See the lady with the blue sneakers? She is the typical New York subway rider. You sit down with your stuff as compactly as possible, you de-focus your eyes, or close them, and you zone out. In effect, you go into a trance until your internal clock senses that 18 minutes have passed and you’re at your destination (the overhead announcement is just background noise).
But just think: this is one of 6,400 subway cars in New York City. Each car holds about 240 people, and most of the time, they run near capacity. Each train makes dozens of stops, and they run all day and long into the night.
In New York, nearly everyone rides the subway, not only people of all races, all classes, all ages, and all sizes, but people of all intellects, attitudes, moods, styles, religions, job descriptions, political persuasions, health conditions, and every other characteristic you can think of.
And every time a subway car stops, and its doors open for a few moments, the cast changes and a new tableau is created. At Christmas time, you might see five or six Santas scattered about, reading the New York Post, or listening to music through their earbuds. In the evening, a group in evening gowns and tuxes might be clinging to one pole, trying not to break a heel or get mustard from someone’s sandwich on their outfit. At Halloween… well, you might see anything; New York is a highly competitive place, even in weirdness.
Just think what you miss if you don’t open your eyes and look around.
But just think: this is one of 6,400 subway cars in New York City. Each car holds about 240 people, and most of the time, they run near capacity. Each train makes dozens of stops, and they run all day and long into the night.
In New York, nearly everyone rides the subway, not only people of all races, all classes, all ages, and all sizes, but people of all intellects, attitudes, moods, styles, religions, job descriptions, political persuasions, health conditions, and every other characteristic you can think of.
And every time a subway car stops, and its doors open for a few moments, the cast changes and a new tableau is created. At Christmas time, you might see five or six Santas scattered about, reading the New York Post, or listening to music through their earbuds. In the evening, a group in evening gowns and tuxes might be clinging to one pole, trying not to break a heel or get mustard from someone’s sandwich on their outfit. At Halloween… well, you might see anything; New York is a highly competitive place, even in weirdness.
Just think what you miss if you don’t open your eyes and look around.
