I initially set out to do this project with the intent of following a specific narrative; possibly that of an individual in New York City, or maybe even of my own. However, what I quickly realized is that there is hardly a single narrative or series of experiences that could ever represent or appeal to the diversity of our city. For this reason, my project ended up being a sort of collage of excerpts from the many pages of the story that New York City writes every day.

I included two short poems with references to the Lower East Side and the subway system because I feel that these are places that are evocative of a feeling that I think can only be felt in New York City. The simultaneous grime and beauty of LES is an inimitable environment, home to businesspeople, project buildings, the old and wise, the young and foolish, and even the homeless. Similarly, nearly anything can be seen on the Manhattan trains and most New Yorkers will not bat an eye. These events (or nonevents) are the unifying factor for all of us- we all ride the same trains and get crammed into the same subway cars like sardines when the MTA is particularly dysfunctional.

The focus of the rest of the project was also on things that unite us, rather than divide us. New York is a city of smokers- it is estimated that about 14% of New Yorkers smoke, which is more than 1 out of every 10 people. This inspired the collage “Pleasure is Addictive.” It was made of clippings from magazines and newspapers, illustrating the prevalence of advertisements for and against the use of tobacco. In a way, this is representative of how we are constantly bombarded by polar opinions from all sides, usually for the purpose of making money.

The remaining segments of this project, namely the quotes from strangers and “newspaper article,” are just fragments from the people that make up the city. The good humor of strangers at Washington Square Park or the somewhat psychotic rambling of people at train stations late at night are seemingly irreconcilable concepts, but they clearly exist side by side in NYC. It is for this reason that I found it difficult to follow just a single story. So many exists, and so many are entangled beyond differentiation that I found the most appropriate approach to be trying to take a snapshot of sorts of the city as a whole. The newspaper page was compiled based on the responses I received from people in Washington Square Park when I asked them what they felt they had to be paranoid about. I feel that in recent times, paranoia has been pervasive of the spirit of NYC- people seem very guarded and cautious. I listed their responses as bullets in this “article” in order to reflect the community’s mutual concerns.