I’m going to start off my post with my family. My brother is someone especially important to me. When we were younger we used to fight a lot but all of that has died down and now we’re civil human beings. We’re really close for siblings

These are my church friends. I’ve grown up with them over the course of the last 5 years. They’re the people who have seen me at my worst and at my best. They are continually supporting me (and vice versa). They’re family.  Religion is very important to me, it’s something that I hold really close to my heart.

My schools friends. I met them all freshman year of high school, and they’re all still with me now. We’re all going to different colleges but we still keep in contact. Seriously these are the people that I can see myself talking with for the next 20 years and on.

I love living in New York. I was born in NY, but growing up I moved around a lot. My last move to NY halfway through the 6th grade was my 8th move. And of all the places, NY is my favorite place to live. I love how accessible everything is and the independence that I get from the train and the bus system. I would not want to live anywhere else. This was taken from Brooklyn!

This summer my brother and I went on a mission trip to innner-city Philadelphia. This event has given me a lot to think about and has changed my perspective volunteer work and how often I should do it. It’s now going to be a yearly thing between my brother and I.

This is my We The People team! A big part of my high school career was my competition teams. I was on 4 different debate teams and those really set the course of my reasoning skills, thinking skills, public speaking, and even what I want to study in college. My major is Political Science/Public Affairs. It’s because of these teams that I found out what I was passionate about.

Music, I like it. This is a concert that I went to (New Heights and Clara C)

Food, I like food too. I like all types of food. But I really cannot stand the taste of raspberry ): This was at Caffeine Fix in Queens

The ten minute playlist described in this post essentially strips several raw emotions and power feelings that I’ve experienced and describes a complex situation, then binds them together song by song, with each song portraying some mental state that I’ve experienced at a certain point during my life.  The first song is Bobby McFerrin’s classic : “Don’t Worry Be Happy”. It emerges from my adolescence, as a song that my father once showed me before starting high school when I first moved from the city to Long Island, before I made friends. To this day whenever I feel troubled, I push play and listen to it on repeat. Next comes Mike Posner’s “Cooler Than Me”, which represents when I first started listening to music. More specifically, radio music–the paradigm of music I listened to before 9th grade. I would spend late nights abusing the replay button on YouTube just listening to “Cooler Than Me”. Kendrick Lamar’s “Swimming Pools” theme is centered around peer pressure. This song came out in 11th grade, my goal was to focus on studying however, there were a lot of distractions, friends who wanted me to hangout with them. Drake’s “Hold On, We’re Going Home” has no specific emotion, or situation described, instead it describes a time period–the beginning of 12th grade. My friends would play this song all the time in their cars, and I would think of this one girl whenever it would come on. “Feel so Close”, “Luper” and “Answer” describes my strange feelings for this one girl. These songs describe the transition from asking the girl to notice me–to me going out on dates with her. Kaskade’s “Atmosphere” deals with how I was always doubting her feelings for me–but by the end of this period I became much less insecure!  “Lullabies (Adventure Club Remix)” describes my growing love for EDM music especially the culture surrounding it. Finally, Dada Life’s “Kick out the epic motherf*cker” became a classic go to song. Whenever I hang out with my friends, or whenever I’m with them in the car, or when I get ready to do something mentally taxing, this song starts to play in my head continuously.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4ztkxHKlf4NzfkbLzWg9-h2mt76RbmSN

My best friends are the greatest people I know and they all mean so much to me. Having people to go to when I’m upset or just want to talk is something that I’m so grateful to have in them. I’m so lucky to have met my best friend in high school and know that we will be friends for a long time.

Dancing has been something that has been in my life since I was four. It is the thing that I am most passionate about in life. Dance has been an escape for me through the most stressful times. Although I am currently not dancing, I still love it just as much and hope to start again soon.

Coming  from a huge Italian family, the place that I want to visit the most is Italy. To see where my family originated and experience the culture would be so interesting to me and I plan to go to Italy at least once in my lifetime. The food, the places and the people would be so cool to experience.

Laughing is one of my favorite things and I find anything and everything funny to a point where my friends say it’s annoying. I also think that making people laugh is one of the most satisfying things.

I love going on vacations, especially to Turks & Caicos. I went there for the first time over the summer and it was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. Just relaxing and spending time with my family is the best thing about going away.

Music is also another really important part of my life. I have always been surrounded by music when I grew up so I always have music playing no matter what. I love all kinds of music but Ed Sheeran is my favorite artist. I always turn to music when I’m feeling any kind of extreme emotions.

