A Lesson Plan

New York is a massive city, and one that couldn't possibly be fully explored in a single class. The final assignment in my class is to write a lesson plan, showcasing areas that were not covered in the weekly lessons. I thought about this for a while, and chose six different places that I feel will give a diverse and interesting perspective on what New York City is.

Fashion Avenue

The area of 7th Avenue between 26th and 42nd Streets is well known for its fashion. Fashion is an overlooked area of American art, with only one landmark in the entire country dedicated to it: the Fashion Walk of Fame, which is featured close by.

Fashion Avenue is a very unique location. There are stores lining the street on both sides dedicated to all things that one can wear to make themselves more aesthetically pleasing. Some are more common, with most of the typical clothes one can find in any clothing store, but others are more specialized, such as a store dedicated entirely to zippers. Many of the nicer ones may be far out of the typical price range, but they are still worth a look.

Perhaps the most notable landmarks here is Bergdorf Goodman's. Bergdorf feels less like a store and more like a museum dedicated to fashion, and each item for sale has a price tag to match. Ranging in the thousands of dollars, the purses and dresses and coats on the racks each feel like a painting in an art museum, and so much as touching it makes one feel as if an alarm will go off!

This degree of luxury is something that needs to be seen in person to be understood, and the different displays and articles of clothing for sale are works of art in their own rights. Because of that, Fashion Avenue is not a location to be missed.

Museum of Natural History

The Museum of Natural History is to history museums what the Metropolitan Museum of Art is to art museums. It's just an unbelievably massive collection of different models and specimens of the entire history of the known universe.

First opening its gates in 1869, the Museum was the result of a collaboration between more than twenty people, including the father of US President Theodore Roosevelt. Opening up to around five million visitors every year, the Museum boasts a collection of over 32 million different specimens of "plants, humans, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, and human cultural artifacts". These specimens are divided up into different halls. The Mammal Hall (split up further into "old mammals" and "new mammals" features models and stuffed mammals from different parts of the world on display with a set that resembles their original habitats. The Bird, Reptile, and Amphibian Hall is similar to the above, but focuses on organisms outside of the mammal class. The Biodiversity and Environment hall is home to models of different plant life and terrains, with a section dedicated to marine biology (with a well known life-sized model of a blue whale, the largest known creature to currently populate the Earth). The Human Origin and Culture hall features artifacts from different cultures throughout the world, as well as models representing early homo sapiens and their slow evolution into the modern day human. The Earth and Planetary Science hall hosts exhibits of meteorites that have fallen to the Earth, as well as different minerals and gemstones. Nearby it is the Hayden Planetarium. Lastly, the Fossil halls are home to the fossils of dinosaurs and early mammals.

The Museum of Natural History is absolutely vital to visit because it is a collection of all knowledge about the world around us all. It would be impossible to walk through this museum with a bit of curiosity and manage to learn nothing new. The sheer size and diversity of its collection makes it a must-see part of New York City.

Prospect Park

Everyone always thinks of Central Park as the big, must-see park in New York City. This is easily understandable, as Central Park is quite massive and very beautiful. But there's something about natural beauty that just can't be replicated perfectly in man-made beauty. It's hard to explain what it is, but Prospect Park embodies it perfectly. It makes a very nice change of pace from the usual city flair.

Originally opening its doors in October of 1867, Prospect Park is 585 of beautiful landscapes and scenery. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, two of the designers of Central Park, wanted to make the Park look "picturesque" in its aesthetic design. While they removed and planted their own trees in order to form the park's iconic Long Meadow, much of the park is still in a natural state. This unplanned, not man-made style gives the park a very different feel from Central Park, with its much less even terrain and nonuniform trees. Although still considered a popular spot in the city, Prospect Park is a much less popular location, only bringing in around 8 million annually compared to Central Park's 37.5 million.

But, despite being a very different style and location, Prospect Park still very much fits within the city. As written in much greater detail in my previous blog post, Prospect Park is kept in line by a great deal of fences. These fences create a sense of order around the entire park, and remind one that, while they may be surrounded by nature, they are still within the boundaries of a controlled environment.


Port Authority

While Grand Central Terminal is certainly the most iconic part of the New York public transportation system, Port Authority Bus Terminal ranks pretty high.

