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Author: CHARLENE FIGUEROA
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Living with a 6 animal fur family
Video project final
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Rough Draft Video Project
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The Territory Review
I enjoyed watching The Territory and it has easily become one of my favorite documentaries to date. I think telling the story of culture and heritage is incredibly important, especially when throughout history many have had theirs stripped away. Territory works to capture that story in the middle, its history in the making. What I believed made it so compelling were the visuals and sounds, particularly its ability to capture the unique personalities entangled in this story.
The person that struck me the most was Bitate, who you can consider to be one of, if not the main character of this story. Chosen to be the president of the Jupaú Association at only 18 years old, he has an enormous burden to carry. As someone close to his age, seeing the challenges he has to fast puts a lot into perspective. His story is one of the many smaller ones that are woven into this blanket of history. A teenager who has become head of an important governing body, something I couldn’t imagine myself doing now let alone at his age.
Throughout the documentary, we see how wise and mature Bitate must be in order to lead his people. However, there are moments when his youth peaks through. This duality makes the film really stand out.
Some questions I have left for the movie are: If a follow-up were to be made where would it start off? Would it include the same characters? What was the emotional toll left on production after experiencing such intense scenarios?
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Final Radio Project
HOST INTRO: Baruch is considered to many the crown jewel of the CUNY system. According to U.S News and World Report, it ranks 1st among top performers on social mobility and 3rd among the best public universities in the north. However, some students, specifically those who are a part of Baruch’s liberal arts programs, feel like there’s room for improvement. Charlene Figueroa is here to tell us more.
AMBI: students chatting in the cafeteria
TRACK: On the first floor of the William and Anita Newman Library, there is a small cafeteria where students come to study, chat with friends, or enjoy a bite in between classes. One of these students is Dorian Tejeda, who when able to grab a seat in the busy caf mixes beats on his laptop. He’s a sociology major with a passion for music.
ACT: I started producing 10 months ago but I first started in 2017 and it’s mostly just a journey that I’m on to have fun.
TRACK: Music has always been an important part of his life. While he now aspires to be a producer, there was a time when he wanted to be a musician.
ACT: My first instrument handheld was a violin but I stopped playing it. But just keeping that hold of music in my life was very important to me.
TRACK: Tejeda tells me that he hopes Baruch helps in doing so but he has some doubts. The college is split into three schools: The Marxe School of Public & International Affairs, the Weissman School of Arts & Sciences, and The Zicklin School of Business. Close to 20,000 students attend Baruch and more than half of them are enrolled in Zicklin. Because of Zicklin’s size and reputation, it often steals the spotlight and leaves liberal arts students feeling under-appreciated.
ACT: I feel like Baruch doesn’t advertise that part of their school as much as they do the business side. Since it’s not a music school they don’t really care as much about the music like any music hobbies that people might have.
TRACK: He explains how is part of WBMB radio a music club at Baruch that he had only joined recently.
ACT: I didn’t know the club existed until a friend told me about it and that basically applies to everyone in that club. No one really advertises it, no one really talks about it. It’s like in a corner of a school and not easily accessible unless you know where the room is. All of these factors kind of apply to the general idea that the school doesn’t do enough for music.
TRACK: There appears to be a consensus that Baruch can do more to advertise and support the humanities they offer. Emery Peralta, a Journalism major at Baruch, agrees. She first came to Baruch as a management major but at the beginning of sophomore year made the switch to Weissman.
ACT: I made the decision to switch because I had a friend, multiple friends who were liberal arts majors, and one of them, in particular, told me he felt like I would be a better fit because I was debating on leaving the school altogether so he told me to give it a try, give the new major a shot for a semester and see if I fit in more there.
TRACK: If it wasn’t for that friend, Peralta believes she could have very well decided to leave Baruch. Because promotion was so heavily focused on Zicklin she wasn’t very exposed to the options Weisman and Marxe offered.
ACT: All the people that I knew aside from two friends were all business majors, I knew they had clubs but I also didn’t see those advertised a lot so no not really, everything I was seeing mainly was business-focused.
TRACK: Since Peralta has changed schools, she has noticed a difference between the resources at Zicklin and Weisman.
ACT: I feel like we have a very limited selection, although some of the classes are really fun and the teachers are really great we just don’t have the same catalog of things to choose from. If you go onto degree works it says that these are all the courses we have available usually almost always, everytime I go to register for the ones I want, the really really fun ones aren’t available.
