Well first I must tell you that, by coincidence, the day after the wedding (the day I left Chicago for NY) was my good friend Lydia‘s birthday! What’s the chance of that! She had a whole+cool day planned out, from morning til night, with dinner at an interesting sounding place, Habana Outpost a “Eco-Eatery”, that I missed due to major lagging. I’d like to have such an action-packed (and convenient!) birthday myself! Hmm, better start thinkin if that’s the case! But Derek was already visiting Lydia, and anyways her apartment is tiny.. so what to do! If I didn’t have to drop my stuff off elsewhere in NY first and then come over I could come over faster.. (I could have, I still lagged, d’oh!) Then.. (DUN DUN DA DUH!)
Enter: Couchsurfing! I search for couches in Brooklyn.. Discovery? There are many full couches in NYC! I try one or two more searches, and at some point come across this profile .. with a picture of my friend [from Humboldt] Saqib on it.. What a strange website or browser malfunction! And a testimonial from him for a Brooklynner? “Get out of the city!” It’s true, and the profile ends up being owned by Tara who even had a free couch! So from HSU, to Saqib in France, to Brooklyn, we’re connected, IMPROBABLE!! (BTW if you’re on CS, here’s my profile.)

She ends up being a very cool+nice person, but you’re probably interested in hearing about NY by now, so enough about beautiful people(?).. for this post *smile*) One of the first things we did was go to Staten Island via the [free!] Ferry. On the way you get to see the Statue of Liberty from a little far (I didn’t end up going to it or Ellis Island either, the latter I regret a little more since I’ve seen the Lady) the little Staten Island Museum ended up being very cool, and with an amazing exhibit Making Things Go! about Bikes+HPVs! (AaronA woulda loved it!) They were even showing a video, which highlighted the [original] Kinetic Sculpture Race in Humboldt County, my home for so long! Big smile!) {Aside: Jeff’s pics from Kinetic’08} That night I hit up an indian classical music thing at the Adidam New York community house with GlennS, and caught a NY slice (and passed by an Anarchist coffee shop (Vox Pop, that Tara told me about), yay!)

The next thing I did was go to DUMBO, the Arty land of Brooklyn. I couldn’t find much open, notably the Arts Center was closed, as well as many of the galleries at 111 Front St. So next I headed to the NY Transit Museum, and it was Great! I don’t know why, but I enjoyed it much, from the surprising and sad stories of what the builders of the subway tunnels went through, to how they’re trying to put out less air pollution, and random facts, like NY, at ~56%, collects the most from its riders out of any public transit agency in the country. Next, I walked over the Brooklyn bridge, which it turns out is a remarkably touristy thing to do, but since it was cool I didn’t mind. Another view of Lady Liberty, a bike path on a bridge (yay!), crossing over into Manhattan, it was fun.. Next I went to Wall St and saw the outside of the New York Stock Exchange(!), during which time my friend Mark Kim called me to meet up, and so we did so for a minute before I attended an event at SIPA, “Managing Financial Globalization—The Indian Approach” with Rakesh Mohan, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India. I was late [of course?], but he wasn’t as scripted/etc as I had gotten used to from some folks in India. There were other cool/interesting titled lectures going on at Columbia that Glenn Sonntag told me about that I tried to hit up (made me miss school again!), e.g. Earth Institute‘s “Cities as Drivers of Sustainable Development” and “Groundwater Depletion in India — A Recipe for Future Disaster or a Recipe for Economic Development.” VERY Cool! I don’t know if I want to be a researcher in any of these areas or what, but.. WOW.

