the big banana

stepping out of the earsplitting screeches and echoing foot patter of the union square subway station and into the garbage odor that wafts through manhattan's streets reminds me of why i left new york to begin with. the sense that every mundane action is a grand event reminds me of why i stayed here for two years. sleeping on the subway, waiting in line, buying corn chips at a bodega--they somehow mean something more because they're being done in new york. it's not the glamour. new york is hardly glamorous. it's grungy and loud and in the summer it's damp from humidity. but new york is the nexus. the city itself is an urban legend.