Kiara Marmolejos

I know my mother loves me very much but sometimes she tells me things that I already know. I don’t understand why she insists that I am becoming a slut. I don’t understand why she can’t see that I follow her footsteps. I already know how to do the household chores. I have been doing them since I was six while my brother was allowed to play outside with friends. It’s never been fair. She is so contradictory sometimes. She tells me not to become a slut but then informed me on how to make a medicine to abort a baby. What if I don’t want to abort a baby at all? I would rather admit that I had sex and have the child. Clearly my mother still thinks I am a child. But then why does she call me a slut if I am innocent. I have never even kissed a boy! When would I get the chance for that? Oh how I wish I could kiss a boy! My brother is the one who is allowed outside. I do all the work in the house. Yet they still think he is more capable than I am. I’m so frustrated with these gender roles I just want to run away. My mom will probably accuse me of running away with some boy and call me a slut- again. I know she means the best for me but why can’t she get to know me. She thinks I will be a smiling subservient woman but I wont. I wont smile at people I don’t like. I refuse. But maybe I will let her know that another day… not today. I cant wait until she sees I am her daughter and I am good.

Kiara Marmolejos                                                                              11.4.15

It was a beautiful day in early November. Kiara hit snooze on her alarm three times before slinking out of bed. Last night was a late one. She only had 45 minutes to get to class and that was exactly how long the commute was. She rushed down Norwood Avenue and noticed no one was outside. Where were the usual lurkers? The boys that sit on the stoop all day up to trouble? No one? For one second she contemplated the stabbing that occurred on her block the week before. She looked down at the dried blood on the ground then shrugged it off. After appreciating the tranquility of an empty block, she hurriedly climbed the steps to the above ground J train. The sky was clear and the air was clean. After swiping her metro card and walking onto the platform, Kiara took a seat to wait for her train. Little girl Sally with her mother-Tina caught Kiara’s eye. Was that the same Sally from two days ago? Kiara confirmed this and then entered the train. The 30 minute train ride to Canal street was a short one. Kiara was consumed in writing her lab report before class. She wondered why she had left it until the last minute- this was very unlike her.

Kiara was so focused on her calculations that she missed Canal Street and ended up at the next stop- Brooklyn Bridge City Hall. “shit” she thought. She rushed to the 6 train and noticed another familiar face from the day before. Matilda was in her neon green leggings, sweatband gear, and workout shoes. She looks fit! Wonder where she works out… What’s with seeing the same people on the train? Kiara hated routines and she realized her schedule was repetitive. There are too many people in New York City to see the same humans again! She anxiously waited until her stop. 23^rd st! Finally! Kiara darted out of the subway doors and up the stairs to the ground level. While walking down Lexington an older man inaudibly whispered something to her. Accepting the fact that she was beginning to hate men, she rolled her eyes and continued to dash down the avenue. Kiara finally took a breath of relief when she made a left on 24^th street and entered her college campus.

Kiara didn’t like to rush. She liked to enjoy her mornings. Make breakfast. Read. Breathe. And prepare for the day. She didn’t feel like her usual self finally arriving at the science building of her campus.

Kiara Marmolejos

Pre modern piece: Vincent Van Gogh. 1889 Portrait of Joseph Roulin

This portrait automatically made me feel very light hearted. There are bright colors such as green, pink, orange and yellow that contrast nicely with the portrait colors and flesh tones. The main color is green and is very warm and inviting. The portrait has an imaginative background and a realistic person in the center. It is difficult to tell weather the background or the portrait was painted first.The floral-printed, abstract background evokes feelings of happiness yet still forces most of the attention to the person in the painting. The reason for the emotions of happiness is simply due to the color scheme. The man in the painting has rosy cheeks, squinty beautiful green eyes, and a huge beard. The texture of his pale face and furry beard both seem very soft and you can see light bouncing off of him in all directions. There is even a pink glare on his beard, which softens his manly face a lot. The man named Joseph in the portrait reminds me of Santa Clause in a formal suit. He looks joyous and content not because of his expression but because of the colors. The fact that the artist chose such bright colors like blue, green, yellow, and pink shows that he must be fond of the subject. There is also a considerable amount of texture on his beard which shows that the artist paid particular attention to the details of this manly beard.He sees the subject as a respectable person since he drew him in his suit. And secondly, this person must be dear to him because of the vibrant setting that the portrait seems to have. It immediately gives off positive emotions about the subject. It is possible that he may not be friendly at all, but obviously Van Gogh thought differently as depicted by his glowing and radiant portrait of Joseph. Overall, the portrait reveals a soft, calm, and beautiful side of Joseph Roulin’s self (shown by the brightness and choice of color). It turns out that Joseph was a close friend of Van Gogh, which might explain the positivity. The most interesting part of the portrait is that the emotion does not come from looking at the sitter. Rather the feeling comes from the independent vivid color in the background.  This is juxtaposed to the sitter’s serious countenance. It is said that this portrait was done after Joseph received a better job moving up from a postman. Van Gogh’s was fond of Joseph and it is even possible that this painting was done from memory. This is very different from Van Gogh’s usual landscape paintings. It makes sense that the man in the portrait is a working class man that Van Gogh was friends with in South France because this was done in the 1880’s. The 1880’s was the time of the second industrial revolution and is also called the “Gilded Age”. This period of rapid economic boom in america yet slow growth in Europe could have guided Van Gogh’s choice to paint a working man he respected.

