Thursday, April 19

Charles told us to be ready at 8 so that we would have time for one more adventure, and he took us first to the High Line by the Hudson River. An old railroad, which was raised above the streets, has been preserved and changed into a park/walking trail. We continued toward Greenwich, passed Edna St. Vincent Millay's skinny house etc. We were soon in the same place where Elmer and I had our photos taken yesterday on Washington Square.

By the time we got to the Strand book store, I had already walked 12000 steps, and I was beginning to feel the miles I had been walking this week. Besides, I have a few unread books at home, so I got myself a coffee and sat down on a park bench outside the book store. Then it was time to get back to the hotel and onto the bus. The six-hour bus trip was prolonged by an hour and twenty minutes due to a brush fire on the side of the road in southern Mass. When you change a three-lane road into a one-lane one, it does something to the traffic during rush hour...

That's it!

Amanda Guy signing off...

Wednesday, April 18

Jeff took Marty, Kate, and me along for an earlier departure this morning so that he could show us his old stomping grounds - Columbia University. It was a magnificent sight indeed. I might send my son there...

Anyhow, we passed first the seminary, then the Riverside Church. Jeff told us that this was where MLK Jr. held his speech against the Vietnam War, so I decided to look it up tonight. Here are his closing words (sorry about the incomplete citations - I'm on vacation...):

"Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home, and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as one who loves America, to the leaders of our own nation: The great initiative in this war is ours; the initiative to stop it must be ours." (Antiwar.com)

We met up with the rest of the group and enjoyed a refresher on General Grant while we visited his memorial. According to our guide, General Grant was THE person who ended the Civil War. Good to know:) Above to the left is a group photo with our very own guide, Charles Calhoun, giving us a preview for what to expect tomorrow.

The task for the afternoon was to find our own museum. I headed down to Times Square to meet my nephew Elmer, and after lunch in Greenwich Village and a visit to Washington Square Park, we headed to the Museum at FIT (see pictures above). The fashion museum was interesting but very small, so I decided to research Washington Square Park to fill the expected learning quota for today. It turns out that back in the 1700s, it was a cemetery for yellow fever victims. Then it became a site for public hangings, and then eventually a residential area for the upper class. I'm not sure exactly when the triumphal arch was built. (Source: Project for Public Spaces)

I turned in early tonight. Hard to believe it's almost all over!

Tuesday, April 17

This was the day I had to go without my pedometer due to my pocket-less jumper, but we were not supposed to do that much walking anyways...

In Harlem, we did not walk much. We had a beautiful morning there, only walking a few blocks and learning a lot. Actually, some of it we already knew since we had read about the Great Migration. We also walked by places mentioned in Black Gotham Again I could see the master mind behind the planning of this tour, as we were going through history in the right order.

While waiting for lunch hour, I did my ver first single stroll. It was not that scary since I stayed on the same street the entire time. Since the purchase of my new hat at the Tenement Museum, I had become increasingly aware of my need for a haircut, so I took care of that in Harlem. All the hairdressers spoke Spanish the entire time, but I was well taken care of, AND I got to use their locked up bathroom.

We ate southern style food for lunch - true "soul food." To me, this was the winning meal thus far. And, after that, we started walking, so I must have burned most of those calories off.

First we took the subway to the west side of Central Park, and this was our last walking tour with Ed O'Donnell. Even though it looked fantastic to lie down for a nap in the park, I appreciated the walk and the knowledge gained from it. Having come here as a tourist, I would never have taken away as much as I have thanks to these tour. From the picture above, one might think that I'm not interested, but you will simply have to take my word for it when I say that I was! Our other scholar, Charles Calhoun, can be seen - or half of him - at the very left of the picture.

We exited the part by the Metropolitan Museum on 5th Avenue. Ed told us that we needed to be at the Museum of New York at 4 PM, and it was 3:40. We were on 87th Street, and the Museum on 104th Street. There were about a dozen of us who accepted the challenge. I came in third place and sprinted across the avenue right at 4. It was a little difficult to stand up and listen to the guided tour of the Great American Grid after that, but it was too interesting not to. Ed had already given us some background to the city's development, but now we got to see original maps and before- and after pictures from the last 150 years+.

I found the cafeteria in the basement and had coffee with a big, chocolate-something dessert and decided that I would sit there for a while (or forever) and see if there was anyone left upstairs to continue my adventure with. When my feet would finally agree to move on, I saw Carole outside and asked if she had made any plans. She said she figured she'd just walk for a while and take it from there. I joined her, and we walked. It wasn't the same sprint as before, but neither one of us could be called a slow walker. We walked from 104th street to 42nd! So we can definitely say that we have seen 5th Avenue. It got more and more exciting the farther south we got. My husband found out that we walked a 3.5 mile stretch, which combined with our previous walking and standing wore us out a bit. We were not up for any more adventure and decided to take the subway back to our hotel on the southern tip of Manhattan. After a few quiet minutes in my hotel room and a compromise with my feet (they agreed to walk again if I put socks and sneakers on instead of my sandals), Carole and I walked the few yards to the restaurant behind our hotel.

Stay tuned for the Wednesday report on the visit at Grant's Memorial and the meeting with Elmer at Time Square!

