My first two days in New York have been a whirlwind but in New York its
.Yes, everything and everybody is in such a hurry that even the angels would have to work overtime to keep track of everything that happens in this crazy and unbelievably exciting city. Now let me reiterate something I mentioned in my first blog post. I have still not embraced the simple idea that Manhattan is not New York and in fact, New York consists of five boroughs; Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and MANHATTAN.
My experience has been confined to two of the above so far-Brooklyn and Manhattan. Fortunately, this idea capital of the world has a hundred year old subway system so you don't need to take a "ferry" as most of my readers would have intelligently guessed. However, what might surprise many and also surprised me was the dilapidated condition of the subway system at some stations in a modern city like New York. I do not know if they have been preserved as relics of the past (which seems to be long forgotten by the city's inhabitants considering the plethora of modern buildings and structures) or are just signs of negligence by the city government.
In our class, we've been using the subway -- history, cultural impact, and present condition -- as a way into a consideration of the relationship between the urban and the modern -- and New York's role in determining the ways in which we tend to think about that relationship. The subway was once cutting edge -- a hundred years ago -- now it seems almost archaic. In infrastructure, in contrast to art, committing yourself to a particular manifestation of the modern may mean committing yourself to one day becoming archaic.
ReplyDeleteIn the 1970s (as we'll see), New York with its crime and decaying subways became for many Americans a place that seemed anti-modern -- because of its rejection of the culture of the automobile. If you think the subways are in disrepair now, you should have seen them 40 years ago! The subways, like the city, are a constant project: a lot has been done to improve them in the last 20 years and a lot still needs to be done. Hence the constant track and station construction on the weekends.
It's much simpler to tear down and replace an antiquated building than it is to update the subways for a new century.