E. B. White’s piece was the first of the two to catch my attention, mainly because it mentioned Little Neck, and lots of people don’t even know that such a place (my hometown and current city) exists. Facebook doesn’t even list L.N. as a city when you try and select a place where you currently live. And so, I felt kind of honored, laughably, because my far-from-well-known “hood” actually got some written publicity in a paper… but then I realized what White was writing about us.

His description of us commuters from places such as Little Neck and Teaneck was both true and false at the same time, in my opinion. I’ll start with the former — I feel like I kind of am the commuter he describes. I think in terms of train schedules: when I pick classes, I consider which trains I will have to take to get to and fro; when I’m at work, I calculate how much time I have to make the 5:29 p.m. train from Penn Station to Great Neck, because unfortunately, the 5:50 express won’t operate until after May 26 because of Amtrak repairs (yes, I actually have all the train details memorized). However, I also do take time to explore the city and to sit down in cool places and just chill out, so I guess I’m living proof that one can be both the commuter mentioned in the piece while simultaneously not being that commuter 100%.
And as for the part about the fact that New York even works at all, I completely agree — New Yorkers are extremely resilient. Hopefully one day, our transit system can be, too.

At first glance, the Jane Jacobs reading had me thinking about affluent suburbs, such as Lake Success on Long Island, and how they don’t even have sidewalks. But then I realized what she was actually trying to say, so… never mind. The piece overall, though, did not trigger as much of a reaction in me, but her description of the eyes on the street reminded me, ironically as this has something to do with me and trains again, of the voice on the platform reminding people that there are 16 million eyes in the city — If you see something, say something.