ref268's blog

A Sense of PlaceI am not really sure what exactly attracted me to this course when I first registered for it a few months ago, but I am glad I decided to try something new and sign-up for it.  The topics covered in this course have nothing to do with my concentration, so I had no clue what I was getting myself into on the first day of class.  However, I am happy my advisor encouraged me to try something different because this course has offered an interesting learning experience.  It has definitely shook up my daily routine and reminded my to open my eyes more.  We sometimes become so comfortable in our landscape that the familiarity we feel when in it prevents us for really experiencing things happening directly around us.  For my studying abroad in London last spring reminded me to open my eyes more often.  When I was in London I become aware of my surroundings in a way I never have before.  When I first returned to NYC after being in London for so many months I feel like I was arriving to the city for the first time all over again because things that once felt so familiar to me no longer did.  However, once I readjusted to NYC life I found myself forgetting to take in the landscape - the people, the smells, the buildings, the colors, etc.  A Sense of Place allowed me to stay comfortable in my landscape while learning how to analyze it through a new lens and different perspective.

In order to absorb all the material supplied during the course, I divided everything into four categories: (1) the destruction of towns and cities, (2) the creation of home and community, (3) defining space and place and their uses/purposes, and (4) a sense of place in NYC.  Each category equally contributed to helping me create a sense of place in my own life whether in my hometown or NYC. 

Category one was my least favorite topic discussed in class.  Although it was interesting to learn about how towns are crumbling and cities are no longer what they use to be, the cynical writing of many of the authors we read from did not appeal to me.  While I do not think towns and cities are currently operating to the best of their ability, I do think cars are the whole cause of this destruction. I would have liked to gain more insight into theories behind other reasoning.

I liked category two because I found I was personally able to relate to the readings that explored this topic.  As a college student who is constantly moving around, I was intrigued to learn about the attributes that allow people to feel connected to their communities.  Furthermore, it was interesting to see what attributes felt a house needed for it to become a home.  I know for me it comes down to the level of comfort I feel in the space and the connections I feel with the people I share the space with.  Category three tied into this topic in my mind.  My favorite topic from this section dealt with the way people use public space and how they mold it to meet their private/individual needs.

Category four was by far my favorite.  I liked the readings from this section the most.  I like reading about cities while I am living in them.  I feel like I am better able to connect with the book and with the city.  Reading about NYC was fun because it put to words many of the feelings I have been struggling to articulate.  Additionally, it allowed me to feel connected to the city on a level I never have before.

Overall, I really enjoyed this course.  Although I may not know how this topic relates to everything else I have been studying I definitely have a better sense of place and am now able to look at the surrounding landscape with a new view. 

Q:What did you do for your project?

A: For my project I decided to take a NYC Street Performers walking tour.  I designed the tour myself researching all the spots I should check out online first.  When I was planning the tour, I looked for information online that discussed the most popular public spaces where buskers perform in Manhattan.  I also looked into some of the performers who have created a following so I would have particular acts to look for.  After I went on the tour, I did a little more research on the topic because I wanted to see if any articles were written about how street performers shape public spaces.  Afterwards, I wrote a short essay to describe my findings, posted a slideshow with some photos of street performances around Manhattan, and created a personalized Google Map that displays a few of the main stops I made along the tour.  At each marker, you can read about the act I saw and even look at some photos.  If you become interested in watching some cool performances around Manhattan without leaving your apartment check out the playlist of youtube videos I created.  The link to all the videos is posted at the bottom of my original post.

Q:Why did you choose to write about street performers?

A: I chose to write about street performers because I find the topic very interesting.  Buskers are very popular in the city, and before starting this project; I have pretty much completely ignored them.  However, I have come to realize that was a stupid move on my part because they play a role in the feel of the city and shape the way public space is used.  Furthermore, I was intrigued to see why this “occupation’ is so popular in NYC.  I wanted to learn the stories of the people who came to the big city, with big dreams.  Surprisingly, many of the street performers I researched have reached some success simply for performing for New Yorkers and tourists on the street. 

Q:How long where you on your NYC Street Performers Walking Tour for?

