and

a blog with cultural bulimia.

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

we heart ny: excerpts of a simple interview turned into pure joy by the person interviewed

What's your New York motto?
New York is 45 stars and 7 million extras, but it's a different 45 every day.

What is New York?
When the Korean family who runs the deli on my corner started selling pita bread, they decided to introduce it to their customers by setting it out on the counter underneath a hand-lettered sign that said "Perfect for fajitas!"

*That* is New York. It's accidental cultural collage -- not in the self-concious "It's Shakespeare, but with black people in speaking roles!" kind of way but in the "There's a Popeye's Fried Chicken in Chinatown" kind of way, in the "Koreans run delicatessens and Iranians run bodegas" kind of way.

In 98% of the country, when you say "Hot dog", they say "Ketchup." Here, when you say "Hot dog", we say "Papaya." God knows who figured out that German spiced sausage would go good with fruit juice from the West Indies, but it couldn't have happened any place but here.

If you could change one thing about New York, what would it be?
Take a copy of any local listings guide, and circle the good things you might like to do in the coming week. You'll run out of ink before you run out of good.

Please, please, please: go read the whole Gothamist interview with Clay Shirky