Adventures of Urban Life

http://hiphop-life.blogspot.com/2006/05/hip-hop-jewelry-wtf.html

As i searched for blogs on urban life i came across this blog that describes the type of jewelry that hip hop artist wear. I found this blog interesting because it touched on some important points tat i have people dont usually think about. For example, that some of the chains that rappers and hip hop artists wear have nothing to do with their image. For example, the blogger states that a sailor chain or a steering-wheel ornaments have nothing to do with the hip-hop style.

http://www.earth-photography.com/Blog/Archive.html

This blog was unique because its a picture blog. in this blog, the blogger takes pictures of what he thinks urban life is in London. His pictures are well organized. The blogger uses different techniques to show different effects in each picture. i related this blog to our class because he explores his city much like what we did in class. The blogger also shows the different parts of his city and what he likes about London.

http://blog.compassion.com/urban-poor-mexico/

THis blog has a lot of information on the life of the poor in Mexico. I found this blog to have a large impact on me because i have been to Mexico several times and even though i have been exposed to some of the things described in this blog, there was a lot of information that was new to me. In this blog the author states that the main difference between "an urban and suburban area is in the communication and roads that provide all the supplies and raw materials needed for life." i found this interesting because this definiton differs from our definiton of urban life.

Sidewalk by Mitvhell Duneier

Take a walk down any busy street in New York city. Chances are that you came across street vendors. There are a lot of street vendors in the streets of New York, but most New Yorkers never stop to think where these people come from, what is their story, where do they live. Mitchell Duneier’s book Sidewalk explores these questions and many more. Duneier did research for many years on street vendors, he focused on the street vendors that are located on 6^th avenue (Avenue of the Americas.) To do so he spent years observing and talking to street vendors. In his book Sidewalk, Duneier explores the following themes: survival, social class, race, and issues of poverty.

In his researched Duneier learned that most of the people that dedicate their life to sell on the streets of New York are drug users. However, Duneier did come across one individual that was well know on the streets for his knowledge on the books he sold. Some people went to him for advice. His name is Hakim, he was a black figure in the corporate world, and because of his color felt that he didn’t belong. He dedicated to selling books on the sidewalk because he felt that he had a better connection with people on the sidewalks than with people on the corporate world. Hakim was an interesting character because unlike other street vendors he has a place to stay, and lives a ‘normal’ life. When Duneier asked Hakim a question regarding a book written by Jane Jacobs, Hakim replied with a very sophisticated and intellectual answer. Unlike Hakim, most of the street vendors are homeless and sleep on the streets. The reason why some of these guys sleep on the street is because they want to reserve a vending spot, to save money, and others even said that they felt safe because some of the street vendors were their friends, and they could stay watch while they slept.

Street vendors are public figures because people get used to seeing them in their street, buy books from them and eventually get to know them as a result, people get a feel of safety and comfort. The common misconception of street vendors is that they are drug users and are up to no good. But as Duneier discovered most street vendors have dignity and respect for people because they find a way of making money that does not require them to commit crimes. Duneier disagrees with the government’s point of view in dealing with street vendors. Duneier felt this way because the law makers that try to remove street vendors form the street have never actually talked to street vendors to ask them why they are selling on the streets instead of holding a ‘normal’ job. The government only sees them as the undesirables of the streets.

According to Hayden, “A good neighborhood is usually defined in terms of conventional shopping, school and perhaps public transit, rather than additional social services for the working parent, such as day care or evening clinics.” However I think that a good neighborhood that offers conventional shopping, schools, public transit and social services for the working class. My neighborhood of New Rochelle in Westchester County offers all of these things. As I walk down main st. I noticed a lot of 24 hr Laundromats. I noticed three in a ten-block radius. This 24 hr service is essential for a neighborhood because some parents work late hours or are restricted as to what time they can go do their laundry. Another thing I noticed were signs for day cares. I noticed four daycares in this same ten block radius. I was curious and entered one to ask for prices and hours of operation. Inside a lady that looked around her mid 40’s was carrying a baby around 9 months old greeted me. I asked her what was the ratio of adults to children and she answered that there was about five children per adult. I found this number to be high but their price was rational. They said that they were flexible and would adjust to the parents work hours. That they evaluate each child and the parents income and based on that is how they come up with the price.

Another important element of my neighborhood is the hospital. New Rochelle Medical Center is about 3 blocks away from my house. The Hospital has an Emergency room that is open 24 hours. Even though there are no evening clinics in my neighborhood the Emergency Room gives most of the people in my neighborhood some comfort in knowing that if there are any emergencies the hospital is at a walking distance. My neighborhood has a lot of mom and popshops. In the ten block in walked through, there is also a train station, and 35 bus stops. These busses travel through out New Rochelle, others go to nearby towns like White Plains, Yonkers, and the Bronx.

