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November 30, 2022 My November Blog: “Appreciate the Complexity Around Us” Dear Baruch Community, Since moving to New York City, I alternate my routes as I walk home from campus each evening simply to enjoy the varying aromas, music, markets, languages, and people
of the city—even if just for a moment. A Tale of Two Avenues
Along Lexington Avenue, ranks of small shops, spice stores, and ethnic restaurants always seem to be filled with patrons, while sidewalks are continuously populated by
food couriers and their wares as I stride by. Bollywood pop leaps out from restaurants, sharing a foreign and yet familiar New York vibe with the sound of traffic humming in the background. Segments of the pavement are covered with leaves floating off the
trees with colors as vibrant as those on my mountain hikes. A delivery person crosses the street while pulling carts laden with black-and-yellow plastic containers full of groceries. A psychic reader sets her small round table on the sidewalk looking bored
but eager for someone to sit and have a chat, while harried parents push strollers past her as their bright-eyed toddlers curiously peek out. Doormen sweep fallen leaves and debris from building entrances into dustpans, occasionally pausing to greet a passerby. One block west, along Park Avenue, is my alternate route home, which is often when rush hour traffic is intense, and the city lights start shimmering for the night. As
autumn is waning and making way for winter, trees along the street are thinning out and bending in the wind. The forlorn cries of distant ambulances or police sirens combined with the shining skyscrapers create an electrifying sensation. Upscale restaurants
blend with bakeries, coffee shops, and drug stores—all with large, decorated windows silently reflecting pedestrians in a mixture of exhaustion and end-of-the-day relief. Tourists lugging large shopping bags mix with businessmen and -women lost in their own
world—having active conversations with their EarPods, furrowing their brows as they walk while staring at their phones—oblivious to commuters streaming from the 6 subway train exit.
I enjoy my walks home. They bring back glimpses of that magical feeling I had when I first arrived in New York in my early twenties—and I never got over that mystic charm
of the city where just one block over can feel thousands of miles away. Most of you likely walk the same avenues I do but undoubtedly have a completely different experience. In fact, my descriptions may seem strange and peculiar to you.
We See What Our Minds Want Us to See Recent advances in neuroscience and research in human consciousness suggest that we interpret the world around us according to our own internal model—that is, we pay special
attention to the aspects of our environment that reinforce that model while ignoring much of the rest.
In my November blog post, “Appreciate
the Complexity Around Us,” I explore our human propensity to jump to conclusions based on presumptions and limited knowledge and the place that learning holds in expanding
our ability to discern and appreciate the beautiful complexity around us—and in us.
I invite you to
join this timely conversation—comment, subscribe, and sign up for blog notifications. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely, S. David Wu President, Baruch College
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