– DNA Learning Center, 300 Jay Street, Brooklyn
– LUNCH DeKalb Market Hall
– Meet for a walking tour with Shawne’ Lee
– African Dance class with Shawne’ Lee
– Columbus Park/Sun Ya Sen Plaza/speeches
– Dinner in Chinatown
– Retire to Cultural Connections
Something that was important to me was how, on the train, there was everyone. There were people of all races. There were people with designer bags, and people using trash bags. The same went for in the stations. I saw a man playing the daily Wordle. There were people reading books and newspapers, and watching what I assumed to be TikToks. I know cities are supposed to be the intersections of culture in this “melting pot”. Just, the mass of the actual sight and true conceptualizing was vastly different – Jubilee
Today was the first day where we had student purchase meals. This was super fun, and a little stressful. I have to say, dinner was much better than lunch, though it was out of my comfort zone. I realized that even though I had had my own money before, I have never had to make it last more than a day. But I had people help me, and it was a great learning experience – Caroline
After lunch we met with Shawné Lee and learned about 227 Abolitionist Place. Unlike most of our visits with people, we went walking around. We saw where stuff happened, or important spots. Instead of trying to picture a place, we could see where it was and learn about it though that, and stories – Annie
While we were on the Abolitionist Place tour, at the final stop, Shawné was talking about how the historic home her mother preserved belonged to the People, I made a very interesting connection. Yesterday, Peggy was talking about how the African Burial Ground was also the People’s. They never gave up fighting the people in the government who didn’t see how important these landmarks are. That was very significant to me – Phoebe
I really loved seeing Shawné happy, showing us her culture after getting that taken away [by the gentrification process]….When we went to do the science lab, I thought it was just gonna be a whole lot of talking. In actually was pretty awesome. Getting to use those microscopes was cool, and it was fun to sort of solve a little mystery – Keya
Going to the DNA learning center was like entering a whole new world in a lab. First of all, it was so cool to see the replica of Ötzi. We had learned a little tiny bit about him, but it was so cool to see what the scientists had discovered. In the lab, it was so interesting to see up close under a microscope: what the fur looked like was both scary and awesome….doing the dance class with Shawné was SO fun. The music was great. The moves were great. And Shawné was amazing. She was such a great teacher, and her energy was so great. I had a lot of fun, and I am really glad this was in our Odyssey this year – Sienna
Here in New York, I learned about how different peoples come together. For instance, Luke and I met a Chinese man who did not speak English, and we played soccer together for an hour. We bonded over a shared interest, even though we did not know how to communicate, but we understood each other through playing soccer. He would tell us stories even though we could not understand him – Dylan
Chaotic. So many different cultures, languages, colliding, in one space – Solen
