Wednesday, November 28, 2012

things to be thankful for


Near the beginning of November, I saw several of my facebook friends posting reasons they were thankful, or posting something they were thankful for every day.  The idea stuck with me and I couldn’t shake it.  One persistent thought was that when people are asked what they are thankful for, they usually immediately think of friends and family.  Those are nothing to be scoffed at, and that I am thankful for my friends and family goes without saying.  I couldn’t help thinking though, about the simple things in life that I am thankful for, things that I encounter daily or what make me who I am.  A mental list started growing and continued expanding until I wondered if I could think of 100 things for which I am thankful.  It started getting difficult towards the end of the list because I didn’t want to just start naming off everything that I own or naming things that make me happy.  I thought individually and intentionally about each thing on my list.  Some of them are simple and others complex ideas; some of them are silly and some of them are serious; some I think about every day and others I often forget.  They are not numbered, but there are 100.  I promise.

I am thankful for:
My dog and her abounding energy
That my dog stayed alive to two years in the Paraguayan campo
My thirst for knowledge
How the first sip of coffee in the morning always is amazing
Hot showers
The privileges that come with my United States Passport
The education I have received
My mother never yelling at me for the perpetual holes in my jeans
The freedoms that come from being a woman in the 21st century
Luxurious hours spent reading good books
The quiet and peace of early mornings
When I can see the sky full of stars
The fact that I grew up near the Pacific Ocean
The profundity of silence
My mother never expecting me to be anyone but myself
Growing up an athlete
Doctors who have kept me healthy and many times saved my life
The clear mind I get from a good walk or run
Sweatpants
Contagious laughter
When I cook a good meal and am able to share it with someone
Dark chocolate
Pictures that become memories of my past
The lingering smell of campfires
The women I have worked with who have taught me how to listen and be patient
Large cups of tea
The sound of the ocean
My computer
My ability to laugh at myself
(in my Aunt Lissa’s words) Successful bowel movements
Knowing more than one language
The English grammar that was drilled into my head growing up
The beautiful innocence of children
Trees
Terere on hot, humid days
Wine and cheese nights with my family
Warm jackets
Traveling
The magic I still feel on Christmas morning
My mother forcing me to learn to play the piano
Growing up with cousins
The awe I feel when I’m on top of a mountain
Ice
When I can justify buying new socks
Afternoon naps
Wildflowers
Public transportation
Mexican food
Never truly going hungry
Sleep
Music
The fresh smell that is present after the rain
Being able to see growth in myself
Scarves
Pools
Easy access to fruits and vegetables
My Ipod
Having a kitchen furnished with dishes and utensils
My “large” New York apartment
The opportunity to live in New York
My experiences in Paraguay
The diverse landscape of the United States
Sunrises
Holidays which give reason to get together with friends and family
Living in a relatively stable society
Thunderstorms
Sunshine
The ability to see
Bright colors
Good roads
Libraries
People in my life who make me laugh
Access to clean water
Not needing to make a fire everyday to cook my meals
Insulated walls
Mate in the winter
The invention of sliced bread
Having a warm place to sleep at night
My dog always being happy to see me when I come home
Freckles
The right to vote
People who understand me
Hope
My earring collection
Being allowed to wear pants
Chapstick
The way that the smells of homemade food waft through the house
Frozen yogurt
Feeling safe when I sleep at night
Washing machines
Dryers
Indoor plumbing
Memories of camping trips
Good dental health
The ability to express myself

While maybe it goes without saying that I am thankful for my family, that often goes unsaid.  My family and the idea of family are sacred to me and I can’t bring myself to just add people that I love to a list.  Instead of listing my sisters, my mom, and my cousin who is like a sister to me, as people I am thankful for, I find it appropriate to list reasons why I am thankful for each one of them.  Because they are what are most precious to me, I think it right to leave these reasons at the end.

