NYU DC StoryCorps

Highlighting NYU Washington, DC students and their experiences!

2018-2019 | Fall

NYU DC Violets I Opinion | Taco Bamba Review

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Taco Bamba Tacos

By Michael Lee

If you’re looking for a new Mexican restaurant with exquisitely good tacos, Taco Bamba is the one. I have gone twice and I can say for sure they are one of the best taco places in DC. They offer a menu of tacos with your choice of protein and they also provide specialty tacos that offer variety. This review will provide my personal feedback on pricing, taste, and service time.

In terms of pricing, Taco Bamba is very affordable. One traditional taco with your choice of protein costs $3.50. They also offer a vegan taco called the Calabaza con Salsa Macha, served with roasted squash, brown butter, chiles, almonds. Their specialty tacos are a bit more expensive with a price of $4.50 per taco.

In terms of food quality, they have a variety of several good tacos which all have a very excellent taste. One of my personal favorites is the El Gringo taco. Their El gringo taco consists of a cheddar quesadilla as the taco shell, spiced ground beef, lettuce, ranch, bacon, pico de gallo. The el gringo offers a interesting taste of flavor unique to the other tacos I have had. The spiced ground beef and the cheddar quesadilla offer a spicy and salty flavor, but the pico de gallo and lettuce offer a refreshing taste to moderate the salt and spice.

Another one of my personal favorites is the Carne Asada Taco. The Carne Asada is a very simple yet satisfying taco with carne asada, onions, and cilantro. The carne asada offers a salty and tender protein and the onions offer a nice balance to counter its salty flavor.

The service at Taco Bamba is also very quick and efficient as the food takes only 5-7 minutes for the food come out. I have not run into any problems with the service the two times I have gone there.

Rating: 91/100

Opinions expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of NYU DC Violets or the NYU DC Program, and our publication of opinions is not an endorsement of them.

NYU DC Violets I Fiction I Dissolving the Spectrum

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Blue and Pink Cotton Candy

By Winnie Kong

With this piece, I wanted to convey the feminine/masculine culture through a subtle yet compelling story. It was important for me to tell a universally relatable story, so I started by reminiscing about childhood — this is realistic fiction.

She has always been pink. I have never given her the chance she deserved. Even when I denied her the right to be pink, she was still pink. Just like how I am pink and choose to be pink, she was blue and chose to be pink. I am sorry.

Pink. That was the color I chose very time. Light-up sneakers, Tamagotchis, fluffy dresses, nail lacquer polishes, scrunchies. It was my color, I was cute in pink.

I fell in love with it the first time my mother bought me cotton candy. Going to the Asian supermarket, crying and stomping my feet: That was my ritual. That day, one hand held on to a bag of seaweed and the other clutched this strange bag with English letters. I had to choose one. “Money doesn’t fall from trees,” she would say, as if I didn’t understand that from all the previous times. I was puzzled by the peculiar plastic bag and consumed by curiosity. The bag of seaweed seemed like a promise of crispy goodness, but at that moment I was infatuated with the pink bag.

I ripped open the plastic bag, and a mixture of baby-blue and pink clouds melted in my mouth. My hands quickly became sticky, my tongue obsessed with the sugary foreignness. It was like a game of tag where pink was my sanctuary, and touching blue was dangerous.

Blue. He is blue. Actually, he is supposed to be blue. Yet he was wearing a pink shirt. He messed up the pattern I created in my head. Why was he wearing a color that wasn’t meant for him? Boy and girl, blue and pink — we were supposed to separate into two different ends of the spectrum.

The next day at recess I saw him holding a Barbie doll. It was the one my mother refused to buy me. I was mad. He is blue, this is not fair. My face reddened and before I knew it, pink took the initiative to snatch the doll away from him. His childish smile metamorphosed into something tigerish, and soon he was blue, exactly how it was meant to be. I was proud of myself, I changed him back.

But sitting in class with him the following week, I saw that he had on pink nail polish. So did I, and there is was — this connection between us. I touched his hand, slowly moving toward the baby-pink tinted nails. I could taste the cotton candy in my mouth. He placed his other hand on mine, pointing at my pink-colored nails. Could he be pink, even if he is blue?

The older we grew, the more he was pink than blue. We used our eyelids like blank canvases, coating them with colors of the rainbow from red to purple, with orange, yellow, green, and blue in between. We felt as if we were above anything.

