Author Archives: Matt Franks

Posts by Matt Franks

Comments by Matt Franks

"New York City, specifically Manhattan where I currently reside, is full of public spaces that allow city inhabitants and visitors to freely roam and enjoy – or resent. These public spaces come in all forms like parks, squares, and just streets in general. Fortunately, at a young age I was taught to stay away from Times Square, a popular most hated (city residents) and most loved (tourists) area, at all costs. Thus, I have not had any truly nightmarish experiences there that would lead me to hate it, per say, but only to dislike it enough to avoid if possible. I have not lived in Manhattan long though, so the relationships I have with my more preferable public spaces are young. My favorite so far is Central Park. Very predictable, I know, but its appeal is undeniable. Such a vast space offering all kinds of activities like concerts, hiking (to a degree), biking, sports, sledding, and many more makes Central Park a go-to when I need to unwind. With such close proximity to school, it is a great place to take lunch or a book and enjoy the relative quiet. The quiet is key. I have mentioned in another post that I am from the suburbs so I have grown accustomed to quiet places and being able to hear the birds in the morning and the crickets at night. So, Central Park is valuable to me in that if I get tired of seeing cars and buildings, or tired of trucks honking horns, it is an easy getaway to the confines of the Park, which do an satisfactory job of minimizing sight and sound pollution. The isolation aspect is most likely why Central Park was made in the first place, but I think that it is sometimes taken for granted by everyone, including myself. This is because it is only until you truly explore it, that you find the best spots to relax and take a break. Just this weekend I found a mini waterfall, which I had no idea existed. My point is that Central Park has so much potential and is so reliable. If you are going there for adventure, you can find it. If you go to relax, there are plenty of places to relax. Or if you are going to play a pickup game of basketball there are always people to play with."
--( posted on Mar 1, 2016, commenting on the post Assignment 3 )
 
"I have been living in New York City for roughly a year and a half now and fortunately I have not had any run-in with the police yet in that time. However, my only encounter with NYPD came before I attended school here when I was in the city for a concert. The concert is more of a music festival, called Governor’s Ball, and I was attending with my sister and her boyfriend in June of 2013, making me a junior in high school (not knowing I would be attending college here just over a year later). We had gotten off the Metro-North train at Harlem 125th Street and walked down 125th street all the way to the RFK Bridge where many other festival-goers where making the journey to Randall’s Island. Hundreds of people were making this walk at noon on a Saturday afternoon, almost all with alcoholic beverages in hand, my sister and her boyfriend included. Since drinks were expensive at the festival, most people opted to drink beforehand to save some money, and the best time to do that was while walking along the side of the bridge on the way to the island. Everything was going fine until about a quarter of the way across the bridge, we encountered a police van pulled over on the side of the road with about four cops “stopping” people who appeared to be drinking. I use quotation marks around that word because there was no rhyme or reason to their stops, as was evidenced by my sister’s drink being fully hidden behind a bag, yet they decided to stop her just the same. This seemed unfair to me because countless people had gotten away with it before we had passed the police, yet they decided to start doing their jobs when we walked past. It was probably because of the fact she looked underage at the time, even though she was 25. I think that once they figured this out, they reduced her fine to only about $15 and instructed her to throw out her own can of beer at the next garbage she saw. She is not a law-breaker, but with no one to enforce that direction they gave her she was able to continue drinking once we were back on our way, and I think the police knew that. So, overall I had mixed feelings about that first police encounter because it seemed like they could not make up their mind about being strict or lenient with the law, perhaps something that occurs more often, and with more serious offenses than carrying an open container of alcohol."
--( posted on Feb 17, 2016, commenting on the post Assignment 2 )
 
"The subway rides or bus rides I take everyday are often an aspect of my day that I am just trying to get through. They are a means of getting to the next thing I have to do so therefore I use them to relax (not likely, during rush hour) or to space out and mind my own business. But every once in a while there is a ride worth remembering for any number of reasons. One day recently I experienced one of these instances where it was not just another subway ride. My friend and I were riding the subway together after class; he was going home to Brooklyn, and I was going back to the dorms in the lower east side. It was an average ride for the first couple of stops after we got on, but what made it remarkable was that at 51st Street, my friend Dan's father entered the same train car that we were in. A funny coincidence. But at the next stop, 42nd Street, my sister entered our car as well! Out of all of the trains and all of the different cars on each train, Dan's father and my sister chose the exact same one that we were both in. An absolutely bizarre occurrence that will likely never happen again even if we all take the train every day for years to come. In such a big city with so many people, this particular ride helped remind me that it is a small world after all, and coming from a relatively small town in Westchester, reminders like this help me feel more comfortable each and every day."
--( posted on Feb 14, 2016, commenting on the post Assignment 1 )