New Fuckin' York...
Reflections on New York,
This may get long. It’s my thoughts and impressions on my 4 day trip to the Big Apple. At times, it may delve into local politics and subjects that may trigger issues for those who are (or were) attached to New York around 2001. Fair warning…
New York is the most foreign place I have visited in the United States.
Transportation is a big part of things. Thursday made for a strange day; waking up in my bed (though early) and before lunch navigating airports, a Taxi, and walking around Brooklyn a bit. After that, it was into Midtown via the Subway. Our Hostess, Somjen, had said with relief at one point that she was glad we were self-sufficient - other guests could take some hand holding to go do anything. I can understand this, the Subway can be difficult to figure out the first couple times you use it. Sure, there are trains moving in opposite directions, that’s easy. What’s hard is transferring between them correctly, especially when they stop running some lines to deal with upgrades. Honestly, this is where I felt like I was sticking out the most - real New Yorkers are just commuting, so they move from platform to platform just like you drive to work without thinking about it. I’m walking around looking at signs, looking at a map, double checking myself, etc.
And then, you walk. Walking is serious in NYC. One would think, looking at a map, that New York is a very small place. You would be very wrong. Things measured in blocks quickly add up to miles of walking. By the time we left, we were starting to really get used to it, but it’s a very “into the deep end” kind of thing. New Yorkers don’t think twice about walking half a dozen blocks to go about their daily lives - eating, shopping, whatever.
When getting on the Subway for the first time, I was struck by just how different I was from everyone around me. I know I can stand to lose a couple pounds (and did on this trip), but as far as I could find, there are no overweight people in NYC. Like, none. In any store we went in, there were clothes for thin people only. I was generally taller than most people I was around, but given that, I had at least 10 to 20 pounds on every guy I saw. I think this is due to a combination of factors. First, is the walking. It’s not just that you walk from place to place, but you haul all your stuff on your person. Want to buy something? Great, now you haul it home. No trunk to put it in. Also, food is very expensive there (at least in relation to here). So, I wonder if people just eat less of it, so as not to go broke. Lastly, you have to work so much more for food - lots of people don’t have big pantries and fridges, so they often have to go buy what they want to eat that day, and not store it. Overall, it seems much healthier for humans.
And then, there was fashion. First up, apparently New York is going through a second 80’s revival in as many years. Thus, there were two general types of people - 80’s people or Hipsters. IT-Geek, “t-shirt and jeans”, was not an option. Also, one does not wear your electronic gadget on your belt. This may be because of fashion, or security, or whatever, but it’s just not done. Just to try and fit in, I quickly changed from t-shirts to button down shirts, and think I did a bit better for it. I know I got some strange looks when we went to the Morgan Library and I was wearing a t-shirt (never mind the fact that we were the most knowledgeable people in our tour group about Medieval stuff). The 80’s folks were kinda strange. Mostly women and girls were into this fashion craze, and many were committing the tights-as-pants sin (as so described by our hostess). But yes, curly perms, loud makeup, bedazzled anything, and honest-to-god leg warmers were on every train. Actually, there is one important difference, it was the 80’s fashion as seen through the lens of today’s morals - so no conservative types in long skirts and big shoulder pads. When combined with the fact that many subway cars were actually used in the period, every so often one could look up from one’s phone and think you were in some sort of movie scene.
The City herself looked kind of, old. Like, things would fall down a little and nobody would pick them up. Trash just kind of, happened. People take the bag out of their trash can and put it on the sidewalk, and at some point within a day or so a truck picks it up. I don’t want to think about what the smell is like in the middle of summer. Outside of that, there was a charm to places, either the brownstones of Brooklyn, or the bricked streets of lower Manhattan. I can see how people love it, and I can see how sometimes you have to love it.
If I lived in New York, I would absolutely jail break my iPhone and get it on T-Mobile. AT&T just sucks there, there’s no way around it. You will have all the bars in the world, full 3G service, and you can’t get any data at all. I completely gave up on calling people, because the calls would drop every time. Thus, we fell into the world of setting things up via text message. However, I know why the iPhone is so popular there. If you are going to sit on a train for 30 to 60 minutes a day, you want a device that lets you listen to music, play games, and read things. Pretty much everyone who sat down in a subway car, whipped out some flavor of smart phone, and didn’t look up till their stop.
