Central Park Zoo Excursion

The Central Park Zoo, usually crowded with lines winding in front of the. ticket booth, was far from that when we visited. I have fond memories of visiting as a child and having to push through groups of people to be able to see Gus, the Polar Bear, who is no longer alive. That being said, there definitely were people there.

We had to reserve a time slot online that we would visit at because of cover restrictions. Other restrictions were in place, such as a limit on the amount of people who could go into an indoor enclosure, such as the penguins or tropical birds. We waited in a short line outside to see those animals. We also saw the sea lions, red panda, and looked hard for the grizzly bear.

Overall, people generally seemed very happy to be at the zoo, part of the zoo culture that has not changed because of the pandemic. There were quite a few families with little children, especially babies, who were clearly thrilled that places like the zoos were open for our enjoyment. Especially because the zoo is mainly outdoors, it is the perfect place to go for a hour or two during the pandemic if you have nothing to do.

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Harlem Explorations

When we visited Harlem, we walked around several blocks including 125th between Lenox and Adam Clayton Powell Junior Blvd, which were the most crowded streets by far. As we walked further West down 125th street, we passed by several shops set up on tables on the side of the block. They were selling things ranging from jewelry, clothing and phone accessories. We approached a few of these street vendors, and one nice man agreed to talk to us. He was selling sweatshirts on a large table on a busy corner. This man, who wanted to remain anonymous, told us about how his business as a street vendor had changed because of the pandemic, but he also explained how it wasn’t just the pandemic that had caused changes in business, but also gentrification. A new hotel had gone up fairly recently and the man described how, “in this area most of the garment stores are closing down because of this hotel that is driving up the property taxes.” The hotel changed the way that people interact with businesse...

Critical Reflection #1

“Write about a single experience or moment, and ask: how does this moment, experience, or encounter relate to my essential question?” An experience that relates to our essential question is when we were talking to a security guard at the Museum of Natural history. We had a short but informative conversation with a very friendly security guard right before we exited through the back of the museum. We asked him about the changes he has noticed in the museum since the pandemic. He explained to us that the museum could no longer have tours and school groups and that there weren't as many tourists or visitors. He told us that school groups and tours were a vital part of the museum and what made it so lively. He also said that although those tours were not happening the museum was still getting back to its old self and soon groups would start coming in again. This relates to our essential question of or larger idea of proving New York City "isn't dead." Although the museu...

Critical reflection 3

Overall, we have done a good job making sure that our work related back to our essential question of “how has the culture in NYC changed throughout the pandemic?” The approach that we have taken is different than what I originally expected we would do. While we have been sticking to our plan and interviewing people who contribute to the culture of the city, we have also been making very many visual observations. We have noticed things such as changed rules at businesses and the amount of people visiting those businesses. One challenge that we faced, mainly while we were uptown in Harlem, was getting people to agree to talk to us. Many businesses such as whole foods explained that they could not answer any questions because of strict management rules. Other street vendors just simply did not want conversation or to answer questions. This was disappointing but we understood that it would not work out every time. So far, we have learned that the culture has changed and not necessaril...

NYC with Acadia and Lily

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