Author Archives: Jessica Lin

About Jessica Lin

Jessica Lin is currently a freshman of Macaulay Honors College at CUNY Baruch.

Project Proposal

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We are the explorers! Haha.. Our group is Keith, Anna, Derek, and Jessica. We are interested in exploring a day in New York City. The idea is the fact that we can find almost anything here. New York City is full of adventures and amazing places to visit. Even just roaming around the city there is so much to see, and that is why New York City is such a great place to be. It doesn’t matter what race or language we speak, New York City is home to all of us and we are all here for the same reasons.

We have chosen several locations, mainly focusing on the surrounding area of Baruch college. Some specific locations will be Shake Shack, the Flatiron building, and Astor Place. These are the places we want to film because these places are ‘home to New York’. Basically, these are some of the places that distinguish New York City from any other place in the world. These are some of the everyday enjoyments that we have access to all the time and we would like to flaunt that in our video.

We would like feedback on several things.

1. Did you get the general feel of New York as an amazing city?

2. How was the editing?

3. Was it believable?

OPERA REVISION!

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Can I Get A Refund?

By Jessica Lin

 Reproductions of Rossini’s operas are trendy all over the world. The Barber of Seville is one of Rossini’s best comedic operas. A well-courted lady, Rosina, locked in a house by her guardian Dr. Bartolo who wants to marry her, and a disguised Count of Almaviva must overcome obstacles to unite their love. They are aided by the trusted and reliable help of the city’s barber, Figaro, starring Rodion Pogossov, a witty character with connections all over Seville. Bartlett Sher’s production of The Barber of Seville is performed in Italian at the Met Opera in Lincoln Center.

 As a first-timer, the opera of The Barber of Seville was a decent but not an extravagant performance. The female lead Isabel Leonard, as Rosina, delivered a slightly disappointing aria. Perhaps I am guilty of first watching two extremely well sung online clips of Rosina’s aria, but Leonard simply did not compare. While she was sweet and soft, this Rosina was unable to display the turning point of her character where she changes from an obedient lady to a rebellious lady because of love. Leonard’s voice was steady and soft throughout without much noticeable modification into a bold and strong voice when she reached the turning point of her aria. The rest of the cast followed in similar manner. Bartolo, played by John Del Carlo, held a deep but un-projected voice, making it difficult to hear him at times.

 Set designer Michael Yeargan enlivens the stage. Transition in set design was smooth and consistent. The stage was charming in its simplicity, consisting mostly of several moving doors. It assisted in adding a comedic touch sending the audience into several chuckles; when Figaro, the barber of Seville, knocked on one of the doors it slightly opened and a guitar automatically popped out through the crack to him as if appearing by his wish. A live tamed donkey was even brought on stage and fed carrots by the cast! Figaro’s ‘barber shop’ served multiple purposes, which he rode in on during his opening scene.

 The traditional approach in costumes was no surprise – the cast consisted of dull colors in red, orange, yellow, and brown. The starring lady, however, wore a blue dress and pink dress that were appealing to the eye.

 Much of the opera depended on Dr. Bartolo’s servant, Ambrogio, to entertain its audience. The comedy of the opera relied on the clumsiness and sleepiness of Ambrogio – he constantly stumbles over things, falls on the floor, and is the helpless victim of unfortunate events. 

 The experience was partially enjoyable to say the very least. But this enjoyment was more drawn in by the atmosphere and environment of the theater than the opera itself; the cast desires slightly more charm and spark.

 

Representation is Misrepresentation

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I attended Christa McAuliffe middle school located in Brooklyn. The school was predominantly Asian – at least fifty percent of the school’s population. Yet I still remembered encountering racist or stereotypical comments all the time. Hanging out in the school yard there were racist kids who threw rocks at my friends and I. Non-asians apparently knew how to speak Chinese too – “ching chong” was a common phrase. If someone pulled the sides of their eyes, they became Asian. These stereotypes and racist jokes follow into high school and I still hear it on the streets from ignorant people nowadays. Somehow along the way, Chinese people were supposed to be smart in math because they were Chinese. How that stereotype even formed, I have no idea.

Society has a certain expectation (or stereotype) for each person based on their cultural backgrounds. People of Asian culture are expected to be quiet and polite. People from Hispanic and Black cultures are expected to be amazing dancers and appear to be ‘ghetto’. Mexican cultures are associated with beans.. and illegal immigrants. “Why shouldn’t you play uno with a mexican? Because they’ll steal all the green cards.” There are  misrepresentations of every culture. Jews are ‘ rich and cheap’ – a racist stereotype that goes back into the ancient times.

