Dark deco revisited

Decided to work out of IBM's 11 Madison Ave since I usually go to the IBM Building and I was pleasantly surprised.  I knew it was between 24th and 25th, but I didn't make the connection that one of my favorite buildings in NY is in the very same area.  I was just thinking I could probably get Shake Shack from Madison Square Park at lunchtime if I worked out of there.
So it turns out 11 Madison is Metlife North, the building I was thinking of.  It's haunting enough, but I tried to make it more so with Instagram:

My favorite part of the building is the skyway.  Why do I like skyways and art deco?  Because of Batman.

The view from work wasn't bad, either with One WTC in the distance:

It was really creepy to be the only one in the whole office since it was Saturday.  I guess the area is mostly used by consultants and from the looks of it I'd love to join.  They draw and make bulletin boards! I did get my Shake Shack, but not before I waited over one hour in line.  After I was 30 minutes in I was at the point of return and had no choice but to wait the additional half hour.  Next time, I'll stick to the uptown locations.

Le sigh

Eid-ul-fitr as a twenty-something

Eid-ul-Fitr is on a Sunday this year and I’ll go to an outdoor prayer in Jackson Heights, Queens with my father and brother. As the years pass, I can’t help but notice that I grow further and further away from the excitement this day used to bring. The first Eid-ul-Fitr's that I remember were spent in Astoria, Queens, when my mother would wake me up at 6AM to shower and wear the fanciest outfits we had. Usually we had spent the last weekend before Eid fighting crowds of uncles and aunties in Jackson Heights.  My mother would sort through racks in Indian boutiques that reeked of dyes and stuffy pressed fabric to find matching dresses for me and my older sister (her apparent wish for twins would be granted several years later). Outside the stores, my fasting mother also braved the smell of Punjabi food and sweets until my father came to take us home. He barely accompanied us, but this was mostly because he lost patience with the dire state of parking in the area.

My little sister Naurene getting impatient during 
Jackson Heights Eid shopping, 2009

After we dressed in our “finest” on Eid morning, my mother would get to work cooking up all the special Bangladeshi food we (usually) only got to eat on this day- roasted yogurt chicken, tunafish kabobs, beef and potato curry. She always had shemai (thin vermicelli noodles cooked in sweet milk; sevayyan if you’re an Urdu speaker) ready for our breakfast.
Around 8AM, the men in the family would head to the congregational prayer. In Astoria this was held at a field by the park, and I, being young, was allowed to accompany the males. I didn’t even know how to pray at the time, nor had I fasted- but I still cashed in on Eid money due to the size of my extended family in Queens.

Eid Prayer in Astoria Park, 1992.  My father is on a prayer rug bought 
by my grandmother in Mecca, and it's currently the rug I use 
everyday...it's older than I am

Eid money works just like Chinese New Year’s money, but without the red envelopes. To receive your Eid money in Bangladeshi custom, you can go to anyone older than you and reach down and tap the top of their feet. You then bring the hand to your heart and end at your lips. I learned years later that this Bangladeshi salam was a combination of both South Asian and Arab culture. To touch the top of an elder’s feet is a South Asian custom meant to show reverence and respect to one’s elders. It’s also done as a farewell, for good luck, or as a greeting when seeing an elder after many years. Although the meaning is beautiful, in my adulthood I realized this custom isn’t accepted in Islam because we're only allowed to bow before God. The second part of the salam (to bring your hand to your chest, and then your lips) is Arab influenced and signifies giving someone your heart and your soul. As far as I know, this is acceptable to do as a Muslim. Regardless, I haven’t done the salam in years now that I’m far too old to be receiving Eid money anyway.

After the prayer, we would return home to eat the lunch my mother had cooked while were away. Traditionally, Muslim women in Bangladesh did not always go to the mosque, although nowadays I see many Bangladeshi women here in the mosques in New York. I myself didn’t start participating in congregational prayer until I was in college.
The Eid feasting didn’t stop at our home- we visited the homes of every relative and family friend in the area, where we were prepared to be force fed by aunts (some with better culinary skills than others). Eid visits continued late into the night, and this was the only time we were able to stay up on weeknights if we had school the next day.

My mother's Eid cooking (:

The point of me writing about my Eid experience as a child is two-fold…I wanted to document its liveliness, and the effort my parents put into the celebration as new immigrants in a non-Muslim country. They always mention how as Americans, we’ll never experience the true meaning of the day. They’re right to some extent, but I think they did a pretty good job keeping Eid “alive” for us here in the States.

