We've been reviewing and discussing news items, and reading about various ways to organize observed information.
We've also been discussing the way media producers and writers rely on observation and personal tastes, to get ideas across.
Assignment: Take notes observing people in action and what they say. Post a narrative description of a particularly interesting or colorful exchange or conversation you witnessed or participated in. Set the scene: note when and where this happened, and who the people were, why this occurred (or why you think it did) and whatever other details help to bring the scene to life, including any dialogue you consider interesting or useful. Don't just list the events you've observed—organize them thoughtfully, to interest the reader.
Your post should be at least 300 words long. Due date: by the end of Thursday, March 16.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, March 8, 2017, was International Women’s Day. It was a day meant for everyone to recognize the inequality that women are faced with and appreciate them for all that they have done, and continue to do, for the world. As I went about my day yesterday, I engaged in several conversations with many different women. We discussed the importance of female power in this world and were bonded by our mutual disgust for the continued discrimination against women that takes place every day, all over the world. As I left each of these conversations I was overwhelmed by a sense of community and empowerment but those feelings were met by a sense of guilt. I felt guilty for not advocating more for the forgotten females on this earth. Later in this day I arrived to my workplace, Organico Grocery Cafe in Ramsey, New Jersey. I find this place to be a sanctuary for me, as I work with fellow like- minded vegans. We often openly discuss animal rights issues and bond over our feelings of sadness and anger in regard to the amount of animals being tortured, raped, and murdered at the hands of human beings on a daily basis. Yesterday, I had an interesting conversation with co worker in which we discussed the irony of this day. A day meant to raise awareness for the inequality of females in this world, yet the most oppressed females of all are not members of the human species and are ignored every single day. Dairy cows endure exactly what women are fighting against on an astronomical level every single minute of the day. They are raped, beaten, and have their children stolen from them minutes after birth. Their children are then either sentenced to the same vicious cycle of rape and traumatic birth, or sent to the slaughterhouse to be killed for veal. Essentially, they face inequality and mistreatment more brutally and on a more frequent basis than human females. My co worker and I discussed the unconsciousness of so many human beings in regard to this incredible injustice. We took a day to celebrate the abilities and the worthiness of equality of females yet ignore such enormous suffering of fellow females outside of our species. Female cows, just as all animals, deserve to have a voice. They deserve to have people who can vocalize their thoughts to speak for them and work to end their inequality and their suffering. So, as we remember this day, I ask that we take a second to remember our fellow earthlings who are facing the same discrimination that we are. Please, remember this as you make your dietary, beauty, and fashion choices. This was a day for all females, human and nonhuman alike.
One day, while I was at work at toys r u, I remember being at the consumer service desk with another employee. We had this women come up very displeased with a resent purchase she made from another toys r us. I was going to deal with the situation but, my coworker insisted on taking care of the guest. So basically this guest brought In a motor scooter in that seemed to have had a crack in part of it. Naturally my coworker first response was “let us see if we have anymore in stock so we can swap them out” unfortunately we were out of stock. The guest was very upset at the fact we didn't have it. My co worker then apologized and then asked if she had the receipt to see fi we could give her an in store credit for a different scooter. The women said that she didn't have one and my co worker asked if she had the car she paid with or the rewards card that she used with the transaction. The women again said no, and told my co worker she just wanted to get a new scooter. Then the co worker told her that sadly we cant do anything for her if she has no form of receipt and no proof of purchase. The women the proceeds to freakout about how she drove 3 hours to come to this toys r us and how she had to bring her 5 children with her. We thought it was a little odd she had to drive 3 hours to our store so we called over a manager. When the manager arrived the women was still freaking out as well as yelling a lot. My manager tried to calm her down by trying to figure out what to do with the product and closely examining it. What my manager soon figured out was very interesting. There was a reminenece of a red sticker on the scooter. Red stickers typically mean that the item was on clearance because it had open/ damaged packaging or the item itself was damaged but still worked. It is then that my manager tells the women that she cant take it back because she bought it knowing that the item was damaged and then took a trip far away to another toys r us to try to make out with a new product. This is what gets great, the women then proceeds to freakout more than before and yell at us and saying “how dare you accuse me of such thing” and the women stormed out of the store leaving the product behind. 5 minutes later the women came back in realizing that she left the scooter and then proceeds to ask us if one of us could carry the item to her car. This is where we said no and she struggled to get the item back to the car with her 5 kids.
