Globe Corner Blogs

I was lucky to have absolutely gorgeous weather this past weekend when I was visiting my brother in New York City. After a few dark, cold, and drizzly days in Boston, I prepared for much of the same down in New York. I pessimistically made a list of museums to visit and packed an umbrella for the trip. But I was pleasantly surprised to encounter clear skies the whole weekend – a bright, late-October sun and a warm, caressing breeze.

Instead of spending a day at the Met, we walked from neighborhood to neighborhood and borough to borough. We wandered through the Lower East Side, Chinatown, and the area surrounding NYU (where my brother is currently an undergraduate), we went over the Manhattan Bridge, explored DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), and then doubled back over the Brooklyn Bridge. By that time it was already sunset, and the many-storied buildings of lower Manhattan and Midtown reflected back to us in hues of pink, orange, and blue. We watched night gradually transform a rosy fairytale island city into an elegant, glittering metropolis. Continue Reading »

Brooklyn Sunset--photo by Llalan

My new apartment in Brooklyn is not in the nicest part of town. There are no coffee shops or beer bars or trees. It is predominantly Caribbean, and I am occasionally called “Snowflake.” The soul record shop is next to a Christian bookstore that has a TV in the window, so all day long Al Green battles a bellowing reverend on the outdoor speakers.

Under the Brooklyn Bridge--photo by Llalan

It is not Somerville, Massachusetts, for sure, and sometimes I do feel as though I’m traveling in a foreign country. I’m afraid of the food: a whole restaurant devoted to brisket? I don’t speak the language: what is a “weave” exactly? I get lost a lot: damn you bus drivers and your mumbled announcements! I stick out like a sore thumb: my camel hair coat and red scarf do nothing to camouflage my skin. And sometimes I really want to go home. Continue Reading »