A piece of Charlie Chaplin speech “The Great Dictator Speech”:

 

I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone – if possible – Jew, Gentile – black man – white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness – not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost….

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men – cries out for universal brotherhood – for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world – millions of despairing men, women, and little children – victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me, I say – do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed – the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. …..

Jaya Hamilton

October 23^rd, 2017

Relax

 

Exams, Papers, homework, readings, quizzes

Check blackboard, check CUNYfirst, and check your emails

Daily routines can easily turn into cycles

Deadlines will always exist and when you think you completed one task, you secretly know that there is more just waiting to be finished

Just know that these deadlines will always exist

But through it all find time for you

Watch that movie, work out, and find time for your friends because there will come a time when you wished you can go back and change the decisions you made at that moment

Yes, you should be on top of your work, making sure you don’t fall behind

Because there is nothing worse than feeling overwhelmed and flustered

But always know, that you are your number 1 priority

No one understands your strengths and weaknesses like you do

And you don’t have to explain them to everyone

Your daily routines can feel like a cycle

So find that special thing that will help to ease the sluggish and exhausted feeling you may have at the end of the day

Something that will start your day on a better note than the day before

Whatever it is make sure you are maintaining a balance that works for you

We may all say that we are really busy but we always manage to find time for the things we find valuable to us

Standing on the rocks watching the waves crashing down

How irresponsible they are to just go wherever they want to go

What does it all mean?

What does it stand for?

My thoughts go round and round and I realize that sometimes my thoughts come crashing down just the same

I look at the stars on this clear night

The vast openness of simple nothingness that we call space

A galaxy full of wonders, and I’m a spec of dust

What does it all mean?

What does it stand for?

I turn one way and see the couples walking hand in hand

How they look at each other and share their dreams with their eyes

A simple touch a quiet stare

What does it all mean?

What does it stands for?

I turn the other way and see the dark of the night and wonder

What am I doing here and what will I become?

Have I been a good person who has earned the right to ask for things?

Or am I irresponsible like the waves and think I can go and do whatever I want?

Or can I be the wave that stands tall, carrying life on my shoulders without crashing down?

Can I be so Responsible?

I walk in front of the building and look up.

The sign says Darul Jannah.

I walk in; it’s 10:00

Right on the dot

I look for my students, and they’re still not here.

It’s 10:10 the five troublesome students walk in.

They take out their work to complete

10 minutes later

They’re still talking and not listening to me.

One takes out his phone and starts using it.

I remember last week his dad said to use force if he doesn’t listen.

I gave him a warning.

Then grabbed his phone.

He lets go, and I fall back along with the chair.

20 minutes later

Another one pulls an e-cig out.

He stares at me straight while puffing the smoke in my direction.

I gave him a warning.

Then grabbed the e-cig.

He lets go, but I don’t fall.

The Same trick won’t work on me twice.

2 Hours later

They all leave and it’s finally done

I have always had a tremendous passion for sports. When there is a ball and a game in progress, I am there

Whether it is basketball, hockey, football, baseball, golf or tennis, I enjoy each sport each and every time I play

I have always liked one more than the other….. that is hockey

I grew up playing all sports but I have excelled in one

I don’t know what it is. The adrenalin pumping, the competition aspect of the game, and of course…. the actual fun involved in the sport itself. There is nothing like it in the world

I have always been a competitive person for good and bad

Hockey has always brought out my best attributes as a person

The sport is aggressive but that is not how I chose to play

My aggressive side is not brought out as much as my competitive side and I play along the rules because I like to be the best on the rink under the fairest circumstances

Hockey gets chippy therefore aggressive play is inevitable, aggressive does not mean dirty, that is crucial to know……

Sports always help me let off steam from a bad day

A fight with a friend or relative, a bad grade on a test, or even just those bad days that everyone has, hockey has always been right by my side to help me get through my struggles

 

 

 

Sasha Kundin

Freshman Seminar

10/20/17

Monologue

Curves

the curve of a liquid shaping a cup the first few seconds of pouring it in

there is nothing more satisfying than curves I thought

as I watched it slide down the cup

  so perfectly

there is nothing more satisfying than curves she thought

the curve of each letter of each word

so perfectly

filling up pages and pages of love letters, post cards, margins of notebooks

Trying to find myself in other people

the curve of each letter of each word

the curve of my nose ring, I have to be constantly changing

Ill change my skin with my tattoos, ill dye my hair over 20 times

My friends pierce my ears when we’re bored

The curve of my nose ring, I have to be constantly changing

having a heavy belief in universal forces observing the curves of the rings around saturn

trying to embrace it for the first time

Because I used to blame everything and everyone but myself

Trying to embrace it for the first time

Embrace the curves of leaves on trees when I walk down my block

Take a breath let air fill up my lungs

Appreciate the curve of my cats ears, how to love the little things

as I watched it slide down the cup

following the curve of the vicious cycle of bad habits and self destruction

Thinking of my 16 year old self, losing herself in substance like everyone else did

Just to forget a little bit, I watch her pick up a bottle

the curve of a liquid shaping a cup the first few seconds of pouring it in

During the summer I was sitting with two of my friends on Broadway eating lunch. Somehow, the topic of traffic in Manhattan came up. We decided that the only way to absolve Manhattan of its traffic problem was to completely disallow passenger cars in the city. Of course emergency vehicles would be allowed, but also taxis would be allowed for people who really need a car.