What else? I checked out the semi-massive (and under construction) St John’s the Divine Cathedral, which was a new church experience in its churches within a church. (And I grabbed an Indian wrap for lunch across the street.) At night we checked out Basement Bhangra, a Bhangra lesson in a NYC club! Heh/Neat! Next day on my way to see art, I found myself in the American Museum of Natural History, spending the rest of the friday there, before heading back. There was also Art Luck! – an Art sale, in the Potluck House (where I stayed for a bit) put on by the Burma 88 Coalition to raise money for a school, that was chill so I’m glad my friend Rachel Waldholz lived in a happening place. *smile*) On saturday I visited my friend Alyssa Grassi in upstate, she’s so sweet yet strong and funny; it was really great to see her so I’m glad I did. She’s a week and a year older than me, and when we were in Mexico I asked her if she would marry me, and she said “Maybe when I’m 90,” so i continue to countdown, and wait..

What else? I hit up some of the usual sites, like Times Square (even saw a Comedy show there), the next day hitting up Ground Zero, which it turns out is not very interesting. As some describe it, it’s just “a big hole in the ground” and a massive construction project, with plenty of folks lining the fences. I did check out the Tribute Museum, setup by the Families of 9/11 victims, $5 for a student was still a little much, but I did already come all this way, it was a bit depressing/whatnot, but if you come in without expectations it’s definitely an experience. I headed down to Chinatown next, and grabbed some Vietnamese food, so that was chill. I am semi in-love with Vietnam (& Mx) after all!

There are some gaps in my memory above, but no matter I suppose. The next day I (finally!) made it to the Met for almost the full day (and returned the next day to see the NEW Superheroes! exhibit! And ending the day at the Guggenheim
(All with some help from Ugo, including museum info.. I still have his id, d’oh!)
So after seeing the original Spidey costume from the movie (tight!!), and a little more of the Met I missed (oops!), then back to Harlem (where I last stayed!) to eat at Raw Soul with Glenn – a raw foods restaurant! (And I think of ZachM here! *smile*). A little bit of cruising, then..

We went to see the Daily Show! I just booked 2 [free] tickets for a date (5/7), and by some crazy coincidence it was a well-known name, I was within 100s of feet from a Presidential Nominee!! WOW.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
John McCain Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Yes, John McCain. You can watch the interview there. I used to respect him a lot, especially for his campaign finance work, but when he talks about “evil” in this interview.. Well, it’s just not the direction our society/civilization/etc needs to be headed, unfortunate to say. (We also saw Rockefeller Center (no xmas tree or ice in May tho!), the Chrysler Bldg, and Grand Central Terminal (no relation to my forwarding company gc.. whee!), and the UN building. Wild huh?

The next day was the most interesting in many ways, I met up with the aforementioned Lydia Hicks, who’s working for Habitat for Humanity. I went to volunteer for the day (my luck it was a shortened day, and we still missed Tara!), which was doing some building work in Brooklyn. (I love to just imagine that borough’s name!) It started off a little weird, when I went to the tool shed this other Americorpy inside seemed to ignore me, until Lydia mentioned that I was a friend of hers, at which point she decided it was okay to introduce herself to me and be friendly, because originally she “thought [I] was one of the family members.” I am brown, so I guess she thought I was just a “poor” person who came to work on his house, making me of course not good enough to be acknowledged by her. That was my first impression, Lydia later confirmed that many family members don’t like to work with her because they find her very patronizing. We could use this opportunity to talk about a lot of things, but just thinking about the fact that she has herself decided to work for Habitat.. is strange. Clearly her definition of why she’s there is very unrelated to the possibility of humanity in those she working “for” (or “helping” if you prefer that word.)

It's Lydia Hicks!

Ajay workin ..

But other than that! It was fun and cool, I got to experience the inside of walls, which in this case were metal(!) studs, and I helped them put sheetrock up on them, it was VERY interesting. Sheet rock is weird, ignoring its scary use of fiberglass, its so week, and, as Lydia and Derek pointed out, just held together by paper.. the strength of paper?? Wow! Wild. THANKS LYDIA! You’re doing great work, which you clearly enjoy too, mad props!

