Freshman Seminar Fall 17 LC10 – Page 3

The Museum at FIT

On Thursday, a couple of my friends and I visited the museum at FIT. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. We saw many new things that most of us probably had not seen before. I am not usually someone that is involved in fashion but what was displayed at the museum was certainly interesting. Some of the clothing that I saw there appeared to be very different and very innovative. One thing that really caught my eye was a strapless black dress with a floral pattern. I really liked it because it combined flowers, which is something pleasant, with the color black, which is something that seems closed off. Something that I was surprised to see there was a strapless dress with a zebra pattern. It is a very nice dress but the reason I was surprised to see it at the museum was because I have the same dress. It was nice to see something from my drawers be displayed in the animal print section of a museum.

The displays that I saw at the museum certainly gave me a reason to think about fashion a bit more. Like I aforementioned, the clothes displayed seemed to be something different and innovative. What they meant to me was that there were people in the world who think of these new ideas and then tell others about it. These ideas could be accepted or rejected by the public because they are so new and different. So that implies that there is no real criteria for what good fashion is. It is up to the public people to decide what is trendy or what stands out.

Overall, the trip I made to the museum was a great learning experience. I was able to to take some that I do not understand, like fashion, and be able to perceive it in my own way.

The Museum at FIT

This past Thursday, I went the Museum at FIT. I did not have any interest in going to a museum that Thursday. However, it was then brought to my attention that I had to fulfill a different category of activities to be done for this blog post. So, I decided to join everyone else and walk to the museum. The best part of this walk was having to haul my heavy bag of clothes and laptop for a mile. My favorite part of the museum were the benches I could sit on after carrying my bag for twenty minutes. Other than sitting, I did get a chance to glance around at the different clothing exhibits they had. The gallery we decided to look around in was the Fashion and Textile History Gallery. Here, they had clothing from all different time periods. One of the exhibits they had on display was the Force of Nature exhibition. For this exhibit, all the clothes were related to nature in some way. For example, one dress had feather patterns that were inspired by birds and another had very intricate floral patterns inspired by a specific type of flower. I personally do not have any interest in fashion but it was interesting to see how different designers all incorporated nature into their clothing designs. If it was not for class, this museum would not have been a place that I would have gone on my own. However, I did find a greater appreciation for these fashion designers when looking at all the dresses.

MoMA-Krystal Bu

Today, me and my friends went to the Museum of Modern Art. As an interest, I started leaning painting since 7, so I really enjoy these art things. There are a lot of famous paintings and creative artifacts which really made me stand there for a while because I was trying to get the point of why the creator made these. And also there was an area that we can actually make something by ourself which I think is really fun because we can immediately create a structure or draw a abstract painting by that moment’s feeling. And sometimes that is how art is created.
I really enjoyed this “small trip”,not only got closer with my new college friends but also experienced a fantastic day. We might don’t understand what’s the point for them to made these artworks or even they look weird and meaningless, however, for the creator, they are just trying to find a way to express themselves.And this is really works on me, too. Sometimes I have no idea about what should I draw so I start with simple lines, random patterns, and whatever the color I see first, but finally, I always get a pretty satisfied work because by the process of not knowing, I gradually imagine how these lines and colors can form a complete picture. And I feel relax when I do things I like such as watercolor and sketching. Because I really need the time to give myself a break after a long busy day.

Academic Workshop

On October 12, I went to the Writing Center Workshop. The general topic was Using Sources Strategically. We learned about the different types of sources and broken up into specific types of sources and identifying them. This workshop was helpful because I am not very good at writing and I am also not used to using sources a lot. I do want to learn to write better and potentially make my writing and papers for school better. So the first step would probably to learn to use sources because in High School, I rarely used a variety of sources. Before attending the workshop, I only thought that there were mainly two sources, primary and secondary. But then we learned that there are more types of sources such as Background, Exhibit, Argument, and Method. Each have their own specific uses and effect. Prior to the workshop, generally, I would say that I used sources to give background information rather than for anything else. Now that I learned that sources can do other things like backup my own argument. This is going to help me get through my first year at college because I have two papers which will require me to look for resources online and to incorporate into my paper. And since I never practiced and learned to use the sources I gathered well, this workshop definitely made it clearer as to how I can use specific sources effectively. Also, this will help me overall throughout college because I will probably be writing papers frequently. Overall, this workshop gave me a lot of general knowledge about the different types of sources and how it is used.

