Being in Brooklyn Toggle navigation

10/05/13
Zeeshan Arif
English 1101
Project #2 Overlapping New York
I have been living here in New York for ten years now. In this ten years I have seen most of the New York. However I had never been to Down Town Brooklyn until I went to see my college, “The New York City College of Technology”. I really liked the whole area around my college, Down Town Brooklyn and specially the Brooklyn Bridge. I have driven on the Brooklyn Bridge but never walked on it, so I decided to change that and walk there.
It was easy for me to get to Brooklyn Bridge since I walked from my college. I got out on the Jay Street and took a left onto Tillary Street. Then I took a left from Tillary Street and walked a block up from there. I was really amazed to see that my college’s building covers the whole block. Then when I got to end of the block the starting point of my walk was right there, The Brooklyn Bridge Promenade.
I started my exploring walk from there. It was a great experience for me to walk on Brooklyn Bridge for the first time. While I was walking I saw a park and also a lot of buildings such as the District Court, the clock tower, The New York City office of emergency and also a park The Whiteman Park. That was really interesting for me to see that how the whole area was covered with buildings and in middle of that there was a park. It was good to see the Juxtaposition of manmade and natural and also the juxtaposition of new and old.
The one that stood out was the office building of New York City Emergency and the Whitman Park. The park was natural but the government structured it, added new benches, bathrooms and walking paths for people to enjoy that park. On the other hand was the totally manmade building which was built with fancy technology. It has those fancy doors, the glass outside, the balcony and the fancy look. While the park is different. This shows the juxtaposition of manmade and natural. However this also shows the old and new juxtaposition since the building was still new so it looked fancy and new. The park looks like it has been there for a while. It stood out for me because of the juxtaposition that was there. You can’t really see the difference from the promenade but you still the juxtaposition that is present there in those two locations. It is significant because this shows the difference between the manmade things and natural things and also to see how we humans change most of our natural resources. How we can change the whole look of something by today’s technology and our ideas.
Than after 15 minutes of walking I was finally there standing there in middle of the Brooklyn bridge. It was a great experience for me to stand there and have a great view of Brooklyn and Manhattan. It was really different than the view I had several time I passed the Brooklyn Bridge in a car. It is just an amazing place and the striking thing about this place is how it connects so much. This bridge was completed and the first day 15,000 people walked on this bridge. This bridge just connects the two main boroughs of New York City. I view this a connecting bridge for many things such as jobs, memories, and many lives.
Some people might view it different from my way of seeing it but I feel that it their opinion. “There are Eight Million naked cities in this naked city” (Colson Whitehead “City Limits”). This quote explains by what I mean that some people might view it from me. This means that everybody in New York view New York in their own way. They view it the way they see it or have seen it and also how they think of it. I see the Brooklyn bridge as the connector that connects a person to his/her job, friends going to Manhattan from Brooklyn to have fun and families going to see times square. These all are connected by one Bridge, The Brooklyn Bridge.
Colson whitehead in his “City Limits” also says “you start building your private New York the first time you lay your eyes on it”. This means that the first time you see something in New York that’s when you start to building your own version of New York from that point on. It is the starting foundation of your New York. The first time I saw Brooklyn bridge I saw it as a connector since I was going to Manhattan from Brooklyn by that Bridge. I built my New York after seeing Manhattan and all the exciting places that are there. The Brooklyn Bridge was the starting foundation of my New York. In my New York I see the Brooklyn bride as the connector for many things and maybe it can also be the foundation of somebody else’s New York. That’s what makes it amazing for me the connector of all, The Brooklyn Bridge.
I have seen Brooklyn Bridge, read about it, walked on it now but there are still things that I want to know to about it. I want to know how it has stayed for so long? What technology was used to build thins Bridge? How long it can stay there? I feel that many questions can be asked about Brooklyn Bridge but I think only time will tell or more research will tell.