NEW YORK CITY 1984

I spent two days in Manhattan in October, 1984. My first stop was Dinosaur Hall in The American Museum of Natural History. The Museum sits out by Central Park. Dinosaur-mania was talking hold. I saw Tyrannosaurus, Brontosaurus, Triceratops and Stegasaurus. Fossilized eggs added credibility to the existence of these creatures. I attended a show at the Hayden Planetarium inside the Museum.

My second day began at the top of The World Trade Center (the one without the tower). I looked down at The Statue of Libery snug within its scaffold. It was being rennovated. Since 9/11, I have imagined what it might have been like standing on the observation deck as a hijacked plane flew into you. 9/11 happened 17 years after I stood there. It showed the perpetrators hated all Americans, not white or back, Republicans or Democrats. Any of us could have been in those buildings on that day.

From the Towers, I hoofed it to Wall Street. The street was short. It was nearly deserted, but it was Sunday. I learned George Washington was inaugurated here in 1789.

The bus took me back up the Avenue of the Americas to Midtown. I saw the gold leaf statue of Prometheus against the backdrop of the RCA Building. In Greek mythology, Titan Prometheus taught man how to use fire. The statue depicts him descending from Mount Olympus encirled by the Zodiac. I wanted to see The Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall but they were not performing. I watched a Presidential debate between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale.

The morning before I left, I rode a bus out 42nd Street to the United Nations. I entered the building but did not take the tour. There was a protest against Ronald Reagan which rubbed me the wrong way. I glimpsed the N.Y.P.L. (library) and Madison Square Garden before heading back to Nashville.

April, August, 1974 - New York state

On truck with Chester. We went to Erie, Pennsylvania and across upstate New York, Rochester and Syracuse. We spent a night in Binghamton.

December, 1970 - Philadelphia & New York City

In Philadelphia, I gazed through the windows of Independence Hall at The Liberty Bell. In New York, I ascended the Empire State Building and blitzed through Greenwich Village and Times Square by night. I was in the Army and made these trips with two guys from Valley Forge Hospital in Phoenixville, PA. It was cold and windy in New York. My saucer hat blew off at the top of The Empire State Building. I chased it down before it blew over the edge.

JIM COLYER http://www.jimcolyer.com
Contact: jim@jimcolyer.com