Month: October 2017

For my second blog post I decided to got to the Museum of Mathematics. The main reason I chose this museum was because of its proximity to Baruch, being only a 5 minute walk away. Being that math has always been my achilles heal in school I wasn’t expecting to have a good time. As I walked in to the museum I was expecting my visit to be free but as it turns out, the school ID isn’t as magical as it seems as I still had to shell out 11 dollars. At this point I was a bit upset because not only was I somewhere I didn’t really want to be but I also had to pay to be there. I began to look around at the various exhibits in the museum and realized that this museum had two floors and over 20 exhibits. The first exhibit on my right was an exhibit about number lines. My brain instantly thought, “skip” but I decided to wander in just in case there was something worth seeing. As it turns out the exhibit explained in simplicity exactly what number lines are and what their practical life application is. The next exhibit I looked at was actually pretty cool. Basically every visitor can design their own shape virtually, and if the shape is unique enough, it is selected to be 3d printed and put on display. My design was an 18 sided die but unfortunately it wasn’t selected to be displayed. After I finished my attempt at a cool shape I realized that I had been working on it for almost an hour and that it was time for me to leave. I guess I kind of had fun in the end, but I still wouldn’t go back.

During my class break on Thursday, i got to visit the gym center in Baruch. I really enjoy spending time in the gym because it helps me to relieve stress and I find myself not thinking about school or any other activities during my workout. When I went down to the gym I noticed the huge variety of equipment, from stair climbers to treadmills. Additionally, there was equipment for upper body as well, I got a chance to work on my shoulders and arms, then I switched off to running and ran around 6 miles, while I run I like to listen to music or simply just think to myself about whatever comes to my mind, that time I was listening to music. I also met James who suggested me a workout plan, he broke down the days in a week I should spend on my legs, my upper body, and overall cardio. Overall, I really enjoyed my trip to the Baruch health and fitness center and will be looking forward to coming back there whenever I have free time. Next time I am hoping to visit the handball court or a swimming pool, I find it amazing that there are so many different activities provided for the students. (200 words)

Although most museums don’t seem that interesting the Met has a lot of different exhibits to offer, it is sure to have an exhibit for everybody’s interests. The Met has art pieces from many different time periods and eras. You can see contemporary art, or ancient statues of former rulers of ancient civilizations. When walking through the different exhibits you are able to see different cultures expressed their beliefs through art, and how a cultures art changed over time. The exhibit that I explored was Cristobal De Villalpando Mexican painter of Baroque. Most of Cristobal’s art focused around Christian bible stories, and how he interpreted them through art. One of the most interesting pieces in the exhibit was a huge painting showing Moses and the brazen serpent, and the Transfiguration of Jesus. These two images showed a juxtaposition of the Old and New Testament. The exhibit on a whole allowed me to see how a artist interpreted the bible hundreds of years ago. Exploring this exhibition allowed me to see the paintings of one of Mexico’s most accomplished artists, and to explore Mexican culture which I have little experience with. I’m glad one of our options for our blog post was to go to a museum, because it forced me to explore something that I didn’t have much interest in but ended up learning a lot about cultures unfamiliar to me through art.

For my second blog post I took a trip to the Museum of Modern Art and viewed the “Is Fashion Modern?” Exhibition. This was my first trip to the MoMA that I can remember and I thought it would’ve have been one of the most experiences I would ever have but surprisingly it wasn’t. When I heard the title of the exhibition, “Is Fashion Modern?”, I assumed it would primarily be about old timey clothes and what they meant to the people who wore them. But instead the exhibition featured mostly pieces of  clothing that are still worn today. The exhibition featured items like Yohji Yamamoto (y-3) pieces, a simple white t-shirt, yoga pants, a Bruce Lee tracksuit and sports jerseys. Some of the more interesting items in the exhibition were the three pairs of Air force 1’s, which I learned have been released in 2000+ cololrways, and a set of bandanas on display,I was unaware of how much the meaning behind simple Bandanas has changed throughout history. Another cool thing at the museum was this t-shirt creator that was on display. My trip to the MoMA wasn’t what I expected it to be. I expected myself to bored the whole time when instead I was actually intrigued by what the exhibition had to offer.

