Strange red circles

I pass by this strange piece of art installation every day on my way to the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall Station. Four huge red circles overlapping each other to create this resting stop/playground for pigeons. I’ve gotten used to seeing this piece of art but ever so often, I will see someone express his or her excitement at seeing such a strange, playful object contrasting the serious tone of One Police Plaza and City Hall. Since I pass by this every day, I don’t pay much attention to it but instead on the flow of high school students coming my way. I live near Murry Bergtraum High School and there is always a constant flow of students cramming into the narrow walkway to the station. The established norm is you must always stay on the right side of the direction that you are walking in in order to maintain order. And so I do. There are always those annoying slow-walkers that take their time and have no sense of “morning rush” so I pick up my speed and quickly walk around them.

Since I live so close to Baruch, I always have this idea that I don’t have to wake up that early to make it to school on time. I end up waking up too late and am always in a rush to pass by those red circles, in a rush to go against the flow of students, in a rush to walk around those slow-walkers, in a rush to go down the stairs of the Municipal Building and into the station. There’s always a bright side to things though: I get a nice workout for my calf muscles!

Express or local? That is always the question I ask myself everyday when I reach the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall Station.

Local 6 train leaving the station...

I hate when I get into the station and I see the local 6 train pulling out of the station. If I walked a bit faster or if my elevator didn’t take so long to come, I would’ve made it. It kind of brightens up my morning when I see an express 4 or 5 train pull into the station. It gives me a small glimmer of hope that I can catch up to the 6 and make it to school on time. When the express train catches up to the local 6 train around Bleecker Street or Astor Place, I have to hide my excitement and blend in with the stoic, sleepy faces on the train.

My favorite stop on my commute is Union Square 14th Street. Since it is a transfer stop, it is nice to see that flow of people rushing into the train and filling up the somewhat spacious train car. There is such a great mix of people at this station – from businesspeople to students to mothers with strollers. Once you get out of the station, the atmosphere is so busy and invigorating. There is so much you can do there, such as watch a movie at the Regal Cinemas, dine at Max Brenners, or hang out in the middle of Union Square at the park. There is just so much going on at this stop.

When the train slowly comes to a stop at the 23rd Street Station, my experience is pretty much like everyone else’s. I lightly push past people to get out of the train car, rush past everyone on the platform to try to get to the turnstile ahead of everyone, slowly trudge up the stairs (because there is a huge mass of slow moving people), weave through everyone on 23rd Street, pull out my ID card to swipe in, run up the broken escalators to class, and finally take some time to catch my breath in my seat. People say “stop and smell the roses” but I prefer not to. At least not in the mornings.