Saturday, February 29, 2020

Question# 3 in class-writing

When I went to Ecuador on Christmas, my aunt told me that in a community not far away where I lived there were orphaned children who had no parents. They were 9 siblings and the oldest was taking care of them. The youngest was 8 months old, so I started to gather clothes, shoes that my girl no longer had, and some toys to take them. Also, I bought food and candy bags to give them. My goal was that those children even at Christmas feel happy. When I arrived there, I felt very sad since they were without shoes and dirty clothes. When they saw us arriving, they were very happy and were grateful to us. The experience that I lived there was very good because I not only shared with my family but also shared with people who had not known before and who mostly do not have the daily bread. 

Underground Response

Yamazaki use to work very hard.  He used to work with his girlfriend. They used to fight every time, they didn´t have a good relationship. On the day of the gas attackhe as usually went early to work. He used to take the first and the second door of the trainWhen the train stop, he never imagined the serious problem that he was comforting that moment. As he saw many people lie down in the platform. He didn´t realize that he also was affected by sarin. When he went to call to his job to say that he is going to be late. Immediately, he starts to feel sick. The most surprised thing that no body help him. He was feeling so bad, but nobody helps him. People think that he was drunk or homeless. When the coworkers saw him, they knew the kind of person that was him so at that moment they help him and take him to the hospital. When he arrived at the hospital, he thinks that he was going to die so he asked to see his girlfriend one more time. His girlfriend was taking care of him all the time. She loved him very much. As he got better, he realized how bad he was behaving with her. He learned each day to love her more. Life changed in seconds and that is why it is important to value the person who is with you in the good and bad times. On the other hand, I think that sometimes one knows when a person is good or bad. In this case, Yamazaki knew that the guy of high school was not a good person. They never got along. At the end of the day, he realized that his thinking came true as he remembered that this guy from high school was the one who attacked him and many people who were on the train. Sometimes things happen for better or worse, in this case it happened for good as the couple began to have a good relationship. 

Click here to join!

For me to join a cult, there would need to be a few things in place.
1) The leader better have a good sense of fashion. I could never be seen wearing some white woolen dress all year round. Do you know how hard it is to keep things white? They probably would have to use a metric ton of clorox to keep things perfect. And what about Memorial Day? How am I going to explain it to other people that I am still wearing white? “Oh this? Yeah, I know it’s October 24th. I was just getting home from P Diddy’s party.”
2) They better have good tasting food (not filled with poison). Imagine there was only bread and water. Oprah might “looooveee it!”, but not me. I need to have chicken, rice, salad, fish and variety. Now, if this were an upscale cult, I would not pass on the caviar and champagne (again, no poison)
3) No memorization of weird slogans. I am a college student and I have enough things to study.
4) I must be able to use my phone. I would hope with so many people that they would let me join their plan. If I’m going to get a text to meet somewhere at like 5 AM, it better be at their expense.
5) Free Wi-Fi. No silly passwords for it either like “Dach0zen1!” or “TheyRcoming!”
6) They can’t be mean to other people. The cult should be welcoming and have a good initiative to help those in the most need.
7) They do not ask me for money. In fact, they should be giving me money for joining them! And, for every new person I bring in, I get $100.
8) Again, not just white.
9) If we have to be out in public, we have to be done quickly. Not that much walking either. I will go somewhere that I can sit down, and chant or whatever, and I can watch my Netflix.
10) No one asks me to make a Top 10 list.

yamazaki's experience

When Yamazaki recalls his experience having had a positive effect on his relationship with his girlfriend, it reminds me of a significant change that occurred in my own relationship following an accident


My partner and I had only been together for just under a year at this point, but for many reasons, we argued a lot. I didn’t understand why simple conversations had to be overcomplicated by misunderstandings, assumptions and cynicism all the time. I had my own problems.  At the time, we were both just trying to get our lives together. One thing I remember was a persistent feeling that his coworkers had some kind of influence on him; I'd met them before, and I thought they were assholish and self-important (he worked at a vegan restaurant, if that means anything) and that it just seemed to be rubbing off on him. This just made it difficult to deal with his temperament. We just thought of life differently. And we were young.


