Hawaii - The Opposite Land

By this point on the blog, you've probably got a good idea of what New York City and the area that encompasses it is like - a Megalopolis with a strong manufacturing industry, diversity within cultures and social issues, tightly-knit landscapes and waterways that help with trade and transportation ease. Well, we've reached our final destination on this blog regarding the geographical U.S., and it's a set of islands that are quite a bit on the opposite side of the U.S.: Hawaii.

These islands are known for their tropical climates, explosive volcanos, and pineapple production. An escapable getaway for most, Hawaii contains islands with considerable living situations such as the island of Oahu, and private islands owned by specific individuals. There is a lot of ethnic diversity in Hawaii, with no one ethnic group reaching about 31%.

The majority of difference between the two areas lies within it's topography and climate. Access to these places is another impact, as each island must be flown over or shipped out to reach, unlike New York City's famous connecting bridges and shipping harbors. Otherwise, it's economy is well-off as a great tourist destination, much like New York City for different reasons of attractiveness. It's weird to note that, considering these are vacation destinations, how physically different they are in appearance.

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North Pacific Coast's Attributes Matter

New York City is at 40 degrees North, the same latitude as Eureka, California, perhaps the southernmost city located within the North Pacific Coast region. Even though they are of the same latitude, Eureka and the rest of this coastal region are mountainous, rugged terrain with high precipitation and wet, wet winters.

Thomas Griffith said in his article of "The Pacific Northwest" that this place is where many people want to live and whom seem relatively satisfied, but it is not the home of a booming economy. This is a region whose companying states such as Washington has an unemployment rate as high as 9.3%, in comparison to New York City's 8.0%. The weather is not nearly as attractive, with high pressure winds from over the mountains from the Pacific to bring long periods of precipitation. It's an overall "outdoorsy" kind of place, unlike New York City's towering skyscrapers and manufactured upbringing. Topography greatly affects the climates, and it shows that it might be a fine place to live once you are satisfied with your living arrangements, but as a place of economic startup and frequent social commerce, New York City is a much more viable option.

California's Similarities, Mainly Los Angeles

California is known for it's sunny beaches, beautiful landscapes, and movie stars, but the state doesn't entirely share a lot in common with New York. If we're talking about New York City, then the city of Los Angeles is more in common. As the nation's second largest city, Los Angeles thrives with its diverse population and structural development, even if all of it feels a little far between. Location-wise, this city should not even make much logical sense, considering that heavy resources are virtually nonexistent, but the implementation of heavy government spending on roadways and irrigation, as well as local climate, has helped Los Angeles grow into a very populous destination to live in.

Los Angeles isn't exactly the center of the city, though. Many industries and agricultural sites exist well-knit within the valley, making it hard to define a real center of the Metropolis. New York City commits to a big part of the region's manufacturing and trade industry, whereas Los Angeles is more loosely assigned to what it deals with. Even with that knowledge, though, Los Angeles grows with a climate as moderately viable as Rome in Italy, and allows for society to thrive amidst a much more spread out area.

The Southwest Border and Plural Society

New York City is a melting pot of individuals from every ethnicity and culture that you can possibly imagine. The entry of immigration into the city is what made this melting pot possible, and this is what makes New York City a very modern place to live in. It's many Art Deco-styled buildings and continued construction projects help to bring about a modern change to house these individuals, and the city continues to grow amid controlling issues.

The Southwest Border, which is comprised of New Mexico and Arizona, mostly keeps with their Native American and Hispanic cultures. That isn't to say it's not a melting pot, but in places like Santa Fe, with it's many old adobe villages, poverty-stricken agriculture, and public signs in Spanish, it's easy to see that this region contains a much more traditional atmosphere. Native American and Hispanic cultures dominate this region as their settling founders had done, bringing an impact that remains strong and distinguished it from other regions throughout the U.S.

Pueblo Architecture As Seen Throughout The Region

For reference, New York City's Hispanic population in 2008 was around 27.5%, the second greatest ethnic group in the entire city, compared to the 44.0% of Hispanics that live in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Empty vs. The Full

If it's one thing that New York City isn't, it's being empty. People from around the world come and go in one of the busiest cities in the world, and the surrounding cities within the state, such as Buffalo and Albany, share similar assets that make the state of New York a land of close, tightly-knit communities.

The Empty Interior region in the Western part of North America is a spread out land of mountain ranges and plateaus, with dry and arid climates that make living palpable if a city is close to water irrigation. You would think that this spatial situation would mean that this region would not be able to properly hold a diverse and social medium, considering New York is filled with newcomers every single day. However, the religion known as the Mormon Church actually expands beyond the region and makes the region distinguishable.

The Great Plains Are In Contrast

Completely engulfed by land lies The Great Plains, a region that vertically spreads from the northern prairies of Alberta to the grasslands of Central Texas. These are states that consist of great and varied topography, lots of wheat growth due to the more fertile soils and grasslands, and widespread landscapes that allow for farming. Based on these regional trends and the history of the region's settlement, it can be assumed that these states produce agricultural products and are more reliant on producing food for themselves rather than relying on outside sources.