A: To be honest, I have no idea.  It is so nice out that I sort of lost track of time somewhere along the way.  All I know is that it was around 10am when I left my apartment in the morning and dark by the time I returned.

Q:Did you enjoy the walking tour?

A: I really enjoyed the walking tour.  Although there were times when the crowds on the street starting to annoy me when I was walking, it was cool to see so many free performances.  Of course some acts were better then others, but overall considering I spent no money all day, I was pretty entertained.

Q: What did you learn for the tour?

A: First off, I learned that NYC has a lot of unrecognized and unappreciated talent.  I also learned how certain components of a landscape shape the way people experience a place.  For instance, the street performers shaped the public space I found them performing in.  

Q: How does all this relate to the readings from the second half of the course?

A: The project relates to the readings because it attempts to describe a unique NYC experience in a way that people can clearly understand and relate to.  Although the experience is uniquely New York in many ways, there are many aspects of the essay that could easily be describing another city.  Furthermore, the essay explores the use of public space and examines how people shape it.  The question of when space becomes place is explored just as it is in many of the readings from the second half of the course.  In addition, this essay highlights the fact that NYC is truly made up of eight million different cities just as Whitehead described in his book.  

NYC Street PerformersNew York City: Big City, Big Dreams

The first sign of a warm spring day creates chaos in Manhattan as the city’s inhabitants quickly flee the tiny apartments they have been hibernating in all winter to stroll through the vibrant streets.  The intensity of the people storming the street is so overwhelming that before you know it, you are walking shoulder-to-shoulder down the crowded sidewalk encircled by several different personal conversations.  

On Friday, when the weather was beautiful, I went for a stroll just like this through Manhattan.  The streets were crammed and there was a lot of noise around me, but I did not care.  I did not care because to me those people were simply structures in the place space that I was trying to avoid making any contact with.  Furthermore, the noise did not really bother me because I was able to crank up my iPod and completely shut out the world around me.  For the first time, Whitehead's theory stating that New York City consists of eight million different cities became truly apparent to me.  The space I was occupying was my own New York City and by ignoring everyone else I was able to adapt the place to my liking.

NYC Street Performer - Time Square

NYC

Colson Whitehead’s book The Colossus of New York offers unique and provoking insight into life within the walls of New York City.  Throughout the novel, Whitehead takes readers through the wild journey one experiences while living and working in New York.  According to Whitehead, “the book attempts to capture sublime moments in the city, as well as the cruelty.”  Some of the essays featured in the book describe places in general terms, while others capture an essence strictly characteristic of New York.  Whitehead also attempts to tie in the emotions and moods the city incites in people drawing on personal experience, first hand observations, and research. 

Although reading through Whitehead’s essays was enjoyable, his commentary on becoming a New Yorker most intrigued me.  I think it is interesting to read about the characteristics, traits, and attributes other New Yorkers think one must poses in order to be able to label himself or herself an authentic New Yorker.  Personally, I believe that New Yorkers are unlike any other species found on the face of this planet.  They walk a walk, and talk a talk unlike most other people.  A true New Yorker has an attitude unique to their kind.  Many outsiders misunderstand the NYC attitude and do not know how to respond to it, but true New Yorkers understand it, respect it, and live their lives by it.  The attitude is like a secret code.  It is the code of the people and it allows them to effectively and efficiently inhabit the island together.  An editorial published in the New York Times backs this theory when stating that becoming a true New Yorker is “not just a matter of birthright, but one of attitude.”

NYC

The fast pace of city life is also another factor residents must fully adapt to and value if they want to become authentic New Yorkers.  The city functions at a very quick speed and either you learn to keep up or get out of the way; otherwise, it will trample you.  The speed of life and the fast pace of the city can be nerve racking and overwhelming if you are not use to it or like life to operate on a slow and steady pace.  

Furthermore true New Yorkers learn to appreciate the fact that they are just a minute part of the city.  They enjoy speeding into the crowded streets and becoming part of the sea of people.  Authentic New Yorkers respect of fact that they are only one of the many people living and working in the city and it excites them to be a part of such an large entity.  True New Yorkers like to disappear into the crowd because it is right there that the city’s charter shine through.  We like that we have the right to disappear because we know the rush of the city will hide all traces. 

