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Life in the Margins | straightupjac's thoughts

jaclynchan.me · 1,124 words · saved by 4 readers

My favourite part of every morning is staring out the subway window as it crosses the Manhattan Bridge. I always put down my phone and watch as if I’m tuned into a show, not wanting to miss the best parts — especially the moment when the Statue of Liberty appears in the distance. Some mornings, I’m busy replying to Slack or scrolling Instagram, and when I realize I’ve missed that moment, I feel an immediate sense of loss. Lately, I’ve been thinking about life in the margins—the moments that exist between calendar events, planned trips, and birthday parties. The normal part of life. A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a friend that made me realize how differently we see this margin time. We were bickering about how, the previous night, he had been on his phone while we were in line with some friends, waiting to get into one of my favourite bars in the city, a show tunes piano bar. It was a drizzly and wet Saturday night and our friends were visiting from out of town. One of us st

Life in the Margins Mar 13, 2025 13/03/25 Original post on Substack: Life in the Margins Richard Estes D Train, 1988. Image courtesy of Luc Demers. My favourite part of every morning is staring out the subway window as it crosses the Manhattan Bridge. I always put down my phone and watch as if I’m tuned into a show, not wanting to miss the best parts — especially the moment when the Statue of Liberty appears in the distance. Some mornings, I’m busy replying to Slack or scrolling Instagram, and when I realize I’ve missed that moment, I feel an immediate sense of loss. Lately, I’ve been thinking

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