When I was seven years old, I was so envious of my neighborhood friends who wore pretty ballet clothes and took ballet lessons. I asked my mother to let me learn ballet because I also wanted to dance in pretty clothes. I didn’t know it at the time, but it seems that my life of …
Category: Volume 21
Aroma
The other day I had to run an errand. I took the Bx bus line to Yonkers. It happened that my bus stop was directly in front of a Mexican bakery called Café sin Dulce. I immediately recognized the aromatic Mexican bread, the cinnamon, the sugar, and the wonderful smell of baked flour. I looked …
City Marathon
One day, while I was strolling through Central Park, a temporary seating area suddenly popped up, and many fences with “NYPD” written on them began to surround the park. I wondered what was going on. It turned out that the famous New York City Marathon would be held the following Sunday. On the day of …
My Old and New Habits
I lived in Italy up until two years ago, and I never imagined having such a great new life in New York. Traveling is a great way to learn about the cultures of other countries, but living in a new city is really the best way to learn about people’s thinking, habits, traditions, and language. …
Overnight Subway
Public transportation in New York is very convenient. Most buses and subways operate twenty-four hours a day, and the lines extend in all directions! About ten years ago, my husband and I were renting a place in Flushing, Queens. I commuted to Midtown Manhattan. My husband worked in the Bronx. Although there was a subway, …
Scenery
The whole city is scenery for a show It’s New York the one that forces you to dress up although unwilling The experiment which began more than two hundred years ago it is not over the lights don’t go out the script does not end there are thousands of stories to count When it’s …
The Bright Stars That I Love
I have liked stars since I was young. Maybe it’s because people said that the stars shine. I moved to the United States last year. I came on an evening flight and New York’s big buildings looked like the night sky full of stars. My eyes sparkled and my heart fluttered as I looked at …
Happy Childhood Memory
The most fun I ever had was during my childhood in China, on the island where I was born and grew up. We watched the sunrise on the beach while waiting for the tide to go out. Then, we dug for clams and competed to see who could dig up the most. When the tide …
The Power of Fear
I used to live in a city on the river shore. The amazing Amazon Rainforest stood on the other shore with its lush greenery, just as Manhattan stands with its skyline to New Jersey residents. An outrigger-canoe club had just arrived in town and I was excited by the idea of paddling to the forest, …
The Planet Earth
The most beautiful planet in the universe The only place where human life breathes And yet, this planet Earth is turning hot red Not the sun to blame, but man’s ignorance Man has nowhere else to shelter life The only place to live and only here So we have to stop burning the earth Before …
The Earth Is Crying
Snowy mountain in immaculate white Damaged and ruined by climbing gears No one hears its cry of hurt and pain Oceans flow with undulating azure robes But are stained by the oily drip from a ship Rich treasures underneath have less wealth Land grounded by a blanket of rich soil Littered and dumped with filthy …
The Sun and the Rainbow
Once upon a time, the Sun and the Rainbow were best friends. The Sun shines brightly. No one can survive without the Sun. Humans and nature need it. The Rainbow is very colorful. It attracts a lot of people, especially women and children. The Sun always protects the Rainbow, and the Rainbow always respects the …
Working With Stone
Have you ever looked deeply at marble? I love marble. I see the greatness of God’s creation in it. How can a stone of this beauty and detail—the tiny lines drawn inside it in an arranged way, the consistency of colors as if it were a painting of a great artist—be so natural? I’m not …
The Mind Is a Book of Vivid Memories
When I was six years old, my entire family gathered in my grandparents’ country house in the eastern part of my country, the Dominican Republic. This was a big wooden house, brown in color, with a beautiful view from sunrise to sunset. I could see the birds fly and listen to the sound of the …
Change of Vision About My Environment
When I was a child, I believed that my city was the only place that existed. At night, I thought that the sky met the mountaintops, but as my curiosity was increasing, my mother took me to new places, and my universe grew. I discovered that not everything was a mountain, that there were also …