New Rochelle is home to four elementary schools: Columbus Elementary, Jefferson Elementary, Trinity Elementary, and Davis Elementary. Two Middle schools: Issac E. Young Middle School, and Albert Leonard Middle School. And one High school, New Rochlle High School or better know as “The High.” These schools are filled with after school programs that make sure students stay out of trouble, and get them involved in the community. Some of these programs include cleaning the high school lake, which is littered with trash from students that attend IONA College. The schools also have a lot of sports. The sports are important because they keep students of the streets where they can possible get involved with drugs and crime. Having good after school programs and a wide variety of sports available for students is important because it reduces crimes, and improves the quality of people that live in the community.

The adventures of Urban life is a blog created by five students who's main goal is to explore urban life in New York City. We all come from different neighborhoods in the city and have our own perception on what is urban and how we view city life. Through this blog, we aim to share with our readers what we learn from visiting different spots throughout the city and discussing the elements that make that place unique or why it functions a certain way. As we blog one may note that several people are quoted to back up our observations in a more scholarly fashion while still maintaining the casual feel of a blog. We hope that this blog will inspires our readers to think about the dynamics of living in an urban environment and actually go our and see what their city has to offer, they might be surprised at what they'll find.

The trip to Freshkills Park has help me become more aware of our environment. It was the first time for me to know about the dumping of garbage in this area back then. Having the image of people living in this area, I could see that many has suffer from this because of the horrid same it gives off. However this park has a major change since back then because now it has become a place for recreation and activities. It will take almost another twenty to thirty years for the whole Freshkills Park to be finish into a nice looking park. To make this good looking park took many process in making it. All these will turn out to be good. But what worries me the most is the garbage they are now sending to South Carolina. Now those people living there would smell the horrid smell and also may have health problems because of all those bacteria. Burning it will be a problem, throwing it to the ocean will be a major problem which will bring more risk to the environment. What ways will be the safest way, even to now, we still can't think of a way to dump our garbage where we can have a safe environment. Every way we are doing it right now are causing problems so we must raise awareness to people about the garbage dumping. Overall the whole trip was pretty fun. I love the ride from the Ferry because it reminds me of old memories. When we were AT Freshkills, it help me learn that we should spread the awareness of garbage dumping to everyone and help them learn how damaging it could be to us. Not only this but it will help us keep our environment clean from these garbage.
Charles Kan

The blogs below are related to urban life In United States and other countries:
http://www.urbanlifeblog.com/
In this blog itself has many topics, but what interested me the most was the Melrose community garden project which was a project that will turn a lot to a beautiful garden. For this success they will need the votes from students and others. This blog basically tells us about how they reshape their community and how to make it clean. All this can be related to us because in New york, most of the park are kept clean and also their is progress in making our environment better.

http://onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.com/category/civics-and-urban-life/
This blog tells us about the urban life in Brooklyn, New York. In the blog it mention many things for the environment. Such thing were Recycling, Reshaping The Community, and The weather itself. I like this blog because not only in talks about urban life but it also talks about things that happen in the surrounding area. Also it gives us places where we can take yoga classes. All these are related to us because the blogs itself, all of them are connected to a place.

http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/7790/Urban-Life-is-Bad-for-Brains
For this blog, I found it really interesting. It is because it talks how urban life will make our mind dull and bored. They have research that many patients in hospital get better when they can see trees from their window and also women who lives in public housing are able to focus better when their apartment has a scenery with grass in it. However, I find this false because of all these year living in the urban area, I will never get bored of it because there are so many interesting and exciting things to do and see.

http://www.streetsblog.org/
This blog talks about the street and highways of New York City. Basically this blog spreads out awareness that the street and highways are dangerous and that all of them needs to be fix in order to prevent any more accidents. One of them that caught my attention was Fixing the Ditch: Planning a Less Awful BQE Trench because it tells us how traffic jam at the BQE will cause damages to our lungs and health. Another interesting thing that attract my attention was the map they drew showing how much area it is causing damages too. Another Article was CB 6 votes conditionally for East side SBS, Endorse Better Bike Lane. The article didn't catch my attention but the map they drew which was very similar to the Map we drew for the Public/Private Activity,also in the map it show where the bike lane which will be indicated and in creating this, it will give the bikers a place to ride in the street without cars beeping them or giving them another trouble .

http://ny.curbed.com
This blogs tells us about different places where we can get our food or eat it. It will vary to different nationality food, things going on with the restaurants, and events that are happening in the surrounding stores. What interested me the most was that even though it a blog it feels like its a newspaper because it will tell you about robbery that happened in a certain restaurant and also street fights. Another thing the blog tells us about are buildings and the development of it. I saw many topics on areas that are under construction and how many of the buildings are getting taken down causing some to lose their work or some being homeless.
Charles Kan

