New York in a Nutshell.
I was born and raised in Park Slope, Brooklyn until I was 10. But, throughout my childhood, I have travelled to a lot of different places and spent a good majority of my childhood in the Philippines. However, wherever I go, nothing, and I mean NOTHING can compare to New York. Let me show you my New York City.
Firstly, the life in New York city is incomparable. It’s vigorous atmosphere and fast-paced momentum just makes your adrenaline pump. In Manhattan, you need to walk quickly. It’s a MUST. If you don’t real New Yorkers, like myself, will just maneuver and cut in front of you. You need to keep up with the pace or be left behind. The song, “Walking on a Dream,” by Empire of the Sun, embodies that cut-throat, face-paced energy New York City encompasses. When you walk in the city, depending on which part of the city of course, you feel like you’re on a cat-walk.
Secondly, the city is never empty. There is always transportation and food which cannot be said for a plethora of other major cities. The city, despite it’s criminal record, feels somewhat safe with people always about and moving.
Thirdly, and lastly, what makes New York City for me is Central Park. It’s most probably the most famous park in the city, and it is for valid reasons. It’s enormous. It’s beautiful. It’s awe-inspiring. It’s grand. It’s fascinating. It’s whimsical. It’s structured. It’s not structured. It’s safe. It’s dangerous. It’s dangerous. It’s romantic. It’s adventurous.
It’s simply everything.
I have spent countless days there wishing and dreaming; crying and laughing; smiling and frowning; living and dying. I know it sounds absurd, but there honestly is no other park in the world like it. It’s majestic. It was the subject of my “Vaue” Painting in High School.
So, New York City – well – MY New York City encompasses the vibrant energy of the people and the serenity of a most picturesque park. I know it sounds quite odd for my description of New York to be complete opposites, but that’s just who I am: a completely whimsical person.
1 comment
It’s funny, but I think a lot of non-New Yorkers would look at your painting and say “that’s not New York, it’s nothing like New York.” But that image and that feeling, combined with the music, is still a big part of what makes this city the city it is. Remember the Frank O’Hara quote we read in class? “I can’t even enjoy a blade of grass unless I know there’s a subway handy, or a record store or some other sign that people do not totally regret life. It’s more important to confirm the least sincere. The clouds get enough attention as it is…”
It’s also true that the park is at the heart–not just the subways and the record stores–of NYC.
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