Leopard, polka dots, paisley, gingham, tartan. Exploring patterns in the women’s section became our favorite pastime. We adored the queerness it brought our outfits. We laughed at the looks our parents gave when they saw us.

It was his touch on my thick black wavy hair that gave me this feeling that I had never felt before. First, I felt warm, then electric. It came like second nature. As I ran my hands through his shiny blond curly hair, he became more gentle, docile, considerate, and nice, and I liked that he was more pink with me, but blue with others.

And then, one day: “I want to be a girl.” What? No. You are blue. You are blue. No. I am pink. You cannot be pink. No. You can act pink, but you will never truly be pink. I didn’t understand, this wasn’t right.

He wanted me to call him “she.” It was as if “she” became a brand-new person. I no longer felt the sweetness of cotton candy with “her” anymore. Nothing was the same; it was as if “she” used me to be more pink. All those times, I thought we were friends who just liked the same things. I wanted him to appreciate pinkness, not allow it to overpower him.

Pink. “She” told me “her” life as if I understood the concept of being blue but declaring myself to be pink. I told her, “You cannot choose to be pink. You are blue.” I took the pink cotton candy from her hands. She wasn’t pink , she didn’t deserve it. And then she told me, “I am just as much a female as you.” Huh? You couldn’t be pink just because you decided you’re more comfortable with an option that wasn’t selected for you. Just like how you couldn’t open a bag of cotton candy and later choose the color of it.

The day you told me that you wanted to be pink blurred my vision. I could not be in love with pink when I am pink. I wanted you to stay blue but I realize now that I fell in love with your pink.

NYU DC Violets I Opinion | Pressure to Please

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"I Want You"UncleSamPoster

By YoYo Zhang

There is one common goal for all individuals standing at the tops of power structures, elected Presidents and hereditary Dictators alike: to stay in power for as long as possible. For the President that would mean getting re-elected for another four year’s living in the White House. To do this, there is the pressure to please the ones that brought him into power in the first place. His donors, his campaign staff, and, ultimately his voters.

I hear people say the current President is “not my President”. That couldn’t be truer. The President might as well come to you and say “you’re not my voter”. There’s no reason for him to gain your support for his party because it wasn’t you that put him in power.

This is undoubtedly a very cynical way of looking at the Presidency, but this appears to be how the system operates the most efficiently under these polarized times.

We hear talk about efforts to encourage “working across the aisle”. It’s unfortunate that the only way to get anything done in Washington is by working through the President’s own party. Woodrow Wilson learned this the hard way. He appointed only non-partisan progressives into office only to find out that there was no way he could proceed with policy agenda unless he worked through his party.

Such are the inconveniences of a two-party rule, a zero-sum game. Winning doesn’t matter as long as the other side loses.

Right now it’s less than a month to the midterms. We have the President is calling his opponents “a mob” and other cities are filled with chants for a “blue wave” and for the President’s impeachment. This doesn’t seem in any way like a harmonious society. I truly wonder how anything gets done here with all the time spent on finding ways to pull the rug out from under the other side.

It might take a catastrophe to remind people that ideological arguments are pointless, something that lets people know that practical concerns, instead of intangible ideas, is what’s worth our time. At this point, it seems like such a forced course correction might be necessary before the divisions in the country grow any wider. In the meantime, there’s nothing people can do except place their trust the drafters of the constitution did their jobs properly and the system can weather this storm.

This pressure to please has turned the country into a spitting war within itself.

 

Weak men bring forth hard times,

Hard times bring forth strong men,

Strong men bring forth good times,

Good times bring forth weak men.

 

Opinions expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of NYU DC Violets or the NYU DC Program, and our publication of opinions is not an endorsement of them.

 

NYU DC Violets I Nonfiction | Student Intern

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Picture of Paola Martiz

By Bryan Espinosa

      We’ve officially entered adulthood, yet being an adult is not as easy as we thought. Some college students in their first or second year can sometimes lack basic skills. But a real skill that’s hard to master is having a balance. We all try to make schedules for ourselves so that we can have time for school, homework, a job, internships, and, most importantly, a social life. But for student, Paola Martinez Parente, years of experience can come in handy.

         As an intern in the office of Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, she is also a full-time New York University Sophomore , as well as NYU Global Equity Fellow, Paola seems to have a hectic lifestyle, but she has mastered balance so well that she has become efficient with her life.

        “My Google Calendar is my life, and if it’s not on there I’m probably gonna forget it exists”, said Paola.

