3/1/10

Hi Readers,
Happy March. Today's entry is about who I met this morning when I didn't take the subway.
I had a doctor's appointment in downtown Brooklyn and decided to take a cab into work from there. I knew it would be pricey but it would soothe my anxiety and I would get to enjoy the sunshine for a little while longer. (I work in a cubicle with no windows or natural light of any kind).
Anyway, my cab driver was a nice man from Senegal, West Africa. I was happy to sit quietly in the back of the cab when he turned to me and said "I can't help but think of 9/11 every time I cross the Brooklyn Bridge." My first thought was "EYES ON THE ROAD!" but after that we had a very interesting conversation about our experiences on 9/11.
He was driving a full car of passengers down from 57th Street to 23rd Street when the first plane hit. The passenger sitting next to him tried calling her husband - a man who worked on the 106th floor of the World Trade Center. By the time they got down to 23rd Street the towers were both falling. The woman was still unable to get ahold of her husband. She tried to pay the cabbie but he refused. He said "Today is about all of us. I can not take your money." He never found out what happened to her or her husband.
I've had reason to tell about my experience on 9/11 many times but sharing it with this cab driver, a stranger, was very calming. We are two very different people from gender to age to ethnicity to life experiences but we commiserated about 9/11 as though we were the same. It was very powerful.

Hopefully my next entry will be more entertaining.

xoxo,
Susan

2/9/10

Today I met Joel, a 23 year old, aspiring film maker. I had just come from my weekly therapy appointment and was heading up to work on the F train. I picked Joel to talk to because he was wearing a bright green sweatband with just the right amount of irony. NICE! Originally from Michigan Joel came to the NYC about 1 1/2 years ago to live in "the big city".

On the subway Joel likes to read. Currently he is reading Torrents of Spring.

Now here's the thing....I've never heard of that book. When I googled it I found that Hemingway published his book The Torrents of Spring in 1926 while an Ivan Turgenev wrote a Torrents of Spring in 1872.

I can't be sure which one Joel was reading but he did say it was painfully boring.

Should I read both

and compare or just watch the 1989, Timothy Hutton/Nastassja Kinski film of the same name and assume the books are similar? I think I'll go with the latter.

2/3/10

Hello readers.

This morning I made some subway observations of my own and thought I would share them.

On the C train heading to work. Two strange and interesting looking women were sitting across from me on opposite sides of the long subway seat. One, a middle aged black woman with short crimped hair was accessorized with bright red, 80's style sunglasses and a Disc-Man. She was breathing into her turtleneck and rocking back and forth - almost violently. She stop a few times to say hi to nearby passengers. Friendly. Then she hastily switched seats and yelled at the woman across from her "What are you staring at? Huh? What are you staring at? You're too ugly to stare at me!". Not so friendly anymore.

Two, an older white woman who looked like she stepped off a boat at Ellis Island a hundred years ago from Russia or the Ukraine. The lines on her face and babushka in her hair gave her a sense of old world wisdom and heartache. The mole under her nose was the kind grandchildren fear when kissing their old, strange relative at family parties. I was brought back to present day when I noticed her fashionable boots and purse. I realized she must just be another NY woman on her way to work.

I wonder what people make up about me on the subway?

1/26/10

There are two reasons why I haven't written this week. First off, I haven't been talking to too many strangers on the train lately. The second reason is simple....some people are boring!

I have approached a some people over the last week and they all tentatively agreed to answer some questions. I got a lot of one word answers and a ton of strange looks. Hey, I'm a chubby, Jewish girl with glasses. Do you really think I'm a threat to you? But I get it...I'd be suspicious too if someone approached me about a subway blog.

But today I did meet David, 38, from Portland Oregon. He came to NY for the magazine industry. While riding the subway David likes to people watch. He says the subway and museums are the best places to people watch in the whole city. David's crazy subway experience intrigued me. According to him there was a homeless and deranged man riding a very packed subway. Every time the doors opened he would yell "NEXT STOP BAGDAD, NEXT STOP BAGDAD." Being that this was right around the beginning of our war with Iraq, David said it was a stressful train ride for everyone. I would imagine.

One last thought about it. David said the homeless man was deranged. Maybe he was. Maybe he was bat-shit crazy. But if he was totally insane wouldn't he have yelled something like "NEXT STOP POOPYVILLE" or "NEXT STOP MY ASS"? Seems to me like he knew exactly what he was doing.

1/19/10 the sequel

On my way home last night I got to interview a guy. Here are his answers:

1. Devin age 32

2. A train to Brooklyn

3. Poughkeepsie, NY

4. Devin came to the 5 boroughs 14 years ago for art school. He studied Illustration at Pratt Institute

5. He likes to read or do crossword puzzles while riding the rails. I glimpsed a Kurt Vonnegut book in his pocket.

6. Devin had two stories to tell me. One crazy and one sweet. Can you figure out which is which?

- There was a naked homeless man, with his pants around his ankles, pole dancing in the subway car. He then proceeded to lay newspaper on the ground and started to squat. The whole train, in anticipation of the homeless man's next move, scurried to the edges of the train while he relieved himself.

-Devin saw a pretty girl on the subway holding some paintings. He got up and offered her his seat. She replied that she was getting off at the next stop...as was he. They started talking and ended up dating for 1 1/2 years.

Both are pretty great stories...in their own way.

1/19/10

Well Subway Sanity readers here is the latest...

I decided to create a questionnaire to ask people on the subway and today I got 4 responses. Take a took at what people had to say. My comments will be in parenthesis and blue.

List of questions: 1. Name/Age

2. Train

3. Where are you from?

4. What brought you to NY?

5. What is your favorite thing to do on the subway?

6. What is the craziest or most interesting thing you have experienced/seen on the subway?

MICHELLE

1. Michelle / 27 (ok, i admit. Michelle is a friend of mine. I had to test this out on someone i know.)

2. C train from Clinton Hill to Midtown

3. PA

4. School - Michelle went to F.I.T. and has been here for almost 7 years.

5. Michelle likes to "check out hot guys and make fun of people's shoes". (Watch out, she could be judging you right this minute!)

6. "One day some guy showed me his balls. It was traumatic!" (Eh, who hasn't seen a little too much on the subway?!)

RACHEL

1. Rachel / 32

2. C train

3. Upstate NY

4. A job in design brought Rachel to Manhattan. She now lives in Brooklyn and has been here for 11 years.

5. Crosswords

6. Rachel once fainted while waiting on the subway platform. She was pleasantly surprised that a half a dozen people or so all came to her aid. One man offered her the orange juice he was drinking. Another stayed with her while she waited for medical help.

(You know, people think NY is this cold place filled with mean people but when push comes to shove New Yorkers are the BEST people to have on your side.)

***Rachel went on to air her grievances about the subways. She wished people wouldn't block the doors or lean on the pole. Then she went on to complain about how the MTA does a bad job of posting service changes. I reminded Rachel that I was in no way affiliated with the MTA but I would be happy to put her complaints on my blog. So if anyone from the MTA is reading this please take note!

1/17/10

Thinking of having a questionnaire to ask people I meet on the subway. I would love any question suggestions.
So far I'm thinking:
1. First name?
2. Where are you from originally?
3. What brings you to NY?
4. What is your favorite thing to do on the subway?
5. What is the craziest thing that has happened to you or that you have witnessed on the subway?

How would you react if someone handed you this questionnaire on the subway?