The Paw Print

I’ll tell you a funny story that occurred today after I left school. So class ended and my classmate and good friend, Jia Min were outside waiting for our other friend and getting umbrellas out of our schoolbags, since it was raining. We found out a little later on that our friend had left earlier and was buying some pastries  so we decided to leave.

First, I need to tell you how the outside of the Baruch campus looks like. There is this shiny short marble-like dark “wall or step or seat” (I don’t know what you would call it) that extends from the corner to the front door. Jia Min, does this really stupid thing. She opens her umbrella, and steps onto the “wall”, probably because she forgot it was raining, and slipped right on her butt. I had to help her up and the other students who saw what happened laughed as they walked by and told her it was a stupid thing to do.

The thing that I find most hilarious is that more than once, Jia Min told me she loves rainy weather. I wonder if she still loved the rain as we walked to the train station with me and my dry clothes and Jia Min with her soggy wet shorts.

Many things in life come as a test to us. We are constantly being challenged to prove ourselves successful in whatever we do. A lot of times, we fail and lose what we were striving to win. Sometimes the fear of failure and rejection can be enough to keep us from trying to succeed. However, failing at something you put effort in is a lot better than wondering what if? I learned this from my experience with my trigonometry teacher Mr.Shah. I got my schedule a few days before sophomore year began. I scanned it nervously reading out loud the teacher’s names as I moved my finger down the page. There it was – fourth period, trigonometry, Mr.Shah. I heard many stories about how hard of a teacher he was. Even my brother laughed when I told him. I knew this was going to be a terrible year. A lot of my friends got Mr.Shah this year as well. The first day of call I automatically started to like Mr. Shah’s class. He seems like such a nice person. I easily got that he was very strict with grading and very serious about teaching. He told us all on the very first day to expect a very hard and deep into the topic class. He said we have to work a lot if we wanted to succeed. I knew he meant it. A few weeks later, it wa the night before the exam. I set aside six hours to study. If he wanted hard work that is what he will get. I felt prepared for the test the next morning. Fourth period came around sooner than I expected. I have been reviewing all morning but that test was crazy. I thought I did terrible. I felt defeated. He gave back our tests the next day and I look down at my test. A big fat 80 was plopped at the top. I wasn’t used to getting 80’s. I was satisfied, but not happy. All my friend, however, failed miserably. We all talked about our scores and they all decided to give up on the class since they lost all hope in succeeding. They tried to convince me to stop trying as well but I knew that I could push myself to do better. The next test came and I got a 96 on it, after staying up all night studying. My friends all got bad scores and complained to me saying how it’s unfair that I was smart and they weren’t. However, I was no smarter than they were. All I did was work hard after failing instead of giving up and not trying. I could tell my disappointed friends when they had as well.

Former Knicks star and Harvard graduate, Jeremy Lin, who scored more points in his first five starts than any other player since the NBA merger with the ABA,  just signed a four-year, $28.8million contract with the Houston Rockets, which has left many Knicks fans devastated.

Mike Aponte, an avid Knicks fan and season ticket holder, feels that Jeremy Lin transcended the game of basketball. He recalls last season when he saw people from all over the world supporting and wearing Jeremy Lin jerseys.

“Linsanity captivated all nationalities. People that weren’t even fans became fans,” he said.

He also feels that Lin could have made the Knicks a lot of money in the global market.

After coming off the end of the bench in February, MSG, the company that owns the Knicks, saw its stock increase by 31 percent, and increased Knicks T.V. game ratings by 70 percent. “Linsanity” was officially born.

“They were handed Jeremy Lin on a platter and they let him go,” said 18-year-old Queens resident Jarenth de Leon.

Head coach Mike Woodson and several Knicks executives had expressed a great desire to bring Lin back  after his contract expired this off-season. According to Marc Stein of ESPN, a Knicks source said that “[the Knicks] will match any offer on Lin up to 1 billion dollars.”

In the end, though, the Rockets offered him a contract that the Knicks just would not match.

Lin isn’t the only one switching teams.

“It’s sad to see him go; he was a good player. They shouldn’t have let him go. They should have renewed him even for another season,”  said 28-year-old student, Jay Figaro.

“I’m going to be a Nets fan now.”

Nearly 60 percent of New York City residents are currently overweight or obese, according to the city’s health statistics.

“Obesity kills 5,800 New Yorkers a year,” said Health Commissioner Thomas A. Farley in a press release. Many New Yorkers, however, are fighting to stay healthy by buying fresh fruits and vegetables. 

In New York City, you can buy fresh produce at Whole Foods Markets, Trader Joe’s, or at the nearby fruit stands at the street corner.