There’s a strange impersonal nature to New York. Everyone exists in a shell of their own making, and you don’t talk to anyone outside your shell. You don’t even make eye contact with them. I also think this is part of the iPhone thing, but many folks will wear sun glasses and head phones to try and maintain their shell. When riding the subway with Somjen and Zil (Zil is Somejen’s Girlfriend), they about cracked up when I said “excuse me” to get off the train. Somjen suggested that the city would go to pieces if everyone had to say “excuse me” to slip past someone. I maintain that if cars can honk their horns to get people to move, persons should be able to say “excuse me” to get by. When being panhandled or someone was trying to hand out bills, I would always get suckered in because I made eye contact with my fellow humans. Apparently, that’s where I failed. Talking to someone, even to say, “No Thanks” was right out. Holding a door open for someone was met with a very mixed response. Some people looked at me like I was patronizing them, others seemed genuinely thankful. I also got some strange looks for taking my hat off inside, but nobody really cared about what I did with my own stuff.
****9/11 and Cop Stuff****
So, 9/11 has changed more than the skyline of NYC. This can get strange for folks, so skip on down if you need to. My first impression is that of an oppressive police presence. There were just cop cars everywhere you looked, and then there were cops on the street, and then there were traffic cops, and police auxiliary, and etc. Now, I wasn’t trying to do anything wrong or illegal, but I just have a hard time relaxing around cops in uniform. That said, we rode by at least one open, daylight, drug deal that was going down right in front of a cop, and they did nothing about it. Somjen suggested that while it gives the impression that they are corrupt, at times they are just trying to reduce overall harm and have to let things go - but that sometimes they are just corrupt. On the subway, things got even stranger. There were signs and announcements suggesting that you turn in your fellow man for acting strangely. Also, you can have your bag randomly searched if you are on the subway. I suggested that I didn’t give up my rights regarding unreasonable search, but apparently you do by getting on the subway. I kept looking, and never saw a sign saying that. It was a moot point, both because I was never searched and because I didn’t have anything to hide, but that’s not really my point. I kept using words like “Orwellian” and “Fascist”, because that’s kind of how it felt. You could call 311 and report just about anything, and I felt like there was some sort of “Ministry of Harmony” on the other end waiting for your call.
On the flip side, I’m not a New Yorker. I don’t live there, I don’t vote there. It’s their city, and if they want this level of protection, that’s up to the people who live there. I did start to understand, on a visceral level, the respect that the emergency services receive. While walking around China Town, we saw a ladder truck of the FDNY stop traffic on a street and back into its garage. Nobody honked. People were backed up around the corner, and couldn’t see the truck, but knew that it was the FDNY and weren’t going to hassle them. Then, as we walked by, I saw the plaque on the side of the company… an entire shift of fire fighters from there was wiped out on 9/11, and there were a lot of names on that plaque.
I never really felt “unsafe”. I felt “uncomfortable” a couple times, but never like I was really just about to be mugged or in more serious trouble. I had to walk around with my head up, but it would seem that the crime of the 80’s didn’t come back with its fashion. When we strolled through Times Square, it was very flashy and commercial rather than the Den of Sin of yester year. When I was looking for a FedEx store, I asked one beat cop and one cop car (2 cops in the car) for directions, and they were very nice about it. I stared with “excuse me officer” and they were more than happy to send me in the right direction (well, the cops in the car did, the beat cop had no idea).
****End 9/11 and Cop Stuff****
So, on to amusing antics. Let’s see, I was propositioned for gay sex, a la Larry Craig, in the bathroom of a deli. I didn’t realize that the place for a good pastrami sandwich was on the border between Chelsea and the Garment District. A light blue Keds sneaker came under the wall of the stall; there was some whistling and tapping… I flushed, mumbled “no thanks” and went back to the dining room.
I ate like 3 hot dogs, and like 4 bagels. They were all delicious. We also found our way to a China Town noodle shop, where the noodles were hand pulled and walked to the kitchen, then dropped into broth. A couple minutes later, our soup came out, and it was excellent. The pastrami sandwich was everything I remembered it could be. Also, we tried a Middle Eastern place that was great, we hit a little local bar/restaurant in Brooklyn, and got pizza from Somjen’s favorite pizza place.
We managed to hit the Morgan Library, the Met, the Museum of Modern Art (with its Tim Burton Exhibition), and the Cloisters. The special exhibits that we went for were quite awesome - the unbound books of hours (The Hours of Catherine of Cleves and the Bell Heurs of Jean de Barry), as well as the Mourners (a set of statues off the tomb of Jean the Fearless, 2nd Valois Duke of Burgundy). We tooled around the Met and its stuff, but most of their medieval things are at the Cloisters or later than my period. Still, it was fun to hang out in the Arms and Armor and educate people about the weight/fit of armor and the idea of glancing surfaces.
Well, back to the cube life. Like all travel, it’s very nice to be back home with my bed and my pets.
