"New York is the bedrock of the stories I tell. Everything around you is alive and humming - from the pavement to subway platform. On any given day you'll hear a singer, a bluegrass band, a horn section. Somewhere, in the mix of all that, is something indescribably uplifting to the soul."
-Chris Carrabba, Dashboard Confessional
Thursday, February 26, 2009
The Capital of Europe
"What I love the most about New York are the people. I call it the capital of Europe because you're exposed to so many cultures."
-David Garrett, violinist
-David Garrett, violinist
Ash Wednesday
Yesterday, I passed a woman on my way to the 110th St stop of the B/C subway line. She had a smudge on her forehead... I noticed but didn't really pause, since it wasn't the weirdest thing I'd seen all day. But then I got on the train and the man across from me had a big dark thumbprint in the middle of his forhead, as did another kid sitting a few seats down from him. Hmmm. Multiple citings of oddities means there is a unifying theme... Oh that's right! 40 days before Easter, Mardi Gras just finished, Lent is beginning... Ash Wednesday.
My church doesn't participate in the practices of Ash Wednesday, although I think its a beautiful gesture/tradition/practice. Wanting to learn more and make sure I was getting my facts straight, I did some googling to brush up on the meaning of the smudgy foreheads. (This is my understanding...)
Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance, signifying the beginning of Lent, which is a period of fasting and personal sacrifice precending Good Friday and Easter, meant to reaffirm faith in Christ and commitment to God. The ash that they put on their forhead is created by burning the palm fronds from the previous year's Good Friday and mixing with a consecrated oil, which is then applied by a priest as he recites the words: "Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return."
I was really taken with this whole idea and kept repeating the phrase in latin to myself all day long: Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.
What I found truly moving, however, was how many people I saw yesterday with the ash on their forehead. Every few steps through the crowd, on every subway platform, in every store, on every block I saw people participating in this open expression of faith.
My church doesn't participate in the practices of Ash Wednesday, although I think its a beautiful gesture/tradition/practice. Wanting to learn more and make sure I was getting my facts straight, I did some googling to brush up on the meaning of the smudgy foreheads. (This is my understanding...)
Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance, signifying the beginning of Lent, which is a period of fasting and personal sacrifice precending Good Friday and Easter, meant to reaffirm faith in Christ and commitment to God. The ash that they put on their forhead is created by burning the palm fronds from the previous year's Good Friday and mixing with a consecrated oil, which is then applied by a priest as he recites the words: "Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return."
I was really taken with this whole idea and kept repeating the phrase in latin to myself all day long: Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.
What I found truly moving, however, was how many people I saw yesterday with the ash on their forehead. Every few steps through the crowd, on every subway platform, in every store, on every block I saw people participating in this open expression of faith.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
City of Neighborhoods
In Manhattan, everything you need or could want can probably be found within a 15 block radius of your apartment, and unless you work outside of that radius, there is rarely a reason to leave your neighborhood. On days that I don't go to work I find that I often don't even leave the Upper West Side.
It is this neighborhood clustering tendency, I believe, which has led the formation of Manhattan's many distinct neighborhoods. What I find fascinating, however is that not only do these communities form, but they develop personalities... suggesting that like-minded, like-interested, or like-motivated people attract one another - forming associations and then clustering together.
Does this happen anywhere other than New York?
You could make a case that it happens on a macro level across the country. The South has a personality and a culture all its own (Two words: Fried Catfish). As does the Midwest (You coastal people laugh, but John Deere is serious stuff), the Southwest (it takes a special kind of person to love a cactus), California (venti-no-foam-soy-vanilla-chai-latte-to-go-please), Florida (enough said), New England (where the Puritan work ethic still haunts the hallways of private prep schools), and The Great Lake States (Cheese heads).
So I guess it makes sense, really... since New York is like a concentrated version of America (with a little bit of trans-continental flavor mixed in).
The vibe of the different Manhattan neighborhoods is so dintinct in fact, that you can feel the difference as you cross the street. You can tell by the displays in the store windows, by the clothes and the demeanor of the people passing you, whether you're in Chelsea or Meatpacking, Gramercy or Murray Hill. With a little bit of practice you can even distinguish the Upper West Side from Manahattan Valley and Morningside Heights. It'd be difficult to draw a boundary around each neighborhood on a map. But trust me, the East Village and the West Village are unquatifiably, yet vastly different.
One of the tricks to surviving in the city is to find the neighborhood that suits you - the one where you feel most comfortable, and set about settling into your little mini community. The big city just doesn't seem as daunting when you have a little piece of it that you know backwards and forward and can call it home.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Spheres of Investment
People do not talk to one another on the subway. It simply isn't done.
Tourists and out-of-towners (not the same thing - but that's another post) think we're cold, calloused. They like to try a little old fashioned friendliness on us thinking that their warm smile and awkward personal questions will be the ray of sunshine that turns all of Manhattan into one big Main Street, USA.
This is not the case.
