The public place I decided to observe is the New York Presbyterian Hospital lobby. Due to my schedule I was only able to visit at night on Mondays around 11 pm. I walked into the large lobby where there were small tables for people to sit on the left side and took a seat in that area to begin my observation. In the lobby on the right side there is a store where one can purchase food/snacks for people who want to eat. In the middle there’s a large desk where 2 security guards were sitting behind the desk.
Though it was late there were more people than I expected. On the tables there were 10 people sitting eating food from the cafe. Most of the people were sitting alone eating as they quietly looked through their phone. The patterns I noticed were that people were constantly moving in and out. The people in the cafe were constantly walking in and out with paper bags in their hands while there were people entering and leaving the elevators. Another pattern was that most people were alone, keeping to themselves as they traveled out or in the hospital. The few people who were in groups looked like family members who were pushing out the former patients in a wheelchair.
Even though it was so late people were walking in and out the lobby, the doctors/nurses were all in lab coats/scrubs. The doctors/nurses walked quicker than the other people who were moving through the lobby. Each person who entered had to go through a quick security check then go to the security desk where they had to get a visitors pass to go further into the hospital. Due to it being so late you could tell the doctors were going due to their quick steps and happy goodbyes to security as they left.
In the lobby you could only hear the steps of people and the voices of the security guards talking and laughing. Due to me constantly being in the hospital to take care of my grandma the security guards greeted and spoke to me. The security guards were going on a discussion about the coronavirus virus and how quickly it was spreading. Overall, I observed a very fast paced setting even when it was late at night on a weekday where there was just continuous movement of people except for the few who were eating on the tables.

I decided to go to St. Nicholas Park to observe those around me. It is currently 4:27 and their arent many people. There are four people, a pair playing basketball, another playing by himself, and the last person in skateboarding. The pair that is playing basketball is actually a mother and her child. another person entered the park and he is riding his skateboard. there are occasionally people who walk their dogs or are just passing through to get to the dorms. The two skateboarders started to skate together. now one is sitting on the phone while the other skates. the one sitting down is wearing a grey t-shirt and the other is wearing a black t-shirt with black pants. A couple passes through the park and so did a father and son. A few more people entered the court and started their own game of basketball. the weather is gorgeous and the sun is shining. It is not too hot but not too cold. by the chairs, there are three people sitting separately, one watching the basketball courts. there’s not much noise except for the occasional car or airplane. the sun is starting to slowly go down. There are a few people who just got out of school. as the hour passed, more people came to the basketball courts. There is a big group that is set up to play a game. They all seem like friends and are joking around with each other. The sky becomes much duller and it looks like it might rain. It also got a bit chillier. The common theme within the park is to go to the basketball courts or just to pass through the park.

It is about 12:15 pm as I take a seat in the fourth floor library. The wooden brown tables were filled, as usual, with college students. As I take a seat in front of the long table, I see many rows of other students conversating with each other. Additionally, I see students eating lunch and drinking beverages, so it seems that the rule of no food and drinks on all the floors are not enforced. As I look down at the table, I notice a white poster advocating for the closing of City College amidst of the coronavirus, a paper that was on all the tables. I chose to sit in front of a group of people, I assume that they are friends, who were working on their chemistry homework on Aleks. Their conversation over homework is seen throughout the little section of the library I chose to observe. Many students had their laptops open and were talking to other colleagues in a relaxed fashion.  This trend maintained the whole hour; while the students routinely became louder and then fading. Overall, the library scene remained pretty constant throughout the hour, and this experience helped me gain exposure observing many informants at once.

It’s about 2:30pm as I sit across on a big rock from the dog park on 135^th. The dog park isn’t much, but the dogs seem to enjoy it. Its located on a slanted hill and the benches where the owners sit are at the bottom lined up. Every time a dog enters the gates to the park Tinker the golden retriever greets them as if he was security. Tinkers owner sits on the bench with his legs crossed, looks like he is in his mid-twenties wearing a graphic t shirt. I noticed that he seemed like he was in a daze staring at the ground. The next person who entered the dog park came in with a phone pressed to her ear with a medium sized dog and a tennis ball in his mouth.  She paced the dog park walking back and forth engrossed in her phone call, as her dog ran around chasing his ball. She looked like a businesswoman and she could have possibly been on a call. A small poodle came in next accompanied with her owner. What I noticed is that most of the dogs mimicked their owners. Or the owners got dogs to fit their personalities. The poodle owner seemed like a quirky quite girl, her dog was a small golden poodle with a cute face that ran in between her legs. Tinker seemed sociable but also laid back just like his owner. Dash, the businesswoman’s dog matched the energy of the women. I personally really enjoyed Tinker.

I decided to observe and pay attention to what people do and their reactions when in the train, especially in the subway. For the most part, I would usually be on my phone and not look up until I get to my stop but this time was different. During my 45 minutes commute from college to my house, I noticed certain patterns among those in those in the same train car as me. I stood by the doors because it was slightly packed. I look up and see that most people were on their phones. Some occasionally looked up but quickly went back to the screen in their hands after realizing that their stop is yet to come. There was something about seeing a series of people in the same crouching-like position staring at the screen of their phones at the same time.