TRACK: A solution Peralta suggests is an increase in staffing that would help expand the course options. Allowing liberal arts students, a similar variety afforded to their business counterparts. Nathan Fletcher, a professor at the department of fine and performing arts had a similar proposal. Fletcher is new to Baruch and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, he teaches a Harmony 1 class. Where each student has a desk with a keyboard.
ACT: In my classroom, as you can see we have probably close to 20 keyboards these are great to have especially for a music theory course so that the curriculum doesn’t have to be so abstract and theoretical. If a student wants to experience the music in a tactile way and also listen to it they can play the keyboard in front of them
TRACK: Often those passing by in the hallways can hear the class as Fletcher and his students play. Attracting a lot of attention.
ACT: Thus far in my time here is people walking by this room and peaking in and being like oh my god what is this what are these there are pianos here. People are very surprised. I wish there were a way and I’ve had conversations with students about this. I wish there was a way for more pianos to be more accessible to more students outside the context of what is required for class. I know that I have students and have met students who might not be in my class but are involved in music and they wanna have access to instruments.
TRACK: Fletcher believes this access will help students explore a side to them they may not even know they have. But he hopes this can also be achieved by other means like on-campus events that would encourage students to look into the music courses Baruch has to offer.
ACT: Today was great for that because we had a concert in the plaza. We had 11 acts all different musical styles were represented and it was great.
TRACK: It can be said that whether it’s staffing, course options, clubs or events there are ways that Baruch can further support their liberal arts programs and extracurriculars. Allowing for every student to nurture outside interests and further enrich their education, whether they attend Weissman, Marxe, or Zicklin.
For all your student news I’m Charlene Figueroa
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Practice Radio Assignment
HOST INTRO: Taylor Swift is a highly accomplished and well-established singer-songwriter whose discography spans multiple genres, from Country to Alternative to Pop. She’s won 34 American music awards and is a few weeks away from releasing her tenth studio album. Swift’s success has allowed her to reach and impact millions of fans worldwide. Charlene Figueroa speaks to one of many devoted supporters about Swift’s influence on her life.
AMBI: Shuffling from students silently chatting and typing in the background.
TRACK: I’m joined by Samantha Sollito who, unsure of where to start with her love for Swift, decides to begin with when and why she became a huge fan. She explains to us how although she knew of her for a long-time it wasn’t until 2 years ago that she became interested in Swift’s music.
ACT: SAMANTHA: I really didn’t get into her music that much until 2020 when she surprised dropped folklore randomly in July. I’ve never hated her I genuinely liked her music I just never was such a huge fan like I am now. I feel like her lyricism and almost all of the stuff she puts out is genuinely some of the best music. And that’s not me being biased I genuinely think she has such a nac for song-writing.
TRACK: That nac Sollito tells us about has allowed Swift to truly relate to her audience. While many of her songs are from the perspective of a girl dealing with heartbreak or unrequited love, in no way does it mean others can’t appreciate her music.
ACT:SAMANTHA: Her songs also speak to people. I feel like a lot of the stuff she’s put out is so relevant to my current situation or like anybody’s current situations. It really helps girls feel seen. Not even just girls, I feel like men can enjoy it to if you want. Anyone can really enjoy that’s the beauty of her music.
TRACK: But Swift has done more than inspire her fans through music. She’s taught them to stand up for themselves through her recent actions in the industry
ACT:SAMANTHA: She actually released two re-recorded versions of her old albums last year. She released red(Taylors version) in November and fearless(Taylors version) in April because of a situation involving her former record label with Scott Borchetta. Where they sold all her masters to Scooter Brawn.Someone she specifically asked them not to because of the way he’s treated her in the past
TRACK: For Swift, re-recording her albums is a way of taking back her power, one of her main goals as an artist was to own her masters and Scooter Brawn attempted to take that away from her. Despite the albums having been released years prior, the re-releases have been a huge success and garnered massive amounts of support from fans. A testament to her reputation as one of the most influential artists of our time.
For all your pop-culture news, I’m Charlene Figueroa.
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Radio Pitch
For my radio story I plan on interviewing a fellow Baruch student I met during the club fair. Dorian was interested in the radio/podcasting club at Baruch and in our brief conversation, he explained how he is an aspiring producer. Who, with a couple of close friends, hopes to start a record label in the future.
I think Dorian is a great example of the other talents present at Baruch despite it being a business school. Telling his story, finding out the difficulties of going into that profession as young as he is and how he plans on taking this journey would make for an interesting story.
I plan on using his samples in the background and the different environments he works in to create rich sound bites.If I’m able to I hope to include interview bits from his fellow producers who are also making the label to add other layers to the story.
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Photo Essay Draft
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