\nmemory and perhaps imperfectly), “Kids are gonna love whom they damn well
\nplease.” The song is about extending understanding and acceptance to gay and
\nlesbian youth, but to me the line also says, “We’re all gonna love people (and
\nplaces and practices and principles) that we damn well please.” It’s the loving
\nitself that’s so good.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I want to share with you something I wrote describing what I
\nlove about my adopted home. Let it spark your own thoughts about how you love
\nRocky Mountains or the heart of Dixie or Highway One or something else. Leave
\nyour comment about some place or person or practice or principle you love the
\nway I love the Big Apple. We can have a love fest. It’ll almost be like bringing
\nback the 60s.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Things I Love about NYC<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The energy and uplift I feel when I The architecture and the bridges<\/p>\n The dogs and the pigeons<\/p>\n Fresh\u00a0<\/span>flowers at the delis<\/p>\n The writers’ group downtown <\/p>\n Tall buildings, crowds, and Every now and then, getting to go Running into people I know on the Being in the center of things<\/p>\n The subway<\/p>\n Restaurant delivery, drugstore Being readily available for the Times Square<\/p>\n Having a 212 area code <\/p>\n Being car-free and getting to walk Having a gym and a trainer<\/p>\n The Village. God, I love The Broadway. Even though don’t see all All the shops and salons and Knowing that, God willing, I’ll get to The intellectual ferment, the Having visitors from Kansas City Taxi drivers – a high percentage of Having a coffee place every few blocks, \n Inspiration from sights, sounds, Chinatown<\/p>\n The farmers’ markets, especially Moo Shoes<\/a><\/p>\n Caravan of Dreams<\/a><\/p>\n Candle 79<\/a><\/p>\n Sacred Chow<\/a><\/p>\n Pure Food & Wine<\/a><\/p>\n Going to my friends’ cabarets and The Dream — that as long as I’m Being close to LaGuardia<\/p>\n Having a doorman<\/p>\n Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s and Being a writer in the city where Unity<\/a> in Symphony Space and the All the things I have yet to do, Talking to strangers<\/p>\n Tea & Sympathy<\/a>, the English The Upper West Side<\/p>\n Lectures at the 92<\/a>nd<\/a><\/sup> \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>Neighborhood Central Park and the squirrels<\/p>\n Washington Square Park and the Places of inspiration: Auntie Fruit vendors<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>Subway \n Buing a Christmas tree on the street and carrying it home<\/p>\n Buying other things on the street: a hat, gloves, a photograph, roasted chestnuts in the wintertime and Italian ice in the summer<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The delicious anonymity of the TwoBoots Pizza<\/a> in Grand Central Madison Avenue<\/p>\n The characters – the crazies, the The fact that everybody comes here. My professional organizations – the Ubiquitous, low-priced nail salons Turning on the TV or going to a Trains, and being able to go Being happy when I hear the song History: the cabarets, the Being here as a person of NYU and Columbia, if I could ever Moby’s tea shop (Teany<\/a>) and the Harlem, and that we were able to Feeling that I live in a place that genuinely suits me, where my energy matches \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I moved to the magical isle of Manhattan in August of 2000. I still get chills when I see the skyline or walk in Times Square. Not everybody loves New York City. Some people can’t stand it. But they love some other place and that’s the point. There’s a line in a Holly Near song…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":177,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-delights-abounding"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nwalk outside, or even just open the shades<\/p>\n![\"1](\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/133\/import\/1%20flower.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\n
\nescalators<\/p>\n
\nto something fancy and grand<\/p>\n
\nstreet<\/p>\n
\ndelivery, courier services<\/p>\n
