Terror in Times Square

One of the most defining moments of my generation is undoubtedly the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In the same way that my parent's generation will never forget where they were when JFK was shot, or my grandparent's generation will never forget how they found of about the attack on Pearl Harbor, Generation Y (is that what they're calling us these days?) will never forget the images seared in our minds of the planes flying into the World Trade Center, how we felt when we saw the buildings collapse, and where we were when our entire world-view was changed by the events of that day. As a freshmen in high school in a small town in Connecticut over 2 hours away from New York City, I remember feeling shocked and sad and scared by the attacks. I remember my joy when sports practice was cancelled that day, and I remember my fear of the retaliation and threat of war that loomed in the days that followed. But never at any point did I feel personally in danger as a result of the terrorists. I wasn't in NYC that day, I didn't know anyone who lived in NYC at the time, and I sure didn't know the extent of the chaos and fear that gripped the city on that day and has continued in the years that have followed. I got a tiny taste of this reality, of that terror, last week.

After a long day of work at TRUCE last Wednesday, I took the 1-2-3 subway downtown to meet a friend from Cornell for dinner in Times Square. We were scheduled to meet at 7:30, and since it was only about 6:30 when I got down there, I decided to find a coffee shop, grab a small cup, and relax and read my book (Breakfast at Tiffany's, a Truman Capote/NY classic) until it was time to meet her. After settling down with my coffee and opening my book, my phone rang and I saw it was my mother calling me. I was surprised to see her name appear on my phone, as I had just had an extensive conversation with her the night before, but I quickly picked up the phone with a cheery, "Hi, Mom! What's up?" Her quick response and worried tone immediately signaled to me that something was indeed up. "Where are you right now?" she inquired. I informed her cheerily that, "I'm just sitting in a coffee shop in Times Square, just people-watching and reading a little bit...why?" My mother then informed me that she wasn't sure what had happened, but she knew that a building on 41st street has exploded and there was smoke spewing out of it. I looked outside my large window onto the crossroads of NYC, the most vibrant, busy part of the most vibrant, busy city in the country, and saw nothing unusual. Tourists walked with shopping bags, looking around confused. Businessmen strolled by briskly, talking on their cellphones and puffing on their post-work cigarettes. But despite these signs of normalcy and their indication that there was no reason to be alarmed, I heeded my mother's advice to get out of Times Square. I packed up my belongings and exited the coffee shop, and immediately upon exiting onto 41st street and looking east towards Grand Central, I saw a cloud of smoke emerging from the ground as a helicopter circled the the building. Images from September 11 flashed through my mind of the clouds of smoke that poured out of the World Trade Center, the people running down the street in fear, the loud noise of sirens that a disaster of this magnitude warranted. I quickly realized that if this was indeed a terrorist attack, Times Square was not the place I wanted to be when things got worse. I hung up the phone with my mom to call my friend who I was meeting to try to change the location of our meeting, but suddenly my calls would not go through. I tried calling twice, the calls failed. I tried text-messaging, the messages wouldn't send. Suddenly, I realized I was helpless. If something were to happen at that moment, I would've had no way of leaving that extremely busy area, I woul've had no way to get in touch with anyone I know or to find a safe place of refuge. Suddenly I realized that I was completely alone amidst hundreds of thousands of people. These feelings of loneliness and helplessness that struck me while I was surrounded by so many people showed me the strange irony of being in a large group of people when disaster strikes. Clearly, this was not a terrorist attack. I walked out of Times Square and quickly found a policeman who explained the situation to me, calming my nerves and ending my short-lived panic. However, the feeling of being so completely and utterly helpless while alone in a large crowd during a moment of supposed disaster is an experience I will never forget. Despite the advances in technology and the lack of want we have in our country, I realized that we are still extremely vulnerable to tragedy and to the panicked emotions that stem from such events.

It's All Happening...

The kids are back at TRUCE, and it has been an exciting, crazy, stressful yet rewarding experience thus far. I have now spent 4 days working closely with the incoming 8th grade Health Ambassadors, getting to know them and working with them to establish relationships built on respect and trust. My first experience with the group was when they first arrived early Monday morning. We asked them to come to the 8th grade room and sit down to wait for the whole group to arrive. Surprisingly, they were very quiet and subdued as they sat in their chairs and waited for the action to begin. The kids sat (boys on one side, girls on the other) with their arms folded across their chests, slumped down in their seats, mostly scowls or bored looks on their faces. The other staff members and I tried to engage them in conversation, but they were hesitent and suspicious of us and our energy. However, when everyone arrived and we began the first ice-breaker activity, that all quickly changed.