When Erica G., 31, goes shopping for food, she always has the notion of being healthy in her mind.

“I try to go to Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s sometimes, and Food Emporium. Wait, I go to the Amish Market the most because it’s close to my house. I go food shopping about once or twice a week,” she said.

While sitting on a bench at Madison Square Park, Anddeen K., 57, pulled a green apple out of a paper brown bag. She goes produce shopping once a week and prefers super markets and farmers markets over Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s because the food is “more qualitative,” she says.

Dominique Forin, 57, was sitting outside of Madison Square Park at a silver table with two little girls, feeding them strawberries and cucumbers. Saving money and having healthy food is most important to her when produce shopping, she said. Forin goes shopping at ShopRite and farmers markets. Like Anddeen, Forin prefers to shop at farmers markets since “the food is straight from [the] farm to [the] public with no middle man,” she said.

According to the city, low-income residents eat less fruit and vegetables than those with a high-income. To help reverse this, 138 farmers markets across the five boroughs accept Food Stamps, EBT and Health Bucks, which gives residents an extra $2 for every $5 they spend.

Anddeen K., says she pays attention to prices when she’s buying produce.

“If I have no job, then I worry a lot more about the cost, but, overall I worry about the health,” she said.

Carol Chirolas, a homeless women who was sitting at a dog park eating a sandwich said, “If I had money I would buy from fruit stands and maybe [the] farmers market, it [may cost] more money but, it’s worth it.”

But even teenagers worry about the cost of healthy food.

Kimberly Rodriguez, a 16-year-old, goes to the farmers markets to buy a bag of kernel and whenever her mom wants her to go. 

“I guess everything there tastes better and is healthier, but, I wouldn’t go [there] as my usual shopping place,” she said. “For what I buy, the kernel, its cheaper than the regular supermarket brand.”

After coming back from Sydney, Pam Seltzer, 21, a student at Barnard College, can’t help but miss it. If it were up to her she would go back. The Australian lifestyle to her was much more relaxed. She says that her experience there was, “incredible.”

“It’s one of the most important things as a student, everyone should study abroad,” she says.

American students like Pam, as well as students from all over the world, are studying abroad. According to the Institute of International Education, about 300,000 American students go away to foreign countries each year. Meanwhile, almost 700,000 students come from abroad to study in the United States, according to the website internationalstudent.com.

But difficulties come with new experiences.

Christine Hsu, 21, also a student from Barnard College, studied abroad during her junior year. She was part of the International Honors Program, and studied in South Africa, Brazil, and Vietnam. She was treated differently, she says, depending on where she was.

Wherever she went, she was often judged by her Asian appearance, and was mistaken for Chinese or Japanese, when in fact she is Taiwanese-American.

While she was in Cape Town, South Africa, “Everyone thought I was Chinese, people asked if my uncle was Jackie Chan,” she says.

 However, in Sao Paulo she wouldn’t get the attention she got in Cape Town.

“Brazil had a large Japanese population. Everyone thought I was Japanese, people didn’t try to sell me things,”Hsu said.

Students from other countries who come to America say they get stereotyped as well.

“I didn’t speak English and couldn’t communicate with others,”  said Mehnaz Sultane, 16, who came here from Bangladesh. “People judged you a lot like you should be a certain way.”

However, she says that the way of life in America is much more fun and loose.

 Her friend, Eilyn Gutierret, 16, points to a half-naked man in Union Square. 

“You wouldn’t see that there,”she said.

Jessie Zhao, 21, who’s studying in America from China, says the culture here is much more, well-mannered, and that the food is different.

“I never knew you didn’t have to microwave cheese until I got here,” she says.

New York City’s iconic triangular Flatiron building, known for its “floating” art pieces, is now the home to artist Rebecca Riley’s “Randomland.” A temporary exhibit, Randomland features collages of maps  painted with viral flash paint, hung from the ceiling in a glass-encased space on the building’s first floor, which create a drifting effect.

Riley, an artist known for creating collage pieces, was challenged by Cherl McGinnis, the art curator at the Flat Iron, to fill the Flat Iron Prow Art Space, located in the lobby of the building.

McGinnis said she wanted an exhibit that encompassed every aspect of the diverse city of New York.

“I wanted something specifically mapped to the city. My feeling was, especially in this time of year we have so many tourists and people from all over the world, and I felt like, when you look at art you find yourself,” she said.

Riley said she wanted to take an interactive approach, where the viewer and the artists can meet and discuss instead of going to an art gallery or a museum.

“This could not happen anywhere else except here. I had to respond to the space around me,” she said. “I cut out all kind of map fragments and put them together, and painted on top of them. And some I didn’t. Some are pieces of water and then basically collage them together. So this is truly an installation. I made the artwork here.”

