End of Honeymoon Phase?

I think my honeymoon phase might be ending. Nothing specific has happened. I think it's that I've started planning trips out of the city. Until very recently, I didn't want to leave at all. But now I'm eager to get out, to take a break. I'm hoping to do a day hike in Jersey this weekend.

I still enjoy the people-watching and the sense of constant activity, but the awe and wonder has started to fade. Does this mean I'm turning into a real New Yorker? I don't want to lose the sense of awe and wonder. I hope I never stop noticing the architectural details in the tall buildings around me, or wondering about the lives of the strangers I see on the subway.

But these days I'm definitely more likely to read on the subway than to simply stare around. I stopped sleeping with the window open, because the creak and hiss of the bus that stops across the street, and the constant police or ambulance sirens, are no longer thrilling sounds as I lie in bed.

I'm settling into a routine. To make sure I don't stop doing new things, yesterday I sat down and put together a NYC bucket list: fun, free things to do around the city. I'll be sure to make time for these things in the next few weeks. Can't leave my faithful readers with nothing new to read about!

The snow last week did fill me with awe and wonder.

Birthplace of American Democracy!

I spent all of Saturday in Philadelphia! It was a beautifully sunny day, and I thoroughly enjoyed walking and biking around with my high school friend Ashley, who lives there.

We ate shakshuka breakfasts outside! A bit chilly but the building blocked the wind, and the sun felt amazing.

Our Independence Hall tour guide, Joanne, was excellent. Full of great little anecdotes about the Founding Fathers.

Took this selfie in the Museum of the American Revolution, for my brother Dylan, who loves war and guns and history. 

According to the museum curators, we are the Future Faces of the Revolution!

We visited this glorious House of Cheese on South 9th St.

I'm a sucker for this stuff. I spent like $30 here on little preserved fruit jars.

Philly is home to America's oldest continually operating outdoor market!

So beautiful, and so much cheaper than NYC...

Riding bikes toward City Hall

Schuylkill River

Boathouse Row

I picked up a special hummus dinner from a local Michelin-star chef before catching my Megabus home. Getting out of the city was really nice, and so was catching up with an old friend. And it was really fun learning about American history in, as Hamilton says, "the room where it happened."  If I keep living in NYC, I'll have to be intentional about getting out of the city regularly. As soon as I finish typing this, I'm going to start making a list of day hikes accessible by public transit... if those exist around here.

Food Justice // Botox

Today was a study in contrasts.

The first half of my day was energizing and inspiring: I attended the 2018 Just Food Conference in upper Manhattan. It pumps me up to see and hear from people who are passionate and action-oriented. I especially loved the AM Plenary session, where a panel of 100% female/nonbinary and mostly (if not all) people of color shared their perspectives on how to "Feed the Resistance."

AM Plenary panel

My favorite breakout session was an anti-racism workshop I attended. Designed for white people, the workshop addressed implicit bias, privilege, and spheres of influence/power. I realized for the first time that I wear my own privilege with an oxymoronic heaviness. In reality, by nature, it should be light: making my life easier, opening doors. But my awareness of it makes it feel heavy: a sense of obligation, of responsibility: to do my best to level the playing field for others who were born into less privilege than me.

At the end of the sessions, we paired up to discuss personal commitments to fighting racism. I told my partner I've been reading more novels by people of color (aka POC), especially black writers. I just finished The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and am almost through Americanah. Both really immersive, thought-provoking reads. Last week I happened to watch the 2004 film Crash, another piece of media that has me thinking a lot about racism. Other things I can do better include diversifying my circle of friends (easier said than done) and including more POC voices in my own writing/stories.

session on food sovereignty (a very difficult word to spell)

Other things I liked about the conference: emphasis on community and collaboration, on dismantling patriarchy, on being open and respectful, on speaking your own truth, on taking action and getting comfortable with discomfort.

I also liked that the breakfast was delicious

and the whole conference was zero-waste (or close to it)!

I walked away feeling empowered and hopeful.

I left the conference and walked into a new friend's living room — a WASPy room that depleted my newly refreshed social justice energy. I met this woman through a mutual friend, and she invited me to a women's hang-out that she regularly hosts in her home. I know all conversations can't be about philosophy or policy, but I have a distinctly low tolerance for multi-hour conversations with a range restricted to topics like fashion, cats, celebrities, and Botox. These are the actual topics that were discussed. Despite the fact that every woman in the room was still in her twenties, more than one of them has gotten Botox and others discussed their plans to.

I may be only 25, but it's really hard for me to relate to that life decision. I can talk about cats for a little while, and I'm interested if you have something new to say about fashion, but I have zero interest in discussing the lives of famous performers or where to go for the best Botox experience.

As I nibbled cheese and crackers and sipped rosé with the Botox ladies, conference attendees were mingling and networking in the post-conference reception — where I should have been.