It’s almost been a year that I’ve been in New York (!!). Living here has had its ups and downs. Here are some observations.
1) This city takes time to adjust to. I’ve lived in Europe and Japan and I think I adapt quickly. But the way people live here is profoundly different than anywhere I’ve been. In sone ways it seems to be American culture in its most pure form: the greed, the superficiality, the rush. But in other ways it has this old style of literary undercurrent. There are people here who do deeply care about ideas, the past, and the meaning of their city. I feel that here more than any other American city and in many other places in the world.
2) People here work hard. And I appreciate that about the culture. Sometimes it’s a bit too much and is probably used as an excuse to ignore one’s inner life, but overall it’s nice to be somewhere where work is admired and appreciated. Maybe it is just my inner Protestant speaking.
3) Finding the balance between my own work in music and a full-time job is extraordinarily difficult. Part of the difficulty is that I really like my job. But after a year of being an aesthetic sponge, I am putting my work out into the world again rather than just absorbing others’. There are some exciting projects on the horizon, stay tuned!
Really, a move to New York is as much an exercise in self-learning as anything else. Of course, any move to a foreign place is, no question. But New York, more than any city I know, explicitly and repeatedly asks you, to your face, “so how are you going to deal with that?”. And you just keep plugging away, realizing throughout that yeah, you can handle it, and after a while even start to totally enjoy it. And after that, I guess where I am now, you realize New York is more of an addiction than just a place to live.
