brooklyn

New York

For those of you who are not in the SGNY group...and for anyone (ha!) who didn't know exactly how much I love this City...

I moved to NYC almost 8 years ago now. I came because after visiting here once I had never felt more at home anywhere...and for school...that good ol' "Harlem School for the Gifted." Ha ha ha. Okay, that is just my own humor.

I remember when you could smoke in bars.

I was supposed to be having breakfast at Windows on the World the morning the Towers came down.

I've walked the Brooklyn Bridge after drinking and dancing all night more times than I -- or my feet -- care to remember.

I've had sex on the Staten Island ferry.

I've been naked on the subway. ( )

I remember when the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were "Unitard" -- and acoustic duo -- that played the LES...back before anyone had heard of Karen O.

I remember when the Strokes weren't such arseholes when you'd run into them at Piano's.

I love NYC because of the people...not because of the buildings or the debauchery that you can get into -- you can find something close to those in a dozen other cities around the world. What you can't find are the people who make up NYC. You can't find BROOKLYN anywhere else. Period. Brunch in Brooklyn on a Sunday is my idea of heaven. People work hard to stay here. They're here because they love it enough to live in tiny shoebox apartments and eat pasta and PB&J when money is too tight. They love it enough to close their eyes and try to breath on the subway when too many people are in there and that winter coat that you needed outside is making you sweat in the heat of the subway car and you can't move enough to get it off. They love it enough to brag about it to everyone Else even when they're running around to get everything done and still manage to get back to their neighborhood in time to pick up the laundry before the laundromat closes...again. I love this City and everytime I fly back in I look at the twinkle of the lights -- the glow that surrounds it -- and I feel a rush. I love this City more and more with each season that I'm lucky enough to spend here. I want to keep eating Nathan's hotdogs at Coney Island while playing skee ball. I want to keep riding the Statan Island ferry (maybe even have sex there again.) I want to take someone else on their first subway ride and to the top of the Empire State building. I don't even mind losing yet another hat/scarf/glove/pair of panties in the backseat of some taxi.

That's it. I'm home again and I'm incredibly happy to be here.