New Photos

The end of the year has taken a lot out of me, so my photos haven't been quite up-to-date. I thought I'd put a few up just as an update though.  Posting regularly will be New Years resolution number one.

Some Crime in the UES

My apartment on 76th between 1st and York avenues is tucked away from many of the advantages of city life. Some say it's too far. Apparently it isn't too far from a former prostitution ring.

Donnell Baines, 37, was charged yesterday with charges, including rape and trafficking, linked to a prostitution ring allegedly run out of his apartment on Second Avenue and 77th Street. We're neighbors! Or we were neighbors is more like it.

NY Daily News

Also, a 19-year-old was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for attempting to blow-up a Starbucks on the Upper East Side. Kyle Shaw pled guilty Tuesday to arson and criminal possession of a weapon. The blast, which happened May of 2009, injured no one. Best of all, Shaw said he blew it up because he was inspired by the movie Fight Club. Is destroying an UES Starbucks really the same as wiping out the country's credit records?

NY1

Why I Write

I write to express.  That's what I always have to remind myself of when the frustration kicks in. Writing in today's system is a constant process of demoralization.  You'll never get the pat on the back you want.  In fact I can't remember the last time I turned something in that was fully accepted.

Here's why.  You'd like to think that we live in an environment where people can realize that differing viewpoints may see something you never saw before.  Believe me, if you work in journalism, they do not.  I try to keep myself open to my professor's influences, but I'm finding it harder and harder.  Why should I learn from them if they never seem to learn from me?

My latest frustration has come at the hands of the Grammar Police.  These are the people that tell you it's now one space after the period instead of two.  I still use two because I grew up with it, but more importantly, who the hell cares?  But what's interesting, is that the people accusing you of having incorrect grammar fail to see the grey area in grammar.

Language is an expressive art with various structures, but sometimes we must break those rules that some so vehemently defend.  This is true in so many art-forms.  I would love someone to tell me that all 20th Century music strictly adheres to rules.  Or in art.  What if all paintings were forced to be accurate representations of life around us?

Yet we treat language like it is some sacred form of expression that cannot be expanded.  Do they fail to realize how much we have grown in our rules up to this date, or do they feel that we are now at the epitome of our language?

So again, I remind myself that I write to express myself and that there will be critics.  Have I broken classic rules above?  Of course.  In my effort to express I pick words and structures that most accurately represent my feeling, my emotions and my overall style.  I don't write to reinforce writing as a static art-form. I write to aid in its evolution.  I'm not groundbreaking.  I'm not a visionary.  I'm just me.

The Fales Library

I've never been one to shy away from art that stretches the limits.  So of course I felt right at home when I visited the Fales Library at New York University.  My class was escorted on an hour-and-a-half long tour by Fales' Director Marvin Taylor through the library, which is located on the third floor of the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library at 70 Washington Square South.

Our main stop was through Fales' latest exhibit, "A Sanctuary for the Arts: Judson Memorial Church and the Avante Garde, 1954-1977."  The exhibit, which runs from October 28,2010, to January 7, 2011, showcases material from the church, which served as a performance space for some of the most groundbreaking artists in downtown New York City.

The multimedia exhibit includes photographs and pamphlets from the church, but the most eye-catching display is the video of several dance performances in the basement, including "Meat Joy," by Carolee Schneemann.  This dance requires several types of raw meat to be used, including chicken, sausage and raw fish.  One of the female dancers actually places a fish between her legs while a man shoves a chicken down his pants.  You can't help but laugh.

In addition to the exhibit, the Fales Library serves as a research center for students at NYU and researchers with an appropriate project in NYC.  Taylor took us through the Fales' impressive collection on Punk music in their Downtown Collection.  We saw original prints of Punk Magazine and Patti Smith's diary.  Smith is known as the "Godmother of Punk," to many.

Most important to myself, is the collection of graphic music scores, where conventional staff notation is ditched in favor of a more liberal drawing of symbols, text or whatever the composer deems necessarry.  This requires a bit of creativity for the performer of course.  However, "All music really is," said Taylor," is sound moving in time."

If you want to stop by, either enroll at NYU or come up with a pretty decent reason to be there.

For more information, visit the Fales Library Website.

Marvin Taylor flips through a magazine for the students

 A look at the boxes of materials Taylor set aside to show us

The exhibition room for the Judson Memorial Church

Weekly Photos- Camera phone Edition!

I'd like to start up a weekly- I'm being optimistic- post of photos.  Photography has been a hobby of mine, and I have a feeling this will keep me looking for new ways to take pictures.  So here's the first edition!

