LIST OF NEWS SOURCES

Here is an imperfect and ongoing list of sources you can read during this time. Most important is to look to experts, scientists, journalists and leaders who concentrate on facts. Information is changing quickly and laws and protocol are also changing quickly. Stay as calm as possible but read reputable sources as much as possible. You can broaden this diet with politicians, authors and academics that you also trust.

Here is a list to get you started. You can choose to follow these sources on twitter and/or go directly to their websites. Many of these sources have paywalls but allow you to view some content for free. Scroll down past the paywall warnings to read the news even if you do not subscribe.

I will keep adding to this list. *Please leave comments below with other sources to add and comments in general.


Health and Pandemic information:
CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention https://www.cdc.gov/

WHO - World Health Organization https://www.who.int/


Journalism:

The New York Times

The Wall Street Journal

The Washington Post

BBC

PBS

WNYC
National Public Radio

The Economist

The New Yorker

Wire Services: The Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg News

The Atlantic

Politico

Time Magazine

Los Angeles Times

USA Today

Letter to Pakistani Society

Aamna Rao

Image, Identity and Culture

Letter to society

Dear Pakistani society, I need not to decorate you with some flattery words as you yourself are decorated with hypocrisy and double standards. You yourself are decorated in a manner that your nakedness is unavoidable. I have grown up in a society where the reputation of an individual weighs stronger than the character. I have grown up in a society where freedom of speech is considered as an offensive act, a word of truth is marked as something that lacks respect, where the repression of your rightful desires is addressed as a reward. I have grown up in a society where the religion of the poor is food. I have grown up in a society where a woman is allowed to run a brothel but not a taxi. I have come from a society where the idea of being a right woman is to conform to the norms you have imposed on us. I have come from a society that entitles a woman as characterless if she falls in love with a man of her choice. I have come from a society where a man marries a woman for either to integrate a physical relationship that leads to reproduction or for her to do the house chores. I have come from a society where a few women are burnt from acids by their own husband and in-laws for speaking of her rights. I have come from a society where a woman is expected to keep on giving birth to daughters unless a boy does not graces her womb. Even the devil uses Holy scriptures to fulfill its own conspiracies. My religion, Islam has been misrepresented by your feigned rituals, and how sad for the world to consider religion and culture alike having so much of difference amongst each other. A religion that aims to honor women has been falsely represented by your male chauvinistic norms. The Quran forbids women to be forced into marriages, to be forced into pregnancies. Oh society, if you continue to exist the way you have existed for centuries then women will continue to suffer the brutalities of your norms. If you would not resist your traditional method of flourishment, then women will continue to lose their lives in the name of honor killings, they will continue to experience rape and acid attacks.

My heart crumbled when I heard the news in 2018 that the six year old Zainab was brutally raped and murdered by a 24 year old man named Imran Ali in Pakistan. Zainab’s body was found five days later in a rubbish dump. It was also later acknowledged that some similar murders had taken place from the past two years in Kassur. The idea of the loss of innocent life shatters my heart. Qandeel Baloch, a liberal blogger was strangled to death by her brother in the name of so called honor in 2016. I have been raised in a society where there is a huge difference between tribal areas and metropolitan areas. The metropolitan ideology compels the daughters to get educated for the sake of their snobbish community as well as to find a perfect suitor whereas the tribal areas suppresses women to pursue education. There are so many Malala Yousafzadi’s still craving to achieve their careers. There are many like Zainab and Qandeel who suffer in your unjustness. Do you have the audacity to let this happen? Statistics from the Human Rights Commision of Pakistan suggested that there were 1276 murders over a two year period in 2014 in the name of honor killing. Although acid attacks have reduced in Pakistan from the past five years, they continue to take place.

