A Working Man

                                           If God don't forgive me, he is not a working man"

         It is automatic that when you do wrong, knowingly or unknowingly, God will forgive you. For every lie your lips spoke, every deed your hands have done, every unclean thought your mind has processed, and every desire that dwells in your eyes. You know that if the world does not forgive you under any circumstances, God will. His forgiveness is with a open mind and heart knowing you will soon sin again. But when that day comes and you are not forgiven, you know God has truly take a vacation from work.





                                                                                                                                  _Lino

Unwritten

                                  " In my writing, I want to be laid bare as a human being"


        In my writing I want to be laid bare as a human being. I want to be open with the words I print onto paper. I do not want to hide any taboo thoughts or leave anything unwritten. As a "bare human being", I want my words to wrap around every curve of the mind and embrace everything words are not suppose to. My writing should upset you, insult you, and belittle you. On the other hand, my writing should encourage you, humor you and take your mind on an endless, unforgettable journey. And if it does not, I will put my pen down forever.




                                                                                                                                                 _Lino

The Struggle

       " Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor"

      This quote seems to reign true. Day to day people working a 9 to 5 to make ends meet, gathering all the change they can from work. Yet, the hours are not equivalent to the money being made and whatever is made is gone before your check is in your possession. Paying your way for transportation or even a dollar bottle of water is out of reach. Being "poor", one would hope it to be a luxury. you can sit back and pay for absolutely nothing. Being poor is a job within itself, then again what really is poor? It is the lack of, so if you had a pocket over flowing but your mind lacking knowledge and a heart without love. Are you in poverty?





                                                                                                                                                _Lino

I don't believe that I am coldhearted or ill tempered. I can't be an old lady just gave me a random hug and said that I am very respectful or that I have the right manners. I can't remember verbatim. Sheesh maybe I am getting old. I feel as if I'm losing focus or maybe I'm just not going doing enough...but when I tell other my schedule they think its a lot..maybe I'm just getting ahead of myself as always.  I dislike the rain so much...I'd probably be more understanding if I had rainboots which is my own fault. Today I hope we get to cook what he wanted and I hope it is a good day. I have to start on my sociology paper and complete my Biology homework becasue time is ticking.  I have to go hard because I want to leave home. In my mind I've already exceeded so why am I not living up to my full potential? I feel crappy today and I need them to stop.

Jihad Rasuwl

   Memory specialists say that the best way to make something stick in your head is by associating it with something humorous. My favorite commercial is of the old man holding a dollar in front of a woman with a fishing pole, then snatching it away when she reaches for it. He then says, "You almost had it." After the punchline the State Farm name and logo are shown so that you will always associate that company with a good feeling. This is done cleverly.
   Entertainment is the most influential element in our society. You can control values, fashion, and even standards of living through music, movies, and other forms of media. I've seen that in small country towns that gravitate towards the same things that are common in big cities, despite that they've never seen them except on television.

“ I would rather entertain and hope that people learn something than educate people and hope they were entertained” – Walt Disney

    Entertainment always left  the good memories for a long time, whereas the education could be boring, like someone could say. Why we easily  remember the places, where we were entertained and hardly memorize the historical dates and mathematics formulas? Does it mean, that they are not sufficient things to keep them in mind? No, it is the job for our brain to know it, the hard work to be smart and educated. Being such person, you can easily find the benefits in any entertainment, as a pleasant job for your brain.

Our Plural Singularity.

Jamie Goldstein

Writing II

Prompt 8

     “There was this funny thing of anything could happen now that we realized everything had.” –Raymond Carver

     All of every everything has already happened in the modern world. You want to paint something? Whoops, someone rendered that concept three years ago. That funny joke you just thought up? I saw that on reddit last week. Your paper topics, your thoughts, even you, are not special. There are seven billion other people stuck on this crazy fucked up spec in the sky. If you think you’re special, well, your deluded.

     Oh, Education! That’s how you’re special! Haha. Ha ha. Ha. ha. There are millions of other people out there with a fine education. There are PhD students who can’t find a job flipping burgers. Let’s face facts for a second, you’re uniqueness is a farce and you’re probably shit out of luck. It’s bleak, but it’s also true.

