Sunday, July 25, 2010
Little Glimpses of New York City's Charm
As I'm sitting here at my kitchen table back in sweet little Columbia, SC, so glad to be home yet missing New York City like crazy, I'm thankful that I took the time to snap photos as a way of taking little pieces of the city back with me. Whether the pictures captured a moment from a significant event with my Campus Track family, or simply a random image depicting something I found charming on the street, I'm excited to share with you a collection representing some of the fun and beautiful parts of my New York trip, besides the somewhat more serious ministry aspect. As Alicia Keys and Jay-Z would say, Let's hear it for New York!!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
So much to do, so little time!
*Disclaimer: This was a draft I started this past Sunday but didn't have time to finish, so instead of starting afresh with a new, current post, I'll finish this one before I write another post that's more to-date.*
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It's amazing that the final full week of project has come to a close. Wednesday the campus track family will all go our separate ways to our different REAL homes...South Carolina, North Carolina, California, Missouri, Illinois, Florida, Kentucky...
Needless to say, the faster the end of Summer Project approaches, the more packed our schedules have become as the intense desire to make the most of every moment increases.
Because last week was our last week of ministry on campus, the staff strongly encouraged all of our ministry teams to focus on a specific vision for ministry on our campuses, and to take active steps to further that vision before we left those campuses in the hands of future believers to reap the harvest of what the Lord has sown through us. Our particular vision for our home campus, City College, was to that a visual community of Christian students would rise up on the campus. It's been amazing how different student life is on the campuses we've visited in NYC compared to those in the South...in most cases, student life as we know it at say, USC, doesn't exist up here. This is largely due to most of the colleges being commuter schools so ninety percent of the students just come to take their classes and then leave to go home. So if student life in general is lacking, Christian community is definitely lacking. Although we knew we would not be able to see a Christian community all of a sudden pop up at City College in the short time we were there, we knew we could do some sowing that could open the door to that happening in the future. Just a few good Christian contacts would be all that's needed to get a movement started. Tuesday we approached students with a bag of candy and asked if they would have time to do a 30-second survey with us, which looked something like this:
1) Do you believe you have found your purpose in life? (Circle yes or no)
2) What do you believe determines how you find a sense of purpose in your life? (Circle one: self, family, God, other)
3) Would you be interested in attending a discussion with other college students to learn about Jesus?
4) Name: _____________
Number: ___________
5) Can we text you at this number or contact you on Facebook? (Circle yes or no)
We were able to cover a lot of ground with these surveys as far as getting a list of students who said they wanted to learn about Jesus. We then invited those who said that they'd be interested and gave us permission to contact them to a "focus group" we planned for Thursday. The idea of a focus group is to ask the students a series of questions about life, relationships, and spirituality--questions such as, "What would you characterize as a wasted life?"--without giving our own answers to the questions. The point was to let the students be heard without pushing our own views on them. There goes a lot to be said for making people feel respected and not looked down upon--something the stereotypical Christianity has frankly done a poor job of communicating to non-believers. We would let the students know at the beginning of the discussion that we were only going to ask for an hour of their time, but for those who would be interested in hearing our views, we'd be happy to talk to them after the focus group.
So that was the plan. We were thrown a curveball, though, when only two people responded to our texted invitation, and both of those said they were busy during the planned time for the discussion. Thursday came, we met on the grassy area on campus we described in the invitation with a box of cookies from a local bakery, and waited. After a while a guy named Allen showed up. We initially all felt a little awkward since he saw he was the only one there, but he turned out to be really friendly and easy to talk to, and so we spent the focus group hour chatting with Allen about the city, his background, and got a little into the spiritual side of things towards the end of the conversation. The discussion certainly didn't go as we'd planned, but we were able to have a nice laidback conversation with Allen. We were able to share with him some of our beliefs, but we didn't force a deep spiritual conversation, which I believe the Lord will bless in that we we were clear with him about what we believed but were able to show him that we cared about being his friend, not just getting a conversion.
