Inconsiderate Subway Riders

This morning I was riding the 4 train to work. My stop is early on the line so there are plenty of empty seats, but they fill up quickly as we go along into Manhattan. Once all the seats were filled, a man got on board with his coffee in one hand and a cane in the other. Once the train started moving I saw that he was having trouble holding on to the pole while managing all his things, so naturally I got out of my seat to give it to him (which I very often do for elderly people, very young kids, the disabled, and pregnant women). The guy was maybe two or three steps in front of me (so very close) and as I got up he started making a move to sit down... then out of nowhere a young girl, maybe 20 or 21, made a quick side step in front of him and sat down in my seat, taking it for herself. I was shocked.

I see this kind of stuff, although not so outright rude, happening all the time on the subway. Elderly people and the like are left to stand while young able bodied people kick back and relax. I guess it is survival of the fittest on the train... Of course I can't say that all people are like this, there are always people who, like me get up for others. It is just shocking that the majority of people who fail to give up their seats are is the age range of 18-25. Where did their manners go?

Russell Has Arrived

Central Park Reservoir

Russell arrived in New York Saturday morning after changing his ticked to an earlier date. Once he got settled in his first request was to see Central Park. I obliged, so we got him a MetroCard and took the subway to the park for a walk, and what a nice walk it was! We started out walking around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir then headed toward the Great Lawn and the Turtle Pond, stopped to see the kid juggler, then arrived at the southern exit of the park. Once we exited we took a break on a shaded bench and did some people watching for 20 minutes.

After a quick break we continued our walk towards Times Square. On our was we came across the great group of break dancers, I guess you would call them - some did dancing, some did crazy acrobatics. I will post up a video here once I upload it to youtube. After watching the dancers we continued on to Times Square where we saw a huge billboard that had a picture of Mahmoud Ahmadineja, the President of Iran, with a caption reading, "He's not welcome here." It was a poster for UANI - United Against Nuclear Iran. I wonder if people know that Iran does not yet possess weapons grade nuclear capabilities and they have also signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which allows them to develop nuclear power for peaceful

Trinity Church Cemetery

purposes. Yet the US has 5,113 nuclear warheads - and don't even get me started on Israel and its illegal nuclear arsenal - talk about hypocrisy! Maybe we should think about reducing our own arsenal. I mean honestly, 5,113? Do we really need to have the power to not only destroy ourselves and our planet, but to destroy it multiple times over? I am all for a nuclear free world, but come on folks, take a look in the mirror! I could go on, but I don't want to get myself into trouble...

After a short stroll through Times Square, Russell and I headed back home for some well deserved sleep.

Trinity Church

The following Sunday we decided to take a walk through Lower Manhattan. I took Russell on the walking tour I had taken myself on previously. We began at City Hall Park and walked towards Ground Zero, stopping on the way at the Woolworth Building. There is a sign outside that says no tourists allowed in the building, but we ignored it because we wanted to see the famed gold mosaic ceiling - and it was well worth getting yelled at... so beautiful! Next was St Paul Chapel, which overlooks Ground Zero. We sat on a bench in the cemetery for a little break before moving on towards Trinity Church and Wall Street.

Last time I went on this walking tour Trinity Church was closed for the day, but this time I arrived early enough to enter the cemetery and the church. Trinity Church was Russell's favorite part of the day. He, like me, noticed that the headstones were being washed away by weathering and we talked about how life is so ephemeral. There really is no time to waste on negative emotions and feelings. This is one area where we are always on the same page - we both want to live and experience life as much as we can in happiness and joy.

New York Stock Exhange

We also went into Trinity Church. There was some sort of service going on but we stayed in a side room what was surrounded by tomb-looking memorials. The inside of the church (as well as the outside) is done in a beautiful Gothic style with dome ceilings and intricately carved walls ceilings, and statues and wooded trim around the doorways. In one side room, I am sure there is a specific name for it, we kneeled to pray and meditate. It was very peaceful and relaxing.

After leaving the church we walked down Wall Street into the Financial District to see Federal Hall, where George Washington took his oath of office to become our first President, and the New York Stock Exchange.