         As we all try to adjust to surroundings in college, we tend to find ourselves trying to juggle activities and school that we can never give adequate time to either. Some advice Paola has for First-Years students on balance is to “know that if you are doing [school and internships], you are going to sacrifice other parts of your life”. She also has a few tips when it comes to internships, including: “being very active, very involved, almost aggressive about doing stuff” and to “go for what you want”.

        So as the daughter of immigrants, and even an immigrant herself, and a resident of Texas, being an intern to a high profile senator couldn’t have been imagined of by Paola, but yet here she is today working hard to maintain her GPA while building a resumé for her future career. How she maintains the balance is something to learn from as we First-Years begin to enter the workforce as interns. It’s only through balance that we can get forward in our college lifestyle. So break out the Google Calendars, because your gonna need them, according to Paola.

NYU DC Violets I Nonfiction | Interview with Professor Marcos Martinez

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Professor Marcos Martinez

By Carol Wu

Tiny fish ate up the pieces of watermelon floating in the water. “Delicious,” they must’ve thought. Poor fishies. If they had only known that the watermelon they were eating came from the puke that young Marcos had thrown up.

As a young boy, Marcos Luis Martinez was swimming in the Gulf of Mexico when the currents began to drag him down. He was drowning. The salt water rushed into his mouth, forcing the bile to rise up. It was only until his Aunt grabbed him and yanked him out that he was saved. But Martinez didn’t need saving. From where he was drowning, he could have reached the ocean floor if he tried.

Martinez, an English professor at NYU DC and George Washington University, grew up in Brownsville, Texas, a bordertown between the United States and Mexico. Growing up, he was exposed to multiple languages, Spanish and English, and the art of storytelling. Martinez’s grandmother gifted him with a thirst to write through the poems and songs she, herself, would write. His mother would inspire him in a similar way through her own career in the arts as a painter. His influences weren’t limited to those from his family.

In high school, Martinez was mentored by his English teacher, who gave him guidance in literature, acting, and drama. He would later perform in a one-act play directed by his mentor.

Martinez was a prospective NYU student, but he went on to attend Georgetown University for his alma mater.

Most students see Martinez as just an English professor, but outside of class, he is an avid traveler and a dedicated volunteer for OutWrite DC, an organization that advocates for LGBTIQ individuals. He also volunteers with panels and workshops to encourage LGBTIQ writers and to help them develop their writing skills. Students would be surprised to know that Martinez has led a writing workshop on intimacy.

Martinez has been published in The Washington Blade, The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, MetroWeekly, and Split This Rock and is currently working on several projects, including a novel and a poetry collection. Besides being a published writer, Martinez is also the co-founder and Contributing Editor of StillHouse Press, a nonprofit book publisher that trains graduate student sin the publishing industry.

Martinez currently lives with his husband and lovely black cat Obi, short for Obsidian.

HUMANS OF NYU WASHINGTON, DC | Meg Srabon

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Meg Srabon

“A few weeks ago, I went to the National Mall. We saw the National World War II Memorial, FDR Memorial, MLK Memorial, amongst others. I enjoyed this experience a lot because it allowed me to take in the sights of famous D.C. monuments that I wouldn’t have visited otherwise. I personally enjoyed the National World War II Memorial the most because it reminded me of how many loved ones visit the memorial and receive a sense of peace from their loved ones’ remembrance. I think it was eye-opening and I’m really glad I attended the excursion. Our personal tour bus was also a plus! :)”

– Meg Srabon | Liberal Studies Program

NYU DC Violets I Opinion I Change

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Image of of changing flower in the sunlight

By Ali Boukind

People say a lot of things about change. Some of us think that people don’t change, that even if people say that they’ve changed, that they are not who they used to be, they remain the same. Their personality type is inborn. Some say: “If you want things to change now, you need to start by changing yourself.” Let me give you my own opinion on change. People change. More precisely, they change because of their surroundings, who they talk to and what happened in their lives.

It’s true, don’t cry about it.: your best friend Bob from primary school might turn into a gang rapist but, you know what? Everything changes. I see this life like a beach: the water might look the same everyday but the waves tell you otherwise: everything is in motion, everything moves from a state to another and, as you may have noticed already, because everything changes, everything is temporary: your life will stop, the universe will empty of heat, this essay has an end and Brian Cheng Dooley will one-day stop using Google Calendar.

So far, everything that I said is pretty evident but I know that some of you might feel sad about that. Truly, how can you attach yourself to things, people, knowing that it is going to end? Why are we doing this to our mental health? Why are we attaching ourselves to things that have a expiration date?  I don’t know much more of the meaning of happiness than you but let me give you my two cents: We love, we feel happiness because things end.

