A Fragment of the Berlin Wall

It’s always nice to walk along the Esplanade in Battery Park and look across the Hudson River when the weather is nice; during the fall and winter months I generally tend to avoid the area because it gets very cold and windy near the river. However, the other day my friend wanted to take pictures of the sunset, and so we decided to take a different route. As we made our way towards the river, I noticed what appeared to be a colorful piece of art, a mural that I hadn’t seen before. When I stopped to read the caption, I realized that the artwork was actually a segment of the Berlin Wall that the city of Berlin donated to Battery Park City in November 2004, the 15th Anniversary of the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. The piece is located in Monsignor John J. Kowsky Plaza, and seems almost hidden, tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Although I'm quite familiar with the neighborhood, I never knew there was a piece of the Berlin Wall there.

A section of the Berlin Wall located in Battery Park City

The Berlin Wall extended for 66 miles and was over 11 feet high, dividing the city of Berlin from 1961 to 1968. The Wall separated the democratic West Berlin and communist East Berlin, and came to represent oppression and isolation. When the wall was taken down, its pieces were scattered around the world. This particular segment of the wall was painted by Thierry Noir, a French artist who had moved to West Berlin in 1982. He was the first to paint illegally on the democratic West side of the Wall as a way to “demystify” the structure that divided the city. His large, simplistic, and colorful "Big Heads" were easy to paint quickly; they have become some of the most recognizable pieces and have survived fairly well. As more artists joined the effort, a sense of community formed as people came together in solidarity to combat the oppression they were facing, much like Dorothy Day's community gathered after the earthquake they experienced. Noir's approach to the situation at the time reminded me of Day's notion of worldly failure, in which there was a good chance that he was doing something right through his art if others thought he wasn't, and that even if his efforts failed, he followed his own beliefs regardless of what others thought.

Flowers left at the base of the Wall segment

The Berlin Wall was disassembled on November 9th, 1989. Upon further research, I found out that prayer meetings at the St. Nicholas church in the East German city of Leipzig months prior may have led to the dismantling. The meetings were the driving force behind the peaceful demonstration on October 9th, 1989 as despite death threats and a large armed police force, an estimated crowd of 70,000 joined the congregation on a protest march against the Communist regime. The police had nothing to attack the demonstration for, as people were simply holding candles and praying. Going back to Day's view, it isn't enough to stand by, you need to take action in order to really understand the issue and take steps to solve the problem, which is what the Germans did in spite of the potential dangers involved. Along the same lines, it is evident how a strong community made a difference, especially through peace.
Going back to the artwork, I noticed that it is next to Saint Joseph Chapel, which makes me think once again of the efforts of St. Nicholas Church and those who participated in the demonstration as well as the amount of prayer that went into it. As you look up at the segment of the Wall, unlike the oppression and isolation it once represented, it now has a sense of freedom and remembrance.
Upon further reflection, it's very interesting how we walk by pieces of art and history every day, but most of us never stop to see and understand the deeper significance behind them.

Walk down any street in New York City and at some point you will encounter some form of graffiti. Whether it be artistic in nature or a crude tag spray painted across the facade of an unwilling business, graffiti can be found all over the city. Some might consider this graffiti a lawless act of vandalization with no purpose other than to establish one’s name on a surface of which they have no right to do so. However, I think when one considers the perspectives with which Niebuhr views society and religion, these markings take on a more important meaning, not just for the person who made them, but for society as a whole. Niebuhr considers the vastness of the universe, and how in relation to this vastness, any singular person is rendered as an almost microscopic component of what constitutes the absolute universe. In the acceptance of one’s own ultimate insignificance, it would be easy to turn towards a perspective of apathy and indifference. If a single person is in and of themselves insignificant, then how could their be any purpose in them attempting to better the society around them. Their contributions would be extremely limited, and they would only go towards improving a society that is almost equally small in the vast nature of the universe. Niebuhr asserts that one antidote to this dangerous apathy is the practice of religion. Through religion, one asserts themselves as being an undeniable component of the absolute universe. Through this, a person does not recognize themselves as an insignificant object in comparison to the absolute, but rather an undeniable piece of the absolute. The key to this principle benefit to society is that when each person within a society recognizes themselves as being a piece of the universe just as anyone else, they will recognize that they deserve the same rights and freedom from oppression as any other member of society does. Within the society that has been established within New York City, it is undeniable that citizens range from those who are extremely rich and privileged, to those who are disenfranchised, poor, and often forgotten. And just as any other place where the disenfranchised exist, people feel the undeniable need to feel heard, felt, and recognized.         

