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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Critical Reflection #4

An article we initially read that sparked our interest for wanting to learn more about the way the culture of NYC has changed was: https://nypost.com/2020/08/17/nyc-is-dead-forever-heres-why-james-altucher/ . In this article the writer, James Altucher writes that NYC "will not bounce back", and that this "net" that he always used to fall back on will no longer be there for him. We wanted to prove Altucher wrong, and we did. Although the city does have changed and restrictions put into place, it is definitely not dead. Another text we read was a large book on the history of New York. By reading a text that has in depth information about why the city is the way it is, we got an even deeper understanding of the places were were visiting and why. Through reading articles about the current, and reading books about the past, we made our project that much more important to us.

Interview with Liz Parks

We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to speak with Liz Parks, an art advisor working in the city and mother to Lily. This interview was one that was very important to us because as we started to realize that we were focusing too much on changes in businesses, and less on changes in culture, we realized that it was necessary that we speak to real NYC citizens who experienced the pandemic. Liz runs her own art advisory, and for anyone who does not know, that means that she has her own clients who she assists in finding art for their homes. This means that her job involves a lot of traveling to see art fairs and clients, and a lot of visiting local museums. We asked her questions about her job pre-pandemic versus now. "My job in the end didn't change that much, the only difference is that pre-covid I went to art fairs all around the world all the time and those all shut down," Liz explained, but she went on to say that these art fairs are actually beginning to o...

Grand Central

Before Covid Grand Central was always booming with people, LIRR workers, train conductors, business people, tourists and more. Stepping into Grand Central now is a very different vibe then before. There are no longer crowds of people. The dining hall is empty with many iconic stores that used to be there before closed, the infamous clock tower no longer has groups of people trying to take photos in front of it. The apple store is empty, the ticket holders seem bored, and the homelessness issue seems to have grow immensely. One of the biggest shocks for me was that the transit store was closed. When I was a kid I would go to the transit store every Christmas with my family. My eyes would light up at the toy trains dusted in fake snow, and my brother and I would push through the crowds to get the best looking spot. It was really hard to see the store closed, it honestly made me emotional. Another big change that I noticed ...

NYC with Acadia and Lily

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