Tag Archives: Upper West Side

U: Upper West Side & Upanishads

2020 A to Z Challenge, , , , , , , , ,

A to Z Challenge: My theme this year is NYC before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

UPPER WEST SIDE: I love the Upper West Side of Manhattan. I’m sure it has a lot to do with it being where I stayed when I visited NYC for the first time back in 2013. Actually, it probably goes back even further to You’ve Got Mail, one of my favorite movies, and one that celebrates the UWS. There’s just something about this neighborhood; the history, the architecture, the vibe. However, we chose Brooklyn for two reasons: our dear friend and her now-toddler daughter live here; and Brooklyn bucks go a lot further when it comes to living arrangements. Flanked by Central Park and the Hudson River, the UWS spans south to 59th Street and north, to 110th Street. The Upper East Side might have Museum Mile, but the UWS boasts plenty of cultural go-tos (Lincoln Center, American Museum of Natural History, Columbia University, and several theaters, like the Beacon). It’s got Zabar’s for Pete’s sake! The brownstone- and tree-lined neighborhoods also have that quintessential NYC feel, too.

You’ll also find the 72nd Street station control house, that opened in 1904 as one of the original 28 stations of the NC subway system. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the control house was deemed adequate because of narrow stairways and no underground crossover or crossunder to access all trains from one entrance. A new control house built near it in 2002, provides the much-needed space and second exit/entrance.

The station underwent another renovation in 2018 that included a sky and cloud mosaic by Yoko Ono, who lives in the iconic Dakota building atop the subway stop. I took a picture of the mosaic one day–not even knowing who created it–but for the life of me, I can’t find it. Thank goodness for the interwebs.

UPANISHADS: I started studying Hindu philosophy five years ago and essayed my experience for a magazine in early 2017. For those first couple of years, these philosophies and the practice of meditation provided me with a perspective that kept me in a calm and contented Zenned-out state. I guess I had enough Zen reserves to muster through the first few months of Trump’s “presidency,” but as time went on, those tanks got tapped out. I remember at the time, I had been reading the Upanishads, ancient Sanskrit texts of spiritual teachings and ideas of Hinduism, but the god-awfulness of the Orange Menace, became too much and my Zen ran for the hills. I’ve been struggling to catch up to it ever since.

I don’t subscribe to any organized religion (often an oxymoron, if ask me), but I can get behind some of these sacred teachings and words of wisdom regarding karma and inner spiritual contemplation. Written in poetic verse, I find the text in the Upanishads much more palatable than most translated spiritual teachings. I’ll be the first to admit, some of it feels preachy and not relatable, which is why I don’t throw all my philosophical and spiritual eggs in one basket, but it’s got several nuggets of insight and perspective that my brain seems to align with. I’ve been revisiting these lessons over the past couple of months–even before this pandemic began–in an effort to find just an inkling of that elusive Zen. I’ll leave you with a snippet of the Aitareya Upanishad that pertains to the unity of life:

The Self is in all.
He is all the gods, the five elements,
Earth, air, fire, water, and space;
all creatures,
Great or small, born of eggs, of wombs,
of heat,
Of shoots, horses, cows, elephants, men
and women;
All beings that walk, all beings that fly,
And all that neither walk nor fly.”

R: Riverside Park & Routine

2020 A to Z Challenge, , , , , ,

A to Z Challenge: My theme this year is NYC before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

RIVERSIDE PARK: When I visited NYC for the first time with a friend in 2013, Riverside Park was the first place we went to. Our mutual friend, who at the time, lived on the Upper West Side, took us there. The scenic waterfront park runs along the Hudson River between 129th and 72nd Streets. It was a beautiful August afternoon with surprisingly low humidity and we walked from 91st Street all the way down, to Christopher Street, close to 4 miles.

At 330 acres, it’s a gorgeous park and you may remember it from the final scene of You’ve Got Mail. The park includes Riverside Avenue, a boulevard lined with trees, shrubs, and flowering plants.

Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park (just one of many) came up with the initial design for the Park and wrote in 1873, “[Riverside park] presented great advantages as a park because the river bank had been for a century occupied as the lawns and ornamental gardens in front of the country seats along its banks. Its foliage was fine, and its views magnificent.” Eventually, his vision for the park fell to the wayside after being ousted as parks superintendent. Other designers came in, but no single plan made up the park, prompting Olmsted to write, “in many important particulars the design had been mangled,” because of steep terrain hindering recreation, and many of the trees blocked views of the river. Olmsted’s offer to help with design was declined. For the next several decades, the park’s development faced numerous challenges from redesign, outdoor sewage problems, coal emissions from trains, garbage dumps . . . the list goes on. It’s had its ups and downs, but it wasn’t until the 1980s that things started to look up and cooperatives combined to create the Riverside Park Fund. It’s now a city landmark housing several monuments and other historical structures. From the park, you can take the riverfront Esplanade that extends for miles in each direction (and say hello to New Jersey).

ROUTINE: I like having a routine, so for me, it’s not a surprise that I’ve been trying to stick to one since being quarantined. Before all of this, my routine involved going to Ninth Street Espresso, my neighborhood coffeeshop, at around 8:00 a.m. and writing until noon or 1:00. It got to the point where I didn’t even need to verbally place my order of an oatmilk latte and pastry (alternating daily between the apple turnover and scone–talk about routine). After writing all morning, I would maybe do some drawing, or head over to a park to stretch the legs, or into the city to check out a museum. I really, really miss that routine. I miss seeing the usual coffeeshop crew and getting my writing groove on. I hope that not only does the coffeeshop survive this disaster, but that the employees and fellow regulars are doing well and that I’ll see them soon.

Without much else to do, I probably have more of routine now than I did before. During the week, I tend to workout in the morning to get it over with, then I make my latte (our espresso machine has never been so busy), and I write for a few hours, followed by some copy editing I’m doing for some friends. By late afternoon I’m sick of being in front of the computer, so I read or pass time working on a puzzle. Then I make dinner and we watch some TV. On weekends (after the latte and maybe a workout) The Husband and I might make a big breakfast, listen to some podcasts or music, and play a game like Rummikub or Yahtzee. (Note: if you’re looking to order dice, make sure you check the quantity. I don’t what happened, but we now have a bag of 100 die.) Anybody need some dice?

Because COVID-19 has taken a lot of things away, I refuse to let it steal something I can control. I want to be able to say I accomplished some things during this time, and without a routine, those things will never happen. How are you passing the time? Have you found it difficult to have a routine? Or is that the best part?