Snapshot NYC – Nablul

Posted on October 21, 2011 by nhaseeb

As I advanced down West 32nd St. leaving Penn Station behind me, I entered another cultural niche in the vast city of New York. The murmur from the pedestrians became foreign. The illustrious signs and the extravagant menus surrounding me became incomprehensible. “Bibimbap – $9.99.” “Bulgogi – $ 12.99.” Although I did not know what the words in bright red, green and yellow meant, I knew that I was about to try something new today. This excitement of experiencing the exotic rejuvenated my senses. I felt like a novice in the very city, which I spent several years exploring.  As I advanced down West 32nd St. leaving Penn Station behind me, I was wondering if some other New Yorker like myself was ready to experience a Bibimbap or a Bulgogi for the first time in their life today.

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One Response to Snapshot NYC – Nablul

  1. jgeorge says:
    November 10, 2011 at 5:30 pm

    This is a pretty clear recollection of the event itself. It isn’t as overtly “poetic” as some of the other contributions, which is fine, but I think it could do a little more (and a little less of some things) to let the reader experience it as well. Some of it is overwriting: why is a sign “illustrious” and a menu “extravagant”? These adjectives seem a little over-the-top. And “This excitement of experiencing the exotic rejuvenated my senses” is a good example of telling and not showing. Part of the trick, and the difficulty, in any good writing is to show the feeling rather than telling it, which is almost always flat. Can you find an image that shows the same thing without saying it?

    Also, I also really like the subway and track image. Very cool.

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