I Choose to Be In Love.

I remember when I lived and worked in LA and people would be out from New York on business I would think, "How glamourous. They actually LIVE in New York.  What must that be like?"  Well, now I know.  I have lived here for 3 years.  And it is like living anywhere else in some respects and like nowhere else in others: there is laundry, grocery shopping, and the gym.  Except here everything is much harder and more expensive! But, no matter, I love it. And then I forget and I just exist in it.

Whenever I feel like I am taking living here for granted I put my ipod on RANDOM, make life into a musical and go.  This morning I was heading to the subway for work listening to Sinead O'Connor and I passed by St. Vincent's Hospital.  This hospital is now sadly closed due to bankruptcy and will be more luxury housing. It almost seems ironic, if it weren't so shameful. Anyway, I don't want to kill my buzz here.  But as I was passing and the snow was gently falling I recalled how this very place took in Titanic survivors, 911 survivors and was one of the first major AIDS hospitals in the world. It was humbling and moving.

Down I went into the subway. A system like no other and I was happy to be in it among the masses.  My music made it so much more palatable. 

I alighted at 50th Street and just as Madonna's Vogue started I walked across the street to behold bright and shiny Times Square.  Lately I have had nothing but disdain for this gaudy, tourist-infested tourist trap, but this morning thanks to Madonna I was empowered and inspired by it. 

It all boils down to perspective. New York is either a crowded, expensive, filthy, crime-ridden dump or it is a bright, exciting, never to be outdone metropolis of possibility. Or both.  I choose today to be in love.

St. Vincent's Hospital

St. Vincent's Hospital has been a block away from where I live for 160 years and now it is closed due to mismanagement and the economy.  There are no other hospitals in this area to serve this community. Sad, sad, sad.

This was the hospital that treated the Titanic survivors and those injured in 9/11.  It was also a major AIDS treatment center at the height of the epidemic. 

It is now a shrine.