I grew up in Brooklyn where the skyline of the city was my Disney World and getting there was the only fantasy that I obsessed over day in and day out. It wasn’t until college that I moved into Manhattan, and it was then that life would change to something I could never have imagined. I guess this tune from Andy Kong titled, “City Lights” triggered those feelings of awe in me of when I first got into the island because earlier today as I walked passed F.I.T. over on 26th street, all I could see and hear were freshman wandering aimlessly with the allure of the city in their eyes. It’s the same allure that I still get here in NYC every single day, and it was that allure that has made my life here so magical.
..it hurts to say that the city has changed us.”
It’s crazy because so many of my friends have gotten up and left NYC for the west coast. I’m talking about hec, and nick, swiv, doug, Mike Rooney, goodwill and countless others that are out there now “living the dream“, but I know inside somewhere they miss this crazy place.
Sure, we’ve probably all had some of our darkest moments here, but even in those deepest darknesses the city lights managed to shine brightly, and it was within that brightness in the middle of the nights that our hopes and dreams went to stay alive. That’s what I love so much about this town, that no matter how many times you fall down and how bad things can get, the dreams that you came here to chase (whatever they may be for you) are somehow still always right there, somewhere within that endless sea of all those lights in form of constant inspiration, and no matter what you say, it can’t be found anywhere else that you may run off to. Nah.
City Lights reminds me why after all this time I am still in New York City and still as obsessed with her as ever. It reminds me of my obsession with its skyline and how the nights can take you to places you didn’t even think possible, and how those places can show you things more beautiful than anything you have ever been told.
Maybe California or London or Paris or Dubai have something similar in store for me, but in the end, my home is here, and I love it.
He was too romantic about Manhattan, as he was about everything else. He thrived on the hustle bustle of the crowds and the traffic.” —Woody Allen