Tuesday, May 5, 2015

TAKING A BITE OUT OF THE BIG APPLE


Double click on pic to enlarge.
SPATIAL DRUMMING
As the ceiling of water dropped down on the audience, the rhythmic drums vibrated our inner bones,  pulsating strobe lights, and primal music penetrated the air... did I just step into an alternate reality..no I leaped into Fuerza Brata, and off Broadway show, where the forces of music and theatrics collide to capture your imagination.
CEILING OF WATER WITH
 PERFORMING DANCERS
I can see why people get wrapped around NYC, one minute you're strolling through the majestic Central Park and the next enthralled in Broadway.
BRONX RIVER
URBAN VOLUNTEER PROJECT: I was here to do a volunteer Sierra Club project at the World famous NYC Botanical Gardens, considered by the experts, along with the Q in London, as one of the preeminent botanical gardens in the world.  The gardens are 250 acres in size (twice as big as the SD Zoo), with a 50 acre stand of primary forest and is only a a short ride via the Bronx subway.
LOTS OF TRASH
TAB OUR CO-LEADER
AND STORY TELLER
GET THOSE RANUNCULUS
HARD WORKING VOLUNTEERS










Some of these trees have fought off hurricanes and have been around for over 300 years.  Besides beautification, our other job was removing the invasive plant- Ranunculus, otherwise called Buttercup--how could something with such a cute name be bad. Ranunculus
THE CONSERVATORY HAD AN
AWESOME ORCHID SHOW
NORMA, KIRK, GENE
AND HERB IN FRONT OF THE
NATIVE PLANT GARDEN
spreads everywhere and is not endemic, and since it has underground tubers it required ground surgery to remove them

OUR GROUP: Half the fun of doing Sierra club projects is the people you meet from all walks of life. We had: pharmacists, engineers, nurses, teachers, lawyers, sales people, psychologists, turnkeys, and doctors to name some. Some were retired, but we were all there to learn, work, and have fun.
PERKS OF THE TRIP: One of highlights that Kenda, our leader, organized along with the Botanical Gardens, were guest speakers at lunch. We were given a tour of the Pfizer Research Facility on the grounds, and was lucky enough to hear Columbia professor Dr. Dennis Stevenson. Dr. Stevenson, a leader in the botanical world, discussed how they use DNA Bar coding to ID and categorize plants. 
DR. STEVENSON SHOWING US
HOW THEY STORE PLANT SEEDS
FOR FUTURE USE
For those curious ones that want to know.. here is the science. First the
scientist extracts the DNA from the plant cell, sort of like they do in CSI, and amplifies it using a PCR machine, followed by a method to separate it like electricity. This cuts DNA into different sizes and weights, which then migrate a certain distance according to size, and when you take a picture of it they look like a scanning bar code in a super market. Cool!
CLIMATE CHANGE AGAIN: As we know the Arboreal (pine tree) forest in the Rocky Mtns. has been under attack by the pine beetles, (hasn't been cold enough to kill the beetle larva for a few years now, and when there is a drought condition they kill the tree). So I asked Dr. Stevenson  if they were breeding warm species of Pine trees for the future. He said "we should, funny thing, everyone is worried about losing the Rainforest at the equator, and in reality we will lose the great Arboreal pine tree forest in our country first." WOW! considering we lose 60 acres of Rainforest a minute (according to the WWF) that is quite a SHOCK. 
THE BULL ON WALL
STREET (ON THE LEFT)
FREEDOM TOWER

ALONG WITH THE WORK: Kenda organized some great side events to keep us going: We were lucky enough to have co-leader extraordinaire... Tab, who gave us a subway and city tour of NYC. Besides the famous Flatiron building, NYC first skyscraper, we saw Wall Street (originally the wall was built by the Dutch to keep out the Indians they massacred) and that is no bull!
AMAZING WATER FOUNTAINS,
ALL THE 911 NAMES INSCRIBED
 
911 MEMORIAL MUSEUM 
BELOW TOWER 2 
PAINTED BY A 4TH GRADE
CLASS THIS IS ONLY 1/2 OF IT
The new 911 Freedom Tower will be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere when it opens at the end of May, 2015. Interesting enough, the 911 memorial museum is built in the parking lots below Tower 2, quite amazing. Took 14 years and a lot of dedication to erect these memorials.

CENTRAL PARK: Each time I go to Central Park the more amazing it is. At 843 acres it is one of the great city parks in the world. One of our Co-leaders, Herb took us on a fascinating historical tour of the park. Never really looked at the bridges before, but after Herb's talk they are spectacular. The 2 main architects Vaux and Olmstead, in 1858, captured the essence of the area incorporating the contours of the land with waterways, streets and dynamic bridges.
CENTRAL PARK IN THE
MIDDLE OF NYC
SUE, DEBRA AND CAROL
LISTENING ATTENTIVELY
 TO HERB
JUST ONE OF THE
MANY BRIDGES





BROADWAY SHOWS AT NIGHT AND THE SYMPHONY:  The uniqueness of this trip was the incorporation of Broadway shows. Tab collected our money and we voted on a popular Broadway show like: "Living on Love",  and he would go down and stand in line for all of us.

One night we went to the symphony to see Norma, who was in our group, perform in the New Amsterdam Symphony-fun night. After the group left, I went and saw Cindy Lauper's "Kinky Boots" about a transitional transvestite, Bruce J. would have been proud!
AMHERST: As the trip ended, I took the bus to Amherst to see my daughter Torrey. Where I got to see Professor Trust in action at UMASS.
TAKE YOUR DAD TO WORK
Her first power point slide said: "take your Dad to work day" funny kid.  I was very impressed with her teaching abilities, and the graduate students were right in step with her, showing off their presentations on new learning technologies. Her mom would have been proud too!


Costs: Volunteering for a week with the Sierra Club in NYC includes accommodations/food: $795
Difficulty: 2 stars
Highlights: Broadway! stay longer and get 1/2 off on same tickets--opens at 3pm
                   Freedom Tower and the Memorial-- you can buy tickets ahead of time or same day


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