And now for the highlight of the week for me: Monday we were able to lead a student to Christ! We got a later start that day because our morning meeting ran long because of a training session on how to talk to Jewish students, so once we got to campus we were all feeling discouraged because we only had a little over an hour to be there. However, as we gathered to pray over our time there before we split off in pairs, one of our staff members, Stephanie, optimistically shared that she really felt like the Lord would love to show off for us that day and teach us how limitless He is, despite our time limit. When we all split off, Stephanie and I went together and approached a girl to ask if she'd be interested in doing a picture survey with us. This picture survey, by the way, is a ministry tool Crusade uses called "Soularium," a project some arts students did that involves asking people to answer questions about their life and view of God based on an assortment of random, artsy photographs. She agreed, taking her ipod earphones out, and we introduced ourselves and she introduced herself as, we'll call her, Sylvia. As our conversation progressed, we learned Sylvia is originally from the Dominican Republic and has been living in NYC for about 9 years. I was especially struck by how friendly and open she was with us. While we went through the Soularium questions with Sylvia, she gave very well-thought-out answers. She shared with us that she believed it was possible to have a personal relationship with God, and even felt a kind of connection with him; but when we asked her what she thought about Jesus and who He was, she wasn't able to give us an answer. It was like she hadn't given him any thought before. We told her we believed that Jesus is God, and then took that opportunity to ask Sylvia if we could tell her a little bit about what we believed. We shared the Gospel with her, and it was so beautiful to see the gradual light come across Sylvia's countenance as we saw she understood what we were saying and responded when we asked her if yielding her life to Jesus was the desire of her heart with, "Yes! Definitely!" We prayed with her to welcome Christ into her life right there at a table under a tree of City College's lovely campus. It was so sweet to hug Sylvia afterwards and celebrate that we had a new sister in Christ! More good news: there's a ministry that's a part of Campus Crusade at City College that focuses on Latinamerican students (Sylvia is Dominican) called Destino, and Sylvia was enthusiastic about becoming involved when we told her about it.
Also, Thursday, our last day on campus, two of the people on our ministry team, my friends Julian and Ali, were able to lead a student named Charles to Christ! I can't tell you exactly how that conversation went, but what an encouragement that we started AND ended the week with seeing someone accept Jesus as their Savior for the first time. Even though the focus group didn't reach our standards of success, the Lord blessed our last week of ministry in the best way possible--we have two new members of God's family to look forward to seeing in heaven!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's amazing that the final full week of project has come to a close. Wednesday the campus track family will all go our separate ways to our different REAL homes...South Carolina, North Carolina, California, Missouri, Illinois, Florida, Kentucky...
Needless to say, the faster the end of Summer Project approaches, the more packed our schedules have become as the intense desire to make the most of every moment increases.
Because last week was our last week of ministry on campus, the staff strongly encouraged all of our ministry teams to focus on a specific vision for ministry on our campuses, and to take active steps to further that vision before we left those campuses in the hands of future believers to reap the harvest of what the Lord has sown through us. Our particular vision for our home campus, City College, was to that a visual community of Christian students would rise up on the campus. It's been amazing how different student life is on the campuses we've visited in NYC compared to those in the South...in most cases, student life as we know it at say, USC, doesn't exist up here. This is largely due to most of the colleges being commuter schools so ninety percent of the students just come to take their classes and then leave to go home. So if student life in general is lacking, Christian community is definitely lacking. Although we knew we would not be able to see a Christian community all of a sudden pop up at City College in the short time we were there, we knew we could do some sowing that could open the door to that happening in the future. Just a few good Christian contacts would be all that's needed to get a movement started. Tuesday we approached students with a bag of candy and asked if they would have time to do a 30-second survey with us, which looked something like this:
1) Do you believe you have found your purpose in life? (Circle yes or no)
2) What do you believe determines how you find a sense of purpose in your life? (Circle one: self, family, God, other)
3) Would you be interested in attending a discussion with other college students to learn about Jesus?
4) Name: _____________
Number: ___________
5) Can we text you at this number or contact you on Facebook? (Circle yes or no)
We were able to cover a lot of ground with these surveys as far as getting a list of students who said they wanted to learn about Jesus. We then invited those who said that they'd be interested and gave us permission to contact them to a "focus group" we planned for Thursday. The idea of a focus group is to ask the students a series of questions about life, relationships, and spirituality--questions such as, "What would you characterize as a wasted life?"--without giving our own answers to the questions. The point was to let the students be heard without pushing our own views on them. There goes a lot to be said for making people feel respected and not looked down upon--something the stereotypical Christianity has frankly done a poor job of communicating to non-believers. We would let the students know at the beginning of the discussion that we were only going to ask for an hour of their time, but for those who would be interested in hearing our views, we'd be happy to talk to them after the focus group.