Opening for business back in 1950, Port Authority is close by to Time Square. A subway station is located directly beneath it, and the building above allows for buses to enter and exit. Much like Grand Central, Port Authority is filled with small convenience stores and gift shops. More than 65 million people pass through the terminal every year, a number equal 20% of the population of the United States.

Although the building itself was listed as one of the "Top 10 Ugliest Buildings", it is home to some exquisite art. I wrote about the rolling ball sculpture 42nd Street Ballroom to great lengths in a previous blog post, but I still think it is a must-see work of art, especially for someone with or someone who knows someone with autism. There is another work of art, called The Commuters, which features several statues traveling through a doorway with a clock next to it signaling the next departure time.

Outside the station is the Triple Bridge Gateway, a work of art made of lights beneath a bridge. It's absolutely beautiful to see at night, and one of the many reasons I feel "Top 10 Ugliest Buildings" is a massive overstatement.

14th Street

It's important to get familiar with the different subway stations in New York. For one, they all have a very different feel from something like Port Authority. Besides the darker lighting and the very uncomfortable temperatures, most of the people around you in the subway just feel less friendly.

14th Street Station in particular stands out because of its famous set of sculptures. All around the station, some out in the open and some hidden, are bronze statues. They stand only a few feet high, and have some exaggerated traits, such as money for heads. Sculpted by Tom Otterness and finished in 2001, the figurines were designed to represent "the impossibility of understanding life in New York". They all represent social classes, and many of them have a theme of crime and the legal system. The richer figures often appear corrupt, but the cops exclusively go after those who are not as well off.

My personal favorite depicts a few people attempting to climb beneath the fence to get on the trains for free as a cop waits to catch them on the other side. One of the most popular ones shows an alligator climbing out of a sewer, attacking one of the rich statues, as another rich statues pretends to not notice.

These figures are important to see in person because of how they are set up. No attention is drawn to them because they are supposed to represent the faceless nobodies around us all. They represent the different parts of life in the city of New York, the life the people passing through the station are immersed in daily.

Brooklyn Public Library

I was told in our class that Manhattan was where money was made, and Brooklyn was where people were made.

The Brooklyn Public Library rests outside of the Prospect Park area, and can be clearly seen from the plaza entrance to the park. The sight that stands out the most is the massive bronze gateway. The initial plan for the building was to look entirely different, featuring a giant dome and a style similar to the Brooklyn Art Museum. However, the Great Depression ensured that wouldn't happen. Instead, Alfred Morton Githens and Francis Keally were commissioned to create a more cost-efficient building. This caused them to remove most of the plans for decorations and the removal of the entire fourth floor. The end result was toned down a bit, but the gate still remained in the design, and it is absolutely beautiful.

The decline of bookstores demonstrates the sad truth that paper books are slowly going to die out. However, while bookstores may one day be a thing of the past, libraries are one thing that will probably never go away. They are more than merely places to find books. Libraries are centers of information. They promote learning and working with others to gain knowledge. Libraries can be a private place of study, and a social place of mutual understanding. They are something that all people should find the time to visit, and should make the effort to understand.

As a monument to knowledge, free knowledge for everyone, the Brooklyn Public Library is worth stepping inside of.

Time Warner Building (Per Se)

You know what the definition of living in luxury is? Spending nearly $1000 on a meal.

The Time Warner Building is located just at the edge of Central Park South. Living up to the category of "luxury", the fourth floor of the building featured some very expensive restaurants. One that held my interest was called "Masa", a sushi place. I'm a really big fan of sushi. Raw fish isn't something that sounds appealing, but when prepared with the spices and wrapped in seaweed and rice, it's quite divine. But I wasn't here for that. I was here today to take a look over at Dr. Gratson's all time favorite restaurant, Per Se.

I'm not sure why, but I was expecting something a little bigger. Not that this wasn't pleasant, it was just different from what I thought. Per Se wasn't exactly its own restaurant. It was walled off, but the walls didn't extend up to the ceiling, allowing people outside the restaurant to view those dining inside, as a sort of advertisement. Everyone inside had expensive looking clothes on. Considering the price to get into this place, I wouldn't be shocked if some of them came from Bergdorf Goodman's. Almost everyone there was instantly recognizable as a couple, though some were younger than others. They were all in a deep conversation, though impressively appeared to be speaking softly to each other, and yet they managed to be heard over all the noise that resonated into the open eatery from the halls around them.

