Rome via Brooklyn

DOUBLE POST

Word Count: 819

Read Time: 4 minutes

For some of us, today was an exploring day. Some people–like Jibriel and Joseph–went outside and explored the city. I on the other hand opted to stay in and do some more research on the Column of Marcus Aurelius. Earlier in the week I finished the actual research on the Column itself, but now it was time to put my whole project together. I think the hardest part of any research project is not the research itself, but rather fitting everything together. One is almost participating in a puzzle when they reach this point in a research project. 

(Terrible FaceTime picture but it will have to do!!)

But before I get to the research I was really excited about today because my brother graduated high school and is headed to Wharton at Upenn! I was waiting for him to get his diploma and walk across the stage! Go Malick!!

At first, I got really annoyed. For one it was time to add footnotes. Usually, I write everything into a doc (without footnotes) then transfer what is not needed in the “main read” to the bottom half of the page (section for footnotes). I have had trouble with footnotes in the past, but due to a research project I participated in with great academics I got better at doing them. Though I will admit I am a long way from perfecting them. In highschool they usually teach you to skip over those numbers at the bottom of the page, yet I only recently realized that’s where the real information about a topic is. Anyways, I did this for a few hours and messed around with the structure of my paper. 

After fixing footnotes I really wanted to go back and rewrite everything that I wrote. This is an intimidating step in any form of writing, yet it is necessary. I usually love what I write and just submit it. Only recently was I forced to rewrite my work and one realizes how bad the first, second, third writing piece that one does truly is. 

I had the most fun connecting Cassius Dio with the Column of Marcus Aurelius, then bringing in Marcus Aurelius and his Meditations. The contradictions that are present in all of the mentioned above, should not go unnoticed. I had fun trying my best to dissect them. Even though I only had 3 weeks to work on this project, it has been really fun!

–Moussa Toni Cisse

Word Count: 367

Read Time: 2 minutes

For some of us, today was an exploring day. Some people–like Jibriel and Joseph–went outside and explored the city. I on the other hand opted to stay in and do some more research on the Column of Marcus Aurelius. Earlier in the week I finished the actual research on the Column itself, but now it was time to put my whole project together. I think the hardest part of any research project is not the research itself, but rather fitting everything together. One is almost participating in a puzzle when they reach this point in a research project. 

At first I got really annoyed. For one it was time to add footnotes. Usually I write everything into a doc (without footnotes) then transfer what is not needed in the “main read” to the bottom half of the page (section for footnotes). I have had trouble with footnotes in the past, but due to a research project I participated in with great academics I got better at doing them. Though I will admit I am a long way from perfecting them. Coming from highschool they usually teach you to skip over those numbers at the bottom of the page, yet I only recently realized that’s where the real information about a topic is. Anyways, I did this for a few hours and messed around with the structure of my paper. 

After fixing footnotes I really wanted to go back and rewrite everything that I wrote. This is an intimidating step in any form of writing, yet it is necessary. I usually love what I write and just submit it. Only recently was I forced to rewrite my work and one realizes how bad the first, second, third writing piece that one does truly is. 

I had the most fun connecting Cassius Dio with the Column of Marcus Aurelius, then bringing in Marcus Aurelius and his Meditations. The contradictions that are present in all of the mentioned above, should not go unnoticed. I had fun trying my best to dissect them. Even though I only had 3 weeks to work on this project, it has been really fun!

Great shwarma spot Jibriel and I visited. We really liked it and were kind of sad that we discovered this place only a few days before the end of this program.

–Moussa Toni Cisse