Black or White; No Grey Area

Alright. I’m sure I’ve said this before. But I’m going to go ahead and say it again. I don’t like Kanye. I respect his best efforts. And quite frankly, after reading the overwhelming praise for him in “Kanye West vs. White Mediocrity” I kinda respect him a little more. Any ways, I don’t like him much. I never got a whiff of the author of that article so whoever that was, I get it, like I get the piece entirely. Absolutely. In Shonda Rhime’s “Scandal”, Olivia Pope is African-American. But she’s known all throughout Washington, DC as a fixer. She is very successful and very efficient; however, her father told her something that stuck with me: “You need to work twice as hard to get half of what they have.” We know exactly what he meant. At least I do. I don't expect everyone to get it. I know who he's referring to. The “they,” we know all too well; that’s the discomfort of America, the “they” and the “other”. It isn't just about race anymore, thats the problem. 

It is xenophobia. Foreign phobia is my issue. It isn't just like that with African Americans . It's like that for anyone whose parents aren't predominantly Caucasian. I refuse to go off the rails on a rant again abut race or minorities because it’s gotten to a point where activism rings in my ear and I can't quite shake it off. I wrote on November 2nd that I wouldn’t vote because I didn’t care. I didn’t care to endorse the lesser evil, it made no sense to me. I then wrote on November 9th that the nation was shaken. This is important. You wanna know what happened during the span of a week. It wasn’t just that Donald Trump was elected president. It wasn’t just that America, our government and electoral college, permitted for a person with abominable values to run for president. It was that America failed to uphold their promise; in electing a President utterly fixated on the diminishment of diversity and encouragement of white supremacy, America told us minorities that they agree, we aren’t welcomed. Like your friends reflect your personage, your President, your King, your dictator or leader, reflects your nation.

Little by little the youth, even the ones who “didn’t care”, have fed into the Millenial frenzy of hashtags and race talk. It’s become a cliché. I used to feel extremely strongly about the way urban kids from urban cities would talk about their urban problems. It bothered me. The familiarity of it all, it shook me. But it’s gotten to that point where the void has sucked us all in. There’s no way you can't be a part of the movement. You are either here or there. There is no shaded grey area. 

-Vanessa Hernandez

America's Futile Pursuit to... Nowhere Really

        Hillary Clinton and Queen B holding hands. With time pressing on us, given that Election Day is tomorrow, I’d just like to say how utterly unfortunate it is that this is our first year as voters, and we don't necessarily get to vote. Its unfortunate the way things turned out. “Vote for Bernie” we advocated. “Well, Nevermind I Guess, Vote for Hillary”

The elders are constantly saying that we must go out and vote. My mother, as a Dominican who isn’t exactly aware of how rigged politics are, literally went on and on and on about how great this country is and how we need to go out and vote. It is sad that we have to tell the American people to vote. Its sad that we just don't want to anymore. Its sad that I need to vote, not to choose who I want, but so that the wrong person isn’t elected into office. Its sad that we’ve let it come this far.

In terms of “The Futile Pursuit of Happiness” so eloquently written, I find it hard to see any reward to emotional reactions after tomorrow. Take Beyonce and Jay, for example. This image is obvious. The idols of the youth who have so much influence over what we hear, what we think, what we wear and do, are sponsoring a woman not because they genuinely  believe she's a good person, like they do the Obamas, but simply because of her party. In regards to this election, I don't have much to say. Never was interested in politics at all. Not until Scandal, at least. But Shonda Rhimes has a point. It isn't about woman, or democracy, or the Republic. Its about optics and image. 

Being President isn't what it used to be. It used to be about advocacy and genuinity.  Now its about whose campaign digs the most dirt on the next. Who has the least skeletons in their closet. It is all a game for government.

        I am not voting. Not because I think that I’ll be happier by being stubborn. But because I don't care who endorses this woman. I don't care what charges were dropped against her. I don't care that she’s more humane than Trump. Good is not good because it isn’t bad but because there is a genuine foundation creating it; the possibility of greatness. 

