I’ve never held any desire to make it to New York. Even just seeing as I flew out of Newark to Ireland, was overwhelming to witness. But the way you write about it makes me wonder if I’ve judged it too quickly. Made a visit is in order.
If you ever go, I’d recommend skipping midtown and the touristy spots, and heading straight to downtown Manhattan or north Brooklyn, and simply walking around on a nice autumn or spring day. That’s how I’ve always found the city’s hidden gems. :)
as I said here, I long for the trees sometimes definitely won't stay there forever :) but there are very special parts of it if you can find your way past all the exterior chaos!!
I have spent less than two days in New York City. On the first, I tried to do all of the things - Times Square, Central Park, Met Museum - in 10 hours or so between rolling in on a bus from upstate and flying out of JFK. A couple of years ago my one-hour morning layover at JFK turned into 18 hours and - wanting to do the least city thing within reach - I took the rattling not-subway down to Rockaway and walked almost the whole length of the beach.
I am someone who grew up ten miles from a town of 1200, and NYC feels like Coruscant to me - so incomprehensibly many humans and buildings that it might as well be another planet. I have no desire to ever live there. And yet it is intriguing, equal parts decaying and vibrant, dying and alive. The way that bland concrete and steel become imbued with story, the way that life takes root in the cracks and decaying edges. The miles of empty streets in Rockaway, pavement and sidewalks but no houses (all destroyed by Sandy?), returning to grass and shrub and blowing sand. The bored lifeguards keeping watch upon acres of empty beach, as if perhaps they exist simultaneously in a different dimension or a time-warp filled with frolicking children that I cannot see. The sheer volume of embodied human labor, steel upon concrete upon brick, not designed to last centuries as in Europe, seemingly destined to ruin as the old foundations crumble and neighborhood wealth is hollowed out by corporate greed and the end of Progress, glitzy digital signs and towers of speculative wealth a thin veneer over the end of cheap oil and American empire. The millions of rats beneath and among it all, the sparrows that roam the corridors of JFK, reminding us that we are not the only life that is well adapted to the habitats we create, that the wild cauldron of creation and decay will forever grind away at our blueprints and boxes and straight lines, that beneath our fear that we are destroying Nature lies a deeper fear that can also be a solace: that control is a temporary illusion and all of our plans and works and experiments in atmospheric chemistry will be woven into a greater story of constant change and relentless creativity.
I appreciate reading a perspective on NYC from someone who sees more deeply and who has found home and belonging there.
I love this whole comment. You seem to have captured the spirit of the city so very well despite not spending too much time there. The empty streets, the strange patches of sand and grass amid the crush of corporate glitter, all run through by countless pigeons and rats... all so accurate — nature has found its way into the city certainly and will persist long after the ocean overtakes the avenues!
There's also a lot of warmth to be found on the inside — in some ways, New York really exists inside I think, in the houses and venues, bars and communities and secret passages — and I think that's how I've managed to find belonging there. But you also write about its wild outsides so well here. I've always found a strange beauty in them too.
Anyhow, it's certainly not for everyone, and I've always found it startlingly temporary, an emblem of a world that's dying as much as it's always seemingly being reborn when you're inside of it. Thanks as always for such a beautiful reflection.
Beautiful read. Thank you for sharing your relationship and reflections of your time there.
I’ve only been to New York City once. While I don’t really have a longing to go there (I much prefer more natural and quiet places), I dream about New York City surprisingly often. In these dreams, I know my way around the city and have “memories” of certain places. It’s honestly a little strange and has definitely made me more fascinated about it, even though I don’t really want to go there haha. All that to say, the part of me that dreams and wonders about NYC really appreciates this post ❤️.
That's so interesting. I often have felt I may have been there in a past life, and I wonder if maybe that could be the case for you — either that, or it does have a way of seeping into the subsonscious thanks to all the films and movies and images that take place there!
Yes, I’ve had the thought that I could have lived there in a past life as well! Especially because some of the dreams feel like memories and have a strange nostalgia to them.
I’ve never held any desire to make it to New York. Even just seeing as I flew out of Newark to Ireland, was overwhelming to witness. But the way you write about it makes me wonder if I’ve judged it too quickly. Made a visit is in order.