This past Friday, I was able to convince some friends to go back into the city with me and entertain me while i filled the requirement for my FRO class, but the museum ended up being far more entertaining than expected. Everything there, whether it was a part of an exhibit or not, was eye catching. One of the areas, that was probably my favorite, was the room with the dinosaur fossils, which i ended up buying a souvenir from! Dinosaurs are something that we usually just hear about in movies, television, or through random conversation, but actually being face-to-face with something so inexplicably big makes you think. Talking about big animals, the famous blue whale model hanging in the ocean hall of the museum was so huge that it dragged any attention of the room towards itself. My friends and i split up in this room, quietly taking pictures and admiring certain parts of the exhibit on our own. We also paid for the mummy exhibit, which my friends made me rush through so the most i got out of my money for the special mummy exhibit was a few captions and sight of some clay pots. Towards the end of our touristy antics, we were in in the exhibit with North American animals. This part of the museum was breathtaking. It was while the museum was about to close, since they close so early, so we we were basically in the exhibit by ourselves with the exception of a couple photographers. It was super quiet, and we enjoyed every minute of it up until the automated message on the museum loud speaker told us it was time to leave. All in all i hope to go back, because spending under three hours in such a large museum is wasteful.

Here in this meet and greet, I was able to learn more about my scholarship and meet new people. Some snacks were available at the end but I was much more concerned about the situation we were facing in our community. As most of you may know, President Trump has ended DACA, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and with this no longer available to us, it makes things much harder to do. Simple things, like getting a job or continuing our education, are no longer so attainable for us which is why this deferred action means so much to us. During this meeting we were given some information about what we could do to extend our deadlines, and we were shown much support from the rest of the staff there. The presentation itself was very informing and I even got to learn some things about my scholarship that I have previously not known about. I was also lucky enough to meet other Dreamers and know that I am not alone in this situation. I hope I can create a lasting bond with these people and show them my gratitude for what they have done for us, and I will be looking forward to participating in more events concerned around this matter.

 

When I went to the met I saw a variety of exhibits they had to offer. They had an exhibit of ancient artifacts that were all in a glass case. The museum had statues and head sculptures from the times of ancient Greece. These statues were aged to the point where some of the noses had fallen off the heads. The Egyptian and African style art had more of a patterned based style and was more colorful as well as detailed. The  Egyptian and African art used more brown orange and red. They also incorporated ancient Egyptian symbols within some of the work. After this I was in the oil painting sections which was my personal favorite. One section had paintings that had more of a straight forward and in detail depiction of what it was supposed to be. The other ones were more of a modern art style incorporating more shapes and vibrant colors. In the pieces from the 20th century (especially the second half) I felt that it was more interpretive and the pieces were created to make someone think and often have someone come up with their own meaning for it. It was interesting to not just look at but also learn about the pieces and artist through reading the description.

Last week I decided to visit the school’s writing center. I had an essay due for my Great Works of Literature class so I wanted to receive feedback on my writing. When I first entered the writing center, I was welcomed by a student who worked for the center. She told me I had to make an account with the center. She kindly explained all the necessary steps and guided me throughout the process. After, she told me how I was able to schedule appointments for consultations. When I went to make an appointment for a session, I saw that most of the time slots had been taken. I realized how popular the writing center was and how many students utilize the resources given to them. This made me want to use the writing center even more. When I finally went for my advisement session, I was greeted by a friendly staff who introduced himself as Judah and my writing consultant. Without wasting time, he quickly asked for my writing. I was afraid of showing him my work because I was embarrassed that my writing did not meet college standards. After reviewing my work, Judah complimented me for my efforts at attempting to convey certain ideas. Without discouraging my writing, he kindly gave me feedback on how I could expand my thoughts further in my essay. He also helped me research primary sources that I could add to enhance my work. Furthermore, he eagerly answered all the questions I had for him and explained any misunderstandings I had. Judah seemed passionate about his job and showed enthusiasm for helping students like me. I was so grateful for his help and appreciated his constructive criticisms. I was much more confident in turning in my English essay after my session. Overall, my trip to the writing center was a great experience. I urge all the students to use the resources given to us. I will definitely be going back to the center for my next writing assignments.

