Free Choice Writing

Posted on February 11, 2012 by joshua.levin

New York City is wonderful to me on a personal basis because of its combination of anonymity and accessibility. This city offers me a frenetic, fast-paced, and exciting energy that I can get lost in. At times it can be frustrating and downright anger-inducing, however I find that if I am able to tune out the negatives, then I can make good use of the energy and vibe around me.

There is something exciting about this city at night. Whatever problems I have seem to fade when I go out at night, even if just for a few hours. I feel powerfully anonymous; most people are seeing me for the first time. There is tremendous accessibility to all types of fun and entertainment. But I can choose what to partake in and what not to. I can go from diverse neighborhood to neighborhood, engaging with locals as I choose and zoning out when I feel like it. No one cares; the city’s heartbeat drums on regardless.

I try to go out every night I can…usually that means at least 4 nights a week. If I’m feeling lazy, depressed, or frustrated (not that unusual for me), I make an even greater effort to go out. Meet new people. Have new adventures. Make friends. I have a lot going on in my life on a personal basis right now and I find that New York is the perfect backdrop to keep me sane.

I currently am experiencing a feverish tension to my psyche, a kinetic burst of varied emotions (not necessarily bad) and the city’s pace, energy, and quirkiness matches that.

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Walking in this City

Posted on February 11, 2012 by EKaufman

When I was reading Luc Sante’s “Preface” to Low Life I found myself almost intoxicated by his word choices. I really love the idea of New York as “a creature,” “a mentality,” “an implausible character,” etc.

It is hard for me to not lapse into some kind of nostalgic rant. I’ve been living in this city for so long that I feel like I’ve met many of the personifications Sante mentions, and more. What is strange to me, but strange in a good way, is how Sante links “nostalgia” to the way “past decades come into vogue in regular intervals.” I always think of nostalgia as a sentimental reminiscing or romanticizing of something that is no longer present or accessible.

I picked the photo in this post because I took it a few weeks ago, simply because I was fascinated by this amazing new tea shop on Putnam Ave, and the way one tiny sign can alter a street block.  It makes me think of this chapter in one of my all time favorite books–The Practice of Everyday Life by Michel de Certeau. The chapter is called “Walking in the City” and de Certeau writes, “…Manhattan continues to construct the fiction that creates readers, makes the complexity of the text of the city readable, and immobilizes its opaque mobility in a transparent text” (92). I can’t pretend that I 100% understand what de Certeau means here, but I like the way he paints a picture of a person walking down the street as being part of the story of the city’s whole. And, I like to think that Sante, particularly in on page xv, is on that very street–that this book really did come out of his own experience walking in the city, watching in the city.

But, I don’t want to end on such an easily positive note. Yes, I love Sante’s writing. Yes, I love my city. But the way the economy of this city works is a bit confusing. If, as Sante says, “the myth of the city insists on progress” (xv), will there one day be no room for anyone but the elite? Does progress equal money?

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