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ReplyDeleteThe year is 2017. Technology is a part of our everyday lives for better and for worse. It should be safe to assume that if the vast majority of individuals in America had access to the internet whether it be through smartphones, computers, tablets, or any other device, they would fact check their information to confirm the validity of their claims. For some that is the case, but sadly not for all. This anecdote took place in a quiet subway restaurant during my break between classes this past Thursday which was the 9th of March. As my friend and I entered the store we couldn’t help but hear the two middle-aged men in front of us who appeared to be together discussing politics. The pair seemed to have some agreements on issues such as immigration since one nodded up and down as the other said he believes immigration laws should be tougher or enforced more, not exactly sure which since at this point I was more focused on if I’m going to switch up which bread I get my cheesesteak on or not. Then the man who was nodding brought up in what appeared to be an Irish accent the issue of abortion which again, they both agreed that they have a pro-choice stance on. Where it gets interesting is when the American sounding man boldly asked the Irishman who he voted for. The Irishman looked away in discomfort and hesitantly said Hillary Clinton but made sure the other man asking knew he did prefer Bernie Sanders over her. The disappointment in the face of the man without the noticeable accent took over. In a lower and slightly angry sounding voice he asked “You would prefer a communist over a self-made capitalist billionaire?”. After this I was not sure whether he actually believed Bernie Sanders was a communist or was trying to get the idea across that socialism is more closer related to communism than capitalism is. The Irishman eagerly backed that socialism is not the same as communism and that the other man should look it up. In response the other man said that socialism is and I quote “literally” the exact same thing as communism and that it’s just a word derived by the left to bring communism to the United States. Right then and there I thought to myself this debate is over, there is no way the Irishman can look as uneducated as the other. However, as the two were leaving the Irishman went on to bring up how Trump said in an interview for People Magazine back in 1998 that if he were to ever run for president it would be as a Republican because they’re the dumbest group of voters. I remember seeing this claim spread across social media probably a year ago and I know that Trump has some very bizarre claims, but I just couldn’t imagine this to be true. With a simple google search back when I first heard about this I found that this never happened, and in fact Trump never even had an interview with People Magazine in 1998. What stood out most about this whole situation to me was my reassurance that naivete exists in both sides of the political spectrum. Politics is such a divisive topic to talk about now and I hope it does not affect the relationship between the two in a negative way.
ReplyDeleteLast week on Thursday, March 9th, my boyfriend and I went to get some sushi for lunch. We went to Osaka Sushi in Lyndurst, NJ. It’s a nice, small place with great food. We ordered our food and waited for it. We sat down at the table and talked until it was finished. As we sat down for a few minutes, another couple walks in. The woman looks about 23 or 24, she’s kind of short, blonde hair with some pink hair dye, and tattoos on her arms. The man looks about the same age, he’s taller, bit of muscle on his arms, lots of tattoos on his arms and even some on his face and neck. He was also wearing sunglasses and those t-shirts with big logos on them that nobody has ever heard of. We thought they were a couple but turns out they were just friends. We could tell by the way she was reacting to the guy when he said or made a movement. They come into the restaurant and order their rolls, but separate orders, but when the man orders, he’s very rude to the chef. The chef is Japanese and of course has an accent but you can still understand him. The man gives him a hard time when repeating his order and makes it more difficult. And when the woman ordered, she had no problem. That was the first thing my boyfriend and I noticed about the guy. My boyfriend and I are still talking but also noticing what the guy is doing. The man and woman are on the other side of the place talking. The girl says that she’s moving to Florida next month or so and she’s trying to get her place together and make sure everything is in order. The guy says to her “Awe, you’re leaving me here all alone? That’s too bad because we’d have a good time here if you stayed in Jersey.” My boyfriend and I look at each other and cringe. The girl doesn’t say much to him but just laugh and ignore his comments. She goes on to say how Florida is warmer and it will benefit her job. Another man walks in, tattoos, big sunglasses, skinny jeans, a nike jacket and nike high top shoes. He sees the other guy and they know each other. They start talking and catching up a bit. He introduces him to the friend he’s with and he makes it seem as they’re together but the girl clearly says that they’re not together, just a good friend. The two guys keep talking about tattoos and how his friend can hook him up with a nice piece. I feel as though the one guy is trying really hard to impress the girl he’s with. My boyfriend and I are still noticing it all and laughing about it. The girls order is almost ready so she sits at the little bar on a stool. The guy follows her over and immediately puts his arm over her shoulder. You could tell she’s uncomfortable and she shakes and tries to let loose from him. From the table we’re at, I’m facing them and my boyfriends back is at them. The guy sits down next to her and he puts his hand on the small of her back and slowly goes down to her butt. I was thinking, “Wow, you’re trying way too hard and need to relax”. I tell my boyfriend quietly and he just makes a face. The girls order is ready and she pays and then the mans order is ready and he pays. He also asks for a Sprite. The employee says “Two dollars” and the guy says “Wow, I could go next door and get that cheaper, nevermind. I don’t want the soda”. They both have their bag and about to leave. The guy takes the bag from the girl and says “I got this, don’t worry about it”. The girl says “Oh, no it’s okay, I have it. Don’t worry about it”. She takes the bag back from him and starts to walk out. As they do, the guy is right behind her and has his hand on the back of her butt. She notices and tries to go ahead of him so he can’t do it anymore. Our order is ready and we pay and leave. As soon as we get back to the car, my boyfriend and I immediately say, “Wow, that guy was an asshole”.
