NY, NY

In an effort to shake things up on this blog; we're each addressing different perspectives and commentaries on the same topic each week.With this week's focus on the big apple, I find myself feeling similarto how I do about the city as a whole- intimidated. I do not share the same affection for the city as my friends. I tend to shy away from theglitz and fashion and 4 am last calls in favor of jeans, polo shirts,and on demand movies. I watched last week's premiere of mtv's the city (after all, bad tv is my true weakness), but I still could never envision actually calling manhattan home.

In some ways, I am fascinated by the glitz and glam; but I know thatit is not for me. My own big city seems itself too cold and urban, andwe don't even have sky scrapers. I like going home to tree linedstreets and my view of the neighborhood park. I like being able todrive into the countryside in under 30 minutes, and I like being closeto home. I like running into classmates on the street corner, and I like feeling as though this city of hundreds of thousands is just assmall as my own hometown. I like relatively clean public transportation, and I like that I didn't see any rats until I'd livedhere well over a year.

I am intimidated by rake thin models and the anonymity of the place.The noise and the construction are too much to counter thesurprisingly good tap water. The sheer volume of people and the fact that you can't really hesitate when walking down the sidewalk lest yoube plowed down by the pedestrian onslaught. I

couldn't do it; it is not for me. And the fact that others not only put up with it, but actually embrace it, fascinates me. So I will leave it to my other lovely bloggers to explain the joys ofthe place; I am still too busy on my quest to understand it.