The staff looked just as fancy, with well kept facial hair and rather nice vests on. The staff seemed to mostly sit back by the bar, not interacting with the guests at the establishment in all that I observed. Honestly, I would enjoy a restaurant where I'm not being harassed by a server asking to refill my Dr. Pepper for a fourth time in the hopes that I give them a better tip. They seemed to all be in a friendly chat with each other as they attended to their responsibilities. I noticed there didn't appear to be many people on the staff, but considering there weren't a super large number of people present, I think the number was sufficient.

Even the waiting room looked really pleasant to be in, with its small chairs next to a row of flowers behind glass doors. The rope over the door just further signified the exclusiveness of Per Se. Beyond this was what I'm assuming was the private room, which seats up to 10 guests.

The entirety of Per Se just embodies the idea that one can feel good and live in luxury by showing off their money, even if it's just to themselves. I fully accept that there's no way I can afford a place like this now, and honestly, no matter how good the food is, I doubt I'll ever eat here unless I find myself with significantly more funds than I'm expecting to have, but for those who enjoy this, good for them! It's nice to treat oneself to what one truly enjoys. After all, that's what luxury is.

But I think the price is enough to keep me away!

Café Dante

 Café Dante was listed under the Coffee stream. That is very interesting, because I never would have guess it was a Coffee shop otherwise.

 I guess because it doesn't look or feel like any coffee shop I've ever been in. If anything, it looks to me like a sit-down restaurant, complete with people busing the tables and servers checking in on the people there. Soft, lower-keyed music played inside, the kind of thing you would expect from a typical adult eatery. I didn't want to stare too long, but just about every table with people at it looked like a couple on a casual date. They were eating the standard meets and holding glasses of wine.

 In the front corner of the Café there rested a bar. Not many people were there, and the two bartenders were having a friendly chat with each other as they slowly prepared a drink. There was no rush in this environment, and there didn't need to be.

 I'm unsure if they would serve people under the age of 21 at a place like this (I know the closest thing in my town doesn't), but this is the kind of place I would take my girlfriend out to when we wanted to go on a date. It was relaxing and quiet. Every conversation was held with lower voices. Even when I saw a couple laugh, it was quiet, with their mouths covered. It gave a very private feel to the Café. Every couple was in their own world, where only their date existed, and no one else could interrupt sans the waiter.

I really liked the color of the walls here. Odd thing to dwell upon, perhaps, but I think it did wonders for the atmosphere. I think a darker color may have been more openly romantic, which isn't the feel that the Café looks like it is going for. It worked well as a casual (or maybe mid level) dining experience.

Tea and Sympathy

Being about the same size as Joe's Coffee, I was expecting a similar experience from my visit to Tea and Sympathy. What I got was the plea sent surprise of a more personal experience in a British-run tea shop.

Tea and Sympathy is actually divided up into two separate stores. The dining area and the tea shop. The tea shop had about four people in it when I first walked in, quite a crowd when one considers the size of the shop. They did their business, laughed with the guys behind the counter, and went on their way. After they left, my classmates and I got a chance to speak with the owners. There were no chairs inside, so we instead had to rest on the low windowsill.

The shelves, all behind the counter, were lined with all kinds of different authentic tea as well as tea paraphernalia, such as teapots, teacups, and saucers. The doorway was modeled to look like a telephone box, which I found quite charming.

The two men behind the counter were happy to strike up a conversation with us. Both of them were actually from England, and had very clear accents. One of the two men, Robert, said they both left England and came to New York because it was cheaper, which I found amusing because New York has a reputation for being expensive. Declan, the other of the two, also mentioned that he liked how there was an actual summer in New York, and how it didn't rain every day. I asked him if the stereotype about it always raining in England was true, and he laughed, saying it certainly was. They mentioned that two other men worked with them, an Italian and a German.

