A Jolt of Optimism in Soho
Every time I come back to NYC, I feel strongly about my life. No matter where I was before, when I set foot in the city, I feel that unique great energy which gives me the impression that I am starting anew.
Hope, desire, wonder come to my mind with a jolt of optimism.
I always feel that a part of myself is at home in NYC.
The city has its own life, rhythms, dreams… You have to be prepared for any emergency, because New York is the city of emergence. Anything can happen here. And everything does happen.
A city has a soul and the soul of NYC is tumultuous.
I was walking to the Apple Store with a friend who was going to buy a new computer when I found
The Complete Shorter Fiction Of Virginia Woolf
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I knew the book seller. He has been selling books for years near the campus of New York University, close to Washington Square. He has the best paperback literature you can find. In America, anyone can sell books in the street, it is part of the First Amendment of the Constitution (including freedom of speech, freedom of the press). We chatted for a while, then I bought the book and we walked to the Apple Store where the staff is always nice and helpful.
A question and no answer
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Leaving the store, we walked toward Sixth Ave and were stopped by a graceful middle age woman. She asked for directions to get to Pier 17.
We did not know where it was. She looked at us quite surprised, as though we should know everything about the place where we live. Then a man, who was with her, asked for the subway. He showed me the map and said:
The yellow line.
I explained:
Go straight, walk until you reach Broadway and on your left or right you’ll see the subway station entrance. Be sure to take the downtown train.
Broadway? He said, I thought Broadway was this way, as he pointed his finger in the opposite direction.
We laughed.
You are lost between two Broadways! This one is West Broadway, the one I’m sending you to is Broadway Avenue.
Their faces lit up.
Where are you from?
The woman said Brésou (Bresil), the man said Paris.
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They left and my friend asked:
Where is Pier 17?
No idea
Do you think she knows every single place in Rio?
We smiled
So we looked on the iPhone to find where that Pier was. It turns out to be the largest Pier on the East River where numerous Law & Order episodes have been shot over the years. We just did not know its name.
Tourists know things we don’t.
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