Behind the youthful desire to break society’s rules that may motivate many of this city’s graffiti, I think there is a more important meaning. In the picture above, I captured a series of graffiti sprayed upon the storefront gate of a western union on 11th avenue. The graffiti paints no bigger picture, describes no deeper meaning, and delivers no important message. It states only names. Tags that only the graffiti artists themselves may be able to recognize. It is in this simplicity that I believe exists the core of this artform. The graffiti exists merely to convey the message that the artist is here, they exist, and they are a part of this city. Just as Niebuhr claims that through religion one can assert themselves within the absolute universe, through graffiti one asserts themselves an an undeniable piece of New York City. By writing their names and tags throughout the city, graffiti artists are ensuring that New York residents will have no other option than to recognize their existence in one way or another.

Christian Street Hawker

While riding the Downtown B train with a friend after class, I looked towards the closing doors with disdain after a new passenger entered. We rode for a couple seconds and as the train left the station, I realized that I had chosen the wrong subway car.  A subway preacher had entered the train and I was beginning to partake in the well practiced New York ritual of completely tuning out another person who is attempting to engage in a conversation. I was without my headphones so I couldn’t turn up the volume to drown out the noise. Instead both my friend and I had to make the awkward decision of carrying on our conversation or patiently waiting for the message of our damnation to end. (downcast eyes as the preacher enters)

There was nothing unique about this preacher. I had sat through many others. But this time I was forced to actively listen. Having attended a Catholic school, the message too was nothing new: I had the hope of being saved. I had the opportunity at everlasting life; I simply had to reach out and take it. He even had a catchy song. Forced to listen to the testimony, I looked more carefully at the people upon whose deaf ears this message was falling. This preacher was treated the same way I had seen people treat someone begging for money. He may have even been given a little less sympathy. But in this case, he wasn’t asking for anything at all. He was offering something. In fact, he’s offering what he believes to be the most important thing he can. Nevertheless if you had gauged the situation based solely on the reactions of the passengers, you would have thought he was asking for spare change.

This attitude toward the preacher made me wonder what was going through the passengers’ heads. More importantly it made me wonder what was going through mine. Maybe people understood fully that he was offering something. But just like a street hawker he was assumed to be ‘selling’ something. In a city built on business, it seems like everyone is suspicious of something being free. In fact even in the rhetoric he employed, “saving” from sins and forgiving “debts,” one could smell the intermixing with consumerism. His song seemed like a catchy advertisement. This scene felt a little dystopian. Even spiritual salvation had become commodified. To the passengers on the New York subway, even ideas are now viewed as being “sold” to them. And we have become experts at tuning out when we feel we are being sold something.

This begs the question of where American Christianity stands when people feel they are being sold a bad deal. Can it be viewed as a deal? Is there a price to pay for believing? What does the preacher have to gain? These questions were left unanswered as people popped in their earphones to silence another advertisement. The preacher was clearly playing the game of the modern consumer. He caught these riders  in the middle of the quotidian, just like a commercial. He proclaimed the payoffs they could receive by converting. But the passengers were clearly not affected.  Christianity may not be suited to play this game. It may have to change tact to avoid being lumped in with the noise we are accustomed to tuning out. We arrived at the next stop waiting for the preacher to change cars as he slowly became one with the advertisements for mattresses above his head.

Religion is about not Controlling Elevators?

Religion is about Not Controlling Elevators?

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is notably one of the top cancer centers in the United States. MSK for short has many locations, but the main MSK hospital is in the heart of New York City. Located in the Upper East Side between 68^th street and Lexington Ave, Central Park is a short walk away along with many tourist attractions. Although it wouldn’t be the first place you think of when one thinks of tourist attractions, it is where thousands of patients from all over the world come to for the best cancer care.

