Freshman Seminar Fall 17 DTG

Author: t.tashmukhamedov

Blog Post #2

10/14/17

Timur Tashmukhamedov

Last week two of my friends and I went to a meeting for the Soccer Club at Baruch. The meeting was pretty interesting. We got there a few minutes late and took our seats. We actually couldn’t all get seats next to each other because the room was pretty full. They were actually serving food and drinks at the meeting, so that was nice. The first thing they did since we got there was have a soccer trivia game. The winner of the game would win a prize. They asked 10 questions about different random soccer facts. I actually raised my hand because I knew the answer to one of them but I raised my hand so quickly and was so excited to answer the question that I blurted out the wrong answer. It was pretty embarrassing because the question was about my favorite team and the enthusiasm with which I was ready to answer the question would make you think that there was no way that I would get it wrong. Soon after, the trivia game ended and the winner got a pair of Nike shinguards. The next thing we did at the meeting was have a juggling contest. Whoever could kick the ball up in the air the most number of times without letting the ball touch the ground would also win a prize. At least 10 different people tried the challenge, including me. When it was my turn to go I was nervous so I messed up my flick up and the ball went too far away from me on my fourth kick and I failed. That was also pretty embarrassing because, on a soccer field, I’m normally pretty decent at juggling a ball. The winner of the contest kicked the ball up in the air 54 times, higher than anyone else could manage. After the juggling contest was over, the club leaders explained the details of the Baruch intramural indoor soccer league to everyone. After the details were explained, the meeting was over. One of my friends and I were very excited about this league and we went online and joined a team as soon as the meeting was over. Our first game is next Thursday and I’m super excited to play!

Writing Center Workshop

9/12/17

Timur Tashmukhamedov

Today, there was a Baruch Writing Center workshop held during my English class. Carin from the Writing Center came and showed us the significance of comparing and contrasting. She began by showing us a Venn diagram, the quintessential compare and contrast tool. After that, she handed us a pair of ads from the famous sportswear brand, Nike. One of the ads was targeted towards women and one towards men. The one targeted towards women portrayed a woman’s gluteal area and had a piece of text next to it talking about why it is okay for women to have a big butt. The one targeted towards men portrayed NBA star Kobe Bryant and had the simple slogan of “Prepare For Combat” next to him, with “Nikebasketball.com” written underneath the slogan and a short quote by Bryant in the bottom right corner of the ad. We were told to fill in a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the two ads and then we shared what we wrote. Next, Carin handed out an ad by Dove body care products. This ad portrayed 6 women dressed in white underwear and said something along the lines of “For women with real curves”. This time we had to compare and contrast the Dove ad with the women’s Nike ad, again using the Venn diagram. At the end of the session, we discussed how creating those Venn diagrams and finding the similarities and differences in such seemingly simple advertisements could help us develop a thesis statement for an essay about the ads. We came up with ideas for essays about women being objectified and women’s body image issues. This workshop was very helpful because it opened up my mind and made me realize how easy it is to find something to write about and come up with a thesis statement about something. I look forward to working with the Writing Center again in the future, perhaps to help me complete some of the assignments for my current courses.