The second reason I wanted to write about this is because as twenty-somethings, it rests on us now to continue the traditions. By traditions, I am not referring to my Bangladeshi origins or any one culture, as Muslims obviously come from every background and of course the U.S. itself. I realize how cheesy it all sounds as I am typing this, so bear with me. I mean to say that if I feel disconnected from the festivities of Eid, I only have myself to blame.

As I grew older, and eventually moved to Boston for college, I distanced myself from my family. When I returned to New York, I found it hard to relate to the aunts and uncles I had grown up with. At the same time, however, I was growing closer to the deen. I began to pray more, to study the religion and to attend more events for the Islamic community. As fulfilling is it is to feel closer to one’s religion, I lacked the camaraderie and love with my relatives that I had during my childhood celebrations. And that is an essential and important part of Islam itself- to honor and love our family, our elders, our friends and our community.

So this year, I had a wakeup call. I realized that if I can’t keep Eid “alive” for myself, how in the world would I do it for my (future) children? 
What I’m proposing for myself is pretty simple. Sunday morning, I will wake up for Fajr (the dawn prayer), shower, and wear one of the nicer outfits given to me by an aunt. I haven’t gone Eid shopping in a few years as I don’t wear South Asian clothes much. I’ll eat an odd number of dates, walk to the prayer one way and return from prayer with another (which is something our Prophet, peace be upon him, used to do). It’ll be tougher this year since my mother, younger sisters and several relatives are in Bangladesh for a wedding this summer. I won’t wake up to the smell of pulao and roast chicken in my own home, but my family and I will head to an aunt’s house in Astoria around noon- and I’ll probably visit with several friends during the day.
In a way, I’ll be coming full circle to the Long Island City Eids I miss so badly.

Manhattan License Plates Vol. 2

I stopped doing these for the most part- but this one I had to post because it must be a sign.
Seen last night parked on the corner of 27th and 3rd Avenue, 2AM.

Georgetown Soho

Bakery: Georgetown Cupcakes
Location: Soho, New York and various
Rating: 10/10
Website: http://www.georgetowncupcakes.com

I first tried Georgetown in...Georgetown, two years ago during my first trip to D.C.  I realized I never wrote a review!  I ran into the bakery again by chance while wandering in Soho on a day off.  I was meeting my mentee for dinner, but I managed to convince her to come out with me after for dessert.



The cupcakes were just as awesome as I remembered.  THE lightest, fluffiest cake ever, and yet it's not spongy.  It's hard to describe, but it definitely warrants a 10.
The Key Lime is my favorite- you can see it below with the cute lime slice candy in the middle.  If you're not into citrus, the classic birthday flavors (vanilla/chocolate combinations) are a safe bet.

I'll definitely return post-Ramadan...I feel guilty eating cupcakes with my little sisters in Bangladesh for the summer!

From the Brooklyn Bridge to the Bronx Zoo

eclectic nyc, a set on Flickr.

My friend from Minnesota visited me last week and we had two days of nonstop walking! Our itinerary covered everything from the Upper East Side to Battery Park City, a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to try Grimaldi's, Little Italy in the Bronx and of course the Bronx Zoo. You can see some of the pictures on my flickr uploads. Enjoy!

An Asian Alumna's Perspective on "Black at Stuyvesant High"

The Times' "Black at Stuyvesant High" article was all over my Facebook newsfeed today so I thought I'd share my two cents.

As an Asian American alumna of Stuyvesant High School, I strongly believe that the specialized science high schools admissions test should not be eliminated. As we like to say, the exam makes Stuyvesant one of the only places in the world where you can have the daughter of a cab driver attending high school with the daughter of a Senator (the daughter of US Senator Chuck Schumer was a senior during my freshman year). While it is unfortunate that black students feel isolated, the attendance problem is beyond color and has more to do with socioeconomic background, parenting and drive on behalf of the students themselves.

Socioeconomic Background & Isolation:

Comment from the Times: Steve1946 - NYC

"I taught Biology, AP Psychology, and mentored many Science Talent Search students for twenty two years prior to my retirement. When I first transferred to Stuyvesant the student body, as pointed out in the article, was more diverse, but so was the socio-economic pool of entering students. Over the years, middle and upper middle class African American parents opted to send their children to private schools or move to affluent suburbs.
 Furthermore, working class families can't afford to live in the city anymore, which diminishes the economic diversity of the student cohort.
 Given these realities, the Stuyvesant entrance exam is fair, colorblind, and screens for the academic attributes that students need have in order to master Stuy's rigorous curriculum."

