Insanity At Its Best

I love New York.

I am a life-long New Yorker. I was born and raised in the 'burbs (Long Island to be exact) but spent a good deal of my childhood in the outer boroughs thanks to my Brooklyn-ite parents. This means that I regularly glimpsed the special kinds of insanity and uniqueness that comes with daily life in New York City.

So tonight I had a chance to see this insanity which reminded me of the kind and type of freedom that NYC affords to its inhabitants. As soon as I boarded the uptown A train from W. 4th street (in the West Village which for anyone who knows its history has its own brand of crazy) I saw it happen. A young man,dressed in jeans and a long sleeved T-shirt had a gleaming red face. I wasn't sure if he was a teen en route from a belated Halloween celebration or if he was a theater geek. And then....it happened.

My man, with his dirty blonde 'fro and red painted face, pulled off his pullover and began quietly talking to himself, full Joker grin in place. He quickly bent down and stood up with a bottle of red paint in hand and began covering his arms, torso, neck and face (mouth included) with the gooey red substance.

Most of the curious onlookers/fellow passengers looked on in wonderment, standing as observers like most New Yorkers do, not saying much of anything. After covering his upper body in the goopy paint, he proceeded to press his face against the glass, giggle and put his fingerprints on white stickers that he pulled from his book bag.

"I'm living art!" he exclaimed to the man in front of him on the crowded car. Though the man didn't give him much of a response, he continued with his feedback.

As I watched him pull his shirt back on, his jacket arm in arm and a fuzzy hat on his head, I realized that only in New York, and only in the subway, would that type of behavior be common and acceptable and unquestioned. It reminded me of all the other unusual events I had seen on the subway: the man who stripped in the middle of a car on a dare; the man so engrossed in his music and dancing that he put on an unintentional show for all to see; the woman who boarded the train with a life sized version of a firetruck and stood in front, protecting it.

I believe New York City, its energy, its vibe, all allow a degree of freedom and autonomy that can't be found anywhere else.

Geeze, despite living across the river, I still love New York.