- Vanessa Hernandez (vh648@nyu.edu)

9/21/16

Prompt: "Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak." Sun Tzu

This quote is a philosophy of strength. Weakness is a perception of the ones who feel like they are of greater tolerance, mystique, and character of another. Strength is a symbol of power, dominance, and resilience and we show strength depending on the standards. People can be strong in numerous ways, whether it be through childbirth or war, people can be weak when seen as cowardly or not assertive. Tzu is an icon of the idea of strength and he cites how weakness is a perfect cloak for strength. While, at the same time, the portrayal of strength is a great way to deceive others into thinking one is not weak. In modern day, one can see this as an example of leaders like Kim Jong-Un. Un tries to display strengths by testing bombs, missiles and by threatening other countries around him. In reality, whenever Un gets challenged on his claims, he backs down, demonstrating exactly what Tzu is trying to get across. It is human nature to try to appear stronger rather than weaker, especially in today's society. It seems like today it is frowned upon to show any moment of weakness or fault, so instead people decide to falsely display acts of strength. Tzu is correct on the basis of his argument if it was a situation of war, but on normal terms, Tzu's quote leads to a bigger issue of the lack of transparency humans tend to feel in today's society. 

JB

Mark Zuckerburg

Does the subject of what we care about matter? Zuckerburg says yes but has done nothing to make that a reality to us. In fact, Zuckerburg probably makes the “issue” worse. Since the inception of social media like facebook and myspace, the most petty instances and events become headlines across hundreds of peoples computer screens. Zuckerburg has no right to comment about the significance of popular interests. Has Zuckerburg made shining a spotlight on more important/significant events a top priority? No, his priority is to bring the top 30% of the world to laugh at the silliest/stupidest videos that is trending on the internet. Who cares if the most relevant interest is a dying squirrel in front of your house if no one is willing to make a signifigant change in what is happening in more unfortunate events? Zuckerburgs view is similar to many powerful leaders who are not willing to send their own son to war but is completely fine with sending their whole male population to war. Power does not give the right to comment about the worlds problems to people especially if he or she is not willing to help out the cause.

Prompt: "In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes." -Andy Warhol

Fame has become the goal. People crave it, sensationalize it, and let themselves go just to have a glimpse of it. Warhol is expressing that as fame becomes more coveted people will try to become famous for different and irrelevant reasons. Whether it be scaling the Trump tower during the election cycle, or doing something crazy in an interview, Warhol foresees more of this kind of behavior. He is not wrong, but one has to define the meaning of famous. For some, being famous in their neighborhood is enough, while for others fame can only be national or even global to count. I think fame and celebrity is an illusion. There is a reason why celebrities despise their fame at some points. Simple things like taking your dog to a park or getting some morning coffee can become spectacles and events for the people around them. One has to wonder if fame is a human characteristic of needing to glorify others in order to feel worse or less of oneself. In today's society, some people are famous for no apparent reason, which enhances Warhol's statement because he is predicting that more people will become more famous for doing less. In an ideal world, fame would only be attributed to the hero's of the world, the fire fighters, the volunteers, the people that make our world a better place. Fame and recognition needs to start transitioning from glorified celebrities to people who really do change this world for the better.

Jack B

Oppression in its mildest form

Woah...back to the slightly more depressing prompts. Today's is a quote by Friedrich Engels. POLITICS. It's so thick in the air today you could choke on it. This quote, however, "The state is nothing but an instrument of oppression of one class by another-no less so in a democratic republic than in a monarchy." Take out everything after the dash. Now replace "The state" with "Life". I could say that somewhat describes life right now. Take oppression a different sense and it is true to everyone. Take it in the sense that today's generation looks at things and all of a sudden, I've brought racism, sexism, and all the other -isms into the conversation. However, take it as the former sense, the true one, and then this other claim becomes visible. One in which we oppress one choice or idea for the other. The decisions we make in life are based on the ideas we have. Just because we've chosen one idea over the other does not make the first cease to exist. We oppress one idea for another. But whatever idea we choose to oppress doesn't make it invalid or invisible...dun dun dun...#deepthoughts?

