Month: October 2021

On October 23rd, I attended the Photoville event entitled, “Walking Tour of Taxi: Journey Through My Windows 1977-1987, With Joseph Rodriguez.” The event took place in the streets right outside the First Street Green Cultural Park. Photographs taken by Joseph Rodriguez during the 70s and 80s were displayed on the fence of the park and we took a tour down the block.

Rodriguez was narrating the tour himself so it was very interesting to hear how each photo came about. Rodriguez explained what it was like living in New York City during that time, especially what it was like to be a photograph. He showed how it was definitely a very interesting time for photography with all the social issues taking place including drug abuse and gang violence. His work focused on very interesting subjects including sex workers he saw on the street or your average family taking a cab to church on Sunday.

Rodriguez himself was such a true New Yorker and as we walked down the street and saw his work we also got to understand such a deep history of the city.

On Thursday, October 21st, I visited Abrons Art Center with a few friends from this class. The outdoor gallery display is called “Community Matriarchs of NYCHA.” The first part of the exhibit was a video piece which told the stories of New York women who have grown up in affordable housing units across the city, and how their upbringing has impacted their life and careers in public service. These “matriarchs” are mostly minority women of color who are working towards the improvement of their communities. 

 

These women engage in community organizing by prepping and distributing food and other supplies to other NYCHA residents and underprivileged communities, amongst other things. I was struck by the thoughtful notes written on the bags because they each had different handwritten messages in pen, which I found heartwarming. The rest display featured photos turned into stickers pasted along the brick walls of the building focusing on members of the community, followed by short quotes from them. 

 

One quote I found particularly interesting was “When I was young, there were so many of us that couldn’t afford a vacation. Going to FDR Drive was our vacation, our Disney world. Those were the most fun and memorable days. We weren’t rich with material but we were rich with love,” which was said by Daisy Paez, a resident of Baruch Houses. This resonated with me because it reminded me that the best things in life are free, which is something I live by to remember what is important in life. The quote reminded me to not take the small things for granted and to live everyday with gratitude. 

 

According to the artists, the exhibit is meant to break the stereotype of people who live in public housing. NYCHA residents are often characterized as “single-parent families, welfare recipients, school dropouts, and criminals.” The display highlights people, culture, trends, and deep history. 

On October 15, I visited the Photoville exhibit in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Traer Scott’s “Goodbye Salad Days: Kevin Face Adulthood” really caught my eye. It is a series of photographs of daily life with Kevin the hamster as the main character. The theme of the photos is about facing adulthood and finding out that life isn’t as ideal as we thought it would be.  Adults need to deal with work. dating , gray hair and all other pressure. Traer Scott captioned each photo with a humorous and simple description that made me relate to each photo. For example, there is one photo of Kevin walking away from a food car. Scott’s caption was “He can’t believe he just paid $12 for avocado toast”. I can really feel that photo, it reminds me of the time when I paid five dollars for a hotdog on the side of the street. It’s really hard to believe that it cost five dollars when it was only a dollar when I was young.

All in all, I believe that Traer Scott has put in great effort into taking these photos, and as a viewer I can feel that the sets in each photo are exquisite, and the expressions of Kevin , the hamsters in each photo are spot on. The whole set of photos gives me a very cute and humorous feeling. Especially on a sunny afternoon in a park with good air, enjoying the photos with the sea breeze gave me a very relaxed feeling, even though the theme is  about facing adulthood.

HOST: Different ages have different passion ,Yan Jiang, a journalism student, interviewed students from Baruch college about their interests and hobbies

TRACK:It’s 5 p.m. on October 20th,  I’m here with Stephanie Norales at the Baruch college campus,  she just finished her last class of the day. When I interviewed her about her hobbies , Stephanie proposed her love toward reading.

ACT: STEPHANIE：My favorite hobby is reading because it really calms me down when I have a long and crappy day at school or some place else. 

