1 Hour and 15 minutes. That’s the amount of time I spend on my trek to the city daily. Sometimes I nap. Other times I ponder life and wonder who thrived in the city before me.
It begins with the q30 bus which winds down the Horace Harding Expressway, Utopia Parkway, and Homelawn Street. I hop off at the 169th Street F train station which is a largely Muslim community. Car services, groceries, delis, and diners with a “HALAL” sign in English and Arabic on their windows line Hillside Avenue. I walk down the stairs to wait alongside a Bengali immigrant wearing a neat, purple-checkered dress shirt and a black windbreaker. The novel, Drive, covers his face. His slacks fall down right at his ankles and some of the florescent light bounces off his newly-shined shoes. I look at his ID card peeking from his jacket: I see the floral crest: UBS. I smile because I have identified another humble corporate worker.
F train (via http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-f-is-coming.html)
While I sit on the train and lull to a trance on the train car, I mind my own business and crack open my kindle. I look around as usual to read some of the ads. Sometimes I think how I would be able to make some of the ads better.
I notice the variation of crowds coming in. 71st Ave – Forest Hills beckons a stream of white women in their 30’s – 50’s. A mostly Latino crowd enters at Jackson Hts – Roosevelt Avenue. African Americans make up the majority who come in and leave at Queens Blvd. At 63rd and Lex., many of the Latino riders step out, zipping up the escalators. An older, jaded businessmen grabs a seat and tips his fedora lower so he can take a light nap.
I see more corporate white collar workers filing the train. Some of the commuters from Queens have left by 47-50th Rockefeller Center. By Bryant Park, most of them are replaced by more professionals. Usually by the spring or summer, some of the tourists get off at Herald Square, identifiable by their bright colored windbreakers, large bookbags, sunglasses, and subway map.
47-50th Street Rockefeller Center train Station (via http://markgarbowski.smugmug.com/Public/Sidewalking-2012/i-smCjbh2/0/XL/47-50th-street-rockefeller-XL.jpg)
I get off the next stop at 23rd and 6th. It’s a brilliant view. The sun blinds me for a split second and I acclimate to my surroundings: the Chase, the corner deli, and a gorgeous facade running down 6th Avenue. As I walk towards the sun, I pass by a Home Depot where workers are still painting the windows on the front. To my left are banks and creative agencies. Right up ahead I pass by the Flatiron Building and meander through Madison Square Park where locals walk their dogs. Soon the Credit Suisse buildings loom over me and I’m minutes away from school.
