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| Krysti and I |
The past couple of days in the City have been non-stop and
hectic. I didn’t realize we would be walking as much as we have because I figured
we would be inside of museums. I was surprised our professors were encouraging
us to go out, explore, and have fun. I love staying in the city for small
periods of time and I’m sure after this week I won’t come back for a little
while. The first day of heat torture began when we did our architecture rally.
Krysti and I were partners, I assume because I know the subway more than she
does. But I have never spent a whole day with just Krysti and it was nice to
get to know her more. While we tried to answer questions, I tried to see how
these would relate to the Hudson River. New York City was a big part of the industrialization
of the Hudson River Valley and the Hudson River allowed it to become a
prosperous city. Our architectural rally
allowed us to travel through Manhattan and gain a sense of how large it really
is. Manhattan is huge and I know this because after the end of the day my feet
were hurting. Krysti and I didn’t get to see the last building in our packet
but we worked hard to find the rest of the answers.
At the Metropolitan Museum yesterday we focused mainly on
the American Wing. I wouldn’t expect us to focus more on any other exhibits
because we are learning about the history of our area. One thing I was
surprised to see was how many objects Mrs. Sage donated to the museum. I believe
Mrs. Sage knew how wealthy she was and understood the concept of educating
others on history through items and objects. She donated things from jugs and a
fire-screen to dressers and couches. There is no better way to see how people
of the past lived than through their personal items. Another familiar name to
see was Van Rensselaer. Their manor house, some of the interior displayed at
the Met, was located on the banks of the Hudson River in Albany. The plaque at
the museum said that this manor was one of the finest New York architectural
carvings during that time. The original owner was Stephen Van Rensselaer, the
eighth patroon and sixth lord of the Van Rensselaer Manor. I noticed by the
window there was a window seat, like many other houses along the Hudson, and
that went to show once again how beautiful the Hudson was. Kassiana and I got
lost and ended up on the rooftop garden, but I’m glad we did. The view was
beautiful and the garden was laid out very well. It wasn’t really an actual
garden but had leaves and glass that allowed you to see a contorted version of
yourself. I enjoyed going to the Met Museum, and not just because those are the
steps the cast of Gossip Girl sat on.
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| Chrysler building |
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| Phoenix piece |
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| Couch given to Met Museum by Mrs. Sage |
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| Kassiana and I on rooftop |
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| Rooftop Garden |
We always learn about Native Americans, so I wasn’t very
excited to go to the Museum of American Indian. The inside was very interesting and covered many Native
American groups in such a small exhibit. I was telling the group how my school
are called the Liberty Indians but we are not allowed to dress up as Indians because
it is disrespecting the Indian culture. What I was glad to see was that the
back of the brochure of the Museum of the American Indian answered this question. They said when a person’s identity is reduced
to caricatures, their real concerns can be more easily dismissed. I find that
interesting because earlier in time Native Americans were belittled by European
settlers. I wonder if their “barbaric” ways as the Europeans described contributes
to the stereotype they have today. It took me about a half hour to see the
whole Museum and I wished they had more exhibits instead of cramming a lot of
information in one place.
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