The accident happened at a time when I was almost sure we were at a breaking point. He was increasingly rude, dismissive, and jealous. I contemplated ending the relationship one day. I told him I couldn’t handle it anymore. I thought our differences or disagreements could have been easily resolved, but his attitude just really sucked. The stress was getting to me and it all felt so unnecessary. We both attended a concert at Madison Square Garden the night before. I was by myself all the way up in the front, and he was somewhere up in the nosebleeds with a coworker. We caught up after the show and went home in unbearable silence. No discussions of the show or where he even was. I was upset the rest of the evening and I told him so.


I got a phone call from him while he was at work the next morning. He apologized to me. It was what I had been waiting for, and I knew I deserved it but I remember thinking, "uncharacteristically sincere." He offered to pick me up from work later that evening. I was mulling it over all day afterward. I got through my day, anyhow, and as usual, waited outside my workplace for him to pick me up as he usually did. That evening, I was a ball of anxiety. He was usually punctual, so waiting was only making it worse for me, I had been carrying this tightness in my chest all day. It was a nice evening, though. The last days of September. One by one, my coworkers would leave the building and ask, “you still waiting?” and I’d laugh it off or make a joke or something. But I realized it was starting to get pretty late - I was standing there for more than an hour. I remember several times calling his phone from a payphone nearby. When I finally did reach him, he sounded unrecognizable, he said to go home. “Just go home, I can’t speak right now, I’m in the hospital.” What the fuck? “What happened??” “Someone ran me over!” he strained.  “I have to go. I’ll call you.” That was it. That’s all I could know. I remember the wave of shock and confusion, then my head just felt like a block, empty as I walked to the train station. There I was on this long commute back, while he was possibly very injured in the hospital. I have a way of dissociating when I experience shock. Hard to reconcile that brief interaction on the phone from the one just earlier that day. I felt zombie-like. I just had my headphones on and tried to calm myself down. I wondered what his parents would say. Then I felt sick with guilt, like I was responsible, like “if he hadn’t set off to pick me up from work, he wouldn’t be in the E.R. right now.”


I finally got home, braced myself and called him. He picked up after a few rings, to my surprise, audibly groggy, but calm. They had him on a morphine drip, and he was able to explain to me that some woman hit him on Queens Boulevard and tried to flee from the scene. A man saw what happened and chased after her until she finally stopped and he was able to get her information, and call 911. He explained all the injuries and the surgery he would need for his wrist (he said when he looked at it, his hand was hanging at a 90 degree angle, he went into shock). I distinctly remember from that evening forward, things were so radically different. He was different. And, I noticed immediately, how considerate he was all of a sudden. It became easier to talk to him. We spent months working out issues and hurt feelings while he healed, and I helped as much as he needed. It was a major reality check, of how fragile life is. Months later (Feb 28, 2008) I lost my friend Asif, who was killed just blocks from where my boyfriend was hit, right on Queens Blvd while riding his bike home. I remember how I hesitated to tell my boyfriend what had happened to him. It's hard to avoid using any cliches here, but this really compounded the feeling that it can all end so abruptly, and yes, we definitely were guilty of taking each day for granted. I think about that day in September, and the death of my friend in February, and I just never want to forget what that taught me.

Self Love

I have a major theme for my mid-term project. I want people to realize that a lot of us go through trials and tribulations. But it is only temporary. The most important concept is that we must love ourselves enough to make that change to better our lives. Self love plays a part in this most definitely. You have to love yourself unconditionally in order to go through the process and succeed and live a fulfilling life. What do you think?

True Story






This is an introduction about a true story about my real life experience. I hope you like it and tell me what you think of it. The rest is going to come soon and it will be mentioned in my mid-term project.





decided to talk about something that's close to my heart. This writing class has brought creativity out of me that I didn't even know that I had. During my adult years, I've been told that I was a good writer, but now I'm thinking in a different way. I'm realizing that I should be more detailed with my work. And that I need to think outside the box. I even wanted to mention that my classmates and Professor has inspired me. They got me open up to talk about a hard topic that I was afraid at first to share. Everybody has a story. Let me tell you mine.n introduction for a true story that I would like to explore. Let me know what you guys think about it.


To be continued...


