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CSPA is affiliated with the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in the City of New York.

Getting off the subway is an overwhelming experience.

New York City has so much happening at once that it is hard to take it all in. Traveling through the city can be confusing, terrifying, surprising and exciting-all within seconds.

Travelers find that after walking up the stairs out of the station into Times Square on a hot June morning, the sun is almost blinding. People rush by, taxis drive fast and traffic moves from lane to lane.

Once the blur has dissipated, everyone is bombarded with flashing lights.

The lights are everywhere: on billboards, advertisements, in store and restaurant windows, on theatres. Even the McDonald's sign is flashing. There are signs for big corporations from American Airlines to HBO to Cingular Wireless.

Lauren Wolman is an editor at Milken Community High School in Encino, Calif.