This may get long. It’s my thoughts and impressions on my 4 day trip to the Big Apple. At times, it may delve into local politics and subjects that may trigger issues for those who are (or were) attached to New York around 2001. Fair warning…
New York is the most foreign place I have visited in the United States.
Transportation is a big part of things. Thursday made for a strange day; waking up in my bed (though early) and before lunch navigating airports, a Taxi, and walking around Brooklyn a bit. After that, it was into Midtown via the Subway. Our Hostess, Somjen, had said with relief at one point that she was glad we were self-sufficient - other guests could take some hand holding to go do anything. I can understand this, the Subway can be difficult to figure out the first couple times you use it. Sure, there are trains moving in opposite directions, that’s easy. What’s hard is transferring between them correctly, especially when they stop running some lines to deal with upgrades. Honestly, this is where I felt like I was sticking out the most - real New Yorkers are just commuting, so they move from platform to platform just like you drive to work without thinking about it. I’m walking around looking at signs, looking at a map, double checking myself, etc.
And then, you walk. Walking is serious in NYC. One would think, looking at a map, that New York is a very small place. You would be very wrong. Things measured in blocks quickly add up to miles of walking. By the time we left, we were starting to really get used to it, but it’s a very “into the deep end” kind of thing. New Yorkers don’t think twice about walking half a dozen blocks to go about their daily lives - eating, shopping, whatever.
When getting on the Subway for the first time, I was struck by just how different I was from everyone around me. I know I can stand to lose a couple pounds (and did on this trip), but as far as I could find, there are no overweight people in NYC. Like, none. In any store we went in, there were clothes for thin people only. I was generally taller than most people I was around, but given that, I had at least 10 to 20 pounds on every guy I saw. I think this is due to a combination of factors. First, is the walking. It’s not just that you walk from place to place, but you haul all your stuff on your person. Want to buy something? Great, now you haul it home. No trunk to put it in. Also, food is very expensive there (at least in relation to here). So, I wonder if people just eat less of it, so as not to go broke. Lastly, you have to work so much more for food - lots of people don’t have big pantries and fridges, so they often have to go buy what they want to eat that day, and not store it. Overall, it seems much healthier for humans.
And then, there was fashion. First up, apparently New York is going through a second 80’s revival in as many years. Thus, there were two general types of people - 80’s people or Hipsters. IT-Geek, “t-shirt and jeans”, was not an option. Also, one does not wear your electronic gadget on your belt. This may be because of fashion, or security, or whatever, but it’s just not done. Just to try and fit in, I quickly changed from t-shirts to button down shirts, and think I did a bit better for it. I know I got some strange looks when we went to the Morgan Library and I was wearing a t-shirt (never mind the fact that we were the most knowledgeable people in our tour group about Medieval stuff). The 80’s folks were kinda strange. Mostly women and girls were into this fashion craze, and many were committing the tights-as-pants sin (as so described by our hostess). But yes, curly perms, loud makeup, bedazzled anything, and honest-to-god leg warmers were on every train. Actually, there is one important difference, it was the 80’s fashion as seen through the lens of today’s morals - so no conservative types in long skirts and big shoulder pads. When combined with the fact that many subway cars were actually used in the period, every so often one could look up from one’s phone and think you were in some sort of movie scene.
The City herself looked kind of, old. Like, things would fall down a little and nobody would pick them up. Trash just kind of, happened. People take the bag out of their trash can and put it on the sidewalk, and at some point within a day or so a truck picks it up. I don’t want to think about what the smell is like in the middle of summer. Outside of that, there was a charm to places, either the brownstones of Brooklyn, or the bricked streets of lower Manhattan. I can see how people love it, and I can see how sometimes you have to love it.
If I lived in New York, I would absolutely jail break my iPhone and get it on T-Mobile. AT&T just sucks there, there’s no way around it. You will have all the bars in the world, full 3G service, and you can’t get any data at all. I completely gave up on calling people, because the calls would drop every time. Thus, we fell into the world of setting things up via text message. However, I know why the iPhone is so popular there. If you are going to sit on a train for 30 to 60 minutes a day, you want a device that lets you listen to music, play games, and read things. Pretty much everyone who sat down in a subway car, whipped out some flavor of smart phone, and didn’t look up till their stop.