Let’s drift away from racial based cultures: the most recent stereotypes from sex-based cultures include women ‘making sandwiches’ and ‘staying in the kitchen’ because that fits their feminist nature. Men are superior and are supposed to take the initiative. Then there’s culture based upon location. Apparently, southern people are referred to as rednecks and thought to be ignorant. Even in New York we have our own elite thought – or the ‘Empire state of mind’ as sang by Alicia Keys and Jay Z.

There are stereotypes and cultural representations (which actually become misrepresentations) of every race and ethnicity. It sets a form of stability and standard in society. When a person strays from their norm, it comes at a shock or surprise to other people. All of this stems from society’s ignorance and will not be purged until we approach a society where physical appearance, culture, and ethnicity does not dictate our thoughts.

 

I Want to Watch Belleville !

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My recently pleasurable experience watching ‘Love’s Labor’s Lost’ at the Pub Theater and midterm assignment to write a review has sparked my interest in the theater section of the NY Times.. Which led me to this article, ‘When Two Beautiful Lives Begin to Unravel‘, by Charles Isherwood. This is a review of the play ‘Belleville’, about a young couple married for five years who live in Paris. The play is an observance of how the couple’s marriage slowly and inconspicuously unravels (as the title of the review says) and falls apart. I love how Isherwood marvels at the fact that the play is set in Paris, pointing out how the city itself is associated with an amazing and romantic vibe, yet the marriage crumbles apart regardless. Isherwood mentions that the opening scene starts off with Abby going home, expecting an empty apartment but instead finds her husband, Zack, in the bedroom during a moment of “self intimacy”. I found it quite funny and interesting for the play to introduce itself in this way. The fact that the play is about a young marriage that the two lovers may have ‘stumbled into’ too quickly makes it a topic very easy to relate to to nowadays as young adults fall in and out of relationships based on impulse.

Isherwood’s description of the playwright’s “thrillingly good play’ and ‘nail-biting psychological thriller” stirs up a curiosity in me,  not only of the storyline but also of the quality of the perfected directors choice, made obvious by Isherwood. He mentions how the characters are “portrayed with insight and delicacy”, and how Zack “never loses his laid back charm”; how a knife is brought onto set for practical purposes but automatically creates an idea that it might be used “for more gruesome ends” and even the closing and opening of doors “resonate with ambiguous meaning”. All in all, I guess I actually wanted to comment more on how I found Isherwood’s review to be extremely effective and well written, urging me to see this play.

Needs vs. Pleasure

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We have the liberty of living in one of the most advanced countries in the world, and our style of living is quite high. Our daily lives are structured around comfort and well..  aesthetic purposes. A well designed house for us is pleasing to the eye, with unusual or advanced ideas for simple products such as the stairs or the bed, and the outside of the house would preferably have a lawn of grass and flowers with a nice pavement. However, there is a different design occurring all over the world right now – instead of serving the pleasures of a person, these designers are serving the needs of the people.

In the article Rescued by Design, designers are helping slums and communities living in poverty all over the world. And what better way of actually going to the people to find out what they want instead of assuming what they need? These designers are designing according to the needs of the people. “The poor… are the creators and implementers of the most comprehensive and far-reaching systems for solving problems of poverty, housing and basic services.” The best ides are the simple ideas, or solutions, that stem from the complexity of the living situations of the people. For example, architects were assigned to help devise row houses for those living in houses along the Canal in Bangkok, helping the families build steadier living environments based on what they wanted.

Now if you ask me, this is something worthy of reading. Instead of designs, such as apple, that serve to benefit our lives beyond our needs, these designers and architects are actually helping to improve the necessary needs and living environments of people.

Comparison of Opera to Play

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Although both the Opera and the Play have the same plot, the two pieces focus on different characters. While the characters in the Play are all accessories to the main character, The Count of Almaviva, the Opera focuses mainly on Figaro the barber. Figaro is a very important piece of the opera and brings everything and everyone together and his significance is displayed when he sings in constant repetition of his name (which may represent the voices of the people calling his name and his importance to the people”.The Opera, of course, was a lot more musical – everything was singing and the mood is even more comedic and light hearted. Another difference was the ending of the two pieces. The Opera provided a more overall happy ending for all characters compared to the play which left Bartolo with a somewhat unhappy ending.