Just like the rest of Westchester County dwellers, I have the tendency to frame my hometown by its distance from New York City. When I respond ‘New York’ to the broad question of where I am from, I inevitably have to answer a series of follow-up questions related to if I am from, how long it takes me to get to, and how often I go to the city. Of course, the answers to the former two questions have remained the same over the course of my life, but my interactions with, and lens of, New York City have evolved with my age.
The hour-and-a-half train ride required to get from the secluded suburb of North Salem, NY to the bustling metropolis of New York City helped my mom frame a trip to the city as an adventure rather than the norm. Thus, my childhood was sprinkled with the occasional trip down the Southeast Metro Line to see a Broadway show, go to the American Girl Doll store, or see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center as a special treat. A few years later, the independence that came with entering high school enabled my friends and me to venture to the city on our own. Despite this newfound freedom (from our parents), my friends and I never truly explored the city; Our adherence to structured itineraries and popular destinations like Soho and Terminal Five limited the scope of how we engaged with New York City. Essentially, I grew up viewing New York City through the lens of a tourist; The multitude of activities New York City had to offer always made for an entertaining visit, but the overstimulating nature of the city made me thankful for the serenity of my hometown.
By arbitrarily applying to the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management during my senior year of high school, I unknowingly signed myself up to spend the majority of my twenties and thirties in New York City. Although I could have shaped my own path by prioritizing my preference for more tranquil, rural areas, the clear-cut trajectory from “Warren to Wall Street” was too appealing to pass up. I followed suit with my peers and sought out a banking internship in New York City for my junior summer. Consequently, my relationship with New York City transitioned at this point from one based on optional, exciting one-day excursions to one based on the obligation of career advancement.
This past summer, I had the opportunity to live in New York City while pursuing my internship. Unfortunately, my sixty-five to eighty-hour work week barred me from the quintessential New York City experience. Instead, my perspective of New York City developed during my two-mile commute to and from the office each day. The morning walk was always a mix of emotions as I appreciated the quiet empty sidewalks, but worried about walking in the dark before the rest of the city had risen, and then felt guilty for worrying as I was surrounded by women in much more vulnerable positions than me. In stark contrast to my morning trek, relentless tourists and traffic crowded my evening walks and forced me to turn on auto-pilot until I reached home. Navigating through the frustratingly congested sidewalks of New York City served as a consistent reminder of my end goal: earning enough money to move back to the mellow suburbs as soon as possible.
An honest reflection on the progression of my relationship with New York City reveals how I have observed the city through an extremely privileged lens. Throughout my life, I have only ventured to New York City when the situation would improve my quality of life in one way or another; I have been able to reap the benefits that I desire from New York City, without having to experience the multitude of challenges that come with living there. The privilege rooted in my socioeconomic status has facilitated my transitory view of New York City as I grew up financially comfortable enough for my family to support the higher living costs associated with suburban areas (i.e. private vehicle ownership, minimal public goods and services, etc.) and currently attend an institution that funnels students into carefully curated career paths that support a reverse rural to urban migration (i.e. moving from the city back to the suburbs).
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