The Empire City

Sometimes I think New York City is a world of its own. It has its own orbit, individualistic atmosphere, and distinct topography that is incomparable to any dot on the map. Cynthia Ozick, in The Synthetic Sublime, manages to perfectly portray my vision of New York as an idiosyncratic, unique, spellbinding and metamorphic city.

My favorite part about Cynthia Ozick’s piece was her mention of New York as a constantly evolving and mercurial city that somehow manages to maintain and pay homage to its history. Although the local bodega on the Upper East Side might have transformed into a Juice Generation for the yoga-loving, baby-toting health nuts that reside there, and the local bar on the corner may have turned into the ubiquitous TD Bank branch, NYC still possesses reminders that no matter what stands where, the city will always incorporate its past into the future. Like Ozick mentions, ”The paradox of New York is that its disappearances contain constancies – and not only because some buildings from an earlier generation survive to prod us toward historical self-consciousness. What is most steadfast in New York has the fleet look of the mercurial: the city’s persistent daring, vivacity, enchantment, experiment; the marvel of new forms fired by old passions, the rekindling of the snuffed.” (950) We are reminded of this on every street, every road, and every building we walk past.

In addition, each neighborhood serves as its own culturally distinct enclave providing NYC with a sense of diversity that cannot be found anywhere else. In her piece, Ozick reminisces about a street game she used to play when she was still growing up in the Bronx. In this game of “War,” the central idea was to identify yourself with a certain country that you believe best represents you, and each player (or “country”) would vie for this pink rubber ball that would represent victory for the self-designated country. It was a game of pride and ethnocentrism, but also a game of acceptance and respect for others that one eventually develops when living in a city as diverse as New York. Before, when the immigrants were mostly Jewish, Italian, German, and Irish, Ozick alludes to the new wave of immigrants from Trinidad, Jamaica, Haiti, Mexico, Pakistan, India, China, etc.

Ozick’s piece managed to bring to light the invaluable and irreplaceable charm and mystery surrounding New York City like no other.