Now, there were the ones who, with their belongings on their lap somehow managed to sleep soundly. Personally, no matter how tired I am, I couldn’t possibly be able to sleep in the train. There were a couple of them with their head leaned against the seat, face facing up others facing down, hugging their bags with their eyes closed. I noticed that it was mostly middle aged men who did this while those submerged in their phones were younger.

Moving on to the homeless individuals who barge in every car to ask for money and tell their story. More often than not, they would be wearing slightly torn dirty clothes. For the most part, people would just ignore them or stare and some would occasionally give them coins. When these things happen, I notice that almost everyone makes eye contact and shake their head as if they all shared some inside joke and then there is this momentarily mutual understanding passing by. I found it fascinating how people can find things they have in common but still be disconnected from one another in a matter of seconds.

I decided to observe my neighborhood park, which looks unrecognizable from the memories of my childhood after undergoing renovations. Due to my schedule, I was only able to visit in the evening – specifically around 6:30 PM. I walked into what I had expected: a nearly empty park. There were around ten people, though none in the section meant for toddlers. A small group of kids, perhaps around ten years old, playing on the slide while two little kids on scooters circled the vicinity. I sat down on a bench, the majority of which were empty, a lone woman seated a few benches down. The occasional scream and laughs of children could be heard, but it was otherwise quiet. The cars passing on a moderately used avenue underneath the elevated train – passing less frequently since the rush hour was over – becoming background noise.

The people who current the park are immigrants, mainly Latinx and Central Asian of the area, as well as Hasidic Jews – though they were absent during my visit due to Purim. The adults there kept to themselves, either looking at their child or their phones. Though I wasn’t present when more residents are in the area, I remember from my childhood, things being similar. The children have no quarrels talking to a random child for entertainment, yet, unless they are already acquainted, guardians do not engage in conversation. However, this could stem from language barriers.

As time passed, people slowly trickled out, except for a mother and daughter that walked in. The duo gave me the impression that the mother was making the sacrifice of going to the park with her daughter after a long day’s work. Reminding me of my mother, who tells us of the countless times she treaded out to please my sister and me. A common theme among all the adults who wouldn’t be there other than for their children.

I had already set my mind in leaving once the sunset. I assumed no one would be there once daylight was gone, however, there were still a few stragglers left. Besides, parks at night tend to have a negative connotation, usually being associated with delinquency. Along with insufficient lighting casting shadows and leaving some areas dark, it made the place scary with spare life. I left feeling a bit calmer just from sitting outside listening to the noise around though I felt stupid sitting in a park alone with no child to begin with.

I observed the field I work in while I was on my break and at the end of the day. I work in a dental surgery office. They only remove teeth; for example, wisdom teeth. It is a very fast paced environment. There is no actual time to rest. It seems that the mornings are much more busier than the afternoons. The assistants have to rush getting the room ready, setting up the sterilization area, and take all the x-rays. After that, they quickly have to set up the patient in the computers and the rooms before the doctor gets there. As the surgery is happening, the assistants have to do everything that the doctor asks and keep out their way.  After the surgeries, the assistants have to quickly clean the rooms and set up the next patient. As I observed, I noticed how sometimes the assistants got frustrated because they are overworked. I often heard them complaining about other females that do not put the work in and often heard about them complaining about having horrible management. As I spoke to some of the girls, I heard stories about how they have rebelled by quitting in bunches to fix the company; however, clearly it did not work. At the end of the day, the assistants have to clean the entire office. They have to clean the chairs, the table tops, and even the blood bucket and any little blood or teeth they see on the floor. After that they have to restock everything and prepare the room for the next day. This field was very stressful to observe because it constantly moving quickly.

Christiane Campbell                                                                                                       3/4/2020

CCNY | ENGL 21002

Discussion Post #2

In “The Hustlers at Scores” by Jessica Pressler, the nightlife of Manhattan’s white-collar men and strippers are exposed. Some main names to keep track of are Roselyn Keo, Samantha Barbash, Marsi Rosen, and Karina Pascucci. They, along with other women, stole from rich Wall Street men by luring them into strip clubs, drugging them, and then running up their credit card. In this article, Pressley conveys the shared beliefs of the women, carefully selecting background information to help the readers in understanding the story and bringing her informants to life with her vivid descriptions.

The driving belief of the women in this operation was that the white-collared men that came to the strip clubs were indecent scumbags, and they were filthy rich anyway, so they deserved to have their credit cards wiped clean. This is conveyed when Pressley includes quotes from Keo and Barbash (respectively) where they say, “The men were mostly assholes” and “They had history. They’d been to Hustler, they’d been to Rick’s, they’d been to Scores. They all walked in ready to party.” Another quote by Keo further portrays this shared belief when she says $10,000 was “nothing to [the rich men]”. In other words, these wealthy, white-collar men deserved to have their money stolen because they were morally degraded and being robbed of a couple of tens of thousands would not financially destroy them anyway. 