     Your face? Oh that’s cute. You think your looks or your style set you apart? I hate to tell you, honey, but there are only about one billion different combinations of physical features a person could have. Even if you’re not a twin, you share your face with at least two or three other people.

     Everything’s been done. Every feeling you’ve ever felt, every combination of utterances you’ve ever tried to bring about has already been said. Hell, I’m basically cribbing the entire message of this paper from a high-school graduation speech I watched on fucking YouTube last year.

     You’re not special. No one is. That’s the beauty of it. So either get busy accepting it, or don’t, but either way, someone already made that choice before you. 

Drugs are a bet with the mind

Drugs are a bet with the mind


Some say if you didn't try it, how can you judge? I wake up every day to see the people i love/loved get destroyed by drugs. They say it soothes the mind but I always ask this "soothing" is it permanent or temporary. If it was a good thing wouldn't it last, why must you keep doing it, why must you be addicted? I watched as drugs tear apart the life of my oldest sister and my ex-boyfriend. I watched as their attitudes changed, their mind-states their goals and aspirations. I was only about doing IT "THE DRUG" when they could get it, when they could do it? Miss classes, then drop out of school in all, then always mad at the world, hmmmmmm some mind soother. Commercials on television saying stay above the influence *scoff* but then they release a movie with my favorite actor abusing drugs, then you have artist rapping and promoting it. Stay above the influence all right!

                                                                                                                                          Ruth Pierre

Class prompt

Would you believe in, what you believe in, if you were the only one who believed?

-Kanye West

Wait! Good Question! Beliefs, principles, values, traditions, religion all work in groups. If you believe in this god you are with this religion or if you have this value then you are with this group of people, but how many can stand and say I believe in something no one else believes in *scoffs*, its kind of hard right? The laughter, mockery, and criticism but yet you still have the heart to stand and say yes I believe in what i believe in even if I'm the only one who believes. For example, you are sitting in a psychology class and you KNOW your professor is an atheist and he asks, "Do I have any christian's in the class?" You raise your hand because you are confident that you have people with you but when you turn around your hand is the only one up. BUT I BELIEVE IN, WHAT I BELIEVE IN, EVEN IF I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO BELIEVES! 

                                                                                                                                          Ruth Pierre

“Would you believe in if you the only one who believe it…” – Kanye West

   Would you believe in if you the only one who believe it could be he matter of either of self confidence or stupidity. Self confident person can oppose the whole world in his beliefs, having good educational and professional background.  At the same time  the narrow-minded person does not need any background to believe in something , he has never found the evidences.

    Mother is always believe in her child even if he chose the wrong way in his life ,  and this is another belief, which is the matter of hope.

   My grandfather, being a convinced communist, who supports all the theses and laws that party established, believed in the idea for all his life. He was a military officer, served the army for more than 30 years and fought in the World War II, has two wounds and had many medals for different battles.  Even after the collapsing of totalitarian regime and people recognized the truth, how bloody and corrupt it was, my grandfather has kept his beliefs and devotion, I would say, he was the only one who believe it….. I can not judge him, this person deserve the great respect.

Natalya Perfilova

Spineless words.

Jamie Goldstein

Writing II

Prompt 6

“The shortest answer is doing the thing” –Ernest Hemingway
We’re all a bunch of talk. We jabber on endlessly in some misguided attempt to impress our peers, to gain their sympathy, or to fill what was previously a blissful void of silence. Our words are nothing. We talk about our past and we expect people to care. We expect them to somehow empathize with us, despite the fact that they can never really understand it. We talk about our futures and how insufferably bright they’re going to be and we expect our listeners to respond with bated enthusiasm. As if our vapid soliloquies could possibly impress anyone but the most uninteresting individuals.
It is not words that garner us the attention that we so crave, it is action. Admiration flocks to action like moths to a torch. We put the doers on a pedestal. In an unending sea of consumers, we idolize the makers. It is the pioneers, the movers, the shakers and the creators that define this world. You can talk out of your ass all day about how you’re going to write the next great american novel, or how your going to become a wealthy businessman, but until you enact on those words, that’s all they’ll ever be. 
We need our words, yes, but without the sword, the pen lies uselessly on the ground. Action defines us. We are not who we are in our minds. Our thoughts do not define us nor do our words. We are what we do, and without a conviction of action we are nothing more than a bunch of talk.

