It’s been a long time. Sorry. I’ve been trying to upload a podcast episode for a couple weeks or so, and it still won’t go on. Ugh. I’m listening to it right now, and it’s so good. I WANT TO SHARE IT WITH YOU. Frustration.
New York City. It’s a great place. We got there on the seventeenth, the first warm, sunny day of the season. Everyone was out outside enjoying it. The streets were alive. They gave us a good first impression. But after a day in a bus, and a long walk trying to find where we were staying, all we wanted to do was sleep.
The next day we walked to the Statin Island Ferry to take a look at the Statue of Liberty. All the way there, people were everywhere. And they were all talking, asking where they should meet, who had a hard week. “Where the heck is he? Did you see that movie? You wouldn’t like it.” I couldn’t keep from listening. It’s the way people talk around there, you can’t help yourself. We walked by a high school orchestra playing Mozart. It felt nostalgic, seeing them awkwardly on the plaza in front of the busy street, so we stayed to hear them play. The problem with high school orchestras is that on person can ruin everything. I think it must have been more than one person, but one violinist definitely stood out. I felt bad for them. I know how that can feel.
The ferry, which we thought would cost us $2.00 each, ended up being free. They just herd everyone on like cattle. We took our numerous pictures of the Statue of Liberty. I felt like a tourist for most of the day, with a camera on my neck and a bag on my back. We only blended in on the ferry ride.
Central Park was next, and it was bursting with people. For a moment it reminded me of every second romantic comedy, but that quickly went away. A family carrying balloons seemed like
a photo opportunity, so I pulled out my camera, which I had been hiding to shrug off the tourist look. When I looked up from it, everyone was gone. Of course I was by the carousel, where they could have gone a thousand different directions. I stayed where I was for a little while, and then moved sort of in circles around the direction I thought they went. Finally I caught sight of Thomas and Marie, and we were back on track. We found a spot under a cherry blossom tree to eat lunch. One of the girls sitting in front of us had the kind of sunglasses I’ve been looking everywhere for. Apparently she found them at “Forever 21,” a girlie store according to Lauren. I decided to take a look anyway.
After a long break under the tree, Thomas and Marie went to Coney Island while the rest of us tried to get into the Yankees game. After some struggles with the subway, we got to the stadium only to hear that the cheapest tickets left were $150. Lame-o. Instead, Julia, Beatrice and I explored a little while Bado and the Flanagans went back to start dinner.
More subway struggles brought us to the Bronx when we wanted Greenwich Village. We turned around and ended up in Chinatown, walked up 1st Avenue to get home to the Father’s Heart. All the patios were open on 1st, giving life to the place. People everywhere were talking, to each other and their pocket dogs. We got in, ate dinner, and Julia and I spent the evening talking about everything, rehashing the DTS.
Sunday began with something we as a team have not yet done together. We went to church. But not just any church; no, we went to one of the biggest churches in New York City, the Brooklyn Tabernacle. I expected a monstrous building with stain glass windows, but this place was more like a concert hall, like the Orpheum in Vancouver. We were told to get there an hour early in order to get seats. We showed up just as the service started. Surprisingly, there was space on the balcony, so we took it. We sang some songs, watched the 100+ voice choir sing some with a Grammy-winning guest, and heard a sermon about how great it is that we’re going to heaven. Everything felt like television.
After church we headed off to Times Square; one worship service to another. It is the loudest, most obtrusive place you will ever go. You have to close your eyes to not see someone selling you something. And the money and creativity put into it is astounding. Giant, video billboards specifically shaped to sell Coca-Cola and Budweiser beer. I sat on the red steps, dreaming of a cup of coffee on a comfy, old couch in a log cabin.
After finding some street-vending Mexican food (awesome), we headed to Ground Zero. There isn’t much to look at over there. Just a hole where they’re either still cleaning up or starting to build the new WTC. There is a memorial wall on the one side that really brings you back to that day in a serious way.
When we were done there, we moved on to Wall Street to see what was going down, so to speak. Not much. There was a giant American flag and a statue of George Washington. Photos were taken. We went home for a quiet evening together. Denny and I made some abstract whiteboard art.
Monday we started with Soho. It was supposed to be another cool, artsy neighborhood, but apparently the yuppies have taken over. Nothing sold there is affordable. We had planned to spend most of the day there, hanging out in some quaint cafe, but it was harder to come by than we had anticipated. We did find one called “Cafe Cafe,” but it was more of a breakfast place, and breakfast was over. We only spent an hour or so there before heading in toward the Empire State Building.
