How did you begin your New Year?
How did I begin mine? Not by asking annoying rhetorical questions. Seriously, I stayed awake for the Times Square ball drop and the fireworks that followed. I didn't drink, sing or dance or do anything scandalous. (Trust me, my singing and dancing are scandalous!) Still, I slept late, talked to friends and family on the phone and went for a late day ride.
On the Long Island City waterfront, a few meters from the iconic Pepsi-Cola sign, people walked alone, with each other and their dogs. I stopped for one utterly adorable three-year-old spaniel-poodle mix who caught my glance. That led to a conversation with their humans. Actually, one of said humans was taking care of the pooch for her parents. She and her partner looked like they were taking good care of each other.
We watched the sunset over Manhattan. What I captured in the photos isn't exactly "Manhattan-henge." The light I saw caught my attention, however, because it struck me, and the two women I met, how unusual it is to see a gap in the Manhattan skyline--or, for that matter, in the Long Island City colony of towers behind us. I recalled, for them, when LIC was an industrial area (part of it still is) and blue-collar workers lived with their families in the small row houses that are disappearing from the neighborhood.
Now, I know that nobody comes to New York to see a gap: If that's what you want, you go to the Grand Canyon. I wonder whether we will be the last people to see the sun descend into an urban canyon, as it seems that developers are filling every vacant space they find. I know this city is "always changing," but I don't recall any other time like the one I'm witnessing.
Then again, according to Heraclitus, the only constant is change. Perhaps it is the only certainty for the coming year, or any other.
No comments:
Post a Comment