On my last day in New York I visited El Museo del Barrio, which was chill but no comparison to the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, much more rich/”civilized”/etc-centered, not much emphasizing resistance, only difference, which is a bit .. problematic. I also experienced rain and a very small+uninspiring museum, the Spanish Institute, recovered my visor, checked out Central Park briefly and did a quick run-through the Whitney Museum of American Art, before hitting the Soup Nazi’s licensee restaurant and walked around NYC a little bit.

So what didn’t I do? The Met’s got The Cloisters, in the West Village I didn’t see much, but more importantly missed meeting my dear friend from DeAnza Dikla “Dee” Regev. I didn’t see much of the Harlem hangouts, nor its Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture as its state seemed confusing, nor the Studio Museum (passed The Apollo though!) Other things unfound were “My inner punk rocker in the Lower East Side,” the Museum of Modern Art which i was later told was great (I wasn’t as impressed with the Met as compared to its reputation), the Museum of Chinese in the Americas, I Didn’t know about the Tibet House somehow, and the International Center of Photography, Museum of Television and Radio, Radio City Music Hall, Paley Center for the Media, Coney Island Boardwalk and other stuff in Brooklyn including feminist exhibit at PS1 or the Suffrage exhibit supposedly at the Brooklyn museum.. I didn’t see any Farmers’ Markets, nor any Sewage Treatment Plants, not much eating of exotic cuisine (e.g. S. African, Cambodian, but I did hit up an Ethiopian(?) place)

But what I’m sure what you’re REALLY asking is — HOW WAS IT? It was great! I couldn’t decide whether New York was “my kind of town,” as it were, I did LOVE the Subway, especially since they have this great unlimited ride pass (~$50 for 2 weeks for unlimited bus/subway use, AWESOME! I got a 1-weeker, shoulda gotten 2 when I got there!), which really facilitates doing a lot. I’m kind of a cheapskate, so the idea of continually pumping out $2 every ride would, unfortunately (surprisingly?), cut down on my exploring nature a lot.
It does get cold there during parts of the year as I’m sure we’re all well aware, so that would be a trade-off. I didn’t deal with any allergies there or Chi though (that I recall), unlike Arcata. I would love to visit again, so we’ll just have to see.. I don’t know if I’ll be applying anywhere though. Only time will tell?

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Post tags: New York City, NY, NYC, traveling, visiting

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Unfortunately I didn’t do anything for Earth Day/wk but sleep/hang out in the burbs, there was cool stuff going on in Chicago, as I found on a (live earth-related) Earth Day website, ranging from events at UoC, interfaith discussions, hikes, Mt. Trashmore at Northwestern(!), and a park cleanup. Alas.. Next year? I visited Milwaukee, Chicago and the burbs in this trip though, what was in downtown you ask– (BTW, Just uploaded all my Chi and Mil pix)

