 Hey readers, Welcome back to Tuesday's Takeaways! This week our Top Quotes create a little story about the semester coming to an end and the start of winter break!
"Wake up, eat, bus, class, eat, class, bus, home, eat, sleep; repeat, repeat, repeat. The same day over and over, the same times, same places, same faces." -Micheal Drake, Timetable "Let the residues rest, stockpile, amass into a reservoir, so when the winter blues breathes its chilly arrival, it serves as an icy grave where you bury the ills, the intentions, the talks that were prematurely aborted" -Thach To, Ceremony "The end is the end But it always leads to new beginnings" -Kimberly Thomas, Grounded Through the Storm "In a warm, tattered sweatshirt and plaid pajamas, I walk outside to greet the frigid winter air" -Naveera Arif, 2:23 AM-Winter, 2018 And now...
Winter break is 37 days, which gives you plenty of time to rest, relax, read, and write! We hope you enjoy it! <3 -Mic and Gina
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 Hey readers, Welcome back to Tuesday's Takeaways! This week our Top Quotes are about the place some of us try to run away from, especially towards the end of the semester--reality.
"The waiting and the overthinking and the realization that no, you were never in control of your life—never, not once. You can fantasize and you can dream and pretend that life was as simple as hours and minutes and seconds you can organize, but you can never truly hold the power over things that happen, things you can never predict." -Micheal Drake, TIMETABLE "And so I spent all of my days Chasing a life that wasn’t mine, It wasn’t and could never be I slowly realized over time." -Chaya Nachum, I TOOK THE SHARDS "When one is stuck in this abyss, like I, unreality is all one knows Occasional lights flicker above, but it seems false to my Brain my oxygen-lacking brain, so disconnected from what once was" -Ray Fantauzzi, DROWNING INTO DISTANT RECOLLECTIONS "I can’t afford to lose my sanity to lose reality I can’t afford a vacation but I need a break for my mentality" -Em J, Tell Me "Within us, the beating of our hearts, the rushing of our blood, the loud thoughts screaming in our minds serve to remind us of our living, breathing bodies. We show proof of our life force through sound, our presence in reality." -Naveera Arif, DO YOU TRULY WISH FOR SILENCE? "As we were talking, my mind was clouded by my pain once more. Taking a trip down memory lane was a bittersweet reprieve, but reality always bursts that bubble." -Kathleen Conlon, DEPERSONALIZATION "Alas, I had finally realized I could not tear out my brain Or my heart And show them what was inside" -Ahmad Asif, DELUSIONS And now...
Perception is relative, and is based on an individual's understanding, beliefs, and knowledge of a particular thing. Reality, however, exists outside of that. While perception can be what a person wishes to be occurring, reality is what is actually occurring. (*brain explosion*) However, your perception can still shape your reality through the manifestation of certain actions. On this note, good luck with the coming of finals! Take control of your reality--or wait, can you? :) As always, stay tuned! <3 Mic and Gina  Hey readers, Welcome back to Tuesday's Takeaways! This week our Top Quotes are about some of the things to give thanks for.
"A heart open with no conditions A soul with the kindest presence A love that didn’t depend on who I was for a moment A love that depended on who they saw me for as a whole" -Pomie Delva, Pure Love "She folds herself into your thoughts, leaves her words lingering on your skin, the traces of her laughter hanging in the silence of an empty room. She is in the creases of your novels, in the scent of dried lavender, in the long brown strands of hair found on your coat. She is everything you have ever wished for." -Simran Rumi, Just For A Moment "I learned to love life for the cracks, I took the shards and made them one And saw myself reflected back." -Chaya Nachum, I Took The Shards "Don’t forget who you are Why you are here, Be Thankful And survive the moment." -Akash Ghosh, A Note To Myself And now...
The year was 1863! President Lincoln was the one who decided Thanksgiving should be celebrated every year! Make sure to stay tuned for our post next week! <3 -Mic and Gina  Hey readers, Welcome back to Tuesday's Takeaways! This week our Top Quotes are about songs and melodies!
"The iron shards cut my throat As they fly from my lungs and fade to notes Of the most horrible melody I've ever heard" -Bethany Friedmann, SILENCE "An orgasmic crash of self into self into song, & as i sing, as i sweat, i swing a name draped in sunset" -Quentin Felton, out of the blue "I heed the chorus of our glory, gone as angels rise to heaven. Hear your voice in songful chants. Godly signal from above!" -Enrique Peña, Remember Me "Don’t tell him that you want him to love you The same way he loves his favorite song Don’t tell him that you want him to analyze the lyrics that are your mind Or memorize the chords of your body" - Shannon Addonizio, I FORGOT TO TELL YOU "the silent whispers of the nocturnal conducting their persistent cadences in my ear. The name of this melody is called doubt. It’s a song I’d rather not hear" -Romel Martinez, THE WHISPERS OF THE NIGHT "A day without cages nor clips Is why my caged bird sings" -Hassan Elsebai, I KNOW WHY MY CAGED BIRD SINGS And now...
