Baltimore in the Affluent Decade 1950-1960

Throughout this semester I have learned a ton from my peers, my surroundings, my professor, and most importantly; I have learned the most from myself. My writing has improved and gone to lengths that I did not even know were possible. I have learned to write with more feeling when need be and how to best carry a message over to readers. I believe it is important for classes like these to exist on campus and throughout the community because it teaches students so much more rather than their usual academic curriculum. Not only is it a break from everyday student-life, its just fun to be around your peers that you know and are able to grow with. I also have learned sometimes the most effective writing pieces are those that are the shortest. I am extremely excited to see how this project will go this Saturday May 12, 2018. The class and I have put a lot of work into it so it will be great to see where our work has taken us. As I transition from student to alumni in these fast approaches...

As a highly motivated and results-oriented person in the academic and professional sector, I have learned so much about myself, my peers, and Baltimore as a whole.  The most memorable moment this semester has been being able to walk around Hollins Market and talk to the residents and business owners in the area, realizing different neighborhoods are blocks away from each other. I was able to grasp their sense of place and mold it into my own understanding that contributed to my work for the class as a whole. Ultimately, I believe this course was extremely unique and allowed myself to step out of the realm of regular classroom settings and learn more about myself. For we do not take our heritage with us, we leave it behind.

To add to my most recent post, I think a general theme that keeps occurring throughout my reading of the completed interviews was "Future Business Directions" and "Missed Opportunities." The reason for the "Future Business Directions" is that each person that the class has interviewed has mentioned something about their current business model, what they have seen today that works and does not work, and also where they plan on taking their business in the future as far as the business interviews go. For the "Missed Opportunities" theme, it feels like the residents and businesses that we interviewed failed to initially address their individual goals. To go along with this, the people that were interviewed may also feel the organizations and individuals who were or are supposed to be helping them out have also contributed to their success not being to their standards. I think this might be beneficial at least to bring up to the class and pos...

This past week, my brother Jonathan and I tried to attend an event at the Irish Railroad Museum but unfortunately, they were closed when we were told to be there. My brother however was able to attend a walking tour this past Saturday which he said he liked. My recent work on this project lead me to conduct an interview with Jameka at the Black Cherry Puppet Theater which went really well. Michael Lamason was full of knowledge and brought a different perspective to the project. He unfortunately cannot be there for the event on May 12th, but he would like to be updated about the class project on the UMBC website. During class this past week, some classmates and I were able to share the information and our individual progress for the project, conduct further interviews with our potential leads, and were able to speak to some residents in the market area. I was further tasked toward the end of class to create a mini narrative for the zine project. I believe the writing I created will a...

Last week the market crew stepped out to do some field work in the Hollins Market, talking to various civilians and vendors in the market. All with the goal of trying to secure an interview for the class project. We managed to get a few leads but most of the residents in the area were not too intrigued. As the project continues, I look forward to being able to speak to other new people to hopefully have the opportunity of having an interview for our fast approaching deadlines. As far as the interviews for the project goes, I managed to interview Michael Lamason; the Black Cherry Puppet Theater director, in person. This interview was conducted with Jameka Monday 16APR2018 at 7pm. The interview went really well and each question that we had for him was answered very thoroughly. Michael was extremely intrigued in our project and takes notice of students like us sparking an interest in his beloved neighborhood. There are many comments to share that Michael brought up, but I'd rather...

This past week, I was placed in a group with my brother Jonathan and Sydney in our class. We were tasked to go out into Hollins Market and try not only to talk to people and build relationships with them, but also to be able to interview them in the near furture for our upcoming project that will have its debut on 12MAY2018. My group and I talked to some pretty awesome people in the market. In total we talked to 3 residents and 3 vendors. The residents were not too thrilled with uas requesting to schedule an interview with them but the vendors in the market were more inclined to help because they saw the whole class on our previous Hollins Market tour and throughout Hollins itself. I would like to get out into the market at the beginning of class so that there will be more people in the market to speak to and build rapport with. I believe if the residents in the market see our faces more often and if we promote the project in a non-confrontatational manner, we will be able to get some...