ReplyDeleteI'm Fredlyne and I'm about to explain an event I witness in history. The Negro Spiritual was an excellent concert at Rockland Community College and began at 7pm on Febuary 27 2017. The audience was filled with people that had all types of age groups. There were some students at RCC, and other people from other college came to support the show. I even see my friends were enjoying the play. The performance was about the slaves and the creation of music. Some of the students in RCC represented the slaves. There were professional singers that came to interpret the slave songs. It was beautiful. People learned the history of the Negro Spirit from the past. Learning the words to the Negro Spiritual was very powerful. The spiritual gave the slaves hope of better days to come. Singing the same songs each day gave inspirational to the human soul. The African people believed something great would happen. The songs united people through difficult circumstances.
ReplyDeleteThe beginning of the concert, I heard voices of a white man that sold the slaves’ into a lifetime of bondage. They were being sold like cattle on a farm without any human dignity. They showed students that represented the slaves how hard they worked. They believed hope would arrive one day. They knew that they would be free from these lifeless chains. One of the students gave a heartfelt speech about the injustice of the African-American Ancestry journey to the colony states of 1400’s. You were driven by the words on human life before human justice.
There was a choir singing the old Negro’s spirit from the soul. There were a couple of songs that kept my spirit filled with the joy of happiness. Those songs were powerful and made you think about what God’s children sacrifice for humanity. They showed some pictures of the African singers that had talent. It was difficult for words to be heard because of the color their skin. They were talking about Maria Anderson who had a beautiful voice that like an Angel in heaven. The Negro Spiritual was a struggle for her. She broke barriers for black people. She worked as a delegate and participated in the civil rights movement. She won an award in 1921.
The song “Fire is going to burn my soul” had a beautiful melody. That song motivated everyone to do better than the person next to them. The teachers that directed the songs from future past of the unique African-American spirit did so without remorse. I enjoyed it. Everyone did a great job. I liked when each person stood alone to let his or her voice do the talking in an Opera style. They did an extraordinary job. The enslaved humans were the ones who help create today many different Grammy’s Award winners style of music. They were the founders of Jazz, Rock, Pop, etc. I learned the spirit of the soul could leave you up when the world is trying to hold you down. In the words of the old Negro Spirit, “Free at last, Free at last, thank God Almighty we are Free at last!” I enjoyed life lessons of American history.
During my senior year of high school about a 100 person fight broke out after a rival hockey game. This all occurred on Saturday January, 17th 2015. The hockey game was between the Clarkstown C-Town Puck hockey team and the Scarsdale Raiders. The clarkstown team is a combination of both high schools Clarkstown South and Clarkstown North. Throughout the previous years there has been an ongoing rivalry brewing between the Clarkstown North specifically and Scarsdale, not only in hockey but other sports such as football and soccer. It was an away game for Clarkstown, but that did not stop the fans, as carpools and carpools of Clarkstown fans, dressed in all black for the blackout themed game, fill up the stands an hour prior to face off. The game was held at E J Murray Skating Center in Yonkers, New York. The game was not as close as was predicted by MSG varsity, as the Raiders took home the win with a final score of 4 to 1. However, despite trailing for the entire game, the clarkstown fans refused to sit down and refused to stay quiet. Security had escorted multiple fans for both teams out of the rink during the game due to their behavior. Several inappropriate chants were going out but one that really stood out kind of foreshadowed the night. As the time in the third quarter winds down Clarkston's side of the stands starting chanting “Par-king Lot, Par-king Lot, Par-king Lot”. This can give you an idea, or paint a picture so to speak, as to what had occurred after the game between fans from both sides. When the game ended, and the parking lot was backed up because of all the cars trying to leave, the students from both sides met up to exchange some words. One thing led to another and people were getting tackled, hit, and people were even chasing cars and jumping on them. There was security at the rink but nowhere near enough for this situation. While people were running around swinging at each other i'm just standing by my friends car waiting for him while I make sure no one tries to hit me. After about fifteen minutes of pure chaos parents, teachers, and security came together to put a stop to all of this. Luckily me and my friend made it out untouched. As for the rest of the hockey games, let’s just say they brought some extra security.