-jekoli

Tom Wolfe Video - The lesson he taught without meaning to

My first thought was, "What a snazzy white suit." Now that I know Tom Wolfe is known for wearing one often, he shall be, to me: Tom Wolfe, Writer in White Suit. Just as Hemingway is: The Grouchy Blunt One. Usually when watching videos, it is easier to talk more, because there are visual details that can be added. However, in his interview, it was Wolfe's words that truly caught my attention. Particularly his reasons for becoming a writer. From what I understood, the desire to be a writer comes from three main things: Passion, Purpose, and Character. One must love writing to be able to dedicate themselves to doing it for a living. Wolfe said he found it magical. The next component, Purpose, is important because it is what connects writer to reader. What am I writing about? Readers want to know. Finally, character. That is what keeps the reader connected to the writer. Keeps them interested. Makes a writer's name something that sticks to a reader's mind. Passion. Purpose. Character. And a snazzy white suit...I don't know....

-jekoli

The rain will flow

"Don't be a writer. Be writing". William Faulkner. First, I thought I knew him, but I don't. Is he related to Neil Faulkner? Or is Faulkner a common name? Just a thought. Second, what did he mean? I guess we're all here to find out, or try to guess. Or maybe some of us know. What do I think? Well, maybe he meant that we shouldn't try to be something. I think it comes to us and then we become it. Don't try to be a writer. Just write and we'll see where this goes. Not to be disrespectful but when a teacher says, "We're all writers." I don't really believe it. There are some who just have trouble expressing themselves. We're all writers, perhaps in the second option of the literal meaning. But writing should come naturally. It's kind of like rain. It flows when it does. You can't make it rain. You can pretend sprinklers are imaginary raindrops but that only goes so far. The one thing I can say though, because I'm trying to be more positive, is that the rain will flow. Nothing can stop that.

-jekoli

"Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself."

For some reason I feel like this has a hidden message I am suppose to know about. But since I don't right now, let's just get to it. Lets talk about Donald Trump. Yes I know everyone is tired of listening to him, but for some reason this year there are more people that are getting registered to vote. Donald Trump has engaged so many people with his ridiculous ideas that they are now registering in order to prevent him from being president. So does this mean that it takes an idiot to get people involved? Lets face it, who wants to get up to vote when they know it will be the same thing every year. I am not voting for Trump, but he will definitely be my alarm on voting day.

- Ayleen Gomez 

"Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing." - Vince L

"Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing." - Vince l

Many people also agree with this quote and make it their goal. People are trying to win no matter what might be the case. Us as humans always fight to be better than the other. Winning everything is all what matters to them. For example, if you are in a contest and you "win" in second place, you would want to be in first place, no matter what it may be. But it is not always the case that winning is always everything. Sometimes if you win, it can hurt you or even your family. For example, if winning to become a stronger and ambitious person in a gang, you have to kill someone in order to win the name. Sometimes winning can put you in a dangerous stage of mind. Winning, and not becoming a quitter, is an amazing thing. But it also depends on what you are trying to win. Winning is in me but it is not the only thing.

By:
Abdul Kader

Code of Honor....?

Woah...Amiri Baraka was one of those folks who give lifetime quotes. "A man is either free or he is not. There can be no apprenticeship for freedom." The first thing I thought of, honestly, is midterms. You are either free of them or you're not. You can not be an apprentice to the slavery of midterms. These are the wise words of someone who has not slept well for the past few nights due to the stress of midterms. I also feel like this quote exists in many different forms. For example, "You are either for us or against us" or "It's either yes or no." There is no "in between". It's a sort of ultimatum. The world's, no, the universe's greatest dilemma. You can't really be in between. I don't know. I just feel that opinions, ideals, even the laws of religion and man have become so flexible, so malleable, because of situationalism. Human beings can be so wishy-washy, willy-nilly. We change what we don't like, or change because we want something. Sometimes it's for the best. But often, there is a trail of chaos that we leave behind. What would the world be like if everyone stayed faithful to one set of morals or beliefs...I don't know. I guess we fear something about being the same and decide to promote differences, but should we really?

-jekoli

"We are all each other's magnitudes and bonds"

          When I first saw this statement, I immediately thought of family. However, Gwendolyn Brooks said "we are all", meaning that the quote pertains to people even beyond the family circle and maybe even beyond the friendship circle as well. And well, I've always believed that "we are all" interconnected, Ms.Brooks. 

         "We all" have a story of someone who affected our lives without them knowing, such as memories of acquaintances or a stranger... that they will never know we have. See, Pancho would never know Caesar would think about him so much. Pancho would also never know why Caesar decided to let him keep his family pictures up in the cell. And most of all, Pancho would never know that he was such an important part of Caesar's life for a while. And as a side note, even the maid lady and Simon would never know they played a part in Caesar's head. 

