Alpha Theta Phi Chapter - Phi Theta Kappa - LaGuardia Community College

By Luis K. Feliz When I stepped on someone’s sneakers, I said, “My bad” (sorry). When someone was overreacting to something insignificant, I said, “Why are you tripping.” That was during adolescence because since then my idiolect has evolved tremendously. As an immigrant to the United States, when I first settled in New York, I lived in a diverse working-class community. As a result, I mimicked the speech patterns of my neighbors and acquaintances. By the age of eleven, I had a “whole slew of” colloquialism to mark my successful "acculturation." In the microcosm of my community, the emulative process for success was not defined by vying for eloquence but rather by vying for how ungrammatical and non-standard your speech could be. You were in the “know” when you knew the metonymies for the police and other outsiders that threaten the sovereignty of the sub-state. It was a whole different world, with its own lexicon and its own traditions and secrecy. When I progressed in the e...

After reading the essay "My Idiolect," the Chapter wants to invite you to join the discussion or start a discussion of your own. For instance, a person's idiolect is the way he or she speaks--that is, the features most common in one's speech. Do you say the word "like" a lot? Do you use Spanglish or swap foreign words for English ones ? Do you say "I dunno"? These are all examples of your idiolect. Now, the Chapter would like to ask the following: 1. What is the most beautiful word in the English language? 2. What is your favorite verb or noun? 3.What is the sexiest word in Latin?

By Luis K. Feliz This summer Edgar Romero spear-headed an initiative under the auspices of our Phi Theta Kappa/ Alpha Theta Phi chapter to reach out to the children of refugee Afghan women. With the enthusiastic support of chapter members such as Andrea Torres, Geizel Amador, Sasheen Pottinger among others, our chapter started a Summer Camp in collaboration with the non-profit organization Women for Afghan Women (WAW), which works to empower Afghan women. While the WAW works to educate the women through ESL classes and human rights advocacy education, our chapter’s objective was to engage their children from 10 to 18 years old through sports—soccer, basketball, swimming; field trips to—the museum, the Zoo, the library. The activities were meant to bridge the cultural divide to ensure that the kids developed an appreciation of "American culture" while also educating them about the arts and sciences. In short, our ultimate goal was to start a dialogue between communities that s...

Voice: Luis Feliz Production: Edgar Romero

By Carmen Vivas There are a variety of animes that base their series in high schools. However, “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” or “Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu,” as it is called in Japanese, has a refreshing and interesting twist in its story. The lead female character, Haruhi Suzumiya, announces on the first day of school to her teacher and classmates that she has no interest in dealing with “ordinary humans,” after all what’s the fun in that! She will only deal with you if you are an alien, time traveler, or “esper.”Otherwise, there is really no chance that you will be her friend or, if you are male, anything more intimate than that. However, she soon finds herself connecting with a male classmate, Kyon, who, albeit unknowingly, inspires her to form her club, S.O.S. Brigade, that exists solely to have fun. Although Haruhi’s idea of fun is usually not shared by Kyon, or the other three members she dragged (one of them literally) into joining, it is impossible for Haruhi not to get wh...