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ReplyDeleteMan Wins one pair of Yeezy form claw machine, store won't give other pair
ReplyDelete“What am I supposed to do with one shoe?”
“Give Him His shoe!”
On the afternoon of Sunday March 12, 2017 at the Palisades Mall in the store Laced Up a man walked into the store asking for the other pair of his Yeezy which he won a week prior. These shoes are dead expensive. He claimed the store promised him the other pair last week for this week, for they did not have it at the moment the day he won the shoe in a claw machine in the store. The game promises the other pair if you manage to win one pair in the game. This man won and came back to the store wanting his prize. Coming back the next week the employees still did not give him the shoe and he became frustrated and decided to tell other customers not to waste their time on the claw machine because they will not get the other pair even if they do win. “Can I get your attention! Don't waste your money on this game, these men are frauds” he tells them. The long line of customers who were waiting for their turn all left or they joined in with him asking the workers to hand him his shoe. A woman in the crowd began a chant, “Give him his shoe”! The employees trying to calm down the crowd told them that the man is just making a scene. “This man came making a ruckus”, they claimed. The man then goes on to say “They didn't tell me nothing. What am I supposed to do with one shoe?” He is clearly angry and his wife tries to calm him down. She tells him to relax and says "let's wait till the police come”. By this time, he is not getting his shoe, the customers are chanting “Give him his shoe” and no one is playing the claw machine. Sadly, I did not see how this scene ended because it was getting too crazy and they said the police was getting involved so I just left with my friends to a different store.
ReplyDeleteTaron Tann
English 217
3/16/2017
Professor Fuentes
After the snow storm, I saw a number of my neighbors outside. The reason why is because they wanted to make way for their cars to move out of their parking lots. That is why they were outside constantly in the cold shoveling 24/7. Massive piles of heavy snow. This must’ve been very annoying and extremely aggravating. Considering that they were outside for hours shoveling. As my neighbors were outside I saw them conversing with another and helping each other. One person even said to his neighbor, “I cannot believe this actually happened”. Meaning that he couldn’t believe how much snow he got.
When I was outside I was also shoveling, or the same reason they were outside. To be honest it was a pain and it felt like I was going to freeze to death. That is how bad it was for me and the others. I had such a hard time shoveling to the point where I had to go to a neighbor for help. Luckily I was glad that he helped me. We also engaged in a conversation. He told me that he drives a stick shift and with that it was hard for him to pull out of his driveway. Actually to be honest it was hard for me to pull out to. Even though we both shoveled the majority of the snow. He then told me to put my car in reverse and he’ll push it from the outside. Eventually it worked out and I thanked him. Getting rid of that snow was a massive pain.
Later I saw people with snow truck and a shovel attached to it. They did this to clear the road. They didn’t really say much but all I can say is that it was a big struggle to remove all that snow.
A time when I experienced a moment of me catching myself observing people and what they say is once when I was approached by a man while I was at work in Starbucks. He saw that it has been a late day for me at this point at around 9:00 pm at night and that I simply wanted to go home. He asked if I had seen any clashing or if I ever saw people having differences with one another while living in the dead center of Suffern right next to Monsey and Mahwah. I thought to myself for a second and thought if I could of ever really identified any manner that occurred between two people that really caused conflict or disagreement of any sort that really caused there to be a scene. I can always count of a wide variety of people to be interesting in front of my eyes every single day as they all are sharing the common feeling of grogginess from lack of caffeine yet to enter into their system and exchanging smiles and conversations on the wait. I began to think to myself even how many people ask me all the time if people clash where I work since that what everyone would expect when in reality it’s the exact opposite. I remember that same day watching two men after being asked that question sitting down across from each other at a table and conversing about the day they had both just had and laughing about the dull moments being able to look back on it now in a humorous manner. I see people come together constantly in their own forms of convergences that they aren’t even realizing are existing between them. It’s beautiful to see people come together and be one especially happily where I work.
