family portraits

(for Heather)

First up we have a Mexican family: Father, Mother, Son:



They were arguing...or talking. About what, I don’t know. I had my music on. Most likely Ryan Adams. Or maybe Bob Dylan. But these three were amazing. The father was quite good looking. The mother was terrifying…almost like a cartoon. And the son, with his slick-backed hair, was just looking for approval. We were on the shuttle from Times Square to Grand Central.

And then there are the white people:



I love any girl I see with soccer attire on. I am automatically transported back to the time when I wore cleats and shin guards. That was many years of my youth. God I loved soccer. Saturday afternoon games on the middle school field with the sun shining. Or, even better, with rain and mud and mayhem. Anyway…these two were so absorbed in their respective phones that at first I didn’t even realize they were related. But they were father and daughter…catching up with their friends/colleagues on the ride home. I still can’t decide if that’s sad of progressive or just a sign of the times. This was on the 1 train. I can’t remember where they got off.

These two were kind of surprising:



Obviously a mother and son. I assume they were Italian. Don't really know why… I can't remember if this was on the 1 or on the 4. My commute gets jumbled in my mind. I felt like they definitely loved each other, they just didn't know what to talk about. It reminds me of my brother and mother. Any time they are in transport together he will promptly fall asleep. Unless he's driving.

boys with glasses edition

This guy was a trifecta of hilarity. I stepped onto the shuttle at Times Square and see this glorious specimen of hipsterness:



I wish I had gotten a better picture because he was marvelous. He had a mullet, mutton chops, a moustache AND white sunglasses. ON THE SUBWAY. Who wears sunglasses on the subway? Apparently this guy.

Aaaaand, this guy:



He also had a very shiny ring on his right hand. It looked like a class ring of some sort. It was gold with a huge blue stone. He also had broccoli face: where it looks like you just walked into a room and smelled broccoli cooking.



This guy looked exactly how I think the main character from The Russian Debutante's Handbook looks…tall, skinny, Russian, Jewish, adorable:



He was carrying his daughter, who was very tired and clinging onto him. This, of course, just added to the adorablity. Adorableness? He had a great goatee. He looked like the kind of guy who was born to have a goatee.


And then there's this guy:



He NEEDS some glasses. His eyeballs were all over the place. I was standing right in front of him and couldn't really tell which way he was looking. He seemed mostly amused with everything going on around him. He must've been on some serious drugs.

things on heads edition

I went to an Arcade Fire show the other week, at the United Palace Theatre on Broadway at 175th street. After the show, the A train was so crowded you could barely move. Pale kids with dark glasses as far as the eye could see. This guy was my favorite:




While everyone else was busy showing their affection for one another or discussing the show, he decided to read. Usually subway trips are pretty quiet, depending of course on how drunk everyone is. This ride was quite lively but he chose to remove himself from the friendliness. His hat made him look like an old school paparazzo, which was actually pretty cool. I felt as though he was just waiting for someone to notice him.


This gentleman used his hat to convey messages to the world about himself:



It reminded me of middle school, when you used to put buttons on your backpack to show how cool you were: what bands you listened to (Weezer), how nice of a person you were ("Mean People Suck"), that kind of thing. This guy wanted us to know he was a bad ass motherfucker. His hat was tipped low; it meant Do Not Disturb.


This guy is so old school he's like the definition of old school:



I love that generation...the suit-and-hat-wearing generation: the last gentlemen. It's Mr. Greco (my highschool science teacher); it's Bob Ward (my mom's old boss, may he rest in peace). They are from a different era. And I tip my (non-existent) hat to them.


This woman kind of floored me. I see veils pretty often, and yet I'm still always taken aback by them. What made her special was that she was eating a bag of nuts she had bought off the street:



Just seeing her face, and the way the scarf was wrapped around her head, and then seeing that she was "Nuts 4 Nuts"…it was one of those moments where you have to take a second and remind yourself where you are. And then you're like, "Oh right, I'm in New York. It all makes sense now."

foreigners edition

I'm cheating again. This is not on the subway. It's on 42nd street, on my way to work. But I had just gotten out of the subway! Anyway, this past week has been pretty intense…not knowing if I have a job, where I stand in my life, those sorts of things. And a year ago I was in Prague, basically thinking the same thing. So when I came out of Grand Central and saw this couple, it made me happy:




Sometimes it feels like nothing changes, but that's not true. Everything changes. Last year I was the tourist, this year I'm following the tourists. They kept looking up at the tall buildings, as most tourists do on 42nd street. It was finally a nice, warm day and they were strolling along. I thought about getting closer, so that I could hear them speak, but I kept my distance. I snapped a picture and kept listening to the Rolling Stones.


On Monday I had a job interview way downtown. I had sent out a billion resumes and got one response. This was my chance! I was on the west side. As I've mentioned before, I love the west side subway lines. Way more interesting creatures to observe. I really liked this couple:



Her hair was like some sort of crazy lesbian mullet rock star creation. And he just seemed so bumbling. But they were very sweet…and I think Dutch. I tried to listen, but taking your headphones off is SO obvious…although I still do while inebriated rather often. They were consulting a map/guide. He was wearing far too many rings.


I have NO IDEA where these ladies were from, but they were definitely speaking a foreign language last night:



It was about 12:30 in the morning and I was heading home after an evening of birthday/last day at work festivities. Thinking about how I'd miss the 4 and 5 trains since I will be on the 1 most of my life starting next week. They were talking and laughing. A guy right in front of me and to their right was trying to hit on them and they just laughed at him. Poor guy. Then, to my left, a fight broke out! As we stopped at 59th street, a guy threw some beer at a random lady and then another guy decided to defend her honor by jumping out of the train and punching the beer thrower. I believe he also broke his guitar in half in the process. Everyone stopped talking and just stared. I have no idea what provoked it, but it was kind of epic. I've lived here six years and last night I saw my first subway fight. YES.

more pictures taken on mass transit

The following doesn’t strictly adhere to my mission of taking random pictures of strangers on the subway. But I think it’s close enough. He used to mean a lot to me, but by the time I took this picture, he was practically a stranger. And it’s not on the subway, it’s on the LIRR. Still, it’s public transportation and that’s close enough.



This was the moment I knew we were over and, for some reason, I wanted a picture. I guess to remember just how bad I felt, thinking that somehow it would ensure that I never feel that way again. I wanted to talk--we needed to talk--but he announced that he was going to sleep for the next two hours. I didn’t try to stop him.



I sat across from these two on the C train going uptown after a meeting. It was around 9 o’clock and everyone was tired.



I’ve decided to pair these two photos because it felt like the same situation. The man tilts his head back and tries to get some rest, but the woman looks like she can’t possibly do the same. Her eyes were wide and sad. She’s gripping onto him as if he’s slipping away.

I don’t know her, but the woman and I are the same.