What is so fascinating to me is that people in the city can create a private place even though so many strangers constantly surround them.  Whitehead suggests, “you start building your private New York the first time you lay eyes on it” (Whitehead).  We build our private city within this very large and crowed public space.  I agree with Whitehead’s statement claiming that “maybe we become New Yorkers the day we realize that New York will go on without us.  To put off the inevitable, we try to fix the city in place, remember it as it was, doing to the city what we would never allow to be done to ourselves” (Whitehead).  We build our private lives in the place and hold on tightly to the passing memories of the way things use to be or the stores that use to occupy a space as a way of turning space into place.  This practice allows us to feel connected to the city.

NYC

So what does all this mean?  It means you are becoming a true New Yorker.  I thought I do a little more research to see what others thought qualified people to become authentic New Yorkers.  Therefore, you know you are a true New Yorker when...

1. You want crime to return so that rents drop.
2. You're ashamed to be assigned a 646 area code.
3. Traveling, you realize your hotel room is bigger than your New York apartment.
4. You know where the Palladium was.
5. You hung out with Superintendents’ kids.

*For a more complete list visit site 1 or site 2

*Click here to see how you score on a true New Yorker quiz

Seattle City HallPaul Auster presents many interesting themes and concepts in his unusual novel a City of Glass.  Yet out of everything, it was the title of the novel that struck me most.  I found the title transformed the setting, New York City, into a transparent background.  The concept of transparency added to the mysterious feeling engulfing the city as the story unfolded throughout the pages.  It created an atmosphere in which people could watch other people and be watched by other people without being caught doing so.

Although this all interested me, I was most curious to explore the concept of a glass city from a viewpoint not fully touched upon in Auster’s novel.  Questions such as the following occupied my mind because of the title.  For instance, I wanted to know if large urban spaces were in fact becoming glass cities?  Additionally, I was interested in finding out if the title describes a new architectural style sweeping through major cities?  Are cities transforming for brick and concrete compounds into glass mazes?  Some research on my part found that the answer to these questions is yes.  “With the arrival of modernism…cities everywhere are beginning to lighten up with glass buildings. The modernists love the way glass makes their designs appear to dissolve against the sky” (Saffron).  The use of brick and concrete is lessening as new materials such as glass are starting to dominate the facades of city buildings.

What I found most interesting about all the articles written about architects turning to glass, as their building material of choice is that people believe that simply using glass for building facades will make a city feel more open and welcoming.  When writing about the use of glass on buildings in the Philadelphia area newspaper journalists Inga Saffron wrote, “glass is by nature elusive. It manages to be both inviting and inscrutable at the same time. Glass can be the most democratic of materials, allowing us to peek inside the homes of the rich and famous” (Saffron).

Furthermore, using glass as a building material allows cities to become more environmentally friendly.  For example, Seattle’s City Hall building has outer wall almost all made of glass.  Therefore during the day sunlight pervades the building, reducing the need for artificial light.  In addition, “this transparent glass building is in itself an expression of open government in Seattle. The glass structure of City Hall, especially as it glows by night, has come to represent a civic focus for the downtown area” (Gosciniak and Winter).

However, not all architects are turning to large glass facades in their new designs.  Some are looking for more innovative ways of implementing glass while preserving the feeling and designing of communities.  For example, in Tribeca, NYC Joseph Lombardi is designing a six-story building that has all the hallmarks of the historic neighborhood: brick arches, tall windows and fine detailing.  However unlike the rest of the buildings in the area, this one will be made entirely of glass.  Lombardi stated, “ we want you to see through it, to see structurally how it all works” (Shapiro).

For now it seems that we are heading down a path that is leading away from cities as concrete jungles.  We are heading toward cities of glass as Auster hints to in his novel's title.  How glass buildings are going to affect residents, the city atmosphere, and the each city's sense of place is still to be determined.  At this point anything is possible.

