New York State of Mine
It was the best pick-up line I’d ever gotten. “You walk like a New Yorker,” he said as I stomped from Starbucks to my office a couple mornings ago.
A New Yorker? I was instantly charmed. After all, I’ve always aspired to be a New Yorker. In fact, when I first got to college, I pretended to be one.
“Where did you grow up?” My dorm mates asked.
“New York.”
“Oh, really? What part?”
“The New Jersey part.”
Like most self-respecting (or is it self-hating?) New Jerseyans, I’ve always been proud of growing up near The City. At the same time, I was always ashamed of growing up just outside its bounds. It’s a complicated psychological state, one that’s stuck with me even after three years as a Washingtonian.
Since 2004, I’ve made D.C. my home. And I love it here. The neighborhoods, the community politics. But I’ll always identify as an almost-New Yorker. I try not to smile when walking down the street, I sneak sodas onto the subway, and I wear black like it’s my uniform---a fact that wasn’t lost on my suitor the other day.
“You look like a New Yorker, too,” he said.
So thank you, suitor, for glimpsing the New Yorker I always wanted to be.
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2:09 pm
I totally agree, Jess! That's one of the few lines that actually feels like a compliment. I think most women secretly want to be Manhattanites. I love D.C. as well, but if I were in NYC, and some guy told me I look like a Washingtonian, I would not be pleased.
2:52 pm
I thought that New Jersey was a place where New York sends its losers to live out their lives?
11:34 pm
Go away Rees. You daily prove you have nothing intelligent, nor entertaining, to offer here.
12:19 pm
don't aspire to be a new yorker, it sucks here now. be happy you're in d.c. i would trade places with you in a second to get out of this rapidly homogenizing moneypit. but sadly my work and my significant other force me to stay here.
12:29 pm
I totally disagree! Saying one walks like a New Yorker is a sly way to imply one walks like a sailor - a recent jargon, you see. Thus, Jess & Kim have gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick.