For a bit of context in this reflection, I had to begin researching a historical site or landmark in New York. In doing so, while I haven’t decided on what site in specific I should write about, one of my main candidates is Penn. Station in Manhatten. During my research, I found an article by PBS.org that I found really interesting.

Reading the article, I annotated useful tidbits that would help me with my project. For example, the original Penn. The station was designed in the Beaux-Arts architectural style and was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, one of the then-largest corporations in the world. It wasn’t designed just for vanity as it was designed with the next 100 years in mind with the structure being designed to handle 200,000 passengers per day. Despite its beauty, the rise of automobiles and air travel led to its demolition due to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company not finding it feasible to maintain the terminal amidst the decline of railroad travel. Despite its demolition, parts of Penn. Station are still used today and have different uses such as a post office, and a variety of train terminals such as Amtrak and the LIRR. I also made a few connections between the history of the station to the circumstances of the times such as the aforementioned decline of the railroad leading to the station’s demolition and the construction of the station made possible by financing by a large corporation wanting to get trains into Manhattan easier.

Honestly, annotating does not help me at all. I always heavily hated annotating and being forced to do it doesn’t make me love it anymore. If it is for short articles, I see no need for annotating as I’m able to read and retain information easily. I’ll seldom annotate if it’s for a longer read but for the most part, I find it easy to see past all the fancy wordplay and summarize the main points in my head. For this article, due to its simplicity, needs nothing else but reading in my eyes to fully understand it.