\nworld of publishing, media, and the opportunities and possibilities that just
\nmight come up<\/p>\n![\"timesquare.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/133\/import\/timesquare.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\n
\nall over and never think about needing to “get more exercise” or “eat less”<\/p>\n
\nVillage.<\/p>\n
\nthat many shows, it makes me happy just knowing it’s there<\/p>\n
\nservices that can make a woman beautiful <\/p>\n
\nbe an old lady here and walk these streets, maybe with a cane or a walker but
\nstill free and independent<\/p>\n
\ndiscussions, the classes, so much to learn and take in<\/p>\n
\nand everywhere else, and showing them the city<\/p>\n
\nwhom talk to me about spiritual things. That always gives me a thrill. It makes
\nme believe in world peace, one cab at a time….<\/p>\n
\nand any one of them willing to let me bring my computer and write a book<\/p>\n![\"a](\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/133\/import\/a%20herb%20shop.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\n
\nand people<\/p>\n
\nUnion Square. all those fruits and vegetables juxtaposed against concrete and
\nskyscrapers. I think it’s beautiful.<\/p>\n
\nplays and book signings<\/p>\n
\nhere, It (the Dream) could find me <\/p>\n
\nBergdorf’s. This one goes way back: my mom managed the beauty salons in The
\nJones Stores in Kansas City back when it was a little girl. I grew up in department
\nstores. They make me feel safe and happy.<\/p>\n
\nhalf the great writers of the English language lived. (The other half lived in
\nLondon and I loved living there, too.)<\/p>\n
\nUnity classes downtown<\/p>\n
\nlike renting a car on a Sunday morning and driving around The Village to
\nfinally, thoroughly get the lay of the land; or leaving Manhattan long enough
\nto really discover Brooklyn<\/p>\n
\ntea shop on Greenwich Avenue <\/p>\n
\nStreet Y<\/a><\/p>\n
\npharmacies<\/p>\n
\nreally tame squirrels<\/p>\n![\"1](\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/133\/import\/1%20Wash%20Sq.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\n
\nMame<\/a>‘s townhouse (she was invented, but the address is real)…the Algonquin Round Table<\/a>…the Chelsea Hotel<\/a><\/p>\n
\nmusicians<\/p>\n
\ncity. I can sit on the subway crying my eyes out and nobody bothers me, or I
\ncan walk down the street singing out of tune and, as long as I’m not loud about
\nit, nobody minds<\/p>\n
\nStation where they have a vegan pizza option. (I remember the day I discovered
\nthis: whole-wheat crust and no cheese—in a train station! It was as if NYC
\nwas saying to me: “I’ve accommodated everybody’s religion and philosophy and
\ndreams for 200 years. I can handle the fact that you want cheeseless pizza.”)<\/p>\n
\neccentrics, the exotics, all of them<\/p>\n
\nThe Dalai Lama. The President. People who want to be President. Barbra
\nStreisland and Liza Minnelli. Someone amazing is always here, in addition to
\nthe amazing people who are here fulltime. I rarely go to hear their lecture or
\ntheir concert, but I could.<\/p>\n
\nAuthors Guild, the American Society of Journalists & Authors, NY Women in
\nCommunications<\/p>\n
\nand their impromptu back-rubs<\/p>\n
\nmovie and proudly thinking, “I live there.”<\/p>\n
\nsomewhere on one<\/p>\n
\n“New York, New York”<\/a> and getting to think, “Yeah, I’m doing that.”<\/p>\n
\nrestaurants with white tablecloths, the fine hotels — vestiges of the world
\nthat was already leaving when I was a child and is all but gone now. But here
\nthere’s still some of it. It makes me feel warm and protected<\/p>\n
\nconscience and consciousness, doing my tiny part on some spiritual level, I
\nthink, to protect this precious island from terrorism and other bad things<\/p>\n
\ngo back to school and get that graduate degree in theology I’ve thought about
\nfor twenty-five years<\/p>\n
\nTenement Museum<\/a> and the whole Lower East Side<\/p>\n
\nbuy an apartment there<\/p>\n
\nits energy, where all my facets fit and I don’t have to hide any of them or
\npretend to be someone else. May you feel so blessed wherever you are today.<\/p>\n![\"skyline.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/133\/import\/skyline.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\n