In class writing

On July fourth, in Far Rockaway Beach park in Queens. It was extremely hot about 95 degrees and humid ,my family and I decided to have  a barbecue. People was everywhere and their was a variety of food. Hamburgers ,franks ,chicken , ribs, potato salad and plenty of cold beverages. While enjoying the festivities ,I noticed an older gentleman fall down to the ground ,he was shaking and trembling. I didn’t know him. His family was gathered around him and they were hysterical. I immediately went over to see what happened.  I asked everyone to step back so he could get some air. Then I instructed a couple of ladies to get some paper so we could fan him so he could get some oxygen. Someone in the crowd called for an ambulance. Once I got the paper we started to fan him and he begin to gain consciousness.  I told them to continue fanning him. I then asked him his name and birthday to see if he was alert and aware of his surroundings. He responded to my questions. His family was so happy they thanked me. I was very proud of myself that I helped someone in time of need. The family waited for the ambulance to arrive. My family and I left the park to go home. My older brother say to me you did a great job. I responded thank you

question #1 - in class writing

My sister and I didn't have a good relationship, she was always with her boyfriend and her own life, she never used to call me or text me. then she found out she was going to be a mother, she had her daugther and she told me about it. I took the initiative to go see her and my niece, she knew that she had messed up and that she needed to change if she wanted to be united. she was different after her daugther was born, she was more mature. Our friendship grew, and today we speak to each other almost everyday, she talks to me about her life, her struggles and her daugther. I enjoy listening to her and giving her advice when she ask me about a situation. She is sorry for not being therre when I was little and i needed her. But we both have no grutches, and I love her and I am happy to have a relationship wuth her. Her daugther changed our relatiomship and I am thankful for having them in my life.

writing- underground page 185

There was someone interviewed that knew a guy who was part of the Aum, when they interviewed him, he wrote about how he was in his girlfriend's company, and how he worked, he gives details on how he became close to his boss, which is his girlfriend dad. When he got attacked by the gas, when he went to the hospital, he saw the true feelings of his girlfriend, his relationship became better, they were able to see each other as one another. Also when they saw the TV, they showed the whole organization and he noticed that there was a guy he knew. Then he realized it was someone from high school, it ended up being a guy who he never liked because he was weird. It turns out that he talked to an old friend who was friends with this guy, and he ends up telling him that the guy from television is the same weirdo he met in high school. Art last he was thinking about the situation he was in, and he believes that people don’t have the courage to help when someone is in danger. If it wasn't from his colleagues at work who had taken him to the hospital, he says that maybe he would have died. His reactions felt almost the same as the other interviews because he felt dizzy, he couldn't see and he couldn’t even stay still.

Cults 2

In what ways do you think they're similar to other violent extremists (white nationalists or Muslim terrorist organizations) and in what ways are they different?

I would say that they are similar to violent extremists are they alienate their members and the leader has total control over their lives. The idea that they are a "special" group with a secret agenda shared is one of the steps towards extremism. I don't think they are very different since they end up in the same ending with a violent incident like the bombing.

 Well, actually I think most cults are about giving money to the leaders and escaping government regulations. I feel like the members don't realize until it's too late and by then nothing can change it. 

Cults 1

What makes them different than us?

It sounds strange too but I read a book about cults because someone tried to convince me to join a Buddist cult. I went to a "meeting" it was just meditating and had a huge photo of the leader in the front for 7-8 hours. Like how the leader would solve all their problems in life but you know donating money to a stranger isn't what I call enlightening. It wasn't about Buddism as much it was some psuedo-religion that made members donate money and time for it.

Most of the people looked average like the people who stand next to the pamphlets on the subway. I always avoided them since they were always creepy. I feel like cult gave them a hobby or common interest than I guess going to tennis lessons. The entire experience made me avoid groups in particular since I really want to avoid cults in the future.

Friday, February 28, 2020

Public Writing Project

I want to direct your attention to either of the following opportunities to meet the Public Writing Project:



