Author: Chelsey

After reading “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation”, I noticed that I agreed with the majority of the things said in the article. This article mainly touched on how politicians, such as Biden and Harris, claim verbally to represent certain races but there is no guarantee of their support when they are elected into office. In 1993, Biden showed his support towards supporting the 1994 crime bill that targeted young black people, which led to the stereotyping of all black people to be offenders even though that strictly isn’t the case. “This, of course, was not only about supposedly out-of-control youngsters; it was also an indictment of Black families and Black mothers as a source of disorder that, if unchecked, threatened to undermine white families as well. Biden has never taken responsibility for his overheated rhetoric and its role in demonizing Black families and thoroughly racializing crime”. Through Biden’s actions, we are able identify who he supports rather than blindly listening to his words and expecting him to act them out in office. In this instance, he made the action of sponsoring this bill and proceeded to talk about minorities in this way, it’s as simple as that. Even those who we think could be on minorities’ side because of their appearance, prove to be false. LaToya Cantrell, the first ever black woman in New Orleans was elected to be mayor, and considering who she identified as on the outside, those of her same race would vote to show support. However, while she was in office, she completely disregarded those of her own race and class before she was seen as important in society. Cantrell refused to help the working class from getting better pay, which would seem shocking considering that’s who she was supporting before she was in office. This teaches us as voting citizens to be careful of who we vote for to represent our city, state, or country as a whole. Words are not enough to show support, but rather their actions and decisions made are.

The art I chose was Adrian Piper’s “Decide Who You Are, Anita Hill” because it could be interpreted rhetorically in many different ways. There are numerous statements made in red words that connect to several social and political movements. The first two I thought of were the Black Lives Matter movement and the #MeToo movement which I felt truly embodies what this artwork is trying to say. The words “surely you’re exaggerating just a little” “you’re being irrational” or “the problem? you’re being paranoid” sound as if this person is gaslighting another. To top it off, the color red to me means power, and the person saying these things is in a higher power position in comparison to the person receiving these words. The two movements I mentioned have to do with power dynamics in certain social situations, whether it is a man and a woman, a white person and a black person, or a rich person and a poor person. The fact that Piper also used an image of a black little girl perfectly resembles what women and black people go through growing up into adults. Art can most definitely make an impact on social and political concerns going on in our country. Art starts a conversation and it allows people to opinionate on the situations presented. Just like Piper’s art piece, it can give different interpretations and have someone else think deeply about the issues portrayed in the art and potentially take action against them. As this art piece touches on the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movement, other pieces of art that support different movements can also create conversations and shed light on other important issues.

The results were not too surprising to find out after identifying sentence types. I noticed that I mainly used compound or compound-complex sentences in my writing. It was interesting to analyze how I write while writing a paper, and I have determined that I write in three different ways. I either write as if I am speaking, write as if I am summarizing (not analyzing), or I write as if I am telling a story. You can tell through the different sentence structures or through the overall tone of the paragraph. I also noticed that I insert a lot of commas, whether I need them or not. This goes into play whenever I write as if I am speaking to an audience. I am planning on changing the way my tone is conveyed in my writing through the sentence structures and tone of the paper. This will be vital when I am comparing the artifacts I chose to Dickinson’s graffiti article because it will allow my writing to sound more analytical. I always had trouble with that in high school because I could not retain the information that the teacher was explaining. Sentence style definitely correlates to the future edits I will be making to my draft because it will help the paper sound more cohesive than it is now. Upon reading my piece, I noticed that it lacks flow since my ideas are all over the place. Sentence style can really help me to create sentences that fit into the analysis portion and sound like my thoughts are together.

As a resident in New York City, changes have definitely been implemented into our neighborhoods bringing about privatization. Before moving to the borough of Manhattan, I used to live in the Bronx 2-3 years ago. Although I am a borough away, I always visit whenever I can. As I was growing up in my neighborhood, I loved how it felt like a family. Everyone knew each other and helped each other whenever they could. Until semi-recently, there has been a restructuring of the entire neighborhood. Small businesses were being forced to shut down because companies wanted to demolish it and put something new. It just felt like a sudden rush of different companies began occupying our space. One year a BJ’s opened, the next a self-storage, the next a shopping mall occupied by Best Buy, T.J. Maxx, Aldi’s, etc., and even more shopping corporations taking over our space. The area is still being gentrified today and these corporations continue to take away the financial living of the residents. One of my best friends and her family might become a victim of being kicked out of their territory because a company wants to take over their family restaurant and convenience store. I couldn’t help but compare it to how these graffiti artists were thinking about the NYPD and the mayor prohibiting them from enjoying their art. Although they are two completely different circumstances, the similarities are there. Both feel the need to fight against these large corporations and retaliate because that is the only way to protect themselves. As these graffiti artists continue to showcase their art in public areas despite negativity from the public and government officials, these family-owned businesses protest in their own way just as they do. Just as Dickinson expresses in their article, the lower class today are being forced to privatize their neighborhood and completely change those who reside in it as a result of corporations taking over.

Hello! My name is Chelsey and I am a marketing major. The art I chose is of the Squishmallow: Carlos the crab. This squishy object has become the face of the longest-running joke my friends and I have from our summer trip. This crab had been with us on this trip since day one and he contributed to the many joyous moments we had. We won him at the amusement park after eighteen embarrassing tries. This crab made us work for him, and once we had him, the only solution we came up with was taking him everywhere we went. To the mall, to the beach, to restaurants, to anywhere you can think of. I think the one thing that made us so attached to him, other than wasting more than $20 for a joke, was because we were all similar to him in our own way.

Squishmallows usually come with a tag that describes their personality in a few sentences, and the one part I resonated with was where it mentioned that Carlos is an adventurous world traveler. If it weren’t for the restraints that society has on us to get a real job, then I probably would spend my time traveling the world. I love the idea of going somewhere new and exploring your personal interests. Every time I travel, I find that I discover a new piece of myself such as a new interest or new favorite food and I’d love to find myself even further. This piece of art represents my sense of adventure even if it means diving headfirst into something new, just like Carlos.