Worthless anger

Anger, as I've learned is a defense mechanism. People use anger to hide their fear which they view as a weakness. Anger is really unwarranted and worthless. On top of that, when we get angry, we get stressed and stress is correlated to heart problems, which lead to death.
People always say that it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile which means that it's easier to get wrinkles and if you're a woman then it will lead to more anger until you're left with nothing but a haggard face and no friends. Then happiness would be impossible to achieve.
Happiness is so much easier to achieve when we can let ourselves go and live carefree lives. When we're angry, we create a burden, that usually comes with guilt because we feel sorry for upsetting others with the anger, and that burden will continue to weigh us down, so why don't we give up the burden by dropping our petty anger and smile.

Annie Chen

I know nothing about white

I live in New York City. White people are the anomaly. Well, actually, that is greatly exaggerated but at least where I live they are the minority. In Flushing, Queens, Asians rule supreme and it actually makes me wonder what the white people think when they're jostled around by a bunch of rude, Asian, old women, who don't hesitate even when they role over your feet with their bulging bags that they always wheel around. Or when they cut in front of you on the bus line and pretend not to understand when you yell at them in English because I've seen what they do and those white people are left helpless and angry. In New York, I'm pretty sure I can say that white, doesn't really matter. Please don't take offense because, Asian, Black, Hispanic, Other, they all don't matter.

Annie C.

We love despite....

"The half-life of love is forever." - Junot Diaz

Everyday we have some form of love in our lives. We love food, we love shelter, we love technology bit these are all superficial loves. What we hold most dear is the love we have for the people in our lives who love is back. There is no end to this love because despite what these people may do to us, no matter how they hurt us, the love we share is still stronger than anything. Junot Diaz's story about a mother's love is the prime example. No matter how much Rafa had hurt his mother, she still managed to love and support him by turning a blind eye. When we love for real, it lasts forever. Another example would be a first love. There's a reason why they say "you never forget your first love". First loves may not have lasted but they are definitely the most memorable and real kind of love, which is remembered forever. Despite what obstacles may prevent us from love, if it's a real love, then it is forever.

Annie Chen

Working Man

Joey Almonte

"If god don't forgive me, he ain't a working man"

         In other words, there is a don't struggle that working men go through that only the working man knows. Someone who does not know the struggles of would have a different view of life compared to that of a working man. Therefore, according to the prompt, if God does not understand what the working man has to do and what he must deal with, he is not a one of them. The american dream does not come easy and it often comes at a price that one would assume is understood by God for he knows the struggle of all people.
         I don't agree with this prompt because God forgives those who recognize their wrongs, not blame it on the circumstances surrounding them or the fact that they are a "working man." I believe it depends on what one is asking for forgiveness for. Is it a case of committing murder to feed one's family, or petty theft? isn't it all wrong, or does it shift with the situation revolving one's actions. I don't think its about God forgiving a person, its about the person forgiving themselves for an action they think God will not understand.

Rage.

Jamie Goldstein

Writing II

Prompt 4

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”

That’s not a bad thing. Anger is necessary. If I choose to enact my wrath on someone, it is irrelevant whether or not I am “missing out” on happiness. I’m not quick to anger, but I would warn against it. I’ve been toyed with and lied to, I’ve been neglected and dismissed. I don’t know anyone who has done that and not regretted it. I’m not the best speaker, but I swear to fucking God I will incinerate your soul with my words if you test me. Anger me, and I will bring the weight of my universe down on your shoulders like a hammer-strike from heaven. I won’t be gentle, I won’t hold back. I will let loose a torrent of rage that will tear your very fabric apart.
Happiness. Well fuck that. That’s probably impossible. We can’t be happy. We can be content with some sort of superficial and not-entirely-unpleasant misery, but we won’t be happy. Happiness is lasting. Happiness is real and it’s an outlook on life. You know, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m just too fucking angry right now to think straight but fuck that. If you’re happy, well great, but keep it to yourself. The rest of us are far too busy being angry and miserable to give you the smug satisfaction of indulging in your idiotic mirage.
No I’m not happy. Of course I’d like to be. I try to, anyway. And maybe I am missing out on something when I get like this. Maybe I am missing out on some amazing, indescribable feeling of closeness and unity and fucking happiness, but I don’t give a shit. That’s your emotion. That’s your feeling. That’s your outlook on life and that’s dandy, but it sure as hell ain’t mine.