I have reached a society of the West and I heard the beauty of equality in the United States, I thought that America is a land of free and equal. It turned out that it is a land of free and equal but there is an existence of invisible inequality that is hidden behind closed doors. Oh society, I wonder how long would it take for women to untie the norms you impose on them? I wonder when we will understand the true meaning of equality and freedom? Some women find modesty in wearing a cleavage blouse whereas others find modesty in covering their heads, both the kinds of women have the right to choose the kind of modesty they believe in.

Dear Future Grandchild

Dear Future Grandchild

            I’m writing you this letter at time when I don’t even know if I’m one of your great grandparents were so happy give your life and have you be a part of our family.  Hopefully, you will never have to experience the likes of what I’m experiencing today with new pandemics and the lack of resources.  I want to you to be able to enjoy life, yet I want to you to learn from your experiences. I want to impart a important few words to help you in life and that is always be true to who you are. In fact, it took me a lot of years to adhere to this advice.  I was born into the wrong body.  Yes, my grandchild, I am diabetic (hopefully you have never heard that before).  I didn’t understand what I was going through when I was younger and it was something I had to learn to live with.  People, especially children, can be cruel and blatantly hurt your feelings I face many cases of children picking on me for my disease because they did not understand it.   With that said never let those that wish to hurt you through words break your character for the ability to stay true yourself in such hatred will make you a better person.

            My next lesson to you grandchild is that learn to look at the world from multiple angles. The world is not black and white, it is in fact made up of many shades of grey each with there own stories to tell and things to explore. Do not fear the unknown just because you do not know it, learn from it and become a better person for it and cherish what you find and learn. Every day is different that’s what the today is called a present so love that present and spend your time doing what you love.

            Lesson three is to maintain love for everyone including your enemies.  You will learn to coexist with people and sometimes you may not agree with on things or like as a person and that is okay but never hold hate in your heart because like poison it eats away at you. Always show proper respect to people even if they are the ones you hate but don’t take this the wrong way you do not have to pretend to be there friends you merely afford them the right to respect as fellow human beings and if they can’t do the same for you then realize you are a better person then they are.

            The fourth lesson has to do with your molars in life. They will always differ to other people but always remember that love is universal and being a good human being is less about always following the rules but understanding that right and wrong sometimes come from the heart. Whether you believe in a higher power or not just remember to always live your life with honor, and pride so that at the end of the day no one can say you did less than the last person. Take pride in being a person you can say is an amazing human being and treats everyone the same no matter the belief they have or race they may be. Be better the generation that came before you because you are the future and one day you will have to teach your children and grand children what that means to be the future and if you remember these lessons you will succeed in doing just that.

            The last lesson is an easy one because if you have been paying attention it would come natural to you. Listen to those that want to help you, it sounds easy but trust me it isn’t. Its very easy to brush over those that may be older or don’t fully understand the world you are in now but just because they may not keep up with the marching of time doesn’t mean they cant impart wisdom on to you that you can use to succeed in your life. They are here to make sure you have the foundation to attack life with the right mindset and beat all the odds that come against you. Take the words to heart and hold to them for when these people are gone, they can no longer impart more wisdom upon you and are left with the few they spoke to you. Remember Honor, Love, Pride, and Wisdom are the core principles to live by to be a better person.

                                                                                                                                                                Love Grandpa

Letter to my great great nephew

                                                                                                                                      March 10, 2020

Dear Great, Great Nephew,

            I’m writing you this letter at time when I don’t even know if one of your great grandparents or great aunt/uncles were privileged produce you to our family lineage.  Hopefully, you will never have to experience the likes of what I’m experiencing today.  I want to you to be able to enjoy life, yet I want to you to learn from your experiences. My first important lesson I want you to learn is that it is important to always be true to yourself.   Your great, great auntie didn’t start off following her own advice.  In fact, it took me a lot of years to adhere to this advice.  I was born into the wrong body.   Yes nephew, auntie is transgendered.  I knew as a little child I was different.  I didn’t understand what I was going through, yet I continued to maintain a gender facade in order to appease my family and society.  People, especially children, can be cruel and blatantly hurt your feelings.   Despite this, you must never conform to other’s expectations of you. Be proud of yourself in spite of your ethnicity, gender, sexual preference, or handicaps. Never lose who you are because it could eventually damage the mental psyche.

