Tom Wolfe’s: O Rotten Gotham “It got to be easy to look at New Yorkers as animals, especially looking down from some place like a balcony at Grand Central at the rush hour Friday afternoon.” (Tom Wolfe). “O Rotten Gotham” argues that New Yorkers are in a state of behavioral sink. It would not be long before a “population collapse” or a “massive die off”.
New York City Every time I hear this song it makes me long to leave all of my responsibilities and head off to the city of dreams. A trip to New York has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl. I have always wanted to visit the
Amidst the swirling ripple of faceless people meandering around fire hydrants, pedestrian signs, and ragged newspaper stands, he stood; embedded within the relentless stream of continuous people trickling by him. The occasional nudge threatened to dislodge his balance as he gazed across the road where two buildings laden by carmine shaded bricks separated. The same two buildings he walked directly pass early in the dewy morning and late in the brisk evening weather everyday for the past two decades. Surely he knew every wondering power line and dimly lit alley of the surrounding neighborhood? Yet something glimmered from in between the impossibly small gap separating the buildings. His conscious turned from thought to action as he leapt from the scuffed curb and into the high voltage current of traffic without a second
The Concrete Garbage Heap New York City is the centerpoint of thousands of films and pieces of literature, a city whose charm can be felt through words or pictures. Lights, brighter than life itself, blend with a cacophony of car horns and shouts to create an addictive mix of chaos. The glamour and sparkle of New York City is dramaticized to be an all encompassing feeling of wonder that one keeps with them for the rest of their lives. In the spring of this past year, the band program I participated in was given the once in a lifetime chance to perform in New York. Being obsessed with the city since I was a child, I gladly leapt at the opportunity. However, actually navigating the fabled concrete jungle makes one realize that New York City is not the shining beacon of wonder and amazement that it is thought to be.
1. According to Glaeser, cities attract talent and innovation due to its abundance of opportunity. Historically, workers migrate to cities in search of employment and upward mobility, as demonstrated by many cities’ migration patterns in the early twentieth century as a result of the Industrial Revolution. However, Glaeser claims that in
I start in East Los Angeles, were the skyscrapers surround me. Giving off a sense of protection and suffocation all at once. As a child, I admired theses unchanging structures, but I also understood that although they envelope, they could also extinguish.
Manhattan’s grid layout assists residents and tourists alike find their way through the neighborhoods. Nevertheless, the simple organization of city blocks divides the city into fragmented areas waiting to be discovered. In his essay, “Walking in the City”, Michel de Certeau observes Manhattan’s layout from the 110th floor of the World Trade Center (Certeau, 91). He describes the “texturology” of the skyline as “a sea in the middle of the sea” which “lifts up the skyscrapers over Wall Street, sinks down at Greenwich, then rises again to the crests of Midtown, quietly passes over Central Park and finally undulates off into the distance beyond Harlem” (91). This visible stratification of the city is only readable when “lifted out of the city’s grasp” (92). Similarly, the vantage point affords a unique opportunity or the “all-seeing power” to read the “urban text [walkers] write without being able to read it” (91). Certeau posits that “the street geometrically defined by urban planning is transformed into a space by walkers” (117). Walking helps write the narrative of a street and also unfolds “the stories accumulated in a place,” stories that are “becoming private and sink into the secluded placed in neighborhoods”
Placing as the capital of the world financial markets, theater and surrounding fashion, New York City has plenty to offer young people with high dreams. Post one's arrival the astonishingly tall buildings will be sure to catch one's eye! Moving into the jungle of vast buildings, the streets filled with
Glamour and Riches Since the introduction of films and theatres the great city of New York has often been depicted as an idyllic place to live, where people go to make their dreams come true. One movie in particular enthral us in its representation of New York City, Breakfast at Tiffany’s based on Truman Capote’s novella brings the glamourous atmosphere of the high society to our door step. Produced in 1961, it also opens a window to the mores of the time. This movie made New York City the place to be to get rich and live free. It acts as an icon for the American Dream, a City of hope.
This transitory space of downtown is most visible in the parks downtown. Court Square is a beautiful park surrounded by businesses and cafes and has all the elements of a park Jacobs’ argues for. Her book details the essential elements of a good park as intricacy, centering, sun, and enclosure. Court Square has a clear center with easy walking paths the lead to it, with plenty of trees to provide ample shade, greenery, and sun, and well marked boundaries to signal the beginning and end of park space. The only issue is intricacy, a space that is complex enough to serve different purposes for different groups of people. The
There are two main reasons I have applied to NYU. The first is because New York City is my favorite place in the world. The first time I came to New York was with my mom. We had taken a bus from Vermont to Massachusetts and then into New York.
New York is a beautiful state.It would be an interesting place to visit because the rivers over there like the Niagara Falls and the Genesee river are beautiful.Did you know that it’s illegal to honk your horns in New York streets?People still honk their horns and if it was an emergency you could ,sometimes it’s
On one hot summer day, I decided to do something productive with my life and to go out with a few of my friends. We all decided to go out for a stroll and have a relaxing afternoon at Central Park. Obviously the only convenient way of getting to the city is via public transportation. My friends and I took the F train from Roosevelt Avenue and transferred to the B train. The long train ride was unbearable and exhausting as usual, but the day spent at Central Park was all the worthwhile. However, as I recall the day spent at Central Park, I can’t but happen to notice the brutal train ride to the city. The many different races, cultures and religions on the train hadn’t struck me with a sense of awareness until now. As I recall, the train was
A typical day in New York started with mischief and forgiveness. It was foggy and very damp from raining the night before. Oliver, A supercat that fights city crimes, Saving lives all over the world for some justice. Oliver was having a ordinary day last tuesday, when all of a
When you mention New York to anyone, they automatically think about Times Square. This beautiful place with skyscrapers, Central Park, and a unique transportation system. However, if you were to ask me what I think about New York; I believe the skyscrapers block the sun, Central park is just a regular park for dogs, and the subway trains rarely run consistently especially in the mornings. I have lived in New York for 18 years, and I have yet to understand what everyone likes about the “ Big Red Apple.”