Main idea of the article to show how the grass may not be greener on the other side: sometimes we think if we had a different job our lives would be so much easier but that may not actually be the truth
Interviews:
- Student at Baruch College – Sabrina Mendizabal
- “I am so stressed out I have like 5 papers due in one week and my sister is about to have a baby any minute. I have so much going on and our professors are giving us a whole book to read for each class on top of regular assignments that are due. It’s like they think we have nothing else to do except school work. And on top of all that I have to work too.
- Bartender at Rose Bar, Gramercy Park Hotel – David Winters
- “The most stressful parts of the job are just dealing with drunk people all night. It makes you want to drink too just so they don’t completely drive you crazy. And then the staying up to 4 am and waking up hungover doesn’t lead to a very full life. The good thing is I don’t have to worry about money, haha.”
- Personal trainer at Equinox – Ariel Comeau
- “I honestly love my job. Yeah it’s stressful when clients cancel and my paycheck always is different every week but I get to help people live healthy lives and at the end of the day that makes it worth it.
- “I spend a lot of my time scheduling and rescheduling, and then rescheduling again.”
- Musician, Lipstick Gypsy- John Barlosky
- “Getting to play music is the greatest job I could have. I’m so grateful for all the blessings that I have gotten in the past few years. But right now in the beginning stages it’s hard because we don’t know what we are going to get paid. So I have to still bartend on the side until we get a more secure paycheck.
- Marketing Coordinator at Nike Kids-
- “It’s about being good to your employees. You have a relationship with them. If the employees feel that their boss cares about their well-being they’ll do a better job. Two people in my department quit this week so I’m taking on 3 people’s workloads. I want to quit.
- “People quit because they get burnt out and overwhelmed with responsibility and pressure.”
- ***Screenwriter, Director, Producer- Oren Moverman
- “I just got really lucky. I came here from Israel and I didn’t even know how to write in English. Then I got a job at Interview Magazine as a journalist. After that opportunities kept coming my way and I just ended up meeting the right people to help me out. I still feel like it can end at any moment. I never take it for granted. I always think my careers over and then something happens and I seem to get another chance to create something.”
- “It is funny though don’t you think people just can’t get out of their own heads. It’s like a type of mental illness.”
- “It’s all about community and having the right people around you. There a lot of assholes out there. Especially in this industry. Just find good people and stick with them.”
- ***Former NYU Law Student- Her friend told me that she came to NYC to get her law degree and while she was here she started taking lots of “study drugs” and ended up having a mental breakdown and is now diagnosed with schizophrenia.
- Investment banker at Goldman Sachs- Ben Goodkind
- Actress- Hannah Hasseloy
- Homeless person
Alana-
“Guys here are so delusional. They think everything revolves around them. They want you to be exactly what they hope in their mind you would be and then they can do whatever they want. It’s crazy. They can’t get out of their own heads to see reality.”
Natalia-
“People are so rude. They see I have a tray of drinks in my hand and a check in the other and they still try to stop me to order drinks. Like they don’t see at all that I have 10 things I’m trying to do at once, and the worst part is they just sat down 2 minutes ago.”
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352/full/nature10190.html
- In 1900, only 14 per cent of the world’s population were city-dwellers.
- By 2050, the United Nations predict that 70 per cent of people will be urbanite
- Previous research has shown that people living in cities have a 21% increased risk of anxiety disorders and a 39% increased risk of mood disorders. In addition, the incidence of schizophrenia is twice as high in those born and brought up in cities.
- Although city dwellers, on average, are wealthier and receive improved sanitation, nutrition, contraception and health care, urban living is also associated with increased risk for chronic disorders, a more demanding and stressful social environment and greater social disparities.
- many authors have proposed that social stress processing in the urban environment underlies the greater risk for mental illness, and contributes to the manifestation of these disorders in adults.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2064106/Why-living-city-makes-fat-infertile-blind-depressed-causes-cancer.html
- when Scientists compared the placentas of mothers from a busy city and a quiet rural district, they found that the city mums had far higher levels of chemical pollutants called xenoestrogens in their blood — and in that of their unborn babies. Xenoestrogens are industrial chemicals that affect our bodies in similar ways to the female hormone, oestrogen. They are found in countless man-made pollutants such as petrol fumes, and are more abundant in industrial areas than the countryside. As well as causing excess foetal growth, they have been linked to problems such as obesity, hyperactivity, early puberty, fertility problems and cancers of the lung, breast and prostate.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-city-life-pose-a-risk-to-mental-health/
- Converging evidence has revealed that growing up in the city doubles the risk of developing psychosis later in life
Narrative ideas:
- what goes into making a New Yorker
- what does it mean to be a New Yorker in 2016
- dangers of being a New Yorker
- how to navigate a New York life without falling into a life of delusion
- how to make it out of New York with your sanity intact