Leaving HomeIn chapter ten “Intimate Experiences of Place” Tuan attempts to describe people’s personal connections with the places they have their most intimate experiences.  In doing so, much of his focus turns toward the way people transform space into place by creating a home for themselves and their families.  In the chapter Tuan states, “home is an intimate place…a place where everyday life is multiplied by all the days before it.”

At first, I was not sure how I felt about this chapter.  Until recently home has never meant that much to me.  Don’t get me wrong I love my home and have created many fond memories in the place, but I have always been a wonder.  I pose what I call a spirit of a true traveler and the thought of spending my whole life or even just a very large portion of my life in one place is very unappealing to me.  I want to see the world and emerge myself in different cultures and lifestyles.  Yet, as I near the completion of my college education and start preparing myself to permanently move out of my parent’s house, I find myself longing for what I was originally trying to run from.  

In the opening of the chapter Tuan wrote, “space is transformed into place as is acquires definition and meaning.”  Intimate place, which he uses, the home as one example is “places of nurture where our fundamental needs are heeded and cared for without fuss.”  According to Tuan, a person’s lasting affection for home is a direct result of the cherished memories they have created there. 

Yet, all this never really mattered to me.  I believe you can create intimate experiences anywhere as long as the right people surround you.  Up until this point I found it difficult to completely agree with Tuan and his theories.  However, then I read the following passage: “Permanence is an important element in the idea of place.  Things and objects endure and are dependable in ways that human beings, with their biological weaknesses and shifting moods, do not endure and are not dependable…in the absence of the right people, things and place are quickly drained of meaning so that their lastingness is an irritation rather than a comfort.”

For the longest time, I could not admit to myself how comforting it was to no that no matter what happened while I was in school in NYC, I had a place I could always turn to when the stresses of the city became too much for me.  Knowing that I could pack my bags, hop on a bus, and be home with my family and childhood friends was comforting to me.  It made me feel that I always had a place to turn, a place where I could be myself, a place I could go when everything else failed.

However, I no longer have that.  My mom is currently getting ready to move this summer across the country.  My mom and my brother are packing up our stuff, our memories and moving them to a place I do not know -- a place I ultimately have no connection to.  This is a little frightening.  This means it is now up to me to create a home for myself in NYC.  Since I currently live in an NYU residence hall this is a little tough.  The dorms do not exactly scream homey, comfortable living.  Yet, I am doing my best to decorate my room and apartment in a manner that makes it feel more livable and lasting -- a place where I can create ties and fond memories. 

I went home over spring break for what is probably going to be one of the last times and for the first time in my life I felt like an outsider in my own hometown.  Although I lived there for practically my whole life I no longer feel as connected to it.  My childhood friends are all starting to permanently move away and soon my mom and my brother will do the same.  For the first time in my life I feel lost and in a sense homeless as if a part of my security is gone forever.  The world that I knew, I world from my bedroom window that I viewed so many times as a child no longer exist. 

Personal Space

Lately the concept of personal space has been occupying my thoughts.  Ever since entering college and moving into a dorm, I have struggled to define my personal space.  I feel like I am constantly in search of a place to call my own.  Currently, I live in my sorority house with eight other people.  Between my eight roommates and the handful of sisters that constantly flow in and out of the apartment, I feel like I have to battle everyone for just a second to myself.  Most days I cannot even take a shower without someone knocking on my door asking for something.

The fact that I do not feel like I have a personal place would probably bother Yi-Fu Tuan.  Tuan in chapter three of his book Space and Place wrote, “all human beings appear to have personal belongings and perhaps all have a need of a personal place, whether this be a particular chair in a room or a particular corner in a moving carriage” (32).  Although I struggle with defining my personal place at school, I can clearly define it when I am home.  At home each member of my family has their own chair and officially assigned spot to sit during meals.  The same is true for the sitting arrangement when we are all in the car driving somewhere.  When I home my room is my personal place.  My parents and I designed the room to meet all of my personal needs and wants.  Everything in the room is just as I like it and arranged in a manner that fits me perfectly.  It is the place I go when I wan to be comfortable and relax or unwind from a busy day.  I think this personal space is appealing to me because I have lived in the same room since I was six years old so I have history in there.  It is the one place in this world that I can completely call my own. 

