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My first week in NYC has been surreal. The city fears no one and has the ability to make the strongest man feel inferior. This has allowed me to realize that my experience will only be as positive as my attitude.  My fate rests in my own hands, and if I choose to do so, I will reign supreme. It is in my everyday interactions that I will assimilate into the “big city” culture. If I choose to sit back and wait for opportunity to strike, I may reach the end of this journey extremely dissatisfied.  I have left the routine of Hamilton College and immersed myself in this infinite city. The journey begins now, and I am proud to say that I am a part of this program. My internship is more than I could have ever asked for. The contacts I have made and will develop are invaluable, and the work environment allows me to enjoy my duties and keeps me eager to learn more.

New York City is a place of extremes. It is stunning, but for many, can be overwhelming. In one location, you are able to see the very poor and, quite literally, some of the richest human beings in the world.  Some may think that the tops of buildings is where you realize how tall they really are.  That it isn’t until you can see for miles, and the people look like swarms of insects that one can really grasp a skyscraper's magnitude.  While the view from the top of the Empire State Building is a thrilling sight, it does not stand alone.  The streets of New York are lined with these towers of cement, marble, and steel;  all one really has to do it look up to feel their enormity.

Everyone here is selling something.  If you're not selling, you're buying.  If you're not buying or selling, you're observing both practices through osmosis and routine.  The corporations, the advertisements, the corner stands and transportation stops call out to the consumer.  I wonder if I understand to some degree, why Islamic terrorists believe that every day America sells its soul. 

The trains and I, we've got some beef. Public Transportation: a simple concept, as well as a necessity for a crowded and chaotic city such as this. The population smart enough not to own a car here depend on it to get to work, to go shopping, to eat. All fundamental to live, clearly. Then why may I ask is such an integral part of living in this limitless city so complicated? Red, green, 1, 9, N, R, seriously, let's just call the whole thing off. I might as well walk.

The United States has been long considered the land of opportunity, and right outside of our windows is Lady Liberty, standing watch over the gateway to this new land. I feel that there is opportunity here, and a chance to start a new life. It's a big step to go from the small village of Clinton, N.Y., to the island of Manhattan.

Assistant Professor of Mathematics Debra Boutin published a research article, "Convex Geometric Graphs with No Short Self-intersecting Paths," in Congressus Numerantium 160 (2003), pp. 205-214.  Her research shows that a graph that can be drawn in the plane with no short self-intersecting paths is guaranteed to have a vertex of small degree and therefore have to have an edge set whose size is linear in the number of vertices.

E.B. White, in his article “Here in New York,” describes the difference between living in the city and being a visitor.  I always knew the city from the commuter side, but for the past week, I have woken up to the sounds of the sirens and the wail of the boats; I have looked out the window at the Statue of Liberty; I have grabbed an “A.M.” paper from the man outside the subway; and I have traveled from my apartment with the herds of people going to work or school.  I understand why so many people view the city as overpowering.

I remember the first time I came to New York City; I was a freshman and visiting some high school friends at NYU.   From a distance, the city seemed safe, compact, and relatively small and the underground maze of Penn Station and the color coded alphabetical/numerical subway system did not faze me.  As we rode to Times Square, I thought that I could handle city life despite my rural Vermont roots.  Largely as a result of my sheltered childhood, I had a much skewed vision of New York from movies, too many episodes of Law and Order, songs, and the 9/11 images.

Being confined to the sick ward a.k.a. my 30th floor apartment has given me a interesting, albeit mildly - no significantly - claustrophobic view of the city.  I can look outside my window and see the harbor - ferries coming and going, tugboats and large boats navigating the waters and the changing shapes of the ice.

Assistant Professor of Computer Science Brian Rosmaita has been elected treasurer of the Society for Machines and Mentality. The Society for Machines and Mentality is an international scholarly organization whose purpose is to advance philosophical understanding of issues involving artificial intelligence, philosophy, and cognitive science. The Society is affiliated with the journal Minds and Machines, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers.