Dockin' the Boat

      Observing at and on the Staten Island Ferry has opened my eyes to many things that I really worry or question about nowadays. I love that I got to observe the Staten Island Ferry over other places because there’s only one S.I. Ferry. It’s also where I’m from, Staten Island will forever be my home no matter where I go. Why is homelessness becoming bigger it seems? At least at the ferry anyway. It seemed to be predominantly minority men. Why don’t people talk to one another anymore when they’re with them in person? It’s all about our phones and social media now I guess. I get it, I love my phone and being on social media too, and I am a part of that generation that is all about social media and the internet and all these different devices, but when you’re with your friends and others in person, why not talk and be with them? And I mean all of you be with them not just be physically next to them, cause then what’s the point? These potential arguments can further help me develop a future research paper for myself. I think I’m more interested in doing teens and their phones and social media. Phones and social media are so huge nowadays, everyone has it and is addicted to it, and I look forward to researching this more. Thanks everyone for tuning into my blog! Hope you all enjoyed! J

O' The Luck of the Irish

       March 17^th, one of my favorite days of the year, St. Patrick’s Day. I taste the corn beef and potatoes already! This St. Patrick’s Day, my friends Angela and Aleksandra decided to go to the parade in the city. We woke up early and decided to take the 10 AM ferry into the city. We walk into the ferry terminal on the Staten Island side and it’s a sea of green. We got there early so we took a seat on an empty bench we found. Today, everyone and I mean everyone, was Irish. Some people just wore green shirts or socks and had some beads around there neck, but there was one guy I’ll never forget, he was dressed in a full out leprechaun costume. Green pants, jacket, hat, and even had an orange beard. We get onto the ferry and this leprechaun sits just a little bit in front of us and we could tell they were obviously drinking, it’s St. Paddy’s Day! There was also a ton of police officers on the boat. Many of them sat right next to me and my friends. I assumed they were going to be in the parade because of their outfits and the fact that they started drinking next to us. Aren’t you not allowed to be seen drinking in uniform? I know not on the job but I was thinking they aren’t supposed to be, and you’re not allowed to drink alcohol on the boat I’m pretty sure. The whole boat ride I felt slightly uncomfortable and just couldn’t stop watching them and listening to them talk. At one point the leprechaun walked past us and all of them just looked at him and then looked back at one another. I know they were all basically saying in their heads, what the f*ck is this guy wearing??? I mean I know he went really all out for the parade but I mean, just let him rock it, it’s St. Patrick’s Day.  

 

The Journey Home

     We left the Sex Museum and we were DETERMINED to make the 7 o’clock ferry. How determined were we? It was 6:55pm and we just got off the 1 train and we ran from the train through the subway, up the stairs (there was a lot of stairs), knocking into everyone, through the ferry terminal, and finally onto the ferry. We just made it. That night I learned a new way to get onto the ferry from the terminal, thank god for that I don’t think I could’ve ran up more stairs. While we were running you saw some other people starting to run to, especially entering the ferry terminal. We were finally on our way back home. We were exhausted, our phones were dying, we just wanted to go home and eat and sleep, like everyone else in the world wants. I’m sitting there with my two other friends and notice, my friend Angela is like knocked out sprawled out on the bench of chairs and my other friend Isabella is just sitting there, looking exhausted, and popped in her headphones. I’m charging my phone at this point and sadly forgot my headphones at home and there’s only so many times you can keep checking social media so I look around to see what other people on the ferry were up to. I noticed, there wasn’t as much people on this ferry as the one we had going into the city or from what I expected. It was a weekday past rush our so I get it, everyone was usually out of work by then and schools were still in session back home. The ferry was pretty quiet this night, some cops just walked by patrolling the boat, there were some men sleeping on the benches and appeared homeless, otherwise everyone sitting seemed exhausted and was on their phone listening to music. A very uneventful ferry ride where everyone just seemed exhausted from their long days.

Sex and the City

    March 15th, 2018, almost the end of Spring Break sadly, but before it’s over, me and some of my friends decided to go into the city and go to the Sex Museum, we really wanted to go in the boob bouncy house. It’s a beautiful day out but very windy. My friend Angela and I meet one of our friends at the ferry to get on the 2:30pm boat. When we get to the ferry we're pretty lazy and we sit down and wait till we have to go onto the boat. As I'm sitting there just talking to my friend I'm looking around and notice how many adults were in the terminal.  It was a Thursday afternoon so it wasn't too busy but there were still many people heading into the city to go to work. I also sadly noticed a lot of homeless people. Many of them laying on the benches sleeping or laying on the floor in a corner somewhere sleeping or just sitting around hoping someone will maybe spare them some change or dollar bills. But when we had to go put some more money on our metro cards I noticed that some homeless people, I'm pretty sure they were homeless anyway, stood near the metro card machines, I'm assuming because that's when everyone takes out there money and they're hoping someone can give them money for their metro card or food, or something else they need or want. We get up to go onto the ferry and hundreds of people storm the doors to get on the ferry, everyone bumping into each other. We walk to the end of the ferry and find some seats. As I look around I see many people, especially young adults or teens had ear buds in their ears and were listening to music just sitting there on there phones, even if they were with their friends. I thought in my head, if you’re with your friends why aren’t you talking to them? You’re with each other hanging out and going somewhere because you like each other so why not talk?

 

The Big Orange Boat

It’s a huge orange boat that gets to take you from one forgotten borough of New York City, Staten Island (my home), to the greatest city in the world, Manhattan. The Staten Island Ferry is personally one of my least favorite places to be since it is located in one of the poorer neighborhoods of Staten Island. Going to Manhattan is one of my personal favorite places to go, and the ferry is the cheapest way to get there, it’s free. As soon as you walk in you spell the food they sell, you smell the saltiness of the pretzels and the ice cream from Dairy Queen. You walk into the waiting area for the ferry and you see cute Labrador’s that you want to just go over and play with but you can't because they’re on duty, so you just look at the huge fish tank in the middle of the big room. On the Manhattan side the terminal is a bit nicer, cause well its Manhattan. The seats are nicer and looking like marble and you walk in and smell the Wendy’s they have in there and automatically just wanna go get some French fries and a frosty.  Observing the Staten Island Ferry I believe will be pretty interesting. I've been on it so many times but I never really watched my surroundings and watched people, besides if someone comes up to me or is acting weird.

Staten Island terminal - inside

 

Staten Island Ferry boat





Manhattan terminal -outside