New York: A Universe With Infinite Constellations V
Walking, eating, seeing.
We continue with these vignettes of New York.
Fifteen
Walking, this most trivial of activities, forces us to look and in doing so discover the marvels around us.
Sixteen
Alan de Botton reminds us in the Art of Travel that, in order, to find joy and beauty it is equally important to know how to look than to know what to look at. This is perhaps why walking is so pivotal to our experience.
Seventeen
The Metropolitan hosts a wide array of art.
With great care it can be used as a wonderful teaching tool. But at the same time it is overwhelming. It is a hopscotch of art. It holds a slew of items that while other describe as art — seem utterly random to me.
My favorite among this was the impromptu, Empty Bag.
But what is art? Art has historically been used to extol the highest of the high. We can then learn plenty by examining the art of our ancestors. Likewise we can learn about ourselves by examining the art that our society produces. This is another of those questions that have no answers but that are worth pondering about.
What does it say about our culture where a red square inside a green square is revered?
I think it reveals a frustration that we have no absolutes left! George Steiner suggested that we hunger for “guaranteed prophecy”. In a world that lacks meaning and absolutes; we have nothing to hold on to, nothing by which we can experience what Burke called the Sublime. Thus, we can make imbue anything with grandeur.
Eighteen
“Like a scene from all those movies, that there is a heart that lives in New York” (A heart in NY). New York is featured in many films. The city has hosted all sorts of fiction and hosts all sorts of stories. Most of these stories fade into oblivion.
Nineteen
A character on a film remarked that he never had to leave New York for instead of visiting Italy he could go to Little Italy. But Little Italy, isn’t Italy. The exhibit China Through the Looking Glass appeared to me to be artificial. To what extend do we feel happy to have this cursory knowledge. Most of the artefacts were made by Westerners. Surprisingly, the exhibitors recognised that this was about how westerners had understood China but this was not clear in the exhibit itself.
There are a few films that hit hard, this is one of them.
Does New York contain other universes or are these slightly modified replicas?
Twenty
Food. Food is one of the few things that I hold sacred.
Food is not mere subsistence. Breaking bread.
We should all break bread with others more often. Alain de Botton tells his readers that many many years ago churches used to hold feasts where strangers would sit with one another and interact. These interactions were eased by food and wine and allowed people to remember that regardless of their position everyone struggles.
Breaking bread with friends and loved ones is one of those few experiences that allows people to share not only their time, ideas, but the very means of their subsistence. Cooking a meal is an act of caring for we are nourishing another.
Food is also a point of connection to all that breathes, all the crawls, all that flies, swims, runs, in short it is a connection to all that was living. Eating reminds us that we too are and when we die, we will be food.
Eating reminds us that all the diversity we observed evolved through millions of years of selection. Eating reminds us of who we are and allows us to understand others for food is inextricably linked to culture. Sadly, in this ever more rushed world, food has taken a step back and has been bastardised into fuel. We should celebrate our nourishment and our continued existence when we nourish ourselves. Eating can also be an act of intellectual enrichment.
In New York one finds a meal from every constellation. One can find Peruvian restaurants like Panta, Dominican ones like La Case del Mofongo. Each restaurant is a treasure trove, a way to find nourishment and delight.
Nevertheless, eating is one of those instances where inequality plays a significant role. Many Newyorkers resort to fast food because it is cheaper or because they lack the time for a proper meal. The first is a social injustice which is ethically wrong and associated with adverse health effects that cost society as a whole. The second is disheartening. Breaking to eat is pivotal.
Shelby’s Requiem for a Dream, reminds us that the pursuit of a dream:
“The Great American dream is coming true for many. Obviously, I believe that to pursue the American Dream is not only futile but self-destructive because ultimately it destroys everything and everyone involved with it. By definition it must, because it nurtures everything except those things that are important: integrity, ethics, truth, our very heart and soul. Why? The reason is simple: because Life/life is giving, not getting… It seems to me that we all have a dream of our own, our own personal vision, our own individual way of giving, but for many reasons we are afraid to pursue it, or even to recognize and accept its existence. But to deny our vision is to sell our soul. Getting is living a lie, turning back our back on the truth, and Visions are glimpses of truth: Obviously nothing external can truly nurture my inner life, my Vision”
Breaking to feast is a break from our pursuit. It is a chance to enjoy each others company.
Three of my favorite meals in New York City over the past year: One back in September, near Yankee Stadium. Puerto Rican food. I went with my friend Lauren, whom I had not seen since senior year of high school. It was a special meal to celebrate a reunion with. She seemed like she had undergone a lot of transformation since I last saw her. This was simultaneously surprising and relieving because she, like myself, grew to be a confident, well-spoken, social activist in the five years since I had seen her. I think people are drawn to New York City when they hit that stage of life: of pursuing a dream or course of action. To be in the midst of such a journey and to eat a meal like one regularly does every day seems like a juxtaposition now.
My second favorite meal included one of my favorite past times: teaching and learning. For my birthday in November my significant other bought us a cooking class to take together. It was very fun and I did learn a lot about how to prepare the recipes we did. The recipes included pomegranate-pear-goat cheese salad, pork chops in a port-cherry sauce, orange-zest sauteed green beans with toasted almonds, and a pot de créme dessert. It was a very special birthday present.
My third favorite meal was at Empanada Mama on 9th avenue and 51st street. I ordered plantain chips with spicy guacamole, sangria, and three delicious types of Empanada. It is funny how the same meal with different company and different conversation was slightly miserable.
Acknowledgements
This work was completed with a colleague while we both pursued a Masters in the Teaching of Social Studies.
The text in italics was written by my colleague.