Everyone Has Their Own New York: Random Blog Post

Hello ! This might be personal blog post, but it relates a lot with writing and art. Three weeks ago my grandma past away from colon cancer. After her past, it has been very hard for me to even talk at times,  and this weekend we started taking out her stuff from her room and to give them away. We kept some things, and one thing that I found from her was a journal. A beautiful journal, with art, photographs, and writing. It practically described her journeys here in New York City. I really didn’t know that my grandma back then liked to travel to the city and discover her favorite places. In the journal, she described how Times square was nothing but strip clubs and bars. Reading her journal, it made me realize how important it is to just live your life, and I know when she got here, thats the first thing she did. Just like we discovered our own New York, she had hers too. Years passed by, and as she explained on her journal, she found that her favorite part of New York City was Times Square, and in that case that was her New York.  The last thing she wrote on her journal was, ” By reading this, go to my Times Square and follow the same steps I did and see how beautiful it is.” I miss my grandma very much, and she was a visualizer just like me, and now walking to Times Square will be more exciting knowing I am walking my grandma’s New York.

BHS Research

Check out the photos ! Research/Reflection below !

2003 District Map

2003 District Map

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1800s Faded Map (you can tell it’s old)

1900s Transportation Map between Manhattan and Brooklyn

1900s Transportation Map between Manhattan and Brooklyn

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Updates on Atlas

Updates on Atlas

It was such a great experience going to the Brooklyn Historical Society because I never been there before, and seeing everything about history back then was very interesting. We went there to see different maps on different time periods, and how we can compare that to today’s life and how we see things in our everyday lives. My group and I had three different maps, and we had to visualize, and write what we observed from each map. The maps we had was from the 1800s, 1900s and 2003. When you look at these maps, you could tell right away which one is old and which one is newly present. We demonstrated how by showing to our professors that the oldest map compared to the other two was old, and the color was faded. Moving forward to the more present maps, it showed more saturation and contrast, the color was good enough to read important information. In addition, what was also very interesting to me was the fire insurances Atlas, in this case showed what each building was made of( wood, brick, ground, etc) and how it worked for each. Each year or so, people would come and update these Atlas, and you could feel how rough the paper was with so much glue they would use pasting the paper on top of the old. Overall it was a great going there and realizing how time passes by so fast, you could see how everything changed from housing, transportation and a whole other things.

 

Favorite Image: Wonder Exhibit

This was my favorite image of the “Wonder Exhibit” because it was one the most that stood out the most to me, something very different from the rest. I like that this photograph has something to think about, like why is there a lock there? Did someone’s quarters accidentally fell down ? It is such an interesting photograph that I enjoyed looking at. Overall this photograph has color even though it looks black and white, but you see the yellow from the reflection of the sun . The saturation of this photograph is very low, but it still looks very good, and as a visualizer I think the saturation was suppose to be low to have that sadness affect on the photo. The Green-Wood Cemetery is so big that it will probably take you three days to see everything, but this photograph that stood out the most to me had a great meaning and the photographer has good visualization !

Wonder Exhibit , my favorite photograph that stranded out the most to me

Wonder Exhibit , my favorite photograph that stranded out the most to me

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Ways of Seeing : Project #2 Reflection

I enjoyed this particular project because not only did you get to write what you visualize, but you get to travel from one place to another. While finding my New York, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would have been, especially the juxtaposition of two things. Writing the essay, I felt great. Putting all of my thoughts in, and of course details from Colson Whitehead’s article. When I juxtaposed the two things of my New York, i also did in general about all New York. What I learned from this project was a lot of things, but particularly three things. First, I didn’t know what juxtaposition was until this project was all about it. Learning this new word not only will I use it when i need that right word to use, but it’s good to write on essays to build up my vocabulary. Second, I enjoy walking and taking journeys, and going to my New York was the best choice ever. I took pictures, drew, and just sat there and relax. When you go to so many different places, you wonder a lot of things. You ask yourself what was here before that now is this?… So this projects made me learn lastly that everywhere, around the world, time is the key to everything. In time, change happens in the blink of an eye, and when you see that laundromat when you were young is now a clothing store, you juxtaposed from before to after. This project was about life experience and New York and all these different things, and that is why it became interesting to write about. Reading Whitehead’s article, he talked about his New York, and in that case we all have our own New York and how we feel about it. I was a fun project, traveling, writing, visualizing and this is a part of a big whole of designing and writing!

Ways of Seeing: Project #2 Final !!