A melody is generally the tune or a series of notes in different pitches that create one entity and make up a musical composition; a song refers to compositions that combine melody with lyrics and are performed with vocals. Make sure to stay tuned for next week's post about Thanksgiving! <3 -Mic and Gina  Hey readers, Welcome back to Tuesday's Takeaways! This week our Top Quotes are about the fall season!
“When the skies turn grey and days grow short. The nights are longer and wind howls. Apple crisps and cinnamon fills the air.” -Jessica Drigun-Lara, Summer’s Interlude "Black and blue Then purple and pink Then yellow and green Like flowers in full bloom in spring The fading tones in fall Though they never go away, like the flowers in winter" -Jay T, Colors "Dripping yellow rooms Churn to a delicate brown Fantasia booms in the background. Remember fall" -Brithny Henry, Synthesia Discordance "The sound of hollowness As we expect wind to make its way across the branches Caressing leaves as they fall and start to gather From green to red and orange as Monday is to Sunday" -Biana Kravchenko, To The Rhythm Of Falling Rain And now...
A lot of things change during the fall, so here are 3 of our favorite things:
-Mic and Gina  Hey readers, Welcome back to Tuesday's Takeaways! This week our Top Quotes are about good ol' cups of joe! Most people know what it's like to be stuck on line waiting for this elixir that will energize us, help us get through class, a test, studying...or our day in general! And, of course, others (like me -Mic) ask: what's so special about coffee?
Does coffee have a strong effect? "It’s a cup of coffee to keep you up at night Creeping into your dreams to shake you awake" -Merna Ibrahim, The Dangers of Nostalgia What do people even see in coffee? "I’ve seen Jupiter in my morning cup, As I stir milk in my coffee." -Stained Napkins, Jupiter What sounds do you think of when you think of a café? "We have an inability to live without sound; It represents an omnipresent part of our lives [...] the white noise of a café as we buy a cup of coffee" -Naveera Arif, DO YOU TRULY WISH FOR SILENCE? And now...
There are so many theories that argue for the origin for the term, found in the 1930s. One is that "joe" is derived from from "Jamoke", a blend of java and mocha. Another states that because "joe" refers to an average man, "cup of joe" was just a reference to the drink of the average person. A third theory suggests that during WWI, US soldiers referred to a cup of the instant coffee made by G. Washington Coffee Refining Company as a "cup of George", which shortened to "cup of Geo", and over time became "joe". A fourth theory is that Martinson Coffee, founded by Joe Martinson, was referred to as "Joe's coffee", and later switched to "cup of Joe". There are some other theories too, and we suggest you grab a drink (coffee, preferably) and look it up! We want to remind everyone that submissions are open for the final magazine of the semester. This magazine is a special one, being made in collaboration with a number of other clubs on campus. The theme is Unity and we encourage all to submit! Deadline is November 17th at 11:59 pm. Find out more on our instagram @stuckinthelibrary. Stay tuned for our post next week! <3 -Mic and Gina  Hey readers, Welcome back to Tuesday's Takeaways! This week our Top Quotes are about dreams! Based on this blog post's title, can you tell what we thought about asking? Here it is:
"I dreamt of castles in the sky Of having all the things that mattered" -Chaya Nachum, I took the shards "Gasping, I awaken, pulling myself out of the inky black, out of the landscape of my dreams. The fear, the emotion lingers, Even as the memory slips and fades away…" -Naveera Arif, Nightmare "Mangled limbs and mutilated dreams: Who is she that convinced you that you were free? Comatose but you woke me in my sleep. Winding through those long dark curtains, Haunted you and haunted me." -Nicole Solis-Ramirez, Julio "I dream Of an escape from the grainy air Clutching my aura, as the voices inside my head Constantly cry for help Grasping for a way out" -Saelly Alvarez, BEYOND THE CLOUDS "Silence. How long must we scream? "The diadem of a dream that’s long since gone under Is all we have left to cry about But you still don’t see." -Bethany Friedmann, SILENCE "She created Her own universe In her head. She lived in fantasies, She drafted herself." -Ana Khutsianidze, LOST IN HER OWN UNIVERSE "My dreams are too big to fit onto the main road. I’m paving my own zone, unfold my destiny slow and steady" -Anya Supernova, Taking the scenic route And now...
If you are feeling stuck, recognizing that you are in a dream (aka lucid dreaming) can help get out of nightmarish situations because this type of dreaming is more controlled. However, achieving a state of lucid dreaming is not always easy and takes a lot of practice. Some other tips to escape a nightmare include testing actions that are physically impossible (sticking your hand through a wall, time traveling, flying, etc.) or triggering an adrenaline rush by doing an exciting action (jumping off a cliff, etc.) Make sure to stay tuned for next week's blog! <3 -Mic and Gina  Hey readers, Welcome back to Tuesday's Takeaways! This week our Top Quotes are about colors! You may recall that we already did a blog on colors last semester, but I'm fascinated by the ways colors breathe life into writing, and since today is national color day it seemed like a fitting blog post!
