By Bradley Schwartz

Today was a great day in New York City. We started off in the morning by going to H&H bagels which is talked about a lot. We continued by meeting with Billy’s friend Scott Fried. Scott spoke about HIV/AIDS and gave us an informative lecture on sexual education as well as life itself and making good choices. He captivated us by using his life story as an example. One thing that Scott spoke about was the five steps of growing up well. The first step is to allow yourself to be caught in the act of being the person you said you would never be. The next step is to stand vulnerable then be prepared to be ripped open, next is to surrender to what you can’t change or control and lastly, to feel what is happening. I agreed with the things that Scott was talking about. His book, A Private Midnight, helps educate students on the way to react to difficult teenage problems.

After a New York pizza lunch we made our way to Central Park, where we got to relax in the shade and listen to That Guitar Man in Central Park. This is a man, David, who plays the guitar and sings classic rock songs in Central Park each Saturday. It was really relaxing and a way to be like a real New Yorker. Many of us helped out by dancing to his songs or even helped singing.

		at the John Lennon "Imagine" memorial in Strawberry Fields

We then made our way to the Lower East Side and Billy took us on a walking tour around the area where our ancestors lived and worked once they made it to America. Then we walked through Chinatown and Little Italy. It was interesting to see how the various communities and neighborhoods back into each other.

At night we had free time to get dinner and explore the West Village and Greenwich Village.