Mary Lucia: Autumn in New York
by Mary Lucia
September 26, 2017
I'm back from New York City, a week spent in my favorite place. Looking back, I had several observations.
First of all, if you're planning a trip to New York in the fall, which is a great time to go, maybe try not to coordinate it with the meetings of the U.N. for the same week.
That said, I did my usual haunts. I always walk up to the Dakota. I never walk on the side of the actual gate of the Dakota where John Lennon was killed. I feel like that's too close. I can stand across the street, but then what I do is I watch people with no boundary and no apparent self-consciousness about standing and talking selfies in the doorway of the Dakota. Where to take a selfie is a really curious thing to me, and I don't know, that one feels really sacred. I wouldn't have done it.
Then I walked down into Strawberry Fields, which is where the Imagine mosaic is. Taking a selfie there I can understand, and that was a steady stream of people for a Monday afternoon having their pictures taken on the Imagine circle. There was a bride and groom, there were people of all ages, cultures, races, it was amazing! Except one guy — in the video, I actually do the pose that he did while sitting on the Imagine circle (hint: it was wrong). And he was wearing what appeared to be kind of short shorts, too. That was absolutely hideous. And he had this kind of bad, Burt Reynolds Playgirl centerfold look on his face, and I thought, "Really? On the Imagine circle?" Yoko would not like that.
I went through Grand Central Station because it's a beautiful piece of artwork and architecture. I went to the San Gennaro Fest in Little Italy as I do every year, too, which is amazing. I went into the church where it's very quiet and reverent, and everyone is lighting candles and praying and bowing, and then you walk out into this kind of debauchery, like, 30 feet from the church. The grift is on: it's dudes with their stogies trying to sell you fake Gucci handbags and all of that.
But it was a really great trip for me because every year, once or twice a year, I have to go back to New York just to feel that sense of belonging but still being an outsider. It's a feeling that I get when I'm with people that I maybe have nothing in common with, but you just get to see people, everyday people, working their jobs, doing their thing.
The whole melting pot of it. It was an amazing experience. Now I'm back, I'm re-energized, and I'm happy to be with you guys for the next 18 weeks until I go back to New York again.