Both were very friendly and I wouldn't think it too far of a stretch for some of their consumers to return to this shop specifically because of how nice the people working here were. They kindly answered all our questions and asked some about us, too. At one point, my eyes were drawn to a portrait on the wall to the side. I asked who she was, commenting on her royal appearance. I was told she was the owner of the shop, and that she had the painting of her and her dog commissioned.

My classmates and I attempted to go into the other building, the dining area, but were informed that the seating was full and we were not permitted to enter until it cleared out. Because of that, I was unfortunately unable to go in.

Fairway

After Zabar's, I was expecting a similar experience at Fairway. Instead, I was met with a much more

typical grocery store experience. Fairway, which competes with Zabar's, features shelves line with food available for purchase. It really didn't have anything that stood out to me right away. In my hometown, the only big grocery store is family owned. This store reminded me a lot of that. Perhaps big chains are different, but I don't have that same point of reference that most other people would, so to me, this all seemed like a standard grocery experience, except for the lighting. The lighting in the store was noticeably dark. It gave the whole store a kind of "low budget" feel.

The store was considerably emptier than Zabar's, which made for an easier to navigate environment. I didn't feel like I was in people's ways when I just stood in a lane, staring at the items on a shelf. Everything was quieter, which suited my tastes a bit more. I noticed a reoccuring theme of "organic" being in the various signs above the food.

I was a little surprised when I found an elevator to the second floor, but I took it anyway.

 The first thing I saw on the second floor was the "organic" drug store. The shelves were lined with far more medication that I had anticipated for such a small corner, and,  as the name would suggest, many of them bore the term "organic" on the bottle somewhere. The shelves impressed me with how neat they were, as if none of the bottles were ever taken from them. The rest of the second floor featured a dining area, which honestly seemed out of place. Nothing about the second floor felt like the first.  It was noisier, with the sounds of speech coming from the dining area to the side. The darker lighting seemed less depressing up here and more romantic instead. True to that impression, I saw at least two couples dining. I can fully understand why it was busier up here, because it just seemed more inviting.

 Fairway had a laid back atmosphere in comparison to Zabar's. I can't say I'd really go out of my way to go to it again, but I did prefer it. The organic thing seemed a little shoved down my throat, but it didn't really bother me enough to be a problem.

Note the "Organic" sign.

Zabar's

Zabar's is a staple of the Upper West Side, or so I've been told. It's a specialty food store located on Broadway, complete with two separate rooms. The first of these is a small diner/coffee house-like

location. I think the first thing I noticed about it was the smell. Zabar's just smelt old. It had that musty weight to it, like it wasn't dirty but could certainly use a washing. There was a long table in the center, and it was filled up by women, who at their youngest were probably approaching fifty. They all appeared to know each other, conversing deep in thought.

The whole environment just had a very claustrophobic feeling to it. The walkways in between the counter and the long table, and in between the long table and the smaller tables against the window were very narrow. A person could comfortably stand in them, but it wasn't quite ideal. There wasn't a whole lot of room to lean one way or the other. I suppose this wouldn't be a problem if I were here with a group of close friends, but this was just after my first class, and I was feeling a little uncomfortable. Even the bathroom was way smaller than I like, and maintained the cramped feeling of the rest of the place.

I opted not to get food, but a few of my classmates did. They waited in line for a noticeably long time, and once they got back, they were complaining about how it was all pre-packaged food as opposed to new, fresh food. I can easily see how this would be disappointing, especially considering the wait. With the amount of people here, I figure they must have some sort of special connection to Zabar's.

The second room, which wasn't connected to the first by a hallway but rather had you go back onto the sidewalk, was less crowded. It was a deli, and the smells of the different cheeses were

overwhelming before I even entered the room. I'm a big fan of cheese, but the strong smells caused me to lose any appetite I would have had. I decided to skip these too, and headed upstairs.

Once upstairs, it felt like a completely different store. Gone were the strong smells, replaced with the smell of hardware. Gone was the chatter and noises of the street, replaced with soft music. Gone was any food, replaced with more tools to make food than I even knew existed.

Upstairs did retain the super-cramped feeling of narrow corridors, but this time it wasn't because of tables and chairs, but of all the shelves, each one filled to the brim with kitchenware. From pots and pans and spatulas and blenders and toasters, I saw more types of kitchenware here than I did in the kitchen I worked in at the time!