Charles Kan

"Always Running" written by Luis J. Rodriguez talks about when he was a child, who just recently came from Mexico, experienced a hard life and racism In addition, the book itself will further explain his memories about being a street gang member and how desperately he went through with his life. Not only that but, his first interactions with other Latino kids in Los Angeles went through pretty much a bad influence because of their Mexican and American identity.
Racism is a factor throughout the book. Such things were when Rano, Luis older brother, was getting chases by neighborhood kids who would fool around with him or they will jumped him. Once a boy, threw a rock at him which gave him a cut in his forehead, leaving a scar that Rano has to this day. (Rodriguez 21)Another one was when a neighbor kid smash a metal bucket over Rano head causing the skin of his skull to be slit which then cause a whole amount of blood loss. After this incident, his mother will go to the kid's mother to confront her. However, the white lady would say "All I know is your boy picked that bucket and hit himself over the head." (Rodriguez 21) Basically, it is saying that color people would do anything stupid and that white people are educated and would not do anything that stupid. All these racism that Luis was telling us can be related to when Arizona put up a law on immigration in the pass week. From what I am seeing I feel like this is an act of racism. It's like it came out from the blue. A rule that they put up such as the failure to carry an immigration documents/paperwork would be consider as a crime and this will give the police 100% power to detain anyone that is suspected of being in the country illegally. This is too absurd and is an act of racism. All these are related to Always Running because Luis, his family and many Mexicans has face Racism from all the white people they see or approach.
Life was pretty hard for Luis and his family. They went through hard times, surviving day by day, looking for shelter and food. All these stuff happening will influence the kids to do bad things, however all these will change later on for Rano and Luis. While they were a child, both were consider bad, but the worse was when Rano who torture his own little brother When they grew older, Luis will be the one going to the bad side and Rano will be the one changing to the good one. At the age of 13, Luis has a tattoo, sexually involved, and was into drugs. In addition, Luis was involved in a gang and even worse, he try to shoot a white man down but lucky he hit the fence or he will be in serious trouble. On the other hand, Rano was 16 years old, suddenly got help by a teacher called Mrs. Snelling who help him skipped grades to make up for the time he got held back. He also has gotten trophies in track and field, gymnastic and as well in karate. later on he will go to high school and was a good kid beside him being a Mexican person.
Last but not least, "Always Running' is about a relationship between his memory of himself and his inability to support his family shows that his role as a man has become tougher and harder to be. Also, social challenge will affect his ways of being a man. Having a hard time will affect and damage his life, but he will then write this book so his own son will not follow in his footsteps.

Katherine Pimentel
Freshkills Park

Freshkills started off as untouched land with natural water and then due to human activity became a large garbage dump. Now it is coming full circle again and going back to the way it was before or possibly even better. Over the past decade Americans have become increasingly worried about the ecosystem and the state of the earth in general. We have taken the earth and natural land for granted and now that we see the repercussions of our actions we hope that it is not to late to make a change. Such is the case with Freshkills, an enormous and expensive project is taking place in Staten Island to transform the huge landfill into a fully functioning park for humans and wildlife.
According to New York Magazine’s article Wall-E Park the architect of the park Corner, has a unique vision for Freshkills “The most complicated part of the design is the idea that it is designed to change. Large parks will always exceed singular narratives,” Corner wrote in a recent essay. “They are larger than the designer’s will for authorship. He added, The trick is to design a large park framework that is sufficiently robust to lend structure and identity while also having sufficient pliancy and ‘give’ to adapt to changing demands and ecologies over time”(qtd by Corner, 7). The park should be able to be useful so that we do not have a large park sitting there that no one wants to use or care to maintain it because then that would be just as bad as the dump that it was. It needs to be able to change with the needs of the time just like it was able to change now that going green is so important.
When I visited the park I was impressed at all of the work that was done. The park looked so clean and picturesque that one would never think there were mounds with tons of garbage beneath those green hills. According to the tour guide there would be plenty of activities do at the park such as kayaking which I think is great because we do not get much of that in a city where much off the large land is used for development. I also like that much attention is being given to make sure that the park is as safe as can be and only the best materials and soils are being used. It is also good to know that the city is able to make money off of the natural gas that the land excretes which shows that the park is able to “give back” in more ways than I thought. The tour of Freshkills was an educational experience and I am curious to see the final product a few years from now.

