I Love a Parade

I never thought of myself as a parade enthusiast. Parades involve crowds, police, and anxiety- producing chaos. But since I arrived in New York, I have observed and thoroughly enjoyed three parades. That's one parade per week. In the middle of an intense SoHo shopping spree (totally justified because I needed appropriate work clothes), I stumbled into the middle of a parade down Broadway. After a few minutes, I determined that it was part of a rally to pass a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in the New York legislature which would recognize the workforce and establish basic labor standards such as a living wage and basic benefits.


I think this is a good idea. The revelers were a diverse group (a lot of older Latina women and disheveled college students), and they whole-heartedly shouted all of those catchy call and response things that people usually shout during protests. The event wasn't particularly inspiring, but the fact that I could stumble upon such a happening during an ordinary shopping trip reminded me of the many differences between a place like Ithaca or my hometown of Wallingford, Connecticut and New York City.


The second parade was the 50th Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. My aunt, a resident of Manhattan, warned me that this would be a wild and eventually dangerous event--I was intrigued. I went to the parade early and left at about 12:30, but even in that short time I got to see Geraldo, a young rapper called Young Adult, and...Ricky Martin! Cool! I bought a Puerto Rican flag although I am not sure if the "Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day" principle applies on Puerto Rican Day. The enthusiasm of the crowd was really impressive, and despite admonitions and media hype, I detected nothing but positive energy and pride. My decision to leave before Jennifer Lopez made her surprise appearance was the only bad part of this parade.

Finally, this past weekend I caught the tail end of the Gay Pride Parade on 5th Avenue. Prior to the parade, a friend and I were discussing whether this was the type of event to which you would bring children. (We weren't sure how risque it would be.) After seeing the costumes, hearing the music, and feeling the love flowing down 5th Avenue I decided children, old people, animals, friends, acquaintances, enemies, and everyone else in the whole world should come to next year's event. I don't know very much about LBGT issues, and I wished I could have collected more educational literature, but I suppose there are other times and events for education. The celebratory atmosphere of and excellent soundtrack to this parade were incomparable!

I know that the purpose of this blog is to document the Urban Scholars Program experience, and weekend activities like parades often take a blogging back seat to the internship and the academic components of CUSP. Still, I feel that such activities are just as, if not more meaningful, and these parades have been an integral part of my city experience so far. The pride, passion, and diversity captured in these celebrations has altered my notions of urbanism to include and privilege the city's inhabitants as its driving, most valuable force.