I greatly preferred the environment of the upstairs. It was simply easier for me to take in, and actually kind of relaxing. Fewer people were upstairs, and those who did were pretty silent.

Zabar's was an interesting environment for sure, but I don't think I'll be heading back any time soon. For the wait time on those lines, and prepackaged foods, I think I would be better off dining elsewhere.

The Museum of Natural History

Science has always been my weak point. History? Easy. You just have to memorize events. Writing? No problem. It just comes naturally to me. Math? There's not an easier subject. It's all just logic puzzles. But science? I passed through multiple AP courses and math class for students two years above me all throughout high school, but often found myself struggling to maintain even a C- in on-level science courses.

Despite that, as a much younger child, I really loved the sciences. I was never a big TV watcher, but when I did watch TV, I tended to prefer documentaries. From shows about interplanetary travel to shows about the migration habits of the monarch butterfly, I was always just fascinated to learn, even if I wasn't going to retain most of the information. It's funny how I struggled so much to apply sciences in a classroom environment.

But all that out of the way, when I saw that we were not going to visit the Museum of Natural History in class, I decided that I wanted to visit it. I went with some of my classmates, using the museum for the stream "Your own Museum".

 I believe it was Sharif who said we needed to see the video about the universe. This was located in a large, spherical chamber called the "Hayden Big Bang Theater", which greatly resembled the Death Star from the Star Wars films. Fittingly enough, the video was narrated by Liam Neeson, who I knew from Star Wars.

The film itself was a pretty simple introduction. It seemed like it was aimed at a younger audience than us, but that was okay. I still enjoyed it, and it warmed my heart to see so many young children there, developing an interest in the sciences at such a young age as I did myself.

Let's just hope they are better at actual science classes than I was...

 After that show, our smaller group went off to the Biodiversity and Environment hall, which featured some scale-sized setups of different kinds of environments. I personally enjoyed the forest ones, for the way they made me feel at home. The hall also had a variety of animals on display. Many sea creatures were mounted on the wall or hung from the ceiling. From what I can tell, the ones on the wall were real, preserved for an eternity. I believe the creatures on the ceiling were just models. Prior to entering the room, some of my classmates discussed finding the whale model, a life-sized replica of a blue whale, but unfortunately, the room it was in was ribboned off.

 I found myself drawn the the beauty of the tigers on display. The striped fur pattern is beyond gorgeous, downright regal. Something about their faces looks intelligent to me. I don't believe a tiger is cunning or evil. They look like thoughtful creatures. I would love to have some way to get up close to a tiger in its natural habitat, and observe its movements. Without being eaten, of course.

 I really do have a strong love of animals and nature. I try to get meat and dairy from the less commercial farms, if possible. I also avoid killing insects in my house, and opt to gently scoop them into a cup and let them outside if I can. While it isn't the same as seeing all these creatures alive and well, I can only hope this exhibit stimulates the minds of children. My sister is really into biology, and I think I would like to take her here if I ever get the opportunity.

 The last place I went to was the Human Origin hall, I believe. I'm a very strong supporter of the theory of evolution, and I find it really sad that most people who opt to not believe in it don't have any scientific reasoning to disagree. In my high school biology class, evolution was only spoken about on one day, and the teacher was being very careful. I don't want to sound preachy, but I just cannot stand the thought of people choosing to believe in a passage from an old book when there is overwhelming scientific evidence saying otherwise. Many religious people accept that the Bible and other holy books were wrong to claim the Earth is the center of the universe, so why can they not accept the origin story as inaccurate, too?

But enough rambling. Seeing the models of early primates slowly take on the modern human shape was humbling, to say the least. It's just so crazy to believe that one of these things was related to me, that at some point in time, a being existed like this, and that being was my ancestor. I wonder, would these ancestors, if they could understand my life, be proud of it? Would they be happy with my choices? I realize this far back was probably too primitive for them to comprehend something like this, but I can still wonder. 

In the end, it just demonstrates here how far humanity has come as a species. Not just in physical appearance, but as a culture. From hunters and gatherers to artists and writers. Humanity is so far away now from when it began, and that's beautiful in its own way.