Subway

Until recently, the word “Subway” most often conjured up images of fresh bread, deli meats, and that annoying guy Jared. It reminded me of going to our local franchise as a child, where Lina always cut a tube through the middle of the bread (remember when they used to cut the bread that way? I miss that!) and stuffed our sandwiches full of the best processed meats and thawed veggies that money could buy. Today, the word “Subway” summons a much different image - one that I wouldn’t necessarily want to associate with my lunch or dinner, but one that isn’t wholly negative either.

In my opinion, the New York Subway system is an absolute marvel. It is awe-inspiring, disturbing, and confusing all at the same time. I can’t even start to comprehend how it was built, or how it works. Sometimes I wonder what holds the city up, considering most of it is built over miles upon miles of Subway tunnels. But, the tall buildings stand and the roads don’t cave in, so I guess that’s all that matters. And for the most part the subway system works really well: it is normally the fastest way to go from one part of town to another, and it is much, much cheaper than taking a cab.

One of my favorite things about riding the Subway is people watching. The trains attract an eclectic mix of characters, people I fear I would have missed seeing had I moved to Austin or Minneapolis or Miami. Like the tranny I saw last weekend that looked like an older Tina Turner (I know: hard to imagine her even older, but I’m telling you it’s possible!) or the man who was wearing a grass skirt, flip flops and nothing else. Hey, it was a warm day – I think it hit 47 that Thursday. Not to mention the woman I saw carrying 34 balloons, a bunch of cotton candy, and a pony on a leash. (Okay, you got me there - she didn’t really have all of those balloons!)

Of course, the Subway does come with its down sides. Like the smell. I’m not sure what it is, but there is a certain Subway stench that exists that is unique to New York City. It doesn’t tend to be as bad in winter, but come summertime it’s difficult to ignore. The fragrance seems to be a mix of urine, feces, rat sweat (those rats really sweat!), body odor, and garbage. I often try to keep a small scented candle in my pocket that I can pull out and put up to my nose on days where the smell is truly overwhelming.

There are also often things that you see on the Subway that you wish you hadn’t - like the man I saw pull down his pants and vacate his bowels at the 50th street stop. That was truly disturbing. It was enough to make even the most jaded New Yorker turn his head, and to cause some not-so-jaded New Yorkers to leave the station completely. I felt bad for the WASPy tourists from Colorado; I have a feeling they booked a flight home that very day and will never come back.

But that’s the thing about New York. It’s real. It’s gritty. It shows you the best and the worst of America in split-screen views – the super-rich right next to the devastatingly poor. It serves as a good reminder that we still have work to do in order to eliminate poverty in our country and to deliver on the American dream. But I figure that if we can figure out how to move hundreds of thousands of people a day via underground/underwater tunnels, fixing the poverty problem isn’t beyond our grasp. Right?