My New York

To me New York is composed of two fairly localized geographical locations: Bensonhurst, where I lived for 13 years and parts of Tribeca were I went to school. I feel at home on the sidewalks, the schools, the parks. The traditional allure of skyscrapers, the statue of liberty and multiculturalism never attracted me. The latter because I take it for granted and when I think about it, thank god. If living next to a person of a completely different background is as normal as turning on a light bulb, then the world might survive another century or two. As for skyscrapers, I might be too much of a New Yorker in this in the way I never look up – I always walk straight and at a good pace, as if I forgot something. Lady Liberty? For me she’s as remote as Ohio; I never see her.

Then there is of course the subway. I know that I theoretically should be thankful that it works 24 hours a day and I have made use of this on numerous occasions. However, because I never really lived in another city (where this is apparently rare) I do not feel that this is a privilege. On the other hand I notice the cleanliness, reliability and noiselessness of other metro systems and unwittingly I become jealous. I do, in theory, live in the world’s second largest financial hub. Maybe what I saying is a bit of a stretch but I think that MTA should have the decency to make ceiling that do not filter rain through.