Rewrite the proposal for your profiles. Most of you narrowed it down to one, some still have to choose between two. For those of you who still need to decide, write a proposal for both. Explain why the subject makes a good person to profile. Remember, you want to sell the person as well as your story, so leave yourself out of it!
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ReplyDeleteRichard De Gaetano is a 46-year-old business owner originally from the Bronx. He owns a vending business in Albany, NY and is a father of four. When Richard was 18 years old, neurologists found a brain tumor which had to be removed immediately. The surgery left Richard with impaired sight. At 18, he could no longer drive (which was his favorite hobby). His story is one of adaptation, struggle and success. He could have stayed home and stopped working, collecting unemployment checks. Instead, he began a career in the food service that eventually lead to starting his own business. His story shows the strength and drive humans have. His story also can be broadened to a larger social topic. The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is an organization which helps the blind and trains them for jobs and business operations. Many small convenient stores and businesses within the metropolitan area are most likely run by visually impaired people. Richard is only one of those people. The NFB was the stepping stone for him in this tale. I believe his story could be an inspiration to all people, both sick and well, blind and sighted.
ReplyDeleteFabulous! Super proposal, Caterina. I'm sold.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteKenny Verney is the middle aged owner of New Paltz’s own Murphy’s pub and restaurant. By day, Murphy’s is a respectable family establishment, and by night, it hosts the crazed college freshman hoping their poorly crafted fake I.D from Wisconsin will pass less than rigorous seal of approval from the bouncers. Operating in a college town, what kind of management makes or breaks this business, and what tactics are used to drive in their target audience? I am curious to explore how New Paltz has changed in the eyes of its only constants (the local businesses.) What factors determined Murphy’s being the Greek life bar, and it’s competitors, P&G’s being deemed the Athletes bar? All of the above is soon to be discovered.
ReplyDeleteScott Collins is a 53 year old owner of a landscaping design and maintenance company, "Landzign" on the East Coast of Long Island, New York. Collins can be found at 5 a.m every morning starting up his Ford F150 Diesel truck and getting a healthy, filling breakfast for himself, as well as being generous and treating his other 3 workers also. He meets with his team at his shop, located down the road from his house, and discusses the whereabouts and the game plan of which the day will consist. Once this is said and done, the tools are loaded up, the shop is locked and closed, and Collins begins his long, packed journey of the day. This is how Collins begins and has begun 6 out of 7 days out of the week for over the past 30 years, but managing how he goes about comprising his day has resulted him in being the incredibly successful, hard-working individual that he is today.
ReplyDeleteDylan Wood is a 21 year old aspiring NYPD Police Officer. He is currently going through the testing period of the whole process. Being someone who currently loathes his job at Costco, he longs for a career that enables him to live a life where everyday at work is different. His outgoing personality and charm will help him fulfill the job requirement of being able to effectively communicate with people.
ReplyDeleteBrian Potter, a 51 year old NYPD Officer from Long Island, New York has only one year left of his 20 year career. Having been in a shooting and many over dangerous situations over the years has definitely skewed his personality and has made him more appreciative of his life and his three children. Looking at how being a police officer has affected him and how it will affect Dylan will be really interesting.
Misha Savage is well known on the New Paltz campus. He dresses loud, with buttons and pins up and down his furry brown vest, and his gigantic black, almost rodeo like hat. People identify him by his laid back attitude, that is sprinkled with acuteness when the subject of conversation turns to a topic he's especially passionate about. But i feel as though i can give a better and more in depth profile of Misha through a "day in the life" type story. He works as the director of the music department at the school radio station. He keeps office hours three times a week, where he sits behind a desk and shifts through emails from promoters and record label heads. He logs music into the national college radio charts, and oversees everyone that works in his department. In addition, he is a jazz student, but his musical taste is broad; his most knowledgeable genre is likely heavy metal. Although a lot of people know of him, i feel as though there is more of a story to tell. He is also in an important role, shaping the sound of the music that is played for the students on the radio.
