A Year In New York

Today I’ve been running last-minute errands and pondering what it all means, spending a year in New York City. I’ve worn through a lot of shoe leather in this crazy town and learned some hard lessons,  and now it’s time for me to pass those lessons on to you.
Here goes:

1. The World Won’t End If [...]

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My colleague Rebecca and I stepped onto the Pelham-bound train with our eyes darting suspiciously this way and that. Just moments before we had left our seats at the Union Square movie theater, where we saw “The Taking of Pelham 123.” Taking the subway after seeing that movie is akin to watching “Deliverance” right before [...]

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New York has so much music that it regularly bursts out of the auditorium and into the streets. For your enjoyment, here’s a sampler of some of the best found performances I saw this year. Which is your favorite?

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The 6 Train can get mighty dull in the middle of the day when there’s no children breakdancing for money or preachers yelling in your particular car. It was in one of these off moments that I sidled up behind the conductor and pointed my camera through the conductor’s compartment, to see what he sees.

What [...]

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It still hurts to take a deep breath after the snowboarding injury I got a few weeks ago. Joo thinks I bruised or even broke a rib. No treatment is available but rest, so I resort to only exercise that doesn’t hurt. I walk to work.
I’ve experimented with different routes and today I walked down [...]

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Last night I waited for a train at the Bleecker Street stop. It was late, with nobody around, so I stared at the tiles on this pillar. You see they are none too clean.
They were just as dirty as they were the other three or four times I have waited there for the 6 train. [...]

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The New York subway has 468 stations, and that’s a lot of walls to cover. A few stops have tilework that’s worthy of a museum.
Seen more that I shouldn’t miss? Tell me where to look!

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In the kaleidoscope of New York experiences, none are giving me a consistent thrill like a $2 ride on the subway. The good civics of mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg have made the streets of Manhattan quite scrubbed and civil. Walk underground, though, and there’s a whiff of anarchy.

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I have exited Trader Joe’s and waded into the hurly-burly of 14th Street before I realize the scope of my blunder. My reach – for six bottles of beer, a can of black beans, a 12er of jumbo eggs – has exceeded my grasp. How the hell will I get all this home?

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I am underground on a subway platform, sweating quietly and trying to look wise. I glance right, then left. One tunnel mouth will deliver the train, but I don’t know which. I don’t know for sure which line I’m on, or with complete certainty that this train will indeed deliver us to Washington Heights, which [...]

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