Exercise 3 - part 1

Colston Whitehead's The colossus of New York details many aspects of New York City life from a wide range of perspectives. In it, he highlights moods, conflicts, relationships and more of everything between the way it rains to the Brooklyn Bridge and beyond. Incidentally, he begins his novel by noting the concept that my city is different than your city which is different than the next guy over's city in that our view -- our mere understanding of the city -- is limited to our experiences of what it was like in the past. In other words, a corner on any given block may be a child's go-to pizzeria after school, but to someone older it may signify the death of their wife's favorite nail salon. On a macrocosmic scale, this means that our New York's are molded by different understandings and perspectives, and as such are separate entities in and of themselves. This idea inspired my in-class short, titled Winter in Central Park, which revisits my childhood as an upper east sider. In it I state that to some, Central Park is a place for exercise at best, or even a place to relax and sit in the great lawn. Perhaps the less appreciating view it as a crossroad which splits upper Manhattan in two. My Central Park however consists of building igloos, snowball fights, sledding, ice-skating, drinking hot chocolate and daring to touch the tundra that is the Alice in Wonderland statue during the winter. Moreover, my Central Park shifts meanings with the passing of seasons. In that sense, not only is my working definition different than yours, it is different from itself as it is inconsistent altogether.