Author Archives: Guannn

BHS walking trip

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September 30th, my Speech and English class went on a walking trip instead of a normal class lecture. It was truly a unique and fun experience because it was so different from our normal classes. We started at City Tech’s library and made many stops before going to the Brooklyn Historical Society. Our first stop was the New York Post Office. We learned about the tragedy of the Brooklyn Theater. We walked to Brooklyn Height’s and we saw just how different a few streets can change the neighborhoods. We started off in a very urban area with big apartment buildings and courthouses everywhere we looked. Within a few streets, the streets were filled with suburban houses that were really amazing. We passed by a church that Henry Beecher was once a preacher at. We continued to walk around the area until we reached  Brooklyn Heights. I’ve never been to Brooklyn Heights and I was truly amazed when I got there. I saw one of the most beautiful sights ever across the water, Manhattan skyline. I’ve never seen the buildings in that perspective before and seeing it really made me realize how much of New York City I had been missing out on. After a while of walking in Brooklyn Heights, we circled around and made it to Brooklyn Historical Society. Brooklyn Historical Society is really a place of history. The library was one I’d never been in before. I had never been in a library where I had to take so many precautions when handling books, which shows just how important these documents were.  Brooklyn Historical Society was a lot of fun and I look forward to our next visit there.

braggarts

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braggarts (noun)  a loud arrogant boaster

“Never listen to what people tell you about old New York, because if you didn’t witness it, it is not a part of your New York and might as well be Jersey. Except for that bit about the Dutch buying Manhattan for 24 bucks — there are and always will be braggarts who “got in at the right time” City Limits by Colson Whitehead paragraph 5

This part of the passage means that if you didn’t witness it yourself then it is not true and it cannot be a part of your New York. However, there will always be loud and arrogant boasters that are always bragging about how they made such a profit or a good event that happened to them.

threshold

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threshold – noun : a level, point, or value above which something is true or will take place and below which it is not or will not

Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/threshold

“You didn’t know that each time you passed the Threshold you were saying good bye” City Limits by Colson Whitehead

This part of the passage meant that each time he went somewhere not knowing that it’ll close down was each a time that he missed a chance to say good bye. He did not know where the threshold was for how long the store will continue to be open for and therefore misses a chance to say good bye each time he goes to that store.

 

impediment

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impediment (noun) : an impairment (as a stutter or a lisp) that interferes with the proper articulation of speech

source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impediments

“It saw you steeling yourself for the job interview, slowly and walking home after the late date, tripping over nonexistent impediments on the sidewalk.” City Limits by Colson Whitehead

This sentence means that New York City saw him when he was very confident after a job interview or when he was walking home after a late date and tripping over nonexistent things that will stop him from walking smoothly on the sidewalk.

9/30 Homework

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The place I picked for my project is Brooklyn Technical High School. It is about a mile away from City Tech.To get to Brooklyn Tech, you leave City Tech from the Namm exit and walk to the right until you are in front of Polytechnic Institute of NYU. Walk through the long stretch of the NYU Poly campus until you end up in front of Chase Bank. You should be across the street from the stunning Toren building. Then, walk towards Dekalb avenue until you reach Applebee’s and during this time you will pass the Health Department of New York followed by the Long Island University’s campus. Once you reach Applebee’s, walk east a few streets and you will be at Brooklyn Technical High School.
“She is wrong, of course– when I look up there, I clearly see the gigantic letters spelling out Pan Am, don’t I?” Colson says that even though the building is no longer the Pan Am building, in his New York, it’ll always be Pan Am building. This is very true because to me, this colossus building known as Brooklyn Tech will always be Brooklyn Tech. Even if in the future this building were to become something other than Brooklyn Tech, it will still be Brooklyn Tech because it was here when I first built my New York.