There is a reason that people don't converse with strangers on the subway and there is a reason we all mind our own business. There are simply too many people, and it is impossible to become invested in all of them, it is beyond human capacity to invest in each of the hundreds if not thousands of people that we come into contact with everyday.
The result is that we limit our spheres of investment. We are invested in our neighbors (within a 2-3 block radius), we are invested in our co-workers, or in the members of our French class or bowling team. In my case, I'm invested in my ward, in the people in my apartment building
New Yorkers are actually very friendly, we just save our friendliness for our spheres of investment. New Yorkers, you see, are also very practical.
Tourists and out-of-towners (not the same thing - but that's another post) think we're cold, calloused. They like to try a little old fashioned friendliness on us thinking that their warm smile and awkward personal questions will be the ray of sunshine that turns all of Manhattan into one big Main Street, USA.
This is not the case.
There is a reason that people don't converse with strangers on the subway and there is a reason we all mind our own business. There are simply too many people, and it is impossible to become invested in all of them, it is beyond human capacity to invest in each of the hundreds if not thousands of people that we come into contact with everyday.
The result is that we limit our spheres of investment. We are invested in our neighbors (within a 2-3 block radius), we are invested in our co-workers, or in the members of our French class or bowling team. In my case, I'm invested in my ward, in the people in my apartment building
New Yorkers are actually very friendly, we just save our friendliness for our spheres of investment. New Yorkers, you see, are also very practical.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Man on Wire
A few weeks ago, after the doughnut plant adventure, I was walking down Houston (pronounced HOW-Ston... not Hugh-ston), with Kathryn and Jess, and we passed The Sunshine.
The Sunshine is an East Village landmark, and still famous today for their independent films and their midnight movies.
The timing worked out so we saw a film called Man on Wire. It is a documentary of the man who walked across a tight rope between the two towers of the World Trade Center.
It's... remarkable. Frightening, inspiring, beautiful and astonishing.
I recommend that you check it out, if you have a chance.
http://manonwire.com/
The Sunshine is an East Village landmark, and still famous today for their independent films and their midnight movies.
The timing worked out so we saw a film called Man on Wire. It is a documentary of the man who walked across a tight rope between the two towers of the World Trade Center.
It's... remarkable. Frightening, inspiring, beautiful and astonishing.
I recommend that you check it out, if you have a chance.
http://manonwire.com/
The Real Deal, really
I've noticed a new phenomena in my life. Here is how it goes...
I am out and about in the City. I may be with friends, I may be alone, but I am certainly exploring new places and conversing with new people. I look up and notice a famous bit of architecture, urban art, or a famous person. My first thought is, "That's a great replica of..." or, "Hey, that person kinda looks like..."
And then a shake my head like a dog that got water in its ear.
Oh WAIT! I'm in New York City! This is the REAL THING.
That's not a replica, an imitation, a fake, or a look-alike... It IS the Flatiron Building, it IS a mural by Keith Harring, it IS Jimi Hendrix's recording studio, it IS the club where Bob Dylan used to perform.
This is were I begin struggling to wipe the astonished look off of my face, so that I don't look like an idiot or a tourist.
And this is were I begin making the sound that is something like a persistent but subtle giggle.
This takes 10-15 minutes to wear off.
And then I spend the rest of the day marveling that I know a girl in the cast of Wicked, that my friend performed at the most famous live music club in New York, that I know people who are exceptionally good at what they do to the point of being the driving and the shaping force of their industries. These people, these places, these objects... they are what most people dream of becoming, of achieving and creating...
Sometimes I honestly forget and have to be reminded by confrontations with famous landmarks that I live in New York City. NEW YORK CITY.
There are no imitations here. These are the real deal.
Unless, of course, you count China Town.
I am out and about in the City. I may be with friends, I may be alone, but I am certainly exploring new places and conversing with new people. I look up and notice a famous bit of architecture, urban art, or a famous person. My first thought is, "That's a great replica of..." or, "Hey, that person kinda looks like..."
And then a shake my head like a dog that got water in its ear.
Oh WAIT! I'm in New York City! This is the REAL THING.
That's not a replica, an imitation, a fake, or a look-alike... It IS the Flatiron Building, it IS a mural by Keith Harring, it IS Jimi Hendrix's recording studio, it IS the club where Bob Dylan used to perform.
This is were I begin struggling to wipe the astonished look off of my face, so that I don't look like an idiot or a tourist.
And this is were I begin making the sound that is something like a persistent but subtle giggle.
This takes 10-15 minutes to wear off.
And then I spend the rest of the day marveling that I know a girl in the cast of Wicked, that my friend performed at the most famous live music club in New York, that I know people who are exceptionally good at what they do to the point of being the driving and the shaping force of their industries. These people, these places, these objects... they are what most people dream of becoming, of achieving and creating...
Sometimes I honestly forget and have to be reminded by confrontations with famous landmarks that I live in New York City. NEW YORK CITY.
There are no imitations here. These are the real deal.
Unless, of course, you count China Town.
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