Uh...

Well, I'm up doing some more research for our city project in our painting class. I know a few people are really unhappy and bored with the project since he didn't really give us any guidelines for it. Some of our topics range from pigeons to gentrification, skylines to just a few specific buildings and people. Either way, my two thumbs up guy that some people found amusing is looking a lot like a burn victim, and many people have been pointing out that the NYC map isn't really looking like anything (I really got the point when a guy at the bus stop thought that it was a very beautiful abstract piece...).

So, besides that, I've been looking up some more stuff on gentrification. Michael kept on pointing out that I included a small section of New Jersey, and was really annoyed by it. I know that New Jersey is a separate state, but gentrification is happening over here (and all over the country for that matter) as well. I've been reading a few news articles within the last year about people calling Jersey City the "6th borough" (which is amusing in itself not only because it is a separate city but also because most people can't even name the actual 5 boroughs), and there has also been new developments and other odd things happening where I live as well. Union City, being so close to Manhattan and being relatively cheap has caught the eye of over 30 developers, and they are already planning to build some pretty ugly condos. Also, they are calling the area closer to Hoboken, "West Hoboken". West Hoboken became Union City in 1925. Does this sound familiar? Realtors renamed the eastern part of Williamsburg "East Williamsburg" so it was separate from the more "hip" and whiter areas. They are also renaming some parts of Harlem the original names before the Harlem Renaissance, and other areas throughout the NYC are going through the same problem (like SoBro-who came up with that?). I can already see Celia Cruz Park (and the shrine that they have of her on Bergenline Avenue a few blocks from my apartment) demolished and renamed for some white general from some war (or how about Britney Spears Park?), and the statue that they have a few more blocks away of the soldiers that were killed in the Spanish-American War replaced by something else as well.

Anyway, is this just the most ugly thing you have ever seen? I see them building this thing everyday, and it just looks so out of place. It might look better in Manhattan, so it seems like they might be developing more of these types of buildings here in the next decade or so.
Honestly, even though I've been made fun of by a few people at SVA for currently living in New Jersey, I actually like Union City. My boyfriend refused to move to Queens, so I had to move over here instead. It still sucks having your mom nag you ever few days about why you never visit her and your cat that supposedly misses you because it takes TWO HOURS (a bus to Port Authority, the whole 7 train line, and the Q28 bus) just to get to her house. In that time, my boyfriend can fly almost halfway to Puerto Rico to visit his mom. I know you have to make sacrifices for the person you supposedly love..but blah blah blah. Some people in our class know what's been happening with that situation...

So, I'll leave you with that, and the fact that I now have to go to sleep next to my snoring boyfriend that likes to take up the entire bed. Times like this make me wish for my crazy cat back.
(she likes to sleep in the weirdest places)