So that was the plan. We were thrown a curveball, though, when only two people responded to our texted invitation, and both of those said they were busy during the planned time for the discussion. Thursday came, we met on the grassy area on campus we described in the invitation with a box of cookies from a local bakery, and waited. After a while a guy named Allen showed up. We initially all felt a little awkward since he saw he was the only one there, but he turned out to be really friendly and easy to talk to, and so we spent the focus group hour chatting with Allen about the city, his background, and got a little into the spiritual side of things towards the end of the conversation. The discussion certainly didn't go as we'd planned, but we were able to have a nice laidback conversation with Allen. We were able to share with him some of our beliefs, but we didn't force a deep spiritual conversation, which I believe the Lord will bless in that we we were clear with him about what we believed but were able to show him that we cared about being his friend, not just getting a conversion.
And now for the highlight of the week for me: Monday we were able to lead a student to Christ! We got a later start that day because our morning meeting ran long because of a training session on how to talk to Jewish students, so once we got to campus we were all feeling discouraged because we only had a little over an hour to be there. However, as we gathered to pray over our time there before we split off in pairs, one of our staff members, Stephanie, optimistically shared that she really felt like the Lord would love to show off for us that day and teach us how limitless He is, despite our time limit. When we all split off, Stephanie and I went together and approached a girl to ask if she'd be interested in doing a picture survey with us. This picture survey, by the way, is a ministry tool Crusade uses called "Soularium," a project some arts students did that involves asking people to answer questions about their life and view of God based on an assortment of random, artsy photographs. She agreed, taking her ipod earphones out, and we introduced ourselves and she introduced herself as, we'll call her, Sylvia. As our conversation progressed, we learned Sylvia is originally from the Dominican Republic and has been living in NYC for about 9 years. I was especially struck by how friendly and open she was with us. While we went through the Soularium questions with Sylvia, she gave very well-thought-out answers. She shared with us that she believed it was possible to have a personal relationship with God, and even felt a kind of connection with him; but when we asked her what she thought about Jesus and who He was, she wasn't able to give us an answer. It was like she hadn't given him any thought before. We told her we believed that Jesus is God, and then took that opportunity to ask Sylvia if we could tell her a little bit about what we believed. We shared the Gospel with her, and it was so beautiful to see the gradual light come across Sylvia's countenance as we saw she understood what we were saying and responded when we asked her if yielding her life to Jesus was the desire of her heart with, "Yes! Definitely!" We prayed with her to welcome Christ into her life right there at a table under a tree of City College's lovely campus. It was so sweet to hug Sylvia afterwards and celebrate that we had a new sister in Christ! More good news: there's a ministry that's a part of Campus Crusade at City College that focuses on Latinamerican students (Sylvia is Dominican) called Destino, and Sylvia was enthusiastic about becoming involved when we told her about it.
Also, Thursday, our last day on campus, two of the people on our ministry team, my friends Julian and Ali, were able to lead a student named Charles to Christ! I can't tell you exactly how that conversation went, but what an encouragement that we started AND ended the week with seeing someone accept Jesus as their Savior for the first time. Even though the focus group didn't reach our standards of success, the Lord blessed our last week of ministry in the best way possible--we have two new members of God's family to look forward to seeing in heaven!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
A Night of Sharing Sandwiches and a Listening Ear to NYC's Homeless
Last night we had our weekly Monday night meeting, during which all the different tracks on the NYC Summer Project come together for dinner and worship. Each week a different track hosts the meeting, and last night was the inner city track's turn. After a brief time of sharing testimonies in regards to how they had seen the Lord work through ministry to the homeless, the inner city staff divided us into groups, gave us some instructions, and handed us bags of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to distribute throughout the city. Perhaps "distribute" is the wrong word. What the inner city track strongly emphasized before sending us out was the value of spending time with the men and women to whom we gave the sandwiches, to allow them to share their story with us and just be heard. My group was sent to a K-Mart near the Penn Station subway stop, where we found a side street that turned out apparently to be one of the hot hang-out spots for a variety of homeless men and women. My friend Jordan and I approached an elderly woman named "Delores" (either that or "Doris"; I couldn't quite make it out for sure), asked if she'd like a meal (some bags we were given to hand out contained a few more items than just a sandwich), and if we could sit down with her for a bit. She was very sweet, and was delighted to find out that Jordan and I were from Florida and South Carolina, since she had family in both of our states. During our time in that side street behind K-Mart, I was struck by how the homeless people around the area all seemed to look out for each other. At one point a man passed us carrying a life-size batman "stuffed toy" (to call it a doll seems weird, and it wasn't a stuffed animal, so I'm not sure what exactly to call what he was carrying other than that). Of course that grabbed our and Delores' attention, and she halted our conversation to ask what he was doing. "I just found it, and thought I'd give it to the kids; I thought they'd get a kick out of it!" was his jovial reply in a very New York accent. Also, Jordan told me that when he approached a different man to offer him a sandwich, the man told Jordan to make sure he gave one to Delores. I felt convicted about my tendency to so often jump to negative conclusions about the attitudes and motivations of the homeless. But one thing the Lord taught me last night was that they too can have the ability and the desire to step outside of themselves and look out for others, even when they have so little to give each other. And I inwardly begrudge giving a dollar to the man on the street who asks me for money. May the Lord give me more of the love of His heart for ALL of His people, not just the outwardly lovely ones.
