Loving New York

New York Magazine complied their fourth annual list of reasons to love New York.  I loved it so much, I had to list my favorites on my blog.  The italicized parts are blurbs from the write up under each reason.  They also had readers write in with their reasons, some of those are included in this as well.  My favorites (of the favorites) are in bold.

"Because it loves me!  I was born and raised in Texas and moved to New York City when I was 25-twelve years ago.  In Texas, I was thought to be difficult, hardheaded, controlling, opinionated, bitchy, etc.  When I moved here, all of a sudden I was considered sweet, polite, kind, intelligent, etc.  I know I didn't change-I was just free from the South's idea of how a woman should behave."

Because our generosity comes through even-perhaps especially-now.

October 15, 2007: Citymeals on Wheels donations: 314, for a total of $22,760.  DOW dropped 108 that day, closing at 13,984.

October 15, 2008: Citymeals on Wheels donations: 603, for a total of $49,201.  DOW dropped 733 that day, closing at 8,577.

"Because sooner or later everybody comes to New York: every band, every friend, everybody I want to see."

"The choice to be seen or be invisible."

Because our mayer is a self-regarding masochist.

Even in the best of times, you need a masochistic streak to live in New York.  Now, with the worst looming, it turns out the guy in charge of city government may have the biggest one of all.

"Because in addition to charging me like crazy every month for electricity, the fine folks over at Con Ed also dispense cooking and entertaining advice.  After I called in response to a notice of 'irregular gas meter readings' (i.e., never turning on my stove), the Con Ed rep asked if I lived by myself and ever cooked.  He then went on to advise me, 'Invite some people over, or at least make a cup of tea once in a while.'  Gee, thanks, Con Ed."

*Sidenote, I actually know someone that was called by Con Ed for the same reason.

Because where else would a tour-bus driver also be a king?

The most difficult part is the stupid taxicabs.  We call them "yellow rats."

Because Madonna's back to distract us.

We predict this Brangelina-style absurdity will continue well into 2009-and thank goodness.  It's just the tabloid diversion we need in such gloomy-news times.  We can already see how this will play out: First come the imaginary baby bumps, then the botched Dominican adoption, then the UNICEF ambassadorships.  After that they both get cornrows, A-Rod appears in one of her videos, and before you know it, they're both wearing burkas to the Grammys.  In blackface. We can't wait!

*The next two are blurbs that were published about New York this year.

"At three-thirty in the morning, the scene in front of 27 Eldridge was fairly typical: the last of the last-call stagger-zoo, many of them walking as if it were their first time on ice skates; a kid in the back of an open-doored taxi staring at the knot of damp cash in his hands as he tried to make sense of the meter; and up the block a shirtless, bearded man sticking the top half of his body out of a sixth-floor tenement window and screaming at everybody to shut the *u** up and go back to New Jersey, then slamming his window down so hard that it rained glass, the people below whistling and applauding."

"You know: where are all the baby pigeons?  It's the burning question on every New Yorker's mind.  'They're everywhere.  You just have to look,' says Ralph, who seems not to have heard the urban myth that pigeons arrive on the earth full grown and ready to be despised-or that they perform a backward version of human migration: raise babies in the suburbs, then move into town."

Because just when you take the Empire State Building for granted, it seduces you again.

Because Eli is now the Manning.

"Because every time you visit another U.S. city, you instantly realize how attractive and sophisticated you really are..."

"Because I moved to L.A. almost two years ago, and I've read maybe six books in the time since.  In New York, I'd read on the subway and finish a book a week (at least!).  There are millions of reasons to move back, but I'd do it just for the books."

"Sue Simmons dropping the F-bomb on TV."

"Because you can be poor and from the hood but still bump elbows with all different kinds of cultures.  I grew up in the very rough parts of Bushwick, with a single mother originally from the Dominican Republic.  Because of our limited resources, I was exposed to gangsters, hustlers, and all kinds of freaks.  [But] an entirely different world was always a subway ride away."

"Because despite the stereotypical high-mindedness of New Yorkers, most still watch crap TV."

"The MTA [riding the subway] is like working at a bar; you learn everything about human behavior."

"The baseball fields in Battery Park City almost directly across the street from the old World Trade Center site.  I love seeing the rich green grass and Little Leaguers where there was barren earth not long ago.  To me, it's the best example of new life and regrowth.  Oh yeah, and it also says, 'Eff you, we live here!' "

"Because when people find out I am single, they don't look at me in a way that is the perfect combination of horror and pity."

"Because it's the best place to earn one-sentence stories to amuse friends and family back home.  Like: 'I was at a hipster dance party and some flailing NYU student accidentally punched me in the eye.' "

"...Because  no one gives me a second glance when I'm working out at the gym and tears are streaming down my face as I watch Dr. Phil conduct a meth-addict intervention."

Because every once in a while, there is dancing in the streets.

Because we're resilient.

Psychologists define a resilient person as one who after experiencing a trauma has one or no symptoms of post-traumatic-stress disorder.  A Columbia study of New Yorkers a few years ago found that 65 percent of us were certifiably resilient following 9/11-as were more than half the people who'd actually been in the Trade Center buildings during the attacks.  But the study's finding I love best describes what kinds of 9/11 survivors were least affected, the quickest to bounce back, the most resilient: the so-called self-enhancers.  They, according to the psychology professor who ran the study, "are somewhat grandiose.  They are preoccupied with themselves, they score high on measures of narcissism, and the research shows pretty clearly that they are annoying to be around."  In other words...New Yorkers!  Cue the Gloria Gaynor.