TRACK: For Stephanie, reading is not only about content

ACT :STEPHANIE: It gives me therapy just to sit on my couch or lay on my bed and read. It a part of relaxing myself

TRACK: In addition to reading, Stephanie has another comparatively louder hobby.

ACT: STEPHANIE: And I listen to music, I listen to tons of music whether it pop, R&B, Hip pop and Rap

TRACK: Stephanie has two slightly opposing hobbies, very quiet reading and music, both of which can  bring her calm and comfort. When others may wish to make a career out of their hobbies , Stephanie said that she never wanted to turn her interest into a career; it would be very stressful . From Baruch college, I’m Yan Jiang

 

Host Intro: Current Baruch student Maya Alexander discusses with us about her collection of music records and gives us some background on this hobby that has had a resurgence.

Track: Maya begins telling us what records she most enjoys in her collection.

Act: Maya: Well, some of my favorite records are defiantly some of the classic rock records that I have. I’m a huge Beatles fan, so all my Beatle records are my favorites. My most favorite record that I own is a Prince album, it’s his debut album, his self-titled album. It sounds great on the turn table really loud, just the bass, the percussion and the guitars, everything is just really great on that album.

Track: Maya discussed the biggest factor in determining what records she chooses to buy.

Act: Maya: The main factor is how much it cost, honestly. I get a lot of my records from a site called Discogs, it’s like this big record wholesaler where a lot of live records stores come online and sell their stuff and that’s where I’ve got most of my really good deals. The record industry and vinyl records have had a resurgence in the last couple of years. When people are wanting to get back into that retro 70s, 80s and 90s sort of vibe. And so, records are something like visually representative of an era that’s no longer.

Track: Maya than discussed the differences between listening to music played on our everyday phones and listening to a physical record.

Act: Maya: There’s sometimes not a difference. It’s almost sometimes that the audio quality on a record would be worse than the audio quality just, say listening on your iPhone. I think the main difference is just the vibe, just the aesthetic. Like even on records that are usually used records they’ll have things like crackling noises and sometimes their warped in different places. I think that adds to the overall aesthetic. The audio quality itself is usually is not as good as digital. Sometimes it is, sometimes on digital, its way more compressed and the bass is terrible.

Host Outro: Maya’s enjoyment of music will constantly grow with her every record she adds to her collection. From Baruch College, I’m Francisco Zenteno.

Host intro: Melissa Chauca, a Public Affairs major and journalism minor at Baruch, interviews journalism major, Ariana Milan. 

 

Track: Nat sounds of teachers in classrooms and students walking in the halls.

 

Track: I am here with my fellow journalist peer, Ariana Milan, in the quiet hallways of Baruch’s Journalism department ready to dive right into what her passions are. Ariana describes her favorite hobbies as reading, listening to music and making playlists.

 

Act: Ariana: Some of my hobbies are making playlists on spotify. Im really into music… I think like the most romantic thing ever is to like make someone a playlist or like a cassette… Another one of my hobbies is reading… I think it is a form of escaping.

 

Track: Ariana dove deeper into what has inspired her love of music and how her family has played a major role in the development of her music taste.

 

Act: Ariana: I definitely say I have picked up some music from my brother. Moreso like the rock and like R & B side from my brother, but from my parents I grew up listening to a lot of 50s, 60s, 70s music. So that definitely influenced what I like and listen to… I just am so into like current music and also oldies because I feel like you see the music influence from generations now. I just think music is something that is gonna live on forever.

 

Track: Music truly is something that will live forever. For Baruch College, I am Melissa Chauca.

 

 

 

 

 

Intro Host: A student Joel Garcia studying Journalism at Baruch College, interviewed his classmate Tiselle Bascom. In their interview, they discuss life and challenges as a transfer Baruch student. As well as Tiselle’s life in and outside of school, and goals after graduating from Baruch College.

