New York Narrative

When I first moved to the city, I lived in a small studio apartment near the corner of Fulton and Lafayette. I didn’t know much of anything about the city and frankly I was terrified of meeting people at first. I had a neighbor, Jack, who wore punk rock outfits and metal everywhere he went, even to work. I was working an internship at an office nearby and occasionally I would run into Jack as I was leaving for work in the morning, or when I was coming home at night.

25 August 2006
3:45 PM
Manhattan Bound A Train

As I moved from the standing only F train to the packed A train I scanned my surroundings for a place to sit. I saw two men who had their legs sprawled out and I almost couldn’t tell that there was an empty seat between them. And so I asked, May I sit? and they made room for me. This desire to rest my weary legs brought me more than just physically close to my A train neighbors. Now suddenly, I’m either subjected to or included in (I’m still unsure) a very personal conversation. I hold my Douglas Coupland book jPod and attempt to read but my attention is stolen.

Loud & Brash New Yorker: I banged Becky, and Curt don’t even know.
Quiet but Curious New Yorker: Yeh!
Loud & Brash New Yorker: Yeh! She was all pissed and shit because Curt was grabbin’ her ass and titties and shit and she don’t like that.

I pondered Becky and Curt. Well, Curt is easy. He’s probably not too sharp. He thinks that a woman should be flattered when he grabs their ass and titties. He thinks he’s smooth. I imagine he’s something like a man I once worked with who said that I looked slutty in my sleeveless summer tank and couldn’t understand why I didn’t take that as a compliment. Idiot. Becky, I imagine, is not so smart either, but at least she knows that having her ass and titties grabbed is not acceptable behavior. Loud & Brash is just that. No manners in the company of women. How do these people not know that it’s truly rude to speak that way in front of a woman? He is either clueless or he really wants as many people as possible to know that he banged Becky. So everyone, now you know.

26 August 2006
12:15AM
Brooklyn bound F Train

I desire quiet because I’ve just left work. I know that this wish is unrealistic for a Friday night. Riding the subway at this hour on the weekends is simply loud. Loud. Loud. Loud. People play their video games with the volume on LOUD. People who’ve had a bit too much alcohol speak LOUDLY. It’s just loud. Just accept it. I generally try to tune it out, knowing that it’s just a matter of time before I’m home. Whatever that means at this point. What I really mean is someone else’s home. The kind someone, who is lending me his floor. I digress.

So, I knew better before I hopped on the last train car because I could see the party streamers and balloons and a crowd of joyful travelers but the adventurer in me was intuitive enough to realize that this was most likely about to be an enjoyable New York moment.

There were musicians playing acoustic Green Day. Early 20-somethings decked out in various paper birthday hats and tiaras, sang along and drank alcohol out of mini water bottles. Everyone around seemed to enjoy observing. They were happy and loving life. Each person who entered the train received a warm hello and a handful of confetti. It was nice and it made me smile.

As part of the Vloggers Unite! series taking place this month at the Pioneer Theater in NYC, TurnHere is hosting a screening of short New York films by independent filmmakers next Thursday, August 31 at 7pm. Vloggers Unite! features a collection of online films from individual artists and filmmakers taken from the Internet and presented on the big screen.
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TurnHere, which produces short online films featuring cool neighborhoods and travel destinations around the world, will showcase authentic films highlighting interesting locations around New York City. The TurnHere screening will be Emceed by East Village icon and famous competitive eater Crazy Legs Conti, and attended by many of the featured filmmakers and local characters who narrate the films. The event also features the premiere of Tuba by filmmaker Chris Kenneally.

For ticket information and a complete schedule of films, visit http://www.twoboots.com/pioneer. The Pioneer Theater is located at 155 East Third Street between Avenues A and B.

No exaggeration–I’m a pizza fanatic. I could eat it five nights a week, so I’ve sampled a lot of pizza all over the US, and this one’s outstanding.

I found this little hole in the wall pizza/Italian restaurant?at 324 7th Avenue, between 28th and 29th Streets, called Cavallo’s Pizzeria. It’s not just pizza they sell. They have seafood, baked pasta, chicken, spaghetti, and salads. Tiny restaurant. Big menu.

I got the veggie pizza. For $3.25 a slice, it was a meal by itself for me. Piled up with fresh veggies. Cavallo’s also has Sicilian pizza. I grabbed a brochure and brought it to my family.

It says they do catering, and free delivery till 10 P.M. And you get ambiance too. Italian music playing, Frank Sinatra. I didn’t want to leave. I know I’ll be back.

Outside, in front, is an independent Italian ice seller. Best Italian ice I ever had. Lemon, pina colada, cherry, and more…

Want to know more? Call them 212-244-2012. Better yet go there–you’ll see what I’m talking about. And this is not an ad. Just one pizza lover’s opinion.

The usual search sites never turned you up, but then why would they? For as long as I knew you, you never had a phone.

The last time we “talked” was when I moved to Miami. We wrote letters then. Neither one of us had a phone.

No matter how hard her life was, Millie always started her letters wishing me good health. Our sons were the same age. Our birthdays were the same month: December.

She liked to draw, but had nothing to draw with, except her kids’ crayons; nothing to draw on but an empty cardboard box. One day when I went to visit, she drew a picture of a cat on a piece of box and gave it to me. I found a beautiful wooden frame for it, with scalloped edges, that I painted turquoise and gold. That picture is on my wall.

Millie had a gray tiger cat she rescued from the street. It lived in the fifth floor apartment on East 106th Street with her and the kids and Tony, safe from the cold. But who kept Millie safe?

When I was half crazy from sickness and pain, she wouldn’t take my money, wouldn’t let me use it to go back…. Millie and her friend with the car dropped me off near Bloomie’s and told me to go shopping. And I did. Who sez New Yorkers are heartless?

If Millie is all right, Cris wants to know. Millie, mother of Steve and Samantha. Millie from the program. Migdalia Morales, my best friend. I never forgot you.