The worksheet the instructor gave us to help with future assignments/research paper.

Absolute Adrenaline Club

Thursday October 12^th I joined a club after going to the General Meeting. The club I visited is called Absolute Adrenaline. This club seems really cool and I think I would really enjoy it. The club size isn’t very big but that means that there is more of a bond or friendship between the members. Some of my friends are joining the club too which makes it even better. The club is designed to give students something fun or exciting to do or look forward to between all the stresses of school. At the club’s general meeting, the representatives discussed some of the many activities they will be having this year. The activities introduced were snowboarding, skiing, paintball,laser tag, rock climbing, and hiking. All of these activities sound really fun and exciting. During the club’s general meeting, we played a lot of icebreakers to get to know each other. One of the activities we were instructed to perform was to get into groups of four and come up with creative ideas on trips we could all go on. We each were giving a budget of twenty-five dollars per person. This was difficult at first because we did not know of many places or activities that only cost twenty-five dollars, but then we found coupons and group discounts online that made our options bigger. One activity everyone seemed to agree on was Bounce, a place full activities done on trampolines. Overall the club’s general meeting was a lot of fun and I am happy to have joined. To thank everyone for coming to thee club they even made a “make your own sundae” table. I thought that was a creative idea because usually clubs just go out a buy sandwiches but I loved their ice cream idea. I look forward to the next meeting and I cant wait to go on one of their many exciting activities!

FIT Museum

On October 12th I went to the Museum of FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology). I decided to go visit mainly because I love fashion and it was also a walking distance from Baruch. Upon arriving I was surprised to see that there were only 3 rooms displaying the ongoing exhibit. Most of the clothing pieces depicted were related to nature hence the title of the exhibit “Force of Nature”. A lot of the hats were made of leaves and most of the dresses were either floral or animal based. The fashion of the clothing was nowhere near modern as it was all eccentric and unique. I found this pretty cool as I could envision some of the pieces being worn on a runway. I also got to see the works of some famous designers such as Gucci and Karl Lagerfeld.

Something I can take away from this exhibit is to think outside of the box. As simple as the statement sounds I think it makes a big point to be different. Even though most of the clothing pieces looked absurd and not wearable (in my opinion), the museum was still packed with people who wanted to see the clothing for themselves.

In terms of academics I think this museum proves that being different isn’t bad. In fact it brings a new and interesting side to things. In the future when I have to write a paper or do a project I want to take a different approach towards the topic. Overall this museum inspired me to be creative.

Museum at FIT

On Thursday, October 12th, 2017, my friends and I went to the Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology. The walk was not too far from Baruch, which made it very convenient and not too tiresome! It was located next to the university called the Fashion Institute of Technology. No tickets were needed to enter the museum so we just walked right into the museum. Once we entered, we came face to face with mannequins dressed in different styles of clothing. Those types of outfits on the mannequins were not something that people would usually be seen wearing outside today.

One piece of clothing that was displayed which I found interesting was this nice little hat. It caught my attention because it did not look like your standard hat. It was made up of leaves and it looked like a well put together pile of leaves on top of the mannequin’s head. The description was: “A single red rose blooms at the back of this whimsical hat, as a sprawling bed of leaves shapes the crown. Roses come in an array of colors, each of which has been assigned a unique meaning. The ubiquitous red rose, for example, has been a long symbol of love.” I really liked how the hat had a deeper meaning to it. I sure wonder how people got that had to stay on because it seems like a gust of wind would just blow it right off!

This activity didn’t really assist me during my first semester at Baruch. It was, however, fun to go to the museum with my friends and to experience the museum together. I wouldn’t even have thought of going to the Museum at FIT if it wasn’t for this blog post assignment, so I am grateful that I was able to experience a new place with my friends.