TRACK: I’m here with Tiselle Bacom in the staircase on the 8th floor at Baruch College, we found a quiet spot to interview and talk about what drove Tiselle to attend Baruch College.

ACT: TISELLE: I recently attended Queensborough Community College, I transferred to Baruch in 2020 the reason I decided was that my professor advised me to come for Baruch’s accounting program. Since Baruch has a great accounting program, I’m very interested in Accounting.

TRACK: She’s a senior at Baruch College and although she loves the program, transferring came with some new challenges and adjustments.

ACT: TISELLE: I came here at the beginning of the pandemic, so I’m not used to Baruch College but the few times I’ve been here it’s been great.

TRACK: The commute to the city is great she says, as well as the opportunity to network with other students also makes the trip worthwhile

ACT: TISELLE: Commuting to the city has been fun, taking the subway walking to Wall Street and Park Avenue has been fun for me.

TRACK: Baruch’s location and atmosphere have offered much to Tiselle as she returned in person this semester but classes and school weren’t always so fun.

ACT: TISELLE: I started in February, and the Pandemic began in March, it was very busy and stressful and the professors were very overwhelmed.

TRACK: Tiselle loves the competitiveness and overall life at Baruch even giving insight into how to do well at Baruch.

ACT: TISELLE: I recommend anybody to come to Baruch stay focused, study all the time, and just network.

TRACK: One of her favorite things to do outside of school is always staying on top of things, as well as keeping herself busy.

ACT: TISELLE: My life outside of Baruch is very basic, I just have a part-time job and that’s it. On weekends I find myself doing just homework and studying.

TRACK: Tiselle takes her studies very seriously and she has solid plans for the future.

ACT: TISELLE: …So after graduating from Baruch I want to go do my Masters in Accounting, so I can become a CPN and open my own business. I’m interested in having my own business, I know a lot of people want to go to the big Forbes, but I’m very big on having my own business.

TRACK: Tiselle is working hard towards achieving her goals. For Baruch College, I’m Joel Garcia

Reminders and Upcoming Dates

Scripts for your radio stories will be due this coming Monday, Oct. 25. We will not have a Zoom class that day at the typical time. Instead, everyone will sign up for an individual editing session with me. You can sign up for a time slot here.

The final, edited radio project will be due on Monday, Nov. 1.

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Screening 

We’ll look at some of your practice radio pieces together and critique them.

 

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Discussion: The Power of Voices and Speech Patterns

When we hear someone speak, what are the different things we pick up on? What are the things we assume about them?

“NPR Voice”

During a recent long car ride whose soundtrack was a medley of NPR podcasts, I noticed a verbal mannerism during scripted segments that appeared on just about every show. I’ve heard the same tic in countless speeches, TED talks and Moth StorySLAMS — anywhere that features semi-informal first-person narration.

If I could attempt to transcribe it, it sounds kind of like, y’know … this.

That is, in addition to looser language, the speaker generously employs pauses and, particularly at the end of sentences, emphatic inflection. (This is a separate issue from upspeak, the tendency to conclude statements with question marks?) A result is the suggestion of spontaneous speech and unadulterated emotion. The irony is that such presentations are highly rehearsed, with each caesura calculated and every syllable stressed in advance.

In literary circles, the practice of poets reciting verse in singsong registers and unnatural cadences is known, derogatorily, as “poet voice.” I propose calling this phenomenon “NPR voice” (which is distinct from the supple baritones we normally associate with radio voices).

Here’s an intro by Ira Glass: see what they mean?

Decoding identity on the air:

“He was hinting at the difficult balancing act reporters face in developing their on-air voice. It isn’t just a challenge of performance — and it’s not as simple as channeling some “authentic” voice into a microphone. It requires grappling with your identity and your writing process, along with history of your institution.”

Challenging the Whiteness of Public Radio

Does public radio sound too white? NPR itself tries to find out.

