Freshman Seminar Spring 2011: PR2C

Mifta Mahmud

Monologue

Freshmen Seminar

I Dunno…Stuff

1. I want to get a pug and name it “Butt”.

2. My favorite color keeps ‘changing’. Right now, I’m telling everybody that it’s black and white and dark green. Secretly, it’s always pink.

3. I was never good at commitment for the 4.5 years that I’ve been with him. Now that I am single, I feel the painful urge to remain committed to my ex-boyfriend.

4. Sometimes, I feel like confidence for me is untreadable territory.

5. I don’t have a fetish about shoes. The design, color, brand, all irrelevant as long as it gets me three inches off the ground.

6. I enter and exit phases. Lami refers to me as a chameleon. I’m not sure I like that. Lizards creep me out.

7. I’m very fluent in English, Bengali and misunderstanding people.

8. I’m not good at being a girl. I bite my nails, I love fights, my hairs always messy, and I don’t care much about shoes and bags (see note 5 above).

9. Tanni and I are going to be friends for 21 years this August. I am having mixed feelings about this. My little sister Retina has already started yelling “Shut up, woman!” she even asked me whether I was born in 1976.

10. I wish I could get back to the old bitch of a Mifta.

11. I like responsibilities. I can’t live without them.

12. I love my baby sister the most in the world. She’s my best friend and I’d do anything for her.

13. I hate it when people litter on the streets and I always carry my garbage in my purse until I get home. But to all those people I have forced to get down from the car and pick up after themselves, confession: I’ve done it once as well.

14. The person I admire the most would be my Irin…I think that although it may seem otherwise, she is the strongest and bravest girl I know. She’s been through so much and still picks up herself and moves on like nothing happened. And she’s one of the only few who take my temper.

15. No one messes with Mifta. I topple over fast but I hit back hard.

16. My most compatible girlfriend of all time has always been Untara. I still haven’t found another Sandra Brown. I love you Ray. Yes homo.

17. I’m not sure whether equality will ever exist in this world.

18. I’m afraid of: losing people I love (including pets), losing opportunities and chances forever, being late, waking up late, mirrors (yeah, Tanni), letting slip confidential classified military information (lol), being alone, fire, unknown entities, the feeling that I’m being watched, worms, lies, broken trust, a broken heart, Baba (according to situation), Ma (according to situation), Retina (according to situation), being stabbed in the back, nightmares about dead babies, cancer…

19. I love dancing. That’s it. I just love dancing.

20. I think Hitler’s hawt. Not saying that he was a good person, or anything. I’m just saying he’s hot. To be able to believe in yourself that strongly no matter how wrong you are, and to be able to speak with such passion despite a little hairy bug on your face is sexy.

21. I feel a corporate phase coming on soon.

22. I can’t think of anything else.  I don’t even feel like typing anymore. My knuckles hurt.

To fail or to cheat. I think everyone does both in their lives. I said I wouldn’t cheat but that’s me guessing really. I’ve cheated before. I’ve failed before. I’ve gotten caught. I’ve bounced back. I think it’s easy to pick one way or the other when it’s hypothetical. That all goes out the window once you’re in a situation where you actually need to choose. same thing with the sinking boat scenario. If I was on that ship, NOOO one is voting me off. I don’t care about couples, little twins, and captains. I’m living. That might seem selfish but I think it’s what most people really feel. I think that’s why in movies and tv when characters sacrifice their lives for someone else everyone really admires it. We all think that it’s noble and amazing. It is because 90 percent of all humans would choose themselves over someone else. You know Katy Perry Firework coming on all of sudden during class really sucked. Of all the songs in the world to be on my Pandora radio station, that one haaad to come up. I enjoyed everyone else’s monologues a lot. I felt crappy about not having one and refusing to wing it. I was thinking about some sad stuff and I didn’t want to get up there and be depressing. I had a death in the family and I hate when people go “sorry” I don’t know what that means or how to respond to that. Should I say something like “you should be” I know everyone is trying to be nice but I just don’t like it. Ummm has anyone ever broken up with someone because they crapped on something you loved? I did and I get made fun of for it. I mean it was about the Jets losing to the Colts two seasons ago in the AFC championship game. Ever tells me I over reacted. I don’t think so. If someone loves something even though it’s “just sports” doesn’t mean you should crap on it. This is a long pointless blog entry and I hope everyone enjoyed it.

