Hi all. Flat Ben here. You may have heard of Flat Stanley. Well, I’m kind of like him. I just spent the last week with my Aunt Dawn and Uncle Stirling in New York City. I can’t wait to tell you all about the things I did while I was there. I just hope I can remember it all! Here it goes…
I arrived in Manhattan on Sunday, May 19th after traveling over 230 miles in a tiny little envelope. Naturally I was anxious to stretch my legs. If you think you hate traveling, try being folded in half!
Aunt Dawn and Uncle Stirling live on Fort Washington Avenue in a section at the very top of Manhattan called Washington Heights. Their neighborhood gets its name from the fort George Washington used in the defense of New York during the American Revolution. Washington Heights is the highest part of Manhattan, so back then George Washington had a great view of the entire island. Of course, that was before they built all the skyscrapers. The fort isn’t there anymore, but I guess the name just stuck.
Most people in Manhattan don’t own cars, so while I was there we road the subway. At first it was weird not riding in a car, but the trains were pretty fast. Uncle Stirling says New Yorkers have been using the subway to get around for over 100 years. I wonder how old that sign is…
One of the first things we did when I got to Manhattan was to go down to a neighborhood called Greenwich Village for the Veggie Pride Parade. Aunt Dawn and Uncle Stirling are vegans. Vegans are sort of like vegetarians. They don’t eat any meat or anything that comes from an animal like milk or eggs. They don’t even eat ice cream! Aunt Dawn says that they have their own kind of “ice cream” that’s made out of soy beans. It sounds kind of weird to me, but I guess it’s better than no ice cream at all.
There were all kinds of people dressed up at the parade. Uncle Stirling took my picture with a woman dressed up like broccoli. I don’t know about you, but if I was broccoli the last place I would want to be would be surrounded by a bunch of hungry vegetarians.
Later that week Uncle Stirling took me to work with him. Uncle Stirling works for an “interactive advertising agency”. You know those little ads you sometimes see in the corner on websites? My uncle makes those. Uncle Stirling is an artist and he has a partner who’s a writer. They come up with the ads together. Uncle Stirling’s partner is named Ben too!
Uncle Stirling’s office had a ping pong table and two foosball tables. It was my kind of place! If I worked there I don’t know how I would get any work done! Uncle Stirling says his boss got to be in charge because no one could beat him at foosball. I think he was kidding, but I’m not 100% sure.
Uncle Stirling’s office is right across the street from Radio City Music Hall. He said the “music hall” has almost 6,000 seats and that it used to be the biggest movie theater in the entire world. In the winter they put on a really famous Christmas pageant called “the Radio City Christmas Spectacular”. The rest of the year they have events like movie premieres and rock concerts. I like the sign!
Later in the week we all went to Times Square. They call it Times Square because The New York Times used to have it’s offices there. Now it’s mostly just stores. They have entire store for pretty much everything you could think of. My favorite? the M&M store.
Or maybe the Hershey’s Store!
On second thought, it would have to be the Toys R’ Us. I’ve never seen anything like it!
They have a giant model of a T Rex that really roars!
They also have models of different New York landmarks made entirely out of Legos. Here is a picture of me in front of the Lego Statue of Liberty.
Unfortunately, time really flies when you are having fun. It’s time for me to get back in my envelope and head back down south to see actual Ben. I really had a great time and Aunt Dawn told me I could come back anytime. Bye for now!
-Flat Ben
About The Author - My name is Stirling McLaughlin. I am married. I am an Art Director, Designer and Illustrator. The opinions expressed on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my employer. I have lots of ideas. I have a baby girl named Nika Bean. I live in New York City. When I was in college, they put me on TV because I wore a mask and yelled at people. I have a reality show that I wil be starting… any day now. - See My Portfolio