It's the Cloud Gate

So I took the same bus back into Chicago, and the next 2 mornings my aunt dropped me off at the “El” (train/lightrail) station, so I could get into Downtown and explore! My first stop was Sears Tower, turned out there wasn’t much to see there if I didn’t want to pay ~$12 to go up an elevator, but that’s okay. From there I decided to get on of those “Hop On, Hop Off” tour buses/trolleys for $25. I used it to go just a few stops to the Art Institute, which is a chill art museum. I then headed to the nearby (and new-ish) Millennium Park, where “the Bean,” as the locals call this curious shiny ‘sculpture.’ On the last leg of the day I went to Chicago Cultural Center to buy a Visitor’s pass, which is $9 for 2 days for CTA buses/trains, and this has to be the cheapest and most convenient way to see all the sites in Downtown. Too bad its only for visitors, that makes New York’s Unlimited ride card more useful+accessible, as NYC’s can be bought anywhere. And then I went to find my trolley/bus so I could finish off the tour, which instead of having me wait ~25 minutes, I had to wait over an hour for, and since I caught the last one of the day there was very little tour value to it. Since I tend to linger at sites/museums, this was easily $25 wasted, and I don’t recommend it to anyone who wants to see many things in Downtown. It’s not time or price convenient. This brings us to my second day in Downtown Chicago. I started off walking down the “Magnificent mile” a bit and checked it out, that was kinda fun, I was also questing for some hemp shoes so I could volunteer with Habitat in NYC which is one way having a cell phone was useful during my trip, then I headed down to Pilsen, which is a largely Spanish-speaking neighborhood, wherein I quickly found an organic convenience store! Yeah! Unfortunately, even being a local, her business is not doing so well (not surprisingly? organic in a “lower-income” area?). It/she was cool though. Next I got to my destination: The Mexican Fine Arts Museum.. it was brilliant! From the first exhibit I saw, about the famous Chupacabra, that my Spanish teacher Francisco taught us about as we began our stay in México. The exhibit was brilliant, if it ever happens near you, GO! And if you’re ever in Chicago, GO TO THIS MUSEUM! I think it’s fair to say that it’s my favorite museum EVER! And its free? “wtf” some might say, I just say They know whatsup! This is part of the reason I was sorely disappointed at my next stop, the DuSable Museum of African-American History. After having just visited a museum that recognizes the struggles of immigrants, minorities, or more generally folks’/countries that powers such as the US have such great influence over, this museum sorely missed all marks. Their highlighted exhibit was “Blacks In The Armed Forces.” Sorry, but learning about African-Americans in war doesn’t even vaguely elevate my opinion of them. The history of Africa in the museum also seemed slightly out of place, considering its an AA museum, and it didn’t do much to tie it to today. I can’t think of more to say, so I’ll leave it at that. I wanted to visit the Museum of Science and Industry after that, but! Even with relatively early starts to the day, I still run out of time! My last task of the day, and now in the rain, was to find a pair of eco-friendly shoes. After some searching (calling different shoe stores, and sometimes getting leads from them, making great use of Google 411), I FINALLY find a shoe store selling ecologically-friendlier shoes FOR MEN. (Everyone else only sold them for women!) I ended up choosing one of Simple Shoes‘ Ecosneaks. Check out the ingredients! (My favorite are the bike tire treads!) So that concludes my time in downtown! What I missed: But there was so much more I wanted to see! I wanted to borrow/rent a bike and cruise around the neighborhoods, or see the Lakefront or parks. The neighborhoods are supposed to be the cat’s Meow, there’s Devon (Indian), (I did walk through Greektown though!), Lakeview and Wrigleyville – a punk haven with a mishmash of subcultures, etc. I didn’t even attend any live music! As far as sites, I skipped the Planetarium (but saw some skyline/view from nearby), Social Justice-style CCAT place (Ask John/Noelle for more info), field museum, zoo, Museum of Contemporary art, Museum of Science and Industry (supposed to be huge+great!), the (free) stained glass museum at the Navy Pier, nor did I pay attention to architechture (e.g. Frank Lloyd Wright stuff). Non-downtown (Suburbs): • The saddest thing I missed was touring the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant – Cicero. I just found out that the (or 2nd) largest Waste Water (Sewage) Treatment Plant in the country is for Chicago’s poo! I have to let someone know ~30 days before. There’s a Baha’i House of Worship, Illinois Railway Museum, and the largest mall (measured by retail space) in America.

me and the bride

The mall is notable because it’s in Schaumburg, the same city where the wedding I came to attend took place. This was my 2nd cousin on my dad’s side, Preeti Prasad , marrying Pradeep Kodali. (Their names both start with ‘P’! Well, this post is _severely_ overdue, so I’ll have to end it here, but to mention that it was great to see several of my cousins (and their families! wow i’m young I guess!), who are (mostly) all cool people. More (and better!) pics can be seen from the father-of-the-bridge on picasa, email me for that link. (Dunno if it was meant to be private, so I’ll only give it out to friends/fam)

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Post tags: 2008, chicago, downtown, family, illinois, touring, traveling

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