After we all returned from sharing food and spending time with the homeless at our separate locations, a group of us from campus track got together to hang out for a little while, during which we were blessed to hear the exciting news that one of the couples who are on our campus track staff, John and Ellen from upstate New York, were able to lead a homeless man to Christ! Praise the Lord that this man was not only fed physical food last night, but received the Bread of Life!
After we all returned from sharing food and spending time with the homeless at our separate locations, a group of us from campus track got together to hang out for a little while, during which we were blessed to hear the exciting news that one of the couples who are on our campus track staff, John and Ellen from upstate New York, were able to lead a homeless man to Christ! Praise the Lord that this man was not only fed physical food last night, but received the Bread of Life!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Monday after a FULL weekend
I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend celebrating our country's independence!
This past weekend, from Thursday to Sunday, was busy busy! I soaked in wonderful teaching from a seminar, explored vintage shops in Brooklyn, and played games at the park with Campus Track friends while waiting for the Macy's annual fireworks show, to name a few activities. I was delighted to discover this past weekend several of NYC's treasures outisde of the tourist bubble, one of the main things I love about spending an extended period of time in this fascinating city!
Before I share a few tidbits from each day, I'd like to tell you a little about the seminar we attended Thursday and Friday.
The Summer Project was priveleged to be able to attend a seminar by Sy Rogers, a pastor and speaker who travels around the world teaching on Christians' relationship with sexuality. Our staff prepared us in advance to be shocked, and indeed, hearing his testimony and teaching was unlike anything I have EVER heard before. He mainly focused on sins Christians struggle with in regards to sexuality, but his teaching was relevant to pretty much any sin Christians deal with. Although he did not mince any words, all of his hard teaching went hand in hand with beautifully redemptive messages. His teaching was particularly helpful in learning how to understand the roots of sexual sin and knowing how to answer questions we might encounter from people of different backgrounds (homosexuality, for example) while sharing God's love with college students on campus. One key point Sy made that made an impact on me was how important it is that the Church speak openly and frequently about Christians' relationship with sexuality, in a world that is OBSESSED with sexuality. If the Church does not teach Christians how to think about sexuality, we are learning how to think about it from the world's twisted view, whether we realize it or not. The Lord is doing powerful work through Sy Rogers' story and teaching, and after sitting through his seminar, I heartily wish every church could hear him speak. His website is www.syrogers.com.
Now for the highlights from each day:
Thursday: We attended the Sy Rogers seminar in the morning, and were then given the rest of the afternoon off to spend personal time with the Lord and rest. During this afternoon I discovered a new favorite coffee shop! (Speaking of which,there will be a post to come about all of my coffee shop discoveries in the city, unsurprisingly) It's called 'SNice, and reminded me of my beloved Immaculate Consumption in Columbia, where I have spent many hours reading the Word and journaling. That evening, the campus track ate at a Cuban restaurant together for our weekly cultural dinner. After dinner, a group of us walked through the newly opened High Line Park in Chelsea, one of my hands down favorite sites in the city! It was built on top of an old railway track. I didn't have my camera with me when we went, but I plan to make it back there for a picture trip soon. Until then, here are some photos I got off of the park's web site (http://www.thehighline.org/galleries/images/high-line-park-photos?page=2). Of course, they're much better than any I could take anyways.
