I can't seem to wrap my brain around all that I see and hear each day. Listening to the talk on the subway, in the small eateries I have my lunch at, and around the water cooler at work can be rather perplexing. Couple that with taking a trip upstate, and consider my mind blown. There is, in fact, many different versions of New York City. Kind of like alternate universes, except that you know the other ones exist, but you either don't want to travel to them, or you can't. People with privileged backgrounds come here and "make it" while those that were already on the margins just survive and grow more and more tired as the endless days roll by. This is not a city to grow old in if you are not well taken care of. Tourists come here to feel like they are part of something bigger than they are, and for a brief weekend, they can be. Stories of the time they visited the Big Apple will be told for years to come and paint a picture for those who can not make the journey. Perhaps they are the most lucky, New York is a fantasy to them, and fantasies are always fun to think about. This city and I are still getting to know each other. It is an uneasy courtship, neither one trusting in the other just yet. Getting out of the city was helpful, I missed the fresh air and open spaces. I can't quite tell if I missed NYC, I want to tell myself I didn't. But something about all the color and peace that I found two hours up the Hudson, well… It may have been just slightly, too quaint. I'm still a west coast guy at heart but something about a gritty landscape, it just speaks to me. 

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