There’s a strange impersonal nature to New York. Everyone exists in a shell of their own making, and you don’t talk to anyone outside your shell. You don’t even make eye contact with them. I also think this is part of the iPhone thing, but many folks will wear sun glasses and head phones to try and maintain their shell. When riding the subway with Somjen and Zil (Zil is Somejen’s Girlfriend), they about cracked up when I said “excuse me” to get off the train. Somjen suggested that the city would go to pieces if everyone had to say “excuse me” to slip past someone. I maintain that if cars can honk their horns to get people to move, persons should be able to say “excuse me” to get by. When being panhandled or someone was trying to hand out bills, I would always get suckered in because I made eye contact with my fellow humans. Apparently, that’s where I failed. Talking to someone, even to say, “No Thanks” was right out. Holding a door open for someone was met with a very mixed response. Some people looked at me like I was patronizing them, others seemed genuinely thankful. I also got some strange looks for taking my hat off inside, but nobody really cared about what I did with my own stuff.
****9/11 and Cop Stuff****
So, 9/11 has changed more than the skyline of NYC. This can get strange for folks, so skip on down if you need to. My first impression is that of an oppressive police presence. There were just cop cars everywhere you looked, and then there were cops on the street, and then there were traffic cops, and police auxiliary, and etc. Now, I wasn’t trying to do anything wrong or illegal, but I just have a hard time relaxing around cops in uniform. That said, we rode by at least one open, daylight, drug deal that was going down right in front of a cop, and they did nothing about it. Somjen suggested that while it gives the impression that they are corrupt, at times they are just trying to reduce overall harm and have to let things go - but that sometimes they are just corrupt. On the subway, things got even stranger. There were signs and announcements suggesting that you turn in your fellow man for acting strangely. Also, you can have your bag randomly searched if you are on the subway. I suggested that I didn’t give up my rights regarding unreasonable search, but apparently you do by getting on the subway. I kept looking, and never saw a sign saying that. It was a moot point, both because I was never searched and because I didn’t have anything to hide, but that’s not really my point. I kept using words like “Orwellian” and “Fascist”, because that’s kind of how it felt. You could call 311 and report just about anything, and I felt like there was some sort of “Ministry of Harmony” on the other end waiting for your call.
On the flip side, I’m not a New Yorker. I don’t live there, I don’t vote there. It’s their city, and if they want this level of protection, that’s up to the people who live there. I did start to understand, on a visceral level, the respect that the emergency services receive. While walking around China Town, we saw a ladder truck of the FDNY stop traffic on a street and back into its garage. Nobody honked. People were backed up around the corner, and couldn’t see the truck, but knew that it was the FDNY and weren’t going to hassle them. Then, as we walked by, I saw the plaque on the side of the company… an entire shift of fire fighters from there was wiped out on 9/11, and there were a lot of names on that plaque.
I never really felt “unsafe”. I felt “uncomfortable” a couple times, but never like I was really just about to be mugged or in more serious trouble. I had to walk around with my head up, but it would seem that the crime of the 80’s didn’t come back with its fashion. When we strolled through Times Square, it was very flashy and commercial rather than the Den of Sin of yester year. When I was looking for a FedEx store, I asked one beat cop and one cop car (2 cops in the car) for directions, and they were very nice about it. I stared with “excuse me officer” and they were more than happy to send me in the right direction (well, the cops in the car did, the beat cop had no idea).
****End 9/11 and Cop Stuff****
So, on to amusing antics. Let’s see, I was propositioned for gay sex, a la Larry Craig, in the bathroom of a deli. I didn’t realize that the place for a good pastrami sandwich was on the border between Chelsea and the Garment District. A light blue Keds sneaker came under the wall of the stall; there was some whistling and tapping… I flushed, mumbled “no thanks” and went back to the dining room.
I ate like 3 hot dogs, and like 4 bagels. They were all delicious. We also found our way to a China Town noodle shop, where the noodles were hand pulled and walked to the kitchen, then dropped into broth. A couple minutes later, our soup came out, and it was excellent. The pastrami sandwich was everything I remembered it could be. Also, we tried a Middle Eastern place that was great, we hit a little local bar/restaurant in Brooklyn, and got pizza from Somjen’s favorite pizza place.
We managed to hit the Morgan Library, the Met, the Museum of Modern Art (with its Tim Burton Exhibition), and the Cloisters. The special exhibits that we went for were quite awesome - the unbound books of hours (The Hours of Catherine of Cleves and the Bell Heurs of Jean de Barry), as well as the Mourners (a set of statues off the tomb of Jean the Fearless, 2nd Valois Duke of Burgundy). We tooled around the Met and its stuff, but most of their medieval things are at the Cloisters or later than my period. Still, it was fun to hang out in the Arms and Armor and educate people about the weight/fit of armor and the idea of glancing surfaces.
Well, back to the cube life. Like all travel, it’s very nice to be back home with my bed and my pets.