Journal 1
Impressions of New York
I have lived on Long Island my whole life, but to be perfectly honest there is a lot I don’t know about New York itself, and especially the five boroughs. Before I attended Molloy College, I went to the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale, New York. I was in the Bronx a lot, but I really don’t know much about that either, except the Bronx Zoo. I had to do a lot of commuting from Suffolk County to Riverdale so I would take the LIRR to Penn Station, and then the 1 Train all the way up to the last stop on Broadway. Besides a few trips to Manhattan, the Big Apple is a mystery to me. I really want to learn about New York and its rich history so bad.
New York City has such a unique atmosphere. Everyone is constantly moving, and you'll never be bored. I know there is something in the City that suits anyone's interests. For instance, I love going to Knick Games and concerts at Madison Square Garden. I have been to a few comedy clubs, and have seen numerous bands play at B.B. Kings. I've been in Times Square a bunch of times, it's probably one of my favorite places in the city. I love ice skating at Bryant Park, and grabbing $1 pizza slices!
I think Central Park is beautiful. I love nature so much that it's nice to have a huge park right in the midst of the City to enjoy. I have been to a bunch of St. Patty's Day parades and they are always so amusing! St. Patty's Day is one of my favorite holidays just because my friends and I always take a trip into the city and roam the streets. Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day, and in Manhattan, the diverse population embraces it! St. Patty's Day really got me familiar with Manhattan and the crowd you get to hang with.
Overall, I love living in Suffolk County. I think the city would be a great place to live one day, and I would love to have that experience. I think the city is really overcrowded sometimes, but that adds to its exciting atmosphere- the city that never sleeps. I want to really appreciate New York for all its greatness, and really soak in this experience. I want to appreciate all five boroughs to the point that I make frequent visits to them. I don’t know much about New York, but I plan on learning a lot and this course sounds like a lot of fun. I can’t wait for my New York experience.
Bodacious Brooklyn
In our first class, we really got to experience one of the greatest boroughs in the world, Brooklyn. Prior to this class, I really did not know much about Brooklyn at all. I had heard a lot of stories about Coney Island, most of them from my dad who frequently visited Coney Island when he was younger. I knew Brooklyn was geographically on Long Island located all the way to the West. Being a fan of the NBA, I was aware that the Nets relocated from New Jersey to the astounding Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, but I had never been there. As you can tell, my knowledge of Brooklyn was very poor prior to this class. I wanted to learn a lot about Brooklyn and really get the King’s County experience.
I took the Long Island Rail Road out of Copiague and arrived in Penn Station about half an hour before class because it was our first time meeting. I
saw a few of my classmates, and very quickly our Gotham class began to gather together. After some introductions, we were already on our way to experience New York firsthand. We walked to the subway, hopped on, and began our adventure to Coney Island!
I took the Long Island Rail Road out of Copiague and arrived in Penn Station about half an hour before class because it was our first time meeting. I
saw a few of my classmates, and very quickly our Gotham class began to gather together. After some introductions, we were already on our way to experience New York firsthand. We walked to the subway, hopped on, and began our adventure to Coney Island!
Coney Island was definitely the place I was most excited to see. When we arrived, the overall atmosphere was just fun and lively. Coney Island USA is an organization whose mission is to preserve Coney Island’s rich history. “Coney Island USA exists to defend the honor of American popular culture through innovative exhibitions and performances” (http://www.coneyisland.com/about-coney-island-usa). I’m glad the instructors decided to discuss Coney Island on the beach next to the boardwalk because I am absolutely head over heels in love with beaches. I could have sat there forever. I learned how Coney Island was a getaway for a lot of people in New York because of its remarkable attractions and amazing boardwalk. “During the 1920s and ‘30s huge crowds thronged the boardwalk (opened 1923) or lay thigh to thigh in the sand” (Blue Guide p. 492). I knew Coney Island was a place where you could get a famous Nathan’s Hotdog, but I didn’t know it was where the hotdog originated! That blew my mind. Luna Park was stunning and I even got to ride the famous rollercoaster the Cyclone- it was a blast! Nathan’s was the obvious choice for lunch, and after some touring we were off to our next destination.
We made our way to the New York Transit Museum. We had a great tour guide, and she was very friendly and knowledgeable. I was shocked to learn that it took New York such a long time to get a sanitation service that the streets were unbearably polluted. Trains allowed people to commute easier, spread out the condensed population, and apparently cut down the number of horses that added to the pollution in New York. When subways were created, it was a very dangerous job and workers had to adjust to the harsh conditions underground. I will never forget the story about the subway worker who got sucked out of the underwater worksite because of the pressure of the water, and shot through the water into the air, reminiscing that the last thing he saw before he fell back to the water was the Brooklyn Bridge. I definitely appreciate all of their hard work a lot more now that I know what they had to go through. We were given time to roam around the museum and explore. I checked out a lot of vintage trains and subways. It was a really cool experience, seeing all of the throwback ads on the old train cars.
