[lit-ideas] Re: Self-Made Man...
- From: Eric Yost <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2006 12:48:34 -0500
....New York's East Village. . . . But the very
fact that no one paid her any mind was a small
revelation. Vincent had lived in the East Village
for years. "As a woman," she writes, "you couldn't
walk down those streets invisibly. You were an
object of desire or at least semiprurient interest
to the men who waited there, even if you weren't
pretty."
____
I lived in the East Village for nine years, and
this sounds like nonsense. The author may have
felt that way, but it is pure projection.
No one pays anyone attention there unless the
person is dressed in an oversized Godzilla suit
and on fire while screaming Iron Maiden lyrics in
Latin--and pestering people for spare change.
"You couldn't walk down those streets invisibly"
is just plain wrong. "The men who waited there,"
can only refer to restaurant staff.
For example, Tompkins Square Park had, among so
many other things, a bagpiper who patrolled the
park in full Highland regalia. One day I saw
someone dressed as a Samurai--authentic from
topknot to sword to wooden clogs--walking toward
the Bagpiper. Then a woman on roller blades,
pushing a tricycle-style baby carriage, talking on
a cell phone, whizzed close to the Samurai. The
Samurai jumped a bit to avoid the woman and bumped
into the Bagpiper. Recovering, the Samurai bowed
to the Bagpiper, who in turn did a little Highland
jig. Then they went their separate ways.
Throughout this exchange, people walked past,
indifferent, not noticing, busy with their own things.
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