Author: ALEXIS SANCHEZ

The image that I took was a picture of my neighborhood at night, in which it is solitary and is not eventful at all. A couple of plants are the focal point of the picture, surrounded by cars in the background with the street light on and houses. This picture reflects upon the idea of reflection itself as it gives off the vibe of thinking about life and just ending off the night. All of the different focal points of the picture come together to create an image of somberness and even isolation in a sense as it indicates how being out at night is so quiet and can be used as a time to reflect. I lowered the exposure and the contrast to further expand upon and give off the impression of an unsettling and quiet night in which one is awake where most are away in their homes and it projects a reflective state of mind. These elements along with the street lights and the business that is open in the picture come together to appeal to the audience that the quietness of nights have a sense of isolation which can indicate a certain ease of mind while also being nerving. The genre of this art is abstract, as it has several different components such as the street lights, the business in the background, the nonmoving plants and mini trees, the cars and the houses to imply how nights are mysterious and isolated which can lead to a moment of reflection.

Within the article, “Realizing the Dream of a Liberation University,” by Conor Tomás Reed, it discussed the time period around 1978 up until 1992 where the City University of New York had changed from a free tuition university to one that required tuition, sparking many outrages and complaints within the city. The Retrenchment period was the time where CUNY started charging tuition for students, no longer being a free university, that resulted in people fighting back against their decision. The state and city budget for the University started decreasing, and there were less and less adjunct professors teaching at the University. It is similar and even compared to the Covid-19 Pandemic within the article itself, in which the most Covid-19 deaths occurred at CUNY across all universities within the entire country. Reed had stated that, “In 2020, a re-emerging movement to “resist this death” of CUNY faces a compounded crisis…The global Covid-19 pandemic has killed more people at our university than any other in the country…” The pandemic sparked up the idea of a “death,” a death of free education, and a death of the lives within the university itself. The Retrenchment period and the Pandemic were compared to signify a sense of loss within different aspects of people either interested in attending CUNY or the ones that already do. There is an implication of a lack of security and necessary action that needs to be done in order for the people of CUNY to be at their best, including free tuition and safety. This leads into Reed’s usage of the term, “death cult,” a heavy and meaningful metaphor that signifies how CUNY and the city of New York seems to metaphorically and literally allow loss into it’s sphere. The many lives lost at CUNY, the lives of those wishing to get a great college education to accomplish their hopes and dreams who unfortunately cannot due to their circumstances and confront a death of those aspirations, imply a “death cult,” a group of people or orchestrators that willingly and allow the situation of charging college tuition to occur, as if it is for the better of the city and for the City University of New York. Reed’s context of a “death cult,” was to imply that CUNY is allowing people to suffer and lose their sense of direction due to privatization and non free college tuition. The anti-racist and anti-austerity groups at CUNY were suggested by Reed to combine their efforts with the PSC Union who presented ten demands for CUNY to, “Save Lives, Save Jobs, Save CUNY,” which excluded the anti-racist demands and other demands from the multiple groups within CUNY. If all of the groups demands’ were combined, it would unite the issues together instead of dividing them and classifying them separately which would make them more integrated. It could also create massive change and innovation within CUNY and create a new and improved college experience that benefits everyone.

After reading the article, “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation, by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, it was interesting when it came to how the representation of black people such as Kamala Harris in political positions has not really changed much when it comes to the way black people are living within the country. After Obama was elected as President, there was hope for the lives of black people and it was expected that Obama was going to make some changes for them. In the article, it states, “In an attempt to deflect the heavy demands that were gathering across Black America during and after the 2008 financial crisis, he took to publicly chastising poor and working-class Black families for what he believed they were not doing.” Obama targeted black families and was saying that they were not doing enough things to change the way that they were brought up. Obama was representing black people, but he was not necessarily understanding black people in certain moments. It may be due to not understanding the way that black people were living in the country. Joe Biden elected Kamala Harris as his Vice President and it is alarming that he chose her after the moments that he has had that contradicted his support of black people. Taylor included, “He added, “It doesn’t matter whether or not they were deprived as a youth. It doesn’t matter whether or not they had no background that enabled them to become socialized into the fabric of society.” Biden was the architect of the Crime Bill of 1994 and he seemed to lack an understanding of the lives of black people and the way that they were living. Biden claimed to have not cared about black people being deprived within their youth or the idea of not being brought up in society in a better way. Biden did not have an understanding of the way black people were living and it showed in the way that he has talked about their lives. Joe Biden elected Kamala Harris who is black but in order for there to be help for black people, there has to be an understanding in the way that they are brought up and live. Although it is good for black people to be represented, the people taking political positions should understand the way that black people are living.

