But in New York, the chances are endless.
Reading E.B. White’s Here Is New York has made me contemplate the way I envisioned New York. Whenever I think of the city, I always depicted a beautiful (and stereotypical) portrait of New York: the twinkling lights of skyscrapers outlining the night sky. You can just tell through the photo, that millions of people are always bustling through the city despite the time.
White writes, “New York is the concentrate of art and commerce and sport and religion and entertainment and finance, bringing to a single compact arena the gladiator, the evangelist, the promoter, the actor, the trader and the merchant” (696). Nowhere else in the world, will you ever meet so many diverse people congregated in an area. I find it enchanting that almost every culture and personality is represented in New York; the opportunity to meet so many different people is not only exciting, but it is what makes New York so different from any other city in the world, which White perfectly portrays on page 700: “The city is like poetry; it compresses all life, all races and breeds, into a small island and adds music and the accompaniment of internal engines.”
White points out many different interesting mannerisms of New Yorkers and the city itself. I have discovered that most New Yorkers have not actually been to some of the most famous landmarks. I lived about a 40 minute train ride away from the city and I have yet to visit many tourist attractions, like the Statue of Liberty nor have I ever been ice-skating in Rockefeller Center. However, one day, I can only hope that I get the opportunity to visit these places, just as many tourists do.
When White explained the three different New Yorks, I easily categorized myself as the “person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something” (698). Although I was born in New York, I was never exposed to the city as I am now. I am currently typing this reading response while staring outside my 16th floor window, and I must admit, the view is absolutely breathtaking. I came to school in the city to be immersed in that rapid restless ambience. White illustrates the third New York/settlers as zealous, even saying that, “each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the fresh eyes of an adventurer” (699) and I can completely agree with this quote. Everyday I am amazed that I am a New Yorker, that I live in the city, that I have a group of friends who are just as excited to be surrounded by millions of other people who, like me, are trying to find themselves.
I will end this post with my favorite quote from the reading: “By comparison with other less hectic days, the city is uncomfortable and inconvenient; but New Yorkers temperamentally do not crave comfort and convenience – if they did they would live elsewhere” (710). I think that this quote perfectly sums up why I am here at Baruch College and (arguably) in the best city in the world.