My family means everything to me and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without them. They all have a special place in my heart, but my brother is definitely more than just a brother, he is my best friend. I know I can go to him for anything and he will always help me when I need it. He has taught me so much and is definitely one of my inspirations.

I have a really strong interest in makeup and I hope that I can get a job in the industry. My dad works for Estee Lauder, so I have been surrounded by makeup ever since I was little and I love playing around with it. I am really passionate about it and it’s definitely something that I want to pursue a career in the makeup business.

.

Link Here: Amanda’s Playlist

“Welcome to Forever” is at the top of my playlist because it’s my favorite song of all time. My favorite lines are “This is dedicated to anyone with a dream/And a realization of what following it means/Breaking the cycle and not following your genes/That perfect moment when your logic intervenes”. These lyrics define who I am because they manage to encompass my views on life, emphasizing what it means to keep moving forward and not let your current setbacks prevent you from pursuing your dreams.  In other words, an overarching theme of my playlist is the idea of being limitless and knowing that you can make it through hard times, as long as you keep yourself open to many possibilities and opportunities. Another upbeat song similar to this on my playlist is “Hall of Fame”.

“Inner Life of a Cell” is from a video that I had to watch for my biology class as a freshman back at Stuyvesant. That one video piqued my interest in microbiology and I remember that period of time was when I decided I genuinely loved learning about the inner workings of living organisms and the scientific world around us. Whenever I think back on that biology class (one of my favorites in high school) I associate it with this piano song. I ended up choosing biology classes (Molecular Human Genetics, Human Diseases/Pathophysiology, and Medical Diagnosis) as my electives later on.

“Waves” is a song I listen to on days where I’m tired and I feel like I’m not completely living in the moment. The beat is refreshing and I feel more energetic with this song playing in the background as I run errands. This also applies to Tiesto’s remix of “All of Me”.

“Read All About It” is a meaningful song that I discovered through a very powerful dance performance that was aired on Britain’s Got Talent (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01KLX5BRpeo). I’m a dancer so this naturally intrigued me. The lyrics are about gathering up the courage to face your feelings and being brave enough to finally express them, while the choreography was about the life of a U.S soldier and the sacrifices this job entails.

“I Got You” and “Gone, Gone, Gone” are songs about continuing to care for a close friend, even after a fallout or after going through a rough patch with them, which I relate to.

“The Lucky One” addresses the way people often think others have the perfect lives when in reality, it’s just an illusion. I think we all have our own set of problems, but it’s a matter of whether we choose to keep it private or allow it to go public. Because we tend to only publicize our positive, happy experiences on social media, everyone ultimately ends up comparing their real lives to other people’s filtered lives. As a result, we feel like we’re less well off than the rest of our social circles. I find this to be an interesting phenomenon, because it’s one of the less conspicuous ways that modern technology can have a negative impact on our lives. Social media is so superficial and at times even stifling, yet it’s something we can no longer live without if we want a complete social life.

Finally, “Unwritten” is the first song I downloaded onto my iPod nano in the seventh grade, and it was my favorite for so long that I think this playlist wouldn’t quite define me without it, just because of the nostalgia that comes along with it. Everything was easier at that age and I remember all the “problems” that I was going through when I came to this song for consolation. In retrospect, they’re so silly, and I’m glad I can laugh about them now.

(http://bamrin.com/?page_id=26)

Family is one of the most important things to me. My family consists of my parents and my twin brothers who are all loud Dominicans. I owe the world to my parents who have sacrificed a lot to get me to where I am today. My little brothers who are a huge pain are also people who I would fight tooth and nail for. My mom will forever be one of my best friends and someone who I can trust till the end and my father a caring sensitive man who has the best humor out there. Without them I would be nothing. I would’ve inserted pictures of them but they didn’t want me to, so yeah. I also have a goddaughter who is the cutest cutie to ever cute. She is my world and I adore her.

(http://lifeisabeautifulstruggle.tumblr.com/page/3)

My best friend’s name is Gabbie (she goes to Baruch too). Our friendship has been through a lot and we’ve been there for each other through all of it. We balance each other out perfectly. We love laughing at each other and being there for one another. She’s more of a sister than a best friend.

This is my AC, my AC is bae. Since I am perpetually feeling hot my AC is always there to make sure I don’t die of a heatstroke.