Have you ever thought about stopping and looking what’s surrounding you now than what it was long time ago? Time is the key to life, and everything changes because of it, and with just a blink of an eye, the world is not the same anymore. New York City is known as the city that never sleeps, but, things changed dramatically, and when we look at a certain thing, you try to remember what was there before. The “Old” New York was the famous New York many people knew. Buildings were so modern, horses were “taxis”, and picture taking was in black and white. All those things that “Old” New York had is still remembered today when you see the change. So, when I stood in a certain place that I enjoy going, I see the juxtaposition of the “Old” New York, and the “New” New York.

To begin with, I didn’t really think about how New York City was before. You are so use to seeing what there is now, but you do get to remember what was there before things changed. In your neighborhood, you could see that things aren’t the same when time has been passing by, for example the Burger King that you see across the street was a car shop, or the Chase Bank that you go now to deposit money was a junk yard. Where I go, I call it “my” New York, because is a place where now is a park and is just so beautiful because you see both The Brooklyn Bridge, and The Manhattan Bridge. Many people know this place, its called “The Brooklyn Bridge Park”, also know as DUMBO, and it’s a very famous tourist place. When you look at certain things, you see new things, and I saw a lot of new things that were something else long ago. While I was walking, between Water St and Old Fulton St, I saw railroad tracks, all rusty and a good percent was covered with cement and bridge legs. From that moment, I saw my juxtaposition of “Old”  and “New” New York.

Furthermore, I took pictures of these railroads, and I was imagining how beautiful it was to have a train go by here, and under these bridges. When you come across these railroads, you already know that “Old” New York was here, and in my own personal opinion, I wish that the train that passed by here years ago , could have passed by here today. “New” New York, is just cement, with a brick like look, but it’s not the same, and the streets are bumpy and narrow in some ways. One of the Bridge Legs sits on these cements, but not on the railroads, but you could see that trains passed by it. When I saw these railroads, I felt the sound of it, and the feeling of the wind. The noises you hear when a train passes, is just so noisy, fast, and sometimes could be annoying. Now, you don’t hear that noise, all you hear is people, footsteps, wind, and sometimes even silence at night. So, I am not the only one that talks about “Old” New York and how things changed overtime.

Moreover, an author named, Calson Whitehead, has his New York. He wrote a book called,” The Colossus of New York,” and I read a part of ” City Limits”, which describes a little about his New York and juxtaposition of old and new. He tries to give a message to New Yorkers that has remembered how “Old” New York was and how it is today. After reading a part of his book, I started to look more about New York City, and seeing the aesthetic point of views I had, and what he had. “Go back to your old haunts in your old neighborhoods and what do you find, they remain and have disappeared”( Colson Whitehead, City Limits). One of my favorite sayings of Whitehead and it’s what I do sometimes when i cross by something new. It’s a fact that when you go back, you don’t see what you saw before. Like I said before, time is so magical, and “Old” New York was just so unique and ordinary, and now “New” New York, is more modernized and more technology than ever. Need a cab? They are everywhere, you wont miss one, but in the old times, horses was your way back home. So, as you can see, “Old” New York is remembered, and now “New” New York is the big deal.

In addition, when you think about New York City, you obviously talk about the big buildings, the lights, the music, the stores and so on. What is my concern is that I never got to say goodbye to what I saw before. I am not the only one, many people haven’t, as well as Colson Whitehead. DUMBO, is “my” New York, but not the New York that we see today, I want to see that train that goes by Water St, and Old Fulton St, I want to feel the wind, hear the noise. I want to experience that feeling of that train being there, the people in it, how different it would be. Colson Witehead wrote, “ We can never make proper goodbyes. It was your last ride in a Checker cab and you had no warning” (Colson Whitehead, City Limits). He was referring to that one last time you saw your favorite place, and now your thought you would see it again, but it disappeared. Today, New York City is different than ever, and we will never forget how it became this way. Mankind made change happen, and of course time. “New” New York has become the famous city that people around the world come to visit. If you look to other states or other countries, New York City will bet that is more extraordinary than them.

In conclusion, “old” New York will be seen everyday, because “new” New York is still old, but it has changed to be more modernize if you see closely. Goodbye to the things we saw long ago, or wished we did,  and hello to new possibilities. “My” New York will always be there, and I will go by those railroads, because its not going anywhere, its still there, just covered up. If you had the chance to go back through time, maybe a take pic, and see the difference. Of course thats not possible, but both old and new is still there, we are literally looking at it and stepping on it.

Works Cited :

Whitehead, Colson. “City Limits.” From The Colossus Of New York