A photo from the summertime on the secret patio.

The graffiti near the 145 street train station.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the afternoon, I finally decided that I needed to take a break. School work and my activism have really started to pile up on top of me. I didn’t know if I was going to regret taking a break later, but I decided that fresh air is what I needed so I could continue to work later. I packed up my things and left the Baruch cafeteria. It was a decent day, it wasn’t rainy, but was a little cloudy and gloomy which only added on to my stress. I wasn’t sure where to go but I knew I wanted to go somewhere I haven’t been before. After thinking for a long time, nothing came to mind. So, I just walked to the R train to take it to Times Square and then transferred onto the 1 train, since it’s my favorite one.
In the summer of my junior year of high school, I had to take the one train to 137th street every day for 6 weeks for an internship called Sadie Nash. It was the first time my mom let me into the city without friends or parental supervision. I took the 1 train early in the morning, I had to be in Harlem at 10:00 am every day (but I could be a little late as long as I let my deans know, but I never wanted to miss a second of this internship). Sadie Nash completely changed my life, I think that if I didn’t attend this internship, I would have still been set on being a history teacher or a therapist when I grew older. Being on the 1 train reminded me of that long commute for Sadie Nash, so I decided to pay a visit to the campus that hosted us for that summer.
I usually transfer to the 2 train and then back to the 1 to get to City College faster, but it was the beginning of rush hour and I knew I wouldn’t be able to find a seat if I transferred. My favorite part of traveling on the one train to 137 street is when the train goes above ground for one stop and then back under to get to 137th. 125th was the stop where the train was above ground, I remember seeing the blue skies in the summertime, and now the sky was grey, but I didn’t mind, I was able to see all of Harlem from a different view. Whenever I was coming home a bit later in the day from Sadie Nash; I could see how the golden sunlight shined through all the windows of the buildings and through the subway car windows.
I finally got to 137 street and I was reminded of the steep hill that I had to walk up every morning to get City College. It was hard walking up the hill especially since it was a little windy. I should have brought a scarf with me. I did not like that campus personally, there were barely any windows in the classrooms and the layout of the building was confusing. I decided to stay on the outside of the campus since it was school time and I didn’t want to disturb any students. I wish it was summer time again, so I could visit my secret patio where my friends and I used to go eat lunch. It was a gigantic patio, and it was abandoned completely for some reason. The patio surrounded a building that also appeared abandon (but my friend swore she saw someone walking out of it). There were weeds and daisies growing in-between the stone and the chairs were rusting but it was beautiful. I hope I get to go back there soon with some friends so that we can lay in the sun again and sing and dance on top of the tables.
I walked to the train again because it was getting late and I still had work to do. But I walked to a specific train station. I walked to the A train on 145 street and hoped to find a man selling necklaces. Last time I saw that man was two years ago, and I couldn’t buy a necklace from him because my friends and I had to catch a train; I knew he wouldn’t be there selling necklaces again, but I knew I had to try. I also walked there because I remembered there was very cute graffiti near the train station that I never got to take a picture of, I remembered that it was on a green wall and had little flowers around it. I ended up finding it and I finally got a picture of it. When I got onto the A train, a man came up to me, he had long straight brown hair, and was wearing a fur coat. He told me that he loved my hair and the color of it, all I could say was thank you because he immediately got off the train after he told me. I hope he heard me say thank you.
I have a lot of memories in Harlem. I remember how I went to the pool at Riverside Park for a field day with Sadie Nash. I remember getting halal for lunch every day and laughing with my friends about nonsense. I remember running across St. Nicholas Park and buying flowers for my deans during our lunch break (we only had an hour and we forgot to eat lunch that day but it was worth it; our deans were so happy). I remember marching down the streets of Harlem demanding justice for victims of police brutality. Back then I wasn’t worried about having to balance my time between activism and my school work. My main worry was my summer homework and hoping I would be able to finish it all before September. But this is what Sadie Nash trained me to do, this program and my deans were dedicated to making sure every young woman of color that attend the program came out as a leader and as an uncensored, strong activist. I haven’t talked to my dean for a long time, but I am sure that she’s proud of me. I hope she comes back to New York soon.