New to NY and Reflections on Diversity
I began taking in my first impressions of New York City a couple of days before I'd ever set foot on the island of Manhattan.
The flight in was completely packed and the whole plane smelled of the cheese steak "pizzas" they were preparing for our in-flight dining experience. After an interminable taxi down the runway, a cat fight broke out between two middle-aged ladies in the back. One claimed the other had been kicking the back of her chair. The smiley, balding man beside me was unphased when the two women with notably thick Jewish accents exchanged choice words in voices far too loud for an enclosed space and took a few impassioned swings at one another. Other than a few curious glances back, most people on the plane dismissed the lunacy as par for the course on a flight to New York.
By the time we'd landed everyone was calm and sleepy--we'd managed to keep peace for the remainder of the flight--and we all proceeded to baggage claim like a chain gang. My bags were the first off the carousel and I lugged everything out to passenger pickup. My new roommate James was waiting at the curb. As I came closer to the car, I realized suddenly that his jaw was set and eyebrows furrowed, staring shaken and angry out his window. I followed his gaze to find a Black man screaming at him through the window. "Look at this f----- cracka' keepin' all the good parkin' for he and he white friends" He seemed to hiss through the gap in his stained teeth. A parking attendant rushed over and ordered him away. I scrambled into the car and we drove off.
The next few days were mercifully less eventful. Kew Gardens (in Queens), NY is a nice place. I feel fortunate to live in the Silver Towers, where a doorman/security officer stops people he doesn't recognize, people smile and say "goodnight" as you step out of the elevator, and old ladies offer coy advice about taking advantage of your youth. The lobby is tiled and spacious, and I've never seen a roach. It's not a Trump building, but I like it in the Silver Towers.
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I've never felt anything quite like the weather which greeted me on Monday morning. It was like a tornado in Texas. The buildings down Queens Blvd. created a wind shear so strong I nearly fell over--a cold, wet wind like the unwelcome tongue of a giant dog. My efforts at a first-day hair-do were clearly in vain. I staggered the five blocks to the subway and escaped underground to the eye of the storm.
Except that it wasn't the eye of the storm. People in suits and skirts swirled around me in flashes of clashing colors. Women clip-clopped down the station at high speeds and men used their briefcases like bulldozers to make paths down the platform. I was moving too slowly. I couldn't find my Metro Card. It smelled like garbage and bad breath. I was unstable on my high heels. Why was everyone moving so fast? I snatched my Metro Card out of my attaché case and swiped. "Please swipe again." I swiped again. "Please swipe again." The woman behind me groaned. I took a breath and took my time. "Go." I went. I ran down the stairs, squeezed into the last available crevice on the train, and the doors closed behind me. And so began my first day.
I arrived at the office 10 minutes late. The train had stopped dead on the tracks at least 8 times to let other trains pass. I couldn't believe how long it had taken. I was ushered into the office by one of my bosses, Alyssa Lord, Director of Healthcare Initiatives. Since I would be working for the education department first, she led me into their row of low-walled cubicles and dropped me off. I shook hands with several of the program associates and was shown into what is affectionately known as "the intern cave." The Cave was clearly an old storage closet that had been wallpapered over and given a few overhead lights. The Healthcare department's printer sat in the corner and ran with regular frequency. People walked in and out, unaware or uninterested in the fact that I had nothing to do and could not log onto my computer. Everyone out in the main part of the office looked terribly busy, so I got settled into my chair and began eating lunch and reading materials I'd been handed.
About two hours later I was unbelievably bored. I wandered out of the Cave and walked up to our temporary employee, Colete. She offered to let me assist on a mail merge. I spent the rest of the day doing mail merges and labeling envelopes. I convinced her to take the time to also show me the bathroom, the lunch room, how to answer and transfer phone calls, and how to use printers on the network. At 5, I checked in with my interim boss, Wanda, and she told me to leave and come back the next day at 9.
Slowly but surely, things got better. I met more people, learned more office procedures, and emerged from the Cave to sit at program associates' desks when they were out on site visits. It's now three weeks later and I've been able to collaborate on several projects in the department. I've been assisting with two events, the Science Expo and the Annual Student Showcase. Both events feature student work from out large attendance improvement and dropout prevention (AIDP) programs, CAPS (Community Achievement Project in the Schools) and Focus Forward. I designed the Expo program and the Showcase tickets, attended a Showcase audition in the Upper West Side and the dress rehearsal at el Museo del Barrio, researched resources for a UW college readiness publication, assisted in writing a grant for Con Edison science funding, and continue to assist in a City Council lobbying campaign at New York City Hall. Yesterday I met several NYC City Council members and stood within feet of Mayor Bloomberg. I also met United Way's lobbyist and talked with him for over an hour during our drive to Queens.
Outside of work I've been able to take advantage of the many amazing old-time ice cream parlors near my apartment, visit the New York Hall of Science, the Queens Museum of Art, the old World's Fair grounds, the Queens Botanic Gardens, Times Square, the Brooklyn Bridge, SoHo, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park and the Boathouse, local restaurants, the Brooklyn Zoo, and the Rockefeller family "Playhouse". Last Friday I even dragged James to a hole-in-the-wall dance studio to take a free Argentine Tango class. New York is an amazing place.
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My first revelation since coming here has been about diversity. “Diversity” is one of those overused words with a hazy meaning but an assumed positivity. Institutions of higher education are notorious for this kind of haphazard usage. They claim to support and strive for “diversity” but after seeing what that word can mean here, I am confident colleges and universities are misnaming their missions.
Diversity is a woman clutching a Gucci purse and another clutching food stamps. Diversity is standing on a subway, listening to 10 conversations in 10 different languages. Diversity is children playing in plaid jumpers and babies crying in rags. Diversity is trendy boutiques and grafittied billboards. Diversity is hip hop and ballroom dance. Diversity is being the only one of your race for as far as you can see Diversity is gangs and social clubs. Diversity is high rises and housing projects. Diversity is live-in nannies and homeless families. Diversity is authentic Indian food and bakery cupcakes. Diversity is the Gay Pride Parade, The Puerto Rican Day Parade, and the Dance Parade. Diversity is everyone from the meter reader to the CEO.
We are too naïve. Diversity is about more than color and place of origin. And you cannot be “diverse” with just a few races represented as at a university. We are talking about language, food, music, dance, sexual orientation, ethics, income, way of life. And sometimes, most of the time, everything clashes. I wonder if we really want true diversity, because true diversity comes with a lot that makes us uncomfortable, scared, and angry.