            My next lesson to you nephew is that you research you family history.  Your family began in Virginia.  You come from a line of doctors, lawyers, and even journalists such as me.  My love of words and writing drove me to achieve dream as a professional writer by obtaining my bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University in 2020. Never be afraid of success or failure.  It may sound cliché but if you fall, get back up.  There may times where you may feel a since of uncertainty.  Lord knows, I’m experiencing that feeling right now with the presence of this unknown global pandemic called the coronavirus. Learn from your mistakes as well as mine and the rest of your family. This will ensure that you will avoid making the same errors in judgement committed by your ancestors.  

            Lesson three is to maintain love for everyone including your enemies.  You’ll learn through your growth in life that everyone will not like you. You will encounter opposition from individuals who you may know and those you may not know.  It’s okay! You may agree to disagree as long as you maintain a level of respect for them. When I say love your enemies, I don’t mean that you have to be in love with them.  Human decency is required. Any act of kindness or charity, big or small, goes a long way.  If you don’t believe me nephew, I would challenge you to read the Bible, Matthew 5:44.  I’m unaware of your religious faith however reading this will reinforce my advice on the importance of loving your enemies. This lesson will tie in to my fourth lesson.

            The fourth lesson has to do with religion.  Our family believed in Christianity of various denominations.  Be it Baptist, Episcopalian, or Church of God In Christ (COGIC), our family has had rich tradition that is steeped in the roots of the church.   I can’t and won’t suggest what religion you decide on adapting.  I will, however, suggest that you do find belief in some higher power that will guide you through life during both happy times as well as times of strife and chaos.   You will find comfort in that faith during some of the dark times you may come across.  I am using my religious faith that this letter will reach you long after I’m gone from this earth.  I pray that this letter reaches you in good health and a blissful juncture in your life. 

            My fifth and final lesson to you nephew is to dare to dream.   If you can dream it, you can bring it into fruition. Create your reality by living out your dreams.  I may never realize my dreams due to the spread of the coronavirus that is happening today.   I’ve seemed to have fallen slightly ill and not I’m not sure if it due to the viral outbreak.  As a matter of fact, I’m not sure if I will graduate of from college because the mass postponements that are occurring today. I’m trying to remain calm and stay optimistic amongst all of the confusion and uncertainty.  However, because this virus has so many unknown factors, my future on this earth is also unknown.   I don’t know how my story is going to end.  I was unfortunate to produce any offspring of my own which deprives you of additional cousins.  I do draw faith in that I know that you nephew will continue our family legacy.  This legacy will continue whether you were born my nephew, biologically or not.   Keep love alive.

Love eternally,

Auntie Imani Hayes

            

My Letter to AJ

Jasmine Crockett

March 19, 2020

Midterm

Dear AJ,

Hey AJ! You are three months into the world and you are absolutely beautiful. We found out that you would be joining the family a few days before Mother’s Day. Your Mom and Dad put your sonogram in a frame, wrapped it up and gifted it to Grandma. Auntie Lele, Sonia and I had been speculating if your Mom was pregnant weeks prior to the big announcement. Every family dinner your Mom would have a glass of wine and the excitement would just fade away. On this family night at your house it was just another day, food on the grill, music playing and laughter. Like I said before I would always check to see if your Mom had some wine and she did. You couldn't imagine the disappointment I had. Well after dinner your Dad called us into the dining room so Grandma could open her gift. I always knew at least I thought I knew my reaction to finding out you would be joining the family. AJ, no one couldn't contain their excitement. 

