Hi Samantha!

I really enjoyed reading your post because of it’s personal touch tied in with the facts.

I can definitely relate to al the anecdotes you spoke about in your post. I work in the city twice a week, and take late-night classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology. While both the company I work at and the school I attend are in the garment district, in order to get to places that sell kosher food I need to cross through times square. I would also consider myself a part of the Times Square Demographic. 

As a woman, I am always hyper aware of whatever it going on around me. I am fully cognizant of the fact that I do not look very strong, something else you touched upon in your post, and that I relate to.

I completely agree with your characterization of New Yorkers in that we ‘tend to avoid interaction with strangers a much as possible’. However, I do not feel that is what Delaney meant in his essay. As Willow already pointed out in her response, the times Square that dElaney was referencing was not one filled with strangers and tourists, ti was part of the community of that specific location. Today, very few people live in that area at all. The LGBT community of Delaney’s time adopted Times Square as their city center. The people you might meet in Delaney’s Times Square were not complete strangers. I also think it’s important to note that Delaney is speaking about a time before it was normal to walk down a street carrying a smartphone. People used to actually see things when they walked around. With their eyes. Not their cameras. Take a minute to let that sink in. Crazy, I know.

Whether or not Times Square has been ‘fixed’ or needs ‘fixing’ at all is something that I have not made up my mind about yet, but I feel these points are an important part of the discussion.

-Rebecca