There is little to be said of New York that hasn’t already been done more eloquently & more authentically than I could, so I offer four thoughts:
1. Madison Square Garden is a purple and teal dump.
2. Roosevelt Island is a strange bit of history involving prisoners, madness, smallpox, Soviet-looking apartments, the teeniest lighthouse known to man, and illuminating views of the city.
2. There aren’t adequate words for how important it feels to see influential paintings and photographs in person at the MoMa. I have written before about Barnett Newman, and seeing the room of his abstract canvases made my heart stop a little bit. This is the only photo I took at the museum, because people are seriously ravenous freaks about photographing every painting with their point and shoot with FLASH, kill me dead, and it’s just not how it’s meant to be experienced.
4. I have now been to Staten Island with many Hasidic Jews and their many adorable children, but only to the ferry terminal.