I’m Amanda. I’ve got wide eyes, a smart mouth, and a MetroCard. And I’m not afraid to use them.
NYC in the 1970s was spooky. The 1980s weren’t that much better. And today it’s the safest big city in the world.
Most people would call that progress, and I can’t argue. But some people - usually white kids who’d crap their pants if they ever got mugged - romanticize the danger of old school NYC.
Jennifer wanted advice for her first days in NYC. Guess who else had something to share? J. David Goodman of The New York Times City Room blog!
And he asked more New Yorkers what a newbie to the city needs to know.
Here’s an excerpt:
The end (of summer) is near!
Soon the brutal heat will dissipate and the streets will flood with college students and other first-time residents of the city. On the Noisiest Passenger blog, Amanda Green, a Texas transplant, responds to a reader question about this annual immigration — “I Moved to NYC, Now What?” — with a few bits of wisdom for making a home among the bedbugs and media moguls, including: “1) Walk around your neighborhood until you get tired.” … “2) Treat yourself to a good local dinner that’s not delivery.” … “3) Take pictures.”
These are all good bits of advice for transforming the unfamiliar streets into something more personal.
But what about adding a few more items, more geared toward understanding the city’s culture and knowing how to navigate its contours like a local. To wit:
1) Being a hipster is “over,” so you’ll have to think up some other use for those skinny jeans and distended V-necks.
2) Photographic evidence of past subway riding by celebrities aside, you are unlikely to stumble upon A-list celebrities on the train.
Read the rest of “What New New Yorkers Need to Know” here.
Big thanks to the The New York Times for the mention!
This is “Art” by Canadian poet/singer/songwriter Tanya Davis. The gorgeous video is by Canadian artist/filmmaker Andrea Dorfman.
We should love each other’s bloggers? Each other’s blogs?
I recently read the Tonic post, “Five Ways to Help Your Favorite Bloggers,” and it’s right on.
Here’s the gist: Blogging is hard sometimes.
It’s solitary. It involves looking at a computer screen. It may or may not be hot, because your favorite blogger is too cheap to turn on the shoddy air conditioner in her NYC home office.
You know something good has happened when someone other than your mom is reaching out to see if you’re dead, survived only by one neglected blog.
Here’s a question from Kazzy in Australia, whom I’m imagining is like a more Crocodile Dundee version of The Fonz:
Six days and no blog, just wondering if you are on holidays or something big is happening for you? I’m not a Tweeter, so don’t keep up with you there. I await a post.
My response:
My blogging gig with Burpee Home Gardens is still on, because I’ve managed not to kill all my plants.
Herbs, yes. But who needs herbs?
This guy is not just happy to see you.
He’s bursting with vitality, yo.
True story: Burpee Home Gardens actually sought me out to blog about gardening.
“Why would they do that?” you ask. (It’s okay. I did, too).
“How would you do that?” you also ask. (Yeah, same here).
And that’s why I’m shimmying on my fire escape everyday to tend to a thriving vegetable garden.
The neighbors are really into it.
Prepare to be amazed, inspired, and really skeptical about the tomatoes making it.
Katie Spotz, 22, is the youngest person - and first woman - to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Not bad for the slowest girl on the team!
I had the pleasure of interviewing Katie for I Am A Super Woman. She’s as Super Woman as they come - she’s biked from D.C. to Seattle, ran 150 miles across the Mojave and Colorado Deserts, and was the first person to swim the entire length of the 325-mile Allegheny River.
An excerpt from the interview:
IAAS: What did you do to prepare — both mentally and physically — for rowing across the ocean?
Katie Spotz: I knew that more than a physical challenge, it would be a mental challenge to be alone for so long with just the ocean and my boat. I had to learn to row and work my body, but I also did a lot of meditation. You get blisters. You get seasick. You’re lonely and bored and things break. When the hundredth thing goes wrong, it’s not having strong muscles that’s going to get you through. It’s your mind that gets you across.
IAAS: What were the biggest challenges you faced?
Katie Spotz: One of the most difficult things about rowing across the Atlantic was deciding to do it. I met someone who knew someone who’d done it. After I got over how amazing that was, I felt that I should try it. I had a lot of ideas of who I was and what I was capable of doing, and it just didn’t make sense. I didn’t have boating experience. I didn’t know how to row. There was so much I had to overcome within myself to follow my dream.
Read the rest at I Am A Super Woman!
I’ll be blogging here until June 21, but I had to stop in to say…
Thank you!
20 Days of Blogging: Checking In from Amanda Green on Vimeo.
Dancers Among Us is a collection of photographs featuring members of the Paul Taylor, Mark Morris, and Martha Graham Dance Companies dancing their way through NYC.
These photographs were taken without the assistance of trampolines, wires, or other tools.
