Activities in New York

When you look at a list of the world's top paddling spots, it's unlikely that you'll find Brooklyn, New York. And it's even less likely that you'll find the Gowanus Canal, a narrow sliver of water that cuts its way from Gowanus Bay through the industrial zones of Red Hook, South Brooklyn, and Park Slope. It's not exactly what you might call scenic, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. It's lined by crumbling warehouses, generating plants, shadowy factories, Coast Guard fuel depots, and even a Home Depot. It meanders beneath the Gowanus Expressway, one of the busiest highways in New York City, and has been referred to as the most polluted waterway in America. A slick, rainbow film of oil and other chemicals gives the water in the canal a colorful, shimmering candy coating that would be beautiful at sunset if it didn't smell like cold metal and gunpowder and leave a disturbing acrid taste in the air. Visibility in the water is almost zero, and any trip across it is highlighted by an overpowering fear that you might get some on you. And yet still, people put paddle to battery-scented water and get both a unique view of New York and a first-hand understanding of how a neighborhood and an ecosystem can flourish, die, and then struggle to be reborn...

Read the rest of: "Drifting Through Brooklyn"»

Sometimes being a tourist in my own city is my favorite thing to do. It gives me a fresh perspective on the city I love, and the break from my routine (subway, homework, class, subway, homework, class) inspires me to explore my terrain even further.

Typically, I associate most goings-on in Central Park with tacky tourists, but who's to say I myself am not tacky?! It was with great gusto and old New York romantic notions that I rented a row boat with my friends on the Lake in Central Park...

Read the rest of: "Row Your Boat Gently Across Central Park"»

No one should pass up an opportunity to take an all expenses-paid trip to New York, and I am no exception. So, when such an opportunity finally presented itself, I didn't waste any time hesitating - instead, I packed my bags and, given the timing of such luck, my Halloween costume.

Read the rest of: "Halloween In New York"»

A. Murphy very kindly writes on how to humiliate yourself in front of your new boyfriend/girlfriend by taking your more traditional parents to see De La Guarda.

Read the rest of: "How To Humiliate Yourself"»