ENG2150: Writing New York

This Thursday Baruch will be holding an all day “Art-A-Thon,” offering a wide range of experiences in music, visual art, literature, theater, and more.  I have attached the schedule of events.  In order to receive credit, you must attend one or more of the events on the schedule and post a report about your experience to our course blog (min. 250 words).  Please include a photograph in your post which can serve as documentation of your presence at the session.  This is the second year that this event is being held.  Students and faculty who participated last year had a terrific time! Enjoy!

ArtAThon.schedule.2018 (1)

I have lay claim to Astoria Park and the New Museum. Thank You!!!

You can find the details of this assignment above under the “Assignments” tab.  Don’t forget to post your destination here once you have decided where you’re going!  All trip destinations must be posted no later than Monday, April 9th, the first day we are back after break.  I can’t wait to hear where you’ve decided to go!

Have a wonderful week off!!!  Use it to relax and recharge!

This is the stage at the La Guardia Community College Performing Arts Center.

This is where I used to perform, in my heyday.

This is where I encountered stage fright first hand, and the same stage where I overcame it.

This is the stage I walked on for my graduation.

I watched a performance of, In the Heights by Lin Manuel Miranda. To which, reminded me of my days, and made me glad that I have grown for a new stage!I was happy to see that they could still put on a remarkable show without me or my colleagues who would amp up the process of making a show come to life.I decided to come to this stage, to take my seat as a member of the audience, to watch my theater classmates who are still in my previous high school making their final theatrical stretch. Corny as it is, that “stage” is finding myself and who I want to be in the world.  So, in light of that…Cheers to new beginnings!

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying this unexpected day off from school!  In light of today’s school closing, I’d like to adjust our schedule as follows:

1.  Essay #2 will be due by 11pm on Tuesday, March 27th, via turnitin.com.

2.  Bring 3 copies of a completed draft of your essay with you to class on Monday, March 26th.

Because you have this unexpected extra time to work on your drafts, I expect them to be finished, polished works.  I would be happy to take a look at your draft and give you feedback, so email me if that’s something that you think would be helpful.  As you work on refining your papers, think about the following:

— Does your introductory paragraph spell out a clear thesis or main idea that you will be exploring throughout the essay? Ask yourself, “could a reasonable reader disagree with this thesis?”  If the answer is “no,” that means that you are describing what is going on in the text, but not yet analyzing it.  Ask yourself “so what? why is this important? what do we learn from this?” in order to push your thinking past description into analysis.

–Every body paragraph in your essay should begin with an idea about the text (not with an element of plot summary or description.) . Each paragraph should be organized around a single idea.  Be sure to connect each of your body paragraphs back to the essay’s thesis or main idea.

–Have you included textual evidence to illustrate and back up your ideas?  Remember that when you quote from the text, you also need to explain the significance of the quotation you’ve selected.  Don’t assume that your reader can see what you see in that quotation; offer some analysis of every quote you include in your paper.

I am looking forward to reading your work next week.  In the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Enjoy the snow day!!

Professor Sylvor

In this photo, I am walking the Brooklyn Bridge (what a coincidence that we were talking about bridges during class… anyways). This is one of my favorite photos I managed to take on the bridge because of what I was able to capture. Despite the rain and greyness outside, tourist managed to walk the whole bridge and continue to enjoy the beauty the city had to offer. By the look on their faces, I can tell they were excited to cross from borough to borough and experience the “adrenaline” a new yorker goes through while crossing this bridge.

New York minute

If you’ve lived in New York you have witnessed the phenomena of people lined out of stores in order to purchase an item. These lines go around the block with people who even camped out. As New Yorkers this has become normal however if you take a step back and really consider what is going on it is truly crazy. These people are doing this line to acquire a regular sneaker or shirt that has some sort clout. New yorkers are fashion forward individuals. Here more than anywhere would you witness people go that hard for fashion. This phenomenon speaks volumes as to the type of individuals that we are. Not only is the youth of new york a group stylish individuals we also grind. We grind from very young it is part of New York culture. Most of these teens on the line end up reselling the items for triple the price once they have worn it two or three times. It has even become a full time job for most of these teens. In New York more than anywhere can people make pieces of clothing so expensive.

New York is a city home to a lot of people with different backgrounds and even some tourists. Having directions out for people who are unfamiliar with the route and streets to get around is an important feature to how transportation works in the city. I remember having to take a different route to a place I had never been before, true Google maps and such apps are really useful at times like this. However, my internet failed to work at that moment, leaving me to depend on the maps and directions posted on the walls of the subway system. I never thought that there would be a time in which such displays would be useful to me due to our technological advances. I looked through the map and figured out where to go and what trains to take for my travel to be safer and time efficient. I have started to appreciate the efforts of the mta and directional posters more often.

Last week, I got the chance to experience New York City FC Home Opener game at the Yankee stadium. YES!, a soccer game on a baseball field. Regardless of where it took place, I got to enjoy the beautiful game. As some of you may know soccer is something I am very passionate about and to experience it here in New York was very special. I enjoyed every moment of the game, the vibes, the fans cheering, the chants, the songs, etc. I can say that for the last 3 game openers I have been to this one was really fun and worth going to. I really recommend you guys to go to one of their games this season and enjoy the amazing vibes the beautiful game offers… maybe when the weather gets nicer because when I went it was FREEZING!

You have the following assignments to do to prepare for Monday’s class:

1.  Rewrite five sentences from your personal essay.  For each sentence, provide the original sentence as it appeared in the essay, your revised sentence, and a brief explanation of the correction.  (typewritten)
2. In connection with our conversation today about “Story in Negro Slang,” compose a brief, slang-filled dialogue.  Your dialogue should have at least ten lines. (typed or handwritten)
3. Read Walt Whitman, “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” Vladimir Mayakovsky, “Brooklyn Bridge,” and Hart Crane, “To Brooklyn Bridge.”  All three poems are in your anthology. Be prepared to discuss and/or write about these poem