rebeccmeister (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rebeccmeister) wrote2025-06-18 07:17 am
rebeccmeister) wrote2025-06-18 07:17 am
Rich/Poor [status, work]
I am currently in Newark, New Jersey, with my research students. We took the train into NYC yesterday, where a colleague very generously gave us a behind-the-scenes tour of the insect collections at the American Museum of Natural History (!!!! I took billions of photos to post later). For me it was all cool, but more than that I hope it was eye-opening for my students, who are all at various stages of uncertainty over the future. Almost even better and more important than that was having my colleague tell them about his origin stories, because he got his start in the lab where I got my PhD and has been highly successful as an academic. On top of that, he is currently the graduate program director at his institution and can speak about grad school from that standpoint.
Today we will go visit his institution, which is in Newark, so we took the NJ train over and stayed in an Airbnb on this side of the border. Which leads me to…ahhh, New Jersey. Our sleep spot is in a very Latinx neighborhood, which in a lot of ways is a lot of fun (although I had to get creative about the food options at a small Ecuadorian restaurant last night). But in the whole realm of “travel as imagining alternate lives,” what a contrast to sleepy upstate Albany!
For instance…our spot is on the ground floor of what looks to be a typical 3-story 3-unit dwelling. I stayed in the smallest, cutest room, but woke up abruptly at 3:45 am when the upstairs neighbor commenced with tap dancing lessons directly above my head (the kitchen, I suspect). The room I was in barely fit a twin bed; no room for woodworking projects at this house!
I love walking around cities, and here it is interesting to observe where and how people garden. If a person wants to grow plants here, they have to be pretty determined to do so (and many are!).
I find some of the contrasts with Paris interesting. More litter here. More space carved out for hosting giant American automobiles. (Although I’m sure there’s still a ton of groaning about parking, likely a fond New Jersey pasttime). Almost no bike lanes, and every person I’ve seen riding a bike so far has been wrong-way sidewalk riding.
I have failed to find decent coffee, and I have to admit I don’t really care for Latinx pastries. (Do LOVE the arroz y frijoles, though!).
It has also been neat to see my two students who are city/LonGuyLand people encourage my rural Connecticut student through the hustle of the subway and Penn Station and Penn-Newark. My rural student is also coping well with the overwhelm, all told.
Today we will go visit his institution, which is in Newark, so we took the NJ train over and stayed in an Airbnb on this side of the border. Which leads me to…ahhh, New Jersey. Our sleep spot is in a very Latinx neighborhood, which in a lot of ways is a lot of fun (although I had to get creative about the food options at a small Ecuadorian restaurant last night). But in the whole realm of “travel as imagining alternate lives,” what a contrast to sleepy upstate Albany!
For instance…our spot is on the ground floor of what looks to be a typical 3-story 3-unit dwelling. I stayed in the smallest, cutest room, but woke up abruptly at 3:45 am when the upstairs neighbor commenced with tap dancing lessons directly above my head (the kitchen, I suspect). The room I was in barely fit a twin bed; no room for woodworking projects at this house!
I love walking around cities, and here it is interesting to observe where and how people garden. If a person wants to grow plants here, they have to be pretty determined to do so (and many are!).
I find some of the contrasts with Paris interesting. More litter here. More space carved out for hosting giant American automobiles. (Although I’m sure there’s still a ton of groaning about parking, likely a fond New Jersey pasttime). Almost no bike lanes, and every person I’ve seen riding a bike so far has been wrong-way sidewalk riding.
I have failed to find decent coffee, and I have to admit I don’t really care for Latinx pastries. (Do LOVE the arroz y frijoles, though!).
It has also been neat to see my two students who are city/LonGuyLand people encourage my rural Connecticut student through the hustle of the subway and Penn Station and Penn-Newark. My rural student is also coping well with the overwhelm, all told.
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I will have some availability in August...need to firm up some travel plans, but let's look at calendars and see if we can make something work!
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