Response to "Can Beauty Be Constructed?"

Luis Rojas
Professor Young
ENGW 1100
November 2, 2014

Can Beauty Be Constructed?

          "Beauty is man-made", according to TED Talk with Cameron Russell. I would personally agree with saying that beauty can be constructed. Throughout Cameron Russell's speech in TED Talk, she keeps emphasising how difficult it is to be a model because even if you had hit the "genetic lottery" as she stated, the people working there, still had to add make-up and do her hair in a certain manner. Even after the picture was taken, they still had to retouch the picture with Photoshop and add artificial lighting and all of these other variations that just makes the picture fake and there for the beauty in the picture is man-made, or constructed.

          Aimee Mullins made clear throughout her "Twelve Legs" speech that beauty can be constructed. When I first heard her speech, I was in awe of her confidence with herself because most people with prosthetics would not find themselves "beautiful" or anything along those lines. Aimee Mullins constructs beauty in a different sense. She constructs it in the form of art. When she demonstrated the wooden prosthetics, it was just incredible. For me, that was beauty well constructed & according to "A Darwinian Theory Of Beauty" by Denis Dutton, we subconsciously find beauty in something that is done well.  

Response to "Can Beauty Be Honest?"

Luis Rojas

Friday, October 26

Professor Young

ENGW 1100

Can Beauty Be Honest?

Beauty and honesty are two things that simply do not go together. People all over the world, the media in particular, are too caught up with their so-called “perfections”, that they forget what true beauty is. “Try” by Colbie Caillat simply represents that. Without having anyone to judge you for how you look, everyone would look beautiful. The media sets the standard for what one should consider “beautiful”. The true meaning of beauty should lie within the eye of the beholder. The standards of the media simply cannot be reached because they are trying to create a physical figure that is not natural. When Cameron Russell was speaking and she said it was a construction, the first thing that came to my mind was “man-made”. A person that is man-made is not real, is unnatural. 

There is so much that goes into being beautiful that is completely goes against the meaning of “honest”. Beauty and honesty are two things that simply do not go together. What is beautiful to one person, it might not be to the other, and that’s okay. Colbie Caillat made her point very clear. No one has to try to be something they’re not. Beauty cannot be honest. Beauty is an illusion. Beauty is fake. 

Essay #2 (4/9)

Luis Rojas

ENGW1100

Professor Young

Tuesday, October 2

My Dorm

Florence, fourth floor, room 419, that’s where I reside. At times, my dormitory seems as if it’s Grand Central Station due to the high traffic of people just coming in and out. No matter how much my roommate and I seem to always try to keep the dormitory up and going with cleaning, it never appears to be neat. Even in the two minute span of recording, you can witness more than five different people going in and out of the room. Luckily, my roommate and I get along very well with about ninety percent of our floor, including our RA. We are the type of people to maintain our door open and simply blast music so the entire hallway hears it and that is also why many people come in and out. To me, my dorm is like the place where you go and have fun without doing anything dumb and you forget about everything for a couple of seconds. 

Such loud laughter can be heard coming though the door of Florence 419, the sound of which seems to be the last breath because of its intensity. Even though our dorm is probably the loudest dorm on that floor, no one ever seems to be bothered by it, because once they come in and see what’s going on, they want to be part of it. If you walk in to the dormitory, the first thing you’ll notice is two jerseys, two different jerseys of our favorite football teams. My roommate is, sadly a New York Giants fan and I am a New England patriots fan. When you step through the threshold, you can see that those jerseys are located on the chairs perfectly placed in front of the television, ready, waiting for us to sit down and watch the football game. The huge television is very difficult to miss when you walk in. You can also find something very odd and rather funny. Directly in front of the door and right below the window there in a regulation sized basketball hoop that my roommate managed to snatch back from his hometown in Montclair, New Jersey. 