View of Prospect ParkAccording to Tuan, “place can acquire deep meaning for the adult through the steady accretion of sentiment over the years.  Every piece of heirloom furniture, or even a stain on the wall tells a story” (33).  Until taking a moment to think of my room back home, which I have not seen or slept in for a few months, I did not realize how true this particular comment is.  Oh if the walls in my room could talk, they would have some very interesting stories to tell.  There are so many things in my room that have such a rich story to tell.  For instance, I have a very old vanity in my room that my mom’s side of the family has passed down to three generations of women.  It is weird but that simple, old vanity is important to my family and I because it has been in the family for so long.  What I really like about is that if you look under the main area you can find the initials of my great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother craved into the wood.  I plan to crave my initials into the wood next to theirs someday before I pass the vanity onto the next lucky person.

Having such a strong sense of personal space and place at home has made not having such a place at school a little easier to deal with.  However, I am starting to seek out such a place in NYC has I start to make the location my permanent home.  For instance I have a spot in Prospect Park away from everyone that I like to go to.  Although the park is open to the general public and anyone can come and occupy the space I have claimed without my permission, I have been lucky enough so far not to have to deal with that.  So far, I have been able to claim this place within the park as my own.  The place feels comfortable to me.  When I am there, I can think quietly without anyone bothering me and escape the craziness of the real world if even for just a short time. 

Old Truck Stop

New Truck Stop - Dillon, South Carolina

In the essay Truck City, Jackson wrote, “since we ourselves had cars and went to work in cars, we felt an affinity with the burgeoning truck culture of truck stops identified with home-style southern food and truckers’ songs in the juke box; for the trucker was replacing the cowboy as folk hero.  Watching the evolution of the drive-in, driving through the highway-dominated landscape with its new spaces, its brightly colored signs and structures, seemed a good way of observing our progress toward a new social order.”  However, what was this new “social order” Jackson spoke of.  I bet not even he could have predict what would become of the American highway system due to the constant traffic flow of trucks and cars.

While studying the photograph of the truck plaza on page 261, I started thinking about a segment I once watched on the Travel Channel.   The segment I am referring to was a tour of America’s best truck stops.  After looking at the photo of the old truck plaza featured in the essay, I could not help but notice how much truck stops have changed over the years.  The truck stop Jackson photographed was nothing in comparison to the elaborate ones the Travel Channel showcased.  Although, the basic functions of a truck stop have remained the same, they have undergone many changes and additions since.  Thinking about this made me wonder what role truck stops now play in America.  What do they symbolize?  Have they come to represent something more then a simple rest spot for travelers?  And, why have they become so elaborate, do Americans really need such fancy truck stops along their highway systems?

Old Truck Stop

New Truck Stop - Walcott, Iowa

A truck stops' basic function is to offer truckers and family travelers easy accessibility to gas, food, and bathrooms.  However, they over the years, rest stops have started fulfilling more creative purposes.  According to an article written by the Travel Channel, “across the globe, truck stops are springing up along the highway providing more than just a refuge for body and truck. Their goal is to create roadside paradises where not only food, fuel and sleep can be found, but also unexpected amenities such as movie theaters, chiropractors and even dance clubs.  If the comforts of home don't fit in the Big Rig (or even the family minivan), they will certainly be unearthed at the world's biggest and best truck stops."  Furthermore, an article written for Digital Journal described rest stops as “part of Americana, a place that everyone knows will have good food. That's why people look for them as they travel down the roadways through America.”  I found this last quote pretty funny.  I would never think to describe the food served in a truck stop as tasteful let alone delicious.  I know for sure that the truck stop that use to exist not to far from my hometown never served anything but mundane, unhealthy fast food.  The fact that the truck stop close to my hometown never scaled up to some of the more elaborate nor served anything by ordinary, unsatisfying food one may why it recently closed down. 

I gather that truck stops have come to be so fancy because they serve the important task of offering travelers a break for their boring, uneventful, unattractive highway driving.  Truck stops allow travelers to escape for short periods of time into a more relaxing, fun, and stimulating, environment.  There presence is felt on the highway landscape because they have changed people’s driving patterns and shaped the way people approach long driving trips.