Category Archives: Project #3

Presentations and more!

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Focused freewrite

We’ll begin class today with the question:

If you could take a class in anything in college, what would it be and why? You might want to think back to Project #1 and how you described yourself, your interests and passions, and your philosophy or aesthetic sensibility.

Next,

Imagine college went away for a while–or you went away from it. You’re all caught up with chores and responsibilities. What would you spend your time doing? Imagine limitless possibilities or resources if that helps you free yourself of reality.

Finally,

What would a course in your preferred activity (from above) be?

For our brainstorming presentations:

  • What is the overlap that relates to my interest?
  • What passage(s) might it relate to?
  • What is the next step?
  • What argument might you make in your project?

Or, if you want to do what was originally assigned:

  • show the photograph
  • identify the location
  • identify what you claim is the overlap
  • what are some points of comparison or contrast?
  • 1 passage and how it relates
  • a draft of your thesis statement.

Presentations:

SS: Interest in trains and the experience of seeing them for the first time as a teenager. Where to see them? The transit museum? Better to go to the Manhattan Bridge overpass. Overlap: train in its environment. Maybe the area when the train is there and when it’s not. OR maybe on the train vs. on the ground? OR train at different times of day, different demographics. Whitehead on 1 train, McGrath on Brooklyn Bridge. SS will revisit the site.

KL: walk over Jay St to the Manhattan Bridge  to Canal St to Chinatown. Gentrification is pushing Chinese people out of Chinatown. Now there’s a cafe, not Chinese shops. Thesis: NY is home to a lot of good overlap, but there are some areas where one is pushing out another through gentrification. Think about Whitehead on what was there before being more real, etc

DL: New City Tech building compared to Namm. Even though they’re both designed to educate, they have different approaches. Namm as old, chalkboards, etc. New building: glass, modern, changing society, different educational experience? Buildings starting to represent how we live in society, esp technology. Whitehead: attachment to buildings. KL: more light, taller ceilings can lead to greater productivity

MM: Barclay’s Center and what the neighborhood was before. More lively than the depressed area. More traffic and more events (concerts, graduation). Whitehead: 8 million naked city

BC: DUMBO, old factory building contrasting with a skyscraper building in Manhattan: changing skyline, a piece of history overlapped with a new modern building. Whitehead, changing NY

JF: Fulton and DeKalb: Dime Savings Bank turning into apartments, cafes, etc.; plus broken-down stores. Changing from Forever 21, Century 21. Think about McGrath on poverty

why there?

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I chose this place because it looks like a place that had many hidden details just sitting there, as if it was waiting to be discovered. When looking in this area you feel as though there was a lot going on back then. From the strip across the street that has all the signs torn off and what used to be the dime savings bank building across the street that was there around the same time as the other stores you can feel that the area holds a sense nostalgia. I want to know more about the area in a whole, because I started searching to see what it looked like before right now but I couldn’t seem to find anything. In Colson Whitehead, “City Limits” it stated ” Or fifteen, twenty-five, a hundred neighborhoods. Thousands of people pass that storefront every day, each one haunting the streets of his or her own New York, not one seeing the same thing”. My area can be related to this package, because you can see the hidden history and as the dime savings bank is under construction to become something different, it won’t be the same place to everyone. It also stated ” Our old buildings still stand because we say them, moved in and out of their long shadows”. While the area i see is a place that is broken down that holds history, people who lived there are seeing the place they lived through.

Project 3

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The reason why I chose Dumbo is because usually people would take pictures here. A lot of people take pictures here because it’s a nice background and it is a popular area here. On the Brooklyn bridge, there are people walking to the other side and cars driving on the bridge. Around the Brooklyn bridge, there are parks for sports like basketball, soccer, handball, and volleyball. The Brooklyn bridge is usually busy and it’s very easy to see Manhattan on the Brooklyn bridge.

Witnessing the change of Atlantic Pacific

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The reason why I selected Barclay Center for project 3  is because i’ve witness the changes before what it is today.  Like before  when the arena wasn’t built, I would always pass by and go to my twin brother  elementary school(P.S 38)  due to his miss behavior ,also every Sundays me and my family would spend our day in Chucky Cheese playing and looking at the view. Even the train station use to be called Atlantic Pacific. In addition,  I know people that had to move out of their apartments and look for another place because tenants use to get  pressured to leave. I also know people that protested  in order to keep their homes. The aftermath of their well fought protest was total defeat , and the result of that was people becoming temporarily  homeless. However, once the Barclay Center was constructed everything started  look very modern and high tech. This would eventually make the area more expensive and for the people that live around Barclay’s and were lower class would eventually move out due to expensive rent. Despite the the small history about Barclay Center,  this is the reason why I would want to write about more and share the past and the present about Barclay Center.  Also how does the past and presented impacted the community.

Brooklyn Bridge Park

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The reason why I choose this place is because its at the edge of Brooklyn. Another word for Brooklyn bridge park is DUMBO. DUMBO is known for the view and the hot spots around it. There are many constructions going on around DUMBO. What attracts me to pick this place is because of the different variety store in the area. There are different types of restaurants located there. There are also different types of sport courts there; Soccer filed, handball court, volleyball court and basketball court. Since the parks are located right next to the river, we can easily spot Manhattan right across. DUMBO is a place where all types of culture combine together to form a small community.

