HUDSON RUN

One of these days I swear I’m going to start getting up early. So today Cara and I made a pilgrimage to Trader Joes to stock up on the things you go to TJ’s for, like cheap Clif bars and coffee. It was even hotter than yesterday; overcast and humid, which is fine by me since I’m not really into wearing long pants lately. I’ve had a hankering to go to Forever 21, yet another one of these hip discount clothing stores, so we made a side trip to Union Square and were able to do a bit of shopping as well from the farmer’s market going on. After a bit of Sushi from Whole Foods on the park bench we braved the clothing store, which consisted of mostly women’s clothing and strategically placed items of men’s attire repeated on various racks to give the impression of actual variety. I did find a nice pair of slacks, which gave me some ass, and my take on shopping is usually to buy one thing at a time anyway, so I was happy to have found anything at all. I’m still not giving in to wearing t-shirts with designer graphics. I will not capitulate. TJ’s was a zoo. It seems to always be, with three of four times as many people shopping as you’d find in Seattle with no change in the routine store size. The carts are these half-sized things to make room for people, and the checkout lines are at least 50 people deep, though they have at least 20 checkers so the wait actually goes by rather fast. When we finally got home I took a run down by the Hudson River, following it all the way to 150th Ave. The river is big and beautiful and I want to swim across it next summer. The path itself was lined with dense decidious forest and a sense of the natural that buffered the urban corridor just on the other side of it. I saw a rat and the Little Red Lighthouse under the Washington Bridge that was in the big climax to that disturbing good Meg Ryan film In The Cut. The humidity is downright oppressive if you’re straining for air, but the run was full of people playing every conceivable sport on the playing fields that line the riverbanks. Soccer, Volleyball, Football and Softball all simultaneously played out right next to one another other. It was charming, multicultural, and felt like I was in Central America. Came home, ate, did a little glycolic acid treatment on my terrible t-zone (I just got a kit), burned my face, then left to see A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. Arrived on 42nd St. to a torrential downpour. The movie I must say is absolutely riveting and conjured all sorts of feelings about father/son relationships and that ever-contentious subject about moving away from your family for all the right reasons.

• • •

In spite of the ease of city access via subway, it still can get tiring getting from uptown to the bottom. Up here in Washington Heights it takes at least 30 minutes to get to 59th and my Columbus Circle/YMCA/Central Park. That’s if you catch a train on time, and the express train. Otherwise I’m reading more than ever with the platform down time I have lately. Most places are a healthy walk from the stop and the East Side is almost a no-mans land with the lack of ease for connecting subways. I was down near the UN having dinner with my friend Vickie last night and I think I must have walked four miles to rendezvous then to find some place to eat (overpriced Thai). Still, I go somewhere every day just to get acquainted with the city, but the crowds, fumes, and general noise and over stimulation is exhausting. If I didn’t have a way to center myself through a spiritual and physical program, I’d be nuts. Anthropologist Desmond Morris wrote in The Human Zoo that cities are in essence no different than the places we keep wild animals for human entertainment and observation. Like animals in cages we adopt unnatural skills to cope, leading to all sorts of bizarre behaviors. I have to admit though that this city is remarkably polite, as if there is these days and inherent understanding not to make it any harder on each other than it already is. Of course, not everyone abides by this tenet; there is shoving and pushing, and the nasty behaviors of people cutting in line as if others in a queue simply don’t exist. At days end one must regroup or suffer the daily accumulation of negative energy that can build into a bad case of existential malaise. I can see how this will all eventually kick my ass.