Make Mine a Manhattan

"Why do you like being in New York? What do you do there?"

Some of my Florida friends have asked me this question whenever I talk about waiting, wishing, longing for my next trip to Manhattan. I try to stutter out an answer, but it never comes out right. It's like trying to answer the question: "How does the universe work?" You might mention the sun and the moon and,oh, there's something called a black hole and infinity, but you can tell your listeners are just not feelin' it.

"Everything is entertaining in New York," I say.

They wait for elaboration. (Most of my school friends are English teachers, with one very open-minded stray math teacher thrown in. I can actually tell by the way they are looking at me that they are literally thinking the word "elaboration" in red ink.)

I'll then start with my big go-to example: Central Park. I like to walk in Central Park and watch the people and the dogs. Or the league softball games. Or I'll bring a camp chair and sit in line to get free tickets to Shakespeare in the Park at the outdoor Delacorte Theater. And there are musicians of all sorts pretty much everywhere and exercise groups and pre-schoolers in camp and birds and people watching birds.

"Even doing nothing is doing something in New York," I'll explain. "Just walk out your door and there's action and characters and energy."

In a one week period, Ricky and I saw FOR FREE: a cast of famous actors including Matt Damon, Jesse L. Martin, Alan Alda and Vanessa Redgrave read excerpts from Shakespeare followed by a discussion lead by a Harvard ethics professor; a concert by Suzanne Vega; a production of Chekhov's The Seagull in which scene changes required that the audience follow the actors to different locations within Central Park; and an exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in which the art displayed was composed of projections of light.

New York transports me -- and not just figuratively. I buy my unlimited Metro Pass and hop on a bus or a subway train from East Side to West Side, uptown to downtown, right into the middle of the hubbub when I feel like it, and away from it all when I don't.

So while most people enjoy their vacations on the beach with sand between their toes, I'll be bumping my way through the turnstiles and hitting the cobblestones and other bumpy pavements of New York, because...that's what I do there.