Our next destination was Brooklyn Heights. “Brooklyn Heights, bounded by the East River, Old Fulton St, Atlantic Ave, and Court St, is an old
residential neighborhood. Sometimes called New York’s first suburb, it also became its first designated Historic District” (Blue Guide p. 466). Some parts of Brooklyn Heights had the most breath-taking views of New York City. I can see why it is known for being a rich area. It’s hard to put into words how magnificent the City looked from Brooklyn Heights. It’s truly incredible. We finished the day by walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, which is approximately 1.13 miles long. It was so much fun walking across the busy bridge that the walk flew by. Even though this is only the first class, I can honestly say this is already the most entertaining class I have ever taken. I am so lucky I stumbled across this course and I really can’t wait for the next class.
residential neighborhood. Sometimes called New York’s first suburb, it also became its first designated Historic District” (Blue Guide p. 466). Some parts of Brooklyn Heights had the most breath-taking views of New York City. I can see why it is known for being a rich area. It’s hard to put into words how magnificent the City looked from Brooklyn Heights. It’s truly incredible. We finished the day by walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, which is approximately 1.13 miles long. It was so much fun walking across the busy bridge that the walk flew by. Even though this is only the first class, I can honestly say this is already the most entertaining class I have ever taken. I am so lucky I stumbled across this course and I really can’t wait for the next class.
A Tale of Three Villages
During our next class, we explored a few popular villages in New York. During the day we made our way through Greenwich Village, the West Village, and the East Village. Each location has its own uniqueness that adds to the overall atmosphere of this particular part of New York. These areas are extremely exotic, and the stories behind them are both amusing and fascinating.
Greenwich Village was very culturally diverse. I could tell right away that Greenwich Village was not your average village. Instead, it was filled with originality and diversity. “Greenwich Village is America’s bohemia, its Left Bank, a cradle of creativity and individuality and artistic fulfillment” (Blue Guide p. 128). We learned that Greenwich Village was filled with a lot of gays at a time when people were not as tolerant to homosexuality as they are today. A lot of riots broke about because of a movement for gay rights and acceptance. Today, Greenwich Village is filled with gay bars, and I spotted a ton of gay pride flags throughout the village. I was proud of those who fought for cultural diversity, and the gay culture definitely adds to the diversity in Greenwich Village. It’s not easy to stand up for what you believe in if it goes against the norm, and you are often ostracized if you’re different. I give a lot of credit to the gay community in these villages for being so courageous, and I believe that this is an extremely important topic to touch base on because of the struggles the gay community went through.
One of the parks we visited, Washington Square Park, has stunning scenery. This beautiful park was so lively, and there were even people swimming in the fountain! Washington Square Park was once filled with a lot of drugs, sex, and violence. Since its darker days, it has really cleaned up, and if my professors didn’t tell me how awful the park used to be, it would have never crossed my mind. We were able to see the Washington Arch and its sculpture. “Washington Arc, designed by Stanford White, modeled on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, dominates the northern entrance to Washington Square Park” (Blue Guide p. 131). I personally thought that the sculptures were magnificent, and really complimented the park quite nicely.
We made our way to the Merchant’s House Museum and received a very informative tour of the Merchant’s House. As one of the few surviving pieces of history, we got a glimpse of the lifestyle and living arrangements of a wealthy family in this particular area of New York during the 1800s. This house was astonishing, and I couldn’t believe that it has been protected and preserved for all of these years. The symmetry of some of the rooms really stuck out to me- families would have fake or “dummy” doors to ensure that adjacent parlors were symmetrical. Bells were used for communication between the servants and the homeowners, and they bathed in extremely small buckets. I was shocked at some of the common behaviors during this time period, such as a widow mourning the death of her husband for at least two years. The house was so intriguing, and I really captured the whole lifestyle of the Merchant’s House.
Over in the East Village, we went to another museum- The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (www.morusnyc.org). The tour was almost entirely outdoors, as we learned about an abandoned village that was so rundown that nobody lived there. When activists began cleaning up these rundown areas, there was a lot of backlash from the City. Buildings that were once unoccupied became home to activists known as “squatters”, and vacant lots were turned into community gardens. We visited a whole bunch of these community gardens, filled with recycled materials and beautiful artwork.