If you ever go, I’d recommend skipping midtown and the touristy spots, and heading straight to downtown Manhattan or north Brooklyn, and simply walking around on a nice autumn or spring day. That’s how I’ve always found the city’s hidden gems. :)
Oh thanks for the suggestion, autumn is my favorite time of year and I’d rather see the real gems rather than the touristy ones.
Beautiful enough to make me reconsider how much I dislike nyc 😊
as I said here, I long for the trees sometimes definitely won't stay there forever :) but there are very special parts of it if you can find your way past all the exterior chaos!!
I love your descriptions of NYC, it made me smile.
Glad you enjoyed :) thanks for reading!
I have spent less than two days in New York City. On the first, I tried to do all of the things - Times Square, Central Park, Met Museum - in 10 hours or so between rolling in on a bus from upstate and flying out of JFK. A couple of years ago my one-hour morning layover at JFK turned into 18 hours and - wanting to do the least city thing within reach - I took the rattling not-subway down to Rockaway and walked almost the whole length of the beach.
I am someone who grew up ten miles from a town of 1200, and NYC feels like Coruscant to me - so incomprehensibly many humans and buildings that it might as well be another planet. I have no desire to ever live there. And yet it is intriguing, equal parts decaying and vibrant, dying and alive. The way that bland concrete and steel become imbued with story, the way that life takes root in the cracks and decaying edges. The miles of empty streets in Rockaway, pavement and sidewalks but no houses (all destroyed by Sandy?), returning to grass and shrub and blowing sand. The bored lifeguards keeping watch upon acres of empty beach, as if perhaps they exist simultaneously in a different dimension or a time-warp filled with frolicking children that I cannot see. The sheer volume of embodied human labor, steel upon concrete upon brick, not designed to last centuries as in Europe, seemingly destined to ruin as the old foundations crumble and neighborhood wealth is hollowed out by corporate greed and the end of Progress, glitzy digital signs and towers of speculative wealth a thin veneer over the end of cheap oil and American empire. The millions of rats beneath and among it all, the sparrows that roam the corridors of JFK, reminding us that we are not the only life that is well adapted to the habitats we create, that the wild cauldron of creation and decay will forever grind away at our blueprints and boxes and straight lines, that beneath our fear that we are destroying Nature lies a deeper fear that can also be a solace: that control is a temporary illusion and all of our plans and works and experiments in atmospheric chemistry will be woven into a greater story of constant change and relentless creativity.
I appreciate reading a perspective on NYC from someone who sees more deeply and who has found home and belonging there.
I love this whole comment. You seem to have captured the spirit of the city so very well despite not spending too much time there. The empty streets, the strange patches of sand and grass amid the crush of corporate glitter, all run through by countless pigeons and rats... all so accurate — nature has found its way into the city certainly and will persist long after the ocean overtakes the avenues!
There's also a lot of warmth to be found on the inside — in some ways, New York really exists inside I think, in the houses and venues, bars and communities and secret passages — and I think that's how I've managed to find belonging there. But you also write about its wild outsides so well here. I've always found a strange beauty in them too.
Anyhow, it's certainly not for everyone, and I've always found it startlingly temporary, an emblem of a world that's dying as much as it's always seemingly being reborn when you're inside of it. Thanks as always for such a beautiful reflection.
Beautiful read. Thank you for sharing your relationship and reflections of your time there.
I’ve only been to New York City once. While I don’t really have a longing to go there (I much prefer more natural and quiet places), I dream about New York City surprisingly often. In these dreams, I know my way around the city and have “memories” of certain places. It’s honestly a little strange and has definitely made me more fascinated about it, even though I don’t really want to go there haha. All that to say, the part of me that dreams and wonders about NYC really appreciates this post ❤️.
That's so interesting. I often have felt I may have been there in a past life, and I wonder if maybe that could be the case for you — either that, or it does have a way of seeping into the subsonscious thanks to all the films and movies and images that take place there!
Yes, I’ve had the thought that I could have lived there in a past life as well! Especially because some of the dreams feel like memories and have a strange nostalgia to them.