Stranger in an Unstrange Land

In May 2009, I donned a cap and gown and sealed the deal on my Villanova University undergraduate education. Four months later, I still feel as though that moment didn't quite happen.

No, I'm not crazy. Of course it happened. (Who could forget the surprise speech from Coach Jay Wright?)

What I mean is that the moment is still fresh in my past-- in our past (hi there, Class of 2009). Fresh enough such that I don't exactly feel like a graduate just yet. True, I have a job (knock on wood), but not enough time has passed to make me any more of an "adult" because of it. Simply put, I am a recent college graduate.

Therefore, when I visit my beloved alma mater-- which I have already done several times since my official exit from undergrad life-- I still feel like a student. And I have more than a few younger friends who are still blissfully caught up in college, so why would I not pay them a visit when I can? Makes sense to me.

Well, it doesn't seem to make sense to some other people. What I've discovered in the midst of this post-Villanova abyss is that even recent college grads like myself are often viewed as outsiders, foreigners, even as invaders when we reappear on the Main Line.

Example: It's a Friday night and you're in town headed to Brownies, a Villanova senior's favorite place to spend happy hour. You fork over five bucks, grab your cup and enter the bar. You're about to dash over to the buffet line before it gets ungodly long when you quite literally bump into an old buddy from the Class of '10.

Almost instantly, these few words are emitted from this person's mouth:
"What are you doing here?"

Ah. Except they really come out sounding more like this--
"What are you doing here?!"
or "What are you doing here?!"

Wow, that was awkward. This phrase is usually coupled with arched eyebrows, and a look of complete and utter confusion.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand. In the span of just a few months, has my alumna status also labeled and subsequently denounced me as a "creeper?" Is it really so strange to come back to visit more frequently than once a semester? (i.e., Homecoming) And shouldn't us recent college grads cherish these visits to our alma maters while we can, while we still have friends who go there? (Honestly, after the Class of 2011 graduates from Villanova, I won't have much of a reason to be at Main Line bars unless it's for a reunion-type event).

I'm not going to have a random acquaintance or crappy Facebook friend make me feel like a weirdo when I'm back at my school. I won't allow it. Truthfully speaking, your real friends will be thrilled to see you again, and make you feel just as welcome as you should be.

After all, wasn't it just yesterday when we were playing beer pong on a Monday night and ordering from Domino's at 3 AM? Yeah, I thought so.

Bye Bye B Express: The Current "Q"-tastrophe on the Brighton Beach line

I have a bone to pick with the MTA. That statement probably doesn't shock you in the slightest. After all, what New Yorker hasn't had a complaint about the subway system? No, I don't mean foot-long rats scampering across across garbage-littered tracks. That's nothing.

I'm talking big: service disruptions, construction, track work. One might say these things are an inevitable part of any public transit system, and that their purpose is, ultimately, progress and improvement of that system for the good of the community. And I probably would have agreed with that.

That is, until September 2009 wreaked havoc on the Brighton Beach line in Brooklyn-- home to my beloved B express & Q local trains.

Actually, it's worth noting that the problems began long before September. For months, the Avenue U and Neck Road stations on the Q have been closed due to construction. In their place popped up the oddly-named B3k shuttle bus, which originates at Kings Highway Station, making stops along Avenue U between Ocean Avenue and Gerritsen Avenue. What's silly here: 1) The B3k doesn't actually stop at either of the blocked-off stations. Ocean Avenue is as close as the bus gets to the Avenue U station (located 4 blocks away on E.16th St), and it doesn't go anywhere near the Neck Road stop. Not quite as helpful to commuters as it should be. Additionally, the local businesses around the Avenue U station in particular are probably suffering.

Anyway, here's what happened next. At Kings Highway and several other express stop stations, signs were posted explaining that there would be no B express service in Brooklyn for a period of two weeks due to ongoing track work. Thus, the B would operate on the local track with the Q. I groaned out loud when I heard the news. The morning and evening rush hours would undoubtedly be delayed to some extent. An annoyance, but at least it was temporary, right?