We strolled through the park during sunset...so perfect!
Friday: The Sy Rogers Seminar lasted all day, with an afternoon "Women's Time" break during which the campus track women staff led a discussion and prayer time of diving deeper into the applications of Sy Rogers' teaching in our own lives. Friday night a large group of us went to Brooklyn to have a babysitting party at Brandon and Ansley's apartment (a couple who is on staff permanently in NYC, but are actually getting ready to move to Charleston to work on staff at College of Charleston and Charleston Southern...I'm SO excited they'll be closer for me to visit after project!). By babysitting party I mean a large group of us picked up food at a local Italian restaurant and then enjoyed just hanging out together at Brandon and Ansley's while they went out on a date and their sweet 10-month-old Myra Grace slept.
Saturday: Went for a run at the beautiful Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, another new favorite spot in NYC! I think I like it so much because it reminds me in a way of the waterfront park in Charleston. :) Met up with friends for lunch at John's Pizzeria on Bleecker Street--best pizza I've ever put in my mouth! (although, we've concluded that all the pizza places have to be great in NYC in order to stay in business since there are so many of them...going back to Dominos once I get home is going to be hard!) My friend Ali and I then went to Brooklyn where we had fun toodling around some vintage shops. After a while we made a visit to Brandon and Ansley's, where we enjoyed chatting with them and playing with Myra Grace. Later that evening, Ali and I met up with a couple other campus track friends and we all went to South Street Seaport,an old fish market overlooking the Hudson River that has been turned into a shopping and dining center. I loved seeing the beautiful old warehouses that had been converted into shops, the brick roads, and the boats on the water. Interesting fact: the first J. Crew store is located there! Again, sadly, I did not have my camera with me, but I surely plan on making another trip (or two) back there before I leave the city!
Sunday: Went with a group to Brooklyn Tabernacle, and got to hear Jim Cymbala preach (shout out to Aunt Mary, who highly recommended that I visit his church while I was in NYC). Brooklyn Tabernacle is famous for their choir, but the service we attended did not have the full choir, although the music was still beautiful. Sunday afternoon around 4 we all headed to a park on the Hudson River to snag a good spot on the grass for fireworks viewing later. Five hours waiting for fireworks in the blazing July heat (little did I know I would experience a summer in NYC as hot as any I've lived through in Columbia)was unappealing at first, but the time passed quickly while we all had fun taking pictures, napping, and playing Catch Phrase and card games. Once the sun went down, we decided the sunset and spectacular fireworks show, combined with the fun we had enjoying each other's company made the five hours well worth it.
And now we begin a new week of ministry! What does the Lord have in store for us this week?
This past weekend, from Thursday to Sunday, was busy busy! I soaked in wonderful teaching from a seminar, explored vintage shops in Brooklyn, and played games at the park with Campus Track friends while waiting for the Macy's annual fireworks show, to name a few activities. I was delighted to discover this past weekend several of NYC's treasures outisde of the tourist bubble, one of the main things I love about spending an extended period of time in this fascinating city!
Before I share a few tidbits from each day, I'd like to tell you a little about the seminar we attended Thursday and Friday.
The Summer Project was priveleged to be able to attend a seminar by Sy Rogers, a pastor and speaker who travels around the world teaching on Christians' relationship with sexuality. Our staff prepared us in advance to be shocked, and indeed, hearing his testimony and teaching was unlike anything I have EVER heard before. He mainly focused on sins Christians struggle with in regards to sexuality, but his teaching was relevant to pretty much any sin Christians deal with. Although he did not mince any words, all of his hard teaching went hand in hand with beautifully redemptive messages. His teaching was particularly helpful in learning how to understand the roots of sexual sin and knowing how to answer questions we might encounter from people of different backgrounds (homosexuality, for example) while sharing God's love with college students on campus. One key point Sy made that made an impact on me was how important it is that the Church speak openly and frequently about Christians' relationship with sexuality, in a world that is OBSESSED with sexuality. If the Church does not teach Christians how to think about sexuality, we are learning how to think about it from the world's twisted view, whether we realize it or not. The Lord is doing powerful work through Sy Rogers' story and teaching, and after sitting through his seminar, I heartily wish every church could hear him speak. His website is www.syrogers.com.
