New York Minutiae

m&m say:

Greetings and most happy holidays to you all. Here we are, thankfully not embroiled in a transit strike. We touched down, expecting to be overwhelmed. Instead, under. Cab to Manhattan -- any minute now it will REALLY hit us. Any minute it didn't. Maybe once we walk around. Walking, walking, walking. Nope. Instead, this hits us: IT'S JUST A BIG CITY. Shocking.

Yesterday we walked a lot around the city (by choice), and per Maggie's request here are some impressions:

Times Square: Corporate mega-neon welcome to New York, with a mobile "Bringing Mitzvah to People on the Go" truck rolling by. Globalism embraced with greedy, consuming arms. Rumor Has It on the 5th Floor of the moviehouse.

Chelsea: A hot-spot for super-cool. Spying on a couple eating candlelit dinner in sunken apartment. Window into a little world of intimate peace.

Soho: Beautiful place with beautiful people buying beautiful things.


Brooklyn: Marjorie's place of choice were she ever to live in New York. Industrial aesthetic reigns. Squatters in buildings zoned commercial. Loft apartments above manufacturing businesses. Sun and steely blue wind.

Little Italy: Eateries and historic photos only remain.

Chinatown: Thrives. Living culture. They'll take your money, but they won't pretend they like it.

Strand bookstore: 3 stories of discounted bliss.

Everywhere: Architecture, architecture, architecture.

In General...

8th is our byway of choice. 6 times and counting.

There are a lot of poor people in the midst of the splendor, which is to be expected in one of the world's mega-capital centers. On 6th Street in particular, there are people with varying maladies hobbling around. Not asking for help. Just hobbling. Getting by. Getting through. Surving the best they can.

There are a lot of mixed-color couples. Streets are a panopoly of languages and accents. Tolerance level seems necessarily high.

Mikaela keeps reminding herself of probabilities and statistics. Multiply any fraction by 7 million, and you're bound to see a lot of it. Everywhere.

Much of what is good here was a public intervention in the capitalist system. Central Park. Washington Square. Subways. Go planners.

Mikaela was out later than ever before in her life. 4 am eating at a Kabob-ery. Cabbing it back for 4:30 am giggles between the bestest of friends.

Eating so far: Italian and Thai. Tonight, perhaps French. This morning: bagels and COFFEE. Mikaela is suprised that great restaurants aren't visibly omnipresent. Vegetarian places more than in Albuquerque for sure, but fewer than you might otherwise expect. Coffeeshops ditto. Internet cafes ditto. There's so much that you see so little.


Trash in bags piled up everywhere, picked up once a week, sometimes twice. Recycling, too (for motivation, see 7 million above). Good reminder of what it takes to support this many people in this little space. Our host, Gabe, thinks trash trains are the next big idea. Dump your bags down the subway vents. Why not? They have money trains and every other kind of train. Why not trash trains? The infrastructure possibilities abound.

Today: museums, bus tour, Nuyorican Cafe for poetry slam.

Too tired for verbs.

m&m, signing off