Reasons for walking detours:
beauty
green
happiness
quiet
safety
cleanliness
food
excitement/liveliness
shopping
adventure
notable/historic landmarks
change the subway
outside time/inside time
internet connection
fewest turns
most beautiful
go where the tasty smells are
shortest walk
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!
I enjoyed this project because it involved walking out to a new place. It was really interesting to learn about juxtapositions.Ā I really got to know areas near the school more. I thought finding overlapping New Yorks would be hard, but it wasn’t as hard as I thought.Ā What I could improve more on the project is how I describe what I see by sight or any senses. I also need to improve on my quotes and showing how they support my essay’s thesis more, I might not have elaborated on them much in my essay.
While I was doing project #2 I worried the most about writing more of an agenda than relating my journey to Colson Whitehead’s ‘City Limits’. I was surprisingly happy to do this project. It made me actually look at the areas of downtown brooklyn. I got to observe the overlapping New Yorks and dug deeper into the history and dynamics of the area. Making up to 900 words was a bit of a struggle for me but nevertheless the more I wrote the essay the more I began to explore the juxtapositions of the New Yorks I was assigned to. I still believe there is a lot that I could work on and correct. For now I’m very happy that I was able to relate the culture of Fulton street and Court street to that of ‘City Limits’ and ‘Ways of Seeing’.
What I found the most difficult out of the project was finding a place that I could personally feel somewhat attached to and could write about as my personal New York. As for finding the Juxtaposition in the Metro tech area and that was pretty easy as many places easily felt out of place with Jay Street’s modern look. When it came down to it I found this project really fun, I was able to learn more about places that while a still familiar were still very foreign to me. Overall what I feel will need improvement is in quoting and using quotes as a means of support to my essays.
Time goes fast, we’ve already finished two projects for this semester. In this project, I’ve learned about juxtaposition, we walked around our campus to find our juxtapositions. Also Ā Colson Whitehead’s book “City Limits” has give us some ideas of juxtapositions. I like the way we’ve learn by walking around city first. I feel like this is useful to help me understand the project.Ā For this project, I think I need to prove comment skills. By ‘peer to peer review’ part, I’ve read a lot of amazing works from our classmates. I feel like that they are all good so that I cannot leave a comment objectively. Ā Their works help me to get the points of our projects which are pretty useful. Ā I’ll still work on my works of project 1 and 2 to make them Ā much better. One more thing is I”m trying to post every work on time and be in class on time.
While reading the article by Charles Mcgrath which talks about Will Self’s exploration of New York City, I can’t help but relate to his Self’s experiences. For one Self talks about the pleasure he derives from his walks and how it surpasses the pleasure he once obtained from drugs, on my end I would takes walks as a way to relax my inner turmoil without having to do drugs, not that I ever did mind you. Self’s stance on walking and exploration is that walking is one of the very few forms out there that represent true exploration in today’s post-industrial age, with this I also agree with as well. Self talks about his walk to the airport and his walk to the hotel which was more dangerous than he had first expected it to be, from my own experiences I too agree with him and his stance. By walking home from school during high school I was able to see new sights and experience other things that I otherwise would not have experienced if I had taken a method of mass transportation. Overall what stood out to me the most is his journey and the way it connects to me, but not only that but how it also connects to a reading we have made before in class.
A literary visitor strolls in from the airport is a article from the New York times by Charles Mcgrath. It talks about Will Self and his new novel but most importantly his travel to New York and his experiences. Unlike most people Self likes to walk rather than taking mass transportation, Self’s reasoning behind this is that in a post-industrial age walking is one of the very few forms of exploration that still exist.Ā Self’s walks are not only for exploration but for relaxation as he states that it keeps him away from drugs and alcohol and the pleasure that he gets from it is much greater than what drugs have ever given. Self also talks about what he sees and smells such as the “afflatus of the city’s bowels” and how they are getting into the real body of the city. In the end it is mostly about his experiences of walking through the city.
As I mentioned last week, the FYLC office is moving, and because of that, I will not be in class tomorrow. If anyone has any questions or needs assistance, please e-mail me and I will schedule the nearest appointment to meet with you.
Our new FYLC Office is in Namm 506. We’re hoping to settle down there for a while.
Please remember to post your work on your e-portfolio. Also, if you feel that you need extra academic assistance in any of your classes, please visit the learning center. I’ll see you guys on Wednesday.
This will be my research: view from my window. At the first glence what attracted me is the telegraph pole. This is the wood pillars and tilts. I always felt like it is this might fell one day. There are a lot of wires on the pole,Ā every wire isĀ strait hangingĀ in the sky. Look down from the window there are a yard of plant. My family planted those. There are manyĀ kind of plants such as sunflower, elliptic small tomato,and rosemaries;ect. Some will be wrapped around a stick up for plants to grow. TheseĀ plants make me feel life is full of color. also look Ā out of my window isĀ Kissena Blvd. Many cars go back and froth, it is nonstop action. the sound makes me feel new york never goes to sleep.
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