The other day, my boyfriend and I went to the World Trade Center memorial. We both had assignments to do (I had one for Art History) so we figured we’d go check it out together. However, what I thought would simply be an assignment turned into something much more. The memorial is absolutely breathtaking. For anyone who has not gone or has never seen pictures, the memorial is a park that features two huge pools with mini waterfalls in them. These pools are the footprints of the Twin Towers—they are where the buildings once stood. The pools, called the North Pool and the South Pool, feature engraved names all around the edges—names of people who lost their life on 9/11. Instead of going full on tourist and snapping pictures like there was no tomorrow, I just stood by the South Pool and just stared down into the water. I thought about 9/11 and how, just 12 years ago, America’s biggest tragedy happened right at that very spot. I thought about all of the people who lost their lives and read the names that were engraved. I thought about how fortunate I was that no one I knew lost their life, but how others were not as fortunate. I thought about how I was 6 at the time, and did not fully understand what was going on. On that day, as soon as my mom got to her workplace, she left and rushed over to my school to take me home. Her eyes were glued to the television when we got home. I remember talking to my dad that night, who could not come home because he was worked in Pennsylvania that day and when the buildings were attacked and fell, the police closed all of the bridges and tunnels, prohibiting anyone from coming or leaving. And yet, 12 years later, the memories were still fresh in my mind.

I highly encourage every person to go see the World Trade Center memorial. Even if you did not necessarily lose someone, still go. It really was a captivating experience and is one of those things that you cannot just read about. I promise you will not be disappointed. Just get your tickets in advance. The lines to get in without a ticket are horrendous.

We are all photographers. With the advent of technology, each and every one of us is able to take a regular photo and make it look better with filters and camera settings. I’m talking at you, Instagram! However, meeting an actual photographer gave me a completely different perspective on photography. Photography is not only a pastime. It is a job, and most importantly, it is art.

Greg Bloom, whose major clients include Bath & Body Works, Ann Taylor Loft, and Hourglass, loves his craft. Bloom showed us his newest work, which was taking pictures of food before and after they mold. It was interesting and, uh, rather smelly. However, his main purpose was to show us how photography can help show the little details of how the food changed over the past few days. When Bloom put the before photo and after photo side-by-side, it made me think about time and how given just a couple of days, the food changed. Before, it was perfect and delicious; after a couple of days, it was disgusting and moldy.

Just the other day, I was talking to my mom about my brother and how I wanted to start prepping him for high school entrance exams (SHSAT, Hunter High School Exam, etc.) It was then that it hit me—I was thinking about what high school my brother should go to. Just the other day, my parents were telling me I was going to have a little brother and now all of a sudden, he is in middle school. I literally had an “I’m old” moment. But then, I realized that I while I was always concerned with how older my brother was becoming, I did not necessarily look at myself. With every year, I have also grown older and changed as well.

I am currently 18-years-old and am attending Baruch College. WHAT. Didn’t I start Pre-K like the day before? Wasn’t I riding my bike with my friends outside, where the only worry I had was going around the block by myself? Wasn’t I waiting for my parents to tell me a secret they were keeping from me—that I would become a big sister? Where did the time go?! Holy crap, I’m old. And right there and then in Bloom’s studio, when I saw the pictures of the food side by side, this was all going through my head.

This is probably going to sound weird, but food before and after it became mold made me think of me, how before I was small and tiny and constantly needed Mommy and Daddy but now, I’ve grown up. No, I am not comparing myself to moldy food lol. But the point is, we all want to grow up. We want to become older. But, given such short time, we could all change and not even realize it. Sometimes I find myself yearning to become younger again, where things were simpler. Where I did not have an over-abundance of schoolwork. Where I did not stress myself at work so that every single one of my students got 4’s on their state exams. Where I did not worry that my friends secretly hated me because they thought I was ditching them every time I cancelled plans even though I was just completely swamped with work. Yet despite wanting to be younger again, I realized that I will only be getting older (unless I’m Benjamin Button). I should embrace it. Even though the moldy food has met its untimely end (seriously, moldy food is disgusting) and will be eventually thrown out, that is not the case for me. Even though I am now considered an adult and I am currently on Chapter 18 of Lisa Puran’s Life, it is simply the beginning. It is a time for me to find out who I really am—what I like and dislike, who my friends are going to be, what my career will be. It’s a time for me to still remember my past, but to also look forward to my future.