New York City, in contrast, is right next to waterways that help in the business of trading. It is a prime location for traders to enter the city directly from the neighboring harbors, providing the city with many agricultural products as well as manufacturing products like textiles. It's one of the reasons why New York City is one of the most populated areas in the world, and why the Great Plains, whose vast land provides a lot of growing space, has actually decreased farm sizes and lowered population. It really makes one think about how much living in New York City is in stark contrast to The Great Plains.

Interior Still Remains An Eastern Placeholder

New York City is classified under the Koppen climate classification system as Cfa, which means it's a humid subtropical climate, with more precipitation that makes the air warm during the summer. This is a similar application to the eastern part of the Interior Plains, a region that encompasses the states of Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio. The interior's eastern plain contains more rain fall and humidity in comparison to the western portion's dry and arid climate. The more rainfall in the east helps produce more crops during the growing season and therefore produces a bigger carrying capacity. Although the interior plains is more made of smaller, rural towns than a megalopolis like New York City, the similarities it has with the Agricultural Core cannot be sidelined, and it's interesting to note since New York City is a part of the Manufacturing Core.

From Clinton County, NY

Hazards of the Southern Coastlands

In a subtropical environment, humidity, mild winters and hot summers grace the land to provide a rather moderate climate for standard living conditions. However, there lies certain threats to agriculture and commonwealth with winter freezes and summer hurricanes. This is usually the part of the season where most growers should not grow vegetables or be out and about because of the sudden, fierce conditions. The low pressure system build-up from its location near the Gulf of Mexico has caused some of the world's worst natural disasters in the area.

According to the Koppen climate classification system, New York City is the northernmost city that has a subtropical environment, with more warmer summers than mild winters. The hazards of the Southern Coastlands do not directly reflect with New York City's, but the area is within the hurricane range, with incidences of hurricanes occurring somewhere between 75-89 mph over the last 100 years. The occurrences of blizzards during winter also negative effects on New York's region, resulting in a halt of growing crops.

Contrasts to the South

The South has had a notorious reputation for usually being more conservative in politics and its close connection to slavery and loss. This is in opposition to the Northern colonies in which New York City dwells in that remain much more radical and diverse in both politics and demographics. The South also has less population density, which did result in Agrarian Settlement patterns and usage of vast land for farming and manufacturing, unlike New York City, whose population density is the greatest in the United States. This sometimes results in higher poverty levels due to economic stress, but the South has always been much more impoverished because of the lack of economic power to begin with.

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Appalachia - Beautiful but Problematic

New York City is not terribly far from the most northern point of the Appalachian region. In comparison, it's easy to understand the huge success of New York City and it's growth as a Megalopolis, as it has available resources such as it's many waterways to attain natural crops and trade and with a rather flat topography. The Appalachian region's hilly and irregular topography is a reason why there is little to no farming and growth of crops, forcing a majority of landowners to have necessary support from surrounding regions.

New York City is also much more compact than the Appalachian region, which is made up more of valleys and clearings. It is for this reason that many people from New York vacation through these valleys not just for the picturesque nature but to find open spacing. The economy of the Appalachian region has nearly doubled because many people can afford 2nd homes in the area.

NYC is Not Bypassed

This post consists of looking at the Bypassed East, which is a general region located in Northern New England. While the state of New York is certainly a part of Northern New England, the CITY of New York is NOT a part of the Bypassed East. That doesn't mean we can't talk about it, right? In fact, only a portion of the state of New York is a part of The Bypassed East, and this includes the Adirondack Mountains in the North Eastern part of the state. These mountains make up a part of the southern extension of the Canadian Shield and, compared to the rest of the mountain ranges in the Bypassed East, it is more rounded rather than angular.

Manufacturing in the Big Apple

New York City provides a plethora of different types of industries that deal with manufacturing. The website MadeInNYC.org states the following:

"There are over 6,000 manufacturing companies in New York City, employing approximately 81,000 New Yorkers. A healthy industrial sector adds stability to the local economy by providing stable jobs and bringing much-needed export dollars into the City."

This also adds to the many non-English speaking citizens to pursue career opportunities and have a formidable living stature. NYC is also a major supporter of manufacturing "green" products as population density has increased the amount of pollution and greener products are helping to tone it down.

NYC manufactures everything construction and furniture, clothing and fabrics, jewelry, paper supplies and printing, food (mainly apples with as many as 32 million bushels annually), metals and ore, and electrical. For such a big city in a small area, there's no wonder as to why it would need to manufacture a lot to be financially stable as well as environmentally stable.

Metropolis? Think Megalopolis

Just upon personal experience, New York City is one of the most crowded cities in the United States if not the entire world. There are times when you practically walk with others - in droves. There is close to no point in driving your car around the streets and you're better off using the many ways of transport to get from destination to destination, such as the subway, bus, or taxi. Buildings escalate as you walk next to them and they overshadow the 8 million people that crowd into Times Square every New Year. This is one dense city that is well-defined as a Megalopolis.

