Ava's First Derive
February 15, 2018, by Ava
A Rough Start…
My first dérive began before I even looked at my first card. I am by no means a master of the New York subway system and only know how to take the F train from my apartment to school and the 2 train to the upper west side to my favorite bakery, so the 1 train was a new experience for me and I somehow managed to totally disorient my self and ended up taking the train all the way to South Ferry station, another place I had never been. After much confusion, I eventually figured out my mistake, and got on another subway back up to Franklin Street.
When I told my mom about this project and where I was going, she said, “Oh no.. be careful that was not a good area to be wandering around in back when your dad and I were living in the city.” This was the image they had built of their New York, which I had never witnessed. Upon exiting the subway station and walking around, I remembered what Whitehead said in “City Limits.” “Never listen to what people tell you about old New York, because if you did not witness it, it is not a part of your New York and might as well be Jersey,” (Whitehead, 5). I realized that New York has drastically changed over time and areas that used to be “dangerous” in my parent’s time are some of the most expensive places to live in my time. I walked west of the station for about four minutes, and found myself at my starting point; Franklin Street and Greenwich Street. The first thing I noticed was that I had no idea where I was in the city- this place was foreign to me and I was not sure what to expect and felt vulnerable and uncomfortable. I took a minute waiting at the corner and noticed Mercedes G Wagons, Range Rovers, and BMW 7 series parked along the street.
I began to think about how Debord states that people “generally simply assume that elegant streets cause a feeling of satisfaction and that poor streets are depressing,” (Debord, 2). I found this not to be the case; even though the street was “elegant,” complete with luxury cars, I still found myself feeling a bit uneasy and nervous. I believe these feelings inevitably arise from people being unfamiliar with their surrounds and not from whether the street is poor or elegant. If true, this could explain why I was still somewhat antsy even after discovering that I was in a decent area. Upon this realization, with a little hesitation, I began.
And So It Begins…
It’s 4:04 and my first instruction was to follow something white, I looked up from my phone and saw a white Chevy Malibu driving by, so I started after it. The unfamiliarity of walking without headphones, or any other personal technological distractions for that matter, began to sink in, and I was forced to realize the more intricate details involved with just walking around. It was not too cold felt around 55 degrees out with a slight breeze. The area had a different smell than the rest of the city, which I assumed to be because of its proximity to the water. That with the combination of the enticing aroma from the restaurants lining the street made me feel like I was really in a different city- maybe Chicago. I noticed that the buildings were not overly tall, four stories for the most part, and they all looked old, but charming. Many of them were restaurants and small boutique shops. I stopped following the car at Duane Street and looked at the next card: ask someone their favorite place. I stopped a middle aged man with a dog that looked like a tiger, who said his favorite place was two streets west of us overlooking the river.
Instruction 4 said to take a left and look for something sweet. As soon as I made a left onto Harrison Street I saw the river that the man was talking about and headed for it, believing this satisfied my something sweet. I walked up to the rail and rested there for a few minutes and looked around. There were people playing basketball on the courts to my left, a woman stretching to my right, and bicycles whizzing by behind me. It was around rush hour, so the West Side Highway was crowded with anxious drivers. I stopped to appreciate the view and looked back at the city. I started observing what was going on around me. I noticed the types of people in the park, those there to relax, those there to hang out with friends, tourists, athletes, business men avoiding the West Side highway by walking. It reminded me of the various ways people use the city as well, from work to vacation. I looked to my right and saw brown stones the size of suburban town homes. They must have been very old because the buildings that surrounded them had to be at least ten times their size. Behind the brownstones in the distance, I could see the One World Trade Center, which really made me think about how much New York has changed, even during my lifetime so far.
After walking through the streets of Tribeca for some time, I ended up at Laight Street. I was instructed to pick up a piece of litter. If I wasn’t out of my comfort zone before, I definitely was now. I am a germophobe, so at the moment this seemed like a big deal. I noticed a few spoons on the ground, bent down and picked up one of them, butt end, of course. At this point, I noticed just how heavy my backpack was; I could feel the weight of all of my books and folders. Instruction 10: follow a phone user. I saw a woman pushing a stroller, scrolling through her phone, which I found peculiar, and followed her until I got distracted by a line of men in suits. They were waiting outside a small shop called Deli & Grocery on Spring Street and Hudson. I was confused until I noticed all of the flowers in black bins around the shop. Some had bouquets of flowers some were inspecting various arrangements. Then I remembered, it’s Valentine’s Day.. great.
I was instructed to look for some sort of interruption, so I walked along Hudson, uptown, and encountered a Cadillac dealership on Hudson and Charlton. I am also a gear head, so I became distracted by the window display and this was my interruption. My phone was on 1% and I didn’t like the idea of walking around without my phone, so I stopped in a Pret A Manger to charge my phone for a bit. It was a bit of a sad scene in there; a bunch of people sitting alone on their laptops on Valentine’s Day. At this time, one hour and twenty-two minutes had elapsed. I checked my GPS to see how far I was from school; it said eleven minutes walking, but I had no idea where I was, not a clue. This really put two things into perspective for me: 1) I must not get out much or I really am a creature of habit, and 2) New York is so big and so complex that an area can be two miles from my apartment, and still feel like it’s in another state; Tribeca might as well be in Wyoming. I noticed that the streets around my starting point were relatively quiet. I did not have to step around tourists or fight my way through the crowd, and this felt refreshing and made my walk more relaxing. I was instructed to find my favorite building. I saw a tall geometrically shaped building far away in the distance. I recognized it from my weekly drives into the city with my parents after a weekend at home away from the chaos of the city. I am very close with my parents and go home almost every weekend, so even though this building might not be my “favorite” it makes me feel warm and happy. I found it funny that a building, or a place, could evoke these feelings almost instantaneously.
Time To Wrap It Up…
I was instructed to walk in the direction of the wind, so I turned left onto 6th Avenue and headed towards NYU. At this point, I began thinking and found it interesting how addresses separate spaces and create divides. As Kittler states in “The City Is A Medium,” addresses “separate mountain streams from waterways, people from subjects, cities from capitals,” (Kittler, 275). As soon as I recognized the address of where I was, I automatically felt comforted because this address separated familiar and unfamiliar territory, and I was standing on the border. From this, I also realized that addresses can evoke feelings of security or insecurity. This area became more and more familiar and I had grown comfortable with my new surroundings, so I turned another card. Instruction 20: head in the direction of somewhere to have a beer. I’m not one for beer, but it’s 6:48, and that’s my cue to head home.
Overall, this was a great experience and I enjoyed it much more than I thought. I ended up losing track of time and am happy I did because I felt like I had a real break from the stress of school, constant emails, and social media updates. I was so involved in observing what was going on around me, that I did not care about what was going on in my phone and all of the smaller things. Most importantly, I learned that I need to be more present in the moment, and that I really need to get out more because I don’t know many juniors (especially juniors who grew up visiting Manhattan several times a month) who don’t know their way around Tribeca.