Yes, you are enjoying this ice cream because, at a certain point, you won’t be eating. You enjoy this cigarette because it will completely burn and end, satisfying your craving of nicotine momentarily. You enjoy friends and family because they won’t always be here. You are hooked to the plot of a movie because it has an ending.

And you know what’s beautiful? Not only the good things have an end. Your sadness will end, your anger will be calmed, the mistakes you’ve done will be forgotten, the DC Dialogues that you thought would be interesting but isn’t will stop in few minutes etc.

You might think that I am inviting you to not attach yourself to things because they will end: this is absolutely wrong and, in my opinion, impossible contrary to what Buddha is inviting us to do in the Dhammapada. No, I think what you should do is be grateful of the exact moment you are living in. When you give a hug, hug with extraordinary love and affection because, one day, you won’t be able to hug that person anymore. When you see your friends happy on a Saturday night, I want you to stop and admire their smiles because, one day, for a reason or another, this smiles won’t be present in their beautiful faces. In the contrary, if you feel sad, if you witnessed something you did not want to witness or if you offended someone you shouldn’t offend, if you threw up on someone or got a shitty grade in your Cultural journal just know that time heals every wounds. Why? Well, it’s because things change.

Life is beautiful, it’s amazing and full of surprises, one day is completely different than the other and each of your interactions with someone won’t be the same every single day. Like the tide of an ocean, you will have your high and lows and this exactly why you should fully enjoy your highs and recover fast from your lows, knowing that they are just a temporary states. Life is very interesting and it is not in any case, boring (not even when you study Lamassus). I love life and you should too. Why? Well, it’s because things change.

 

Opinions expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of NYU DC Violets or the NYU DC Program, and our publication of opinions is not an endorsement of them.

 

NYU DC Violets I Opinion | &Pizza Review and Grade

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Three & Pizzas

By Michael Lee

&pizza is a personal pizza place in DC with several locations that provide quality personal pizzas. I have gone there numerous times and find it to be one of the best pizza places in DC. They offer a variety of signature pies on their menu but you can also customize your own pie for the same price. This review will provide my personal feedback on pricing, taste, and service time.

In terms of pricing, &pizza is affordable in comparison to its competitors. At a price of $9.09 per personal pie, it’s an excellent offer as each pie can comfortably serve 1-2 people. Personally, I don’t have any issues with their pricing.

In terms of food quality, they have a variety of different pies on their menu which are all very good. The Maverick pizza is one of my personal favorites. The toppings on the Maverick include tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, salami, pepperoni, sausage and is topped with basil pesto sauce and parmesan cheese. Not only is it filling, but it also tastes good. The sausage and tomato sauce provide a slightly sweet taste and are a good contrast for the salty pepperoni and salami.

Through their build-your-own pizza option, I’ve created masterpieces that even Gordon Ramsay would be in awe with. One such masterpiece is the BBQ chicken pizza. &pizza didn’t have an option for it, so I thought, “Why not build my own?” A concoction of tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella, chicken, and cherry barbecue sauce became a mouthwatering piece of perfection.

With its quick and efficient service, &pizza can feed you within minutes of entering their store. I haven’t run into any troubles with their service, nor do I expect to anytime soon or even ever.

 

Rating: 95/100

 

Opinions expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of NYU DC Violets or the NYU DC Program, and our publication of opinions is not an endorsement of them.

 

HUMANS OF NYU WASHINGTON, DC | Zach Banks

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Zach Banks

“As a person who had lived my whole life in Ohio, leaving all I knew to come to NYUDC was not only an adjustment— it was terrifying. I worried I would not meet people with similar backgrounds, values, and goals as myself. Almost immediately upon my arrival, the faculty and student body proved my worries to be all for nothing. NYUDC has been an extremely welcoming, extroverted, and inclusive environment. In just five days, I was exposed to more academic and professional opportunities than I originally thought to be possible.”

– Zach Banks | Liberal Studies Program

TELL YOUR DC STORY | Cooking Demonstration

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIWh3Tg_khg

Follow NYU Liberal Studies First-Year Away student, Anran Mitchell Wang, as he tells his DC story throughout his fall 2018 semester at NYU Washington, DC through a series of short videos – this video features a cooking demonstration by NYU Liberal Studies First-Year Away student, YoYo Zhang!  Watch the entire series on the NYU Washington, DC YouTube channel.