The funny thing about our dorm is that there is no “in between” of how many people we have in there, it is either zero people or four or more people. There is never just one or two people in there by themselves. The amount of food in just that one dorm is ridiculous, we can literally go a day without going to the university’s dining hall to get food. So much variety, from chicken nuggets to ramen noodles, from a snickers bar to Cheetos, alright, I never said they were healthy foods. I personally love the dormitory 419 at the Florence building because it might not be cozy, but I feel at home.

The way Valerie Kinloch describes Harlem is very personal in the sense that it means more than just a community to Phillip and Khaleeq. The way I would describe my dorm, is just the way Valerie Kinloch describes Harlem, because where ever you are, you can always have something that holds you down to that specific place better than any other. Phillip and Khaleeq go back and forth saying how Harlem is art and how other people don't get to understand because they are not from the community. I feel as if you have to experience the place before you make a judgement call on whatever it is that you’re judging. Many people sometimes ask me “how can you allow so many people in your dorm?” or “I don’t get how your dorm can be so fun.”.  Honestly, I can easily just tell those people to come over and experience it themselves because if I even just attempt to describe how it is, they will not be able to comprehend fully what I am trying to get across. 

Florence, fourth floor, room 419, it hasn’t been my dormitory for more than two month, but as soon as you walk in through the door, you will know that half of it belongs to me. In college, that is exactly what you want, a place where you can escape from everything, even if it’s just a small space. Personally, even though I’m out most of the time because of tennis practice and classes and study sessions with friends, I always find a way to have a great time at my dorm with my roommate and friends, even if it is just for about five minutes. There’s nothing better than having a place where someone can go and enjoy it just as much as you do. It’s also more fun if you get to enjoy it with people that you enjoy having around. As of now, I am happy with the way everything has been and I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.

(3/9)

Luis Rojas

ENGW1100

Professor Young

Monday, September 1

Edgewater, New Jersey, that’s where my favorite place is located. That is where I go to just forget the world. As I have heard many people say “turn on music, turn off the world”. To me, this place means so much more than just a spot to relax, I have never gone with anyone there because I don’t want anyone to find me when I’m upset or just want to forget the world. I love it because it is right along the hudson river and it is all grass, so I can just lay there with my guitar while I very closely look at the water meet the sky. I can just lay there until my phone battery dies from playing music too much and then just listen to the relaxing sound of the water break against the wall very late at night when the tides are at their highest point. 

Some might assume that my favorite place might be my room, because of all the stuff I have there, but why don’t understand that my room is not my place of choice when I have a clouded mind. I would rather just walk forty five minutes to get to where I need to go and lay there for as long as I want and clear my mind of whatever is troubling. I find it to be rather amusing that when I’m there, I can easily put my phone on airplane mode, that way no calls or texts go through. When i’m there, I do not like to be bothered, I feel as if it is my sanctuary. I know I do not own the place, but it sure feels like so when I’m always the only one roaming the area. I could literally spend six or more hours in that spot for the same reason that it not only calms me, but also makes me feel safe.

For that very reason, it was very difficult for me to dorm here in Fairleigh Dickinson, because I did not want to leave that beautiful place I had grown very fond of. I felt as if I was leaving a part of me behind. Now it’s no longer a forty five minute walk, it became a one hour and a half drive. Here on campus, I’ve yet to find a place that is even a third of how beautiful and peaceful that very spot on Edgewater was. It is not even about how much time I spent there, because everyone has their own definition of “infinity”. Sometimes I feel as if that area was made for me to find.

Response to James McBride's Hip Hop Planet

Luis Rojas

ENGW1100

Professor Young

Monday, September 1

In my opinion, James McBride’s Hip Hop Planet dragged on a bit much because by the end of practically every paragraph he kept stating the same thing, the fact that he missed out on possibly the most important cultural event in his lifetime. I’m more than sure that he could have made that point without having to write more than six paragraphs about it. Originally, James McBride was embarrassed that he had to cope with what the people in his culture were listening to. He lived with a bad interpretation of what hip hop was for twenty six years. James McBride’s character in Hip Hop Planet describes how throughout the years, he had to learn how to enjoy hip hop because he understood that it was important in his culture. 

