New York City is such a grand and bustling city that it strikes a different chord in each and every person that is lucky enough to encounter it. Regardless of all our different experiences and interpretations of what New York City is, I think it is safe to say that there is no other place in the world like it. What other city has the most diverse county in the whole world?  In this city, you will meet people from all over the world, experience different froms art, and indulge yourself in foods which I personally think cannot be beat.

My NYC is  represented by none other than Times Square. Regardless of the numerous times I have been to Times Square, I get chills every time I see the lights flashing before my eyes. The surplus of people is both overwhelming and exciting. It is literally called “The Crossroads of the World.” From Broadway shows to restaurants to Naked Cowboys, anything and everything can happen here. Last year I was lucky enough to visit it during the first snow fall of the season and it truly was magical. Below is a photograph I took in Times Square just over a week ago.

I think the classic song that represents New York is “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra. While it might be the obvious choice, the song pretty much sums up everything that you need to know about the Empire State. It shows that while NYC has everything, it is up to you to go out and explore this great city. You can be anyone you want to be.

I was born and raised in Park Slope, Brooklyn until I was 10. But, throughout my childhood, I have travelled to a lot of different places and spent a good majority of my childhood in the Philippines. However, wherever I go, nothing, and I mean NOTHING can compare to New York. Let me show you my New York City.

Firstly, the life in New York city is incomparable. It’s vigorous atmosphere and fast-paced momentum just makes your adrenaline pump. In Manhattan, you need to walk quickly. It’s a MUST. If you don’t real New Yorkers, like myself, will just maneuver and cut in front of you. You need to keep up with the pace or be left behind. The song, “Walking on a Dream,” by Empire of the Sun, embodies that cut-throat, face-paced energy New York City encompasses. When you walk in the city, depending on which part of the city of course, you feel like you’re on a cat-walk.

Secondly, the city is never empty. There is always transportation and food which cannot be said for a plethora of other major cities. The city, despite it’s criminal record, feels somewhat safe with people always about and moving.

Thirdly, and lastly, what makes New York City for me is Central Park. It’s most probably the most famous park in the city, and it is for valid reasons. It’s enormous. It’s beautiful. It’s awe-inspiring. It’s grand. It’s fascinating. It’s whimsical. It’s structured. It’s not structured. It’s safe. It’s dangerous. It’s dangerous. It’s romantic. It’s adventurous.

It’s simply everything.

I have spent countless days there wishing and dreaming; crying and laughing; smiling and frowning; living and dying. I know it sounds absurd, but there honestly is no other park in the world like it. It’s majestic. It was the subject of my “Vaue” Painting in High School.

So, New York City – well – MY New York City encompasses the vibrant energy of the people and the serenity of a most picturesque park. I know it sounds quite odd for my description of New York to be complete opposites, but that’s just who I am: a completely whimsical person.

Brooklyn is made up of many neighborhoods, each individual in its own way. I particularly think Sheepshead Bay stands out a lot from the others. There’s this gorgeous sidewalk art by the Sheepshead Bay train station that was just restored. It spans the entire block and depicts the scenic environment of the neighborhood. Because of the length of the piece, I could only get a picture of part of it.

These pictures were taken on October 11 so I guess this fits snapshot day.

As for New York, I do not think that they came out that well but I tried to show the general incongruity of the city. Here in the foreground is the Neogothic Trinity Church and on the background are skyscrapers. A century ago the church towered over the horizon and was a landmark. Now it stands in the shadows. New York really does not have tradition in my opinion, except that everything goes. I feel that this is quite unfortunate. It is like building a skyscraper over the Taj Mahal.

Pics from our visit to the 9/11 Memorial (memorializing the memorial?)…some of the images are panoramic shots, so click on them to see their full size.