Staten Island Ferry

Next we walked to Bowling Green to see the Charging Bull statue, when it began raining. Since it was raining we ducked into the National Museum of the American Indian before heading to the Staten Island Ferry house for a free ferry ride past the Statue of Liberty to Staten Island. I must say that the Statue of Liberty is a bit underwhelming. I thought it would be a lot bigger. Once Russell and I arrived on Staten Island we took a little stroll around. I would have liked to go to the huge nature reserve on the island for a hike but we didn't have time. After our quick walk we caught the next ferry and headed back to Manhattan for our appointment to see a place for sublet in Harlem/Washington Heights. The place was really great - in a brownstone, right next to the Hudson River and a great natural shopping market. Today we just found out that we got the place! We will be moving there on Aug 10th until the end of September. Once we saw the place we took a park to a park on the Hudson, laid out my sarong, and relaxed there for a half hour before checking out the super market nearby. After a quick shopping trip we headed back to the subway, which ended up turning into a long walk through Columbia University and NY City College, both beautiful campuses!

Next, we hopped on the subway and made our way home. I slept like a baby after all the walking we did that day!

Trinity Church Cemetery and Russell

Jerome's Pizza, Bronx, NYC

I really need to dedicate a whole post to Jerome's Pizza. I've become quite the regular at this place by now since it is only two blocks from my house (and cooking for one is so boring), not to mention the fact that they have delicious pizza! I go here at least once a week for a cheese slice (although their white pizza is also very tasty) - to which I add Parmesan, crushed peppers, and oregano - with one garlic knot (also amazingly delicious) on top. In California I used to eat Mexican all the time, but since good Mexican food has been a very rare find, I think pizza has taken its place.

This really is how all pizza should be made - thin crust, with just a little sauce, and not too oily. Also, one slice is just perfect - it fills me up but doesn't leave me stuffed, so I leave still feeling light.

Jerome's Pizza, The Bronx, NY

The fellas that work there are also really great. I think they must really enjoy their job - they are always smiling and in a damn good mood. I must also give this place kudos for doing delivery by bicycle. Hopefully I'll be able to find a comparable substitute when I move out of my place in the Bronx on August 6th - but I doubt I will find anything with the personality and deliciousness of Jerome's.

Brooklyn Museum & Botanic Garden

Pink Lotus Flower - Brooklyn Botanic Garden

After a nice day at the beach on Saturday, I decided to check out the Brooklyn Museum (photos) and Botanic Garden (photos) the following Sunday. My timing really could not have been better because apparently there was a good sized storm that passed through, knocking down a couple of trees and throwing parts of northern NYC into darkness - well it was daytime out so I guess it wouldn't be darkness, but you get what I'm saying.

The Brooklyn Museum is the country's second largest museum, following the Met, and contains 1.5 million pieces and the largest Egyptian collection in the Americas. It also has an Arts of Africa exhibit, including a few video loops  offering a quick look into African customs, especially those surrounding the masks and costumes. On the second floor there were exhibits for Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Islamic, Indian, and Southeast Asian Art. The third floor was all Egyptian, but I will get to that later. The fourth floor I pretty much breezed through. It was all about fashion and had a bunch of clothes and shoes - no thanks, that is just not my cup of tea. The fourth floor also has some contemporary art, as well as (replicas of?) the interior of old houses that belonged to people who I have never heard of. The fifth floor included exhibits of American Identities and also the visible storage and study room.

Meditation - Brooklyn Museum

What is currently on the fifth floor is what originally drew me to this museum - Andy Warhol, the last decade. It is a temporary exhibit, and honestly I had much higher expectations. This could have been because there were no pieces that I recognized, but it was still very interesting.