Thursday, February 27, 2020

In Class Writing: Question #2

A time that made me realized that me and an old friend of mine were two completely different people was when she gained this jealously towards me during middle school years. We had classes together since the 7th grade, and I was very antisocial during my junior years of middle school, so I would usually spend most of my free time with my math teacher, in whom I created a deep bond with.  This was also during a time where I was bullied constantly by my peers and those who've just seen me at random and chose not to like me. However, my "friend" noticed how much time I would spend with our teacher (also during this time, we weren't exactly on the best of terms, and we also had the same group of friends in whom I also did not talk to at the time). She admitted to me when we started talking again, that she was jealous and annoyed by the fact that I was "the teacher's pet" and it annoyed her so much that she started to develop this distaste towards me. I was surprised to hear that coming from her because out of all people I've stopped talking to, I though she would've been the least likeliest person to be so judgemental towards me. Fast forward in college, we've rekindled our so-called relationship after years of not seeing each other after graduating middle school, but I had to put a stop to it. One day, I had a conversation with her and another friend of ours, and Ive been noticing every time I'd say something, she would respond disrespectfully as If I didn't hear what she said. The moment that shocked me was when she said she hated her parents because her parents were Christians and she had no belief in Christianity whatsoever. She hated the fact that they were forcefully lecturing her on Christianity, when she said she's an antichrist type of person. She basically worships  the devil, which is the complete opposite of what her parents want her to go by. As a christian woman, this really made me change my point of view towards her. I completely stopped hanging out with her a couple of days after, and never saw her on campus again.

In Class Writing: Yamazaki

The fact that Yamazaki had known one of the attackers personally growing up from his high school is most definitely hard for him to comprehend, because he was an individual that seemed to have good morals at the time, but all of that seemingly has changed drastically the moment Yamazaki saw him on television. He began to feel betrayed and realized that anyone could be capable of anything.  Yamazaki had a gut feeling that something was odd about that classmate. He seemed to possess abnormal behaviors but didn't fully pay attention to what his classmate would really be capable of accomplishing. It is very selfish and ignorant for people to pretend as if they don't see someone in agonizing pain, passing them by on the street as if they don't even exist. Yamazaki was evidently sick, and people just passed him by as if he wasn't someone who had feelings like any other human being would. I felt sympathy for Yamazaki when some of the people that worked with him just passed him by as if nothing was really wrong with him, when in reality he was suffocating internally to maintain his focus. However, not everyone is to be trusted in times like during the attack, so it is understandable for people to withdraw or remove themselves for when they see something unusual. A disastrous event such as the sarin attack prevents a helping hand to be passed forward. Even though some individuals who knew Yamazaki had experienced the side effects of sarin, and the fact that they've continuously kept asking him what happened that day, they don't dig in to the fact that Yamazaki may have been brutally traumatized having to relive those moments by telling each person what he'd gone through.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

In-class Writing: Question #1

A tragic event in my life that brought me closer to someone was the death of my Uncle Phil.  He lived in Staten Island with his 2 children and my aunt.  I was also there for the moment of his death.  Being that his family lived in Staten Island I was never really close with my cousins because I would rarely see them.  His death resulted in me growing much closer with my cousins because I wanted to look out for them since they had lost their father and since I couldn't imagine my life without mine.  I would always check up on them through texts and calls and would even help my aunt by driving to Staten Island to bring my cousin to his baseball games and tournaments.

In-class Writing: Question #3

It was last year and I was in Biology class. I had a shooting pain from my groin to my lower back, which I had thought was just soreness at the time.  I began to feel very overheated in class and was sweating profusely. I then proceeded to get a drink of water, but I had to leave the classroom because my professor wouldn't allow us to drink in class.  With every step I took, I felt my equilibrium becoming more and more distorted. By the time I made my way through the door and into the hallway, I could barely stand and decided to try and lean against the wall to help keep my body upright.  I remember sliding down the wall slowly until everything around me went dark.  I had fainted.  I woke up to about 5 of my classmates and my professor standing over me asking if I was alright.  I was so grateful for the help I received from my classmates because without them my professor would have never known that I passed out because from the whiteboard he was lecturing from there wasn't a view out the door.  The nurse was called and I eventually was taken to the emergency room by ambulance.  This event in my life affected me greatly because many things could have gone wrong for me and the fact that my classmates were looking out for me and got me the assistance I needed really touched me. 