Kiara Marmolejos

The way in which Marlene Nourbese Philip’s poem “Discourse on the Logic of Language” and Frederick Douglass’ Narrative are similar is through their reflection of the self in the face of oppression. In Douglass’ narrative, we view how learning to read and write empowered Douglass to identify himself even though his identity was stripped away at birth. In the first couple of pages in his work he claims “A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood.” He describes his pain when he thinks about his unknown history. This is directly related to Phillips poem in which she states “ English is my mother tongue. English is my father tongue. A father tongue is a foreign language. Therefore English is a foreign language not a mother language. I have no mother tongue, no mother to tongue, no tongue to mother, to mother-tongue me, and therefore must be dumb tounged down” She expresses how the English language is a constant reminder of how her true identity was ripped away from her just like Douglass. Her pain is shown when she says “I have a dumb tongue, tongue dumb. Dumb dumb tongue”. This line of the poem shows how Phillips exists as a reflection of the oppressor. Phillips uses wordplay but her poem goes beyond literature technique. This “search” for words can be related to her “search “ for her identity or mother tongue. She searches for the origin of the word mother in order to find the origin of the self. She continues on to repeat “mother tongue, mater tongue, moder tongue, ma tongue”. These words are not broken words, rather they are different ways to say mother in different languages such as Latin(mater) and chinese(ma). Aside from the pain expressed in this poem and in Douglass’ work, the positive side of the language can also be seen. The way Phillip uses many different languages in the poem can be seen as a unifying concept and the way in which Douglass uses language to uplift himself is another positive outcome of the English language. Both Douglass and Phillip use the English language in a powerful way to express emotions buried within the self and about the self identity that they have had to form all on their own. This is extremely emotional because they have had to develop and express themselves in the language of the oppressor in order to finally have a voice.

Frankenstein Text Versus Film

In the text by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein seems horrified of his own creation. He sparks life into his creation “with an anxiety that almost amounted to agony”. This gives the reader the impression that he was so involved in his work that it was actually bad for his own health . Immediately after making his creature , Frankenstein claims that his emotions ran wild and his success turned out to be a “catastrophe” . Overall his tone is quite negative in Mary Shelley’s text. He says ” Now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished , and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart .” He continues on to say that he immediately rushes out of the lab and goes to his bed, unable to sleep due to his anxiety. The theatrical film adaptation from 1994 shows a doctor Frankenstein with alot of anxiety. However , the anxiety is coming from the Doctor’s excitement as he runs around his lab trying to synthesize his human being rather than guilt. This 1994 film was nothing like the text. Frankenstein was shirtless,loud, and had long hair. The theatrics were also grand because he used electric eels as his source of electricity which is absolutely ludicrous. Surely someone who was working for two years on an experiment would have come up with a simpler and more direct source of energy . The theatrics made the entire scene feel more comedic or light hearted . The 1931 film adaptation seems much more dark and displays a maniacal doctor Frankenstein. In this adaptation Frankenstein actually has a lab coat which relates to the text more . However this time he is surrounded by three spectators which is very inconsistent with Mary Shelley’s text. Frankenstein was supposed to be working alone and hiding his monster , not showing it off . To add to this egotistical agenda, the Frankenstein in the 1931 adaption yells out “now I know how it feels to be god”. Instead of horror, he displays pride and absolute excitement at his success . According to the text , Frankenstein was supposed to feel shame from his own experiment not hubris. The only similarity noted was the setting – a lab on a rainy night . Another similarity was the way the monster awoke -with convulsions . Overall , the film adaptation may have been very different because they show Frankensteins reactions at the exact time of his creation success . Meanwhile Shelley’s text displays Frankenstein’s emotions after the fact as he recants his story to Walton.

Kiara Marmolejos

Point A home- East New York. “ at home in the fleet of ice boats, sailing with the rest and tacking. At home on the hills of Vermont or in the woods of Maine or the texan ranch”

• Although East New York is my home, it may not be where I am most comfortable. I can visit my friend in Vermont at her college and feel just as cozy. This is something I have in common with Walt Whitman I presume.

Point B work- Williamsburg “- a leaner with the simplest, a teacher of the thought fullest. A novice beginning yet experient of myriads of seasons “

• I have been working since the age of 16 and have had a variety of jobs. Retail, parking services, bartender, and now I am a concierge at a building in Williamsburg. Although I have a lot of experience I am always a student in life. I am a student because I go to Baruch, I am a novice (especially in regard to my major chemistry) because I don’t have my PhD and I am even a novice at work because you can always learn something new no matter how simple things may seem.

Point C play- White Plains, NY “ I am satisfied- I see, dance, laugh sing; as the hugging and loving bed fellow sleeps at my side through the night and withdraws at the peep of the day with stealthy tread”

• I visited my boyfriend at SUNY Purchase College. I am the stealthy fellow in this quote. I left him in the morning to return back to work (Point B) on Monday afternoon. I don’t think this quote needs much more explanation. I laughed and I sang a lot with him.