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.

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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...

NYC with Acadia and Lily

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