i realize now that alien robots are too heavy a subject for those frequenting this web log (is anyone frequenting this web log?). so i would like to turn to the subject of new york.
Sarah hall, in her book the electric michelangelo describes new york like this:
For whenever it felt the urge, the city itself and all its boroughs could toss up a curiosity or a peculiarity, or kilter out a hitherto unnoticed detail, or create a marvel of fiction or of fact right before the eyes to remind its residents that this indeed was new york, lest that absurd fact be forgotten, crucible of miracles and violence and spectacular wonder. These were the moments that defined the city. They were the waking dreams of a never sleeping metropolis.
so I guess I’m wondering if she’s right. Is this place really the crucible of miracles and violence and spectacular wonder? The new york she was referring to was that of 1933. Has it changed? What is this place? Or is it the tough old new york president Hinckley called it? And am I still just a visitor to this crucible, or should I now count as one of many of its residents? Does it matter that I have favorite subway peddlers? Does it make me more of a partaker of this crucible of spectacular wonder? Is washington heights, my home, burning alongside coney and Williamsburg and soho? Does it partake in the waking dream of the never sleeping metropolis?
I don’t know if I yet count myself as a participant, although I do welcome my ascent from the subway to 190th and st. Nicholas. It feels home-like as I see the addicts and vagrants sheltered in our subway entrance, their humorous graffiti welcoming me home and informing me that star is a theif (the actual spelling) and that she is privy to some other things as well. I also have a friend, Edgar, who works in the local hardware store who taught me how to say ‘make me one key please’ in Spanish because I was going in there with constant requests for him to make me ‘just one more key, please.’ Does that mean I’m part of the melding process? Does the fact that I have a regular at a deli by my school mean I have arrived? Am I an element or even a catalyst in the reactions and creations that occur in the greater boroughs? I didn’t vote in the recent elections and I have no intention to vote in any future new york related votes.
but I do walk by this fire hydrant and broken phone booth every Sunday on the way to church. And it feels like it is right and almost like it’s mine and although I don’t feel like I need to fix it, I do feel like it’s right. So what does that mean?
Right now I’m thinking to myself I should go to sleep instead of typing this because I have to wake up in the morning and go to work. Does that mean I’ve arrived? Does it matter that I enjoy seeing everything on my way to and from work, but I don’t enjoy the work itself? Does that mean I’m new yorkish? Will I ever be new yorkish? Is anything really new york? Or is it just an amalgamation of everything and to be new york you just have to be something and that is what makes this place this place? If so then I’ve arrived. I’m an element on this crucible of a city and it makes me wonder if I’m the violent or the miraculous or the spectacular wonder.
30 comments:
Stephen: Lafe had me frequent his web log first thing this morning. When there were no new comments, he went directly to yours only to find a well-written, melancholoy missive on identity introspections. In the grand scheme of things, we are all interlopers on a land that is choice above all others but that we are only allowed to sojourn in while we await the great transport home to that Being who gave us life. But, since we are to learn of this land, things above, and things below and all things on it, New York is an interesting crucible where this mixing can materialize. I am happy you can tumble around the crucible and have rough edges smoothed in the journey to being a gem of the kingdom. Love Dad
P.S. Are you sure your picture didn't depict the land of the dogs? Are you a poodle or a german shepherd?
What is this? You have gone from aliens to such introspection. Do I need to worry? How many sets of keys have you had made? My you do take after me don't you? Patty
so...my parental units have decided to leave comments. their technical savvy is impressive. but dad, i wonder if my missives on robots were not identity introspections as well. and were they not every bit as well written?
dad: do you think this land is choice above all others? are you talking about america or earth itself. either way i'm not sure you're correct. if you are talking about america then i'm afraid we might becomeing a little bit ego-state-tistical (get it? it's like egotistical but about the state (in this case nation) in which we live. on the other hand, if you're talking about this earth then i'm not sure that's right either. after all, are we not one in a number as numerous as the sands of the sea? do we know that this planet is choice above all others? we certainly know its residents are wicked above all others. but i do agree with you that nyc is an interesting crucible for the materialization of mixings. and i think my rough edges would be burned off, not tumbled off, it being a crucible and all.
lastly, lately i've kind of had a thing for fire hydrants. i've taken all kinds of pictures of them around the city. what does that say of me? maybe i am more dog-like than i originally thought.
and i hope
um...i didn't finish typint the above comment. i don't remember what i was going to say.
ma: that's right, i have lost a great many set of keys, as well as a cellular telephone device, and the keys to a great many girls' hearts.
oh and maybe my alien subjects were introspection....
tracy and patty-
so good to see you and in the delirious dominion. and tracy, how i love your poetics. even though every scrap of residue will ineitably be minced up by deltar, at least you drop it with style. i appreciate that.
ps. i'd love to have you in the shake down anytime...