New York City's location is essential to making it a Megalopolis, in that it's on the island of Manhatten. The fact that it's surrounded by waterways makes it an absolute prime spot for harboring ships and bringing in trade. This further helped the development of the city when it was colonized during the British settlement, and then they further expanded into new suburbs. The Hudson River has allowed for more port facilities and accessibility. These factors have helped to bring settlers close to sites such as NYC, for there is a lot in terms of business and economic relations.

The city has since been built around it's primal site. The amount that it has expanded is slight, however, because now such a small city has to fit it all within the confines. This is why urbanized areas are filled with tall buildings, overcrowding, and dense population. As much as these may sound like hindrances, however, the large amount of people have contributed to growing development of localized transportation and communication. NYC boasts a highly complex subway network, which is unlike any of it's kind around the world.

The Megalopolis known as New York City is perhaps the greatest in the entire U.S., and it can be certain that it will remain that way for a long time more.

The Sound of Settling

New York City is, of course, part of the North East coast of the U.S., and that area was the first major start of the European Settlement era in the early 1600's. Englishman Henry Hudson (whom the Hudson River is named after) was in search of finding a path to Asia as part of the Dutch East India Company's ease of trade and landed upon what is now New York City. There were Native Americans already inhabiting the area, however, called the Lenape, speaking the language of Algonquin. It's location close to waterways was prime for those inhabitants in need of resources for food like fishing and hunting. Upon European Settlement and the Dutch influence, the Lenape population was down to only 200 by the year 1700.

Throughout it's extensive history in the Revolutionary War and after, New York began to flourish as a center for politics, economy, industrialization, and culture. When we see New York City now and think of all the people that can amass to one city for New Year's Eve, you can begin to wonder about the population density of such a city. Consider the countless skyscrapers that line the streets of the regions, counting for more people in tighter areas and an increase in consumption. Of course with the many people surrounding the city, you can very much expect a great amount of religious and cultural diversity, though the Catholic Church mostly counting for it.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_New_York_City

Photos provided by:
http://i2.cdn.turner.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenape

A City for All Seasons

Have you heard about that ridiculous blizzard that is currently hitting the Northeast? Well, if you haven't, let's just say that New York City is pretty much in the midst of it. Is there a reason for that, though?

New York City is prone to this sort of stuff because of precipitation. The precipitation is generated mostly by storm systems for the majority of the states east of the Rockies and the two air masses going N/NE from the Gulf of Mexico and S/SE from Canada, and its closeness to the Atlantic Ocean is certainly reason to cough up storms here and there. It also has a latitude of 40.78 degrees, which is enough above the equator for NYC to have differing shifts in weather during the year. Might I say that NYC actually has seasons compared to Los Angeles where I live?

While a blizzard is not unusual, to have it hit as hard as it currently is is rather interesting to note. According to a climate study done by Cornell University, the annual snowfall in NYC is usually about 22.3'', and it managed to snow nearly as much in a single day during my week there in 2010. I know I would be covering myself up and staying indoors if that ever occurred here in L.A., but I have a feeling nothing like that will ever happen.

Region Reasons

New York City is among the many populated cities within the Northeast. I use populated to the highest degree, in that it thrives as a metropolitan area filled with urbanized subdivisions such as Chinatown or Little Italy that are not only distinctively cultural but staggered with modern living arrangements and stores that just about anyone can use them as places for living and visiting . Not that being populated is that big of a deal, considering that mobility is very well organized with it's mass transit systems, but it's good to note that having millions of people dwell within a city requires much more consumption and economic pressures, resulting in some percentage of poverty and decay.

So what's with me and liking this city so much? The idea that such a city can have a lot of activity within a wide range of cultural and natural zones astonishes me. Sure, there's a lot of history related to the area and it's many structures, but speaking for those non-tourists, I would hope that they could see the similarities within the differences of the subdivided areas are at least intriguing, multi-functional and multi-ethnic. As dense a place as it can be, New York City is significantly different from the spread-out Los Angeles that I live in, and it confines so much in its metropolitan area that there is a wealth of abundant activity and communication. Thankfully, New York City is within a region that has the ability to do what it does best: generate and unite everyone dwelling in it, no matter what color, nationality, religion, or economic status.

New York City - Where to begin?

Upon my last visit to NYC for New Year's Eve, it was the first time I had ever experienced falling snow in my lifetime, and not just falling snow, BLIZZARD snow. That you could walk into the middle of Broadway and Times Square with no cars was a site unlike any I've ever experienced. At times I was most impressed with the weather and it's natural consequences than I was with museums, Broadway shows or New York Cheesecake. It's pretty unusual for a guy from SoCal to experience actual snow during Winter, and to be in a place that actually feels like all four seasons is reason enough for me to want to move there.

As for my first post on this blog, I will post a couple pictures of me and the blizzard we experienced during the last week of 2010. I hope you enjoy reading this blog and seeing the many pictures I post with it!