Now for the highlights from each day:
Thursday: We attended the Sy Rogers seminar in the morning, and were then given the rest of the afternoon off to spend personal time with the Lord and rest. During this afternoon I discovered a new favorite coffee shop! (Speaking of which,there will be a post to come about all of my coffee shop discoveries in the city, unsurprisingly) It's called 'SNice, and reminded me of my beloved Immaculate Consumption in Columbia, where I have spent many hours reading the Word and journaling. That evening, the campus track ate at a Cuban restaurant together for our weekly cultural dinner. After dinner, a group of us walked through the newly opened High Line Park in Chelsea, one of my hands down favorite sites in the city! It was built on top of an old railway track. I didn't have my camera with me when we went, but I plan to make it back there for a picture trip soon. Until then, here are some photos I got off of the park's web site (http://www.thehighline.org/galleries/images/high-line-park-photos?page=2). Of course, they're much better than any I could take anyways.
We strolled through the park during sunset...so perfect!
Friday: The Sy Rogers Seminar lasted all day, with an afternoon "Women's Time" break during which the campus track women staff led a discussion and prayer time of diving deeper into the applications of Sy Rogers' teaching in our own lives. Friday night a large group of us went to Brooklyn to have a babysitting party at Brandon and Ansley's apartment (a couple who is on staff permanently in NYC, but are actually getting ready to move to Charleston to work on staff at College of Charleston and Charleston Southern...I'm SO excited they'll be closer for me to visit after project!). By babysitting party I mean a large group of us picked up food at a local Italian restaurant and then enjoyed just hanging out together at Brandon and Ansley's while they went out on a date and their sweet 10-month-old Myra Grace slept.
Saturday: Went for a run at the beautiful Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, another new favorite spot in NYC! I think I like it so much because it reminds me in a way of the waterfront park in Charleston. :) Met up with friends for lunch at John's Pizzeria on Bleecker Street--best pizza I've ever put in my mouth! (although, we've concluded that all the pizza places have to be great in NYC in order to stay in business since there are so many of them...going back to Dominos once I get home is going to be hard!) My friend Ali and I then went to Brooklyn where we had fun toodling around some vintage shops. After a while we made a visit to Brandon and Ansley's, where we enjoyed chatting with them and playing with Myra Grace. Later that evening, Ali and I met up with a couple other campus track friends and we all went to South Street Seaport,an old fish market overlooking the Hudson River that has been turned into a shopping and dining center. I loved seeing the beautiful old warehouses that had been converted into shops, the brick roads, and the boats on the water. Interesting fact: the first J. Crew store is located there! Again, sadly, I did not have my camera with me, but I surely plan on making another trip (or two) back there before I leave the city!
Sunday: Went with a group to Brooklyn Tabernacle, and got to hear Jim Cymbala preach (shout out to Aunt Mary, who highly recommended that I visit his church while I was in NYC). Brooklyn Tabernacle is famous for their choir, but the service we attended did not have the full choir, although the music was still beautiful. Sunday afternoon around 4 we all headed to a park on the Hudson River to snag a good spot on the grass for fireworks viewing later. Five hours waiting for fireworks in the blazing July heat (little did I know I would experience a summer in NYC as hot as any I've lived through in Columbia)was unappealing at first, but the time passed quickly while we all had fun taking pictures, napping, and playing Catch Phrase and card games. Once the sun went down, we decided the sunset and spectacular fireworks show, combined with the fun we had enjoying each other's company made the five hours well worth it.
And now we begin a new week of ministry! What does the Lord have in store for us this week?
Piano Art Project
So the other day I was walking with a group through Herald Square in Manhattan and was astounded to see a piano sitting smack dab in the middle of the square. I didn't think too much of it (it IS New York City, after all), but then a few days later when we were going on the Staten Island Ferry I saw another one sitting outside the visitor's center at Staten Island. Intrigued, I asked someone if they could tell me why I'd been seeing pianos randomly placed throughout the city. I was told that it was part of an art project. I decided to find out more about this piano project for myself, and discovered this article explaining that a British artist placed 60 pianos in NYC for anyone who feels so compelled to stop their busy day to plunk some keys. Local artists have decorated many of the pianos.
So delightful! How many different pianos can I stumble upon? I've found three so far, and will continue to post pictures of every new one that I find.
So delightful! How many different pianos can I stumble upon? I've found three so far, and will continue to post pictures of every new one that I find.
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