            I work here and have been here numerous times for family members, but just recently have noticed this sign near the elevator which read “Sabbath Elevator” (Picture attached below)

The other sign read,” Sabbath Elevator Stops on all floors during Sabbath”. This is a self-explanatory sign, but I wanted to analyze what this little sign in the corner of a crowded cancer center meant. Sabbath elevators are meant to work automatically and stop on every floor to satisfy the Jewish law requirement to abstain from operating electrical switches on Sabbath. This can be evidence of effort made by humans to carve out meaning and assert control within particular social contexts. It is ironic because Jewish people on the Sabbath day can assert control by actually not asserting control on the elevator. This is a form of control too and since they are supposed to abstain from operating electrical switches, control is obtained by just remaining on the elevator until their respected stop.

           

The text is an object for control. Many buildings don’t have this “Sabbath elevator” and control is asserted by acknowledging Jewish customs and traditions. This relates back to every reading we did in class. All the authors have carved out meaning and control within different social contexts whether it was Liebman and Post War II or Dorothy Day and Anticommunism America. One instance of carving out meaning and control which we recently read was in Moxley-Rouses’ piece. The Q’uaran which was the scripture she was discussing was translated differently by different individuals. What we discussed after that reading was that no one has authority over your interpretation of a text and that you can make sense of it without a meditator. Control is asserted by interpreting something as you come to your own terms with it. Individuals can choose to not interpret this sign at all while continuing to go on with their day. Other interpretations can be acknowledging this elevator exists and choosing to engage with it and inform yourself with other religious practices occurring outside of your own religion.  

The social context this text was set in is in the middle of a busy hospital where thousands of people from everywhere come by for treatment. Now more than ever is it important to acknowledge other people and other religions since there is so much hate circulating such as Islamophobia. This objects acts by awareness and provokes thoughts of curiosity. Tourists, doctors, nurses, and myself included are often unaware of other religious practices which need to be followed. It is easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of a giant busy hospital, but for that minute you are waiting for the elevator we are made aware of different religious practices.

Meditation in the Face of Uncertainty

I grew up in a small town on the south shore of Massachusetts. My little town made me feel like the world I lived in was a little bubble that couldn’t be popped. Inside the bubble was safe and happy and couldn’t be penetrated by any kind of evil. Since then, I have had the opportunity to explore the world and have been exposed to different people, religions, and cultures. Gaining perspective on the realities of the world is an important thing so that we can move forward and try to change for the better.

Looking at school attacks and gun violence in the US provides a sad reality of our world today. Since the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, there have been approximately 142 other school shootings. In 2017 alone there have been 380 deaths caused by gun violence. This sadness and violence only accounts for that of the US. Trying to measure the pain and disaster that the world feels on any given day would be impossible. With this looming sadness existing all over the world taking lives from innocent people it can make life seem like a scary thing.

I contemplated these acts of violence on October 1, 2017. It was the day of the shooting in Las Vegas, and I had gone for a walk before bed. I was walking home, down 58^th street, and found myself with my eyes plastered to a big green construction wall. Sprawled across the wall were colorful posters for a Buddhist meditation clinic, surrounded by tattered posters peeling off the while reading “danger”. The intention of these posters is to seemingly draw people to a meditation class. However, the intention of the person who posted them is unknown. On one hand they could be selfish and hope for more income from the posters. Or potentially, on the other they hope to spread a sense of peace that is needed in today’s world.

 I found myself drawn to this wall. The juxtaposition between the rugged wall and the shiny posters were what originally caught my eye. Then I realized how this wall represented peoples need to escape from the realities of the world. With the words danger on the walls it intensified the emotions that the meditation posters evoked. Even if one did not analyze the content of the wall it was a very appealing view from its intense colors and the difference of the pristine posters and the tattered ones. For the same reason people may attend these classes, people turn towards religion and spirituality. Religion can act as an escape from the world, and gives people a sense of security and consistency. In the book Dharma bums the characters had also turned to religion, as they felt that the rest of the world lived impure lives. Through Buddhism they felt as though they were improving themselves and discovering things about the world. If these posters were seen by Japhy he would be ecstatic that other people were catching on to his message. And perhaps, even in reality, people who pass this poster smothered wall will begin to question their the implications of dance and meditation in one place.