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Nectar of a City

The stench of New York is not really a stench at all. See, there's a series of smells one's nostrils pick up while walking down any street or avenue. That's not to say it's bad though. They are neither invasive nor subtle. The whiffs are usually fast and fleeting. They don't cause dry heaves or those Febreze induced nose-inhales from their commercials. Unless you're walking in China Town where the smell of raw fish sticks to clothing like a dried burdock plant, nothing gets my stomach churning because the scent never lasts. It is all a coincidence actually that I don't smell the odor of the city. Why you ask? Because typically each block has a bakery, coffee shop, pizza parlor, laundromat, or Subway Restaurant which does wonders for the quality of air. In most cases the smell of garbage or sewers are masked or effectively eliminated by these businesses which all have a distinctive scent of their own. And now that McDonalds' McCafe has taken off, they don't smell so bad either. Of course on days when the temperature is pushing the mercury up into the 80's, a trip on the subway can get unbearable, especially when the majority of people on the train have made some sort of unofficial social protest against showers or deodorant. I guess for the most part it's easy breathing.

NYC Quick Tips

• Only women and tourists wear shorts. It's unfortunate, because I love shorts and will wear them anytime it's 65 degrees or warmer. Jorts you ask? What is this, Nascar?
• Don't wear t-shirts with any sort of Spanish writing on it or a shirt that says you were or are a member of a Spanish club. Next thing you know, Mexican/Spanish speaking tourists will start donde esta-ing your ear off.
• Eat food from a street vendor, but steer clear of the white sauce.
• Don't look at the people trying to sign you up for this petition or get you to become a member of that club. You'll get trapped into a four hour long conversation which inevitably always ends with, "and that's why Africa needs our help" or "we don't need much, but $20 would be great." In fact, don't look or stare at anybody for that matter.
  
• Inform your credit card provider you'll be traveling because if you're like me and don't know your social security card number, they'll cancel your card.
• Don't ride a motorcycle anywhere in SoHo. The roads are comprised of uneven and cracked cobblestones, though pretty, unless you have metal teeth or wear a mouth guard, you're in for a costly dentist visit. I personally would prefer the the Plaxico Burress variety of mouth guards.
• For goodness sake, get a smartphone or a phone with a damn good map because unless you are Lewis and Clark and have a native guide like Sacagawea, it's way too easy to walk three miles in the wrong direction and get lost in a maze of refrigerator and office furniture stores.
• Wear the most obscure and mismatched types of clothing together in one outfit. Throw in a Plaxico Burress mouth guard if you're really looking to get noticed.
  
• Cross the road regardless of traffic and other road signs.
• I'll mention it again, steer clear of the white sauce unless you're getting legitimate tzatziki sauce from Tony the Dragon. Yes, it's ridiculous to trust a man who calls himself "Tony the Dragon" but for real, his tzatziki is delicious.
• Argue and yell when having a cell phone conversation while walking down a busy street. Maybe it's just me, but I always feel so B.A. when I have angry phone conversations.
• Don't listen to music when walking down the street. Listen to the city. Listen to the people you walk past and the music coming from inside stores. Listen to the sounds of beeping horns and screeching tires.
• This is more statement of fact than a tip, but most young native New Yorkers don't know how to drive. Not the "wow, he just cut that guy off" or "why is she going 55 MPH in the fast lane" but more literally. They don't know how to drive. No more than five people I worked with last summer even had their licenses. Craziness!
• Take time to look at the city. There is always something to see.
  

A Morning Run

In consecutive days of waking up early and hitting the streets for what some onlookers might call speed-walking, I took a run. I set my alarm at 6:27 AM. I was expecting the city to be different at that hour. I thought it wouldn't be so bright...so lively. I thought it would be a little more vulnerable, almost like a lost child in a department store. I thought I'd be the only one out in the streets. On some quiet blocks there wasn't a soul to be seen, but on every avenue, people were bustling.