Katherine Pimentel
New Yorkers are used to seeing panhandlers and sidewalk vendors all over the city. It is something they are accustomed to and just think of it as part of city life. Most peoples perceptions of these people who are primarily men is that they are homeless and use the money they make for drugs. They are the lowest of the social ladder in New York City, and deemed as the “undesirables” of the neighborhood. Mitchell Duneier’s Sidewalk offers an in depth analysis of the individuals who work on the city streets, more specifically those on Greenwich and Avenue of the Americas. In order to do his research for his book, Mitchell took on an ethnographic approach. He submersed himself in side walk life and interviewed the men who sell books on the side walk as well as the people who come in contact with them on a regular basis.
The first character whom Duneier introduces us to is Hakim. Hakim is a middle aged black man who sells books on the sidewalk. He has customers from all walks of life that enjoy talking to him about books and others who seek his knowledge and experience as a source of guidance in their own lives. Hakim is an interesting figure because he comes from the corporate world, however, because of his race he did not feel he belonged there and chose to do something that would connect him with more people like him. He saw that selling “black books” on the street was a means to reach to other blacks. Hakim is knowledgeable of all of the books he sells and the classics that people normally look for, unlike many of the other men he has his own place to live and is not on any type of drug. “People like me are the eyes and ears of the street, he explained, echoing Jane Jacobs again. Yes I could take those flowers and sell them for a few hundred dollars. But that deliveryman sees me here every day. I’m as dependable as any store owner”(17). Hakim sees himself as a public figure like the one Jacobs speaks about. People like him who are out all day help keep the streets safe because they help out when help is needed and take action if something is not right. Those who share the sidewalk on a daily basis form relationships with these public figures, thus creating a sense of community even though they are all technically strangers.
Duneier notes that there are so many men working on the streets as vendors because the prisons have failed to help ex-convicts transition into society in the proper way. They are thus unable to find decent jobs and can not find ways to provide shelter for themselves. What these men do should be somewhat plausible instead of deviant because they have to find ways to survive on their own instead of hurting others to get the things they need. “You got to be versatile when you in the streets. You got to find a way to make money without putting a pistol in your hand or going around busting somebody up the head, or snatching some woman’s pocketbook”(qtd by Leo, 84). The conversation with Leo shows that there is still a level of dignity and respect that they men have despite the fact that they are homeless. They still like to know that they earned their own money and that they are not harming anyone in the process, to these men life on the streets is all about survival.
Some of the major themes discussed in class that appear in the book is the idea of Jane Jacobs public figure, because these men are after all out side at all times and come into contact with the public weather they want to or not. There is also the idea of the undesirable and how they use public space. The police and many of the people who live in the Village would like to see the homeless men go away, but at the end of the day they are in a public space and can make use of that space to accommodate their needs. Another point that Jacobs made that I noticed in the book was the idea of a good neighborhood being useful,people should have a purpose or a need to be out in the streets. the men on sixth avenue work, sleep, eat and socialize on these streets, the ultimate example of "using" the neighborhood.

Desiree Caro
The Book There Goes The Hood, by Lance Freeman, reviews the ongoing gentrification in two primarily African American neighborhoods: Harlem and Clinton Hills. The author argues that the responses recorded by other literary works of the neighborhood residents undergoing gentrification are not necessarily accurate. The usual claims made about gentrified neighborhoods are that the residents are optimistic and receptive of the changes being made. While Freeman does really contend these statements, he adds that residents are not as excited as they have previously been portrayed. There are many aspects to the effects of gentrification on a neighborhood such as access to resources, affordable housing, displacement, social conflict, and disinvestment. Freeman realizes there are both positive and negative sides to the issue of gentrification and that there is a definite motive behind gentrification of certain neighborhoods.
Race and class play a major role within this book because both of the areas discussed are well known African American neighborhoods. The connotation behind gentrification of certain areas is that something is not right within these neighborhoods and they need to be “fixed” in order to fit in with social norms. Gentrification causes social conflict between indigenous inhabitants of the neighborhood and the new-comers. Gentrified neighborhoods usually attract new white people into areas where minority cultures and customs have been in place for decades before. New comers may feel that some of the customs of African Americans or other minority groups are a sign of disorganization. For example, groupings on street corners, loud talking or music, and street vendors are native to areas like Harlem and Clinton Hills; however, to outsiders this can be seen as a nuisance or a sign of uncivilized behavior. These issues can change the social pattern of an entire area for the future.
While Freeman realizes there can be some positive aspects of gentrification such as accessibility to more resources like supermarkets, clothing stores, and drug stores, it’s a big price to pay. An important point made by Freeman in this book is that it does not matter how wonderful gentrification makes a neighborhood if the original inhabitants cannot afford to live there. This point proves that gentrification is not based on the needs of the original neighborhood but rather on the needs of the economy and the capitalist society.
This book had very strong ties to themes we have discussed in class. Gentrification has huge effect on urban areas, from how space is distributed to displacement of people and families. I feel that this book is a great representation of how the population of Harlem and Clinton Hills actually feel about the situation. It does not promote only one side of the story, but realizes that people are torn the situation. It confronts the idea that people are either for gentrification or against it and shows that a lot of residents of these neighborhoods have mixed feelings. Either way, gentrification has a huge impact on society on social, geographical, and economical levels and many people are affected by it daily.