"She keeps her dark sorrows Consumed in a black hole" -Noor Ahmad, Little Did He Know "I then recall, we possess a fickle heart that pumps, blood red that is forever at the whims of time, misled." -Javeri Riveros, After (Life) “Let’s not sell the car anymore, Antic and Orange, Can we save it for VINTAGE?” -Hripsime Tumanyan, Pure Mottos “You’re probably sitting reading One of those long books That I only realized you finish Once you write it on a piece of yellow paper Fold it twice And put it on my palm “This one’s a good one” -Hafsa Fatima, Stained Pages “I’m standing in a darkness of green, distraught. A maze ahead. Decisions. Decisions” -Megan Torres, A Tour Of My Girlfriend “What is the darkness that dwells in each and every blue veined heart?” -Anosha Arshad, She's Already In You “And as I traced small, purple, crooked hearts onto construction paper and laced them together with cheap plastic ribbons, I thought bitterly of what brought me here.” -Shalhevet Soed, The Chosen Seldom Come “It’s been years since you put me in this hospital, these four white walls caving in on me” -Shannon Addonizio, Hospital of Lies And now...
White and black! Technically, according to physics, a color is defined as visible light with a specific wavelength. Since white is every single light combined and black is the absence of light, neither of them bear a specific wavelength. Stay tuned for our post next week and be sure to attend our SPOOKY SOIREE this Thursday! <3 -Mic and Gina  Hey readers, Welcome back to Tuesday's Takeaways! This week our Top Quotes are about space and celestial bodies!
"How can our days be counted? By the passages of sun and moon In obverse planes of light and darks Like two lovers joined but never meeting" -Moshe D, Storm "When I grow up I want to be an astronaut but Mr. Fields says that the stars are far away as light years, too far for me to even comprehend the distance between the tail of the big Dipper and the head." -Yuliya Vayner, How Far Away The Stars Are? "But alas, the Moon is so distant And near the Stars that are so bright" -Jason Sajan, The Crow and the Moon "You only gasp at stars at night when timing brings you together No stale romantic searches for them in the day-time." -Samantha Paucar, Nice Enough Girl and Her Cheap Tears "Moon and sun are level in this tranquil peace we fleetingly revel the sky halved by the dyadic league one inspiring wakefulness, the other fatigue" -Autumn Aldain, Solace And now...
Yes, they are! They'll be there a long time, as there isn't much to disturb them like wind or rain like there would be on earth! Happy Holidays everyone! Stay tuned for our post next week about colors! <3 -Mic and Gina  Hey readers, Welcome back to Tuesday's Takeaways! because National Coming Out Day is this week, this week our Top Quotes are about some of the experiences LGBTQ+ individuals face while being in the closet.
Though America has made big strides in its acknowledgement and treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals, there is still a lot more to be done before we can say there is fair and equal treatment for all. By many people and many governments, LGBTQ+ individuals are seen as: "a people so silenced so disregarded they are believed not to exist." -Oriya Abed, Whose Silence? These larger groups still discriminate, harass, silence and murder members of the community. Many facing such discrimination begin to develop a sense of hopelessness: "I dream for many things Love, acceptance, bliss I can never attain these Why do I dream" -Avery Lieberman, Why Do I Dream? Forced to hide their identities, being told that they are "sin" or some kind of "evil darkness"... They have been pushed into what is known as the "closet". "Telling me this place is safe And that my shadows are Hiding somewhere in the darkness as well." -Wyatt Nox, My Dark Knight Activists who have witnessed the time-and-time-again failure of pro-LGBTQ legislation say: "How long must we scream? The diadem of a dream that’s long since gone under Is all we have left to cry about" -Bethany Friedmann, Silence nevertheless, they are resilient, proclaiming: "We dance in your shadows We persevere and try our best to win the fight" -Lawra Gourgue, Your Home, Not Ours We hope that in the coming years, no longer will LGBTQ+ identities be shunned, "Kept there within the silence Riding on the atmosphere Until it hangs low Like a heavy blanket Weighed down on the shoulders of its occupants." -Shionodo, A Quiet Room... Instead, intersectional activism will have attained equal and equitable treatment of all, the bigotry left in the dust of the past. "Through the slits in the door, some rays of lights come in Making me believe that there is some hope when I come out" -Stephanie Calderon Vasquez, Is it Okay? And now...
NCOD was founded in 1988 in the U.S. based on the feminist liberation idea of "the personal being political". A basic form of activism was coming out to family and friends. The foundational belief that homophobia thrives in an atmosphere of silence was elucidated by a famous quote of Robert Eichberg's, one of the founders of National Coming out Day. "Most people think they don't know anyone gay or lesbian, and in fact, everybody does. It is imperative that we come out and let people know who we are and disabuse them of their fears and stereotypes." Additionally, on Thursday, October 10th, the LGBTQ Center on Brooklyn College's campus is hosting a day-long event for LGBTQ+ identifying people as well as allies, so be sure to come by the Penthouse of the Student Center this Thursday at any point from 11 am to 9:30 pm! Stay tuned for our post next week! <3 -Mic and Gina |
Photo used under Creative Commons from Jeanne Menjoulet