So Stephen, I see you've been reading the ten commandments again...
8: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, nor his ox, nor his firehydrant, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
You know they don't surgically remove the fur...?
Arrest not your spiritual development in that crucible brother.
Be not as Job but as Michael and you will not go astray.
A land that is choice must not be mocked. Who's mocking? I'm not mocking. You want me to mock? Fine I'll mock.
I liked you introspection brother
paul: you are alive. i was starting to wonder. it has been a while since you've been privy to the going ons at the delirious dominion.
point well taken about the arrested spiritual development; however, i'm not sure about the part about coveting my neighbor's stuff (because i remember the part about the ass).
how are your interviews? you liking the arizona mountain biking?
The interviews are great. I really liked the Tucson interview. The town is pretty cool as well.
The mountain biking is great. I've been enjoying it quite a bit. I am heading to Albuquerque today for my next interview.
As you can tell, I rented all the first season episodes of a certain TV show and finished all the episodes in my trek from SLC to Tucson to Phoenix to Mesa and back to Tucson.
So, anyung from Arizona
lafe: you are a funny one, my friend. what's going on with you and your girl friend, anyway?
paul: hey brother. i like tuscon too. much more than phoenix or really anywhere else in AZ really. i'm glad to hear that you have finished the first season. now you must go on to the second. i'm going to rewatch all of them.
oh, and you must remember that gob is not spelled job, but g-o-b. and i think he is easily my favorite character, but tobias comes in at a close second. who is it for your?
well, anyang from nyc.
I purposefully mispelled gob to see if you would still pick up on my subtle hints about the show. Gob would have been far too obvious.
Yes, Gob and Tobias are the funniest characters. Michael and George Michael are the most realistic and unnerving. Lindsay and her mom are way out. The dad is great. Anyung provides some great moments in his own right.
The whole show is not appropriate for kids and probably not appropriate for me.
I was puzzling about the Tucson connection until I realized your former acquaintance lived here. Maybe you can tell me more about life in Tucson when you come home for Christmas.
um....i like tuscon because of when we were there for efy and when i went there on children's choir tour and we all snuck out and went to dennys. what could have been better?
well, anyang.
Ah, using the old selective life memory the eh?
anyung
that's okay with me. remember as you will.
Seriously Stephen... who are you? I remember writing a muse similar to this very blog topic after I moved here. I had a deli guy and a bagel guy who used to have my whole wheat bagel with cream cheese waiting for me every day. I saw the same people to and from work and had a mouse that lived in my house that we named Gus Gus because he was a little pudgy and reminded me of the mice on Cinderella until i got so sick of him being comfortable in my prsence that I lured him from the closet with a morsel of Clif Bar and caught him in the mouse trap... no more Gus Gus. You have arrived. This city is just as much yours as anyone else's if not more so because you have made it that way. This is your New York... the one you see, the one you have created, the one you will remember for the rest of your life. That is the poetry of life. When are we going to be mor than just blogger buddies???
nikki:
yo yo. is the new york i've created the new york that is the new york everyone else likes so much (did that even make sense?)? because sometimes i'm afraid the one i've created or the one that is mine is not the one it could be. maybe i should make it a little more crazy and kerouac-like. it seems like the beat poets' new york was a lot different than mine and sometimes i think i like theirs better.
anyway, i don't see any reason why we don't just stop being 'just blogging buddies' right now and check some stuff right off your experience checklist...
Stephen...
I happen to like the New York you have created but you are the master of your own destiny, so nothing is stopping you from creating a different kind of New York.
I would give you my phone number but then everyone who reads these comments will have it, and since I know you have direct access to obtaining it, I am going to allow you to put forth the initiative if you want to help me with that checklist...
yo i can totally facillitate this number exchange, cause i have it. stevey, here you go, 646.369.8117. work dogg. like the frandsen men do.
and paul-
ahn yang?? glad you appreciate AD
ahn yang
I created a little New York myself after two visits. I like my New York. Does mine count as much as Stevie's or Nikki's or Petey's even though I didn't blog about it?
paul: of course it don't count none. get yourself a weblog.
lafe: that was just 23 comments, suckah.
I'm afraid my new york is just as valid--even if I don't wax pretend poetic.
oh but you just did, my alliterative friend....
(eat poo)
I hate to break it to you but my alliterations always come naturally. Usually, I don't even realize they've come out until I re-read what I've written.
You eat pieces of poo for breakfast?
I ask that you stop eating poo in my new york.
disco king: you are the piece of poo i eat for breakfast.
wow
hey lafe: i now have 30 comments. what do you think of that?
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