|
I felt excited and nervous about coming to a new place: Bloomberg News, our new home for a month. I didn't think it was going to be as busy or fast or as focused on security. Meeting new people and entering a new part of town made afraid I was going to screw up. But I was surprised at the way things turned out.
HarlemLive's first day on the top of it all. We got the chance to experience how today’s journalist works in a professional environment. Before, a normal day at HarlemLive would consist of taking pictures, going out to report stories, creating websites, meeting new people and recruiting new staff.
Right now, I’m the longest serving member of HarlemLive and one of few members who has a general understanding of everything we use in HarlemLive. I go to school at CPESS (Central Park East Secondary School) in East Harlem; my school is about a 5-minute walk to HarlemLive's former location. While walking towards HarlemLive, I had an excellent view of the Harlem Meer, a large pond in northern Central Park and just outside the park the buildings are low so it gives you a pretty nice view of the sky. But now, things have changed big time
February 25, 2002: Class ended early, so I had a head start for my long journey towards 59th Street and Park Avenue, Bloomberg’s home base in the center of New York City. My voyage to HarlemLive was now a lot more complex than my usual five-minute stroll to the offices. I left my school and walked to the local train station, and then I hopped on the 6 trains heading downtown.
 Arriving in midtown, I looked up and could hardly see the sky. Skyscrapers surrounded me. Everything is busy, hundreds of cars crowd the streets, horns going on and off, people are dressed up in nice suits and getting ready to go home from work. I looked around and realized that, unlike Harlem, which is a diverse community, I didn’t seem to find anyone with my complexion. This part of New York, this place of business, this place where something was always going on, I couldn't stop realizing that the majority of people were white.
As I kept walking I finally reached Park Avenue. I turned my head and looked up, I was now in front of Bloomberg a circular 37-floor building with black tinted windows, and HarlemLive was now temporarily based on the 19th of this empire of dark windows.
While walking towards one of Bloomberg's entrances, I met two HarlemLive staff members, Jason Taylor and Juan Rodriguez-Lavezarri. I got lost. I was heading to the wrong entrance of the building. Everything seemed to be very confusing to me. The place was so huge. You had to have help to know where you were going. It's like you're in a human maze. Jason and Juan both led me to the correct entrance of the building. I was now walking towards a huge glass-spinning door. When I went through it, I came in to the lobby of the Bloomberg building. To the left of me there were four leather chairs surrounding a glass coffee table with these Bloomberg flat screen monitors hanging over it showing the business news. From then on I knew HarlemLive was totally out of Playing 2 Win.
I came up to the desk as there was a guard sitting in front of multi-screen monitors, at that time the first thing that came across my mind was, THE MATRIX. The guard asked me for a picture ID that was unusual to me because I never had to do that at HarlemLive before. I took out my ID form my wallet and showed it to the guard. Then the guard went on searching to see if HarlemLive had provide a Bloomberg ID card for me. While the guard was searching for the ID card, I turned to my left and saw two security guards standing beside two gray metal detectors. Of all the building I’ve been to this building had the wildest security ever. After a brief waiting period the guard called me and gave me some bad news. Unfortunately, ID cards weren’t the strong point of HarlemLive.
After being in HarlemLive for five years, each drop of sweat was hard earned, each picture taken with pride. I had been HarlemLive's longest serving member and they actually had the nerve to deprive me of a simple ID card. I felt like I wasn’t being treated as I should. The guard later supplied me with a paper ID card to allow me access to HarlemLive on the 19th floor. Now I had to get there. I tried going up to HarlemLive through the closest elevators to me but unfortunately the building had more parts to it than it seemed. Now the business world was starting to get on my nerves.
Jason and Juan had departed to get a few supplies for HarlemLive, so the guard directed me where I needed to go. I had to walk through some more glass doors until came I across about four security guards, they all asked me for ID, after I showed then my ID and they directed me to the elevator. I think the security in the Bloomberg building is the most enforced issue because Bloomberg News is a very powerful source of New York. They report on financial and communtiy news from around the world. As Malcolm X says, "The media is the most powerful entity on earth."
 After my long journey, I finally made it the new location of HarlemLive. After the scary elevator ride, I looked towards the huge conference room where HarlemLive was now based and said to myself, "Finally, HarlemLive is moving on up." I walked towards the glass door; it had two security guards in front of HarlemLive's room. They allowed me access to the floor by opening the large glass gateway. Based right behind the two security guards was our new home. I had the perfect view from where I was standing. The structure of the room was remarkable. There were about 30 double screen monitors on four rows of desks. The room was made so that each row was a level above the floor so I was about to see everything. Each computer was connected to a digital network controlled by Bloomberg. In the back of the room there were about seven huge glass windows looking down on the city.
 Above the room hung a projector, which was connected to the main computer of the room; the main computer was a high-powered PC with a touch screen monitor. The powerful PC computer could control everything, from the lights, to the digital shades that came down to prevent the sun from entering the room. The computer was connected to a microphone that could be heard on speakers from any computer in the room. The room was so futuristic. I wouldn’t be surprised if you could make a cup of coffee from that machine.
I took my first step into the room. For some reason the place was filled with tension. Richard, our director, was moving all over the place talking on his cell phone. Michael Popo, Clifton Taylor and two other workers from Bloomberg were trying to fix the Internet access in the room. Somehow everyone seemed to be occupied. I felt like if I said anything inappropriate to anyone; even if it wasn’t intentional, I would be blamed for the monstrosity what was going on. I felt at that moment I should be cool and stay out of everyone’s way and let them get settled first then I would cause problems later. I walked to the back of the room being hypnotized by the city’s beauty. As I looked through the huge clear glass windows I was actually looking down on the Queens Borough Bridge. I could see the rush hour traffic on the city streets, the people looking like small ants. The view that I had, allowed me to see into oth er peoples offices. I think I even saw a businessman get fired on the spot through that window. Still nothing in the room could even compare to the electricity and energy HarlemLive brought to Bloomberg. We're the voices of the future and we came to make a difference. Our goal here at Bloomberg is to experience the real world events that occur with professional journalists. We feel that the our presence at Bloomberg will emphasize our mission to encourage youth towards higher education and career goals using technology, journalism and exposure in diverse environments. We're going to make ourselves known in Bloomberg. HarlemLive is going to show New York that we could still produce quality stories from wherever we are, whether it is in Harlem or not and they’re going to respect us for that.
Later on, a few staff members and I went around the Bloomberg complex and networked ourselves. We handed our flyers to the local Bloomberg staff and gave them a brief introduction on HarlemLive and what we do. After the hard work, of letting Bloomberg know we're in the house, the HL staff and I went to one the best feature in the Bloomberg Building, the FOOD COURT!!! Some of the staff and I went and treated ourselves to some food. Besides our office area, the miniature kitchen on our floor is the most visited spot in the Bloomberg Building for HarlemLive and Bloomberg’s staff on the 19th floor.
Later that day, things cooled down until it was time to leave. In fact, none of the HarlemLive staff (including myself) wanted to leave the building. We had a tremendous view of the city lights in the night, looking down on the fully lit Queens Bridge and cars in the streets. Eventually the few of us that were left at HarlemLive took the 6 train at the 59th Street train station to our various destinations.
Overall, my first day at Bloomberg was a wonderful experience. I enjoyed every second of it, from the heavy security, the food, the Bloomberg staff, the high tech computer equipment and even the crazy elevator ride. Our stay at Bloomberg will help us grow and become an even stronger organization. HarlemLive is here, we're LIVE and we're BLOWING UP, BABY!!!
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed