So far, I have read the walking tours for Chinatown, Roosevelt Island, Fresh Kills, and Morningside Heights and they are wonderful! If you haven’t posted yet, do so ASAP. This was due today.
Roosevelt Island
We went on a short walking tour of Roosevelt Island (Emphasis on “short”), the small piece of land wedged in between Manhattan’s Upper East Side and Queens. After getting off the subway, we proceeded to walk down the Main Street, and we noticed we had many questions. As New Yorkers born and raised, we had thought you couldn’t get to the Island by car, but then why were there many vehicles on the Island? And why were there two hospitals located on each end of the Island?
As we continued our walk, we noticed that only two small historical landmarks, an uninhabited colonial style house, and a late 19th century Church. The Island was otherwise populated by relatively modern buildings, such as different styled apartments and small little shops. The Main St itself did not have many shops, only places such as a Starbucks, Gristedes, Public Library, and few others. The Island did, though, have a few schools, including an International Nursery Center for infants and toddlers. All the playgrounds, which there were many, were clean and seemed relatively new. We finally saw an answer to our first question, which was a large parking lot that bridged a connection by car to the Island and Queens. New buildings and public areas, such as a large park, are in the process of being constructed, showing how there is an expected growth in the Island’s small population.
On our way back, we stopped on the famous Tramway, which cost us the same as a one way subway ride. Only few minutes, it felt completely new and different than riding on the crowded, dirty subways. We made a video of us riding the Tramway, but it needs editing so we will not include it in this post.
We plan on visiting the Island again to inquire more about the hospitals, including the past Insane Asylum. We also plan on interviewing residents to hear their different perspectives on the racial diversity on the Island. Roosevelt Island is New York City’s most racially and economically diverse neighborhood, which was it’s original goal when being planned. We are proud to have chosen such a unique neighborhood and look forward to unearthing the lives between residents.
(The bottom right puts emphasis on the bridge used by cars connected the Island to Queens)
These are a sampling of the many photos we took.
Nicole-Amanda Merchan and Nicolette Belitsis
Chinatown, Manhattan
Fresh Kills Walking Tour
Group Members: Donald Fung, Connie Li, Kevin Cheng
This Sunday, we went on a bus/walking tour in Fresh Kills to see the ecology and habitats there. From the tour guide and other experts on Fresh Kills that were with us on the tour, we were able to learn about both the history and future of the community.
Fresh Kills started off as wetlands inhabited by the Lenape Tribe who hunted and fished in the region. In the 1600s, the Dutch were the first European to settle in Staten Island which was part of New Netherlands. Therefore, the Dutch were the ones who named Fresh Kills as well as many other regions in Staten Island and Fresh Kills literally means Fresh Waterway.
In 1947, the Fresh Kills Landfill opened in what used to be an agricultural area. Although it was intended as a temporary landfill, Fresh Kills ended up turning into the largest landfill and the largest manmade structure in the world, surpassing the Great Wall of China.
In 2001, when the landfill was soon to be the highest point on the East Coast, the EPA pressured the site to close down. However, the site was still used as a sorting ground for around a third of the rubble after the 9/11 terrorist attack.
Now, Fresh Kills will be turned into a large park that will be three times the size of Central Park and bigger than Pelham Bay Park. The park will be opening in stages in the near future and will feature many recreational sites such as the New Springville Greenway Biking Trail, cross-country skiing, horseback riding, and soccer fields. The first part of the park to open will be a section in the north part that will go into the wetlands. The park will be focusing on being environmental friendly and will be using solar energy.
We also spoke to the tour guide about the communities near Fresh Kills which are Travis, Arden Heights, and New Springville. We plan to do more research on the demographics of those communities past and present.
Here are some of the pictures we took during the tour:
This is a playground designed based on the landscape of Fresh Kills.
These pictures show the remnants of the sanitation and landfill trucks that are still placed there today.
These pictures show the remnants of the garbage factories that were located in Fresh Kills.
The first picture is a view of the community around Fresh Kills and the second picture is a view of the Greenbelt and the city skyline in the distance (Sorry for the blurriness).
And there are many more pictures that we will be putting on the site!
Morningside Heights, Manhattan
We visited Morningside Heights on March 24, 2014. Our first stop was Columbia University. Columbia has a dominant presence in the neighborhood because a large portion of the area is owned by the school. Other schools such as Barnard and the Manhattan School of Music have established themselves in the area as well. Most of the neighborhood with the exception of the schools were empty when we visited at 3PM in the afternoon. The businesses concentrated around Columbia, while the parks concentrated around the residential area. Afterword, we visited Riverside Park, where we talked to a local babysitter. She was kind enough to let us record her while we asked her questions concerning the area. She said Morningside Heights didn’t resemble a college town and there were plenty of places for adults to go that didn’t have any college kids. She also claimed the area is nice and clean.
![Columbia](https://files.eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4378/2014/03/16025518/Columbia.jpg)
![Riverside Park](https://files.eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4378/2014/03/16025518/Riverside-Park.jpg)
We visited the General Grant National Memorial, but it was eerily empty in the middle of the day. We noticed the area had many churches from various religions. The buildings in the area varied greatly. Each building had distinct architecture that separated it from the buildings next to it. The neighborhood residents seemed to be mostly middle class. We look forward to our next visit to Morningside Heights, especially their restaurants and other popular locations.
