Erika's Journalism Blog: Postcard from the Future: Finding Hope in New York City

Our view from the Marriott Marquis Hotel. August 2016

Times Square would be humming with activity as New York City warms up leading into the summer months. No matter the season, this city is always alive.

We’d be standing in line outside of the boxy red TKTS Ticket Booth on the corner of 47th Street and Broadway, making a last-minute decision on which performance we’d see later this evening. Finalizing our purchase, we’d shoulder our way through the crowd to head down the stairs leading to the subway.

One day we will show you the enormity and complexity of this place, this vast network of human connectedness existing between strangers. To travel to a place that contrasts so greatly with the open space of our lush, green Willamette Valley. At over eight million people, New York City is the most densely populated metropolitan area in the United States. Now though, it is quiet. Shuttered. The coronavirus has ravaged this city.

I recall our excitement as we unpacked and settled in to our corner hotel room on the 45th floor. Space was at a premium, but we didn’t mind. Pressing my nose to the glass of the window, I heard car horns honking as I spied tiny human forms walking below.

We’d taken the red-eye flight from Portland. Exhausted but fueled by adrenaline, we freshened up and joined the bustle of Times Square. Our plans were to see and do and explore as much as we could on the island of Manhattan, ending most nights with a show.

“The Phantom of the Opera” was our first taste of the theater scene. Known as “the longest-running show on Broadway,” we were dazzled even before the curtain lifted. The golden interior of the theater with lampshade lighting, the long layers of draperies dressing the doorways, and the cushiony, velvety seats all made a perfect setting for this famous Gothic fantasy.

Afterwards, exhilarated and hungry, we laughed as we walked across the street to John’s Pizzeria, ordering a thin crust margherita pizza with rounds of fresh mozzarella and tons of basil. The server asked where we were from, giving us suggestions “from a local.”

Regardless of socioeconomic status, gender, or age, simple humanity was never more apparent than when riding the subway, our preferred form of transportation. Sharing seats and overhead handles with strangers in one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world opened an unexpected partnership toward a common destination-oriented goal. Accepting of friendly smiles as well as overt, indifferent glances from downturned eyes, one did not have to speak the same language to understand. However, for the first time in 115 years, the subway now shuts down each night to allow a deep, thorough cleaning of each car before the system restarts the next day.

Lower Manhattan as seen from the Top of the Rock, Rockefeller Center. August 2016

Comparing the flavor of Mo’s Famous Clam Chowder to spoonfuls of Manhattan clam chowder at the Grand Central Oyster Bar and Restaurant will be on our list. And we will no doubt be planning another trip -- a holiday one -- after exploring the history within and around Rockefeller Center, where the annual Christmas tree is lit in front of the ice-skating rink during the winter months. Right now, though, it’s empty. But someday again the plaza will be full of kids chasing the pigeons that hunger for a piece of their Nathan’s Famous hot dog, dripping with mustard and relish.

The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Ground Zero are featured destinations where the stories of the past are achingly heavy, softened by unhindered courage of mankind. The site of the Twin Towers, now marked by the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, is austere, full of heartbreaking remembrance and yet the human spirit shines on. We will touch the walls of the fountain, engraved with the names of those who died. Honoring their memory together.

Sell-out crowd at Yankee Stadium
against the Tampa Bay Rays. August 2016

Making time for a morning run around beautiful Central Park, a welcome oasis in a sea of concrete, will be a given. We will have to go early before the heat and humidity make it impossible. Perhaps another game at Yankee Stadium, where your brother and sister watched Alex Rodriquez play his final game; a defining moment in sports history. Stadiums will fill, with rookies vying for their own glory and fame.

Adding in the mile-long walk over the Brooklyn Bridge to grab lunch at Grimaldi’s, we will catch views of the city skyline while watching the activity of the harbor and the East River. We'll take note of the graffitied quotes scribbled on the metal railing of the bridge.

One of our favorites:

“I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it.”-- Maya Angelou

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge with my cousin and mom. June 2013

Our week will fly with an energy I love and yet wish would slow. This is NYC.

The vibe. The people. The history.

I don’t know when we will reschedule our travels. Life doesn’t always follow the story we wish to write. However, we will aspire to go again. To share an adventure with three generations -- Grandma, your aunt and I, and you and your cousin -- to experience this vibrant city, full of a certain richness of life unlike what you’d find elsewhere.

We’ll be changed by this oppressive, silent enemy that does not discriminate, but let’s remain resilient, refusing “to be reduced,” as Maya Angelou once said.

Known as the “Gateway to America,” weary travelers felt hope when glimpsing the bright, welcoming torch of the Statue of Liberty in the New York Harbor. I dream of showing this NYC to my girls.