flâneur

Welcome to New York | thesephist.com

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Most cities are static. The San Francisco Bay Area, where I lived for three years, is especially so. People wake up and get into cars, and drive themselves or get driven to their destinations. They eat, they work, and they meet, but in the end, they return home, and start the cycle anew the next day. Being in San Francisco is like inserting yourself into a painting. A caricature of colorful dynamism without a true feeling of flow. There is chatter and noise and movement, but they drown out in the quietude of rolling San Francisco hills like whispers drown out in the snow. To me, New York isn’t like that. New York is a river, constantly changing. Something is always happening, and the noise of movement is so loud that it sweeps you off your feet even if you try to stand still. In San Francisco, movements are confined and layered. Little jitters and conversations curl up inside expensive Uber rides across Noe Valley and Pac Heights. Movements stay inside closed doors of cozy Silicon Vall

Most cities are static. The San Francisco Bay Area, where I lived for three years, is especially so. People wake up and get into cars, and drive themselves or get driven to their destinations. They eat, they work, and they meet, but in the end, they return home, and start the cycle anew the next day. Being in San Francisco is like inserting yourself into a painting. A caricature of colorful dynamism without a true feeling of flow. There is chatter and noise and movement, but they drown out in the quietude of rolling San Francisco hills like whispers drown out in the snow. To me, New York isn't

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