MoMA PS1

Since there was a blog post that was due soon, my friend and I went to MoMA PS1 on Friday October 6th, 2017. We chose MoMA PS1 for two reasons. One was because it was free if we showed them our NYC ID card and the second reason was because it was closer to go to MoMA PS1 then going all the way to Manhattan. When we got there, we were told that we were not allowed to freely roam/ walk around by ourselves. We had to attend a tour and follow the tour guide because it was still in it’s installation period. While we were touring the place, the tour guide gave us a lot of interesting facts about MoMA PS1, facts such as why there’s a PS1 after the name, the history to the building, as well as some intriguing art pieces that were in the museum. MoMA PS1 used to be a elementary school, hence the PS1 after MoMA and the boys and girls were separated. They entered through different doors and there were 2 stairs that went up/down to the same place but was separated by wired fence. That was cool because it was mind-blowing to know that the 2 stairs cases lead to the same place but it was facing opposite directions. We were also shown the boiler room and was told that for a couple of years, there was no heat in the building since the boiler was built and installed a few years after the building was built. As we walked around, I found that artwork can be very odd. One artwork was a red colored in square on a gray granite wall. I didn’t get why it was considered art because it was basically a hold in the wall. The tour guide explained how the square was colored in; the square was colored by the artist leaving instructions for other artists on how to color it in and finish his work. The instructions came with crayons and the artist coloring in the square would press the crayon to the wall until it was crushed on the wall leaving a mark. There were other artwork that we saw such as the open hole in the ceiling of a room. Inside the room, it was warm and it felt nice to be able to feel the fresh air and the suns rays from up top even though we are inside the building. After the installations are complete, I would like to go back and see what is other pieces are available and hopefully understand why such small and odd pieces of artwork are worth a lot more than it seems.

Academic Writing Workshop – Sabrina Chen

For my academic blog assignment, I decided to attend a writing workshop, titled “Using Sources Strategically”. During the workshop, there was a lot of learning involved with each various source and how they are used indifferent ways to portray an author’s way of providing examples. The instructor there was a tall, bald man who was very articulate with words and explained clearly and concisely the uses of various types of sources in a paper.

The first idea taught was the difference between primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are first hand accounts of a kind of experience, whether it is a poem written by the first person who visitedthe Grand Canyon, or an episode of a show. They are where most of the information comes from, as opposed to a secondary source, there was an analysis of a primary source.

They, the instructor gave us an acronym, ‘BEAM’ in order to remember the types of sources by. They are listed as background, exhibit, argument and method sources. Background sources include necessary information to inform you on the topic, which are undebatable data such as numbers, definitions or years. Exhibit sources include the original object, and usually consists of primary sources. These sources allow for specific examples of wide phenomenon. Argument sources are described as sources interacted with by thinkers or scholars to analyze or provide opinion on. These sources help you as a student to garner authority, credibility or ethos by quoting other scholars whohave studied the field in depth. Lastly, are the method sources, which lend framework for analysis, like theories, concepts or methods. These sources are the structure for the analysis to base on.

Through this experience, I have learned more about the types of sources and I know now where to go when I need help with writing a paper in oneof my classes.

The Museum Of FIT

I never would have thought that I myself would come to the Museum of FIT out of all things. One of the main reasons why I decided to attend was because of how convenient it would be to walk from Baruch to the Museum of FIT. From the outside, the building looked big/enormous. Just another reason why people tell you not to judge a book by it’s cover because once we saw in inside it was clearly not as big as we hoped. The ongoing exhibit was called “Force of Nature”. Looking around, almost all the dresses and suits were had designs on them involving nature as the exhibit’s name. Ranging from floral things to animal fur, everything looked so out of place in today’s fashion. My favorite outfit in the exhibit most definitely is a dress based on a tiger of some sort. It had so much color and definition to it that it stood out the most to me. Comparing what our generation’s of fashion is to the past, there is a major difference of what we would wear. Personally, I would love to wear some of their suits presented in the exhibits and I truly believe that some of the stuff people call “trendy” nowadays, really looks hideous. The exhibit was smaller than any other museums I have ever visited(probably can go through the whole exhibit in less than 10 minutes). I don’t think what I learned from this museum will really help me with anything of my fashion sense in the present because I’m pretty sure if I started dressing like that in the past, I will get flamed and roasted. None the less, I am glad I have visited this museum with my friends!