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Underground and its similarity to 9/11

In Ken'ichi  Yamazaki story reminded me so much about 9/11. After everything was going on with the gas attack, Yamazaki saw the news of the terrorists and recognized one. With that said he was lucky that he ad least knew about the person and knew what he could expect especially if he gone to school with him. The story about Yamazaki was horrible story is a terrorist attacking the subway system in Tokyo reminded me a lot on the 9/11 incident because of horror of visualizing two of New York's most important led alone tallest building falling on innocent people after being crashed by two hijack air liner holding passengers in full capacity and used for terrorizing the world.
Underground.


this attack gave him something positive. now he has better communication with his girlfriend. its incredible that he went to the same school that one of the person who did this. He said that he will help other people if he saw them sick. But he saw the people in the train felling, and he didn’t do anything to help. He even asked himself if they were dead or passed out. And then he was expecting people to help him even though he didn’t help them. As human beings sometimes we expect people to do things for us that we will not do for others. He said that the guy that did this was weird. I think people should pay attention because sometimes they are student and people that are mentally ill, and they can have something in their heads. Even that I thinks, does people knew what they were doing. And the worse part is that they think it was because of religion but I think something is behind it. From any point of view it doens’t matter is it’s for religion or for whatever reason I think its terrorism.

Public Writing Project


Monday, February 24, 2020

People that need validation and a place to belong usually join cults. They are usually outcast and introverted and a charismatic individual will befriend them and lure them into the cult without them knowing that they joined.  Cults are similar to extremist because they will do what is necessary to achieve their goal. They use gas, violence, bombings to terrorize society for either religious beliefs or for a better world.

Underground

Up to this point in the book, we have only read interviews w/ victims. The rest of the book will be interviews w/ Aum cult members. Before you read these sections, I'd like you to speculate about what makes an Aum cult member. Although the interview subjects are not the terrorists who released the gas, they could have been had they been ordered. What do you think Aum's motivation was in attacking subway commuters? Do you know the term "doomsday cult"? They're cults that believe that the end of the world is not only coming, but that it's imminent. They've existed in every country at different times, but they seem to have proliferated near the end of the last millennium. Sometimes they simply barricade themselves and wait for the end of the world. Sometimes, they bring about their own destruction w/ mass suicide rites. And sometimes, like in Aum, they kill others. What makes them different than us? What type of person is drawn to these kinds of cults? In what ways do you think they're similar to other violent extremists (white nationalists or Muslim terrorist organizations) and in what ways are they different?


Saturday, February 22, 2020

Beauty and Insecurity

I preach self confidence 24/7 so I thought it would would a little challenge for myself to write in the point of view of someone I used to be.



Beauty and Insecurity
I don’t feel beautiful
No matter the compliment
I only see flaws
Do they pretend not to see?
Tell me I’m not beautiful
I don’t want the lies
Don’t sugarcoat it
I can take it 
  But what if...
Just maybe by chance
I’m lying to myself
Because being Insecure
Is what I do best 

poem written by E.E. Cummings

 "next to of course god america i"
                                                   
next to of course god america i
love you land of the pilgrims' and so forth oh
say can you see by the dawn's early my
country 'tis of centuries come and go
and are no more what of it we should worry
in every language even deafanddumb
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
by jingo by gee by gosh by gum
why talk of beauty what could be more beaut-
iful than these heroic happy dead
who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter
they did not stop to think they died instead
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?
He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water

                By: E.E. Cummings

    The poem "next to of course god america i" alludes to the patriotism of a nation, namely the United States. It brings up the issues of what's a patriot and what is actually the norm of the average American citizen's response to war and fighting? The writing style displays sort of a mocking tone of the patriotism of the United States because while we all rally against a common foe it becomes the minimal population that's doing all fighting. Through my interpretation I saw this work as a member of U.S. Congress who act as if they are the biggest patriot who ever lived in this country, although they can talk the talk they will surely not walk the walk of the paths of war. It's a matter of who can spew the biggest patriotic speech and act as if they care when in fact they'll be doing none of the fighting as in most times of our nation.

comment on the poem, what is friendship?

the poem has it's strong meaning, its also a repetition because it uses "friendship" more than once. I liked the meaning of what friendshiep is for you, also explaining hwat a friendship is for you is important. I agree with what Gabriela said about expanding more the poem. great job.

Underground 3

Underground 3

One story from Underground really stood out to me. It's the one with the paralyzed girl Shizuko, who had the amazing support of her brother Tatsuo. They have such a bond that he would visit her everyday after work. The author definitely made it his business to interview her even though she was not fully self mobile and her speech was off. Even though someone who didn't personally know her as a vegetable, she was human. Murakami saw a light in her eyes which represented hope. She didn't remember anything prior to the accident, but for some reason, she dreamed of going to Disneyland in Tokyo with her family. She was so sweet and joyful. That touched my heart!