Why I Am In New York:

"I am in New York to have a battle of wills with the apotheosis of civilization. (Or such like.) I am here to exercise a vague whim so it doesn't fester into a mid-life what-if. I am here because why the hell not? I am here to get big city life out of my system. I am here to take a last shot at being young and fun, and to find out what that even means. I am here because they speak Spanish and Urdu and Hindi on the streets. I am here because it is the epicenter of weird shit. I am here because it was as good a place as any. I am here to piss the city off with my ambivalence towards it. I am here for any number of reasons, none of which are really strong enough to hold the weight of my [nostalgia] for India, my love for Oregon and my desire for other places. But I am here, because it is an in between, a temporary, perhaps even a good story. I am here because on any given day, there may be a Mariachi band on the subway.

I am not here to Make It Big. I am not here to fuck a lot of bankers/models/heirs/suitjacketed douchebags. I am not here to wear high heels and short skirts. (Okay, perhaps SOME short skirts. But with Birkenstocks.) I am not here to become a New Yorker. I am not here for Times Square. I am not here to partake in a Nora Ephron movie. I am not here to be Carrie fucking Bradshaw."

[Excerpted, with mild modification, from my correspondence with one Jared Metzker. Yes, I did just quote myself.]