ReplyDeleteThis happened roughly 3 years ago, between May and June. I was driving down Broadway in Haverstraw on my way to West Haverstraw. It was a pretty beautiful day out, between 50 and 70 degrees outside with that steady breeze. I passed Hershey’s and was about to turn towards bowline when I see a kid sitting in front of his apartment smoking with a Pitbull sitting under his chair that looked like it should be in North Rockland High School. I hit a pretty decent and pretty illegal u-turn just to say the common “whaddup” to this kid because his dog was beautiful. I’m the kind of guy that’s a sucker for animals. It was mostly white with grey spots on his back and head with these baby blue eyes. This puppy was beautiful and no older than 5 weeks. I was just asking this kid about the dog and how old it was and if it was his and if there were more puppies. He tells me there his dog’s puppies that he wasn’t even supposed to have. He tells me the white one isn’t for sale but he has like 3 more inside. So we go in the house and it’s a pretty bad apartment. Crammed, felt like I got bit by a bed bug, ashtray’s and roaches. Smells a lot like marijuana. Then he opens his door and out come this troop of no more than 4 pit bull puppies. They all looked adorable but I had my eye on this white one with brown spots and green eyes. I really wanted that one but he said that was his sisters. I see him put 2 puppies on the sofa and one rolls off and hits the floor hard. I said “yo watch out bro” he replies, “na it’s all good, they’re built for that”. I held in my proper response. But I see this pup walk like a foot in front of me and take a massive piss on the floor. She then walks up to my feet, up my knee. Gets her way on the coach and she just starts licking and kissing my face non stop. Almost as if she knew me. I was just driving by and wanted to get to know the dog. I wasn’t expecting to walk away with a new family member.
ReplyDeleteA colorful conversation I have been a part of happened recently at my job last Saturday around 6pm in the garden state mall. Just like every other Saturday we were pretty busy inside of our small watch store. We were really driving sales and reaching towards our daily goal. A man and his wife walked into the store and because the wife didn’t speak much English my manager asked me to help them out. We had a buy one get one free sale and with the purchase of over 500 dollars you could receive a free cruise voucher. As I was helping the couple I realized that they looked familiar and as we got to talking we even shared the same ethnic background. As they were finishing up deciding what watches they wanted to purchase the wife had said “the price really doesn’t matter, I want to treat him because he works way too hard”. The husband responded saying “yeah the MTA has me doing a lot of overtime” When he said that I immediately remembered why they looked so familiar. My father is a Supervisor for the MTA and the husband was one of my father’s bus drivers. We even went to the Dominican day parade together a couple years ago with their kids and my entire family. After I told them what I had discovered the husband yells “oh you’re Maximo’s daughter? You’re like family!!” After that my manager insisted we take a picture of the pretty huge sale and send it to the company group chat. Until this day they are still my returning customers and it made me realize how small the world truly is. You really never know who you’ll run into at the most unexpected times.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting conversation I had was on a Monday night right before I was heading over to play basketball with one of my close friends. Andy and I have known each other since we were 5 or 6 years old. The first time we met his hand was stuck in those huge bathroom doors at the elementary schools and still to this day I don’t know how he got it stuck in there. Anyways, 14 years pass by and here we are on a Monday night on our way to play basketball. I am sitting on the steps of my door while Andy is pacing back and forth as he usually does when he is overthinking a situation. I am currently deciding on either going to Manhattan College with a full scholarship or Columbia University for music technology. It is starting to get warmer and the conversation of our future eases into a calm realization about life and how we are happy with the sacrifices and decisions we’ve made. Andy will be attending SUNY Albany pursuing a degree in psychology. He tells me about how he wishes he didn’t procrastinate about the applications and how he’s not sure about the future. I tell him that things happen for a reason and that we get chances to do things and opportunities don’t come around twice. With that being said, I also told him to do what he wants because at the end of the day nobody will be able to give him happiness except himself. Once I realized things like that I began to see life differently and it is your positive outlook on life that defines who are you and the decisions you make. The conversation fades off and we head over into his Acura to drive to the gym.
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