Desiree Caro
The trip to Freshkills part was a nice break from normal everyday activities for me. I actually really enjoyed all aspects of it, from the ride on the ferry to standing on top of the mounds that used to be thousands of tons of garbage. I really feel that Freshkills park is an innovative way to recycle the land. With over 2000 acres, the park is huge and has endless potential to meet the needs of the surrounding community. In addition to the large amount of space the previous landfill offers, the renovations that have been made to the area also help to create fossil fuels for the borough.
The history of Freshkills is interesting in itself. Its amazing to think that something that was seen as so detrimental to an area is now providing a healthy space for recreation and activities in the future. I thought it was interesting how many levels of planning go into making a park. This park especially had to undergo many processes in order to get approval for the renovations and design. The park needed to make sure that none of the garbage that was initially on site would affect any of its visitors or neighbors. in order to do that there was an extensive system put into place in order to prevent any waste from harming people as well as turn the waste into something good.
Other aspects that the team has to think about is accessibility, needs of the community, and the environment. all of these points need to be addressed and approved by outside resources who may be funding projects of helping to build structures. all in all i think that Fresh Kills park is an amazing story that should be shared and learned from. it helps to gather awareness about where our garbage is going and how to make changes for the community and environment.

Desiree Caro
While seaching for blogs for this activity i came across this interesting website called urbantravelblog.com. it had a bunch of european cities listed and you could click on any one of them and then articles written by bloggers in this place would come up. New York was not listed as one of the cities so i chose to read a few from the bloggers in london. most of the articles were relating to attractions that people could go do upon visiting these places, kind of like what we do in class. For instance i read an article about London's "Ghost Walk Tour" that takes you all over the city telling you were people of the past have died and where their supposed ghosts are lurking.
Another interesting blog i found seemed to be created by a man living in portland oregon http://urbanadventureleague.blogspot.com/. He also was giving an account of some of the activites taking place in his city. I wasnt really aware that portland was an urban area, but there seems to be some interesting things going on over there. the author promotes lots of bike riding events and comments on the weather they have had over there.
This next website was my favorite one http://urbanadventure.wordpress.com/. Its the same website we used to put our sound recordings online so it had a lot of the same technology. it used sound clips and google mapping to bring urban stories to life. The most interesting thing that i saw on the page was "Urban Sound Week" where people would record sounds of the city and put them up on twitter. this other site was also related to it http://urbanearth.ning.com/# this site was interesting too because it had a lot of unconventional urban areas listed.
I think these blogs compare to my blog in that they tell stories about a certain area that arent necessarily visible to the publice at first glance. all the material used in tese blogs ( including this one) takes observatuion and inquiry and i feel that is soething that we have in common.

Katherine Pimentel
Activity 9 : Why blog if no one reads it
I was having a hard time finding blogs that related to urban life in general so I searched for those relating to life in New York City. Our blog discusses things that take place in NYC and that is our focus, therefore I found it appropriate. The first blog that I found was Curbed NY (http://ny.curbed.com/). The main focus of this blog seemed to be housing and development. Many of the post dealt with new construction projects going on all around the city, rentals and costs of apartments as well as issues like gentrification. Some of the topics that were brought up in class such as the Atlantic yards issue and the changes that Brooklyn has been experiencing over the past years has been addressed. My groups blog did not focus much on property that is in NYC therefore I can not say there was much of a similarity, but the topics were certainly familiar.
NewYorkology is another blog spot that I found (http://www.newyorkology.com/index.php). This one is unique in that it finds events in the city such as plays and art galleries and it reviews them or recommends them. They call themselves “a New York travel guide”. This blog is an excellent source for New Yorkers to learn about what their city has to offer and take advantage of all that there is to see. When our groups had to find a place for our field trips it was very difficult because no one really had any ideas and money was an issue for those who did not work, if we had gone to a blog like this we could have found many affordable things to do that we would have probably never thought of on our own. The only similarities that I found with NewYorkology and my group’s blog was that we visited places that others have recommended although ours did not relate to the arts.
Gowanus Lounge (gowanuslounge.com) looks into current events that relate to the city and centers their posts on that. They read the major newspapers and discuss what is going on, even if it s just to comment on the weather. From my blog I know how much the weather can impact city life and the amount of activity that goes on, especially when I observed parks and plazas. There was even a post on the public library in Brooklyn which one of my group members wrote about, and they were basically trying to let everyone know that it is a great library and they should step in sometime. Much like our blog it is mainly informative.
Streetsblog (Streetsblog.org) is literally what the name is, a blog about the New York City Streets. They discuss streets that need to be paved or those that are dangerous and many accidents occur on them. It helps New Yorkers know where their tax money is going and how it should be spent. One of the articles that caught my eye was the one about the city trying to remove street art vendors from open spaces like parks and they included a quote on William Whyte, "What attracts people most, it would appear, is other people." This reminded me of the plaza activity and how the city focuses on the most ridiculous things sometimes.
City Room(http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/) offers a more political approach to it’s blog. It looks into new legislation and city officials that are making headlines and discusses why it is important to us. They range from what mayor Bloomberg is up to, to the recent doorman strike. My group’s blog did not have much of a political stance except for the community board meeting which included politicians and more legal issues. This blog is from the New York Times so it makes sense that they are so politically oriented.
I have commented on an article in each of these blogs and left a link to my groups blog telling them to check it out as a way of getting our blog out there. All of the blogs that I visited were large and have a large number of followers , the followers may see my comments and click on the link if they are curious about my experience in the city. Our blog is also published in Google reader which should make it more accessible to the public searching through blogs. ( I was unable to post the direct links of the comments because they would show up as errors when i tried to publish the post).

