INTRODUCE YOURSELF

Hello my name is Jacob Altstein, I go by Jacob. My pronouns are He/Him. I’m born and raised in Brooklyn and am now living on campus at CCNY. I’m currently undeclared / liberal arts. I’m considering majoring in Film and Video Production. If I could have a conversation with a person of my choosing it would probably be with my favorite youtuber who goes by the name of “SNEAKO”. We would do a little podcast somewhere in a park or in a train station. I went to Laguardia High school were I studied acting though it really burned me out. One day I would like to have a show on VICE. I read a lot of Haruki Murakami, listen to bands and ride my bike considerable distances. If you’re dorming come to room 201 and say hi.  😉

Excerpt from “Killing Commendatore”

“My Terrace faced the narrow valley to the west, and across the way it was a range of mountains about the same height as mine. And on the slopes of those mountains were a number of houses with generous space separating them, surrounded by lush greenery. To the right, diagonally across from the house I was living in, was a particularly striking modern style house. The mountaintop house, built of white concrete and plenty of bluish tinted glass, was so elegant and luxurious the word “mansion” seemed better term. It was built on three levels that ran along the slope. Most likely some first-rate architect had designed it. There are lots of summer homes in this area, but someone seemed to live in this house all year long, with lights behind the windows every night.”

In this excerpt spoken by the the unamed protagonist describes the lay of the land that he sees from his mountainside house in Japan. For the most part, the houses that he observes are pretty ordinary and similar to his.  The houses on the other side of the valley were very spaced out with lots of forest inbetween. Amongst all of these average homes stands a large mansion that stands out. The protagonist finds the location of this house very off putting. The area itself mainly consists of summer houses so he finds it odd that someone decided to permanently reside in this remote location. 

WHAT WRITING IS TO YOU

Off the top of your head, right now, can you tell me exactly what you were doing last wednesday. Don’t even think, just tell me right now. One thing that’s always bothered me is I can barely recall what I did on a specific day the previous week. I would have to think long and hard to recall last tuesday, and in doing so made me realize how disorganized my thoughts are and how hazy my mind is. This concerned me deeply and eventually inspired me to buy a journal. I had no intentions of writing about my feelings or even writing out my inner dialogue. I simply wrote the date, and listed everything I did on that particular day. When I woke up, what I ate, who I talked to. Writing in my journal soon became my daily ritual, it was something I looked forward to everyday. It was satisfying to see those pages fill up. And soon enough my thoughts seemed a little more clear in my head. Through writing out what was going on in my life, I discovered that all of the stress and anxiety I ‘ve experienced, comes from the chaotic jumbled mix of useful and useless information that was streaming through my mind space. The solution became clear, pen and paper. No ADHD medicine has ever helped me the way writing my thoughts out has. 

Nowadays the interior of my journal looks like one of a mad man. Chaotic scribbles and notes illegible to everyone but me. The pages are a good reflection of the inside of my mind. I never intended for writing to be such a fundamental part of my life. I definitely wouldn’t be able to get to where I am now without it. 

I really related and agreed with King’s writing about reading and always keeping a book on him. You never know when the B train is going to decide to take 20 minutes to arrive. Reading is the perfect escape for when things simply get boring or too stressful and I need to submerge myself to another world.

THE MODERN CITY

The Air Conditioner is such a staple piece in our lives that we take for granted. 100 Years ago people had no option but to just sweat it out. If you were wealthy, you had the option of buying ice, but it was a real hassle to harvest ice, transport it, and sell it just for it to melt. Not the most efficient way of staying cool. 

In the early 1900’s, a man named Willis Carrier, a young engineer was approached by a printing company who had an issue with humidity in their factory. The humidity was ruining their prints, smudging the ink and what not. With this issue at hand, the first modern air conditioner was born. I say modern because for thousands of years prior, humans have used many methods of cooling down. For thousands of years, the Chinese used hand fans to keep cool, which is something that we still see today. During the mid hours of the day, people would keep windows and doors shut to keep the hot air out. Blowing fans over blocks of ice was another popular one and my personal favorite, going swimming. 

What Willis created was a very simple design to cool down the area around the printer. This solved the issue and in addition to this, the work space felt much more comfortable in general. This was the first AC. Over the years, Willis worked to improve the overall functionality of the air conditioner and made it smaller. It wasn’t till many many years later that the air conditioner became a popular item in people’s homes as it was still very expensive and heavy. 