Photographers will tell you that it isn't the camera that makes the picture great, but the person behind the lens.  Of course they say this while they hide behind thousands of dollars of equipment.

Better advice came from a photography professor of mine by the name of Sean Justice, who told me that the best camera was the one you had on you at the time.  That being said, here are some photos from my trip to Central Park on Halloween weekend.  These were taken on my phone- an HTC Droid Incredible with an 8MP camera- with no post-editing.

The Week on the Upper East Side- 10/29 to 11/3

The last week was busy not just in NYC, but around the country as well.  Midterm elections took over a majority of news coverage, so some of the news may have slipped through the cracks.  Not to fear!  Here are some UES happenings to keep you in the loop.

• 10/29- Daylight Saving Time is coming up Nov. 7.  Are you ready?  Maybe it's better that you aren't.  A new study suggests that keeping our clocks the same could result in 300 more hours of daylight for adults.  Dr. Robert E. Graham of Lenox Hill Hospital on the UES suggests that more sun allows for more vitamin D.  In addition, brighter conditions are often helpful in dealing with depression.
• Via Businessweek 

• 10/30- Crime rate in Central Park has dropped tremendously over the past few decades, but is up 45 percent this year, with grand larcenies leading the offenses.
• Via The New York Daily News

• Hidden underground subway art?  That's right.  Street artists have been working somewhere under NYC  in an abandoned MTA subway tunnel on the Underbelly Project, as its creators are calling it.  Alright, so maybe this isn't in the UES, but I'm hopeful!  Due to the nature of the work, they are tight-lipped on how to gain entrance.  You have to wait at an existing station and jump the rails apparently.
• Via The New York Times

• 11/2- Starting this year, the New York Road Runners will be tracking all runners of the ING New York City Marathon with special sensors in their shoes.  They'll track runners at each five kilometer split, so you can plan where to see your friends.  Tracking online is free, but applications for iOS and Android devices will set you back a few dollars.
• Via NY1 

• 11/3- And for those of you first-timers running the marathon or interested in it, here is a great article by an amateur who ran it in 2007.  Kevin Lynch, a self-described "non-runner," talks about his motivation.
• Via OurTown

• 11/3- As for election news, Jonathan Bing won the race for the 73rd Assembly District seat, beating Paul Niehaus.  Bing-D, as served since 2002.
• Via DNAinfo 

• 11/3- For those of you interested in real estate, here are some recent deals made.  A $3.3 million apartment in Lenox Hill and $1.4 million apartment on East 67th Street might wet your appetite for luxury.
• Via The New York Observer

Finally, here's a picture of my wonderful experience in Central Park, Saturday, just before Halloween.  The massive crowds were well worth being able to act like a little kid again.

Midterm Elections: For people who could care less

It’s 2010 and I’ve lost interest in my nation’s politics.  2008 brought us our first African American President and a seemingly liberal swing in the nation’s views.  It was groundbreaking.  Or was it?

We may have changed to a Congress dominated by Democrats, but it seems like it may shift back now, just as it did during the George W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations.  What I find changes policies are the people themselves.  So how do the Upper East Side voters feel?

Eleanor Roosevelt High School at 411 E. 76^th St. on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, housed its polling place in a large open room on the second floor.  It was kind of eerily empty for such a large school when I arrived at 7 p.m. and stayed until polls closed at 9 p.m.

People continued to trickle in during the last two hours.  The workers were exhausted from the nearly 16 hours of work they had put in.

Ann Wren, 57, told me she had seen a steady flow of people throughout the day.  The polling site saw over 300 people, which Wren, who has been working polls for around 10 years now, said is a pretty average turnout.

But Wren’s experience led her to become frustrated with the amount of bureaucracy in the election process.  “Simplify the system of voting,” Wren said.  “It could be streamlined and a bit less convoluted.”

Terry Doktor, 63, made it clear he was there to make money.  As far as the races go, he was only focused on the race for Governor.  “Nobody really cares about the others,” he told me.

Overall this Tuesday, the Upper East Side, and much of New York for that matter, saw very little change.  Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand kept their senate seats, and Carolyn Maloney stayed on as Representative of the 14^th District, which covers the Upper East Side.

So there it is.  Maybe I’m not the only one.  This sleepy neighborhood brought out an average turnout, even when “Tea Party Fever” is sweeping the nation, and saw similar results.  Looks like the elections this year really didn’t change anything here.

New York State Election Results