Month: September 2017

Honestly, I hate clubs. The fairs are annoying and, to me, partially overly-intrusive. Plus, I went to a high school where being in a club meant getting home after dark, so they were out of my radar. I finally decided to join a club, not to just go to school, work, and leave; and to make new friends as well. I went to the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship meeting on Thursday, mainly because it was something I knew about, being raised in the church. However, I was still nervous as all hell. Not knowing anybody else plus being in the unfamiliar situation of a Christian club translated to me being frankly terrified at the idea of “worlds colliding”.

When I first got there, I thought I was late because there was a lot of people there, in my opinion.  I saw a girl I knew from my high school, and I felt relieved more than anything. At least I knew somebody was there. Initially, you see people talking to each other and they seem to have established groups and it becomes increasingly harder to interject yourself. Therefore, I was very “defensive”, you know? Sit on the side, take stock of the room, don’t speak until spoken to, etc. However, I was surprised after a while of the laid-back atmosphere that was present. I was able to make friends and talk to people who had the same beliefs as I did, had the same general experiences of growing up in church.

I was grateful about the fact that it wasn’t like church, it was somewhere I could hang out, talk normally without any “Christian-ese”. At the meeting, we talked about the idea of fitting in, and the difficulties of finding a place, whether it be in college or at work. There was good food, good atmosphere, good people, not really more I can ask for.

Blog Post for FRO

My name is Isaiah Hinton and one fun fact about me is that I just started to get back into shooting pool.

My prospective major is Computer Information Systems (CIS), specifically in the cybersecurity track.

One aspect of The Book of Unknown Americans that I liked was the author’s ability to seamlessly interject the stories of the other tenets in the building without losing sight of the main story of the Riveras’ journey in America. At some points, it even benefits the story as you discover the motivations of minor characters such as Quisqueya for “exposing” Mayor and Maribel’s relationship to their families.

However, one aspect of The Book of Unknown Americans that I disliked was Mayor’s character development throughout the novel. I felt that at the beginning, Mayor was a timid, meek character who had no power or influence in his family dynamic. Because of this, he looked for a sense of power wherever he could; he selfishly found it in Maribel. He went so far as to sneak her out of school and endangering her so she could see the snow and make out with her. Mayor’s new-found “power” led to the chain-reaction which ended with Arturo’s death.

Korin Gallardo
Fun Fact: I play basketball, and have been playing since I was 9.

Perspective Major: Business Communications

The Book of Unknown Americans

Positive: I enjoyed the different perspectives the book opened to; every character had a voice in the story and really allowed me to see how they viewed America and its relation with immigration.

Negative: The lack of actuality with how immigrants have struggled in their pursuit of a better life, and the scenarios created in the story that did not capture the trials immigrants have had to deal with.

My name is Rebecca and I plan to major in Accounting.

One thing I like about the book was that each chapter was written through a different person’s point of view and one thing I didn’t like about the book was that there were a lot of characters who had a chapter but weren’t really present in the story.

Catherine Guzman
Fun fact is I practiced tae kwon do for a year
My intended major is International Business

One thing that I liked about “The Book of Unknown Americans” is how it gave voice to a number of characters to unfold their struggles in their own distinct way. I felt that it interestingly depicted the different cultures that make up Latin America. The handful of Spanish words here and there significantly added to the social environment that the author wants to immerse the reader in.

Not that I necessarily disliked something, but I would’ve liked for a chapter to be included for Maribel herself. Although it  might’ve been a good strategy for the author to leave us eager to read Maribel’s thoughts,  simply one before the book ends on Arturo would’ve been interesting.

Because I don’t have any recent good quality pictures of myself, I’ve attached a picture where I’m holding an apple really nicely.

Hi my name is Pearl. I plan to be a CIS Data & Analytics major and Journalism minor. One thing you don’t know about me is I began dancing in a professional company at the age of 2!!!!

I appreciated that The Book of Unknown Americans made an effort to tell not just one person’s story, but had a multitude of different characters. What I didn’t like about the book was the ending. That was so sad!  And then it just ended with nothing resolved, and no moral lesson to take away from Arturo’s death.

 

I am planning on rushing second semester for Beta Alpha Psi. I am required to attend one GIM and two events. I attended the First GIM, KPMG career fair advice day, and Ice Breakers. For those of you who aren’t familiar with BAP, it is a co-ed business honors fraternity. There are multiple business fraternities at Baruch, but BAP is known to be the most established and prestigious of all the others.

On the first day, rushes were introduced to members of BAP as well as given a powerpoint and video presentation about the fraternity. BAP is not easy to get into it seems. While there isn’t a cap-off number of rushes allowed, you must have a 3.5 GPA or higher, and you will be interviewed if your credentials meet BAP standard through your online application.

The second meeting I attended was BAP’s KPMG event. Company workers in accounting, finance, and CIS from KPMG came to give us advice on how to make a good first impression when attending a career fair. We were also able to speak in groups with individual members and ask them any questions we had about internships and how to kick-off your career.

The final meeting I attended was the Ice Breaker event. Rushes came to play some games in order to get to know one another a little bit better. One of the games was Q and A. According to what color skittle you chose from the bag, you would have to answer the question assigned to that color. Everyone with a pink skittle, for example, would need to answer, “if you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?” Everyone with a pink skittle would have to stand up, and those people would go around the room, telling everyone their dream destination. However, when my color stood up to answer our question, I somehow got skipped over while going around the room, so that was a bit awkward.

Hi everyone, my name is Konstantinos Tsoumas and i’m 19 years old. My friends usually call me Kon.
A fun fact about me is that it’s my first year living in the United States. I recently moved in New York City from Greece.
I plan on majoring in Digital Communications.
One thing i liked about “The Book of Unknown Americans” is the way the writer made the characters interact with each other. For example, i really liked how Mayor was a “disappointment” to his father, because he didn’t join the soccer team, like his brother, but in Maribel’s eyes, Mayor was the only person who was patient enough and really loved and appreciated her for who she was and he always accepted her flaws and was willing to help her improve. So basically he was a hero in Maribel’s eyes, in contrast to the “zero” in his father’s eyes.
One thing i didn’t like in the book is that while i was reading it, it felt like something i have read before. Generally, i liked the story and the way the writer presented the characters and how the plot evolved. However, I feel like it was lacking authenticity. Maybe I was the only one who felt that because coming from Greece, there were a lot of rumors going on about how Americans treated foreigners and especially people from Latin America. But, although I really liked the book, I must admit that I was not impressed when i finished it because it felt like I had re-read the same stuff again.

And let’s not forget about my picture!

Raquelle Kleiman
I like to swim
I want to major in business or international communications

I liked the fact that the book shed light on such a common subject- immigration and the ins and outs of how immigrants live their lives and their daily struggles.
I disliked the fact that it revolved around a love story which ended up to be a huge tragedy.

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• Respect others and their opinions
• Dialogue over debate
• HAVE FUN and Be FOCUSED
• One microphone Rule
• Support each other/ Be mindful
• Give constructive feedback (don’t shut others down)
• Step In/ Step Out (Why am I talking now? (WAIT))
• Don’t be racist, sexist, homophobic etc…discriminatory
• Be on time/ be here
• Cell phone/ electronic use to a minimum
  • Let the instructors know if you need to use it.