Archives for July 2009

Last Friday I bought the movie “The Haunting in Connecticut.” I was told by others who have watched it that it was scary. Unfortunately, I disagree. 

    “The Haunting in Connecticut” was a good movie. The main character is Matt Campbell who has cancer and is being treated in a hospital in Connecticut. Matt did not live in Connecticut and his mother had to drive him to the hospital two hours back and forth. So, Matt’s family decided to rent a house in Connecticut, which turned out to be a former funeral home. The movie was good, it had a really good story line. I recommend the movie; I would continue with the story line but I might ruin it for those who have yet to watch. If you are easily scared, don’t worry: the movie wasn’t outrageously scary like “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” or “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”  

    “The Haunting in Connecticut” was a well-directed movie, in which the actors emotions toward the main character, Matt, were really believable. Matt is an amazing character, who truly shows us what happened before when the house was a funeral home. Like they say: show don’t tell. Matt does that. Since he has cancer; he is in between life and death. In the movie, Matt can interact with the ghosts of the house, but at the same time can talk to humans. He is not yet death but he is also not fully alive, which is why he is that one, out of everyone in the house, that can actually see these mysterious figures. The movie was good with a well-written story line and I do recommend it.

    Hannah Montana is this sweet pop sensation that’s taking the malls by storm, whether it’s the movie or CD all the way down to lip gloss. But is Hannah just a craze for those  veiwers 13 and under? 

    When I posted this question up on my myspace blog, lots of people said that Hannah is for the kids and Degrassi is for the tweens/teens. Degrassi goes into topics Hannah won’t even touch, such as sex and sexual orientation. While Hannah is still working on the boyfriend issue, one of Degrassi’s main characters, Marco, who is gay, is figuring out a way to come out to his parents.

Polina Voronina has come a long way to be in Baruch College’s first College Now journalism course – literally. Polina travels nearly two hours Monday through Thursday mornings from Bergen Beach, Brooklyn, to be apart of the journalism class. But that’s not her only long journey; Polina came to the United States at the age of four from Perm, Russia.

Polina is a rising senior at the competitive Stuyvesant High School in lower Manhattan, where she participates in the extracurricular theater program, working on the technical side of school productions. “I do lighting and art,” she says. Due to her heavy workload at Stuyvesant,says Polina, “I study too much. I don’t get out too often. But when I do have fun, I have fun.” Her favorite part of going to Stuyvesant is the opportunity to venture to Manhattan every day.

Polina doesn’t discriminate when it comes to her interests. In 2005, at theage of 13, she became a Tae Kwon Doe national champion in San Antonio, Texas. Her musical tastes vary often. “I go through phases,” she says.“I can go from Russian techno to folk music to old school hip-hop.”When asked what inspires her, Polina simply answers, “my Russian culture.” Although the Bergen Beach resident is also a “math enthusiast” and works in a medical office, her true love is politics. She hopes to study political science and international relations in college, and watches the British Broadcasting Channel as a source for what she considers “less biased news.”

Born and raised on Staten Island, Ariana Romero is a rising senior at Tottenville High School’s Institute, a program for gifted and talented students. “We’re the elite,” exclaims Ariana, who is of Puerto Rican and Panamanian descent.  

As can be expected from Institute kids, her extracurricular list is extensive.She is currently the editor-in-chief of her school’s official newspaper,The Pirateer, a position she claims as one of her biggest accomplishments.She is also the founder and co-editor of her school’s literary journal,secretary for the Habitat for Humanity chapter at THS, soon-to-be president of the Latin Club, and co-director of backstage workings for the spring musical production.           

“I plan my life out too much,”says Ariana, her self-awareness as striking as her bleached blond hair and stellar fashion sense. Her future ambitions line up with her current literary and journalistic interests.“My goal is to work for Nylon magazine.” (Nylon is a New York City-based fashion magazine). She plans on attending SyracuseUniversity in 2010 and being a double major in Magazine Journalism and Political Science. 

     During his free time, Aaron Lopez mostly watches TV and plays video games. He likes to watch the “George Lopez” 

show and his favorite game is “Resident Evil 4” on the PlayStation 2. 

Aaron also enjoys watching movies; his two favorite movies are “The 

Dark Knight” and “Transformers 2 Revenge Of The Fallen”.

    Aaron reads many books and his favorites by far are Hatchet, by Gary 

Paulson, White Fang, by Jack London, Kavik the Wolf Dog, by Walt Morey, 

and The Call of the Wild, by Jack London.

    Aaron is not that interested in fashion. “I honestly don’t care about 

what I wear,” he says. He is more interested in helping the world. “If 

we were able to create water from pure air,” says Aaron, “we could help 

the starving people in Africa.”

