Queens!

Queens

            Although I’ve lived in Nassau County for most of my life, Queens has never been a far reach. All I knew about Queens was Jamaica, Shea Stadium, the US Open and the World’s Fair. It wasn’t until recently where I started to venture out into Flushing with some friends, where I saw a huge Asian population of Chinese and Korean Culture. That in itself opened to my eyes to just how multicultural Queens can be.

(After) This week’s class had me start in Flushing. I took the n20 bus which dropped me off at Main Street, where I took the 7 train to Flushing Meadow Park; the first meeting place. Although I did not take the 7 train from the city, the book explains that this particular train is known as the “International Expressway”(BG,493) because of the different ethnic groups that can be seen. After Mike had a misunderstanding with one of the employees, we started our adventure. Our first stop was at the tennis court found at Flushing Meadow Park  I learned here that if you are a resident of Queens, one is allowed to use said courts while they are not being used for the US Open.  Although I am an amateur tennis player, it is good to know I have places to play tennis.  I also learned that “Queens is the second most populous borough, surpassed only by Brooklyn”. (BG,493)

                The next stop was at the huge Unisphere in the middle of the park created for the World’s Fair. It was a beautiful structure that I had only seen from Shea Stadium. It was created to represent unity. We then visited the Queens Museum. To be honest, I was not aware Queens even had a Museum at all. The model of how New York’s water supply works. From the model, lights lit up showing the path of which the water took. The water started from the top part of the mountains and worked its way down.  The next model we saw was an exact 1/100^th replication of the five boroughs of New York. This impressive was so exact; it even had planes coming in and out of the airports. The Panorama was “commissioned by Robert Moses for the 1964 World's Fair  It contains 895,000 buildings-every building constructed before 1992 in each of the following boroughs” (BG, 498). Although it was missing one portion because of a slight miscalculation, you can appreciate all the hard work that was put into making this piece of art. I learned that New York was made accessible by its residents because of a man named Robert Moses.  Such highways included: “the Grand Central Parkway, Interborough (Now Jackie Robinson) Parkway, Clearview Expressway, Cross island parkway, Laurelton Parkway, Long island Expressway, Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Whitestone Expressway.” (BG, 493) We then had lunch at the Jackson Diner where we enjoyed Indian cuisine in buffet form. Coming from a culture that has some weird foods, I was not afraid to try new things. I enjoyed the food very much. 

                After a good lunch, the next stop landed us in Astoria. We learned that in this area was known for making movies. It was the spot to be back in its hay day. The Museum of Moving Images was a place that I had visited while in grade school. Learning about how much work goes into making movies, TV shows and sports programs. Creating your own still life movie made you appreciate how much work it took for people to make movies not too long ago. It’s amazing to see how much technology as changed in such a short period of time. The last two spots were 5 pointz and the dock overlooking the river. 5 points is building that is used for graffiti artists to express themselves. We were lucky enough to have an actual artist explain how 5 points got started and how others can show their artwork. He was also kind enough to point out works done by artists from other countries such as France, Spain and even Japan.  This was probably my favorite stop of all. Our final destination after a long day was at Long Island City and the beautiful view it gave overlooking the city. Although I have been to this location numerous times, it was still a sight to see. I enjoyed the first day of this class and I look forward to what new adventures are in store.