P.S. I didn’t take a picture of the moldy food and since just putting a huge block of text is boring, I included a picture of me when I was wee little (I think when I was a year old and a my high school graduation photo). I know, I know. I’m adorable 😉

When I was going home today after a long day of class, I followed my normal routine and walked to the 23rd street subway station to take the train home. When I was waiting on the subway platform, I grew increasingly restless and looked all around for things to stare at. My eyes rested on a curious tile on the subway wall. It said “Marie Curie, Physicist.” I thought to myself, what does this tile mean? It was then that I realized the tile corresponded to the hat mosaic above it. I’ve always noticed the hats floating around all throughout the subway platform wall, but this was the first time that I noticed their meaning. I started to look around at other hats and who they corresponded to, and that task got me walking up and down the platform to look at all the mosaic art on the wall. Other famous people whose hats are shown include: Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, sculptor and art patron; Fay Templeton, vaudeville actress; and suffragist Maud Nathan. I was actually really surprised that out of the past month that I’ve been going to this station, I only realized this today. It made me think about what I can notice about the world if I just took the time to look and observe.

As soon as I got home, I searched up the subway art, and it turns out that this was the art installation titled “Memories of Twenty-Third Street” by artist Keith Godard. It pays homage to all the regular patrons of this very neighborhood in the 20th century. Once a center of culture, fashion, and entertainment, the Flatiron area was once bustling with actresses, dancers, and people of all backgrounds. It tells a story of times long gone and the people who lived it. After learning the meaning and the reason behind this art, I appreciate it much more than when I only passively glanced at the tile mosaics on the wall, thinking that they were just for decoration and that they didn’t have much meaning. This really proves that in New York City, you can find art in the everywhere, even in the most quotidian of places.

——Joanna Huang

From top to bottom: Subway station mosaic, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s hat, Marie Curie’s hat. (Photos by Joanna Huang)

Irvin Penn had taken a picture of foods that appeared to be nothing more than a couple of blocks of frozen fruits and vegetables all stacked on top of one another. This, although being the actual display held such an immense amount of meaning for me. When I took a moment and pondered at the possible reasoning to have taken a picture of frozen foods it immediately occurred to me that one of the biggest ideas trying to be conveyed by the image was the idea of change and progression. Thinking back to other paintings that I had seen, there always seemed to be a handful of paintings using fresh fruit and vegetables as the center of the work. I’m sure everyone can relate to those paintings having food such as fruit and bread in a basket, but the main difference between those paintings and Penn’s photograph was the fact that his were frozen as compared to being fresh. Relating back to the idea of change and progression; society has progressed and shifted in such a way that anything frozen is as natural to us as it being fresh. Looking at the image with this idea in mind it isn’t too different than all of those generic paintings with the fruit and other foods in the basket in the sense that in both cases the food itself serves as the main center of attraction and is often organized in a specific way. Before the foods would lay scattered throughout the display in a neat but not necessarily organized manner as compared to the frozen food Penn had taken an image of, being in rough edged box like shapes. It could be possible that the image also represented our society’s change in order and conduct over the years where it use to be more relaxed as compared to now where it could be viewed as being cold, extremely rigid, and in a way almost lifeless much like the frozen foods. The fact that the work of art is also a photograph as compared to a painting could also further support the idea of society’s evolution with time because rather than being painted it was taken with a camera showing how art and expression in themselves are also changing aspects of our society as time continues to pass. While art was often viewed as being a painting or sculpture it has now become subject to many different forms of expression defining it in such a unique way.

-Shujat Khan

Photograph by Irvin Penn                             Painting by Barbara Wells

I take the 7 train quite often in order to go to Manhattan. I have seen this building several times after the stop from Court Square. This building has many graffitis on it. When I first saw it, I was amazed by the beauty. I knew that this was art. It was a once of a kind building. I haven’t seen the graffiti in a while until last week. It was rush hour when I came across this building once again. It was beautiful and I realized it’s been retouched and added then the first time I saw the artwork. I’ve noticed that it was different than last times. For example, a picture of the woman was added on and some words had other touches on it. It was so beautiful. I wondered who the woman was? A celebrity? A lover? That was when I realized that some art pieces could be never finished. The different perspectives add to the beauty of this artwork. That’s the art of the art piece. It could always be retouched, added, modified, and changed like this graffiti. This graffiti will never have a finishing touch but that’s the art, the beauty of this artwork.