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Annotation Rough Draft – 5 Pointz
In 1971 a man named Jerry Wolkoff brought the building and had leased it out to a company that had made record player accessories and eight-track tapes. The company then moved out in the early 1990s, so he decided to rent the space out as studios to artists. In 2002 the former warehouse known as the Phun Phactory slowly turned into the 5 Pointz Aerosol Art Center, Inc. Located in Long Island city, New York. Considered to be the “graffiti mecca” of the world and the largest, the 200,000 square foot building was also an outdoor art exhibit. The attraction brought many artists from all over the world to come and paint their pieces all over the walls. The name 5 Pointz was given by a man named Jonathan Meres Cohen. The name signified the unity of the five boroughs of New York coming together as one. The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.
The outdoor museum brought many tourists and even attracted hip hop and R&B artists. Such as Doug E. Fresh, Grandmaster Kaz, Mobb Deep, and Rahzel just to name a few. Also was featured in Hollywood films. The most recent movie I believe it to be in was “Now You See.” This place brought the community together such as holding events and also having tours. One of the most recent events was to actually save 5 Pointz. The owner had other plans for the building. Petitions were signed and even more events took place.
Jerry Wolkoff had plans for the building. He wanted to build to high-rise towers with luxury apartments. Wanting to avoid any confrontation he added that there would be a 60 high-wall for artists to paint on freely. “I am telling you, I did not like what they did — I loved what they did.” (Jerry Wolkoff). He enjoyed the beauty of the artists and appreciated it. Sadly though over night the building was painted over white. It broke the community’s heart seeing ten years of the largest aerosol art center gone within one night. All of the artists work can never be replaced. “The judge gave me the right to demolish my building. It would take three months. To watch the pieces go down piece by piece by piece would be torturous.” (Jerry Wolkoff). Ten years of art erased that can never be duplicated again.
Work Cited
“ABOUT | 5 POINTZ.” 5 POINTZ. IV.Creative.Inc, 2012. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.
How is persistence involved within our lives?
Everybody wants to succeed in life but are they willing to take the time and the effort to become successful? I believe that persistence is the key to succeeding. If we want it badly enough and put our minds to it then we can achieve what it is we want. I can relate persistence to my life in a lot of ways because there were times I felt like giving up. That negative thinking is what was bringing me down so I stopped myself. I kept pushing forward and wanted to accomplish goals I have set for myself. Persistence is something that will be developed overtime when you choose to work on it.
Many of use set goals for ourselves but a majority of us will either procrastinate or quit half way through it. Why is it we do that? “Oftentimes, the reason for quitting is hardships, discomfort and uncertainty.” (Lou Macabasco) A quote from an article I believe to be a true statement. A majority of us are scared of failure or are not ready to take on such tasks. For example, its almost the end of winter and before you know it, summer is here. So we all want to get in shape and have that “beach body” but do we want to spend an hour or so exercising? Or would we prolong it and wait to do when we feel like it? Procrastination works against being persistent.
Thats where motivation and dedication comes along. After setting a goal for yourself you think of all the ways and what is necessary to achieve that goal. In a student blog “Practice makes Perfect” her goal was to pass and achieve her cosmetology license. In her sophomore year in high school her teacher had told her that she was in danger of failing the class. It was hard at first but she picked up her slack and got right to work. “Every night I read over the chapter study guides she gave us and I answered all the questions at the end of every chapter.” (Practice makes Perfect) Her work ethic and motivation pushed her to even try harder. Her motivation and dedication unlocked her persistence and she achieved her goals. She managed to pass the course with a B.”Motivation comes from a deep reason why we want to achieve or have something.” (Lou Macabasco)
Persistence is something developed to overcome the hard obstacles we have to face. “Persistence by definition means a continued effort, to keep trying.” (Tough Times)Most will come up with excuses after excuses. They get comfortable and don’t want to try. The fear of failing or discomfort holds them back. “It is easier to relax and do nothing, or just live in our comfort zone, rather than face the uncertainty and discomfort of sailing thru our goals. plus, the idea of failure and hardship is unbearable.” (Lou Macabasco) Failing isn’t always a bad thing because we learn from it and continue to strive for our goals. Like riding a bike or learning how to roller blade when we were children. We fall, scrape up our elbows and knees. Might even cry but we want to learn so it keeps us from ever giving up. “You have never failed until you quit trying.” (Tough Times)
Back in the Lab
It’s a minute til 7:00 pm and I’m sitting there listening to the track Judgement Day by Method Man while bobbing my head to the beat. While in the waiting room the door starts to open to the studio as students exit from their last class of the night. The purple walls, the four windows, hard wood floor, with the red and grey mats pushed against the walls. The stereo system with its four speakers spread out along the top and the 15 foot mirrors along one whole side. This is my place where I can learn and evolve my skills. Where I create and perfect my movements. I’m the mad scientist and this is my lab, where I put in the work and time.