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Although Kevin Rutty has lived in America for longer than he ever did in America, he still insists on identifying as a French person. Sometimes he has trouble with English pronunciations, despite nearly all of his schooling taking place in America. He goes to the school library most weeks to pick up the 10 pages, of the one copy of the French newspaper that they keep. World news is something that he understands from the view point of not just America, but of France as well. He still watches his hometown French soccer team play on the weekends, using a stream online. As best he can, he tries to retain his French culture and identity. I think Kevin's story is unique, in that he moved from France when he was young, but went to a private French school in New York City, so he doesn't feel the same pressures to assimilate that other immigrants, thrown right into a setting entirely different might. Last year, he befriended a lot of the French international students who came to study abroad in New Paltz. I think his situation is very interesting and it's not an immigrant story that everyone has heard in the past. For this story, i don't believe i would be able to do a "day in the life" because i'm not sure there would be as much worthwhile information in just following him around. A lot from this feature would have to come from extensively interviewing him. I would want to get a lot of stories out of him from the past and his experiences.
John,
ReplyDeleteI would strongly suggest you go with your second option. I think the struggle to keep a close connection with ones roots is increibly interesting, especially when the forces are so strong. National identity is a topic that is clearly relevent in today's society and something that still needs a lot of exploring. It definitely seems like the more challenging of your two choices, but that will only teach you more as well as earn more respsct from yours truly! Lets talk more tomorrow...
Sean Murphy is a twenty-two year old recently graduated senior from Siena College, whom recently applied and got a job at New York Life starting off as being an insurance salesman. It is going to be interesting to find out how he transforms his life from the average college student going out three to four times a week to waking up to reality every morning and going to the professional setting. How is going from an exciting night life every weekend, going out partying and going to the bars, going to compare with going home on some weekends bringing paper work home and using his weekends to relax and rest instead of staying up until all hours of the night. And how is he going to cope with not being able to see friends everyday and hang out with them everyday? How is the responsibility of being part of a company compare to being part of a classroom and how does going from having so much free time to fill compared to not as much as free time? We will soon find out.
ReplyDeleteAndreas Büth is a 20 year old German. Four years ago he studied abroad in upstate New York at an American High School. Since then he has returned back to the United states more than seven times, sometimes even spending his entire summer in New York. Now, four years later he is on his way to completing his studies in Germany and being faced with a choice, what to do next? His own family in Germany jokes with him that he was born in the wrong country, and they will tell anyone who will listen about how his English is now better than his native tongue, German. I think it would be interesting to delve into the pull that he feels towards these two countries. He is very much torn between the two. I think that talking to him about how his love of America and Americans has effected his outlook on his home country would be very interesting, and how he deals with the dilemma of what to do next.
ReplyDeleteMatthew Mueller, a 22 year old student of Black Studies at SUNY New Paltz, was hit by a subway train two years ago. Out of school for an entire year while he recovered from extensive brain damage, he found his resolve as a student strengthened upon his return to New Paltz, while simultaneously struggling to come to grips with his old reality, a world that seemed so alien and so familiar to him at the same time, and a place he would come to refer to as his true home.
ReplyDeleteTayo Oni a 19 year old college student attends state school in New York at SUNY New Paltz. This might not seem different from the thousands of other students that attend state schools, but for Tayo going to school in NY is only one of the many cultures she has been exposed to. Tayo who was born in the United States is originally from Nigeria, where her father still currently lives and owes multiple banks in his area of residence. Tayo's mother currently is living in the United Kingdom close to London. Tayo lived in Queens with other relatives while attending high school before attending college. She travels back and for the to Nigeria and London often to visit her parents over vacations and summer breaks. At such a young age Tayo has not only been exposed to living in different family settings, but she has been exposed to so many different cultures as well. Living in the United States has made her appreciate this more, as she talks about her nigerian background often and makes references to in her daily life. Tayo has been very fortunate to learn so much about the world so soon in her life.