On the way there, Lauren and I decided it was time for new shoes. It was raining, and my Vans had holes in the soles. I think Lauren just wanted new shoes. After finding out we would have to sacrifice limbs in order to go up the Empire State Building ($20 each), we headed to Starbucks to use their bathrooms. I waited outside and had a guy try to sell me a bus tour. One of the best salesmen I’ve ever met. He had his not-only-that’s lined up, one after the other. He almost had me.
Denny, Dennis and Lauren went home after that while the rest of us went to the Art Students League to look at some art. It was just a one room exhibit, with the paintings and sculptures organized by teacher. There was some really good stuff in there, though. It looked like a good place for Fiona Moes.
On Tuesday we finally got down to business, visiting communities. We began with an Anglican Church called All Angels. They’ve got a great mix of people in their congregation, from the super-rich to the homeless. They host a pile of services in their building, from a soup kitchen to a free psychiatrist for the poor. 
It was cool to see normal church done well. Afterward we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, North America’s Luvre. Julia, Bado and I went through the Egyptian exhibit together before separating to enjoy other things. Of course, I went to the modern art and photography sections.
After the museum closed we all met up outside and moved on to Bruderhof, our second community. Amy, the woman who helped Denny find all these places, joined us for dinner there. Bruderhof is an international community a lot like the Orthodox Mennonites or the Huderites, except these guys have communities in some big cities, like New York. It was cool to see how they adapted to city life. In some ways, their idea of community actually works better in an urban setting, as was explained to us by Chris, one of the “house parents.” It helps them from becoming closed off from the outside culture, helps them be “in it,” but not “of it.” I had never really talked to anyone from a community like that because, well, most of them are cut off from everyone. It’s amazing how quickly your prejudices scatter once you actually meet with people and talk to them. By the end of the night, it all seemed so normal.
We started early on Wednesday, trying to get to Radical Living by 8:30. It took us a bit to find them, and we ended up being 15 minutes late. Except we were actually eleven hours and 45 minutes early, because we got our AMs and PMs mixed up. But someone came by and showed us around anyway, because these people 
know what hospitality means. Radical Living is a group of young professionals and volunteers who live together in Harlem. They eat together once a week, have a devotion time once a week, but most of their structure is focused on how to help the community around them. Some of them are in charge of hospitality (they have some extra rooms in their three apartments), and others try to find ways to help out the neighborhood. They all have their own jobs and their own churches, but they live under one roof. It looked like a realistic way of living out what we came to New York to learn about, building community in the city. It looked like something I could do.
We went straight from there to the Bronx Household of Faith, which has been doing its thing for 36 years. Bob, the guy who talked to us, started it with a friend and their wives with just one house. Now they have two houses back to back, a rehab centre for men and another building project, which will be a community centre/church, all on one block. After walking around the block and getting a cello concert from two of the seven children the one family adopted, we had some tea and coffee, and went on our way to the last stop of the day.
New Song Community Corporation started as a bible study in an apartment in Harlem. Now they’re a church, a health centre, a tutoring centre, a public computer lab, an affordable housing project, and soon, a restaurant. All in ten years. It helps to have some wealthy churches from the surrounding area funding them, but impressive nonetheless. One of the head pastors (I think his name is Robye) talked to us about how they started and what the vision was. They purposefully limited their reach to a ten-block radius, a real community church. It sounds like a really cool place. If I ever move to New York, I think I’ll move to Harlem and join them.
Thursday was our last real day in New York. We began with a trip to the Catholic Worker. We got to “The Brother House” 
or something like that, where we met up with Amy, who brought us to “the Sister House.” It seems that no one knew we were coming, even though Denny spoke to someone on the phone weeks ago who told us to come at 11:00. Things get like that around the Catholic Worker apparently. The lady we spoke with had this peculiar calmness to her. She told us how the Catholic Worker got started (Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin writing a newspaper about social justice for NYC), and what they’re doing now (feeding and housing the poor, dressing up as Guatanamo Bay prisoners in front of Capitol Hill, etc). All this while the cat walked all over the table. Amy said later that people say it’s a miracle the Catholic Worker has lasted so long because of how disorganized it is. So there is hope for me.
After a very memorable meeting with the Catholic Worker, we took the rest of the day to get our fill of the city. Julia and I finally found Greenwich Village. Some of the giants have moved in, but the neighbourhood hasn’t completely lost its flavour. After finding the book I’ve been looking for in Barnes & Noble, we sat in a nice place for some great coffee. We took some more pictures on our way back for dinner and a meeting with Amy. She wanted our input about the places and to know what we had learned. It was a great way to debrief everything. After she left, Julia, Pierre, Denny, Lauren, Thomas, Marie and I all went out to one of the local pubs for a drink and fellowship. The sign said “live jazz.” We got Oasis ’80s covers, but we weren’t complaining. The walls were covered with famous faces. We had a good time.
We woke up early on Friday, and went home on the bus with new ideas and shoes.