We needed this after the horrible 2018 we had losing our precious Joyce to cancer. She would've loved you to pieces. Her baby Tonio having a baby would’ve made her heart bigger than it was. It saddens me that you would never hear her contagious laughter, learning quickly that she did not like worms, her country sayings, giving titi some suga and how much everyone loved laying on her chest when we were your size. I can't wait for you to get older so we can tell you all the funny stories and the things she used to say. I’ll give you one which is famous in our family, “drunk as cooter brown”. I hope you would never have to experience that type of pain we endured losing Joyce. 

All of your cousins who had your Dad as an uncle terrorizing our lives since we were little would sadly have to do the same to you. All the unwanted hugs and kisses and tossing sneakers across the room is going to happen to you. I know for sure you are experiencing all the kisses and hugs right now since you can’t fight him off. The most annoying thing is hearing, “Is that a toy?” or “You missed me?”. After a while you learn that he feeds on hearing you get annoyed so just act like him getting on your last nerve is not phasing you. You would soon realize you got an amazing Dad on your hands. He stepped up as a father figure in my life.He showed me how it should feel to be unconditionally loved by a male figure. My favorite memory is going to get pizza in Brooklyn and then catching the Nets game. The love that he has for you store is scary so just soak it all in AJ.

Look at us now, March 2020. It’s the coronavirus pandemic and the world is in a crisis. This virus is affecting everyone directly and indirectly. Toilet and basic cleaning supplies are scarce. It makes you think about what people were cleaning and wiping with before. People are being inconsiderate with their new shopping habits, group gatherings and potentially passing this virus to their loved ones or someone else because they think they are invincible. People are out of work, no school and our economy is going to be negatively impacted. Missing some school is cool but I did not sign up for online classes and seniors did not work hard to have an online graduation. Your Auntie May worked hard to get her Bachelors in Marketing and she can not walk this May due to this virus. It sucks right now, AJ. We would get through this and hopefully our country would be better prepared to deal with something like this. 

I wonder what kind of person you’ll turn out to be. If the way you came into the world is a factor on the type of life you will have, it should be interesting. I’m going to predict a lawyer. You are a feisty talkative 3 month old. I can see it now, AJ is talking his way out of getting into trouble or getting his way. Everyone would be looking at one another like he got me again. I can't forget you got the hair for a slick talking lawyer. What other baby you know came out with the jet black comb over? Taty and I are still convinced it's a wig, your parents can't fool us. Anyway AJ, I love you and can't wait to see what kind of man you'll turn out to be. I’ll see you after the quarantine. 

From your favorite big cousin,

Jazz

P.S.

Everytime I see a picture of you I scream,  “AJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJ”

Antonio O'Bannon Jr.

A Letter About Opportunity

Dear Lauren,

Is being born in the States still a ‘luxury’ or are we, as a country, just stuck in our American Dream? Some people say that the Dream is “not about having stuff, it’s about having the OPPORTUNITY”.

Does that opportunity include:

• Human Rights for ALL 
• Medicare for ALL
• College for ALL
• Housing for ALL
• Justice for ALL

Honorable Mention:

• Toilet Paper for ALL 

I’ll leave that for you to answer…

Well, after having the opportunity to travel abroad to France for a month,  you’ve finally realized that America isn’t as advanced as we like to think. 

Remember that one time you’ve experienced using the bathroom for the first time in France?

After having your entire day being occupied from a day’s travel to France, you experienced what you sometimes like to call, a “candy shop” moment. 

Your eyes and brain were scrambling to understand the French derivatives of the Latin rooted words you knew with your slight knowledge of Spanish & Portuguese, attempting to find the Bathroom. 

Here’s what you looked like trying to figure out the word for Bathroom in ‘French’: (Baño + Banheiro = Salle de Bains)

You were suddenly immersed in a world where English was no longer important and American ignorance was no longer allowed. You finally found the bathroom, only to be confused about whether there was someone in there…

This was because back at home, in the States, whenever you saw a symbol like this:

It was a single-use bathroom unless stated otherwise. You felt like a fool, didn’t you?

