story-telling (cont from mar 12)… just the facts please!!!

I haven’t felt bad in every job since I’ve been in New York. I moved here 3 years ago and worked at a pretty decent place in Brooklyn for a year or so and in my free time wandered around and took pictures of things. I got a bike and photographed many neighborhoods in Brooklyn. I worked in Soho for a year before starting this MFA program last fall, which has incidentally resulted in all this blogging. Although I find myself wondering why sometimes, I’m keeping a blog because I want to write better, organize pictures in divergent ways from the past and exercise my brain in new ways.  The process is awkward and frustrating. I don’t want to feel like I’m struggling so hard. But even a walk in the park can be a challenge.

Wednesday I got stuck in Central Park, taking pictures of playgrounds. I went on an assignment to shoot 2 playgrounds and had about an hour and half to do it.  Critique class begins at 2, which, on on the whole is anxiety producing.  I took pictures of a playground and then set off to find another.  After walking for about 20 minutes and realizing I was going to have to come back another day to finish, I started for evidence of an exit.  I don’t know the park well as I’ve not spent much time there. I know it’s a wonderous place, but Central Park has never had much pull for me.  I would rather wander around a dirty alley in Gawanus or ride my bike around Brooklyn. Spending time in Manhattan on the whole is rather hellish, even amidst the more magical qualities and it’s been only under persuasion and necessity that I’ve embraced it.

Central Park is really beautiful and I enjoy myself once I’m there.  However, since I don’t have a grasp on how large it is, I didn’t realize how far I had to walk to get out.  As I was walking through the park, worried about being late to class, I also was thinking about how busy I am the rest of the week and how I wish I could find another playground to photograph so I didn’t have to change my schedule to return.  I finally gave up as I made my way to exit the park near 5th ave and 79th street.  It was 1:33 and I had to be in Long Island City at 2.  It had taken me ages to get out of the park.  A couple blocks down I noticed this fantastic playground; an adventure style with a giant stone pyramid encompassing a giant hole in the center.  There is a tapestry of woven rope that juts high in the sky and a large dirty sandbox settled in the center. Kids names written crudely in chalk,  like graffiti, decorated  the stone walls of a maze.  I decided to risk being late in order to take pictures.  In the following attempt of a swift escape, I was frustrated by all of the ropes and fences that made it difficult to get directly to the street.  After, I had to take a cab from 79th street and 5th Ave to the train at 59th and Lexington in hopes of not being too late to even go at all. I was 15 minutes late but class was just getting started so nobody noticed.  Viewing the earnest and delightful thesis show that is currently up made me grateful I had made it.  The following discussion on a reading was stressful for me.  But I’m not going to talk about how I felt.