A top commenter makes an excellent point- that Rudi, the student in the article has "lived in the suburbs, has lived a mostly privileged life and attended some of the better schools, with parents who seem to care deeply about her."

I can't particularly sympathize with her complaints of isolation. One could argue that a white, gay student felt isolated at Stuyvesant because straight students would not attend educational events put on by the LGBT organization. Or one could argue that I felt isolated from the numerous affluent Asians at Stuyvesant. I woke up at 6AM Monday-Friday like the rest of my classmates, but I woke up even earlier on Saturdays and Sundays to head down to Park and 23rd for my shift at Dunkin Donuts.

I rarely met students who could be grouped in the same "income" class as my family's. But the thing was, in the classroom, that didn't matter. I may have felt different the minute I left the grandness of Tribeca and headed back to my difficult family situation. But at Stuyvesant, I felt just as smart and just as entitled to the education there. Although the school had areas where Asians, South Asians or Blacks hung out- I had friends of all races and we did not view each other as different.

If we are concerned about diversity and social mobility, I would be happy to see more low-income kids excel on the test and make it at Stuyvesant regardless of their race. I say this because I truly believe that the school's reputation allowed me to improve my family's living situation down the line.

Parenting & Student Motivation

Comment from the Times: Sitruc - New York, NY

"A meritocracy is fair; it doesn't discriminate by race, gender, or income. You may point to low percentage of blacks and say that it is discriminating against them, but how are they disadvantaged anymore than Asians are? How is it that students of low-income immigrants who often do not speak English (like mine) excel despite these barriers? Meanwhile, how is it that blacks, whose parents often have been in this country longer and actually speak English, not excelling? It's because Asians make education a priority--parents make significant investments in education. It is a cultural thing. 

As an Asian Stuyvesant alumnus, I deplored the lack of diversity at times during my time there, but I would not advocate changing the admissions process. Changing admissions to let more minority students in is not the solution. It ultimately doesn't address a problem plaguing our nation--not prioritizing education. What we need is a discussion about culture and stereotypes. Why aren't some groups prioritizing education? How can we make education a priority for our youth? How can we create an environment where learning is preferable to hanging out? How can we teach parents to value education? How do we overcome stereotypes like the one in the article that blacks aren't good at math? There are an increasing number of black engineers, doctors, lawyers, professionals; we even have a black president. How do we make them (and not rappers and ballplayers) role models for the youth?"

It's definitely true that most Asian parents make education a priority. Throughout my entire education, my parents did not help me with a single school assignment because of their poor English (thankfully I had great teachers as advocates). You are just expected to succeed and do well, and Stuyvesant is so ingrained in NYC's Asian communities that it's a measure of family pride. There's even an annual feature in New York based Bangladeshi newspapers on the incoming students admitted to the specialized schools (although I think this is quite extreme and a whole different problem altogether, but I won't go into Asian family dynamics here).

When it comes to the education system's role, the only fair thing the Department can do is increase awareness of the exam and provide access to adequate preparation in all boroughs. When I was in middle school, the Department hosted a free summer preparation course for the exam, but I'm certain that this is not available in all NYC school districts.

Ultimately, the student's motivation would be the deciding factor. As Sitruc's last sentence suggests, real change may be achieved by reinforcing a student's aspirations. Despite having the same parents, my siblings and I have had different paths when it came to the test. I studied all summer to get into Stuyvesant, begging my father to invest in a preparation course which I would repay with a summer job. Despite coming from a failing middle school, my brother scored high enough for Bronx Science (the school ranked second after Stuyvesant) without any preparation. My older sister was not motivated by education in general at the time, opting for a GED later.

In her case, I think she needed to be shown two things: 1) what she could potentially achieve by investing in education and hard work, and 2) the real, lasting consequences of a present-fatalistic attitude (thank you Professor Meldrum!).

I'm sure we all realize that the issue is obviously much larger than Stuyvesant High School if we use something as subjective as "success" as a measure. There are plenty of non-Stuyvesant graduates who are viewed as "more successful" than some alumni. Our first day of high school, we were told of a janitor at Yankee Stadium in a Stuyvesant t-shirt- as a reminder that you get out what you put in. Perhaps some students could use access to mentorship on career paths and how they can be attained, regardless of the situation at home and regardless of the high school they attend. There are many mentorship non-profits in the city, but a concrete collaboration between the Department of Education and young professionals may help bring more role models into the classroom.

Eclectic NYC

eclectic nyc, a set on Flickr.

Pretty, bizarre or unique findings concerning the best city in the world.