Now, back to the third floor - the Egyptian rooms. I learned so much walking through the third floor, reading everything I could. The most interesting thing that I learned, that I had not already known, was about the positions of the statues. There are only about six different poses that you will see in Egyptian statues:

• Standing: One of the oldest poses, developed even before the Old Kingdom but remained popular throughout Egyptian history. Men are shown with their left foot advances and usually their fists clenched. Women are shown with both feet together or their left foot only slightly advanced and often hold objects or have their hands flat at their sides.
• Seated: This pose also dates back to before the Old Kingdom, when furniture was relatively rare, thus is associated with status and wealth. The Egyptian words for "nobility" and "wealth" are actually a hieroglyph showing a figure seated on a chair.
• Scribe: The scribe pose, a man seated on the ground with crossed legs, is usually shown holding a roll of papyrus spread across his lap. Being a scribe indicated the subject's education, and because education was highly valued by Ancient Egyptians, it also showed his prestige.
• Kneeling: This is considered a pose of worship or prayer, which is why most kneeling statues have been found in temples. Very few were made for non-royal people until the New Kingdom.
• Block: This pose almost always shows a non-royal figure, almost always a male, sitting on the ground, knees up, and arms folded to indicate patience. The figure is usually shown wrapped in a cloak on which inscriptions were often carved.
• Shawabti: These are small, shrouded, cross-armed funerary statues. They represent the deceased and were intended to do agricultural work in place of those persons in the afterlife - like little clones.

I am sure that I am flying my nerd flag high right now, but whatever, I think this is interesting stuff!

Stargazer Lily in Shakespeare's Garden

The one thing that I felt torn about was the mummy chamber. The museum is home to four mummies that depict the four main mummification techniques. The mummies, with the bodies still inside, have been taken out of the coffins and put on display (the dressings are still surrounding the bodies, of course). I wasn't sure how to feel about this. Removing the dead from their resting place, where they have been for thousands of years, to put them on display for people to gawk at just seems wrong. I was going to take a photo, but that felt too disrespectful to me. I can understand the argument that putting them on display is for educational and cultural purposes, and it may be better for them to be displayed in a museum rather than having someone else get their hands on them and distribute them in the black market of art, but still, I fell very torn. I would like to take a class on the ethics of displaying ancient artifacts and remains.

Along with human mummies there were also mummies of animals! Animals were routinely mummified in the same way humans were and have been found in the tens of thousands in so-called animal cemeteries at a number of sites in Egypt. Pretty cool, if you ask me.

After my very interesting museum visit, despite the rain, I decided to head to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Apparently not many people like being out in the rain, but I love it - ahh summer rain! It was great to have the gardens practically all to myself, and the rain stopped after about 15 minutes anyways. I took some really great photos and discovered that I absolutely love lotus flowers! I really wish that my friend Anne was there with me, though - she knows everything about everything when it comes to plants!

I took about an hour and a half stroll through the different gardens before closing time, and then I was back on the train heading home. Oh, and on the train there were these great performers doing dance and acrobatics - video posted below!

Beach Day! (finally)

Ahhhh, finally... I made it to the beach. For someone who loves the beach so much it is hard to imagine that it took me so long to make to the Atlantic!

Erica, Kathy, & Mika at Rockaway Beach, NY

Last Saturday I went to Rockaway Beach in Queens. The beach is the nation's largest urban beach, and it is supposed to be New York City's best. It is difficult for me to see why it is the best beach around since I have nothing to compare it to - well except the beaches of Maui, California, Barcelona, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Mexico, and Brazil, which, by the way, Rockaway Beach sadly ranks last. I am so spoiled when it comes beaches. It is not that this beach was the terrible, just that all of the other beaches I have been to are so nice!

On the bright side, I got to hang out with a group of nice girls (Kathy and her two friends Mika and Emily). Also, the water temperature was perfect for combatting the 101ºF heat. Unfortunately the beach is littered with trash. I could see the water line by following the streak of debris snaking across the beach - luckily there was no trash floating in the water, although Kathy did have to rescue a plastic bag that blew into the water from the shore (woman after my own heart with that move!). I did get a nice tan and although it was not the best beach of all time, it was still pretty great and I had an excellent day!