We made our way through Tompkins Square Park, which was home to many riots between the activists and the police force. The fighting got so out of hand that innocent pedestrians were getting caught in these riots. Curfews and laws were enforced, but the police could just not control the brawls that broke out. To be honest, I don’t know which side I agree with because both sides have valid arguments. My first impression of the activists was that they were doing a good thing for a broken community. Then, I thought that they were being ridiculous with all of the rioting and freeloading. Now, I feel like their actions were somewhat justified because no one wanted to live there until they cleaned it up. Either way, the fights that occurred that caused snow stained with blood clearly shaped the Village into what it is today.
The diversity in the Villages was overwhelming, and the history behind them was even more mind blowing. As the gentrification of this area occurs, the residents are forced to move to cheaper communities. All of these areas are going through gentrification so I am really curious to see what these areas are like in the near future. Overall, this class was extremely informative and I definitely learned a lot more than I thought I would about the Villages.
East of the Park
I definitely had this class marked on my calendar because I knew it was the class that we were visiting Strawberry Fields and learning about one of my all-time favorite musicians, John Lennon. I was praying that it didn’t thunderstorm so we could make it through the day, and we got really lucky because the worst weather we got was a light drizzle. We were able to experience Harlem, which I found surprisingly nicer than I thought it would be. “Harlem is the most famous center of African-American life and culture in the US. African-American blacks make up most of the population, though the area east of Park Avenue and north of 96th St, with a large Puerto Rican and Latino population, is known as El Barrio or Spanish Harlem” (Blue Guide p. 437).
One of the highlights of the day was visiting the Museum of the City of New York. In this particular museum, we saw a lot of different artwork that was affiliated with the culture of New York. I enjoyed the brief film about the history of New York, which really put New York's history into perspective for me. Creating a grid-like street system was a genius idea that we are still benefitting from today. The Erie Canal allowed New York to prosper into the city it is today and its significance was highlighted in the short film. We sometimes forget that New York was not always the great place we know of today. After visiting the museum, I am much more appreciative of the hard work and dedication that helped create the greatest city in the world.
Next on the agenda was a tour from a very informative Bronx native named Luke (or Lucas, whichever flows off the tongue better as he would say). Luke definitely knew a great deal about New York and was able to give an unforgettable tour. I think Luke was such a great tour guide because he was so passionate about his message to us. He spoke a great deal about unity in the community. As he spoke about the different artwork on various buildings in the area, it was clear that he wanted to emphasize how close some of these communities were, and how their customs gave them their identity. He stopped a friendly pedestrian, who was very happy to speak about Harlem and its uniqueness. We broke down what we saw on various murals, piece by piece, and also discussed the importance of the images we were viewing. For example, in one mural, the people in the picture were playing dominoes, playing music, and clearly bonding. This captured the true Harlem culture, for all of these things brought these people together. My favorite piece was a mosaic of John Lennon, which to me symbolized peace because John Lennon was a big advocate of giving peace a chance. Luke was a great tour guide, and he even recited his own poetry about a woman on the subway singing. He was so passionate; he was able to get us all to sing along with him. I felt connected with his poetry, and all of his messages were positive.
We made our way to Central Park, which was beautiful even on a cloudy day. The joggers were out and about as we made our way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. One painting that caught my eye was titled “Still Life with Teapot and Fruit”, which was painted by a French artist named Paul Gauguin. After viewing this painting and taking the title of the piece into consideration, I believe that this artwork was a representation of taking the time to pause and enjoy the little things in life. Everyone should pause and enjoy the still life, and the simple pleasures of life.
After our time in the Metropolitan Museum of Art was cut short, we made our way to Strawberry Fields. John Lennon has been such a big inspiration in my life that my high school yearbook quote was lyrics from his song Imagine (“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one”). As a huge Beatles fan, I was in awe when I saw the tribute to John Lennon with the word Imagine encrypted into the ground surrounded by flowers (www.centralpark.com/guide/attractions/strawberry-fields.html). Strawberry Fields is actually in the shape of a tear drop, which give me the chills. We were able to see the Dakota, the place where the great John Lennon was shot. His death impacted the whole world as our professors explained to us just how prominent of a figure Lennon was. They even remembered exactly where they were when they heard the news. It was such a huge loss that the nation as a whole was mourning the death of one of the greatest human beings to ever live. As I paid my respects to John Lennon, I promised myself to never forget what he stood for- peace. Overall, I was so moved by this particular class that it will be instilled in my memory forever.