“When it’s 100 degrees in New York, it’s 72 in Los Angeles. When it’s 30 degrees in New York, in Los Angeles it’s still 72. However, there are 6 million interesting people in New York, and only 72 in Los Angeles.” – Neil Simon

I have a love-hate relationship with New York City (NYC). It starts with the polluted air, and NYC’s dirty, dawdling subway system, which somehow delivers riders anywhere in the city for three bucks (Staten Island doesn’t count). It then covers the obscene inequality that can be felt in all boroughs, as evidenced by Wall Street cheats dining from a-la carte menus high on needless want, while nearly 1.5 million of our NYC neighbors line up for blocks at their nearest food kitchen. NYC boasts the highest level of income inequality, and the highest number of billionaires in the world (and subsequent sociopaths), all while its homelessness, food insecurity, and suicide rates are at record highs. But just when I think I hate it, my love for the city snaps back with a visit to a favorite park, or a march to demand justice, or a random conversation with a student, or stranger on the subway. In many ways, NYC has it all, museums, concerts, shows, restaurants, learning institutions, and hell, even the Brooklyn Bridge. And when all else fails (and it does), there’s always another NYC Gay Pride Parade or NYC Marathon event to boost your spirits, and restore your faith in humanity. Yep. I think what I love most about NYC is the people. Although it has more than its share of jerks, NYC is overflowing with interesting, and inspiring people from everywhere on the planet. In fact, New York City, despite its many flaws, is one of the most diverse and inclusive cities in the world, with more than 200 languages spoken and about 37 percent of residents born outside the country. Wow.
Click here to learn more about the NYC Marathon from Ben Parkes.
Click here for a detailed route of the NYC Marathon.
Click here to listen to Alicia Keys sing about New York.
Click here for Duke Ellington’s Take the A Train.

A Few of my Favorite NYC Scenes:

Student activists on the subway.

A Banksy Piece on 79th & Broadway.

Calm (Rockaway Beach, Queens)

“Einstein on a Bike” mural by Kobra (21st & 8th)

Animal Rights March (Prospect Heights, Brooklyn)

“Cut off as I am, it is inevitable that I should sometimes feel like a shadow walking in a shadowy world. When this happens I ask to be taken to New York City. Always I return home weary but I have the comforting certainty that mankind is real flesh and I myself am not a dream.” — Helen Keller

“Cities have sexes: London is a man, Paris a woman, and New York a well-adjusted transsexual.” – Angela Carter

“New York is an ugly city, a dirty city. Its climate is a scandal, its politics are used to frighten children, its traffic is madness, its competition is murderous. But there is one thing about it – once you have lived in New York and it has become your home, no place else is good enough.” – John Steinbeck

Despite its flaws, overall, I think I love New York City. 🙂

Until Next time…

*Sending love to Iran, Cuba, Lebanon, Venezuela, and all targets of the hegemonic US Empire.

FREE PALESTINE!Artist: Carlos Latuff