So Local NYC — April
Location
Sunnyside
On our first weekend, we stayed in Sunnyside, Queens. I really liked the community in this neighborhood, there were so many different nationalities of food.
Whitestone / Flushing
The majority of our time in NYC we stayed in Whitestone, Queens. We traveled many days through Flushing Chinatown to get to Manhattan.
Theo Croker — Apollo Music Cafe
I went to see Theo Croker at the Apollo Music Cafe! During training in Vicksburg, I listened to his latest album Escape Velocity. When my friends Hao, Jonathan, and I found out he was playing in NYC we bought our tickets immediately.
The Apollo Music Cafe has a very nice, intimate feel to it. A DJ played House and Hatian music before Theo. The show was really great. I really enjoy jazz shows because there is so much improvisation.
Webster Hall — East Village
For one of the corps members birthday we went to Webster Hall in Manhattan. It’s a cool dance club with three floors of music: Dubstep, Hip-Hop/Mainstream, and House. The House floor had acrobatics!
We met up with some other FEMA Corps members that we trained with in Vicksburg. It was so great to see them! The music was great, we danced the whole time. We went to Bravo Pizza halfway through our night to replenish. They had really good chicken parmesan pizza! This night was definitely one of the highlights of my time in NYC.
Hillsong NYC — Manhattan
On Easter, I went to a Hillsong NYC church service. I was familiar with Hillsong from their Australian branch and was excited to go to a service. The 6:00pm service was nice with a group mostly in their 20s.
Brooklyn Bowl — Williamsburg
Brooklyn Bowl is a dope spot! There were about 15 lanes, a stage, and a dance floor! When I arrived, a cool jazz/funk band called The Greyboy Allstars was performing. I actually came with a couple of friends for Matthew Law, a DJ from Philly. I had seen him do a set after a Jazmine Sullivan concert and was familiar with him through The Anderson Street Project.
Brooklyn Tabernacle
The choir was HUGE. I grew up going to a church with a strong gospel choir so going to Brooklyn Tabernacle was very uplifting. I attended twice and heard good sermons on (1) enjoying today & making it my masterpiece and (2) being a blessing to others.
Weeksville Heritage Center — Brooklyn
Weeksville is a historic community where free African-Americans began to settle in the 1830s. Weeksville had integrated schools, and black doctors & principals that were a part of the community. It was cool to learn the history and see the homes in different time periods.
One point that really stuck with me is that Weeksville is a symbol of social justice and equity. This town was resilient even through all of the struggles embedded in the history of that time. Weeksville was largely unknown until the 1960s with the Pennies for Weeksville campaign that raised money to rediscover the history. I highly recommend reading Brooklyn’s Promised Land: The Free Black Community of Weeksville, New York to learn more about the history.
A friend of mine, Stephanye, works there so it was great to catch up with her and get a cute tour of Bed-Stuy. We ended up eating at a nice restaurant called Peaches. Stephanye has a great blog on traveling and cool things to do in Brooklyn: iSo14Below.
St. Nicholas Park — Harlem
For Global Youth Service Day, we partnered with the Friends of St. Nicholas & Harlem’s Children Zone to clean up St. Nicholas Park. We managed to collect more than 100 pounds of trash with artful bags! I enjoyed volunteering with some local youth and exploring the park.
More info about trash project: trashproject.biz
While volunteering, we came upon Alexander Hamilton’s home The Grange. I always enjoy learning about how people lived in different time periods & levels of income.
what is found in the windowless house is true — Harlem
We were invited to the Gavin Brown’s enterprise gallery after we volunteered. I felt like a hip New Yorker going to an art gallery in the city. The exhibit was from artist Joan Jonas.
The exhibit was quite interesting. Joan had multiple exhibitions of different media: paintings, videos, and sculptures. One video included a performance she did with jazz pianist Jason Moran!
I almost met Barri the founder of ART 4 AIDS foundation which raises awareness for AIDS through having artists create special pieces. We had a great conversation about the foundation and how you can easily stumble into cool events like a gallery opening in NYC.
Black Girls Code
Black Girls Code partnered with Colgate for a hackathon entitled Black Girls CODE Presents: Code A Brighter Future NY. This hackathon in particular was a design event where black girls between the ages of 10–17 along with mentors came together to design & code a project over three days. I was only able to be a non-tech volunteer; I would love to be a mentor / tech volunteer at a future Black Girls Code event.
It was so inspiring to see the young ladies present their projects. There is so much promise in these girls, all they need are the tools. Eight projects were presented in total with two keynote speakers. The projects varied in topics: news, homework help, food bank, trash collection, mental health, self care, and pet care. I left this event full of joy and inspired.
I also had some great conversations with women with Computer Science degrees and other degrees who were involved in tech & non-profits. I was encouraged to see women in multiple career & academic backgrounds who did not follow a set career path.