“Our streets are calendars containing who we were and who we will be next.” This quote from City Limits by Colson Whitehead is extremely true. This building is standing proof of who I once was. It contains the memories of who I was during the teenage years of my life and it will always contain memories that will make me nostalgic. I will always be able to look back to this building and see myself. As long as Brooklyn Tech is standing in my version of New York, then the “me” from 13-18 will always be there.

http://http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Brooklyn_Tech_High_School.jpg

Group E City Limits Summary

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City Limits by Colson Whitehead starts off sarcastically saying that New York City is the best place ever and that it has ruined other towns and cities for him. However, Colson says that every single person in New York City has their own different version of New York City which results in over eight million different cities. People begin to build their own New York as soon as they lay eyes on it. With each new place and experience a person goes to is another “brick” in their version of New York.New York City is always changing but according to Whitehead, buildings that have been torn down and replaced by new ones will always be there because it was there when he built his New York. Just because the city changes doesn’t mean Colson’s New York will. New York City is always changing and it doesn’t wait for anyone and sometimes we don’t even notice that these buildings are gone before it’s too late. This means that many times, people do not get to say their proper goodbyes. Colson says that he wished he had the chance to say good bye to places he did not get a chance to bid farewell to, including his old apartments. New York City doesn’t wait for anyone and changes everything. Colson mentions in the end that the city doesn’t expect us to stay the same so we should give it the same courtesy.

A walk in New York City

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I moved to Brooklyn, New York City over 13 years ago. Within those times, I’ve had many walks in the city. The most recent walk I had was along the shore of Caesar’s Bay. I was feeling really down that day and I decided to get some fresh air. I live fairly close to Caesar’s bay so transportation was not necessary. I had to walk over a mile in before getting to the stairway that connected the shore and the streets together.  The streets of New York are truly unique. Each street can have a combination of stores, supermarkets, houses and more all together. When I got to the shore, I noticed garbage all over the grass parallel to the shore. It was a disgusting sight to see how much effort people give to maintain a clean city. I walked slowly along the shore and glancing at the ocean and thinking just how people even thought fishing here was a good idea. The ocean was disgusting and littered with just as much garbage as there was on the grass. The water itself looked sickening. After walking all the way from the beginning of the shore to the end, I decided to just rest. I sat down in front of the major stores in the Caesar’s Bay Bazaar. Best Buy, Kohls, Modells and Toys “R” Us were all gathered in one large space for people all over Bensonhurst to come shop. After a few hours of relaxing on the bench, I decided to head home.

City limits summary

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” City Limits” by Colson Whitehead is a summary about each individual’s “New York.” He claims that New York is the greatest place ever and it has ruined him for other cities and towns. According to Whitehead, everyone has their own version of New York. People begin to start building their own version of New York when we lay our eyes on the city. The building that was once the Pan Am Building is now Des Moines but in Whitehead’s version of New York ,it will always be Pan Am Building because it was there when he started building his own New York. Everyone’s New York is different because everyone came to New York at different times and every person has had different experiences with this ever changing city. Buildings that were once pizza shops & pharmacies are now completely different places. Because these buildings are coming and going so fast, many times we are not given a chance to say good bye. We don’t get warnings when these places suddenly disappear. No one tells us that this might be our last ride in a Checker cab before it stops running or that a restaurant we’ve always loved will suddenly go out of business. If there is a chance, Whiteman would love to go back and say his proper goodbyes. If his old apartments could talk, they’d say goodbye too. Everyday is a day that changes everyone’s New York and the day we realize that New York moves on without us is the day we become true New Yorkers.

Picturesque

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“There was a picturesque park with rolling hills and tennis courts, and in the fall it filled with hard, brown, fallen acorns that I used to college and on occasion toss at friends.”               –  Fort Greene Dreams by Nelson George

Picturesque means something that is beautiful and charming. Nelson George was using this word to describe a very beautiful park that had all of these features.
adjective; charming or quaint in appearance

an image of picturesque park & fort greene park
http://www.nycgovparks.org/photo_gallery/full_size/10265.jpg

Tangible

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adjective

Define:  capable of being perceived especially by the sense of touch
Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tangible


Fort Greene Dreams pg34 ; “One Tangible document of the creative ferment in Fort Greene, and the overall New York black community, was a photo taken by Anthony Barboza for an unpublished  The New York Times Magazine piece on the “new black aesthetic” by  Trey Ellis in 1989.


Tangible means that something can be touched. Nelson George was referring to a document that actually exists and can be accessed was a photo taken by Anthony Barboza.