Review of Zoned In by Julia Alvarez

The documentary of this film was about a young man who had a very hard life growing up. Eventually his mother decided to move them to the South Bronx in New York. As the years passed by Daniel got accepted into Brown University, and is succeeding in his life. Another film that could be compared to Zoned In would be Freedom Writers; it’s a documentary that watches students mature and graduate high school. The filmed Zoned In was really good, I just didn’t like how when we met Daniel he seemed so negative. In my opinion I think anybody should go and see the film Zoned In especially if they need some kind of inspiration, then they can look at Daniel’s story and his background. And I realized that if Daniel can make even in his previous situation anyone can make in this world.

Zoned In by Karen Pilozo

An inspirational and motivational story directed by Daniela Zanzotto, this documentary film shows the real life experience of Daniel Nartey. He is an African American high school student in the Bronx, and he has to deal with struggles that he has to overcome in order to be successful in life. He becomes a father at age 15 and his brothers are in jail, and with many situations going on he decides to make a change in his life, along with his mother. But in order for these changes to be accomplished he has to leave behind things that have been a part of his life for a long time. Having to start all over he gets accepted to Brown, an Ivy League school in which a whole new experience awaits for him. Having gone to Brown he approaches new problems that he has to overcome in order to accomplish his main goal. This film took nine years in the making; it travels with Daniel Nartey from his high school experience to his college experience and then his life after he graduates from college. This documentary film helps change perspectives on life. It’s a great documentary and very inspirational.

"Zoned In" to Media

Oluchi Howell-Jack, UAM Senior meets Daniel Nartey, the subject of the documentary.

Tribeca Film Center Screening of Zoned In

Top photo: Left to right, Back row: Katherine Taveras, Marvin Germosen, Yancy Taveras, Chrisera Haylock, William Gonzalez.
Front row: Oluchi Howell-Jack, Celina De Jesus eclipsing Shyra Sembrano, Karen Pilozo, Brandon West, McDaniel Branch, Eric Johnson, Dominique Perera, Julia Alvarez
Middle photo: Students outside the Tribeca Film Center in Lower Manhattan.
Bottom photo: Oluchi entering the theater.

Zoned In by Celina de Jesus

Zoned In is a documentary directed by Daniela Zanzotto. It is based on a young African American trying to break boundaries and be a successful person without losing his background roots. Daniel Nartey, who lived in the South and moved back to the South Bronx, has had his life documented for over five years. By the age of 17, he had a kid, seen his brothers come in and out of jail, and sold drugs to make ends meet. In the movie, Daniel goes from a young teenager to a young man keeping his same beliefs of not agreeing with the government system. He finds out that even in college most of the African American people there are still not negotiable. He finds it hard to be able to communicate with them on a deeper level more than college work. Will he decide to follow the same views and give up his views on the American system, or will he finish college with the same views?

Zoned In

UAM Linguistics students attended a screening of the documentary film Zoned In at the Tribeca Film Center on February 11, 2009.
They had the opportunity to participate in a Q and A session following the film, where they met filmmaker Daniela Zanzotto and the film's subject, Daniel Nartey.
In class we discussed film reviews, and the students were asked to write one as a follow-up to the trip.

Interesting article

How is our city's education system handling the linguistic diversity in our city? This article provides some insights.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/education/25ellis.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Post Your Interview Experiences!

In Linguistics, we are in the process of collecting Oral History Interviews. Please post a comment using these questions as a guide:
What are your experiences going through this process?
Who did you choose to interview, and why did you choose him or her?
What were your strengths and struggles trying to get the interview?
What surprised you?
What words of advice could you give other students for collecting a successful interview?
Use the previous entry (below) to see an example response.

Interview

For my interview subject, I chose my friend Shane. I chose him because he is someone I have known for a long time. He is someone that I know well and respect. He has some interesting stories from his childhood growing up in Ohio. I prepared questions about "Growing Up".
I contacted Story Corps at this address: http://www.storycorps.net/record-your-story/locations/new-york-ny. I made a reservation for Jan. 28. (You don't need to do this; its just a project that uses oral histories and I wanted to check it out.)
Yesterday evening, we met downtown and took the train to City Hall. When we got off of the train, we found Foley Square and entered the Story Corps booth. Inside, it was very warm and the lights were low. We were surrounded by some of the most amazing audio equipment. The facilitator turned on the equipment and I began to ask my questions. Sometimes there was dead silence, but I prepared extra questions to keep the conversation rolling. Shane provided some great stories about his life. When it was over, we received a CD of the interview, and got our picture taken.
Today I plan to listen to my audio playback and make my notes on what Shane said.

Welcome!

It's a cold, snowy day in New York City. All over the city, high school students are snug in their beds (unless they have an exam this morning). I'm at school, wondering: What is the best way to get involved in "new" media? How can we extend the walls of our classroom to the digital world? I hope that this blog will provide a forum for linguistics students to start posting and creating blogs to document our learning.