Harlem

take a walk up to dinosaur bbq. walk down by the water. take in all the great architecture. Its a fun day.

I hated it. Obviously, I have mixed feelings about this place. I just don’t get it anymore. I live upstate (actually, the western part of the state), and the contrast is overwhelming. I can go outside on my porch, perhaps talk to the neighbors, and breathe in fresh air. I don’t think they even know what fresh air is in NYC. And the people! I know I’m getting old, I don’t like the rush of people, I just don’t get what is so exciting about being around a whole bunch of people. You’re not going to make friends with them, you’re not going to make money off of them. The other thing a large group of people contribute is dirt and grime.

When I think of NYC, I just think of the stench that we had to endure as we approached the city. It is DEFINITELY noticable, and the grime. NYC is just plain dirty. I don’t know, maybe it’s just Harlem. I should be going there in just over a month, so we’ll see.

Peace!

It’s not the Harlem you were always warned about. Harlem gets a bad rap for being dangerous. It’s just as safe as every other part of the city.

Go. Explore. You’ll like it.

I went with my sister and some others, she wanted to see as much of New York as possible. I bought a dress that totally looks fantastic on me and is machine washable. We ate at Silvia’s drool I also ate at this Jamaican Vegetarian place called Strictly Roots or something, the next day when we went back. I overheard this guy debating with another guy about politics, and wanted to cheer him on. I agreed with what he said, but he also had a great passion and presence in the way he spoke.

harlem has really good food. and i don’t care what you say, i met some of the nicest people there

We live in Harlem now!

Buying a place up on 128th St. Wow… we’ll actually own a piece of Manhattan.

tons of culture here..
a few years back when I was teaching, we did an operation breaking stereo types project, where kids from Maine spent a week with kids in the Bronx..part of the project included community service, so the kids all pitched in and helped repaint the inside of a church in Harlem, then attended the services. It was a moving experience.

I now know what Duke Ellington meant when he first wrote and sung that song many years ago; As a child, I despised the place; Really; We would go down there from the Bronx to see my aunts; But once we moved from NYC and I go back, I still feel the pull;

I passed through many times. Mostly in Spanish Harlem, but sometimes elsewhere, usually when changing trains.

Also, I was staying at the Volunteers of America shelter. I was an artist trying to make a fresh start. I’d come to NYC on a ticket that was donated by an Iranian gentleman, so that I could volunteer with a Catholic charity to help homeless teens. That didn’t work out, but I found a place on Ward Island, where I cleaned and did chores in exchange for a cot and a shower.

Then I took extensive notes on NYC, on homelessness, on history, literature. I’m still processing the experience, and plan to write about it.

Later I had to leave NYC because my mother was ill, and I went back to Illinois to make sure she was O.K. Since then I’ve visited a couple of times, mostly in Manhattan, a little in Queens and Brooklyn. I look forward to bringing my family, wife and two children, to NYC, showing them around town, including Harlem, the Bronx, and Staten Island.