During the fleeting moments when I felt alone or slowed to a walk because my chest felt like it was going to come out of my throat and give me a lecture on why I should never run, I stared at my surroundings. When the streets are empty, the city looks like it is dilapidated or destitute. When businesses close at night, they pull down big metal doors that shield all the windows and entrances. Effective for security purposes, but also effective for making a city look deserted. I expected to see hobos with gimpy legs standing outside with brown paper bags, but I didn't. Kids, families and business men dressed in suits walk down the road as if it is nothing. Do they take the time to look at their city?

I think some of these people have lived here for too long. They don't notice certain things about New York City that makes New York City so exotic and so foreign to visitors. Yet, at the same time, there is no place they'd rather be. Not many people can appreciate one place so much that they never have an urge to travel at all. When I told people from work I was going to Baltimore, they looked bewildered. "Why leave?"

The city at daybreak was alarming. Not because there were more people than I thought should be walking around at 6:30 AM but because it smelled like early morning and I haven't smelled early morning since I was in Michigan. And don't let air freshener companies fool you, the smell of early morning cannot be replicated. The smell of morning is sort of like the taste of water. Some people say water is tasteless, but water has a flavor. Water is the flavor. The smell of morning is the amalgamation of clean, night air which has settled upon the streets. It is the result of fewer cars on the road and less people walking about. The smell is like shot of re-invigoration for the nose which travels straight to the brain.

My mind was trying to decipher so much different information that I had to stop running. Astoria, Queens at daybreak is a whole new city. The smells are different. There are different food karts and delivery trucks along the roads. Even the people are different. Remnants of workers coming from the late shift in the city scatter the roadways when they get off the subway. I thought I have seen everything is this little neighborhood of Astoria. In reality, I've seen barely anything.

This City will Destroy You

New York City is anything you want it to be, but no matter how you make it out be, it can destroy you. It can turn a person into a mental cripple as fast as it sends them to the top. Some people can hack it, others can't. It's the same way out West or in the Mid-West. But this city, Gotham, the Big Apple, whatever you want to call it, will turn people into orange juice pulp. And it gets worse- people hate orange juice pulp.

I heard a professor theorize about how the city's homeless got homeless. One day they were just average, everyday people who worked and had a life. But then, something inside them snapped. It is supposed to be a glorious sight. Screaming, yelling and throwing punches at the air. Ripped shirts and broken glass. Confusion. Anguish. Little kids cry. Old ladies gasp. Teens laugh. An animation of colors swirling in the air.

The cause? The city. 10-15 years of this place can turn the kindest soul into a black hole of impatience and anger. Maybe it was a bad cup of coffee, a dented bumper, the weather or getting heckled by a kid on a scooter. It could be anything that sets a person off and it could happen at anytime. I've witnessed portions of the breakdown, but never an entire collapse.

Today there was a man wearing a hiking backpack. It was the kind of bag as long as a torso with metal support braces. He wanted to make a subway transfer to my train, but as his train was pulling up, my train was leaving. I witnessed the spectacle of his fists beating on the subway doors and what only could have been very angry words reverberating from his mouth. See, maybe this man knew he was getting towards his breaking point and that's why he had a hiking backpack to escape the city. He was going to explore upstate New York and experience the fresh air of nature. The city didn't let him make it.

Then there's the after-affects of the collapse. Men selling stickers in the street and wearing Ed Hardy shirts or old ladies smoking cigars. And if the city doesn't get you, it'll pit another person on you who will. I've heard two old ladies arguing about which foreign languages were prettier and children debate on the best shoelace color. The city creates a world of foes, nemeses, enemies and competition around each person.

New York City is an adventure. And while it may destroy some people, it can't get everyone. It's an epic tale playing out in front of my eyes everyday. I couldn't ask for a better place to absorb life, creativity and ideas. This is place people go to find themselves and figure out who they are. This city is human nature's story.