(http://www.pinterest.com/pin/66287425739253483/)

(http://www.pinterest.com/pin/179510735121108297/)

This is Chandler from F.R.I.E.N.D.S  and he is hilarious. I feel like his personality matches mine almost at least 90%. Chandler’s very sarcastic and can be extremely awkward depending on the situation. He has a really funny sense of humor and is usually the one to make the other friends laugh if they’re having a rough time. I’m like this most of the time; sometimes awkward, totally sarcastic and 100% there for my friends. (If you guys have never seen F.R.I.E.N.D.S you’re totally missing out.)

(http://inspirationfeed.com/inspiration/industrial-inspiration/50-unique-and-unconventional-bookcase-designs/)

Books are one of my greatest passions. I own quite a few books, I haven’t counted them all but definitely more than fifty. Buy me books and we’ll be friends forever. Reading is amazing, it’s the ability to step into someone else’s reality and become someone else. With all the different genres out there the possibilities are endless as to what or who’s reality you can enter.

(http://www.neoformix.com/2010/AppleLogoFromProducts.html)

Technology is a part of my life. I own a Macbook and an iPhone which are both apple products. And let me tell you, they are amazing. It feels really great to be able to have a handy laptop to get most of my work finished and it’s totally reliable.

(http://www.simplepastimes.com/pd-colourful-candy-1000-piece-puzzle-by-cobble-hill.cfm)

Candy is the solution to all the problems, all of them. You give me candy and it’ll help make my day become just a little better. But beware, my hyper levels shoot up into the thousands when I eat candy.

(http://www.psmag.com/blogs/news-blog/want-quick-accurate-thinking-ask-musician-66844/)

Now let’s not get confused, I am in no way artistically inclined. However, music is one of the greatest escapes (besides books). I love listening to music whether I’m upset, angry, or happy. My tastes range, I’ll listen to anything as long as it sounds good to my ears. Right now I’m obsessed with Sia (listen to her you won’t regret it) and John Newman (legit tears he has the voice of a soulful angel). If I knew how to sing and dance believe me I would do it, but I wouldn’t want to mentally/emotionally scar anyone.

(http://travel.aol.com/off-the-beaten-path/healthy-gas-station-snacks/)

One more thing, I love string cheese. I love cheese in general. Cheese is great.

My family speaks to who I am. I was never one to think that blood was thicker than water. Therefore, I have a strict definition of what family means to me.  In my humble opinion, family is not just someone related to you by blood. Your family are the few or many persons that love you unconditionally. They don’t only show up when the chips are stacked, but when the chips are against you as well. They love you even in the times where you are not very loveable. Fortunately, my immediate family and a few friends of mine fit this definition to a tee. They have all played a part in shaping me into the person I am today and into the person I am becoming.

Activism speaks to who I am. As of this year, I made a pact to myself to not say silent when wrongdoings occur. I had chosen ignorance by not educating myself about what’s going on in the world because it was mostly horrible and ignorance is bliss. Recently I went to a protest regarding Mike Brown and it changed my life. I always had this passion to help people, this passion to help the underdog but I never knew what I could do. Just being at that protest allowed me the privilege of hearing so many inspirational voices. It inspired me to one day work towards being the Martin Luther King or the Malcolm X of our generation.

Laughter speaks to who I am. I completely concur when it is said that “laughter is the best medicine.” I love to laugh and I love to make people laugh as well. It’s almost therapeutic to laugh until you crying so hard you can’t breathe and you need to run to the bathroom afterwards. I make it a point to try and make everyone I meet laugh, even if just for a little.

Education at home speaks to who I am. Education in school is great but I strongly believe that you’re taught the most useful things at home. Thankfully my parents have done a great job at educating me at home. They taught me things that are never taught in school like how to avoid conmen or how to recover after a death, etc.

Writing speaks to who I am. Writing is very therapeutic for me. I may not be the most creative or the most grammatically correct writer but just getting my thoughts down on paper helps me even in the slightest bit.

Reading speaks to who I am. I love to read all types of books especially poetry. Books allow me to enter a alternate universe and live life through another persons shoes. One of the easiest ways to open your mind is through reading.

Feminism speaks to who I am. I believe in the equality of the sexes economically, socially and politically. I try to do everything I can to uplift my fellow women and to educate people on the feminist movement.

Last but definitely not least, Slayonce speaks to who I am. I try not to idolize anyone but if there is one person that I look up to, besides my parents, it’s Mrs. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.  She is not only hugely successful business wise, but she also gives back to the less fortunate and she is a feminist like myself.