Wrong. Soon after the original posters were put up, new ones stated that the B express service was now being terminated until (drumroll, please) Fall 2010. Upon taking in this revision, my jaw dropped and fell to the floor, in a manner not unlike a cartoon character.

While the thought of having to wait at least a year for the B to return is just awful, what angers me more is how the MTA sneakily chose to break the news to commuters-- by, well, withholding the truth from us. Did they think that initially telling us of a "two-week service disruption" would soften the blow of a two-YEAR disruption?

That's right-- in the middle of writing this post, I logged onto the official MTA website (www.mta.info) only to discover that this massive project has now been extended a year until Fall 2011. That information sure as hell isn't printed up on any posters yet (but it is on the web site, finally).

It's infuriating, and yet there's nothing much straphangers can do but write frenetic, useless letters to local officials. Oh, and bitch about it to one another (which will certainly occur more frequently with the arrival of colder weather, while waiting endlessly for a train to come with the wind nipping at your face).

And now, here is the icing on the cake: for the past two weekends, shuttle buses have replaced the suspended Q train service from the Kings Highway to Prospect Park stations, due to-- you guessed it-- more track work. Thankfully, there are both local and express shuttles (the express zips right to Prospect Park in one stop), as well as a much-appreciated connection to the 2 train at Flatbush Avenue. But God help you if you're the poor sucker stuck on a local shuttle-- a typically quick journey on the Q becomes a hellish crawl through the middle of Brooklyn. My guess is that this weekend shuttle bus mess is going to continue indefinitely as well, just like the B express cancellation. Of course, as usual, the MTA chooses not to tell us this until whenever they feel the time is convenient. Lovely.

Thus, three major problems-- the Avenue U/Neck Road station closings, the banishment of the B express, and the weekend Q shuttles-- are occurring simultaneously along the Brighton line. In all honesty, this kind of thing would never happen to commuters living in that fancier, more expensive borough across the sea. This is more than enough to expect us to put up with, especially considering the recent fare hike (I find myself now longing for the "two dollar days," a now-golden era in NYC transportation history preceding the financial crisis). Is our money really going towards progress, or are we simply getting ripped off? I suppose that the proof is in the product. All I can say is that the "new" stations, post-construction, better be flawless in every way. Or, more realistically, they can at least shine with the brightness and beauty of modernity that characterize much of the Manhattan underground. It's the only way that anyone can endure the next two years of commuter chaos and still stay sane.

So just how much more shit will be dumped on Q/B train users this year? Stay tuned, Brooklyn. We really have no choice but to, comme d'habitude, wait and see.


[*P.S. Forgot to comment on the impeccable timing of this mess. It just couldn't have happened while I was away at school-- no, of course it had to perfectly coincidence with my current post-grad situation, i,.e. living back home and commuting 5 days a week. Ah, life has funny ways of playing tricks on us, does it not?]

9/11/2009

Amidst the horror of September 11, 2001, what I tend to remember most about the day is just how beautiful the weather was. The sky was cloudless, a near-sparkling blue. The sun was shining. The temperature comfortably hovered in the 80s. All of the ingredients for a perfect summer morning.

Today's weather was just about the opposite-- unseasonably cold, wet, gray. Any sign of summer seemed to be long gone. The wind thrashed my umbrella about wildly and sent shivers through my body. After a trip to the financial district to collect my long overdue employee ID, I trudged to work damp and crabby.

At my desk, I watched MSNBC's live broadcast of the ceremony, suddenly transported right back to the streets of lower Manhattan that I had just left. I watched face after face read name after name, realizing that this was the first time in five years that I am actually in the NYC on 9/11. Perhaps that's why I chose to watch more coverage, more clips-- both new and old-- this time around. Then again, I had to shut off the broadcast when I felt my eyes getting too wet.

