About Me
My name is Jessica Ng, and I am majoring in Computer Science and Chinese at Hunter College. I was born in Queens and have lived there all my life, but my parents came from Hong Kong. I am a voracious reader of fiction, and personally I use my smartphone more for reading than for calling or social media.
What I like most about New York City is that you can find practically anything here. I once read that one can find a museum for anything in New York City (yes, there is a museum of sex too). While that may or may not be factually true, it is also true that NYC is home to a great number of the center of the arts, as well as many other attractions. And these attractions can be reached via NYC’s subway system, which often garners complaints from locals for lateness but I find can still get me around the city. While in other places getting a driver’s license means a teenager has the freedom to go around to places on their own, I love the subway system for getting me around without one. I also appreciate the incredible diversity in culture and people that exist in New York City, at the least for introducing such amazing food to me, but also because I think it’s important in order to develop open-mindedness.
But while I really like the range of food, as a poor college student I am also obligated to complain about the horrendous prices of NYC, especially in Manhattan. It is one of the most expensive cities in the world, a fact that makes me cry internally when I think of the current job market. Another thing I dislike is the occasional encounter on the subway with a homeless person. Not to disparage on the situation homeless people are in, but having a random, stinky stranger to straight-up ask for the food in your hand and then sit behind you when you refuse is genuinely terrifying. Lastly, the weather in New York City can be ridiculous. In the summer it can sometimes reach over 100°F and people will be fainting of heatstroke, while in the winter you occasionally have to watch out or slip and die on black ice. Seriously, we can’t get a break.
A Mass Transit Experience
In my first semester of college I took a Cultural Anthropology course, mainly because it fulfilled a requirement. It did, however, give me a unique outlook on how I went about my daily life. For example, one of the assignments of the course was to ride a subway line from beginning to end. I feel that this was one of the most unique experiences I’ve ever had riding the subway. For most people, the subway system is not a destination. People only take the subway to go to somewhere else. In that sense, the subway system is a sort of liminal space. But when I rode the entire 6 train line for my assignment, I wasn’t thinking about going anywhere, I was focused on the experience.
For most people, the subway system is not a destination. People only take the subway to go to somewhere else. In that sense, the subway system is a sort of liminal space. But when I rode the entire 6 train line for my assignment, I wasn’t thinking about going anywhere, I was focused on the experience.
Did you know, you can not only tell the difference in location by what is outside the train windows, but also by the shifts in population as you travel across different neighborhoods? The riders in the northbound stops are primarily African American, as the stops were in the Bronx, but as we went through Manhattan the riders became increasingly diverse. There was also the people in the subway, each of whom rode the subway differently. The loners, who sat by themselves and the couples, who had quiet conversations. The large groups of friends, who were loud and unashamed, and the performers, for whom the train was their stage. I remember seeing a mother loudly and publically discipline her child, and how people tried their best to politely ignore the commotion. New Yorkers are like that.
There was also the people in the subway, each of whom rode the subway differently. The loners, who sat by themselves and the couples, who had quiet conversations. The large groups of friends, who were loud and unashamed, and the performers, for whom the train was their stage. I remember seeing a mother loudly and publically discipline her child, and how people tried their best to politely ignore the commotion. New Yorkers are like that.
