Journal #7

We started our day a little later then 11:05 due to the professors being late and all. But we start to head to the World Trade Center where we got to see the Freedom Tower and the church were the volunteers and the workers rested.  They turned the church into a museum for the fallen firefighters and cops that died during 9/11. The Church had the beds that they slept on and pieces of the building that looked like a cross. I'm very glad that our class got to see the tower but kind of upset we didn't get to see the memorial fountain with all the peoples names that died that day. After we saw this we made our way to the place where the people had protested Wall Street and then right after that we went to Wall St. The reason why they called it Wall St. was because it use to be a wall that separated the two different cultures. This was my first time visiting this area and we got to go into the Federal Hall National Monument where George Washington was sworn in as our first president and inside is the piece of floor that he stood on during it from the old building. The old building was knocked down and the new one was built in its place. Walking down Wall St. was packed with a lot of workers and tourist and all the streets were closed off so people could walk in the street. 

After we were done with Wall St. we stopped in front of the Museum of the American Indian. In the front of the building you can see the four big statues of these god like characters that was very interesting to look at. The museum use to be a custom house where ships unload there shipments. Right next to the museum is Battery Park. "The name of Battery Park recalls a row of cannons that defended the original fort" (BG p.46). In the middle of the park is art work that was made from the steel of the World Trade Center with a fire in front of it. This wasn't much to look at it until I realized it was from the World Trade Center and it had a lot more meaning. 

We walked passed the ferry's that take you to Ellis Island and Liberty Island and got to see the statue of Liberty and of course Ellis Island. We walked up the Hudson River with the great view of New Jersey cross the river. The park that we walked through won't be in maps in the early years of New York because when the first World Trade Center was being built they dug out the holes to put the building in and had to dump it somewhere so they dumped it over in this area and made it into a beautiful park. This park was "3.5 acres of Robert Wagner Jr. Park are named for a lifelong public servant. The gardens were designed by Lynden B. Miller, whose work can also be seen in the Conservatory Gardens in Central Park and Bryant Park" (BG p.59). After walking up the Hudson River we made it to a poetry house where people can read all kinds of poetry. I picked out a poem that I liked called Justifiable Homicide by Jessica Hagedorn. My favorite part of this poem was the first part it said "Television dictates amorphous lies to my unborn children telling me that murderers have mobilized into the suburbs and are wiping out Americans in their grocery stores and living rooms ". 

The professors were nice to let us take the train to the Meat Packing District. We found out that this area was known for S&M and other weird stuff until it started to clean up into a high class neighborhood. After we talked about the area we went to eat in Chelsea Market. This place had food, candy, chocolate, soup, amazing cup cakes, and shopping for clothes. Never been there before and I hope to go back when I have more time to really explore it more. We then head to the walk on the High Line, which use to be elevated train tracks. The train "used to run at street level down Eleventh and, further south, along Tenth Avenue. The streets were clogged with traffic,  the trains were dirty, and the tracks were dangerous" (BG p.188). The way the people knew the train was coming was by a man on a horse that would ride in front of the train to warn people that it was coming. But it really didn't work and many accidents happened. "The High Line, a 13 mile viaduct for freight trains, was constructed in the 1930's to solve these problems. It was built not directly over the avenue but mid block, between buildings or right through them. During the 1950's rail freight gave way to trucking, and the last train, with its consignment of frozen turkeys, journeyed to Gansevoort St in 1980. Because no one wanted to pay the demolition costs, the High Line was left to rust. beginning in the late 1990's, a local advocacy group defeated proposals for demolition" (BG p.188). Now there is 1.6 miles of walkable railway that was boarded over like a boardwalk. When walking on the High Lines you can see the old railroad tracks with the trees and bushes growing around it and can see the sites. We walked all the way down to the art galleries. It was a little cold up there on our walk though. We went into this weird book store which had crazy books of naked people and just weird things. I don't know how I feel about that but it was an experience I can say. After that we stopped in the area with the art galleries which we saw a lot of art but this kind of art was interesting. It was more interesting and different from the ones we were in before because  they popped out at you and made more of a connection with you. The one we went to was Lindsay Lohan Gallery. There were films of her with intense music and pictures of her all around. My other favorite gallery was a burnt wood art pieces. The burnt wood work was built through out the gallery where you can walk through it and walk under it to see all the different angles. It was like a fort they made, it was pretty cool. Then the other piece in this gallery was a wall piece that came out at you and it was all made out of wood which looked like the skyline of a city or of our city which was pretty cool. I didn't think I would have that much fun at the art galleries today, but I did. I might have to stop by there again with my friends and show them off.