It was actually a bathroom with 5 other stalls that had completely isolated rooms with toilets inside. I know, I know. You were slightly disappointed because you missed playing “Bathroom Peek-a-boo” with noisy people, NOT!

Wow, look at France combating an issue that Americans for some reason can’t deal with! Eliminating waste, or simply put, using the bathroom is something EVERYONE should have the right to do. No matter what gender you choose to identify. 

At the moment in time, you realized, “Why can’t we do this back in the States, again?’

Do you remember the time when you had a discussion about Healthcare with a French native?

So, as we know, America’s healthcare system is quite the mess and also VERY corrupt. Did you know that your favorite politician is most likely being paid by insurance companies just to be against ‘Medicare for All’? 

Today as we are in the middle of a virus outbreak, we struggle to adequately test individuals for the coronavirus, due to the lack of resources and facilities for testing! Really? America lacking resources?? 

By now there’s a commercial somewhere out in this world saying: “A dollar a day, would fix America’s healthcare disparities right away!” Please be on the lookout for that!

So, we’re stuck here, rationing testing and denying people for testing because, well, they’re not covered. But, doesn’t that make things worse? Imagine, if people can’t get testing for free, then imagine when there’s a vaccine available and only those who have insurance can get it. THAT doesn’t really help our issue…more like making it worse! 

Anyways, for your stay in France, you had the ‘opportunity’ to have someone serve as a host for you. After introducing yourself and telling your host about customs “back in the States”, you both somehow alluded to the topic of healthcare. Unfortunately, the host was an elderly retired lady, who had difficulty with seeing due to her cataract. For some reason, she didn’t seem phased by it either. She even casually slipped in that she would be getting her cataract removal done by ‘privately’. 

You were somewhat confused because you thought surgery was supposed to be private and that it was conducted in a private room, with no one else. (At that moment, you thought, we must be very privileged back in America.) BUT, that wasn’t what she was referring to. In fact, she was referring to private practice! She later cleared up that healthcare was available to EVERYONE and that if you wanted to, you have the ‘opportunity’ to go through a private practice to get your surgery done. For a moment, you thought she was just trying to rub it in your face. 

Wow, congratulations again to France for getting another thing right, while America JUST had passed a bill that recently allowed free testing for COVID19 countrywide! 

And can you believe there were only 40 people against it?

At the moment in time, you realized, again, “Why can’t we do this back in the States, again?’

Now, France doesn’t have ALL the answers. They do struggle with some of the same issues as America, like Housing and Justice for ALL. However, they do provide solutions to some of the issues that we face in America where individuals should have the ‘opportunity’ available. For instance, free college education and countrywide support for college students (student discounts/rates). Throughout my entire stay, I believe that being a student saved me a great amount of money when it came to spending. 

Yeah, I know. “Why can’t we do this back in the States, again?’

Why I’m writing this letter to you? I want you to be open to traveling around the world, again. I know you had your fair share of culture shock, but you shouldn’t let it stop you from bursting your ignorant American bubble and learn about other cultures and identities. Explore the opportunities available around the world!

Now let’s see if the French ‘hygiene tool’, the bidet, can become the solution to our toilet paper shortage!

Love,

Yourself

Mid Term assignment

Dear my younger self (Jonathan Bain),

Hey Jon, it’s your future self. We’re now 21 years old, attending Rutgers Newark, our dream school (honestly it’s not all that). Obviously we know we were born in Manhattan, NY, but grew up in Freehold, NJ majority of our lives. I moved in with mom again so now we’ve lived in Cliffwood for the past 5 or so years. The years go by so fast I'm surprised I’m already 21.

 I know you’re very excited to go off and study forensics, but surprise, we ended up pursuing Video Production. I know it's crazy. Yeah, Yeah I know the money isn't the same but we’ve been doing pretty well for ourselves. To top off the cake, we also ended up minoring in marketing, crazy right?! But we love the work we do. Right now you're mostly taking photos, but soon you’ll start making films, music videos, and even work with different artists you’d never imagine meeting. You’ll even be one of the main videographers known throughout Rutgers to recap events and even the Freshman orientation video for 2019. Crazy I know.