For my other requirement I went to the Museum of Natural History. I went with a few friends and I won’t lie about it, it wasn’t that fun. There were a few cool things that I was able to see but that was ruined too because of certain circumstances. There was this cool space timeline show thing that you could go and watch but during the whole presentation people kept walking in from the exit area and ruining my immersion. There was this mummy exhibit that was on the fourth floor and it was the only thing that seemed cool to look at. I get up there and it tells me I have to pay to see dead people in glass boxes. No thank you, rather go to google images for that. I would rather have gone to another museum but most of them needed to be paid and I wanted to see the big skeleton dinosaur fossil thing that was in the movie Night at the Museum. I didn’t get to see that because the museum was so hard to navigate. Wanted to see the Teddy Roosevelt horse statue and relive my childhood but they played me. I even went to the marine life section and there was no water. The exhibits were just painted blue. In MY opinion, museum was not worth the commute. The animal statues were cool though. I saw a really cool tiger and snapped a picture

**Note: For those who may be confused, I use the term Latinx instead of Latino since Latinx is gender-inclusive. The Spanish language is unfortunately structured sexist, but thankfully many members of the Latinx community use the term Latinx now.

Hey everyone! Hope you all enjoyed your long weekend. Latinx or Hispanic Heritage month is probably one of my favorite times of the year. It’s a time for fun cultural festivities, food, embracing our history, and most of all, being able to connect with the Latinx community. It’s also a great time to spread culture awareness about the Latinx community, especially now in the political climate of this country.

We really are so fortunate that we go to a school that promotes such amazing events for Latinx Heritage Month! For those of you who may not know, I’m originally from eastern Long Island. I grew up in a pretty dominant white neighborhood. Growing up I had a very hard time finding things part of my cultural identity, I barely knew anyone else who was Latinx apart from my family members and some people from school. The typical American lifestyle completely washed me away of my browness, the only times I really could be surrounded by my culture was when I visited my home countries.

College was something I always forward to, I wanted to be a part of school with an amazingly diverse campus. Ultimately, one of the reasons why I chose Baruch. Also, upon doing some research on Baruch my senior year, I found out there was the Latin American Student Organization or in short, LASO. I knew that I had to become involved, it would be such a great opportunity to embrace more of my Hispanic heritage. Along with that, meeting other Latinx people and enriching myself through the experience!

This past month, three other Latinas and I prepared to participate in Nuestra Belleza Latina. It’s an event at Baruch held every Hispanic Heritage Month that replicates an actual beauty pageant Nuestra Belleza, in which is exclusively for Latinas from different parts of Latin America to compete.

On October 3rd, the ladies and I represented our own individual countries in front of a panel of judges. The pageant consisted of three portions: talent, questionnaires, and evening wear. As a proud half Nicaraguan, I represented my country of Nicaragua, the largest country in Central America. For my talent, I played guitar while other girls danced, performed a poem in sign language, and even played Despacito on clarinet. We then answered questions pertaining to the Latin American community and our own self identities. I was asked things such as who was my number one latinx inspiration and how did I represent my culture on a everyday basis. Then came our evening wear in which the girls and I dressed in formal outfits, thus concluded the night.

However not only did the audience witness a pageant, we also had invited special guest performers as well. What kind of Latinx event doesn’t have a plethora of food, dancing, and music? Performances such as from the dance coordinator of LASO, Carla, who performed an amazing salsa routine to Celia Cruz’s “Quimbara”. After our questionnaire portion, I was able to go on the floor and dance some merengue with friends (despite the fact that they couldn’t dance, but they had a great time making fools of themselves).

It was an extraordinary night for the members of LASO as well as everyone else who came to watch. I think the best thing about participating in a pageant like this is the fact that all the contestants life myself showed a different aspect on what it was like to be Latina. Our community is so diverse, and we are often subjected to be a certain way by society. However, Nuestra Belleza proves that the beauty of the Latinx community is so diverse. Even as someone who hates being on stage, I had such an amazing time. Being able to celebrate my culture almost gives me a self of confidence. I was pretending to be someone I wasn’t, for once I could embrace my identity because my browness is what makes me beautiful and unique. I encourage you all to keep yourselves socially aware when it comes to any type of heritage or history month! We have such amazing clubs to offer such enriching opportunities. But since Latinx Heritage Month ends in a couple of days, I hope you all make the best out of these last few days and celebrate our culture with us.

Viva la Raza!