What city walking experiences do you have in common with the writer? What in your experience is different from what he wrote about? What do you think of the power of serendipity to “expose our commonalities,

The walking experiences I usually have is traveling from Staten Island to Manhattan. In the article “Due North” by Garnette Cadogan. The writer has mentioned that “To walk the street from one to the other, as I often do, is to bear witness to a landscape of asymmetry”, which reminds me of what I have experienced between the two boroughs Staten Island and Manhattan. In the neighborhood that I’m living in Staten Island is very quiet and safe, the major people I will meet will be the people who walk dogs, but I still barely see them.

The writer mentions how he likes to walk a lot and he could have interaction with other people. I also like to walk a lot, especially in the summertime. I discovered that not only walking can interact with people but also on transportation. I always take a ferry and transfer subway to Manhattan or Brooklyn. Some people will think that taking the 30 mins ferry is wasting time, and I used to think the same. However, since I get used to the commute, I started to enjoy the time I have on the ferry. I enjoy to see the water around, I start to notice the people around me. I talked to strangers that were sitting next to me, I observe and absorb, and I understand like what the writer does while he is walking. I remember once an elder started to talk to me when I was waiting for the ferry to go home. We shared our experiences with each other. He told me about his stories and New York City. Our conversation ended in 30 mins, but I learned more about New York City and some other things that I didn’t know before.

Most of the people are so quiet and calm on the ferry, tourists will sit down and enjoy the ferry ride or stand in front of a window and wait for seeing the Statue of Liberty. Everyone is enjoying the time on the ferry. But when people see the dock of the White Hall Ferry terminal, they will get ready and stand on the front of the ferry, and then everyone starts to get off and rush to work or to school at the morning and rush to home after work. Manhattan is busy, crowded and noisy compared to Staten Island. However, no matter how different the two places are, on the ferry everyone is the same, the power of serendipity does expose our commonalities.