 And yet they all played their part without them knowing.

          There are so many people that will never know of their bond to you. Nor will you really know of your bond to any of them. With this in mind, there is a certain thread, to even a stranger, that "we all" have, such as: the stranger who stood before you as you waited to tap your NYU ID in, the stranger who pressed a certain floor in the elevator that made you late, or the stranger who went out of their way to hold the elevator door for you just so YOU, a stranger to them, could get in. 

And they all played their part (including you) without them knowing.

          So many small instances that allow us to share,
          at certain magnitudes, 
          and with different bonds. 

Shirley Reyes

Generation Why? OLUWASEUN OLOWOOKERE'S SIX QUESTIONS

1. Does the Facebook software has a rightful impact on this new generation?

2. Why 1.0 people do not use Web 2.0 software in the way 2.0 people do?

3. According to Jason Lanier's point, WHAT HAS BEEN ''LOCKED IN''?

4. How could Lanier's objection will be helpful in this new generation?

5. What is the Lanier's best interest in the article?

6.What is the striking about Zuckerberg's vision of an open internet?

"Don't be 'a writer'. Be writing"

"Don't be 'a writer'. Be writing" - William Faulkner

I love William Faulkner! We read one of his books for my English class in high school! I'm pretty sure it was my favorite book I'd read through high school, which says a lot because we also read The Great Gatsby around the same time. I think Hemingway did a good job of taking Faulkner's advice. He didn't seem to have much of a filter between what he thought and what he said, and I've never read any of Hemingway's work, but if I had to guess, I'd say he just writes his thoughts on paper. Kind of like what I'm doing here. He doesn't try to be a writer, he is a writer, and his writing is a representation of who he is, how he thinks. Granted, he was probably drunk of his ass most of the time, but still. I can't believe I haven't read any of Hemingway yet. I always hear about how I should, especially if I like F. Scott Fitzgerald, which, in case you couldn't tell, I do. I can't write much today. My mind's just been somewhere else this week. I'm trying to focus, but this week, that's a little harder than usual. But I guess that's normal when you break up and that breaks you...isn't it?

-Kate Goodman

"Life is precious, and God, and The Bible"

   "It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a beautiful and savage country lies in between" - Diane Ackerman

   Life is still humanity's great unknown. We may know the origins of life on this planet and have a basic understanding of how our bodies and minds function; but we do not know why we are here. Philosophers and scientists have researched and debated the meaning of life for untold centuries, and we are no closer to an answer now, than we were when we first asked the question.

   Religion, biology, philosophy, chemistry, art... You name it, someone has attempted to answer that great question we all ask, subconsciously or outwardly - "Why are we here?" We seek to learn what our purpose is in this form. Humanity exists, we have consciousness, we are self-aware. How did we come to be, we ask. Creationism? Evolution? Both, or perhaps neither? There is no prayer that will summon the answer. There is no formula that will calculate a solution. The human race my die out tomorrow, or in a billion years, but we may never know the truth. Maybe we are not entitled to an answer. Perhaps, there is no answer.

   Despite our lack of knowledge on the subject, life remains a beautiful reality. That may be all we need to know today.

 - Richard L. Giordano

Heartfelt Confessions

"Nothing is quite so false, in writing, as the heartfelt confession" -Charles D'Ambrosio

Oftentimes, while writing, people can get caught up in the idea that in order to create something of substance, one must inject it full of overly emotive cliches and platitudes. It is not easy to create a piece of writing that conveys a deeply emotional idea without sounding sappy or dramatic. To me, the best writers convey these emotions through hints and context clues littered throughout the piece that imply what they are trying to say without explicitly spelling it out for the reader.

A perfect example of this is Charles D'Ambrosios' "Documents," which touches on the deeply complex and emotional issues within his family without obnoxiously overstating them. He artfully explains the situation rather than how he feels about it, but explains in such a way that the reader picks up on the deep emotional scars that remain.

This belief that less is more is something that can be adapted to any field of writing; say what you mean, and in doing so, convey how you feel with as few words as possible. I find that I sometimes (often) struggle with this in my own writing. I feel that it's incredibly difficult and requires a subtle hand to be able to lead the reader through your story in such a way that information is revealed slowly, piece by piece, so that the reader can reach his own conclusions. What type of language a writer uses has a major impact on what the reader interprets as the meaning. I guess that means you should pick your words wisely.