Monday, April 16

Today we didn't leave the hotel until 9 AM, so this day did not become quite as long. However, it was a hot day, with temperatures well up in the 80s.

The Tenement Museum was first on our list, and this was meaningful to us all since we read the illustrated version of Jacob Riis' Where the Other Half Lives this past spring. It certainly makes history very real when one gets to "meet" actual families who lived there and learn of their stories. One of my favorite moments at the museum was overhearing a couple of nine-year-olds (I'm guessing) telling each other of their own heritage - 50% this, 20% that and so on. Certainly a visit to the Tenement Museum must spark those conversation all the time!

Our tour guides planned this well; we "arrived" with the immigrants at Ellis Island yesterday, and today we got to put ourselves in their shoes for a few moments and try to imagine how they would have gotten by.

Katz deli was yummy. It was a good thing we got to walk some of those calories off afterward. Ed's tour fit well with what we had learned at the museum in the morning. He had not seen the museum's new film, so he did not know that he was reinforcing the images we had just seen on the screen by walking us by them and retelling the stories of recycled places of worship etc. It's fascinating that one place switched from one denomination to another as the population kept changing. A Chinese Catholic church! I did not know that that existed in NYC, but then again, why not?

By the time we got free time in China Town, Marty, Jeff, Kate, and I were too hot and tired to move much. We found a park bench that was in the shade for a few minutes while the sun hid behind a church tower, and it was a good time to connect with family back in Maine. When the sun came back, we moved on and found our way to Joe's Ginger for dinner. The picture above is taken right outside the restaurant.

Marty, Jeff, Kate, and I hit the Brooklyn Bridge before sunset, but it was still a beautiful view (picture above on right). Harlem, Central Park, and Museum of New York City are on the agenda for tomorrow.

Sunday, April 15

I saw her already before we got onto the ferry to Ellis Island, and though we did not get to shake hand, I did visit with her all morning. After the quick intro. tour on Ellis Island, I had lunch outside with Miss Liberty.

Not that Ellis Island wasn't cool - it was. I spent some time walking through the exhibits, trying to imagine what it would have been like. The one thing I had not realized before was the way immigrants were welcomed and helped by the staff at Ellis Island. I had thought it was just a check point, but it was so much more than that. I also enjoyed Ed's talk on immigrant history.

On the wall with pictures of families from all over the world, I picked out the Swedish one right away. In the gift shop, I found the small display pictured above.

I took the picture of the new towers coming back into the city. I don't usually take non-people pictures since there are a gazillion people in the world who take better pictures than I do, but I figured that this is history in the making. I went to NYC during the time period that the 9/11 site is being reconstructed. Visiting the memorial was an incredible experience. I love the design of the two pools, placed where the twin towers were. The way they organized the placements of the names is perfect. It will be beautiful once it's all done! (I am not posting my pictures of the memorial since they really do not give the beauty and serenity of the place any justice.)

My day ended with a series of complicated subway connections up to Hunter College, where the Redeemer Presbyterian Church on East Side holds it services. Tom McGarvey had researched the location and brought Paula and me along. We had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Timothy Keller, and it was an amazing service with at least 800 people attending. It was certainly worth the subway challenge, and we figured since we were out and about, that we should finish the day on Times Square. We finally felt that we were really in NYC...

Saturday, April 14

We arrived at Seaport Inn Best Western in Manhattan around 3 and barely got time to pack before we were off to Brooklyn to visit with Charles Calhoun. He showed us Fort Greene Park and gave us a history lesson on our prisoners of war during the Revolutionary War. The weather is amazing, and the park is beautiful. He gave us a heads up on what we would find in his house - or rather his garden: When the church across his house burned down in the 70s, his landlords kept some artifacts before it was all cleaned up, and now those beautiful artifacts decorate his garden! Just a really neat time - and so cool that Charles is working on a Walt Whitman project!

It was a great first day:)

What do I want to do in NYC?

I looked over the list of museums and tried to come up with a focus that would fit me, but I couldn't. Instead, I returned to reading Black Gotham. I have read Beloved, which Peterson refers to, and I agree that it's important for us to know where we come from. I teach English 9, and I start the year off by assigning an adult interview essay. Some English teachers feel that it's cheating for students to interview their parents, but I disagree. Over the last five years, I have read some incredible tributes to parents and grandparents, and I am convinced that my students learn things about their heritage that they did not know before. (I have students who don't know why their parents named them the way they did!)

Anyhow, second quarter, students select biographies and learn how to ask questions about the historical events etc. that paints the background for their biography person. Reading Black Gotham, I began thinking how cool it would be if students interviewed someone in their grandparents' generation first quarter, and then during second quarter read a biography from the time period of the grandparents' youth. That would help the students to come up with visuals of what it would have been like for gram or grampa back then.

Well, I don't know how all of this fits to my trip to NYC, but I would like to explore my heritage a bit. Somehow, it would make more sense for me to go to the scandinavian museum. It's in Brooklyn, evidently. Here is the link: http://scandinavian-museum.org/about.html

How would that help my teaching? I don't know. I do know that I want my students to learn more about where they are from. I don't want us just to understand what the Somali students have gone through; I want everybody to learn something about themselves. Does any of this make any sense?