I am not a New Yorker. I have never lived there. But I have visited several times and watched enough television shows and movies set in the city to be a bit familiar with it.
Some of my best memories are walking down from Harlem all the way to Battery Park. You can see from my old photographs how much of the city I have seen so far.
As a Berliner, the New York attitude is somewhat familiar to me. Living in Oregon for a while may have disconnected me from city life for a while, but I believe I can always switch back, maybe foolishly so.
When it comes to cities, I have only ever felt at home in a few of them, and New York is on the top, together with Berlin and Rome. There is an instant familiarity, probably due to its presence in popular culture. But there is more to it. This is a city where people live. The city itself is like a home. Apartments may be small, but the city makes up for it – and why the pandemic has been such a disturbance.
Then there is the food. I am not sure I could ever live in the city. My appetite would be in a state of constant stimulation. New York cheesecake. New York pizza (not the same as Italian pizza, but in a league of its own). Bagels. Bagels! Real Bagels!!
The churches and synagogues I have seen were gorgeous. The museums. The parks. The monuments. The diversity of styles. Style in principle! Berlin has no style. Oregon is good with landscape.
New York is the true capital of the world. There are people from all over the world, all coexisting together. Yes, there is crime, but it’s a big city. My never having lived there may help with my judgement, but cities are what they are, and for what it is, New York excels. No surprise it is home to the United Nations headquarters.
Why am I writing this?
Today is the anniversary of September 11, 2001. Again. I still remember where I was the moment the first plane hit, and the moment the second plane hit. I was visiting my father in his office, driving from Berlin to Potsdam.
The pain I felt cannot compare with the pain of New Yorkers, nor with that of the victims and their loved ones. But what I felt was, and still is, that somehow, a place I called a cultural and emotional home was under attack for what it was, for what it is: home to the idea that no matter where we are from, no matter who we are, no matter where we are, we’ll always be welcome there.
In defiance of its tragedy, 9/11/2001 gave purpose and determination as well, specifically the conviction that we need to celebrate our diversity, our connections, our modernity and our cosmopolitanism. We cannot give in to the barbarism of those who seek only death and destruction. We must celebrate life and the spaces making it richer and better – and if there is such a place, it is New York, New York.
Erratic Attempts 