The air conditioner is something people now-a-days take for granted. It’s probably not something that we consider often, but life without air conditioning would be miserable. Right now as I write this, I have my air conditioner blowing icy cold air in my direction. Without air conditioning, I can hardly sleep. It can be considered truly modern because of the big difference between today’s air conditioners and what people used 100 plus years ago, as well as everything in between. Currently, they are pretty accessible and easy to obtain. But what really makes the air conditioner modern is that it is a staple piece for homes. It’s a given that homes and establishments have some sort of cooling system be it central air condition or the standard window air conditioner.

HOME

ometimes, when I’m sleeping at a friends house, regardless of the time, I will gather my belongings and make my way home for the soul purpose of sleeping in my own bed. Being in the comfort of my own home in my beloved bed I feel safe. Not that I don’t feel safe in my friends home’s but, being in my home makes it feel like there’s an extra blanket of comfort surrounding me. It’s home base, square one, where I can go to retreat to my room behind closed doors where no one is bothering me. 

I remember the day I moved out of my home and away from my family. Being in a new space with three strangers was so odd. My idea of home had always been one in which there are two guardians and some siblings. But now it was me and three other teenaged boys. The walls of my room were bare and undecorated, it didn’t feel like home. It felt so unreal. Since then of course I’ve decorated my walls, brought all my little small miscellaneous items.  

STRUTCTURES

The part in this essay that caught my attention the most was when David Sedaris read from his sister’s yearbook. He recalls reading the messages inscribed by his sister’s classmates. Just by reading the comments in the notebook, the reader can instantly get a sense of what kind of person his sister was. For example, written in her notebook was, “I’m looking forward to getting high with you this summer”, as well as, “Call me sometime this summer and we’ll go out and get blitzed”. This further painted the image of Sedari’s sister in my mind and her rough upbringing. Reading her classmates’ comments made me feel bad for her. She was only in ninth grade when she got this yearbook indicating how she was really off to a bad start.

When I think of structure and what it means to me, it isn’t just set objects that make it up, nor is it the materials used to construct a house. For me structure is the relationships I have in my life. Home doesn’t feel like home without my family and pets. They bring structure into my life. Another form of structure in my life is school. In getting an education, I have a set number of tasks that I must complete. It’s like a nine to fiveWithout school, I couldn’t even tell you what day of the week it is, I would just be wasting away at home. The same applies for a job.

MANY HANDS

The character I favoured the most in Kidder’s House was Jonathan’s wife, Judith. From the start she’s depicted as a warm, welcoming and passionate person. I find Judith the most compelling out of all the characters. She’s an extremely intelligent person with loads of credentials. She has a masters and a doctorate in education. In addition to this she has done loads of work with kids with special needs. Yet she’s light hearted and doesn’t take things or herself too seriously. Above all this she is very kind, she runs a preschool program for children with disabilities. I really admire her goodwill and devotion to helping others.A really great moment that captures what Judith is like is this moment where she’s at a debate fighting with the school board. She’s loud and emotional fighting for what she believes in. At the end of the debate she loses yet she doesn’t seem to mind or care. “At least we’ll go down kicking and screaming” she explains. In no way is she a sore loser. There’s no time for her to whine and groan. Her biggest contribution to the completion of the house was her confidence and boldness. She successfully built a civil and respectful relationship with those who were building her home. Her recognizing the importance of building good relationships and not foaming at the mouth senselessly screaming greatly benefited the house being built quicker.

PROJECT PROPOSAL

For the topic to my project, I will be discussing poor bike and pedestrian infrastructure  in New York City. I choose these because they’re extremely relevant to all of us city goers whether we like it or not.  If cities are for people, then why is it the one has to retreat to a park just to escape cars that are literary in every direction we look. Other than talking about how dirty the city does us bikers and pedestrians so dirty, I will be talking about our Transit system. It’s one that is used by all of us New Yorkers on a daily basis yet why is it riddled with garbage and delays. I will compare our transit system to other countries transit systems. Now in terms of how this project will be presented, I will be making a video shot all around the city. In an ideal world I would be filming it on my bike but unfortunately I broke my elbow and am off the bike for a few months. The purpose of this whole project is to make people aware and as angry as I am about how pedestrians, bikers and transit commuters are treated in this city. It will be a documentary style and perhaps I could interview people on the street and cyclists and ask them about their thoughts on lack of pedestrian and bike safety in the city. 