I can't ever block out memories of earthquake-like rumbles, running up the West Side Highway, and thick black clouds covering the sky. I would tell you that I'm grateful I didn't see planes hit, towers fall, or people die firsthand, but it feels like I did. The footage on TV is all too familiar to me-- I lived through it. I lived. Others didn't.

I kept a copy of the NY Daily News from September 12, 2001. It's hidden deep under my bed, in an old Adidas shoebox. The cover reads "IT'S WAR" in huge fire-orange capital letters. Just a few days later, another cover read "10,000 FEARED DEAD" in that same ominous print. Just typing it out makes me twitch.

In one way, all of it still seems like a part of my not-too-distant past. But with each year that goes by, what happened feels like it belongs to another era, a completely different part of time, of history, my life. It's a strange duality. Handcuffed to history, time ticks on, life continues.

I don't really know how to properly end this entry, because there's a degree of absurdity in trying to tie this subject up with a neat little bow of closure. I could say so much about everything, but I don't know where to begin, how to put any of it in order, to where to stop.

The Myth and Magic of Summer

I can't help but feel a bit melancholy about today's date. 9/1. September 1. The first day of... fall?

Wait a minute. That's not true. Technically, summer isn't over until September 22-- a full three weeks away from now.

And yet, something about the instantaneous change from August to September puts me in the mindset that it's already fall. Or rather, that fall is on the way, even when it's still a hot and humid 85 degrees outside in New York City. Crazy, right? (Today is an exception. Oddly enough, it was chilly when I left my house for work this morning. Take 85, reverse those digits and that's what the actual air temperature was!)

If there's any scapegoat here, it's got to be that infamous back-to-school Staples commerical. You know, the one they've been playing on TV since 1999 featuring an overexcited dad, his two depressed kids, and the "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" jingle? Retailers are all too eager to mistakenly tell us that autumn is already here, and that we better stock up on school supplies, clothes, bedding-- among other material things-- before it's too late. Thus, it becomes awful hard to savor the last days of the summer season. They slowly slip away.

However, things seem to be different this year, not just for myself, but for my fellow freshly-graduated peers from the Class of 2009. For the first time in about eighteen years, many of us are not returning to school-- "no more pencils, no more books" couldn't be any truer. As long as the warm weather holds up, it'll feel like we're still on summer vacation. Not too shabby.

In all honesty, summer should be far from over, especially given this year's circumstances. For most of the Northeast U.S., June 2009 proved to be a total washout. I can only recall a total of maybe five, six days when the sun decided to make a special guest appearance to the citizens of NYC. It was gloomy, dark, depressing. Let's hope this doesn't become a pattern in the years to come.

Growing up, I tried my best to cherish the summertime as a precious, well-deserved break from the neverending chaos and stresses that the academic world imposes upon its victims-- err, students. Childhood saw many fun days at home during the summer weeks with my siblings and cousins. Field trips to various NYC parks, museums, and the beach can be attributed mostly to my father, who took on the role of stay-at-home dad for several years ("Mr. Mom" he wasn't). As I delved deeper into my teenage years and entered my twenties, summers began to be taken up by job and internship commitments, which formed an awkward taste of adulthood in my mouth. And just two summers ago, I felt myself falling deeper and deeper into something that I thought I always understood, but realized I never truly did until then. Until two very different, yet very similar bodies in orbit aligned perfectly together, bringing sense and purpose to the universe. Yes, love-- I owe that to the summer, too.

While it's strange to not be back at Villanova and already planted at my usual desk in Falvey Library, I do enjoy this new and extended version of summer I'm currently experiencing. True, I have a job, so it isn't exactly a vacation-- a fact I'm constantly aware of as I sit at yet another desk under the glare of flourescent lights. But this September, I'm going to make the most of all that's left of summer. Without papers and exams to worry about, these last few weekends at the shore and in the city, spending time with the girl from two summers past-- for she is still my summer love, past and present-- will certainly taste even sweeter.