Author Archives: Carol Chau

Posts by Carol Chau

Comments by Carol Chau

"I remember when I first heard about Hurricane Sandy from my teachers and classmates. I felt a little bit uneasy because I didn’t know what exactly was going to happen, and I live not too far away from sources of water. I live two train stops away from Coney Island in the neighborhood of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. My house is within Zone 3 of the NYC evacuation zone map, with Zone 1 being the first to evacuate and Zone 6 being the last. When Hurricane Sandy finally came, I didn’t think too much of it. There were some strong winds and heavy raining. I went outside for a bit to watch the rainfall. The sky was cloudy and the empty street looked as if it was constantly covered in a layer of water. The ripples made from the raindrops shook harshly. It was quite an awesome sight. I noticed there were fewer parked cars, which I thought perhaps was because people wanted to drive away to stay at a different place for the storm. For the remainder of the storm I essentially played video games until it was time to go back to school. The first day of school after the storm felt strange. One of the gymnasiums in my school turned into a temporary shelter for about 500 people who were displaced by the hurricane. In almost every single classes I had, my teachers wanted to know if Superstorm Sandy had any profound effects on any of us. The storm didn’t have huge effect on most students. Some of us had to deal with a blackout. Others got their basement flooded and their textbooks ruined because of that. Sandy didn’t seem so bad until I came home and turned on the news. Reporters were showing fallen trees and wrecked homes in Red Hook. I felt very bad for the people whose home was destroyed by the storm, and was thankful that my home stayed intact, but I was also aware that I won’t be able to fully relate to these people until my own home or the home of someone close to me gets destroyed by a storm too."
--( posted on Mar 15, 2016, commenting on the post Assignment 4 )
 
"About six years ago, when I was a freshman in high school, I often heard warnings from some of my teachers and peers to stay away from Fort Greene Park, the park right across the street from my high school. Apparently, people got stabbed there, or fights broke out, or people got mugged. It sounded like a terrifying place to be, so I avoided it. My impressions of the park changed when sophomore year came, and I joined the track team. When the weather permits, my coach would have the team practice in the park. We would run on a path that goes through the middle of the park and around past a tennis court to were we started, and that’s when I realized that the park was actually a beautiful place, and not as dangerous as I thought it would was. In almost every practice in the park, I noticed there seem to always be people walking their dogs, mothers with baby strollers, and children playing in the small, fenced playground. The people there didn’t look dangerous or scary. In fact, these groups of people – dog owners, mothers, and children – were the opposite of scary. And the park itself was very green with majestic trees and inviting grass. It was also hilly, which running through made for some interesting views. There was a beautiful large set of stairs near the middle of the park. That was where me and about 1,400 other students crammed on to take our senior class photo. The park was very scenic and after I discovered how safe the park can be, I enjoyed every moment I spent there. In my remaining years of high school, I would occasionally hang out with my friends there. After our long day of school, we would lie down on the soft grass, eat what we bought (either cheese fries or chicken quesadillas), talk and watch the sky. Lying on the park always made me feel nice and peaceful. I made many great memories in the park. And I would be amused at how my views of the park changed so drastically. More recently, after studying gentrification in seminar 2, I know one of the reasons why the park may have gotten safer is because of the gentrification happening in the Fort Greene neighborhood, but that’s a different story. Regardless, Fort Greene Park is still my favorite public space."
--( posted on Mar 1, 2016, commenting on the post Assignment 3 )
 
"Every year back when Oscar, my brother who is one year younger, and I were in elementary school, my school handed a booklet on safety precautions and procedures to our classes. The booklet was in black and white with informative cartoons on the pages. Our teachers all gave us time to look through it and color in the cartoons. I always liked this time of the year, more so because of the coloring part. One of the safety procedures it emphasized was to contact the police by dialing “911” so they can help when there is trouble or danger. Calling ‘911’ for help, and other procedures were already drilled into my head by my parents and teachers so the booklet did not have much use for me except for the nice art. One night, I heard knocks on the door. I was used to knocks on the door because the tenants would do that when they wanted to reach my father, but these knocks were different – they were more forceful and loud. I got a little startled and when my father opened the door, there were two policemen. Apparently they got a call from my house phone. I immediately started crying because I thought there was trouble in the house or something. My father talked to them. I noticed they never tried to step inside the house. We later found out that my cousins dared my brother to call “911” and he did. The policemen were really nice about being forced to come to my home because children do dumb things and did not fine us. Because this was the only direct encounter with policemen that I remember of, I think policemen are nice and respectable people."
--( posted on Feb 16, 2016, commenting on the post Assignment 2 )
 
"My high school has over five-thousand students, and since most people ended either 8th or 9th period and commuted to school, that means around 3pm, the surrounding train stations were filled with Brooklyn Tech kids trying to go home and I would be quite excited. I was not so much excited because school ended for the day; I loved my high school. Everyone and everything there was cool and I'd live there if I could. I was excited more so because it meant that I was going to take the train home with my friends. Commuting by train was enjoyable for me because it's how I met and bonded to some of my closest friends today. I remember the first time I happened to take the train home with my classmate Cherin. We were acquaintances and knew of each other, but didn't really talk in class because there weren't many chances to. So while we were waiting for our train, I decided to get to know her. We talked easily about the class we shared and what we thought about our teacher. Once our train came, we stuffed ourselves into the carts like canned tuna and complained about it. After we were done complaining, we talked some more about anything and everything. We learned that we had a lot of things in common: we both got off the same stop, enjoy video games, and liked exploring new places. The shared experience of the uncomfortable travel back home helped unite us and brought us closer. What was a 45 minute commute felt more like a 10 minute commute. She's still a good friend of mine today."
--( posted on Feb 10, 2016, commenting on the post Assignment 1 )