I walk in and place my backpack where ever there was an empty space on the floor, usually right next to the window. As crew mates enter the room we will greet one another and begin to stretch together while one of us will plug in their laptop or Ipod through the aux wire to the sound system. About 15-20 minutes have passed and I feel pretty stretched out. I stand up to shake my legs and my arms to loosen my muscles and let the blood flow. I soon start to focus more and my body starts feeling relaxed. I think now its that time to hit the dance floor.
I wanted to work on every aspect of my game. From top rock to foot work, back rocks to of course power moves. Now these are all things a bboy needs to actually well, be called a bboy. Everything needed a bit of polishing up. All the moves I had in my arsenal took years of practice. Countless hours of training that will take me further and further beyond past my limitations. Just to even get a move right and to be able to do it over and over again like it came naturally is considered a big accomplishment. Being motivated, focused, and determined definitely had a big part in that.
My motivation can be linked to many things. Listening to different genres of music and think to myself how can I dance to this? Or watching different styles of dance, from ballet to modern jazz, and trying to incorporate it somehow and give it that bboy flavor. Being focus also helps the training very much. Not trying to worry about a move that I may keep on attempting and failing at constantly but to then further on perfecting different types of transitions for moves that I already felt I’ve mastered. And of course my dedication to this dance. The feeling of satisfaction I get when I finally over come mess ups and get a move down by the end of a session. Numerous amounts of trial and errors but it definitely feels great. I’ve been doing this for so long, almost 9 years now and definitely have such a love for what I do.
The one thing about break dancing is it’s longevity. How long will it take for breaking to take its toll on our body? Now I’ve managed to keep a dedication and determination still even when injuries have surfaced and I’ve endured from many. From bumps and bruises, from popped shoulders to sprained ankles. Even when I had one body part injured that never stopped me from still going to practice and training. I never let them heal properly though and I can definitely feel it catching up to me now. Another thing is that of course when I first started I had a much smaller body frame, weighed less, and was shorter. For my height and weight it is harder for me to do certain moves but that never stopped me. I’ve learn to basically improvise and adapt someway. If something little like that stopped me, then I never really was dedicated to it in the first place.
During practices me and my crew will what we call “vibe off” one another. Another way to put it is feed off each others energy. We get hyped and gain more adrenaline and push one another. We try not to give up and continue learning and trying. We make each other better with every practice session even on our worst days. We strive for the same goals and are always the student. I wouldn’t be the dancer I am today without the help and influences I get from my crew mates. There is always improvement needed so we always go back to the lab and continue to put our time and efforts in because there is no greater feeling then doing what you love doing.
Persistence Video
A Bboy – Persistence Rough Draft
An art in itself, a dancer. Telling a story while moving with such detail on the floor. A break dancer, a bboy, a culture part of the four elements of hip-hop. Which are Djing, emcee, graffiti, and breaking/bboying. I’m a bboy and been dancing since I was about 16 years old in the year 2005. So it’s been about nine years now and I definitely have a love for what I do. Something sparked inside me when I first seen it at a community event called “3rd eye open summer jam.” Immediately I wanted to be one of those guys doing these movements that seemed impossible at the time. I wanted to be a apart of such an underground culture and one day be called a bboy.
