There was a woman crying on the subway in February. There were likely many women crying on the subway in February, I'm sure, but somehow I managed to only see one. New York has so few private spaces that sometimes the relative anonymity of public transit becomes a sort of reverse haven. (This, and the fortysomething delivery menus New Yorkers all ( Read more... )

I have lived in New York nearly nine years and have been crapped on by birds six times. Five of those have been since September.

The other night, I was walking to the subway in Chinatown, and a man crossed the street and matched my pace. Here we go, I thought, and braced myself for whatever comment was to come.

Women, you know what I mean: Hey mami, Hey baby whatchoo doing, Hey beautiful why don't you smile for me, Baby you got leggggs. The kind of comment that might make ( Read more... )

Hurried fortysomething woman to prepubescent boy, Queens, New York: "Shit's going down on page 58, and that's a fact."

A walk through an undiscovered neighborhood is one of New York's greatest balms and pleasures, and at that time the number of new-to-me neighborhoods was much higher than it is now. It wasn't hard to walk home on a street I hadn't seen before. Thirty-third and Madison could be exotic then ( Read more... )

Last summer sometime, I noticed a man on the 57th Street subway platform. He was standing on the far edge of the platform, right at the spot where I always get on and get off to maximize my subway efficiency. He was wearing jeans, white tennis shoes, and a short-sleeved button-up shirt. He had horn-rimmed glasses and a haircut and gray goatee that ( Read more... )

One of you wrote, I can't help but believe in the moon. I like that. And those in the eastern part of the U.S. (as well as other parts of the world) can see a lunar eclipse tomorrow night(I remember the last lunar eclipse, October 29, 2004. I'd worked out and hadn't showered and was sweaty and gross, but when I returned from the gym I peeked online ( Read more... )

"Mysterious odors come and go in the New York City area, sometimes never identified."

I hate 9/11. I mean, there's the obvious of why we should hate 9/11, and I don't mean to belittle those very real, grievous reasons, but that should go without saying. What I hate specifically is the whole concept of The Day That Will Live In Infamy. I hate how ( Read more... )

Dear Beaming New Yorkers ( Read more... )

I took a walk in Central Park today, as I do pretty much every workday, and saw a homeless man, as I do pretty much every day. He was dirty, dirtier than the average person who makes the streets his home. His face had layers of dirt that made his skin look gray. His hair was in matted, oily layers that I recognized from the time I was so drugged ( Read more... )