Letter from the Editor, 05-01-2008
“One never need leave the confines of New York to get all the greenery one wishes,” the poet Frank O’Hara wrote in 1957. “I can’t even enjoy a blade of grass unless I know there’s a subway handy, or a record store or some other sign that people do not totally regret life.”
Professor Molly Murray pointed out in a lecture this week that Frank O’Hara wasn’t born in New York, a fact she brought up in conjunction with his seemingly boundless affection for the city. I think I’m in the same boat as O’Hara (a ferry, preferably, headed toward Manhattan). My parents live in Schwenksville, Pa., the near-absurd name of which should give you some idea of what kind of town it is. I did a double and triple take when I saw Schwenksville named in the first chapter of The Corrections—I’m still convinced Jonathan Franzen just opened an atlas and chose the real town that sounded the most like a fake town. If ever anyone desired a high-school experience brimming with pastoralia, my early teenage years fit the bill.
So when I went to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens last weekend to see their cherry blossom trees on display, I felt a little displaced—all this nature around reminded me a lot of being at home in Pennsylvania. I had a great time at the gardens, but breathed an unconscious sigh of relief when I left their gates to find the 2/3 stop waiting for me right outside.
I think there’s something about nature being a destination, rather than a surrounding, here in New York that makes me appreciate it more. Sure, Central Park’s dominance of the island can slightly complicate getting to the Upper East. The slight inconvenience of crosstown buses, though, is a small price to pay for the maintenance of Manhattan’s sanity—a formidable task I think the park executes with panache.
While many of my high-school friends who ended up scattered across the country are going back to Pennsylvania for the summer, most of my Columbia friends are staying in the city. The job and internship opportunities are a huge consideration, of course, but I think there’s something else to the decision, too—so many Columbia students are in the same situation as Frank and me. We’d rather have Broadway than backyards, especially if we can
Happy summer, dear reader. If you are staying in the city, don’t forget to lay around in the park (Central, Riverside, Prospect…) every once in awhile. You’ll enjoy it more knowing there’s a subway handy.