Michelle's Blog #2

Hey, it’s Michelle again. Since my last blog post, the interns and I at Hester Street have gotten a lot done in terms of the Allen Street Mall-terations. We decided that we would use shades of green instead of our original colors (red, yellow, a whacky-looking purple..) and spent one afternoon just mixing different paints to get the shades we wanted. As soon as we got the paints done, we went outside and started gridding the circle using a chalk line and taping off the areas we would paint. The weather’s been on and off lately; unfortunately, it rained the day after we finished gridding so most of the chalk got washed away. Good thing we know how to improvise! We managed to finish the map in about three days and if you ask me, it looks pretty neat –



What we’ve been working on this week is the lettering for the different neighborhoods we’ve incorporated into the map – we’re using stencils to trace and paint the letters on the white tracks near the map (Chinatown, Little Italy, Lower East Side, etc.) There’s a lot of calculating involved (we had to measure a lot to figure out where we would start placing the letters). Our improvisation skills came in handy here a few times, too. The colors we used for the letters correspond with the color that area is on the map. After we finish this, we’re going to work on another map except this time, we’re focusing on streets instead of neighborhoods and using shades of red instead of green.



Aside from the Mall-terations, we’ve done a few smaller things to help around in the office. We’ve recently received a couple of new shelves so we spent a good part of one of our days dedicated to moving them and putting them together. We also sorted through the office library and categorized them to be put onto the shelves, and about an hour ago, we organized the papers and tools underneath the main table in the office and shelved them, too. I think we’re heading out again soon to finish the lettering, and maybe we’ll get started on our second map – that is, if it doesn’t rain again!