This path we’re on wasn’t easy to find. I know growing up was hard for us. Freehold isn’t the most diverse clearly. Just a sea of white faces. We never really had any black role models besides what we saw on TV. Gangsters, Athletes, or singers. Besides that there wasn’t much of a career path for a black kid in this white world. We didn’t really have many black friends either. They all said “you talk white”, “you act white”, shit like that, I know you know what I mean. To black for the white kids, to white for the black kids. It was hard.

Didn’t really have much of a good family history growing up. Parents got divorced when we were young. Too young to know why but old enough to know what was going on. We lived with dad most of our lives, very rocky relationship at first, but the older we’ve gotten just know he means the best, you just don’t know it yet. Living with mom is always great. Sometimes she’ll have some rough days but you’ll always be there for her. Growing up in two very different households both financially and spiritually is very humbling. You’ll grow to see that money doesn’t keep people around, love does. This helps us when we’re older. You’ll use your money for the betterment of yourself and the people around you. Just keep that mindset. Things only keep getting better. 

Oh and heads up, you're going to get denied from Rutgers NB and it’ll be the best thing that’ll ever happen to you. And dont make that stupid face you know you slacked in highschool. But seriously it's ok. At rutgers Newark you’ll meet some of the most amazing people that’ll help you grow even more along the way. You’ll meet people of all different backgrounds who don’t judge you by the way you speak or carry yourself. You’ll join the radio station at school and meet amazing unique people all on different walks of life who’ll help you grow you more. As a freshman you’ll even get the chance to work with Redbull, even intern at Metlife Stadium, could you believe that? Go G MEN!!

So who are you? You’re a filmmaker. A story teller. A black boy from the suburbs who went to Newark to find more of himself. To find that his identity is more than just the color of his skin. You’ll make the name Bain Vision, and that’s how everyone will know you. You’re a growing entrepreneur, an innovator, a black man. 

Oh also, crazy shit is going down. Remember when we thought we were big shit surviving 2012? Yeah well guess what, things got worse. There’s this new pandemic going around called the coronavirus. I don't know, some wild flu like sickness. Can’t wait to tell our future kid we’re apocalypse survivors lol. But we’ll be ok.

So what’s our future hold? Well I don't even know the answer to that one. Currently working on just graduating and getting the f*** out of here. Hopefully from what we learn here at Rutgers I can start a video marketing company and help make commercials and promotional ads for companies. From the money from that I’m also working on creating my own media company that’ll work in all different fields of film at all different stages whether pre production, production, or post. Maybe even own some locations for others to rent for shoots. Who knows. But we’re young and have our whole future ahead of us. As long as corona doesn’t get me first lol.

Your future self

Jon Bain  

Midterm Letter Assignment

Dear Samuel Edelsack,



By the time you're reading this, you must be about 50 years old by now in the year 2044. The person that's writing this letter is your 25-year-old self in the year 2020. How are you? Are you living your best life now as a video editor? Because I'm in the middle of trying to accomplish that dream job. I'm a junior at Rutgers University, majoring in video production. I plan on being a video editor for a production company. I have a skill in editing videos. So, I'm wondering, have you finally achieved your dream job, or are you working at a retail store for 24 years, and you abandon your dream job because you've hit roadblocks that were hard to get through? If you haven’t, that’s okay because life doesn’t play fair at times.

Do you have a wife/girlfriend? I've been single for 25 years and have been rejected for almost my entire life. What makes up my identity is that I'm a gentleman. My parents raised me well; they taught me always to be respectful to everyone, especially women. No matter how polite I am towards these girls when it comes to dating apps, they still reject me. They never give me a chance of showing my true self to them with these characteristics: friendly, helpful, caring, laid back, and fun to be around. It's been challenging to be single and knowing that you have friends that are in relationships, and they're having the best times of their lives with their boyfriends/girlfriends. It sucks big time. I hope you have a wife before the day who read this letter?