The reason the sound of your own voice makes you cringe

Why your voice IS a “podcast voice”

On accent bias in the industry, by Baruch’s own Gisele Regetao:

The Many Voices of Journalism

Podcast: Gisele Regatao on NPR’s accent bias

Common speech patterns in today’s world that everyone (men, too!) use all the time:

Upspeak

Vocal fry

“Like”

According to Ira Glass:

“…listeners have always complained about young women reporting on our show. They used to complain about reporters using the word “like” and about upspeak… But we don’t get many emails like that anymore. People who don’t like listening to young women on the radio have moved on to vocal fry.”

Why old men find young women’s voices so annoying

99% Invisible podcast responds to criticism about women’s voices

So all of this leads us to the question: How can we be intentional about how we use our voices to tell the best stories as effectively as possible?

Luckily, in radio/podcasting, speaking naturally is what we actually WANT. No one wants to listen to a robot, or someone who sounds like they’re reading.

How I learned to stop worrying and love my voice

 

Host: Trying to find out more about her classmates’ interests outside of school, student journalist Malina Seenarine sat down with Brianna Levy (she/her), a junior journalism major at Baruch College. They discussed Levy’s hobbies.
Track: I’m here with fellow classmate Brianna Levy on the 6th floor of the Newman Vertical Campus. We are situated in a corner of the mathematics department’s hallway when we start talking about her love for exploring foods.
Act: Brianna: I like cooking, especially from different cuisines.
Track: When it comes to trying new foods Brianna will focus on a specific country’s cuisine. But, when it comes to cooking she will focus on a specific ingredient to figure out the multitude of dishes that ingredients can be used in.
Act: Brianna: I’m currently interested in Mediterranean food but that’s for trying new foods. Right now, specifically, when it comes to cooking at home I want to try cooking with different types of mushrooms.
Track: Brianna finds inspiration for meals on the internet.
Act: Brianna: I saw this one dish of Tik Tok. It was called like Creamy Mushroom Chicken it required like white wine and it was really good. That was the most interesting one I ever had.
Track: She has plans to try even more types of mushrooms.
Act: Briana: I really want to try chicken of the woods and shrimp of woods because I heard they were good for their names like chicken and shrimp. I’ve have tried oyster mushrooms those are really good. They’re delicious, especially when fried it’s a great chicken substitute.
Track: The 19-year-old’s curiosity for different cuisines began at a young age.
Act: I grew up in a Jamaican family and foods that are common within that cuisine is like beef patties, oxtail, rice and peas, stew peas, festival, saltfish stuff like that and when I was in middle school everyone else around me was also Jamaica or some other form of Caribbean so I falsify believed that I had no culture and that my food was boring because everyone else was eating the same thing. From that, I decided to seek more things and I realized- okay- my culture is unique and I do need to appreciate it more. However, I would also just love to try foods from other cultures because my parents are kind of picky – especially my mom – and I don’t want to be picky. I want new experiences.
Track: For Brianna trying new foods means exploring the outside world.
Act: Brianna: I feel really excited especially because I’m usually going outside to try these new foods. A little nervous cause I have to spend money to try them because they’re at restaurants. But usually, I’m by myself and so if I just don’t look at my bank account ya know then I’ll get to enjoy it fully.
Track: When Brianna brings home food to cook she lets her parents try it.
Act: Brianna: I also really like trying to get my parents to try new foods. My parents, they said that they never ate mushrooms as kids in Jamaica and usually they would just kick them like puffball mushrooms they get really big. My mom said that in Jamaica mushrooms were called like duppy umbrellas, duppy means ghost so it like meant to be seen as something creepy and not really within the cuisine at all. It’s kind of funny seeing them squirm every time I bring a mushroom home and trying to get them to try it. Usually, my mom doesn’t eat it but when I brought the oyster mushrooms home she did eat it so I was very proud of that.
Track: Brianna Levy plans to dive deeper into Mediterranean food and try new dishes with mushrooms. Her journey is limitless. From Baruch College, this is Malina Seenarine.