If you happen to be into this kinda stuff I recommend you check out the YouTube Chanel called “Not Just Bikes” . 

NAVIGATING GENRE

In Navigating Genres Kerry Dirk educates the reader about how there’s more to genre than they think. It’s not just action, horror, mystery and comedy. She expands the reader’s understanding on what genre is. In doing this she uses a couple of different examples such as country music, Onion headlines, a ransom note and a letter to a bank. In discussing country music she first gives the reader a few statements about what country music is and its characteristics. Through having a basic understanding of the genre called “country”, she expresses that one would not feel able to write their own country song being that they understand the basics of it. Through country music, Dirk is able to give the reader a good solid and basic understanding of what genre is. Dirk explains the staples of country music; the tone, recurring themes and scenarios, religion, booze, the south blah blah blah. But this can be applied to every single genre out there. This small example she gives goes a long way.

RATIONALE DRAFTS

I like the ideas here. For my first genre I choose documentary. It’s a genre that I A) really enjoy, and B) is really informative.  For my second genre I have selected will be “observatonal”. Perhaps that seems very general and non descriptive but it makes sense in my head. Film is something I feel very good about and I am confident that I will be able to convey all my points and concerns through it. My audience is a mix of city goers and people who live car dependent areas. For the city goers my intention is to make them realize how pushed aside they are as pedestrians and ciclysts by the city. And for car dependent people who are from rural areas I would like to give the a glimpse into life where owning a moterized viechle isn’t a necesity. 

YOUR TOPIC

For my final essay I am going to write about green roofs in the city. I have worked as a landscaper for the past two years and have worked on countless green roofs. I definitely know alot about them and what it takes to make and maintain them. But being that down on street level there’s not a ton of room for greenery, should there be laws on roofs having to have a set amount of greenery on them. In my essay I will discuss my experience working as a landscaper and will make connections to “House” by Tracy Kidder and the aspects of relationships in a working environment. Reflecting on my time under the blazing hot sun, irrigating, planting the people I worked with and designing, there is so much to unpack. I will discuss the benefits of green roofs. I think this is a great topic because green roofs are only growing in popularity year by year. I also will discuss solar panels. I don’t know much about them nor do I have any experience with them but they are extremely relevant and have to do with roofs. Green roofs make for healthy cities. With my initial research and own personal experience, green roofs are extremely beneficial to a city and buildings themselves.

DRAFT PEER REVIEW

When dormant trees begin to bud

Neglected gardens in need of a hug 

Autumn’s leaves are swept away 

Spring’s greenery does away with winters grey 

Come summer, four days a week, me along with about fifteen others wake up at the crack of dawn to begin our day. From all over the city, we congregate at said location. Amongst the crew are actors, dancers, musicians, fathers and college students. But on these days when we are together, we are landscapers. While landlords yell at us and wealthy clients tell us we can’t use their bathroom, we haul a plethora of items to the clients rooftop. Among the many there are power tools, a couple hundred bags of soil, planters, drip irrigation, big plants, small plants, a few small trees and flowers that are pretty but hurt to handle. Sometimes we even carry a positive and optimistic attitude. For the following eight or so hours we work, sweat, gossip and chat while “transforming your rooftop garden into an urban garden oasis” as quoted from the company’s website. 

Greenery teeming from every square inch of your rooftop comes with so many benefits. Flooding is less likely to occur as plants and soil happen to love water. It reduces a building’s temperature and insulates it which is beneficial economically and environmentally. However in my career as an urban landscaper I’ve observed a different side of these benefits, more social and communal benefits. But it’s really more than just an aesthetic. The beautiful and green roofs that me and my coworkers fabricate promote the feeling of well-being and social interaction. In my own experience, it really puts the mind at ease to be around greenery. 

In such a bustling concrete jungle there isn’t a lot of room for greenery and we can’t just put wind turbines on the street. The solution? We must turn our heads up towards New York City’s rooftops. Now I understand that laws forcing people to “green-ify” their rooftops might be a little too much to ask for at the moment. For now, an excellent thing to do is to put it into the hands of New York City’s residents. Teach New Yorkers the fundamentals of gardening, provide people with basic gardening tools, supplies and knowledge for beautifying their space in an environmentally friendly way.