Hi everyone! My name is Samantha Rojas, I use she/her/hers pronouns. I was born and raised in Park Slope, Brooklyn and still reside here to this day. Although I was born and raised in this country, my family is originally from Mexico and immigrated here in the late 80’s. This semester will be my last semester at BMCC and I will be obtaining my Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts. After I graduate I will be transferring to FIT where I will pursue obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising and Marketing, since my dream is to become a Marketing Executive one day. I enjoy traveling the world, especially with loved ones, making memories and soaking in different cultures. My favorite trip so far has been Tokyo, Japan! The food, people, and overall environment was something I had always dreamed to experience and I’m so glad that I did. I have also traveled to Paris, Amsterdam, Cuba, Jamaica, and have just recently returned from a holiday trip to London and Manchester. I also enjoy reading magazines and watching films whenever I have the chance to. Fashion and travel magazines are mainly my favorites when it comes to magazines, but when it comes to books I enjoy reading horror and thrillers (some of my favorite authors include Stephen King and Gillan Flynn). I presently work and have worked for the New York City Department of Education as a teaching assistant since 2016. In this role, I have learned how to organize, plan, and execute lessons for smaller groups of children that require extra one-to-one support. Although I am a teaching assistant, I have many of the same obligations a teacher has.  A few of these responsibilities include overseeing plans, teaching mini-lessons, sitting in on IEP meetings, and assisting with translations and PTA presentations. Since I am a fluent Spanish speaker, I was also given a long-term substitute position for the 2020-2021 school year in a first-grade dual language classroom where I taught a full class on my own. Although I love working with children and have learned so much, my passion is in marketing. Since I completed all my required courses and now had the liberty to choose any course I wanted as an elective, I was excited to see this course being offered. Although I enjoy reading articles on gender and women’s studies, I would love to delve deeper into how gender affects our lives on a daily basis. For right now, I don’t have any suggestions for films or books, but if I happen to come by anything, I will be sure to share!

Hi! My name is Bidushi Pyakurel. This is my last semester as a criminal justice student in BMCC. I hope to transfer to John Jay next semester and hopefully go to law school after that. I am originally from Kathmandu, Nepal and have been living in the United States (and New York) for the past 4 years. I use she/her/hers pronoun. Growing up in a third world country with predominantly patriarchal societies, I believed the US and other western countries were the epitome of gender equality and expression. However, with age and experience, I have realized that may not be the case. I guess taking this class is my attempt at understanding the nuances and intricacies of such a complex subject, especially in terms of intersectionality. I want to understand what roles race, socio-economic status, religion and other factors have on how gender and sexuality is perceived in different cultures. For example: the literacy rate for women in Nepal is almost half that of men whereas it’s the same in the US. On the other hand, while the US workforce has a significant difference in its male and female population, it is almost equal in Nepal. I assume these differences have a lot to do with the economic condition of both countries. These are some of the things I’m hoping I learn from this class. As for my hopes and dreams, I plan on going back to Nepal and investing in efforts to make education accessible to women.
On a lighter note, I love learning new skills until I’m fairly decent at them. After that, I stop doing them altogether. I have taken up sewing, making nail art, playing a guitalele (in my defense, I thought I ordered a guitar), painting, drawing anime characters, cooking, among other things. My favorite thing to do, however, has to be overanalyzing media I consume, especially TV series. One thing I’ve noticed in recent years is that the female characters I sympathize with (or at least understand their motives and reasonings) are usually disliked by male audience. Two of the examples I can think of are Diane Ngyugen from Bojack Horseman and Siobhan Roy from Succession. It is especially interesting to me since most women I talk to seem to agree that these are well-rounded, relatable characters. I would really love to get into this in class if it feels appropriate. I’m looking forward to this class and I hope I leave with a better understanding of other people’s perspective.