My Views

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The Brooklyn Height Promenade has one of the best views that any man could ever wish to see. When I sit down in a bench I witness the surrounding area come alive, people walking their dogs, going out for a jog, and relaxing, captivated by the view they have in front of them. I chose the Brooklyn height  promenade because of the view of the city. I believe its one of the best view to watch. In “City Limits” the author Colson Whitehead states “… you have your own personal skyline” my interpretation of this quote is that the skyline I see In the Brooklyn Height Promenade is not the same skyline the person next to me is seeing, everyone is experiencing it in their own way. The individual has a different perspective then me and their ideology is also different compared to mine. I also witness the area around the promenade and noticed the different stature, how big Manhattan is compared to Brooklyn in general. Looking at a photo from The New York Post, I see how Manhattan is the biggest area around compared to the other cities. The attention to detail of Manhattan was massive compared to the surrounding area. I believe the author is trying to tell the reader that the area people like specifically in Manhattan is the area they know/remember most.

where is the juxtaposition

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As you walk out of City Tech on the Jay Street and walk towards the a train station, you continue to walk past the train station and continue walking straight until you walk past a deli when you reach Fulton Street and you cross the street so you’re on the side opposite side of the McDonald’s and you keep walking straight. Continuing straight your going to see a slight left turn near the century 21. Then walk past the century 21 you will see an old building that looks as if it is under construction and across the street is a strip of stores that you can signs that have been broken down. The juxtaposition about this area is that although this was a big thing back in the 1990’s and how much of a difference and beautiful piece it was. It will now become a ” SHop Architects-designed mixed-use tower” which is a place that consist of many things such as apartments and restaurants. The picture i took does not really capture the idea because its just the side of the building but it can’t catch it because it is not built as yet but is under construction.

Dumbo before it was Dumbo

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At first I was quite hesitant towards this project, I wasn’t really sure if I was going to be able to go through with it until Monday rolled on in and Prof. Rosen had said we could take a stroll along our “campus” which she considers to be the area around the school for our project ideas. Shortly thereafter I had gone carelessly roaming around until I found myself in the streets of Dumbo, 68 jay streets to be exact. Then and there I decided to write about a factory looking building which is now an apartment building. This particular building stuck out to me because its design looked as if it was from the late 1930’s and it also had two platforms for water towers, but those were removed because they weren’t up there. The story I felt this building was communicating to me was although everything around you may change and things aren’t as original as they once were you have to remain the original you. Three passages I found in “city limits,” by colson whitehead which support my overlap story is in paragraph #2 when he says “You are a new Yorker when what was there before is more real and solid than what is there now”. As you can see the building is a part of the past but it’s still there which makes it realer than what we’ll ever know. Another passage is on the fourth paragraph where it says “I still call it the pan Am building, not out of affectation, but because that’s what it is. As I said the original can’t change.

Reasons for the area

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The reason for why I chose this area where because one it was near the school I was tired honestly I didn’t feel like walking much and I had class in like 30 minutes I wasn’t trying to late. But I noticed a lot of things I don’t see around where I live I saw a high school that looked like a building where businesses would have there business location or where governments would have there buildings located. Around where I live high schools have like a small campus in front and they look like castles or mini buildings but this high school looked like a 6+ story building and it was a high school so it caught my interest. Also as I walked down the road I noticed nice hotels delis and bar and restaurants and it was dope like that whole road was just mixed it wasn’t just one certain thing it was a mixed of food places a high school and hotels. And before I turned back to school I saw a building that just said in big words bar and restaurant and it was like straight to the point it didn’t have a name like shenanigans or Big ales or Hooters or Buffalo wild wings It was just plain and simple Bar and restaurant and I found that dope cause not many places are that simple they go extra and come up with a name but this place was like simple bar & restaurant and I liked the location as well it was across the Manhattan building so like you have a great view. So yeah thats pretty much why I chose the area I did to explore.

Reason for The Area

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At the beginning of this project I did not choose the spot I am originally going to work with. I choose a black and white Smoke Shop where you go to buy cigars. However, I choose New York Transit Museum, because it was the only thing Downtown Brooklyn in the direction that I walked that caught my attention. Not being from the United States made it even more interesting because I never saw a real train until I came to the U.S. And automatically I was interested. I saw this perfectly cleaned clear glass with its green background and I was already blown away. On the side of the glass it has a black frame explaining what it was. I then proceeded to the front of the museum and said to myself oh no. It seemed spooky compared to a regular train station and that is as far as I got, due to the fact the museum is only open Tuesday to Sundays. Another reason I choose this area, is because I could make connections to the reading of Colson Whitehead, “City Limits,” and that inspired me to work on this project for the next few weeks. And if anyone is interesting in attending the museum as me the price is $10.00.

(I took pictures but they were not as good so I have to retake them)