This will be my third attempt at writing this post. You see, the last two times I've tried to write, they've been lost to the vastness of the internet. Twice have I written witty, and I daresay moving, posts that would enlighten this otherwise dark world with their insight. Twice have I hit the wrong button in the browser window and sent these jewels of wisdom careening off into nothingness. Such is life.
The first, as I'm sure you're curious to know, was a profoundly deep and inspired look at the human relationship between New York City and the rest of the country. In it, were examined the outlooks of several people who have grown up in NYC, moved here, or have simply visited here. Against these were pitted the perceptions of the city of various people who had never been here, but had rather only seen most of the city through movies. The intricate research conducted for this study was unparalleled, taking the better part of the hour I spent sitting in Detroit Metro Airport waiting to board my plane back to New York. I interviewed two people at the gate extensively, or at least listened to them complain about how much the taxi ride from LaGuardia to their hotel was likely to cost.
The second piece was a much more personal account of alienation from a place I used to know incredibly well. With a bit of dry humor, it was related how I was stopped and asked for directions in Novi, a small Michigan town where I spent a great deal of my adolescence. (Hey, that's where the mall was.) I won't spell out the obvious parallel here with my constantly being stopped in NYC. The poignant bit of this story, however, was that I didn't know where to send the poor fellow who asked for directions in Novi. And so followed a heartfelt discussion on what it means to move on from a place and time that no longer belong to you.
Brilliant bits of writing, both of them. Perhaps someday I'll take the time and care to write them again. But probably not.
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2 comments:
I have had such luck when attempting to post blogs before, I feel your pain. You spend such a long amount of time, pouring your heart out over this computer, feeling every word you wish to share with your friends and when you're ready to post, the browser refreshes itself and the slate is wiped clean.
There's a lesson to be learned from that, everything happens for a reason and some things are better left unsaid. At the very least, having written such enlightening posts, you have a better knowledge and understanding of those experiences and can appreciate them more than you would had you not reflected upon them.
I am extremely disappointed by your post. I mean, in addition to missing the 2 rather poignant and, I'm certain, well-written pieces you described, we seem also to be deprived of yet 35 more that you didn't describe at all! I want every single one of the 37 posts verbatim!
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