One of my favorite parts of the day (besides swimming around in the ocean - I am such a water child) was actually the train ride to and from the beach. Despite the nearly two hours it took to get there by train (even though it is only 20 miles from Manhattan, 26 from my house), the A line goes through part of the 26,000-acre Gateway National Recreation Area and 9,155-acre Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, home to a few hundred bird species. The train ride through those areas was very lovely. JFK is also situated near Jamaica Bay and one of my favorite things to do it watch airplanes take off and land, so that was fun as well. Complications have arisen because JFK is so near to the bird sanctuary creating a battle between technology and nature. I'm sure you remember the miracle Hudson River landing by Captain Sully Sullenberger of Flight 1549 - that crash was attributed to birds getting caught in the plane's turbines. As a reaction to the crash, New York City has just given the ok for over 170,000 geese to be euthanized - that is 1/3 of the current population. The city also recently killed four hundred Canada Geese with carbon monoxide in Prospect Park. I agree with State Senator Eric Adams - there is a more humane way to deal with the birds.

But back to the bright side. My beach day the past Saturday was excellent overall. Tomorrow I will update my blog to include my trip to the Brooklyn Museum and Botanic Gardens that I took the following Sunday.

The day I met Bill Clinton

Erica and Bill Clinton

Yesterday I met Bill Clinton. He lived up to all of my expectations - eloquent speaker, friendly, charismatic. I've been told that even when he has a schedule laid out by his aides he will always do what he wants to do. For example, besides the fact that he was late, he was supposed to walk into the conference room from the front door where was would all see him, at which point we were supposed to stand and applaud. In reality he walked in through the back door, and luckily I had been looking back behind me right as he walked in. So he came in, most everyone else unaware, then me with my mouth said, "Well hello there!" I'm sure there are plenty of you out there who have heard this phrase come out of my mouth and know exactly how it sounds. Well in a silent room it sounded quite loud. I got a little bit of a sideways look from him and laughter from Kathy and Kevin, then started applauding while everyone else was in silence. Not quite the planned entrance, but memorable for me nonetheless.

After about 10 awkward seconds of nobody knowing what to do (he walked almost all the way to the front of the room in near silence) everyone else caught on and stood up to applaud him. He then began his talk. He first started talking about an HIV/AIDS conference he just attended. Saying that it was full of good news as well as bad news, which called a metaphor for the world today. I would go into details, but he was speaking off the record, which means I can't get detailed. But what I will say is that my favorite part of his talk was when he said, "The world is not gonna stop spinning and you can't get off."

I loved that statement because that is how I feel about life. Life is a ride where you can't just decide you don't like it anymore and hop off, and when it is your turn to leave, the world will still keep spinning. So all we can do now is make the most of our lives, move forward one step at a time, do the best that we can do, and be grateful for every bit of it.

Kevin, Erica, Bill Clinton, & Kathy

After his talk we went into a Q&A session. I submitted a question but it didn't get the most votes - oh well. I think the best question came from the very small group of high school interns. They asked something to the extent of, "Looking back to when you were our age, what was the best piece of advice you received?" He sat for a little bit and thought. It was the first time I had seen him stop for a beat and really ponder. He then went on to tell us three stories from his pre-teen and teenage days. All three of them involved teachers - which is where I have to point out the value of teachers, not necessarily for the value of their teaching, but for those golden nuggets of wisdom and advice that they drop, often unknowingly, which, if you catch, will be carried with you for the rest of your life.

I won't recount the stories here, but I will tell you what he calls, "The best advice I have ever received and have ever given."

• Never be afraid to fail
• Everyone wants to feel beautiful
• Always do what you love

Never be afraid to fail. This makes sense. He has this Abraham Lincoln photo with a list of all of his failures, and there were many of them, and at the bottom is ends with, "Elected President of the United States" (something similar to this and this). He explained that even if there is a huge chance of failure (he related it to failure in the eyes of the media) but there is a chance to at least make progress towards success you should go for it, because that progress will mean something to somebody.

Everyone wants to feel beautiful. He explained that just like you or I, everyone else has the desire to feel beautiful, to feel important. He explained that this is why he will walk way out of his way in a huge crowd, with secret service trying to move him along his way, to go and shake the hand of a person in a wheelchair who can't make it to the front of the crowd - because that person too wants to feel beautiful and acknowledged just like everyone else (and from what I hear he does this all the time to the discontent of the secret service and his staff who are trying to keep him safe and on schedule). He said that this is also why you have to really listen to what people tell you. Get to know where they come from and learn about their culture. This in not only to make people feel like they have value but it is also to be able to create solutions that make people feel like you have listened to and incorporated their hopes, wants, and desires.

