On Friday, October 9th, I went to the American Museum of Natural History after a week of planning and scheduling and canceling, with my friend Maggie. We lined up quick for our last class and left as soon as possible to get there on time. Part of the reason why I went there was to do my field assignment for my ENV class, but I also had a different motive. I wanted to see the Titanosaur, the 122-foot-long dinosaur. However. as time was ticking, we had to finish our field assignment first. First, we had to go to the Hall of biodiversity and the Felix M. Warburg Hall of New York State Environment. I’ll admit that we got a little lost. After questioning a random passerby, we managed to find our way. As the tedious lab questions dragged on and the answers to them played hide-and-seek, we began to lose our patience to frustration and anger. After attempting to describe the answers from the many signs. we decided to take a break. Eventually we got ourselves together and managed to finish our field assignment.
Personally, I would never come back to the AMNH unless its for leisure and only if I manage to get there early. Although I found the museum to be interesting, the fact that I had to answer questions about it made it annoying. However, it wasn’t all terrible. Maggie and I passed the meteorites and gems on our way to the dinosaurs, and we stopped to take a break in them. We had a small discussion on the different types of jade and their value. Honestly, I would have had so much more fun and learned so much more if I went to the AMNH by my own free will. I would have been more carefree and willing to read all the tiny blocks of text on the wall. At least I finished my assignment.
Baruch held its annual Study Abroad Fair on September 14th. I have always entertained the idea of studying in another country.There is a plethora of opportunities to grow as an individual. Think about it, by studying abroad we are pushed out of our comfort zone. We have to experience a new culture and language. As young men and women, we are able to experience diversity firsthand. Furthermore, this allows us to appreciate difference, as a good thing. A completely new environment, new education system. As I made my way to each college info desk. The students who were explaining about the colleges, were actually students there. They just so happen to be studying abroad at Baruch for a semester. This was great because their experiences are very genuine. They told us what they did for school as well as their social life. For the most part, every student would rather talk about the social life than academics. They always mentioned how there is parties everyday. There is a variety of nightclubs that are very easy on a student’s wallet. The most interesting thing that various students pointed out about their college is that there courses are relatively easy. Easy in the sense that attendance is not mandatory. The grade for the course is based on the midterm and final. Homework is pretty much non-existent. In order to help the students studying abroad from America, the college would offer courses in English making the assimilation process, much easier. Henceforth, I am very excited of the idea to study abroad. The decision to pick a city is difficult, since the options are endless. The good thing is that I still have some time to make a decision.
On Saturday I made a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I am not a talented painter nor a sculptor, but I absolutely love art. Although, I found the Met to be more than a collection of art; it was a way to learn about history by analyzing the historical context of the art or exhibit. There were more than just paintings, but accessories, musical instruments, clothing, and architecture from all over the world! Honestly, I cannot even think of the right words to express my excitement. For those who know me personally, they know that I was experiencing heaven on earth — I am a history nerd.
This past Friday I went to the Brooklyn Museum. I have been going to this museum for as long I can remember. Whenever I have an assignment to do it is my go to, but not just because it is easy to get to. Every time I visit there seems to be a new exhibit that I have not seen before. This time I walked right into the first exhibit that I saw, “The Legacy of Lynching.” The exhibit contained various examples of injustices that occurred in the past. I didn’t have time to look at everything so I skimmed the exhibit to see what stuck out. I stopped by a video of a man that was in jail for thirteen years. I had missed what the crime was but the important thing was that the man stayed in jail or that long only because the court had refuse to re-examine bullets that would hav been proven to not have been his and rendered him innocent. It was later determined that the man was innocent and the judge who had sentenced him was racist, but the man had already served the time. After that I walked around reading quotes and looking at pictures. The thing that caught my attention the most was a quote by Bryan Stevenson that said “Slavery didn’t end in 1865. It evolved.” This surprised me. I already knew that, my family had said the same thing before and I recognized it, but it surprised me to find a public institution echoing the same thing. You always. Hear people say similar things but you never really see a public institution or company taking the risk to say the same thing. Now I’m not saying that thing aren’t better. My life is pretty good and I don’t walk around worrying about getting lynched. That being said the difference between slavery in the past and today is just that today it is more mind game or chess game. For instance in th job world today you can’t be denied a job because off race, but a boss may sneakily give you extra work or not really pay attention to you for a promotion for some miscellaneous reason. The point is that silvery today means that you can’t be whipped but you damn well mentally and socially be beaten. The museum visit wasn’t really fun. It was just validating.