Jody’s joy for the simple and natural life
Chelsea’s drive to continue, even when she doesn’t understand
Dani’s brilliant, satirical wit
Tessa’s stunning brilliance and beauty
My mother’s compassion and ability to see 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

What I like about New York

Since moving to New York, I’ve had quite a number of people ask me about New York and my life here.  What’s it like?  Do you like it?  (As if everyone either loves New York or hates it… but mostly loves it.)    I’ve wanted to write about it, but had a persisting writer’s block.  I think part of that had to do with my involvement in classes, but part of that was because I was still trying to figure it out myself.  How am I supposed to really know if I like a place when I’ve only been here a month, two months, even 3 months?  That’s not enough time for me to fall in love with a place or decidedly dislike it, especially when I have had little to no time to explore it and understand it.  I think there is this expectation from some people that I will adapt and become a “New Yorker.”  I’m not sure what that’s really supposed to mean, because I think it means different things for the people that live here.
When people think of New York, many people think of the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Times Square, the World Trade Center, Central Park, the Empire State Building, or things like that.  So here’s an interesting fact: the Statue of Liberty is actually not part of New York City; it’s owned by the state of New Jersey.  Wall Street is just another stop on the train and where I go every Monday for student seminars.  On a whole, not that impressive unless you’re talking about the amount of money people probably spend on those suits.  I believe that most “New Yorkers” stay away from Times Square as much as they possibly can.  I admit, it looks impressive when it’s all lit up at night, but it’s good for a snapshot and that’s all.  After that, the tourists start getting in the way and it’s like rush hour on the 405 freeway in Los Angeles; you have to swerve to get around people.  I see the tip of the Empire State Building frequently when I’m downtown at night and it is quite pretty, but at the end of the day, it’s just another skyscraper with a famous name.  
To me, New York is so much more than that.  It’s not just about these buildings or monuments.  It’s about the people and the diversity that are the fabric of the city.  You can travel to different parts of the city, like the South Bronx, or Washington Heights, Harlem, Sunnyside Queens, Chinatown, or downtown Brooklyn, and find wildly different people and scenery.  The South Bronx is one of the poorest areas in the nation and predominately black.  I’ve accidentally jumped on the D train headed for the Bronx, not only to realize that I was on the wrong train, but that I was the only white person on the train.  The area I live in, Washington Heights, is predominately Dominican and most people here speak Spanish.  Sunnyside, Queens is home to the only Paraguayan restaurant in New York (and possibly the only one outside of Paraguay) and it has more of a suburban feel to it.  Chinatown is this strange area very close to Wall Street, but still filled with middle-class to poor people, many of whom don’t speak English.  In Brooklyn, the top five languages spoken other than English are Spanish, Russian, Chinese, French, and Yiddish; Creole is in the top ten.  Yiddish and Creole aren’t even among the world’s most spoken languages, but they are in Brooklyn.
One of the funny things about New York is that it’s an existing, perpetual oxymoron.  It’s one of the few places in the world where you can find such vast diversity, but most of these diverse groups stay segregated from one another.  In one city, you have one of the biggest financial centers of the world and some of the poorest people in the country.  Many of the country’s most renowned institutions and intellectuals and fashion gurus claim this city as their home.  I have also seen people begging in the street and trains and people yelling about incoherent life problems to unwilling but captive audience in subway cars; I’ve seen people dancing on subway platforms as if no one was watching, and women screaming at each other because someone touched someone else but wouldn’t move over.  I’ve been pushed because my bag was “too close” to someone’s face and shared a laugh with complete strangers over something random that no one else saw. 
I am consistently in awe at this city and how it exists with all of its contradictory places and people.  There are so many beautiful things here, including the many famous skyscrapers and monuments… even if some of them really belong to New Jersey.  There are also some not so pretty parts of humanity that simultaneously exist, even if they are just a few blocks away.  And there are these confusing parts that aren’t necessarily pretty and aren’t necessarily ugly, but they exist nonetheless. It’s this beautiful, contradictory, and sometimes tragic mosaic that is pulsating and always moving, even after tragedies like Hurricane Sandy. When it comes down to it, I think that’s what I like about New York.