Last night, my roommate’s show previewed. It’s opening at “Theatre for the New City”, down on 1st Avenue and 10th Street.
I walked into the theatre, however, and felt like I had entered the hub of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Or some radical underground leftist militia headquarters. The lobby walls were covered with loving portraits of Che Guevara, Mumia, Lenin, Castro. And hostile disgusting pictures of Bush. A pastel of Osama. With a note underneath about how he was a “dissident”. A dissident. Not a terrorist. I stared at the artwork, the posters, etc., and felt like: Wow. I live in such a different world than these people.
Then I saw in the program that the two people who have contributed the most money to “Theatre for the New City” are Yoko Ono and Tim Robbins. Enough said.
But what I really want to write about is my moment on the corner of 10th Street and 2nd Avenue.
The evening was beautiful. Cool air, blue sky deepening into sunset, the air fresh and spring-like. The sun going down. People on their bikes. Restaurants with tables outside. Beautiful. An evening where New York looks fresh, and lovely. Like anything can happen.
I stood on the corner of 10th Street and 2nd, waiting for the light to change. I was in my own little private Idaho, but suddenly noticed my surroundings.
Behind me, on the Southwest corner of the intersection, was a restaurant called “Rectangles”. More specifically: “Rectangles: Yemenite and Israeli cuisine”.
Yemenite and Israeli cuisine. In the same restaurant.
So that was thing # 1.
Across the street, diagonally on the Northwest corner of 2nd and 10th, is the famous St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery. A 17th century Episcopalian church. I’ve been to weddings there. But it’s also a vibrant performance space, with dance companies, etc., finding a place to work there. A beautiful stone church, set diagonally, with benches around it, people hanging out. People going to an evening mass.
Right across from a Yemenite and Israeli restaurant.
Then, directly across the street from me, on the Southeast corner of this intersection, the famous Second Avenue Deli. The signage looks like Hebrew letters. There is a clock, with Hebrew numbers.
All on one intersection.
As New Yorkers pedal their bikes slowly by, or drink Guinness at the Irish pub 2 doors down … This kind of diversity is rarely even noticed. Or commented upon.
But in that one moment, I thought: Okay. Hold on. This is extraordinary.
And what is MOST extraordinary about all of these faiths and cultures co-existing on the same corner … is that it is kind of NOT extraordinary. Nobody even notices.