I guess I have the good life

Andrew Trudeau
"You want the good life? Live where people live, go to school where white people go to school and shop where white people shop."

I guess I have the good life. I live where white people live, I go to school where white people go to school, and I shop where white people shop. I am a white person. It was never my conscious decision to go to all of these places, it was my parents’. But even they did not consider this thought when making the decision. The town of Concord, Massachusetts is as white as it gets. The revolutionary war began in Concord and ever since then it has been a pretty consistent population of mostly white people. When my parents were deciding where to buy a house, they did not realize “oh, Concord is so white, in order to have the good life we have to go there”. Instead, it was probably because my mother grew up in Concord and it has a good education system. So are they criminals for continuing the stereotype? No, they just live somewhere with mostly white people around them. If this is what gives them the good life, then so be it.

Every minute you are angry is 60 seconds of happiness lost

Journal Entry February 12 2013: “Every minute you are angry you lose happy”

Every minute angry is sixty seconds of happiness lost. Why waste time dwelling on the bad, making the longest, biggest, most drawn out argument of what went wrong, instead of focusing on the possibility that something small might have gone well. Seeing the good in things is one of the true gifts of life. Being able to see the good in things brings a better conscience and allows for peace, love, and kindness to permeate everywhere. Optimism is key.  Now imagine you are a little older, life is a little harder, stress is weighing down on you, and worries are much more real. Money, bills, debt is piling on your back and you have to get by. For example, say your son or daughter sneaks five dollars from your wallet in the morning before work. Two outcomes can happen. One can either be really upset and dwell on the fact that now they cannot stop at the street cart down the block for their usual morning bagel, and they can plan the punishment they have coming for their kid. Or, they can focus on the bright side and realize that maybe now their kid can get a snack at the snack bar in school. Now of course this is a much smaller scale of “happiness not being wasted,” but the legend holds true. Happiness is hard to find in a world of despair, a place of misfortune, in a country with no trust, or in a relationship with no faith. But, I guarantee if you look hard enough, it is there. See, happiness lurks behind at the bottom of the hamper, around that unturned corner, and behind the closet door. Sometimes it plays a game of hide and go seek with your mind and likes to hid for hours, days, years. But, at the end of the game someone has to yell olly-olly-oxen free and everyone must reveal themselves.

Love and Fear

5 February 2012

“The half life of love is forever.” –Junot Diaz

            It’s difficult – seemingly impossible – to talk about love without saying one of the one million clichés surrounding it. Upon reading this quote, I had a moment of disappointment. Fantastic. Another typical collection of words that attempts to capture the entire essence of this thing in one short idea. But the reason these annoying clichés exist is because they are true.

            Two of the most powerful things of the human experience have to be love and fear. They are themes that have existed in our world library of literature since the first novels. Our politicians and people in power play upon these things to move us, and with great success. They instill within us this sense of fear – fear that some outside force will invade our borders and take away the things that we cherish. Or fear that those invaders are actually within our government. They implant within our brains this love for liberty in such a way that we will act in any way to ensure that those liberties are not stripped away from us. These are the two great motivators. Their power encompasses our entire being. It’s a big thing.

            What is love? It’s a metaphysical question. There is no clean-cut, 100% accurate definition for it. Yes, we can taste it, smell it, feel it, hear it, see it. But what we sense to be love doesn’t translate to the same thing from each human. It’s quite silly that we even attempt to describe such things with words such as, “The half life of love is forever”. But then again, that’s all we have.

-KR

Education is simply the soul of the society...

“ Education is simply the soul of the society as it passes from one generation to the next” – Gilbert Chesterton

Nowadays people understand the importance of  good education and advantages it could bring to their lives. Educational boom in America is reaching its critical point, while even bachelor degree is insufficient to be well set up in life, in comparison with the previous years. Time is changing and high competence demand greater achievements.

Education become the instrument for making money. Students do not want to be intelligent and educated, to read as much as possible, but rather pass all necessary classes and get a degree to find  a well-paid job. However the goal of education is different from today’s understandings.

   Well-educated person must have knowledge in everything, must be a good writer and speaker and be recognizable upon the very first words he says. It  is lifting him up by the social ladder.

Natalya Perfilova