Why I Broke Up with New York

To live in a city is to live the life that it was built for, to adapt to its schedule and rhythms, to move within the transit layout made for you

I have always lived in the myth of New York more than in its reality. It is what enabled me to live there for so long, loving the idea of something more than the thing itself.

But even though you knew where you were going, you heard about the weather, and you came prepared, you still get caught off guard when you step off that plane.“Oh, Lord. I knew it was going to be hot; I didn’t know it was going to be this hot.”You like it hot, but somehow the idea of being in that heat for an extended period of time feels suffocati

I remember how Wendy once told me she loved New York so much she couldn’t bear the thought of it going on without her. It seemed like both the saddest and the most romantic thing one could possibly say—sad because New York can never return the sentiment, and sad because it’s the kind of thing said more often about a romantic love—husband, wife, gir

“Yet,” thought Jacob, seeking to see the whole truth, “there is the other side, which always exists. They say of New York that it is like an apartment hotel. And they say: ‘It’s fine for a visit, but I would not want to live here.’ They are wrong. It’s fine to live here, but exhausting on a visit. “Once New York was the small handsome self-containe