“Randomland” will be on display until Sept. 20, when it will be taken down and replaced by a new 3-D sculpture.

 

 

As his third and final term is coming to an end, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has left a legacy on New York City residents. Although he has left his mark, many feel the time has come for him to go.

Throughout the years, Mayor Bloomberg has worked to improve health conditions, issued transportation reforms and helped passed Marriage Equality Act.

“He is very proactive in terms of helping the city out,” said Mark Morrow, a 43-year-old appliance officer from Long Island. “Looking out for people, helping out on [the] smoking ban. I believe he has done an excellent job.”

However many New Yorkers feel his positive reputation has gone down hill since his first and second terms.

“I think his first couple terms were better than his last,” says Morrow.

Other New Yorkers also feel that he is losing his concentration.

“He is cracking too much on petty stuff. He’s taking things a little too seriously,” said Darryl Lewis, a 42-year old water technician from New Jersey.

Toni Arena, a 68-year old resident from Murray Hill, said he thought Bloomberg has lost appeal since because of his many controversial health initiatives, like the proposed soda ban, which some residents think goes too far.

“He is an excellent business man…. [But] he’s tarnishing it now trying to enforce no sugar,” said Arena. “I think he’s annoying a lot of people now.”

“If he does the soda ban, then unfortunately that’s what people will remember,” says Morrow.

 

High-pitched laughter and the sound of splashing cuts through the dense heat wave at Madison Square Park, as young children gallop through the sprinklers, all in the effort to beat the heat. Adults and kids alike are covered with a sheet of sweat, and the air is filled with the smells of summer.

For some New Yorkers, summer weather is a reason to rejoice, while others prefer to escape the stifling temperatures.

“I like the hot weather, just not when it’s too humid,” said Alicia Bryan, who works for the city’s Parks Department. “You cant breathe.”

The city’s public pools and park’s spray sprinklers are one way residents can catch a break.

“I’m here with my son. We’re usually here during the day so that I can let him run around and cool off,” said 27-year-old Margaret McCloskey, from Manhattan, who was enjoying the spray fountains at Augustus Saint Gaudens Park.

Another place locals go to keep out of the heat is the sanctuary of air-conditioned movie theaters.

“I can’t take it,” Mique Sultan, 54, moaned, with sweat poured down his face, as he waited on line to buy a ticket. “It’s too hot.”

For some, rising temperatures present a business opportunity. Sitting in a broken chair by the Union Square No. 6 train, Maria Roberta, 46, endures the daily grind despite the recent heat waves, carting around coolers filled with soda, water and Gatorades.

“One dollar soda, one dollar water. One dollar, one dollar,” shouted Roberta, as she tried to attract customers.

At Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices on 24th Street, locals have been lining up for refreshing and cool desserts and drinks.

“Business has been very good, very busy. Summertime is usually the best time for ices,” said Tyrone Banks, 21, an employee at Ralph’s.

Out-of-towners, visiting from even warmer climates, say New York’s summer can’t compare to temperatures in their home turf.

“This is nothing to us, we’re from Arizona,” said Lisa Akien, who was enjoying a milkshake with her family under the shade of a large tree in Union Square Park.

Even some locals say they don’t mind the warmer weather.

“I like sunshine. I think people complain too much,” said Maggie Dale, 24, from Spanish Harlem. “I love walking this wonderful city, enjoying the weather.”

Comedy at it’s finest.

He’s an awkward rookie agent.

She’s the speedy and precise senior agent.

They’re dating and neither of them realize each other’s secret identities.

It’s a recipe for disaster.

But none the less, after three years apart, they meet again unexpectedly…in the men’s bathroom…while he’s using the urinal.

It’s a great scene though and it relights their relationship.

Kang Ji Hwan’s comedic scenes were the highlight of the entire movie. Although he had some slightly serious fight scenes, he did a great job of incorporating comedy into them making this such a light and relaxing film to watch.

His scenes with Ryoo Seung Ryong are great as well. They were the perfect comedy duo in this.

Kim Ha Neul didn’t disappoint with her comedic scenes as well. But her fight scenes were done very well and it was hard to notice that her usual roles are fun and happy. This really opens up a new road for her in acting.

The foreign actors on the other hand could have been better but they weren’t the focus so I didn’t really mind. 

But the ending although hilarious and very unexpected, did not wrap up all of the loose ends from the movie. It didn’t conclude as well as I would have liked it to, but in the end it did deliver a healthy serving of fun.

It’s a great movie to watch even when you’re preoccupied with the happenings of the London Olympics

Comedic action movie + shock induced excitement from the London Olympics = best Saturday afternoon!