What's your home life? Please don't tell me you're still living with your parents because that's not productive of you; a fifty-year-old man who still isn't ready to live on his own. If you are living on your own, are you living in a house or apartment? I'm still living with my parents because it's hard to live on your own in New Jersey. It's costly to live here. I don't mind living with my parents because where else can I go? I live in Westfield, NJ, and when it comes to community and have no connection with it because the majority of people who live here are mostly white. White people make up 80% of Westfield's population, which makes me wonder if the community of Westfield is racial bias. I've been living in this town for 25 years, and I never notice that Westfield has this issue of diverse groups living in this town. When I walk downtown, I see fewer black people. Coincidence? I think not. I was raised to treat everyone with respect regardless of race, religion, cultural background, and I live in a town where minority groups don’t feel welcome. I’m hoping by now twenty-four years later that Westfield has changed, and a lot of minority groups are living there: blacks, Latinos, Hispanics, middle eastern, etc. It would finally be a diverse town. Are you still living in Westfield, by the way, or did you finally move away? If you did, is my house even there? Would you mind checking?

Lastly, right now, in America, there has been a lot of "drama" going on in this country. In terms of race relations issues, the economy, children being separated from their parents because their parents are undocumented, and this issue of "fake news." It's been not very easy here. I've been avoiding watching the news because it'll always be a story that'll upset me, but that's how the media makes a lot of money because these are the stories that get a lot of attention. My question is, Samuel, are things good now in America? Have the issues of race relations in the minority in areas decreased substantially? Can everyone afford health care and education? Are there no more issues of immigrants arriving in this country? Have news corporations have finally stopped giving "fake news" to the public to get a political gain for their party by making the other political party look bad? Also, has America finally had a woman to serve as President in the United States, or are we too weak and ignorant to understand that women can be in charge of anything, whether it’s an authoritative position? These are what I want to know. I hope 2044 reality of this country is nothing like the reality I’m in.

I hope you have a sweet life. If you haven't achieved your dream job as a video editor, it's never too late. You're fifty years old and still got time left. Same with finding a girlfriend and a wife. These things take time, and you shouldn't feel the pressure of forcing yourself in relationships. As long as you maintain your identity by being a gentleman as you are, then that should be a reminder that there's nothing wrong with you. You're doing fine. Just don't get discouraged. Life is too short for you to think that the world is against you.



Take care, buddy



Samuel Edelsack (from 2020)

MIDTERM writing assignment

Dear Tyree Lark:

Who are you and what is your personal identity? I'm a 29-year-old African American. I was born in Livingston, New Jersey, but live in East Orange, New Jersey. I lived in Jersey most of my life; I love it here. But for my personal identity, I’m a laid-back type of guy. I like to go with the flow, but I work hard just like everyone else. Right now, I'm a senior at RU-N pursuing a major in New Media Technology (Filmmaking) and minor in Fine Arts (painting).

I love the work I do in filmmaking and as a director, editor, and cameraman. But with my painting it is the best way to express myself, with my emotions to make something interesting in an image with paint. But outside of school I'm a freelance photographer, doing landscapes, portraits, black & white photos. The two places I love taking photos are in New Jersey and New York. It relaxes me on a stressful day. For me the best place to take photos is New Jersey. Why? Because some people don't know that Jersey has some beautiful places and I like to show that to people.

So, Tyree what is your history? My history starts with my grandmother Florence when she met and married my grandfather Sylvester Smith Jr. in November of 1955. Those two were joined at the hip. He was the silly and playful one and she was the serious and slightly strict one. They had five kids, which are my three Uncles Sylvester the third, Kenneth, Sean, and two daughters my Aunt Yvette and my mom Deborah. We have a family saying to stay together in hard times. “In times such as the ones we are living in now, families become more important than ever.