Always do what you love. People often concentrate on their weaknesses rather than their strengths. This is not how it should be. Usually you are good at what you love and this is where you should focus your efforts - not on how to improve you Chemistry grades, but on enjoying and further exploring the American Literature you love, for example.

The great thing about his advice is that I feel that I already incorporate all of it into my life - so I think I am on a pretty good track.

After Q&A came photo time. Pretty much we got lined up and walked one by one to take a photo and have a short chat. I told him my name and told him that I am a Clinton-Orfalea Fellow. He said, "Nice to meet you," we turned smiled and I was on my way. But Kathy, Kevin, and I asked if we could get a photo of all of us to send back to the Global Studies Program and Paul Orfalea. We were supposed to leave the room directly after taking our photo, but I lingered, and got at least two secret service men telling me hey you need to leave.. to which I replied, "Just hold on." I doubt they hear that very often. I later apologized for sounding so rude - they just laughed, so I don't think it was a big deal. We also got to chat with President Clinton about Paul Orfalea for a little bit and "what a great man" Paul is.

And then like that it was over and I was back on the 4 train on my way home. What a great experience.

Queens Walking Tour

Globe at Flushing Meadows Corona Park

Today after having a lazy morning I picked myself up out of bed and headed out to Queens for the first time. I decided to take Lonely Planet's advice and take the 7 Train from Grand Central. Also called the International Express, it takes you along a national "registered historical trail" riding above ground level through the longtime immigrant neighborhoods of Sunnyside (Romanian, Turkish), Woodside (Irish), Jackson Heights (Indian, Pilipino), Corona Heights (Italian, Peruvian, Colombian, Ecuadorian, Mexican), and Flushing (Chinese, Korean). For me the highlight of the train ride from Manhattan into Flushing was going past 5 Pointz, considered to be the world’s “graffiti Mecca,” where people from around the world come to paint colorful aerosol artwork on the walls of a 200,000-square-foot factory building.

Once I got to the end of the line in Flushing I hopped off the train for a quick stroll through Chinatown before hopping back on to head to Flushing Meadows Corona Park, a 1225-acre park built for the 1939 World Fair. When I arrived, by a happy coincidence, I stumbled upon a huge Colombian Independence Day festival. There were so many people and everyone was wearing the Colombian colors of yellow, blue, and red - much more vibrant than America's red, white, and blue. I wanted to have some food there but the lines were just too long for me and the vegetarian options were limited.

Colombian Independence Day at Flushing Meadows Corona Park

Once I walked through the park and festival I jumped back on the train for a couple of stops until I got to 103rd St-Corona Park (Corona named after the suburb, not the beer - but for all I know the burb could be names after the beer) for a long walk down Roosevelt Ave. This stretch of Roosevelt (I walked for 50 blocks) took me through the Hispanic center of Queens. Everything was written in Spanish and many of the people did not speak any English at all. That was fine by me though, I practiced my Spanish - "Quiero agua, por favor."

After 30 blocks Roosevelt was supposed to turn from Hispanic into Indian. At this point I saw maybe 3 Indian shops, and one Arab shop. It seems as though the Hispanic area has expanded since Sept 2008 when the Lonely Planet New York was last updated, right in the midst of the Great Recession. Anyways, I kept walking for another 20 blocks for no apparent reason, although I am glad I did - I ended up finding a store that was selling sweet Rip Curl board shorts for only $5. I bought Russell 2 pair since most of his are pretty torn up.

Walking down Roosevelt Ave., Queens

After fifty blocks of walking I was ready to get back on the train and headed to Manhattan and Grand Central. Once in Grand Central I discovered where the whispering room is located. There were a bunch of people trying it out. I can't wait to have visitors around to try that with me... I also ate my dinner at Grand Central - delicious Indian food. My favorite part was the potato somosa with chuntey. Delicious! After eating my dinner I grabbed a super mini vanilla cheesecake to take home from the Magnolia Bakery. After that, I headed home.

Oh and the cheesecake was delicious!

A map of my Queens walking tour:


View Queens Walking Tour in a larger map