The main form of transportation would be the subway system but other alternatives would be:

1. citi bikes – sometimes faster than cars, very efficient, affordable and good for exercise
2. Walking or Jogging – good exercise

The only major problems we could think of were:

1. Getting from New Jersey to Queens by car – You would have to go all the way around Manhattan through Brooklyn and staten Island. A possible solution would be a bridge that stretched across the width of Manhattan connecting queens to New Jersey
2. Another problem would be that that the entire car industry would tank, especially the parking lots in the city.

In the end there are many benefits of curing Manhattan of its traffic problem but also problems that outweigh the convenience of a trafficless city.

I check my phone 7:44- No reply

7:45- Nothing

7:55- I really need to stop this and focus on my homework.

Ring!

My heart drops.

I quickly pick up my phone to read a notification! From.. “The Wall Street Journal..

*Sigh.

Disappointed, I grudgingly pick up my pencil again wondering why I’m even subscribed to the Wall Street Journal; I don’t read the news.

Finally, when I give up on waiting for you to reply, assume you’ve died, and host a funeral for you in my head

You reply.

With “L-O-L”

I don’t know how my paragraph long message could be possibly answered with a single word- not even a full word but a three letter acronym

and the 50:1 ratio of my messages to yours is super depressing

But this is still better than nothing so I can’t help but smile like a fool and start planning out our wedding again.

I know I should play hard to get but I can’t fight the urge to text back right away.

If I spent this much energy on my schoolwork, I would be valedictorian.

I rant to my friends but by this point, they’ve had it with my stupidity.

“Omg drop him. He’s not worth it.” They say

I really should get over you.

But then again I should also stop eating ice cream for breakfast.

I guess you’re just like the millions of health problems I have to live with. 

It would be nice to be able to travel back to when it was just me, my family, and good times. There was no overthinking. No constant “bad choices” I’d face. The worst choice I could make was to not eat my vegetables. I was, for the most part, your typical kid, and man its good to be a kid. My dad told me that I was my own hero, and that nothing could stop me, and I truly believed him. As I began to grow up I realized that I had too many barriers to do what I wanted, so I may as well settle for mediocre…but that’s not true. If at one point I believed that I could do anything, then why undermine myself now? If playing the hero as a kid taught me anything, it was that I have to figure out how to use my demons to make myself prosper. To use the cruel words I’ve buried in my head to push harder and prove to myself that I can do anything. I’ve always thought I knew how to welcome change, but now I am learning to truly embrace change. To be brave, take hold of the wheel and use that change to power my engine, not slow it down. I can’t give up. I can’t let myself be consumed by something and let it take all control to the point where I can’t believe in reaching my full potential. I’m strong enough to keep pushing through anything, no doubt about it. The strength I have today I will carry with me forever. I must strive for my goals each and every day. What can I do now? What can I fix now? What can I change now? Everything. My mind is the most powerful tool and it’s answer is everything. I want to feel the satisfaction and peace that comes from loving life. My family needs to benefit from my existence, my knowledge, my heart today. I need to fix my impatience as of this moment. Not tomorrow, or the next day. My regrets will become my lessons, and my focus will no longer be on re-doing something I simply have no power in changing anymore. If I’ve been approaching conflicts, or even life the wrong way, I need to reevaluate my strategy. I can’t change the past, and the future isn’t guaranteed, but I can choose my next move. That is my choice, and no one else’s. Now is my time to take life by the horns. Now is my time to Live.

Alright so I’m gonna talk about a dream that I will probably always remember because at that time it was very very scary for me. So like when I was 5 years old, I go to jersey for the summer so across the street to my jersey house they have a huge dog and it was very scary to me like i would look out my window and see the dog randomly going crazy in my backyard at random times.   One time it even got into my house I don’t know house but it was roaming my house by himself and no one wanted to get him out because he is crazy. Ok so back to my dream, i was in my cousins house and she has two beds in a room and we used to jump from bed to bed someone always got hurt. So the dream was me and my cousins jumping from bed to bed and all of the sudden the dog came in and it looked like it was on steroids and had crazy teeth so we had to jump from bed to bed to avoided the beast and it was just mad scary.