Connie Van is a 16-year-old rising senior at the LaGuardia High School of the Arts. She considers herself a feminist and is obsessed with blogs that revolve around female society and the fashion industry. “I prefer not to follow trends,” she says. “My fashion is trying to put out a bold statement.” She admits that she is judgmental when meeting new people, but her attitude only comes from an ardor for fashion.  

In the future, Connie dreams of having her own Web site that will consist of blogs that incorporate her interests in fashion and celebrities. Her current idol is the singer Rihanna because of the artist’s bold moves in relations to style, fashion and hair. Although “Rihanna tends to go over the top,” Connie still admires her style and her bob haircut. Her favorite brand is HellzBellz by Laine Alabanza aka Miss Lawn. It is not a well-known brand and is considered to be “underground” since it was created in 2005, but that’s what attracted Connie. She prefers lesser-known brands since she strives to be unique and set her own personal fashion style.

Shirley He, age 17, is an avid student who attends an academically rigorous school in the Bronx. “Bronx Science definitely is a competitive school, but I’m not competitive,” Shirley says when asked her impression of the school. Shirley has a brother entering Stuyvesant, another school known for its academics. This situation has created a bit of brother-sister rivalry, Shirley says. “At home he goes, ‘Go Stuyvesant’ and I say, ‘Go Bronx Science!”

Shirley is active outside of school as well. “I’m a really sporty person,” she shares. She enjoys every sport except soccer andfootball, and she’s especially passionate about volleyball. Her other big passion is piano. “I’m on level eight!” Shirley proudly exclaims. When given a perplexed look, she immediately clarifies her statement, saying, “It’s for piano. Level eight is one of the highest levels.” Overall, Shirley is enthusiastic about many topics, from instruments, to succeeding in school, to maintaining her social life. As an incoming senior looking at colleges, Shirley hopes to attend Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and major in pediatrics.

           Megan Teehan, a student at Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, brings to journalism a deep interest in documenting social issues and working on how to solve the practical problems that people face. These are ambitious goals, though Megan considers herself to be self-contradicting in a way; she refers to herself as a “lazy ambitious”person. 

            Megan enjoys her school environment but she is not shy about disagreeing with her teachers and fellow students. In fact, she has always been open about discussing issues and opinions she feels strongly about. She is confident that she can help regular people in society, and she understands that at times this may require pushing some buttons. 

            Although her current interest is documenting and solving social problems, Megan has a variety of experiences in other fields. She is a vocal major at her high school (however, she does not see much potential in an upcoming singing career). Megan plans to continue her journey for finding a career path with openness to new ideas and opportunities.

Rachel Cockrill, 17 years old, has lived in Park Slope, Brooklyn, all her life.She currently attends the Beacon School in Manhattan and is about to enter her senior year.

At school, Rachel is working to create a sex education class to give students more comprehensive information about contraceptives and safe sex. She is also involved in organizing trips to New Orleans to help rebuild that city, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in2005. But it’s not all work for Rachel; this year, she went on a trip to London with her school and enjoyed the nightlife with her friends.

Being a native New Yorker, she says “I can’t really imagine living anywhere else.” But just in case she decides to travel around the country, she has her learner’s permit ready. She may use it to drive in Virginia,where she visits her extended family for a few days in the early summers. 

Rachel says she’s fortunate tolive in a rent-stabilized apartment, thanks to the fact that her mother hasresided there for the past thirty years. When asked about her neighborhood, Rachelreflects on the gentrification she has seen over the years, saying, “I havewatched it change to strollers and yuppies.”

            Having the best of both worlds is an enviable luxury. Seventeen-year-old, Queens native Michelle Ortiz has been able to have the best of both worlds by pursuing her passion in photography while continuing with her writing in journalism.  Michelle currently attends the Urban Assembly School for Design and Construction.  Her interest for architecture quickly died out and was replaced with her love of photography and journalism. 

Michelle got her start in the field of journalism when she began working with an online organization called Girls Write Now, writing articles about current events or personal opinions.  Some of Michelle’s work with Girls Write Now was a non – fiction story entitled My Grandmother, which Michelle expressed the love that she holds for her grandmother. Michelle enjoyed this form of journalism, but she often found it difficult to express in words what she was trying to tell the public.  That was when she decided to use photography as another way to engage people in the news of the day.

            “Words are not enough,” Michelle says. “You need a visual because sometimes words cannot express an emotion.”  Photography is a passion for Michelle and she finds it to be an easier way to communicate with people.  When taking photographs, she says she sometimes feels like an outsider looking in.  Michelle takes pictures of things that captivate her and make her want to share it with someone else.  Usually Michelle’s pictures are developed in black and white because, she feels it gives the photograph more meaning.

            However, Michelle has not given up on her writing. Instead, she has decided to combine journalism and photography in the medium known as photojournalism.  Michelle hopes to explore the world with her words and her camera, and bring it to the people.