Archives for August 2012

Nearly 60 percent of New York City residents are currently overweight or obese, according to the city’s health statistics.

“Obesity kills 5,800 New Yorkers a year,” said Health Commissioner Thomas A. Farley in a press release. Many New Yorkers, however, are fighting to stay healthy by buying fresh fruits and vegetables. 

In New York City, you can buy fresh produce at Whole Foods Markets, Trader Joe’s, or at the nearby fruit stands at the street corner.

When Erica G., 31, goes shopping for food, she always has the notion of being healthy in her mind.

“I try to go to Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s sometimes, and Food Emporium. Wait, I go to the Amish Market the most because it’s close to my house. I go food shopping about once or twice a week,” she said.

While sitting on a bench at Madison Square Park, Anddeen K., 57, pulled a green apple out of a paper brown bag. She goes produce shopping once a week and prefers super markets and farmers markets over Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s because the food is “more qualitative,” she says.

Dominique Forin, 57, was sitting outside of Madison Square Park at a silver table with two little girls, feeding them strawberries and cucumbers. Saving money and having healthy food is most important to her when produce shopping, she said. Forin goes shopping at ShopRite and farmers markets. Like Anddeen, Forin prefers to shop at farmers markets since “the food is straight from [the] farm to [the] public with no middle man,” she said.

According to the city, low-income residents eat less fruit and vegetables than those with a high-income. To help reverse this, 138 farmers markets across the five boroughs accept Food Stamps, EBT and Health Bucks, which gives residents an extra $2 for every $5 they spend.

Anddeen K., says she pays attention to prices when she’s buying produce.

“If I have no job, then I worry a lot more about the cost, but, overall I worry about the health,” she said.

Carol Chirolas, a homeless women who was sitting at a dog park eating a sandwich said, “If I had money I would buy from fruit stands and maybe [the] farmers market, it [may cost] more money but, it’s worth it.”

But even teenagers worry about the cost of healthy food.

Kimberly Rodriguez, a 16-year-old, goes to the farmers markets to buy a bag of kernel and whenever her mom wants her to go. 

“I guess everything there tastes better and is healthier, but, I wouldn’t go [there] as my usual shopping place,” she said. “For what I buy, the kernel, its cheaper than the regular supermarket brand.”

After coming back from Sydney, Pam Seltzer, 21, a student at Barnard College, can’t help but miss it. If it were up to her she would go back. The Australian lifestyle to her was much more relaxed. She says that her experience there was, “incredible.”

“It’s one of the most important things as a student, everyone should study abroad,” she says.

American students like Pam, as well as students from all over the world, are studying abroad. According to the Institute of International Education, about 300,000 American students go away to foreign countries each year. Meanwhile, almost 700,000 students come from abroad to study in the United States, according to the website internationalstudent.com.

But difficulties come with new experiences.

Christine Hsu, 21, also a student from Barnard College, studied abroad during her junior year. She was part of the International Honors Program, and studied in South Africa, Brazil, and Vietnam. She was treated differently, she says, depending on where she was.

Wherever she went, she was often judged by her Asian appearance, and was mistaken for Chinese or Japanese, when in fact she is Taiwanese-American.

While she was in Cape Town, South Africa, “Everyone thought I was Chinese, people asked if my uncle was Jackie Chan,” she says.

 However, in Sao Paulo she wouldn’t get the attention she got in Cape Town.

“Brazil had a large Japanese population. Everyone thought I was Japanese, people didn’t try to sell me things,”Hsu said.

Students from other countries who come to America say they get stereotyped as well.

“I didn’t speak English and couldn’t communicate with others,”  said Mehnaz Sultane, 16, who came here from Bangladesh. “People judged you a lot like you should be a certain way.”

However, she says that the way of life in America is much more fun and loose.

 Her friend, Eilyn Gutierret, 16, points to a half-naked man in Union Square. 

“You wouldn’t see that there,”she said.

Jessie Zhao, 21, who’s studying in America from China, says the culture here is much more, well-mannered, and that the food is different.

“I never knew you didn’t have to microwave cheese until I got here,” she says.

New York City’s iconic triangular Flatiron building, known for its “floating” art pieces, is now the home to artist Rebecca Riley’s “Randomland.” A temporary exhibit, Randomland features collages of maps  painted with viral flash paint, hung from the ceiling in a glass-encased space on the building’s first floor, which create a drifting effect.

Riley, an artist known for creating collage pieces, was challenged by Cherl McGinnis, the art curator at the Flat Iron, to fill the Flat Iron Prow Art Space, located in the lobby of the building.

McGinnis said she wanted an exhibit that encompassed every aspect of the diverse city of New York.

“I wanted something specifically mapped to the city. My feeling was, especially in this time of year we have so many tourists and people from all over the world, and I felt like, when you look at art you find yourself,” she said.

Riley said she wanted to take an interactive approach, where the viewer and the artists can meet and discuss instead of going to an art gallery or a museum.

“This could not happen anywhere else except here. I had to respond to the space around me,” she said. “I cut out all kind of map fragments and put them together, and painted on top of them. And some I didn’t. Some are pieces of water and then basically collage them together. So this is truly an installation. I made the artwork here.”

“Randomland” will be on display until Sept. 20, when it will be taken down and replaced by a new 3-D sculpture.

 

 

As his third and final term is coming to an end, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has left a legacy on New York City residents. Although he has left his mark, many feel the time has come for him to go.

Throughout the years, Mayor Bloomberg has worked to improve health conditions, issued transportation reforms and helped passed Marriage Equality Act.

“He is very proactive in terms of helping the city out,” said Mark Morrow, a 43-year-old appliance officer from Long Island. “Looking out for people, helping out on [the] smoking ban. I believe he has done an excellent job.”

However many New Yorkers feel his positive reputation has gone down hill since his first and second terms.

“I think his first couple terms were better than his last,” says Morrow.

Other New Yorkers also feel that he is losing his concentration.

“He is cracking too much on petty stuff. He’s taking things a little too seriously,” said Darryl Lewis, a 42-year old water technician from New Jersey.

Toni Arena, a 68-year old resident from Murray Hill, said he thought Bloomberg has lost appeal since because of his many controversial health initiatives, like the proposed soda ban, which some residents think goes too far.

“He is an excellent business man…. [But] he’s tarnishing it now trying to enforce no sugar,” said Arena. “I think he’s annoying a lot of people now.”

“If he does the soda ban, then unfortunately that’s what people will remember,” says Morrow.