ReplyDeleteJeremy Thompson, a 20 something year old professional snowboarder who has traveled the world and cheated death several times, most recently was earlier this year. He and his older sister, who is also a pro snowboarder, were born with a disease that did not look promising for their longevity. He has overcome this illness and is still going strong.
ReplyDeleteChucho Adrian Perez is a 21 year old ambitious college student in Mexico City. He studies at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, the equivalent to the Yale of the US. Chucho has two years left in school but aspires to be a college dropout. He's working on proposing a program to the United States based summer camp program Center for Talented Youth (a program which he attended in Mexico for one year and went on to become an RA for two years in at Los Angeles) and hopefully get hired full time and moving to the US. Chucho taught himself how to play piano, guitar, skateboard, juggle and unicycle. He has a passion for the circus and on his 30 things to do before he's 30 list he wants to finish his circus "act." Chucho has a mohawk, a motorcycle and long nails on one hand to pluck the strings of his guitar. He recently signed up to be bone marrow donor and he's waiting to donate a lung. He refuses to carry around the one form of Mexican identification that everyone has because it's his way of not believing in their government. He also teaches high school students twice a week. Chucho is an example of a person that makes you want to be a better person at any age. He sticks strongly to what he believes in and follows his huge ambitions. He also provides an intimate look at life in Mexico City and the truly wonderful and the truly horrible.
ReplyDeleteDarrian Amaker is a junior at SUNY New Paltz. She's a student that mostly everyone knows because she gets to know them. She thrives on adventure whether it's setting off for NYC on a weekend with nowhere to stay or finding obscure corners of New Paltz to meet interesting people. She's always carrying her camera with her, she's a divine photographer. Darrian has a passion for music that she shows in her a cappella group and leaves an impression on every person she meets. Darrian is the type of person you can have a night-long conversation with one night and that could be the extent of your relationship. I think Darrian has an amazing ability to see the soft side of people especially when taking their photographs. Her enthusiasm is often misunderstood as childish, but I know she has something to say about that. She has a rough family life that probably affects the person she is now. I think Darrian is someone everyone knows but nobody REALLY knows or understands. She would be a wonderful profile piece solely for the stories she has to tell of the people she's met and the adventures she's had.
Youko Yamamoto, a local japanese restaurant owner, attended Pratt College of design when she moved from Japan to the United States. Her traditional values stem from her rich background and show in everything she does. The walls of Gomen Kudesai, her restaurant in New Paltz, are covered in unique decorations and art. She ran the Bon Odori festival this past August, a japanese cultural event to teach people of some traditions. The festival included food, drink, drums and a large lion costume that danced around the stage.
ReplyDeleteBeverly Berkowitz is a 59-year-old woman living in Brooklyn, NY. She is a single mother working four jobs, trying to put her daughter through college. Between tending to her daughter's extensive medical needs and dedicating her life to working with children, Beverly has lost her sense of self in the process. She has a very aggressive nature and her forward, unfiltered ways can often be taken for controlling. I want to write this profile piece on my mother for several reasons: I think it would be a very cathartic experience for me to hone in on the details and put into perspective just why my mother is the way she is. I also think taking a step back to read this profile would be beneficial to our family, and hopefully beneficial to mothers and daughters on a larger scale. -Suzy Berkowitz
ReplyDeleteCaleb kaiser is a 20 something, sponsored skateboarder and aspiring punk rocker who attends school at Ulster community college and supports his mother and one year old sister. Through his the limitations of his financial support Caleb finds the means to keep his life entertaining and balanced. The only thing that connects these dissimilarities is Caleb trying to find a path in life.
ReplyDeleteLara Chelak is a recent Barnard College graduate and the founder and CEO of BWD Inc, which creates websites, blogs, and other digital forums for individuals, corporations, and small businesses. She has been interested in the internet innovation and building websites ever since she was a girl. Every aspect of her life revolves around the computer - her business, her social life, her romantic interests, even her daily activities. Lara is currently working on renovating her company and struggling with the difficulties that come along with being a young entrepreneur in New York. While many college graduates have a hard time finding work, Lara chose to work for herself and create her own future.
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