The art piece, “Untitled,” by David Wojnarowicz implies its own messages that can be relevant to the world. The rhetorical properties of the art piece such as the picture of the boy smiling the middle of it implies the innocence that kids of his age have, yet the older that the kids get, the more exposed they are to how the world really is and the things that people do within it. The text was written on the left and right side of him, and as it progressively moves on, it starts to become more alarming and somewhat critical of the things that people do which created a build up or an anticipation of the text itself. The text resonates with today’s social or political concerns because there are numerous people who face treatment that is not necessarily right for those people and several kids end up growing up and witnessing or possibly experiencing it. The art piece itself was about a boy who was unaware of the things that would be done towards him after he found out that he was into the same sex. It can be connected to today’s world because there are people within the world that have to deal with being discriminated against for having a certain sexuality or with even being a certain race. There are kids who end up realizing how the world really is to certain people after they end up growing up. Some people get treatment for their race or sexuality which is an issue within the world. The conclusions that I can take away from this text to build an argument about the impact that art might make on political or social concerns is that the less people talk about the idea of treatment towards certain people then the issue could occur for numerous generations down the road. Art can be a way of expressing certain social and political concerns such as how kids may get treatment for liking the same sex or being a certain race and it can relate to people within society and it can cause more focus on that particular thing. The art implies that kids may get certain treatment for liking the same sex or for being a certain race when they grow up so it shows that people should discuss about it so that there can be positive energy.

When it comes to the result of my sentence analysis, I was not surprised by the results. Many of the sentences within the two paragraphs consisted of complex sentences with some complex-compound sentences and a few simple sentences. I was not surprised by that because I was very descriptive and I connected the two texts well which needed me to use complex sentences more than the other types of sentences. I had some complex-compound sentences so that I can connect multiple ideas at once so that I could emphasize certain points that I had made and make it an overall more descriptive paper. I used some simple sentences so that I could make clear points and making it a much clearer paper . It reveals about my writing style that I like to analyze and describe the points that I make in the paper in detail so I tend to use more complex sentences than the other types. The changes that the count of sentence types within my paper will prompt me to include some slightly shorter sentences so that the paper can be slightly more smooth. It can enhance my writing by making the paper slightly more smooth and it would make my points a little more clear and possibly impactful. The sentence style within my paper correlates to my edits and revisions that I plan on making in my draft because it might incline me to use different vocabulary that can make my sentences more descriptive for the paper.

In the articles, “Racial Capitalocene” by Francoise Vergès and “New York’s Invisible Climate Migrants” by Sophie Kasakove, there was a sense of discussion when it came to race playing a big factor when it comes to environments. Both articles established the idea that the environments that people live in are influenced heavily by their race and it can serve as a detriment.

In the article, “Racial Capitalocene,” by Francoise Vergès, it states, “It showed that race was the single most important factor in determining where toxic waste facilities were sited in the United States and that the siting of these facilities in communities of color was the intentional result of local, state, and federal land-use policies…The report demonstrated that “three out of every five Black and Hispanic Americans lived in communities with uncontrolled toxic waste sites.” Many minority people are surrounded by toxic waste sites that are not controlled and it goes to show the lack of the amount of care that corporations and the government have for the people. The fact that many minorities live in areas with toxic waste sites establishes the idea that there is not much concern being put for their lives and well-being and it displays how race influences the environments that people live in.

The article, “New York’s Invisible Climate Migrants,” Sophie Kasakove,  states, “In the Rockaways, in Queens, and Brooklyn’s Canarsie, the median asking rent is $1,837 and $2,000, respectively, compared with an overall median of $2,199 in Queens and $2,500 in Brooklyn…In 2017, in Canarsie and neighboring Flatlands, 62 percent of the population identified as black and the homeownership rate was 57 percent, the highest of any neighborhood in Brooklyn.” The areas within New York that are more available to people of the middle class are the same areas that do not have good public transportation and they have to deal with climate change. Many minorities are within those areas and they have to put up with the circumstances that they have within their environments. Kasakove states, “Many who applied for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are still waiting today. And flood insurance rates have increased in some neighborhoods by as much as 18 percent per year…” The people within the areas that suffered from climate change have to deal with agencies not giving the money to recover from the climate change and they also have to pay higher flood insurance rates within those areas. Many minorities are from those areas and they cannot afford living in other areas in the city due to the high prices and they have to deal with the climate change in their environments. Race is an influence for the environments that people live in.