aBit of… NEW YORK
Part 2: Springtime!
The Unisphere, designed for the 1964-65 World’s Fair, the second held in Flushing Meadows.
March 19th marks the official start of another spring season. I often find myself feeling more energized and rejuvenated as the snowdrops begin to wilt and the parks grow lush with the colors of daffodils, Hellebores, and Cornelian cherries. I’ve had the good fortune of experiencing springtime in a number of different places, and I believe that this time of year is truly the most colorful in Queens, New York. I’m proud to inform you that the images that accompany this issue of the newsletter are all my own, taken at the most iconic landmark here - Flushing Meadows Park.
Queens has such a rich culture and history behind it that it’s impossible to dig all the way through it. A dozen native American tribes have dwelled in New York, and four notable ones in Queens specifically: the Canarsie, Rockaway, Maspeth, and Matinecock tribes. It also had a notable role in the American Revolution, specifically as one of the very last areas to be free of British occupation - their final march was down Jamaica Avenue in November 1783. It was home to the Irish, Germans, Italians, and Greeks at a time when they weren’t graciously welcomed elsewhere, and remains one of the most diverse multicultural communities in the world.
I visit Flushing Meadows pretty often, and in the springtime, there are folks from all walks of life and ethnic backgrounds hanging out by the Unisphere. There are Colombians selling salchipapas from a truck and playing soccer on one of the many fields at the park, Mexicans and Dominicans joining in and enjoying the weather with their families, young girls in kimonos taking selfies next to the cherry blossom trees (donated by the Japanese American Association and the Cherry Association of Japan), and I even ran into a lovely Kenyan family who let me photograph them.
There are so many diverse visual elements that are incorporated in the design of the park as well. I love walking around and taking photos of the New York State Pavilion and the museum and theatre surrounding it. Watching all of the people walking around and enjoying the weather here is particularly meaningful to me; as a first-generation immigrant who moved to the US from South Korea, I had a hard time during my formative years because I could not feel a sense of ownership in the community in which I grew up. I struggled over this for years and years, until I realized that in Queens, this multiplicity of cultures was kind of the point - all of these immigrants from various backgrounds made this borough their home through simply looking for one. Kind of a “friends we made along the way” moment, I suppose.
And it’s precisely when these cultures converge that the New York City experience is completed. Get off the 7 train at Main Street, grab a slice of Lucia’s Pizza, then run to TenRen or Kung Fu or your boba joint of choice - there’s like a million now. Or take the bus to Hillside Avenue and get yourself some incredible Nigerian or Guyanese food and wash it down with some sorrel. Then, at nighttime, you can head over to 61st St and wait for one of the numerous taco trucks, which open after the sun has set, so that folks can grab a quick taco, arepa, or torta on their way home. Or maybe some fire lechon down in Sunnyside? Most importantly, by being in these neighborhoods, you don’t just experience the food; you see, hear, and smell what all of these different people bring to Queens.
Here at aBit, our entire message is centered around identity, but I feel it’s important to understand that our identities do not exist in a vacuum. Like the many people who came from elsewhere and set their roots here, we can examine not just where we’ve been and where we are now, but also who we’re with, in order to help decide where we will end up, and find.a part of ourselves through that process.
And as the flowers and trees slowly open up to reveal their radiant colors, we also find that different little parts of us have changed over time and with the seasons; some things have withered away, and others are just beginning to sprout. It’s important to embrace this process and look forward to your own springtime. After all, your parents may decide where you’re planted, but where you bloom is up to you.
The upcoming CHAPTER .23 release is inspired by our own memories of spring and the rebirth and revitalization it brings. We hope that wearing aBit brings you closer to your own identity and helps you find your own bloom.
Saturday, March 23rd at 1PM EST
Exclusively on ABITNYC.COM
Images from CHAPTER .23