We were fighting, or rather a mini-argument. We just left the library and I don’t remember what happened exactly, but we weren’t on the best of terms. We awkwardly went back to her house and I dropped her off. But then my mind clicked. I could use this argument to my advantage. I planned the night before to get her a huge white bear from Morning Glory, but I couldn’t find a reason or an excuse not to spend time with her. However, this was an opportune moment.

I pretended that I didn’t want to talk to her. I quickly took the train to the mall and I didn’t get a text from her yet which was a good thing at that point. I knew she was going to take a shower, so I had time to set  up the surprise. I quickly ran to the store, and after conversing with the store clerk, I purchased the $200 bear.

The carry the bear back must’ve been the most awkward thing I’ve ever done. Tons of eyes gazed at my direction and it felt like a spotlight was on me the whole time. I pretended to listen to my iPod, but I was overhearing what everyone else said. It ranged from remarks on how cute the bear is to how large it is.

I knocked on her door and thankfully her mom opened the door. I could hear the shower running and I quickly propped the bear in front of the bathroom door. I waited around until she finished and I could hear her say oh my goodness when the door opened.

She quickly went to me and said you have to be joking. Not the best response after the effort of getting her the bear, but she quickly gave me a hug and kiss after it finally sank in. I evaded the questions on the price but I knew she loved it. Any argument we had before was quickly overlooked as we enjoyed the rest of the night together.

There is some tendency in modern western culture as to either disbelieve or overemphasize the extent to which totalitarian societies controlled their citizens. You have, on one hand, a culture based around granted liberties that ‘come naturally’; freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, and so on. If such things come naturally, they ask, citizens of these countries have no defense for turning these freedoms over to state discretion. The other argument tends to lie in the more cynical logos that humans, when pressed and deceived hard enough, are capable of anything they are told to do.

This is not the case for either of them, however. Any society large enough to become a force to be reckoned with, as our two main examples of the USSR under Stalin and Nazi Germany certainly were, is large enough to have some dissent. Certainly, very little of this dissent was violent or overt, but it was just as much an affront to the regime that the Old Believers survived in Russia or that Communist posters continued to be pasted up in Hamburg until 1937. Gestapo reports themselves admitted a growing antipathy towards what was thought would be war with Czechoslovakia in 1938, and there are recorded instances of wartime criticism towards Stalin by the common people, and even within the NKVD rank-and-file itself.

That is not to say that totalitarian regimes did not exert vast powers over the lives of the ordinary citizen. They controlled the economy, the job flow, the media, the arts, the police, and the schools, usually with overlapping organizations. In practice, neither were they subject to their own rules and regulations, which, in the case of Nazi Germany especially, were often quite fussy and bureaucratic. Nor is it to say totalitarianism was guaranteed victory over the Weimer Parliamentary system or the Leninist authoritarian state; it was antipathy and apathy towards these systems that let it win.

Yesterday I read an article which tales about the brooklyn bridge and the street art—-graffiti.
Since brooklyn bridge was built, a few people have begun to draw some pictures and messages on the wall of the bridge. Now moreand more street artists, even tourists are taking part of the “activity”. Especially tourists left their names on the wall. A British tourist said some of his friends would come here to visit the bridge, and it would be cool if his friends could find his name on the wall.
Graffiti, which is sort of art, is a special scenery of a city, espacially in New York, we can easily find the graffiti on the wall, buildings, and even trains. The graffiti has constituted a unique cultural element in many cities. But graffiti has also caused a lot of potential social problem because in general, the artists often draw pictures in some places that don’t belong to them.
In many states, like New York, the government has made a law to against graffiti because in some regions, where have been influenced by graffiti, will encourage more people to draw pictures, or even more crimes. Therefore, so many street artists were arrested.
In my opinion, appropriate graffiti is ok, it is a kind of style for the artists to express their mood. However, excessive graffiti will destroy the cultural balance of a city more or less.