On our trip to the 9/11 memorial, I noticed a lot of interesting metaphors. One of them was the appearance of the Freedom Tower in the NYC skyline. The tower is built with glass that is very similar to a mirror. If you take a look you will see that the glass of the Freedom Tower looks exactly like the sky around it. You can even see the clouds clearly reflected on the glass. I think that there is some very strong symbolism here. The tower looks “blended in” with the sky. The message is that although we are rebuilding Ground Zero and moving on from the tragedy that occurred here, never forget what happened. Never forget that Manhattan was robbed of the World Trade Center and all those lives, and if you were to look up at the skyline, all you would see is… the sky.

Hey Guys!

I know this has been a long time coming, but I needed to gather my thoughts and I felt that I needed to let my thoughts settle.

While first walking into the memorial, I felt excited. It was an interesting feeling because memorials are usually somber and beautiful, not fun and adventurous. That feeling was probably due to the fact that it was my first memorial visited. Nevertheless, as I went inside, I found that I felt guilty. I felt an overwhelming sense of disrespect, stemming from myself. I realized that it was because I was talking, laughing, and joking, something that these victims could not do with their families and friends. From that moment till the end, I tried to only speak when necessary, and no more.

While wandering around, I took note of the people walking around, specifically the people who seemed to be relatives and/or friends of the victims. I felt a powerful sense of anguish and pain, and my heart wanted me to reach out to these people, and to console them to the best of my ability. I walked around, watching these people in sorrow and thanking G-d that it didn’t happen to a relative or friend of mine. And, as if I didn’t feel their pain enough, I took note of two very painful yet powerful actions that happened onsite. The first one was a man who stood next to two of the names (from the same group of firefighters) and tried to clean them as best he could. This really struck me deeply as I could not bring myself to truly absorb this till later. That man loved those two people with all his heart, and they probably loved him back. And yet, they were struck by this shameless act of terrorism and lost for lives for a meaningless cause. Their agenda might have been completed, but we still stand strong. They might fight for one cause, but our freedom is what gives us the strength to fight on against them. The second action was the placing of a rose in the name of Douglas D. Ketcham, as depicted in the photo shown below. That act spoke books to me. It told me that even though he dies, his family, friends, and all who love him still live on.

As shown on their website, the memorial is made to be extremely sustainable. That means that the memorial is caught in a cycle of renewing the resources within it. We see from the memorial an amazing and (hopefully) intentional lesson. With life comes death. With death comes more life. It is an endless circle. And even though those victims died, we live on, and so does their spirit. We will never forget 9/11.

Joey Kabariti

The memorial just gave me a sense of something unfinished. The grass was just carpeted (or whatever the proper verb is), the trees just planted, the building still under construction.There was a general rushed sense to the project, seen in the lack of proper walkways and makeshift barricades.

Therefore there was a lot of noise from both traffic and the building teams that took away from the more subdued and quiet nature of a memorial. In about 10 years the place will be completely different, the construction will be finished (hopefully) and the trees will grow into mature solid oaks, which will shelter the place from unnecessary sound. I feel that the architect hoped that the loudest thing in the memorial would be the waterfalls. Though I would not call the two holes my cup of tea, I feel that the sound of falling water will be soothing, like that of a waterfall, when it is not mixed with honking and drilling.

There was also a very heavy police presence but I believe that in the future, all the cameras will be placed accordingly and most cops on the seen will be undercover. There will also be fewer visitors as the novelty of the monument will fade and therefore less need for cops.

The only really unfortunate thing about ground zero is the time it took to build the memorial/new complex or rather the time spent preparing to build. For about nine years nothing was done and the in one year we have almost finished skyscrapers. I have a sad feeling that there was either extraordinary incompetency or someone enriched himself.

As we were leaving the 9/11 memorial we walked toward the train and I saw what looked like some sort of flea market type of thing. There were many people gathered in one area in a very unorganized way. Then I noticed signs and mattresses everywhere and realized this was actually the Wall Street protest. So I took a couple of pictures as we continued walking and here they are:

To me a protest is art in away. It is self expression of a group or person. These people are expressing there ideals and what they want to be done. Besides for the actual protest being art, these posters are clearly art and are kinda unique to New York.

P.S. I saw a poster that said “Too Legit To Quit.” If anybody gets the reference, comment.