Somehow, it lives.

I promise it looks better in real life. My camera decided to fart on me.

highline project

Hinsch’s soda fountain and luncheonette, located in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. This landmark opened in 1948.

On the corner of Varick Street and King Street, there stand two men who want to cross the street, but cannot because of the stream of cars.  The cars are together, flowing quickly, leaving no way for the two men to cross the street.  The street is always flowing.  There is no way for the men to get across.  They see no gap wide enough that would let them run across unharmed.  If they step into this stream of cars, they run the risk of disrupting the flow or of being swept away.

They look at the sign above them.  It says that there is no parking on the street between the hours of 4 AM – 6 AM on Tuesday.  It’s Tuesday, but it’s late in the afternoon.  Why aren’t there cars stopping?  Why are no cars parked?

The man in the black shirt is looking for a clever way to get across.  He is in a hurry because he has to go visit his wife in the hospital.  She is giving birth to their first child and he has to be there.  He isn’t thinking clearly because there is a lot on his mind.

The man in the blue jacket is patiently waiting for the light to change.  He knows that the cars will stop when the light tells them too.  But the light is broken.

The two men try to fix the light.  They think there might be something wrong with the electricity.  They go to the base of the stoplights and try to get the electric circuit to be closed again.  They tear off the base of the stand and get to work.

They realize there is a problem.  There is nothing conductive they can use to close the circuit.  Neither of them is willing to sacrifice any of their things.  The cars are not stopping.  They have to think of another way through.

Finally, the patient man in the blue jacket notices the subway entrance on the other side of the street.  They see one on their side of the street.  They realize that they can use the tunnel to get across.

They go down, and realize that the subway tunnel does not connect them to the other side.  Underground they are blocked by lines of railroad tracks.

Frustrated, but out of options, the men get on the next 1 train.  They get off at the nearest stop where they can transfer and take another 1 train back.

Hello fellow classmates!

I wasn’t sure where to write about this, so I figured what better place to begin than the Macaulay Arts in NYC seminar blog? As I’m sure you all know, we’re able to start our own blogs through the Macaulay eportfolios site. I began my own blog the other week and entitled it: The Utopia of Daniel.

I have some big plans for the site and I hope to add my own background and header images soon, but until then I thought it would be fun to promote it here! Feel free to comment or post links to your own blogs, as I’d love to check them out.

See you all in class!

-Danny S.

I realize that I am late and my response probably won’t count, but I’m posting anyway because I have some thoughts on the text. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the novel. Patti Smith bears a poetic license about her that is soothing to read. I enjoy taking a journey into the past (hers, particularly) and growing up with people from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. The story between her and Robert is touching, to say the least – how she managed to bolster his art pursuit with unwavering support is heartening. It was pleasing to read something so optimistic, as opposed to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, in which a 9-year-old boy deals with the tragic and untimely loss of his father.

I admire so many things about the two struggling artists. For one, I admire Patti Smith’s hard-working/competitive nature – she would always stay overtime just to earn a little extra money to support her and Robert. She was willing to remain by his side when he had his “sexual awakening” (for lack of a better term). And above all, she appreciated the simplicity in life rather than lavish living arrangements. Robert possessed the male-disposition that he always had to support Patti and it appeared that no matter what Patti did (even if he didn’t like it) he always supported her and never gave her a difficult time.

However dysfunctional the relationship, I admire the undying support and love shared by the two struggling artists, coupled with their hard work and boundless optimism. In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this autobiography because of its story, the way it’s written, and the emotions it evokes from someone who didn’t even live during that time.

-Alex Hajjar

It’s interesting to revisit the hippie/ counterculture movement in New York that I learned about in my history classes some time ago, this time through the eyes of Patti Smith. Our reading so far contains everything from homosexuality to LSD, both of which were glorified and normalized in the 1960s. Interestingly, the narrator is deeply religious – Christian – and it is ironic to see religion juxtaposed with drugs and deviancy (as homosexuality was then known).

I am interested by the references to streets in Manhattan, where I worked this summer and with which I thereby familiarized myself. Even though the novel refers to the 1960s, an era I did not have the privilege of living through, it does not feel distant or remote because of the constant references to Manhattan. I am also interested by the references to Robert Kennedy, who was assassinated in that eventful and fateful decade, just like his brother Jack. (On a side note, I recently learned a theory about why the Kennedy family has suffered so much. Ask me when you’re free if you’re interested.) For many Americans, the  Kennedys were the personification of good ol’ American boys – young, handsome and all. I imagine what the country must have felt when its dreams were shattered, when two Kenendys were taken away from them in a single decade.

My history teacher once said that if she could go back to any decade in American history, she would go back to the ’60s – if only she knew that she would make it out alive. I agree – from the Six-Day War to the Vietnam War to the political assassinations, it was the decade that made us who we are today.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/newsweek-cover-1968-the-year-that-made-us-who-we-are-58630047.html