James McBride’s character changes when his daughter comes in with a guy saying that she’s getting married to him. He changes because he understand that he was once a young “knucklehead” too & that he had his own music & styles, so who was he to judge who his daughter wanted to marry. Like he stated at the end of the first paragraph, it was no longer his world. He didn’t understand how important the music was until twenty six years after he had been attempting very hard to avoid it day to day. He also understood that the music gave them an identity for the same reason that throughout the songs they performed, the repeatedly used the word “i”. 

(2/9)

Luis Rojas

ENGW1100

Tuesdays & Fridays (11:20-12:35)

Professor Young

Is identity important & if it is, what is it?

“Deja de introducir palabras en Ingles al Español cuando hablamos entre nosotros” is what my mother told me one afternoon while talking to her. It reminded me of how she used to tell me to stop placing spanish words into English sentences when I spoke and/or wrote. Now, it’s the complete opposite. Identity can be defined in numerous ways, depending on who you are speaking to. Not everyone will give you relatively the same answer because not everyone has gone through the same things. For example, I can very much relate to Gloria Anzaldua because of how she was reprimanded by her mother for speaking English with an accent & her getting told that “what is the point of education if you’re still going to speak English with an accent?”. To my knowledge, what Gloria Anzaldua is trying to get across is that language does define who you are, moreover, it makes you stand out. What brings out my true identity is that whenever I can, I could just start speaking in my natural tongue, spanish, & everyone around me would be so amused because they would always think that English is my first language, so to show who I really am, I can easily just bring that out to people. 

To me, Anzaldua did a very thorough job with explain the concept of her identity in the passage “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”. It fully analyzes how difficult it was for her to adapt & show that she could do what she has accomplished. It also helps me understand that I’m not the only one that has gone through the struggle of learning a new “tongue” just so I can attempt at being successful in another country. Gloria also shows her true identity by adding certain Spanish words into her English sentences, that way she never loses her true roots. I remember doing that myself when I speak with Latino friends & to me, it would be amusing because they would actually fully understand what I’d be trying to get across. Identity is very important because it defines a person’s true character & it represents where they come from & how they were brought up. 

When referring to “How important identity is”, many people will give you and endless amount of answers & that too reflects how they were brought up. It really doesn’t matter who you are, I’m more than sure that everyone has a slightly different answer than the last person. To me, identity is more than important because it differentiates you from one another. I believe that throughout or lifetime, we constantly build, destroy & rebuild our true identity, trying to find ourselves in the process. Your identity is what makes you, you. It not only signifies everything you've experienced, but also everything you've learned.

(1/9)

Luis Rojas
ENGW1100
Professor Young
Monday, September 1

Someone who really defines me would be my uncle. He was the one who raised me ever since I was 3 years old & he was the one who pushed me to become who I am today. I honestly don't think I would have done anything if it wasn't for him. He, like me, was a biology major, but sadly had to leave school because of financial problems. For that reason I not only love my major, but I want to finish what he once started. He always focused on giving me opportunities to go through with what I want to do.
It sure would have been different if my parents were the ones who actually gave their time to raise me as oppose to him, but I am very thankful things turned out the way they did because I would not have liked it to be any other way. He is what inspired me as well to be a biology major. He had friends in laboratories & he would take me there to visit & I found the environment to be very amusing. I was raised by him with the mentality to never let an opportunity pass, not even by the slightest second. If there was an event in school that he thought I would like, he'd sign me up & honestly, I didn't complain about it because I personally liked that type of attitude coming from him.
Now that I'm here in college, I attempt to keep his mentality because I feel as if opportunities like these will only come once & if they do, I don't want to lose them because I wasn't completely "sure" about it.