There are overlapping New York’s in many areas including Brooklyn. The juxtaposition that I chose is in an area near Joralemon Street. This Juxtaposition area is well maintained and in disrepair. The areas are extremely opposite and don’t seem to belong on the same block because one of the areas contains a school that is very clean and looks well maintained, while the other part of the block has another school. It looks dirty because there is a huge pile of dirt next to it. These two areas are only separated by a few feet. The two areas are Brooklyn Law School and a pile of dirt next to State University of New York Brooklyn Educational Opportunity Center.
The overlapping New York that I chose is at Joralemon Street. In order to get to this area from the Adams Street entrance at New York City College of Technology, you walk straight up to the Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women. You continue walking straight up and you’ll see the Marriott hotel. A few feet up you’ll see Morton’s and then you’ll have to cross the street. Then walk to your left and walk straight up. Once you pass the 41 bus stop, you will see Brooklyn Law School across the street. Once you cross the street you’ll be at Joralemon. In this location, I see cracked sidewalks with piles of dirt just sitting there next to an entrance to State University of New York Brooklyn Educational Opportunity Center. Then if you walk up to Brooklyn Law School, the area looks really nice, clean, and well maintained.
The area that I chose is a well maintained area, and an area in disrepair. The two elements of the juxtaposition are really different. The first area which is the area in disrepair has a huge pile of dirt on the cracked sidewalk. It’s really just a pure cement area because there are no trees or grass around it. There were also pebbles in the dirt which are scattered on the sidewalk. This area is next to a tall building, which is interesting because I’m sure a lot of people walk past that area and it looks completely dirty. This area next to BEOC is a school that I would not see myself going to because it does not look eye-catching. It also does not seem like the school cares to maintain its area.  Then if you walk up a few feet, you’ll see the Brooklyn Law School and the area looks really well maintained. The sidewalk is clean and the gates to the Brooklyn Law School make the street look really nice. The gates are black, straight, and they are really high, and it goes good with the red building. The front of the schools sidewalk also has square patterns instead of just a plain floor. There are also trees and bushes that look like they are landscaped regularly. Brooklyn Law School looks like a school that I would want to go to because the school looks like it cares about maintaining the area it’s in. It’s really important to make your school look good because no one would want to go to a school that does not care about cleaning the area it’s in. Based on my observations of the two areas, it seems like Brooklyn Law School has more money and is harder to attend than BEOC. I chose this area in particular because I found it interesting that these two very different areas are on the same block. I found this striking because I would have never guessed that past the area next to Brooklyn Law School there would be such a dirty area in disrepair.
The subjects told me many stories. The area is nicer and cleaner next to Brooklyn Law School because the school wants to maintain a reputation. I believe this because I don’t think anyone wants to go to a school in a dirty area, so the school maintains the property. The school is also really big and attracts a lot of attention so they maintain the area. This relates to Colson Whitehead’s “City Limits” because we try to maintain area’s even though we know we are not always going to be around to see them. He states that, “Maybe we become New Yorkers the day we realize that New York will go on without us. To put off the inevitable, we try to fix the city in place, remember it as it was, doing to the city what we would never allow to be done to ourselves” (Whitehead, p.3). The area next to State University of New York Brooklyn Educational Opportunity Center looks like it’s not an area that’s as popular as the other one. It looks like this area is used for just passing by to get to where people need to go. It’s interesting to see this because the dirt looks like it’s not there to serve a purpose, so I wonder why it’s there. This relates to Colson Whitehead’s “City Limits” because when you’re building your own view of a city you learn to love the cities imperfections, like when he started building his New York in the subway near 125th street and everything was filthy, that’s what he remembered about it. He stated that, “I started building my New York on the uptown No. 1 train. My first memory is of looking out a subway window as the train erupted from the tunnel on the way to 125th street and palsied up onto the elevated tracks. It’s the early 70’s, so everything is filthy. Which means everything is still filthy, because that is my city an I’m sticking to it” (Whitehead, p. 1). This quotation proves that someone who goes to BEOC must see New York as just a dirty place, whereas someone who goes to Brooklyn Law School has a different vision of New York.
In conclusion, the overlapping area that I chose was an area that had two very opposite places. There was an area with a cracked side walk with a huge pile of dirt on top which didn’t seem to belong in the same block as the area near Brooklyn Law School, which was a really nice and well maintained area. The two areas of the juxtaposition may be different, but they give the street character. I believe that the areas are in the conditions there in because of what’s next to them and how important those places are.
