new york cares
often times i forget. it gets overlooked by d.c., england, berkeley, and sf. but make no mistake -- i grew up one glorious summer in new york city, a wide-eyed 20-year-old girl from "cali".

i lived on the third floor of a red brick apartment building on west 20th street, between 7th and 8th avenues, in the chelsea district of manhattan. my roommate was a 25-year-old korean girl from atlanta who had previously worked in fashion and was currently looking for work. she was very friendly, but i rarely saw her, and i think she eventually came to hate me for having so many guests stay over. my room was a living room that was converted into a bedroom and consisted of a full-size futon, a lamp, a dresser, a tv, and an air conditioning unit.

i worked only three blocks away, on fifth ave. and 23rd st. so i would wake up, shower, and roll into work, yet still manage to get there later than my co-workers who had to take the subway in from brooklyn and the bronx. bethany was my co-intern who had been working there for two weeks already while i was in the philippines. we clicked immediately.

bethany became my partner in crime. the city scared me to death, but i told myself that if bethany (a tiny girl from "bahs-tin" who looked like she was twelve) could handle it, i could, too. we spent almost every day together for 8 weeks that summer, and i never got sick of her.



the days were hot, and i used to sunbathe on my fire escape and listen to alicia keys. i was going through a halter top and flip-flop phase, and that was pretty much my uniform the entire summer. but it was still hot beyond belief. more than once i went straight home, threw off my clothes, and sat in front of my air conditioning in my underwear until i cooled down. more often, bethany and i would go out after work, shopping up and down fifth avenue near the office, to bryant park for monday night movies, to soho for middle eastern food, to herald square. our goal was to hit each banana republic in the city, and we came damn close. i learned how to walk like a new yorker, fast, darty, and with a little swivel.



there was a steady stream of visitors through my apartment. sam and bethany, drunk and eating m&m cookies (sam would always go directly to my bathroom; bethany kicked me countless times in bed when she stayed overnight each weekend); crystal and freesia, with their endless shopping bags; kat and sketchy's 20 fake rolex watches; kimi and shimon camping out next to my bed for a night; laurie waking up at some ungodly hour just to go to h&m; chain-smoking owen and his sexual escapades; ali and jonny stopping by; bethany's insanely boring i-banker yuppie friends. i didn't know a soul in new york when i stepped off the plane, but somehow i was never alone.

crystal made fun of the hassidic jew children on the statue of liberty ferry; we stumbled on a cafe from a scene in "you've got mail"; we bought tickets to see "chicago" from the tkts in the world trade center; i threw up a dub in the met; we ate crab sandwhiches in the shadow of the brooklyn bridge; we drank dunkin' donuts coffee on monday mornings; sam and i had cigarettes on my fire escape; frees, crys, and i took a chinese bus to boston for a day and threw up dubs at harvard. in july we went to seattle and scandalized the DC interns. we sipped forties or brass monkeys on my rooftop, getting drunk amid the lights of downtown. we ate mr. softees endlessly, at all times of day. we let our bosses take us out to a yankees game and buy us beer and hot dogs. bethany and i roller skated in central park, fell asleep on the grass, and then went down to chinatown for steak cubes.



and that's what it was. i was young in new york city, with great friends and no inhibitions. one of my strongest memories from that summer is laughing, i swear that's all we did, everywhere. somewhere among all the mr. softees, banana republics, steak cubes, softshell crab sandwiches, falafels, and m&m cookies, i guess i grew up.