There wasn’t anyone at the time to teach me or even dance studios around that had break dancing classes so I can learn. Until I remembered my uncle who had told me before that he knew a thing or two about it when he lived in California. I asked him to show me the most basic move which was called a “six step.” I took time out of my day, almost everyday to practice this movement. At home, in my small not very spacious bedroom or at school. My uncle even let me borrow some VHS tapes at the time. I continued to watch it over and over. Practicing what I had seen in the videos. I felt like a sponge just soaking everything in. Evolving more and more to become a better dancer.
I started finding other students in school who also had the same interest as me. We began practicing together, finding places where we can dance. My training picked up and it started to show. The countless hours of practicing to perfect one move or even get close to it. All that training to create rounds that lasted for :30-:40 seconds for jams or competitions. Always coming up with new moves or something that has never been seen before. Finding inspiration in different styles of dance or even dancing to different genres of music. Then when Youtube exploded onto social media it motivated me even more seeing how others thousands and thousands miles away knew about the bboy culture. What started here in the US has definitely made its way all over the world.
Now there are definitely downsides to break dancing. I mean it’s called “break dancing” for a reason. Throughout my nine years of dancing I have endured many injuries. Popping my shoulder or elbow out of place.Hurting my neck by doing a move wrong. Having to let myself heal properly and stop dancing for long periods of time. It definitely frustrated me to the point where I asked myself ,” Why Am I still doing this?” Even my parents never understood why I kept dancing. Saying stuff like,”You’re always hurting yourself” or ” You’re not getting anywhere with it so you should just stop.” That kind of negativity did hold me back from continuing to dance for awhile. I then seriously began to have withdrawals from not being able to dance. It was and still is my addiction. I couldn’t let what others say ruin my passion for bboying and so I never questioned myself again.
After years of traveling to different cities to compete in different jams I finally felt I belonged in this beautiful underground culture. Something I longed for ever since I began to even enter jams was to gain the respect from fellow bboys. Trying to impress them. Showing them how I’m different from others and that I will give them a run for their money if they were put up against me in the competition. Even though I haven’t won many jams, I felt I still stayed true to myself. Never trying to follow others or learn something just because everyone else is doing it. It just made me more determined to go back and practice even harder so that the next even I can show more of what I got. If I put my mind to it I will become a better. And because of that I earned the respect from my peers and can say that they definitely earned mine.
I haven’t been able to go to many competitions lately but that doesn’t stop me from dancing and training hard. I continue to do what I love with others that also have that same love for it. My dance crew Swift Characterz who I can honestly say is like my second family. We make each other better even on our worst days. Striving for the same goal and will continue until we achieve that goal.
A video made from a few years back with fellow crew mates. Don’t mind the half gray screen. Hope you enjoy it.
As a writer
As a writer I really haven’t practiced much ever since graduating from high school. The only writing I actually do is at work. From grade school all the way through high school, writing was one of the top things I wasn’t very fond of. I couldn’t stay focus, my mind would stray off, and could never think of enough things to write. Ever since I got older and became more motivated to pursue my education once again I have grown a certain interest for creative writing and reading. Certain articles I’ve came across while surfing the web or books that have been recommended to me by friends of mines. I feel my vocabulary has gotten better because of it. When writing I can say my weaknesses would definitely be is how to start. I would sit there for long periods of time thinking but not come up with anything.What I would like to learn this semester is basically everything mainly creative writing. I’m always willing to learn something new or better myself in something I’m actually very interested in. Also I’m interested in spoken word which I believe is very creative. I prefer to write in pencil then anything because I can actually erase mistakes and fix them as I go and plus that is how I started writing ever since grade school. I prefer to write on paper because I have a more relaxed feeling about it. When it comes to reading I actually like screen better because that is where I do most of my reading nowadays.