Sunday, September 24th. Washington Square Park.
The sky was cloudy as the blue faded into night. Birds flew above me and the air seemed fresh despite being in the middle of an industrial city. I walked slowly around Washington Square with a few of my friends I had grown to know well over a matter of weeks and I was thinking heavily of the power of each human being around me. Diversity and entertainment were booming in the Square that night. On one end stood a man who had climbed the Washington Square Arch and painted himself the color of it. He was posing in different positions and his movement was the only way I could tell he wasn’t part of the monument itself. Just looking at his body art on the arch was magical. Art truly is everywhere and can be made with anything. Behind him and under the arch was a violinist, using his talent to the best of his ability as he played his music for all to hear. The Empire State Building shined through the arch like a star and I stood there in wonderment of the world and everything in it. Turning around, I kept walking around the central fountain with its peaceful waters flushing into it. To the right stood a man with a giant net that blew giant bubbles and underneath dogs were jumping trying to eat the bubbles and small children were chasing trying to pop them. Giggles and barks were heard under the sounds of the water and the violinist. Behind this scene was a man who had set up a string that hung pages of stories that people had written about their lives. He started a project called the stranger project where he literally went around the U.S. asking everyone to write something about themselves or their experiences. He combined the stories and made a book which he was selling. Additionally, he let me write my own. After reading some of the stories, I realized that not only were the wonderful things I was seeing in the square so intriguing and beautiful, but literally everyone in the world has unique stories and experiences and lives that mean and feel and look differently than everyone else. Everyone has their own unique story. Keeping this in mind, I kept walking and passed a man with a shirt and a saying on it “free conversations” and another “free personalized poems”. Although all conversations are free usually, I found the free conversations a very interesting idea. An invitation to talk. I think as humans we cut the idea of talking to strangers, we are taught “stranger danger” but here this guy was inviting everyone to talk to him. A pure and simple idea. Sure enough, I couldn’t find the time to talk to him all night because he was always talking to someone else. This made me wonder… If he wasn’t wearing the sign, would he have been? Small things such as this make me question my own everyday actions. What could I do to make the most of this? Imagine, this guy gets to just talk to new people all day long. He gets to learn of strangers and make friends in them. Just like the stranger project, he gets to read a new book of stranger stories every day he invites people to talk with him. After the poem guy wrote my friend Kimmie a beautiful poem, we received his Instagram information, and kept walking. Instagram- Now we were connected to him forever through the web. Strangers to companions in seconds. Social media is transforming the way humans interact, the way we meet and grow together with the world- and in this way, it was positive. Continuing the journey around the fountain, we passed the last event of the night, a Quartet of old men singing music that was almost too pure to exist. It sounded very old school bluesy. I grabbed my beautiful friend Sabyne and soon all my friends were slow dancing to the Quartet under the night skies of NYC as the Empire State Building sparkled behind us. We were all here. One hundred percent alive with passions overflowing breathes of fresh and magical air. Yes, we were here, and what a lovely night it was.
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5:45 on a Wednesday
NYC Subway from Manhattan to Queens The subway is packed, everyone holding on to the nearest bar or seat. I walk on after a tea date with my world-renowned philosopher friend Nigel from England who was visiting for work at a gallery. I had met Nigel when I was 13 in Italy. I was on a family vacation for my sister's senior trip and we were waiting in line for the Duomo. As we were waiting, I heard a man behind me speaking with an English accent. Being a lover of accents, I excitedly told my family and started trying to mock him. He overheard me and said "that's actually quite good"- and BAM- the start of a friendship that would bring us here in NYC 5 years later. When I went to England this past year, I facebook chatted him "Hi, Nigel, it's Chloé, the little girl you met in the Duomo line 5 years ago. I am going to England in July and would love to grab coffee with you." Sure enough, we met up at Oxford where he does interviews and talks at Blackwell's Bookshop... one of the top book stores in the world... casual. And then again, he came last Wednesday and we set up a tea time. One simple message and we have kept our international friendship... that's how easy it is. Last Wednesday, when I was leaving the tea time and on the squished subway, I was pushed close to a man named Daniel. When I entered the subway, he said "hey, have you considered being a model?" and I replied with "I'm 5'4 so no, haha, but thanks for the compliment." A pick-up line that would start the next hour of conversation. We were forced so close on crowded subway, both holding onto the same bar, and both going to Queens, an hour ride, so I figured why not make conversation? Who cares that he's a 30 something year old man? He's human. I'm human. And we are here on this humid bus for the next 50 minutes inches apart. So I kept up the conversation, and I'm glad I did. It's easy to walk down a street or enter a subway and see people and make accusations of them. But do you really know them? What are their thoughts? Their fears? Their passions? Their loves and losses? The answer is no... you don't. Think for a moment how complex you are as a person. There are things you lost. Passions you've found. Places you've been and experiences that only you have experienced. EVERYONE is that complex. The car you are riding next to has a human in it with complexities that you may never know. The people you see walking their dogs on the street today have a story and dreams and struggles. So why not keep up this conversation? Daniel the Stranger is a Capricorn with a temper problem. He's extremely sensitive and feels like society doesn't allow men to show their feelings as they should. He likes lions and feels as though his afro makes him look like one. He smokes weed every chance he gets because it makes him feel capable of achieving his dreams. It makes him positive in times when he's ready to give up. His dream is to live in California. He loves driving his car and hadn't partied for years. He partied for the first time in a while the night before our subway meeting and that's why he was taking the subway because he felt it wasn't safe for him to drive. He loves music and hip hop dancing with his buddies (though he's insecure about his dancing talent). He showed me videos of him dancing. He was seriously impressive. He's from Jamaica and his biggest dream is to make it as a chef. He's a giant foodie. He wants to represent his roots and open a Jamaican Restaurant. He said that he makes killer Jamaican Chicken Curry. He currently lives with his cousin and owns a pizza food truck. "You have to start somewhere," he said to me optimistically. He has a passion for cross fit and cooking. He wants to make his momma proud and prove to the world that he is more than a color or an age or a stoner or a food-truck worker. He often feels his heart is too big for his body. We ended the night with him telling me about Jamaican clubs and restaurants that I must try because I've never had Jamaican food. We hugged as I left the subway. He wished me well. and told me he could tell I was a person that could do whatever I set my mind to. He never was creepy, but genuinely seemed interested in telling me his passions and in listening to mine. He definitely thought I was older than I am, and I never corrected his thoughts, but I still feel like we connected. A man from Jamaica and a girl from a small town in Louisiana mingling in the city of dreams on a crowded subway. And I can't help but think that is our purpose.. all of us... we were meant to connect and learn and feel and hear and see the world through the eyes of all. Because no matter where we are from or what we want to do with the time we have, we all have hearts that feel and minds that seek to understand... and that's pretty special. Being scared can consume us. Being fearful can destroy us. We are meant to learn together. And when my friend Daniel opens that Jamaican restaurant in California as he has always wanted to, you can bet I'll be there to taste the best Jamaican Chicken Curry he's got. |
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