– Nuyorican Poets Cafe, @ Loisaida Center with Claudia Alvarez-Plaud (CAP)
– LUNCH in Alphabet City
– Visit with Peter Mendelsund and Honor Jones @ The Atlantic
– Meet with Chauncey Dandridge @ Stonewall Monument/speeches
– Dinner South of Washington Sq. Park
– Cirque du Soleil: Luzia
– Retire to Cultural Connections
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We wander layers of marble, tiled tunnels
The lurid smell of things that are better left unsaid
The ground shakes, the mechanical beast roars
Its arrival brings others, silent and formal, seemingly dead
Up and out the stairs they funnel
In the vast dark bleached by light rain
They air leaves with the monster of segmented horror,
It leaves its parting words
“Please step away from the closing doors”
A whoosh and it is gone.
-Finn
We are in the city now
It’s different here
At home there is more nature
Trees everywhere and snuggled houses
Here there are tall buildings and trains
Underground
There are new smell and more of smoke
But still little bursts of fresh air
Back home you can fall asleep to the
Sounds of wind and peeping frogs
Here there is comfort in the sound
But it is not the same
Here there is so much diversity in the food
But back home you can get a nice container
Of Vermont Country Deli mac and cheese.
It’s not bad here, just different
Louder, but not bad
Busy, but not bad
Out little town has small community with many
Opportunities
It’s very similar here
Just
A little
Bigger
-Annie
The A Train
Swoooosh!
There goes the A train
Sounding louder than
A stampede of elephants
Is it ours?
Of course
There goes all the energy
And passion
While we wait for another
Ten minutes of silence
Finally arriving
Above the rats
Opening the doors with a
Creeaak, as the
Angry and late
Business people flurry out
All I smell is that misty mysterious
Smell of the subway
With a hint of orange tic tacs
I see my group rush on
To the crowded, furious
Train.
“Stand clear of the closing doors, please”
“O shamamaget!” calls a teacher
Someone forgot their bag
Now we are the
Heard of gorillas
Rushing off the train and we hear
“Wait.”
What now.
Somebody rushes by
With fear and determination
In their eyes
He jumps through the doors
Like a middle schooler
Jumping off the train
Now we are headed back
Trying to stay alive
In “whooooosh!”
-Sebastian
Walking to the Nuyorican Poetry Cafe I was watching what was happening around me, and I saw that there was a lot of mutual aid happening, which is part of what of the Loisaida does. It was really interesting the watch the poorer neighborhood turning into the richer one with all the shops as we walked to the Atlantic. I never really knew what being a journalist entailed before visiting, and honestly, from what I’ve learned, I think that could be a possible job opportunity.
-Eleanor
The Stonewall Monument was awesome! I’ve never been the a place that’s devoted to queer people before. It was really great. I also loved the interior decorating, and Chauncey had valuable life experiences to offer everyone.
-Reine
I felt incredibly lucky to go to Cirque du Soleil. I notices that as the show went on I thought a lot more about how hard he job is, and how there are so many people who don’t get credit. But it was so fun. I also thought about how lucky we are to go on this trip with out school. So many people can’t afford it, and I free very lucky to be able to go somewhere where I can.
-Caroline