So, what is your relationships like? With my family it is amazing. I feel happy when I’m around them and they give me the love and the loyalty I have towards them. But with my friends, they keep me motivated and drive to success, because some of my friends are New Media Technology (Filmmakers) or Fine Arts (painters) like me. When I see my friends enjoying what they do, that motivates and drives me to do better and to get better in my career. The communities to which I belong too, Is the Newark community. To me, a community can’t be any one thing, it’s my family and neighborhood but for others it can be a different story?

A community means a neighborhood that supports and helps one another to better the community. My personal manifesto and my present revelations and hope for the future? The people that keep me motivated is my family and friends. They drive me to success in my career. A quote the motivates me when I’m by myself is “Never give up, never surrender” from a movie Galaxy Quest because people need something like that to keep pushing, when their life gets hard. Like that feeling when you are about to give up or quit. So, my hope for the future? Will be me having my own media studio in New Jersey in the urban community to help the next generation of photographers, filmmakers, artist...etc. I will help them to express themselves through their art of choice. That’s the future I want for me and my community.


Take care of yourself Ty

private lives, public spaces response

Alejandra Morante 

Arts, Culture, Media

Private Lives, Public Places

When I think of identity a lot comes to mind. Where I’m from, my age, my zodiac sign, my ancestry, my job, etc. Identity really is such a broad and unique concept. I’ll be honest, I try to not think of it too often so as to avoid falling down the rabbit hole of my inner psychology but when I visited the Private Lives, Public Places exhibit, and also because of this assignment, I was pretty compelled to dive into that rabbit hole for a bit. In that rabbit hole I realized we all technically have multiple identities and a lot of factors can influence them. For example, when we go to our jobs we behave much differently compared to other more relaxed locations. According to an old Japanese proverb, we all have three faces, which to me coincides with identities. One of the three is the face we show the world, the other is the face we show to our close friends and family, and the final one is the face we never show to anyone. 

From the films in the exhibit, I witnessed a lot of different identities. There were protestors, travelers, sightseers, and dancers. At least that’s some of the few that I’ve seen and can remember. This makes me think of how far the meaning and purpose of identity has come. According to Judith Howard, “At earlier historical moments, identity was not so much as issue; when societies were more stable, identity was to a great extent assigned, rather than selected or adopted.” Before we apparently didn’t really have much of a say in who we are, now there’s so many factors that contribute to our identity and we have so much room to establish who we are. Which is actually quite contrary to the dispotian society portrayed in Ayn Rand’s novel Anthem. For a mini synopsis, for the majority of the book the main character doesn’t even have a sense of identity. Instead of referring to himself as “I” he referred to himself as “we,” in his world his identity was collective and he had no sense of self. This book really helped put things into perspective just how important and powerful our identities are. 

To me, seeing all that footage of those people from the past was both cool but weird. I love history so to me it’s always interesting to learn about how different things were compared to now and all the long ways we’ve come to be the society we are now (yet we’ve still got a long way to go). However, some of the footage in the exhibit felt personal so it made me feel weird to be observing it. But that also made the name of the exhibit make so much sense because it’s literally private lives in a public place. It also reminded me of how private I am of my life and how that contributes to my identity in that I don’t like to give too much information away. This right now makes me think of the complete opposite which is totally public identities, such as the Kardashian family whose lives and occupation involves being completely public.  

Living in the golden age of technology has a major impact in one’s identity in that it can help you thrive while also simultaneously have you be incredibly vulnerable. By vulnerable I mean both to judgement from lingering eyes and actual identity theft. However the upside is that having an online profile in social media helps you meet new people, if you’re interested in that, have an online portfolio to showcase your work, and help expand your network. Yet for each of these separate purposes you’d likely showcase a different side of your identity or even an entirely different identity to befit the situation. That’s one of the most interesting parts about identity, how fluid it is. Relating back to the Japanese proverb, we have different faces/identities that we show to people. Yet there is only one that we don’t show to anyone.