After the first awkward 20 minutes or so, the kids loosened up and began to socialize with each other and with the staff members, and it has been non-stop noise ever since! The sheer size of our group (we have 35 kids with 3 staff people and 2 high school staff to assist us) makes it difficult for us to manage the noise level inside the classroom and to get all their attention and keep them quiet for any sustainable period of time, and I have found that my voice is just not powerful enough to accomplish these goals. However, I have found that my more quiet, unassuming, calm approach has worked to establish a more friendly, peer-to-peer relationship with some of the girls in the group. Although there are some kids who do not respond to my less confrontational style because they are not used to it, the more quiet and reserved students quickly realized that I am an ally and a friend, not just a disciplinarian who is there to punish them. I have learned that despite the fact that my background and my attitudes and my cultural upbringing are so different than most of the kids and staff at HCZ, I must learn to capitalize on these differences. I am trying to take my differences and use them to touch those who have not yet been reached by an adult mentor in their lives.

The highlight of the week for me was a fieldtrip to the Liberty Science Center in Liberty, NJ. Although it was hot and a somewhat stressful experience to get the kids on the bus and count them and make sure everyone was accounted for, the HCZ staff handled the process like experts. Once we arrived at the museum, we split the kids up into groups of 4 or 5, and I took my group of 4 girls around the exhibits for the remainder of the trip. Having such a small group with myself as the only staff person gave me a great opportunity to interact on a more personal level and just relax and have fun with the girls. Instead of having to make them be quiet and do an organized activity with a large group like we usually do, we were able to just walk around the museum at our leisure, play together with the exhibits and just hang out. I didn't feel like an adult or a teacher or a disciplinarian to them, I felt like their friend. I hope I will have more opportunities to interact with the kids like this in the future, and continue to talk, relate and bond with the kids one on one.

Summer Vacation

After the graduation ceremony, the kids obviously stopped coming into HCZ and the staff has been alone for the past few days. This week and a half break from the kids is called "Summer Orientation", and it has consisted of several all staff meetings and much time creating the curriculum for the summer program. During the all staff meetings, we learned about all the different logistical procedures we must adhere to as responsible supervisors this summer. For example, we were taught how to properly load and unload 50+ kids onto a subway car, where we are allowed to take trips with the kids and where we are prohibited from going (example- water is strictly prohibited for liability reasons), the proper dress code for work (the only requirements are that we wear sneakers and comfortable clothes so that we can work out with the kids during Fitness Time), the daily schedule for the entire program, and any other things we could get fired from our jobs for. We also participated in several ice breakers and "get to know you" activities that were intended to not only bond us as a staff, but also give us ideas for activities we could do with the kids. After the all staff meetings, we broke up into small groups based on what age group we will be working with over the summer to create the curriculum for our kids. I am working with 2 other staff members, Paul and Julie, with the incoming 8th grade group. The 3 of us have created a curriculum for our more than 50 8th graders based on the program-wide theme of the summer, "Me, Myself and I". Our goal is to help the 8th graders start to make the connection between their own personal health and fitness and the overall health of their community. As 8th graders these students will be "Health Ambassadors", whose job is to reach out into the community and spread the knowledge they have learned in their previous 3 years at TRUCE. Thus, our curriculum for the summer involves, in addition to the daily journals that the kids will keep to monitor their own personal progress on a goal they will set for themselves in the first week of the program, several mulitmedia presentations created by the kids to spread information to the community about healthy eating and how to work out. The presentations will be in the form of a brochure with information, a work-out video that will be given away for free to community members, and a large poster-board to be presented at community gatherings. Additionally, we aim to spend a great deal of time teaching the kids presentation skills so that they can accurately and effectively spread the information they have learned to a larger audience. This curriculum is in addition to the general curriculum of the entire program, which involves and hour a day for Fitness, as well as weekly time for art, drama, cooking, and yoga on top of weekly Thursday trips to places such as the Bronx Zoo, Liberty Science Museum, and Six Flags Great Adventure to name a few. Overall, it is going to be a packed summer for these kids!

In addition to the curriculum planning and staff meetings of summer orientation, we also helped to set up the summer gardening project that TRUCE has participated in for the past 2 years. A Professor from Cornell's Agriculture College came to TRUCE one day last week (it just happened to be the hottest day of the summer thus far, but we stuck it out!) to help us set up the hydoponic technology to grow our tomatoe, corn, pepper, and green bean plants. It was very interesting to see how the staff reacted to this educated, sophisticated Jamaican man who came to teach them about this new technology. Despite the fact that he shared the same skin color as most of the TRUCE staff, they were clearly uncomfortable with the way this man spoke, the way he dressed, and his intense passion for his work. However, after he showed us how to go about planting the crops and we got to work as a team, the awkwardness dissipated and the comraderie of the group helped us get the job done fast and with lots of laughter. I had a great time bonding with my fellow TRUCE staff over this project, and I am looking forward to participating in this garden project throughout the summer, as it is the 8th graders who will be in charge of the maintenance and success of the garden. Staff orientation proved to be not only extremely educational and preparatory for the summer camp, but it was also a wonderful chance for me to bond and get to know the other staff members on a more personal level. But as much as I loved getting to know the staff at TRUCE, the real challenge starts next week when the kids come back...