-which is really bad and I should not have been that judgmental-and I didn’t think the classes would be challenging enough for me. Coming from a college prep high school, I didn’t think college was going to pose that much of an obstacle for me. But I have come to school everyday and while I may have been somewhat judgmental at first, maybe even a little standoffish towards literally everything, I have this growing optimism within me everyday. Each day I have been pleasantly surprised by the students I have befriended or spoken to, the teachers I have met, the hard classes I have attended, and the overall feeling the school emits. The students are actually kind and I see a lot of people actually care about school. Also the classes are a lot tougher than I thought and they honestly make me scared and nervous but I really do enjoy to be challenged. Quite honestly, I am a lot more excited about what is to come in these next 4 years than I ever thought I would be.

To conclude, I may have deviated a bit from the original prompt but I hope anyone who reads this learns a little bit more about me and I hope you all enjoyed all the Britney I included.

Hello to FRO BRA of 2014! This is where you’ll be posting your blog assignments and sharing your thoughts with your fellow classmates. I hope you enjoy reflecting upon yourself while writing these blogs, as I have during my freshman year. It helped me transition into the person that I am today, opening me up to new people and great adventures.

Enjoy posting, feel free to read one anothers and comment freely! (But be nice ;D)

– Your lovely Peer Mentor, Joanne <3