     If I could choose to be a superhero, I’d like to be the superman. That doesn’t mean that I want to be a man. I just want to have the superpower and the ability to fly from one place to another rapidly, so I don’t have to waste my time waiting for the bus and I can go anyplace within a second. Besides, I want to have the ability to face unexpected situations calmly and solve difficulties brilliantly, so I can be braver and more confident.

      When I was a child, I always dreamed of being an inventor, the one who can invent whatever I wanted and liked. If I were an inventor, I could invent a special pair of glasses which could not only be used for near sight but also be used as a GPS. Thus I would not be lost in unfamiliar places and my brother would no longer laugh at me for my no sense of direction. I also want to invent a language translate chip which I could insert into my brain, so I would not be afraid that I couldn’t understand what people say to me and what I should say to them. I could express my feelings and ideas more freely. It would also make my study in America easier for I could know what the professors say and how the discussion is going on. It seems that inventor is just like a witch who can use the magic to solve a lot of problems.

    Being an inventor, however, could now just stays in my dream. For a career, I would choose accounting. It seems easier for me to pursue and many people said it has more job opportunities. So I will choose calculus from my current classes as a link to my career even though there is not too much connection.

Someone said “To cheat or to fail, that’s a question.”It’s painful to choose either one. When we grew up,we always be told to be honest and not cheat.But when it is time to make choose, we always be irresolute.When i was in China,Iseldom cheat in test.Because when the test was not important, I was no need to cheat,but when the test was important,i couldn’t be seccessed in cheating. When I came to America,because of the problem of the language, tests are terrible for me.But i will still choose to fail rather than cheat. Not only bacause i am not used to cheat, but i believe cheating is useless to help me to imporve my grades.If i passed tht tests by cheating,I also won’t be happy because the grades were not ture. I believe cheating  is not the best way to solve problem.I hope i can pass the test of American Goverment but even through I failed I won’t be sad.           =.= So short………..O.O

Independent, yet I’m suspended.

Taking on, distractions straining on.

Rain on, mister. Push me harder, till I blister.

Token to commemorate.

Expand me to my borders,

Take me to foreign land, my brothers and my sisters

I know they have got my hand.

Rain on, mister. Test me harsher, till I’m soar.

Practice to appreciate.

Daily battle that I face, Battle face is not what I have on.

My incentive is not shared, explanations incapable to bear.

Just words to disregard.

There are warriors in the corridors,

And they have a smile of amenity.

A moment I will treasure, I am not alone.

Fear is our identity.
In a big hurdle yet not indifferent as I am

Procrastination is our friend, but success is our plan.

In this battlefield we have only just begun.

Starting to distinguish the ethics and the wrong.

The war won’t be over till it’s won,

And it might be a far view, but it’s one we’ll get to.

Take raindrops as an example,

Fall as they may, but will rise beyond this earth

Waiting to fall again.

So even if we fall again, we’ll just get back up again.

Success is our aspiration.

Firstly, I want to talk about my major which is biology, and the reason I decided to become a biologist. Biology is the nature science that study living organisms and environments, in simple words, is the study of life. When I was a child, I enjoyed all about animals and plants, the lifestyle in fields and those histories about explorers lost in the jungle while they went in a ecological research for any unknown reason. Those kinds of things made me know my love for nature since I was very young. While I was growing up, I discovered the importance of biology over the new knowledge acquired by the man to have a better life, to contribute to medicine, and to encourage the preservation of species. By all these reasons, I came to United States to study Naturals Sciences, and then to complete my career as a biologist.

If I have to pursue one career of my current classes, even though none of those has a direct relation with natural sciences, I would choose Anthropology, maybe because it talks about the social life of people in a specific culture, how these people make connections with their own environment, and explains their natural and social develop in history. So, I can found a lot of similarities between be an anthropologist and be a biologist. Perhaps, the most important reason why I would choose it is because that job involves travel a lot! or don’t you think that traveling around the world and meeting different countries and cultures is great way to make money? Therefore, if I couldn’t pursue the major I want, Anthropology could be my best choice to achieve a degree.