Charles Kan
On a Sunday Morning, I went to Riverbank State Park which is located at West 137 street to West 155th Street. The weather was okay like breezy and partly cloudy, but still the view was very nice to look at. This park has a skating rink, indoor pool, tennis courts, basketball courts, softball/baseball field, handball courts, and a track field with a football/soccer field. As well, the park was very clean which provides comfort to people who are walking around and sight seeing. There were many young kids and a few old people playing basketball, also there was a team practicing baseball. The thing that surprise me the most is that there were some women that was planting flowers/ gardening. I thought the park does not allow people to garden. While walking in the park, I notice that there were many parents bought their children to the children park to play and have fun. In addition, some of them also bought their dogs with them for a walk.

The Second field trip I went to was Yankee Stadium, which was not on Sunday but actually Thursday, April 15 which was the day that I went to see the game. I sat all the way in the upper decks behind home plate which provided a good view. The tickets were to expensive if you want to sit in the lower decks or the stands. Good thing they won, if it wasn't I would came back home all gloomily and piss. Okay, before the game I walk around the area, and saw that many workers were preparing food and cleaning up the restaurants for those who want to eat there and watch the game on T.V. But, I notice there are more customers in those restaurants/bar when the game is over. In addition, there were plenty of vendors and stores selling Yankees merchandise. Also, there were people standing around selling their Yankee tickets to people, which is understandable because they want to make money. However, in my thinking, I don't really trust them that much because the tickets, itself could be fake. There were mostly young man and old men going to the game and support their team Yankees but there were also some fan girls too. Next to the New Yankee Stadium, you still could see the old stadium but only half of it because they are tearing it down.

Desiree Caro
Riverbank State Park was the location of our first field trip for this assignment. I had previously been there a few times but i never really got a chance to take a look around. I visited the park, located on West 137th street, on a Sunday morning. the weather was fairly cool and breezy, but still sunny, overall a good day for the park. Upon entering the park i noticed an abundance of places for people to utilize during their trip to the park. Basketball courts, a track, numerous fields and a lot of free space. In addition to these outdoor utilities, the park also offers an indoor pool, a skating rink, and a children's park. the park also appeared to be very well kept and in very good condition. on the day that i visited the park there were a lot of people using the spaces provided for them; people playing basketball, soccer, football, running&walking on the track. there were also a lot of people using the free space, just leisurely strolling and relaxing and even gardening in designated spaces. I feel that this park is definitely a strong essential for the community. it provides a place for people in the area to go and do constructive things in a safe environment.
The second field trip i went on was to the Yankee Stadium 161st street in my hometown of the Bronx. Throughout my whole life I've been to the stadium dozens of times but this is only the second time that I've been to the new stadium since its been built. i wasn't actually able to go into the park this time but i walked around the neighborhood. it wasn't a game day so the entrances of the stadium were not crowded by their usual groups of people. Right next to the new stadium were the remains of the old Yankee Stadium, now just twisted metal and rubble. I think that the neighborhood surrounding the stadium is very interesting because it is not just a typical place where people live but its also a tourist attraction, which means more people and more things to do in an area which ordinarily would not have much to do. in a mile radius from the stadium there is an abundance of food, bars, souvenir shops, bowling allies, and a newly opened shopping center that includes a Toys R Us and various chain stores. All these attractions cause a lot of people to come through the area on a daily basis whether there are Yankee game or not. There are also a number of schools in the area. All of these factors allow for a large number if people passing through the area, which i feel gives the area a certain vitality.