-Olivia Chodos

Heatfelt Confession

"Nothing is quite so false in writing, as the heartfelt confession"       - Charles D'ambrosio

There are many motifs people may have for writing. Some people write for fun, while others write because they are told to. There are writers that decide to write fiction or nonfiction. No matter why a person writes or what, "nothing is quite so false in writing." But why might this be? I believe it is because when you put words down on a paper or a computer screen, you are thinking and feeling about an idea that interest you or that you might be studying. No one can say to you that what you are thinking and feeling is false. Which is why I agree with Charles D'ambrosio's quote. The meaning of this quote is probably different depending on who is reading it. However, this is my personal interpretation of it.

-Ayleen Gomez 

Heartfelt Confession

A heartfelt anything isn't really true, especially confessions. Truth always comes out when you don't mean it. It's just there. Always looming over. Truth comes out when you're not careful, through anger, disgust, and ignorance. It isn't practiced. That's why most truthful arguments are composed of 75% "I didn't mean that" or "You know what I meant". Truth is careless. It couldn't care less what you meant or how you thought it was going to happen. It came out. Confessions make me think of a priest in church. That's where you say the truth but that's not it. That's a fraction of your day. The truth comes out in the rest of the twenty-four hours. Whether it's sin or virtue, that's the truth. It's an instinct. And to me heartfelt confessions means you thought, constructed, and manipulated your words. You wanted an outcome. You know the emotion it's going to cause. The truth catches you off guard. It horrifies, torments, and follows you. The truth is clumsy and beautifully blunt. That's why everyone associates the truth with childhood. The you with no filter, before you learned to be heartfelt. It's not rosy or precious. It's inconvenient and filled with mistakes. Filled with "um" and "uh". By the way I don't prescribe to the "pure baby" idea. Children are selfish and uncensored. Honest and loved.
- Yandely Almonte

Heartfelt Confessions

"Nothing is quite so false in writing, as the heartfelt confession." Could this be true? I feel like writing is the one way for me to express what is really inside me without the pressure of saying it in a timely manner. I can write and articulate and pinpoint exactly what I feel so that it is clear to others. Many of my heartfelt confessions to my loved ones come in the form of letters. Writing, by nature, allows for the writer to precisely adjust his or her words to get an exact communication of what he or she is thinking.

But maybe it is false. Maybe writing gives us the ability to construct such a fiction of who we are. Our "heartfelt confessions" that we put down in writing are us trying to make sense of our emotions, according to how we want to present ourselves to the world, and to ourselves. Maybe truth lies in the way we act and not what we construct.

Is Charles D'ambrosio suggesting that we live in an alternate reality, never being able to express what we really feel? I was thinking earlier today about this. If we could read each others' minds, many of society's problems would be solved. The knowledge of the smartest person in the world would be my starting point. We would all understand each others' motives and there would be no need for heartfelt confessions, because they would just be known. There would be only honesty, and little need for formal communication, as writing is.

But is writing a heartfelt confession inherently false? Or do we not even understand ourselves enough to communicate our heartfelt confessions accurately? I think honesty must be shown in many ways: through our everyday actions, as well as being formally articulated, strung together in a beautiful way, that more accurately explains our deepest emotions.

-McKenzie Tingey

Rupture

“There is nothing so false in writing as the heartfelt confession.” 

The falsehood glints plainly from the screen of my laptop. A lie with a vinyl crust and a liquid center. If I crack it, speak a word of the truth, it will rupture. It will run everywhere, filling in the fault lines of my keyboard. Clogging up DELETE like the south end of the Mississippi.

These words are smooth, I could run my milky hands over them and not feel a thing. These words are cold. When my breath falls over them it mushrooms with frost. If I warm the words they will cry, I think. Maybe even scream.

Instead I let them freeze. I let them stay smooth, not jagged. I keep those mountains and stones buried deep in my stomach. I keep that night locked away. At least I did, until there was you. Until you called it from me and let the craggy rocks explode from my mouth and the crystals from my eyes and suddenly I was alright.

Suddenly I was unbroken.  

-Sophia Hanson