Being Midwestern
Just back from six days in the New York City metro area. As regular readers here know, I love New York City. It is an exciting place to be. Diversity, energy, people, opportunities, action. Just walking the streets of the city gives me more than many other activities. Even, under certain circumstances, sitting in traffic can be an interesting experience. You can watch so many people that you would otherwise miss. Diversity is the lifeblood of this city- and perhaps even of our nation, as it is seen day in and day out in New York City.

Saturday evening we went over to a nearby shopping center to get some food and to spend a couple of hours at the Barnes and Noble since the Wi-Fi at the motel wasn't working properly. We got stuck in a Cinco de Mayo traffic jam- in the parking lot. Now it's not as if this doesn't happen in Minneapolis. Our highway system has almost as many bottlenecks as a Coca Cola plant. Some are even saying we may become more and more like Los Angeles.

It was being stuck in the traffic- IN a parking lot- as people were going to the beer tent at a local Mexican food chain. People, people, people. Everything is close together. People crowding. It was fun to watch. All kinds of people converging from all directions. Not to mention the line outside the theater across the parking lot from the beer tent where Spiderman 3 was breaking all kinds of records. Cinco de Mayo plus Spiderman Tres- a recipe for traffic.

I became profoundly aware of the difference between eastern USA cities and those of us from the midwest. It's an economy of scale. Even on a Saturday night there are still enough people around to not only fill parking lots, beer tents and theaters, but Barnes and Noble was also filled with people reading, working on computers, drinking lattes, shopping or just hanging out.

You put enough people in a small enough space and life changes. Our infamous Minnesota (and midwestern) Nice could not work as well with all those many more people. The pace of life would necessarily speed up and stall all at the same time. But in spite of its reputation, New York is NOT an unfriendly place. You just have to know what you're in for. Crowds, brusqueness (because of the crowds), hectic pace (because it takes so much to get through the jams that slow you down.) There isn't enough time to make a big deal out of each encounter, but the smile, the moment of "Have A Good Day", the nod on the street- these make it as real as we can be.

In fact, as I was typing that previous line, the young ladies next to me at Barnes and Noble had a spill accident. Two laptops and two cell phones were threatened by a wall of latte. In a moment's notice three of us sitting around them jumped to pick up the computers and phones to keep then out of harm's way. Sure it would have happened anywhere. But it does happen in New York! It has a bad rap. It may be one of the neatest cities in the world.

Overall, though, I love traveling. The many opportunities to see and experience new things- even in old haunts like New York City- are life affirming for me. They remind me that there is a great deal in this old world that I don't know and haven't yet discovered. Looking through the lens of a camera to get angles and sites in a new way forces me to think about how life must never be allowed to become ordinary for it is always changing, always improving, always having new things right around the corner.