The Allure of the City...

Try this...ever just stop, anywhere in the city and close your eyes...no, i don't mean while crossing the street..although this could bring new meaning to the word: exhilarating.  but just stop somehwhere and close your eyes for a moment.  what do you hear?  and listen, i mean really listen...the gush of wind brushing up against your ears as you turn them into radars, trying to identify the sounds flowing in to your ear drums...the honking and movement of cars, tires smoothly churning over and over again, turning, and eating up the pavement; the cold clisp clasp of high-heeled boots grasping at the hard harsh cement; a flood of scents invades your nose.  this can't be helped..you've stopped one of your main senses, your main sense from working, so other's kick into high gear... 

you still lean forward, aching to identify all the many sounds you are capturing - a dog barking, a man talking to a woman "she wants us to meet at Tonic on 7th ave..." you momentarily think about where you've seen that bar; a pair of women in the middle of a conversation - you capture only something about a guy and where one of them met him - from the pitch and depth of the voice, the women in conversation are in their 20s.  but you can only guess, your eyes are still shut, your other senses are in full run now..  you can feel the coldness of the city wind run through your neck, your cheek bones, your hands, your forehead...the scent of car exhaust and a vanilla scented woman's perfume fill your nostrils - the crisp january air kicks it in deeper, into your memory slots.   this is new york, you think to yourself, these sounds, these scents, the breeze that's a mix of hot dog vendor car smoke and low temperature precipitation and high humidity brush like an old familiar hand along your forearms and up the backs of your calves....today would've been a good day to wear warmer socks you think to yourself.   and yet, you open your eyes...

something about new york city at night.  or even in the day time.  but the night, it just brings everything to life.  perhaps its because your shift at work has ended, and you now become part of the city again, that this part excites you.  new york city.  it draws you in and keeps you.  no matter where you go, you can walk 10 city blocks...and in those 10 city blocks, you will have encountered 6 different distinct cultures, 5 different languages, 4 different skin colors - you will have walked almost an entire world, in those 10 city blocks.  no matter how much shocking and disturbing things you can see in new york city, and you will see at least one disturbing thing in new york city on a daily basis - it still keeps you -

new york city.  no other city like it.  kind of like listening to John Mayer's Neon - while sitting in a warm, partially lit starbucks on a wednesday night.   you can never tire of it.  and there is always something new you will find in it.

city john