New York, in ten easy points

[hermetic]

1. I completely fell in love with New York City. I had the same feeling of "I could live here very happily" as I did in Paris. I had a stronger feeling of that for New York than I did for San Francisco, and I've been in SF for over five years now. That said, there's no way in hell that I'd want to be anything less than comfortably middle class in

Comments

[t0rque]

re: Race. I agree with you to some extent but wow there are a LOT more people from the Asian continents in SF (and the asian/white difference is far far less visible) than NYC....in my opinion.

[hermetic]

I suppose that's true, but I spent an awesome afternoon in a thriving Chinatown...

And another thing I noticed were a lot of mixed couples, in all combinations of colors. That was heartening for the future. :)

[rosefox]

I'm so thrilled you had a good trip, and very sorry I wasn't around to play tour guide. Please let me know the next time you're headed this way!

[hermetic]

Thanks! I will totally drop you a line for my next visit.

[matociquala]

I am so glad you love my part of the world

[hermetic]

I do love it. I do not doubt that I will live in that part of the world at some point. At least, I would very much like to. :)

I think your point about the order of judgment makes a good deal of sense, and accounts for the difference I felt.

I think that Paris and Los Angeles are near to that status, although the one is ineluctably French and the other American, both in ways that are transforming what that means for their respective nations. They live in the imagination of people the world over, and are becoming more and more cities that belong to the world. Of course, don't tell the French I said that.

When I go back, if you're free, I would love to go to Grand Sichuan with you.

[matociquala]

MMm yeah. I have not been to Paris, but what you say makes much sense to me.

[shandrew]

As a former Northeasterner, I can say that (4) is only alive and well in NYC and not in most of the rest of the Northeast. I merely need to step out to the suburbs to find places where as a minority, people stare at me and assume odd things about me.

Now, the nice thing about living in those areas is that the odd racial stereotypes are pretty weakly held since they're not based on strong evidence, so they are easy to overcome. It's a different situation from California, where racial stereotypes tend to be stronger but more harmless.

[easwaran]

I've been struck by the friendliness and helpfulness the last few times I've been to New York too. I feel like it's an especially prominent development recently - the city is doing well and seems to have been well-run for a while, and it seems to be doing so in a way that spills down to many of the people in the streets. Granted, I didn't see how things are in the Bronx or Queens, but it did seem to be something that spreads to more than just the Wall Street types.

And your photo reminds me that I still haven't been back since Times Square was closed to car traffic - it sounds like an interesting development.