My first weeks in the academic quarter of Manhattan, Morningside Heights, just under Harlem, are an enlightment compared to last year in Brooklyn Heights. Surely, the vibrant energy of Harlem street life breathing down upon it, attributes for a great deal of its more lively heartbeat. But the esthetics of the Columbia campus area contribute their own value and atmosphere, especially here in the border region at 122nd Street. The subway number one sees the day of light, racing with the loudest rattling of old and rusty, cast iron rails and construction, and while Broadway runs down, the rattling shoots straight up to the station at 125th, about 20 meters high.

At Amsterdam Avenue begin the projects, brown stone apartment highrises, mostly occupied by African-Americans, while the Hispanics live further up in Manhattanville, Hamilton Heights and Washington Heights. (more…)