writer [rahy-ter] : a person engaged in writing books, articles, stories, etc., especially as an occupation or profession; an author or journalist.
It’s pretty much summed up in this one article called Obama’s Way by Michael Lewis for Vanity Fair.
Read it.
Read it if you’re Republican. Read it if you’re Independent. Read it if you’re Democrat. Read it if you don’t care.
It’s a long read, but it is dazzling and thought-provoking. The neurons in my brain are firing and I’m lit with ideas and clarity. Amazing.
My coverage of the Long Island Taxis on Patrol program is up!
Check it out right here, and let me know what you think!
I just covered my first press conference ever.
This is so big for me.
It was exhilarating.
It was a county press conference unveiling the new taxi on patrol extension to the neighborhood watch program. Even the major news networks were there. I was so nervous but I didn’t want to come off as someone who was new at it so I just went with the flow, and I don’t think I did a bang-up job.
So proud of myself! Almost like the universe was giving me a belated birthday present. How sweet!
I just got back from my school late last night. I left Tuesday afternoon to go up, went out a bit with friends to celebrate my birthday, ran some errands on Wednesday morning, got lunch with my cousin, went to my internship seminar class, hung out with some friends, and then left for the two-hour trip back home.
I cried 5 times yesterday because of how much I miss my professors and classes, as well as my friends. Luckily, my choice to complete school early and graduate in December, and stay home to do my internship feels right. I feel more concentrated at home.
Still, the first time I walked into the building of where I had most of my classes, I began to cry. I’ve spent so many hours there, learning, creating, and envisioning what my life can be like in the future. I had to spend a couple of minutes in the bathroom to compose myself. I then went and saw my adviser. She is a great lady and told me how proud she was to see me succeed. She convinced me that i should walk at the graduation ceremony in the spring. I began to cry again.
On top of seeing her, I also saw one of the professors I’ve worked a lot with. The adviser for the club I was president of last year. I could only chat with him for a few minutes, but it was nice to see him. I mentioned to him how I kept tearing up and said that I had loved all my classes here. He made a comment that I said that in the past tense. It was an emotional day.
Seeing all my friends was hard too. They’re the people I saw everyday for the 3 years I was up at school. They even said it feels different without me there. At least my school isn’t so far away that I cannot visit from time to time. And I have to go up once a month for a class, anyway, so that excuse is a nice one.
I’m having trouble getting back to sleep so I thought I’d update the good ol’ blog with two recent articles.
The first one is about bad local oysters and its effect.
And this second one is about a group of displaced senior citizens pining for their original meeting place.
I hope you find them well.
Came back from vacation today and saw that one of my articles was put up. You can view it here.
Let me know what you think! This was a lot of fun to cover.
Haha, okay the title is a joke. But it’s only a joke for me and my sillyness.
Anyway, yesterday was my meeting in the city. My website idea is good but I need to start getting serious about it if it’ll ever work. I’m going to ask some of my most trusted and creative friends/family to sort of work with me. Some friends I can springboard ideas off of at a rapid-fire.
I also really want to get my other blog idea started, a literary journalism online magazine. There are so many of them out there but I think if it features fresh quality work, it can happen, plus, I’ll send the link to colleagues/peers of mine. And my LinkedIn.
So, anyway back to yesterday in the city.
I don’t know if I’ve shared this before, but, I am so directionally challenged.
I need to use a map to get anywhere in the city (and I never drive without my GPS).
I have no idea as to why I do not possess the talent of knowing where the hell to go, but I sure wish I had it.
Yesterday wasn’t so bad though, I walked in the wrong direction a few times and looked at a map the wrong way which led me in the opposite direction of Penn, but that’s okay, I eventually got there and didn’t miss my train.
Speaking of the LIRR, the air condition wasn’t working in the car and it was so hot. The LIRR worker kept trying to get it to start and he totally didn’t clip my ticket. So yay, I get a free ride! This is especially good because I accidentally purchased the wrong station and also under off-peak hours. But I was traveling on peak. Thank you Mr. LIRR guy. Even though it was hotter than how the Internet feels about Kate Upton, a free ride is always nice too. Especially since the LIRR is super expensive.
Okay, no one likes long posts, but I wanted to prattle on.
OH YEAH AND YOU LIKE THE NEW THEME? IT’S FUN. I am fun ^.^
First off, let me start with I did not write this article.
BUT…I was here!
If you scroll a few blog posts down, you’ll find my recant about the East Side Access Tunnel project. One of the journalists on the trip covered it and wrote up a great all-encompassing story.
Give it a read HERE so you understand the technicality of the project as well as its developments and importance.
You won’t be sorry!
A police and fire exercise I covered made page three of this weeks Valley Stream Herald.
Take a gander at it! It was really interesting to witness the drill and see how the firefighters practically demolished a scene to get out victims.
I hope this doesn’t happen to any of you.
Rescue workers train for real thing
Enjoy! and let me know what you think.
The East Side Access Tunnel trip was incredibly fascinating and I learned so much. To reiterate, the East Side Access is a project connecting the LIRR to Grand Central Station. The LIRR only goes to Penn Station, which leaves many commuters with a long journey to work. Creating this project by adding three new tracks that will use the 63rd street tunnel, which was built in the late 60s and 70s and nicknamed the ‘tunnel to nowhere,’ even though it will be serving this project. The F train uses the two upper tracks of the tunnel, while the lower two tracks have been unused. They will be used by the East Side Access trains once this project is completed.
We first toured the Queens side, which is less complete. The Queens side is more complicated then the Manhattan side because they water table is only 10 feet below ground, which Manhattan is solid rock. They are working on finishing excavating the tunnels and then connecting them in the break section. We didn’t get a chance to see an actual tunnel boring machine (TBM) since our tour was running late. The TBM’s are apparently ginormous and its job is to excavate a circular cross-section. The excavation is then lined with gigantic concrete slabs, which serve as the basis of the tunnel. There’s about 2,400 workers and the project has been in progress for 10 years. Completion is not expected until 2019, mostly due to financial and budgeting problems. There has only been 1 death in
When we went to the Manhattan side, my best comparison is to an alien planet. It’s super dark and dusty, and completely muddy. The temporary lights only illuminate sections being worked on, and in every direction you can see the eerie glow of them, and some huge machine tearing through dirt, or drilling, or something else that needs to be done.
I wish I brought my better D-SLR camera to snag better quality shots but I was afraid of it getting damaged or dirty, I did not know what to expect. When we were in the Manhattan tunnels, we were not allowed to use flash for two reasons: 1. The air was so dusty. 2. A camera flash might confuse the workers of a blast, which can be very dangerous to them.
One of my favorite parts was returning to the surface after the Manhattan trip. I had forgotten after we had taken the subway from Queens to Grand Central that we entered the site from a specialized personnel door in the terminal. To think that this other planet of construction was just a few hundred feet from the elegant Grand Central station was just… unbelievable. It definitely contributed to the feeling of being on another planet.
The workers are also all over the world and are highly specialized and many of the machines used are also from all parts of the world, mainly Germany. It was also good for me to see four female workers, all engineers, and despite the dirty workplace, they looked great.
The East Side Access Tunnel project was definitely a once in a lifetime experience for me. It is currently the biggest kind of it’s project in North America, and to witness the creation of something that will serve thousands of tri-state area residents and travelers is an awesome feeling.