Katherine Pimentel

Activity 8 : group member field trip

For our first field trip we visited Riverbank State Park on 137^th Street. It was a breezy Sunday and I assumed that there would not be too many people outside but to my surprise the park was being put to much use. Upon entrance the first thing I saw was the basketball courts, they were all being used by young men. Adjacent to the court was the large track .Around the track there were a few people walking and jogging and the interior part of the track was full of teams playing football and soccer. The park itself is very large and aside from the courts and track center there is also an indoor pool, skating rink, sprinkler, children’s park and regular grass space. I noticed that the park had little plots of land intended for gardening. There were a few women here with their children teaching them how to plant flowers and vegetables. I am not sure if these plots were rented or if any one cold go in and plant, but I found it to be an interesting option for those who live in the city because there is obviously a lack of space for that in the typical New York City apartment. Jane Jacobs describes the use of the park in her book and she states that the people in the neighborhood make it either successful or not. “Generalized parks can and do add great attraction to neighborhoods that people find attractive for a great variety of other uses… The more successfully a city mingles everyday diversity of uses and users in its every day streets, the more successfully, casualty (and economically), its people thereby enliven and support well located parks that can thus give back grace and delight to their neighborhoods instead of vacuity”(Jacobs,111). I would have to say that Riverbank is a successful park because even during a windy and cloudy day, people still found reason to go and use that park. Not only were people there for recreational purposes but they were also there with teams from the community thus making it a fully functioning neighborhood park.

The second field trip the group chose was Yankee Stadium, we could not go see a game or go on one of the tours but we walked around the neighborhood and made observations. There was a game on Sunday when I arrived at 161^st and all of the Yankee fans were outside ad they were very excited because apparently the Yankees had won. the people range from the old to the very young. There were mostly groups of males, couples and families going to spend their Sundays together. People were very swift to leave and they rarely stayed to hang around the area. There was a lot of pride amongst all of the Fans including those from the opposite team. I noticed many tourists who came for the experience of watching one the United States most popular baseball teams. The area surrounding Yankee stadium is very Yankees oriented, there are bars, restaurants, a bowling alley and many shops that cater to the Yankee fan. The site of the old stadium is clearly visible to the public and it brings much attention to the people who visit the area therefore they take time out to take pictures After about a two block radius the neighborhood was just residential of Hispanic and Black residents. “There’s no pretense, however, that they are anything but false fronts. The souvenirs shops and snacks emporia within extend into a backstage retail space out of all proportion to their facades. The object is clearly to make room for as many customers as possible in order to move massive volumes of cheap merchandise off the shelves”(Kunster,220). I chose this quote from Kunster because the are surrounding the stadium is full of shops catering to those who see the game and who are die hard fans, yet there I nothing there for the residents of the community. They are of primarily low income and many times cannot afford to go to any of the games. Every time there is a game they have all of these outsiders roaming their streets who are not part of the community and cold careless what goes on there.

Charles Kan
Around my neighborhood, there are a lot of good neighborhood that is for conventional shopping, schools, day care, and many others. In my neighborhood which is Chinatown, offers a good transit system. It is because of Canal street station and grand street station which is really convenient for those who have to work uptown or out of the borough. It is also easy for commuters to go on bus and call for taxi or car service in case they are late to work. The picture shown in the right show a park. its not just an ordinary park, it a park also filled with old man and old women playing cards, chess, checkers, and mahjong. Many of them are there to enjoy and have fun while some of them are just hanging out and talking to their friends. The picture on the left is a very conventional shopping for any age people but mostly for younger generation like us. This place is called Elizabeth Center, a center that has a game store, jewelry store, pharmacy, barber shop, spa. and many other store. While I was walking around, there are couple of day care/ evening clinics. The most famous Daycare is a building owned by the government which provide many old people to go there to eat, hang out, and a place for them to learn English. It is really lively around this area, every minute you will see them entering or leaving

These two picture you see to the right is place where a lot of males go to. The most famous place to gamble in Chinatown is OTB, where many of them go there to gamble on Horse Races. This place is always men, there are some middle income men while there are a lot of low income men. You can tell that many of them are low income because of their manners and attitudes. I also see a lot homeless people there, some of them smell while some wear really old clothing that are dirty and in wrinkles. This OTB place open till morning to late at night. The picture in to the left of the OTB picture, is not any regular barber shop. It is a barber shop but behind it is where people gamble not with cards but mahjong. They have a license there for them to gamble there. However this is fill with women more than men. I think is the women mostly Chinese women find this place to be more convenient and less dirty than the ones the men goes too.

In my neighborhood, there are no queer/gay individuals claiming space, however there a place called New York Area Bisexual Network located at Chamber street and Broadway which is a 5 to 10 minuter walk from Chinatown. When I search up gay map pf new york, it shows up where gay bar, club, lounge and also hotels are located. In Chinatown, there are many places occupied where there are a lot of private activities. Such private activities are people selling fake LV, Gucci, and may fake items which they are not suppose too. Many of them were caught and the places they engaged in these private things has been search and clear up. But still, there are a lot more left which is still happening.