Aishwarya Bhatia
Ariel Yuan
Alan Chen
Xiaoji Zou
Post your work by March 25th!
Remember to post your work to “Walking Tours” on or before March 25th! Be prepared to discuss your work in class on March 26th. And read Steinberg chapter 6 and Steinberg “Poor Reason” by March 26th. Be aware of these important next steps and note changes in the course calendar: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/beeman14/?p=515
Presentation on Going to School
Donald and Connie’s Presentation:
*Important Next Steps
We will not be meeting on Monday and Wednesday. During that time, you should be working on 3 items:
1) Continue reading about your neighborhoods. By now, you should have a firm grasp on the neighborhood’s history and immigration patterns. Linda Rath is happy to help you find reliable sources. You should also be locating academic studies and archives. Linda gave us a handout with some possibilities and she is happy to meet with you, if you need help. linda.rath@baruch.cuny.edu
2) Take a walking tour of your neighborhood using your background research as a guide. For example, you may have read about a particular building or organization important to the neighborhood’s history. Take a photo of that structure. Talk with some folks in the neighborhood. Use the tutorials Amanda posted to showcase your work. You can create timelines, maps, videos, audio of interviews, etc. Post this work to “Walking Tours” on our course website by March 25th. Be sure to give the name of the neighborhood and everyone in your group. Be ready to discuss your work on March 26th.
3) Read Steinberg, Ethnic Myth Chapter 6 and Steinberg, “Poor Reason.” We will discuss these readings during the second half of our class on March 26th.
I will be in my office on March 19th and March 24th for regular office hours and during our regularly scheduled class time (2:30-3:45). Feel free to stop by (VC 4-271). Enter through Black and Latino Studies. Doors are locked on the Soc/Anthro side.
Amanda will be visiting our class on April 2nd. By then, you should have completed a large portion of your research and be able to show us some of the timelines, maps, videos, etc. that you have created. The final project is a large part of your grade. You will want to work steadily on this project from now until the end of the semester.
Since you are getting two research days now, we can replace April 23rd with the African Burial Ground guest speaker. The guides are unable to give us a walking tour, but they may be able to come to our class. I will keep you posted.
I have updated the course calendar on the syllabus to reflect these changes.
Talk on “Racecraft” with Barbara Fields
I’ve mentioned the speaker series I am organizing this semester. Our first guest will be the Historian Barbara J. Fields of Columbia University. She will join us on March 20th for a talk on “Racecraft.” For those interested, here is the flyer: Weissman- Racecraft Barbara J. Fields-Guest
Getting started on your final project
As we hit the mid-way mark of the semester, it is time to start planning your final project. Your ITF is here to help!
As a class:
Start by identifying the elements you think are effective in previous course sites by browsing the Encyclopedia (shown to you at Tech Fair and examples posted by your professor). Consider especially:
- Theme – How many columns are there? Does it have a custom header? How many navigation menus are there?
- Menus – Where are they on the site (top, side, bottom, embedded in a map or slider)? Do they contain sub-menus?
- Pages – How are the pages designed? Do the pages contain linked indexes? What kind of multimedia is used? How and where is the media embedded (link, image, etc)?
You will want to choose the elements you think will work best for your site, and then come together as a class and assign roles to different people in order to achieve a cohesive site. In other words, everyone should have a task to work on and you should create a schedule that makes sense in terms of workflow in order to complete the project on time.
As a group:
- Organize your information – What topics do you wish to cover? Can you identify keywords for your project?
- Select your media – What medium will best feature your work: video, timeline, map, images, text, or a combination?
- Assign roles – Again, you want to think about this in terms of tasks that individuals can complete in order to realize your cohesive vision. You may want to assign a writer, editor, designer, and put someone in charge of finding and testing digital tools.
Tool Ideas:
Based on the preliminary ideas Professor Beeman described, here are a list of tools you may want to consider using to showcase your work-
- Timelines
Tiki-Toki: Example (made by ITF Amanda)
Dipity
TimelineJS and this tutorial (by ITF Emily) - Maps
Custom Google Maps: Examples, another example, and tutorial - NEW Maps Engine Lite: Watch the tutorial video
Maps Marker: Example and tutorial (by ITF Maggie) - Images
Resizing or this tutorial ( from ITF Brian)
Adding an image gallery tutorial ( from ITF Brian) - Videos
iMovie: Tutorial from ITFs at Brooklyn, a tutorial (from ITF Amanda Favia), and tutorials from Apple - Audio
Finding, editing, and embedding audio tutorial (from ITF Amanda)
GarageBand: Tutorials from ITFs and tutorials from Apple - A bit of everything
Example
Tutorials (from ITF Jenny)And please remember, every image, audio clip, video, or selection of text you take from the Internet must be given proper attribution (citation! link!) and it must be free to use. Please ask your professor or an ITF for more help with understanding copyright and fair use…In order to ensure you are within your rights to use the material you have selected, please assess any work of art you utilize (for any project you embark on at Macaulay and beyond) by considering these factors:
1. the purpose and character of the use (commercial or educational, transformative or reproductive);2. the nature of the copyrighted work (fictional or factual, the degree of creativity);3. the amount and substantiality of the portion of the original work used; and4. the effect of the use upon the market (or potential market) for the original work.(source, Ugoretz “Free as Air” presentation, 2013)
Please email your ITF to set up an appointment during office hours if you need help.