JHU Manhattanites react to war

NEW YORK -- "WAR," it read. The March 20, 2003 edition of The New York Post displayed on its front page three letters that have been occupying the minds of Americans, especially New Yorkers.

For New Yorkers now in Charles Village, these Manhattanites turned Hopkinites seem to be as unruffled as the city itself under the presence of war.

"You can't avoid your life," said Alexandra Brown, a Hopkins freshman hailing from the Upper East Side.

Walking down the streets of Manhattan that morning, New York was still the normal hub of franticness. "Nobody seems to care," said Upper East Side resident Dave Gonsier, sitting in a restaurant in the middle of Chinatown. A stone's throw from Ground Zero, Gonsier observed, "Everyone was out doing their thing this morning."

The officers of Engine 57 in the New York Fire Department were shopping for produce in the upscale supermarkets of the upper West Side just before noon. As one of the potentially most threatened groups with a terrorist attack, however, the firefighters felt the mental pressure of the war.

"Mentally, we're prepared," said fireman Mike Lynch. "Every run, it's always in the back of your mind."

No matter how normally frenetic the fa_ade of New York may be, many New Yorkers are feeling a mental strain living in a terrorist-targeted city. And the mental strain does not disappear with distance for some Manhattanites here on Homewood campus, as well as their families at home.

"It freaked me out to be in the lobby of the World Trade Center in Baltimore," said Brown. I haven't really been high up yet, but that might freak me out."

For Thomas Zipser, '06, the anxiety is still very real for his family in the heart of Manhattan. "My mom has the FBI on her speed dial."

However, even as Zipser recounts stories of panic-stricken phone calls to the FBI, he says his family hasn't overreacted in response to any perceived terror threat.

"There's always a threat of attack by being in New York, but even after Sept. 11, we could have gone upstate, but we didn't." The only thing Zipser says he avoided was Times Square on New Year's Eve, but that overall his life hasn't changed.

When back home in the east 90s, Freshman Eric Kiung says his nightlife is restricted but that, "They [his parents] tell me that anyways. They just say don't get bombed, in general." The concern Kiung feels is of domestic changes, not any pressing threat. "The only threat we feel is the racism against Arab-Americans. The thing I worry about are the effects that terrorism has had against First Amendment rights."

Extensive measures have been taken by New York Police forces to alleviate any residual worries of physical threats against New Yorkers. However, the roadblocks, limitations and omnipresent police force do not soothe many New Yorkers.

"I went to an Islanders game at a small stadium on Long Island, and the National Guard was there with machine guns. They've overdone it," said Zipser.

"They can't stop it," said Brown. "My mother doesn't go on the subway anymore."

As signifigant combat in Iraq nears an end, the largest city in America is not obviously taking a sigh of relief, as it never had frozen in fear. Despite some latent concerns of its citizens, the city that never sleeps marches on. According to Gonsier, nothing may stop the hectic pace of The Big Apple.

"Sept. 11 didn't even stop people, the police stopped people.