My best friend attends John Jay. For a while now he has been trying to get me to go visit him at his school. I decided to visit him during my long break on Tuesday. I decided to walk to John Jay, because I do not like to transfer between trains, and I had enough time to walk there and back. My friend had told me that his college was located on 58th street and 10th Ave., so I started my journey around 2 PM. I got to John Jay around 3 PM, and I noticed a lot of students in the streets because they were all carrying books on criminal justice, and they were either rushing to get to class or gathering on the sidewalk with their friends. At first glance I didn’t know what to think of this school, I could see the students but what buildings belonged to the school? I meet with my friend in front of the “T-building,” he explained to me that John Jay is made up of four buildings: the T-building (Tenth Avenue building), N-building (North Hall), the W-buildint (Westport building), and finally the BMW building. He told me that most classes were on the N,W, and T buildings. I decided to spend most of my time in the T-building because this building has the schools library, threater, a gymnasium, and a swimming pool. The first thing I noticed when I entered the building was that all students must scan their Id’s in order to get access to the building. I noticed a student eagerly looking through her bag looking for her Id. I assumed she was a freshman because all the other students had their Id ready in hand by the time they reach the gates. I used my Hunter Id to get in the college. Once in the college, the atmosphere of the building changed completely. From the outside, the building had the atmosphere of any other city building, while on the inside, the atmosphere on the inside was much more academic. There were students studying in the halls, people rushing in to class, professors pushing AV equipment in to classrooms. This visit to John Jay helped me experience a different college and see the difference between Hunter College and John Jay.
Ivan Tellez

desiree b caro

For the plaza observation assignment i visited Seagram Plaza in midtown Manhattan. on the day that i visited the weather was fairly nice but still breezy so i expected a good number of people would be utilizing the area. while at the plaza i looked for some of the main contributors to a successful plaza (as outlined in the film we watched in class): sittable space,relationship to the street, chairs, sun exposure, water, trees,and food. Seagram plaza had a good amount of each of these things without it being too busy. i noticed that the were wide ledges on the edge of the plaza where a lot of people were sitting. these wide ledges allowed people to sit facing outward toward the street but also to sit facing inside toward the building and the 2 large water fountains- doubling the amount of people it can hold if necessary.
More sittable spaces was also located at the very front of the plaza at the steps where some people would sit in the corners of, as well toward the back of the plaza where there were a few benches and trees. the water had a very calming effect on the surroundings in the plaza. people seemed to be gravitated towards it. and although the trees were bare during this time of year there were a good amount of people still sitting beneath them. i think this is because under the trees there are a few benches that might be of more comfort to the older people visiting the plaza. something that i found interesting next to these benches was a bike rack (one located on either side of the building). i thought the racks were really convenient for people who were visiting the plaza, and showed that the plaza is not just to be used by the people that work there but is also welcome to all.
It was a cloudy day so there was not much sun exposure, but had there been a sun on that day you could tell that most of the plaza would be directly covered by it. on that particular day there were about 40-50 people any given time that i was there. most of the people were sitting in groups of 2 or more; also a large amount of them seemed to be eating food from one of the three street vendors located nearby. another popular activity among those in the plaza was "people watching" (an activity that i myself have been more than guilty of). mostly everyone was looking around gathering their surroundings and watching the busy people on the street going to and from work. Seagram plaza seems to be a very successful and popular plaza in the area; it allows for relaxation, conversation, or just passing the time.

I arrived at Grand Central station around 5 pm last Friday. I have been in Grand Central stations a couple times before but never to observe other people. i decided to spend some time on the main floor. There is a clock in the middle of the floor, and a lot of ticket booths all around. Large groups of people would gather. There was a group of people to the left of me that caught my attention. It looked like a family on vacation. The older man, who appeared to be the dad, carried a big backpack. The mom was pushing a baby carriage. A small boy, around the age of 6, was nagging at his mom because he was tired of standing. And an older daughter around the age of 16 was listening to her iPod. They were trying to figure out which way the Empire State building was, and had a medium size map of New York City. As the mom and dad argued on which rout to take, the daughter got in to a small argument with her younger brother. The brother had taken her iPod and didn’t want to give it back to her. I found it interesting that due to the arguments everyone had forgotten about the baby in the baby carriage. I would assume that they would be more worried about the baby but everyone was too busy fighting with each other.
I decided to move to the lower level and sit in a table where it would be easier for me to observe people. As I walked by the women’s restroom, I noticed a large line of women waiting eagerly to use the restroom. As I looked for a table where I would be able to observe people, I wondered why the women’s restroom always has a line. I came to the conclusion that it is not as easy for a woman to go to the bathroom as a man. A man can just un-zip their pants and pee, while in the other hand, a woman has to go through a more rigorous ritual that requires much more time.
I finally found a table that gave me a good view of the main stairs, where I would be able to see more people. At first it was overwhelming to try to keep track of people because there were people running up and down the stairs. I noticed an old man with a cane. He was being tackled by people that were late for their train, as they ran down the stairs with little regard of others. The old man was dressed in a suit, with dress shoes and a very sharp hair cut. I would assume that he was on his way to a date because he carried roses on the same had that he had his cane. I thought that the old man would never make it up the stairs but after navigating his way up, he looked back at the stairs with defiance.
Ivan Tellez