The city offers me its vitality on a daily basis. Vitality may seem a strange choice of words, but it's the word I meant. Its lifeforce, its surging humanity, sustains me in a way that very few things, places or activities ever could.
Hiking fills me with strength and wholesomeness. Sitting quietly, alone with my thoughts can be peaceful. Parties are filled with a certain sense of life. Dances, powwows, and gatherings are great. It's true: I love all of these things and they contribute to my overall mood in a similar way as the city. But none of them compares to simply living as an integral part of this city.
It baffles me that people living here feel "dragged down" by the city, or tired out by its constant hustle and bustle. People leave the city on the weekends in a mass exodus for anywhere but here. I'm included in this flow since I babysit for a family who makes the weekly trek to parts elsewhere. They're all happy to be leaving, excited to be leaving behind the massive sink that is New York City, for places like rural Connecticut, Massachusetts, and the Hamptons. I enjoy the comparative greenness of some of these places, but I can't wholeheartedly agree with their desire to leave the city. I can't find in myself the excitement they feel in leaving it behind.
In leaving each weekend, there are so many things that I miss. Summer in the city is filled with innumerable free and cheap events. I hear complaints everywhere that everything in the city is overpriced, too expensive, etc. That simply is not my experience. Buy an unlimited MetroCard, and spend some time doing your research (or hell, pay an online service to do it for you - Club Free Time, etc.), and get out into the city. It's well worth it. The people who are at events like these (film screenings in Bryant Park, free concerts, NY Philharmonic in the park, SummerStage, poetry readings, museum shows) are all seeking similar experiences.
At free events and shows, the people around you are at least slightly like-minded. We are all the intrepid adventurers of the city. We all seek the same thing, to a certain extent: we want to take in the scene, the show, the environment, and (even if most won't acknowledge it) the energy of the crowd itself. That is what I mean by vitality. Energy emanates from the people who populate this city and at the many and varied events I attend around the city, I bask in it.
Hiking fills me with strength and wholesomeness. Sitting quietly, alone with my thoughts can be peaceful. Parties are filled with a certain sense of life. Dances, powwows, and gatherings are great. It's true: I love all of these things and they contribute to my overall mood in a similar way as the city. But none of them compares to simply living as an integral part of this city.
It baffles me that people living here feel "dragged down" by the city, or tired out by its constant hustle and bustle. People leave the city on the weekends in a mass exodus for anywhere but here. I'm included in this flow since I babysit for a family who makes the weekly trek to parts elsewhere. They're all happy to be leaving, excited to be leaving behind the massive sink that is New York City, for places like rural Connecticut, Massachusetts, and the Hamptons. I enjoy the comparative greenness of some of these places, but I can't wholeheartedly agree with their desire to leave the city. I can't find in myself the excitement they feel in leaving it behind.
In leaving each weekend, there are so many things that I miss. Summer in the city is filled with innumerable free and cheap events. I hear complaints everywhere that everything in the city is overpriced, too expensive, etc. That simply is not my experience. Buy an unlimited MetroCard, and spend some time doing your research (or hell, pay an online service to do it for you - Club Free Time, etc.), and get out into the city. It's well worth it. The people who are at events like these (film screenings in Bryant Park, free concerts, NY Philharmonic in the park, SummerStage, poetry readings, museum shows) are all seeking similar experiences.
At free events and shows, the people around you are at least slightly like-minded. We are all the intrepid adventurers of the city. We all seek the same thing, to a certain extent: we want to take in the scene, the show, the environment, and (even if most won't acknowledge it) the energy of the crowd itself. That is what I mean by vitality. Energy emanates from the people who populate this city and at the many and varied events I attend around the city, I bask in it.
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