This post includes pictures taken during the last month or so: Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park, Central Park, the Strand, Union Square Greenmarket, subway rides, Times Square, Tom's Restaurant.
As always, one of my reasons for eagerly anticipating a break in school is to get to my holiday (book) hit list. A book I just finished, called My First New York: Early Adventures in the Big City, is a collection of essays from New Yorkers who (generally) ended up making it big. Adversely, the book ended up being a disappointment. Despite my overall dissatisfaction with the book two quotes in particular stood out to me and called my name (Jeennnnnn!).
Dan Rather: journalist, arrived 1965.
"In Texas, we have something we call 'the Cortez moment,' which refers to when the great Spanish explorer and conquistador of Mexico came and set up camp and then burned his boats. The phrase 'burn the boats' means there's nothing but forward, onward, no turning back or running home scared. It's a motto for New York as much as for Texas. When you move here, if you're any good at all, you burn the boats." (p. 38-39)
David Rakoff: writer, arrived 1982.
"There was no specific moment when the rigorous self-consciousness gave way to authenticity. It was more of a dim realization that the very act of playing the 'Are we a New Yorker yet?' game means you aren't one yet. But it eventually happens, dawning on you after the fact, tapping you on the shoulder after you've passed it. It comes from an accretion of shitty jobs, deeply felt friendships that last, deeply felt friendships that end, funerals, marriages, divorces, births, and betrayals, and you wake up one day to realize that you passed the eight-year mark decades prior; that you are older than all of the characters in Manhattan, with the possible exception of Bella Abzug; that you have been to a party in the garden at MoMA and watched the sun come up over Sutton Place and the Fifty-ninth Street Bridge and decided that, in the end, you'd rather stay home; that only a rich moron would buy his groceries at Dean & DeLuca; and that, as fun and Margo Channing as it might seem to be drunk and witty and cutting, it's probably better in the long run to be kind. These are the realizations endemic to aging anywhere, I am sure. It must happen in other cities, but I've really only ever been a grown-up here." (p. 146-147)
As always, one of my reasons for eagerly anticipating a break in school is to get to my holiday (book) hit list. A book I just finished, called My First New York: Early Adventures in the Big City, is a collection of essays from New Yorkers who (generally) ended up making it big. Adversely, the book ended up being a disappointment. Despite my overall dissatisfaction with the book two quotes in particular stood out to me and called my name (Jeennnnnn!).
Dan Rather: journalist, arrived 1965.
"In Texas, we have something we call 'the Cortez moment,' which refers to when the great Spanish explorer and conquistador of Mexico came and set up camp and then burned his boats. The phrase 'burn the boats' means there's nothing but forward, onward, no turning back or running home scared. It's a motto for New York as much as for Texas. When you move here, if you're any good at all, you burn the boats." (p. 38-39)
David Rakoff: writer, arrived 1982.
"There was no specific moment when the rigorous self-consciousness gave way to authenticity. It was more of a dim realization that the very act of playing the 'Are we a New Yorker yet?' game means you aren't one yet. But it eventually happens, dawning on you after the fact, tapping you on the shoulder after you've passed it. It comes from an accretion of shitty jobs, deeply felt friendships that last, deeply felt friendships that end, funerals, marriages, divorces, births, and betrayals, and you wake up one day to realize that you passed the eight-year mark decades prior; that you are older than all of the characters in Manhattan, with the possible exception of Bella Abzug; that you have been to a party in the garden at MoMA and watched the sun come up over Sutton Place and the Fifty-ninth Street Bridge and decided that, in the end, you'd rather stay home; that only a rich moron would buy his groceries at Dean & DeLuca; and that, as fun and Margo Channing as it might seem to be drunk and witty and cutting, it's probably better in the long run to be kind. These are the realizations endemic to aging anywhere, I am sure. It must happen in other cities, but I've really only ever been a grown-up here." (p. 146-147)
Meanwhile, we eagerly look forward to a visit from Derrick's parents. And Christmas! I can't wait. I hope, whoever you are reading this, that you have a wonderful time celebrating this season and the end of this year.
Haskell, D., Moss, A. (Eds.). (2010). My first New York: Early adventures in the big city.
New York: Harper Collins Publishing.
2 comments:
This is going to sound silly, but every time Reese watches Curious George (his favorite TV show) I think of you, because he's partly a "city kid" (/monkey), but spends his holidays/weekends in the country. He always talks about the exciting sights and sounds of the city (or rather the voice narrating his thoughts does ;) but also how he loves hiking, exploring, fishing, gardening, etc. when the yellow hat man takes him to their country home. I see a healthy mixture of both loves in you, and can see you adopting that lifestyle as well. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas!
We adore Curious George!! And I think this is the best compliment I've ever received. This would indeed be the ideal life.
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