Also, Pressley included background information to help the reader’s comprehension of the story. This is obvious through the background information she includes on the women in the scam and the men involved in them. From Rosie, a high school dropout who realized the financial advantages in the strip club industry from a young age; Samatha Barbash, another stripper who later became the leader of a strip club pyramid scheme; Mari Rosen and Karina Pascucci, who were both strip recruits of Barbash. Background information on the men were also included, such as that of an employee at Guggenheim Partners that spent $100k every time he was at the strip club; Brian, a white-collar professional who let his fiancee’s visa expire in hopes of being with Roselyn; Dr.Zyad Younan, a cardiologist who racked up a $135k bill from the women. This background information helps the reader understand the story because it magnifies the relationship between the women’s backgrounds and the high profile clients they were dealing with, emphasizing the “these men are rich scumbags, so it doesn’t matter if we steal from them” mentality. Lastly, Pressley brings the informants to life with her vivid descriptions. For example, she described Barbash as “Jessica Rabbit curvy, her lips Angelina Jolie puffy; her hair, which concealed tattoos of a cascade of stars running down her neck, was Cleopatra black”. 

As one can see, Pressley is successful in ensuring that the audience understands the story and keeps them engaged with evocative descriptions.

The article “Hustlers“ written by Jessica Pressler gives an inside look and an overall different perspective on exotic dancers. Strippers, as they are more commonly known as are often times ridiculed by society. Many view their job as a last resort and often times consider it degrading. This article however serves to do the opposite. It was written to show the women as intellectual equals with the men who seemingly used them, referring to them as ‘robinhood’ for taking from the wealthy. The writer also attempts to humanize the ‘victims’ by giving them a voice. Rosie, one of the ladies to be introduced gave  insight on her cultural background. She tells us that she is of Cambodian descent. She briefly explains that her parents came to America with ideals that they eventually strayed from. This information was crucial. It illustrates how a change in focus and the neglecting of children can greatly affect their future. Having to fend for herself Rosie had to mature earlier than most young women and find a way to essentially make ends meet. Being left at the mercy of a large city, the young unqualified woman took an unconventional route to financial security by owning her sexuality and having men pay large sums whilst succumbing to their carnal desires. This in and of itself was extremely empowering. For years women were made to feel shameful to do anything remotely sexual. The article in a sense Restored the confidence that was stolen from woman by the men in society. It painted the woman as masterminds in their own narrative as opposed to a mere body in that of a man’s. 

This article is packed with a multitude of cultural information.  For example, one angle speaks to some of Rosie’s culture, pointing out the differences between her childhood consisting of selling bulk candy and getting into fights at her school in Rockland County and the contrasting glamorous ambience of the New York City club scene.  Amongst many other displays of cultural information, the article also reveals a small amount of insight into her Cambodian parents’ culture, as they are said to have gotten caught up in the American Dream and ultimately prioritized the allure of the material world over their two children.

Some of the background information that was conveyed in this storytelling included the synopses of the women involved in this intense recollection of the past.  This information gives the reader a glimpse of the lives of these individuals which helps to better understand them as people and the attitude that they shared towards those men.  The descriptions of the informants brought those individuals to life because it gives the audience a succinct, yet extremely informative idea of who they really are.  Not only did their basic demographic and physical descriptors help create this image, but the various indicators of their personalities or mindsets and especially the direct quotations formed this telling that became extremely vivid.  The author effectively creates a verbal portrait of the informants by maintaining the integrity of each individual’s persona throughout the entirety of the piece.

The illustrations of the informants both add texture and help set the scene by constructing a narrative that draws the audience into the world and minds of these women.  This article provides such a clear picture for the reader that it almost feels like you are in the room with them and observing each of these occurrences as they happen in real time.  Additionally, the portrayals of the men involved in this scene supply the curious with a better understanding as to why the women felt justified in their actions.  Personally, I found myself cheering them on as they empowered themselves to shut down the corruption in their own unique way.

The whole of this narrative thoroughly draws out the truth of the situation despite how it may appear at a glance.  Initially, the story seems to shed light on some badass women serving justice from their perspective.  However, a larger theme reveals itself as we learn how ugly and terrifying this lifestyle actually was for these women.  The shame, guilt, and fear becomes exposed throughout, and it displays the lifestyle’s reality.  In facing the inevitable consequences of their actions, the women feared jail time for their crimes.  In spite of the potential ramifications, they persisted in a seemingly unfazed manner.  Rosie even states that she was aware of why they did what they did: “Hurt people hurt people”, which exemplifies the entire motive behind this operation.  This article is an incredible communication of the (cliché) concept: ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’.  The author truly uncovered the actuality of an event that appeared so differently than how the insiders experienced it.